by Cindy Bell
“One moment at a time.” Kerri gazed at him as sympathy welled within her. Sure, he had acted a little crazy, but that was what grief did to people. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it. There are counselors that can help. Maybe some friends, or family?”
“My whole life was Pam.” Colin turned towards the door. “There’s no one else.”
As Kerri watched him push open the door, she tried to think of something that could cut through the chaos in his mind and give him some peace.
“She’s still in your heart, Colin.” The words fell flat as she spoke them.
“What good does that do?” Colin glanced back at her, then walked through the door and slammed it closed behind him.
The front window rattled from the force.
Kerri closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Cashew bolted out from the back room and ran towards the door, yapping with all of the fierceness that she could muster in her little body.
“It’s okay, Cashew.” Kerri gazed out through the window at Colin’s retreating form. “Everything’s going to be okay.” However, the words didn’t reassure her. Instead her nerves remained on edge. Colin seemed fixated on something, and she couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. As new customers entered, she was distracted by their needs. Once they left, she reached for her phone. She wanted to let her grandfather know that she’d spoken to Colin. Before she could dial, the door swung open and Steve stepped in.
“Kerri, how are you?” He walked up to the counter, his smile warm as his eyes sought hers.
“Okay, I guess. Things are a little chaotic right now.” Kerri set her phone back down. “But it sure is good to see you.”
“Thanks.” Steve grinned as he leaned forward to kiss her cheek. “I spoke with your grandfather a short while ago.”
“You did?” Kerri raised an eyebrow. “What is he up to?”
“He interrupted an interview I was conducting. But we worked it out.” Steve rested his hands on the counter. “He told me what he found up on the mountain. I’ve had my feelers out to my sources to find out if there were any plans for attacks against the loggers or the protesters. Nothing yet.”
“I hope something turns up soon. I wish Detective Carver would make contact with me. I tried calling her a little while ago, and still no answer.”
“I tried to reach her for a comment about the investigation and it went straight to voicemail. But that’s no surprise.” Steve shrugged. “She’s not very talkative to the press.”
“Hopefully, this means she’s on a hot lead.” Kerri glanced at the clock on the wall, it seemed to her that the minutes were taking hours to pass by.
“We’re going to find the answers soon.” Steve stroked her cheek, then met her eyes again. “Do you want to grab some dinner tonight? Just you and me?” He glanced down as Cashew began to sniff at his shoes. “Of course, you’re always invited, Cashew.”
“Maybe.” Kerri nodded. “Let me confirm with you later. I want to find out if my grandfather has any plans.”
“Oh, I see how it is.” Steve took her hand and smiled. “I have to compete with another man.”
“Stop.” Kerri laughed. “The truth is, he took off on his own last night, and it always worries me when he does that. I know he can handle it, but for some reason, I just hate it when he does that.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. He’s your family. With your mom and dad always away, you want to make sure he’s safe.” Steve gave her hand a light squeeze. “You’ve got a big heart, Kerri, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Thanks, Steve.” Kerri reached across the counter to hug him. Somehow, he always managed to calm her down. “I’ll text you about tonight.”
“Great.” Steve stole a quick kiss. “I’d love to get some time with you.” He stared into her eyes a moment longer, then turned and headed out of the shop. She felt a flash of warmth at the thought of being alone with him, and a hint of panic. Their relationship had just begun, it wouldn’t work if she didn’t make time for him. They had both been so busy lately. She promised herself that she would try to meet him for dinner.
However, by the time Kerri closed up the shop, her thoughts were only on her grandfather and what he might have found out throughout the day. As she drove home, she wondered why Detective Carver hadn’t returned any of her calls and texts. Perhaps their meeting that morning had soured her completely on including them in the investigation. Cashew chased her into the house, where George stood staring at his phone in the kitchen.
“Ah, so you didn’t lose your phone.” Kerri raised an eyebrow.
“I’m sorry, Kerri, I didn’t want to update you until I had something worthwhile. I found something in Colin’s past that was interesting. He has been arrested a couple of times for assault. I’ve been waiting to hear back from Detective Carver on it. Still nothing.” George sighed and tucked his phone back into his pocket. “She hasn’t contacted me about the container, either.”
“I haven’t heard from her, either.” Kerri frowned as she grabbed Cashew’s dish and filled it with food. “I’m not sure what to think. Maybe we upset her this morning?”
“By we, you mean me, right?” George leaned back against the counter.
“No, not necessarily. Maybe she just doesn’t like either of us meddling and is trying to make that clear. I’ve been thinking about this all day, and we just don’t have enough information. I think we should go back up on that mountain.” Kerri set Cashew’s dish on the floor.
“Wait, what?” George leaned back against the counter and arched an eyebrow. “Weren’t you there when Detective Carver told us not to go on the mountain?”
“Actually, she told you not to go, and yes I was there.” Kerri turned to face him. “But Detective Carver isn’t answering her phone. Maybe she got a hot lead, or maybe she’s too busy dealing with the container that you found, but I can’t sit on what I know much longer. I need to do something.”
