by Kym Roberts
Yelling women tried follow him, but with my dad’s help, we were able to give Mike passage toward the side door as the crowd spilled out into the main room of the Barn. The Midnight Poet Society display was knocked over, Lucy Barton books scattered across the floor.
Above the melee, I heard someone yell, “Ow! Let me go.”
Through the crowd, I looked over and saw Scarlet holding someone by the ear. She was saying something, but I couldn’t hear a word that was passing between the two of them. Nor could I see the individual she had trapped. “Excuse me,” I said as I passed through a sea of yellow shirts and women I didn’t know. I reached Scarlet in time to see her pull a couple of books out of Sterling Koch’s sport coat.
“What’s going on?”
“I caught him stealing the autograph books by Lucy Barton. I already told Joellen to call Mateo.”
“I didn’t steal anything…I’m still inside the store.” Sterling squealed. From his expression, I suspected Scarlet was using her classic move of twisting his ear.
“Scarlet, let the man go.”
“He was stealing from the gift basket.”
“Why were you stealing our autograph books?” When Sterling arrived with Scarlet, my hopes for a better relationship between our two bookstores had soared. Currently, they were under a sow’s belly.
“I didn’t know they were autographed. I was just going to buy two books from the display.”
“Is that why you left two brand-new editions of the book and took the original autographed books out of the basket?” Scarlet accused. “You also put in a gift card.”
I looked at the gift basket. Sure as shootin’, Sterling had replaced the original print books with third edition copies. And right in front the rest of the swag was a $50 gift card to the Book Grove that we had not included. At this point, I was inclined to lose my neighborly feelings and never help him in that manner.
“Why would you do that?”
Sterling mumbled something incoherently as Mateo arrived. Mateo still had on the clothes he wore for our dinner date minus the sport coat. Instead he wore a police vest over the top.
“There’s never a dull moment around you, is there?” he asked before moving over to Sterling. I couldn’t tell if he was regretting our date, or if he was just telling me I wasn’t boring. Coming from a man who liked unpredictable, I decided to take it as a compliment.
“Are you wanting to press charges?” he asked.
I looked to my dad who shrugged. “It’s up to you, Princess.”
Sterling didn’t say a word, but he had a pathetic look on his face. Like a golden retriever who wanted a treat just beyond his reach.
“He’s wanting to destroy my boy’s business. Of course, she wants to prosecute.”
I turned to find my Aunt Violet watching the entire thing. I wasn’t sure when she arrived but knew better than to argue. Sterling did have a motive to want to shut down Jamal’s app. He was jealous of the success we’d had at the Barn, and Eduardo had been one of his regular customers. Maybe they knew each other better than the retailer/patron relationship I believed them to have. Maybe they’d had a falling out and he had reason to kill the man. I wasn’t sure what could possibly be a reason for killing someone, but it happened. And by destroying my cousin’s app, Sterling would be hurting our business and putting his own back on top. For someone like Sterling, that could be enough motive to kill.
With that mind, I would rather have Mateo trying to find the answers than to leave Sterling in the hands of the Mystery Moms.
“Yes, I want to prosecute.”
Mateo moved forward and handcuffed Sterling, and the women in the yellow shirts started to smell blood.
“He’s the murderer?”
“He’s the one trying to ruin Lucy Barton?”
“I knew he was no good.”
“Just look at those beady eyes.”
Several began taking selfies with Sterling in the background. Then moved over to Scarlet. She’d caught a murderer. She was a hero. Yellow shirts surrounded her and group photos were taken. Scarlet smiled politely, but I could tell her smile was from her upbringing, not her emotions. It was the perfect Southern smile of the gracious beauty queen. All she needed now was to raise her hand and begin the wave.
Mateo took advantage of the distraction and snuck out the side door with Sterling. His entire journey, however, was videotaped. It seemed word was spreading and causing more yellow shirts to gather. It was like they were multiplying. All I could see were the backs of their shirts that had CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS in bold black letters printed diagonally across their backs. It was like a moving crime scene as Mateo and Sterling walked over to his deputy’s car. The deputy stood there with his mouth hanging open in a complete stupor. The kid didn’t have a clue how to handle that many women his mom’s age.
“Unlock your door,” Mateo ordered.
The deputy ran over to the passenger side and began searching Sterling for any contraband. Then he put his hand on the back of Sterling’s head and assisted him into the front seat. Sterling held his head low in shame. I felt sorry for him, but at the same time he’d been trying to destroy my business. I understood what it was like fighting and scraping for every dime for your small business. What lengths would I go to for the Book Barn Princess? Would I be willing to steal to keep the doors open? Would I be willing to kill to do it?
That question was easily answered—no, I wouldn’t. Keeping my doors open would never make me desperate enough to kill an innocent individual.
Sterling Koch, however, may answer differently.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Scarlet was early for our class the next morning. She looked bright-eyed and bushy tailed while I looked like something Princess dragged in from the woods. She had a box of donuts from the bakery, and I was thankful Franz had stayed up through the night to get his normal batch of fresh donuts out for his customers. I poured us a glass of sweet tea, and Scarlet opened the box.
