“The Mayor!” Abby and Becky said in unison. “Do we have time to go over there before we head to the police station?”
“I think we do,” Gabe said. “But first, let’s eat.”
Chapter 16
The mayor’s offices were located in a beautiful, two-story brick building with white colonial trim and graceful column’s in the front. Abby had mixed feelings about the building. The architecture was breathtaking, but this was also the first place she’d met Senator Clark. All by himself, the senator sent chills up and down her spine, and that was before she had learned about their dark history.
Kat Morgan, who had formerly been known as Katherine Moore Clark, had been the first Morgan to settle here in Red Pine Falls. She had fled her marriage from the brutal Eustace Clark in Boston in 1902, traveling by ship until arriving at the Port of Portland months later and changing her name. Kat’s grandfather had managed to send her away with a fortune in gold, as well as a will and several deeds that Kat had never been able to claim.
Abby and her grandmother Hazel had found Kat’s diary and the other paperwork hidden in one of the massive chests of gold hidden in the bowels of their house not so long ago. They’d brought in their lawyer, Robert Carrington to help. A man that it had turned out was related to Billy Carrington, a teenage boy who had been instrumental in helping Kat escape. He had been forced to part with her to lead Eustice and his men away from her whereabouts. Eventually, Billy became a lawyer in Chicago. Robert was the last in a long line of Carrington lawyers, all of which served the Morgan household in secret. Hazel and Abby had not yet heard what Robert might be able to do with the secret will and deeds, but they hoped they might hear something soon.
Lost in thought, Abby wasn’t paying attention when the front door to the municipal building opened, almost smacking Abby in the face. It was only through the quick hands of Gabe that it didn’t, making her blink in surprise even as the grey-haired mayor jumped and apologized profusely for the near accident.
“Abby! My word!” Mayor Tomlin said. “I wasn’t even paying attention when I was opening the door. I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”
“Yes, mayor, I’m fine thanks to Gabe,” Abby said, watching as the white-haired man hobbled backward. He was still recovering from falling out of his home’s second story window. Despite the accident, she was thankful for it, since it had saved him from being murdered. “How is everything healing?” she said, gesturing at his legs.
“Oh, fine, fine,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s still slow going, but I’m managing to get around now, at least. Bob still checks on me a few times a week, just to make sure I’m taking care of myself. He said he might be coming by tonight with some burgers which I’m quite looking forward too.”
Abby frowned. “Mayor, didn’t you hear about what happened today?”
Mayor Tomlin copied Abby’s frown and shook his head. “No, what happened?”
Gabe finished pulling the door all the way open. “Maybe we had better talk inside,” he said, gesturing with his hand toward the mayor’s office down the hall and next to the stairway up to the second floor.
The mayor looked down at the floor for a second before nodding, and the four of them trooped inside, pacing themselves for the slower moving older man. After they’d seated themselves in the cozy office across from the mayor’s desk and after he’d settled himself slowly into his worn leather chair, Abby proceeded to fill him in on the day’s happenings.
She watched as a whole slew of emotions crossed his face, and when she’d finished, the mayor was deep in thought. She had been afraid that she might get Lanie and the police department in trouble because they hadn’t been the ones to let the mayor know this was all going on, but despite a brief moment of irritation that flashed across his face, he hadn’t responded with too much anger.
“Thank you for telling me what has been going on,” Mayor Tomlin said slowly, his bushy eyebrows shadowing his eyes. “I knew about Francine, but I hadn’t heard anything about John Tillsdale or Sheriff Pearson.” He put his hand over his face and rubbed his temples for a moment before looking at them. “You said you were going to head over to the police station after this? Is that the reason you came over here, tonight?”
“No, sir,” Gabe said. “We didn’t have a clue you weren’t informed. Actually, we came over to talk to you about doing something for the town.”
“Oh? Like what?”
