On Pins and Needles

by Elizabeth Craig

  Gene, who had been sitting uncomfortably, now started grinning. “You’re wanting to beautify the police station?”

  Miss Sissy rolled her eyes.

  Meadow said, “Don’t you think it could use it? It’s not much to look at, is it?”

  “It most definitely could use it, but I’m not sure Ramsay would agree,” said Gene.

  Meadow said, “If Ramsay had his way, the police station would resemble a library with book-lined walls and notebooks ready for poetry-writing. He just hasn’t gotten around to it yet. I’m sure he’d love a Dappled Hills map in there.”

  Goldie opened one of the cabinets behind her and rummaged for a few seconds before pulling out a map. “Here you are. Hope it brightens up the station. I think the artist did a great job.”

  “Too bad the station isn’t on the map,” said Gene with a chuckle.

  Goldie smiled at him, “I guess it didn’t really fit in with the vision of what we were trying to accomplish.” Her phone rang, and she glanced at it. “Sorry, but I’ve got to take this.” She disappeared into a back room.

  Gene shifted in his seat, looking as if he’d like to leave the room, too. “How are things going?” he asked cautiously, as if he knew the answer to the question.

  Meadow said, “Horribly! I suppose Goldie must have told you about poor Devlin Wilson. The very idea of someone killing him in his own yard and in broad daylight! I simply can’t believe it. Beatrice and I were at a guild meeting when it happened. Where were you?”

  Beatrice hid a smile. There was no beating around the bush with Meadow. She always managed to come right to the point.

  Gene flushed. “Well, I wasn’t killing him, if that’s what you’re getting at. I always liked Devlin. He was a sort of simple guy and wasn’t exactly an academic, but . . .” His voice trailed off as if he’d forgotten what his original point was. “He was always kind to me,” he finished finally, picking up on the thread of his thought. “Anyway, I wouldn’t have done it.”

  Meadow said, “I suppose you gave Ramsay a good alibi and everything?”

  Gene was now frowning in annoyance. “As it happens, I was out and about yesterday . . . like yourself, it sounds.”

  “Liesss,” hissed Miss Sissy.

  Gene glanced sideways at her with alarm.

  Beatrice asked, “Do you have any thoughts on who could have done something like this to Devlin? I didn’t know him very well, but from what you’re saying, it sounds like he was a nice guy who shouldn’t have had a lot of enemies.”

  Gene opened his mouth and then closed it again with a hasty look in the direction of the back room. “Well, I meant that I didn’t ever really have any issues with him. Not that everyone else didn’t.”

  Meadow put her hands on her hips. “What on earth are you prattling about? Devlin was fantastic and everyone did like him.”

  Miss Sissy snorted at this as if it were obvious that murder victims are disliked by someone.

  Gene looked cross at being interrupted. “Maybe you didn’t know the real Devlin. He spread rumors around town. That’s the kind of thing that makes folks in a small town furious. No one wants the whole town to know their business.”

  Meadow’s brows were drawn together fiercely. “You’re talking about Devlin Wilson? Are we speaking of the same person? I doubt it.”

  “Wickedness!” judged Miss Sissy.

  “Anyway,” continued Gene stiffly as Goldie walked back in with an apologetic smile for having stepped out, “I think there was another side to Devlin, that’s all. I think there’d be plenty of people who’d have wanted him dead.”

  Goldie’s eyes widened. “What on earth did I miss? I had no idea that Devlin had some sort of dark side.”

  “Total nonsense,” said Meadow.

  “Poppycock!” spat Miss Sissy as Meadow’s Greek chorus.

  Beatrice said, “Gene was just telling us that Devlin had plenty of people who might have wanted to murder him because of the fact he spread rumors in town.”

  Goldie’s mouth dropped open and then she snapped it shut and gave a short laugh. “I think I know what’s going on,” she mused. She looked directly at Gene. “You’re trying to protect me, aren’t you?”

  Miss Sissy made a disapproving clicking noise with her tongue.

