The Last Ride

by Sonia Parin

  Scratching around her mind, Abby thought she remembered Joshua saying Warren Kinsley had never married. What if he’d had a liaison? “This is awkward. Whatever we do, we have to be sure. Let’s not talk about it in front of Kinsley. I don’t want to upset her. Some people can be sensitive.”

  “Go on. Call him,” Faith urged.

  Abby drew her cell phone out and made the call. After a brief conversation, she put away her cell phone and crouched down to give Doyle a scratch under his chin.

  “You’ve picked up a really bad habit of keeping me in suspense,” Faith complained.

  “You already know the answer. Yes. Apart from a few additions to the schedule, the circus had been making the same annual stops since its inception.”

  “Are we going to accuse Kinsley’s mom of being a… of having a…” Faith shoved her hands inside her pockets. “Isn’t that odd. I can’t bring myself to say it.”

  “I’m not going to be the one to rock Kinsley’s world. However, if her mom had an affair, Kinsley’s inheritance would make sense.” She imagined Kinsley’s mom had told Warren he had a daughter. He must have thought it would be best to leave well enough alone agreeing only to see her once a year on her birthday. Abby hoped Warren Kinsley had put his daughter’s best interests at heart by deciding to remain in the background. She’d hate to think he hadn’t cared. He must have. Otherwise, he would not have left her the house.

  Abby straightened and gazed out toward the mountains. The sun hadn’t broken through the clouds yet so a light mist hung over them.

  “What are you going to tell her?” Faith asked.

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you. This is above my pay grade.”

  Abby looked down the street. This would be a good time for a coffee. “If we’re ever going to be allowed back inside Joyce’s Café, we need to get to the bottom of this and then focus on finding the Eden Bloggess.”

  “Hang on. Do we even want to go back to her café? We have Frankie now.”

  “This is a small town. We can’t go around ignoring people. Fences will need to be mended.”

  Faith put on her best mulish expression. “Joyce Breeland forced us to go cold turkey.”

  “Because she suspected we were keeping information from her.”

  “And?” Faith asked, her tone challenging her.

  “And, we were.”

  “Still, I don’t see why we should be the ones to kowtow to her. She started it. She should be the one to make the first move and recognize the error of her ways. Joyce Breeland has to learn she can’t go around mistreating her customers. If she’s not careful, she could become a candidate for murder.”

  “Let’s walk and talk. Doyle needs his exercise.” When they reached the café, they both turned to look inside. Packed as usual, Abby thought. “Don’t worry. I’ll fix it. Somehow.”

  As they continued walking, Abby kept her eyes on the traffic. Not that there was ever much of it. A car drove by every other five or ten minutes. They were mostly locals or people driving up to the ski resort. She supposed it would get busier during winter.

  If she lived here long enough, she might even come to know the local drivers by the cars they drove. When a sedan drove by, she squinted and tried to identify the person behind the wheel. He wore a suit and while his car appeared to be clean, the mud spluttered on it suggested the tires had done some hard work.

  “When I spoke with the lawyer, I asked him who would try to contest a will.” Abby shrugged. “It was just a general question. Anyway, he said an illegitimate relative might have had reason.”

  “But no one came forward. I hope you’re not about to say if there is one illegitimate daughter, there might be more.”

  “No, I’m only thinking the idea of illegitimacy hadn’t occurred to me until he mentioned it. I wish I’d taken it as a prompt to look into it.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself. There’s no way you could have known.”

  “That’s just it. When you don’t know something, you have to ask the right questions and when that fails, you have to think outside the box and ask even the silliest questions. Anyhow, it would explain her name. Yes, Kinsley could be Warren Kinsley’s illegitimate daughter. From the start, we wondered about the connection. If it’s true, we would at least have solved one mystery. The lead was right under my nose. I think I need to become more cynical and expect the worst from people.”

  Doyle stopped to smell a tree. Although, Abby suspected he merely wanted a rest.

