A Time To Kiln

by Gilian Baker

  Gaping at the TV like Harper, I remembered a time when I’d felt this same way. I’d watched Liz’s kids and had taken over meals to make their burden a little lighter. Then I’d realized I had much more to offer than that. I had talents and abilities that not everyone had. I remembered the moment I’d decided to take action to help Liz—real action. It had been exhilarating. It felt great to help a friend in need and to stretch my deductive reasoning skills.

  The Poirot theme song startled me out of my thoughts. I grabbed up my phone, noticing Harper hadn’t even responded to the sound.

  “Jade, it’s Gabby. Hey, I need to ask you a favor. Just hear me out, okay? Things have gotten more complicated with Dillon, and I really need your help. We need to start investigating the situation or he’s going to be in big trouble.”

  Whether I liked it or not, she had my attention. “What’s going on?”

  “It’s complicated. We need to talk in person.”

  “Okay, but just give me a synopsis.”

  “Dillon won’t explain his whereabouts during either murder. Ross could arrest him any day now, and I couldn’t blame him.”

  I sighed. What should I do? Did I want to take the chance of playing the fool again? On the other hand, if I were involved, I could keep better tabs on Dillon to ensure my daughter was safe.

  I glanced at Harper. She looked the way I felt—disengaged and lackluster. Here I had a chance to get back into the action, and I was afraid of looking silly. If I failed, at least I’d tried. Self-publishing books would still be there when this case was over, which could be tomorrow. The only real thing I had to lose was a little pride and a lot of ennui.

  “Okay. I’ll be at your office shortly. I have to… uh… take care of something first.”

  Ending the call I wondered what I was going to do with my charge.

  While bustled around getting things ready to leave, I tried to come up with a plan. I guess I could take her with me—it was hardly like she would cause a disturbance in the law office. But I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to be able to talk freely with Gabby, and having Dillon’s young daughter in the room wouldn’t allow that. I didn’t want to traumatize the girl any further—she might disappear altogether.

  I got her into the car without delay, but was still at a loss where to drive her. Her grandparents were working or she wouldn’t have been with my daughter to begin with. We buckled up and I drove off in the direction of Gabby’s office. I kept one eye in the rearview mirror to see if there was any response from the little one. The silence was heavy. I’d long given up on engaging her in conversation. She wouldn’t even laugh when I told the few stupid jokes I remembered from Ellie’s childhood. She didn’t answer when I asked her a question. She just followed wherever I led her.

  We were nearing the office, and I still hadn’t come up with anywhere I could drop her off. She’d just have to stay in the lobby with Lucy. This would not gain me any points with Gabby’s secretary, but it couldn’t be helped. Stopping at a stop sign, I realized that right in front of me was the answer I’d been looking for. At least I hoped it was.

  Holding Harper’s hand, we stood at the door, and I rang the bell. I’d almost given up hope when the door flew open and Phyllis stood, chicken legs exposed, in a workout suit of spandex. I almost gave a shout of fright. Then I almost laughed. But I held it all in, deducing if I wanted her to do me a favor, shrieking or laughing at her scrawny, bony body wrapped in Spandex probably wouldn’t help my cause.

  “Well, whatdya have here? Hello Jade. And is this little Harper Hexby?”

  “Yes, it is, Phyllis. May we come in?”

  “Sure.” She stepped out of the way and held the door open for us. “Mind you, I’m leaving soon for my Pilates class.”

  Shoot. Well, I was going to try to sweet talk her anyway. “Phyllis, I know you have your heart set on sweating to the oldies, but I need a favor.”

  Her eyes narrowed as she looked suspiciously between me and Harper. “What kinda favor?”

  I dove into the story, possibly embellishing the importance of my errand with Gabby. She looked like I’d felt when Ellie had roped me in, but I persisted. Now that I’d decided to go back to detecting, I wanted to get started.

  I finally wore her down. She agreed to take her, as long as she could still go to class.

