Stirring Up Murder

by P. D. Workman

  Terry was nodding. “I know. I know. But this time you did have warning. Because I warned you.”

  “You didn’t warn me that she might be involved in a murder.”

  “Well… no. How could I, unless I was clairvoyant?”

  “Exactly. No one could have expected it to happen. None of us could have predicted that.”

  “Okay. Agreed.”

  Erin looked out the front window, but all was quiet on the street outside. Nothing for Terry to investigate. No approaching customers for the bakery.

  “What did Jack Ward have to say to you?”

  “He didn’t know that you and I were… together. He thought he was just calling me to get the background of an ordinary citizen. To check in and see whether you were a troublemaker, or just someone that landed in the middle of things.”

  “And you told him…”

  “The latter. You’ve never been a troublemaker, Erin… but trouble certainly has a way of finding you.”

  Erin shrugged helplessly. “I know. I don’t know how. Maybe since the car crash… I’m cursed. Maybe it altered my magnetic field.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “That sounds suspiciously like some new age witchcraft. Did you get that from Adele?”

  “No. I’ve never heard her talk about magnetic fields. She’d say my spirit or some such nonsense. But she knows I don’t believe in that kind of thing.”

  Terry took a long drink of his water. He bent down to scratch K9’s ears, which Erin recognized as a sign he was getting ready to leave.

  “What exactly do you and Adele talk about when you get together?” Terry asked.

  “I don’t know. Just like anybody else. Things going on in our lives, around town, books, politics…”

  “She’s interested in politics?”

  “Not particularly. Neither am I. It’s just something we talk about in passing. What’s going on in the world.”

  Terry nodded. “I’d better be getting back out on patrol.” He stood up. “I assume you’re going to be staying away from Charlotte in the future?”

  Erin stood up as well. She bit her lip, considering. A shadow passed over Terry’s face.

  “You are going to stay away from her, right Erin?”

  “She’s my sister. You said if it was one of your brothers who was in trouble, you would still go see them.”

  He looked troubled. “I know, but I’m a cop. I’m trained to deal with things like that. I could offer advice and try to help out. What could you do to help Charlotte? You’d just be exposing yourself for no reason.”

  “No, not for no reason. Because she’s my sister.”

  A couple of days passed uneventfully. Erin caught up on her sleep and followed her usual routines, glad to get back to normal, but still wondered about her new sister and what was going on with her. Charley hadn’t called her, so Erin tried to just put her sister out of her mind, but that wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

  Then one morning when her phone rang and Erin glanced down at the screen to see who it was, she saw the words Moose River Jail scrolling across. Her heart leapt—there was no one else it could be, it had to be Charley—but she felt anxious and queasy at the same time. The morning sales were still pretty brisk, and Erin looked at Vic, gauging whether she should answer the call or not.

  “Go ahead,” Vic said, jerking her head toward the kitchen in the back. “I can take care of things here.”

  “I’ll just be a minute,” Erin promised. She hit the answer button and ducked through the door. “Hello?”

  “Yeah, is this Erin? Erin Price?”

  “Charley? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m just fine.”

  “I didn’t think you were going to call. How is everything going? I guess you’re still…”

  “I’m still here,” Charley confirmed the obvious. “My lawyer is working on getting me out, but they don’t move quickly around here. They like to leave you here and give you a taste of what it’s going to be like if you have to be incarcerated long term. Throw a scare into you. Pigs. It’s just taking a little longer than I expected.”

  “Uh-huh…” Erin had no idea what to say to this. She supposed she should commiserate. Express sympathy. Tell her sister that she knew Charley wasn’t supposed to be there. And that she would get out soon. But Charley knew that world better than Erin did, and Erin was sure she probably had a pretty good idea of what her chances and the timeline were without any false encouragement from Erin.

  “You said if I needed anything, I could call,” Charley said tentatively

  Erin was pretty sure that wasn’t what she had said. But it was an olive branch. Charley was reaching out to her and Erin wasn’t about to slap her down.

  “Is there something you needed?”

  Maybe Erin could take her some muffins or other baking. Was that kind of thing allowed in jail? Did people really try to smuggle things in to prisoners inside a cake, like in the comics? Surely with the advent of x-rays and metal detectors, that kind of thing was antiquated.

  “Yeah. It’s just… I wouldn’t ask, but I really couldn’t think of anyone else I could trust. I don’t have a lot of close friends. I mean, there are girls I hang with but…”

  “Trust with what?”

  “I don’t have anyone to feed Iggy.”

  “Iggy?” Erin pictured a little black puppy or kitten. Charley had already been away for a few days, but maybe she had an automatic feeder for it that would last that long. Charley had thought that she would be back to take care of him, but it was going to be too long.

  “Iggy is… my lizard. Don’t gross out. He’s not slimy or poisonous. But… he’s going to need to be fed. No one but Bobby had a key to my apartment. Obviously, the cops aren’t going to step in and take care of him. I’m lucky they didn’t just turn him in to the Humane Society.”

