by Kathi Daley
“Orange. I’m going to go with orange. I bet most people pick yellow or red, and I really want to stand out.”
Okay, I supposed Gabby wanting to choose the least commonly picked color said something about her, which might be the point of the question.
“Flower, shrub, or tree?” she asked.
“Is that the entire question?”
She nodded. “There are three choices, and you are asked to pick one. No further explanation is provided. I’m not sure if the question builds on the previous question, and they’re asking if I feel more like a flower, shrub, or tree, or if they simply want to know which I like better. Or maybe they’re asking what I’d like to be if I had to be one of the three.”
This was insane. “Okay, if you had to be a flower, shrub, or tree, which would you want to be?”
She paused to think about it. “Flowers are beautiful. They are colorful and often smell wonderful, and they bring happiness and a smile to others. I can see myself as a flower, but they are also easily destroyed. People pick them and leave them to die, and children and animals easily trample upon them. A shrub, on the other hand, is sturdy. It may or may not have color or scent, but most shrubs are hearty and well-rooted. They can provide protection from the elements but aren’t really affected by the wind the way something tall like a tree would be, and they aren’t easily destroyed. Trees are tall and majestic, which appeals to me quite a lot. They provide shade and often are home to wildlife. But, as I’ve already stated, they do tend to get blown around, and people cut them down to harvest their wood. I like the idea of being beautiful like a flower or tall and majestic like a tree, but I think I’d rather be sturdy and well-rooted like a shrub.”
I had to admit that in spite of the craziness of the questions, they did seem to cause those answering them to really stop and think about what they wanted from a different perspective. I’d only known Gabby a couple of months and had only interacted with her as a work associate, but in just a few minutes, I’d learned quite a bit about who she was as a person. “So, what’s next?” I asked.
“Earth, wind, water, or fire.”
We spent some time going over what each of the elements seemed to represent before Gabby chose earth. It was odd because had we not answered the previous two questions together, I would have guessed that Gabby would have chosen wind since it was light and breezy or fire for the imagery of passion and intensity. When she read the question, I immediately knew she’d consider all the options, but in the end, based on her answers to the first two questions, that she’d choose earth as her element. Maybe these crazy questions did provide a lot more insight than I’d originally thought.
After Gabby answered all the questions, she submitted her application. Now all she had to do was wait. There was a disclaimer on the introductory page that let those applying know that not all applications would be accepted and not all applicants paired. I knew the odds of Gabby being chosen as a client were slim, but an insider view would be invaluable, so I really hoped she’d be one of the few.
“Thanks for being a good sport and helping out,” I said once we’d completed the application. “I really do hope Ms. Cupid agrees to take you on as a client and can find a compatible shrub for you to spend your life with.”
“Me too,” she smiled. “I really think I’m ready to settle down with my one true love. I wasn’t a year ago, but now, all I can see when I look into the future is a family, complete with a white picket fence.”
“Hopefully, you will be chosen, and we will both benefit from this experiment. If you hear back from Ms. Cupid, call me. I’ll come right over. I think it’s important for my story that I’m involved in every step of the process.”
“I’ll totally call you if I hear back. Are you leaving now?”
I nodded. “I’m meeting with the first of my matched couples, Bill Littleton and Della Newton. After that, I have an appointment with Dale Conover and Lissa Nixon. Do you know any of these individuals?”
“Bill is a dentist. He’s probably around forty-five. Nice guy, but sort of socially awkward if you know what I mean. Bill is recently divorced after having been married for maybe five years. Della owns a boutique in town. She’s in her forties. As far as I know, she has never been married. She has this big city vibe about her. She always takes time with her clothing, hair, and makeup, even when it’s snowing. I’m not sure why she lives in Foxtail Lake. She screams big city all the way.”
I’d never met either Bill or Della, but based on Gabby’s descriptions, I felt I had a good idea what to expect. “And Lissa and Dale. Do you know them as well?”
