A Stodgy Slaying, page 6
“A triple-sized cappuccino.”
“Any flavoring?”
He screwed up his face. “No, just espresso and milk. I don’t need any of those froufrou drinks you serve.”
“Lots of people like those froufrou drinks,” Clarissa said, scowling at Alex as she scooted off behind the counter and put in the order.
Alex slapped his thighs with his hands, then fixed his gaze on me. “What is she up to?”
I put down the scone and took a sip of tea before I answered. “She wants you to help me get information to Jaime.”
“That you’re not a killer? He doesn’t really think so.”
“Really?” My heart jumped a beat as hope sparked.
He shrugged as he looked around the room. “I don’t know. But if he does, he’s not as smart as I thought he was.”
“Thank you.” I smiled sadly, then furrowed my brow. “That’s what you meant, right? That you don’t think I’m a killer?”
He leaned in and gestured me toward him. “If I really thought you were a killer, I wouldn’t sit this close to you.”
“Well, I don’t have my mallet,” I said with a grin.
Alex barked out a laugh as he settled back in his chair. “That’s funny. You’re a funny girl.” He glanced at his watch, then looked over his shoulder at Clarissa, who had gotten roped into helping a customer at the counter.
“You’d think I don’t have my own shop to run,” he muttered, then looked back at me. “Now, what information can I pass on to the good constable?”
I told him about Geoff McPherson. He rubbed his chin as he listened.
“Here’s the thing, Kat,” he started when I had finished. “I make fun of you all the time.”
“I don’t see how that’s helping right now.” I gestured for him to continue.
He leaned on the table with his elbows. “Have you ever thought I was condescending?”
“Frequently.”
“Rightly so,” he went on. “Rude?”
“Yes. Where are you going with this, Alex?”
“Have you ever wanted to kill me?” he asked, his eyebrows rising.
I smirked at this one. “No, of course not.”
“Most people don’t have homicidal tendencies like that. So even if Graham had mocked the McPherson boy, it’s highly unlikely that McPherson would have turned around and killed him for revenge, don’t you think?”
“What if he could slay, so to speak, two birds with one stone? What if he could also frame me and get rid of Graham? After all, Graham threatened to write a bad review when he got back to London.”
Clarissa interrupted as she rushed back over and practically threw Alex’s drinks on the table. “I’ve got to help at the counter. Did you tell him everything?”
“I did,” I sighed. “And once again Alex was the stodgy voice of reason.”
“Stodgy? I think I’m offended,” Alex said as he stood up. “Oh, wait. No, I’m not. And I’m not sure it’s worth anything, but I will pass along the information about Geoffrey McPherson to our dear constable.”
Alex waved off my effusive thanks, picked up his drinks and headed for the door. I clutched my hands together with a fervent hope that he would be able to talk sense into Jaime. If not, should I start wondering what color British inmates wear?
Chapter 13
Clarissa sat across from me, nursing a teacup. As I watched her, it occurred to me that much of the time she had a teacup in hand. It was a comforting sight, that’s for sure.
“Let’s see your suspect list.” She stuck her hand across the table toward me, so I turned to dig in my purse for the list. I pulled it out and set it out on the table, using both hands to try to smooth out the wrinkles.
She pointed with one finger at the names on the list. “All right, you’ve talked with Eleanor. She’s still a viable suspect.”
I nodded in agreement.
“And Geoffrey McPherson? He’s still viable?”
I nodded again. “Unlikely, but viable. At least he will give Jaime someone else to look at.”
“So you still need to talk to Jonathan.”
“Right,” I agreed. “I thought I would go in tomorrow and buy some outdoor gear from him. I’m tired of being damp and cold.”
Clarissa nodded absent-mindedly in agreement as she looked around the room. The bell tinkled over the front door and she glanced toward the front.
“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes. “Please don’t come over here. Please don’t come over here,” she muttered.
