Murder Checks Out, page 5
“Must be other visitors,” Richard replied.
Removing the twins from the car was always an easier task when there were two pairs of hands involved. As we set the children down on a patch of brown grass next to the car, I shaded my eyes and surveyed my friend’s family home. The Fieldses’ two-story farmhouse was a square box of a house, its simple wooden-siding facade enlivened by vivid yellow paint and delft-blue shutters. Sunny, despite threats of turning the house into a Victorian “painted lady,” had ultimately decided to retain the original color scheme when she’d recently had it repainted.
“Don’t stomp on my foot,” Ella said as Nicky, a little clumsy in his heavy coat, bumped into her.
Nicky leapt to one side, rubbing his mittened hand under his nose. “I’m not, dookie head.”
“Yes, you were. And you’re a booger boy,” Ella tossed back.
“No name-calling,” Richard said, his genial expression turning stern. “Look, there’s Aunt Lydia and Hugh. Do you want them to catch you quarrelling?”
Ella’s eyes widened, and she shook her head so vigorously that her ivory knit hat slipped back. The action created enough static that strands of her dark-brown hair rose up from her head for a moment, like chocolate spun sugar. “Not Aunt Lydia, for sure.”
Richard winked at me over the heads of the twins. We both knew that despite my aunt’s love for her grand-niece and -nephew, she brooked no nonsense from them.
Or anyone, I thought, as we each held a child’s hand and walked across the parking lot to join Aunt Lydia and Hugh at the edge of the farmhouse’s lawn.
“Hello there,” Hugh said, his dark eyes sparkling in his narrow face. “Ready to pick out a tree?”
He was dressed in a tailored chocolate-brown coat that reached the knees of his sand-colored wool trousers. A flat cap in shades of tan, rust, and brown covered much of his short black hair. Next to him, my aunt was the template of winter-wear elegance in her slim, black wool coat over charcoal slacks and a pearl-gray turtleneck, set off by a vivid ruby scarf, hat, and gloves. “Good heavens, I think I should’ve made more of an effort,” I said, motioning toward my worn blue jeans.
“Don’t be silly.” Aunt Lydia’s eyes glittered like aquamarine gemstones. “We just came from that luncheon I told you about.”
I slapped my forehead with my knitted glove. I’d forgotten about the event, which was to honor Hugh’s work with the National Gallery. An art expert, he’d often aided their efforts to authenticate works, exposing numerous frauds in the process. And not just at the National Gallery, I reminded myself, but all around the world.
“We didn’t have time to change.” Hugh pressed his kidskin-gloved palms together. “We didn’t want to miss our outing with you, so we drove straight here from DC.”
“Okay, that makes me feel a little better,” I said, adjusting the emerald velour scarf I’d tucked into the neck of my well-worn navy peacoat.
Ella tugged on my hand. “Come on, Mommy, let’s find our tree. A six-foot tree,” she added, gazing up at Aunt Lydia and Hugh. “Daddy says it can’t be any bigger.”
“Really?” Hugh shared a look with Richard. “Wise man. Lydia is requesting a much taller tree, I’m afraid.”
Aunt Lydia lifted her chin. “Because my home has such high ceilings, of course.”
“That makes sense, although I don’t envy you trying to transport it.” Richard looked down at the twins with a grin. “See, you can have your very tall tree. Just at Aunt Lydia’s house instead of ours.”
Ella bounced on the balls of her feet. “Can we help you decorate it?”
“Please, please, please?” added Nicky, his dark eyes shining.
“Of course,” my aunt said, her reserve melting in the face of Ella and Nicky’s obvious excitement. “I was counting on it.”
“Hello, hello,” called out an older woman from the porch of the farmhouse. Sunny’s grandmother, Carol, had Sunny’s fair complexion, light hair, and blue eyes, but not her height or slender figure. Sunny had inherited those traits from her grandfather, P.J. “Sunny will join you in just a minute. She’s out in the big barn, grabbing an axe.”