“No. I don’t think so. There is a woman named Lissa who works at the market, but I don’t know if it’s the same Lissa. The Lissa who bags my groceries is maybe thirty-five. She’s never mentioned a husband or children, but the total duration of our conversation is never longer than it takes for me to check out.”
“I guess I’ll find out if Dale’s Lissa is the Lissa from the market once we speak. Don’t forget to call me if you hear anything.”
“I won’t. I know it’s crazy to even hope I’ll be chosen, but I’m really excited about this.”
After I left the newspaper, I headed down the main street toward the boutique Della owned. I’d decided to speak to Della and Bill separately, although Lissa had insisted that she and Dale be interviewed together. I figured that by the time I met with everyone I’d scheduled for today, it would be time to head to the animal shelter where I volunteered first as a trainer and then as a doggy play companion.
“Della Newton?” I asked the tall thin woman wearing a designer suit and three-inch heels after I arrived at the boutique I’d been told she owned. My immediate impression was that, while she was stunning, she was dressed all wrong for cold and casual Foxtail Lake.
“You must be Callie.” She offered me her hand. “I’m so happy to meet you.”
“Your store is lovely. I will admit to having adopted a much more casual approach to clothing since moving to the area, but your selection is stunning.”
She pulled out a pair of designer jeans. “We offer casual clothes as well as formal and business attire. I think these jeans, along with this sweater, would suit you quite well.”
The soft blue sweater she’d pulled out was exactly the sort of thing I’d wear for a casual date or workday. “I’m in a bit of a hurry today with appointments set up one right after the other, but I will most definitely come back when I have time to shop.”
She replaced the jeans and sweater to the rack. “So how can I help you today?”
“As I indicated when we spoke on the phone, I’m interviewing all Ms. Cupid’s clients and hoped you would answer some general questions about your experience.”
She nodded her perfectly coiffed head of platinum blond hair. “I’d be happy to tell you what I can. To be honest, I really didn’t expect to find my perfect match here in sleepy little Foxtail Lake, but then my best friend, Lori, found out about Ms. Cupid, and she told me about her phenomenal success rate and suggested I give it a try.”
“Would your friend, Lori, be Lori Darvis from the first match back in early August?”
“Yes, that’s her. She told me she saw an ad on her social media feed and was curious. She decided to give it a try since no money was requested. She filled out the application, and about two weeks later, she received an email telling her to meet the man she’d been matched with at the Grizzly Bear Diner. She showed up at the requested time, met Jason, and fell in love by the end of the date. Lori and Jason were married this past Christmas, and they really do seem very happy, so I decided to give it a try.”
“And when did you fill out the application?” I asked.
“In October. To be honest, given the limited population in this area, even with Lori’s endorsement, I was skeptical that Ms. Cupid would find a match for me, but the very first man she arranged for me to meet turned out to be exactly the sort of guy I was looking for.”
“Have you liv
ed in Foxtail Lake long?” I had to admit that she seemed all wrong for the area, and I had to wonder why she’d chosen the isolated mountain community as her home.
“Only about three years. This boutique originally belonged to my sister, Farah. She was diagnosed with cancer three years ago and needed help with the store. I was working for an ad agency in Chicago at the time but not really loving my job, so when she shared that she feared she’d have to close the store, I volunteered to come to Foxtail Lake to help out. Running this store is not at all what I imagined for myself, but now that I’m here, I find it suits me more than I thought it would. My sister died eight months ago after a very long battle. She left me the store, which I did consider selling, but now that I’ve met Bill, I’ve decided to stay.”
“I’m so sorry to hear about your sister.”
“Thank you. It’s been a tough year, but Bill has brought an element of hope and renewal to my life. I really can’t imagine what I would do without him.”
I set my purse on the counter and pulled out a note pad. “So your sister passed away, and your friend, Lori, suggested that you approach Ms. Cupid about finding your perfect match.”
