by Kathi Daley
“If there’s something under the cabinet I’m not sure how we’ll get it,” I said.
Finn lay down on the floor with a flashlight and peered under the cabinet. “I do see something. It looks like a paper from a pad of sticky notes.” Finn stood up and looked around. He opened the toolbox and found a long screwdriver. Then he lay back down and used the screwdriver to get hold of the paper and pull it toward him. When he stood up he read it. “It just says Amber. There are two dates written under the name, April 12, 1999, and November 6, 2014. Does this mean anything to either of you?”
Tara and I both said it didn’t.
“I noticed a pen on the desk,” I said aloud. “And the stack of yellow sticky notes had been left on the center of the desk. I wonder if Paula made a note during her call. She might have had the note in her hand and dropped it as she passed this part of the room. I suppose if the note fell to the floor at just the right angle it could have ended up under the cabinet.”
“Do you recognize Paula’s handwriting?” Finn asked.
I looked at the note. “No. But it isn’t mine or Tara’s either.”
“If Paula used the pad in the office to make this note we might be able to confirm it.”
Finn headed to the door and Tara and I followed him back to the office. He scratched a pencil over the surface of the note on the top of the pad. The dates on the note we’d found were clearly recognizable.
“Okay, so Paula came into the office to use the phone after you decided to take a break. During the course of her call she had reason to jot down the name and the dates. Shortly after she completed her call she was murdered in the storeroom.”
“Do you think the note and the murder are connected?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Finn admitted. “But I intend to find out.”
Chapter 5
“So what now?” Tara asked after Finn left. We were standing on the walkway in front of the bookstore because Finn had locked the door and replaced the crime scene tape.
“Finn suggested we speak to the women who attended book club individually. He’s going to do the same thing, but he thinks they might be more open with us than they will be with him or one of the other men investigating the murder.”
“Do you think any of them even knows about Paula yet?” Tara asked.
“Probably not. Finn has spoken to a few people, though, so maybe word has gotten around. I thought maybe we’d start with Jane and Barbara. They seemed to know Paula better than the others. Maybe there was something going on in Paula’s life that would help to give us some perspective.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” Tara glanced at the front door. “I don’t think this thing really hit me until we went back inside this morning. There was so much blood. I didn’t remember there being so much blood.”
I frowned. “The power was off last night, so we wouldn’t have noticed the amount of blood, but there really was a lot of it. Doesn’t it seem that if you were standing in front of someone and you stabbed them in the chest you would have blood spatter on your clothes?”
Tara’s eyes grew wide. “It does seem like you’d get at least some blood on your clothes. In fact, if the killer actually penetrated Paula’s heart there would be a lot of blood spatter. I suppose if it was on your skin, your hands, or your arms, you could wash it off. But your clothes?”
I took a moment to consider the idea. “It was pretty dark once the lights went off and everyone did have jackets with them. I suppose the killer could have had blood on her clothes but was able to slip her jacket on before anyone noticed.”
“That would mean she didn’t rejoin the group until after everyone else gathered to leave,” Tara pointed out. “Do you remember if anyone was missing when we all huddled together during the worst of the storm?”
I thought about it. “I don’t remember anyone being missing, but then, I didn’t notice Paula was missing either, so who knows?”
Tara wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Up to this point this hasn’t felt real. I knew it happened, but in a way it felt like a really bad dream. But when I walked into the storage room and saw all that blood it really hit me. I’m surprised I managed to get through it without passing out.”
“I know what you mean. It was pretty intense. Why don’t you follow me to my cabin? I’ll drop off Frank and my car and we can ride together.”
“Okay. I’ll be right behind you.”
******
Jane was home but scheduled to work a swing shift at the hospital, so we started with her. She asked us to meet her at her home, which was just a half mile from the hospital. She greeted us at the front door dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. Jane was a petite woman with dark brown eyes, fair skin, and dark curly hair she wore in a ponytail. The red rim around her eyes gave evidence to the fact that she’d been crying. I stepped inside and wrapped her in a comforting hug.
“I can’t believe this happened,” Jane began. “I work in a hospital. I’ve seen a lot of horrible things. But this… This makes no sense.”
“We agree,” Tara said as she stepped in for a hug as well before the three of us headed into the main living area, where Jane indicated we should take a seat on the sofa. “The main reason we’re talking to book club members today is to try to make sense of a situation that simply doesn’t.”
Jane sat down on a chair across from us. “Do you think someone from book club killed her?”
“We aren’t sure,” I said. “On the surface I can’t think of a single person in the group who would. Still, the back door was locked from the inside and we didn’t notice anyone come in or go out of the front door other than book club members. By the process of elimination, it seems someone from our group must have been the killer. Can you think of anyone Paula was having problems with?”
Jane hesitated, averting her eyes, which indicated to me that someone had come to mind.
“All we’re doing right now is talking to people. If you know something it would be very helpful if you’d share it with us,” I added.
