“Very,” Jacob confirmed. “I used to be an EMT, remember? There’s nothing for us to do.”
“Then we have to call the police!” Viola exclaimed. “Oh, how horrible! Who could he be?”
“Grace, call 911 sweetheart,” Harvey said over his shoulder. “Jacob, come downstairs with me. But first, is everyone safe? Where are the others? Finley, Lucas, Dave?”
“Dave’s asleep in my room. He takes sleeping pills,” Eugenie said. “He won’t wake up for quite a while. I usually take them, too, but I didn’t tonight because I thought they wouldn’t mix well with the wine. Oh, of all the nights!”
Jacob looked at the door next to Viola’s room, which was slightly open. He pushed it fully open and clicked on a light. Inside, Nora could see an unruffled bed with an open suitcase on top.
“Uncle Finley’s not here,” Jacob said. “Lucas should be in the attic. Maybe he didn’t hear anything. I’ll go check in on him.”
“Finley!” Viola put a hand over her mouth. “You don’t think something’s happened to him? Oh, Jacob!”
“The police will be here in ten minutes.” Grace stepped back out of her room, having made the call.
“Don’t worry, Mom. I’m sure Uncle Finley’s fine.” But Jacob’s face was a mask of worry. Nora took charge. “Ok,” she said. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Grace, go sleep in Kaylee’s room tonight. Something tells me she’ll need the comfort. Eugenie and Viola, you wait here. Jacob, go find Lucas. Meanwhile, Harvey and I will go downstairs and wait for the police.”
“This is my house. I’m coming down with you,” Viola said defiantly.
“I’ll search for Finley in the meantime,” Eugenie said. “I’ll try calling him.”
“No use,” Jacob said, pointing to a bedside table in the room. “His phone is right here.”
“He’s never without his phone.” Viola trembled. “Let’s go downstairs immediately. I have to know what’s happened to him.”
Harvey, Nora and Viola went downstairs, averting their eyes so they wouldn’t have to look at the man who was spread-eagled on the floor. Viola’s breathing grew erratic as they stepped into the living room and she kept her face deliberately pointed in the opposite direction of the body.
Nora, despite herself, couldn’t help but look. The man was young — late twenties or early thirties at the most. He had a shaved head and a goatee, along with a teardrop tattoo on his face and complex interlocking designs on his hands. An ex-convict, very likely. Possibly a burglar like Jacob had suggested.
Gently, Harvey said to Viola, “Could you look at his face? Just for a moment? Jacob couldn’t identify him, but maybe you can?”
Viola clenched her fists and took a deep breath. Then, steadying herself, she took a long look at the man then turned away quickly. “No. I have never seen him before.”
A burglar, then. Nora assumed. Still, it just didn’t sit well with her. Why would he break in on the one day when the whole family was gathered here? Perhaps he’d been on drugs and not thinking straight? And yet…
Walking to the front door, Nora tried to open it and found that it was locked. The safety chain was still on. She tried the windows, one by one, and found that all of them were locked from the inside, too. Strange.
“Hey, be careful, Nora. Don’t want to disturb any fingerprints,” Harvey said.
“I’m using a hanky.” Nora nodded at him seriously. “Besides, you saw the party earlier today. Half the town’s fingerprints must be in here right now.”
“Oh, right. Good point.” Harvey frowned. “That’s going to make it tougher on the police.”
“Why would they need fingerprints?” Viola asked. “This is clearly an accident, isn’t it?”
“They’ve still got to follow their procedures,” Harvey said. “Don’t worry, Viola. I’m sure this will be cleared up in no time.”
Nora moved into the kitchen and saw a broken glass on the floor. Jacob said he had been in the kitchen. He must have dropped it in shock when he heard the man fall. Nora frowned again. She was trying to piece together a picture of what had happened, but none of it made much sense at the moment. So this man, supposedly a burglar, had come sneaking into the house somehow. He’d made his way up the stairs, maybe hidden himself as Jacob went down for a drink of water. Then what? Had he tripped and fallen down? Or… had he been pushed?
