“I didn’t do it. I would never hurt Cookie. She was my best friend.”
“I know, but what do they have on you? How can they justify arresting you?”
Clara’s face went long. “Because I was the last person to be seen with her.”
“What does that matter? I found her alone in her car at the side of the road.”
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but you have to believe I didn’t do this.”
“Okay,” she said, seeing the fear in Clara’s eyes and preparing herself for the fact that whatever Clara had to say, it wouldn’t be good.
“There’s a traffic camera along Mercer about two miles from where Cookie was found in her car.”
“Okay,” she said, not at all seeing how that could’ve incriminated Clara.
“It shows I was in the passenger’s seat of Cookie’s VW bug.”
“Were you?”
Clara nodded then let out a long sigh.
“We were fighting, not physically. It was only an argument, but I was leaning towards Cookie and she was shifted away from me. It looks like I was threatening her, but I wasn’t.”
“Clara, were you in the car when she was shot?”
“No!” she blurted out. “No. Cookie had been acting strange. We were supposed to go back to her place to go over our budget and look at the bottom line. Bean There has been doing really well, and we needed to figure out how to use our funds wisely for some local advertising. But then, all of a sudden, Cookie became terrified. She’d been becoming more and more withdrawn during the car ride. She kept checking her rearview mirror. So I called her out on it. I started yelling that she needed to get focused. She’d been acting more and more out of it at work, and she stopped participating in our business conversations. She started arguing back, and then for no reason, she pulled over and demanded I get out of the car. She said it wasn’t safe. By that point, we’d driven far beyond the traffic camera. So I walked home. No one saw me. No one can verify my whereabouts. And the police think our argument escalated into me killing her. But she was shot in the chest, and I didn’t have the means to do something like that. I don’t own a gun.”
“It shouldn’t have been enough to arrest you,” said Kate.
“No, it shouldn’t have been. But I made a stupid mistake.”
“What was that?”
“It was late when she pulled over. The road was dark. I didn’t want to walk without a light, so I opened her glove box after she pulled over. Kate, there was a gun inside. And I told the police.”
“So they took it as an admittance of guilt,” she supplied.
“Cookie was shot. I admitted there was a gun in the car. Now they think I shot her and want to know where the gun is.”
“What happened after you saw the gun?”
“Cookie flipped out. She snapped the glove box door shut and pushed me out of the car then peeled out, but I saw her swerve onto the shoulder again way up the street. I figured she was too emotional to drive, that she needed to pull over to collect herself, and since my house was in the opposite direction, I just started walking. I should’ve run up to her car. I should’ve tried to do something.”
“You can’t blame yourself for what’s happened,” Kate pointed out.
“No, but I can’t fix it either. I can’t go to prison for this, Kate. I didn’t do it.”
“I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I have some information that might help. I need to talk to Scott.”
“Really? You think you can get me out of here?”
“I can try.”
It was a very long walk back up to the precinct. It wasn’t that Kate didn’t feel absolutely certain that Clara hadn’t killed Cookie. What she dreaded most was stepping on Scott’s toes when they had spent the last two years getting along beautifully. Looking back at the long, sordid summer the Anarchist Freedom Network had invaded Rock Ridge and bodies had turned up left and right, Kate remembered how she and Scott had been constantly at odds. They had tried so hard to get to know each other, but their effort to date had been strained by her constant need to find out the truth even after Scott had forbid her to meddle. Did she really want to strain her marriage after years of good times?
She really didn’t. However, she also knew there would be no way for her to sit on information that could very well draw suspicion off of Clara and onto the guilty party.
Reminding herself of that, she knocked on Scott’s doorframe to get his attention. He was seated at his desk, but looked up when he heard her.
“Kate, what are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you,” she said, easing the door closed behind her. “It’s about Cookie Halpert.”
She winced when she saw a look come over his face that she hadn’t seen in years. Scott’s eyes narrowed, and he was holding his breath.
“I’m sorry, but I have to bring this to your attention,” she went on, placing both Cookie’s gun receipt and a copy of her handgun purchase on his desk. “I went to Drake’s Firing Line earlier today. Cookie bought a gun there. She was going every day for about three weeks to learn how to shoot.”
Scott cocked one brow up at her. “So she took on a new hobby.”
“The owner, a guy named Drake, told me that Cookie stopped going the day a man came in. Drake said it looked like Cookie was terrified of him. She ducked out before he saw her. I also talked to a few people around town who said Cookie had a new boyfriend, a guy she used to know in high school.” Kate paused and took a moment to read Scott’s expression, but his face only hardened. “I’m afraid you’ve arrested the wrong person.”
“Kate,” he sighed, rubbing his eyes then looking up at her. “Bean There was doing terribly financially. Clara and Cookie had been arguing. Clara was in that car with her. She told me herself she found a gun and she took hold of it. It was enough to arrest her, and I’m pursuing it.”
“She took hold of it?”
“That’s what she told my officers. The gun wasn’t found in the vehicle, and we’re getting a search warrant to go through Clara’s house. When we find that gun, we’ll have all we need to put her away.”
