Crafting Disorder (Ponderosa Pines Cozy Mystery Series Book 2)

by ReGina Welling

  “Well, it was started by my maternal grandparents and EV’s parents, who were big activists in the ‘60’s. They were also trust fund babies, though I don’t think they were terribly proud of it. Nor were their families particularly fond of the route they decided to take in life. I’m a little fuzzy on the details, but I believe EV’s mother and my grandmother were roommates in college. My grandfather came from nothing, and everyone thought he married Nana for her money. Considering he was perfectly happy living off the land here, I guess they were wrong.” Chloe paused, and Roger leaned in; he was thoroughly enjoying the story, so Chloe continued.

  “Anyway, the two couples developed a strong friendship. They graduated college, and seemed to play the straight and narrow for a few years. As soon as their trust funds kicked in, they quit the corporate life and found this forest. A bunch of friends from their activist days heard about the project, and so they all teamed up to form a commune. It was all about living off the grid, exploring spirituality, and creating their own environment. Everyone worked together, pooled their resources, and shared everything.” With a wink, Chloe reached over to spear a french fry off his plate. Roger blushed at the wink, but never noticed the theft of the fry.

  “About 20 years ago, some of the first families left, including EV’s folks. After that, local politics made it beneficial for us to become an official town. Members of the remaining first families formed an advisory panel that, over time, became known as the Board of Elders. They didn’t want to deal with the hassle, so they proposed incorporation. EV had a meltdown; that’s when she involved herself in town business. She knew it was our best move, and played a big part in convincing the rest of the commune to get on board. Taking charge like that turned her into the unofficial town matriarch.”

  Roger sat back in his seat and stroked his chin thoughtfully. “So there was never a snowball’s chance in hell that you all were going to vote to merge with Gilmore?”

  “Some of the younger residents were interested in progress, but no, on the whole it was a lock that we’d keep our own form of government. Our selectman system works for us; three people are elected each year, and so far nobody has gotten too big for their britches. The selectman’s decisions are based on what’s best for the residents, which naturally ends up making the most sense for the town as a whole. We’re thriving—as far as we’re concerned—and we don’t need another town taking control.”

  “Well, there’s someone out there who feels differently. The man who presented us with the merger proposal acted as though you’d all jump up and down at the opportunity of becoming part of Gilmore. And he acted like he was from the Pines, too.” Roger seemed genuinely concerned, and Chloe knew she was close to getting a piece of useful information.

  “Really? Maybe I know him. Who did he say he was? Do you have a name?”

  “Oh, I have something even better.” Roger pulled out his wallet and handed Chloe a business card.

  * * *

  Chloe turned the conversation to more mundane things, and by the time the dessert plates were cleared, Roger was fit to drive her home. He pulled into the driveway and turned off the car engine. “I had a great time tonight, and I’d really love to take you out again.” Hope shined through bright as daylight when he turned to face Chloe.

  “I did have a nice time, and you really are a great guy, but I’m interested in someone else, and don’t want to lead you on. Do you think we could be friends? And I meant what I said about picking my brain. If there’s anything I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to ask.” She bit her lip, hoping he would take the letdown with good humor.

  “Well, it’s disappointing, of course, but I appreciate your honesty, and it never hurts to have more friends. Good night, Chloe.”

  “Good night, Roger. And thank you, again.” Chloe exited the vehicle and made her way inside. Closing the front door, she heaved a sigh of relief. It was never fun to hurt someone’s feelings.

  Chloe wandered into the kitchen, put a kettle on the stove, and dialed EV’s number. “Tea, my place, ASAP.” After changing into her comfy pajama pants and a tank top, and removing her makeup, Chloe returned to the kitchen. EV stepped in through the back porch door in time to hear the kettle begin to whistle. The path between Chloe and EV’s backyards was getting a lot of use these days.

  “So how was your date? Is Roger a stud muffin, or what?” EV teased, knowing full well that if Chloe was home by 9:30, the date had been a bust. Her plan was working out exactly as she had hoped it would. Now if Chloe could conquer her own fears, maybe she and Nate would finally come together. “I’m sure you saw the way Nate reacted to the idea.”

