by K P Stafford
I looked at her, "Not a lot, just one thing that has me concerned." I glanced towards the kitchen to see if I could see Mark watching over us. "Before I get into that, why isn't Mark at work? Is everything okay?"
Peyton rolled her eyes but let out a soft sigh at the same time. "Temporary layoff. Everything will be fine. No need for you to worry."
I tried to lighten up the conversation a bit. "You're my friend, I will always worry about you, silly."
A smile almost crossed her face. I could tell her emotions were strained and she wasn't sure how to respond.
I asked Peyton if she'd heard anything from some of the locals regarding Will's death. She looked towards the kitchen and then glanced back at me. This was a touchy subject around Mark. Was he jealous of his friendship with Peyton, just like Alice? Was he not allowing Peyton to mourn the death of her friend because of his own insecurities? Or was it something else? I remembered what Alice had said about Will's concern for Peyton. She didn't have any details. That made me wonder if it was police business. He wouldn't be able to share anything like that so it had to be more than a personal concern. I made a note to go snoop around Will's apartment as soon as I got a chance. The county guys would be seriously mad at me for "hindering" their case or possibly tainting evidence, but I had to get to the bottom of this. Will was dead and I couldn't ask him about his concerns over Peyton. I would have to do my own investigation separate from the main investigation of his murder. If he had information I could use, I needed it.
Peyton took a deep breath and tried to put on a good act, but I could see right through it, something was wrong. "I haven't heard anything." She stood up, "This really isn't a good time. Can we talk about this later?"
I followed her lead, stood up and grabbed my things. They had been arguing when I arrived and I didn't want to make matters worse for her. I sure missed being close to her. I missed having someone to talk to about these matters. She hollered to Mark that she was seeing me out. We headed to the door as he came back into the living room. "Don't be gone long. We need to finish our little talk." He emphasized the words little talk.
After we got to the stairs and I knew we were out of hearing distance if Mark was standing outside the door trying to listen, I grabbed her arm. "Peyton, what the hell is going on?"
She kept walking down the stairs as she pulled her arm free from my hand. "There's nothing going on. Why do you ask?"
"I heard the two of you fighting."
She stopped and turned towards me, letting out a huffed sigh, "Couples fight, Lexi. Not everyone has the perfect thing going like you and Jake. You know, if you'd commit to him instead of heehawing around about having a real relationship with him, you might discover that couples have spats."
Peyton had never acted like this before. I didn't know how to respond. Her words hurt me deeply. "I know couples fight, but that one sounded pretty serious to me. And for another thing, you're not acting right. You act like that man controls every move you make and you're afraid to speak your own mind anymore. Why is that?"
Peyton headed back up the stairs, "You can see yourself the rest of the way out."
I stood on the stairs for a long while after she disappeared around the corner. I heard the door to her living quarters close. I wanted to sneak back up the stairs and listen. Was getting caught a risk I was willing to take?
CHAPTER 7
Jake was cooking dinner at his house so I headed straight there after I closed the office. I didn't bother going home to change. I was mentally exhausted from the day and the fight, or whatever it was, with Peyton. Although Jake had prepared one of my favorite dishes, I sat there picking at my food. He reached over and put his hand on mine. "You had a rough day?"
I looked up at him and wanted to cry. The last few days had just been horrible and I didn't know how much more I could take. "I did." I held back the tears. I didn't want to be a blubbering idiot all evening.
Jake stood up and walked around the table. He pulled me up from the chair and embraced me. I felt my body trembling. It was nice to be wrapped in the warmth of his arms. Peyton's words flashed back to me about keeping Jake at arm's length and not having a serious relationship. I reminded myself that our relationship was good. We both decided to take it slow. It wasn't just me being a hard case or afraid of commitment. Or was it? I brushed those thoughts out of my head. Peyton was the one not acting right. I needed to get to the bottom of it before we completely lost our friendship. For now, I just wanted to feel safe and protected. Jake could be a little overprotective, but I'm starting to appreciate it, at times anyway.
After dinner, we sat on the porch swing. Jake snuggled me in under his arm as we watched the sunset. He kissed the top of the head, "Tell me about your day."
I interviewed Alice today," I said.
A slight chuckle jiggled through his body, "How did that go?"
"It went surprisingly well. She's a mess, though. Either this has hit her really hard or she's putting on a good show for everyone."
"You think she's faking it?"
"No, but you know the people of this town do, because of her history. Anyway, she mentioned Will being concerned about Peyton. They'd had an argument about it that night."
