Out of the Picture

by Tracy Gardner

  “Good. And let me know if that bottle shows up somewhere?” Savanna felt certain Lauren had Caroline’s best interests at heart; her reactions seemed genuine.

  “Absolutely.”

  By the time Savanna made it home Sunday afternoon, all she wanted was a hot shower and dinner with her family. Fonzie greeted her happily at the door and curled up on the bathroom rug when she climbed into the shower. Syd must have come and gone while she was out; the casserole dish was no longer on the kitchen counter, only a small pile of kisses.

  Savanna towel-dried and combed through her hair, forgoing the hairdryer, a style Rob had never liked. It would dry into loose waves, leaving a little cowlick at her left temple. Sydney called it her beach hair, and Savanna liked that—it was easy, and she’d always thought her hair looked good that way. At least, she had, until Rob had felt comfortable enough to insert his opinion. Well, she told the Savanna in the mirror, running her fingers through damp waves, who needed Rob’s opinion? Certainly not her, and not for the multitude of choices she’d made in the last month. She applied lipstick and mascara and pulled on a short-sleeved, rose-colored A-line dress, mentally picking out the bell-sleeved navy sheath dress for Monday morning.

  Once they were at her parents’ house, Fonzie ran ahead of her inside, barking as he went at a big orange tabby hanging out on the front porch. The aroma of garlic wafted through to Savanna as she made her way through the house to the kitchen. Sydney was at the stove, with Harlan next to her, slicing zucchini.

  Charlotte looked up from the nook by the window, papers spread out in front of her. “Honey, come sit! I’m so glad you’re here early.”

  Savanna joined her mother at the table, glancing at the papers. “What’s this?”

  “Ah, just work.” Charlotte began collecting it one at a time, organizing it into piles that made sense to her; to Savanna, it looked daunting. Her mother was amazing. “I’ll finish up tomorrow. I’ll have time on the flight.”

  “Where to this time?”

  “Japan for four days,” she said, smiling. “I was trying to get your father to come with me.”

  Harlan picked up the cutting board and slid the zucchini into the frying pan with his knife. “Can’t,” he said. “We’ve got too much work right now. Once snow comes and we slow down, Char, I’ll be right there with you.”

  “I’ll hold you to that, you know,” Charlotte warned.

  “You can hold me any way you want, my dear,” Harlan growled, stooping on his way past the kitchenette to plant a kiss on her ear.

  Charlotte pushed her chair back, gathering up the stack of papers. “I’m going to run upstairs and change, but I want to hear all about your excitement yesterday, Savanna. And I love your hair that way!”

  Syd looked up from the frying pan she was minding as Charlotte left. “Ten minutes. It’s almost ready.”

  “It smells delicious,” Savanna said. “What are we having?”

  “Vegetarian linguine with organic vegetables from Fred Wilson’s produce stand on Maple Street. And fresh parmesan from a client of mine who has a dairy farm.”

  Savanna leaned on the kitchen counter and swiped a spot of the sauce from the side of the pain, tasting it. “Oh wow, Syd. So good! Stop raising the stakes. You know I can’t compete with this.”

  “Oh, I know.” Sydney smiled sweetly, batting her eyelashes at Savanna.

  “Snot.” Savanna picked up a fork and speared a noodle and a piece of red bell pepper before Sydney could stop her.

  “Out! Mom!” Sydney called. “Make her stop stealing. It’s not ready yet.”

  “Tattletale.” Savanna moved to the long dining table and began putting out place settings. “I’m just helping. Chill out.”

  When Charlotte reappeared, wearing a beige-flowered wrap dress, her hair tidied up into a French twist, she shook her head at both sisters. “I swear, put the two of you together in this kitchen and you instantly regress to eight-year-olds.”

  Skylar spoke up from the doorway. “More like five-year-olds. When are we eating? I’m starving.”

  With everyone finally seated around the table, heaping portions of colorful vegetarian linguine on each plate, Savanna swallowed her first delicious bite and asked the question she’d been waiting to ask of her parents. “What do you guys know about Bill and Maggie Lyle?”

