Murder at the Church: Cottonwood Springs Cozy Mystery Series

by Dianne Harman

  When they were finished they got Jett and headed over to Linc’s house. It had been a long and emotional day for both of them, so it felt good to get outside for a while. Jett was between them, because he was having a difficult time deciding which one of them he wanted to be next to on the short walk to Linc’s house. Once they were past the treeline and he saw Linc’s house, they were both forgotten. He ran as fast as his legs would take him. Holly and Brigid looked at each other and laughed, but then Holly became concerned and said, “Do you want me to chase him?”

  “No, this is why I didn’t put a leash on him. I knew my arm would have been pulled off as soon as he saw Linc’s house. He knows where we’re going now, and trust me, he’ll be there well before us.” She laughed as she watched from a distance and saw Jett jump on Linc’s front door, scratching to get in. A moment later they saw Linc open the door only to be greeted by a huge hairy black dog.

  Linc greeted the excited dog and said, “Hey, Jett. Did you bring me some company?” A few moments later when Brigid and Holly arrived Linc gave Brigid a kiss and followed the two of them into the house. As Brigid had told Holly, Linc was an excellent cook and they thoroughly enjoyed his dinner, to say nothing of the chocolate brownies topped with chocolate ice cream.

  *****

  The next morning Brigid and Holly went to her school to talk with Principal Bartlett.

  “Good morning, Holly. I’m so sorry to hear about your mother,” he said softly. “If there’s anything I can do…” He let it trail off as he led them into his office. He shut the door, turned to Brigid, and said, “You must be Brigid.”

  “Yes, I am,” she said shaking his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Please, have a seat,” he said gesturing towards the two chairs opposite his desk. The principal's office looked much like any other school office. The walls were painted an off-white and there were motivational posters on every wall. “I think the first thing we should talk about is what the school and I can do to help you, Holly,” he said as he steepled his fingers under his chin and looked at her. “Your teachers and I want you to continue the excellent path you’re on with your education, but we also realize you probably need a little time to process everything that has happened.”

  He turned to Brigid and said, “Would you agree with that?”

  “I certainly would,” Brigid said as she nodded approvingly. “But it doesn’t matter what I think. I want to leave any decision regarding school up to Holly. I think she’s old enough to decide for herself what she wants to do.”

  “Absolutely,” Principal Bartlett said. “How would you like to handle things, Holly? We’ve only got about six weeks of school left until the end of the school year. It’s really not that long.”

  Holly began to chew on the inside of her cheek as she tried to decide what she wanted to do. “It’s not that I don’t think I could do the work. It’s just that I’m worried about, you know…” she motioned to the hallway that was nearby.

  “The other students,” Principal Bartlett said, finishing the sentence for her.

  Holly nodded. “When we walked in, I saw how some of them looked at me. I think it would be hard for me to focus on my studies if I came back to school now.”

  Brigid had also noticed how the other students had stared at Holly when they walked into the school, and she couldn’t blame them. They were just curious. She was sure all of the students had heard what happened, and even though they were concerned, for a girl like Holly, who was used to staying in the background and not attracting attention to herself, it was unsettling.

  “Well, let’s try this,” Principal Bartlett said. “You can continue your studies from home, independently, until you feel ready to come back. If that doesn’t happen before the end of the school year, that’s completely fine. I know you’re capable of doing the work. I’ve spoken to all of your teachers and they agree. Here’s the work for this week.” He tapped his fingertips on the top of a manila envelope and a couple books which were on the side of his desk. “I’m sure you already have their email addresses in case you have any questions, but I’ve also put them in the envelope.”

  “Thank you very much, Mr. Bartlett,” Holly said, visibly brightening. She loved doing schoolwork, and she knew it was something that would take her mind off of everything that had happened. She didn’t want to give up attending school but being around her fellow students right now was more than she could handle.

  “Good, then that’s settled.” The principal slid the envelope and the books across the desk to Holly and smiled. “I mean it, Holly. Take all the time you need, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything. That goes for both of you.” He smiled at Brigid. “Holly has impressed many of the faculty members with her hard work and dedication to her education. We all want nothing more than to see her succeed.”

  “I feel the same way, which is why I was willing to let her stay with me. I think she’s got a very bright future ahead of her.” Brigid patted Holly on her arm and smiled at her. She could tell Holly was feeling a bit nervous about all the praise and attention she was receiving.

  “I think that just about wraps things up here,” he said. “Brigid, if you could take a moment to update Holly’s contact information with the school secretary, I’d appreciate it. You ladies have a wonderful day.” Principal Bartlett escorted them out of his office and shut the door.

  After stopping by the secretary’s desk, they stepped into the hallway just as the bell was ringing. “Brigid, I need to stop by my locker and grab a few things,” Holly said. “There are some folders and books in there I’m going to need for my homework.”

  “Lead the way,” Brigid said. She followed Holly down the hall until she stopped at one of the lockers and started turning the dial.

  “Holly? Is that you?” a male voice asked from behind them.

  They turned and saw Wade standing in the middle of the hallway, a look of concern on his face. “I’m so glad to see you! How are you doing? How have you been?” The boy pulled Holly into his arms and held her for a moment. Brigid could see she was plainly surprised by the act.

