Trick or Treat and Murder

by Kate Bell

  “That’s an excellent choice,” he said and smiled at me. “I think I might go with the lasagna. With all that running I’ve been doing, I could use some extra carbs.”

  I giggled. There was nothing funny though. I think we were both feeling slightly uncomfortable.

  “So, I have some news about the investigation into Diana’s death,” I said after the waiter had taken our orders. I had held on to the information I had gotten from Rebecca. It was no small feat, let me tell you.

  Hi eyebrows arched upward. “Allie, please,” he began, but I cut him off.

  “Hear me out. I was getting coffee earlier and ran into a woman I babysat when she was younger. She has a daughter that’s in the same dance class as Bob Payne’s daughter is in,” I said, and picked up my water glass. “She said that Bob was late to the recital. Like, he nearly missed it and was only there the last five minutes.”

  Alec sat back in his chair. He had a nice, dark suit on. Something he would probably wear to work, but he somehow made it look not un-work-like for the evening. “I wish you wouldn’t get involved. There is a killer on the loose, you know. Look what almost happened with the last one? If I had been a few minutes later, Martha Newberry might have ended you.”

  “Alec, Bob Payne had alcohol on his breath,” I said, ignoring his warning.

  He shrugged his shoulders. “And what does that prove? No one said anything about alcohol being involved here.”

  “I know that, but maybe he went for a drink to get his nerve up? Come on Alec, this is the second deception for Bob. He said he had been at his daughter’s recital, but failed to say it was only for the last five minutes. He would have had plenty of time to get over to the church and give Diana the poison apple.”

  Alec stared down at the table for a few moments. “Look, I’ll admit that Bob Payne hasn’t been truthful with us. But there still is no proof he did anything.”

  I sighed. “Will you at least take it into consideration?”

  “Of course I will. That is, if we can have dinner without discussing this case?” he asked, looking me in the eye.

  “Fine,” I said. The truth was, I was a little annoyed that he didn’t take my help more seriously. I really wanted to help him and I felt like I was getting some real clues about the murder.

  “Don’t ‘fine’ me,” he said. “Allie, it’s not that I don’t appreciate your help. It’s just that it’s dangerous and I don’t want to get you involved. And I didn’t invite you to dinner so we could talk about it. I just wanted to get to know you better.”

  I sat back in my chair. “Okay. We can let it go. For tonight.” I gave him a little smile.

  He shook his head at me. “So tell me, how is blogging going?”

  “It’s going well. I’m a little behind right now,” I said. “But to be honest, sometimes I feel like I’m just rehashing the same old subjects over and over. And I guess in a way, I am. I mean, new people who have just lost someone will find me and start following my blog, and leave comments. Since they’ve had a recent loss, they are starting at the beginning of the grieving process. So then, I restart at the beginning with them.”

  He nodded. “It’s a needed service you’re providing. Today’s world is fast paced and people don’t have time to book appointments with therapists. But they can read an article you’ve written and maybe leave a comment or two and interact with you.”

  I looked at him. He really got it. “Thank you for understanding.”

  Our eyes met. “I guess I can see where it would be difficult. Maybe it keeps you from moving on. But people need this,” he said.

  I swallowed hard. Was it keeping me from moving on? Maybe from meeting someone to love? Did I even want to love someone again? Lots of my readers had done so. It had happened on more than a few occasions where I would have interaction with someone for months about the loss of their spouse, only to have them suddenly disappear. Then some months later, they would drop me a line to tell me how they were doing. And many times, they had found someone new to love. Did I envy them? Maybe. Maybe not.

  The waiter brought our meals and my chicken picatta smelled wonderful. “This looks really good,” I said and for some reason, I felt tears prick the backs of my eyes.

  “It certainly does,” he said, and looked at me again. “Are you okay?”

  I made myself smile big. “Yes, I’m fine. So, Alec, tell me a little about your family.” I had to change the subject or I was going to have a complete meltdown.

