They both turned at the sound of her approach.
She parked quickly, jerking the car out of gear and barely remembering to shut off the ignition before running toward them. Both men looked worried and concerned.
But also, oddly, relieved.
“Thank God. I’ve been worried sick.” Dougal actually hugged her. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d done that. Wade put a hand on her shoulder.
“You okay?” the Sheriff asked gently.
“I’m fine, but—what’s going on here?”
“I kept trying your cell. Where were you?” Dougal said.
“I had it off. But what’s going on here?” She glanced around, scrambling to make sense of all the people, the noise, the vehicles. Spotting Charlotte’s sports car, she asked where she was.
“Charlotte’s lying down in the cottage,” Dougal said.
“Did something happen to her?”
“Just a shock. I found something today, Jamie. I’m sorry. This is going to be hard for you to hear.”
She stared at him, wondering when any of this was going to make sense.
Dougal gestured toward an area off in the woods where yellow police tape had cordoned off a large plot of land, including what looked like an old gardening shed.” The people around the area were suited up. Crime scene techs, she realized.
“What did you find, Dougal?” she asked quietly.
“A body.”
She turned away from the woods, studied her brother’s face. Then Wade’s.
She was going to ask whose. Then, suddenly, she knew. “Is it Daisy?”
Dougal nodded, even as Wade answered more cautiously. “We suspect so. We won’t get confirmation on that until after the autopsy. But your brother and I both recognized her watch. It’s quite unique. She wore it all through high school.”
Jamie clasped her hands to her heart. The worst had been proven true. Daisy hadn’t run away from her children. She was dead.
When everyone had thought Daisy had gone mad, mitigating the pain had been the hope that one day she would get better. One day she might come back.
Now even that hope was gone.
As she watched, two paramedics emerged from the woods carrying a stretcher. She stared at the body bag on top of the stretcher. It seemed almost empty.
She turned away from the awful sight. “What happened to her? How did she die?”
Wade answered. “From the state of her skull, I’d guess a blow to the head.”
She stared at him, then her brother, in silent horror. Who had done it? Though no one provided an answer, she could tell what they were both thinking.
The same thing she was.
The most obvious person in cases like this was always the ex-husband, wasn’t it?
And she couldn’t deny that Kyle had been deceitful. “Oh my God. Kyle’s trips to Sacramento. Was he going there so he could withdraw money from Daisy’s account?”
“We think so,” Wade said.
Dougal pulled her close for a second hug. “I’m sorry, Jamie. When I advised you not to marry him, I never guessed it would be this bad.”
“I was so stupid—"
“Shh. Don’t say that. You saw the best in Kyle. You always had a big heart. Just like Mom. And that’s a good thing. But we’ve got a situation now, and the most important thing is for you to keep away from Kyle until we’ve sorted it out.”
She nodded.
“Where are the children?” Wade asked.
“They’re at Wolf Creek Summer Camp. We dropped them off on Sunday. They’re supposed to be there for two weeks.”
“Great,” Wade said. “At least we know they’re safe for now. Now all I’m worried about is you. Obviously it’s not a good idea for you to go back to Kyle’s place. And you shouldn’t be alone, either.”
“You can stay here with Charlotte and me,” Dougal offered.
She shook her head. “Stella will take me in.”
“I have to go back to town in a bit. I’ll drive you there,” Wade said.
She wanted to argue. But she was afraid she was about to become very sick.
chapter thirty-one
wade glanced at the darkening sky. It was going to rain, soon. Good thing they were almost finished with the crime scene. He nodded at one of his deputies, giving him permission to wrap things up. Then he moved away from the action toward the cottage where Dougal and Jamie were sitting on the porch.
After she’d vomited out the contents of her stomach, Dougal had gone into the cottage for some water and a blanket. Now she was settled in one of the old wooden chairs on the porch.
“I can drive you back now,” Wade said. “Have you had a chance to call Stella?”
Dougal nodded. “She and Amos are both at home. They’re more than happy to have Jamie come stay with them a few days.”
In the SUV, Wade helped Jamie fasten her seat belt before he executed a three-point turn and drove off.
What a hell of a day this was turning out to be. Wade hadn’t been close to Daisy Hammond since high school, still her death was tough to take.
It didn’t help to know that she’d been murdered and buried on his home turf. True, the crime had happened before he was elected Sheriff.
Still, it felt like a failure on his part.
He checked out the pressing clouds above, then glanced at Jamie, sitting silently in the passenger seat.
Her shoulders were covered in the blanket Dougal had provided. Her expression looked blank, and her fingers trembled on a Styrofoam cup filled with warm tea that one of the paramedics had given her.
She was in shock and he wished it could last forever, because once the numbness wore off, he knew she was going to hurt like hell.
And it wasn’t right.
That goddamned Kyle.
The rain started then. A slow, gentle rain—a cleansing rain his mother used to call it. “Just wait until the morning,” she would tell him when he was small, complaining about having to stay inside. “The world will be all fresh and clean and beautiful again.”
But the stain Kyle Quinpool had created would not be washed away so easily. The pain and hurt would linger for years.
