Marshmallow Malice

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Marshmallow Malice Page 6

by Amanda Flower

Aiden waited with his arms folded and stared at Reverend Brook. It was the stance he used when interrogating suspects.

  After a few minutes, his patience paid off and Reverend Brook cracked. “She certainly had a drinking problem. It was clear to me the moment she walked into the community center.”

  “That’s not illegal as long as she didn’t drive,” I said.

  “I know.” Reverend Brook frowned. “She told me that she was involved with a man who was running an illegal still in Harvest Woods.”

  I blinked. “Like moonshine?”

  “Yes,” Reverend Brook said.

  “Is it illegal to have a still?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Aiden said. “If someone is selling moonshine without registering with the feds and paying taxes, it’s illegal. I assume this is the case.”

  Reverend Brook nodded. “And this is why I am responsible for her death. She was scared of that man, and I told the police about the still.”

  “You were the anonymous caller?” Aiden asked.

  The reverend nodded. “The sheriff’s department must have found the still, and he killed her in retaliation.”

  “Anonymous caller?” I asked, trying to follow the conversation without having all the pieces.

  Aiden glanced at me. “About a week ago, the department got a tip that there was an illegal still in Harvest Woods. We’ve been looking for it ever since. Harvest Woods is dense, and the moonshiners know how to camouflage their stills. It takes a good eye and a lot of luck to find their operations. We got lucky finding this still.”

  “You found it?” I asked. “Did you make an arrest?”

  Aiden shook his head. “Just confiscated the equipment. The people behind it must have gotten a tip we were on to them because they never came back.” He turned to Reverend Brook. “Why didn’t you tell the dispatcher who you were when you reported it?”

  “I didn’t want to worry Juliet, and I knew she would hear about it if I gave my name.” He licked his lips. “And also, it wasn’t a call I should have been making. Leeza told me this in confidence as her counselor. She was drunk at the time and may not have realized until much later what she told me. I breached her trust by calling the sheriff’s department.”

  “She realized it by the wedding,” I said, remembering the dramatic scene when she’d stormed inside the church in her tropical dress and called the reverend a traitor.

  Aiden frowned. “The department has been looking for the person responsible for the still ever since we discovered it. Last night was the only night we haven’t gone out.”

  “Because of the storm,” I said.

  He nodded. “Right.”

  “Sheriff Jackson took on this case personally,” Aiden said. “There hasn’t been a public announcement about finding the still because he doesn’t want to tip off the moonshiners.”

  “If you weren’t supposed to tell the sheriff’s department about the still, why did you?” I addressed my question to the minister.

  The reverend turned to me, and there was anger in his eyes that I had never seen before.

  “Drinking is so awful. It destroys families and ruins lives. If I can do something to stop it, I will,” he said with such ferocity that I took a step back. This wasn’t the quiet, timid minister I knew. This was a man with an edge.

  His anger faded. “Now, I must get ready for our Sunday morning service. The message today is particularly important.”

  “You’re still going to preach?” I asked.

  The reverend straightened his shoulders. “We will not let this evil person win by canceling church. The service will go on and we will pray for Leeza and for whoever did this to her.” He marched off, and I was surprised Aiden let him go. Aiden’s face was an impenetrable mask as he watched his mother’s new husband walk away. Maybe he was hiding the fact that he was afraid Juliet had made a mistake marrying the clergyman.

  I feared the same.

  CHAPTER TEN

  I wanted to ask Aiden his thoughts about the illegal still, Leeza’s death, and Reverend Brook’s behavior, but before I could do that, Deputy Little called him over from the top of the church steps.

  Aiden gave me a half smile. “I know you have a thousand questions, Bailey, and so do I. I don’t think we are going to get answers that will satisfy us any time soon.”

  I didn’t think so either. I watched Aiden join Little and the crime scene techs at the church door. I couldn’t see Leeza’s body and was just as happy that I couldn’t. The memory of it was something I wished I could forget.

