The Deadly Art of Love and Murder

by Linda Crowder

  Her eyes never left mine and I could almost see the wheels turning as she thought about what I’d said. There was an absolute hush in the room as the whole town, it seemed, waited for her to answer.

  “Don’t answer that.” Mayor Solokov broke into the silence, earning cat-calls from the back of the room. “I’m sorry, people, but once she says she wants a lawyer, questioning has to stop or we can’t use what she says.”

  “A day’s training at magistrate school doesn’t make you an expert in the law, Clemson.”

  “Marcie, I’m only trying to do what’s right.”

  “Fine, fine, we’ll do it by the book.” Dan hauled Anne out of her chair and turned her around, pulling her arms behind her. “Anne Buchanan, you’re under arrest. You have the right to remain silent.” The townsfolk in the room picked up and finished the warning for him and Dan shook his head at them. “You people watch too much TV.”

  She struggled. “Wait, wait. You’re making a mistake. I didn’t set the fire.”

  Dan looked at the mayor and Solokov looked at Anne. “If you choose to make a statement, you have to waive your right to have an attorney present. Dan, do we have any of those forms over at City Hall?”

  “Heck no. I guess I could download one.”

  “Can’t she just tell us?” I asked. “I want to hear what she has to say.”

  Clem frowned. “Are you sure you want to speak with us without your attorney present?”

  “Yes, just take these off.”

  “You realize that anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law?”

  “For heaven’s sake, Clem, I just told her that.”

  “Fine,” he signaled to Dan, who unlocked the handcuffs and hung them back on a loop of his belt. “Talk.”

  Anne massaged her wrists and pulled herself to her full height. “I defended myself against a trespasser, but I did not set that fire.”

  “So you keep saying,” said Clem. “If you have nothing more to add––”

  Dan reached for her arm again but she pulled away. “It was Milo.”

  I slumped back in my chair, disappointed. “Who’s that?”

  “Milo Dickerson.”

  “The developer?” asked Dan.

  “You know him?”

  “We know of him. Go on. This Milo was in the house with you this morning?”

  “Yes and he must have set the fire.”

  “Start at the beginning.” I said. “Alex said you met Dickerson at some kind of event?”

  She hesitated. “Tell the truth, Anne,” warned Dan.

  She ignored him, addressing her remarks to me. “We met at a fundraiser. He’s quite successful.”

  “And he wanted to buy the house.”

  “When you called about the furnace, I thought it was time we sell for whatever we could get. Milo suggested he buy it and flip it.”

  “What about Agatha?”

  “Aggie hated that house. She wouldn’t care if we sold it.”

  “Why send Alex up to show Dickerson the house?”

  “Milo insisted he needed to see the house before he could sell his investment partner on the deal. I wasn’t able to get away, so I told Alex I’d split the proceeds with him if he’d convince Milo to buy.”

  She sat looking expectantly at me, but I wasn’t sure what to say. Was she lying or was Alex when he told me she’d followed them up? I looked at Dan.

  He picked up the questioning. “Let’s cut to the chase. Which one of you killed Mrs. Nash?”

  “That’s a little blunt, don’t you think, Dan?” asked Clem, stepping out of the crowd that frankly, I’d forgotten was there.

  “Are you telling me how to do my job?” Dan took a menacing step toward the mayor.

  “Well maybe somebody ought to.”

  “If you knew how to do your job, Clemson, we’d have a doctor in this town.”

  “That is not my fault.”

  “Take it outside!” Mom and Clem glared at Dan, but both subsided and he turned his attention back to Anne. “Who killed Mrs. Nash?”

  “Don’t believe a word she says,” came a shout from the door. The voice was familiar, but I couldn’t place it. A man walked in, shaking his arm free from the fisherman-turned-police-guard who trailed behind him. He looked to be in his forties, was wearing a pale yellow slicker that would have been more at home in the Caribbean than southern Alaska. He was painfully thin, with the pock-marked complexion of a meth addict.

