by Kate Bell
He nodded. “It sure would be impossible to know who was wearing it,” he said. “How big was the person? Was it a great big fella? Or was it someone on the smaller side? Those costumes came in adult sizes starting at extra small, which could fit a preteen or teenager and go all the way up to 2X.”
I considered this, trying to remember the size of the killer. “They weren’t very large,” I said. “Maybe, somewhere around 5’6” to 5’8”? And not really very big around. It could have been a woman just as easily as a man if you want to know the truth.”
“So maybe a size medium?” he asked me.
“I think it could have been. Or maybe a large? It all happened so fast it’s hard for me to remember.”
“I’ll try to remember who I sold costumes to, but I’ll be honest and tell you that I’m probably not going to be much help there. Especially if a tourist was the one who bought the costume.”
“Any help you could provide would be great,” Ethan said. “It was fairly dark out last night with only a dim streetlight casting a bit of light into the alley. It would have been hard for anyone to see much.”
Ethan was being kind, and I appreciated it. But I still felt terrible that I didn’t know more than I did. Why hadn’t I gone after the killer? At the very least I could have followed him down the alley while I called the police, or tried to get a picture with my phone before he ran off. It probably wouldn’t have helped, but it would have made me feel like I had done more than I had.
“Hey, I know what you’re thinking and you need to stop it,” Ethan said putting one of his hands on top of mine when I got quiet.
Tears sprang to my eyes, and I blinked them back. “I know. I just feel terrible that I didn’t do more.”
“I want you to stop that kind of thinking,” he said.
Even though Ethan didn’t want me to think this way, I felt like I needed to make up for the fact that I didn’t get much information to help him figure out who the killer was. I made up my mind that I would do what I could to find out as much as possible about the killer.
Chapter Five
It didn’t take long for me to find out a little information about Matthew Barnes. Small towns are great for digging up information on people. He had a law practice over in Trukee, although he still lived here in Pumpkin Hollow. I wondered if the conflict he had had with Eldon Howell was the reason he practiced law in another town. I also wondered how long it might take for him to set up an office here in Pumpkin Hollow now that Eldon was gone.
I had learned that Matthew was president of the Pumpkin Hollow Library Society and there was a meeting tonight. I had never been to one of these meetings, and I wasn’t quite sure what they were about, so I wore a nice sweater and a pair of slacks just in case this was a slightly dressier affair than most meetings that went on around town. I didn’t think it would be, but I didn’t want to embarrass myself by wearing jeans and a sweatshirt only to find everyone else wearing business casual.
Ethan had gotten off work early so that he could accompany me to the meeting. As we drove over to the library, Ethan updated me on the case.
“What kind of physical clues were left at the scene?” I asked him.
“Not a whole lot. There was some fur made out of synthetic material gripped in Eldon’s hand, presumably from the costume, a watch, the kitchen knife stuck in Eldon’s chest, and a handful of coins.”
“A handful of coins?”
He nodded. “A dollar sixty-eight in total. We’ve been all over that alley in the hope that we could find something more substantial. There weren’t any fingerprints on the knife. It was one of those larger kitchen knives, not a steak knife. The watch is probably our best clue, and we’re processing the few fingerprints we got from it.”
“What kind of watch?” I asked him.
“An expensive one. It’s a Rolex. This particular watch retails for around nine-thousand dollars.”
“Wow. That would be pricey for most folks living around here.”
“I think so, too,” he agreed.
“I would also imagine the killer was wearing gloves, or maybe the costume had them built-in,” I mused.
“I took a look at the costume that Fagan had left in his shop. It doesn’t have built-in gloves, but it was cold out, and this was obviously planned out. So if the killer wore gloves, it wouldn’t surprise me,” Ethan said as he pulled into the library parking lot and found a parking space.
I was surprised by the number of cars in the parking lot. I wouldn’t have thought that a meeting like this would draw as many people as it did. But Pumpkin Hollow was a small town and maybe a lot of people still read physical books from the library and not on e-readers or tablets.
People milled about inside the library and tables were set up along one wall with finger foods and a big punch bowl filled with red punch. I nodded my head toward the tables and Ethan grinned. We headed over and took a look at the offerings. There were finger sandwiches, deviled eggs, fresh fruit, meat and cheese trays, chips and dip, and an assortment of sweets for afterward. We picked up paper plates and began selecting food. It suddenly occurred to me that this might be an invitation-only affair, and I looked over my shoulder to see if we were getting any hostile looks, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and not paying any attention to us.
When we got to the punch bowl, Ethan dipped punch into two small paper cups and handed one to me.
“I hope it’s okay that we just showed up like this,” I whispered.
He shrugged and grinned. “I guess we’ll find out.” He picked up his cup and plate and we wandered over to a small group of people that included Polly Givens from the gift shop.
“Hi Mia, Ethan,” Polly said nodding her head in our direction.
“Hi Polly,” I said and moved closer, setting my cup of punch down on a nearby table. I picked up a cracker and dipped it into what looked like ham spread. I was surprised at how good it was and I had to keep myself from making appreciative noises as I ate. “This is really good, I wonder who made it?”