“Am I chopping down the tree?” Hugh’s fine black eyebrows rose to the fringe of dark hair brushing his forehead. “I don’t think I’m dressed for that.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the chopping,” Richard said, with an exaggerated flex of his arms. “I’ve got to show off my manly skills sometimes, you know.”
Aunt Lydia’s golden lashes fluttered. “We don’t want you hurting yourself before the upcoming performances,” she said, her thin lips quirking into a smile.
A memory surfaced of my husband using a similar tool to help rescue us in a dangerous situation several years before. “Oh, don’t worry. Richard definitely can handle an axe.”
Richard shot me a grin.
Looking over our group, Carol nudged P.J., who’d joined her on the porch. “Why don’t you take Lydia and Hugh to that little grove of pines behind the house, dear. It isn’t so hard to get to, and that cluster could use a thinning out. I mean, one tree cut down would be a benefit, don’t you think? You can help them tag a tree that Richard or someone else can cut down later.”
“All right, all right.” Sunny’s tall, lanky grandfather, who towered over his wife, bent down to kiss the top of her head.
“And everyone—please come in for some hot chocolate and cookies when you’re done,” Carol said, before heading into the house.
“Cookies?” Nicky sprang forward.
I grabbed the hood of his coat and pulled him back. “Tree first, cookies later.”
P.J. stepped off the porch. “Okay, Lydia and Hugh, follow me,” he said, striding toward the side of the house. Hugh and Aunt Lydia followed more slowly, picking their way over rough clumps of frozen grass.
When they’d disappeared from view, Richard cast me a smile. “I guess it’s me doing the chopping after all.”
“Don’t worry,” a familiar voice called out from a path leading to one of the farm’s barns. “I brought reinforcements.”
Sunny walked toward us, looking every inch the farmgirl in her padded denim jacket, worn jeans, and heavy boots. Following her, a man whose short blond hair remained uncovered despite the cold carried an axe in a manner that told me he was more than accustomed to using one.
“So you’re providing tree-cutting services now, Brad?” Richard asked. “I didn’t know that was part of the sheriff’s duties.”
The color rose in Bradley Tucker’s ruggedly handsome face. He always was easily embarrassed, I thought. I’d known Bradley Tucker ever since moving to Taylorsford ten years before, when he’d been the chief deputy in the sheriff’s department. We’d become friends, and I’d been happy to help him and his department solve several murders. But now Brad was the newly elected sheriff, and from his troubled expression, I feared that our partnership might not prevail during this particular case. He looked like someone mulling over delivering bad news.
“Not exactly,” Brad replied, his pale lashes shadowing his blue-eyed gaze. “Sunny offered us a tree, and I just stopped by to pick one up while Alison and the kids are busy at home, putting up other decorations.”
I glanced at Sunny, who gave me a wink. I smiled back at her. It had always impressed me how Sunny could remain casual friends with Brad, whom she’d once seriously dated. Of course, now she was in a long-term relationship with Fred, and Brad was married with children.
Which was one of the reasons Brad and Sunny broke up, I reminded myself. Brad, who was now almost fifty, had wanted kids, sooner rather than later, while Sunny didn’t want children at all.
“How are Noah and Zoe?” I asked. “They haven’t caught that cold going around, I hope.”
“Thankfully, no.” Brad shuffled his booted feet through the gravel of the parking area. “I would’ve brought Noah along if I’d known Ella and Nicky would be here. Zoe, of course, is far too young to be tromping through the woods.”
I looked him up and down, observing how he kept fiddling with one of the buttons on his padded flannel jacket. “If you have something you want to share, go ahead and say it. Might as well get bad news out of the way before we swing axes at anything.”
“Aren’t we going to get the tree?” Ella asked, tugging on the sleeve of Richard’s heavy fleece jacket.
Richard cast me a swift glance. “Maybe I should take the kids on out to the lot,” he said. “Can you lead the way, Sunny? I don’t want to chop down the wrong tree.”
