For the third time that night, Rachel Clawson’s voice rose in answer. “We’re trying to save the town, Becky! Shut up and sit down. You’ve gotten your café all fixed up with free money, why can’t we do the same?”
“Why you-” Becky began, but the sharp rap of the gavel on the podium stopped her cold and she turned back to the mayor.
The man’s eyes were haunted as he looked straight at her. “Becky. Stop. I want to hear this. I need to hear this.” He turned to Rachel and gave her a grim look. “So, this grant money is more important to you than someone who’s worked and protected you for years?”
Rachel didn’t speak, but her answer was plain on her face. The mayor nodded slowly and then braced his hands on the side of the podium, looking out over the crowd with a dazed expression. “So be it. I’ll allow the vote, but I want to call for a one hour recess. I think you folks need to all think about this before the council votes. Go take a walk. Get some coffee. This is a big decision for you and for me. As you all know, it cannot be decided here tonight, but the council can vote to have a special election called if they receive a majority vote tonight.
Without another word, Mayor Tomlin rapped the gavel, laid it on the podium, and then shuffled off the stage with Sheriff Pearson right behind him.
Abby could only stare at the podium in shock as most of the people rose, talking loudly as they followed the mayor’s advice. The cold air from outside whipped in as people left in groups. She could feel tears sliding form her eyes as she turned to Gabe. “What’s going to happen?” she asked plaintively.
“I don’t know,” Gabe said as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. “I really don’t know. This is all crazy.”
“Crazy is right!” Becky said, fuming. “I knew I should have punched the senator at the dinner!”
“I almost wished you had as well,” Robert said quietly as he sat thoughtfully. “This is not the way I saw this going.”
Lanie and Reggie came over, turning around the seats that were just in front of them and sitting down. “Well, this is quite a bag of bumble bees!” Lanie said angrily. “The mayor can’t vote on this. They have a majority and too many of the townsfolks are now scared to death. They’re likely to vote out the mayor, and you know Don Buckshire is going to try for the position. The way he’s worked it, he’s likely to get it, too.
“Is there anything we can do?” Abby asked and then leaned forward, looking at Robert Carrington. “You’re a lawyer, can you think of something.”
Robert gave Abby a considering look. “I don’t know. I would have to study the town’s charter. I honestly was preparing this to be a fight about whether to make the Association a legal entity in the town or not. This is a whole other level. I’ll have to research the town charter about it, but I’m afraid there's no time. We only have an hour.”
Abby fell back in her chair, feeling helpless. The gym was almost empty of people as most had left to deal with their own thoughts, but Abby and her friends spent the hour talking amongst themselves. Earl and his wife came to sit with them, looking despondent. It was a feeling they all shared because there was literally nothing they could do now, except wait.
The senator and his aides sat at the table on the stage chatting amongst themselves. There was a small part of Abby that wanted to march up to the man and confront him; to rail at him for this fiasco that he had caused, but ultimately she decided that would just fuel his own amusement.
Then everyone began to return and Abby braced herself for the vote. She knew it would go against the mayor. There were four councilmembers on Don Buckshire’s side, and three on the mayor's. When she’d asked Earl what he thought might happen, he’d flat out told her that the vote would go through, and then it would be a month before they could do the town-wide vote to finish the matter, one way or another.
When the mayor came back out on the stage, she almost didn’t recognize him. Sheriff Pearson followed him with his hand on his arm, seeming to keep him upright as he swayed slightly before taking a seat. The sheriff stepped up to the podium and picked up the gavel.
The senator, who had a few of his aides fetch more chairs from behind the stage now sat at the back, almost fading into the background as the sheriff pounded the proceedings back into session.
“Okay, folks, it’s me who’s going to run this for the rest of the night,” the sheriff said as everyone continued to take their seats. “We’ll wait for a few moments for the last of the stragglers, but I plan to get this over quickly for all our sakes.”
The minutes passed quickly as the gym continued to fill up. Finally the sheriff was satisfied and began to rap the gavel, getting everyone’s attention. “Everyone is here, so let’s get this going.”
