Be Mine, Dead Valentine, page 20
part #2 of Crescent Falls Series
In a flash, Vernon was out of his chair, pulling her to her feet and into an embrace. “Easy, Addy. It’s all right. I’m here. It’s all right,” he crooned.
She nestled into his arms, crying like her heart was broken, which it was.
Chapter Twenty-three
When Adelaide arrived at the municipal building on Tuesday evening, the town council chamber was packed with people who had come to listen to the pros and cons of building a casino in Crescent Falls, as well as hear the results of the Business Development Committee’s search for other businesses who might want to join the community. In fact, there were so many people present that the wide sliding doors between the camber and the public meeting room next door had been opened to accommodate the crowd. Looking around the council chamber, she didn’t see James Preston or his new companion, Rita Nelson, anywhere.
Carl, along with council members Harold Purcell, Marty Castro, Lloyd Fletcher, Dora Carmody, and of course, Vernon, were seated at a large, rectangular table at the front of the chamber.
Ethel had turned around and was waving at Adelaide from the second row on the right side of the wide aisle. Adelaide hurried forward and joined her good friend, who was sitting with Tina Engler and Zelda Jackson, the members of the Business Development Committee who were not on town council.
On the other side of the aisle, Adelaide spotted a well-dressed, suave looking man with dark brown, carefully styled hair. As though sensing her gaze upon him, he turned, revealing vibrant blue eyes, a too-perfect nose and a square jaw. He smiled, exposing a row of overly-white teeth. Adelaide did not return the smile. Next to him was a thin, exquisitely dressed woman with very short, spiked black hair. She turned slightly to say something to the man and then slid her gaze Adelaide’s way. Her angular features reminded Adelaide of a bird of prey.
“It was nice of you to attend Mary Ellen’s memorial ceremony, Adelaide,” Tina said.
“Well, it wasn’t much of a ceremony. Just the library employees, Ethel, Mary Ellen’s minister, me and Harold, of course, since he handled the cremation. We scattered her ashes over a spot she loved to go to near the falls.”
“How appropriate,” Zelda said. She had a sour look on her face.
Adelaide bit her tongue. Ethel, however, didn’t. “She had a mental illness, Zelda. She wasn’t in her right mind when she did those terrible things.”
Zelda huffed. “She was in her right mind long enough to plan out an intricate murder plot and let my son become the number one suspect. The police made his life miserable. The paper said she originally planned to kill that poor defenseless dog but didn’t get the chance, which is why she had to kill that innocent woman in West Virginia to cover her tracks. It doesn’t sound like she was all that crazy to me.” She crossed her arms across her middle and made another huffing noise.
Ethel threw a significant look Zelda’s way then said, “We just didn’t think it was right for no one other than her employees to show up for her…burial.”
Zelda glared sideways at Ethel. “If you want my opinion, they should have just left her in the river. It’s where her ashes ended up anyway.”
Adelaide’s scathing response was cut off when Carl called the meeting to order. He banged a gavel on the table a few times before complete silence ensued.
Carl spoke directly into the microphone in front of him. “Minutes from the last council meeting are available on the table by the front door. Ditto, the financial reports. Other than one issue, this meeting will be devoted to the question of whether we should entertain the idea of building a casino in Crescent Falls. Two representatives from Mirador Entertainment, who owns the Royal Aces Casino in Columbus, will present their proposal. Also speaking tonight will be a representative of the Crescent Falls Business Development Committee. This committee was formed to investigate the possibility of other businesses locating or relocating here. The committee is made up of two council members, Vernon Dexter and Harold Purcell along with citizens Tina Engler, Hal Buckner, Zelda Jackson and Adelaide McBride. And before you ask, we decided to put two council members on the committee so that the council could be represented, thereby making sure the process of the evaluation was within the town’s laws and by-laws.
“The first order of business will be the re-conditioning of all parking meters in Crescent Falls. In mayor’s court on Thursday, I was made aware by a new citizen that at least one was not in working order. She ended up getting a ticket and came to court to protest it. I dismissed her case and ordered that all meters be inspected by the police. It was discovered that at least half of them are defective.”
Dora Carmody spoke. “Mister Mayor, I’ve had complaints about this from people who have to use the meters in front of my diner when my lot in the back is full. I’d like to move that all parking meters be removed from Main Street. This is essentially a tourist town during the Christmas season. To ask people to patronize our businesses and pay to park also is just not fair.”
“I second that motion,” Harold Purcell said forcefully.
Lloyd Fletcher spoke up. “What is the annual income from these meters?”
Harold replied, “We’re talking about a dozen meters, all of which date back to the nineteen-eighties. They’re dinosaurs. The income last year was a little under twelve-hundred dollars.”
Lloyd shook his head but didn’t say another word.
“We have a motion on the floor, council. All in favor of just removing the meters say aye,” Carl said.
The vote passed unanimously.
Adelaide caught Vernon’s eye. He smiled and winked. She felt her face heat up.
Carl said, “I’d now like to introduce the two representatives from the Royal Aces Casino, Adrian Hunt and Rachel Bowman.
The two people Adelaide had been eyeing earlier got up and walked to the front of the room. A hush fell over the crowd.
Adrian Hunt was quite tall and well built. His voice was a smooth baritone. Rachel Bowman went to a side table where some equipment was set up. “First of all, let me say how glad we are for this opportunity to show you how Mirador Entertainment can help Crescent Falls become a thriving community again.”
