Juniper Grove Cozy Mystery Box Set 2

by Karin Kaufman

  “Sounds good. I’ll meet you there at five.”

  Gilroy turned to walk off, but I called him back and asked him if he knew Royce Putnam. Julia was interested in him, I explained, cautioning him that this was between us. “Is he an okay guy? He used to work at Town Hall.”

  “Royce? Yeah, as far as I know he’s okay. He’s never been in any trouble with the law since I’ve been in Juniper Grove. Did he ask her to the dance?”

  “No, he’s going with someone named Andrea Miller. I’ve never met her.”

  “And Julia’s still interested in him?”

  “I know it sounds like a lost cause, but she really likes him, and she’s been so lonely lately. I’m hoping Royce can be won over.”

  “Well, in my opinion he couldn’t do any better than Julia.”

  “Agreed.” I slammed my door shut. “I’m off to Town Hall. She’s still working on the dance decorations.”

  “I’m heading there myself. Anika Mays and I need to talk.”

  “Ask her if she owns a wig or colors her hair.”

  Gilroy chuckled, and as he started down the sidewalk, he took my hand. A public display of affection. I tried not to smile too broadly as we walked. My world was right again. Well, not right, but relatively unruffled. There was still the matter of Brigit’s murder and the thefts at Town Hall.

  Inside the building, Gilroy headed for the Records Section and I took a right and made for the boardroom. They were all there—Julia, Cassie, Charlie, and Royce—heads down, weaving garlands of paper flowers.

  “There you are,” Julia said, glancing up as I sat across from her. “Want to help?”

  “I’d make a mess of it,” I replied. I shot a look at Royce. His expression told me he was sitting on an especially juicy bit of news and was about to burst with it.

  He pushed back his chair and stood. “Miss Stowe, could I ask your opinion on a decorating matter? It’s the doorway to the boardroom.”

  “What’s on the doorway?” Julia asked, bewildered. “There’s nothing on the doorway.”

  “That’s just it,” Royce said. He extended his hand toward the door, inviting me to walk ahead of him.

  When Julia made a move to follow, Royce shook his head. “You stay here. I need an outsider’s eye.”

  “Well fine,” Julia said, shifting her attention back to her work. “Fine. I’ll just keep at this garland. Someone needs to finish it.”

  I knew that tone. My friend wasn’t angry, she was hurt. Goodness knows what she thought Royce and I were up to.

  Once we were on the other side of the boardroom door, Royce quickly spilled the beans. “I made a detour on my way here and talked to Wayne,” he said, talking excitedly. “Just like I thought, he was at work. He even has a showing today. Anyway, I asked him straight out about the hairs. And here’s the interesting thing. He insists the dark hairs belonged to his sister, who stayed at their house shortly after New Year’s Day. He claims he told Brigit that too.”

  “Does he have a sister?”

  “Yes, and she was here after New Year’s. I saw them together at Wyatt’s. Brigit was there too. You see, I’d met her before, so I knew who she was. Her name is Lisa, and she does indeed have dark hair. Apparently she colors it.”

  I frowned. “But . . . Charlie. When Wayne told Charlie about Brigit finding the hairs, didn’t he explain that they were his sister’s?”

  Royce gave me a vigorous nod. “Yes, yes. It’s very strange. Wayne confirmed that he told Charlie about the hairs, but he says he also told him that Brigit was way off base because they were Lisa’s. According to Wayne, Brigit should have known better. He thinks she was using the hairs as an excuse to accuse him of cheating on her.”

  “So why would Charlie leave out that crucial piece of information?”

  His shoulders rose in a shrug. “He didn’t believe the hairs belonged to Lisa? He thought Wayne was lying about whose they were? Though I have a hunch Charlie knew Wayne’s sister was in town. Even if they didn’t run into each other, Brigit would’ve told Anika that Lisa was here, and Anika would’ve told Charlie. Those two couples shared everything.”

  They certainly did, I thought. “I don’t think Cassie would mind me telling you this. It’ll come out anyway. She said Charlie and Brigit were having an affair. She caught them kissing.”

