The Final Vow

by Amanda Flower

  Benji stood up and began to pace the trailer. There wasn’t much room for it. Piper pulled her legs up onto Jason’s bed so that Benji could pass, and I pressed my body back against the tiny kitchen counter.

  Benji marched past me and said, “It wasn’t until Piper started coming to the Farm on a regular basis that we got serious. Up until then it was more just hanging out.”

  “Okay, fine,” I said. “The two of you are together, and now I know why I didn’t know before. It’s fine.” I turned to Benji, who’d reached the end of the trailer and did an about-face coming back the other way. I stepped in her path. “I just want you to be happy.”

  Benji stopped midstride. “I know that, and one way you can make sure I’m happy is to help keep Piper from going to prison.”

  I turned my attention back to Piper, who remained crossed-legged in the middle of the single bed with her skirt spread over her legs like she was at a Sunday afternoon picnic, not sitting in my farmhand’s trailer talking about secret relationships and murder. “Okay, tell me why the police suspect you.”

  “I’m her intern,” Piper said. “I know everything about her business. Of course they would look at me.”

  I shook my head. “There has to be more to it than that. Vianna had a lot of people working for her. They might all be a suspect to some extent, but something tells me the two of you are worried about this for more than one reason.”

  Neither of them said a word, so I tried to change my line of questioning. “How did you end up here in Jason’s trailer in the first place? Seems an odd place for a meeting.”

  Piper took a deep breath. “The police questioned me at my apartment first thing this morning, and I knew that I needed to see Benji. I know I shouldn’t have come here. I tried to stay away, but I needed to see her … ” She trailed off.

  “She texted me while I was keeping an eye on Barn Boy during the police interview.” Benji perched on the edge of Jason’s bed again and Piper patted her back.

  I gave her a look.

  Benji rolled her eyes. “Okay, keeping an eye on Jason. The detective interviewed him near the barn. It didn’t take long. I asked Piper to meet me at Barn Boy—Jason’s—trailer because it’s out of the line of sight.”

  “The police questioned you this morning?” I asked Piper.

  She nodded. “By the time they left, I was half convinced I’d killed Vianna.”

  “Who was the officer who interviewed you?” I asked, even though I knew very well who it was, having been interviewed by Brandon many times myself—and every time, she’d tried to convince me I was guilty even when I knew perfectly well that I wasn’t.

  “Detective Brandon,” Piper answered, as I expected her to.

  “Do you have an alibi for the night of the murder? A roommate or someone who can vouch for your whereabouts?” I glanced at Benji. “Were you together?”

  Both shook their heads.

  “I was at my parents’ house last night. I went straight there after I left work,” Benji said. “My brother was home and Mom wanted us to have some family time.”

  Piper looked down at her hands clasped on top of her skirt.

  Benji touched her shoulder. “Tell her.”

  Piper looked at Benji with her big brown eyes, and then at me. “I was here last night. That person who you chased into the woods—that was me.”

  fourteen

  I blinked at her. “You? You were the person inside the church? The person who ran away from the scene of the crime?”

  She nodded, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I was, but I didn’t kill her. I swear.”

  I pushed off of the counter. “And the police know this? You told them?”

  “I didn’t tell them.” She wrung her hands. “That’s the worst part.”

  “Why does it make it worse?”

  “Because the detective knew.” She sniffled, and Benji wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

  “How?” I began to pace.

  She gripped her hands together so tightly that the knuckles turned white. “They found the tracks I made and matched them to the boots I was wearing last night. When the police came to my apartment, those same boots were sitting just inside of the door covered in mud. I never thought I would have to hide them. I wasn’t thinking of that at all when I ran away from the Farm. I just knew that I wanted to get away from there as fast as possible.”

  I winced. Physical evidence putting Piper at the scene of the crime and proving that she fled the scene wasn’t good news for her, not in the least little bit. “You saw Vianna fall?”

  She blinked tears away. “No. I didn’t see anything because I was late getting to the church. By the time I got there, Vianna was already in the bell tower. I was debating whether I should go up and help her when I heard her fall.”

  “Debating?” I asked.

  Piper nodded. “I knew she would be furious at me for being so late. Vianna was very punctual. If she said that she was going to be somewhere at a certain time, she was going to be there no matter what. She expected it from her staff too.”

  I considered this. I suspected that Piper was probably right about Vianna being angry with her, but still, that wasn’t a motive for murder. “Why would the police think you’d want to hurt Vianna?” I asked.

  “I didn’t do it.” Piper shook her head for emphasis.

  I held up a hand. “I know that, but there has to be a motive the police are going to use to argue you’re the killer.”

  She shook her head.

  “There must be a motive,” I repeated quietly.

  She licked her lips. “It might be the fact that I’ve gone to jail before.”

  I stared at her a second time, completely caught off guard by this answer. Here was this beautiful girl, whom Benji obviously adored, and she was telling me she was a murder suspect with a record. It did not compute. “Come again?” I asked, with the hope that I’d misheard her.

  “I’ve been to jail before.” Her voice was low.

  “For what?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “That isn’t important.”

