A Field Guide to Homicide

by Lynn Cahoon

  Cat frowned. “I thought he was shot during some assignment.”

  Seth came over and took a cookie. “Honestly, that’s what I remember. Guess I was wrong.”

  “Did you catch up with Terry? What did he want to tell you?” Cat pulled the basket closer and looked at the cookies. Deciding not to indulge, she pushed it back toward Seth.

  He took two more and used the back of his hands to hide a yawn. He stared at her, thoughtful. “You know what? He never said. I guess it wasn’t as important as he made it sound in the e-mail. We just talked about Chance and the old days. Then we grabbed some dinner before heading over to the hall.”

  Cat thought about mentioning what Sherry had said and decided this wasn’t the time. Instead, she glanced at the clock. “We still hiking at nine?”

  Seth groaned a little. “Yep, which means I need to crash or you’ll be leading the hiking group and I’ll be passed out in the SUV.”

  Cat smiled as he stopped by her chair to kiss her on the top of her head. “See you in the morning.”

  “You should get some sleep too. You’re grumpy when you’re tired. Oh, yeah, Terry did keep asking me if I’d been up to Chance’s mining claim. I guess he didn’t listen when I’d told him I didn’t know he was even alive. Much less living here in Aspen Hills.” He paused at the kitchen door. “Want to walk up with me?”

  “Go ahead. I’m going to finish my cocoa and then I’ll head to bed.” She turned back to the journal and started reading as Seth disappeared into the hallway. Cat wondered where this Terry fellow was staying and if she could carve out some time to go visit him. Maybe he’d be more upfront with her than he had been with Seth. From how Seth had described him, it sounded like Terry was more interested in finding out if Seth had known that Chance was alive. And what he’d known about the claim. Maybe they should change their hiking path tomorrow and check out Chance’s cabin and the mining claim. Cat found it hard to believe that this was all about something that happened over ten years ago.

  She could feel sleep start to take over. She glanced at the journal; she still had about a quarter more to finish. She’d just tuck it in her backpack tomorrow and steal reading time wherever she could find it.

  As she was heading upstairs, she thought about Seth and the ring. It definitely was a conversation they were going to have sooner or later. And if she had anything to say about it, the talk would happen as soon as he got back from dropping the guests off at the airport on Sunday.

  Chapter 14

  The next morning, Cat and Shauna sat together at the kitchen table going over the plan for the next few days.

  “You know, it almost feels like we’re not in session. The two couples are either at the library or the bar at night. Brodie holes up in the study, writing. If we didn’t have sessions during the day, I wouldn’t see any of them,” Cat grumbled as she glanced at her planner. “Tomorrow is Tammy’s bookseller talk in the morning and then I’ll do a ‘What did you get done?’ session after dinner, if the group comes back. I feel bad for Brodie, he’s missing out on all the good stuff the other students get from the retreat.”

  “Don’t feel bad. Brodie has learned a lot. And from what he told me this morning when he came for coffee, he finally feels comfortable writing in the genre he loves. He thought since he was going to school on scholarship, he needed to be the next Hemingway or something.” Shauna scribbled in her planner.

  “We really need to sit down and have a talk about money and genres. He’d realize that his best shot to make a living in this career isn’t to focus on literary works, but to find a hot genre and just keep publishing.” Cat tapped her pen on her planner. “Maybe next month, I’ll add a ‘planning for the year’ session. I can add it to Thursday or Saturday, and hold it the last two months of the year and January.”

  “Add in June. Sometimes that’s a great place to reconnect with your goals or resolutions and still have time to get things done,” Shauna added. She opened her laptop. “We aren’t full for June, so I’ll add it to the marketing for the session.”

  “Did you move up the hiking adventure sessions? Maybe we can do three—with the last one scheduled for September.” Cat studied her year-ata-glance notes. “What’s the last month we’re fully booked?”

  “March.” Shauna flipped through a few pages on her paper calendar. “Should I do some advertising for the Christmas gift-giving season?”