  “Caught him trying to make a break for it, Dan. Just where you thought he’d be.”

  I looked at Dan, impressed, but his eyes were fixed on the newcomer. “He have the gas can?”

  “Three of them. Left them in the boat. Nate’s keeping an eye on it.”

  “Good work. Lab boys are on their way.”

  “Wow, gas cans in a boat,” the man was annoyingly smug. “Hope that’s not all the evidence you’ve got, Pops, cuz I’m going sue the crap out of this town for false arrest.”

  I finally put a name with the voice. “Milo Dickerson.”

  He looked at me, his face puzzled at first, then his features hardened. “Caribou King. You’re a lot sexier on the phone.”

  Frank slapped him on the back of the head. “Shut your mouth.”

  “You’re the big real estate developer?” asked my mother. “You couldn’t develop a pup tent.”

  “What’s it to you? I got connections.”

  “You didn’t meet him at any society fundraiser, Anne,” I said, eying Milo as Frank pushed him into a chair facing the older woman.

  “That what she told you?” He snorted. “That’s rich.”

  “Shut up, Milo,” Anne snapped at him, but he ignored her.

  “My old man was dumb enough to marry her. I didn’t even know about it. I met this old bag at his funeral. He cut me outta his will for her, how’s that for charity event?”

  “Is that true, Anne?”

  “He wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him. His father disowned him years ago. I had nothing to do with it.”

  “Ain’t that the pot calling the kettle black?” Milo smiled at Anne’s obvious discomfort.

  “How drunk was Alex,” I asked my mother, “to have believed this guy was a real estate developer?”

  “Shut your mouth, slut,” said Milo, earning another slap on the back of the head from Frank only this one must have been hard enough to make him see stars. “Watch yourself, or I’ll sue you for police brutality.”

  “I ain’t the police,” said Frank.

  “Enough,” said Dan. He looked up at the fisherman, who looked to be enjoying the show. “Get Alex, will ya?” We all waited in strained silence until he reappeared, pushing Alex along in front of him. He looked confused to see Milo, but he accepted the chair Dan offered without a word. “I don’t want to hear anything from you three but the truth.” Anne stared at her hands, Alex looked at Milo and Milo was picking dirt from under his fingernails. “Okay, you know what I think happened to Mrs. Nash? I think Alex and Milo rented a boat and came up here to see the house. Anne followed you to Alaska.”

  “I wasn’t here.”

  “Give it a rest,” said Milo.

  “I’ve already confirmed the flight into Juneau, Anne. Only you didn’t go straight to Coho Bay, did you?”

  A flush started to spread across Anne’s face. “I took the ferry.”

  “After you pulled a copy of the title to the house.”

  “You knew?” Alex twisted around in his chair. “You knew and you never told me? Not even after you knew she was dead?”

  “I didn’t think it mattered.”

  “How could it not matter? How could you lie to me like that, Anne?”

  “She’s been lying about a lot of things, Alex,” said Dan. “On the day she was killed, Mrs. Nash told you she owned the house. Milo went out and knocked on doors, trying to find anyone else dumb enough to sell for pennies on the dollar––”

  “Pennies on the dollar?” interrupted Anne.
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  “He offered you fifty thousand dollars, right?” I asked and she nodded. “The land alone is worth at least a quarter of a million.”

  “What?” Her mouth dropped open for a minute, then she jumped up and grabbed Milo by his yellow slicker. His chair tipped over backwards as she shook him like a rag doll. “You son of a––”

  “Sit down!” It took Dan and Frank both to pull Anne off her stepson. She cursed and kicked and threatened all three of them with more strength than I’d thought possible for a woman her age.

  Close to thirty minutes went by before order was restored. Dan moved the three of them further apart and stationed two men behind each one. Anne sat in her chair, rocking back and forth. Milo looked shaken and Alex kept looking back and forth between the two of them.

