Nine
I was fiddling with a tricky graphic, but I couldn’t concentrate. There was a vague feeling niggling at the back of my brain. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but the feeling that something wasn’t right was distracting. I let my mind go blank,hoping that whatever was there would either go away or at least become concrete, so I could take care of it.
I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. Sleep immediately started to take over. I felt warm, and my mind started to drift into places unknown. I jerked myself back up in my chair and decided I’d better go get a soda.
The minute I walked into the deli, it came to me. Scott was right. By staying at the paper, I was putting Tom at risk. There would be talk that his friendship with me displayed bad judgment.
I bought my soda and went back to work. I sat at my desk a few minutes, thinking about my options. When it came down to it, I had no options. I looked at Meg. "I’m quitting the paper." She started to say something, but I interrupted her. "Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Scott’s got one thing straight. It’s not good for you or Tom for me to be here.”
We went back to work, but the mood in the office was changed. Meg looked pained, and God knows what kind of expression I had on my face. I was disgusted with myself for not realizing I was putting Tom in a bad spot. I should have quit sooner.
“I’m going for a soda. Do you want anything?” Meg stood up and stretched.
“No, I was just down there. Sorry, I should have gotten you something.”
“No, that’s okay. I need to walk anyway.”
I heard Meg banging down the stairs in her boots. I looked back to the ad I was creating and tried to concentrate. I reread my notes, trying to remember what I’d agreed to do, trying to force my brain back into work mode.
“Bella Bree MacGowan.”
I was hearing my full name a little too often these days. I looked up to see Lieutenant Brooks standing at my desk. “Sorry.” I let out a sigh. “I didn’t hear you come in. I’m sort of in the middle of something.” I didn’t think this was the time to explain the mechanics of layout to him. He wasn’t smiling, and somehow I didn't think he much cared how inconvenienced I was by his presence.
“Bella Bree MacGowan,” he repeated. “I am authorized to detain you on the suspicion of murdering Vera Post. Will you come with me please.” It wasn’t a request.
Meg banged through the door right at that moment and stood looking at us. Then she moved to her desk and set down her purse. “Can I help you?” she asked the Lieutenant.
“He’s arresting me, Meg.”
“What!” She started to say something else, but Brooks interrupted her.
“Please come with me, Ms. MacGowan. I understand that you are friendly with a number of officers at the barracks, so I will refrain from using handcuffs. But understand that if you try to avoid coming with me, I will use force. Is that clear?”
It was all too clear. My heart was pounding, and my legs were shaking. I wondered if Tom or Steve knew what was happening. I wished one of them were here to help me. I heard Meg talking quickly into the phone. She was too quiet for me to hear what she was saying.
“Is that clear?” Lieutenant Brooks asked again.
“Yes, it’s very clear.” I stood and grabbed my jacket. Meg was off the phone. “Meg, I’m going to leave my purse and keys here. If you could take care of them, that would be great.” Lieutenant Brooks took my elbow and steered me toward the door. “And call Max,” I called to her as we stepped through the door. “Make sure that everyone gets fed. Please.” I could hear the pleading in my voice and hated it. “And don’t call my family!”
* * * * *
It’s weird how my brain works. Sitting in the back of the squad car on my way to the barracks, the solution to the closet mystery came to me. An image of the room popped into my head. There should have been a basket of large, solid glass balls in that blank space on the shelf where Vera died. We used them for decorating at Christmas.
I entertained the idea of telling Lieutenant Brooks but decided against it. I pulled my cell phone out of my jacket pocket and dialed Brian. I got his message machine. “Brian, it’s Bree, I remembered what was missing from the closet. It’s the big, glass balls we use to decorate the table at Christmas …”
“Hey!” Lieutenant Brooks raised his voice from the front seat. “You do not have permission to use your cell phone. Hand that phone to me.”
I hung up and handed him my cell phone. It didn’t matter now anyway. There was no one else to call. At least, not yet. I thought I’d probably get my traditional one call from the station.
* * * * *
Tom was deep in conversation with Lieutenant Brooks. I was sitting in the middle of a line of chairs against the wall. There weren’t any other criminals waiting to be booked. I didn’t know if I should be grateful that I didn’t have to consort with scumbags or disappointed that there weren’t any around to compare me to. I’d probably look pretty good sitting next to a drug dealer or a pedophile.