Gabe looked at Abby and Becky before continuing. “We thought that something to raise the town’s spirits might be a good idea, but we don’t know the first thing about how to do it. We wondered if the town might appreciate a carnival. Do you know anything about how to arrange that?”
The mayor rubbed his chin, eyeing Gabe for a moment as he mulled over the idea. Finally, he nodded. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I even know a group that might be able to come out on relatively short notice. If I do this, I’ll need someone to help me organize everything. With the state the town is in, I’m not sure who I can count on.”
With that, he gave Abby a raised eyebrow which quickly was followed by a sinking feeling in her gut. After a few moments, Gabe squeezed her hand, and when she looked at him, he nodded. “We can do it,” Gabe said.
Breathing out a sigh, Abby nodded and smiled bravely. “Looks like you’ve got yourself a crew, mayor.”
Chapter 17
They had to drive to the edge of Salem to get some Chinese food for the people at the police station. Since they didn’t know how many people would be there, they got a large selection so everyone would have a choice. The couple that ran the restaurant was more than delighted, giving them free drinks and pot stickers while they waited for the food to be prepared.
Half-an-hour later, they were back on their way to Red Pine Falls, watching the fir trees pass by on either side of the road as they were highlighted by the truck’s headlights.
They had just turned the bend on their way into town when a car that had been coming their way suddenly swerved into their lane almost in front of them. Abby and Becky both screamed, their eyes wide as Gabe turned the steering wheel to the left, desperately trying to avoid the oncoming car. Cheerio didn’t make a sound as the car suddenly jerked to the left, but his eyes were wide as he scrambled for footing and fell forward into the space between the front and back seat.
Abby could hear the tires of the oncoming car screeching, expecting an impact at any moment. There was a momentary scraping sound, but it must have just been a glance, and she saw its headlights race by even as their own tires scrambled for traction on the side of the road. She felt more than saw branches and small trees collapse in front of them, but instead of slamming into one of the larger fir trees, Gabe wrestled the car away from the forest and came to a stop.
The stillness of the next few moments was almost more shocking than the screeching of the car, but instead of calming down, Abby couldn’t stop shaking. It brought back too many memories from when she had been driven off of the road and then forced to flee into the woods to escape Bakes and Wallace, the people who had killed Don Buckshire.
“Abby?” Becky said after she got herself in order. “Abby, are you okay?”
She couldn’t answer. The flashbacks from rolling and tumbling down the embankment in the car were slamming into her head, making her relive every moment. She couldn’t even feel her whitened fingers gripping the armrest before Gabe reached over and pulled her to him. She jerked violently when he did, but his soft voice and strong arms wrapped around her, soothing her terror. Becky and Cheerio both leaned over the back seat, adding their concern and love until after an unknown length of time, Abby began to finally relax.
“We… we have to get to the police station,” Abby muttered, her brain finally starting to kick in.
“Don’t worry about that. I’m not done holding you yet,” Gabe said softly, his hand caressing her shoulder.
“But-“ Abby began, but Gabe just shook his head and shushed her.
�
��Nope, not yet,” Gabe said. “Cheerio needs to know you’re okay and he’s looking at you like you’re going to explode. Once he stops, then we can go.”
Abby looked over and saw the panicked look on her dogs face. Cooing softly, she turned and snuggled his brown and white muzzle, instantly feeling better. Despite what she’d said, she stayed like that, hugging Cheerio and being hugged by Gabe for several minutes before finally taking a deep breath and letting it out.
When she finally raised her head, she felt better and immediately became angry. “Did someone just try to run us off the road?” she growled.
“Noticed that, did you?” Gabe said carefully. “Yes, that happened.”
“I’m getting a little tired of people trying to kill me,” Abby said, turning to look behind the truck in the vain hope of seeing the car that had driven them off of the road. “Did anyone see the license plate?”
Becky made a rude noise from the back seat. “Uh, I was too busy screaming and having my life flash before my eyes to check for a license plate.”