  Since none of them were volunteering information, Dan went on with his narrative. “Alex argued with Mrs. Nash then went to find Anne, but you weren’t where you told him you’d be, were you?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “You were watching from the trailhead. You saw them leave, then you went after Mrs. Nash.” Anne didn’t answer. She just kept rocking, staring at the floor. “She’d bought a gun to protect herself from bears. That was the gun that killed her. How did you get your hands on it?”

  “I didn’t kill her!” wailed Anne. “I didn’t.”

  “Alex left his coat at the house,” I said, keeping my voice soft as though I were speaking to a frightened child. She didn’t look at me, but she stopped rocking. “How did your blood get on his coat?”

  Anne held out her hand, shaking so badly, I had to take hold of it to see what she was showing me. A slash cut across her palm, nearly healed. “She threatened me. She picked up a knife and told me to get out of her house. Her house! That ... woman ... killed my mother. She tried to kill me! I grabbed the knife and it cut my hand.”

  “So you used the coat to stop the bleeding?” asked Dan. “Why didn’t you take it with you when you left?”

  “I went into the bathroom,” said Anne, her words coming in gasps between sobs. “To wash off the blood.”

  Alex scooted his chair over to her and put an arm on her back. “It’s all right, Anne. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Anne stared at her brother, who was looking at her with wide eyes. Tears welled in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks as she spoke. “She laughed at me, Alex. She had the gall to call me a disappointment to father. That whore called me a disappointment. She destroyed our family. She murdered our mother.”

  “What are you talking about?” demanded my mother.

  “She and that good for nothing husband of hers told father to put mother out of her misery. Can you imagine? Like she was some sort of dog you ask the vet to put down.” Sobs shook her body, choking off her story. Milo stared up at the ceiling, looking for all the world like a bored teenager. Alex put an arm around his sister’s shoulders and slowly she regained control.

  “She deserved what she got.”

  “Anne,” Alex started, but he didn’t finish. He drew his arm away from her.

  “I couldn’t help it,” Anne’s voice rose, though I wasn’t sure whether she was trying to convince Alex or herself. “I saw the gun. Who keeps a gun in the bathroom? I thought it was a gift from God. I was looking for something to wrap up my hand and I found the gun. I didn’t think about it, I just did it. Then I panicked. I heard someone coming and I hid in the bedroom.”

  “You were there?” said Alex. “You saw me pick up the gun? Why didn’t you say something?”

  “I didn’t know it was you,” said Anne. “I heard someone come in and then run out. I assumed some neighbor had heard the shot and was going for help.”

  “But you let the police think it was me,” said Alex.

  “I wouldn’t have let them convict you. I would have thought of something,” said Anne.

  “Telling the truth would have been good,” said Dan.

  “What about the coat?” I asked. “Alex said it was beside Mrs. Nash. He went to pick it up and that’s how he ended up picking up the gun.”

  “I must have dropped them both there,” said Anne. She grabbed Alex by the arm. “I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t have let you go to jail. I tried to protect you. I hid the coat in the attic.”

  “That’s what I found!” I said. “But why hide the coat? Why not just take it with you? If you thought it was a neighbor who came in, then you had no way of knowing it was Alex who’d picked up the gun. Take the coat and there’s nothing to tie you two to the murder.”

  “Oh for crying out loud,” said Milo. “She knew it was Alex. She watched him from the bathroom. She saw him pick up the gun and decided to frame him. She put the coat in the attic thinking the cops would find it. Didn’t occur to her until later that her blood was on the coat too. Idiot.”

  “Shut up!” Anne screamed. She made a leap for him, but the two men Dan had stationed behind her pulled her back into her chair. She turned to her brother. “I swear, I never meant for them to think you shot her. I assumed they’d think it was a suicide.”

  Alex moved his chair away from hers. “That’s why we had to come back. You never cared about what the police knew. You just wanted to get that coat to save your own skin.”

  “Why didn’t you take the coat, Anne?” I asked.

  “Because I couldn’t.” She spat out the words. “You and that black woman were at the house. I waited for you to come out, but you were taking forever. I had to run when I heard the ferry.”

