Lane chuckled as he drove. “Fine. Leave it to me, then. I have absolutely no problem telling her.”
Evanee smiled as she collected all the pieces in her lap. “Good, I’m going to let you.”
Lane glanced over at Evanee as she busied herself. “What’re you doing?”
Evanee shrugged as she reassembled the invitation in her lap. “I’m just curious what the wedding invitation looked like. Bluebell’s got immaculate taste, and I think they’re doing a rustic theme…”
When Evanee’s words trailed off, Lane glanced over at her again. Her eyes were glued to the invitation and her mouth hung open slightly. “What are you staring at?”
Slowly, a hand covered her mouth as she pointed at the invitation. “Oh my gosh,” she whispered.
Lane looked at her curiously. “What?”
“You are never going to believe this…”
“What?”
When she wouldn’t answer him, he pulled the truck over to the side of the road and the two of them scooted closer together. He read the invitation aloud. “Ace and Heather Adams request the honor of your presence at the wedding of their daughter, Annie Elizabeth Adams, to Jeremy Robert Cunningham.”
Evanee looked up at Lane. “Heather Adams? I had no idea that Bluebell’s real name was Heather.”
Lane shook his head in astonishment. “I had no idea either. We don’t exactly run in the same circles.”
“Do you think it’s the same Heather that dated your father?”
Lane dug into his back pocket looking for his cell phone. “There’s only one way to find out.” He dialed his grandmother’s phone number. It rang four times before he finally heard someone answer.
“Hello?”
“Nana?”
“Lane, it’s so good to hear your voice! What are you up to?”
“Oh, Evanee and I are doing a little more digging on that fire. I had a question for you. Did Dad used to date Bluebell Adams?”
“Well, I told you that the other night, sweetheart,” said Doris Church. “Remember? I said he dated Heather Bell for several years before he married your mother.”
“Yes, I remember that, but I had no idea that Heather Bell and Bluebell Adams were one and the same.”
“Oh, I suppose it never occurred to me that you might not know that,” said Doris. “Yes. I don’t remember when she got that nickname, but I think Ace gave it to her when they first started dating. Rachel told me that he’d started calling her that because of her bright blue eyes. He said she should’ve been named Blue, and of course her last name was Bell. So, he started calling her Bluebell, I guess. I still call her Heather, though. I think a lot of the older folks do. All the younger ones probably only know her as Bluebell, though.”
Lane glanced over at Evanee. He could tell she was only hearing one side of the conversation and was dying to know what his grandmother was saying.
“Nana, you mentioned the other day that you thought dad’s ex might be the one to blame for the fire. Why were you suspicious of her?”
“Like I said then, it was just a gut feeling I had. I had no evidence, just a feeling. Heather really loved Steve. You could see it in the way she looked at him. She was jealous of Rachel. She wanted him back. It seems like everyone in town could see how much she still loved him. Even Rachel saw it.”
Nausea settled into the pit of Lane’s stomach. “Okay, Nana. Thanks for the info. I gotta run, but I’ll come see you for supper on Sunday.”
“I’m making a roast.”
Lane tried to smile. “Sounds delicious. I’ll see you Sunday.”
Before he’d even hung up, Evanee pounced. “What did she say?”
“Bluebell and Heather are one and the same.”
“I heard that part, but what did she say about motive?”
“Same as we assumed. She said that Heather was jealous of my mom. She said that everyone in town could see how much Bluebell still loved my dad.”
“Wow,” breathed Evanee.
Lane nodded. “Yeah, it’s kind of hard to stomach. To think she might’ve been the one that killed my mother out of jealousy.”
“I just find it so hard to believe that Bluebell Adams could be the killer. I’ve always thought so highly of the woman.”
Lane shrugged. “No one’s perfect, Evanee.” He pulled his truck back onto the road.
“Where are we going?”
“I’ve delivered to Bluebell’s place before. I know where she lives. I think we should head over there and have a word with the woman.”