Nora shook her head. Rubbish. He couldn’t have been pushed. Where had that thought even come from? This was an accident, and all they had to do was wait for the police to arrive and clear it all up. But…where was Finley? Where was Lucas?
Nora heard the turn of a key in the lock and gave a startled yelp as the kitchen door opened. Finley froze, his eyes big, and stayed motionless on the doorstep for a second. Then, quickly, he shoved something into his pocket and, trying to act nonchalant, said, “Up so late? It’s 3am! What’s going on? Why are all the lights on?”
“What’s in your pocket?” Nora asked.
“Rude,” Finley said. He looked over Nora’s shoulder and into the living room. Pushing her aside he moved through the kitchen. “Viola?” There was real concern in his voice.
“Oh! Finley!” Viola ran to him and enveloped him in a hug. “Oh, it’s horrible. There’s a man here…and none of us know who he is! He’s dead, Finley!”
“Dead? What are you talking about?” Finley sounded alarmed. He looked at the body and then quickly looked away.
“Do you know him?” Harvey asked.
Finley slowly peeked back at the man’s face, reluctant to even breathe, then exhaled in relief. “I have never seen that man before.”
“Are you sure?” Harvey asked.
Finley nodded. “I mean, look at his tattoos. You aren’t likely to forget him, are you? Is that a skull tattooed on his hand?”
Harvey nodded. “Looks like an unsavory character. But we have no idea what he’s doing here.”
“Actually, we have no idea what you’re doing here,” Nora said to Finley. “It’s 3am. Where were you?”
Finley looked up from Viola’s embrace and gave Nora an irritated glare. “That’s none of your business, I’d say.”
“When a body shows up, I’d say it’s all of our business,” Nora corrected him. “Where were you?”
Looking from Nora to Viola, Finley suddenly said, “I was out taking a walk. Okay? I do that sometimes. I’m an insomniac.”
Viola, who still had her arms around Finley, took a step back and looked up at him. “You never told me that before. That you’re an insomniac. You told me you sleep like a baby.”
“I mean…” Finley shrugged. “Yeah, I guess normally I do. But it happens. Some nights you just can’t sleep.”
“So what were you holding in your hand when you came in just now?” Nora asked. “You shoved it into your pocket like you were trying to hide it.”
“Listen, I’m not going to stand here and be asked invasive questions,” Finley said sharply. “You’re a guest in this house, so act like it.”
There was a sharp rap at the door and cries of, “Police! Open up!”
*****
Four officers stood at the door with flashlights and guns at the ready. One of them, a rotund man with a handlebar mustache and balding head, introduced himself as Chief Andrews. He took one look at the body and gave a little whistle.
“You know who this is?” Harvey asked.
“Sure do,” Chief Andrews confirmed. “I’ve been butting my head against his for a long time now. Pity that this is how he met his end. That’s Bobby Black. Name ring a bell?”
They all just stared at him.
“That’s right,” Chief Andrews said. “The man is a known criminal.”
Viola gave a little gasp. “But what is…was…he doing here? Why was he in my house in the middle of the night?”
“I’m sure we’ll uncover that in the course of our investigation,” Chief Andrews said officially. “All I can say right now is, if he was in this house, you’re all lucky nobody was hurt. And now we’v
e got some questions for all of you…”
Nora looked around and found that, while they’d been distracted by the police, Finley had quietly slipped up the stairs and vanished, never answering the question she’d posed him.
*****
Chapter 10
The Inconvenient Murder
Breakfast was a bleak affair that morning. Kaylee was hustled off to school through the backdoor so she wouldn’t notice the police cars and reporters that milled about in front of the house. As for the rest of the family, they all seemed to be in shock, too. Viola manned the stove, scrambling eggs, while Jacob popped slices of bread into the toaster and buttered them as they came out. Aunt Eugenie sat at the dining table scrolling through her news feed.
“It’s all over town,” Eugenie said, her face red. “Everybody’s talking about it on Facebook.”
