Murdered by News

by Dianne Harman

  She wanted to wait for Blaine to arrive before she went in the house. He parked Tyler’s car and hopped into the passenger seat next to Kat. She said, “How surreal is this? If someone had told us we’d be going to Ashlee Nelson’s home today, what would we have said?”

  “That they were completely and utterly crazy,” Blaine said. “Goes to show, you just never know where life’s going to take you.”

  They both got out of the car and walked towards the front of the house. As Lacie opened the front door they saw Tyler shepherding a still-distraught Ashlee up the stairs.

  “Her whole world’s been torn apart,” Kat whispered under her breath, and at the same time tried to imagine how she’d feel if Blaine were murdered. In that moment, she couldn’t muster up any animosity towards Ashlee whatsoever. Ashlee’s pain was raw and touched her too deeply for that.

  Tyler made a ‘go through’ gesture at them behind Ashlee’s shaking back, pointing them towards the kitchen.

  Lacie stood at the kitchen counter. “Come on in,” Lacie said. “Do you want a drink? I was just starting to make a cup of coffee for Tyler.”

  “Thanks, sweetie,” Kat said. “A cup of coffee would be wonderful.”

  “Make that three,” Blaine said. “Or four, if you’re having one, too.”

  Lacie let out a long sigh as she set about getting the cups together. It took a while, since she didn’t know the kitchen that well, having only been to the house on brief visits in the past, and so she had to search around through various cupboards. “Four coffees, coming right up,” she finally said. Her voice was somewhat cheerful, but it didn’t seem all that strange to Kat. Sometimes Lacie had a tendency to put on a smiling front in the midst of disaster as a way to hold herself together.

  Blaine and Kat sat on stools at the kitchen island, and they all drifted off into silence for several long moments. The only sound in the kitchen being the clink of coffee cups and spoons as Lacie finished making the coffee. Kat was watching Lacie and thinking how out of place her beautiful jade-colored graduation dress looked now. All that seemed a universe away.

  Tyler entered the kitchen and looked like he’d aged ten years in just a couple hours. His face was haggard, his posture stooped and resigned.

  “Here’s your coffee, babe,” Lacie said, placing his filled cup on the island.

  “Thank you,” he said as he took his coffee and leaned against a wall. He looked so floppy and lethargic Kat was worried his legs would give out, and he’d slide down, splashing coffee all over himself and the white wall. “Looks like it’s just me and Ashlee now,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” Blaine asked.

  Tyler sighed and stared into his coffee cup. “My parents both died during my first year of college. They were older by the time they had us. Especially me, since I was eight years younger than Ashlee.” He sighed again, a long drawn out one, then swallowed. His voice wavered as he went on, “After they died, Ashlee and Chance… became like parents to me.”

  He gestured around the room. “This is where I came for every holiday. Ashlee and I couldn’t take care of the ranch, so we leased it out. This is my base, you know. This is where I go when the world gets too tough, and I can’t figure things out.” He glanced around the room, looking like a man haunted. “I see Chance everywhere I look. He should be here.” He choked back a sob.

  Lacie began talking in a businesslike tone. Again, Kat knew she was trying to stop herself from bursting into tears. “Tyler, we need to call the station and get someone to stand in for Ashlee. She’s in no condition to repeat the news right now.”

  “You’re right,” Tyler said, looking pained. He took out his cell phone, placed it on the island, hit the ‘Speaker’ button, and plopped down on one of the stools as if he’d lost all the support bones in his body.

  He was told by the station receptionist that Ashlee’s producer had taken the day off for her daughter’s graduation, and he should call Randy Bryan.

  “Thanks,” Tyler grunted back. Then he punched the ‘End Call’ button and said, “That doughboy? He makes me sick.”

  Lacie reached out and rubbed him on the back, trying to comfort him.

  Kat wondered what Tyler’s problem was with Randy. She’d seen Randy repeat the news on many occasions. He was pale, overweight, and lacked any pizzazz, but there was a real venom in Tyler’s voice that signified something else must have taken place for him to react like that.

  “Sure, I’ll do it,” Randy said when Tyler eventually got through to him. It had taken Tyler several tries, and Randy explained he’d been on the phone with his mother. “I’ll be glad to step up to the plate.” Then, after a pause, he said, “I’ll do anything I can to help during this tough time.” His voice was softer, but it sounded insincere.

  “Well, thanks, Randy,” Tyler said, screwing up his nose as if there was a bad smell coming from the other end of the phone. Then, as soon as the call ended, he said, “Well, he doesn’t give a darn, does he? He sounds delighted about ‘stepping up to the plate’. He’s probably glad Chance is dead, so he can finally get a shot at Ashlee’s job. Don’t you just hate people like that… people who only think about themselves and how something will work to their own benefit?”

  “Yes,” Lacie said soothingly. Then she gently nudged his hand toward his coffee, as if encouraging him to take a sip and stay calm.

  He managed a small tight little smile for her. Kat loved to see the look in their eyes as they gazed at each other. To Kat, it definitely looked like it was true love.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Do you have a lot of people to call?” Kat asked, as she saw Tyler staring down at his phone where it lay on the kitchen island.

