Last Pen Standing

by Vivian Conroy

  It seemed he had been pretty much under her spell, anyway, continuing with their dancing sessions while his wife, Amanda, didn’t like it.

  She said to Ray, “I need to know everything you know about Vera White. However small or insignificant it might seem to you. It could help Hazel’s case.”

  “I’m not sure anything can help Hazel’s case.”

  The flat tone of his voice punched Delta in the gut. “How do you mean? You don’t think she murdered… That can’t be. She was with me the entire time when we cleaned up after the workshop. We left the boardroom together and then…”

  “She didn’t kill anyone, of course. But she did decide to cover for Finn. And Finn could be guilty.” Ray rubbed his hands together.

  Delta felt a little doubt niggle inside her own heart. She didn’t know Finn at all.

  “Isabel must know Finn better than most of you,” she tried. “What does she think about the murder?”

  Ray looked past her. “Isabel wouldn’t tell me anything.”

  Then what were you two talking about when I came upon you? Delta wanted to ask but realized Ray wouldn’t reveal that to her anyway. Where he was obviously not close to Rosalyn, he was just as obviously protective of his little sister, Isabel.

  She spread her hands in a pleading gesture. “Is there anything about last night that you noticed, anything odd or…that you can tell me?”

  Ray shook his head. “It was a perfectly nice little party. Too many people asked me what I intend to do now that I’m back in town. I tried to avoid them, as I have really no idea yet, but I didn’t want to tell them that. I danced too much and drank too little. That champagne Rosalyn managed to get was quite good.”

  He pointed a finger at Delta in feigned excitement. “Hey, that could be it. Maybe Vera White was trying to steal our champagne when someone caught her and killed her.”

  “Not funny.”

  “Seriously, though, what was she doing in the bar when it was closed for the night? Why wasn’t she with her husband or dancing the night away? Why leave the party, on your own, and wander into a closed room? I mean, the door into the bar probably wasn’t locked or anything, but it was clear that people weren’t supposed to go there during the party.”

  Good point, Delta admitted. So far, no one had asked what Vera had wanted in the hotel bar. But Delta bet that if she raised the point with the sheriff, he’d claim Finn had lured her there somehow.

  She looked at Ray again. “And the box with valuables your father put in the hotel safe?”

  “What?”

  “The hotel safe. Your father put some valuables in there for Vera White. I overheard the hotel clerk mentioning it when I was in the lobby.”

  “Oh, Dad might have. Nothing special. Guests often put larger amounts of cash, jewelry, etc. in the safe. Dad or Rosalyn puts it in and gives it back by the time the guests leave again, or earlier if they need it. They don’t”—he smiled at her—“investigate what is inside those boxes or pouches the guests hand over. I bet you want to know what was in Vera White’s, huh?”

  His tone piqued Delta. He was being way too frivolous about something that could ruin her best friend’s life. “Not because I’m nosy or anything. Only because it might help the case.” She didn’t want to say Finn had specifically asked about it, had even seemed anxious about it.

  “I don’t see how.” Ray shrugged. “But anyway, the police have the box now. They took it away this morning.”

  Delta narrowed her eyes. “Not last night, right after the murder?”

  “No, how come?”

  “Between last night and this morning, someone might have opened the safe and taken something from the box.”

  Ray shifted weight. “Who would do that? And why?”

  Before Delta could say anything, he continued, “Regardless, I suppose the police won’t be able to determine what was in it when Vera handed it in. She’s the only one who knew, and she can’t tell anymore.”

  Was there a certain grim satisfaction in his voice, or was that just Delta’s imagination?

  She took a deep breath. The lingering pine scent calmed her high-strung nerves once more. She shouldn’t have gone head-to-head with him in quite this fashion, but what else was she to do? Rosalyn would certainly not want to talk to her and tell her anything, so she needed Ray’s help to sort out what had happened at the hotel during Vera’s stay there. Even if he wasn’t honest about his own role in everything, he might reveal things about others that were important.