“Excuse me. Am I allowed a phone call? Because I’d like to call a lawyer.”
Tom looked over at me distractedly. “Yeah, Bree, go ahead.” He waved his hand at the phone and turned back to Lieutenant Brooks. Both of their faces were tight. I turned back to the phone and started to dial. Before I could finish, I heard a commotion behind the door.
Val burst into the room, hitting Lieutenant Brooks in the butt with the door. He wheeled around, hand on his holster.
“I can’t believe you arrested Bree MacGowan!” Val pointed her finger at him. “Do you know her father was the fire chief here for twenty years? Do you know who her grandfather was? Are you so totally incompetent that you can’t find the real murderer?” She turned to me. “Are you okay? I heard in town that a state trooper escorted you to a police car. Meg’s in a panic. She says she’ll be too busy helping you to finish the paper. She’s worried that they’ll send you to prison to wait trial, and you’ll get raped or knifed.” Val leaned in and spoke quietly. “She sent me over here to keep that from happening. I don’t really think they’ll hold you. The evidence doesn’t appear to be very strong. Anyway, I’ll try and get the judge to release you on bail.”
“Listen, tell Meg not to worry about me and to focus on the paper, I’ll be fine. Tell her that Tom will make sure that nothing horrible happens to me. Okay?” I took a deep breath. “I don’t have money for bail, but maybe it won’t come to that. I heard Tom say something about being responsible for me. The only person I’m likely to murder at the moment is Lieutenant Brooks, so it would be safer to have me out on the streets than here in the barracks.”
Tom’s and Brooks’ discussion ended with Tom leaving and closing the door loudly. Val stood in front of Lieutenant Brooks, talking quietly but firmly into his face for a few moments, and then Brooks invited us to all sit down at the table.
I sat beside Val as they argued. My mind was drifting in and out of the conversation, and I was having trouble sitting still. I think shock had set in or the aftermath of too much adrenaline, whatever that’s called. I wanted to cry, but I wouldn’t let myself break down in public. If only I was at home in bed with four furry creatures to keep me warm.
“There is nowhere near enough evidence to detain Bree on these charges,” Val was saying.
“I think we get to determine what constitutes sufficient evidence.” Lieutenant Brooks had his feet planted shoulder width apart, unmoving.
“I think the judge gets to decide that.” Val got right up in his face.
“Her fingerprints were all over the murder scene. According to our sources, she was after the deceased’s job and had been spotted trying to sabotage Vera’s work. They also had a huge fight in front of several other employees a couple of weeks back.”
Val shook her head. “Everyone fights, fought, with Vera. She was an old cow. Of course Bree’s fingerprints were on that room. She works there. She probably was in that room four out of every seven days for the last year.”
They argued for so long that in the end, it was too late to bring my case before a judge. Brooks wanted to put me in a cell, but Tom insisted that I be allowed to stay in his office. Brooks wasn’t happy about it, but I think somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered that Tom was actually the captain.
I slept curled up on a couch in a little room that opened off of Tom’s office. The room was meant to be a place for grieving relatives to sit in private, but I suspected that people besides me had used the couch as a bed. It was a quiet room with a couch and two armchairs on one side and a table with four chairs near the window on the other side. No exit except through Tom’s office. The perfect place for a tryst.
I’m sure I looked a sight when Tom came in to get me the next morning. I hadn’t slept well. My clothes were crumpled, and my hair had developed a bad case of static and was sticking up all over the place. I had raccoon eyes from my mascara. Other than that, and a bad case of morning breath, everything was hunky dory.
The judge sent me home after Tom testified that he’d be responsible for me. He didn’t make me post bail. He agreed with Val that the evidence was slim, and one fingerprint on the wrist did not make a murderer. He looked at me over his glasses, though, and informed me that if I was not present at my court appearance, I’d be a felon.
Oh, boy.
It was mid-afternoon by the time Steve dropped me off at home. “Do you want me to stay, Bree? I think I could safely say it was in the line of duty.”
“No, it’s okay, Steve. I’ll be all right. Really, I’ve got my dogs, and I’m not much in the mood for conversation right now anyway.”