For his part, Gabe just shook his head. “Yeah, I don’t think any of us got a good look, though I can say the car was a dark color, that’s it.”
“I think I heard it scrape the side of the truck,” Abby said.
Gabe raised his eyebrow for a moment. “I didn’t hear anything, but stay here and let me check it out. It didn’t look like whoever it was stopped, but I don’t want to take any chances.” With that, he pulled a flashlight out of the glove compartment and got out of the truck. He crossed over to the passenger side, and Abby and Becky watched him look both ways around the vehicle, making sure there wasn’t some crazy about to run him over before bending down and examining something.
It was a few moments later when he returned, a sour look on his face. “Yep, we were clipped. It wasn’t much, which was probably lucky for us. Otherwise, I might not have been able to regain control of the truck in time. I can also say that whoever hit us was driving a blue car.”
They all grew quiet as Gabe started the truck up and resumed their drive back to town. Despite being calmer, Abby couldn’t help but flinch whenever they passed a vehicle going in the other direction, which in turn made her angry. As they turned onto Main street and the police station came into sight, she couldn’t help but say out loud what she’d been thinking.
“Do you think it was the killer and they wanted to shut us up?” Abby said in almost a whisper.
Gabe and Becky didn’t answer, but their eyes spoke volumes.
Chapter 18
Despite the rough ride, they managed to salvage most of the Chinese food, though some of it had gotten mixed together. Cheerio was more than happy to take care of the small amount that fell out of the bags. When they reached the police station, all three of them carried the food inside, followed by an excited Cheerio who clearly wanted more.
Their smiles evaporated when they stepped inside. In the middle of the police station, Ruby Anderson and Deputy Lanie were both screaming at each other at the top of their lungs with their faces inches apart.
“I’m not going to sleep on one of those… those military cots!” Ruby screeched with her hands waving in the air.
“Well, that’s what we’ve got! What do you expect!?” Lanie fired back. “We’re not the Hilton! It’s either the floor or the cot!”
“The floor?!” Ruby said, her voice miraculously rising another octave.
“That’s right, and if you keep arguing I’m going to take away your pillow!” Lanie yelled.
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Oh, boy,” Abby whispered as the three of them came to a stop in the foyer of the station. No one else had noticed them come in since everyone’s eyes were on the fight going on in front of them. Barry Anderson, who was sitting down and had his arms around his two kids looked, didn’t look like he was going to try to interfere and Abby didn’t blame him. “Gabe, you need to do something. They’re going to kill each other.”
Gabe gave Abby a pained look, but took a deep breath and moved forward, holding his hands up and waving them to get everyone’s attention. “Hold on! Hold on! Everyone just calm down!”
Lanie quieted, giving Gabe an angry look of surprise, but Ruby didn’t take a breath before she turned her wrath on the solidly built forest ranger. “You don’t tell me to calm down! No one tells ME to calm down!” Ruby said, her finger held firmly in Gabe’s face.
Instead of backing down, Gabe’s face became cold, and he leaned into her, almost growling his answer. “Two of your friends are laying on a morgue’s table, and you’re arguing about cots?”
Abby watched the color drain out of Ruby’s face, and she actually took a step back, her mouth working like a fish. “I… I just-”
“No, you don’t answer. You go sit down with your kids and let us do our best to protect you before you get yourself kicked out of the station,” Gabe said, pointing at the chair next to Barry.
Ruby paused, looking around herself but every eye in the station looked back at her with nothing but contempt. Slowly, she turned and went to join her husband, sitting in the chair with a slumped, defeated look.
Lanie watched her go, still tense and waiting for the woman to come back at her but after seeing her sit, she turned to Gabe. “Thank you,” she mouthed at him before taking a deep breath and turning toward Abby and Becky. “And you got Chinese food! Thank you. I think after today, we’re all famished. You can put it on this table over here.”