  “Don’t worry. No one will bother her. In fact, all those crones will enjoy fawning over her no doubt.” I knew she’d keep an eye on her and what could be more entertaining than watching a bunch of sagging old women do Pilates?

  I kneeled down to speak with Harper who was holding her bunny tight and sucking her thumb, much like she had when Ellie had dropped her unsuspectingly on me.

  “Harper, this nice lady is Phyllis. She’s a friend of mine and Ellie’s. She’s going to watch you for a while. It’ll be fun. She’s going to take you to an exercise class. You just be good until someone picks you up. Okay?”

  More staring and blinking ensued. When I got no response, I figured it was okay with her. I assured Phyllis she’d be no trouble and left before one of us had second thoughts. I felt a tiny bit bad, but not bad enough to take the little girl back home. I thanked Phyllis again.

  As I shut the door, she hollered, “You owe me one, Jade.” That was the story of my life lately.

  ***

  When I walked into Gabby’s office, I was greeted with, “Jeez, what took you so long?”

  “I had Harper with me when you called, and I had to find someone to take her off my hands so I could come over.”

  “Why were you watching Harper Hexby?”

  “It’s a long story. Never mind. Now, fill me in.”

  “Dillon is being obstinate. We need to find out where he was when he was supposed to be at work on the night of Paula’s murder. I need you to talk to his friend—the one who clocked him in early. And since you know Dillon well, I thought you could talk to him, maybe get him to see sense. Maybe he’ll open up to you.”

  “I don’t know about that. I aggravated him the last time I talked to him.” I filled her in on my hospitality meal delivery. “He told me Paula often went back to work at night to work without distractions and claimed she didn’t meet anyone there when she did that.”

  “Yeah, that’s what he told me in a nutshell. What else did you learn?”

  “The only time he came out of his zombie-like state was when he brought up the fact that he didn’t know what he was going to do with the business. When I innocently suggested he talk to potter friends of Paula’s from back in Cheyenne, he sprang out of his chair like it was wired with electricity.”

  I sat further back in my chair and crossed my legs. “I guess he instantly thought of Charley Hesston and the theft of his glaze. He wouldn’t want anyone to know about that. Then I pushed further and told him Jack Bristol would help him sell the building. He went nuts. Said he’d have nothing to do with Jack if he could help it.”

  “Not too surprising considering the outburst we witnessed at the viewing.” She tapped her pencil on the pile of files on her desk. “Did he come clean about why he hated Jack so much?”

  “He wouldn’t say. But when I asked if he and Paula had been fighting about Jack the day Ellie and I saw them in Tea & Sympathy, he questioned what Jack would have to do with it. My take at the time was that either he didn’t know about their affair or he didn’t want to own up to it.”

  I straightened the stapler and pen holder on Gabby’s desk. “You know, I wonder if I’ve underestimated this young man all along. Do you think the ‘ah, shucks’ routine could be a ruse? Do you think he knew about the affair? Maybe he thought he could pin her murder on Charley Hesston.”

  “The unsubstantiated affair, Jade. And don’t forget we’re working for him, not building the case against him.”

  “I know. But we want to make sure that we get the true killer, don’t we? I thought I knew him well, and I still find it hard to believe, but the logical explanation leads to him. It’s no wonder that R
oss has a close eye on him.”

  Gabby started a pot of coffee, after which we got down to brass tacks. For now we’d focus on substantiating Dillon’s alibis. If we needed to, we’d start building a case against another person to create reasonable doubt. By the end of our meeting, I had my work cut out for me, a thought that brought a large grin to my face.

  Gabby’s eyes were bright, and she wore a smile that mocked the seriousness of the topic. We both seemed to be back in our element. I told her I’d get started first thing in the morning and pushed up out of my chair.

  “Oh, before you leave, Jade. I have something for you.” She handed me a box wrapped in silver paper with a big green bow tied around it.

  I took it from her hands. “What is this? It’s not my birthday.” Perplexed I look at her face full of excitement. She looked like a little kid at Christmas, but I was the one holding the present.

  “Just open it.”