She nodded. “I was feeling lost and conflicted after my sister passed. I sort of felt like a castaway without a clear destination in sight. Then Lori suggested I start dating. I hadn’t dated at all since moving to Foxtail Lake to help my sister. At first, I wasn’t sure I wanted to bother, but Lori can be persuasive, and after a time, she wore me down. As I’ve already said, she goaded me into filling out the application and answering the interview questions. They were so absurd that I really held out very little hope that this matchmaking service was even legit, but I figured that I didn’t have a lot to lose.”
“And how long did it take to get a date?” I asked.
“About a month. I didn’t hear back from Ms. Cupid for several weeks, and when I did, it was to provide me with a time and place to meet my date. I know the specifics of the date are orchestrated to provide the greatest chance of a successful outcome. For Bill and me, Ms. Cupid arranged a dinner date at Lamour.”
I knew that Lamour was a high-end restaurant about thirty miles east of Foxtail Lake.
“I take it the date went well.”
She pursed her bright red lips. “Very well. Bill moved to Foxtail Lake about eight years ago after his uncle left him his dental practice, but he’s originally from New York. I lived in New York for a few years when I was in my twenties, so we had a lot to talk about. Bill and I seemed to bond over our common experience of moving to a small town from a large city to take over a small business from a family member. He divorced shortly before moving to Foxtail Lake, and I never married, but I think we were both looking to make a connection. We ended up talking late into the evening and have been together ever since. I’m not sure how Ms. Cupid did it, but I truly suspect she found the one man in the area who I seem to be perfectly matched with.”
It did sound as if Bill and Della were as well matched as any couple could be. I asked Della if Bill had signed up for Ms. Cupid’s service or if he had simply been approached after she’d signed up, and she told me that a friend of Bill’s had signed him up as a birthday gift, and he’d decided to take a chance and go with it.
After I completed my interview with Della, I continued down the street to keep my appointment with Bill. He shared with me an experience very similar to Della’s, and like Della, he seemed happy and appreciative of everything Ms. Cupid had done to enrich his life. After a brief interview with the man, I could sense that he and Della probably were a good match.
Once I finished my interview with Bill, I headed toward the house where Dale Conover lived. Since Dale worked out of a home office, Lissa felt it would be best for us to meet at his home, where a quick chat would provide the least disruption to his workday. I’d hoped to speak to them separately, but Lissa had insisted on a joint interview, so I agreed.
When I turned off the highway and onto the road leading into the neighborhood where Dale lived, I noticed black smoke billowing into the sky. I really hoped the smoke wasn’t billowing up from Dale’s home, but the sight of a woman wearing a Food Mart uniform standing in front of the house, which by this point was totally engulfed in flames, seemed to indicate that it was indeed Dale’s home that was on fire.
I parked and jumped out of the car. I made a beeline for the woman who was standing in a snowdrift sobbing uncontrollably. “Are you Lissa Nixon?”
She turned and looked at me. “I am. Who are you?”
“Callie Collins. We spoke on the phone. What happened?”
“I don’t know,” she sobbed. “I showed up for our meeting and found the house on fire. It was already too hot to get inside, so I called 911. The 911 operator told me that someone else had already seen the flames and called the fire in and that the fire crew would be here shortly. They pulled up before I even got off the phone.”
“Was anyone inside?”
“I don’t know. I’m waiting to hear. Dale was expecting me. I hope he’s okay, but if he wasn’t inside, then where is he?” Her eyes darted from side to side as she frantically looked around.
I had to admit that it seemed likely that Dale had been inside the house when it caught on fire. If he had been home when the fire started, why hadn’t he had time to get out?
