by Sharon Pape
“Yes.” Another strike against her. “Duggan pointed out that if my mom or I were to confess, he’d do what he could to cut us a deal with the DA.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him we couldn’t do that, because neither of us is guilty.” She broke off another piece of the brownie, then put it back down on her napkin and pushed the whole thing away. “I’m sorry. It’s delicious, but my appetite is AWOL.”
“Stress destroys my appetite too. It makes some people, like my aunt, want to eat everything in sight.” Dani made a half-hearted attempt to smile. There was no point in stretching out her misery. Jump in and get it over with.
“How did you find out about Elliot and Ava?” I hated testing her, but I had to see if Lolly’s story matched hers. I wouldn’t be much of a sleuth if I let it slide because I was close to them. Maybe PIs should be prohibited from working on those near and dear the way surgeons are. No one can be objective when it comes to family and friends. Travis should have been doing this interview. But he wasn’t here, I was.
“It was pure coincidence,” she said, repeating what Lolly had told me. Of course, they’d had enough time to coordinate their stories. Since I couldn’t hook her up to a lie detector, I’d have to take her words with the proverbial grain of salt. There was a spell that prevented a person from lying, but given the imperfect state of my magick, it was useless.
Dani looked up at me. “It was like I was meant to find out. At least that’s the way it felt.” Elliot probably saw it as the day his luck ran out.
“Once the ME establishes the time of Ava’s death,” I said, “Duggan is going to ask you where you were and what you were doing during that time. You need to have a verifiable alibi. Can you give me a general idea of your activities that day?” Motive and opportunity would go out the window if she could prove beyond a doubt that she was elsewhere.
Dani was biting on her lower lip. “I had a ten o’clock appointment with my divorce attorney and then I ran some errands. I didn’t pay strict attention to the timing of them. Who does, unless they’re planning to commit murder and need to establish an alibi?” She had a point, but it wasn’t likely to do her much good.
“You should try to come up with a basic timeline for those activities before Duggan puts you on the spot. If you saw someone you know at each stop, they could help account for your time. When do your kids get home from school? They’re too young to be left home alone, so that would be another part of your alibi. Unless you use sitters.”
“If I need someone to watch the kids, it’s always a family member.”
“Did you use one of them that day?
“No, I make a point of being here when school lets out, and I take them with me if I need to go out again. I don’t ask for help, unless it’s absolutely necessary. We all have busy lives.”
“After you found out about the affair, did you ever threaten Elliot’s life or Ava’s, maybe in the heat of an argument?” Dani shook her head. “Did you ever confront Ava on the phone or in person?”
“Never. I didn’t want anything to do with her. What she did to my family was beyond despicable. I’ll never understand women who don’t give a damn if they hurt other women. But in the end, I lay the blame on my husband.” I was relieved to hear that she hadn’t confronted Ava. It would only have made matters worse. I was all out of questions, at least until the ME released his report.
Switching hats from investigator to friend, I asked Dani how the kids were doing in school and what activities they were involved in. She shared some funny anecdotes, and by the time I left, she seemed to be in a better frame of mind.
“You’re sure she never spoke to Ava—I mean never?” Travis asked when I called to update him.
“I’ve known Dani all my life and if she said she didn’t, I believe her.”
“You know my theory. Everyone is capable of killing under the right circumstances. No one gets a pass in a murder investigation.”
I sighed. “The next time I go to see her I’ll be sure to bring the thumb screws.” I expected a laugh, or a chuckle, but Travis was in solemn newscaster mode. “Even if I could believe Dani killed Ava, there’s no way she’d frame her mother for it.” When I dig in my heels, Travis has learned to back off. Or change the subject.
“Listen,” he said, “I know it’s short notice, but if you can make the trip up to Buffalo tomorrow, I’ll call Liam and see if we can meet with him and then with his parents in Williamsville.”
“I’m glad to hear we won’t be interviewing all of them together. Three is definitely a crowd in a murder investigation.”
“From what Liam said, we may have to talk to his folks together. They’re pretty much holding each other up at this point.”
“I bet they don’t even know their daughter left a broken family in her wake.”
“And if they did, do you think they would love her less or miss her less?” Travis asked. I thought about my family and how they might react to news that I’d destroyed a marriage. They’d probably have a hard time believing it. And if they discovered it was true? They’d be disappointed in me, but they would never stop loving me. Travis was right.
Chapter 12
Tilly said she’d be delighted to cover for me the next day. She didn’t have any readings scheduled in her shop. I felt guilty about asking for her help again. Her willingness and my guilt were becoming a pattern for us.
“Believe me,” Tilly said, taking my two hands in hers. “If I didn’t want to do it, I would say so.”
I had my doubts about that. Tilly always had a problem saying no to me. I remember my mother warning me not to take advantage of her. “She loves you to distraction. You must never abuse that kind of love.” But since my mother and grandmother had been taken from us, Tilly was the only family I could go to for help. Even if our new circumstances should have eased that restriction, it sure didn’t make a dent in my rasher of guilt.