  “Yeah, we have a balloon payment due in July this year and I’d really like to be a little flusher in the business account before summer.”

  Shauna set down her pen. “You know I told you I’d add in money if we needed it.”

  “When are you going to see your investment guy? I think you need to get that money set aside before I become weak and take you up on one of your multiple offers.” Cat stood and refilled her coffee cup. “And I don’t mean your brother as your investment guy. There’s a local guy who works with the college who I’m pretty sure isn’t involved with the families. You could check him out with Uncle Pete first, he’d know.”

  “That’s a great idea. Even if I put it into a long-term CD at this point, at least it would be out of my hands. Then maybe Jake would stop calling me and trying to convince me that now he could turn me a fifty percent profit.” Shauna made some notes in her to-do list. “I’ll reach out to Pete next week after Shirley’s gone and get this money locked up.”

  “Uh-oh. I heard my name. Am I interrupting you girls?” Shirley stood at the doorway to the kitchen. She was dressed in a soft blue blouse and dark blue pants. She typically wore darker clothes that looked more like the police uniforms she’d worn her entire career. Cat liked this look on her. Shirley looked softer, more feminine.

  “Come on in. We’re just planning for next year’s sessions. As a graduate, maybe you could give us some insight.”

  Shirley made her way into the room. “I loved our session. I felt like I was part of a group that grew together. But this one . . .”

  Cat saw the unease cross the woman’s face. “Go ahead, say it, we’ve been saying the same thing.”

  “So it’s not my imagination, it’s different, right?” Shirley went to pour a cup of coffee. “During my session there was always people in the living room, talking or writing. And the dining room was more of a break room. This time, I know people are here, but it seems like a ghost town.”

  “But if they’re getting work done, maybe it’s okay,” Shauna added.

  Cat shrugged. On one hand, she agreed with Shauna. Writing was a personal process. Where one person loved the interaction and writing together as a group, another wanted privacy and total quiet while he or she wrote or created. On the other hand, she missed interacting with the group like she usually did. “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow when we do the writers’ review. This group just might be different. Although we may want to know coming in that a group is filled with couples. It changes the retreat’s dynamics. Maybe we should be offering different things to couples?”

  “It’s a thought. I checked February’s group and it’s all individuals, so if you wanted to do a couples-only session, we’d have to push it out a few months. And maybe not invite a Covington student.” Shauna stood and checked the muffins in the oven.

  “Or invite a couple.” Cat shrugged. “I knew a lot of married couples when I was getting my advanced degree. Finding a couple who are both in some type of English degree might be challenging, but I could throw it out to the dean next week.”

  “Maybe your uncle and I could come to this session. That way he could see what you’re doing here firsthand.” Shirley took a muffin off the table and put it on a napkin in front of her. “He’s always saying he’s going to work on his book. This way, he’d have to actually do it.”

  “Uncle Pete’s working on a book?” Cat stared at Shirley, who was smearing butter on her muffin.

  “You didn’t know?” Shauna asked from where she stood at the fridge, where she’d pulled out a carton of milk. “It’s some kind of myste
ry, right, Shirley?”

  “Technically, it’s more of a thriller. At least from what he’s let me read.” Shirley glanced at Cat. “It’s really good. Maybe he was nervous to tell you, since you’re a real author and all.”

  Before Cat could respond, Seth walked in the room. “Good morning, ladies. How did you all sleep last night?”

  As everyone settled in to eat a quick breakfast, the chatter around the table turned to today’s hike. Cat felt like she’d been punched in the stomach by Shirley’s revelation. Why hadn’t her uncle told her that he wanted to write a book? It had never even come up in conversation, yet both Shirley and Shauna had known. She wanted to ask Seth if he’d known too, but she couldn’t handle the fact that if he did, she would be the only person her uncle hadn’t confided in. Was it because she was too busy with her own work? Had he approached her about it and she’d shut him down somehow?