  Gene flushed and stuttered out, “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Goldie said, “Only that you’re trying to be nice. And I appreciate it.” She turned to Beatrice and Meadow. “The fact is, Gene happened to see me leaving Devlin’s house.”

  Meadow frowned until her entire face scrunched up. “But we know you were at Devlin’s house. We saw you there. And you discovered Devlin’s body. It wasn’t exactly a secret, was it?”

  Goldie said, “Yes, but what I didn’t mention before is that’s the second time I was there. You see, the first time I was there, I knocked on Devlin’s door and just left, figuring he couldn’t come to the door for some reason. But then I came by later because it was on my way home, his car was still in the driveway, and he was on my mind. That’s when I became a little more concerned when he didn’t answer the door. It wasn’t like him to avoid speaking to me. The second time is when I discovered him.”

  Gene was looking even more uncomfortable and awkward than he had before.

  Beatrice said, “So Gene, you were at Devlin’s house, if you saw Goldie leave.”

  Goldie winced. “Sorry, Gene. I guess I sort of threw you under the bus there in the process of explaining my multiple trips. I did mention all this to Ramsay, but it’s kind of a convoluted story and so I didn’t get into all the twists and turns when I spoke with the two of you.”

  Beatrice said, “Actually, we’d already heard that Gene had been at Devlin’s house from someone else. So you haven’t incriminated him.”

  Gene scowled at Beatrice. “Who told you that I was there? Wait, let me guess. It must be Arnold Tremont again. Those folks cause no end of trouble. The question is, what was Arnold doing there when I arrived? I suspect he was there to silence Devlin before Devlin could tell everyone that he had evidence that Arnold killed Annabelle.”

  Meadow said, “That’s not why he said he was there.”

  “Who even cares what he said? You know it’s going to be a lie to cover up his involvement. He’s determined to make me look like the guilty party and it’s simply not true. I was unhappy with Annabelle, yes. I didn’t lay a finger on her, though, and certainly wouldn’t have murdered Devlin, whom I rather liked,” Gene said stiffly.

  Miss Sissy intoned, “Evillll.”

  Gene stared at her again and then shrugged. “Or, if you like, there’s another possible solution. That Devlin murdered Annabelle because she wouldn’t resume their relationship. I tell you, Devlin was absolutely obsessed with Annabelle.”

  Meadow said in surprise, “I didn’t realize that you and Devlin were such good friends.”

  “I wouldn’t call us good friends, but we did spend some time together, naturally, this being such a small town. But it wouldn’t have taken a genius to realize that Devlin was completely besotted. When he and Annabelle started going out, I’d notice Devlin hanging out across the street like a lovelorn teenager. Then they were out on the town together, eating out. Devlin would always be holding Annabelle’s hand or putting his arm around her as they walked down the street,” said Gene with a shrug.

  Beatrice said, “Then it seems odd that Devlin would murder her, since he was so in love with her.”

  A bit of pink rose up his neck from Gene’s collar. “Maybe he struck out at her in frustration when she wouldn’t return his affections. Or maybe he was furious at being dumped. Devlin killed her and Arnold somehow found out about it—I’ve heard he was in town when Annabelle died. Maybe he came home and realized later there was a clue that pointed to Devlin. Then Arnold, as the still-devoted husband, got his revenge by killing Annabelle.”

  Meadow blinked at him. “I simply can’t see Devlin killing someone.”

  “It’s a poss
ible solution,” said Gene with great determination.

  Goldie’s phone rang again. She rolled her eyes. “Please excuse me. I don’t usually get but a few calls a day and here I am getting them all at once. I’m starting to wonder if I can even fit in the manicure I’m supposed to be getting today.” She took the call, stepping into the other room again.

  As soon as the door closed behind her, Gene looked at Beatrice and Meadow urgently, almost a feverish glow about him. “Look, I know it doesn’t look good, but Goldie would never have done something like this. Just look at her!” He waved his hands in the air as if to say that Goldie was at the pinnacle of some sort of tower of goodness and fortitude.

  “You seem very keen on disproving her guilt,” said Beatrice gently.

  Gene slumped in his chair. “I couldn’t stand it if Goldie went to jail. I just couldn’t.”