  A lizard? Of course Iggy was a lizard. It figured that her prickly little sister wouldn’t have a fluffy puppy or kitten. Or rabbit. Instead… a lizard. A cold-blooded reptile. Just like the guys she worked with.

  “Uh… I don’t know much about lizards.”

  “Everything is set up. Just make sure that his environmentals are all okay, give him some crickets… he doesn’t need to be taken out for a walk or anything.”

  “Good, because I’m afraid I’d lose him. Uh… how big is this lizard, anyway. Is he… I mean, he’s not too big if all he eats is crickets, right?”

  “It’s not a gila monster,” Charley laughed. She sounded natural and friendly for the first time. Just a girl talking about her lizard. “He’s a chameleon.”

  “Named Iggy? I thought he’d be an iguana.”

  “Yeah… it’s sort of a joke.”

  “I don’t know how big chameleons are. They’re the ones that change color, right?”

  “Yes. He’s not big and he’s not going to bite you. Is that okay? Do you think you could…?”

  Erin thought about it. Of course she wanted to rush over and do something for Charley. It was the first opportunity she’d had to bond over something. But it was a couple of hours driving each way. She hadn’t told Charley she lived in Bald Eagle Falls, and Charley had just naturally assumed Erin was in town.

  “Yeah… I can do that. But I won’t be able to get there until late. How do I get the key? You don’t have a neighbor that can let me in?”

  “No. You’ll have to come to the jail to pick it up. Sorry about that. And go to the pet store for crickets because I don’t have any at home. The landlord freaks out over me keeping la cucaracha in the apartment.” Erin could practically hear Charley’s eye roll. “So you can do it?” Her voice took on a plaintive quality. “I know it’s a pain…”

  She had no idea how far out of the way it was for Erin. But Erin wasn’t about to tell her and make her sister feel guilty for asking. She’d wanted a connection, and now she had it. She would be the lizard sitter. If Iggy only needed to be fed every few days, then Erin would probably only have to do it once or twice before
Charley got released or got out on bail. When Charley learned how far Erin had gone to take care of the lizard, she would be super grateful, and it would be the beginning of a warm, sisterly relationship for them.

  “I’ll do it,” Erin agreed. “I’ll get over as soon as I can. How late can I get to the jail to pick up the key? And what are the pet store hours?”

  Charley let out a sigh of relief. She gave Erin the details, and Erin bent over the desk in her tiny office scribbling them down.

  “Thank you so much for doing this,” Charley said. “It’s a big relief. I’ve been so worried…”

  “Of course. I’m happy to help.”

  “Looks like my time is up. I gotta get off the phone. Do you have everything you need? You don’t need to know any more?”

  “How many crickets do I need to get? And do I just drop them into his cage?”

  “Reptarium. Yes. You don’t need a lot, just the smallest container. Just open the tank and dump them in. Make sure the dripper is working and his heat and humidity are okay—”

  There was a growling voice in the background, and Erin knew they were kicking Charley off the phone.

  “That’s all,” Charley’s voice was fading as she was getting farther away from the handset. “It’s not hard. Thank you, Erin!”

  The phone connection was cut. Erin stood there for a moment with her phone still to her ear, as if Charley might come back and continue the conversation.

  What had she gotten herself into? She knew absolutely nothing about caring for a chameleon. Charley might say it was nothing, but if Erin did something wrong and the lizard was sick or dead by the time Charley got out of jail, that would not be a good relationship builder.

  Eventually, Erin lowered her phone and slid it into her pocket. She looked at the time, and started calculating in her head what time she was going to need to leave if she were going to get to the jail and the pet store before they closed, so she could take care of Iggy properly. Then she’d need to immediately turn around and return home in time to get the sleep she needed to be functional at the bakery the next day. She didn’t have the reserves she needed to stay up late more than once in a blue moon.

  “Is everything okay?” Vic asked, as Erin walked back out to the store front, her thoughts miles away.

  “Yeah. Fine. Just… thinking.”

  “Who was that on the phone?”

  Erin looked at the customers who were listening in. None of them knew anything about Erin’s sister or what she had gotten herself into.

  “That was Charley.”

  Vic’s eyes widened. “Charley? What did Charley want?” Vic carefully avoided the use of a pronoun so that no one could catch on that Charley was a girl rather than a boy.

  “Uh… Charley has a… friend… who needs a babysitter. Just tonight. After that, Charley should be home.”

  Vic followed this easily. “This friend is… all the way out there?”

  “Yes. So…” Erin looked at the time again. “I think I’m going to have to leave early today, so I can pick up a meal and the key, and still get home in good time tonight.”

  “Yeah. For sure. You just go when you have to. I can take care of things here for one afternoon.”

  “Do you want me to call Bella and see if she can come in?”

  “No. Don’t worry about it. We already have her coming in on the weekend, and that’s more important. It’s not like it’s all day, and everything is already made. It’s just the after-school crowd and clean-up.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. You have to take care of Charley’s friend. It’s important.”

  “Okay.”