Then she brightened, putting on what I recognized as her best Tea Shoppe owner face. “Hello, Marjorie. How are you?”
She stood up to start guiding Marjorie Brooks toward the front counter. Instead, Marjorie sat down in the chair Alex had vacated. She fixed her gaze on me.
“Bit of a mess, eh, Kat? Someone dying on your front porch and all?”
“Yes, Marjorie, but we both know I didn’t do it.” I fiddled with the teacup in front of me, so I didn’t have to look at her.
She shrugged and pulled a compact out of her purse. “I only know that the constable is still investigating, and no other suspects have turned up. All roads seem to point to you.”
“I didn’t kill him, Marjorie. I didn’t know the man.” My voice was louder than I expected.
She pulled back and looked at me with fake horror, clutching her bag to her chest. “Oh, do you have anger issues, my dear? Perhaps that explains why you killed a perfectly fine British gentleman.”
Clarissa huffed and sat back down. “He was a stodgy old man, and you know it, Marjorie. He stayed at most of the inns in town and thought badly of most of them.”
Marjorie pursed her lips and looked away, as if she had a secret she didn’t want to tell. Clarissa caught the glance, too.
“Do you know something, Marjorie? What do you know about Edgar Elliot Graham?”
Marjorie laughed a little titter laugh, then settled into her seat. “First of all, I called him ‘Eddie’ at university.”
Clarissa looked at her more closely, then looked at me pointedly for some reason. “I didn’t know you went to uni, Marjorie.”
She waved her hand. “I only went long enough to meet my Johnny. Then him and me got married, so I quit school. Big waste of time, if you ask me.”
Clarissa leaned closer to her prey. “How well did you know Eddie, Marjorie, if you know what I mean?”
Marjorie giggled. Yes, actually giggled. “I knew him well. I think he quite fancied me for a time at uni.”
Clarissa merely raised an eyebrow. I read that as silent scoffing, but that’s just my interpretation.
“Did you fancy him, Marjorie?” I asked.
She made a face. “He always did think he was smarter than anyone else,” she said. “But then most journalists do.”
That was so not true, I thought of my former career. Clarissa shook her head, so I took her silent advice not to follow up that train of thought.
Clarissa continued. “Did you see him much when he came to The Lakes?”
Marjorie waved a hand in the air. “Only in passing, from time to time.”
“Did he ever look you up when he was here?” I weighed in.
Marjorie shook her head. “He knew that he had lost me to Johnny.”
Clarissa rolled her eyes. When she thought Marjorie wasn’t looking, she mimed someone taking a drink. Oh, so Johnny was a drinker, was he?
“Marjorie, just out of curiosity, where were you when Graham was killed?”
Marjorie turned on me in surprise, then her eyes narrowed as she realized what I was asking. “I was at home with my Johnny.”
“He can vouch for you?” I pressed.
“Yes, he can.”
“Are you sure, Marjorie?” Clarissa asked. “Are you sure he wasn’t at the pub or just back from the pub, if you know what I mean?”
“We all know what you mean,” Marjorie bit back. “He was with me all evening.”
“Doing what?” I asked.
Marjorie glanced away, then back to me. I could practically see the wheels turning in her head. “I made dinner. Johnny wasn’t feeling well, so he went to bed early. I kept checking on him to make sure he was all right.”
Clarissa made the drinking sign again. Apparently, “wasn’t feeling well” was code for “he was drunk.”
She gathered her purse as if to leave, then paused to look me in the eye.
“I hope it wasn’t you. For the constable’s sake,” she said. “I’ve never seen him so ferocious about a case. You mind yourself.”
With that, she stepped across the room and out the front door, the little bell tinkling behind her. Apparently, she had forgotten what she came in for.
I blew out a breath of air, sat back and looked at Clarissa.
“Shall we add her name to the list then?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Possibly. If Johnny ‘wasn’t feeling well’,” I said, making my own air quotes, “She could easily have snuck out and done the deed, then made it home before Johnny woke up.”
