The Bark of the Town

by Stella St. Claire

  “What do you think?” Griffin asked, turning to Willow and trying to read her face.

  “I’m not sure,” Willow admitted.

  “What does your gut say about Daniel Blakemore?” he said, rephrasing. “It’s usually right.”

  “I think he was honestly upset about Patricia and Becca’s deaths,” Willow said, patting Telescope with more certainty as she continued talking. “I think if he were a better liar, he would have been more careful what he said about the robbery. And he seemed distraught when I brought up the victims. I think he loved them.”

  “Really?” Wednesday asked.

  “I think so. He really loved them.” Willow nodded. “Even if he was a jerk for loving all of them.”

  “Definitely,” Wednesday agreed. “They had been friends.”

  “So where does this leave us?” Griffin asked, staring up at the ceiling as he thought.

  “Even if Daniel didn’t order the hit directly, it still could have happened because of his family’s connections,” Willow said.

  “You should ask Dad who could be helping Daniel on the outside,” Wednesday said, tapping her sister’s leg. “He might have some more information on it. And maybe he knows who this other source that Daniel mentioned is.”

  “Good idea,” Willow agreed.

  Since they were all finished setting up for the hot dog run, and they were winding down with their potential theories talk, Willow suggested that they head to her kitchen for some snacks, and they all agreed.

  Wednesday walked by her sister’s side on the way. “I think following up with Dad about Daniel’s connections is a good way to continue this lead. I know he’s connected to organized crime, but this was Daniel’s first major arrest, so I don’t know all the details.”

  “Actually,” Willow said, “how do you know any of them?”

  “Oh,” Wednesday said, moving her hand as if to brush the question away. “I read his case file.”

  “Because you thought he might have been linked to the first murder?” Willow asked.

  “No. I just read case files all the time.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure,” Wednesday said with a shrug. “I have access to them, and I normally have plenty of time at the secretary desk. It can get boring there if it’s slow. But they make for interesting reads.”

  Willow nodded, but she wasn’t sure how pleased she was to learn this new information. Willow wasn’t sure if, strictly speaking, it was legal for Wednesday to use the files as light reading. Was it possible that this had some bearing on the case?

  It certainly made Wednesday more interconnected with the secrets of the town in a way that made Willow uncomfortable. Could this knowledge have put her in danger? Had the same thing happened with Patricia and her dirty secrets files? Or with Becca’s salon of gossip?

  Willow swallowed hard as two terrible thoughts sprung to mind. One was that the killer might not like Wednesday to have this extra knowledge. The other was that McMillen might love it. If he found out, he would use this information to make Wednesday look even more guilty.

  10

  “Dad?” Willow called.

  She was stopping by his house to talk to him in person but was now surprised by the numerous cardboard boxes sitting by his car. If she didn’t know any better, she might have suspected that he was about to move away. She knew it would be out of character for her father to skip town while an investigation was going on, but allowed herself a brief moment of levity where she imaged him trying to leave with Wednesday, and her sister’s reaction when he told her she could only bring as much of her mountainous wardrobe as would fit in the trunk.

  Then, she set out to determine what was really going on. She heard movement by the garage and headed that direction.

  “Is that you, Willow?” her father asked, appearing from behind a shelving unit.

  “Were you expecting someone else?” she teased as he wiped some sweat from his brow.

  “Not expecting anyone,” he said with solemnity. “But I did imagine McMillan wouldn’t mind sneaking up on me to deliver bad news.”

  Willow nodded, though she didn’t like the idea of the detective watching her father. She also couldn’t help thinking how strange it felt to see her father out of uniform. It was true that Frank didn’t wear his police chief uniform every hour of the day, but he was usually in it. Especially during the week. Especially during the day.

  Willow sighed to herself. She would just have to keep working until she solved the case and then things could go back to normal.

  “What are you doing with these boxes?” she asked.

  “Just trying to keep busy,” he explained. “I thought I’d make use of my time and clean some stuff out of the house while I’m forced to be here.”

  “That seems like a good idea.”

  Frank’s home had seen the raising of two girls and housed a man who didn’t like to waste things. There were probably a good deal of items that her father no longer needed to keep.

  Case in point, Frank pulled out some dress bags from one of the movable closets and began opening them. Willow was surprised to see that they were filled with evening gowns from the high school dances she and her sister had attended.

  “I can’t believe you kept them all,” Willow said, shuffling through the hangers. Based on the amount of tulle on some dresses, she questioned her fashion sense at the time. However, it was fun to reminisce about the times that she wore them. She had worn the green dress to the homecoming dance where she accidentally spilled punch on her science teacher. A black one had been to a policeman’s ball she attended with her dad and sister where the DJ never showed up and the one lieutenant who played the piano had been coerced into performing all night. Finally, there was her shiny prom dress. She shuddered at how fishlike she thought it looked now with its sea green sequins, but she had shared one dance with Griffin that night when she thought they were just friends.