  Beatrice said with dawning realization, “You think that she might have actually done it.”

  Gene quickly said, “Absolutely not. Only that it appears as though she might have done it. I’m just highlighting some other, very plausible, options.”

  Miss Sissy growled at him.

  “Of course Goldie had nothing to do with it. How on earth could she? It’s Goldie.” Meadow sounded absolutely appalled and infuriated that anyone, her police chief husband included, could possibly think Goldie involved.

  Gene smiled gratefully at her. “Thank you. I don’t think anyone could believe it, either.”

  Beatrice glanced at her watch and said, “Sorry, but we’ll have to run for now. Meadow and I are taking Miss Sissy to the dentist.”

  Miss Sissy suddenly looked very glum as if she’d completely forgotten about the original errand in the excitement of speaking with Gene and Goldie.

  Meadow said, “Should we all go in my van? I can drive back later to drop you off by your car, Beatrice.”

  “That’s perfect.”

  And it was although the van made a tremendous amount of noise on the way over to the dentist office.

  When they walked in, they found the office was quite busy; busy enough that they couldn’t find three seats together. Meadow tried to sit next to Miss Sissy, but the old woman stomped across the waiting room to find a seat by herself, glaring at Meadow and Beatrice as if it were their faults that she was in this situation to begin with.

  It was too loud in the waiting room for Beatrice and Meadow to even talk. A TV was going at full volume in one corner of the room and people in the waiting room were either listening to it or trying to talk over it, creating quite an uproar. Beatrice never understood why there were televisions in medical facilities. They only seemed to make her more on edge. Fortunately, the last time she’d been in a loud waiting room while waiting for her physical, she’d vowed to put her headphones in her purse for the following time. She fished around her bag and found them. Then she connected them to her phone and pulled up some relaxing music to listen to.

  Meadow was reading food magazines and taking pictures of the most appealing recipes. Miss Sissy had fallen completely asleep, presumably snoring, although it couldn’t be heard over the noise coming from the TV. Beatrice reflected that Miss Sissy’s ability was a true gift, being able to fall asleep through the cacophony in that waiting room.

  The room became a bit emptier as more people were taken back. Miss Sissy must truly have been worked in because they were there longer than patients who’d come in after they had. Finally, Miss Sissy’s name was called.

  “Do you want us to go back with you, Miss Sissy?” asked Meadow kindly.

  Miss Sissy scowled at her and plodded off after the hygienist with a resigned sigh.

  “Guess not,” said Meadow with a shrug. She looked at Beatrice. “There’s no one really in here now. Why don’t we just turn the television down so we can talk?”

  Beatrice unplugged her ears, glancing around the room. “An excellent idea!” She stood up and walked over to the TV, reaching up to turn the volume down. She smiled in relief as the screaming car dealership commercial turned into a whisper.

  As she sat back down next to Meadow, Meadow demanded, “Now what do you make of everything we’ve heard? I’m sure you’ve got your opinions.”

  Beatrice said, “Let me hear what you’re thinking, first.”

  Meadow shrugged. “I just think that none of them could have done it! I want it to be an outsider like Annabelle’s husband, but every time I see Arnold I just like him too much to think that he could have done something like this. And he seemed to care for his wife too much to do it. So now I really want to hear what you have to say.”

  Beatrice said, “I think that we’ve seen that people who are under stress can act differently than they usually do. They think differently and they act differently. And all of these folks are under stress.”

  Meadow thought about this for a minute. “So Trixie is under stress because her husband was having an affair with Annabelle.”

  “Right. And when she found out about it, she made a clear ultimatum. It wasn’t okay with her. She confronted her husband. Elias decided to stop seeing Annabelle. What we don’t know is if Trixie also confronted Annabelle and what that confrontation might have looked like,” said Beatrice.

  Meadow snorted. “I can only imagine what that confrontation would have looked like. I don’t think Trixie is some delicate flower who would have held back.”

  “That’s what we don’t know. After all, at least from her own accounts, she showed a lot of restraint when she was telling Elias that he had to choose between Annabelle or herself. Maybe she showed similar restraint with Annabelle,” said Beatrice.

