Single Elimination: A Cozy Mystery (Brenna Battle Book 4) (14 page)

20

The next morning, I headed for Will’s house, not to see him—he was at work—but to see Chloe. Jake was on a plane, headed back to Arizona at this very moment, thank God. Hopefully he’d stay out of our lives this time. What I needed right now was some genuine puppy love. Someone I hadn’t hurt lately. Someone who’d be happy to see me. I ran my fingers over the key to Will’s front door, remembering when he’d given it to me, wondering if the day would come when I’d have to give it back. Will had shrugged and given me that beautiful, crooked smile. “Take it. I trust you. Just text me and let me know whenever you want to come and get Chloe.”

He trusted me with his house. He trusted me with his dog. I had a key. I’d never had a key to a man’s house before. It seemed like a big deal. Was that just because I wanted it to be a big deal? Maybe it was nothing. Maybe I didn’t really want it to be a big deal. The way this relationship was moving forward, the way my feelings for Will kept deepening, before I spilled my history with Jake, it had left my stomach feeling all weird and swirly, mostly in a good way. I’d felt like a kid eating pop rocks for the first time, not sure whether the sensation scared me or whether it was the best thing ever.

Maybe that was why Blythe was always looking for a new relationship. That feeling. I could see how a girl could get hooked on it. Was that what she was looking for? Was she trying to feel this again and again? Now a little bolt of panic poked at my stomach. If that was it, then did that mean what I felt wasn’t the real deal at all? I mean, Blythe wasn’t
really
in love with every guy she ever fell for. How would I ever know if what I felt was different? If Will was really The One?
 

Or was I just trying to convince myself of that, now that there might be a problem? Now that Will actually might not want to go forward with this relationship? Enough of that! I needed a chocolate lab fix. The name of Chloe’s breed suited more about her than her chocolatey color. She was velvety soft and sweet, like chocolate melting in your mouth. And I was getting just as addicted to her as I was to chocolate. Almost as much as I was addicted to Will. I could already hear her barking inside the house, her toenails scratching the hardwood floor as she spun in anxious circles.

I opened the door and knelt down to wrap my arms around the wriggling bundle of doggie joy that was Chloe.

“Hello, there, Chloe-girl. No, I didn’t forget about you. I wouldn’t forget you, would I?”

Chloe and I had a nice little chat, and then I leashed her and locked the door behind us. She was ready to run, and so was I. We took off down the front path, only to run into Ken, the young hair stylist who worked with Gunter Hatton at the barber shop.

“Oh. Hi, Ken.”

“Hey, Brenna. What are you up to?”

“Taking Chloe for a run.” Chloe whined, and I told her to sit and be patient. She sat and pouted. “She and I both need the exercise. Will’s been pretty busy with the murder investigation.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet. Hey, do you mind if I join you?”

I hesitated, noticing for the first time that Ken was wearing sweats and running shoes. I’d never seen him out jogging or walking. “A little early for a New Year’s resolution, isn’t it?”

Ken laughed. “Okay, so I don’t really want to run. I came here to talk to you.”

For a moment, I was speechless. He came over to Will Riggins’ house and waited for me to come out with Chloe, just so he could talk to me? I might’ve been creeped out. I guess it
was
pretty creepy, to realize Ken had been observing my schedule. It was common knowledge that I often came to get Chloe for a run. But the exact timing? But, to be fair, Ken never really struck me as a creeper, and what he was doing was an awful lot like the kind of thing I did when I was trying to sniff out a murderer.

Chloe made an entreating, sing-song sound in her throat. She nudged my hand. When all she got was an absent nose rub, she made circles around my legs. I carefully held the leash down and stepped out of its trap. “Let’s walk for a few minutes. Chloe wants to move.”

As though to illustrate my point, Chloe lurched forward.

“Sure,” Ken said as he skipped to catch up. “Walking sounds good.” He looked relieved that I hadn’t suggested we run.

No doubt keeping up with us would’ve been a challenge for Ken. Chloe and I liked to alternate sprinting with jogging. Ken was slim and young, but as far as I knew, he wasn’t involved in any regular exercise.
   

“Better make it quick. Chloe’s used to a faster pace.”

“Okay,” Ken said, “I’ll get to the point. I know you’re looking into this murder.”

