Fatality by Firelight

by Lynn Cahoon

  He did as she instructed, a big grin on his face. “Satisfied I’m not packing?”

  Cat watched him. He reminded her of a big kid. She wondered what all he’d tell her if he thought she was relaxed. She walked toward the stove and the pot of stew. “Do you want some stew?”

  He laughed. “I can’t believe you. I know Uncle Dante told you what I did, and you still want to break bread with me? What are you, a religious nut?”

  “Actually, you interrupted my dinnertime and I’m hungry. And I don’t like eating alone.” She shrugged. “I don’t care if you eat or not. Why are you here?”

  “I was wrong to break into the house and try to scare you. I thought if I found out what Michael knew, the family would let me leave school and I could go to work with them. I hate hanging out here, waiting for them to say I’m grown enough to be part of the business.” He stopped by the stove. “This does smell good. You really don’t mind if I eat?”

  “If you’re not here to kill me, I’ll feed you.” Cat smiled at Martin’s reaction. He looked like she’d hit him with some invisible whip.

  “Honestly, I’m not much of a killer.” He poured stew into a bowl, picked up a spoon, and then joined her at the table. “Not like that guy Uncle Dante brought in. Man, he was scary. Too bad Tommy had already left the building by the time he got here.”

  “I heard the contract killer got stiffed.” Cat wondered why he was telling her all this. Had his uncle told him she was trustworthy? Boy, Dante had gotten that wrong.

  “Yeah.” Martin laughed. “The guy was POed. Then when he tried to kidnap that girl to see if she was the one who took his mark, Uncle Dante wanted to shoot him just for the fun of it. Sometimes people are too single-minded for their own good.”

  “Christina said you helped her find a ride back Monday night. I appreciate it.” Cat finished her stew and watched the kid eat like he hadn’t had a home-cooked meal for years. “So I take it you didn’t kill Tommy either?”

  “Believe me, I wanted to. I was going to the suite to get rid of him. Heck, I set him up with the free room, just for that purpose. But then he goes into town to get the girl, and she didn’t need to see that. So I thought I’d come back later, after I got her off the mountain.” He dropped his gaze. “Don’t tell Uncle Dante any of this, okay? He’s already afraid I’m too soft for the business. If he hears I played white knight in this deal, he’d tell me to become an accountant for real.”

  “Why did your uncle want Tommy dead?”

  He scraped the bottom of the bowl and held it up. “Do you mind if I get more? This is so much like Mom’s stew.”

  “Go ahead.” Cat watched as he jumped up, refilled the bowl, and returned to his seat before she could change her mind.

  He took another bite. “The why?” He shrugged. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but Tommy was an idiot. He was on probation with the family anyway, and then he messes up a simple assignment. Can you believe he stole the wrong book? What a joke.”

  “And your uncle was mad enough to put a hit on him for that?” Cat pushed her bowl away. The conversation had soiled her appetite. “That seems excessive.”

  “Uncle Dante has a temper. But anyway, Tommy was dead before anyone on our side could do the job.” He drained the last of the stew. “Look, I wanted to say I was sorry, and I hope you and your friend take the lodge up on our weekday specials sometimes. I’ll keep you in alcohol all night. Free of charge.”

  “We’re thinking about it.” Seth was going to be sad he missed this. It was like watching a television show where it was opposite day. “Thank you for apologizing. That means a lot to me.”

  After he left, Cat relocked the door and watched as the young man sprinted out to a waiting stretch Hummer. She leaned against the wall, trying to get her heart beat to slow. “Oh, Michael, what did you get yourself into?”

  She remembered the last journal entry she’d read. Had Martin been tormenting Michael too? She needed to stay out of this. To take all the notebooks out to the middle of the yard and have a bonfire. Definitely, that’s what she should do. Her last doubt about what happened to Michael disappeared as his words haunted her.