  Royce looked as though he’d just take a bite of rotten egg. “What is wrong with people? Do marriage vows mean nothing anymore?”

  “Not to some people. Should we go back inside?”

  “The door . . . Julia will ask.”

  “Put a big red ribbon on it. Or a big red heart.”

  “They’ll prop the door open, and no one will see it. I forgot.”

  “Then put a big red bow above the doorway.”

  “Good idea. Do you know why Julia’s being so sour tempered lately? Is it what we talked about? Her serving punch, I mean.”

  “Ask her.”

  “I don’t dare.”

  “Trust me, Royce. You don’t dare not ask her.”

  As if on cue, Julia flung open the door, her nose in the air, her lips pursed in a thin line. “Have you two made your executive decision about the door? You might tell us worker bees so we have time to execute your plan.”

  Royce, again missing the true point of a conversation with Julia, said, “We thought a big red bow above the door would be nice.”

  Julia stared. “That’s your plan? That’s what you’ve been talking about for ten minutes?”

  Royce squinted at his wristwatch. “I think it’s been more like five, Julia.”

  “To talk about a bow? A bow that committee members should be discussing?”

  Royce spread his hands in a gesture of innocence. “We can ask them now. We can ask you, Julia. What do you think about a red bow? Or do you think it should it be pink? Both pink and red are Valentine colors. White is too, when you come down to it.”

  Julia turned her eyes—like turret guns targeting their prey—on me. “You’re not discussing a ridiculous bow or what color it should be. How stupid do you think I am? But if you can’t be honest with me, I understand. I’m just the old neighbor. I’ve got one foot in the grave.”

  “Oh, Julia, it’s not that,” I said. “You know I’m always honest with you.”

  “What do you mean by old?” Royce said. “You’re younger than I am.”

  Julia huffed. “Yes, I am, Royce Putnam. And a lot livelier.”

  CHAPTER 12

  I left Royce, as baffled as ever, outside the boardroom door and tried to follow Julia out of the building, but by the time I made it to the sidewalk, she had disappeared. Lively was an understatement. My friend could move with the speed of a thirty-year-old when she was peeved.

  Thinking it was best to give her time to calm down before I told her what Royce and I had really been talking about, I headed back to the boardroom to see if I could shake a few trees and see what coconuts fell out of them. This case would break only when I stopped tiptoeing around. When Charlie flashed me a shifty smile as I approached the decorating table, I knew he would be my first tree.

  “So it looks like we’re going to have a bow above the door,” Charlie said. “Would you like to make it, Rachel?”

  No, Charlie, I wouldn’t. I plopped into a chair across from his. “I’m not good at bows.”

  “I can do it,” Cassie said as she tied the end of a white paper flower to the garland stretched down the middle of the table.

  “You sure can,” Royce said. “Judging by the bows on your Christmas presents, you could have your own show on TV.”

  “The decorating committee didn’t have any say in this,” Charlie sniffed.

  “Oh for heaven’s sake,” Cassie said, “it’s just a bow, and we all agree it’s a good idea to decorate the entry with something.”

  Charlie raised a quizzical brow. “Did we agree? I must have been out of the room at the time.”

  Cassie shot a withering look at Charlie. Wisely, he clammed up, snat
ched up a flower, and started tying it to the garland.

  There was no graceful way to broach the subject, so I did what I always did: I jumped in with both feet. Though I did my best to leave Royce out of it. “So I’ve been investigating Brigit Gundersen’s claim that her husband was cheating on her with a dark-haired woman,” I began.

  Cassie’s head jerked.

  “From what I’ve been able to find, this woman might not exist.”

  Cassie cooed. “Really? Brigit was so sure.”

  “Brigit may have found dark hairs, but it’s possible they had nothing to do with Wayne’s affair.”

  “But there was a woman, whatever color hair she had,” Cassie said. “I’m positive Brigit was right about Wayne cheating on her.”

  “I think she was right too,” I said. “Wayne was cheating on her. But fair is fair. Brigit was cheating on him.”

  Cassie drew in her breath.

  Neither Royce nor Charlie said anything for a second, and then Charlie snorted derisively.