“Or came to,” Clarissa said, shaking her head ruefully.
I shrugged. Everyone carried their own demons, and since I was the subject of a murder investigation, I had no room – or time – to judge right now. As I watched the door through which Marjorie had just left, I had a strong feeling that although she didn’t like me much, Marjorie didn’t kill Graham.
Then who did?
Chapter 14
After a quick trip home, I returned to the Tea Shoppe to pick up Ginny and Clarissa for our afternoon ropes course adventure. Clarissa was only going because I forced her to, and I suddenly hated taking time off from the inn and the murder investigation to go. But we had promised Ginny.
I had never expected to find a ropes course in the middle of the Lake Country, but there it was one day when I needed it most. The course was set up two stories high in the trees outside of Windermere. Apparently, it was used for building teamwork as well as for tourists and families.
Few locals seemed to venture into the treetops, but the day I had stumbled upon it was also the day Jaime had been there. He had shown me the ropes, literally.
As I stepped back into the shop – and that infernal bell tinkled above me – I was surprised to see three people waiting for me.
“Aunty Eliza decided to join us,” Ginny said as she gestured toward her aunt with her to-go cup. Eliza smiled in return.
“I’m so glad,” I lied to Eliza. Actually I had hoped to get Ginny away from her aunt for a while to have some fun.
Clarissa handed me a to-go cup as well along with a heavy sigh.
“Are you ready?” I asked her with a wide smile.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m only dog this to do a good deed.”
Ginny turned toward Clarissa. “Have you never been before?”
Clarissa shook her head. “I know, I know, I’ve lived here for years, but it never occurred to me that I would actually pay money to climb trees in my own backyard.”
I scoffed. “There’s a little more to it than that, my friend.”
I herded them out the door and toward Clarissa’s car. I had walked to the course before, but I didn’t want the other three to feel tired when we got there or have any other kind of excuse not to do the course.
We pulled into a half-filled parking lot – or carpark, as I was beginning to call it in my head, just like the locals – and headed up to the ticket booth. After getting tickets and going through the information session, we put on our harnesses and followed our guide up to the course. Once we started the obstacles, the guide would keep an eye on us and the other teams from the ground.
Ginny easily scrambled up the ladder to the first platform, then leaned down to give us a thumbs-up. I was happy to see the wide smile and excitement on her face.
With one foot on the first rung, Eliza glanced over at Clarissa. “It’s now or never, mate. Shall we go for it?”
Clarissa laughed nervously but gestured Eliza to climb up the ladder. She leaned toward me. “It made me feel better to hear that I could leave the course whenever I wanted to. That way, if I get scared, I can bail out.”
Each obstacle included a short zip line to the next obstacle, in case you wanted to skip one. The zip line went past the obstacle directly to the next platform.
“Make sure no one is standing on the platform when you zip over,” the guide warned us. “Otherwise, someone is apt to take a tumble.”
If someone fell off, they probably wouldn’t fall too far since we were all harnessed in and attached to the ropes.
Additionally, there were ladders along many of the trees should someone decide enough was enough and climb down. The guide had assured us that didn’t happen very often.
“You’ll be fine,” I reassured Clarissa, then pushed her up the first couple rungs on the ladder, which was nailed into the large tree.
We decided on the first platform that Ginny and I would go ahead to show Eliza and Clarissa how to do each obstacle. That way, Eliza and Clarissa could go at their own pace. I might have suggested that, mostly so that Ginny could have some freedom to have a little fun without waiting for her aunt to catch up.
The first obstacle called for us to step across a rope bridge, holding on to rope handrails on either side. It felt wiggly at first, but once I got over the first nerves, I stepped easily across. Ginny high-fived me on the other side. We waved Eliza over and started for the next obstacle.
“She’ll be fine,” Ginny said as she turned away. “Nothing stops my aunt. When she wants to make something happen, she gets it done.”