Polly eyed the cracker. “That looks like Marge Howard’s handiwork. She actually does most of the food when we meet every month and she is a wonder at what she does.”
“I guess you guys are really lucky to have her in the group then,” I said.
She nodded. “Is this your first meeting? I don’t remember seeing you two here before.”
I glanced over at Ethan. “Yes, we heard you guys meet every month, and we decided we’d like to come and see what goes on here. What exactly is it that you all do?”
“You mean besides eat?” she said and chuckled. “There’s been a move on for several years now to reinvigorate the local libraries. In the Internet age, we want to encourage people to be more hands-on with books. Unfortunately, the budget from the county has been cut, so that means we rely on donations from the private sector. We plan events to raise funds for new books.”
“That sounds like a great thing to do,” Ethan said and he picked up a deviled egg from his plate and ate half of it.
“I love it,” she said. “I think it’s one of the best community groups we have in town and it just makes me feel so good to see all the new books on the shelves. Personally, I have an e-reader that I use for some of my reading, but there’s just something about holding a physical book in my hands. I guess I’m old-fashioned.”
“I guess that makes me old-fashioned then, because I still like physical books, too,” I said. I liked the idea of people reinvigorating the libraries. Reading was one of my favorite past-times, and I decided I needed to renew my library card and be more involved down here at the library.
Matthew nudged me and nodded toward a dark-haired man across the room. Ethan mouthed the name ‘Matthew’ to me.
I realized that Matthew had come into the candy store and bought fudge frequently through out the season, I just didn’t know his name.
I looked at him again and he headed in our direction. He got to our little group and looked at
Ethan. “Ethan,” he said with a grin, reaching his hand out to him. “I heard you got a bit of a promotion down at the police station. Congratulations.” His eyes went to me and he smiled, not quite recognizing me.
Ethan shook his hand. “I think it’s safe to say it was a very small promotion,” Ethan said with a chuckle. “This is Mia Jordan, her parents own the Pumpkin Hollow Candy Store.”
Matthew stuck his hand out and I shook it, “I thought I recognized you.”
I smiled. “I think I’ve seen you stop in a time or two and buy fudge.”
“Guilty as charged,” he said with a grin, revealing perfect white teeth.
The people in the small group we had joined wandered off to talk to new arrivals or look over the food. When we were alone, Mathew turned to Ethan. “Say, Ethan,” he said, “I heard you have another murder case.”
Ethan nodded. “Unfortunately, I do. Eldon Howell. Did you know him?”
It looked like Matthew tried to suppress a smile before answering. “In fact, I did know him,” he said. “We went to school together. Both here in Pumpkin Hollow and later in law school. We also worked for the same law firm for a few years. But that was a long time ago.”
“It’s a shame that we’re dealing with another murder,” I said keeping my eye on him. He looked to be around 5’7” and had a head full of thick dark brown hair. He had a medium build, and I thought he’d fit nicely into a size medium or large werewolf costume.
“Had you been in touch with Eldon recently?” Ethan asked, and took a sip of his punch, his eyes never leaving Matthew.
He shook his head. “No, I can’t say that I’ve spoken to him in years. You know how it is, life sometimes gets in the way of things and people drift apart.” He smiled and looked at me and then back at Ethan.
“I guess I do know how it goes,” Ethan said. “I suppose that means you wouldn’t have any idea about what happened the other night?”
He smiled broadly now. “No, I really don’t have any concrete knowledge of what happened, but I do have an idea. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Benjamin Cartwright had something to do with Eldon’s death.”
“Benjamin Cartwright? I’m not sure I know him,” Ethan said.
“He owns the Evergreen Bookstore,” he said. “He’s usually at these events but I heard he wasn’t going to make it tonight.” He looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was close enough to hear what he was saying, then turned back to us. “Eldon handled Benjamin’s mother’s estate and really bungled things. This is off the record, of course.”
“How did he bungle it?” Ethan asked him.
“He didn’t file the paperwork on time with the court, and one of Benjamin’s siblings made off with most of the estate. It was a shame really. His mother had put aside quite a bit of money and she had several properties. I heard she had wanted it divided up equally, but you know how some people are. Greed is like a disease. It spreads easily and grows like a weed. By the time Benjamin spoke to me about it, it was too late. Everything had gone through probate.”
I wondered if he should be speaking openly about a client of his. “So Benjamin came to you as a client in hopes you would take on the case?”
He shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t bring this up if he had been my client. Confidentiality is something I take seriously. He simply came up to me at an event a few months ago and asked me what I would do in his situation and if there was any recourse for him. I advised him that it was really too late to do much. He might find a lawyer that would take on the case, but I was booked up solid. I advised him to file a complaint with the California Bar, but later he said he never did that. He said he would handle things his way.”
I restrained myself from glancing at Ethan. Maybe Benjamin had handled things the other night.
“Can I ask you a question?” Ethan asked. Before Matthew could answer, he continued. “Is it true that Eldon got your license to practice law suspended and then later got you fired from a law firm?”