Except everyone wasn’t there. Don Buckshire’s seat was empty. Ruby Anderson cleared her throat and stood, leaning over the table toward the sheriff and whispered loudly. “Where’s Don?”
The sheriff turned, frowning at the empty seat before turning back to the assembled. “Has anyone seen Don? Where’s Don?” Sheriff Pearson paused and looked at Lanie. “Lanie, can you go look outside for him? Maybe he’s on his way.”
Lanie nodded and jumped up, moving toward one of the doors to the gym, but before she could get there, it fell open. Don Buckshire stood in the doorway, his eyes wide open and his mouth working soundlessly. Then he fell forward, face down on the ground at Lanie’s feet and everyone could see the knife handle sticking out of his back. A pool of red blood began to spread out under him, and then a woman let out a piercing scream.
Lanie bent down, putting her fingers to the side of the man’s neck but after a moment, she looked up with a stricken look on her face. “He’s dead!”
“Oh, jackrabbits!” Becky said loudly, just before everything erupted into chaos for the second time that night.
Excerpt for Murderous Intent and Deadly Desires – Book 5 of the Red Pine Falls Cozy Mysteries
Chapter 1
“I’m not sure I’d go in there if I were you, Abby,” Sheriff Pearson said from the rocking chair he was sitting in. Despite the cold of January, he was out on the porch of the graceful, old craftsman house that Mayor Tomlin called home. The house itself was set on the edge of town on a large lot that was well maintained.
Abby was pleased to see it reflected the man quite well. Clean, well kept, and not ostentatious in the least. She wondered if that would continue. After the town hall, the mayor had been despondent in the extreme. During the meeting, Don Buckshire had called for the town council to vote for removing the mayor, or at least to put it up for an emergency town vote. It had hit the mayor hard, and he’d almost collapsed in on himself. The only reason the vote didn’t happen was Don himself had been murdered during the break before the vote.
That was the only debatable bright spot in an otherwise terrible night. The faction of council members that had been planning to oust the mayor had been stopped cold since they no longer had a majority. A tie vote, which is what it would have been if they had voted, wouldn’t qualify to initiate the emergency proceedings. Senator Clark had been livid and when given the chance, he’d stormed out of the high school gym and left town as quickly as he could.
Despite the stroke of luck, the mayor had not pulled out of his fugue state, and from the look on the sheriff’s face, he still hadn’t, and it was a week later.
“Is he still upset?” Abby asked as she held onto the plate of cookies she and her grandmother, Hazel Morgan, had baked.
The sheriff gave a low chuckle and one side of his mouth turned up in sardonic amusement. “Upset isn’t the word I’d use,” he said. “I’d probably say throwing a tantrum, or figuring out how to get ahold of more alcohol without having to actually leave his house.”
“Is it that bad?” Abby said, sitting down in a chair opposite the sheriff. She peeled back part of the tinfoil and pulled out one of the cookies, nibbling on it distractedly. “I’ll be honest, Sheriff, I just don’t know the man well enough. He always s
eemed so solid.”
Sheriff Pearson shrugged and nodded. “Usually he is, but you have to understand, Abby. He dedicated his life to this town a long time ago. Now, out of the blue, more than a few of them plotted to kick him to the curb. Truthfully, I don’t blame him for being upset. I’m half tempted to encourage him to quit and then follow him.”
“What do you mean, Sheriff?”
“I mean,” the sheriff said, leaning forward and reaching for a cookie off the plate Abby was holding, “that sometimes you have to look out for yourself. Sometimes, you have to try to avoid the kick to the face, or at least the second one. How long do you think I’d last after the mayor was voted out? I’m sure my turn was next.”
Abby frowned and shook her head. “Are you saying you’re giving up?” she asked, watching as he nibbled at his own cookie thoughtfully.