  “Out of curiosity, what would compel you to walk out on your job?” Abby asked.

  Faith worried her bottom lip. “In this economy and living in a small town with few prospects? It would have to be something really serious. I can’t think of anything. Does that make me shallow or a pushover?”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “I don’t seem to feel strongly about anything,” Faith admitted.

  Abby stopped. “Okay. What if I turned into an evil person and started mistreating Doyle?” At the sound of his name, he looked up at Abby. “It’s only hypothetical, Doyle. I promise I won’t mistreat you.”

  Faith gave it some thought. “I wouldn’t walk out on the job, but I’d take a whip to you and then report you to anyone and everyone who would listen.”

  “How about if I made your daily life a living hell by being an overbearing boss?”

  “What are you trying to get at?”

  “Sam Peters walked out on his job for a reason. He felt strongly about something. What could that have been?” Abby remembered Frankie saying she’d overheard part of the argument between Sam and Warren Kinsley. Sam had said “She needs to know…”

  “What if we can prove Kinsley is Warren’s illegitimate daughter and… what if Sam knew about it?” Abby asked. “He was a drifter with no family and no roots. Someone like him might feel strongly about family,” Abby reasoned.

  “He’d have to be emotionally invested,” Faith said. “Otherwise, why would he make such a fuss?” Faith stretched her arms out and smiled up at the sky. “I love coffee. If not for Frankie, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. In fact, we’d probably be staring at a wall, our eyes not even blinking.”

  Abby’s eyes widened. “Here’s an idea. What if Sam was somehow connected to Warren Kinsley?”

  ***

  AFTER A RAPID EXCHANGE OF text messages, Joshua agreed to meet Abby at Kinsley’s house. When Doyle whimpered, Abby said, “I promise I’ll stay inside the car until Joshua arrives. The windows are tinted. No one knows we’re in here.”

  Hearing the crunch of tires, she looked over her shoulder. “Here he is.” Clambering up, Doyle looked over her shoulder too. “What? You don’t trust me? Honestly…” She waited until Joshua knocked on her window and, only then, opened the car door. “Hi there.”

  “So, what is so important you couldn’t talk about it over the phone or at the pub. I was headed there for lunch.”

  “Oh, you might have mentioned it. It would have saved me a trip out.” She raked her fingers through her hair. Where could she begin… “I didn’t want anyone overhearing me. Anyway, we think there’s a strong possibility Kinsley is actually Warren’s daughter.” She waited to see his reaction, but Joshua didn’t even flinch.

  “Tell me more.”

  At least he hadn’t laughed in her face. Abby told him about Kinsley’s annual visits to the circus. She also wanted to tell him about her other suspicions, but then he would definitely laugh in her face. What were the chances Sam had been related to Warren Kinsley?

  “Dead bodies don’t talk,” she mused under her breath. Or… maybe they did.

  “What would you ask Sam if he could talk?”

  When she finished telling him about her suppositions, she said, “I know it’s all a longshot, but the man kept to himself. He would not have crossed the line and argued with Warren unless he felt emotionally invested.”

  “And you think he acted the way he did because he and Warren were related?�
�

  “I told you, it’s a longshot.”

  “Maybe dead men can talk.” Joshua spent a few minutes thinking about it. “It actually makes sense. We’ll have to run DNA tests. We’ll get that ball rolling straightaway.”

  “DNA tests? Don’t they take time?”

  “With access to the right lab and if you’re only testing for paternity, one to two days, depending on how long it takes to fill out the paperwork and collect the samples.”

  “How are you going to get a sample from Warren Kinsley?”

  “I’m no expert in the field, but I’m sure simple blood tests will determine if it’s at all possible for Kinsley to be related to Sam. After all, if Sam and Warren shared a parent, that would make Kinsley related to Sam too. It’s only guesswork on my part. We’ll know soon enough.”

  Abby drummed her fingers against her chin. “How are you going to get the sample from Kinsley?” Before he answered, she added, “I suggest handling this with kid gloves. You could test the waters and make up a story about Sam being a long lost relative.”