“You’re absolutely certain it’s not too much for you?” I repeated for the third or fourth time. “I mean you take days off to rest from your own work and running my shop can be tiring.” We were standing in her kitchen where she’d just finished cleaning up after a whirlwind of baking for a friend’s surprise party.
“First of all, the reason I need time off has nothing to do with being tired. If I were to spend every day in other people’s minds, I’d lose my own in short order. Working in Abracadabra is therapeutic for me. I grew up in that shop alongside your mom just as Bronwen did before us. It’s the link we have with our ancestors who came to this land over four hundred years ago. So just say thank you, Aunt Tilly, and let it go.”
“Thank you, Aunt Tilly. I love you.” I reached out for a hug and found myself pulled into the generous folds of her new emerald green muumuu. When I surfaced, it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Merlin since I’d arrived there. What made it all the more curious was that he hadn’t been sitting in the kitchen during the baking process. “Our wizardly friend is awfully quiet,” I said.
“I know. Isn’t it grand? He’s gotten so involved in reading and translating the old scrolls that he actually forgot to eat lunch yesterday.”
That was hard to believe. “Has he found anything interesting?” Since childhood I’d been fascinated by the arcane appearance and meaning of the words in the scrolls. It was like a secret code guarding other secrets that none of us had the key to unlock—until now.
“He’s been closemouthed on the subject, but there’s a definite twinkle in his eyes when he speaks about it—or rather, refuses to speak about it. I’ve decided to enjoy the calm before the next storm.” Although that plan might prove foolish down the road, I could understand its appeal.
I texted Travis that we were on for the next day. Half an hour later, he texted back that the interviews were set and that he’d pick me up at nine. With that settled, I had to decide on the
more immediate questions of which shopkeeper would have the pleasure of my company at lunchtime. I was still hoping one of them knew more about Ava Duncan than I did. I settled on Stratford and Son’s Variety Shop. I didn’t expect to learn much from the older Stratford, but the son, Leo, was about the same age as Ava when the killer stopped her clock.
I made sure Sashkatu had enough water and put the sign in the window that I’d be back at two. The day had grown warmer than the meteorologist predicted. By the time I’d walked the three blocks to the Variety shop, I was thinking of ditching the investigation and spending my whole lunch hour outside. My overly strict conscience wouldn’t have it. Some Nancy Drew you’re turning out to be. The first nice day and you’re ready to forget the trouble your friends are in. I assured myself I’d done nothing of the sort and to prove it, I went straight into the store.
In the past decade, the Variety Shop had become the largest store in New Camel by consuming the shops on either side of it. The merchandise ran the gamut of tourist items made everywhere but here. T-shirts emblazoned with the name New Camel and pictures of a cartoonish camel were probably the biggest sellers, followed by sweatshirts for those days that were colder than expected. There were camel salt and pepper shakers, camel coasters, camel napkin holders, camel key chains and every other possible knickknack one could imagine in the shape of, or with the image of a camel.
The first and only time Merlin went into the store, he became so incensed by the merchandise that he worked himself into an alarming shade of crimson. Worried that he’d suffer a stroke, my aunt dragged him out of there as he launched a blustery diatribe at the elder Stratford. “I was merely trying to set the fool straight,” he’d said indignantly once they were outside.
I don’t think I’d been in the shop more than a couple of times myself. I suppose if I had company visiting from out of town, I might take them there to pick up souvenirs. But for better or worse, we never had guests—with the notable exception of Merlin. And when I figured out how to send him back to King Arthur’s court, I certainly wasn’t going to let him take items from the twenty-first century back with him. He’d already muddied up history enough by vanishing from his own time. Not that it was his fault. I’d been summoning a familiar and apparently lassoed the legendary sorcerer instead, setting him on a crash course for my storeroom.
Stratford senior was helping a couple at the front of the store. Leo was restocking merchandise near the rear. The resemblance between father and son was remarkable. Both were tall and thin, Leo slightly more so. Both had dark hair and blue eyes, though Lester’s hair was thinning, the blue of his eyes fading as if used up by thirty extra years of living. The men’s features were mirror images. Leo’s mother was nowhere to be seen in her son, until you got a glimpse of his personality. If Leo was entirely his father on the outside, he was entirely his mother on the inside. He was a people person, friendly, always ready with a joke, making friends of every customer. Word around town was that Leo had turned the barely solvent business around and made it flourish. By contrast, his father was dour and stingy with a smile. I’d heard that when he tried to smile more at his son’s urging, the result was more horrifying than friendly. His face wasn’t made to work that way.
“The bewitching lady from the magick shop,” Leo said with a grin when he looked up and saw me approaching. “What can I do for you? Did you suddenly find yourself in need of some American kitsch?”
“To be honest, I came by for information.” I’d decided to be straight forward with him. “Do you have a minute?”
“More than one for a fellow shopkeeper.” He set the box of camel magnets on the counter and leaned back against it.
“Did you know Ava Duncan?” Her name had an immediate effect on him. He was pretty good at masking it, but I caught the subtle wariness in his eyes.