  She was thinking about their conversations for the last few months when she heard Shirley’s question.

  “You don’t mind if I tag along on the hike today, do you?” Shirley was finishing up the last of her fruit bowl as she asked Seth the question. “After Cat and I went to visit Sherry yesterday, I realized I hadn’t been doing any of my workouts this week. I’m a little sore just from walking a few blocks. I need to get off my butt at least a few times this week before I fly back home.”

  “Sure.” Seth took a bite of the wheat bread that Shauna had made yesterday and sliced for toasting today. “I already made you a backpack, but Brodie’s coming too, so I have to make one for him.”

  “Well, he can be my hiking buddy.” Shirley picked up her empty plates and silverware, and took them to the sink. “Thanks for breakfast. I’m running upstairs to get my laptop and I’ll grab a quiet place and start writing. I’m getting a lot done here. Especially since Pete’s working so much. I might just finish this book before I leave.”

  “Be at the front by nine thirty ready to go,” Seth called after her. Then he finished his omelet and repeated Shirley’s actions. “I’ll be downstairs. Let me know if you need anything.”

  “See you soon,” Cat responded.

  He paused at the basement door. “Cat? Would you like to meet some of my army buddies? You could ask them what they thought about boot camp. We’re getting together tonight after dinner around seven for a drink at Bernie’s. I’d like them to meet you.”

  Cat’s eyes stung, but she wasn’t going to cry. She swallowed the tears down and nodded. “Of course. I’d love to go.”

  “It’s a date then.” The crooked grin he flashed at her reminded her of graduation night, when he’d been across the gym, talking to his folks, when she walked inside. He turned, waved, and shot her that grin. And her heart had flip-flopped. She’d forgotten about that, well, until now. Seth had been her high school sweetheart and, as she should have realized back then, her soul mate. Then she’d been too intrigued by the older man with a library bigger than hers who was in love with her. Now, this felt right again. Better than she’d felt in the years since their breakup.

  “I’ve got to finish setting up the dining room.” Shauna went to the sink and rinsed her dishes before washing her hands. Cat stood, but Shauna waved her back. “I’ve got this. I’ll do the rooms while you’re gone. Then I’m going to meet up with my beta reader again.”

  “Who is your beta reader? Tammy?” Cat rinsed her plate and refilled her coffee cup.

  The blush on Shauna’s face told her she’d missed the mark. But if not Tammy, who else in town would be helping. Probably someone at the college. Or maybe it was a virtual meeting? Cat left it alone. Everyone seemed to be holding on to some sort of secret lately. Even her with Sherry’s revelation yesterday.

  “Whatever, don’t tell me.” Cat grabbed a banana and headed out of the kitchen. “I’m writing in my office. Tell Seth to come get me if I lose track of time.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you . . .” Shauna stopped talking and turned back to the oven, where she took out the last batch of muffins.

  “But you’re not going to,” Cat added, and left the kitchen. If she wasn’t a stronger person, she could get a complex around here. Thinking of a house of secrets, she went upstairs and poured the angst she was feeling into her new story.

  She was just reading over the few pages she’d completed that morning when a buzz from an incoming text came from her phone. She picked it up and read it aloud. “You have ten minutes before we leave without you. Make sure you wear your hiking boots and layer up. It’s probably going to be chilly for a few hours. Love you, Seth.”

  The last three words made her smile. She did love the guy. And what did the past matter. It was how their relationship was going now. And this time, she wasn’t going to mess it up.

  She turned off the computer after saving her document and left the office to get ready in her room. She took only half the time given her and was downstairs waiting in the foyer before Seth arrived. Brodie was sitting on the bench in the foyer, looking at his phone. He stuffed it in his pocket when he heard her footsteps.

  “Hey, how’s the writing going today?” She smiled and sat next to him, her down vest in her hands.

