by Helen Gray
Toni couldn’t imagine why either. She didn’t have time to run out there every day, but she couldn’t ignore such a personal plea. She looked at her watch. It was seven o’clock. She heaved an inward sigh. “As soon as I finish what I’m doing, I’ll run out and see her.”
“Oh, thank you,” Karen said. “I’ll call and let her know you’re coming.”
As Toni replaced the phone, Kyle entered the kitchen. “Who are you running out to see?”
She explained the call.
“Go on. I’ll finish in here,” he said, dropping a kiss onto her forehead as he strode to the dishwasher.
Thankful for an understanding husband, Toni grabbed her purse and jacket and headed for the doorway. Fifteen minutes later she walked into the nursing home and made her way to Loretta’s room. She found the librarian sitting in a wheelchair facing the doorway, apparently on the lookout for her.
Toni smiled at the solemn faced woman. “It’s good to see you looking better.”
Loretta produced a crooked half smile, pointing a finger toward the empty chair near the foot of the bed. “Thanks for coming,” she said slowly, her mouth twisting with the effort.
Toni sat, noting the notepad and pen in Loretta’s lap.
Loretta followed her gaze. “Can write,” she said slowly. “Easier.” She picked up the notepad and extended it toward Toni.
Toni took it and saw that Loretta had already written a note on it.
Worried about my brother was the first line, written in an uneven scrawl.
Toni glanced up. “Who is your brother?”
“Levi Reynolds,” the librarian forced past her uneven lips. She pointed a finger at the paper.
Toni continued to read the scrawled note.
He was married to Jake’s sister. Divorced four years ago. Jake lied about how Levi treated his kids. Lost them in custody battle.
Toni looked at Loretta again, detecting what looked like worry—or fear—in the woman’s face. A lonely person who had been deserted by the older man she had married as a young woman, Loretta had turned inward, soured on life, and had few—if any—friends.
Toni reached over and covered one of Loretta’s hands with one of her own. “Why are you worried? Are you afraid your brother had something to do with Jake’s death?”
“Wouldn’t,” she managed to say, her eyes glistening. “He’s a …good man, but …soft.”
Her slurred speech was a bit difficult to understand, but Toni was following it. She found herself feeling sorry for the poor woman and her brother. “I understand your concern, but I don’t know anything I can do about it.”
Loretta swiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her aqua colored robe. “He lo …loved …his kids. Will you …t …talk to him?”
Even as she wondered how she could find time, Toni pointed at the notepad. “Give me his address.”
Loretta picked up her pen and laboriously wrote out a street name and number. Then she added a phone number.
Toni tore the top sheet off the notepad. “Would he be home tomorrow after school?”
Loretta shook her head. “Off woorrrr…k at five.”
“I’ll try to get to his work place before he leaves,” she said, glancing at the address in her hand. “Is this his home or business?”
“Ho …ome.” Loretta beckoned for the paper.
Toni handed it back and waited while Loretta added another address. “I’ll try catching him at work first,” she said when the paper was returned. Loretta could be right about her brother, but maybe it would prevent panic to have a colleague rather than the police check on him.
“Thank you,” Loretta mouthed soundlessly.
Chapter 5
Friday after school, the boys arrived at Toni’s room, deposited their belongings, and made a beeline for John’s classroom next door to hers. As prearranged, Toni left them and John enjoying popsicles and drove to a body shop only a couple of miles from the school. It was a modest two man operation, with the name Levi Reynolds shown as the owner on a sign over the door.
She parked and entered the building where a lone man sat on his haunches before the rear bumper of a late model car. He stood as she approached. “Good afternoon, Ma’am,” he said, his eyes giving her a quick assessment.
“Are you Mr. Reynolds?” she asked.
“I am,” he replied briefly.
Now that she stood before him, Toni remembered seeing him around town a few times. Tall, he had dark brown hair flecked with white and very dark eyes. He wasn’t homely—just intense. His jeans were worn and dirty from working with vehicles.
“I’m Toni Donovan, and I work with your sister at the school,” she explained. “Loretta is concerned about you and asked that I stop by and talk to you.”
“She’s the one needing others to be concerned about her,” he said, his tone flat. He pulled a grease rag from his hip pocket and wiped his hands. “Are you here to tell me she’s worse?”
Toni shook her head. “Actually, she’s a little better. When I visited with her last night she was sitting up in a wheelchair.”
“So what’s the problem?”
This was awkward. “She told me about your connection to Jake Crawford.”
“He was a lying rat, but I didn’t kill him, if that’s what’s bothering Retta.” His words were harsh, but rang true.
“Your sister doesn’t think you did, but she’s afraid you might be accused of it if your differences come to the attention of the police.”
His attention sharpened on her. “You’re the one Retta talked about finding out who killed your superintendent, aren’t you?”
Toni nodded. “I was involved.”
“So are you here to nail me?” A hint of a smile budded in his taciturn face.
“I’m here simply because Loretta asked me to talk to you. I figured it was worthwhile if it set her mind at ease. But since I’m here, can you provide an alibi if one should be needed?”
Levi shrugged, frowning. “That was over a week ago, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, last week, on a Monday night or early Tuesday morning.”
