by Leslie Leigh
“That’s the plan,” Michael said. I could hear the bell ringing as he entered. “Here we go.”
“Hello, Mrs. Hartford. Here’s a warrant issued by Judge Turner authorizing Deputy Lee and myself to search the premises. We’re looking for items that may be related to the death of Charlie Hayes.”
“Of course, Detective Reed. Hello, Jimmy. Please, feel free.”
“I will need to search the living quarters of Fiona Finn.”
“Oh, let me get her. Fiona!” Mrs. Hartford called. “Fiona, could you come downstairs, please? These officers have a search warrant and need to check your quarters.”
I could hear Fiona’s voice in the distance. “A search warrant? Why…what are you searching for?”
“Actually, we’re looking for the blouse you wore the night Charlie Hayes died. It should be a light blue, short-sleeved blouse with white buttons.”
I could hear Fiona unlocking a door and mumbling. “I wore that a week ago. I’m sure it’s been washed and hanging in my closet.”
“I’m sure that you know which blouse you were wearing, ma’am, but if you could gather up every short-sleeved blue blouse, I’d appreciate it.”
“Of course, Detective,” Fiona said. “Here you are. This is the one.”
“And, please, check your hamper. Just dump the contents on the bed there. Mrs. Hartford, would you show the deputy to the laundry room, just so nothing gets overlooked?”
“Follow me,” Mrs. Hartford said.
There was a lull. As if talking to himself, Michael said, “Well, it appears that all of the buttons are intact.”
That was my cue. I texted a message.
Difference in thread? Spacing?
I heard Michael’s cell beep. He was reading my text.
“Did you recently sew this button, Miss Finn? The thread appears to be bright white, while the others are a duller, bluish white.”
“I-I don’t think so,” she said. Her voice sounded breathless, as if she were starting to hyperventilate.
“Well, I’m no expert, but I know people who are. I’m going to have to take this with me and have it analyzed. I’ll provide a receipt when we’re done.”
“Detective, what is this about? Do I need a lawyer?”
“Do you think you need a lawyer, Fiona? I haven’t asked you any questions other than whether you’d sewn a button on this blouse. It was just a question. Now, when we do get to the interview, I will advise you of your rights, but right now I’m just executing a search warrant. Are you okay, ma’am? You look a little shaky. Would you like to sit down?”
I pictured her nodding, unable to speak. Then Michael spoke again.
“Jimmy, take Fiona into the office. She hasn’t been read her rights yet. Could you do that, please, and maybe get her a drink of water? Mrs. Hartford, I’d like you to stay with me. Now, I’m going to pull off this bedding to make sure nothing accidentally got pushed under the mattress. And now I’m going to go through the dresser drawers and closet, okay?”
I listened to Michael rifle through Fiona’s room for the next five minutes. Apparently, nothing else was found. Then Michael asked Mrs. Hartford to accompany him to the office.
“Have you been read your rights, Ms. Finn?”
“Yes, sir, but I don’t understand what’s going on. Mr. Hayes slipped in the tub. I thought it was an accident.”
“Mr. Hayes was fully clothed, Fiona,” Michael pointed out. “He wasn’t taking a bath. I’m trying to find out how he ended up hitting his head on that wall and dying. And I’m not sure it was an accident.”
“Of course, he wasn’t taking a bath, but he was drinking heavily. Anything can happen when you’re drunk. He could have slipped, you know, and fallen into the tub.”
“Oh, like he might have slipped on some spilled water on the floor?”
There was a pause. “Perhaps,” Fiona said.
“Did you splash that water on the floor, Fiona?”
“No!”
“Did you accidentally spill the water earlier, or did you do it afterwards to make Mr. Hayes’ fall look accidental?”
“I didn’t do anything to Mr. Hayes,” Fiona cried.
“What did Mr. Hayes do to you, Fiona? Did he try to kiss you, to touch you?”
Mrs. Hartford interrupted. “Perhaps you do need a lawyer, Fiona.”
Michael changed tack. “We may need more than one, Mrs. Hartford. You were the one who discovered Mr. Hayes’ body. Did you see Fiona in the room? Did you come to Fiona’s aid when Charlie tried to grab her?”
“Detective Reed, you’re grasping!”
“No, Charlie Hayes was the one grasping as someone pushed him back into that shower. Now I’m trying to find out who did it and why they did it. If it was to fend off an attack, or help someone who was being attacked, just tell me. The law takes those things into consideration, believe me. But we’ve got to know the truth.”
“We have nothing more to say,” Mrs. Hartford sniffed.