“Hey, I’m not arguing. If it were up to me, I would have spent the entire afternoon on that mountain. But you told me not to.” George pointed a finger at her with a small smile. “Just keep that in mind.”
“Never mind all of that, we need to find out what happened to Pam.” Kerri frowned as she crossed her arms. “The longer the case is unsolved, the harder it will be to solve it. Colin said something to me today in the shop, he said the only witness was the murderer. If that’s the case, then Detective Carver really doesn’t stand much of a chance.”
“If the only witness is the murderer, then we’ve got to get the murderer to tell us what he knows.” George shrugged, then straightened up. “Who are we going to talk to first?”
“Actually, I don’t want to talk to anyone. Talking isn’t getting us anywhere. If we want to find out what someone is hiding, then we need to get inside their home. I know the loggers are staying in the cabins at the campground. I want to try to get a look inside of Elm’s cabin, and also his boss, Giani’s.” Kerri picked up her keys from the counter and met his eyes. “Are you game?”
“Always.” George grinned, then headed for the door.
As Kerri followed after him, she wondered if her decision was a mistake. Although Detective Carver hadn’t included her in her statement, she knew that it was implied. If she caught them up there, who knew what she might do. But at this point, Kerri felt it was the only option she had. Maybe the murderer wouldn’t confess, but something in his cabin might reveal the truth.
The sun had already set by the time they reached the parking lot of the campground.
“Park over there behind the bathrooms. We don’t want anyone to spot an unfamiliar car, it will tip them off to be cautious.” George pointed to a half-hidden space beside the small building.
“Okay, good point.” Kerri pulled in beside the building, then turned the car off. “I’m not sure how we’re going to know whose cabin belongs to whom. But if tradition holds, the loggers will be getting ready to head down to the bar. If that’s the case, the ca
mpground should be pretty empty in a few minutes.” She stepped out of the car and tucked her phone and keys in her pocket. As she took a deep breath of the crisp air, she began to feel a bit more confident about her plan. Whoever had killed Pam, was probably starting to think they were going to get away with it. Which meant, that person could easily make a mistake, all she had to do was notice it.
Together, George and Kerri hiked through the woods in the direction of the cabins.
“Let’s stay off the main path.” George gestured to Kerri to follow him towards an overgrown path.
“They’re leaving.” Kerri followed after him, as in the distance she could hear rowdy men joking and shouting as they headed off for an enjoyable evening. She stuck close to her grandfather so that their footsteps would blend together. The less noise they made, the less chance there was of drawing someone’s attention. Once the campground had emptied out, they crept forward in the darkness.
“Stay close,” George whispered. “We don’t know if anyone stayed behind.”
Kerri nodded.
Although the cabins appeared dark and still, she knew that her grandfather was right. Elm hadn’t been at the bar when she visited it. Had he gone down the mountain to join his friends, or was he hiding out somewhere on the campground? She did her best not to use her flashlight as her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. She knew it would be difficult to even know where to start.
As they walked past a burnt-out bonfire, she noticed a couple of chestnuts on the ground. She had only received the delivery for fresh chestnuts a few days ago. She just got a small order, as it was still a couple of months before the holiday season. She could only recall Pam buying chestnuts at the shop, no one else. Had Pam been there? She doubted she would have shared them with the loggers. But maybe she had given some to Elm. She had to ask Natalie if anyone had bought chestnuts besides Pam. It was also possible they had bought them elsewhere, but it wasn’t likely.
The cabin closest to Kerri was dark, with a hint of a glow from inside. She guessed one of the men had left some kind of device on inside. She decided it was worth a look. She glanced in the direction of her grandfather but couldn’t get his attention as he moved towards one of the other cabins. Too curious not to have a look, she decided to check it out.
Chapter 19
As Kerri crept up to the window of the cabin, she shot a brief glance in her grandfather’s direction. He lingered beside another cabin, which was completely dark. She had made the bold decision to move to the one with some hint of life. She thought if the device was a phone or computer there might be some identifying information on it.
Kerri peered through the window. The glow of a laptop screen cast a scant amount of light through the dark cabin. Kerri turned on her flashlight and swept its beam around the interior, then she aimed it at the computer. She managed to make out the name of the person logged-in on the top of the screen. Elm Wild. It was Elm’s computer, which meant it was most likely Elm’s cabin. She cast the light over the rest of the cabin. Four beds, a few cabinets. Her heart stopped as her flashlight beam fell onto a familiar sight. It took her a few seconds to really believe what she had just seen. Once she did, she pressed her palm against the window and began to slide it upward. A scenario unfolded within her mind as she swung one leg over the windowsill, then pulled the other leg inside.
Elm, enraged by what he suspected was a relationship between Colin and Pam, met her in the woods near a tree he knew was not fully cut through. Then he took the opportunity to shove it hard enough for it to fall on her. He would know his way around the woods enough to make it happen, and he might have assumed it would look like an accident. Her heart pounded as she picked up the crushed wooden flower. There was no doubt in her mind that it was the same one she had originally sold to Colin. So why did Elm have it? In a hurry to show her grandfather, she went straight for the door. Although she was tempted to look around a little bit more, she was certain she had found the killer, and wanted her grandfather’s opinion on her theory. She stepped out through the door of the cabin, then began to push the door closed. As her arm stretched outward, a hand clamped down over the curve of her elbow and squeezed.
