Thanksgiving by the Sea

by Kathi Daley

  Thirty minutes later, the nurse came out to tell us that Trinity was stable and resting comfortably. I thanked the nurse for letting me know and then Trevor and I left.

  “You don’t think she did that on purpose, do you?” Trevor asked.

  “If you’re asking if Trinity intentionally died so I could hear what she was trying to tell me, I don’t see how she could have. I don’t think someone can just will themselves dead. Can they?”

  “I don’t know, but the timing of everything is interesting. What if she could hear you trying to reach out to her, but she knew you couldn’t hear what she was trying to tell you? What if when she realized you were going to leave, she decided to go all in? Maybe she knew the medical team would resuscitate her once she had delivered her message.”

  “Seems sort of unlikely, but maybe. Lord knows after everything I’ve seen, there isn’t a lot I consider to be impossible.”

  “So, what now?” Trevor asked. “Do you still want to go by the courthouse and then have lunch, or do you want to go straight to Woody?”

  “Woody. I have no idea what Trinity was trying to tell me, but maybe Woody will know what aspen means.”

  “It could be a name, and of course, it is a tree.”

  “Or it could be a place. There is an Aspen Drive in Cutter’s Cove.”

  “And a park two towns over named Aspen Hollow,” Trevor added. “Oh, and there is a housing development south of Cutter’s Cove named Aspenwald. And there are a lot of aspen trees in the area, although I doubt she was referring to a tree.”

  “I guess we’ll start by talking to Woody,” I suggested. “He can talk to her boss and her sister and probably even get a look at her case files. If this woman actually died to provide me with this clue, you can darn well bet I’m going to figure out what it means.”

  I called Woody from the parking lot. He confirmed that he was in his office catching up on some paperwork, and I was welcome to come by. One of the men who worked under him was holding down the fort today in an official capacity, but Woody was the sort who could often be found in his office even on his day off.

  “So what’d you find out?” He asked after Trevor and I sat down across from him.

  I explained what happened at the hospital, including the revelation of the word aspen.

  “The word aspen doesn’t mean anything to me offhand, but you are correct in that it might be a name or a place. I’ll call and speak to her boss and see if I can find out if she was working with any clients named Aspen or if any of her clients lived on Aspen Drive or in the Aspenwald housing development.”

  “You might call and speak to her sister,” I suggested. “It occurred to us that Aspen could be a family member.”

  “I’ll do that,” Woody promised. “If I find anything relevant, I’ll call you.”

  “So about the other shooting,” Trevor jumped in. “Is there any truth to the rumor that Bryson Teller’s wife is a suspect in his murder?”

  Woody did this thing with his head that was sort of a nod and a shake. Based on the action, I couldn’t tell if he was trying to offer an affirmative or negative response. Eventually, he answered. “These cases have hit close to home since Trinity and Bryson worked closely with law enforcement. Bryson particularly had friends in the DA’s office, so of course, the rumors started off hot and furious from the moment he was shot. Bryson and his wife were indeed having marital issues, and their conflict had grown ugly as of late. I can see why there might be those who suspect her. Personally, I don’t think she is the shooter we are looking for, nor do I believe she hired someone to shoot her husband. I think that there are some people who need immediate answers and that they’ve jumped on the first bandwagon they stumbled across, but I’m not giving a lot of credence to the rumors at this point.”

  “Do you have any actual suspects?” I asked.

  “Detective Cobalter from the regional office has been assigned to take the lead on the case, although I am being kept up to date. As of this point, I know that no arrests have been made and that they are looking at Bryson’s open and recently closed cases, as well as his personal life.”

  “So now that you’ve had the chance to collect additional data, are you thinking that Bryson and Trinity were shot by the same person?” I asked.

  He frowned. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Logic would dictate that the shootings of two people in similar lines of work in a small town such as Cutter’s Cove within a twenty-four hour period would most likely be related, but short of proof one way or the other, I think the best thing I can do at this point is to look at the two cases as individual events. If a link between the two pops up, of course, I will pursue it.”

  “What about the open cases you mentioned earlier?” I asked.

  Woody picked up a file. “As you remember, Trinity and Bryson were working on a child custody case involving the maternal grandfather of seven-year-old twins and their stepdad. The biological mother of the girls, a woman named Maria Brown, named her husband, Alton Brown, as guardian of her daughters, Connie and Aurora. Both Maria and Alton have a record, which made Maria’s father, a man named Ben Bellingham, unhappy with his daughter’s decision to name Alton as the one to raise her daughters in the event of her death. Immediately after Maria’s death, Ben petitioned the court for custody of his granddaughters. Based on the notes I’ve read, it looked as if the grandfather was on the verge of getting what he was after, but then the biological father showed up and muddied things up by throwing his support behind the stepdad.”

  “I thought when we spoke earlier, you said the biological father was not involved in the lives of his daughters,” I said.

