SCREWED DOWN MURDER (Mrs. Fix It Mysteries Book 2) (4 page)

She wasn’t part of the grapevine, but usually she heard things anyway, even if she didn’t want to. In a small town, everyone knew your business. Sometimes before you did. Kate could see the benefit of big city living, but she’d never want to give up her home. She’d lived her whole life in Rock Ridge. Moving now would be too much of an upheaval.

Besides, her boys wanted to come home to the house they grew up in. She couldn’t deny them that. They had specifically asked her not to move until they were out of college. She could only make an argument for moving if she found Greg.

“Did you have any strange phone calls recently?”

Jessica frowned then looked at the ceiling. “No, other than a few hang-ups.”

“Did Dudley seem more secretive than usual?”

Jessica cocked her head. “I thought it was my imagination. I felt as if he were hiding something from me.”

“Could it have been an affair?”

“I doubt it. Dudley was pretty straitlaced.”

“Did you question him about it?”

“I did, but he turned it around on me. I think he knew about what I’d been doing behind his back.”

“You want to tell me?”

She pressed her lips together. “I don’t want to, but you’re going to figure it out. I was having an affair. I’m not telling you with whom.”

Her tone said that she wasn’t going to budge on revealing his identity. Guess that was a dead end. It was frustrating knowing Jessica could be released today if she just told the cops who she had been with.

“Why are you protecting him?” Kate asked.

“Because I love him, and I want him to do well in town.”

“Is he new to town?”

She covered her mouth then shook her head. She wasn’t going to say anymore, so Kate bade her good-bye.

Chapter Four

With her dinner done, Kate felt a little restless. The town council was meeting tonight, so she decided to go to it. She parked her truck in the parking lot outside of the main entrance to the complex. The lot was half-full.

Unless there was a huge issue up for discussion, most Rock Ridge residents avoided the meetings. They could be dry. Kate had a feeling that the bid would be awarded tonight for renovation of the community center.

Would they mention the mayor tonight? Either way, she had nothing better to do than to attend the meeting. She showered and put on better clothes before leaving the house.

A few people milled about while Kate found a seat in the back. She wanted to be able to escape if it became too boring. She was all for being involved civically, but not at the expense of sleep. She’d heard of town council meetings going into the wee hours of the morning.

That wasn’t what she had planned. No, she had a glass of wine waiting for her at home.

Kate turned off her phone. With her luck, someone would call her and she’d disrupt the meeting.

Finally, the council members sat and the meeting was called to order. Scott sat down next to her as the first agenda item was being discussed after a moment of silence for the departed mayor.

“What’s a nice girl like you doing at this meeting?” he said.

She smiled at him. “I wanted to see who gets the renovation of the community center. Professional curiosity.”

“You don’t have anything better to do tonight?”

She didn’t and that spoke volumes about her life. She’d been meaning to join a book club or a painting class, but she hadn’t. Many of her friends had gone back to work, and their kids were also in college. She’d bet they were all in the same boat in terms of social life.

“I guess not.”

He leaned closer to her. “The offer still stands, Katydid. I’ll take you out and show you a good time.”

A thrill went through her and she clamped it down. Her ego liked that Scott was so blatantly interested in her. Her heart was another story.

“You know how I feel. Now let me listen.”

“You find it interesting whether they’ll turn the fountain in town square on for eight hours a day or nine?”

She hadn’t realized that was the current topic of discussion. “I don’t want to miss the bid part. It’s important.”

“Who do you want to get it?”

“Dean. I know he’ll do a better job than Dudley’s brother,” Kate said. “What about you? Who do you want?”

“I don’t have a horse in this race, but I can’t root for Dean given our history.”

Scott’s ex had been cheating on him with Dean back when they all lived in Philadelphia. Kate understood his feelings, but this wasn’t so personal for her.

Since Dean had moved to Rock Ridge, he’d been nothing but nice to her. She wanted him to succeed in this town, despite how Scott felt.