Evanee shook her head and pointed towards the festival fairgrounds. “No, she won’t be home. They’re all setting up for the festival today. I bet she’s over there right now.”
Lane turned towards the fairgrounds. “We’re on our way.”
35
The festival fairgrounds buzzed with excitement. The set was already constructed, but set decorators, actors and actresses, merchants, and children all rushed around, tending to their specific responsibilities. Evanee was supposed to be there working, but she’d managed to weasel out of it for a few hours by promising to provide some of the set props from her shop.
At the festival entrance, Clark and Alice Westinghouse, members of the town beautification committee, were setting up the entrance booth.
“Hi, Clark. Hi, Alice,” said Evanee, giving them both smiles. “I’m looking for Bluebell. Have either of you seen her?”
Clark pointed. “Last I heard, she was over in the castle.”
Evanee shot him a smile. “Thank you.”
The castle was one of the only pieces of the set that stayed up year-round. It was an actual building that had been built the first year the festival had been held and was used year after year as the backdrop for the main jousting events as well as the site for many of the food vendors to take up residence, as it had running water and electricity.
Approaching the castle’s back door, they saw people coming and going. Evanee stopped one of the women she recognized. “Hey, Cindy, have you seen Bluebell?”
“Yeah, there’s a load of merchandise being delivered right now. Bluebell and Ace just ran over to the other side to unload it.” She pointed them in the right direction.
“Thanks.”
Tromping across the fairgrounds, Evanee spotted Bluebell from afar, waving at her as they got closer. “Bluebell!”
Bluebell looked up from her clipboard. “Evanee, Lane, good to see you. It’s been such a busy morning. Are you two in need of an assignment?” She looked down at her clipboard as a group of women unpacked boxes of merchandise and set them up in the makeshift building nearby.
Pulling a two-wheeled cart stacked with boxes, Ace pointed down one of the paths. “The pub across from the brothel still needs to be set up.”
Bluebell’s eyes brightened. “Oh, yes. The pub needs to be set up. That would be fantastic if you two could handle that for me.”
Evanee nodded. “I’ll definitely work on the pub next, but I was actually hoping that we might have a word with you. Privately?”
Bluebell paused for a moment before glancing over at Lane. Then she nodded as if she knew what it was to be about. “Yes, of course.” Bluebell sidestepped a few people and beckoned for Evanee and Lane to follow her across the path to a two-story building with fake stuccoed walls and stained-glass windows. “This way.” Standing just in front of the building, she spun to face them. “Let me guess, you’re reconsidering the wedding invitation?”
Lane grimaced. “Well, yes, that’s part of it,” he began.
Bluebell nodded as if she’d known already. She cupped her hands to her mouth and hollered past them at Ace. “You were right, Ace!” Then she shook her head. “He called it. You two are a thing, aren’t you?”
Lane glanced over at Evanee, as if allowing her to answer that question.
Evanee pursed her lips. “That’s really not why we’re here.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, you see, Lane and I, well…” Evanee
sighed. She had no idea how she was going to confront the woman she idolized about her involvement in a decades-old fire that she might or might not have started. The words stuck in her mouth like warm saltwater taffy. Evanee sent a glance over to Lane.
Thankfully, he sucked in a breath and took over. “Bluebell, Evanee and I are investigating the fire that killed my mother thirty-five years ago.”
Evanee watched as Bluebell’s face fell.
“But that was so long ago. How could you possibly—”
“New evidence has come to light. New people have come forward,” said Lane. “And I must tell you that we have reason to believe that you might have been involved, or you may know the person that was involved in starting the fire.”
She put a hand to her chest, stunned. “Me!”
Evanee blinked back her blurry eyes. She just couldn’t imagine Bluebell having done such a horrible thing.
“Yes. We were recently informed that you were one of the few people that knew my mother had gone to the fire hall to get ready for the festival parade that day.”
Bluebell’s head shook. “I-I didn’t… who told you that I knew she was there?”