  “Yes, Charlie?” I said.

  “You can’t possibly know that,” he replied. “Wayne was the cheater in that marriage.”

  “But I do know that,” I said. Time to pile on the pressure. Had he truly loved Brigit? Would he defend her at the risk of exposing himself? “I imagine a lot of people in town know that, and eventually it will come out in the light of day.”

  Charlie dropped his hands to the table, giving up any pretense of concentrating on the garland. “Brigit was the innocent in that marriage. Wayne played around. She was the victim.”

  “I thought both Wayne and Brigit were your friends,” I said.

  “They were. Wayne still is. But that didn’t make me blind to what was happening. Wayne can be a louse. This dark-haired woman—or whatever her color of hair—wasn’t his first affair.” He jabbed a finger at me. “Six months into his marriage, he cheated on Brigit. Cheating was in his DNA. Wake up and smell the coffee.”

  Royce sighed and ran the palm of his hand down his jaw. “Come on, Charlie. Calm down.”

  I pressed on. “Cheating must have been in Brigit’s DNA too.”

  “Maybe she’d had enough,” Charlie said. “You get cheated on, you get tired of being the faithful one. Two can play at the cheating game.”

  “It’s not a game,” Royce said, shaking his head sadly. “Vows should mean something, no matter how long you’ve been married.”

  Charlie’s change in tack hadn’t escaped my notice. No longer was he denying that Brigit had cheated on Wayne. Now he was simply excusing her actions.

  “So to get some payback on Wayne,” I said, preparing to strike below the belt, “Brigit picked a random man to have an affair with? She used some poor fool?”

  Charlie’s eyes were hard with anger. “That would make Brigit a fool too. Which she was not.”

  “She wasn’t if the poor guy she used served her purpose. That would make her quite clever.”

  Cassie spoke up, her voice hesitant and weak. “Brigit could be . . . a little selfish . . . sometimes.”

  Charlie ignored Cassie and again changed tack. “Who made you an expert on this, Rachel Stowe? Why are we supposed to believe you? You hardly knew Brigit, and you’re making assumptions you have zero business making. It’s absurd.”

  He was like a tap dancer, dancing first this way and then the other, studiously avoiding asking me who I thought Brigit’s lover had been. But he couldn’t ask me. For all he knew, I’d blurt out, You, Charlie.

  Luckily, Cassie chimed in again. “Charlie, almost everyone who knew Brigit knew she was having an affair.”

  Charlie thrust out his chin. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “You can’t keep things like that secret in a small town.”

  “Have you considered that Brigit isn’t here to defend herself?” Charlie said. “Putting blame on the dead is easy.”

  Royce, who had stopped tying flowers to the garland, flopped back in his chair. He looked like a man having trouble digesting this unsavory bit of news about a former friend, even though I’d broken the news to him. “I knew nothing. Why was I so blind? Are you sure about this, Cassie?”

  “Positive,” Cassie said.

  “Then the police should know,” he said. “The police must know.”

  “I’ll tell them,” Cassie said.

  The muscles in Charlie’s jaw tightened.

  “The police may have already worked it out,” I said.

  “And if not, you’ll be sure to set them right?” Charlie snapped. “Make trash of a dead woman’s reputation.” He stood abruptly, his chair’s legs scraping across the floor. “And you, Royce. Sitting here like one of the hens, spreading unfounded rumors. I need to get myself some good, strong coffee. I’ve got a bad taste in my mouth.” He stormed out, his footsteps echoing in the large room.

  After the boardroom door shut behind Charlie, Cassie laid a hand on Royce’s shoulder. “Did you know about Brigit’s affair?”

  Royce tossed his head in my direction. “That’s part of what Rachel and I were talking about. Not decorations for the door.”

  “I didn’t think you’d mind me saying,” I added, “since Royce and I are pooling our resources.”

  Cassie gave her father-in-law a nudge with her elbow. “You finally have your own mystery.”

  “It’s just too bad it involves Brigit.”

  “I know. I didn’t mean to sound heartless.”

  “It can’t hurt her now,” Royce said, “and she’d want us to solve this.”