  She paused as she thought about Griffin and her in high school. They had had feelings for one another, but it had gotten lost in translation. It wasn’t until they had grown up and met each other again that they rediscovered the forgotten chemistry. Willow tried to see if there were any parallels between her situation and the dysfunctional one between Daniel Blakemore and his three paramours, but luckily, she couldn’t find any except that they had all once been in high school.

  “Well,” Frank said, holding up a dress that she thought looked particularly hideous and a lot like a tomato. “You never know when these sorts of things will come back into style.”

  Willow laughed. “I hope that some of these never do again.”

  “Do you think I should keep any of them?” he asked uncertainly.

  “Wednesday really is the fashion expert more than me, but,” Willow said, shaking her head, “no. I don’t see us wearing these again anytime soon. Or anytime at all for that matter.”

  They both laughed and Frank began packing them up to donate. Willow wasn’t sure who would ever want the things, but she thought it was a kind gesture. After boxing up all the sparkles and tulle, Willow looked her dad in the eyes.

  “How are you holding up?”

  “I have even more sympathy for Griffin,” Frank admitted. “Not being able to work is extremely frustrating.”

  “Well, you don’t have to feel too bad for Griffin,” Willow reported. “He’s been having a good time working with the dogs. And my trainers all love him.”

  “In that case, you better make sure that he wants to go back to his regular job once he’s healed,” Frank joked.

  Willow laughed, but felt a pang of worry. That was something she had wanted to avoid. Despite how much she cared about Griffin, she still wanted to have separation between her personal life and her business. She had wanted this situation to be something temporary.

  “I’m sure he’ll want to return to being a contractor,” Willow said more to herself than her father.

  Frank nodded. “I hope I’ll be able to return
to my position when this is all over.”

  “Of course you will,” Willow said firmly. “You’re amazing at your job. And I’m sure everyone, except maybe McMillen, wants you back.”

  “More than that though. I’m still worried about Wednesday,” he admitted.

  “Me too,” Willow said. “But I am making progress. I spoke to Daniel Blakemore, and while I’m not positive that he’s involved in the murders directly, I think it’s possible that someone who is close to him could be. Wednesday said that you might know something about his mob connections. Maybe someone there tried to clean up his mess from the robbery.”

  “Wednesday knew about his mob connections?” Frank asked.

  Willow nodded, but didn’t reveal that her sister had read the case file for fun. She didn’t want to get her into trouble, and she didn’t want her father to worry any more than he already was.

  “Well, yes, Daniel Blakemore had family connections to the mob. They don’t have a real presence in Pineview, but they do in other areas of the state,” Frank said. “Daniel had been involved in some minor thefts and drug crimes. This break in and robbery was his first big crime that should land him with some jail time. Perhaps he was trying to impress the rest of the family.”

  “I don’t think that anyone would be impressed by what he did,” Willow said, wrinkling her nose. “He robbed his girlfriend’s shop and was caught immediately.”

  “True,” Frank said with an air of amusement. “We did have a hunch that there was someone in town who was either helping him or keeping an eye on him.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “His name was Hudson Wright. We thought he was working with Daniel, but we didn’t have any hard evidence of the connection. He’s new to town and is a bit of a loner.”

  “Meaning he’d be hard to find,” Willow said, frowning. “Especially if the one person he knew in town is in jail now.”

  “I’m sure there is a way we can suss him out,” Frank said, rubbing his chin. “Maybe I can set a trap for him where he’ll think that he’s going to meet Blakemore, or I could try and initiate—”

  “Dad, your job is still on the line here. You can’t be trying to contact a suspect.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” he said grudgingly.

  “Leave it to me. I’ll figure it all out,” she assured him. “I just might need to pay Daniel another visit.”

  Frank nodded but didn’t seem happy about it. If she was forced to admit it, she wasn’t looking forward to talking to someone with mob connections who might have had two women murdered to cover up his crime. However, she would do what she needed to in order to help her sister.

  “I have something else that I’d like to show you,” he said, heading towards the house.

  Willow followed and joked, “I hope it’s not any more clothes from my childhood days.”

  “Nope,” he said. “It’s something that might be helpful.”

  They walked inside and Frank led her to the living room. On the coffee table was a formal-looking list. Willow looked at it curiously.

  “What’s this?”

  “This is a list of who Patricia Virladi kept a file on.”

  “You mean the dirt that she kept on people in town when she cleaned their houses?”

  “That’s right,” Frank said, nodding.

  “This is great!” Willow exclaimed. “There could definitely be a motive for murder in here. Patricia might have been extorting some people for money and favors. And even if she hadn’t blackmailed someone, if they knew that she had a file that contained a secret they didn’t want revealed, then they might have murdered her. And maybe Becca found out.”

  “I think that makes sense,” Frank agreed.

  “Where did you get this?” Willow asked, picking up the paper to peruse for clues. It was a handwritten list of dozens of names. Some of them had short notes next to them with phrases like “affair with neighbor” or “lies about money.”