  “That’ll work for me.”

  “Where else could we find a lead and how could we prove Kinsley’s paternity without being intrusive?”

  When Joshua didn’t answer, Abby wrung her hands together. She’d never had to break bad news to anyone. Kinsley had said her parents had had a happy marriage. This would rock her world.

  They needed to dig deeper and consider other means of finding the information. “She might have some family mementos. Old photos. Letters. Something that could hint at a liaison. Her mom might have kept a diary. Kinsley looks to be in her early thirties. Born at a time before the wide use of cell phones and online social media, which could have been useful in tracking down a person’s activities.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Let’s brainstorm this. How would two people keep in touch? Postcards. Letters. An ad in the personal columns?”

  Joshua drew a doggy biscuit out of his pocket and offered it to Doyle.

  “What are you doing carrying those around?” she asked.

  “I’m always prepared. This is in case I need to bribe a dog.”

  Really?

  “I’m thinking it might have been enough for Kinsley’s mom to know the circus always visited at the same time each year,” Joshua said. “That’s how they communicated.”

  “And if we find proof of the connection? What will it all mean?” Abby stared up at the house. “What would have happened to the house if there hadn’t been any heirs?” She tapped her hand against her head. “I should have asked the lawyer when I went in to see him.”

  Joshua retrieved his car keys. “I guess we’ll have to head back to town now. On the way, you might want to think about this. I followed up on your suggestion to look into Kinsley’s family. I’ve accessed some sensitive information and I trust you will keep it to yourself.”

  Abby nodded.

  When Joshua conveyed the information, she frowned. “What good is giving me the year Kinsley’s parents married if I don’t know her age?”

  “I guess it helps to be a police officer. I also happen to have easy access to the information on her driver’s license.”

  “And?”

  The dates didn’t match. Kinsley would have been conceived before her parents’ marriage.

  “You let me go on and on about my suspicions. Why didn’t you interrupt me?”

  “I never know what you’re going to say.” Joshua shrugged. “Anyway, conceived before or after her parents married, it has no bearing on this investigation. Legally, the house belongs to Kinsley. But you do raise an interesting point. I want to speak with the lawyer and find out what happens to the house if Kinsley is out of the picture.”

  ***

  ABBY CHECKED THE TIME AGAIN. “What could be taking him so long? He only needed to ask a simple question. Who stands to inherit if Kinsley is not around?”

  Doyle licked his paw.

  “Are you trying to tell me to be patient?” She checked her nails. Then she picked some lint from her jacket. Digging inside her glovebox, she drew out a pen and spent some time trying to get it to wobble. “I guess we can wait for Joshua at the pub.” Doyle wagged his tail. “Yeah, I thought so. You just want to go curl up by the fireplace.”

  Striding into the pub, she decided to sit at the bar and chat with Mitch. As expected, Doyle had other ideas. He headed straight for his special spot by the fireplace.

  “Any news?” Mitch asked.

  Abby opened her mouth to answer when she realized she couldn’t tell him about her new theories.

  “I see. You know something, but you’re not at liberty to talk about it.” He stepped back and leaned against the counter.

  “Huh?”

  Hitching his finger over his shoulder, he pointed at the coffee machine. “Do I need to say more?”

  “You wouldn’t dare let the power go to your head.”

  Mitch grinned. “Wouldn’t I?”

  “But if it hadn’t been for me, you would not have thought of giving Frankie a job. Admit it. I did you a huge favor.”

  Abby’s phone beeped. She read the message and frowned. The lawyer had stepped out of the office. Joshua had waited around for him but he’d now received a call to attend another crime scene. Nothing serious, he assured her.

  Hopping off the barstool, she said, “I’ll tell you more as soon as I can.” She left Doyle to enjoy his nap and went upstairs to her apartment. It would take time to sort out the details and run DNA tests to verify the connection between Kinsley, Sam and Warren, but if she asked the right questions, and somehow managed to skate around the subject of illegitimacy, Kinsley might be able to provide some information.