  I folded my arms and stared at the two girls. “I think it’s very important. What sent you to jail?”

  She winced.

  “That’s in the past,” Benji said. “It has nothing to do with what’s going on now.”

  I disagreed, but I let it slide for the moment. “Okay, say you went to jail for something. Why would you kill Vianna? Did she know what it was?”

  Piper squirmed on the bed, mussing the bedspread. Jason was going to have a fit when he saw that his bed was disturbed. She nodded and looked at her hands.

  Benji looked at her girlfriend and seemed to come to a decision to take over the talking for her. “The police believe that Piper killed Vianna because Vianna knew about her past crime and used it as a weapon against her, to keep her in line and loyal.”

  “It isn’t completely untrue,” Piper said, not looking up from her hands. “I didn’t kill Vianna, but she wasn’t above throwing my arrest in my face whenever it suited her. I told myself that it didn’t bother me. I just needed to make it through this year, and then I would be rid of her forever.”

  “The police believe,” Benji continued, “that Piper couldn’t take Vianna’s threats to expose her anymore and snapped while they were hanging those lights in the steeple. They believe that she pushed Vianna through the window in a fit of rage.”

  I nodded. “So you have motive, means, and the opportunity to commit the murder, but that doesn’t explain why you’re here right now. Why haven’t the police arrested you already?”

  “The detective said I wasn’t allowed to leave the area.” Piper brushed a tear away from her cheek. “I don’t even know why she bothered to tell me that. I don’t have anywhere else to go. Everyone I know lives in New Hartford, and Benji is here.”
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br />   I thought of something for the first time. “Do the police know about the two of you?” I waved my hand back and forth to include both of them in my question.

  Piper shook her head. “I didn’t say anything about Benji.”

  “I never talk to the police if I can avoid it,” Benji said. This much I knew. Benji didn’t care for Detective Brandon, although I suspected that was out of loyalty to me more than due to any other factor.

  I frowned, thinking there had to be a piece missing to the puzzle. What would stop Brandon from arresting Piper? I’d known her to arrest people on far less. I wondered if after those past mistakes, she was being very cautious about this case, but that was hard to believe. Being cautious wasn’t part of Brandon’s style.

  Bang bang bang! There was a harsh knock on the trailer door. “Kelsey!” Detective Brandon called. “I need to talk to you.”

  Piper’s mouth fell open.

  “What are we going to do?” Benji asked as her eyes traveled around the trailer. She was looking for a place to hide. The only option was the tiny bathroom, but I knew Brandon would look there if she was the least bit suspicious that someone else was in the trailer with me.

  I pushed off of the counter. “I’ll talk to her. You two stay here and leave when the coast is clear.”

  “Are you going to help us?” Benji asked. Her dark eyes were huge and pleaded with me. “Can you help us?”

  Another plea for help to solve this case, but unlike the pleas that Eddie and the Pumpernickles made, my son was not a bargaining chip in this one. Benji was asking as my friend. It was a plea I couldn’t refuse. “Okay,” I whispered.

  Tears gathered in the corners of Benji’s eyes. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but there was no time. We would have plenty of time later, and I would talk to the girls again. I needed more details about Piper’s past crime.

  “Cambridge, come out here or I’m coming in,” Brandon shouted at top voice.

  I heard her hand on the door handle. The trailer wasn’t locked. All the detective needed to do was step inside the trailer and she’d see Piper there with Benji and me. Until I sorted out Piper’s involvement with the murder, I couldn’t let that happen.

  “I’ll do what I can,” I said.

  Benji hopped off the bed and hugged me. “Thank you, Kelsey. I’m so glad you’re my boss.” She met my eyes. “And my friend. I’m more grateful that you’re my friend.”

  “I’m glad you’re my friend too.” I hugged her back.

  I shooed the girls back to the far end of the trailer, so that they wouldn’t be seen when I opened the door. When I thought they were far enough back, I opened the door and found Brandon on the top step. I blocked the doorway with my body, even though it was extremely uncomfortable to be that close to the police detective.

  “Are you going to let me out of the trailer, Detective? I thought you wanted to talk to me.”

  Behind her, I saw Jason standing on the path halfway between the trailer and the barn. It was as if he wasn’t sure whether he should run to help me or run away. The fact that he was torn by the choice showed how much progress he’d made in the last year. A year ago, he would have fled without a backward glance at me.

  “What are you doing in there?” Brandon’s tone was sharp.

  It was a fair question, but I knew, since it was coming from the detective, I needed to come up with a satisfactory answer and quick.

  “I’m happy to tell you if you’ll let me out of the trailer.” I stared down at her. For once I had the height advantage on her.

  She stared at me for a moment, but finally backed up and let me step out. I hopped down the two steps to the ground, and again I was significantly shorter than the detective. I missed the height the trailer had given me.

  The door slammed closed after me. I glanced at Jason, who remained frozen on the path leading to the barn. “I was just doing an inspection of Jason’s trailer,” I said. “I do periodical inspections, and he knows they’re a stipulation for him to live on Farm land.”

