Almost Innocent, page 12
Things had gone from bad to worse, and once again, it occurred to Margaret that with Marshall dead, she had no one at all to trust or help her. She was on her own, and she wasn’t all that sure she knew exactly what to do now.
After his call to Margaret, Colin texted Walt, “Did you do it yet?” All he got back was an angry face emoji. What was he supposed to do with that? Yesterday, he had called Walt before going to Margaret’s house, and had expected that Walt would get a move on and get it done. Did he? There was no way to know.
Colin was in a foul mood. He had been that way since coming back from Margaret’s house. Staying overnight on her couch was not the way he liked being treated.
He had come home, showered, making sure every trace of Margaret and her house, which now smelled like smoke as she burned papers, had been erased. He agreed with what she was doing about the papers and the files, but the whole thing had been humiliating.
Not that Margaret knew how he felt. He would not show her any kind of weakness. So what if she didn’t want to play around anymore? He didn’t care. He wasn’t attached to people like that, even Margaret. But he hated being humiliated.
Marshall had loved finding little ways to humiliate him in public. It had been subtle, but it was always there. Marshall was always telling him what to do, expecting he would jump and get it done and then making cutting remarks about how it was done. He made it sound like praise, but it wasn’t, and everyone knew it.
Margaret and Marshall were both like that, thinking they were the ones in charge. They were always subtly finding ways to belittle him. Well, now Marshall was gone, and Colin knew Margaret was panicking. Even though that involved him, he found a bit of pleasure in it.
But that pleasure was overridden by concern about his part in the situation. And even though he could tell he was sweating and his hands were shaking more than usual, he would not panic. He would keep his cool and take care of what he could before he would do what Marshall had been planning to do. Leave town. Forever.
He was done with Spring Falls, and soon Spring Falls would be done with him. If it was the olden days, they would ride up on their horses with a noose in their hands. Now it would be police sirens and a jail cell. He couldn’t live with that.
But before he could leave, he had a few loose ends to tie up. Although Margaret was doing a great job of shredding and burning documents, there were other things to do. And Walt was supposed to be handling them. All he could hope for was that the angry emoji from Walt meant he was taking care of it, and he couldn’t be bothered at the moment.
In the meantime, he would do what Margaret and Walt expected of him. Margaret had turned the planning of Marshall’s funeral over to him. And that meant phone calls, and meetings, and more paperwork.
But if he planned it correctly, all eyes would be on the ceremony, and no one would look his way while he cleaned up his messes and prepared to leave town. Would he stay long at the funeral? Not if he could help it.
But everything changed again for Colin when he got the call from his friend at the police station and heard that Barbara had died. More complications. And with Walt not answering, he was at a loss. Things needed to be cleaned up and that he couldn’t do. Who could if Walt didn’t?
Then Colin thought of Leon Price. Leon had keys to almost every business in town because his cleaning company had contracts with them. Maybe he would ask him. Leon was involved enough that he might be willing, maybe even anxious, to do what needed to be done.
On the other hand, maybe he wouldn’t wait. He really didn’t care what happened to anyone else involved in their schemes. They could handle things themselves. Perhaps he should leave now. But first, he wanted Walt to call him back and let him know if he’d taken care of what he asked him to do.
And then Colin had a thought. All eyes were on Marshall’s death and now Barbara’s. Who would look his way? They’d be too busy handling the mess that their dying would make.
Maybe the best thing to do was to make a run for it now. Screw Walt and Margaret. Especially Margaret. He’d always had an escape plan ready. Why not put it into action now?
Thirty Four
The Ruby Sisters had a direct line to Judith, bypassing Nancy entirely. Yet, even to them, Judith remained guarded in what she revealed when each of them called. However, instead of ending with all is well, she asked each of them to meet at her house that night.
When she talked to Cindy, she asked her to get everyone there.
“Everyone?”
“Yes, everyone. We are going to need everyone’s creative thinking. But tell them all to keep quiet about it.”
She didn’t really need to say those last few words. Cindy would know.
At the last minute, she added, “And ask Nancy, Mimi, Janet, Emma, and Veronica too.”
“You really mean everyone, don’t you?” Cindy laughed. “I’ll get a few more pizzas.”
“What are you doing?” Tanner asked after overhearing Judith’s conversations. She had remained with him at the police station and was sitting beside him as she fielded one call after another.
Judith looked at him and made a quick decision. He was the one who told her what he thought was going on. He was the one who brought Barbara in. She was going to trust him. So she told him to come to the meeting at her house.
“Don’t speak to anyone about what happened or about the meeting, Tanner. Except Booker.”
“I don’t know what happened. That’s the thing. After we told you what we knew, I was worried about Barbara. She was so upset with herself. I told her it would be okay, that we would be part of the solution. Barbara wasn’t even worried about going to jail. She said she deserved it. She should have stopped what Marshall was doing when she first heard about it.