  “I’m an only child. My mother was a third grade teacher and my father was a beat cop. Not much else to say,” he said, and took a bite of his lasagna. “Mmm, wonderful,” he said.

  “Did you grow up in Portland?” I asked. I felt like I knew so little about him. He had to have a life outside of work.

  “Yes. I travelled a little after college, but then I went back. Settled down. Nothing terribly exciting,” he said, and reached for the breadbasket.

  “So, you said you had been married before. What happened?” I asked, daring to venture into unknown territory. Alec seemed to have secrets, and I hoped none of them were terrible. I hoped he would open up to me.

  His mouth formed a hard line. He looked up at me. “She decided that she wasn’t being fulfilled in the marriage, so she left.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I thought we were fine. We didn’t have kids because she didn’t want them and I thought she was happy. I guess I was wrong.”

  There was pain behind those words, and I was sure he wasn’t someone that showed it often. “I’m sorry. Sometimes things happen that we can’t change.”

  “That’s for sure,” he said, reaching for the bottle of red wine the waiter had left. “Would you like some?”

  “I would love some. But only a tiny bit. I’m not a drinker.”

  He poured an inch in my glass and a little more than that in his. I didn’t know much about wine. That had been Thaddeus’ forte’. Frankly, I didn’t care much about it. But I cared if the man I was with was a heavy drinker or not and it looked like Alec wasn’t.

  “So tell me about your husband,” he said.

  I smiled. This was dangerous territory as well. Sometimes talking about him made me cry. I didn’t think I would ever get over that. “He was an English teacher at the local junior college. He loved to teach. His parents wanted him to get his doctorate and teach at the university level, but Thaddeus was satisfied with his position where he was. He loved sailing and he loved his family.” I could feel my eyes mist over and I looked away.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up painful memories,” Alec said. He reached across the table and put his hand over mine.

  “No. Don’t be sorry. Alec, when you love someone and you lose them to death, it’s not something you get over quickly. Maybe never. But that doesn’t mean you don’t go on.”

  He smiled and nodded. “I suppose you’re right.”

  --17--

  I sat on the edge of my seat on the drive home. We had had a wonderful evening just getting to know one another better. I knew he liked the color blue, dogs, and occasionally red wine. He knew I like green, cats and sweet tea. This was the stuff relationships were made of.

  The big question was, would he kiss me? I was an old fashioned girl, and cute as he was, that was all he’d get out of me. If that was what he wanted, anyway. I wasn’t sure it was what I wanted though. Part of me was all for it and was rooting for him to do it. The other part of me was remembering my first kiss with Thaddeus. That’s a mood killer. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about dating, much less kissing, someone else. The good news was that at least Jennifer wouldn’t be home. She would freak out if there was even a hint of dating, let alone kissing.

  And then we pulled into the driveway and I saw Jennifer’s car parked out front. I sighed inwardly. What was she doing home? She had college life to enjoy.

  I felt my stomach twist up. How would I explain this to her? And then how would I explain to Alec that my grown daughter was going to have a his
sy fit over me dating him?

  Maybe I could ditch him and get him to stay in the car. But the truth was, I didn’t want to. I wanted him to walk me to my door and kiss me goodnight. There. I suddenly did know what I wanted.

  He got out and came around to my side and opened the door. He was a gentleman. “I had a wonderful evening,” he said and took my hand.

  “So did I,” I said and gave him a big smile, while glancing sideways at the front door. There was no sign of Jennifer, so maybe we could make it quick.

  We walked up to the front step, and I turned toward him. Was this really going to happen?

  “I’d really like to see you again,” he said, looking into my eyes.

  “Me too,” I said. And I did. I wanted to see him again, and again and again.

  Before I knew it, he leaned in and kissed me. My stomach flip-flopped, and I forgot to be on the lookout for Jennifer. For a few seconds, time stood still.