“Does it really matter who told us?” asked Lane.
Bluebell’s blue eyes widened and her head bobbed up and down. “Well, yes, it matters. Of course it matters. It matters very much, in fact. Someone is trying to sully my good—”
“Did you know she was there?” Evanee cut in, her voice quiet but firm.
Bluebell’s eyes shot over to Evanee. Her own eyes were glossy now. She swallowed hard. “Did I know?”
Evanee nodded.
“I—I—”
“You knew, didn’t you?” Evanee cut in, her pulse pounding in her ears.
Bluebell’s eyes flitted from Evanee to Lane and then suddenly over Evanee’s shoulder.
“What’s going on?” asked Ace, behind them.
Bluebell’s face immediately flushed bright red. “Nothing, sweetheart. Nothing. We’re just having a quick little chat about the wedding. Lane can’t go with Gracie. You were right. You’re always right,” she chattered nervously. “I don’t know how you do it. I’ll be right over there in a moment.”
Evanee looked at Lane. Bluebell was lying to her husband now? If she had nothing to hide, why lie to him?
But Ace didn’t walk away. Instead, he came closer, his head tipped curiously to the side. “Sweetheart, is there something wrong?”
“Wrong?” She giggled nervously. “No, dear. What could possibly be wrong.”
“I don’t know.” Ace looked at Evanee curiously. “Is there something else going on here?”
Lane cleared his throat. “There’s no point in beating around the bush here. I think you might as well know. Evanee and I are investigating the fire that killed my mother thirty-five years ago. We’ve recently gotten new information that several people in town knew my mother’s whereabouts that day. It’s a very short list of people that knew she was in the fire hall, and your wife is one of those people, sir.”
“Excuse me?” said Ace, seemingly dumbfounded. “My wife what?”
“Ace, I—it’s not—” She sighed and then looked up at Lane, her eyes wide. “Look, I wasn’t responsible for the fire,” she finally said.
“But you knew my mother was in the fire hall, didn’t you?”
Bluebell let her head fall forward slightly. “I did know, but I didn’t go there, I swear.”
“Who told you she was there?” asked Lane, even though Evanee knew he knew the answer. He was testing her.
“Calvin Lancaster told me,” said Bluebell hesitantly before throwing a glance in her husband’s direction.
“Bluebell!” gasped Ace. “You actually knew where Rachel was that night? You never told me!”
Bluebell swallowed hard. She nodded. “I know I didn’t, Ace. I’m so sorry. I just—”
“You knew where she was and you knew Calvin knew where she was, and yet you never told the cops. Why?” asked Lane. “For all these years, everyone in town has blamed the fire on my father because they couldn’t pin it on Calvin. They didn’t have enough evidence. If you’d told the police what you knew, it would’ve helped secure a case against him.”
“I—”
But Lane wasn’t done. “I’ll tell you why you didn’t go to the cops. You didn’t tell them because then they would’ve known that you knew where she was too. Then they would’ve had to check into your involvement, and they would’ve figured out that you still had a thing for my dad.”
“Your d—”
“Yeah, I know about the relationship between you and my dad,” said Lane.
Looking like a caught woman, she glanced over at her husband. “Ace, I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“You should’ve told me, Bluebell,” he chided, slowly shaking his head. “If you had nothing to hide, I would’ve told you to go to the police too. Why didn’t you tell me?”
She looked down at her hands. Tears sprang from her eyes then. “I swear I’m innocent.”
“Then why didn’t you go to the cops with what you knew?” asked Evanee.
Bluebell swallowed hard and wiped the tears from her eyes. Then she straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath. “I didn’t go to the police because I didn’t want Ace to find out where I really was that day.”
Ace’s brows knitted together. “Where you really were that day? What does that mean? Where were you?”
Bluebell’s shoulders bounced as she bawled. “We’d only just started dating,” she cried.
“Okay?” Ace’s jaw was set, like he was trying to restrain his anger.