The next item on the agenda was about petitioning the state for a stoplight. The road was owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but there had been many accidents at that intersection lately. The council wanted the state to put a light there to mitigate the dangerous intersection.

It passed unanimously. No one from the audience spoke on that agenda item.

“We’ve had three accidents at that intersection just this week,” Scott said. “We’re running the fire company and rescue squad ragged. They’re already stretched for volunteers as it is.”

“Hopefully the state will listen,” Kate said.

The next item was a vote to go out for bids on a paid daytime ambulance service. Kate stopped listening at that point.

“Did Jessica get out on bail?”

“Yes. She surrendered her passport and was released.”

Kate had known that would have to happen. With Jessica’s money, she could escape easily, but Kate still didn’t think the woman had killed her own husband.

“You still think she did it?”

Scott shrugged. “Not my investigation.”

“Sure it is. You’re the big cheese,” she said.

She was pretty sure that he knew every aspect of what went on in his department. He may not make the actual decision for everything, but he knew.

“I am, but I like to let Ken do this thing. If he needs help, he’ll ask.”

Kate wasn’t so sure that Ken would. He’d been up for the chief’s job, but it was given to Scott, who had grown up here before moving away. Kate had been surprised when he moved back. He’d been adamant about wanting to leave for good when they were teenagers.

When he did finally leave he’d broken Kate’s heart. It was long ago, but sometimes she remembered what that young girl had felt. Abandoned. She was feeling it again with her husband missing.

“Here it is,” she said.

“We’ve received three bids for the renovation of the community center. By law, we have to award it to the lowest bid, which came from Dean Wentworth of Wentworth Contractors.”

Kate did a little dance inside her head, but didn’t show any outward emotion out of deference to Scott.

“I didn’t think he was going to get it,” Scott said.

“No? He wasn’t sure either when I talked to him the day the mayor was discovered.”

Scott looked down at her. “Rumor mill said that Dudley’s brother was going to get it. That the mayor might not have awarded it to the lowest bidder.”

Kate studied Scott. “Doesn’t that make Dean a suspect? He benefitted from Dudley’s death.”

“We don’t know for sure,” Scott said. “My money is still on Jessica. It’s usually the wife.”

“Or the husband.”

Scott had been the first suspect arrested when his ex wound up dead. He understood Ken’s reasoning for that, but in the end he’d had nothing to do with her murder.

“The spouse either way.”

“What’s her motive?”

“Could be money. Maybe she had an insurance policy out on him. We’re still checking those things.”

“You guys cotton on to a theory and just won’t let it go will you?”

“Just because you don’t want to think it is Jessica, doesn’t mean she’s innocent. Spouses off their significant others all of the time. I saw it to many times in Philly.”

She couldn’t argue with his expertise, but her gut told her that Jessica wasn’t the one. She had to talk to Dean. He was clearly a suspect in her mind. If Dudley had lived, there was a good chance that Dean would not have been awarded the contract. That gave him a much better motive than Jessica in Kate’s mind.

She wouldn’t mention that to Scott until she had more information. He would just warn her to stay uninvolved in the case.

“I see the wheels turning in your head,” Scott said. “What are you thinking?”

“None of your business.”

She gathered her things, ready to go.

“You want to blow this pop stand and get a drink?”

“Scott, no. I can’t.”

“I’m going to wear you down eventually.”

“Wear me down by finding my husband. Then we can talk.”

***

Kate slept about as well as usual that night. Her dreams were populated with the sight of Dudley Stuart dead on his office floor. It hadn’t bothered her the night before, so she had no idea why it bothered her now.

She still hadn’t bought coffee so she stopped at Bean There once again. Clara greeted her and Kate ordered a muffin for breakfast. She hadn’t felt like cooking. She’d received a text from her sons that they were still alive and building houses on an Indian reservation in Utah. Jason had sent a picture. Both boys looked tan and happy.

She missed them, but was glad they were away while all of this unpleasantness was happening. She sent a text back as she sat at a table by the window. Dean walked in a few minutes later. He joined her, looking not quite as happy as he should have.