  “I’m okay,” Holly said softly. “I’m still kind of trying to deal with everything.”

  “I’m sure it will take some time,” he said. “I’ve been worried about you.”

  “Why don’t you come by sometime?” Brigid offered. She didn’t want to interrupt them, but she wanted to encourage Holly to invite her friends over. If she was going to be living at Brigid’s home, she might as well be comfortable there.

  “Are you sure?” Holly’s eyes flashed with a look of surprise. It was as if she’d never even thought it was an option.

  “Of course,” Brigid said. “You can invite your friends over anytime. It will be good for you to have a friendly face come visit once in a while. Especially now that you’re going to be doing your school work from home for a while.”

  “I was wondering how you were going to keep up those perfect grades.” Wade smiled at them. “I’ll talk to my parents. Could I have your telephone number?” He asked as he pulled out his phone.

  Brigid gave him the house phone number and told him to feel free to call.

  He turned back to Holly. “I’ll call you tonight, okay? I gotta’ go, or I’ll be late to class. I’m so glad I saw you.” He waved as he jogged off into the sea of students that were flooding the halls.

  “Okay, that should be good,” Holly said shutting her locker. They started walking toward the exit as the halls began to clear. “Thanks,” she said.

  “For what?” Brigid asked.

  “For inviting Wade over,” she said. “For giving him your number. I could have never done that before.” She pushed open the metal and glass door that led out towards the front lawn of the school.

  “Why not? Didn’t your mom let you have friends over?” Brigid asked. She couldn’t imagine Maggie not letting her daughter have slumber parties and sleepovers.

  “No, I could have,” she said
as they walked down the sidewalk towards Brigid’s car which was parked in the nearby parking area. “It’s just that my mom wasn’t always dependable. She’d forget to buy food or even come home some weekends. It was embarrassing. And if she was around, there was no telling what sort of state she would be in. I couldn’t ask anyone to come over and witness that.”

  “Well you can now,” Brigid said as they reached her car. “I remembered seeing you two at the library together, and I assumed you were friends.”

  “Kind of,” Holly said as she buckled her seatbelt. “It’s hard to explain.”

  Brigid started the car. “Let me guess, you like him.”

  Holly shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “Well don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you,” she said with a laugh. “I remember being your age and how embarrassing my parents were. I promise I’ll do my best not to be like that.”

  “Thanks, Brigid. I don’t think you could be embarrassing if you tried.” Holly said. “And believe me after what I’ve dealt with, you should be fairly easy to be around.”

  “I just want us to be able to get along. As long as we can manage that, I don’t see us having any problems at all,” Brigid said as she looked over at the young girl and smiled.

  “I promise, I won’t be any trouble to you. I’ll do my best to always follow the rules. I don’t want you getting mad at me and sending me away.” This was something that had been weighing heavily on Holly’s mind. She’d been concerned that Brigid would change her mind about letting her stay there.

  “I’m not going to send you away, Holly,” Brigid said softly. “I don’t see you suddenly being a terrible kid. Sure, we’re going to have our disagreements. I realize that will happen, but as long as we try to stay open and communicate, no matter what, I don’t think things could ever get to that point.” She glanced toward Holly, “You’re safe now, Holly. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  Holly sighed. “I’m trying. It’s just after all these years…”

  “I know, honey, I know,” Brigid said as they drove home.

  CHAPTER 16

  Brigid decided to drop Holly off at the house and then see if she could talk to Mark and MaryAnn Thompson. She left Holly and Jett curled up on the couch with the TV going and headed out in the hopes that she could narrow down the list of suspects. She didn’t want to believe that her old classmates had been capable of murder, either one of them, but she knew she’d feel better if she could cross both of them off the list.

  As she was driving across town to the furniture store the Thompsons owned, Brigid thought about the dinner the previous night with Linc and Holly. It was such a relief when they both started laughing and teasing each other. They were getting along so well by the end of the evening Brigid had to remind herself that she’d just introduced them to each other. It made Brigid much more confident that the arrangement with Holly was going to work out.

  There were a few times Brigid caught herself feeling as though she must be crazy for taking on the care of a teenage girl whose mother had just been murdered. After all, what did she know about being a mother? Very little, but she was finding this child pseudo-mother thing made her feel good. For the first time in her life, she began to wonder what life would have been like if she’d had children. It wasn’t that she wanted any of her own at this point. She was happy with the way things were going, but maybe it would turn out that Holly was the child she was supposed to have had.

  She pulled into a parking space in front of Thompson’s Furniture, determined to help find out who Maggie’s killer was. She remembered the relief she’d felt when she’d put together who her friend Lucy’s killer had been, and she wanted to give Holly the same satisfaction. Brigid had noticed the way Holly would look over her shoulder and look out the windows when she thought Brigid wasn’t looking. She’d also heard the soft cries coming from behind Holly’s bedroom door the night before. Brigid hoped that with the killer caught, Holly could begin to heal.

