Beyond a Reasonable Stout

by Ellie Alexander

  “A show?”

  She buried her face in hands. “Yes. We went topless and flashed everyone from the upstairs balcony of the villa. It was stupid, Sloan. A drunken mistake. I was a straight-A student in college. I came to blow off some steam and ended up making a poor choice that I’ve regretted for years.”

  “I don’t get it, Valerie. I mean, of course, I understand that it’s an embarrassing memory, but you were young and drunk. We’ve all done stupid things that we regret.”

  “I wish it was just that.” She sighed again. “Someone recorded video of our drunken escapades. I never knew that a video existed until last week when I received a threatening note from Kristopher telling me to drop out of the race or else he would release the video.”

  “What?” Add blackmail to the ever-growing list of Kristopher’s seedy campaign tactics.

  “I have no idea how he found the video. He must have done some serious digging to come up with it.” She twisted a piece of hair around her finger and then yanked it from her head.

  I winced in response.

  “The man was insane. I tried to talk to him, to reason with him, but he wouldn’t hear it. He knew that I was in the lead, and he was desperate. Why would he do something so terrible? If that video gets out, it will kill my chances of getting elected and ruin my career.”

  I hated to admit it, but Ross’s theory that Valerie could have killed Kristopher was looking more likely. She obviously had a major motive. Not only did killing him basically guarantee her a win, but it also ensured that he couldn’t release the embarrassing video.

  I wasn’t sure how to respond.

  Valerie stood and paced in front of the whiteboard. “I’m sorry to burden you with this, Sloan, but like I said, you held yourself with such strength and grace in the face of town gossip about your husband.” She gave me an awkward, apologetic smile. “Sorry—I mean about Mac. I know he’s soon to be your ex.”

  “Yep.” I tried to steer the conversation away from me. “Was there anything you needed?”

  “No, I should let you go, but I would love to have your official support for my campaign, and personally, I’d love any advice you might be able to offer about what I should do if the video somehow surfaces in the days before the election.”

  Maybe I should have been flattered that Valerie had been impressed by how I had handled Mac’s infidelity, but her praise made me cringe internally. “I don’t understand. Kristopher is dead. How would the video get out?”

  “That’s the thing. I have no idea how many people he shared it with. For all I know, he and his campaign planned to release it this weekend—right before the election, to sink my chances. I’ve been walking around on eggshells, waiting for my phone to blow up. The worst part is that the village is swarming with press. Every time I see someone with a camera, I hide or run away. I’m waiting for it all to come crashing down any moment.”

  Ah, so that might explain why I had seen Valerie hiding behind the oak tree in Front Street Park. Or it could be a convenient excuse. Maybe she had seen me staring and had crafted this story to distract me.

  I thought for a moment before responding. “My advice, if the video does get released, is to stay calm and own up to your mistake. People in Leavenworth are reasonable. There might be a few gossips who will get a good laugh at your expense, but most people won’t even give it a second thought.”

  “You don’t understand the magnitude of this, though. I have long-term hopes for higher office. City council is a stepping-stone to running for state government, and maybe more after that. If this video gets released, my political career is dead.” She shook her head. “I could have killed Kristopher myself. I’m not surprised someone beat me to it. For all of Kristopher’s pious talk of the evils of alcohol, the man didn’t have an ethical bone in his body.”

  CHAPTER

  SEVENTEEN

  VALERIE’S PITCH GREW SHARPER AS she continued to speak. “Righteous Kristopher had to turn a city council election into a slanderous campaign. Part of me wants to call a press conference and tell everyone that he was basically blackmailing me. Either I dropped out of the election, or he would release the topless video of me. Can you believe it?”

  I shook my head. “It’s too bad that it turned ugly.”

  “It didn’t turn ugly. He made it ugly.”

  Her polished exterior was showing signs of cracking. “Can I get you a drink? A beer maybe? Hops are a known relaxant,” I offered.

