Mrs. Fix It Mysteries (5 Cozy Mystery Books Collection)

by Belle Knudson

  “And Professor Flaherty looked like a knight in shining armor,” he said.

  She didn’t sense any bitterness in his voice. “No, it wasn’t that simple. He was quietly persistent. I fell in love. I’m not going to apologize for my life, Scott.”

  “I’m not asking you to. Did he take trips?”

  “He was asked to lecture all over the world.”

  “You didn’t ever wonder why a man so sought after was teaching at a community college in Pennsylvania?”

  Now that he said it that way, it did seem odd. “I guess I never thought about it. I knew he’d never leave me. He wasn’t interested in fame or fortune, and he loved Rock Ridge.”

  “Guess the whole idea that he wouldn’t leave was wrong.”

  She pressed her lips together. “You’re presuming you know what happened to him.”

  “I am, but I have a better knowledge of these things than you do. So much more goes on that the average person doesn’t know. It’s not anyone’s fault. We go through life seeing what we want to see. I did it with Jackie.”

  She couldn’t get mad at him. He was still hurting a little from his divorce—and from her discovery of his ex in his kitchen. What a strange few days. Her life had been going along pretty well. The worst she’d had to deal with before was Scott’s return.

  That seems like a strange thing to worry about now.

  “I was young—twenty-three when we got married.”

  “Do you have anything left of his? Any personal items you might not have looked at?”

  “I do. I have a box of items from his office at the college. I threw things into the box and never looked at them.”

  “Can you get it for me? I’ll drop it off at my house on my way to work.”

  She stood, and their knees bumped. “Sorry.”

  Her leg tingled where they touched. Damn him. Why did he have to come back? Perhaps the real question was she so lonely that just a nudge had her turned on. She retrieved the box of Greg’s things from the basement. She was tempted to open it, but it felt like Pandora’s box in her hands.

  She set it on the coffee table by Scott, who hadn’t moved. He glanced at it. “Do I have your permission to look into it?”

  “Of course. I wouldn’t give it to you otherwise.”

  “No one has looked at this?”

  “Some cops searched his office, and I didn’t get this box from the department secretary until months later, so maybe. They needed the room for the person they’d hired to replace Greg. They couldn’t hold his position forever.”

  “So no one knows you have this?”

  “No, I guess not. I never thought to tell anyone. At that point, most people were ducking my calls. I was pretty persistent in the first six months. I wanted to know where my husband was.”

  “Did you hire a detective?”

  “Briefly. I couldn’t afford one for too long.”

  “Did he give you a final report?”

  “Yes. I think I jammed it into that box when I decided I needed to get on with my life. I had two teen boys to prepare for life on their own,” Kate said.

  Her only saving grace had been her sons. They’d needed her, and she had to be there for them.

  “Understandable. Don’t mention this box to anyone. I’ll take it to my house on my way into the office.”

  “Why not take it to work? Isn’t a police department more secure than your house?”

  “I want to keep it under wraps that I am working on this. I think your husband was into something, and who knows what happened. I don’t want to bring attention to you or that I’m looking into his disappearance.”

  She wrapped her arms around herself. “You’re scaring me. What could Greg have been involved in?”

  Maybe she didn’t want to know, but she had to. She owed it to herself to know the truth.

  “It could have been something illegal or something for the government. There are all sorts of people who work for the government doing odd jobs.”

  She blinked at him. Just a week ago she was a handywoman. Trucking along through the life she’d built since her husband had disappeared. Now she might have been married to a spy, or worse, a criminal. How had a small town girl like her gotten involved in this?

  “I guess he took advantage of my naiveté,” Kate said.

  She heard the bitterness in her own voice. Scott stood, putting his hands on her arms. “We don’t know anything yet.”

  “No, we really don’t. I appreciate your looking into this,” Kate said.

  She may not trust this man with her heart, but she trusted him to find out about her husband. Scott was determined, and he’d ferret out details that others had missed. Of that she was sure.

  “Are you ready to go? I’m not leaving you here by yourself.”

  “I am. I already had my truck packed when I walked out to it.”

  “Good. Where will you be?”

  “I have to go back to Hazel’s house. She wants me to replace an outside faucet that’s been leaking.”

  “You’ll be visible then. Good. No one should bother you in broad daylight. Just let me know where you are next. Then meet me for lunch.”

  “As much as I appreciate what you are doing, we aren’t going to be dating.”

  “It isn’t a date, as much as I would like it to be, but if we begin to spend time together, then whoever is threatening you will back off. Besides, half the town thinks we’re going to be an item anyway.”

  She snorted. He wasn’t wrong there.

  ***

  Hazel’s dog yipped as Kate climbed out of her truck. She leaned down to pet the dog. He licked her hand.

  She straightened, and then had the distinct sensation that someone was watching her. She glanced around but saw no one.

  “Just paranoid.”

  The dog trotted beside her as she walked to Hazel’s front door. She liked to let the woman know that she was there before she began work. She thought it odd that the dog was out and about without her.

  Something had to be wrong. Kate knocked on the door. She heard a moan. Yanking the door open, she entered Hazel’s house. The woman was on the floor.