“I’m not accusing anyone of anything, but I guess you heard Paula and Henry separated recently,” Jane began.
“I had heard that,” I confirmed.
“Paula believed Henry had been unfaithful,” Jane continued. “At first I believed that to be true. I mean, why would she make it up? But after a couple of weeks her story began to change and become more complicated. After a bit I began to wonder.”
“Change how?” I asked.
“Initially, Paula told me Henry was cheating on her with a woman he worked with. She said he’d been unfaithful before and she’d come to the end of her rope. She told me that she planned to kick him out of the house. In the beginning I supported her a hundred percent. I don’t think any woman should feel she has to stay with a man who strays. But then she began to change her story.”
“How?” I asked again.
“For one thing, the identity of the woman Henry was cheating with. Paula started off by telling me he was cheating with a woman he worked with, but then, about two weeks ago, she told me Henry was cheating with Giselle Bowman.”
“Giselle?” I asked with surprise.
“I found it odd too. Paula’s accusation against Giselle seemed to come out of nowhere. I asked Paula if she was sure and she told me that she’d seen them together. The whole idea felt off to me, but Giselle is extremely attractive and she’s single and around the same age as Henry. I guess it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that he’d be attracted to her. And Henry is fairly good-looking as well and has a good job and seems to have a fun and outgoing personality. I guess stranger things have happened. I mean, people have affairs all the time.”
“You don’t sound totally convinced despite your words,” Tara commented.
“That’s because I’m not. Like I said, something just felt off.” Jane paused. “Based on conversations I’d had with Paula in recent weeks, it seemed she was dealing with something heavy. She’s
always tended toward mood swings, but lately she’d been depressed and distracted. I suppose finding out your husband is cheating on you would be enough to explain her overall mood, but it felt to me like there might be something more.”
“Do you have any idea what that something more might be?” Tara asked.
“No. Not really. I know she was upset about the situation with Henry, but the fact that she seemed unsure about the details bothered me. Still, even though I’m really not sure how I feel about Paula’s assertion that Henry was cheating with Giselle, if someone at the meeting did kill Paula I guess you should talk to her. If Giselle was cheating with Henry I guess that gives her motive to want Paula out of the way, and if she wasn’t cheating with Henry but Paula was going around telling everyone she was, that might make her pretty mad.”
I supposed Giselle did make a pretty good suspect. “Last night, after we announced the break, Paula went into the office to make a phone call. Do you remember seeing anyone else heading in that direction?”
“I went straight to the bathroom. I got there first and didn’t see Paula at all. When I came out Barbara, Alice, and Stephanie were in line. I went back into the bookstore, where the others were having coffee. People were scattered around the room talking. I chatted with Gwen for a while, and I remember seeing Barbara with Martha. I don’t specifically remember anyone being missing, but I wasn’t looking for that either.”
I hesitated before asking my next question. Finn hadn’t told me not to mention the note we’d found in the storage room, but it felt like something he might not want publicized, “Did Paula ever mention someone named Amber?” I finally asked.
Jane frowned. “The name doesn’t ring a bell. Do you think someone named Amber is involved in this?”
“Not necessarily. It’s just a name that came up.” I glanced at Tara. She didn’t seem to have any additional questions. “I just have one last question. Do you happen to know when Paula and Henry got together?”
“I’m not sure when they met, but Paula mentioned a couple of months ago that they were coming up on their fifth wedding anniversary, although she wasn’t sure they’d make it, based on the way things were going.”
“So that would mean they were married in 2012?”
“That would be my assumption.”
“Do you know if Paula was ever married before Henry?”
“She never mentioned it. Having said that, we usually discussed things like news, books we’d read, movies we wanted to see. We weren’t the sort of friends who shared information about our lives prior to our meeting each other or even the really intimate details of our current lives.” Jane paused, seeming to consider something. “I know you probably can’t get access to her medical records, but you might want to ask Finn if he has. I can’t say for certain, but in my opinion Paula seemed to be demonstrating symptoms normally seen in individuals with bipolar disorder. If she does suffer from it, she might not have been taking her meds.”
“Thanks; we will,” Tara said.
We spoke with Jane for a few more minutes, then headed to Barbara Jenkins’s house. Barbara was involved in community theater with Paula, and though they didn’t seem to be superclose friends, I knew they did get together socially. Next to Jane, we figured Barbara was the club member Paula would be most apt to confide in. Barbara, a woman of average height with short brown hair, greeted us at the door with a diaper slung over one shoulder.
“Please come in and ignore the mess,” Barbara said. “Not only do I have my two- and four-year-olds, but today I’m watching my sister’s two children, who are eight months and three years.”
“Wow, you really have your hands full. We appreciate your taking the time to speak to us,” Tara offered with a smile.
“I’m happy to help in any way I can. The older kids are watching cartoons in the den and I just finished putting the younger two down for naps, so I should have a few minutes to talk. Can I get you anything to drink?”