  “No. I’m fine. Sorry, was I just yelling? I guess I’m worked up about the situation and on edge because I’m waiting to get a phone call any minute informing me that my picture is plastered on the news from here to Florida. This will make national headlines if it gets out. I guarantee it will go viral.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t think you need to worry about that. Leavenworth’s city council seat isn’t exactly headline news.”

  “Have you seen the crews around? I’ve been avoiding the Seattle reporters like the plague. You know the old saying ‘All politics is local’?”

  I nodded.

  “This is a prime example of local political drama. One of the candidates is murdered, and his opponent has a viral video. I can see the headlines now. It’s complete and utter disaster. I’m sure the minute the video is leaked, I’ll become the prime suspect. I wouldn’t be surprised to see national news outlets begin to descend on the village.”

  “Since you mentioned it, I have a question about Kristopher’s death.”

  “What?”

  “I heard from someone in town that they saw you arguing with him after the incident at Der Keller the other night and that you went so far as to threaten to kill him.”

  Valerie’s jaw hung open. “Who told you that?” Then under her breath she muttered, “I was so careful.”

  “Careful about what?” I wasn’t about to pretend like I hadn’t heard that comment.

  She pounded her forehead with the palm of her hand. “It’s not what you think. I can tell from your reaction that now you’re wondering if I did kill him.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “You didn’t have to.” She looked to the ceiling. “It’s true. Kristopher and I got in a fight the night he was killed, and I did say something like, ‘If you share that video publicly, it will be the last thing you do.’ But I didn’t mean the last thing as in murdering him. I meant it in terms of his political career. I was trying to warn him that releasing the video would have unwanted effects on him, too. Digging up old dirt on me certainly wasn’t going to strengthen his righteous image. I was pissed at him, but I didn’t kill him. I have an alibi. I was with my campaign team all night. We had an emergency meeting back at my house to map out a damage-control strategy in case the video did get leaked.”

  “So your campaign team knows about the video?”

  Valerie gave me an incredulous stare. “Yes, they know about the video. They know about everything. You can never be too prepared when it comes to running a political campaign. We’ve left nothing to chance. We’ve dotted every ‘i’ and crossed every ‘t.’ I refused to play dirty, like Kristopher, but that didn’t mean that we were going to lie down and die—we were intending to fight.”

  It was hard to get a read on Valerie. She seemed to be contradicting herself. “Your campaign team was at your house the night that Kristopher was killed?”

  “Yes. We pulled an all-nighter. Three of my team ended up sleeping on the floor and couch. We never left.”

  She was either telling the truth or trying to establish an alibi. Her answer sounded slightly rehearsed.

  “Have you spoken with Chief Meyers?”

  “Only about twenty times. The chief has interviewed every member of my campaign team. Each of them has confirmed that they were with me the entire night. It would have been impossible for me to kill Kristopher.”

  The fact that her loyal campaign volunteers were vouching for her wasn’t exactly a solid alibi in my opinion. They could be lying for her, or s
he could have snuck out when they fell asleep, killed Kristopher, and returned home unnoticed. That happened in the movies. Why couldn’t it happen in Leavenworth?

  “I know that Chief Meyers is doing her job, but I’m getting tired of her recurring questions about my whereabouts when Kristopher was killed. She must have asked me a dozen times exactly what time I fell asleep and who was at my house. We were in crisis mode. I don’t remember when I finally fell asleep, but I know for sure that I didn’t kill him.”

  It felt like we were stuck in an endless loop. Valerie continued to insist on her innocence, and I had no idea whether I should believe her or not. At least Chief Meyers was already in the loop. The fact that she had questioned Valerie more than once must have meant she had some suspicions about her story, too.

  She glanced at her watch. “Is that the time? I need to go. Thanks for listening and for the advice, Sloan. I’m sorry I’m such a mess at the moment, but I’m sure you can understand how much stress I’m under.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you’ll keep this conversation between us?”

  “Absolutely.” I opened the door.