“Not just Facebook,” Jacob corrected her. “I’ve been getting calls nonstop. People are curious.”
“I just put my phone on silent,” Viola said.
“Morning.” Lucas yawned and stretched as he walked into the room. “Heard there was a lot of excitement last night.”
“I’m really surprised you didn’t hear it,” Aunt Eugenie said. “I mean, I know you were asleep in your attic suite, but..”
“Not just asleep. He was dead to the world,” Jacob said. “When I tried to wake him up he just mumbled something and rolled back over. How do you feel, Lucas?”
“Terrible. I have a splitting headache,” Lucas said.
“That’s what happens when you drink too much,” Viola chided. She pointed a spatula at him. “We still need to talk about that party you threw, you know. You’re not off the hook yet.”
“Aw, Ma,” Lucas groaned. “After breakfast, okay?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the party was tied to what happened,” Aunt Eugenie said.
“What do you mean?” Lucas gave her a shocked look.
“I mean that you had so many strangers hanging around in here. This man probably slipped in with them and then hid somewhere until later,” Aunt Eugenie said.
“Th-that’s ridiculous,” Lucas said. “That can’t be.”
“If I find out that it is...” Jacob shook his head. “If your actions exposed Kaylee to any danger at all, I’m telling you right now, I don’t care what Mom says, I’m kicking you out of the house.”
“It’s not your house, is it?” Lucas bristled. “And I’m sure he was just a burglar. You’re the one who locked up last night, Jacob. You probably left a door open and the guy just wandered in.”
“Now, boys, don’t fight.”
“The doors were all locked,” Nora said, drawing everyone’s attention. “I checked after we found the body. I think Eugenie might be right. He probably slipped in much earlier.”
“But then, that means he was here all along? While we were having dinner?” Viola shuddered. “I don’t believe it.”
“Who was he anyway?” Lucas asked. “Does the news say yet?”
Eugenie nodded down at her smartphone. “I’ve heard of him before, but I’d never seen him. I spoke to the cops about him. His name was Robert “Bobby” Black. Officially, he owned a ‘dance studio’ on Main Street. Unofficially, he did all sorts of illegal things to supplement his income. He was only in his late twenties and had already spent about half his life in and out of jail. A rotten seed through and through, it looks like.”
“A dance studio? Hey, wasn’t Ramona learning how to dance?” Jacob asked suddenly. “Maybe she was going to his studio.”
Lucas was tapping on his phone and he pulled up an article that had already been posted online. “Says here that he was actually a star football player. He went to Wyoming U as a quarterback when he was nineteen. But then he got into drugs and bad company. When he was twenty, he beat up some guy outside a bar in a fight and killed him. Here’s what one of his friends has to say about him: “Bobby Black was an amazing man. He made some bad choices, but he was on the path to recovery. He was convicted of manslaughter after a tragic bar fight about seven years ago. He only got out last year, but he was a changed man. He’d sobered up and began working hard on his lifelong passion to open a dance academy.” Lucas snorted. “Yeah right. He was still knee-deep in crime, clearly. Bet the so-called ‘academy’ was a front for some other shady business.”
“Pity,” Viola said. “He could have had a good life. But he chose to take another path.”
“I don’t really care if he didn’t have a good life,” Lucas said. “But why did he have to choose our house to die in? It’sa pain in the—”
“Lucas!” Viola stared at him.
“What? I’m not going to sit here and pretend I care about some dirtbag who broke into our house. If he’s dead, I say good riddance. It’s just that he should have chosen to die in some bar instead of our house. You feel the same way, Mom, even if you’re acting all shocked.”
“I do not,” Viola said. “Whoever he was, the man was human. Have some pity.”
“How did he die anyway?” Aunt Eugenie asked. “The police were evasive when I asked them.”
“Fell down the stairs in the dark,” Jacob shrugged. “The police said forensics should tell us whether he had drugs in his system. That would explain a lot.”
“But Lucas is right, you know,” Aunt Eugenie said. “It is going to be a scandal, and it will be painful dealing with all these reporters. Bobby Black should have found a better place to die.”