  “Oh, Kate, I fell. Help me up.”

  “I think I should call an ambulance.”

  She flipped out her phone and dialed 911. Then she went to get a pillow for Hazel to put her head on.

  “Oh, Kate. Don’t go to any trouble.”

  “Hazel, it’s okay.” She sat on the floor next to the old woman. “Are you in pain?”

  “A little.”

  “Is there anyone I can call?”

  “My cell phone is on the kitchen table. Can you bring it to me?”

  Kate did as she asked. She thought Hazel was pretty calm for having fallen while home all alone. The woman called someone then hung up.

  “I called my son. He’s going to insist that I move in with him. He’s been badgering me for months.”

  “Might not be a bad idea, Hazel,” Kate said.

  Someone knocked on the door, and Kate yelled for them to come in.

  The EMTs had arrived. She moved out of their way and let them work. They had Hazel on the cot and out in the ambulance in no time.

  “You want me to come to the hospital?” Kate said.

  “No, honey. My son is meeting me there. Thank you for staying with me,” Hazel said.

  “No problem. I’ll have that faucet fixed in to time.”

  “Oh, thank you.”

  They put her in the ambulance and drove away. Kate returned to her truck, gathering the materials she needed to replace the faucet. She still had the sense that someone was watching her.

  She did the job at Hazel’s, and then texted Scott with her next location. She had to stop by Grayson’s to rent a power washer. As she drove, her mind filled with thoughts of Greg. She had stopped thinking about him every day long ago. He only entered her thoughts once in a while until recently.

  Now he was all she could think about. What had he been involve
d in?

  She shooed away those thoughts and pondered what she’d seen in the mayor’s folder. That was something she might be able to solve. Greg’s whereabouts might always remain a mystery.

  Kate was sure that Jackie’s death had something to do with the deal gone wrong. Didn’t that happen once in a while? No one had a perfect track record. Why would people be mad unless Jackie had done something wrong?

  She must have done something underhanded in the investing. Kate wondered if Jackie had make money, while everyone else lost everything. If she asked Scott, he’d admonish her to stop investigating. Especially now that she’d been threatened.

  Nor could she tell him about the folder. He wouldn’t appreciate that she’d stolen it.

  Grayson’s was full of the usual guys talking about home improvement. Clark stood behind the counter listening. He smiled at Kate as she arrived.

  “I need a power washer.”

  “I have one in the back you can rent.”

  She gave him her credit card, hoping it wasn’t yet maxed out. She breathed a sigh of relief when it was accepted and she signed the slip.

  “Drive the truck around to the back. I’ll load it into your truck. You going to be able to unload it?”

  “Let’s see it first.”

  The hard part of being a woman in the handyman world was that a lot of equipment was too heavy or not built with a woman in mind. She’d often had to figure out creative ways to get the job done.

  She parked her car in the alley behind Grayson’s. Clark was waiting for her, the power washer on the ground at his feet. She hopped out and opened her tailgate.

  “You might want to invest in ramps to get this stuff in and out of your truck,” Clark said. “I have some you can borrow.”

  “Thanks, Clark.”

  He showed Kate how to set them up, and then she was able to wheel the power washer into the bed. She secured it with bungee cords.

  “If you bring it back before I close, I can knock some off the price,” Clark said.

  “I appreciate that. I’ll do my best.”

  “Remember, I close early today. Fishing trip.”

  “Right.”

  She left him standing in the alley. At the new site, she was able to set up the washer in minutes. Before she began, she had that sensation again. Someone was watching her. This time he didn’t hide.

  He was a man, probably in his thirties. She wondered why he would be staring at her. She wasn’t hot, and she sure didn’t cut a sexy figure in her overalls. She pretended to go back to her truck, but detoured toward the man standing across the street. He stood by a tree. She memorized details about him: he had black hair and black jeans, his T-shirt sported some character from a video game that Kate had seen her sons play.

  He had glanced down at his phone so he didn’t see her. She was halfway across the street when he ran in the opposite direction. She wasn’t in any shape to chase him.

  She watched him go, and then turned back to her job. Turning on the water, she fired up the power washer. The house she was cleaning had a lot of mold on it. She’d brought bleach just in case the washer alone wouldn’t remove it. The green stuff was tenacious, but Kate was more so.

  She kept glancing in the direction of the street, but the man didn’t reappear. Her mind turned over the facts of the case in her mind. Someone had entered Scott’s house. They had to have known that Jackie was in there or else they moved her there. She had forgotten to ask Scott if he knew.

  Was she meeting someone? Given her vast investments, it could have been a former client, a current client or, as it turned out, someone out to kill her. Who would be mad enough to follow her and kill her?

  And who was this mysterious man who had been staring at her? Was he the killer? Or did he have nothing to do with it? Maybe he had something to do with Greg’s disappearance. Someone could have been following her all of these years and she’d never noticed. She found it ironic that it had taken a dead body to wake her up to her surroundings. How many things around her had she missed?

  She packed up the washer when she was done. Glancing at her phone, she wasn’t sure if she had time to return it to Grayson’s before she had to meet Scott. She drove by the hardware store, but the place was packed. She signaled to Clark that she’d come back later.