“If Cookie was afraid Clara was going to kill her, then why did she let Clara in her car that night?”
“I don’t think Cookie saw it coming. Like you said, she could’ve been preoccupied with a new boyfriend.”
“Who she was terrified of, who she bought a gun to protect herself from—”
“You don’t know that.”
“Aren’t you going to look into this?” she asked, indicating the handgun license and registration she got from Drake. “Ask around?”
“Your future daughter-in-law has gone missing. Why are you getting fixated on Cookie’s murder? I’m handling it.”
“I’m afraid you aren’t.”
“Answer the question, Kate.”
But she couldn’t. She didn’t know.
“I’ve organized a search party for Becky. I have officers going door to door, canvasing all of Rock Ridge. If you want to do something productive, I suggest you see Celia who’s organizing an on-foot search party to go through the woods looking for Becky.”
Chapter Six
It wasn’t until Kate was filtering into the town hall with most of Rock Ridge’s residents that she realized Scott’s comment was having an effect on her. To be accused of essentially not caring about Becky’s disappearance—just because she appeared to be actively focused on Cookie’s murder—wasn’t fair. She knew Scott had meant only to get her to let go of her interest in Cookie’s murder, and he hadn’t necessarily meant to insult her, but she felt that he blamed for caring about the wrong thing.
Kate worked her way across one of the rows, which was already packed with residents, and as she took her seat between Carly, who was seated beside Larry and her son, Jared, she whispered to him, “Jason couldn’t make it?”
“He won’t leave the house,” said Jared, who quickly apologized to his neighbor on his right. The older woman w
as grumbling now that she had even less room.
“Scott has a search party organized, and also Celia is organizing a second party for the residents who want to help. Maybe Jason could get involved. It would give him hope and something to focus on.”
“I’ll let him know. I’m worried about him, Mom. He won’t get out of bed.”
“He hasn’t been working?”
“Not that I know of.” Jared quickly glanced around the town hall then asked, “Scott isn’t coming?”
“He has his hands full.”
Jared sighed, shaking his head. “Rock Ridge is too small a town for the police to handle a murder and an abduction. I think that’s why Jason’s getting depressed. No one’s going to care about Becky when Cookie was found dead.”
“You don’t know that,” said Kate, though she couldn’t help but notice Jared’s sentiment reminded her of Scott’s accusation. Was Kate one of the people who didn’t care about Becky simply because Cookie’s murder seemed slightly more pressing? She told herself, not at all, but deep down she wondered about the aversion she was having. Was this a form of denial? Was that what she was doing? Falling into denial? She hoped not.
Carly tapped her leg, as Dean greeted the residents from where he stood at a podium at the front of the hall.
“I have that check for you,” she said quietly.
“Thanks,” said Kate. “I’ll get it after the meeting.”
Dean cleared his throat then began addressing the residents.
“Thank you all for coming. The reason I called this town meeting is because I don’t want to make any major decisions on behalf of Rock Ridge, but rather pose my proposition to you all to gauge your response. As you know, the camping area on the east side of town has been vacant for almost two years. And I view this as a missed opportunity, but it doesn’t have to be. Going over the town budget, it has been abundantly clear that we could use more funds. Across the board, every department has been suffering, and though most of our stores are owned by the residents and not giant corporations, the economy here has been dwindling.”
Carly leaned into Kate’s ear and said, “We’ve been holding our own,” with a snort of disagreement.
Kate had to agree. In the past few years, she had been doing increasingly better and better. Fix-it jobs continued to filter down to her from Wentworth Contractors, and her customers had remained loyal. She’d also made an effort to diversify a few years back, adding some staging work for Justina, the local realtor who had several homes a month that needed to be furnished, decorated, and staged for sale. Kate wondered which companies in town had been suffering, or if perhaps Dean wasn’t being entirely honest.
“Looking at other towns in Pennsylvania who succeeded at boosting their economy, and realizing the potential of the camping area, I realized that we’re sitting on a possible gold mine, that is, if we’re all willing to embrace tourism.”
As soon as Dean used the word “tourism,” the crowd began grumbling their complaints, but he lifted his hand to silence them.
“Hear me out,” he said, waiting for their voices to fall quiet again. “I propose an amusement park.”
“I told you so,” said Carly, leaning in close.
Someone from the back shouted, “It’s a waste of money! How will the town afford the materials?”
“Hear me out, please,” Dean asked again, but sounded impatient this time. “If we bring in a major company like Six Flags or Luna Park, then the corporation will foot the bill.”
At once, the entire crowd of residents launched into outraged objections, which Kate thought would give Dean enough of an impression on how they clearly felt, but he disregarded the sudden outburst and began shouting over them.
“Please everyone! We will have a vote! I only mean to explain the proposal!”
Finally, they quieted, folding their arms, and he went on.