  Maybe a different approach would do the trick. Not being confrontational but acting helpless. It wasn’t really Delta’s style, but it might just work with a man who was confident about his own abilities. She smiled ruefully. “I’m sorry. I’m just out of my depth with this whole situation. I have to run the shop now, and I know next to nothing about retail. I had counted on Hazel showing me the ropes during my first few days out here, and suddenly I’m left to do it all alone. There were two reporters waiting for me as I arrived, asking all of these questions and…”

  “Never tell them anything.” Ray leaned over and took a confidential tone, “Believe me, if you do say something, it just gets twisted around and thrown back into your face. You better not comment at all. Let them write what they want. It will die down.”

  Delta held his gaze, eager for more, but Ray pulled back and stretched himself, rolling his shoulders. “I have an engagement to go boating. And no, not with a woman, but with five teenagers. See you later.”

  He put the sunglasses back on and walked off, with the same controlled elegance Delta had observed earlier. Here was a man who knew his own body inside and out. Who watched his step and wouldn’t soon slip up.

  A man who would kill if it could save him from disaster?

  But why? His career was over anyway. A revelation about an affair with a married woman couldn’t harm him anymore.

  Still, it was odd he had given Vera a present. Why had she come here? Had she known this was the Taylor hotel, and Ray was staying here now? Had her husband and brother and sister-in-law not known, but she had? Had it been a setup? The seemingly coincidental meeting…and then?

  It didn’t seem to make sense. Unless Vera had been the kind of woman who couldn’t accept Ray turning down her proposition and who had decided he had to be punished for his refusal.

  A metallic snipping sound made Delta turn her head. Isabel stood at a hedge, randomly cutting off protruding twigs. Her gestures were frantic and her choices illogical. She was still wearing her riding outfit. Delta wasn’t sure when Isabel had appeared and how much of the conversation she might have overheard, or at least tried to overhear. Apparently, she hadn’t been fully confident that Ray would handle it.

  Determined to use this opportunity to talk to her, Delta walked over quickly. A little chat about the garden could serve to break the ice before she introduced herself. “You’d better leave that to a gardener. I cut a box hedge wrong once and it was totally ruined.” Gran had been furious, then had laughed until tears ran down her cheeks.

  Gran! She had promised to snap some pics of Wanted for her. She should do it as soon as she was back at the shop.

  Isabel looked at her. “I know what I’m doing.” Her voice was unstable.

  Delta waited a few moments while the erratic pruning continued. She wasn’t quite sure how to handle the situation. She supposed everyone was upset about the murder, how it had destroyed what should have been a carefree night of fun. But where was their sympathy for Finn, some eagerness to help prove his innocence?

  It seemed like everyone was going about as normal without even asking about Finn and wondering how he would get out of the predicament he was in. Finn hadn’t just been an employee at the hotel, he had been about to become part of the family. In Isabel’s place, Delta would have been at the police station, working to get her boyfriend released. But here Isabel
was, pruning the shrubs. Not even asking Delta how Hazel and Finn were, although she had seen Delta with Hazel last night when Hazel had been taken along to the station and, even without introductions, could deduce she was a friend of hers and would know more about Hazel’s position and Finn’s.

  Delta felt a rush of anger at Isabel’s dismissive attitude. How about just skipping the nice introductions and small talk, and cutting right to the core of the matter? Maybe a little provocation could put a crack in her ‘business as usual’ facade?

  “Do you want to know how Finn is, or don’t you care either?” Delta asked, on edge.

  Isabel threw the tool down with a clang. “I do care!” she cried. “I’m not allowed to go see him. And you might think that’s rather odd as I’m a grown woman and I can go fetch a car and drive out to the police station, but I’m afraid of the consequences if I do so. Rosalyn said…” She fidgeted with her hands. “You didn’t grow up here, you don’t know how it works. Taylors must stick together.”

  “I don’t see how speaking up to help Finn could hurt your family.” Delta tried to sound firm. “A murder happened at your hotel. It would be best for everyone if it’s solved quickly.”

  “It’s solved now, isn’t it?” There were tears on Isabel’s lashes. “And none of us are involved.”