  “That was my understanding. If I had to guess, the stepdad and biological dad teamed up to defeat the grandfather. I’m not sure why, but both men are similar in that they seem to skirt the line between living productive lives and being in trouble with the law. Based on what I’ve found, it looks as if it was Maria’s father who was behind Maria’s decision to break up with Doug Cranmore, the biological father of the twins, and raise her babies on her own. When the girls were born, she was living with her father. I’m not sure at this point why Doug didn’t ask for any sort of visitation with his children, but he didn’t seem to pay child support, so I imagine the pair worked something out.”

  “So the biological father had reason to hold a grudge against the grandfather,” Trevor said.

  “Exactly,” Woody answered. “I’m honestly not sure why the stepdad is so determined to raise the girls. On the surface, he seems to approach life much like an overgrown child, but in terms of his stepdaughters, he has fought the grandfather every step of the way.”

  “The situation does seem to be volatile, but I’m not sure why anyone involved would shoot either the social worker assigned to the case or the attorney arbitrating it,” I said.

  “All I know for certain at this point is that it appeared that both Trinity and Bryson were siding with the stepdad in spite of his spotty history.”

  “So the shooter might have been the grandfather,” I said.

  “Theoretically. I spoke to the man, and all I can say is that he is desperate to gain custody of his granddaughters. I also spoke to the stepdad, and while he does seem to be somewhat immature, the twins seem to adore him, and they look happy and well cared for. I’m not saying that the grandfather was the shooter. In fact, I would be surprised if he was, but the amount of rage he seems to be running on was somewhat frightening.”

  “If the grandfather was the shooter, wouldn’t it make more sense to simply kill the stepdad if he wanted to get to the twins?” Trevor asked. “Why shoot the social worker and a family law attorney?”

  “You make a good point, a point I made when speaking to the detective in charge of Bryson Teller’s murder investigation. At this point, I have all the involved parties on my suspect list, but I don’t have a strong feeling it will turn out to be any of them.” Woody thumbed through the file. “However...”

  “However?” I
asked.

  “The biological father does live in the Aspenwald subdivision. Still, if the biological father of Maria’s girls was the one who shot Trinity, it seems that Trinity would have whispered Doug and not Aspen.”

  “I agree,” I said. “I think the fact that this man lives in this specific subdivision is a coincidence. What else do you have? What about the neglect case involving the four children under ten?”

  “As I stated before, initially Trinity was working with the parents, both who hold down two jobs, to rectify the fact that the children were left alone much of the time. After the oldest child set fire to the kitchen while trying to cook dinner for his younger siblings, Trinity decided that she had given the parents adequate time to fix the situation and that the best option at that point was to remove the children from their home. If you remember, the father of the children picked them up from school without permission with the intent of taking them to stay with his brother who lives out of state and in the end, he was arrested. While it does seem as if the father of these children might make a good suspect, he was still in custody when both Trinity and Bryson were shot.”

  “What about the mother?”

  “She was at work when Bryson was shot. She doesn’t have an alibi for the time that Trinity was shot, but while she struck me as being overworked and overwhelmed, she didn’t strike me as being the sort to kill a person, or in this case, attempt to kill a person.”

  “And the children?” I asked. “Where are they now?”

  “Foster homes.”

  “Are they together?” I wondered.

  Woody picked up the file and read over the notes. “No. The four-year-old and the six-year-old are with a local family, the eight-year-old was placed with a family in the next town over, and the ten-year-old is currently in a group home.”

  “Do you think the parents were intentionally neglectful?” Trevor asked.

  Woody looked up from the file. “Honestly, I don’t think so. I think they made some bad choices. I think they could have done more to utilize the help Trinity tried to offer them, and I think that choosing to leave the children alone in the house was a very bad idea, but I also believe both parents love their children, and while the choices they made were poor, I don’t think it was their intent to cause them harm.”

  “Anyone in the file named Aspen?” I asked.

  Woody looked back at the file in his hands. His eyes grew large. “Actually, yes. The eight-year-old girl living in the foster home in the next town over is named Aspen Jenkins.”

  I glanced at Trevor. “Perhaps we should check on her.”

  Woody nodded. “Perhaps. I’ll see what I can find out.”

  “And the third case we previously discussed? The one involving the fifteen-year-old whose mother was recently released from prison and has petitioned to have her son returned to her.”

  “At this point, it looks as if the case is in review, but there isn’t any indication that the boy will be returned to the mother. The foster parents have planned all along to keep the child with them until he reaches maturity and would have adopted him long ago, but the mother refused to give up custody. It appears as if Trinity was siding with the foster parents, but I don’t see any reason for anyone involved to have shot two people.”

  “Any reference to the word or name aspen in this case?” I asked.

  Woody picked up the file and thumbed through. “Nope. Not a one.” Woody set the file aside. “Now that I know we are looking for a person or place that links back to the clue Aspen, I’ll do some more digging. I’ll call and speak to both Trinity’s sister and Bryson’s boss. If I stumble across a smoking gun, I’ll let you know.”