“No. Thank you,” I answered. “We’ll try to be brief so we don’t take up too much of your time.”
Tara started off by asking the usual questions regarding Paula’s relationship with the other members of the book club. Barbara felt certain no one from the group could have killed Paula, that there had to be another explanation, though Tara reminded her that Paula had been killed, and in a closed environment, and asked her opinion of who in the group might have had a problem with her in the days before her death.
This time we weren’t surprised when Barbara mentioned Giselle.
“When Paula told me Henry was cheating with Giselle I wasn’t sure what to think about it. I started watching Giselle at the meetings and she seemed to be interacting with Paula in a normal manner. If I were having an affair with some woman’s husband I’d think it might cause me to act awkwardly, be secretive, maybe even a little defensive, but Giselle seemed open and friendly to Paula whenever they exchanged words.”
“So you think Paula might have been lying?” Tara asked.
“I wasn’t sure at first, but about a week ago I mentioned to a friend of mine, who also knows Paula from the community theater, that she and Henry had split. She told me she’d heard about it and she said this wasn’t the first time Paula had kicked Henry out. In fact, she told me that her husband and Henry knew each other from the adult basketball league they both played in. Henry told him this was the third time Paula had decided he was cheating and thrown him out. He also told his wife that Henry claimed he’d never cheated once since he’d married Paula.”
I remembered Henry had told Finn the same thing.
“What do you think about all this?” I asked.
“After I spoke to my friend I began to think back over the various conversations I’ve had with Paula. It occurred to me that there were other situations when she seemed to get things wrong. I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say she was intentionally lying, but she definitely tended to remember things incorrectly. I began to wonder if somehow things regarding Henry and Giselle started as a misconception and spiraled into something with no basis in reality.”
“As far as you know, did Giselle know what Paula suspected?” Tara asked.
Barbara shrugged. “I have no idea if Paula ever confronted her, but I don’t think so. Giselle seemed fine last night. I didn’t notice any tension between them. Wouldn’t there have been tension if Paula had said something to her? You should ask Giselle. My feeling is that she’ll be as surprised by all this as we are.”
“I understand from speaking to some of the others that Paula has been acting odd lately,” Tara commented.
“Yes, as I said, she seemed to be confused over the past couple of weeks.”
“One of the people we spoke to suggested she might be bipolar.”
Barbara frowned. “She never talked about anything like that, but it would explain a lot. Can’t you speak to her doctor about it?”
“Finn would be the one to do that. I was just curious whether she’d ever mentioned being on medication to you,” Tara explained.
“No. We never spoke of our medical issues with each other.”
Tara paused, and I decided to change the direction of the conversation a bit. “After we took our break last night Paula asked to use the phone in the office. Did you see anyone else headed in that direction?”
“I went straight for the restroom but wasn’t quick enough. Jane got there first, so I waited by the door. Alice got into line behind me and Stephanie was behind her. I didn’t see Paula at all and the bathroom is in the same hallway as the office, so she must have either gone into the office while I was in the restroom or maybe she’d already gone inside the office and remained there until after I joined the others for coffee.”
“And do you remember if anyone was missing from the main room when you returned?” I asked.
“I didn’t pay all that much attention. I chatted with Martha for a bit and then Alice joined us when she got back from the restroom. I also saw Jane talking to Gwen. I ca
n’t vouch for the others, but to be honest, I didn’t know anything was going to happen so I wasn’t exactly taking notes. I’m pretty sure everyone was around at the end, when we all gathered together to wait out the storm.”
“Except Paula,” Tara pointed out.
Barbara sighed. “Yes, except Paula. I guess if I didn’t notice she wasn’t with us I might not have noticed the killer was missing either. This is just so upsetting.”
Tara reached out to squeeze Barbara’s hand before asking her next question. “The way I remember it, Cait and I spoke to each other for a few minutes before Paula asked us if she could use the phone. If you headed directly to the restroom Paula must have gone into the office while you were inside. If Alice and Stephanie were in line they should have seen her go in there.”
“I suppose,” Barbara answered.
“I just have one last question,” I spoke up. “Did Paula ever mention anyone named Amber to you?”
Barbara twisted her mouth as she considered the question. “No. The name doesn’t ring a bell. Should it?”
“Not necessarily. It’s just a name that came up and I wanted to ask about it.”
Chapter 6
We thanked Barbara for her time and returned to Tara’s car, sitting for a minute in front of the house to discuss the situation. We both felt we could eliminate Barbara and Jane as suspects. They seemed to have alibis and to really care about Paula. It sounded like there was a line at the bathroom at least initially, so chances were Paula had left the office and entered the storeroom after the lights went out. Of course, that didn’t make any sense. We needed to ask Stephanie if anyone had gotten into line for the bathroom behind her. If not, it may have been empty before the power outage.
“It’s lunchtime,” Tara said. “Let’s grab a bite to eat and then come up with a strategy for the afternoon. The sooner we get this wrapped up the sooner we can reopen the bookstore.”