  Subtle, Chloe thought.

  “Roger’s nice actually; I felt like a huge jerk for leading him on. I let him down gently, and he took it like a man. And, he gave me something.”

  “What? Show me.”

  Chloe handed EV the business card Roger had offered.

  “Nicholas Lane, Investment Banker. Works for the Barnard Group in Portland. You up for a road trip? I’ll drive.” EV would spare no energy ensuring that she didn’t have to ride in Chloe’s car; the words death trap perfectly described the battered Mini Cooper. The vehicle itself was fine, save for a few scratches and dents, but the driver was a menace to society. EV wondered how many tickets Chloe had racked up over the years.

  “Okay, okay. You can drive. Let’s plan for the day after tomorrow. First thing in the morning.”

  “My morning or your morning?” EV asked with a mischievous glint in her eye. Chloe responded with an eye roll.

  “Put that rooster of yours out of my misery, and plan for a halfway reasonable hour. And bring coffee. Lots of coffee.”

  Chapter 3

  EV was meddling in her love life. If Chloe hadn’t been sure before, she was now.

  How dare she? And seriously—hello Pot, my name is Kettle. Guess what? You’re black!

  Arms crossed, pouting lips set in mutinous lines, Chloe decided EV needed a taste of her own medicine.

  Phase One—it was time to consult the one source she knew would have solid information about EV’s past. Her foot tapped a beat against weathered ceramic tile as she leaned against the kitchen island and dialed Lila’s number. Drumming fingers punctuated the tapping of her feet while she waited anxiously for her mother to answer the line. Lila could be anywhere in the world; last Chloe knew she was sunning herself on the Riviera, sipping cocktails served by hunky bronzed Frenchmen.

  “Hello, darling.” Lila’s husky voice greeted her daughter.

  “Hi, Mother, where are you now?” Sugar, one of Chloe’s Siamese kittens, rubbed against her calf and curled a dainty tail around her ankle. She reached down to stroke Sugar’s soft coat, scratching a favorite spot behind the kitten’s ears and eliciting an erratic but enthusiastic purr.

  “Tuscany, for the moment, but we’re headed to Barcelona in two days. You could meet us, you know, dear.” She sounded hopeful, but Chloe knew her mother didn’t actually expect her to accept the invitation.

  “I’m happy sticking close to home, but I hope you have a lovely time. Wait, who’s we?” Chloe hoped her mother hadn’t become embroiled in another relationship. Lila never had a hard time finding a man; in fact, she could have her pick. Willowy and blond, she was a taller version of Chloe. A healthy trust fund and a knack for investing negated the need for Lila to work a regular job; instead, she funneled considerable energy into maintaining her appearance and social standing. Well-known in certain European circles, Lila was considered quite a catch, and never lacked for male suitors. Foreign men flocked to her like bees to honey.

  “Well, I am traveling with a companion at the moment. I haven’t told you about Javier yet, have I?” Chloe rolled her eyes, but could practically feel the gleeful glow emanating from Lila through the telephone. Maybe this time would be different—but Chloe doubted it.

  A leopard doesn’t change its spots, Chloe mused while Lila waxed ecstatic about her new man.

&
nbsp; Chloe oohed and ahhed in all the right places as she picked at her cuticles absentmindedly. It was time for a girls’ beauty night, for sure. Mani-pedis, facials; the works. She’d call Veronica and Mindy later, and see what they were up to. Lila’s excited voice brought Chloe back to the conversation briefly, but after a few more moments ticked by; she began to lose focus again. By the next time they spoke, she knew Lila would have moved on to her next conquest. So what was the point of absorbing information about yet another man she would never meet?

  “I know you didn’t call simply to check in. What’s going on? Is everything alright?” Lila demanded after a long pause let her know Chloe wasn’t really listening.

  “Everything’s fine, Mom, I just wanted to pick your brain about something.”

  “Go on.” Lila sighed.

  “What can you tell me about EV’s past, romance-wise, I mean. Who was this guy who crushed her 20 years ago?”

  Another pause while Lila considered.