  Brigid picked up her purse and climbed out of her car. She looked up at the old brick building and smiled as she remembered riding her bike to the store for a piece of candy after school. That was when Mark’s grandfather was still alive and running the store with his father. He always had a piece of candy for any child who came in to visit him. He was a kind and gracious man, which was why Brigid hoped Mark had a good alibi. She didn’t want to think of him as being the murderer.

  As she pushed open the glass door, the little bell above it tinkled, signaling a customer had entered the store. She looked around the showroom but didn’t see anyone. Brigid knew Mark would be out shortly, so she roamed through the rows of furniture. She wasn’t exactly shopping, but she didn’t mind looking either.

  “Brigid, is that you?” a familiar male voice said.

  “Mark, how are you doing?” Brigid asked as he came around a counter at the back of the store.

  “Great, actually. We just got our new website up and running. Now we can accept payments online,” he said, beaming.

  “I’m sure that will be good for business,” Brigid said as she ran her hand along the top of the nearest couch.

  “I sure hope it will be. What can I do for you?” It was a smooth transition into salesman mode.

  “I’m really just looking at the moment,” Brigid sighed. “You may have heard I have someone living with me now…” she let the sentence trail off, watching Mark’s reaction.

  “Yes, I did,” he said. “How’s she holding up?” His concern was evident from his furrowed brow.

  “As well as can be expected,” she said.

  Mark nodded. “Completely understandable. I was shocked when I heard about it. MaryAnn and I went into Denver on a date that night. We went to dinner and then out dancing at a new place that just opened up. It’s called the Denver Dance Palace. It was just what we needed.”

  He looked toward the back room and then quietly whispered, “MaryAnn and I haven’t been doing very well lately. We went in hopes of rekindling some of the romance and ended up staying until the place closed at one. It was a wonderful evening,” he said, smiling.

  “That’s great!” Brigid said. “I’m so glad. I know how tough it can be once the spark has gone. I have a divorce under my belt to prove it.”

  Mark nodded solemnly. “It’s true, it takes work. Hey, aren’t you seeing that Linc guy?” he asked. “You two really should go to that new place. I bet I still have the receipt from our drinks.” Mark began to pull pieces of paper out of his pocket, finally handing one to Brigid. “We got there around 10:00 that night, and there were already quite a few people there. Guess they’re pretty concerned with security, because there were cameras and security guards everywhere.”

  Brigid took the receipt from him and looked at it. Mark was right. According to the time imprinted on the receipt, the bar bill had been paid by Mark with a credit card at 1:00 a.m. They’d been there until well after midnight, making it impossible for the two of them to have been back in Cottonwood Springs around midnight, the time when the coroner had concluded that Maggie had died.

  “Do you mind if I hold onto this?” Brigid asked. She tried to make it appear as though she was interested in going to the Denver Dance Palace.

  “Sure, I don’t need it anymore.” He looked around the showroom. “Say, would you happen to have a good bed for Maggie’s daughter?” He waved Brigid over toward the far corner of the showroom where the beds were displayed.

  “I have one that was already in the guest bedroom. To be honest, I’m not sure if it’s any good or not.” Brigid chuckled.

  Mark looked back towards the counter and the door that led to the back offices. “I feel terrible that poor girl is an orphan. Especially just as her mother was getting clean. I really liked, I mean…” Mark caught himself about to admit something he wasn’t sure Brigid knew.

  “It’s okay, Mark. I know.” She looked toward the back of the store. “I won’t be passing the information on. Maggie had a good heart, even if she didn
’t always do the right thing,” she said diplomatically.

  “I really did care for her, Brigid. I was even ready to leave MaryAnn for her, because things were so bad between us. I honestly didn’t think we could ever again be happy together. When I was with Maggie, I felt like someone was really listening to me and understood me. It took a little soul-searching for me to realize MaryAnn has always had my heart, even when sometimes I didn’t know it.” Mark smiled at her.

  “That’s so sweet, Mark,” Brigid said. “I’m happy for you. Believe me, I know marriage isn’t always easy.”

  “No, it’s not,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, “but it’s worth it. Anyway, I’d like to help you out. If you need anything for her, just let me know, and I’ll give you an excellent deal. You won’t get a better price anywhere else. I don’t care what it is. Before you buy anything, see me first.”

  “Thank you, Mark,” Brigid said, touched by his generosity. “I’ll remember that. I’ll talk to her tonight about the bed and everything else. I might be back to take you up on your offer.” She heard a sound coming from her phone, letting her know she had a text message. “I better go, but I’ll let you know,” Brigid said as she walked toward the front door.

  “You do that. Good luck, Brigid. Stay safe.” Mark raised his hand in a wave as Brigid slipped out the door. She pulled her phone out of her purse and saw a message from her sister.

  Can you swing by the bookstore?

  Brigid typed her response as she stood outside her car.

  Sure. I’m just down the road. What do you need?

  Brigid climbed into her car and was pulling on her seatbelt as the response came through.

  Just get down here, geeze.

  Brigid laughed. She could sense her sister’s exasperation as she typed the text. She looked back at the furniture store and mentally crossed Mark and MaryAnn Thompson off the suspect list. If they went out to eat and then dancing, there was no way they would have made it back from Denver in time to murder Maggie. Especially since there were security cameras there.