  Delta looked her over. “So, you…you think that…” Her mind raced. “If Finn is acquitted, the blame might shift to one of you.”

  Isabel wiped a tear away from her cheek. “I love Finn. Honestly, I do. But I also love Ray. He came back home at last and…”

  “You think Ray is involved in the murder?”

  “No. But Rosalyn will make it look that way. She hates Ray.” Isabel hid her face in her hands. “Rosalyn said in so many words it wouldn’t be bad if Ray went to prison for what he did to her.”

  “Her being Vera White?”

  “No! To Rosalyn. Don’t you see? It’s all about something in their past and…Rosalyn thinks the murder is a chance to get rid of Ray.” Isabel collected the pruning tool and turned away. “I’ve already said too much. Please tell Finn I love him, but I can’t help him. I know he will think I’m a coward, but…”

  She burst out sobbing and fled across the path.

  Delta looked after her with narrowed eyes. Her prior assessment that Isabel was the weak link seemed to have been correct. Under the first bit of pressure, she had cracked and become emotional, accusing others to make up for her own lack of involvement to plead for Finn.

  Still, her outburst also left Delta with an uncomfortable feeling. If Taylors did stick together, why would Isabel point the finger at Rosalyn, suggesting she hated Ray for a thing from the past and now she saw a chance to get rid of him? That could make perfect sense when you considered Ray was a threat to Rosalyn’s leadership at the hotel.

  If Ray ended up in prison, Rosalyn could keep the hotel away from him, not just now but in the long run.

  But if that was the case, why hadn’t Rosalyn said anything to that end last night? She told the sheriff that Finn had an affair with the victim, not Ray. She had accused Finn of all kinds of things—being aggressive, abusive, and a hard drinker. Not a bad word about Ray, though.

  That didn’t make sense at all.

  If Rosalyn had wanted to incriminate Ray, she should have done so last night, first chance she got. Right now, Finn was about to get charged and then Ray would stay around here and…

  Unless he would go down as an accessory? Was that possible?

  Delta rubbed her forehead. Isabel’s revelations had shifted the picture and left her with an uneasy feeling that something wasn’t quite right here. She had to get back to Wanted and put all the information people had provided, last night and this morning, into a neat overview.

  Chapter Seven

  Back at Wanted, Delta found Mrs. Cassidy helping two friends who wanted to build their washi tape collection. They sat on the floor of the old cell with about forty rolls laid out between them and gently bickered about the best choices. “No, pink is so loud. You can never quietly combine it with anything.”

  “I think it’s lively. It adds a splash of color to anything you make. Use plain wrapping paper and then add a bit of that tape and you have a stunning present.”

  “I don’t use my washi tape on ordinary gifts!”

  Mrs. Cassidy grinned at Delta and nodded in the direction of the door leading into the small kitchen in the back. Delta suddenly felt a mad sense of expectation that Hazel had been released and was waiting for her there. She rushed in, only to find one of the women there who had been at the workshop the other night. She wore an orange dress with long sleeves and a broad gold belt decorated with French lilies. Her black hair was pulled to one side of her head and threaded into a loose braid that reached all the way to her belt. She was just taking a bite off a large piece of cake.

  “Oh.” Holding a hand to her mouth, she prevented crumbs from flying all over the place as she mumbled, “Carrot cake. New recipe, with lemon frosting, so I need second opinions. Want to be my first tester?”

  After her meager breakfast, Delta’s stomach growled, and she nodded eagerly. “I’ve always wanted to be cake tester, or chocolate tester.”

  “You’re hired.” The woman cut off a large slice for her and put it on a plate. “How’s Hazel?” she asked as she handed her the plate and a paper napkin.

  Delta grimaced. “I don’t know. The sheriff wasn’t forthcoming last night, so I put my energy toward delivering him another suspect. It didn’t really go as planned.” After her fruitless trip to the hotel, she felt totally deflated and sank onto a wooden chair in the corner. Hanging her head, she said, “I did talk to Ray and Isabel Taylor, but… I don’t know what I was thinking. That a killer would just slip and reveal themselves? Or that they would suddenly share something incriminating? If they were going to do either of those things, they would have done it last night, right?”

