Chapter 15
The next morning was Saturday and, with the shop being closed, a good morning to sleep in for a change. Unfortunately, the sheriff had other ideas. My phone rang at seven-thirty.
“Please don’t be calling to tell me there’s more damage at my shop. Or another body.” I paused a split second. “Actually, if I have a choice, I’d take the damage over the body.”
He barked out a laugh. “Neither. No damage. No body. In fact, I was calling to see if you might come by this morning and do a quick inventory for us. So far, we’ve been convinced that this whole thing is just desk related, but I want to make sure that whoever knocked poor old Vince out of the realm of the living didn’t help themselves to something from your shop on their way out. Murderers can’t really be considered as honest people, you know.”
I hadn’t thought of that. “I can be there in around an hour. Would that work?”
“Did I wake you up?” His voice had a tinge of startlement to it.
“I do sleep in occasionally, you know. It’s been a rough week, all things considered.”
“Oh, I agree. And I feel bad disturbing your beauty sleep.” I waited, but he didn’t elaborate on that last statement. Smart man.
“See you in an hour, Orville.” And for just this once, I hung up first.
A short shower and drive later, and I was sitting outside the shop. I was early, but Orville’s sheriff cruiser was already parked on the street. I pulled my car in behind his and got out. He wasn’t in his vehicle, so I walked on into the shop. He was standing behind the counter looking slightly puzzled.
“Something wrong, sheriff?”
He hesitated but finally shook his head. “No. I just can’t wrap my head around all this. I can understand wanting to get their hands on the will if they thought an unknown heir was going to rob them of their hard-earned inheritance. But if they knew about the will, then they most likely knew about Ashley. And that she was dead. So why break the law not once but three times to get a will that won’t really end up hurting them at all?”
“Hmm. Hadn’t really thought of that. Maybe they didn’t know what was in the will, after all. Maybe they just suspected? And maybe they didn’t think Ashley would be the only late-coming heir?” I tried to be nonchalant about it, but right now the fact that he knew what that will said, and I didn’t was really rankling me. “For instance. What if Ashley had a child? Would the money go to the child? Or back to the estate to be distributed to the other named heirs?”
Orville’s eyes were bright on mine. “Are you saying Malcolm has a living grandchild?”
I stared at him for a minute. “Maybe if you answer my question, I’ll answer yours. That’s how these things usually work, you know.”
It took him a while to answer. That was fine. I had the time. “Not a word of any of this gets out. To anyone, and I mean anyone. You agree?”
I nodded.
“Okay. I’ll have to check with Archie. But the way the will read to me, if Ashley had a child, her part of the inheritance would go to them.” He scrubbed at his chin. “And if that’s the case, then maybe this all makes a bit more sense to me.”
“Well, you did your part, I guess, so now I’ll do mine. I don’t have proof that Malcolm has a grandchild, but I have a mighty strong suspicion that is the case. If so, then that child will inherit what? A small fortune or something?”
“Something like that, yeah. Only not as small as you might think. Old Malcolm was trying hard to make things right by Ashley. Make up for lost time and all that.”
I was quiet for a minute, thinking. Finally, I glanced around the shop. “This shop is firmly in your jurisdiction, isn’t it, sheriff?”
He turned a puzzled brow to me. “You know the answer to that, Opal.”
“Well, I was just thinking. If the investigation of the burglaries of this shop, not to mention the murder of old Riley, led you to the accident of one Ashley Conner Fontaine, then you would be within your rights to cross jurisdictional lines, wouldn’t you?”
Orville stared at me in silence for a full minute before answering. “It’s stretching things a bit, but yeah. I think I could work with that.” He scrubbed his chin again. “I’m thinking you have somewhere to start in mind?”
“Well, I’m wondering what happened to that car Ashley was driving. It would have probably been a rental, right? I’m thinking maybe the rental place might be more likely to talk with you than with me.”
Orville gave a grunt. “Seeing as how the local rental place is run by Vince Riley’s brother, Brady, I’d say you’re probably right on that one.”