“I wanted to get some closure,” she sobbed.
“Closure?” Ace’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“From Steve. I wanted to talk to Steve.”
“You went to Steve?” Ace asked incredulously.
Bluebell’s head bobbed. “I—I’m s-s-so s-s-sorry,” she sobbed.
“Bluebell, I can’t believe you never told me any of this.”
Lane and Evanee exchanged glances. She wondered if he was as confused as she was. Bluebell had gone to see Steve, not Rachel?
Bluebell’s mascara ran down her face. “I know,” she bawled. “I didn’t want you to break up with me for going to see him.”
“You didn’t go to see him to get closure,” snapped Ace. “You went there because you were still in love with him.”
Her head shook from side to side. “N-n-no! That’s not why, Ace. I swear!”
But before she could finish explaining, he stormed off.
“Ace!” she hollered after him. “Wait!”
Lane stopped her from running after her husband. “We’re not done here,” he said. “You two can work out your marital stuff later. You’re not off the hook for whatever part you played in all of this.”
“I didn’t start that fire, Lane,” cried Bluebell. “I swear.”
“How am I supposed to believe you?” asked Lane.
“Because I was with your father when that fire started,” she cried, throwing her arms up in defeat. “Go ask him. Go ask Steve. He’ll tell you the truth. He’ll tell you that I was with him!” Bluebell pushed her way past Lane and Evanee. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go fix my marriage!”
36
Lane and Evanee stood in Lane’s driveway less than twenty minutes later. His dad’s old red pickup truck was parked in the driveway. They’d already checked the house and found it to be empty.
“Where is he?” asked Evanee, looking around.
Lane pointed towards the barn. “He’s gotta be in the orchard. Come on.” He led her to the barn, where the tractor was parked, and sure enough, as he’d suspected, one of the four-wheelers was missing. Lane uncovered the other ATV and handed Evanee a helmet.
He hopped on first and started it up. Then he held a hand out to Evanee to help her onto the seat behind him. It felt good to have her saddled up behind him. Though they’d shared a kiss, fee
ling the warmth of her body pressed against his was another feeling entirely.
“Where do I put my hands?” she asked.
Lane swiveled his torso around, grabbed hold of her hands and pulled them around his waist. “You hang on to me. Don’t let go, got it?”
Gripping hold of one of her hands and steering with the other, Lane revved the engine and took off like a shot.
Lane zipped across the well-worn trail, the tall grass matted in spots where their four-wheelers traveled daily. He pointed up ahead to a field of trees in the distance. His dad’s ATV was where’d assumed it would be, parked in the trees. “Hang on!” he hollered over his shoulder. Then he bore down, lowering his head into the wind, and they flew even faster towards the orchard.
Lane pulled the ATV up next to his father’s and helped Evanee off. They followed the sound of a radio to find Lane’s father up on a ladder in a tree.
“Hey, Dad,” hollered Lane. “You got a sec? I need to talk to you quick.”
Steve lowered his head to peer down at his son. “I thought you said you had business in town,” he said, looking surprised to see Evanee by his side.
“I handled my business in town,” said Lane. “Evanee and I need to have a word with you.”
“Well, I’m kinda busy right now. Can’t it wait until this evening?”
“Actually, it can’t, Dad. It’s about Mom, and it’s important.” Lane felt like he had been holding his breath since they’d left the fairgrounds. He was scared about what his father might tell him. Was what Bluebell had said the truth? Had he been with her the evening his mother had been killed?
Steve sighed but pulled off his work gloves and set them on one rung of the ladder. Then he climbed all the way down to the ground, where apples littered a tarp spread across the grass. He bent down, picked up a water bottle and took a long swig out of it. Then he leaned back against the ladder.
“What’s up?”
“For starters, we’ve made a lot of progress this week with some new clues and witnesses and whatnot.”
Snow Way Out: A Mystic Snow Globe Romantic Mystery (The Mystic Snow Globe Mystery Series Book 2) Page 26