“Sure thing.” Sunny took the axe from Brad. “You guys thoroughly eviscerate the elephant in the room and then follow us. It’s just over that ridge,” she added, pointing with the business end of the axe toward a stand of pines poking their shaggy green heads above the rim of a nearby hill.
She strode off, her long blonde braids bouncing against her shoulders. After sharing another knowing look with me, Richard took hold of Ella and Nicky’s hands and followed her, leaving me alone with Brad.
“So, as Sunny suggested, maybe we should get the unpleasant stuff out of the way,” I said. “Do you have any more information on the Wendy Blackstone case? I mean, anything you can share, of course.”
Brad toyed with the button again. “Well, I’m sorry to tell you this, Amy, but we’ve declared the Wendy Blackstone case a homicide. There’s evidence of deliberate action taken by someone other than the victim.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and rocked back on the heels of his cowboy boots. “This is all coming out at a news conference this evening, so it’s not really a secret.”
As a deeply inhaled breath of the frosty air burnt my lungs, I coughed and cleared my throat. “And do you have any suspects?” I asked when I could speak.
“A few.” The lines bracketing Brad’s mouth deepened as he stared down at me. “Including Ethan Payne, of course.”
Chapter Six
“You can’t really believe Ethan would kill anyone,” I said. “I know for a fact that he’s risked his life several times to save others. He’s not a murderer.”
“Saving lives in the context of doing his job isn’t any indicator of the capacity to kill in other circumstances.” Brad pulled his hands out of his pockets and wagged a finger at me. “After the many times you’ve helped me with research and informal interviews, you of all people should know that even the least likely person can commit a murder.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Point taken, but still … why is Ethan a top suspect when other people had a grudge against Wendy Blackstone as well?”
“Did I say he was a top suspect?” Mirroring my action, Brad crossed his own arms. “He is being questioned, but so are Jaden Perez and all of the protesters, as well as Ms. Blackstone’s family and business associates.”
A clang of metal against wood rang out over the nearby field. “I guess they found a tree.”
“Seems like it.” Brad dropped his arms, shaking the tension from his hands. “But seriously, Amy, I’m not targeting your brother-in-law in particular. It’s just that he was seen arguing with the victim on the day she was killed and had some semblance of motive.” When I raised my eyebrows, Brad added, “All right, to be perfectly honest, we’ve discovered he’s sent some rather angry emails to Blackstone Properties related to their proposed development’s encroachment on his property. Not to mention the fact that it seems he was one of the last people to leave the Winterfest grounds before Ms. Blackstone was killed.”
I hadn’t known that. “According to whom?”
“Jaden Perez, for one. As well as his partner, Megan Campbell. They apparently hung around until all the visitors and vendors left, gathering up any of their flyers that had been tossed. They say that Ethan was still around while they were clearing up that litter.”
My grip tightened on my upper arms. “Of course, they could simply be saying that to cover their own suspicious actions.”
“I did think of that,” Brad said, his tone sharp as the sound of the axe. “But Ethan confirmed their stories. He said he waited until all the vendors left to double-check that all the propane stoves and grills and so on were completely cool.”
“Which is part of his job.” The ringing blows of the axe faded away. I knew I should wrap up this discussion. Richard, Sunny, and the children would be back soon.
“Yes, but it means he was on the site later than most. Perez and Campbell and a couple of their followers claim he was still there when they left.”
I dropped my arms, shaking them out to relieve the tension. “Which I hope you took with a grain of salt.”
“Of course. Despite what you may think, I’m not an idiot.” Color had risen in Brad’s face again. “Jaden Perez has to be one of our top suspects, if only because I’ve discovered that he’s been involved in a similar altercation before. Apparently, he got in a shoving match with someone during another protest. His opponent injured his knee when he was knocked to the ground by Perez. The only reason it didn’t result in an arrest is that the injured man didn’t press charges, and numerous bystanders claimed both men were equally culpable in the fight. But of course, that means Perez has past history that will compel my team to look at him very closely. Not to mention we plan to interview everyone who could possibly have been involved—even people who weren’t seen in the area that day. It’s certainly possible that someone could’ve entered the picnic area from another direction.”