  “His name was Remy Vincent, and she thought he was her soul mate. The Vincents, along with your grandparents and EV’s parents, were the first three families to settle on the commune. EV’s father, Drew, studied agriculture, Remy’s dad handled the engineering side of things, and your grandfather was a whiz with the carpentry.”

  “I remember Drew and Anna, but I’m drawing a blank on the Vincents.”

  “You didn't have much contact with them, and they passed away when you were little. Early on, Remy was all about the community spirit and, for years, the three of us were inseparable. I watched him start to crush on her. It happened so slowly, so softly, I’m not sure he even realized what was going on. Once he did, I watched him go after her until she fell for him, too. There was nothing soft or slow about it. She trusted him, and let him take her under.”

  “It’s hard to picture her being that vulnerable.”

  “I honestly thought they would get the fairy tale ending.” Something wistful ran through Lila’s voice. “But as the years passed, I started to wonder if what I’d seen in him was love, or if it was simply the need to possess.”

  Chloe had hated him before she knew the details. Now that hate turned to loathing.

  “EV has always been a force of nature. Looking back, I think he was more interested in taming her than wanting a true relationship with her. We were too young to know the difference at the time.” What sounded like regret colored Lila’s voice. “Once he started spending part of each summer with his grandparents, his attitude turned to crap; condescending toward EV; toward his parents; toward the way of life we all loved. EV made excuses, but I could see it hurt her. After a few weeks, he’d drop the attitude, and things would settle down a bit. I thought it would be okay in the end. They left for college together, and everyone expected them to come back and start a family, but it never happened.”

  “Was something wrong? Like, physically?” That would explain why EV spent so much time among children, yet never had any of her own.

  “I’m not sure. I was pretty tangled up in my own life by then. All I know is that they came back from college and, a week later, he was gone. You’ll have to ask her if you want to know the rest.”

  “And what about you? Are you seeing anyone special?” Lila asked with mixed emotion. She wanted her daughter to have at least one meaningful relationship in her entire life, but not one that gave Chloe a reason to stay in Ponderosa Pines forever. Truthfully, Lila missed her daughter like crazy, but since they’d already fought about Chloe’s decision to return home, she decided to stay mute on the subject.

  “Actually, no. I’m not dating at the moment.” Chloe’s voice wavered slightly, which was a mistake. Lila was like a dog with a bone, and wouldn’t give up until Chloe bared her soul.

  “You don’t sound so sure. I know you too well; I can tell there’s someone you have your eye on. Spill.”

  “Well, I thought maybe Nate was going to…” Chloe trailed off; she hadn’t really wanted to discuss Nate with her mother, but knew it was pointless to try and get anything romance-related past Lila. “But since the night Ashton tried to kill himself, he’s been distant.”

  Lila breathed a sigh of relief. If Chloe had to get involved with someone in Ponderosa Pines, Nathaniel Harper would easily be Lila’s first choice. She knew Nate. He was smart, honest, successful, and most importantly, wouldn’t try to put her feisty daughter in a cage.

  “My advice is: talk to him about it. Put yourself out there. What’s the worst that could happen?”

  I could embarrass myself; get rejected; ruin a life-long friendship. No big.

  Bidding her mother safe travels, Chloe hung up the phone. Sugar’s sister, Spice, joined the game of rubbing against Chloe’s leg, occasionally swatting her sister away with the swipe of a paw.

  Circling the kitchen island and breakfast bar, Chloe set out two dishes of wet cat food and watched the kittens fall on the treat like ravenous beasts. Good grief, they acted as if they hadn’t eaten in a week. Once finished, they spent some time engaging in a bout of tandem whisker cleaning before following Chloe up the stairs to her home office.

  Still annoyed with EV for setting her up on the blind date with Roger, Chloe’s vindictive side reared its ugly head. She typed online dating into the search bar and surveyed her options. No, EV wasn’t religious in the traditional sense, nor was she of Jewish descent; she wasn’t a married woman looking to hook up with a married man; and Chloe hoped she wasn’t into any kinky sex stuff.

  Even the mere thought of that brought a shudder.