  Mary Lou looked at Erin and Vic, a little frown on her face. “Charlie who? What’s this all about?”

  “It’s nothing,” Erin assured her. “I just have a little errand I need to run. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Then why are you being so mysterious?”

  Erin did feel a little like they were drawing attention to themselves by being so cloak-and-dagger. Would people really care if they found out that Erin had a half-sister who needed her help?

  And that that sister was in a criminal gang?

  And currently in jail?

  Erin decided that there was no way she was going to let that gossip loose in Bald Eagle Falls. She would keep it a secret for as long as she could.

  Chapter Twelve

  E

  rin was relieved that everything was in order at the jail. They seemed to be expecting her, and she had only to show her identification to get the key to Charley’s apartment. She had been worried that they would interrogate her and make her sign some kind of statement about why she wanted it. Maybe the police would even insist that she had to have an escort to go back to the apartment, so they could be sure she wasn’t tampering with evidence. But the police had already had their chance to search Charley’s apartment to their hearts’ content, and if they hadn’t found the evidence they were looking for, that was their own problem. The jail didn’t appear to have any problem with Erin picking up the key, so she didn’t argue with success, and just smiled and thanked them politely.

  Charley had told her which pet food store to go to. Not all pet stores would have crickets. She followed the noise of their chirps to the back of the store, where there were various sizes of container and varieties of bugs in tanks. It felt a little like take-out for insects.

  The girl who helped Erin out didn’t look like she was old enough to be out of high school. She was completely relaxed and matter-of-fact about all of the creepy crawlies.

  “I’m helping out a friend who’s out of town,” Erin told her. “I haven’t ever taken care of a lizard before, so I’m a little nervous.”

  “It will be totally fine,” the girl assured her. “What kind of lizard is it?”

  “Chameleon.”

  “Oh, I love chameleons! You will too. Did she tell you what to get?”

  “Just crickets. The smallest size container.”

  “Sure. These babies are gut-loaded and calcium-dusted, so they’re all ready to go.”

  Erin had to look away as the girl dipped a little bowl into the tank full of hoppers and then snapped the lid into place.

  “All safe and sound,” the girl promised. “It’s nice and tight and isn’t going to pop open in your car. When you have the chameleon’s tank open, just dump them in. Did she tell you what else to do?”

  She ran through the procedures with Erin, and Erin was much more reassured than she had been after the hurried talk with Charley at the jail.

  Erin wrote down all of the details for later reference.

  “Can I call you if I run into any trouble?” she joked.

  “Of course! Here.” The girl picked up a business card and wrote her name and number on the back of it. “I’m Olivia. If you have any questions when you get there or something happens or seems wrong, just call me up and I’ll be happy to help. Any time, day or night.”

  “Really? You’re a lifesaver, Olivia. I’m Erin. Hopefully, I won’t need you, but if something happens… I’m really glad I have someone to call.”

  “You could call your friend,” Olivia suggested. “The one who owns the chameleon.”

  “No, she’s… not available most of the time. She can call me now and then to check in, but I can’t really call her or ask her any questions.”

  “She must be in the mountains,” Olivia decided. It wasn’t really a question, so Erin wasn’t actually lying by not telling her yes or no.

  Erin was soon on her way back to Charley’s apartment. There were no police cars outside like there had been when Charley was arrested. Erin had kind of expected there to still be one cop hanging around to keep an eye on the place, but if there was, he was well-disguised, because Erin couldn’t pick out anyone she thought was a cop or who was paying more attention to her than they should.

  The apartment door looked just as it had. No crime scene tape or notice telling her to stay out. Erin fit the
key into the lock and slowly let herself in. She waited once the door was open, listening. She strained her ears for any sign that someone else was in the apartment. There was not a movement, not a breath that she could hear. The apartment smelled as if it had been shut up for several days, the air still and undisturbed. Erin hadn’t noticed the smell of the lizard’s cage the last time she had been there but, either because she was expecting it or because it hadn’t been cleaned for a few days, she could easily detect it.

  Erin followed her nose to the small study that had been converted into Iggy’s room, with a screened reptarium full of green growing plants and environmental monitoring equipment. She followed the instructions that Charley and Olivia had given her, staring through the screen to find the green lizard before opening the door and dumping the container of bugs into a corner. She closed the door again.

  Iggy was still. Erin waited for him to go after the bugs. He blinked lazily and one of his eyes seemed to follow her, independent of the other. Ugh. Gross. It was a minute before there was a subtle shift in his position and she thought he was aware of the crickets.

  “Yeah, see? Hungry?”

  She was used to her cat and her rabbit. She understood their body language and behaviors, the ways that they talked and responded to her. The chameleon was like an alien. She didn’t know whether they responded to voices, or whether they responded more to smell or movement. Did Iggy know that she wasn’t his usual caregiver? Did he know Charley and respond to her?

  It happened so fast that Erin completely missed it the first time. The chameleon’s sticky tongue shot out, and a cricket was gone. Erin blinked.

  “Whoa. That was fast. You’re like a frog.”