  Tyler exhaled a long slow breath and shook his head from side to side. He screwed up his eyes and blinked a couple of times. “I’m not sure, I’m trying to think. In all honesty, Ashlee doesn’t have that many friends, and I don’t know who to call for Chance. I’ll have to call his parents, of course, but I’m not sure how to get hold of them. They’ve moved to the Virgin Islands and have a sailboat. Sometimes they’re on land, other times they’re out cruising. I don’t know…”

  “Do you and Ashlee have any other relatives?” Blaine asked. “Maybe they can help out?”

  “We have some shirttail relatives in Montana,” Tyler said. “But they’re not close. I don’t even know where they live.” He looked completely clueless. “I don’t even know what I’m going to do now.”

  Everyone fell silent as they thought about the situation. Lacie ran her hand up and down Tyler’s arm comfortingly. A dreadful thought suddenly hit Kat out of nowhere, like a lightning bolt. What if the murderer wasn’t done? It seemed far more likely that the killer had a grudge against Ashlee rather than Chance, because Ashlee had made so many enemies over the years. Maybe Chance had just been an appetizer. Ashlee might very well be the main course.

  “Are you staying here tonight, Lacie?” she blurted out before she could formulate her feelings into anything coherent.

  “Yes,” Lacie said instantly. “I’m not going back to the sorority house tonight. I want to help Ashlee and Tyler.”

  “Okay,” Kat said. She glanced over at Tyler, who looked spaced out and totally rundown. He was staring off into thin air, his eyes seemingly full of ghosts. “I think we’ll go now,” Kat said. “Just be careful, please. Lock all the doors. Secure all the windows and put the AC on instead of leaving the windows open. Promise?”

  Tyler snapped out of his daze. “We will,” he said. “Thank you for everything. I appreciate it, and I know Ashlee appreciates it too.”

  “You’re welcome,” Blaine said, and shook his hand. “If either of you need anything, we’re only a phone call away.”

  Kat hugged Lacie. She wanted to say “Happy Graduation Day,” but given the circumstances, it seemed inappropriate. So instead she said, “I’m proud of you, Lacie.”

  When Kat and Blaine were in the car, Kat allowed her worries to spill out. “Bl
aine,” she said, “what if the killer only started with Chance? What if he really wants Ashlee? After all, she’s the one…”

  “With more enemies,” he said, finishing her sentence. “I know, I thought of that, too.”

  Kat looked up at the Nelson home as they pulled out of the driveway. “I hope they’re safe tonight.” She was looking for an open window, or a drainpipe that someone could climb up, and hoped they’d take her advice seriously about safely securing the house.

  “I think I’ll call Chief Moore,” Blaine said, “just to put your mind at ease. I’ve got a gut feeling the killer’s completed their work, but there’s a slight possibility you could be right.”

  Kat allowed herself to relax a little. “What makes you think that?”

  Blaine leaned back in the driver’s seat and drove slowly. “I’m not entirely sure… I think it’s the fire extinguisher being the murder weapon. I mean, we know it was probably planned because of the threatening calls, but I’m beginning to believe it was a spur-of-the-moment murder. You know, the final act. Like it had always been planned, but not for that particular day. I think the killer is probably reeling right now. This wasn’t a planned hit, or an experienced murderer. That’s my feeling. Don’t worry. Whoever the killer is, he or she is probably rocking in a corner somewhere, wondering what on earth they’ve done, hoping and praying they don’t get caught.”

  He sounded convincing. Kat relaxed back in her seat. “I sure hope you’re right. I’ll message Lacie just the same and remind her to make sure all the windows are shut when they sleep tonight. Then I’ll feel better.”

  “I’ll mention your concerns to the chief when I talk to him,” Blaine said. “I think it’s always best to cover all the bases.”

  Kat looked over at him and smiled warmly. He always made her feel safe and secure. After she’d texted Lacie to remind her again, Kat began to think about the day. What stood out the most in her head was Ashlee’s harrowing cries.

  “I feel really sad for Ashlee,” Kat said. “You wouldn’t wish any of this on your worst enemy, would you?”

  “No,” Blaine said. “I think everything in the past has to be water under the bridge from now on.”

  “I agree,” Kat said. “My heart almost split in two when we heard her wailing like that. It made me think…” She almost swallowed her words. “It made me think… imagine if that ever happened to you. I’d be completely and totally broken.” A lump rose up in her throat as she imagined it, and her eyes became hot.

  Blaine laughed. “Oh, darling, what a thing to think.”

  “I know. Even the thought is awful. And the reality. We can’t even begin to understand what Ashlee must be going through right now. It truly must be a hell on earth.”

  “Indeed.” Blaine nodded gravely. “Indeed.”

  Later that evening, Kat called Mitzi to thank her for the brunch.

  “You’re so welcome, Kat. It’s just a shame it all had to end like it did. What a tragedy. I really feel for Lacie. And Tyler, he seemed like such a nice young man. Is he coping okay?”