  Deciding to take the traditional route, Chloe chose a service aimed at general matchmaking, hoping the site’s promise to connect members based on mutual interests and dating preferences was legit.

  Two hours later, she had completed an exhaustive survey to the best of her ability, and uploaded a photograph of EV taken at the beach last summer. Framed by the brim of a funky straw hat, EV, in partial profile, gazed out toward where waves crested foaming white peaks. Warm light from an impending sunset brought out the flecks of gold and bronze in eyes the color of good, strong whiskey that matched the sable hair tucked behind her ears. Even in repose, EV gave off a sense of vibrant motion. Chloe had no doubt her friend would soon be receiving a flurry of emails from prospective dates.

  Hovering her mouse over the save button, she felt a momentary pang of guilt and nearly clicked cancel instead. Ignoring the feeling, Chloe remembered the look on EV’s face after Dalton kissed her; with a little more of the story clear, she knew her friend was running from the past. Ultimately, Chloe hoped EV would get out of her own way, and make room for love—let Dalton into her life.

  Maybe a few bad dates would make her realize exactly how rare it was to find a man like him. Well, I can always take Mother up on her offer to travel if EV gets too pissed at me; Barcelona should be far enough away…

  It would have amused both Chloe and EV to know that their plans for each other were almost identical.

  * * *

  “…whole box of old rope. Right out of the shed—while we were in the house. We never heard a thing.”

  EV glanced over her shoulder to double check that it was, indeed, her own neighbor, Celia, speaking. More thefts meant more headaches for her, for Nate, and for Dalton; not to mention the mix of feelings she had over her town being invaded. Things had barely begun to settle after the last scandal. Another one so soon had her heaving a sigh filled with annoyance and anxiety.

  Added to that, if this was the only mention she heard of the thefts all day, something was wrong. Why had no one else put two and two together yet? This kind of thing usually burned its way through the grapevine with a vengeance—unless she had been cut out of the loop. But that would never happen, would it?

  Still, harvest time—and autumn in general—was one of the busiest times of year for Ponderosa Pines. Battening down the hatches ahead of winter in the northeast took most people a few weeks.

  For those who burned wood for fuel, there was the gatherin
g, sawing, splitting, and stacking. Cleaning chimneys, tuning up snow-moving equipment, settling livestock, and putting gardens to bed for the winter had everyone scrambling to stay ahead of the first heavy snow, which could come anytime from mid-October on.

  Feeding acorn squash into bushel boxes, EV figured this was probably the last of the year’s fresh produce. Her own garden plot was barren now—save for the parsnips that would become sweeter when wintered over, and a patch of carrots in a sheltered spot that she was planning to cover with a generous amount of hay. Maybe that would be enough to keep the ground around them from freezing. Fresh carrots in the dead of winter would be welcome. And if the experiment went bust, she had canned plenty ahead.

  The last box of squash was nearly full when Horis sidled up next to EV. If a man his size could sidle, that is. Tall and raw-boned, Horis sported his seventies-style Fu Manchu mustache with pride. He ran a hand through hair in need of a good barber, and pushed his bottle-bottom glasses closer to his eyes before whispering out of the side of his mouth, “Miz Baleston over at the school says a box of old art supplies has come up missing. She’d set them out on the back step and forgotten to bring them inside again. By the time she remembered to grab them, they were gone. It’s an epidemic.”

  “She pointing fingers at anyone in particular?”

  “Not so far.”

  “You have any thoughts on the matter?” Horis was a solid judge of character, whether that character was of the human or animal variety. Generally quiet, when he did speak it was with certainty.

  “To tell you the truth, I don’t see how it’s any one of us from town. Don’t make no sense at all. Everyone hereabouts knows they can ask for something they need or want. Most times people are happy to comply.”

  “Who would come in from Gilmore or Warren to lift a bunch of cast-offs and useless junk?”

  Horis shook his head. “No sense at all.”

  Another thing to worry about—was the thought running through EV’s head. On top of trying to track down a blackmailer with almost nothing to go on, now she was in for a bout of soothing ruffled feathers and placating raw nerves. Some days all she wanted to do was crawl back into bed.