I pulled Lissa into my arms and hugged her tight in spite of the fact I’d just met her. I could sense that she welcomed the comfort offered as she struggled with the story unfolding in front of our eyes. There were firemen everywhere, and at least two police cruisers had shown up as well. I recognized one of them as belonging to my best friend, Deputy Cass Wylander. I had to admit that the fact that the lone ambulance was still sitting empty didn’t bode well for Dale. If he’d been inside the house and the firemen had been able to get to him in time, it seemed to me that he would be sitting in the ambulance getting checked out.
“Maybe we should wait inside the car,” I suggested. “Not only is it freezing out here, but it might be best to be well out of the way.”
“I need to know what happened to Dale.”
I looked around the area. “I know one of the police officers who responded. My car is parked right across the street. Why don’t you wait there? You’ll be able to see if Dale shows up, and in the meantime, I’ll see if I can find Cass and get an update.”
She looked pale, and I was afraid she’d pass out, but eventually, she shook her head. “I’m going with you. If your friend has news, I want to know what that news is.”
“Okay, but let’s try to stay out of the way.” I looked toward a group of spectators gathered on the sidewalk. “Let’s start there. Chances are Cass will be interviewing witnesses who might know how the fire started.”
The next two hours were like something out of a nightmare. Lissa and I found Cass, who was able to confirm that an unidentified male victim had died in the fire. Lissa and I both suspected that the victim had to be Dale, but until the body was positively identified, Cass would continue to refer to the victim neutrally. Once the fire was out and the spectators began to disperse, I offered to drive Lissa to the coroner’s office, where I hoped she’d be provided with a positive identification. Once it was confirmed that the male victim was burnt so badly as to be unidentifiable without further research, Lissa allowed me to call her brother to pick her up.
I turned a distraught Lissa over to her brother and headed to the shelter, where I was scheduled to work with one of the dogs in the basic training class. I’d briefly spoken with Cass, who assured me that he’d meet me for our shift in the playroom if he was able to get away. When I arrived at the shelter, Naomi Potter, the woman who owned and ran the shelter, was already in the large room where the class was held.
“Cass called and told me what happened,” she said.
“It was really bad,” I responded. “The poor woman I went to meet with was understandingly devastated.”
“Do you know what happened? How the fire started?”
she asked.
I shook my head. “I haven’t heard. The fire crew was still on site when I left. I imagine Cass will know more after he speaks to whoever is in charge of the investigation. He said he’d come by for his regular volunteer shift if he was done in time.”
Naomi began taking long training leashes from the wall. “I suppose that there isn’t a lot Cass can do until the fire marshal does his thing, and that won’t happen until what remains of the structure cools down. I heard that a body was found in the home. Assuming the victim was the homeowner, it seems odd to me that he wasn’t able to get out in time.”
“I had that same thought. Lissa told me that Dale had a home office, which is why we were meeting at his home in the first place. If he was working and the fire started in another part of the house, you would think he would have smelled the smoke, or at the very least, you would think the smoke detectors would have gone off. The house was a single-story structure. I really can’t think of a single reason the guy wouldn’t have realized what was going on and gotten out of there.”
Naomi looked toward the door at the back of the room, where two of the other volunteers had just walked in. “It looks like the rest of the trainers are beginning to arrive. Let’s be sure to chat again after you’ve finished for the day. Hopefully, Cass will be here, and we can get some answers.”
“Did you know Dale?” I asked.
“Not well, but I did know him in the sense that we’ve both lived in the same small community for a number of years.”
“Lissa mentioned that he worked from home, but I’m not sure she ever said what he did for a living.”
“He was a psychologist. He had an office in his home where he saw patients. As I mentioned, I didn’t know him well but based on what I do know, he seemed like a nice enough guy, and I think he was well respected in his profession.”
I thought about the long drive and wide lawn at the front of the structure. I had noticed a second doorway on the side of the house that opened into one of the rooms at the front of the structure. I only remembered that because it had been open when I arrived, and before I found out that a body had been found inside the structure, I’d found myself wondering if Dale had gotten out that way. Apparently, he hadn’t.