  He nodded his understanding. She took out her phone to call Scott and tell him she was ready for lunch. They would keep up the charade of spending time together. Like lovers. She was sure there would be tongues wagging as she was still married.

  She hadn’t filed for divorce yet. Perhaps, given what she now knew, she might reconsider. Maybe she would wait until Scott found out more about Greg’s disappearance.

  That settled in her mind, she dialed his number.

  Chapter Ten

  Kate met Scott at the Time to Eat Diner at one end of Main Street. People occupied most of the tables, but Scott was already there holding a booth. He was wearing the same suit jacket, but he’d since tied the necktie that Kate had seen earlier.

  “You would think they were giving something away here,” Scott said as she slid onto the seat across from him.

  The diner was the usual type with a counter that ran through the center. The kitchen lay behind that. The seats in each booth were made with red vinyl that Kate remembered sticking to in her shorts when Scott would bring her here after a movie when they were in high school.

  Before they’d go fool around. That had been their Friday night ritual. Kate wished she hadn’t thought of that right now. She’d eaten in this place many times since then, and not once had it provoked those memories.

  Nope, sitting across from Scott did that.

  Sigh.

  “The special today is meatloaf and macaroni and cheese bites,” Kate said.

  “Macaroni and cheese bites?”

  “Those haven’t made it out to the big city? They are practically a delicacy here.”

  “Sounds like a cholesterol nightmare. Does it come with a defibrillator on the side?” Scott said.

  Kate laughed. “It’s good.”

  She didn’t even pick up her menu. She knew she was having the special—maybe even some pie for desert. She’d been good all week.

  “You having the special?” he said.

  “Of course.”

  He closed his menu and put it on top of hers. “I will, too.”

  “You’re going to risk a heart attack?”

  “I’ll run an extra mile tonight.”

  She laughed. So that’s how he kept in shape. Her work kept her from gaining too much weight. If she had an office job, she would be the size of a house.

  A harried waitress came by.

  “Hey, Mrs. Flaherty.”

  “Hello, Caitlin.”

  Caitlin attended community college and waitressed part-time here. Kate knew her because she’d been dating her son Jared before he left for college. She didn’t know if they’d kept in touch, but they’d both agreed there wasn’t any reason to do the long distance thing. Kate had liked Caitlin very much after that.

  “How’s Jared?”

  Kate tried not to chuckle. “He’s good.”

  “Tell him I said ‘hey’ next time you talk to him.”

  “I will,” Kate said.

  She took their orders, gathered the menus and left.

  “A friend of your son’s?” Scott said.

  “Ex-girlfriend. She was always sweet, but I think she liked Jared more than he liked her. He let her down as easily as he could. He didn’t just run off to college,” she said.

  Scott put a hand on his heart. “Ouch. I resent that remark.”

  She laughed. “Ancient history.”

  “Clearly not or you wouldn’t have brought it up.”

  “No, it really is. I’m just busting your chops.”

  He nodded, but she didn’t think that he believed her.

  “Tell me about your sons,” Scott said.

  “They are both freshmen at Penn State. Jared wants to
major in forensic science. Jason is going for computer science.”

  “Both good majors.”

  “Yes, they can both get jobs. As long as they can support themselves, I’m happy.”

  “Guess that’s what a parent’s job is.”

  “Yes it is.” She put hand on his. “Before we go any further, I need to tell you about the strange thing that happened to me today.”

  He glanced down at her hand on his. She pulled it back.

  “I’m listening.”

  “I had the sense that someone was watching me. I didn’t see anyone when I was at Hazel’s.”

  “By the way, Hazel broke her hip, but she’s going to be fine,” Scott said.

  “Good. Anyway, when I went to my next stop, I felt it again. This time I saw a man in his thirties watching me. He was goth-looking, which I thought was odd for someone that age.”

  “Did he look like a rocker? Have guyliner on?”

  “You know what guyliner is?”

  Scott chuckled. “Yes, I did spend some time patrolling South Street.”

  “Right. Yes, I think he did have guyliner on.”

  “He sounds like Dean Wentworth.”

  “Who is that?”

  “The guy that I caught Jackie with.”

  Kate sat back with her mouth open. “How old was Jackie that she was with this guy?”

  “She was in her early forties. Dean is older than he looks, but she had a decade on him.”

  “Yikes. I didn’t know. Sorry.”

  “No problem. Ancient history.”

  So that’s what had happened. Sad. Scott didn’t deserve that.

  “I tried to confront him, but he ran away,” Kate said.

  “Don’t, Katydid. Don’t put yourself in danger,” Scott said.

  “Is he dangerous?”

  “He could be the killer. I’ll let Ken know the guy’s in town.”

  “You guys kiss and make up?”

  Scott laughed. “We’ve come to a truce. For now. We’ll work it out. We—men—do that.”

  “Right.”

  “Other than your stalker, how was your day?”

  He was asking about her day? How boyfriend-like. “You know about most of my day already.”

  “That’s true. Mine has consisted of catching up on paperwork.”