  Meadow snapped her fingers. “I did have something to tell you and I totally forgot about it. Ramsay finally came in last night, extremely late. Or was it really early?” She frowned.

  “At any rate, it sounds as if it was dark outside,” said Beatrice, in summary. She repressed a sigh. Meadow never believed in just giving the headlines of a story.

  “Right. Anyway, I asked him how his case was going. Sometimes he just grumbles and says something about not being able to talk about investigations. But sometimes he actually gives us something valuable. It’s a pity he can’t be more consistent,” said Meadow in exasperation.

  “And what was it that he told you?” asked Beatrice, leading her on. At this rate, Miss Sissy would be back out with her fillings.

  “Ramsay said that they’d checked out Annabelle’s phone and that she’d made a whole bunch of calls to Elias,” said Meadow, eyes wide.

  Beatrice said, “So they were still speaking? This was during the period leading up to her death?”

  “No, he said that Annabelle was making the calls, but Elias wasn’t picking up. He also wasn’t responding to all the text messages she was sending,” said Meadow.

  “And who knows? Maybe Annabelle even dropped by his house to see him if he wasn’t responding to her on the phone,” said Beatrice.

  “Right! It sounded like Annabelle wasn’t ready for the relationship to be over with,” said Meadow.

  “Or that she wanted to be the one to dump him, instead of the other way around,” said Beatrice.

  Meadow continued on with the suspects. “Going back to the suspects and stress levels. I guess Devlin was under a good deal of stress because he wanted to continue dating Annabelle and she dumped him.”

  “And then she died, causing a good deal of grief. And we all know how stressful grief can be on a person,” said Beatrice.

  Meadow said, “But Devlin probably wasn’t responsible for Annabelle’s death, considering the fact that he’s dead now.”

  “But he likely saw or heard something while he was in the area. Maybe it was something that he didn’t fully understand, himself, until later on. Then the murderer realized that he was on to something and needed to be eliminated,” said Beatrice.

  “And then there’s Gene,” said Meadow. “Who is apparently completely gaga over Goldie. Why on earth was he over at Devlin’s house? And we alre
ady know that he was under a lot of stress for quite a while: first he fought having Annabelle’s house built and then he was trying to prevent the cell phone tower from being constructed.”

  “Exactly. And he doesn’t have alibis for either one,” said Beatrice with a shrug. “Who knows what he might have done if he engaged in an argument in person with Annabelle? Maybe it just got out of hand. Maybe he only meant to scare her and things went too far.”

  Meadow said, “And Arnold Tremont. His major stress was the fact that he was about to be divorced by his wife when he wanted a reconciliation.”

  “Exactly. And I don’t totally buy the fact that he was so completely friendly to his wife’s boyfriends. I can’t imagine him being so relaxed and laid-back about it,” said Beatrice. “He’s a man who built a successful business empire, and he did that by being pretty ruthless.”

  Meadow said, “So what’s our next step?”

  “My next step is to touch base again with Wyatt,” said Beatrice. “And then I think you and I should do a little chatting at Annabelle’s funeral.”

  Meadow snapped her fingers. “I totally forgot that there should be a funeral coming up!”

  Beatrice said, “Wyatt was talking about the service some last night. He mentioned that Arnold is also hosting a reception.”

  Meadow blinked at her. “At his house? With all the boxes and everything in stacks on the floor?”

  “No, he’s renting out one of the downtown restaurants. I guess he wanted the Tremont family to offer an act of goodwill before leaving town. It might make the residents remember them more fondly,” said Beatrice.

  Chapter Twelve

  MISS SISSY CAME BACK out into the waiting room, looking belligerent.

  Beatrice muttered, “I wonder how that appointment went for the poor dentist. Miss Sissy looks as though she went in fighting.”

  Meadow said, “Almost makes you feel as though we should tip the poor woman.” To Miss Sissy she said cheerfully, “All set to go?”

  They made sure that Miss Sissy didn’t need to checkout or make a follow-up appointment and then went on their way.