  Valerie gave me an awkward hug before returning to the bar. I wasn’t sure what to think. She had been insistent that she hadn’t killed Kristopher and gone out of her way to make sure that I knew she had an alibi, yet it seemed like she had the most to gain by killing him. She had basically guaranteed herself a win. Then there was the issue of the video. Was she lying? What if she had killed Kristopher to get the tape? That would have been one way of ensuring the old footage was never released.

  I was more confused than ever. Valerie didn’t strike me as a killer, but I had been wrong in the past. And I had learned that people can and will do unexpected and out-of-character things—like murder—when they feel like they don’t have any choices. Had that happened to Valerie? Was she desperate enough for a win and to maintain her reputation?

  “Mom?” Alex’s voice made me startle.

  “Hey, I didn’t hear you come in,” I said, standing to give him a hug.

  “I said Mom, like, three times. You were spacing.”

  “Probably true.” I ruffled his hair. “How was the test?”

  “Fine.” He tossed his backpack and soccer gear on the floor. “I think I did well.”

  “I’m sure you did.”

  He looked around the tidy office. “Do you have any snacks? I’m starving.”

  “Shocker.” I laughed. “Is there ever a time that you’re not starving?”

  “No. But cut me some slack. Coach made us run five miles at practice.”

  “I’ll grab something for you in the kitchen and go see if Garrett can take over for Kat in the bar, so we can go over our ideas with you. Remember we’re doing dinner at Oma and Opa’s tonight. Pace yourself on the snacks, rumor has it that Oma is making her Bienenstich cake.”

  Alex pretended to wipe drool from the corner of his mouth. “Forget the snack. I’ll save myself for cake.”

  “I’ll find you something light.” I left to put a plate of apples, crackers, and cheese together for Alex and see if Kat was free to chat.

  Garrett was already at the bar.

  “Mind if I steal Kat for a few?” I asked, balancing the plate of snacks for Alex and a bowl of popcorn for the bar.

  Garrett reached for the popcorn. “I think it’s a fair trade. Kat for a bowl of your delicious fresh popped corn.”

  “Thanks a lot.” Kat curled her lip.

  “No, that’s high praise,” Garrett replied. “Sloan’s popcorn is the stuff of legends. I guarantee this entire bowl will be gone by the time you two come back.”

  The popcorn had been a hit. I made a mental reminder to order some red-and-white-striped bags to serve it in. We’d been putting it in our wooden pub bowls, but bagging it would allow our customers to take it to go as well.

  Kat and I returned to the office, where Alex had turned on my laptop and opened his design program.

  “Alex, you remember Kat, right?”

  He stood and wiped his palms on his warm-up pants. “Hey, how’s it going?”

  Was it my imagination, or had he intentionally tried to make his voice sound deeper?

  Kat grinned, revealing her dimples. “Thanks for agreeing to help with this. I’m pretty good at taking photos, but design isn’t really my thing.”

  Alex cleared his throat. He squared his shoulders as he spoke. “It’s cool. I’m trying to build my portfolio for college.”

  “Do you know where you want to go yet?”

  I almost interjected something about the fact that Alex was only a sophomore, but I didn’t want to mortify him. It was apparent from the way he was fidgeting that he had a crush. I couldn’t blame him. Kat was attractive and radiated a natural energy. She was also seven years older than him. The odds of her reciprocating his feelings were nonexistent.

  Alex had had a girlfriend, but they had been on-again, off-again for the past few months. Whenever I asked him about how things were going with Carly, he would mumble something noncommittal.

  Kat pulled a chair next to the desk and sat down. Alex pointed to the open seat in front of the laptop. “Do you want to sit, Mom?”

  “Oh, my gosh, what a gentleman.” Kat’s jaw dropped open as she turned to me. “He’s going to be a heartbreaker, isn’t he?”

  Alex’s face flamed with color.

  I handed him snacks and ignored Kat’s comment. “No, I’d like to stand. I’ve been sitting too much today.”

  He sat and reached for an apple slice. “Do you guys want to show me what you’re thinking so I have some ideas on how to get started?”