I raised my eyebrows and tried to look incredulous. “You mean Officer Will Riggins is looking into it, and unfortunately, he can’t share the details of the investigation with me.”

“Right. That’s why you’re looking into it yourself.”

I started to shake my head.

Ken laughed, but he was already breathless and it came out half cough. “That’s why I know you’re doing your own investigation. Nobody doubts Will Riggins’s integrity. But everybody knows—” He stopped short and his face reddened. It wasn’t just from the brisk walk I maintained, with Chloe straining for more. He’d realized he was about to insult me. I sighed.
 

“Everybody knows you’re a great sleuth.”

Yeah, right. What were you really going to say, Ken? Everybody knows you’re a meddlesome nosy-pants?

“So what if you’re right? What’s your point, Ken?”

“Look, I know you know about Gunter. I know you know what he’s into. But he didn’t do this thing.”

What thing? The murder? And what, exactly, was Gunter Hatton into? I covered my confusion. “Oh? He didn’t?” I said skeptically.

“No! There’s no way.”

“How can you know for sure?”

“I guess…I guess I don’t. I don’t have any proof. I just know Gunter, and he’s capable of a lot of things. He’s done a lot of things. But murder? There’s no way.”

So, he
was
talking about the murder. Gunter had done something that Ken thought might make him a suspect in the murder. What was it, and how could I get Ken to tell me what he thought I already knew? Why did Ken even think I knew? Just because I was snooping? Or was there some other reason? If I could figure that out, maybe I could figure out what it was. I decided to take a chance. “So, wanna guess how I found out about Gunter?”

“Probably the same way I did.”

“How did
you
find out?”

“You don’t know?”

“I just want to confirm my suspicions.”

“College kids aren’t very discreet. Dina Hermiston’s grandson is friends with one of the kids who’s involved. He told her grandson, and Dina found out and confronted Gunter about it at the barber shop.”

“Dina’s grandson Zack?”

“Yeah, that’s his name. I saw you talking to Zack and Dina at the salmon bake. I’m sure they told you about it.”

“Oh, they told me a lot of things.”

“But Gunter wouldn’t kill Dina.”

I wondered if Ken would think that, if he’d seen that argument between him and Dina. What was Gunter up to, and did Will know about it?

I was more suspicious of Gunter now than ever, but I wasn’t going to let on to Ken. “Don’t worry about Gunter,” I told him. “I heard he has a solid alibi.”

“You heard that from the police?”

“From a reliable source with the police, yes.”

Ken winked at me. “I see. I was afraid the alibi wouldn’t be enough. That makes me feel better.”

“Glad I could help.”

“Thanks, Brenna. Have a good run!”

I waved and took off running with Chloe. Gunter Hatton was up to something and I was going to figure out what it was. Once I was around the corner, out of Ken’s sight, I texted Will and asked him if he knew anything about Gunter Hatton being involved in something illegal. The answer came right away:
Nope
.

It looked like I had some work to do. But before I did any more snooping, I needed to keep my promise to Harvey to help him with his meeting with the town council tomorrow. He was going to have to prepare some sort of statement. Something persuasive. Something tactful. Hopefully, something sane. I could do sane, but I wasn’t so sure about persuasive and tactful. I needed to go to my go-to girl, Blythe. The problem was, I wasn’t entirely sure we were on speaking terms, let alone helping terms, right now.

21

After I took Chloe home and showered, I walked to the tiny Bonney Bay Barber Shop, one of the original businesses established in old Bonney Bay. Through the big front windows, I saw Gunter Hatton at work on an older man, seated in one of the shop’s antique barber chairs.

Before I resorted to trying to pry more information out of Evelyn Random, which would mean revealing to her that I’d only pretended to know what she was talking about, or trying to find Zack at Coastal University, I decided to see if I could find out anything from Gunter himself. Maybe poke around his office a little…okay, as usual, I had no idea what I was doing. Maybe once I was inside, something would come to me.

“Hey, Gunter.”

“Brenna!” Gunter left his customer for a moment and came to give me a quick squeeze.

I wondered if he’d heard about me joining one of his opponents’ campaigns.

“Are you ready for a trim? Or maybe something different?”