  I shrugged and did as I was told. Inside the box were business cards, embossed with my name, title and phone number, with the Langdon & Langdon Law Office’s logo on them. I was flabbergasted.

  She clapped her hands. I almost expected her to jump up and down like a school girl.

  “I don’t know what to say, Gabby.” I put the gift on her desk and gave her a big hug.

  “I thought they’d come in handy when you interview witnesses or are generally poking around for a client.”

  “They will. They look so official.” I picked up the box again and fingered the lettering that spelled out my name and title: Jade Blackwell, PhD, Legal Investigator.

  “You may need to prove you are who you say you are. A lot of people are suspicious these days of people asking a bunch of questions, as well they should be. So I thought these would be a way to dispel their concern.” She was beaming.

  I was near tears myself. “Thanks so much. It was so thoughtful of you.” I sniffed, thinking how wonderful it felt to have friends like Gabby and a new challenge to dive into.

  I had one foot outside her office when the timing hit me. I turned back around. “But wait a minute. When did you order the cards? You just found out two hours ago I’d come back on board.”

  “The day we met with Ellie at Tea & Sympathy. I knew you’d come around eventually.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Arriving at Phyllis’s house to relieve her of babysitting duty, I waited a while for the door to be answered. Once it was, it appeared to have opened of its own accord. Had a poltergeist taken possession of Phyllis’ new abode? I heard twin giggles, and looking down, saw a grinning Harper sitting astride Phyllis’s back.

  “What on earth are you doing? You shouldn’t be doing that, Phyllis. You could hurt yourself.”

  I picked Harper up off of her back, and Phyllis swiftly came up on her knees and then onto her feet.

  “Balderdash. I’m fit as a fiddle. Come on in.”

  I set Harper down on her feet, and she zoomed off into another room. What the Dickens was going on here? Why was this child now so animated? I watched, amazed as she pretended to fly around the little house, her arms extended, twisting this way and that.

  “How did you get her to open up like that? Did you feed her a bunch of sugar or caffeine? I’ve never seen her move around much at all, and I’ve never heard the sound of her voice.”

  Harper took that opportunity to ask Phyllis to get her some milk. My goodness. The child could speak after all.

  “Hang on just a minute, dear heart, and Auntie Phyllis will go and get you some.”

  Phyllis turned her attention back to me. “I don’t know. We went to class and she sat, pretty as a picture, watching all the activity. On the way back here, I got the idea that maybe she wanted to move around too. So I put on some techno music, and got her dancin’ with me. When I was gettin’ tired, I shut it off, but she said she wanted to dance more. So I turned it back on, and she kept dancin' by herself. Later, she came over and had a snack with me on the davenport. She started talkin' and didn’t stop.”

  “I’m impressed, Phyllis. You’ve certainly got the magic touch. I’ve never seen her look so happy.”

  She wrinkled up her face and pushed off the compliment with a wave of her hand. “I didn’t do nothin' special. She just needed a little coaxing is all. She said she and her Mommy dance all the time.”

  “Poor thing. I wonder if she understands that her mommy isn’t coming back?” I blew out a big breath. It was easy to forget how this tragedy would continue to haunt some of us in town long after it was off the front page.

  After she’d had some milk, I got ready to take my leave with the now-hyper Harper. I thanked Phyllis again, and told her Ellie was the one who owed her a favor, not me. She laughed and said she’d take it. There were still boxes that needed shifting around and unpacking and that might be just the help she needed.

  Once Harper and I were back in the car, I texted Ellie to let her know I was once again in possession of the child. When I got to the end of the Retirement Village lane, I looked one way and the other. In a flash, I decided we’d all done enough for Dillon today.

  As we drove, Harper kept up a diatribe about something. I caught the odd word, but I wasn’t following the plot of her story. I nodded and said “yeah” every now and then, which seemed to keep her content.

  I pulled into the parking lot of Dillon’s apartment complex as he struggled to carry out a portable charcoal grill. Harper caught sight of him and started singing "Daddy, Daddy.” Her face beamed in the rearview mirror. She was trying to unbuckle her seat belt as I was attempting to do the same, which made the whole process take longer than necessary.