  Kat pulled out her phone and began scrolling through the photos she had bookmarked. Alex took notes on the laptop. “That’s cool. I like the clean lines on that image. I know that my mom is drawn to a more minimalistic design, and that’s sort of Nitro’s vibe. Is that what you’re thinking for the guest rooms, too?”

  “Yeah, for sure.” Kat pointed out another photo on her phone screen. “Kind of like this? I like the rounded corners of this poster, instead of the standard rectangle.”

  “That’s easy to do.”

  We spent about an hour looking through examples. Alex asked questions about font, branding, and color palettes. I was impressed with his maturity and professionalism. Not many fifteen-year-old boys were as articulate as Alex. I felt a swell of pride watching him in action. At least I had done one thing right.

  CHAPTER

  EIGHTEEN

  ONCE ALEX HAD A GRASP of our vision, it was time to leave for dinner at Otto and Ursula’s. Kat gave us each a quick hug, which made Alex’s cheeks blaze again. He told her that he would have some preliminary designs for her to look at by the end of the weekend. I was sure that our project was going to take top priority, given the fact that he kept glancing at Kat and then looking at his feet as we walked out together.

  My only concern (aside from not wanting his heart to get broken) was that his crush might interfere with studying for midterms.

  “Remember, this a side project,” I cautioned as we got into the car. “I know that you still have to study for midterms.”

  “It’s fine, Mom. I have one more test tomorrow and then a three-day weekend. Since I don’t have a midterm Monday, I’m off. I can sketch out some ideas this weekend and then make any changes on Monday. It will be fun.”

  “I’m glad you’re willing to be part of it.” I didn’t want to embarrass him, so I changed the subject. “Dad and I had lunch today.”

  Alex tried to sound nonchalant, but I could hear a tightness in his response. “Oh yeah. About what?”

  “Lots of stuff. Like Der Keller. I think Uncle Hans is ready to hire the first person who walks through the doors. He’s been there a lot.”

  “Yeah, every time I’ve been there, he’s been working.”

  “Right. Our goal is to hire a general manager to take the pressure off of him and Dad.” I navigated out of the village and onto
the highway. Otto and Ursula lived on the opposite side of town. “We also talked about Dad finding a new place, and we’re in complete agreement that we want to keep things as normal for you as possible. Our plan, assuming you’re okay with it, is to keep the schedule the same. You’ll be with me on school nights and stay with Dad every other weekend and whenever else you want. Maybe nights like Sunday, when you don’t have school the next day? That way you won’t have to worry about having school things at two places.”

  “That’s cool.” Alex stared out the window. I knew that he was holding something back.

  “Unless you would rather stay at Dad’s more. We can do alternating days, if that feels better.”

  “Mom, it’s cool.”

  Alex had shut down. I wasn’t going to get more out of him by forcing the issue. At some point I would have to push him out of his comfort zone, but that wasn’t tonight.

  We arrived at Otto and Ursula’s, and to my delight, Hans’s beat-up pickup truck was parked in the driveway. The Krauses’ three-story Victorian sat on two acres with a woodshop and views of the rugged Enchantments. The alpine lake wilderness area known as the Enchantments boasted some of the most spectacular views and hiking in the region. When Alex was young, Mac used to strap him to a baby backpack and we would venture for miles through glacial lakes, past tundra meadows where mountain goats would gather to munch on the wild grasses. The grueling hike could be treacherous, with steep crevasses and slippery, craggy terrain. Mac would always ignore my warnings to watch his footing as he scrambled up the side of a cliff in order to get a better view of a frigid lake.

  “You didn’t say that Uncle Hans was coming,” Alex said, practically jumping out of the car.

  “I didn’t know he was.”

  “Is Dad coming too?” Alex already had one foot out of the door.

  “Oma didn’t say,” I lied.

  Otto came out onto the wraparound front porch to greet us. A hummingbird buzzed by my ear en route to refuel at one of the many glass feeders hanging from the porch.