  “The Lyles? Caroline’s neighbors, right? I know Maggie through my bridge club,” Charlotte said. “Your dad probably knows Bill better than I do.”

  “Bill used to work for me,” Harlan said.

  “Wait, what? He did? What happened?”

  “Yeah,” Syd spoke up. “Did you fire him for something?”

  Harlan chuckled. “No, he got work at the factory. They work so much overtime, he wasn’t much use to my team after that.”

  “Well,” Savanna said, “what kind of worker was he? Did he kind of slack off on things, or was he pretty good?”

  “He was a hard worker,” Harlan said. “Bill learned fast. I never had to show him twice how to do something.”

  “Maggie is nice enough,” Charlotte said. “A little chilly, but I think that’s just her way. Why do you ask? Were they involved in your trip to the police station yesterday?”

  Savanna brought her family up to speed, with help from Sydney, both of them taking care not to say anything alarming in front of Nolan. Savanna tried talking in code, mentioning the night that Eleanor “fell asleep” after drinking the claret. She covered the argument she’d witnessed between Bill and Maggie Lyle, Maggie yelling at Bill for “never doing anything right,” or something along those lines. She included the overheard complaints from the grocery delivery woman, Amber, last week when she’d been in Happy Family picking up snacks for her classroom. She finished with Caroline’s close call on the stairs with the newly installed hand railing.

  Harlan set his fork down, rubbing the back of his neck with one large hand. “Bill would know how to properly install a stair railing. There’s no doubt in my mind. The screws must not have made it into the stud. But…he’d have been able to find the stud, so I don’t know how that could have happened.” Those twin lines between his eyebrows had appeared, letting Savanna know he was perplexed. Harlan didn’t usually let go of something until he’d figured it out.

  “What about the property dispute, Harlan? They’d been feuding over that for years. Maybe decades,” Charlotte spoke up.

  “What property dispute?” Savanna looked from her mother to her dad.

  “It was an easement issue,” Harlan said, “if I remember right. Bill’s tried a few times to hire me to put up a privacy fence on that end of the property.”

  Skylar hit the table, open-palmed, making all of them jump. “Sorry. But yes. The Lyles say the easement that runs between the two pieces of property belongs to them. The Carsons have always maintained that it’s Carson land. With the easement where it is, the Lyles can’t split their land; they own just shy of twenty acres, I think.” Skylar looked up toward the ceiling, trying to remember. “And the use laws in our township say property must have a minimum footage of frontage in order to be split and sold. Neither Caroline nor the Lyles have adequate frontage to piece sell their land without that easement. Not that Caroline wants to sell, but the Lyles have wanted to cash in on their land for years. They could split it four ways and sell off three; property values must have quadrupled since they originally bought. They’ve never been able to sell. They’re in my office at least once a year asking about loopholes and trying to find a way to gain ownership of the easement. Everett would never sell to them, and it didn’t matter, because the Lyles would never accept that the easement was on Carson property. We even had a surveyor out to mark property lines. The only way the Lyles can get the money out of their land is if Caroline sells them the easement…or if she dies.”

  Savanna’s gasp expressed what each of them seemed to be thinking.
Did Bill Lyle sabotage his own work in an attempt to get rid of Caroline?

  Chapter Ten

  On Monday morning, Savanna decided to wear canary yellow. What with Caroline’s near miss the past weekend, the hospital, the trip to the police station with Aidan, and fretting about the Lyles, she’d barely slept the night before. She needed a pick-me-up. The boring, bell-sleeved navy dress hanging in her closet stayed there in favor of a bright yellow midi skirt paired with a black-and-white polka dot blouse, black ballet flats, and a yellow bow securing her hair into a low side-ponytail. She topped it off with only mascara and a cheerful red lipstick.

  Sitting in the teacher’s lounge during her prep period, scrolling through project ideas on her laptop, Savanna swore the yellow skirt was working on her mood. She and Aidan had done everything possible to make sure Caroline was safe. The police had the information about Eleanor’s lab work. Lauren would act as safeguard at the house. Caroline would be okay—enough—while they all tried to get to the root of what was going on.