“Congratulations on getting that contract,” Kate said.

“Thanks. They called me last night. I wasn’t able to make the meeting.”

“Did they call you late?”

“Yeah. Woke me up. Guess I’d forgotten yesterday was the day.”

How could he forget? Maybe he didn’t need the money.

“This was an important contract? How could you forget?”

“I’ve had a few things on my mind. Besides, it’s not the only thing my company has going on.”

Kate eyed him. What could have been more important than that contract? “You know that this makes you a suspect.”

She didn’t know that, but in her mind he was. His eyes flared with surprise.

“Me?”

“You might have directly benefitted from Dudley’s death.”

He leaned back in his chair. He did not look scared or guilty. “How?”

“Rumor has it that he wasn’t going to give you the contract. When town council looked at the bids, yours was lowest.”

“How do you know I wasn’t slated to get it before he died?”

He sipped his coffee, but he didn’t look guilty at all. He didn’t look like a murderer, but what did one look like? The last one she encountered had been a man who had been kind to her when she started her business. Carl Stadt, convicted of the murder of Scott’s ex-wife, had been a mentor to Kate. Almost another father figure when hers had moved to Florida.

“You said so yourself. You were concerned yesterday about it.”

“Oh, right. Well I didn’t kill Dudley. My business is solid. I didn’t need that community center contract. I just wanted it. I want to give something to my adopted town. Is that so horrible?”

No, in fact it sounded noble. Dean was embracing his new life in this small town. Even though it had been the place where his lover was killed. She couldn’t fault him for his intentions. He wasn’t even upset that she’d accused him of murder.

“So where were you the other night?”

“I was with someone. Someone I’d rather not name.”

Holy shit. Could this be Jessica’s lover? “Who?”

“Ja,” he stopped. “Never mind.”

“Jessica. Then go to the cops and tell them that you were with her,” Kate said.

That would explain why Dean wasn’t excited about getting the contract last night. He was worried about his lover.

This man had to figure out how to fall in love with a woman who wasn’t married. He had a bad track record.

He frowned, looking as if he’d lost his best friend. “She won’t let me. She says she’ll deny everything if I talk to the cops.”

That must be killing him. A man always wanted to protect his lover. It was in their DNA. Had Greg felt that way about her?

“Why? Why is she being so stubborn?”

“Because she is afraid there will be backlash against my business if people find out that I’ve been having an affair with the mayor’s wife.”

Jessica had a point. It might reflect badly if people knew about them. She wanted him to succeed almost as much as Jessica did.

“Do it without her knowledge,” Kate said.

“I love her, Kate. I really do. Now that Dudley’s gone, we can be together, but she’s afraid of what people will think. She’s had to be this pillar of the community for so long. She doesn’t realize that now she is out of the spotlight.”

Everyone would watch her for some time, but then people would realize that she wasn’t the mayor’s wife anymore. She would no longer be scrutinized. Kate would never have enjoyed such a life.

“Maybe I can convince her. Or maybe I can drop the right hints to the right people. If you’re asked questions, you have to answer them honestly.”

His face lit up. “That’s right. If I’m talking to cops, I don’t want to lie.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Of course. I promised Jessica I’d help. First item is to get her out of jail,” Kate said.

Dean reached across the table then squeezed her hand. “I’d really appreciate that. You have an in with Scott, I know.”

“I do?”

“Sure. Aren’t you two an item?”

Had she and Scott been spending that much time together? “We aren’t an item.”

“Oh, sorry. I just assumed. I’ve seen you have lunch with him.”

She frowned. “My husband is missing, and he’s helping me find him.”

“I see. I guess I misread what I saw. Sorry.”

Kate shrugged. “Not a problem.”

But it was a problem. She didn’t want anyone in town thinking that she was dating Scott. Why hadn’t anyone else said anything?

“If it’s any consolation, Jessica was happy to see you with Scott.”

“Except that I’m not with Scott.”

“She did mention your husband. Can’t you declare him legally dead or something?”