As if it was my fault Vince got himself killed while trying to rob my shop. Still, the Riley boys could hold grudges even when they weren’t warranted. “You in?”
“I’m in. But first the inventory. We really do need to know if anything is missing. That wasn’t just a lure to get you alone to myself, you know.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Although, it did work for that too, didn’t it? And just so you know, this is my day off.”
I hit him in the arm and grabbed the inventory books. Now wasn’t the time to play. And I had to keep telling myself that too. Being alone with the sheriff, sometimes telling myself that wasn’t as easy as it should have been.
I SAT IN THE CAR AT the rental shop. With the tinted windows of the sheriff’s car, I figured I was okay to sit upright. Brady shouldn’t be able to see me sitting there, even if he took the time to look out. With it being a Riley brother, he probably would. Shady people always seemed to have an eye out for their backs. With good reason too.
Orville was only in there for ten minutes. When he came out holding a sheet of paper, I took that as a good sign. A clue to follow up on.
I was right.
“Well, as we already knew, the vehicle was a total loss. But according to Riley in there, the metal remains of what used to be a Chevy Cavalier are now resting in the local junkyard.” He handed me the slip of paper. “That’s the sheet to show the yard boss which car we want to look at.”
“Okay, so why are you acting funny? Sounds like you learned what you wanted to learn, right?”
“Yeah,” Orville said slowly, looking back toward the rental office. “It’s just that ole Brady was acting mighty strange when I first walked in. He seemed to calm down once I started asking about the accident. It just makes me worried as to what he might be up to.”
“Hmm. Maybe he thought you were there to ask him about his brother, Vince, and why he was so adamant about breaking into that blasted desk.”
Orville’s head swiveled over in my direction in a heartbeat. “You think he might know something about that?”
I shrugged. “They are brothers. And when they were younger, they got into a lot of trouble together, didn’t they? Maybe they still are. Or at least they were, I mean.”
His face grew grim, and he put the car back in park. “I think I need to go back in for another little chat.”
My hand on his arm stopped him. “It might be better to let him think he’s won just this once, sheriff. Besides, it’s your day off, remember?”
He looked at me, then finally gave a small nod. “Maybe you’re right.” His eyes went back to the office trailer. The curtain in the window was peeped just enough for someone to look out at us. “Maybe I should let him stew for a bit longer. I’ll be back.”
I patted his hand. “I know you will. Now let’s go see that car.”
We both knew the junkyard in question. That was the easy part, as Wind’s Crossing only had the one. Finding the car was the hard part. It wasn’t nearly the easy job of handing a slip of paper to the yard boss that Riley had made it out to be.
The boss took a look at the sheet and shook his head slowly. “Yeah, I remember that car. Funny you should ask about it, ‘cause someone just called on that very vehicle just yesterday.”
“Did you happen to get the name of the caller?” Orville asked.
Another head shake. “Nope. But I had to tell t
hem the same thing I’m about to tell you. That car don’t exist anymore.”
Orville and I spared a glance at each other.
“You made it into a big crushed tin can, didn’t you?” I asked.
“Yup. The car had been here long enough, and I needed the room. Plus, we’d already stripped out anything salvageable from it.” He grunted. “Not that there was all that much that was salvageable. The car was pretty much a goner from every angle.”
Orville looked at me. “Well, I guess that’s that, then.”
The man scratched his head. “I can’t show you the car itself, but would pictures work?”
“Pictures?”
“Yup. It might not look like it, but I run a pretty tight ship around here. I got a couple dozen photos of every vehicle out in the lot, inside and out. And I always take a video of the car before I crush it, too. For prosperity. Just feels right to do that for the vehicle. Kinda like a memorial showing or something.”
“I’d be very interested in those photos, and that video too,” Orville said.
The man disappeared into his back office and came out with a file folder filled with pictures. Then he walked over to a small wall cabinet and pulled out a single thumb drive.