Matthew’s eyes widened and then his mouth hardened. “It is true. Eldon lied about me to my employer, and it got me into a lot of trouble. But I’ll tell you something. That was just the way Eldon was. Obviously, you can see that from the trouble Benjamin had with him when he hired him. He didn’t care about doing his job properly and he lacked ethics.”
Ethan nodded. “And you haven’t really had anything to do with Eldon the past few years?”
“I told you I hadn’t,” he said holding his hands up. “Honestly, it was over thirty years ago when we had our falling out and I simply had no use for the guy after that. It’s best to stay away from his kind.”
“I can see where you’d want to do that,” Ethan said. “I appreciate the heads up about Benjamin Cartwright. I’ll look into it.”
He nodded. “Well, as the president of this group, I need to get circulating. I also better get a plate of food before it’s all gone. It’s good seeing you both here and I hope you’ll both get involved and help us out with our projects.”
“I think I might just do that,” I said to him. “It sounds like a worthy cause.”
We watched as Matthew moved on to another group of people and began making the rounds. I turned to Ethan. “What do you think?”
“I think I need to see if I can find out what the California Bar said about his suspension. I’m not sure if that’s public information or not, but I’ll check into it.”
“And maybe I’ll stop in at the bookstore and see how Benjamin Cartwright is doing.”
Chapter Six
I stopped by the Evergreen Bookstore the following day after work. There were only a handful of other customers in the store when I walked in, and I looked around, spotting Benjamin Cartwright immediately. Although I had neglected the local library, I had not neglected the bookstore. I was a regular customer here, and I knew Benjamin well enough to strike up a conversation with him.
Benjamin had just finished helping a customer, and I waited for him to come out from behind the front counter. He smiled when he spotted me.
“Hi Mia, how are you today? Did you stop in to pick up another historical romance? I just got a shipment of them in yesterday.”
I smiled back. Benjamin knew my reading habits well. I loved historical romance and a good mystery now and then.
“Hi Benjamin, you know me so well. Show me what you got in,” I said and followed him over to a rack toward the far corner of the store.
“I got the new one by Emma Smith. Oh, and the third in that new series by Belinda Sweet,” he said showing me where he had put them on the shelf that was at eye level.
“Those look interesting, but I’ve got to get that one,” I said and picked up a Regency romance by my favorite author. “It would be wrong of me to leave it here in the shop all by itself.” I giggled. I was free to be nerdy in the presence of another nerd.
“I agree. You’ve got to get that one. I hear the next book in the series will be out in January.”
“I can hardly wait,” I said and glanced at him. “Hey Benjamin, did you hear what happened Halloween night?”
He looked at me, puzzled. “Halloween night? You mean other than the town being extremely busy with all the tourists and events?”
“No, unfortunately, there was another murder,” I said turning toward him. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it. It’s all anybody is talking about.”
“I didn’t hear a thing,” he said with a shrug. “It wasn’t anyone we know was it?”
I thought it was odd that he was saying he hadn’t heard anything. In small towns, bad news travelled fast. “It was Eldon Howell. I didn’t really know him, but I know he was a lawyer here in town. Did you know him?”
At the mention of Eldon’s name Benjamin’s face clouded over with anger. “I suppose you could say I did know him. It serves him right if you want to know the truth. He was a crooked lawyer and I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”
I was surprised by the bitterness in Benjamin’s voi
ce, but maybe I shouldn’t have been. “I didn’t know he was crooked. I guess I missed those rumors somehow.”
He leaned on the bookshelf we were standing in front of. “Oh it’s no rumor. I’ll tell you exactly what he did. When my mother passed away last year, I hired him to handle probate. Because of his blunders, filing the paperwork late, and other mistakes, my brother made off with the lion’s share of the estate. My mother wanted everything to be divided equally, but my brother, he’s a snake, and between him and Eldon I ended up with almost nothing. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if my brother didn’t pay him extra to mess everything up on purpose.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that Benjamin,” I said. And I was. Benjamin seemed to be a really nice guy, and I hated to think that there was a possibility he might have murdered Eldon. “Is there any way it might have just been an accident? That Eldon just made some honest mistakes?”
He shook his head and snorted. “No, he’d been a lawyer for what, thirty years or more? There is no way any of this was an accident. The more I think about it, the madder I get. I really do think my brother paid him off so I would end up with almost nothing. If you knew my brother, you would understand completely.”
“That’s terrible. I’m so sorry to hear it,” I said.
“I’ve heard so many things about Eldon Howell after I made the mistake of hiring him. And like I said, I’m surprised someone didn’t kill him sooner.”
I nodded, taking this in. “I hate to think that anybody here in town had something to do with Eldon’s murder. We’re such a small town and almost everybody knows everybody else. It would just be a shame.”
He looked at me and nodded. “I know, I would hate to see that too. But if you want to know something,” he said and glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone was listening, then turned back to me. “If I had to make a guess, I would guess it was Devon Graves.”
