Oh, boy, was I pushing it. But he wouldn’t have even known about Billy if not for me. Had they even looked in that direction? I waited for him to reprimand me. But I still wanted him to walk me to my house if I wasn’t going with him. Or he could drive me, even though it wasn’t that far. Or even follow me in his car as I walked. I think I was nervous, because my thoughts were rambling.
“Come on, let’s go have a talk with Billy,” John said reluctantly.
We walked down the pathway to the cars, and he opened the passenger door of his sheriff’s vehicle. I got in and buckled up, feeling a bit nervous.
It wasn’t code three, but we did speed at quite a rate with the lights flashing as John maneuvered through the winding roads like an Indy car driving expert.
When we arrived in the city limits of Pear, he flipped the lights off and we cruised up to the Osborne house.
As we walked up the driveway, John noticed Paula’s car. “Look here.” He pointed to the damage on the front passenger side of Paula’s dark blue Buick 300.
“My my,” I said, feeling slightly nauseous.
“I want you to stay in the car,” he said.
Oh, hell no. I didn’t come with him, just to sit in the car. I got out when he did.
“Damn you, can’t you take orders?”
“I want to see what he says.”
John sighed. “Then stay behind me. I have a bulletproof vest, you don’t.”
I wanted to remind him that Alice wasn’t killed with a gun, but who was I to argue? I stood a step behind him.
John forcefully rapped on the front door.
Billy Osborne whipped the door open, as if looking for a fight.
“How can I help you?” Billy asked. Then he looked past John at me. “Don’t I know you?”
“Billy Osborne, I’m Sheriff John Waters and this is Willa Friday.”
A look of recognition came across his face Billy’s face. “Yeah, I thought you looked familiar.”
“Is Paula home?” John asked.
Billy shook his head. “She hasn’t gotten home from work yet. She sent me a text to tell me she was going grocery shopping first.”
“Isn’t that her car?” I asked.
Billy stuttered, but didn’t have an answer. When I looked past him into the house, I saw the blue canvas gym bag sitting in plain sight on the floor.
I tapped John on the shoulder, and tried to point at the bag using only my eyes.
“Mr. Osborne, do you mind if we come inside?”
“What’s this all about?” Billy did not open the door to let us in.
“I just wanted to chat with you about your job at the Poached Pear, and Paula’s job with Parker Industries.”
“What’s there to tell? We’ve both worked for the Parkers for a very long time. They’ve been very good to us.”
John stepped forward. “Just humor me. We won’t be more than a couple of minutes.”
More than a couple of minutes? I fully expected an arrest before we left. Wasn’t John taking me seriously?
Billy finally opened the door and let us in. John didn’t step much further than the entryway. I walked around him, knowing that I couldn’t get in trouble like he could for just opening the canvas bag to see what was inside.
I went for the bag. Bending over, I reached down quickly and unzipped it.
Billy grabbed for me, but I sidestepped him. “What are you doing?”
I didn’t answer him. I finished unzipping the bag and pulled out a gray hoodie and sweatpants. The image on the video flashed across my brain.
Billy grabbed me by my collar and yanked me back. “Stop digging through my wife’s gym bag!”
I struggled to get free of Billy’s grip, kicking at him and missing his leg by a mile. I gave up the fight and let go of the sweats. He finally let go of me once I was standing.
He hadn’t hurt me, but John had his hand on his Taser and was ready to stop him. It was only a matter of seconds, but I wondered why John wasn’t on top of him immediately.
John and I looked at each other. Then he asked Billy, “Tell me the truth. Where is Paula?”
Before her name had slipped through John’s lips, I heard the back door of the house open and close. John didn’t hesitate. He barreled past Billy and sprinted through the house, pulling his gun as he went. I tried to follow him, but Billy jerked me back.
I turned to punch him in the gut, but thought better of it when I saw the look of murderous rage on his face. He grabbed me and wrapped his arm around my neck, pressing hard against my throat. I started seeing stars in my peripheral vision. Then he loosened his grip and I could breath and see normally again.
I kept thinking of ways to get free. Thinking of what to say to get him to let me go.
“I should have known you were trouble when you were snooping around at the restaurant,” Billy snarled.
Before I could even struggle to get loose, John walked in with Paula in handcuffs. Paula’s head looked as if it was going to explode. She was furious. John was huffing and puffing, trying to catch his breath.
Billy screamed, “Let her go, or I’ll break this lady’s neck.”
John smiled. “We both know that’s not going to happen. I have backup on the way and you’ll just make both of your lives worse. Besides, Willa didn’t do anything. She just came with me to identify the car that ran her off the road. Just let her go.” His voice was so calm it made me almost angry.
Paula struggled in John’s grasp and screamed, “Kill her. I’m telling you Billy, you kill her.”
Something in Billy snapped, I felt it in his entire body relax when Paula screamed at him. He loosened his grip and shoved me away. “We wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for you. I’m not going to kill her.”
I scampered out of Billy’s reach, and moved to the front door. I wanted to be able to escape in a hurry in case Billy changed his mind.
If Paula’s head could have literally exploded, it would have. “Oh, no, you don’t get to do this now, you coward.”