  “I’ll see you,” he said and took a few steps backward, still looking at me, before turning completely around and heading back to his car.

  I watched him for a minute and then giggled like a schoolgirl and headed into the house.

  “Oh! Jennifer, I wasn’t expecting you to be home,” I said when I nearly collided with her as I walked through the door. Had she seen me kiss Alec?

  “I know, I was bored at the dorm. All my friends have gone home for the weekend so I thought I’d hang out here,” she said. “Where’d you go?”

  I smiled. She hadn’t seen anything. If she had, she would either be protesting right now, or giving me the cold shoulder. “Oh, I went and grabbed a bite to eat. I’m back now though. You know Jennifer, you should really try and socialize more. Maybe go somewhere with your friends on the weekend.” I hoped she wouldn’t ask if I went out to eat with anyone.

  She sighed dramatically. “I know mom. I need to get out more. I’ll try. I would think you would be thrilled to get to spend more time with your only daughter,” she said.

  “Oh, of course I am honey,” I said and patted her arm as I headed to the hall closet to hang up my coat. “We can make cookies if you want.”

  “Okay, sounds good,” she said.

  ***

  After tossing and turning in bed for a couple of hours, I finally got up. I turned on the lamp on my bedside table and opened my laptop. How did people move on from grief? All I had ever done was rehash it with others. Every time a person new to my blog and new to grief, contacted me, I would go back to the beginning of the process with them. It was all I knew to do to help them. When Thaddeus died, I wished at the time that I had someone to hold my hand. Someone that had walked this path ahead of me, so I felt…I don’t know, obligated? Was obligated the word I was looking for?

  I sighed. I didn’t want to live my life stuck in grief. But I didn’t want to stop helping others, either. I searched for terms like ‘move on from grief’, ‘stop living in grief’ and ‘how to help others grieve without grieving yourself’.

  There were lots of articles and blogs out there and I spent the next hour reading. But in the end, I needed to figure out where I really was in all of this. It had been eight years and wasn’t that enough? I thought perhaps it was.

  I didn’t want to drag Alec into my grief. I opened up Word and stared at a blank page. How to begin? Then the words of a woman I had once helped to move on from grief, came to me.

  Grief feels like dying. When your loved one dies, it’s all you want to do, too. You want to be with them and comfort them. You want to talk to them. But the truth is, your loved one only wants what’s best for you, and that’s to move on and live life again.

  A tear rolled down my cheek, and I began.

  --18--

  I was getting dressed the next morning when my phone rang. I had just stepped out of the shower after my morning run and wrapped a towel around my wet hair and went in search of my phone. I found it on a side table next to the couch and saw it was Alec and answered it before he hung up.

  “Hello Alec,” I said.

  “Sorry, I didn’t wake you, did I?” he asked.

  “No, I just got out of the shower. I was sort of expecting to see you on the running trail,” I said, trying not to sound too disappointed. Last night had been wonderful, sweet goodnight kiss and all.

  “Sorry, I overslept. I think someone may have kept me out later than I had planned,” he teased.

  “Well, shame on whoever that might have been,” I said, heading back to the bedroom.

  “So, believe it or not, I’m calling for a reason,” he said. “You won’t believe it, but I thought maybe you’d like to accompany me on a little fact finding mission.”

  My ears perked up. “Where to?”

  “I think it’s worth it to ask the mayor a few more questions. I have it on good authority that the mayor likes to spend time at the golf course on his days off from the bank,” he said. “But of course, this has to be kept in the strictest of confidence.”

  “Got it. What time and where?”

  “I’ll be by in about thirty minutes, if that’s okay. We can pick up coffee on the way.”

  “Sounds good,” I said, and we said our good byes.

  I hurried and put on a sweatshirt and jeans. I had never been to a golf course, but judging by what I saw on those horribly boring golf tournaments on television, casual would be fine. Besides, it was cold outside, and I wasn’t going to freeze my tail off for Bob Payne.