  My goodness, that poor woman. Again, guilt washed over me. Should I have interrupted her argument with that man? Should I have stopped her from getting in the car?

  I felt something cold touch my bare leg and I jumped. Glancing down, I found Jethro looking up at me. The little pig seemed to have concern in his eyes, but I wasn’t sure if that sympathy was for me or for himself because he’d missed his second breakfast due to the murder.

  Juliet was a few paces behind him and looked as stressed as she had the day before when Dylan, the hairstylist, burned her hair. Juliet was still determined to hide the damaged hair. Today, instead of a hat she wore a strategically placed headband. It was polka-dotted, of course.

  “I thought you went inside,” I said.

  “I did, but Jethro ran back outside. I came to fetch him.” She smiled. “I think he wanted to make sure that you’re all right. You know the little pig has a soft spot for you.”

  I stared down at Jethro, and he cocked his head. He was cute. I had to give the little oinker that, but I hadn’t completely forgiven him for destroying my cake.

  Juliet’s eyes flitted in the direction of the church steps. “I just can’t believe this. First that woman storms into the church and tries to ruin my wedding, and now she is dead on the church steps. How can this be happening?” She blinked back tears.

  I didn’t know what to say.

  Juliet picked up Jethro and held the little pig tight. He kicked his legs. “What am I saying? I’m being selfish. That poor woman was dealing with her demons and now she is dead because of them. I should only feel sympathy for her and nothing else.”

  I patted Jethro’s head. Considering what had happened, I decided to forgive him for toppling the wedding cake the day before. His crimes were minor when compared with murder.

  Juliet wrinkled her nose.

  “What is it?”

  She snuggled Jethro close. “I feel awful that I’m thinking about myself, but . . .” She glanced at the steps again. “Does this mean the reverend and I can’t go on our honeymoon?”

  I winced. I hadn’t thought about that. Other than the wedding, all Juliet had talked about for weeks was her honeymoon to Prince Edward Island. They were leaving for the airport right after church, or they would have if this hadn’t happened. “You might have to postpone the trip.”

  Her face fell. “I know we must.” She couldn’t keep the disappointment from her voice. “We bought travel insurance. I hope this will qualify as a reason to postpone.”

  I hoped so, too, but I had never seen murder as one of the options to claim money back with travel insurance. Perhaps it could be filed under family emergency.

  I prayed that Aiden would clear up the case quickly, both for Juliet’s sake and to bring justice to Leeza. No matter what choices she’d made, or how rude she might have been to Reverend Brook or even to me, she didn’t deserve an end like this. What bothered me the most was the feeling that I could have prevented all this if I had only interrupted her and that man on the street. I had to find her killer.

  In the past, I had helped Aiden solve a murder case or two, but in those instances the murder always involved the Amish: Either the person killed was Amish or had a connection to the Amish community. I helped in those cases, sometimes with Aiden’s blessing and sometimes not, because my grandmother was Amish and beloved in the community. That connection made it easier for me to find out information than it would be for Aiden, who, as a member of
law enforcement, was distrusted on sight. From what I knew about Leeza, she had no connection to the Amish.

  Juliet grabbed my hand. “Maybe you could help Aiden find the person who killed that poor woman?”

  “Juliet, you know Aiden doesn’t want me to help on his cases,” I said, even though I had been thinking the same thing.

  She shook her head. “He may say that, but he loves your help.”

  I was pretty sure he barely tolerated my help, but I wasn’t going to say that to his mother. Instead, I asked, “What do you know about Leeza? I mean, I got the impression that Reverend Brook has told you some things about her.”

  She blinked at me, and then her face cleared. “Oh, see, you are listening to me. You are asking as part of your investigation. I knew you would decide to help.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but before I could, she said, “I didn’t know anything about Leeza, at least until last night. After the reception was over and the reverend and I were alone, I asked him to explain to me who she was and why she’d stormed into the wedding like that. I believed as his wife I deserved an explanation.”