  I’ve been officially warned. The dead rat on my desk at the house wasn’t just sent to me, I know they meant Catherine to see it. Thankfully, I got it out of the house before she saw the creature. I can tell she thinks something’s going on, but she won’t ask. In order to get her to leave, I’m going to have to up the stakes. I hate to do this to her, to us, but maybe once this is over, we can be together. Or am I just spinning this pipe dream for my own well-being? I hope she can forgive me for what I’m about to do. ~~ Michael

  Chapter 20

  “I thought I heard you talking to someone?” Jennifer Simon looked around the empty kitchen. Spying the stew, she squealed and ran to the stove. “Is that for us? Can I have a bowl before I head back to the dorm?”

  Cat rinsed her bowl and turned toward the stove to make a cup of tea. “Go ahead. Shauna hates to have anyone leave the retreat hungry.”

  “This is totally the best. All the guys in my graduate classes were way jealous when I was chosen for this week. You know, everyone has their name on the list to be chosen. It’s a real coup.” She filled a bowl and headed to the table. “Of course, that first chick, Sara, she almost ruined it for all of us. Can you believe she was sleeping with that old goat?”

  Cat pressed her lips together to keep from agreeing with Jennifer’s assessment of the last English department dean’s age. “It was apparent that Larry Vargas had some mental issues. I don’t blame Sara for being taken in. Sometimes women can be naïve, especially when they think they are in love.”

  “I hope I’m never that way. I mean, look at poor Christina. All she’s done this week is run after one guy and then another. And now they’re fighting.” Jennifer sipped her stew. “Women should get their degree and start a career before they even think about adding a love interest to their lives. I mean, look at you—you were a professor before you were married, right?”

  “It happened about the same time. But I dated one person all through high school and college.” Cat thought about her last fight with Seth. He’d wanted her to give up graduate school and move to Washington with him.

  Okay, well, that wasn’t quite fair. He’d suggested she transfer to a Washington program. She’d been the one to go off about losing all the contacts she’d built over the last four years. She’d been planning on teaching at Covington probably since she could walk. She still felt loyal to the school, even with all the dirty little secrets that had come to light in the last year.

  “Well, I still feel women should wait. Men don’t give up everything to have a baby or get married. They keep working, keep developing their career. My thesis deals with this gender inequality in fictionalized form.” Jennifer looked at her watch. “I’m meeting my study group at two. I guess I better get going. Thank you again for a lovely retreat. It felt like I was on a luxury vacation rather than just a few blocks from the college.”

  Then Jennifer’s words sank in. “Wait, who’s fighting?”

  But Jennifer had already taken off at a trot, and Cat’s question fell on an empty hallway.

  Cat took her bowl to the sink then walked toward the kitchen door. Restless, she grabbed the accounting she’d promised to review for Shauna. Actually, she’d asked her to put a standing appointment each month on her calendar, but with the book deadline and now the retreat, Cat had been wanting to do anything but numbers in her free time. This seemed like as good a time as any.

  Fifteen minutes into the review, a tap sounded on the kitchen door. She looked up to see her uncle standing on the back porch. Opening the door, she waved him in. “Sorry the door’s locked. I’m alone this afternoon. Well, alone with two guests left. I’m just being cautious.”

  “Not a bad thing, especially with your track record.” He went to the stove. “This place smells like home. What is Shauna cooking today?”

  “Beef
stew. Go ahead and have some. I think we’re going to have to cancel dinner tonight. Shauna and Seth are still at the airport. I’m hoping at least one of them gets here to drive the last shuttle to the airport or I’m going to have to squeeze the remaining guests and their luggage into Shauna’s little compact.” She grabbed two sodas out of the fridge and returned to the table. Closing out the accounting program, she made a mental promise to finish the review first thing in the morning. “So how did your library visit turn out?”

  “The woman is stark raving mad. First she’s yelling at me that I let the thief take the second book; then she’s all, ‘What second book?’” Uncle Pete sat across from her and dug his spoon into the stew. “Maybe she’s got that old-person disease. The one that makes you forget stuff?”

  Or maybe someone paid her off well enough to look the other way. Cat wanted to tell her uncle about the latest Dante visit with her new best friend, Martin. But honestly, what could she add to his knowledge of the situation? Uncle Pete had already told her that the hired killer hadn’t been in time to do his job. And he suspected Dante was the guy who set the hit in motion. All of this over a little book. She sighed.