“Well, that’s unfortunate for Ms. Finn here. Because we have video placing her seconds away from Charlie’s entrance here, his death and Ms. Finn’s departure. We have photographic evidence of a button ripped from her blouse by Charlie Hayes, as well as proof that the button was retrieved by Ms. Finn to conceal what happened. Fiona, you can’t be both the victim and the executioner. Now which one were you?”
“It was an accident!” Fiona cried out. “He was drunk and he grabbed me when I brought in the champagne. He was going to rape me!”
“Fiona, stop talking!” Mrs. Hartford scolded.
“No, they know too much, but not enough. I didn’t push him!”
“Gordon Haskell?” Michael said.
“Mr. Haskell must have been nearby. He knew Charlie, knew what he’d do. He tried to help me!”
“Did Gordon push Charlie?”
Silence. “That’s all I can say. No more.”
I began typing.
Did Fiona scream? Was there shouting, fighting? What did Mrs. H hear and see?
Michael’s phone chirped with my text. He cleared his throat.
“Mrs. Hartford, you were downstairs, covering the office while all this was going on?”
“Yes.”
“And you came upstairs. You must have heard screams, shouting, pushing around. You were the one who found Charlie’s body, according to your statement to Deputy Lee.”
“Yes?”
“Yet you didn’t see Fiona or Haskell, despite hearing their voices and the struggle.”
Silence.
“In fact, you provided an alibi for Gordon Haskell. You corroborated his claim that he went directly to his room after following Charlie here, and you said he never came out.”
More silence.
“You can’t protect everybody, Mrs. Hartford. Now, who do you want to protect, Fiona or Gordon Haskell? Because one of these people is innocent and one is hiding the truth. Which one?”
“You’re wrong, Detective. Both of them are innocent! I did it!”
“You did what?”
“Mr. Haskell tried to help. He told me Charlie Hayes was a wild man when he drank. We heard the scuffling and Fiona cried out. Gordon went upstairs to intervene. He managed to get Fiona out of his clutches, but Charlie was hitting Gordon. He was in a rage! Gordon fell and Charlie kicked him and somehow lost his balance. I grabbed the champagne bottle and swung it like Babe Ruth, hitting him square in the chest. I just meant to stop him from hurting anyone else. I didn’t mean for him to….”
There was a long pause, and then Michael spoke.
“So the three of you made a pact to keep your silence and hide the truth. Y’know, you all did the right thing. You looked out for each other and teamed up to fight the bad guy. But you should’ve just come clean.”
“Well, I’ll call Traverse City PD and have them bring Gordon Haskell in. Mrs. Hartford, do you have guests staying here?”
Mrs. Hartford sniffled. “Yes. Yes, I do.”
“Can your gr
oundskeeper handle the guests, or do I need to bring him in, too?”
“Tim didn’t have anything to do with this,” Fiona cried. “I didn’t even tell him what happened.”
“So you lied to him, too?” Michael asked. “Okay, deputy, let’s put Ms. Finn in the car. Mrs. Hartford, do you know where Tim is right now?”
“He’s buying lawn supplies in Alpena.”
“I’ll let you call him while we’re riding.”
“That…that won’t count for my one call, will it?”
“No, ma’am. We start counting when we get you to the station. Mel, I’m going to disconnect you now. Thanks for your help.”
I was stunned. I must have sat in the library alone for a good five minutes, letting the voices I’d heard ricochet around in my head, like some radio crime series from yesteryear. And then, just like that, the show was over.
Chapter 17
Michael stopped by the house after processing the statements at the police station. It was weird to realize that Mrs. Hartford was being boarded at the jail nearby.
“You were right about those variables, Mel,” Michael said, pouring himself a glass of milk. “That was pretty astute.”
“Just a hunch,” I said. “She’d already vouched for Gordon Haskell, and I thought she’d cover for Fiona, too. She couldn’t have just discovered the body without hearing the commotion beforehand and knowing that Fiona was involved. I didn’t figure that she was the one who actually knocked him the tub, though.”
Standing in the kitchen with Michael, drinking milk while Mom was out, was like we were teens again, living at home. I liked it.
My phone rang. It was Gary.
“Wow,” Michael said. “Your face just lit up. Guess I’d better get lost.”
I grabbed his arm as he turned. “Hey, we’re a pretty good team, aren’t we?”
Michael gave me a quick hug. “Yeah, we are. Thanks, sis. You did good. Now go talk to your boyfriend.”
I waited until the door closed. I didn’t want anyone else to know about Gary just yet. I wanted to keep him to myself.
###
Thank you for reading Blue Wedding.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