“Yes, I did. Terrible what happened to her.”
“Was it?”
“A young woman was murdered—you don’t think that’s awful?” I’d clearly knocked him off balance with my comment—as intended.
“I guess that would depend on your perspective. She did tear a family apart.”
“So did Elliot. He chose to cheat on his wife.”
“As the old saying goes, it takes two to tango.”
Leo shrugged. “Hey, I don’t know enough about their affair to assign blame. For that matter, I barely knew Ava.”
“How did you meet her?”
Leo took a moment before responding. He must have been weighing his options. Should he be honest and link himself to a murder victim or lie and put an end to the subject? “I met her at a bar right after she moved to the Glen,” he said finally. “She looked lonely, so I bought her a drink and we talked for a while.” Play it low-key, my inner Nancy Drew cautioned me. He has information. Don’t scare him off.
“If you don’t mind me asking, was that the beginning of a relationship between the two of you?”
“A short-lived one, as it turned out. After one dinner and a movie, she stopped returning my calls. Maybe she’d met Elliot. In any case, I’m a quick study, so I moved on with a little dent in my pride.” Leo was hard to label, by turns self-confident and self-effacing. “I take it you’re investigating her death?”
I laughed. “Pretty obvious, huh?”
“You might say your reputation precedes you.”
“One last question?”
“I didn’t kill her,” Leo said, jumping the gun.
I grinned. “That wasn’t my question, but I’ll be sure to make note of it. I was hoping you’d tell me a little about Ava. I never met her.”
“She was down to earth, not pretentious, what you saw is what you got. I thought she was pretty, but not everyone did.”
I thanked him and asked him to call me if he thought of anything else about her that might be important—like why someone would want to kill her. “Has Detective Duggan been in to talk to you?”
“You already had your last question,” Leo said with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “But I’m in a generous mood. The detective has not yet made an appearance, and I would prefer to keep it that way.”
“He won’t hear anything about you from me. The less I see of that man, the better I like it too.” On the walk back to my shop, I tried to make sense of the two different women Ava seemed to be, the nice down-to-earth woman Leo knew, and the arrogant home wrecker Lolly described. Maybe the problem lay in my prejudice against Ava. I wanted to believe that any woman capable of stealing Elliot away from Lolly’s daughter had to be a temptress, a Mata Hari that no man could resist. If she was just an ordinary woman, then much of the blame for the affair rested squarely on Elliot’s shoulders. If Ava wasn’t irresistible, why hadn’t he resisted her for the sake of his family, the sake of his marriage? It was possible that Dani and Elliot were already having problems when Ava came along. Timing—so much of life seemed to come down to timing. One thing was clear to me. I couldn’t continue to let my personal feelings about Lolly and Dani cloud my thinking.
Chapter 13
Travis and I left for Buffalo the next morning. We had an appointment to meet with Liam at noon. His lunch hour was the only time he had available for us. He’d started a new job at an accounting firm and often had to work late. “Low man on the totem pole” was how he’d characterized it to Travis. The problem was finding a private place in which to hold our meeting. Restaurants were crowded at that hour and Liam’s apartment was too far from his office. He suggested a pizza joint where the business was mostly delivery to local offices. It would have to do.
The drive was pleasant. The day was spring at its best, with pale blue skies and all the cherry trees in bloom. After I gave Travis a brief summary of my meeting with Leo Stratford, neither of us seemed inclined to talk about Ava’s death. We’d be doing that soon enough. Instead we kept the conversation light. He talked about the new season of baseball, and I talked
about planting more annuals. When Morgana and Bronwen were alive, Morgana had loved gardening and I’d inherited her love of flowers. She’d buy flats of impatiens, petunias, salvia and other flowers whose names now eluded me. Travis offered to spend a day helping me with the project, which I appreciated beyond measure. But I knew the odds were not in my favor. There was bound to be a news emergency that would keep him in Watkins Glen, if not farther away.
“My mom loves planting flowers too,” he said. “You have that in common. Every year she drags my dad to the nurseries to help her. I’m not sure if she knows just how much he hates trailing behind her, especially in the hot houses. I once asked him why he doesn’t tell her and just refuse to go. His answer was, ‘eh, it’s just once a year. I’ll survive.’”
“Sounds like they have a good marriage,” I said. He took his hand off the wheel and closed it around mine with a little squeeze. Was that his way of saying he hoped we could have a marriage like that someday? I pushed the question out of my mind. I wasn’t ready to think about forever.
“Since we’re on the subject of our parents,” he said, “mine would like to meet you.” He gave me a quick glance to judge my reaction. I made a point of keeping my expression neutral.
“I’d love to meet them too. The only problem is I can’t ask Tilly to help out again so soon after this.” I wasn’t sure if I was looking for obstacles to delay the inevitable, but I had to admit it was a distinct possibility. “And now with the investigation, we shouldn’t be away that much.” The trip to Manhattan made Buffalo seem like a walk around the block.
“They’re willing to come to New Camel.” His smile told me that he thought he’d solved the problem.