“Really?” I turned to look back at Eliza, who sure enough was stepping steadily across the rungs. She hadn’t struck me as a strong woman, but then I’d only met her the one time at Clarissa’s.
We started the second obstacle, another rope bridge. However, this one had no handrails, only ropes that hung above our heads. I reached up to grab each one as I made my way across, giggling with nervousness when I got to the other side.
After several obstacles, Ginny and I stopped to catch our breath. We glanced back toward Clarissa and Eliza, who were chatting at a platform a few obstacles behind us.
“I was surprised your aunt came along today,” I commented, leaning against the tree.
“Me, too,” Ginny said, a fond smile creasing her face. “I wasn’t sure I wanted her to come, but now I’m glad she did. She seems to be having a good time.”
“Sounds like your family has gone through some hard times,” I said as I fussed with my harness.
She nodded, looking off into the trees. “Aunt Eliza took it quite hard.”
“Did they ever have a reason for your father’s aneurysm?” I wasn’t sure if that was something that just happened or if there was a medical build-up to it.
“They said stress,” Ginny said with a shrug. “He used to own a restaurant, but he got some bad reviews, so business fell off and he had to close it.”
I grimaced. “People can be so mean in reviews. What kind of restaurant was it?”
Ginny ducked her head and glanced at me. “Don’t laugh.”
I mimed zipping my lip, then crossed my heart. I didn’t know if they did that sort of thing in Britain, but Ginny seemed to understand what I meant.
“He had a restaurant off Piccadilly called Deep Dark Sea. His specialty was halibut.”
“That sounds delicious. Why would I laugh at that?”
A smile began to grow on her lips. “Because they kept the lights off. Diners wore night-vision goggles and were surrounded by fish tanks.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “That, um, sounds, um…”
“Ridiculous?” Ginny laughed. “It was fun in theory but ended up kind of creepy. But Dad didn’t want to change it. That was his dream restaurant. He wanted to hang on a little longer, but then the reviews started coming in. They were brutal.”
She wrapped her arms around her waist and leaned into the ropes. “He tried to kill himself and that brought on the aneurysm. He hasn’t been able to function on his own since, so we had to put him in a facility. That’s when Mum and I moved in with Aunt Eliza.”
“Do you get along with your aunt?” I wasn’t sure how much I should ask without sounding nosy.
“Oh, yeah, and she lets me work in her business, so I have spending money.”
“That’s where you learned such a good work ethic,” I noted.
Ginny gestured toward Clarissa and Eliza. “C’mon. They’re catching up.”
I watched them for a moment, then pushed away from the tree. I was changing my mind about Eliza. She had seemed depressed and cranky when I had first met her, but now I realized she had a warm heart and had opened her home to her hurting family.
A few more obstacles and we were nearly finished with the level. Ginny and I had slowed down, just enjoying the obstacles. We stood on the last platform, Ginny on one side of the tree, getting ready for the final obstacle before we ziplined off the course.
I was on the other side, fussing again with my harness. It just didn’t sit right. I probably should have fixed it earlier, but I just kept tightening the strap and moving on. I didn’t want to stop my fun to fix it.
Just as I lifted my head, I heard a scream, then Clarissa’s voice.
“Kat, look out!”
I turned just in time to see Eliza’s feet as she plowed into me from the zipline, knocking me off my feet, past Ginny and off the side of the platform.
Chapter 15
My legs whipped behind me and over my head before snapping me back upright. My hands clung to the rope above me as my harness slid until it hit a knot and stopped me in mid-air between the last obstacle and the zipline platform. I bounced up and down as I caught my breath. My heart raced.
“She stopped!” Ginny announced from the platform, where she had apparently grasped Eliza, who still teetered as she clutched the rope above her.
Clarissa ziplined behind them to the platform, pushing her way past Eliza and Ginny to the front.
“Kat, Kat, are you all right, luv?”