“Sterling lawyered up last night at the police station. Then he posted his bond and walked out the door.”
“Where did you hear that?” I was surprised Mateo hadn’t called me to let me know.
“Franz just told me at the bakery. He said Sterling came in and got breakfast.”
“I’m sure if Mateo could have held him, he would have. Even though he has motive to want to destroy the Barn and my cousin’s app, killing someone is a whole nother story. Why would Sterling want to kill Delbert and Eduardo? What would be the motive? There are other ways he could hurt the Barn. Murder wasn’t necessary.”
“Still, he’s in for a surprise this morning. The Mystery Moms are parked outside of his business.”
“What are they doing outside the Book Grove?”
“They’re questioning the construction workers, talking to his neighbors, and being a traffic nuisance.”
“Has Mateo issued them tickets?”
“I think Mateo’s going to call a press conference this afternoon.”
“To say what?”
“I don’t know exactly, but Mary called in sick at the salon and told me that Liza Twaine was going to be at the sheriff’s station at eleven a.m.”
“Why was Liza calling Mary?”
“Because Liza thought it would be good for all the Mystery Moms to be present during the press conference.”
“Am I the only one who thinks the Mystery Moms are out of control?” I asked.
“I think everybody thinks they’re out of control. I’d say Mateo is at the top of that list.”
I devoured my donuts while Scarlet ate a yogurt parfait. Then we made our way upstairs with the rest of the donuts and set them out on the table for the kids to enjoy while we explained how to make the hymnal angels. A half hour later our class was well underway.
The students had a choice of two projects. Two
angels raised off the page of a hymnal or a single angel which was the center of a wreath made from music sheets and holding a horn. The class divided almost equally, with four students choosing the angel duo and five falling in love with the single angel. It always amazed me how the young students took to instruction and then grew in their own direction. No two projects looked alike and several were better than the original projects I’d made. One of the students, a young boy about twelve, would give Scarlet a run for her money when it came to artistic ability if he stayed with it. I suspected he would.
The class broke up at ten thirty, and I hated to admit I was anxious for it to be over. I wanted to get the store cleaned up and turn the television on to see the press conference Mateo had scheduled. My dad strolled in as I turned on the television.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. Mary told Scarlet that Mateo was having a press conference at eleven. I just turned it on.”
We grew quiet as Mateo spoke to the cameras.
“I’d like to thank the news media for getting this message out to the public today. I understand the community’s concern over the recent homicides in Coleman County. And as much as I appreciate the support and the assistance of the citizens, I must ask for the community to leave the investigation to the sheriff’s department and the county crime lab. This morning there was an accident because of a group of individuals who took it upon themselves to come to town and begin questioning people in Oak Grove and Hazel Rock. In their haste to interview potential witnesses, one of the individuals forgot to put their vehicle in park. The car rolled down the street and crashed into a citizen’s truck that was parked alongside the road on Main Street in Hazel Rock due to the influx of cars in town creating a large traffic jam.”
I thought of where Mateo had parked his truck and cringed. Holy moly, was it his truck? Had it been wrecked because he’d asked me out on a date?
Mateo went on to ask for the cooperation of everyone in the community. But the last bit of news was what I had hoped to glean about Sterling being arrested.
“We did have a person in custody regarding a disturbance in Hazel Rock. That individual is not involved in our homicide investigations. He has been cleared of any wrongdoing in those cases. So once again, I’m going to ask for the public’s cooperation to let the police do their job.”
Mateo began taking questions from the reporters but had no more new information in regard to the cases. After Mateo’s news conference, I couldn’t help but wonder if we were missing something closer to home. If Sterling wasn’t involved, there had to be someone else who had more information than the average murderer. Someone had the inside scoop with the app, the signing, our comings and goings.
Making a mental list of people to check up on, I decided it was also time to pay back Scarlet for all the help she’d given us. Scarlet didn’t eat a lot of sweets, but when she did have a momentary lapse, it was for sticky buns. Franz made the best sticky buns in the state of Texas. I knew if I got her a whole box, she wouldn’t eat them all, she’d indulge in one and quit. She had more will power in her little finger than I had in my entire body. I called Franz and ordered a large tin and asked them to deliver that afternoon. All it cost me was an autograph book by Lucy Barton. I thought that was a pretty good deal considering Franz didn’t read much.
Sugar arrived at the store at noon, and Daddy delivered an ultimatum. “You need to take some time off, or I’m going to start closing the store two days a week.” He began shooing me with his hands from the other side of the counter.
I laughed. “Seriously, does that work for you often?”
“It does when I come with reinforcements. Sugar’s going to take you shopping.”
“Shopping?”
“Everyone at the beauty shop is talking about you borrowing clothes for a date. Good grief, girlfriend, no woman should have to borrow clothes. We swap for the fun of it, not the necessity of it.”