Hearing sirens in the distance, I took a chance and reached for the gym bag again. I said, “There is no way this is Paula’s gym bag. Look at these clothes.” I picked up the hoodie that looked like it would be too big on Billy. Paula would have swam in it. “Did you look at the videos?”
John didn’t acknowledge my question because Billy had sprinted past him and Paula, and made a beeline for the back door. The front door would have been closer and easier, but that’s where the blue and red lights were shining, illuminating the entire room like a disco ball.
John left Paula and turned to give chase. I’m pretty sure he said, “I hate running,” as he disappeared out the back door.
Silly me, I should have been paying more attention to Paula and not John. She came at me full force and used her upper body to knock me to the ground. “I should have gotten rid of you when I had the chance. Nosy little rich girl.”
My stomach hurt so much where she’d hit me, and I couldn’t catch my breath. I wanted to respond, but I couldn’t even consider uttering a word or even a moan. That crazy woman had knocked the wind out of me and as I looked at her, she was getting ready to headbutt me.
Before she made contact, she was jerked back. I looked up to see Deputy Ballic had yanked her by her handcuffs. She screamed in agony as her shoulders were wrenched backward.
My breath came back to me and I snickered. Served her right.
Ballic asked, “Are you okay?”
I nodded my head and sat upright. I still didn’t want to speak.
Ballic escorted Paula out of the house, and a City of Pear police officer came in the house and helped me to my feet.
“You okay to walk?” he asked.
I could talk now and was more than slightly embarrassed. “I’m fine, thank you.”
As he walked me out to the front yard, I resolved to start running again, and maybe even go back to kickboxing. I felt like an old woman for the first time in my life. And I wasn’t even
that old.
When we got to the patrol car, I saw John picking Billy up off the ground. He’d been cuffed and looked like there’d been a real struggle.
John breathed hard as he said, “Billy Osborne, you are under arrest for the murder of Alice Parker…”
I knew what was in the gym bag was circumstantial evidence, but it was a start. The person in the hoodie was the last person to enter the house before me, and the last person to see Alice alive.
“Take them to the jail. I’ll meet you there in about an hour,” John said to his deputy.
I sat in the front seat of John’s car. Paula rode in Ballic’s car, and Billy in the patrol officer’s car.
John got in his car and said, “I’m taking you home. Unless you want to go see a doctor. Ballic said Paula hit you pretty hard.”
I took a deep breath, and it didn’t hurt, so I said, “Home it is. Thanks.”
I slept better that night; no nightmares that I could remember, anyway. It might have had something to do with the glass of whisky I’d chugged while telling Peter and Hattie about the night’s events. Or maybe it was the third glass that did it.
John’s car was at the house in the morning when I got up.
If I’d felt bad for Hattie when she was hungover, I felt for her even more now that I could physically relate. My back hurt from hitting the floor. My gut hurt from Paula slamming into me. My head hurt because I was foolish enough to drink that third glass of whisky.
The sun had barely come up over the mountain when I hiked up to Hattie’s house.
John and Hattie were sitting on the back veranda, enjoying the sunrise and drinking coffee. He looked up and smiled at me. “You look like hell.”
I forced a smile. “Gee, thanks.”
Hattie turned to look at me. “Hangovers suck. Make yourself some coffee.” She pointed to the coffee table set up in the corner of the veranda.
I did just that and sat in the chair across from them, my back to the sun.
“Thank you for your keen sense of observation. You likely saved us tons of man hours trying to solve this murder.” John raised his coffee mug in a gesture of camaraderie.
I shrugged. “I don’t know how much help I was. I just found the clothes. Not much else.”
John laughed. “Sometimes that’s all you need. That and leverage.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Remember how I’d told you that you’ve been watching too many cop shows? Well, this one could have been a scene from almost any of them.”
Hattie asked, “Why do you say that?”
“We pitted Paula and Billy against one another. Paula caved first. She took a plea deal and even told us where to find the murder weapon.” John grinned.
“What? Really?” I said in a high-pitched voice that even hurt my ears.
“Paula was charged with conspiracy after the fact. Apparently, she was supposed to get rid of the gym bag by burning it, but she hadn’t had the chance before we arrived at the house. She said Bruce had her working overtime while he was out of town, and running in circles since he’d been preoccupied with the murder of his wife. She’d barely gotten the gym bag out of the office while you were there.”
“I thought it was weird that she left the office yesterday before Bruce did. She didn’t even tell him she was leaving.”
“That’s why the bag was at the house. Why she didn’t dump it sooner is beyond me. Oh, and the murder weapon was still in the house. It was a crystal bowl. It had been washed and put back in its place in the china hutch. We’re having it tested for Alice’s blood, hoping it wasn’t washed that thoroughly. We’re also hoping for a chance of fingerprints, but the lab is doing that, not us. Now we’re waiting for DNA results and other blood analysis.”
Later, John had told me that there may have been blood on the bottom of the athletic shoes. That was being tested, too.
Billy had yet to say a word.
Epilogue
Time had passed, but I couldn’t help myself. Even though I knew Bruce had nothing to do with Alice’s murder, I stopped by his office to ask him about a life insurance policy.