  “I think so,” Kat said. “Lacie’s staying with him to help him take care of Ashlee. They don’t have any other family.”

  “Aww, that’s a shame,” Mitzi said. “When things are going well, people don’t notice that, but in the tough times, there’s no one to rally round.”

  “That’s true,” Kat said. She also couldn’t help thinking that there would be plenty more people coming over to help if Ashlee hadn’t antagonized just about everyone she had ever come into contact with.

  “Oh, by the way, I saw Ashlee’s replacement on the news,” Mitzi said. “Covering the story, of course. He was outside the newspaper offices. Randy what’s-his-face.”

  “Randy Bryan,” Kat filled in.

  “Yes, that’s him. He was dreadful. He looked like a beached white whale.”

  Despite the whole situation, Kat had to chuckle a little at that one. “Well, you can’t expect him to be cheerful, given what’s going on.”

  “No, perhaps not,” Mitzi said. “But he was just putting me to sleep. Even though Ashlee has the ethics of a snake oil salesman, she’s a lot better at news broadcasting than he is.”

  “Hopefully she’ll be back on our screens before too long,” Kat said. That was something she’d never imagined herself saying, but she really did want Ashlee to make a full emotional recovery. Kat knew what it was like to have a husband die. Even though her own husband, Lacie’s father, hadn’t been murdered, it had still felt like her whole world had come crashing to an end. She’d had to claw her way back to gain even a semblance of normalcy at first, otherwise it felt like she was free falling down some black hole.

  “Mmm,” Mitzi said, who was well aware of all Ashlee’s accusations toward Blaine. “And I hope she’ll have learned some humility by the time she returns to our TV screens.”

  Kat nodded. “Me too.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Kat normally liked to be up, dressed, and preparing breakfast by 7:00 a.m., but today, she was awakened by her cell phone at a few minutes past eight. Blaine woke up with a start, too, and looked over at the alarm clock.

  “We’ve really overslept,” he said blearily.

  “Yes,” Kat agreed, rubbing her eyes. She picked the phone up off the nightstand, saw that it was Lacie calling, and said, “Hi, darling,” as she struggled to become fully awake. “How are you? How’s Tyler? How’s Ashlee?”

  Lacie sounded grave. “Well, that’s why I’m calling. Can you come over?”

  “Of course,” Kat said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. “What’s going on?”

  “It’s too long to explain,” Lacie said. “No one’s died or anything. Everyone’s fine… well, as fine as they can be. But… we’d rather talk to you in person.”

  “Okay.” Kat quickly tried, as best she could, to come up with how long it would take her to whiz through breakfast, feed the dogs, and drive over to the Nelson home before she said, “I’ll be there in an hour, maybe a little less. Bye, honey.” She hurried to make her side of the bed, as Blaine rolled out of his side. “They want to speak to me in person and asked that I go over there. It sounded like everything was okay, but I’ll just have to wait and see what they want to talk about.”

  “Did she give you any idea what it’s about?” he asked.

  “No,” she said. “I just need to shower, eat breakfast, feed the dogs, and hurry over there to find out.”

  “Okay,” Blaine said. “Let me help. I’ll fix breakfast while you’re in the shower.”

  Kat smiled. “Deal.”

  Less than half an hour later, she’d dressed, eaten her fried eggs and avocado on toast, fed Jazz and Rudy, and kissed Blaine goodbye.

  “Let me know what’s happening,” he said. “Call me if you need me, love.”

  “I will, to both,” Kat replied, rushing out the door, carrying her coffee in a travel cup.

  A simple drive across town had never seemed so long. She switched on the radio, but she couldn’t concentrate. When she’d been busy getting ready, her mind had been occupied, but now, as she drove the quiet streets of Lindsay, her thoughts wandered and meandered into dark corners. She wondered if everything was really okay? Or had Lacie just said that to prevent Kat from worrying too much? Kat looked down at the odometer, realized she was speeding, and slowed down. The last thing she needed was to be stopped and issued a citation for speeding.

  When she reached the Nelson home, Lacie answered the door, looking somewhat disheveled. She had on a robe, her hair had clearly not been brushed, and the dark circles under her eyes were accentuated by her smudged graduation eye makeup.

  “Good morning, sweetie,” Kat said, giving her a hug.

  “Hi, mom,” Lacie said wearily.

  Kat followed Lacie into the kitchen where Tyler was fixing coffee. He looked as bad as Lacie did. His fair skin was pale and his eyes were circled with dark rings. “Hello, Ms. Denham,” he said, his voice dragging. “W
ould you like some coffee?”

  “Yes, please, Tyler,” Kat said. Her unfinished cup from earlier was still in the car. She followed Lacie’s lead and sat at the kitchen island. She looked carefully at both of them, but there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. Although they both looked like they hadn’t slept all night, other than that, they looked fairly normal. She couldn’t hold back her worry any longer and said, “So, is everything okay?”

  “Yes,” Lacie said. “I asked you over here because Ashlee wants to speak with you.”