  “Rachel, do you think the police have figured out that Charlie and Brigit were having an affair?” Cassie asked.

  I hesitated to answer. I’d just told Gilroy about it, but I wasn’t sure I wanted Cassie to know that. Within hours of her telling me about Brigit and Charlie’s dalliance, I’d spread the news to both Gilroy and Royce? It made me seem . . . overly eager to gossip—and with news she’d unearthed, at that. “Chief Gilroy knows,” I said after a moment. “We bumped into each other, and I always let him know if I hear anything valuable having to do with a case.”

  To my surprise, Cassie didn’t mind in the least. “What a relief! Then I won’t have to tell him.”

  “He may want to talk to you later, but I don’t think you have to stop by the station or call him. He’ll let you know. In the meantime,” I said, rising to my feet, “I need to find Julia.”

  “When you do, send her back,” Cassie said. “We’re down two committee members now, with just a few hours to go.”

  “And please tell her why we were talking outside the room,” Royce said. “I don’t want her to think I don’t value her opinion, and I’m afraid that’s what she thinks. I offended her.”

  “Trouble is, she values your opinion, Royce,” I said.

  Royce the Confused narrowed his eyes. “We value each other’s opinion.”

  “You think alike,” I said. “Two peas in a pod.”

  I left it at that. So far I’d done everything short of telling Royce straight out that Julia liked him more than raspberry scones. I could go no further.

  Suspecting that Julia had driven home to Finch Hill Road, I did the same. After parking the car in my shed, I headed into my house, went out through my front door, walked next door, and mounted the porch steps to Julia’s house. She must have seen me coming—she often sat sentinel by her living-room window—because she answered my knock quickly.

  “I’m sorry about my temper tantrum,” she said before I could get a word in. “You must think I’m a word we’re both too ladylike to use.”

  “It never even crossed my mind.” I grinned, relieved that we were back to normal—and that all it had taken was a handful of words. We were friends. A few words were all we needed.

  “I’m such an idiot,” she went on, waving me inside and shutting the door. “My first thought was that Royce took you outside to ask you on a date.”

  I whipped back to face her. “Huh? Julia, for goodness’ sakes, have you lost your mind?”r />
  “I know, I know.” She waved me through the living room and into her kitchen. “Men can make you ditzy. Why do we let them?”

  Settling into a chair at her kitchen table, I let go with an exaggerated sigh of contentment and said, “Because most of them are wonderful.”

  Julia headed straight for the coffeemaker, and while she made a fresh pot, I explained why Royce had taken me aside. And I told her what he had discovered about Wayne’s sister, Lisa, and how that perhaps solved the dark-haired woman mystery. “But why would Brigit accuse Wayne of having an affair with a dark-haired woman when she knew his sister had visited?” I said, thinking aloud. “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Because there was another dark-haired woman?” Julia said, joining me at the table.

  “I don’t think so. I believe Brigit saw an opportunity to go after Wayne and took it. Anything to punish him. Maybe she was even pretending she didn’t know who he was cheating with when she talked to me. I’m guessing she was certain.”

  “This is all very confusing.”

  “That’s what I thought until I talked to Charlie in the boardroom,” I said. “Then I thought about it as I drove home. And now I’m afraid it’s becoming very clear.”

  The coffeemaker gurgled as it reached the end of its brew. Julia rose, pulled cups from a cupboard, and began to pour. “It’s not clear at all. You’ve lost me down the winding path.”

  “Think about it, Julia. It’s obvious. We know three people were having an affair. Wayne, Charlie, and Brigit.”

  “That much I can figure out.”

  “So who does that leave out?”

  Her back to me, Julia froze for an instant. Then she set the coffeepot on the counter and turned. “Tell me you’re joking, Rachel.”

  CHAPTER 13

  “I can’t believe it,” Julia said. “Not in my wildest dreams did I think Anika would cheat on her husband. She and Charlie seem so happy together.”

  “She can’t be the only faithful one out of the two couples,” I said, shaking my head. “She knew Wayne was cheating on Brigit, and she had to have known that Charlie was cheating on her. After all, if Cassie knew, then Anika knew. She lived with him.”