Lanie led them to a table next to the small kitchenette where they laid out the white bags and pulled out the containers from within. The smell of the food filled the station, attracting the attention of most of the occupants who came over to help themselves. It wasn’t long before everyone had gotten some food and taken seats.
Lanie waived for Abby, Becky, and Gabe to follow her to a small interview room which was normally used to question suspects, but in this case was more than adequate for her and the other three to eat around the beaten up old table.
“I can’t thank you enough for bringing food. Everyone, or really, Ruby, is being such a handful. I didn’t get in until about two hours ago, and she was actually trying to get Josh to pull the Sheriff’s desk out of his office so her family could use it for sleeping,” Lanie said, slurping up some noodles. “I barely had time to take the Mayor’s call. Which reminds me, thanks for going over and updating him, as well.”
“No problem, Lanie,” Gabe said. “I’m just glad she listened to me. I wasn’t entirely sure she would.”
“I think being brutal was the only thing that might have broken her out of her tirade,” Lanie said tiredly. “I can’t believe she didn’t lose her voice. We’d been yelling at each other for a good twenty minutes.” She gave Becky a pitiful look. “Is there any way you could make me some tea with honey?”
Becky reached over and patted Lanie’s arm before standing. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
“So you spoke to the mayor?” Abby asked. “He said no one had contacted him all day. I hope he wasn’t too hard on you.”
Lanie shook her head after taking another bite of General Tso’s chicken. “No, thank goodness. He was understanding and very concerned. He even asked me if he should come down to the station, but I told him no since we already had so many bodies here. It would just give Ruby someone else to yell at although maybe having another target would have helped.”
“Maybe,” Abby said. “But between you and me, I’m glad he didn’t. He’s been through a lot in the past few weeks.”
“True,” Lanie said. “Did you get a chance to talk to Joe?”
“Yes, and as you’d imagine, he declined to come over here. He said he and Martha would be just fine with their dogs and his guns.”
Lanie grinned. “I’d like to see the killer try to get to him. Did he get a letter?”
“He wasn’t sure,” Gabe said. “He hadn’t checked his mailbox, but it’s out at the end of his road, so I don’t blame him. Still, it’s a good bet he did
, since it seemed every one of the other councilmembers got one. Do you have any other information on the killer by chance?”
Lanie gave him a pained look and then gestured toward the main room where the councilmembers and their family were eating. “No time to do anything else but I did have a question for you. Didn’t you say that John had locked his door?”
Abby and Gabe both nodded, giving Lanie a questioning look. “Yes, he did. Why?”
“Because the doors weren’t locked,” Lanie said. “Either he let someone in, or whoever it was had a key. He didn’t have any family, and no one else worked there. Just him.”
Gabe and Abby exchanged glances before looking back at Lanie. “So someone had a key, but no one should have had a key? Or at least that you know of?” Abby asked.
“That’s it exactly. It’s too soon to say it means anything, but it’s the only odd thing we noticed.” Lanie said.
“Could someone have made another key?” Abby asked.
“It’s possible, but they would either have to have a key to copy, or they knew the lock code. The code usually comes in the original package, but I don’t know of anyone that keeps that.” Lanie explained.
“Another mystery,” Abby said.
“Well, don’t forget what happened to us tonight,” Gabe said before turning to Lanie. “We were almost run off the road by a dark blue car.”
“What? No one was hurt were they?” Lanie asked.
“Thank goodness, no,” Becky said, coming back into the room with a cup of tea for Lanie. “But it scared the heck out of us.”
“It scraped the side of my truck, too.” Gabe offered.
Lanie gave him a considering look before standing up. “Let me go out and take a look. Maybe I can get a sample of the paint. There can’t be very many cars with a scraped side in town. We can keep an eye out.”
“Thanks, Lanie,” Abby said, ruffling Cheerio’s ears. “After that, I think I’m going to head home. It’s been quite a day.”
Killer Instincts and Savory Pie Page 6