“Okay, call if you need anything.” He bumped back down the road.
My dogs acted as if I’d been gone a month. Ranger stood on his back feet and put his paws on my shoulders, giving me a deep and mournful look and a big sloppy dog kiss. Hank, Diesel and Annie scolded me with growly voices and snuffled my clothes for clues about where I’d been.
I went upstairs, stood in the shower, and cried until the hot water ran out. Then I pulled myself together. There is something about a shot of freezing cold water at the end of a hot shower that’ll snap a person right out of self-pity. I dressed, dried my hair, then headed downstairs.
I sat down with a cup coffee and a pen and piece of paper. I decided I would list all the people Vera could have pissed off. The more I thought about it, though, the more impossible it seemed. Ninety percent of the people who live in this town had had problems with Vera at one time or another.
Think
. I tapped myself on the head with the pencil. Okay who had access to the housekeeping closet? That would be a substantially shorter list. Brian, the kitchen staff, the housekeeping staff, the owner of the hotel, and possibly the guests. There also was the possibility that someone could have snuck onto the property, avoiding the surveillance cameras. That would mean premeditation, skills like lock picking, and an intimate knowledge of the Inn. It seemed unlikely.
The keys to the closet were a sticking point. When they weren’t signed out to a particular staff member, they were kept in a lock box. The shift manager had the one key to the lock box where Brian kept a spare.
Vera would have had a key. Could she have been with someone? Or maybe someone knocked on the door. She’d been bashed on the back of her head, so she had to have trusted her murderer enough to turn her back to him or her. Oh, hell, she never would have believed someone wanted to kill her. She waltzed around without a care in the world, assured of her own superiority.
I closed my eyes. My thoughts wouldn’t settle on any one detail. I desperately wanted to sleep.
You think if you stay awake, you’ll solve this mystery?
I asked myself.
That’s foolish.
I let myself drift and found myself dreaming about skipping town. I was on a boat with Kenny Chesney, and it was warm. The sun was hot on my skin. Kenny was licking my neck.
Licking my neck? I woke up to find Annie’s nose in my face. She wagged her tail and snuffled my neck some more. Then she jumped down off the chair and ran to the back door. I let the dogs out and dragged myself back upstairs to get ready for work at the Inn.
Dotty looked surprised when I walked into the laundry. She took a quick look around and hurried over to me.
“I didn’t think you’d be in here today. I called Sally in to work your shift.”
“Okay. I’ll happily go home.” I turned away.
“Wait. You called Brian on your way to jail. Are you okay? Do you need anything? I can’t believe they are still trying to pin Vera’s death on you.”
“Well, apparently, it seems perfectly reasonable to them. I wanted to ask you about the Christmas decorations we used to keep in the housekeeping closet where Vera died.” I watched Dotty’s face. I didn’t want to distress her, but she didn’t seem fazed by the question
“Those big glass balls?”
“Yeah, those. When did you last see them?”
“I don’t remember, why?”
“Because they’re missing now. I wondered if they had anything to do with Vera. Maybe they’re clues.”
“Oh, Bree, I wish I could help you. But I don’t know when I saw them last. And even if I did know, I don’t see how they could help you. It’s not like there would be fingerprints or anything. We keep them way up high, and they get polished after anyone handles them. I’m sure when we find them they will be perfectly clean. You really should let the police do the investigating. They are trained to do it right.”
I went home to bed.
* * * * *
I woke feeling disappointed that I hadn’t dreamed of Kenny. I wondered if I could make myself drift off again, when I heard cooking noises in my kitchen. The dogs weren’t barking. Must be someone they knew. Either that, or they’re all dead.
Shut up,
I told myself.
That’s just morbid, and I’m not letting you scare me.
I pulled on some clothes went down the stairs into the kitchen. My big brother, J.W., was standing at the stove, cracking eggs into a skillet. "So, you’re awake." He took a long look at me. "I hear from my sources that you are in a funk. Having been released from jail through the generosity of friends, you are repaying their faith in you by hiding in bed and sulking. That true?"
"No. That’s not true." I made a face at him and sat down at my table. "I was making a list of possible suspects, and I fell asleep. "
"You skipped work. You never skip work."
"How did you know that I skipped work? Got spies at