  “You most certainly did, but . . .” I stared at her. “You didn’t know who she was when you told the other minister to go on with the wedding?”

  “No, I didn’t know.”

  “And you were still willing to marry Reverend Brook without knowing who she was and what her accusations meant?” I asked. In my head, that sounded crazy. I would have at least postponed the wedding for an hour so I could get an answer from the man I was about to marry.

  “I couldn’t do that. That would make Reverend Brook think I didn’t trust him, and I do trust him. I knew there must have been some sort of misunderstanding that had upset the woman, but I knew my husband could not be at fault. Reverend Brook is too good, too pure, to have done her any wrong.”

  I wanted to argue with her that no one was perfect, but I stopped myself. Instead, I asked, “What did he tell you?”

  “He told me that he counseled her at the community center and she had a drinking problem. He guessed that she was drunk when she stormed the church. She was a troubled woman, and he told me that being a pastor’s wife meant I would at times have to deal with other people’s troubles.”

  I wondered if Juliet knew about the still. She hadn’t mentioned it, and knowing Juliet as well as I did, I thought she would have told me if she had heard about it.

  “He was just trying to help her,” Juliet said. “And she acted out in such an embarrassing way.” She squeezed her hands together so tightly, her knuckles turned white.

  If Juliet didn’t know about the still, I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her.

  “I can tell you think it was unwise of me to marry the minister after that disruption in the church yesterday.”

  I thought it was more than unwise; I thought it was crazy. But I kept those thoughts to myself.

  The county coroner came down the steps of the church and nodded at me as he passed by. I knew him because of Aiden’s job and because I wasn’t a stranger to finding dead bodies. There was movement at the top of the stairs, and two crime scene techs picked up the stretcher bearing the body bag and started down the steps.

  “Oh!” Juliet had to look away.

  I did, too. Even though I couldn’t see Leeza’s face now, I would always remember what it looked like.

  “Juliet, what is happening?” a high-pitched voice asked.

  Juliet spun around, still holding Jethro to her chest.

  The other woman looked familiar to me, but many people who went to Juliet’s church did. She was petite and wore a cream-colored linen dress that I would wrinkle if I even dared to touch it. Her graying, strawberry-blond hair was sleek and fell to her shoulders. Over her right arm she carried a designer handbag, something that I would have seen every day in the city but was much more uncommon in Amish country. The name of the designer was on it for all to see.

  Juliet’s cheeks flushed. “Christine, there has been an accident.”

  “It looks like much more than an accident. Was that a body bag they put in the back of the ambulance? Is Reverend Brook all right? It would be just a shame if something happened to him the day after the wedding.” She placed a hand on her cheek.

  “No, no.” Juliet set Jethro on the grass. “The reverend is fine. Sadly, a young woman passed away. My son and the other deputies are trying to find out what happened.”

  Christine’s face cleared. “That is good to hear. If anyone can get to the bottom of this, it’s Aiden. Kayla always says he’s the one you can count on.”

  I frowned. The way she said that made me uneasy.

  Juliet’s eyes widened. “Yes, well, Aiden is a good man.”

  I cleared my throat.

  “Oh my,” Juliet said. “I’m sorry. Christine Kepler, I’d like you meet Aiden’s fiancée, Bailey King. I’m sure you have seen Bailey around the church. She visits here often with Aiden.”

  I froze when Juliet said “fiancée.” I wondered what I could possibly say to her at this point to discourage her from forcing a wedding on Aiden and me.

  I recognized Christine’s name from the wedding guest list. At the time, all Juliet had told me about her was that she was a member of the church. Most of the guests were church members. There was no reason for me to take special notice of her name. Maybe I should have.

  Christine held out a hand to me. When I took her fingers, they were ice cold. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  I dropped her hand as soon as it was polite.

  “You and Aiden are engaged?” Christine asked in a sharp voice.