“I can’t believe you two!” Viola switched off the stove and dropped her apron on the floor. “Inhuman. That’s what you are. I’m going up to bed. If the police need me, let them know. Otherwise, I think I need some time alone.”
“Aw, Mom, we’re just kidding. Dark humor, you know. It’s a coping mechanism. Mom—” Lucas tried to stop her but she shoved past him and stomped up the stairs. In the living room, policemen were still dusting for fingerprints and taking photos and Viola shook her head sadly as she saw the state of her house.
“I’ll go talk to her,” Nora said, getting up. “And you two, I suggest you keep your dark humor to yourself when she’s around. The poor woman’s had a shock.”
*****
Chapter 11
Viola
Nora walked up the stairs slowly, wondering what she would say to Viola. Despite her dislike of Grace’s mother-in-law-to-be, Nora couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Nora couldn’t imagine how horrible she’d feel if her house had been invaded this way. Your home is supposed to be your castle, after all. Safe from the world and full of good things. Nora wondered if Viola would want her and Harvey to leave, or to stay on and help her handle the police. Of course, as ex-mayor of Greenfield, Eugenie would handle the police just fine on her own.
Nora paused at Viola’s door and was about to knock when she heard someone speaking inside.
“It’s just terrible.” It was Viola.
“I know, darling, and I’m really sorry you had to go through this. But I told you allowing Lucas to stay here was a bad idea. You should never have let him in the door.”
“He’s my son, Finley.”
“Maybe so, but he needs to learn some responsibility. He’s twenty-six and still acts like a little boy with no cares.”
“It’s complicated…”
“It is not complicated,” Finley said. “After my brother died, you spoiled Lucas. I mean, I understand why you did it. But it’s time you stopped, Viola. For his sake as much as your own.”
“Don’t you talk that way!”
“It’s the truth, and you know it. If you keep enabling him, he’s never going to learn a thing. Do you know how lucky we all are that nobody was harmed? It could have been one of us with our throat slit. It could have been Jacob at the bottom of those stairs- or Kaylee! Or any of us.”
“Not another word, Finley! I mean it.”
“Viola, for Kaylee’s sake you have to be tough with Lucas. Don’t you think it’s just the tiniest bit weird that all this happened after
Lucas’ party? You saw the kind of people he invited. Total low-lives.”
“Finley, not another word. Lucas is my son and he needs support right now!”
Nora heard Finley groan. “Support? Viola, you’re such a confident, able businesswoman, a superb CEO. And yet, when it comes to your sons, you’ve put on rose-colored glasses. Lucas is a grown man.”
“So are you, Finley.” Viola’s voice was suddenly far harsher.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Finley sounded hurt.
“Just that…he’s my son and I don’t want to talk about this any more.”
“No. Go on. You have something you want to say, so say it.”
“Look, forget it. It’s just been a terrible night and—”
“No. I’m not leaving here until you tell me what you mean.” Finley sounded aggrieved. “Go on.”
Viola took a deep breath. “It’s just…you bought that Porsche with company money. You told me you’d pay it back and it’s been six months now...”
“And you’re comparing that to what Lucas has done?” Finley’s voice was harsh. “Really? Okay. Fine. You want the money, I’ll go right now and get it.”
“Come on, Finley, dear, that’s not what I meant...”
“Oh, but it is. You’re saying I’m a freeloader just like Lucas. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”
“No! I’m saying that…that it’s okay to love and support family. That’s what we do. Finley, sweetheart—”
“Viola, you’re being a fool. Lucas is mixed up with some bad business, and if you aren’t tough on him now, you’ll regret it. Are you really sure he was in his room last night?”
“There’s only one way in and out of the attic,” Viola said. “Lucas couldn’t possibly have killed Bobby Black and returned to his room without someone catching him. Nora and Harvey’s room was right next to the attic door and they were out of their room almost immediately when the scream was heard. They didn’t mention a word about the attic door. Plus, when Jacob went to wake up Lucas he was fast asleep.”
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