“I probably worked late here at the shop, stopped in town for a bite to eat, and went to bed,” he said quietly. “That’s what I nearly always do, but I doubt anyone could vouch for it.”
The guy struck her as a big marshmallow. But he was a tense marshmallow now.
“Jake was a rat,” he blurted. “He lied and cost me my kids. So I figure if he’ll stoop that low, he must have done somebody else dirty and ended up dead because of it.”
“If you think of anyone who might have a grudge against him, you might mention it to the police or your sister, or me,” she added as an afterthought.
At that, his eyebrows lifted. “My ex remarried. Her new bread and butter guy is a bully. Jake didn’t like him any better than he did me. He’s not a good dad for my kids, so if you find out he killed Jake, the judge might reconsider my custody case.”
The man’s interest was centered on his kids more than Jake’s murder, and Toni couldn’t visualize him shooting his former brother-in-law. “What’s the new husband’s name?”
“Sherry calls him Butch, but his name’s Burnell Downing.”
Toni pulled an old grocery list from her purse and jotted the name on the back of it.” Thank you for chatting with me. If you think of anything that would provide you with an alibi—just in case you should need it—I’d love to hear about it. I’m in the phone book, or I can be reached at school.”
“Wait,” he said as she turned to leave.
She turned back.
His roughhewn features had turned thoughtful. “I remember being on the computer a lot that week. I was looking up information on some cars. I also sent some emails. Would it help if the time on those messages were late that night?”
Toni smiled. “It could. Why don’t you look up who you sent them to, and the time they were sent? Make a list.”
He gave her a little finger salute. “I will. And I plan to visit Retta this
weekend.”
Toni drove back to the school, where she found the boys and the Zacharys waiting for her in the parking lot. “Thanks,” she called to her colleagues as the boys crawled into the van.
“See you in church Sunday,” Jenny called.
As Toni turned left out of the parking lot, Gabe shifted around in the passenger seat, frowning. “You’re going to see Buck, aren’t you?”
“I am,” she said in a don’t-give-me-a-hard-time tone.
He didn’t.
When she arrived at the police station and parked, the boys went inside and settled in the front office chairs, Gabe with his crossword-puzzle book, and Garrett with his homework.
Deputy Clemons paused in a phone conversation to wave Toni on back to Buck’s office when he recognized her. Then he continued the conversation.
When she peeked inside his office, Buck didn’t look exactly overjoyed to see her. “Just can’t leave it alone, huh? Well, get on in here and tell me what you’ve been up to.”
Toni perched on what felt like the “hot” seat near his desk and related what Norman Brower had told his wife. But she didn’t bother mentioning that she had visited the contractor’s ex-employee. It seemed pointless. She also didn’t mention Levi Reynolds. The man deserved time to gather his information and talk to his sister.
Buck’s chair squeaked as he leaned back in it, squinting at her. “What time did Norm say he was there?”
“Patsy said he told her it was around eleven, which means Jake cold have been dead about an hour.”
“It puts him there within the possible time frame, though.”
Toni frowned. “I know. But I’m still not convinced he did it.”
He squeaked back into position and placed his arms on the desk. “Why?”
“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “I know this sounds lame, but it just doesn’t feel right. It’s too easy, too pat. Where was Jake’s wife during the time he was killed?”
“She was gone overnight.”
“Ben said she arrived home while the police were there after he found Jake.”
Buck nodded. “Bonnie says she spent the night with her sister in Farmington. We haven’t been able to catch up with the sister yet and get her to corroborate Bonnie’s story, but we will.”
“I think Norm’s a stand-up guy. Anyone who would stop an employee of his own from stealing from his client wouldn’t turn around and kill the client.”
Buck shook his head. “Norm admits having differences with Jake. He claims Jake wanted to cut corners on the building project to save money, and he, Norm, argued that they had to do the job right and meet all codes.”
Toni’s jaw dropped. “That makes me even more convinced that Norm’s innocent. You don’t kill a guy because you want him to do the right thing. I hope you don’t end up down the line with a lawsuit for wrongful prosecution or, heaven forbid, conviction.”
On that statement, he glowered. And she skedaddled.
That night Toni lay in bed, going over and over everything in her mind. The comments about Jake wanting to cut corners, and his wife being gone the night he was killed, wouldn’t let her sleep. Only after she decided to do some more research the next day was she able to drift into slumber.
Saturday morning after breakfast, Kyle and the boys went to the airport. As soon as they were gone, Toni went to their small home office and booted the computer.
She began with a simple search of Jake’s name, and read about his marital status and that he was the son of Jake Crawford Senior. He and his wife Bonnie had two children, Trent and Tricia. They belonged to several community and professional organizations, the one she already knew about being the Rotary Club.
This was all well-known data, nothing that would point toward a killer.
Toni went to Facebook next. Jake and Bonnie both had profiles, but it didn’t appear they used them much. On a whim she looked up their teenage kids, and found posts by individuals on Trent’s page complaining because his dad had cut some jobs and hurt people who needed those jobs desperately.