“What are you doing in my cabin?” Elm jerked her roughly to the side.
Shocked by his sudden grasp, Kerri lunged backward in an attempt to escape him, however the door behind her stopped her first instinct to flee. Faced with the realization that she would have to go through the much larger, much thicker man, she struck him hard in the side of his stomach and wrenched her arm free as he reacted to the pain.
“Hey!” George shouted from beside another cabin. He charged towards the pair, as Elm quickly recovered.
“Get back here!” Elm lunged towards Kerri in the same moment that she leaped down from the small porch on the front of the cabin. “You can’t just break into someone’s cabin! Why would you do something like that?”
“Why would you have this?” Kerri held the wooden flower up in the air. It looked identical to the one that she sold to Colin the other day. “What did you do to Pam?”
“You shut your mouth!” Elm jabbed a finger towards her but stopped before it would have struck her face. “I didn’t do anything to her.”
“So you say, but it’s hard for me to believe you when you have this. It was meant to be a gift for Pam. How did you get it?” Kerri narrowed her eyes, determined not to be intimidated, though her heart began to beat faster.
George ran up behind Elm and caught his arm around the man’s neck. As he pulled him back against his chest, he twisted Elm’s arm behind his back.
“You’d better answer her, Elm. Now!” George tugged Elm’s arm upward a little farther along his back, which caused the younger man to gasp in pain.
“I found it, okay?” His cheeks flushed.
George relaxed his grip slightly. “Found it how?”
“On the night that Pam was killed, we were at my cabin together. We met up as soon as the other guys went down to the bar. It was the only time we could be alone together inside my cabin. We were just talking.” Elm cleared his throat, then lowered his eyes.
“And?” Kerri glanced at the wooden flower. “How did that lead to this?”
“I heard something outside the window. Pam had asked me to roast some chestnuts on the fire, so I thought it might be that, then I saw a shadow move past the glass. I thought maybe it was one of the guys trying to catch me with her, a few had threatened to tell Giani about me and Pam. He would have been furious if he knew we were speaking to each other. A logger and a protestor. I bolted out the door to make sure he kept his mouth shut, and I found this under the window.” Elm looked up from it, to her. “Are you sure it was meant for Pam?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” Kerri frowned as she gazed at the crushed wooden flower. “Did you break it?”
“By accident. I ran out here, ready to knock someone out, and I stepped on the flower. That’s how I found it.” Elm struggled in George’s grasp. “I had argued with Colin about Pam before. He had wanted me to stay away from her. It got pretty heated and I punched him. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I lost my temper. I thought he would stay away after that. But he always seemed to be around when she was. It was Colin out here watching us, wasn’t it?”
“We’re the ones asking questions.” George warned him by tightening his grip briefly.
“What happened after that?” Kerri eyed him as her mind began to churn. “Did you show the flower to Pam?”
“When I went back inside the cabin, she saw it. After that, she said she had to go, and cut our night short.” Elm frowned. “I thought she was annoyed because I didn’t just ignore whoever was outside. But I couldn’t. It was my job on the line.”
“She didn’t say anything about the flower? Did she seem to recognize it?” Kerri looked into his eyes. “Did she act strangely?”
“Not really. She just said she had to go and took off. I mean, we were keeping things casual, so I didn’t stop her. I figured she just wan
ted to be alone because she was annoyed with me.” Elm grunted. “Let me go, would you?”
“So, why didn’t you turn it over to the police?” Kerri watched her grandfather tighten his grip on Elm. “That would have been the right thing to do, don’t you think?”
“I didn’t really think about it. I was so shocked by what happened to Pam. But this morning I did call Detective Carver. I told her it might have something to do with the case, but I couldn’t be sure. She said she would swing by and pick it up as she already had business on the mountain, so she was already on the mountain. But that was hours ago. I haven’t heard anything from her. So, it can’t be that important, can it?” Elm shot a glare in George’s direction. “You either let me go now, or you’re going to regret putting your hands on me the moment that you let go of me, understand?”
“It’s okay, Grandpa, let him go.” Kerri swept her gaze across the trees that surrounded them. “Did Detective Carver say where she was on the mountain?”
George reluctantly released him but remained in a defensive stance.
“I couldn’t really hear her. The reception is terrible up here.” Elm rubbed his arm and looked over at George with a hint of fascination in his eyes. “You know your stuff, huh?”
“I know some things.” George nodded as he stared at Elm. “Like you’d better never speak to my granddaughter that way again.”
“To be fair, I did break into his cabin.” Kerri sighed as she ran her hands back over the top of her head. Moments before she was convinced she knew who the murderer was, now she was just as certain that Elm was innocent. “We should go, Grandpa.” She looked back at Elm. “I’ll take the wooden flower to the detective.”
“That’s fine with me.” Elm shrugged.
As he disappeared inside his cabin, Kerri turned towards her grandfather.
“You believe him?” George narrowed his eyes. “He could be lying.”