  She raised her brow at me. “And you had to do that today, the day after someone was murdered at Barton Farm?” She folded her arms across her ample chest, which her oversized clothes were unable to hide, and rocked back on the heels of her plain black cop shoes. “Or are you getting so used to people dying at the Farm that it’s just business as usual?”

  I ground my teeth. I would never get used anyone dying, and certainly not anyone dying on my Farm. “I saw that the officers around the church were occupied, so I came over here to check on Jason after his interview and pass the time until the church is secure.” I eyed her. “I thought it was best to stay out of the way of the investigation.”

  She snorted at this. I can’t say that I blamed her for that.

  She pointed at the trailer “You were in there alone?”

  “As you can see, Jason is out here.” I gestured over her shoulder at my farmhand. “There isn’t anyone else who would go inside his trailer.”

  “Is he the only one who goes in there?” she asked.

  “Jason likes his privacy.”

  She looked like she wanted to continue this line of questioning. It was time to change the subject. “How is the investigation coming?” I asked.

  She was quiet for a moment, and I thought that she wasn’t going to answer me. Finally, she said, “We’ll have this case wrapped up soon. I have a very strong suspect in my sights.”

  “Krissie?” I asked, sounding a little too hopeful. I didn’t want Krissie to be a murderess, but I’d much rather it be her than Piper. Besides, Krissie would be ruling the inmates by the end of her sentence.

  Brandon frowned. “Krissie Pumpernickle is, of course, a suspect, as I told you before.”

  “Are you ready to tell me who the other suspects are?” I waited for her to reveal Piper’s name.

  The detective simply smiled in return, letting me know that this line of questioning was a waste of time.

  I stepped around her and started walking toward the village. “Why don’t you show me the crime scene area around the church, so that I know for certain where the tourists are and are not allowed to go?”

  “In a minute.” Detective Brandon jumped up the trailer’s two steps.

  I realized it had been a miscalculation to move out of her way. The detective threw open the trailer door and shouted, “Ah ha!”

  I winced, half expecting to hear Piper and Benji’s surprised screams. No sound came, and Brandon disappeared inside of the trailer.

  I ran into the trailer after her. It was empty. The girls were gone.

  At the back end of the trailer, there was a small, open window. The plain white curtain that covered it fluttered in the breeze.

  fifteen

  With much reluctance, Detective Brandon stepped out of the trailer. I waited for her with a bright smile on my face. I didn’t know how the girls had fit through that window, but somehow they’d shimmied through it. Benji would tell me about their escape later whether she liked it or not. She owed me that much.

  The detective grunted at me as we made our way down the path. I noticed that Jason had slipped away while Brandon searched his tiny home from top to bottom. Since she didn’t know that Piper and Benji had been in there, I wasn’t sure what she’d been looking for. I suspected that she’d insisted on searching it in order to annoy me more than for any other reason.

  I broke the silence. “Is there any chance that the church will be reopened in time for the wedding ceremony on Friday?”

  She scowled at me, and I took that as a no. At least now I could tell Henry and the Pumpernickles that I tried to use my influence on the police and failed.

  We came out of the woods, and the church’s signature white steeple stood out against the bright blue sky. From my vantage point north of the building, I couldn’t see where Vianna had broken th
rough the south-facing window and fallen to her death on the stone walkway below. From my spot, the church looked peaceful, perfect, and pristine. No one would ever think anyone could be killed there, but Vianna had been.

  I wondered what it was like for her the night she died. Had she known that she was in danger? If so, why did she go to the church alone to hang the lights? But I corrected my thoughts; Vianna hadn’t planned to be alone. Piper was supposed to meet her there.

  But what had Vianna been thinking, anyway? Did she think I wouldn’t notice dozens of twinkle lights hanging from the church steeple the next morning? Or that if I noticed, that I would let it go and not insist she take them down immediately? If she thought that, she didn’t know me very well. Then again, I hadn’t really known her either. She’d been a mild annoyance in my life, a messenger from Krissie, one of Krissie’s minions. No more, no less, and now she was dead. There was no chance of knowing her anymore.

  I followed the lines of the church upward from its foundation to the steeple. In my mind’s eye, I watched Vianna hang lights inside. She would be nervous because she knew that she didn’t have my permission to do it, but she was much more afraid of Krissie Pumpernickle—and what the outspoken bride could do to her and her reputation as a wedding planner—than she was of my silly rules.

  Then I remembered another shadow—the one I’d seen in the window of the steeple. Piper said she’d never gone up into the bell tower … which meant that someone other than Piper must have been in the church that night. Again in my mind, I saw a dark shape move up the winding stairs to the balcony, where there was a ladder that led up into the bell tower. The inky shadow snuck up on Vianna and pushed her toward the window with such force that she broke through the wooden slats and fell to her death.

  I shivered. I wasn’t usually one who had visions or fantastical thoughts. However, the images in my head were so real, I could have sworn it was how it happened. But even if I said “yes, this is what happened to cause Vianna’s death,” it still didn’t mean I knew who that shadow or killer was. The only candidate was Piper. She was the only one I knew was at the church. Had she seen the shadow in the tower? Or, even worse, had she been that shadow after all?