When her eyes grew tired, Toni pulled out her phone and called Patsy Brower. She leaned back in her chair. “What can you tell me about Jake Crawford’s standing in the business community? Did he do things that would cause hard feelings, like fire people who had been long term employees and worked up the pay scale, and then replace them with less experienced people at lower wages?”
“Not that I know of, but he had quite a bit of employee turnover and a reputation for being hard to work for. Of course, a high amount of turnover is inevitable when you employ a lot of teenagers after school and during summers. As for being hard to work for, that could be true.”
“Anything else?”
Patsy took her time answering. “I don’t really know what to tell you, but I know he took complaints to the city council a number of times. I’ve heard that some of those meetings got pretty heated.”
“What kind of issues?”
“One thing I remember is when he complained about loiterers hanging out in his parking lot and littering it. He wanted the council to pass a regulation about it. I think the police increased their patrolling and took care of that matter. That’s all I can think of right now. Those kinds of things tend to get handled in closed sessions.”
“What about his personal life, his home life? Was there talk of any problems there?”
“Uh, I’m not sure how much gossip to believe.”
Toni went on alert. “What kind of gossip? Tell me what you’ve heard and let me see how relevant—or provable—it sounds.”
“Well, I heard that their marriage isn’t—wasn’t—the most peaceful one.”
“You mean there were arguments as well as displays of affection, with both positive and negative interactions?”
“Yes, that’s what I mean,” Patsy said. “A year or so ago, I heard they were separated for a while, but then went back together.”
Toni couldn’t think of anything else to ask. “If I give you my home email address, will you send me a note if you think of anything else that might be relevant?”
“Sure. And I’ll send you mine. I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Toni. After they arrested Norm, I was devastated and needed a friend. You’ve more than filled the spot. Thanks.”
Toni disconnected and started to put the phone down when it rang.
“I just had an interesting visitor,” Buck growled when she answered.
“I’m interested.”
“Levi Reynolds brought me a list of people and times he emailed the night of Jake Crawford’s murder. He seemed to think he might need an alibi and said you had been to see him. Care to give me your version of this story?”
Toni explained about being summoned by Loretta, and her concern about her brother. “I was just trying to put a colleague’s mind at ease.”
Silence reigned for several moments. Then he spoke. “Okay, that’s pretty much what Levi said. It sounds like he was also trying to give his sister peace of mind. I guess it’s understandable, with her being in a bad way,” he allowed.
The line went silent.
Toni tackled some housework, but couldn’t forget what Levi had said about his ex’s new husband. Levi’s forthright approach to the possibility of being a murder suspect, in addition to his personal plight, made her wish he could be helped. She determined to find out more about Mr. Butch Downing.
She went to the computer and did a search on the man. She didn’t find anything useful, other than that he worked in the timber industry. But when she went to Facebook, she found a profile for Sherry Downing. The woman posted so much that Toni wondered if she ever did anything else. One of the things she mentioned frequently was her husband’s truck, and how he treasured it more than her.
Intrigued, Toni picked up her phone and dialed Rick Montgomery. The math teacher’s family owned a lumber mill.
“Whatchya want now, Toni?” he asked in his irreverent manner by way of greeting.
“Hi to yo
u, too,” she responded tartly. Then she laughed. “I want to gossip with you.”
His lips smacked. “Oh, goody. Who’s the subject?”
“Do you know where a guy by the name of Butch Downing works?”
A derisive snort reached her. “I know where he did work.”
“That sounds like you mean your family’s mill.”
“Yep.”
“Can you tell me why he’s no longer working there?”
“I may as well. If I don’t, you’ll go to my dad and threaten his life for the information.” He laughed at that.
Then he spoke more seriously. “Butch owns his own truck and cuts timber by the thousand board feet. The practice is called Pay as You Cut, in case you’re interested, which I’m sure you are. A man may haul five loads of lumber to a mill and return the tickets to his boss from where he sold it. Then he’ll haul another load or two to a different sawmill and pocket the money.”
So a man who owned his own truck would be able to do that because no one else would be involved and find out what he was doing. “I assume that’s what Butch was doing to your dad.” She phrased it as a question.
“Yes. When he found out, Dad fired him.”
“Uh, how did he find out?”
Rick remained silent for several moments, as if deliberating whether to answer, before speaking. “He got a tip from Jake Crawford. I think he may have also cut some timber off some land Jake owned, and this was payback. But you didn’t hear that from me.”
That could certainly justify a fight between Jake and his new brother-in-law. “Jake’s sister seems to have trouble discerning good men from bad ones.”
“You got that right. If you need anything else during your self-appointed investigation, just call on good ole Rick,” he said mockingly. “See you Monday—if you find time away from snooping to teach school.”
Unable to sit on this new piece of information, Toni called Buck and shared what Rick had told her.
“Yeah, we know the guy can’t be trusted. But we’ll do some deeper checking,” he promised. “And you stay away from him.”
*
Monday morning Toni fed her guys breakfast and then put on a black pantsuit that was accented with a pink collar and pink shell. She tugged her shoulder length hair from under the collar so the turned up ends brushed the nape of her neck, and slipped her feet into a pair of strappy pink shoes.