  “Why would you need to take the ferry?” asked Alex. “We had a boat.”

  Anne’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. Milo again filled the void. “She never cared about you, dude. She got you drunk on the boat and then pointed you at the old bag’s funeral.”

  “Why would you do that, Anne?” Alex sounded like a wounded child, questioning a parent.

  “To keep all the focus on you, dude,” said Milo. “She got me to call the old bag’s lawyer asking about the house.”

  “You did that on your own, you fool. You were the one who thought she wouldn’t have an heir and they’d sell the house cheap.”

  Milo shrugged. “Say what you want. I know what happened.”

  “Why did you knock Cara off her chair and lock her in the closet?” asked Dan.

  Anne rolled her eyes. “She fell off the chair. You locked me out of the bedroom.”

  “Because you tried to kill me!”

  She dismissed my accusation with a wave of her hand. “I heard the crash. By the time I got in, you were flat out on the floor.”

  “Why lock me in if you weren’t trying to kill me?”

  “Because Milo was there.”

  “Hey, I didn’t know there was anybody in the house when this old bat told me to torch it.”

  “I never told you any such thing.”

  “What was Alex’s role in all of this?” Dan asked.

  Milo shrugged and sat back in his chair. Alex looked intensely at Anne. “Tell them,” he implored, but she didn’t respond. “I didn’t have anything to do with Mrs. Nash’s death and you all know,” he turned to the townsfolk, who had been watching the back and forth between the three in stunned silence, “I was in jail when the fire happened.”

  “I think we’ve heard enough, Dan,” said Clem. “Let the boys in Juneau sort it out.”

  Chapter 13

  Three days before Christmas, I went to meet the ferry. My arm was still in the sling because it was simpler to leave it there than have the same argument with my mother every morning. I hate anything that restricts movement but I had to admit, it hurt less in the sling than out. It was snowing so I’d had Mel toss my heavy coat over my shoulders and button what she could. I’d lost my favorite coat in the fire so I was stuck with this one until I could get to Juneau to shop. Shipping costs to Alaska made shopping on line unappealing and since anything I ordered would have to be delivered by Kenny anyway, I usually just rode up with him whenever I needed anythi
ng.

  I paced the pier impatiently, waiting for the lumbering ferry to dock. As soon as the gangplank extended, a slender figure ran down it and threw her arms around me. I gasped in pain, but I did my best to hug her back. “Olivia! I’m so thrilled you could make it for Christmas. I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to get away.”

  She grinned, the stress and sadness she’d worn on her last trip to Coho Bay replaced by a dimple in her cheek and a bounce in her step. When she spoke, her words were quick and her tone animated. “I’ve worked every holiday since I started med school. When I heard what happened to you, I marched in there and told them I was going home for Christmas and here I am!”

  Her delight was infectious and I threw the only arm I could move around her. “Don’t call Coho Bay home in front of Mom unless you’re ready to back it up.”

  “Ranting about your collar bone, I take it?”

  “You’d think I never broke a bone before. Can you believe she wants me to go to the hospital?”

  Olivia accepted her suitcase, a small carry-on bag, from the luggage minder and took hold of my good arm. “I can see it still hurts. How long has it been, three weeks?”

  “Pretty close.”

  “Well, I’ll take a look when we get home, and I do mean home. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Coho Bay since I left. When you’re mom called, I made up my mind then and there that this was where I was meant to be.”

  “Hopefully not just because I’m a klutz.”

  “Marcie said somebody hit you and pushed you off a chair.”

  “I can’t prove she pushed me.”

  “Insane. I hope they’re in jail.”

  “Anne pled guilty on the assault charge but she’s fighting the arson. Her son’s keeping his mouth shut but Dan thinks they have enough to make the murder charge stick.”

  “That what Gram’s attorney told me. What a horrible way for her to die and for nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

  “I know. Makes me sick. Poor Doc’s gotta be rolling over in his grave and now you’ve lost the house on top of everything else.”