  As she opened the door to her apartment, she huffed out a breath and told herself to focus on being diplomatic.

  “Hello?” When she didn’t see Kinsley sitting on the couch, she knocked on the door to the adjoining room. No answer. Dialing Faith’s number, she waited for her to pick up. “Hey. Where are you? I’m at my apartment and there’s no one here.”

  “I’m on my way back there. I just had to drop in at the Gazette to get more pens and paper. What’s up?”

  “Kinsley’s not here.”

  Faith yelped. “Do you think something’s happened to her? I only stepped out for a few minutes.”

  Abby swept her gaze around the apartment. “Nothing is out of place. I don’t see any signs of a struggle.” She swung around and her gaze landed on the door. “Wait. There’s a note pinned to the door. Oh… No.”

  “What? I’m running as fast as I can, but you have to give me something. Don’t keep me in suspense.”

  “I’m only wondering what could have come over her. We’ve been playing it safe all this time. Why would she suddenly decide to go out on her own? She left a note saying she remembered she had some old photos and it wouldn’t take her long to get them. Back in five minutes. How long ago did you leave?”

  “About ten minutes ago.”

  It would take Kinsley longer than that to drive out to her place, Abby thought and wondered how much of a head start she had. Five or ten minutes?

  A thump on the door signaled Faith’s arrival. Abby opened it and had to give Faith a few minutes to catch her breath.

  “You’re out of shape,” Abby said.

  “She mentioned something about joining the dots. That’s when I decided to step out and get more pen and paper because I knew you’d come back and we’d get right down to business. I didn’t think she’d take matters into her own hands. What is she thinking going out on her own?”

  Abby pressed her hands against her face and tried to think. “Okay. You stay here. If she comes back, let me know. I’m going after her. She can’t have that much of a head start.” She snatched her car keys and as she yanked the door open, she added, “We should play it safe. If I don’t call you in fifteen minutes, call Joshua. Tell him what’s happened.”

  Faith gave her a thumbs up. “Gotcha. I�
��ll alert the cavalry.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  DOYLE STRETCHED AND PRESSED HIS little paws on the passenger armrest so he could look out the passenger’s window.

  “Sorry to have dragged you out, but as my star cub reporter, you always have to be ready to chase a story. Meaning, where I go, you go.”

  Seeing a car driving toward her, Abby slowed down. “No, it’s not Kinsley.” She’d rushed out of the pub so quickly, she hadn’t even stopped to ask Mitch if Kinsley had borrowed his car. She must have, Abby thought even as she reached for her cell phone.

  Doyle barked.

  “What?”

  Seeing him look over his shoulder at her, she frowned. “Are you telling me to keep both hands on the steering wheel? There’s no one on the road.” Setting the cell phone on speaker, she waited for Mitch to pick up. When he did, Abby could barely hear him as the background noise from the pub drowned him out.

  “It’s Mitch. Who’s this?”

  “Abby. Abby Maguire.”

  “What’s up?”

  “Did Kinsley borrow your car?” she hollered.

  “No, but the keys aren’t here so she must have taken them. What’s happened?”

  “I’ll tell you later… over a cup of coffee.” Checking the mirrors, she leaned forward and focused on getting to Kinsley’s house.

  “Of all the foolish things she could have done…” Abby turned into the dirt road. “Hold on, Doyle. I can’t slow down. It’s going to be a bumpy ride. Hey, I’ve always wanted to say that.” She swerved into the narrow side road and maneuvered her way up to the house.

  She expected to see a car parked right outside by the fountain. Had she missed Kinsley? “There’s only one road leading back to town. We would have seen her. Surely.”

  Doyle slanted his gaze toward her.

  “What? I only took my eyes off the road to connect the call. It can’t have been longer than two seconds.”

  Had Kinsley parked the car out of sight? Abby put the car into gear and moved at a crawl, edging toward the side of the house and toward the stables.