“Because it’s backed by a pretty significant stand of trees,” I said, more to myself than to Brad.
He nodded. “I’ve had deputies searching the woods for any clues.” Brad’s taut face relaxed into a more genial expression. “You have to realize that I’m only telling you all of this because you’ve helped out the sheriff’s office in the past, Amy. Normally, I wouldn’t share this much information with a civilian.”
Footsteps and the high-pitched voices of excited children filled the air. I glanced over to see Sunny leading the twins, following by Richard dragging a newly cut pine by its trunk. “Thanks, I guess,” I muttered, not quite ready to let go of my grievance.
Brad’s lips twitched. “It’s only natural to be protective of family, but just let us do our job, okay? I promise not to jump to conclusions.”
“All right, it’s a deal,” I said, extending my hand.
Brad’s calloused fingers snagged the thick wool of my gloves as he gave my fingers a reassuring squeeze.
“Making a pact to remain friends?” Sunny asked as she approached us.
The twins dashed in front of her. “You missed it, Mommy!” Ella said, flinging her body at my legs. “Daddy did great with the chopping.”
Nicky hung back, waving his hand toward the tree, which, while not overly tall, was certainly full and lush. “We got the best one! Even Sunny said so.”
“It does look nice,” I said, my arm draped around Ella’s shoulders to keep her in step with me as I moved away from Brad.
“Well, now that you got the best tree, what’s left for me?” Brad asked, his tone light.
“Don’t worry, there are plenty more.” Richard paused, dropping the tree for a moment to wipe his brow with his gloved hand, freeing the strands of dark hair plastered to his forehead. “You actually might want to choose one with a slightly smaller trunk—unless you enjoy swinging an axe, that is.”
Brad offered Richard an understanding smile. “I don’t mind it. Although, unlike you, I won’t have any help.”
“Help? Oh, right.” Richard shot me a raised-eyebrow glance over the heads of the twins.
“We saw a spooky building too, didn’t we, Daddy?” Ella looked up at him with a wide-eyed gaze.
“It was some sort of old barn,” Richard said.
“Part of the old Wire family farm,” Sunny said, after I cast her a questioning look. “You remember, Amy—old Mrs. Wire didn’t have any family when she passed, so she deeded the farm over to the Nature Conservancy. They haven’t had time to do anything with the land yet, but at least it’s protected. Anyway, the original barn is right on the edge of our property, so you can see it now that the trees are bare. But no checking it out when you’re running around Vista View.” Sunny gave first Ella and then Nicky a stern look. “That’s a place you want to stay away from. It hasn’t been used in years, and who knows what wild creatures are living inside, not to mention how unstable the ceiling and floors might be.”
“We just thought it looked cool,” Nicky said. “We won’t ever go inside, I promise.”
“Good. Because I kind of like you guys.” Sunny grinned at the twins, who smiled back. “Now, here you go, Brad. Have at it. Anything in the lot just over the hill is fair game,” she added, as Brad took the axe from her hand. “Meanwhile, why don’t the rest of us head to the house for some of that hot chocolate and cookies?”
The twins didn’t have to be asked twice. They took off at a run, turning their dash to the house into a race. “I won!” Ella shouted as they reached the porch.
“No, you didn’t. I got here at the same time,” Nicky said, elbowing his sister.
Carol, who must’ve heard the ruckus, opened the front door. “Come on in,” she said, ushering my children inside. “P.J. and Lydia and Hugh are already in the kitchen. We can watch them while you get the tree secured,” she called out to the rest of us. “And Brad, Lydia’s tree is out back, marked with a red ribbon.”
Brad lifted the axe in a little salute. “I’ll take care of that first,” he said, before heading toward the path that led around the house.
“So let’s get this done,” Sunny said as Richard dragged the tree close to our car. “I could use some of that hot chocolate myself. Honestly, I’m getting awfully tired of working the farm during this cold snap.”