  “No,” I said, and glanced at Juliet. I didn’t know how many times I had corrected her on this point over the last few months. The worst of it had been when my parents were in Harvest for Mother’s Day. Both my mom and his had been determined to have Aiden and me engaged before my parents returned to Connecticut. I was grateful that we had been able to resist. Aiden and I would become engaged when both of us were ready and not a moment before. When that moment would come, it was hard to say.

  The wrinkle in Christine’s brow smoothed. “I’m so glad to hear that.” She narrowed her eyes at Juliet. “You know that things are supposed to have happened a certain way.”

  Juliet’s mouth made a little “o” shape, and I was certain I was missing something important. However, unless it had to do with Leeza’s death, I didn’t want to know. What I had learned during my year in Amish country was that gossip was a useful tool for gathering information, but it didn’t always lead to the right information.

  Juliet scooped Jethro up again. “I should go check on the reverend. Christine, I hope you plan to stay for Sunday services. Reverend Brook would like to continue. He’s writing a special prayer right now for Leeza. He is such softhearted man.”

  “Yes, I plan to stay.” She sniffed. “I attend every week, not like some others who tend to visit when it’s convenient.”

  I raised my brow. Was that dig aimed at me? I wasn’t a regular churchgoer. For the most part, I went on major holidays and when Charlotte played the organ.

  “You run along, Juliet. I will be in in a moment. We are going in the back way, I take it.” It was more of a statement than a question.

  Juliet bit her lip. “Yes, that’s right.” She fidgeted with Jethro’s collar, and I wondered what on earth was going on. It was clear to me that these two women had some kind of history. I didn’t want to be caught in the middle of it. I had enough to worry about with my Bailey’s Amish Sweets show hitting the small screen and my guilt feelings over Leeza’s death.

  Juliet shifted her feet, and Christine stared her down with one eyebrow raised. Finally, Juliet said her goodbyes and walked around the side of the church to the back door.

  Hoping to get away from Christine, I muttered something about its being nice to meet her and took one step.

  “Bailey, before you go—” Christine said.

  I turned.

  “I would li
ke you to meet my daughter.”

  Behind Christine, the redhead who’d asked Aiden for a dance at the wedding approached us. Like her mother, she was dressed in an expensive day dress and heels, and here I was, in shorts and T-shirt. My dark hair was piled on the top of my head in a knot. I’d yet to take a shower. I’d thought, mistakenly, that I could run in and out of the church without being seen. That possibility had flown away the moment I found Leeza on the steps.

  Christine’s daughter stared up at the ambulances and sheriff department’s cars around the parking lot. “What’s happened?”

  Christine wrapped her arm around the shoulders of her daughter. “There’s been an incident,” she said vaguely. “I’ll tell you after church.” Christine shook her head. “I knew something bad was bound to happen if Juliet and the reverend married. I didn’t know that someone would die, but something was bound to happen.”

  “You think a woman was killed because of their wedding?” I asked incredulously.

  “Well, I was at the wedding, and that woman did make a scene.” She adjusted her handbag on her arm and turned to her daughter again. “My dear, here’s someone you need to meet.”

  I was at least six inches taller than either woman and felt like an Amazon as I shifted back and forth on my large feet.

  Cass’s voice rang in my head. “Just always dress like you will be in a car accident. You don’t want to look like a wreck when you are in the middle of one.” Clearly, this wasn’t a situation Cass would have found herself in, at least not with messy hair. I knew she was back at my little rental house, showered, dressed all in black, with her makeup on point. I should have sent her to check the church in the first place.

  “Bailey, this is my daughter, Kayla.” Christine beamed at the younger woman.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” I said, wondering why Christine felt the need to introduce us at this moment, with so many police and crime scene techs milling about.

  Kayla held out her hand. It was just as cold as her mother’s. “Oh, you’re the girl who fell in the cake!” She covered her mouth. “What a shame.”

  I ground my teeth.

 

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