  “You look like you need to confess something. Like when you and Seth took off for Denver for the SATs and forgot to tell your mom you were staying for a concert that night.” Uncle Pete was watching her.

  “I just don’t know that what I know is important.” She stood and returned the laptop to the desk. “Can we talk about Tommy’s death and the other weirdness this week in hypotheticals? That way, you don’t get in trouble for leaking information on an open investigation, and if I do have more info than you, I don’t feel guilty.”

  “Cat, I’ve told you to stay out of this.” Uncle Pete stood to refill his bowl. “But since the murder investigation is at a stall right now, I guess reviewing the facts wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

  “I’ll start then.” Cat went on to tell her uncle about how she’d learned Tommy had taken on the job of stealing the Hemingway book. And, according to Brit, Tommy had taken the wrong one.

  “I’ve known Bernie O’Malley was on the fringes of the family, but getting a loan from them is like signing a deal in blood with the devil. I didn’t think he was that stupid or desperate.” Uncle Pete finished his stew and pushed the bowl away. “No wonder Tommy was acting so reckless with Christina. He knew he had nothing to lose since, sooner or later, he’d be paying for his mistake.”

  “Exactly. But then hit man didn’t kill him.” Cat sighed. “And if I’m right, Martin didn’t either.”

  “You’ve figured that out?” Uncle Pete’s mouth turned up into a grin. “You’re kind of good at this investigation thing.”

  “What, that Martin’s Dante’s nephew? He kind of outed himself to me a few minutes ago. In fact, you just missed him.”

  Uncle Pete choked on the sip of soda he’d just taken. “What do you mean? He was here?”

  “He came to apologize for terrorizing me when I first moved back. I guess he was behind all the noise and the creepy phone calls.” She paused. “Although he didn’t admit to sending the carnation or the journal.”

  “I’m amazed he even admitted that. Maybe I should have a talk with him about boundaries and what a locked door means.”

  Cat waved her hand. “No need. I told you he apologized, and I have a feeling his uncle is keeping him on a pretty tight leash from now on. It’s hard to be a hard-ass when your family just wants you to get a degree.”

  “Katie wanted me to tell you she didn’t find anything on the Jeffrey Blank out of Phoenix. She said it may be he’s clean, or it may be he’s not really from Phoenix.” Uncle Pete looked at her. “You want to tell me why you’re running background checks on your guests through the department?”

  “Not through the department. Katie’s husband owns that private investigator company that you told me to use.” Cat shrugged. “Jeffrey was giving me the creeps, so I wanted to make sure there wasn’t something outstanding.”

  “Just because nothing came up under that name and address doesn’t mean he’s not in trouble. You’ve heard of fake IDs, right?”

  “For a writer’s retreat? I don’t think one week of hiding out in Aspen Hills is going to make a difference if someone is wanted by the authorities.” She refilled his soup bowl. “Besides, they shouldn’t hide here; you’re too good of a police chief for them to stay undercover long.”

  “I’d rather not be challenged so often. You know this place was pretty quiet before you moved home.” Uncle Pete’s phone chirped and he glanced down to look at the text. After he read it, he frowned. “Which two of your guests are still here?”

  “Christina and Jeffrey. They are on the same plane out of Denver.” She glanced at the clock. “Shauna or Seth should be back here in thirty minutes to shuttle them out. Why?”

  “That was the police chief from Christina’s hometown. Apparently, they have a lead on the stalker, but according to his roommate, he’s gone on a ski vacation. They are trying to track down the airline, but so far no luck.”

  “That poor girl. I wonder if he’ll ever leave her alone.” Cat looked up toward the ceiling.

  “Well, you just keep the doors locked. If there’s a choice between Shauna and Seth driving her to the airport, let Seth do it. It’s probably a coincidence and who knows where he really went, but I don’t like it.” His phone beeped again. “I have a three o’clock with the mayor to update him on my lack of progress.”

  Cat followed him to the door. “I’m going to be glad when this retreat is over this time.”