“So I thought I would go see her, let her talk it out, and maybe she would feel better. Besides, I thought she knew more than she told me and you. Maybe she would tell me the rest if she trusted me more.
“But she didn’t answer the door, and it wasn’t locked, so I stuck my head in and called for her. Then I saw her on her couch. I thought she was asleep, but something didn’t seem right, so I went in to the living room to check.
“I touched her arm, and when she didn’t move, I called 911. Booker came right after that and brought me back here.”
Booker, who had been listening to their conversation, added, “Emergency dispatch informed me about Barbara. The Mayor and a Council member dead within days? Plus, after what you told me, Judith, I was more than a little worried.”
“You’ll be there tonight, too?” Judith asked.
Booker nodded. He didn’t need to add that he needed all the help he could get. His small-town police force was ill-equipped to handle two suspicious deaths. Even if Barbara had died naturally, it didn’t change that the Town Council—and who knew who else—had been up to something illegal that affected the entire town.
Which meant, in some ways, everyone in town was a suspect if they had found out what the Council had been doing. He had to narrow down the possibilities and figure out what was happening before another death occurred. And he needed help.
Judith asking the Ruby Sisters to help was definitely not protocol. But he knew they were his best chance of getting this handled as quickly as possible. Hopefully, before the entire world heard of it, and reporters descended on the town.
They had only discovered Marshall yesterday morning. And it was still only a suspicion that someone had pushed Marshall down the stairs. He could deny that it was murder for a while longer.
Yes, he would assure the town, it was a tragedy that two prominent members of the community had died in such a short time. But he would remind them all not to jump to conclusions. However, Booker knew it was a losing battle. The town had already jumped to conclusions. But it might buy him a little time.
Booker decided that the first thing he needed to do was appoint Judith as a deputy. That way, she could hear every detail of what he knew without causing a problem. Plus, the town trusted Judith. They knew she wouldn’t rest until they solved the mystery and everything had returned to normal. What ever that would look like now.
If he had to, he’d appoint every Ruby Sister as a deputy. They needed to figure out what was happening before someone else died. And knowing them, they were his best chance of getting answers.
Thirty Five
Judith’s living room was so full of people that it was hard to see who was there, and she wondered if she should have held this meeting somewhere else. But this was the most private place she could find. At least for a meeting planned at the last minute, as this one was.
For future events, she’d need to find another place because it looked like their once-small group was going to continue to expand. Her neighbors would know that something was happening at her house, although they wouldn’t know what. However, knowing Judith, they might suspect it had to do with Marshall and Barbara’s deaths.
Right before hanging up with Cindy, Judith decided to have her ask Mary and her husband, Seth, to also come to the meeting. Seth and April worked together renovating properties in town, and since Seth was a contractor, Judith thought he might know more about what was going on. Maybe he had seen something and didn’t realize what it meant.
Now Rho was upstairs, sleeping in one of the spare rooms. Bree or Emma were usually their babysitters, and since they couldn’t find anyone else at the last minute, they brought Rho along with them. No one minded. Rho was loved by everyone there.
It amazed Judith that Rho had fallen asleep given the noise level happening downstairs. Everyone was talking and laughing, despite suspecting what the meeting was about. They were using it as an excuse to catch up with each other and have some fun before things got serious.
Booker was not participating. He stood on the outside of the crowd, wanting to get on with it, continually glancing at his phone to keep up with what was happening at the station. Judith felt as anxious as he did, so once the empty boxes of pizza were stacked in the kitchen and all the paper plates had been cleared away, they nodded at each other, and Judith stood.
It took a moment for everyone to settle down. Watching all her friends talk and giggle together, Judith decided that this summer she would throw a party for these same people in her backyard. But first, they had to clear up this mess and get life back to normal. But like Booker, Judith understood that normal would not be what they knew before. She just hoped they could fix what had happened before more people died and before Pedro and his friends and family became homeless.
Standing with her back to the hallway, Judith waited until everyone turned their full attention to her. It didn’t take long. Judith’s hair had flared for a minute, and they all knew what that meant. Something serious was going on, and Judith wanted to fix it. Booker stood quietly beside her, ready to answer questions if needed.
After thanking them for coming, Judith raised her voice a little so everyone could hear.
“It all comes back to what the Council has been doing. Someone either didn’t want it to come out or wanted to punish them for what they were doing.”
Marsha raised her hand.
“I’m not clear about what they were doing. And who are they? Marshall and Barbara?”
Marsha realized that she and April had missed out on something by not coming over during the storm yesterday afternoon.
“Right, sorry. More details. Yes. Marshall and Barbara and the entire Town Council have been up to something that no one seemed to know about. Or at least no one spoke up about until recently. What we have found out so far is extremely basic, with very few details. And we only know this much because Tanner and Barbara brought me their concerns yesterday before the storm shut everything down. Barbara said she knew more, but she had to think about what she could tell me.