“The file name of the video is the same as the number on that there sheet you brought.” He glanced around his tiny little lobby—if you could really call it that. “Afraid there ain’t much room for you to sit and take a peek at it here.”
“Would you be willing for me to take this if I promised to return it once I’d made copies?”
The man scratched his head again and then nodded. “If’n you cain’t trust the sheriff, who can you trust?”
“Thank you,” Orville said. “I’ll get this back to you soon. Let me know if you need them before then.” He paused. “And if that caller happens to call back, see if you can get their name this time.”
“Will do, sheriff.”
We walked back to the car in silence. I’m pretty sure we were both thinking the same exact thing. The fact that someone else was interested in the remains of that car told me one thing.
We were on the right track.
Chapter 16
I reached for the folder just as soon as Orville laid it down to start the car. He smacked my hand lightly.
“Oh, no you don’t. That’s now state evidence as far as I’m concerned. And as such, there is a very strict chain of custody procedure. No one touches that until I have the chance to go through it inch by inch.”
I glared at him. “And that applies to me, Orville Taylor? Me? The one who suggested starting this chain of investigation in the first place?”
He chuckled and nodded. “Even you, Opal. I know you might not understand, but I really do take my job very seriously. If I have to go up on a stand in a court of law on this and state that no one had access to that file between the time I received it and the time I reviewed it... well, I’m not the kind to perjure myself, now am I?”
I folded my arms across my chest and looked out the side window. I could understand what the sheriff was saying, but that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it. Besides, I thought it was really just his way of keeping me from getting too involved in the case.
Yeah, like that would happen. I got involved the first time Vince Riley broke into my shop. And I’d dang well stay involved until this thing was put to bed. I might not have known Malcolm all that well, or Ashley at all, but they deserved justice all the same.
Not that I didn’t trust Orville to bring that to them. Still, a little help from me couldn’t hurt things, now could it?
He dropped me back off at the shop and watched until I got into my car and pulled away from the curb. The man wasn’t taking any chances. Like I was going to go in and disturb the crime scene or something. And like he could really stop me, if that was something I wanted to do. I had the keys, dang it all. Not to mention the tiny little fact that I owned the place.
Not my fault Vince went and got himself killed there.
I was still fuming a bit when I pulled up in front of the farmhouse. It kind of startled me when I’d barely made it out of the car and Kimberly popped out the front door. Like she’d been watching for me or something.
Hopefully, that didn’t mean unpleasant news. Then I noticed the motorcycle sitting by the tree at the corner of the porch. Where the heck did that thing come from?
I walked slowly up the steps and onto the porch, my eyes and mind still on that cycle just sitting there.
Who in their right mind would ride a motorcycle in February in Michigan?
Kimberly was fairly bouncing on her heels by the time I was standing in front of her.
“There’s a good-looking hunk of a man here to see you, Opal.”
I frowned at her. “There is?” Then I thought of the motorcycle, and my mind went back to last night’s visit to the bar. “He wouldn’t happen to have a beard and a whole lot of tattoos, would he?”
“That’s him, all right. His name is Gray.” Her voice dropped, even though she’d shut the door behind her when she stepped out onto the porch. “Where on earth did you find him? And please, oh please tell me he’s single.”
Oh, so that’s how things were.
“Sorry, don’t have a clue as to his marital status. But as to where I found him—he’s the barkeep at that tavern on the way out toward the Golden Daze.”
Her eyes went to the house behind her. “I’ll have to go there, then, won’t I?”
“What’s he doing now?” I was really kind of wondering why she’d just left a strange man in the house to come out to meet me. Especially seeing as how the kids were inside that house too.
She giggled. “Would you believe he’s teaching Mason a magic trick? One that uses cards. Those two are hitting it off like gangbusters.”
Ah, so my eyes were opening a little further now. Good looking... good with kids... seems that Gray had a lot more going for him than just his easygoing smile and personality.