  “I can’t believe how fast this story is pouring out of me. If I forget a name or what happened before, I just put in a few Xs and go on.” He glanced around the empty foyer. “Jocelyn told me that’s what she does with a book. She says she picks it up during edits and cleans the document up then, rather than slow herself down while she’s writing. She’s right, it makes you feel okay about not knowing something specific.”

  “I do that, especially since I’m writing a series. I had a character I introduced in book one, but I was telling his story in book three. Instead of going back and grabbing his name and description, I made notes in the document on what I needed. He was called XXX for two chapters before I had time to go back and get his real name.” She’d liked that character. He became one of the stronger side characters in that book and had earned his way into her heart.

  Seth came into the house through the front door. “I can’t believe you’re already down here. When I sent the text, I thought you’d be at least a little late. She gets tied up in her books sometimes.”

  Brodie laughed. “Well, I guess I’m a real author then, because I get lost in the story too. I’ve been late for dates with my girl and I’m not sure she believes me when I tell her it’s because I was writing.”

  “Well, if you need me to talk to her, I’m an expert in the field of dating a creative.” Seth smiled at Cat. “The bunch of you are an interesting type.”

  “That’s why I just gave in and started writing. I knew I’d never be number one in her eyes so I might as well have my own project going.” Archer crossed the foyer with his wife by his side.

  “So not true. You are definitely number one . . . as long as I’m not in the middle of a scene. I swear, he waits until he hears my fingers flying across the keyboard before he asks some stupid question, like where’s the paprika.” Jocelyn laid her head on her husband’s shoulder. “He doesn’t like it when I say right where you left it.”

  “If it was truly where I left it, it would be out on the counter.” Archer kissed the top of his wife’s head. “Although I shouldn’t complain. I cook, she cleans up. Her storage system with the groceries and the spices is just a little challenging at times.”

  “Guilty as charged.” Jocelyn focused on Cat. “You’re lucky you have a built-in chef. My mind is so distracted by the story I’m working on, there’s times I’m pretty sure I forgot to either bring in everything, or I’ve left stuff on the floor in a box instead of putting it in the freezer.”

  “That’s why we do everything together,” Sydney said as she and Tristin entered the foyer area, hand in hand. “That way if one of us has writer brain and is off in la-la land thinking about the next blog, the other can pick up the slack.”

  Tristin shrugged on his light jacket. “It’s usually her that’s zoned out. I have to
admit, she does a lot of our brainstorming. Anyway, enough about writing. Where are we going today? Same hike?”

  Cat turned to Seth, realizing she hadn’t suggested moving the hike, but she was surprised when he jumped in.

  “We’re going on a different trail today. Archer had said he wanted to see a miner’s claim and there’s one that just opened up, so we’re going to check it out.”

  “Is it the one that belonged to the dead guy? Won’t law enforcement want us to stay out of the area?” Brodie’s eyes widened and Cat could tell he was reconsidering his decision to come on the hike.

  “Actually, you’re right, Brodie. It does belong to Chance McAllister, but I’ve cleared our trip already with the chief of police.” Shirley pulled on a beanie as she walked over to the group. “And, as ex-law enforcement myself, I’ll handle any discoveries we might make that affect the case.”

  “You’re saying we’re on an official police adventure?” Archer’s eyes went bright. “I know it’s not the same process as the time period I write about, but I’m going to pretend we’re a deputized posse out to find the bad guy.”

  “Now who’s going to be lost in his head?” Jocelyn smiled lovingly at her husband. “He gets to play cops and robbers.”

  “Actually, it’s cowboys and Indians, but without the Indians. At least in the time period I’m writing about. But I’m so excited to get to see a real mining claim. I hear a lot of the current miners use old techniques and tools.”

  “I guess we’ll see then.” Seth looked around the foyer. “Everyone’s here. Are we ready to jet?”

  “Let me refill my coffee container and I’ll be out the door.” Sydney held a hand up when Tristin started to say something. “You and I both know that I need at least two cups before I’m even a tad sociable in the morning.”