“The amusement park corporation, whether it’s Six Flags or another company, will hire a local contractor to build the park. Whether that be Wentworth Contractors or not, it would be an opportunity to decrease our unemployment rate. No matter your experience, you would be eligible for hire. I’m looking to increase jobs here. So that’s the first bonus. The second is that as soon as the park is built, it will be hiring employees. And the greatest boost to our economy would be the tourists that the park will attract. Potentially, an extra five hundred to one thousand individuals per day every summer. Those are people who will be staying at your inns and bed and breakfasts, who will be eating at your restaurants, buying garments in your boutiques, and going to your coffee shops. The possibilities are endless.”
As he went on, Kate noticed the majority of the residents were coming around. They relaxed their posture and leaned forward, interested in how tourism might help their businesses flourish. But Kate didn’t particularly feel the same way. As helpful as tourism might seem in terms of the economy, she knew having an extra five hundred people in Rock Ridge would ultimately change the type of town this was. It would no longer be quiet and sleepy, but could very well become overwrought. What she liked most about Rock Ridge was that for the most part no one knew about it. It was no secret that those who visited often fell in love and ended up moving here, like Dean Wentworth himself and so many others. She feared to imagine the impact an amusement park could have on her beloved town over the years. What if everyone fell in love with it, moved here, and suddenly high-rise condos were going up left and right? No, she liked things just the way they were, and she’d certainly be voting against the park the first chance she got.
“What do you think of all this?” Jared asked, leaning in close and speaking quietly.
“A lot,” said Kate. “You?”
Jared worked for Dean in the Mayor’s office, but he had also grown up here, so his opinion could easily fall on either side of the divide.
“I really don’t know,” he said. “Crowds put me in a bad mood, and I would hate to think of myself dreading the summer months just because we had an amusement park here. But I went over Dean’s budgets and projections for the park. There’s no doubt in my mind that it will bring in a ton of money.”
Dean continued from behind the podium. “I’d like for everyone who cares to weigh in on this to vote at the end of the week. We will post the date and hours the voting booths will be set up here, on the Rock Ridge website. For now, does anyone have any questions?”
Someone standing in the back of the hall began asking if Dean would post the projections per business on the website as well, and when Kate glanced over her shoulder to see who was asking, she noticed Scott edging into the room from the entrance at the very back.
She caught his attention and smiled, and he nodded curtly at her. It was nice of him to make it, but he looked ragged. Kate wondered how Scott would ultimately feel about an amusement park and all the out-of-town characters it would attract. More people would mean more crime, especially if Rock Ridge was suddenly flooded with teenagers.
The meeting was soon adjourned, and Kate rose to her feet. Jared gave her a quick hug, excusing himself so he could chat with Dean, and then Carly handed her a folded check.
“Thanks again,” she said. “The unit looks great.”
“Kate,” said Larry after she tucked the check into the front of her overalls. “Do you think you’ll get additional business if there’s an amusement park here?”
“Not directly,” she said then considered the possibility more closely. “If I did get more work, it’d have to be because the increase in people would cause damage to the businesses around here. Overall, that’s not the kind of business I want.”
“Same here,” said Larry. “I doubt it will increase sales at Grayson’s, but Carly, your store might pick up.”
She shrugged, as if she wasn’t convinced.
“I don’t think it’s fair of me to vote no,” he went on, “until I’ve talked to shop owners who are in more of a position to profit.”
Kate thought that was generous of him. M
aybe she should do the same.
“Like Clara, for example,” he continued. “A coffee shop like that could quadruple its sales over the course of a summer. I’m not sure it’s my place to stand in the way of that.”
“How’s she holding up?” Carly asked her.
“She’s hanging in there as far as I know,” said Kate, who then excused herself when Scott got her eye.
As she began weaving her way through the crowd that was only gradually thinning out through the doors and making her way to Scott, she overheard Joe Swenson, the head of the town’s financial department mention to Bobbie Hamden how profitable the amusement park will be. Bobbie, a tough woman with a level head, who worked in the permit office, nodded but looked skeptical, which resonated Kate’s sentiments exactly. Jessica Wentworth, who was now married to Dean, was dressed the part, voicing her praise for her husband’s proposal, but Kate avoided her easily enough as she cut through a few more people.
“You made it,” she said as she arrived in front of Scott.
“This amusement park is a goddamn terrible idea,” he grumbled, which made her smile. It was one of the reasons she loved him. They were always on the same page. Well, almost always.
“So you’ll be voting against it,” she concluded.
But Scott sighed. “Is it fair to?”
Just as she had felt after Larry’s remarks, she wasn’t sure herself.
Kate spied Bradley, as he rushed over to his mother Jessica, beaming a proud smile. Bradley, who for years had gone by Toby, had been the center of much controversy two years back when he resurfaced in Rock Ridge. Decades prior and when he had been just a boy, he disappeared from his bed one night having been abducted, and it had nearly shattered Jessica. In a stroke of good luck, Bradley had made his way back to Rock Ridge during the height of the Anarchist Freedom Network’s stronghold on the camping area, and it had been Kate who had worked hard to extricate him from their cult and return him to his mother. It was nice to see that he was continuing to bounce back. Last she had heard, Bradley was enrolled in the Rock Ridge Community College, studying engineering.
Mrs. Fix It Mysteries, Season 2 (5 Cozy Mystery Books Collection) Page 5