  Jack Carson came through the door, crossing to the coffeemaker. He spoke to Savanna. “Can I pour you a cup?”

  She’d already met her caffeine quota, but she was curious about Lauren’s statement the other day when Savanna had offered to call Jack or his mother. Maybe he could shed some light on what that was about. “Sure!”

  He grabbed her cup and filled them both, asking if she wanted cream or sugar. When Savanna said both, please, she cringed inwardly as she watched him pour way too much sugar into her mug.

  He joined her at her table, pushing her steaming cup over to her.

  “Wait, isn’t your prep hour after mine?” she asked.

  “It is. But my student teacher is very good.” He smiled. “Just giving her a little space.”

  “Oh wow.” Savanna’s eyes widened. She hadn’t thought about student teachers. “I hope I don’t get one. I’m nearly a student teacher myself.” She laughed.

  “Don’t sell yourself short, Savanna. You’re a natural at this. The kids love your class.”

  “Aw. Thank you. I’m really enjoying it.” Should she bring up Caroline? Did Jack have any idea what had happened Saturday?

  He took the decision out of her hands. “Listen, I want to thank you for being there for my grandmother this weekend—again. It sounds like she’ll be okay.”

  “Oh good, you heard?”

  “Yesterday. My uncle called to let us know what happened. Crazy, huh?”

  “It is. She’s tough,” Savanna said.

  “My mom and grandmother have clashed for years. You’re over there a lot since you’ve been back. You might as well know.”

  “Ah. Well…” She was at a loss for words.

  “Uncle Thomas called my mom from the hospital. The relationship is…tricky, but we went over yesterday to see her.”

  “All families go through things,” she offered.

  “It’s fine. It isn’t a new issue.”

  Savanna was shaking her head. She barely remembered Jack’s mother. She thought Elizabeth was a little older than Thomas. “Jack, you don’t owe me any explanations.”

  “I know. But I wanted to say thank you. My uncle said you even came to the hospital. Anyway.” He stood. “I’d better get back.” Jack picked up his coffee cup and started toward the door. He paused, turning back to Savanna, and raised a hand as if giving a short wave goodbye, and then exited quickly.

  Savanna watched him go. She liked Jack Carson, but somehow conversations with him were always a little awkward. He just seemed to have trouble being personable, though he definitely tried, she thought as she finished her too-sweet coffee.

  A Carson Village police car was sitting in the drop-off/pick-up circle when Savanna left for the day. She walked past the car on her way to the teacher’s parking lot, not thinking much of it until an officer got out and approached.

  Savanna stopped and waited for him. Well, this was new. “Can I help you?”

  The man was dressed in a standard black suit, badge clipped to his belt. “Savanna Shepherd?”

  “Yes.” It was a good thing the kids were gone. What if she’d left school on time today? How long had he been waiting for her? How the heck did he know what she looked like?

  “Nick Jordan,” he said. “Do you have time to come answer a few questions?”

  “About?” She knew what it was about, but he was making her nervous. This must be the detective Skylar had said she’d call.

  “About the incident at Caroline Carson’s house.”

  “Yes, I can answer some questions. Now?”

  She spotted two teachers walking her way from the building. Rosa was a third-grade teacher, and she was pretty sure Tricia taught first grade. They gawked at her. Savanna closed her eyes. Great. She was already dreading the teacher’s lounge gossip she’d have to dodge tomorrow morning.

  “Now is good,” Nick Jordan said. “Do you know where the station is?”

  “Yes. I…I need a little time. I’d like bring my sister.”

  “No problem. You aren’t being charged with anything,” the detective said, his posture relaxing somewhat as he reached inside a breast pocket and took out a pack of gum. “We’re trying to get some details about the night Eleanor Pietila died.” He offered her the pack.

  She shook her head. “Okay, good. Great. So you believe Eleanor was poisoned?”

  The detective took a piece and put the gum away. “I can’t discuss details. Why don’t you call Skylar and have her meet you at the station? The whole thing shouldn’t take more than hour of your time.”