He thought about Chester and Cory.
For lifetimes.
Before dropping Jamie off at Stella’s he asked if she knew when Kyle was getting back from his business trip.
She glanced at the time on his dash. “Should already be there.” Then she shuddered.
* * *
Though Wade hated leaving Jamie, he did it. Back in his SUV he headed to the Quinpool house and found Kyle’s vehicle in the driveway. Wade drove up behind it, effectively blocking him in.
As he headed for the front door, he thought back to all the times he’d visited here as a kid. Sad how things had changed over the years. Back then he’d figured he, Kyle, Daisy and Dougal would be pals for life. Sure hadn’t worked out that way.
Kyle was quick to appear at the door, his face either worried or angry, Wade couldn’t tell which.
“Where the hell is Jamie? Is she okay?”
“Jamie is fine. But she won’t be coming home tonight.”
“What are you talking about?” So many emotions flashed over Kyle’s face, it was difficult to read them all. But Wade thought fear was one of them. And possibly guilt.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
“Tell me where Jamie is first.”
“That’s not your main concern right now. We found a body buried out beyond the Hammond cottage on Forestry Road.”
Kyle grew still and alert, like a cat sniffing for danger. He stared at Wade cautiously, and when Wade offered nothing more, reluctantly stepped to the side.
“You better come in.”
Wade nodded. “Good idea.”
Kyle led him to the large kitchen at the back of the house. A couple of empty beer cans were on the counter. Kyle pulled out two fresh Buds, passed one to Wade, then popped open the other.
Wade was tempted
. He’d never drunk on duty before. But it had been a hard day and it wouldn’t be getting any easier in the foreseeable future.
“So. This body...?”
“We’ll need autopsy results to be positive, but I recognized Daisy’s watch. You know she wore it all the time.”
Kyle swallowed. Wouldn’t look at him. “What does this have to do with Jamie?”
“She knows you’ve been going to Sacramento every month and withdrawing money from Daisy’s checking account so it would look like your ex-wife was still alive.”
Kyle took another drink of his beer, his hand shaking this time.
During the long drive from the cabin, Wade had been thinking. He had a good head for dates and he thought he could piece together what had happened.
“You and Daisy had just signed the final divorce papers, when she came to see you about something, probably involving custody of the twins. I’m guessing the visit was late at night. You invited her in, the two of you argued, you lost your temper and got rough. Too rough.”
He stopped. Kyle still wasn’t talking.
“Maybe you didn’t mean to kill her, just got rougher than intended. But when you saw what you’d done, you panicked. You pulled your SUV into the garage, wrapped her body in a tarp, then loaded her into the back and drove out to her aunt’s old cabin. You and Daisy used to go there to be alone. You knew where to find it. And you knew it would be deserted.”
He paused. The look on Kyle’s face could best be described as horror.
“And you buried her, didn’t you? Then you drove back and started spreading the story she’d run off. You destroyed her purse, keeping the bank card so you could use it to make those withdrawals to create the illusion she was still alive…and corroborate your story.”
He stopped talking and waited for Kyle to react. Finally he did.
“You really think I’m capable of that?”
Wade hesitated. The fact was, he didn’t. Kyle had always looked to others to clean up his dirty work for him.
And then he realized what must have happened. Kyle’s parents had moved back in with him after Daisy left. So they would have been in the house, too. They could not possibly have failed to hear what was going on.
“Your parents were in on the cover-up, weren’t they?” Kyle’s dad, so proud, so protective of the son who had joined him in the family business, would have been the one to figure out what needed to be done.
Kyle swore. “You can’t prove any of this. And even if it happened, no way can you prove my folks were involved in any way.”
“I’ll be able to prove you used Daisy’s bank card to make those withdrawals.” He held out his hand. “Your wallet?”
Kyle glanced around, probably weighing his options.
“Don’t do anything stupid Kyle. I’m going to be taking you in for questioning. You can either hand over your wallet to me now, or to one of the guys at the station, later.”
The muscles in Kyle’s jaw tightened. Without another word, he pulled out his wallet.
Wade took a quick look. Daisy’s bank card was in a paper sleeve, but it was there, all right.
Kyle’s eyes flashed with anger. “I should have known marrying Jamie was a mistake.”
Wade couldn’t agree with him more on that point. “We’re already in the process of gathering evidence. Soon I’ll have a warrant to search your home, too. We’re going to interview your mother and your father, and we’ll find out what happened, Kyle. You could save us all a lot of trouble if you just told us the truth. The whole truth.”
Kyle’s face convulsed then, from fear or anger, Wade couldn’t tell.
There was no point in saying anything else. It would be interesting talking to Kyle’s mother. If she’d known about this, the guilt was probably driving her mad. In fact, Daisy’s death and subsequent cover up was probably what had cracked Muriel and Jim’s forty-year-marriage. Only something this drastic could explain why Muriel—who had loved the twins so much—had moved away.
“You can’t prove any of this,” Kyle repeated. But he didn’t sound so sure of himself anymore. As he sagged down on one of the kitchen stools, his gaze drifted to the fridge, where photos and artwork of his kids were displayed. “Nothing you say or do now is going to bring back Daisy. Do you really have to do this? Have you thought about the damage it’ll do to my kids?”