  “You and me both, kiddo. At least you keep things interesting around here.” He kissed her on the top of the head. “Call me if you need someone to transport your guests. I don’t want you going alone. And …”

  “Keep the doors locked. I get it.” She helped him into his heavy coat. “Now get out of here before the mayor comes looking for you.”

  After he left, Cat’s phone rang. The display said it was Seth. “Hey you.”

  “Hey yourself. Look, flights are getting sent out early so I’m coming to get the rest of your guests. If they don’t get on this flight, they might not leave tonight. They’re talking about closing the airport due to the storm.”

  “I didn’t think it looked that bad.” Cat stared out the window at the gently drifting snow.

  “In Aspen Hills maybe not, but Denver’s a mad house.” He uttered a string of swear words. “Look, I’m almost there. Twenty minutes out. Can you have them packed and waiting downstairs when I get there?”

  “No problem. Just drive safe.”

  She heard the chuckle on the phone. “I will, but we’re leaving my truck in long-term parking when Shauna and I come back. We’ll have to make plans to go get it once the storm clears. I don’t want the California girl to go careening down the mountain side.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” She hung up the phone and went out to the lobby. Checking the living room and finding it empty, she took the stairs up to the second floor. At Christina’s door, she lifted her hand to knock. A loud voice stopped her. Was Christina watching TV? She knocked loudly on the door. “Christina? I hate to rush you, but your ride to the airport is on its way. The roadways are getting dicey, and we don’t want you all to be stuck here.”

  The door opened slowly and Christina peeked around the edge of the door. “I’m almost packed.”

  “Seth will be here in”—Cat looked at her watch—“fifteen minutes. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “No.” The answer came out rushed. “I’ll be down in a few minutes. Thanks for letting me know.”

  Christina shut the door and Cat heard the lock engage. Cat lowered her voice as she walked away. “Okay, then, sorry to disturb you.”

  She went down to Jeffrey’s room and, when she knocked, the door swung open. His suitcase was packed and sitting on his already-made bed. The guy was neat, that’s all she had to say, which wasn’t a bad habit for a hotel guest. She called into t
he room. “Jeffrey, are you in there?”

  When she didn’t hear an answer, she called out again. “It’s Cat, I’m coming in.”

  She stepped into the empty bedroom and crossed the floor to the bathroom. Again, when she knocked, the door swung open. Something was definitely off about this. “Jeffrey? Are you okay?”

  She snuck a peek around the corner of the door, but the bathroom was empty. A used towel hung neatly on the towel rack. All of Jeffrey’s belongings had already been packed. At least once she found him, all she’d have to do was get him downstairs. Maybe he was in the attic creating his poetry.

  Cat left the room and headed back to the stairwell. She took a cursory glance around the third floor, but both her and Shauna’s rooms were empty. And her office was still locked.

  Making her way to the attic, she took a deep breath before opening the door. The remodeling had slowed, mostly because Seth didn’t want to put up walls that would then need to be torn down when the heating ducts were installed. He’d been busy driving the group around for the last few days. In truth, Seth had become a strong member of the retreat team. She counted on him more than she realized she would. The room was filled with uncut boards, sawhorses, and a thick layer of sawdust. No Jeffrey.

  Had she missed him downstairs? She hadn’t looked in the dining room. Maybe he had been getting a soda or a cup of coffee. She headed back downstairs. As she cleared the last step, she knew one thing. This house was way too big to be playing hide-and-seek in. She slowly went through all the rooms on the main level. No Jeffrey. She checked the doorknob on Michael’s study, still locked. Then she looked up the stairwell. She’d go up one more time. She couldn’t believe he might have taken off for town, not in this weather.

  Jeffrey. Something was off about the guy. It wasn’t just that she couldn’t find him now. Or the fact that Harry couldn’t find him at the address Jeffrey gave on his application. She thought about the reaction he’d had to Christina this week. Like he’d known her. Like he’d cared about her. Cat stopped at the stairwell as the thought hit her. Christina’s stalker was Jeffrey. She’d lay money on it. She needed to get downstairs and call Uncle Pete. Then he could figure out where Jeffrey had gone.