Not that I was at all sure he was good enough for Kimberly. Only time would tell that. There were questions to be answered first.
We walked in and, sure enough, there was Mason sitting on the floor with a deck of cards. When he saw me, his eyes lit up, and he ran up to me, with the cards fanned out in both of his little hands.
“Pick a card, Aunt Opal! Any card at all.”
I could have ignored him. I could have told him that I had company waiting. I could have done either or both of those of things, but I didn’t. I picked a bloody card and hoped that I didn’t ruin the trick for him.
He closed his eyes, put the cards behind his back for a few seconds, then brought them forward again. “Now put it back in the deck. Anywhere at all.”
I did.
He took the cards to the coffee table and fanned them out in front of him. After a minute of intent staring, he laughed and reached down and picked up a card. Then he held it out to me. “The Queen of Hearts!” There was more than a little victory in that little voice of his.
And I had to admit, I was highly impressed. That was, indeed, my card. “How on earth did you do that?”
Mason shook his head. “A true magician never tells how they do it, Aunt Opal.”
I ruffled his hair. “Sorry, Mason. You’re absolutely right. Now why don’t you and Nancy go upstairs so that Aunt Opal can talk with her visitor.”
He wanted to argue. I could see that in his eyes. But little Mason had been raised right. He walked over to Gray first, though.
“Thanks for teaching me that trick! I hope you come again. Any time at all!” Then he paused. “Well, after I get home from school would be best.” He hesitated, then threw his arms briefly around Gray and ran upstairs.
Gray nodded after him. “That’s a mighty fine boy you’ve got there.”
I felt, rather than saw, Kimberley stand a little taller beside me. “That he is,” she said.
“And all thanks to a good mother.” I paused. “I take it you two have already
introduced yourselves, right?”
Gray nodded again, blushing slightly. “Yup.”
I raised my eyebrow at the color in his cheeks. It seems that maybe the attraction Kimberley was feeling towards him went both ways. I definitely had some research in my future. Better yet, I’d just hire Amie, my wannabe investigator, to check him out and save my valuable time.
“So what brings you here today, Gray?”
He looked down at his hands. “That accident that killed Ashley Conner. It’s never sat right with me, that. Sounded to me like maybe it didn’t sit quite right with you either.”
“Well, you’re right there. It doesn’t sit well with me at all.” I hesitated. “But I’d like to hear your story first if you don’t mind.”
He gave me a sad smile. “That’s why I’m here.” He paused to gather his thoughts. “Last March, I got to know Ashley a little. Not as well as what I wanted to, mind you. Turns out we didn’t have time for that.” He glanced over at Kimberly and then back down to his hands. “I’ll admit, I found her attractive. I’d kind of hoped to get the courage to ask her on a date... but I waited a bit too long. I guess that’s one reason I took this whole thing so hard. Missed opportunities and all that.”
“And what makes you think it wasn’t the accident everyone is saying it was? I heard it rained that night. Even if she wasn’t drunk, she had been drinking, and with the wet roads...”
Gray reached into his back jean pocket and pulled out a folded piece of newspaper. “This is why I don’t believe the accident story.” He handed me the paper.
After a quick unfold, I read the short story. Basically, it didn’t sound good for our side. According to the reporter, the vehicle reeked of Peach Schnapps, and there was even an open bottle in the floorboard of her car. Shots of Schnapps could take effect pretty dang quick. Even if she’d been stone-cold sober when she left the bar, if she’d belted a few shots before pulling out of the lot... well, that changed things.
“I don’t see how this helps our cause.”
“That’s because you didn’t know Ashley... or her taste in drinks. She was a Whiskey Sour kind of girl. The one time she changed things up on me, she ordered a Rum and Coke. She always told me that she couldn’t stand those fruity drinks. So for her to have an open bottle of Peach Schnapps in her car? Well, I just don’t believe it. Someone put it there.”
Witch Reborn Box Set: Books 1-3: Includes Gemstone Coven Holiday Shorts 1 & 2 Page 13