Yeah. He had. He only wished Kyle had done the same.
chapter thirty-two
it was a huge relief for Jamie to be sitting at the kitchen table with Stella and Amos and eating some of Stella’s homemade chicken soup. Dougal had filled them in on the situation, so they weren’t asking her a bunch of questions. They were just letting her be.
After about thirty minutes, Amos, who never was one for sitting still, said he was going out to the workshop for a bit.
“Want some pie, honey?” Stella asked when it was just two of them. “Tea. Or coffee?”
“Tea would be nice.”
Once it was made, Stella asked if she wanted to go lie down. “Maybe you feel like being alone?”
Jamie shook her head firmly. That was definitely the one thing she did not want. At least not yet. “I screwed up, Stella. I should have listened to Dougal. Marrying Kyle was a big mistake.”
Stella put her hand over Jamie’s. “I’m so sorry. When did things start to go sideways?”
“Little things at first. I thought we were going to be equal partners, but he started working later and later. Soon I was handling most of the stuff at home and with the kids. And then he manipulated me into quitting my job.”
“Did you actually leave Howard & Mason?”
Stella knew how much she loved working there, and what her ambitions were for the future. “I did. I’m just praying they’ll take me back.”
“I’m sure they will.”
“I hope so. I just feel like such a fool. The first time Kyle paid any attention to me at all was when I dropped by a yard sale he was having, not a week after his mother moved to Portland. He asked me out for coffee, and was in full pursuit right from the start. I figured he was finally seeing me as a grown woman, not as his friend’s little sister. But I think the truth was he needed someone to take his mother’s place. Up until then, his mother had cooked meals, run the house, taken care of the twins.”
“He could have hired a nanny for that.”
“Well, maybe he was attracted to me, as well. But I don’t believe he ever loved me. I don’t see how he could have loved Daisy, either. Maybe he just isn’t capable of caring about other people.” She frowned into her teacup. “Though, I must admit, he does seem to love his children. And his parents.”
“You want my advice?” Stella asked. “Don’t try to figure him out. Men like that aren’t worth the trouble. You’re free of him now, and that’s what matters.”
“What about the kids, though, Stella? Chester, and especially Cory, were just starting to trust me. And now I’m going to walk out on them?”
Stella sighed. “No. I’m not suggesting you do that. If Kyle is arrested and ends up in prison, someone’s going to have to look after them, aren’t they?”
* * *
Dougal held Charlotte until she fell asleep in his arms. Once he’d finished giving his statement at the Sheriff’s Office, Charlotte asked him to bring her home, and then she’d asked him not to leave. So he was staying.
This thing with the librarian had snuck up on him. He wasn’t sure how. And he sure as hell didn’t expect it to last. But who the hell knew. Maybe it would.
When Charlotte had been asleep for over half an hour, he slipped away from her, got dressed, and went out to her porch. The sound of the ocean was a comfort tonight, but he couldn’t help thinking that somewhere in this country—possibly in the very town of Twisted Cedars, Librarianmomma was plotting her next move.
Was she, right this moment, thinking of Dougal the way Dougal was thinking of her?
Maybe. From the tone of the emails it was clear this weirdo was t
rying to make a connection with him.
On that thought...in that moment...time seemed to halt.
There was another person in this world who had tried hard to establish a connection with him, only to fail time and time again. His father.
He’d written letters and emails when he was in prison, then again when he was released. Dougal had always refused to respond.
Was there any chance in hell that Librarianmomma and his father could be one and the same? When was his father born? Dougal remembered there had been five years between his mother and father’s birth years. Katie had been born in 1955. Which meant his Dad had been born in 1950—the same year as Shirley’s baby.
Rage began to boil in Dougal’s blood. Damn it, if this hunch of his was correct, he’d been manipulated like a warm ball of putty. But his father couldn’t have pulled this off alone. And suddenly Dougal was sure he knew who was helping him.
* * *
The light was on in Amos’s workshop when Dougal pulled up in the back alley. It was almost eleven o’clock at night. As he left his vehicle he could hear soft strains of country music—probably the same radio station Amos had listened to eighteen years ago. Through the window, Dougal could see the man he’d viewed as a father-surrogate sanding a wooden table.
He wondered if the reason Amos couldn’t sleep, was the same reason he was here right now. Avoiding the rain puddles on the old pavement, Dougal made his way to the side door, which he’d used so often as a child it was automatic to give the extra tug it took to open it.
The smell of the place was familiar, too, a combination of wood, paint and oil. Amos still kept a tidy shop. The shelves were crammed-full, but organized and the cement floor looked clean under the new layer of sawdust.
Dougal hadn’t knocked, and Amos was so startled he dropped his sander. His wide, frightened eyes settled down when he saw who it was.
Amos reached over to turn off the radio. “It’s late son. You here to check on your sister?”
He hadn’t been. But now he wondered. “Is she okay?”
Buried (Twisted Cedars Mysteries Book 1) Page 21