“‘I need to gather my courage,’ is what Barbara told Tanner and me. And of course now she is dead, so she can’t tell anyone. The question is, did she die because someone knew she was going to tell more? But we don’t know yet if it was a natural death or not. Booker is waiting for the answer.”
“And then Emma brought pictures,” Veronica said.
“And Pedro told you what was happening to his community,” Mary added.
“Oh my God,” April said. “Seriously. What are you talking about? Start at the beginning.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
For the next thirty minutes, Judith did her best to explain. She explained they had learned that Marshall and other members of the Town Council had been buying up land around town and forcing people to move using the claim of Eminent Domain. They told the people that their land had been bought by the town, which it hadn’t. Instead, it was Marshall and his collaborators who were putting in new developments.
“How did they manage to do that?” Marsha asked.
“Barbara said they paid off many people to look the other way. They then transferred the land to a corporation comprised of Marshal, Margaret, Colin, and Walt. Barbara explained she knew about it, but didn’t take part. But she didn’t report it either.”
Tanner broke in to tell them that Walt had hinted at this to him when he took over as his accountant after his previous one died.
“I think Walt wanted to get out of this, which is why he told me.”
“Or he wanted you to join in, or at least look the other way the same as Barbara did,” Judith said.
Tanner nodded in acknowledgment, and Judith continued.
“And then there’s the Green Zone. As you all know, a Trust protects it. Nobody can build there. And yet, it appears that someone is putting in at least one development, and we assume that this is also part of Marshall’s plan.”
Bree raised her hand. “So you are saying that members of the Town Council have been developing parts of the town illegally, including in the Green Zone? How did no one notice before? That seems impossible.”
“Perhaps they were counting on people being too distracted with other things. And then, of course, there were payoffs made.”
“Well, someone must have noticed,” Marsha said. “After all, someone pushed Marshall down the stairs. Either they were angry enough to kill him or after something.”
A murmur of agreement went around the room.
“How many people are affected?” Cindy asked.
“We don’t know. We only became aware of this yesterday.”
April and Seth looked at each other. How had they not noticed? After all, they were renovating buildings in town. If anyone should have noticed, it should have been them.
“What can we do?” Emma asked. “Can you stop them from making Pedro’s family have to move?”
“That we can do,” Booker answered. “I can have a judge freeze all building developments in Spring Falls with a preliminary injunction until we find out who is doing the developments and if they are legal or not.
“In this weather, there is not much development they can do, anyway. But once the injunction is filed, the remaining members of the Council, and anyone else involved, will know we found out what they were doing, so we’ll have to move quickly.”
Upstairs, Rho started to cry, and when Seth and Mary got up to take her home, Judith declared the meeting over. Everyone had a job to do, even if it was as simple as paying attention to what they saw and heard in town.
After everyone was gone, Bruce put his arms around Judith and she leaned back into him. He knew what she was thinking. This was her town. She’d find out who killed Marshall and stop whoever was involved in the illegal developments.
But Judith wasn’t kidding herself. She understood that it was entirely possible that she’d uncover things she didn’t want to know. But she’d do it anyway, even if it broke her heart.
Thirty Six
By Wednesday morning, the storm that had dumped almost two feet of snow had vanished. In its wake, it left cloudless blue skies along with tree limbs bent over from the weight of the wet snow. Streets and sidewalks were a gray, slushy mess.
Every once in a while there would be the sound of snow falling from the branches, making a squishy, plopping sound, which was better than hearing the loud crack, as a branch would fall off the tree. Either way, walking in the woods is a bad idea, Emma decided as she sat in the coffee shop.
But she was going to do it, anyway. She wanted to take a closer look at the developments that she had seen. Yes, Booker and her mom—well, everyone — had told her to stay away. But she had decided not to listen. And she decided not to take Daniel. She knew he and Cindy were busy preparing a show. After all, how many people would be in the woods on a day like today?
And she was prepared. Instead of running shoes, she was wearing hiking boots. And because it was still cold, she had on her favorite pink puffy jacket with a hooded sweatshirt underneath. Her jacket was currently hanging on the back of a chair at the coffee shop so everyone could see her sweatshirt that said, “I Dance.”
Emma loved that sweatshirt. It had been a gift from Marsha, who had given every student in her dance studio one for Christmas. And even though Emma thought of herself as a painter, she definitely danced, too.
She realized she loved to dance after getting over her anger towards everyone, especially her mom, for making her do something she didn’t want to do.
And now, once she fully realized that dance was art in motion, she was grateful that she could express art in that way, too. In fact, Emma agreed with the saying on the back of her sweatshirt that life is a dance, or art in motion. That meant everything she did could be considered art. Art wasn’t just a painting on canvas, it was the way you lived life.
She had just read Thoreau’s quote, “To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.” Emma had decided to make what he said her life mission.