Sugar’s outfit was much more stylish than my jeans and Read ‘em & Weep T-shirt. I thought about the upcoming concert and bit my lip. “I could use an outfit for a concert…”
“What concert?” Sugar asked.
I grabbed my purse and held it tight. “Oh, I was just thinking of the holiday concerts coming up.” I was also thinking this would be the perfect time to go out to Dean’s place and look around at the last place Eduardo had lived. Mateo may have served a search warrant on it, but he’d been looking for a Book Kreeper, not someone tied to the app. It was time to find out if there was a deeper connection between the Book Kreeper and the artist who died at the hands of a serial killer. “I’ll drive.”
Fifteen minutes later we were pulling up at the small two-story farmhouse with a front porch that ran the length of it. I’d explained everything to Sugar on the way, and how Dean had hoped she would help him clear out Eduardo’s stuff. Now was as good a time as any to assess the work we had ahead of us.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Sugar asked as we pulled up into the driveway. While Sugar was talking about how adorable the house was that sat a little too close to the road for comfort, I was looking at a red truck parked at the back end of the house.
“Look!” I pointed at the truck, but Sugar thought I was pointing out the backyard that looked like miles of open farmland behind the structure.
“The house was built in the 1880s by Jimmy MacAlister, he came straight from Ireland and began growing potatoes,” she explained.
Her comment distracted me momentarily. “Dean’s a potato farmer?”
“No, his ancestors were. They haven’t grown potatoes since the Dust Bowl. Now he runs cattle. He’s due to get a herd in this week. But someday…”
I grimaced. Dean had the worst marriage track record in town. He had more years on Sugar than most couples, and he already had three kids. I wasn’t sure he could take much more child support.
I parked Jamal’s rental car right next to the red pickup I’d been dying to find and looked over at a painting of a shield maiden on the driver’s door. Bingo. I smiled.
Sugar made her way up to the front porch while I checked out the damage to the left front end of the truck. It was consistent with damage to my daddy’s truck, and I was sure some of the paint transfers would match up perfectly. I couldn’t say it was the truck I’d seen on the bridge the day I nearly drowned surrounded by pool toys, but I would bet the artwork matched the description the maître d’ at Café Italiano gave to Detective Youngblood.
I knew this truck was important.
Sugar called out from the porch. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah, sorry.” I snapped a couple photos with my phone and texted them to Mateo before joining Sugar. I knew he’d already been here, but he hadn’t mentioned the truck at all.
Sugar knocked on the door.
“Are you expecting someone to be here?”
“No, but it’s only polite to knock.”
“Eduardo lived here by himself, didn’t he?”
Sugar nodded. I think I heard something rattling in her brain.
“Do you have a key?”
“Dean keeps an extra one in the wheel.” Sugar walked over to the old wagon wheel sitting at the edge of the porch and grabbed the key. We walked into the house and stopped. The old, original plaster walls had been painted. They were beautiful, if you like Space Marines in the middle of full-blown combat covering half the walls in the living room of your historic family home.
“SOS,” Sugar murmured.
I wasn’t sure if she was calling for help or giving commentary about the art. Either way, it fit.
“We’ll get the girls out here and paint over it. It will take some time, but we’ll get it done.”
Sugar nodded with her mouth hanging open—her one crooked tooth on full display.
We made our way through the living room turned war room, toward the kitchen. It was thankfull
y spared of any art. I think that was the moment Sugar finally breathed and closed her mouth.
“The secretary desk has some papers in it. None of that is Dean’s. I made sure all of his documents were out when we got the house ready to rent.”
“Let’s save that for last.”
We made it through a formal dining room that didn’t appear to have been used and upstairs to the three bedrooms. One guest room was empty and another had a computer and a gaming system scattered across the floor. It looked like someone had thrown a fit and trashed the room. Fingerprint powder was prevalent on many of the components. The computers, however, were missing, and I figured Mateo collected them during the execution of his search warrant.
I could have skipped the master bedroom altogether. From the trembling of Sugar’s bottom lip, I was pretty sure she wanted to as well. The paint on the walls wasn’t the issue. They were still a nice shade of gray with white painted molding. The ceiling was a different story.
It was Scarlet, or rather a version of Scarlet I’d never seen. She had even more curves than the real version and her hair was whipping in the wind. The copper strands still looked wonderful. I’d just never seen Scarlet’s hair messy. Her outfit…wasn’t movie star quality. Then again, it was right up there with the reality TV personalities who dressed like porn stars.
I snuck a couple pictures with my phone, just for grins. “Mateo said he was an artist…”
“How can one man do this in one week?”
“One week? Seriously? He only lived here one week?”
“Okay, it was ten days. Ten days and the man destroyed our home.”
I bit my lip. It was Dean’s rental house and Sugar had dreams of making it a family home. I wondered if Dean saw himself and Sugar raising all his kids in this house. I tried to soothe her. “There’s no real damage. Everything can be painted. We have plenty of friends to help. Come on. Let’s go downstairs and go through the paperwork.”