  I dried my hair as quickly as I could and put on makeup with one eye on the clock. I should have told him to pick me up in an hour, but I didn’t want him to get annoyed and go without me. I wasn’t a high maintenance woman, but it did take me a few minutes to put makeup on. And no way was he going to see me without it.

  ***

  “Okay, so, how are you going to put it to him?” I asked Alec. “Are you just going to jump in and spill the beans about us knowing about him dating Diana in high school?”

  He chuckled. “You are far too eager.” We parked at the golf course and got out. The wind had started up and I was glad I had grabbed a coat.

  “I know, but someone needs to pay for Diana’s murder,” I said, moving close to him. I was hoping his body would block some of the wind. Romantic, I know.

  “Did you find anything on Diana’s phone?” I asked.

  “No. I asked Dick Bowen for her password and he happily gave it to me. I also asked him about the charges on the credit card and he denied knowing anything about them,” he answered.

  “That Dick Bowen is an awfully happy man, if you ask me,” I said.

  The Coastal Dunes golf course was small and completely do it yourself. There was no country club or caddies or even golf carts unless you brought one yourself. But nobody ever did. That would have seemed pretentious in this town.

  “Well, one thing I have to say for him,” I said as my boots sunk into the soft grass. “He is dedicated.” The wind kicked up, and I wrapped my jacket even tighter around myself. The sky was overcast again. It had rained in the middle of the night and there was a biting cold in the air.

  “They’re called golf nuts. But they’re really just nuts,” he said. He looked over at me. “You can stay in the car if you want. Where it’s nice and cozy.”

  He had a sly grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

  “No way.”

  I could see Bob on the first tee. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. It was nearly nine. Bob swung his golf club and hit the ball. I didn’t know golf lingo so I couldn’t sound cool talking about it, but it went really far.

  “Wow,” I said.

  “He’s quite the golfer,” Alec said.

  Just as Bob picked up his golf bag to follow after his ball, Alec called to him. “Bob!”

  He stopped and turned toward us. His mouth started moving, and while I couldn’t hear him, I’m pretty sure he was swearing. He stood and waited for us to get to him. It would have been nice if he had made the effort and come towards us because water from
the wet grass was starting to soak into my boots. I should have worn my galoshes.

  “What now?” he asked when we got to him. His jaw was set and he looked like he wanted to give Alec a piece of his mind.

  “Good morning, Mr. Payne,” Alec said, ignoring his question. “How are you this lovely morning?”

  “How did you know I was here?” Bob asked suspiciously.

  “I have my ways,” he answered. “Mr. Payne, I had a few more questions regarding the murder of Diana Bowen. It will only take a few moments of your time. I’m sure you understand how important it is to cooperate.”

  Bob sighed loudly. “I told you all there is to know. I don’t know why you’re wasting your time.”

  I glanced at Alec and he already had his notebook and pen out. How did he do that so fast? It’s like they were a part of his hands and they automatically appeared whenever he went to question someone.

  “I had a question about our last conversation,” he said, looking down at his notebook. “You said you only knew Diana on a very casual, business basis, however, we’ve been informed that you dated Diana when you were both in the tenth grade.”

  Alec looked up at him and waited for Bob’s reaction.

  “What?” Was all Bob could mange. His face had gone several shades of white.

  “You dated in tenth grade?” Alec repeated.

  “I, I,” was all he could manage.

  “It seems like a relatively easy question,” I said.

  Bob’s head swung in my direction and he looked at me as if I had just appeared. “Who are you, anyway? Why are you asking me questions?”

  “Did you just now notice me?” I asked. “Really?”

  Bob’s upper lip curled in disgust. “Some people aren’t worth noticing.”

  I gasped, and Alec put his hand on my arm before I could say something I might regret. Bob wasn’t a very nice person, I decided

  “We were just wondering why you didn’t happen to mention that fact, Mr. Payne,” Alec said, sounding very professional.