  “Well, you don’t know that. They might have seen something without realizing it.” The woman smiled at her. “I don’t think you remember my name from last night. I’m Jane Buckley, alias Calamity Jane. The idea with the Wild West names may have been Mrs. Cassidy’s but this has been my nickname ever since I was a kid. You see, I tend to be, uh…” She slid the carrot cake back under its glass cover, unbalancing the weight and nearly dropping the entire thing. “Clumsy,” she added with a rueful smile.

  Delta grinned. “Pleased to meet you. I guess I’ll also need an outlaw name now that I’m part of the posse. I’ll look online to see if I can find something inspiring.”

  Her moment of relaxation flooded away again as she continued, “I did ask Ray and Isabel a few questions and got a few answers, but…on the way back, I really started to doubt this approach. I mean, I’m a stranger to this town and these people. Why would they tell me the truth?”

  Jane nodded. “Well, usually people only tell you what they want you to know.”

  Delta pointed her fork at her. “Exactly. That’s the feeling I had after Isabel ran off in tears. That she would never let herself go to a perfect stranger. It was almost like…she told me exactly what she wanted me to know. Pretending it was a slip up, under emotional strain.” Delta stared ahead. “What can it mean? Is it her way of giving me something to help Finn, even though Rosalyn forbade her to get involved? Or is she diverting attention away from herself?”

  “The bad relationship between Ray and Rosalyn is hardly news,” Jane said, leaning against the sink. “The entire town knows about that. Ray came back and, well, Rosalyn wasn’t eager to take him back into the family fold. She doesn’t like to share the helm.”

  “It’s more than that. Isabel suggested there is an old matter Rosalyn blames Ray for. Do you have any idea what it can be?”

  Jane frowned, fingering her braid. “I’ve only lived here for two years. It might have happened before my time. You could ask Mrs.
Cassidy. She might know.”

  Delta felt a little better now and bit into the carrot cake again. “Delicious. I love the lemon frosting. The tartness is a perfect contrast to the spices in the cake itself.”

  “Recipe from my mother-in-law. I wasn’t sure it would work, as not everyone likes the zing of lemon.” Jane pulled herself away from the sink, taking along a tea towel that slithered to the floor. She picked it up just as Mrs. Cassidy breezed in.

  The opening door almost hit Jane in the head.

  Mrs. Cassidy tutted. “Sorry about that. I should have looked before I barged in.”

  “No harm done,” Jane said, gingerly touching the top of her head. “It only brushed my hair, I think.”

  Mrs. Cassidy said to Delta, “In the end they each bought five rolls of tape. They were still arguing about the colors as they went out. How did you get on at the hotel?”

  “I’ll man the shop,” Jane said and left them discreetly.

  As Mrs. Cassidy helped herself to a slice of carrot cake, Delta told her everything she had learned from Ray and Isabel, explaining her doubts about Isabel’s revelations. “I don’t see why she would first underline that Taylors stick together and then tell me something that puts both her siblings in a bad light.”

  Mrs. Cassidy nodded. “Most astute. Isabel is the youngest, yes, and quite impulsive at times, I daresay, but she is still a Taylor. She has been raised with this idea that you don’t spill outside the family circle. That you keep your back straight at all times and your chin up. Why would she suddenly fold and tell on Rosalyn to you?”

  Mrs. Cassidy wiped some crumbs off the sink. “I agree she could be eager to divert suspicion from herself. Think about it this way. Rosalyn claimed to the police that Finn was having an affair with Vera White. Had she already mentioned this to Isabel in private, for instance to have her end her relationship with Finn? Imagine how Isabel would feel, confronted with such an allegation. If it became known Finn was cheating on her, with a hotel guest at that, it would be tremendously hurtful and embarrassing. Humiliating, even. I think Isabel might, in a fit of rage, have lashed out at the woman responsible.”