“No, not today. I just wanted to stop by and make sure everything’s alright. I know you were one of the last people to talk to Dina Hermiston. That would really shake me up.”

Gunter nodded. “Thank God I have an alibi. I was really afraid they were going to lock me up. I can’t believe I didn’t see anything. I feel terrible about that. I keep combing through every memory, and I can’t come up with anything. I was so angry, it was like I was in a fog.”

“I heard you two argued.”

Gunter nodded regretfully. “It’s true. And now I feel awful. Honestly, Dina was pretty nasty to me, but she didn’t deserve that. No one deserves that.”

“It’s not your fault, Gunter.”
Unless you really did it
.
 

The door to the barber shop opened and two familiar figures entered. Sammi had a smile on her face and a determined gleam in her eye that I knew meant trouble. Without day camp to keep them busy, these two were bound to get into it.

“Hi, Sensei Brenna,” Katie said sheepishly. The guilt was written all over her face. She knew they shouldn’t be here, and she knew I wasn’t going to be happy about it. And that could only mean one thing. They were here to snoop, either on their own, or because they’d followed me. It wouldn’t be the first time Sammi had followed me.

“Hi, girls.” I tried my best to sound cheery so Gunter wouldn’t think anything was up.

“Can I help you ladies?” Gunter said.

“Yeah, Katie here is thinking about going blond.”

Sammi smiled and nudged Katie, who nodded reluctantly. She looked terrified at the prospect of “going blond.”

For goodness sake, Sammi better not be planning on coercing Katie into actually going through with this.

Gunter raised his eyebrows. He regarded Sammi. “Blond, hmm? I think maybe some highlights…”

You know, if these two were here being a nuisance, I might as well make some use of their distracting Gunter.

“Can I use your bathroom?” I asked Gunter.

“Of course. It’s right back there.” He pointed a comb in the right direction.

“Thanks.”

A little passageway led to a tiny office space on the left, a bathroom on the right, and straight ahead, a door to the alley where Gunter and Ken kept their cars parked. As I entered the passageway, I couldn’t help noticing that a phone lay on a chair against the wall, plugged into an outlet. I’d been planning on ducking into the office instead of the bathroom, but Gunter’s phone just might prove a more valuable and less risky source.

From the main area, Katie gave me a little frown behind Gunter’s back. Good; she knew I was up to something. I motioned for her to keep him talking.

I plucked the phone from the charger, slipped it under my shirt, and locked myself in the little bathroom. First I switched it onto silent, just in case. Of course the screen was locked.
Okay, Brenna. You can do this. You can crack this thing
, I told myself. But
I didn’t know Gunter’s birthday. I didn’t know any important days in his life. I tried
 
hair
. Nope. What else was really important to Gunter? It came to me. Millie! The woman he’d obsessed over. The sweet lady who, sadly, was no longer with us.

I tapped in her name, and the screen opened. Yes! Seriously, someone should’ve been there to give me a fist-bump for that one. I quickly found his text messages and began going through them. Ken, talking about ordering more gel and other work stuff, some guy named Barry wanting to get a beer. Hold on!
 

Delivery at your place tonight. I mean tomorrow morning. 1 a.m.

There was no name assigned to the number, but there were quite a few messages.

Gunter had replied:
No. Too late. Must be done earlier.

Can’t.

Fine. Come alone. And don’t forget to keep your mouth shut.

Do you think I’m stupid?

Gunter hadn’t answered that one. According to the time stamp, it had come in just before I arrived. Either Gunter did think this person was stupid, or I’d interrupted his conversation.

I’ve got you, Gunter.
Should I pass it along to the police? But I didn’t have anything yet. There was nothing illegal mentioned in the message, nothing that even suggested the criminal. It was just my suspicions, my hunches, and vague accusations and gossip that made me think this could be anything significant at all. I couldn’t stomach the thought of making a fool of myself to Will again. Especially not embarrassing him in front of his department, which was bound to happen if I said anything to the police.

I left the bathroom and slipped the phone back onto the charger.

“So come back with your mom, and we’ll talk about your hair,” Gunter was telling Katie.

She looked relieved. Sammi hadn’t managed to rope her into a dye job for the sake of a snooping opportunity. “Okay, thanks, Mr. Hatton.”