He’d hired a new assistant, and she looked like an older version of Paula.
He did, in fact, have a policy on Alice’s life, and she had had one on him.
“It was a business matter. If she died, we needed to be able to continue without her. The amount of the policy reflected that. And I’m not the beneficiary, my kids are. I figured they deserved something.”
I didn’t ask the amount, because that would be rude, and I knew the number would make my head swim.
“I’m glad you’re looking out for the kids,” I said.
“Actually, both my son and daughter are coming back to Pear. They’ll be taking over the vineyard and winery. I’m really happy to have them back in my life.” Bruce smiled.
“I thought the winery would be sold if Alice died? And the proceeds were going to charity or something.” Isn’t that what he’d said?
“Yes, well, that would only happen after I died. And I hope to live long enough for my kids to be able to purchase the vineyards and winery with the life insurance money. I’ll be investing it for them. Until then, they are taking over Alice’s position on the board of directors. I gave up my seat so both of the kids would have equal positions.”
“I didn’t think you were involved with the grapes,” I said, perplexed.
“Not hands on, but I’ve been a board member from the beginning. There’s a lot of red tape, but I think the vineyards and winery will stay in the family.”
“That’s great,” I said, and I meant it.
“Whatever happened with you and Jacob?” he asked.
“I asked him why he lied. He said he was terrified because he didn’t have an alibi. He really had fallen asleep in his car.” I remembered the pallid hue to his skin as he told me the real truth. “Your girlfriend owed him a favor, so she’d agreed to say she was with him. I don’t think he knew that she’d been in San Francisco with you when he asked her.”
“And does he still work for you?” Bruce asked, as if he had ulterior motives.
“Yes, and he’s staying with me, so don’t even think about it.” I shook my finger at him.
* * *
Later that week, Hattie had a dinner catered from Vendredi’s and the four of us - Hattie, John, Peter, and I - had enjoyed the evening. Before dinner, we sat in the formal living room, testing a new varietal from Vendredi’s winery and munching on hors d’oeuvres.
Peter had become more curious than me after learning the identity of Alice’s killer. “I just don’t get it. Why?”
John chuckled. “I can’t tell you a whole lot, but I can tell you this: Paula had been in love with Bruce for years, but she knew it wasn’t going to go anywhere, so she suffered through with Billy. In the end, I wonder if she was in love with Bruce or his money, but that’s beside the fact. Apparently, it was Paula who’d come up with a plan to embezzle money from Alice.”
This was the first I’d heard of this. I was intrigued.
“She went on a rampage once we got her in an investigation room. She went on and on about how she did everything for Bruce, and that they’d even had a short affair before Bridget came along. She was sure Bruce was going to pick her, and then he didn’t. She had enough information about the Parkers to take the money. She told Billy how they could get away with it, and how they could pin it on Jacob. And when he got fired, they had to come up with a new scheme. That’s when Alice invited Billy to the house.”
“It was just so weird that he didn’t drive to the house and up the driveway,” I said.
“I think he knew it wasn’t going to end well, and he wasn’t going to take the fall. But I don’t think he’d planned to kill her.” John stopped talking, then said, “If you ever repeat that, I’ll deny I said it, because we’re gunning for first degree murder, hoping he’ll plead down and save us a trial.”
“Birds of a feather…” Hat
tie said quietly.
I finish the sentence for her, “…flock together. And those two were birds of a feather for sure.”
“They both had completely clean records. Not so much as a traffic ticket before all of this. Who’d have thunk it?” John, out of uniform for once, was enjoying his glass of wine.
“So with the divorce coming, Paula thought Bruce would be free, and she would have her foot in the door?” I asked.
John said, “I think that’s it. Then she realized that Bruce wasn’t even remotely interested when he dumped her for Bridget; a newer, prettier, smarter model.”
I put my hands up. “Whoa, there. Just because Bridget was younger, it doesn’t mean she was prettier or smarter.” I turned and glared at Peter. This would never be over between us.
“Willa’s right. It could’ve just been a weak moment for Bruce. One that he will now forever regret,” Peter said, then stuffed an appetizer in his mouth and walked away.
“I don’t think Bruce regrets Bridget one bit,” Hattie said. “But he definitely regrets Paula. Everybody knows that you don’t poop where you eat. He should’ve stayed far, far away from her. If she never thought she might be able to get her hands on Bruce’s fortune by having an affair with him, then leaving Billy, she’d never have come up with the scheme to steal from the Parkers in the first place. Well, maybe not.”
Swirling the wine in his glass, John said, “I agree. But greed does funny things to people. And when Billy and Paula realized they’d been found out, and that Alice would not only ruin them, she’d make sure that they were tried and convicted, they panicked.”
“And knowing Alice, she’d have paid off the judge to make sure they each got life sentences just for the embezzlement,” I laughed.
Everyone laughed along with me, then we all got solemn, remembering someone was dead.
“No more morbid talk,” Hattie said. “This is a celebration. A celebration of Alice’s life, and to finding her killer.”
We all agreed.
Hattie raised her glass and said, “To Alice.”
Pasta, Pinot & Murder Page 14