  “Sure.”

  “Great. I’ll see you there, Ms. Shepherd. Just ask for me.” He handed her a business card.

  She looked down at the card as he walked away. Glancing up, she saw Rosa and Tricia with their heads together, still looking at her. Savanna turned her back on them, got into her own car, and drove directly to Skylar’s office on the other side of town. Her sister had better be in.

  Soon, Savanna was standing in the reception area, waiting. Skylar’s gatekeeper wouldn’t let her pass Apparently, there was a Skype meeting going on in her sister’s office.

  After a few minutes, she told the friendly but firm twenty-year-old behind the desk, “I’ll wait outside.” She knew it wasn’t his fault Skylar was inaccessible, but she really needed her.

  On the front sidewalk, Savanna texted Skylar:

  I need you to come with me to the police station.

  Your Detective Jordan came to my SCHOOL.

  He was a little scary.

  He wants me to come answer questions and I don’t want to do this alone.

  While she waited, Savanna scrolled through and found Aidan’s number, He’d given it to her Saturday as they’d been leaving the police station, and had told her to call him anytime, for anything. At the time, she’d thought it was sweet, and unnecessary. Now, after typing in a message, she hesitated, her finger hovering over the “send” icon. Did she really need to bother him about this? She re-read her text:

  Hello Aidan, a detective came to my work to talk to me. Have they called you to ask more questions? I don’t know why I’m worried, I know they just want to know what happened. I’m waiting for Skylar to come with me.

  Savanna backspaced through the whole message, getting rid of all of it. Much too personal and needy. She tried again:

  Hey Aidan, on my way to talk to a Det. Jordan about Eleanor. Just thought I’d let you know.

  She hit send before she could reconsider.

  Oh, shoot. She’d never given him her number.

  This is Savanna btw.

  Send.

  Have a great day. She inserted a smiley, hit send again, and squeezed her eyes shut.

  Wow, she was a dork. Texting Aidan like they were good friends, then realizing he didn’t even have her number. She pressed
a finger and thumb over her closed eyes, shaking her head.

  “Nick Jordan is anything but scary!” Skylar stood right in front of Savanna outside her law offices. She took Savanna’s hand away from her eyes. “You’re adorable today, by the way. There’s something vaguely Parisian about this look.”

  “Will you come with me?”

  “What is your issue? Why are you freaking out?”

  “How did he know what I look like?” Savanna blurted the first thing that popped into her head. “Do they suspect me?”

  Skylar actually laughed—wholeheartedly, too. Tipped her head back and laughed. “Oh, Savanna. Why on earth would they suspect you of anything?”

  “Because it occurred to me today, talking to her grandson Jack, that I’ve been at Caroline’s both times someone has gotten hurt, and how did they know what I look like?”

  Skylar shrugged. “Hmm. Maybe because they’re the police?”

  “Fine. Come with me.” Savanna took Skylar by the hand and led her toward her car.

  Skylar sighed. “Okay. But I have a meeting at six.”

  Savanna felt a zillion times better walking into the Carson Village Police Station with Skylar by her side. She handed the desk sergeant the card Jordan had given her. When she and Skylar were ushered into the detective’s small office and seated in comfortable brown leather chairs across the desk, Savanna was further relieved. She’d imagined a long, bare table in a long, bare room, with one light fixture hanging overhead. She was sure they had one of those rooms here, but it wasn’t meant for her and Skylar.

  Her phone buzzed, and she glanced at it just as the detective entered, greeting Skylar and taking a seat behind his desk.

  Aidan had texted back:

  Hi Savanna, thanks for the heads up! Just out of surgery, so I might have missed Jordan’s call. Call me later to tell me how it goes.

  Savanna dropped the phone back into her bag, giving Detective Jordan her full attention.

  The detective leaned forward, elbows on his desk. “Ms. Shepherd, thank you for coming in. Do you mind if I record this?”

  Savanna glanced at Skylar, who nodded dismissively. “It’s fine,” she answered for Savanna.