  “From Detective Denton,” Frank said.

  Willow frowned. “I am glad you got this evidence, but I don’t think we should keep getting it from the station. It might reflect poorly on you upon review. And it might get Detective Denton into trouble. He hasn’t been assigned to this case either.”

  “He volunteered to give it to me. Though the reason was because he was worried. Not all of the files that were found at Patricia’s apartment were under her bed. Some of them were found at Wednesday’s house. He thought I should know.”

  Willow wasn’t sure what part of that statement to react to first. “The police were searching Wednesday’s house? And why did she have these files?”

  “Apparently, they got a warrant to search yesterday and were there when she arrived home from your place.”

  Willow clenched her fists. “I bet McMillen waited until she was out so she wouldn’t call you.”

  “Apart from the shock and them finding these files, there wasn’t much else to report. Though she did say that Rover tried to bark at the intruders.”

  “I still wonder why she had any of the files,” Willow said. “She told me that Patricia had shared some information with the police and she reported it as anonymous tips. But I didn’t think there were literal files.”

  “Apparently there were. She must have had them at her home from when Patricia would offer her information. However, it does work in Wednesday’s favor that all the files she had were something that had been reported to the police and had led to a fine or an arrest. There were a few cases of insurance fraud, vandalism and one of embezzlement.”

  “That is good,” Willow agreed. “If something hadn’t been reported, McMillen would probably try to say that Wednesday was helping Patricia to blackmail people.”

  “I think that is what he is trying to prove,” Frank said glumly. “He’s finally come up with a motive for why Wednesday would do something crazy like this. But I’m sure he’s trying to come up with an airtight case, and link both murders, before he makes the arrest.”

  “Sounds like we don’t have much time,” Willow grumbled. “Let me see if anyone on this list stands out.”

  She skimmed the list but didn’t see anyone who leapt out as a prime suspect. She didn’t know most of the people included on it but was surprised to see that her former librarian was listed as having a noise ordinance on her record. She didn’t know who of these people were aware of the files that Patricia kept on them and knew that different secrets mattered more to some people than others. One person might care more about a spouse finding out about an affair than about the police finding out about a crime they committed.

  She frowned as she realized that she was now privy to their dirty secrets as well (though this list was surely nowhere near as detailed as the full files that Patricia kept). These people didn’t deserve to have someone else prying into their lives. Only one person here could end up being the killer. The rest were all innocent – at least in regards to her investigation.

  She would hate it if someone pried into her past and learned the secret she didn’t want told either. It seemed to keep popping up in her memory, and she wasn’t able to silence it. She had been too arrogant at the time. She thought that all the training she had done preparing her to solve puzzles her whole life was enough. While she had interned at the police station, she had gotten tired of fetching coffee for the officers and waiting for a chance for hands-on experience. She had decided to seek her own experience and had tried to solve a case on her own – in fact, one of the biggest cases at the time: a bank robbery.

  Even thinking about it, she found herself cringing. She remembered how she had determined that one of the bank tellers, Dennis Hoskins, had been involved. There were some inconsistences in his story and Willow knew that they spelled out his guilt. However, he had been dismissed by the police at first because of his limp. Willow was certain that it was something that he had faked even though this had been a long-con because he had worked at the bank for over a year.

  She had though
t that she could get him to admit it by herself, but she had merely ended up tipping him off that the police were on to him. In the end, when the police realized it had to be Hoskins, he had become so guarded that the police had never been able to prove his limp was false. Then, the first chance he got, Dennis Hoskins left the country, taking the loot with him.

  The worst part was that he hadn’t just taken money. He had also taken everything that was in safety deposit boxes. Irreplaceable family heirlooms and treasures were gone.

  No. The worst part was that Hoskins had injured the security guard during the heist and the man had been in the hospital for nearly a month recovering. There had been no justice for this man who had been in such pain.

  No. The worst part was really that Hoskins had gotten away scot-free. And Willow knew it was her fault.

  Feeling utterly chastised with her failure, Willow had quit the internship and her plans to become a detective. She had run away to school and tried to hide from her mistake. She was glad that her father had never learned that she was the reason the case had fallen apart.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Frank said.

  “Huh?” Willow jumped, getting knocked out of her painful reverie.

  “You’re thinking that it just looks like a list of names without any context, and that there are too many people in the timeframe and we have to talk to every single one.”

  “Exactly,” Willow said. “That’s what I was thinking.”

  “But there’s another reason why Denton got this list to me,” Frank explained. “There’s someone on this list who could be a potential suspect, but I don’t believe the detectives on the case are going to follow up on it.”

  “Why is that?”

  “The person is Larissa Barnes.”

  Willow scanned the list and saw that next to her name was the phrase “faked pregnancy.”

  Frank continued, “The police are thinking that the guilty person is most likely a woman because Becca Henry had set out nail polish that night, like she was expecting someone. And they believe it was the same killer who murdered both women.”