  Dillon came over to my car and flipped his bangs out of his eyes. “Hey, Mrs. Blackwell. Why do you have my little angel?” He bent down and picked her up. She laid her head on his shoulder and started sucking her thumb.

  I explained the hot potato game we’d played with his daughter as we walked back up to his door. Since he seemed to be in better spirits, I decided to take this opportunity to ask him some questions.

  Harper had fallen asleep on his shoulder so he took her inside and laid her on the couch, then came back out hefting a big bag of charcoal.

  I sat gingerly on a rickety lawn chair which was being held together with loose, sun-faded webbing and rust. I said a little prayer that I wouldn’t need to jump up if the chair gave way, worried that I’d reinjure my gimpy ankle.

  Dillon dumped some charcoal in the grill and set it alight, and then he asked if I wanted a beer. When I declined, he went inside to get one for himself.

  While he was gone, I called and placed an order for a large pizza for our supper.

  He came back out with a sweating bottle of PBR, sat in the other death-trap lawn chair and took a long drink before looking at me. “So, what do you need to know?”

  “Gabby asked me to follow up on a few things with you before we decide if we should take off in a different direction.”

  After another long chug, he said, “Shoot.” He seemed carefree. Not necessarily the best way to be acting when you’d just buried your wife. I wondered how many of those watered-down beers he’d had. Maybe the simple act of burying his wife was a load off. Slowly now, things would be able to get back to normal… well, as normal as they would ever be.

  “Where were you today, Dillon? I didn’t get the full scoop from Ellie before she headed off to an assignment.”

  “I was getting some of the business stuff taken care of. I mighta found someone to take the equipment off my hands. I met with him over at the studio.”

  “That’s great. But surely it didn’t take you all day to do that.”

  “Thanks for taking over for her, Mrs. Blackwell. I know Harper was in good hands with you.”

  “So, what kept you all day?”

  Maybe it wasn’t reasonable to ask him this, but I felt it had been unfair for him to go gallivanting around all day while others watched his child.

  “This and that for the business. I’d like t
a be able to put off selling things at the studio until Harper and I get on with life without Paula, but all the money is wrapped up in the business, and I’ve got creditors on my back.”

  “Are you going to sell the building?”

  “Yep. Talked to a realtor I know in Laramie and he’s going to list it for me.”

  “Speaking of that, we need to know the real reason you were late to work the night of Paula’s death. Your story doesn’t make sense, Dillon. “

  “Whether it does or doesn’t, I can’t help it. I told Ross and Gabby already…I fell asleep and missed the beginning of my shift.” He looked as though he was trying to keep a blush from spreading across his face. Peeling the label off his beer bottle, he let the pieces fall on the ground at his feet.

  “I’m not sure you are aware of how important the truth is, Dillon. If you were somewhere else and have an alibi, we need to know. That would at least get Ross looking elsewhere for a suspect.”

  I played the Harper card, since that seemed to be the best way to get through to him. “You don’t want your daughter to go into foster care, do you? Because that could happen if you land in jail for double homicide.”

  He continued to peel the label. “One would assume they’d put her with my folks.” He was probably right, but still. It seemed he’d thought this through. And what was this “one would assume” business. It sounded out of character. The Dillon I knew wasn’t that fast on his feet.

  I left that question alone and moved to one less volatile. I’d promised Christian I’d be careful. “So you say you were home the night of Jack’s murder. Here with your daughter. But that’s not a good enough alibi, Dillon. You can see that, right? Having a weak alibi, or none at all, is what’s making you look so good for these murders.”

  For the first time since we’d sat down, he looked me in the eye. “I can’t help what Ross believes. I know he’s got a job to do, but the burden of proof is on him. If I’d known I was gonna need an alibi, I’d have made sure I had one. But I didn’t, so I don’t.” With that he got up and shifted the charcoal around with a large stick from the yard.