Adelaide listened while the smooth talking huckster gave them some background on Mirador Entertainment and the Royal Aces Casino. She couldn’t help but recall her own unpleasant experience with that casino in December. The Rausches came to mind also as she listened to Adrian Hunt extoll the virtues of his employer. She looked around to see if Elaine and Jeremy had changed their minds about showing up, but didn’t see them anywhere.
The presentation lasted about twenty minutes. Adelaide looked around at the crowd, noticing that some people had started to nod off. When Adrian Hunt finally concluded his spiel, Carl asked if there were any questions. Of course lots of hands went up.
The first question came from Tim Hunter, owner of the local auto repair, and the town’s fire chief. “You said in your presentation that you plan to build the casino on the old L&C Precision land. I wasn’t aware that land had been sold. The for sale sign is still up.”
Adelaide noticed that there were several murmurs from the crowd. She also noted that Lloyd Fletcher was moving around in his seat as though he was uncomfortable.
Adrian Hunt answered smoothly, “Well, we’re now in the final stages of negotiating that sale.”
Tim continued, “So, L&C still owns the land?”
Suddenly Vernon stood up. “As a matter of fact, they don’t, and haven’t for some time.”
The murmurs from the crowd grew louder. Adelaide felt her pulse quicken. Something was going on and she had a feeling Tim’s questions were not unrehearsed. She watched him sit down and there was no way to miss the look of self-satisfaction on his face.
Vernon continued. “L&C Precision isn’t selling your employer that land, Mr. Hunt. A company called VistaView is the owner now.” Vernon turned his attention to Lloyd. “Sound familiar, Councilman Fletcher? It should, since it is the dummy corporation you set up to hide the fact you bought that land a year ago.”
Lloyd Fletcher jumped to his feet. “You can’t prove that,” he shouted.
But it was hard to hear him over the yelling from the crowd. Adelaide almost felt like covering her ears, but she didn’t want to miss a single word of what was coming next.
Carl banged the gavel hard and yelled into the microphone until the shouting began to resemble the buzz of a swarm of angry bees.
Vernon ‘s voice was even and calm as he continued. “I have copies of the paperwork, Lloyd, thanks to the Secretary of State’s office. You bought that land, with the intent of selling it to Mirador after pushing through your proposal for a casino. You spent the past year gathering support among business owners and other residents by making big promises of quick dollars, lots of jobs and other perks.”
Lloyd looked around frantically, but seemed rooted to the spot where he stood.
Vernon picked up a bound volume off the desk in front of him. “I’m quoting from the town’s by-laws now. ‘No council member shall bring to the floor for a vote a proposal that will profit him or her monetarily. Such action is a conflict of interest and is prohibited.’”
He put the volume down and turned to face Lloyd. “Now, what do you have to say for yourself?”
Adelaide had never felt as proud of Vernon as she did in that moment. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the casino representatives were quietly slipping out the door.
Lloyd Fletcher’s face was a bright crimson. For once in his life, he seemed at a loss for words. He looked like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar. She watched with satisfaction as he gathered up the papers in front of him, left the table and hurried out of the chamber.
All at once, Adelaide heard clapping. At first it was just one person, and then more people stood and joined in. Pretty soon the entire chamber and the room next door erupted into the loudest round of applause she’d ever heard.
“Get up, Adelaide,” Ethel said, nearly yanking her to her feet. “they’re giving your man a standing ovation.”
“My man,” Adelaide muttered as she got to her feet and began clapping.
Once the furor died down and Carl regained control of the meeting, he asked that the Business Development Committee present its report. As spokesperson, Vernon stood, which brought another round of applause. Holding up a hand to stem the flow, he said, “The committee has narrowed the list of businesses we’d like to approach to three, all of whom want to expand. They are Technobionics, a prosthesis making company headquartered in Cincinnati. They have been in business for eight years. The second is Wagner-Adams, founded in 1989. They make dental equipment and are based in Akron. And finally, Craine Industries, from Lima, Ohio, who manufactures circuit boards for various uses. They are fairly new, but show a lot of potential. All three were interest in viewing the L&C land, which is why I contacted L&C’s attorney. That’s when I discovered the land had been sold a year ago, shortly after they shut down. Lloyd owns that land. Now I’m not sure what will happen. We can’t force him to sell it to one of those companies, even if they decide to open a second operation here. In fact, if he does, he’s still in violation of the town’s by-laws concerning council members.”
Carl took over. “At this point, we have to put this all on hold. I’ll be speaking to Lloyd. Perhaps we can work something out.”
“He should resign as a council member,” Zelda Jackson said loudly. “He tried to swindle us all.”
From what Adelaide could hear, most of the citizens agreed.
Carl banged the gavel. “This session of town council is adjourned. I would, however like to request that the Business Development Committee remain intact until further notice.”
* * * *
Adelaide invited Vernon back to her house after the meeting. While she got some cranberry muffins out of the freezer and put on a pot of coffee, he played with the cats.
“You’re the town hero. How does it feel?” Adelaide asked him.
He left the cats and joined her at the kitchen counter where she was putting the frozen muffins in the microwave. “All I ever want to be is your hero, Adelaide.”
Adelaide turned to face him. Before she knew what was happening, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately. And she kissed him back.
About the Author
Carol A Guy is a former newspaper reporter whose true crime book, A Picture Perfect Kid, was a 2004 EPPIE Award finalist. She has co-authored several cozy mysteries, authored a suspense novel and had numerous articles published. More recently she has had two paranormal mystery series published by Devine Destinies. “I’ve always loved mysteries and books about the paranormal, so I guess it was inevitable that I would combine the two eventually.” Carol now makes her home in southwestern Ohio.
Carol A. Guy, Be Mine, Dead Valentine