  “Okay,” I said, standing up. “Trevor and I are going to go back to the courthouse and try one more time to connect with Bryson. My gut tells me he has moved on, but I do want to be sure. After that, we are going to go for a drive, but we’ll be in cell range so call or text if anything comes up.” I turned to leave. “Oh, and before I forget, Mom is making a big Thanksgiving dinner, and you are invited if you don’t have other plans.”

  He looked pleased. “I’d like that very much.”

  “Great. I’ll get back to you with a time, but Mom likes to eat a big holiday meal around mid-afternoon.”

  “Can I bring anything?” Woody asked.

  “Probably not, but I’ll check with Mom. I’m sure we’ll talk multiple times between now and then.” I took several steps toward the door. “And do let me know what you find out about eight-year-old Aspen. If she is in a bad situation or some sort of danger, I can see why Trinity might be willing to die to tell me.”

  “I’ll check on her right now and call you when I know more.”

  Chapter 5

  Trevor and I headed toward the courthouse after leaving Woody’s office. I really wasn’t expecting to find anything or anyone, but I figured I had to try. Since it was Saturday, the building was closed, which gave us the opportunity to look around the perimeter.

  “Bryson was standing in the center of the taped off area when he was shot,” I said to Trevor. “Court had just let out, and he was exiting the building. There were a lot of other people in the area, so the shooter must have been skilled to have picked him out the way he did.” I turned in a full circle and tried to view the environment as the shooter would have. “Whoever shot Bryson must have already been in place and waiting for him.” I turned and looked toward the office building across the street. “The shooter must have been set up over there.”

  “I agree with your assessment, but court let out a good two hours early on the day Bryson was shot. Do you think the shooter was just hanging around waiting?”

  I shrugged. “It is the only thing that makes sense. Unless, of course, the shooter knew that court was going to be dismissed two hours early that day. I wonder what case was being heard.”

  “I guess Woody might know.”

  I nodded. “I guess he might.”

  “As far as where the shot was fired from, I heard that a shell casing was found on the roof of that building and that it is assumed that is where the shot was fired from,” Trevor provided.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. That doesn’t feel right to me.” Turning slightly, I tried to imagine Bryson walking out the door and down the stairs. I tried to imagine the path of the bullet as it traveled from the building across to street toward Bryson’s chest. “If I had to guess, the shot was fired from one of the offices on the third or fourth floor and not from the roof.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Just a hunch. The roof is too open. It seems that if the shot had come from there, someone would have seen something. But if the shot came from one of the offices within the building, the shooter could have easily slipped out unseen during the confusion.”

  “I guess it could have happened that way,” Trevor admitted.

  “We need to figure out which office.”

  “Since it is Saturday, most are closed today. I suppose we can call Woody and he can try to get a warrant to search the building. Actually, given the situation, he might not even need a warrant. I think most of those offices are publically owned offices.”

  I shook my head. “That will take too long. I have a better idea. Alyson,” I called.

  She appeared. “What’s up?”

  “See the office building across the street?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I need you to pop into all the offices on the third and fourth floor. Take a look around and then come back and let me know if you find anything odd.”

  “Odd how?”

  “I think a sniper set up in one of those offices. Just look for an office that appears to be vacant or an office where the furniture looks to have been moved around recently. That sort of thing.”

  “Okay. I’m on it.” She disappeared.

  I turned to Trevor. “Alyson is taking a look around. I’m going to see if I can connect to Bryson’s spirit while we’re waiting.”

  “Do you
think he is here?” Trevor asked while I searched for the best place to sit and meditate.

  “Honestly, no, but I do want to be sure.”

  Heading across the courtyard to a bench beneath a dormant tree, I sat down and closed my eyes. Relaxing my mind, I focused on Bryson, inviting him in should he be in the area. As I suspected, I connected with no one. Eventually, I opened my eyes and looked at Trevor. “He’s not here. I really think he moved on immediately after his death.”

  “I guess that’s a good thing. For him, at least.”

  “It is.”

  Alyson appeared next to me. “So?”

  “So what?” Trevor asked.

  “Sorry. I was talking to Alyson. She’s back.” I turned my attention back toward Alyson. “So?”

  “The third office over from the end on the left side of the building on the fourth floor is empty and unoccupied and based on the amount of dust, I am going to say it has been unoccupied for quite some time. The second office over from the end on the same side on the third floor is likewise unoccupied, but it looks like the space might have had tenants a bit more recently. There are still a few random pieces of furniture inside each of the offices.”

  “Okay, good. Did you notice anything in either office that stood out as having been the office used for the shooting?”

  “Like what?”

  “A sniper rifle, for example.”

  “No. There was nothing like that. Although the office on the fourth floor did show scuff marks in the dust on the floor as if something had been moved recently.”

  “Okay, thanks. Before you go, can you sense the man who was shot? Is his spirit still around?”

  Alyson shook her head. “No. I think he must have already moved on.”

  “That’s what I thought as well. You can go, but stay close. I may need you again.”