The man didn’t answer for a few moments, content with savoring the taste of Hazel’s baking while he stared out over the well-kept lawn. When he finally answered, his voice was soft. “I don’t know, Abby. I never thought of myself as a quitter, but these past few weeks have been difficult. At the town hall, I didn’t recognize half of the town. They just seemed like a mob that smelled blood in the water. More than a few of them were taking pleasure in Gil’s distress. That’s not who I signed up to protect.”
“Sheriff, you can’t abandon us,” Abby said firmly. “I understand that I’ve only been here a few months, but we need you. Even those idiots that think they’re doing the right thing by falling into the senator’s trap. They don’t realize they’ve been tricked by that weasel, and that’s when they need you and the mayor the most.”
The sheriff glanced at her and then took a deep breath. “Maybe so,” he said, taking another bite of the cookie. “Maybe I need to think on it a bit more.”
Abby sighed and leaned back in the chair, looking up at the porch ceiling. “I sure hope you do, because I’m not altogether certain that wasn’t part of the senator’s plan, too. That would be exactly what he wants, don’t you think? We can’t let him win.”
The sheriff raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, nodding again. “Another good point. He is behind all of this, and I wouldn’t put it past him to have worked our feeling sorry for ourselves into his schemes. If it’s one thing I want, it’s for that weasel not to win.” He slapped his thighs and gave her a firm look. “I’ll pull myself out of my own wallow pit, then. You just can’t let a man feel sorry for himself, can you?”
“Do you think that speech will work on the mayor?” she asked.
“Right now?” the sheriff said, smirking at her through his bushy mustache. “Not even a little. I think Gil needs to wallow a bit more. Besides, he’s not gonna be sober enough to listen today. He was singing some crappy country songs and throwing empty bottles at me when I went in there.”
“Really?” Abby asked with a disbelieving look on her face. “It’s not even noon.”
“Yep, but he’s out of alcohol now, and I have his keys,” the sheriff said. “I can take him in a fight, so he’s not going anywhere to get more. Don’t worry, Mrs. Morgan, I’ll be here to keep an eye on him.”
“Won’t that interfere in the investigation, Sheriff?” Abby asked.
“Nope,” the sheriff said in his slow, deep drawl. “I’m a suspect, Abby. I can’t investigate this. Lanie is in charge of the investigation, now. She was the only one with a verifiable alibi because she never left the gym.”
“Lanie?” Abby asked, picturing the pixyish blond deputy in her mind. She had become a friend in the time Abby had been in Red Pine Falls and had even shared a few of her adventures.
“She’ll do fine,” Sheriff Pearson said. “It’s either that, or let the state police take over and I don’t think we want that. With our luck, we’d get the detectives 'dumb and dumber' assigned to us. In fact, I’m pretty sure we’d get them, and I know that wouldn’t be good.”
Abby nodded, remembering detectives Mike and Ed. They had come to town with Senator Clark on a manhunt for Rob Morgan, Hazel’s brother, and it had ended up with all of the state troopers, the detectives, and Superintendent Ketch outside of the Morgan family house, pointing guns at the sheriff and Abby. That had been one of the scariest times in her life, but they’d been saved by the mayor in the nick of time.
The second incident had only been last month when the good detectives had pulled their car over in the middle of nowhere. If it hadn’t been for the timely intervention of Robert Carrington, a lawyer and family friend, she was sure they would have done something violent to Gabe. There was no proof it would have gone past a simple case of harassment, but she remembered the look in Detective Mike’s eyes, and she doubted it would have stopped there.
“Good call,” Abby said with conviction. “I’m pretty sure that would have been a disaster.”
“Now, instead of trying to talk sense into our drunken leader, why don’t you do me another favor?” the sheriff asked. At Abby’s nod, he continued. “Go over to the jailhouse and talk to Lanie. She needs her nerves settled and someone to bolster her confidence. Besides, maybe you can do a little of your hocus pocus and help her solve the case.”
“I thought you told me to stay out of police business,” Abby said carefully as she stood and passed him the plate of cookies.
“Maybe its reverse psychology,” the sheriff said sardonically as he took the plate and put it on a small table next to his rocking chair. “Besides, I’m not a stupid man, Mrs. Morgan. Even an old dog learns new tricks.”
Abby gave the sheriff a look but didn’t answer as she stepped off the porch and headed toward Gabe’s truck. He’d let her borrow it since she couldn’t get the PT Cruiser off the island due to the small bridge having been closed. That was another thing that was causing deep consternation, but right now, she had bigger fish to fry. Apparently, one of them was wearing a deputy’s badge.
Chapter 2
The jailhouse was a large, boxy looking building that looked exactly like what it was. Despite its appearance, Abby was thankful for how it had been constructed. Utilitarian, but tough. Because of it, the bikers had been unable to break in and kidnap Frank Millerson, the ex-bank manager who it turned out had stolen quite a bit of their money. Despite all the years that Frank had been laundering their money, the bikers didn't take kindly to him stealing it.
The only thing that had saved him was the presence of former mobster John Troutdale, two of his men, Deputy Lanie, and the very solid construction of the building itself. Whoever had decided to make the windows bulletproof and put steel doors on the place was all right in Abby’s book. Still, when she walked in, the familiar smells and sounds of their local police department greeted her.
Deputy Sam was at the counter where Lanie usually sat and smiled when Abby came in the door. “What can you do for you, Abby?”
“Is Lanie here?” Abby asked, looking around at the desks. She didn’t spot the deputy, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t out on patrol.
“Ah, Lanie,” Sam said. “She’s out in the motor pool talking to the new patrol car.”
Abby raised an eyebrow. “Talking to the new patrol car?”
Sam laughed and nodded. “Yep. More like bitching at it. She’s letting the investigation get to her. Maybe you can talk her out of feeling sorry for herself.”
“Yeah, the sheriff asked me to come over here and talk to her. I just didn’t know it was that bad. Why is she feeling sorry for herself?”
“She doesn’t think she’s ready, but if any of us are, it’s her,” Sam said as he buzzed her into the back. “She’s been the sheriff’s star pupil for a while now but she won’t listen to us. She just thinks we’re trying to pick on her.”
Abby patted him on the arm. “It’s almost like you all are a big family, but I’ll talk to her. Which way to the motor pool?”
Sam pointed toward one of the doors toward the back of the station. “That way,” he said. “She’ll be toward the back with the new car. I don’t know what it
will do to her if the sheriff sends it back. She’s taken a shine to it.”
“I thought she didn’t like it. She said something to me about it having so many computers it could probably talk to her.”
Sam laughed. “It can, believe it or not. Door is ajar,” he pantomimed with a fake robot accent. “Seriously, it does that, but that’s not why she likes it. I’m sure you’ll see when you go back there. It’s rather dreamy as cars go. I think Reggie might have a run for his money.”
“What kind of car is it?” Abby asked.
Sam ignored her question and shooed her toward the door before going back to doing whatever paperwork he had been working on. Abby grimaced, but pushed through the door and was immediately assaulted by the smell of motor oil and garage.
There was a distinctive smell to this kind of environment that Abby remembered well from when she had been on base. A few times she’d visited her now-deceased husband in the garage of his platoon for one reason or another, and it had smelled exactly like this although on a far larger scale.
She had no trouble picking out the car that Sam was talking about, and she felt her eyebrows raise as she laid eyes on it. It was not a normal patrol car. Instead of being the boring but capable sedan that made up the bulk of the police department’s fleet, this one had the lines of a fierce sports car. Coupled with the black and gold paint scheme and dash mounted lights, it was in another league altogether.
She stopped to admire it for a few moments until the driver side window rolled down and Lanie stuck her head out. “Abby? What are you doing in here?”
Abby grinned and walked toward the car window. “Well, I came to see you, but now I think I should leave you two alone.”
Lanie blinked, clearly not grasping Abby’s joke for a few moments, but finally she seemed to get it and shook her head. “Oh, the car! Yes, it is quite nice,” she said, sliding one of her hands along the steering wheel.
Dead Reckoning and Murderous Intent, A Red Pine Falls Cozy Mystery (Red Pine Falls Cozy Mysteries Book 4) Page 12