"You know how jealous she could be. She could have invented the whole thing as something to be jealous over."
I sat up and looked at him, "Do you think so?"
"We all know her a little better than we did a few months ago. You know she can be a bit of a drama queen."
"I know, but she seems genuinely distraught and like it was important to her that Will had cared for his friends the way he did. It just doesn't make sense that she'd make something up like this."
"People react differently during times of loss. You have to take that into consideration too."
"I know, but I'm also worried about Peyton. She's just not acting right."
"Give it time Lexi, she'll come back around."
He pulled me back into his arms. I sat there for a moment thinking about what Will might have known. "I think I'm going to snoop around Will's place and see if I can find out anything about what had him worried over Peyton."
Jake turned to me and shook his head. "You need to let the cops deal with that. I don't need you running off half-cocked getting into trouble or getting yourself hurt."
I pulled back, "I have a job to do helping the cops and where my best friend is concerned I'm making it my business."
"Lexi, you need to let that work itself out. Give it time. Besides, his concerns have nothing to do with this case."
I stood up, "It's concerning if he died because of it. And I've given it time and the situation is getting worse. If you're not concerned about her that's too bad. I'm going to get to the bottom of who killed Will, what he was up to and why Peyton is so out of herself." As I headed to go inside and get my things I called out over my shoulder, "I'm leaving now." I stopped in the doorway and looked back at him, "I thought you were on my side."
"I am on your side, Baby." He always called me Baby when he was being sincere, but he didn't make an effort to get up. He'd figured out awhile back that chasing me down didn't help matters. At least he still respected that boundary, even if everything else was falling apart. I walked inside and grabbed my things.
Later that night I rolled everything over in my head. If Alice was guilty, she sure was milking the grieving girlfriend part well, but there were really no other suspects that had motive. I started doodling on a piece of paper and writing the names of possible suspects. I wrote Mark's name down, mostly because I didn't like him. I looked down at the paper and saw Alan's name. Seeing his name in print reminded me of something he'd said about Will. Was he defending his sister's honor and things got carried away? If he knew how his sister felt about Will, surely he would not want to see her distraught the way she is, but if it was an accident, he'd likely want to cover it up.
I put my paper away and snuggled down into the bed. My phone beeped just as I reached to turn the
light off. It was Jake, his message was simple, "Sweet dreams, Baby. Miss you!"
It was our first real disagreement and it wasn't even a disagreement. It was me being upset because I didn't feel like he was on my side. I thought about Alice and her insecurities. Suddenly, I understood her need to feel validated. I replied to Jake's text and apologized before curling up with my pillow and falling asleep.
CHAPTER 8
The next morning, I stopped at the B&B to grab a coffee. Peyton served the best coffee and croissants in town. It had become part of my morning ritual even if she and I couldn't chat the way we used to. As soon as I opened the door I noticed she was working the front desk. I assumed her desk clerk was late or had called in sick. I smiled and waved as I made my way to the dining room for my morning fix. Breakfast was free for guests, and for me, but I always stopped at the front desk and paid for mine. I inhaled deeply before going over to pay for my stuff. I put a big smile on and spoke to Peyton as if nothing were going on. She took my money and looked up at me with sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry about yesterday."
I could tell it strained her to get the words out. "It's okay. I understand."
She fidgeted with the pen in her hand, "I'm not sure you do. There's just so much going on right now." She waved her hands around, nonchalantly pointing upstairs, which I took to mean Mark and her new living conditions. "Plus, with Will's death on top of everything."
I wanted to reach out to her but hesitated as I saw Mark out of the corner of my eye heading towards us. "The whole town is upset over it. It's understandable." I glanced at my watch, knowing I had plenty of time to get to work, but needing an excuse to leave, "I have to get to the office early. I'll try to call you later." I looked up at Mark, who was now standing beside me. "Morning," was all I could bring myself to say. I turned and headed towards the door. I can't be sure, but I think he asked her what I was doing there. I had the crazy thought he'd seen me on the security cameras and came down to make sure I wasn't questioning Peyton. The thought of that infuriated me, but I had to laugh at myself too. Another murder investigation had me questioning everything and everyone's actions. I sat in my car a few minutes and took a few sips of coffee, hoping the hot, brown liquid would improve my mood before I got to the office.
The phones were eerily quiet when I arrived. It hadn't been released that this was an investigation, but the gossip box didn't need a reason to call up and let us know what was happening around our small community. I peeked into John's office. He was leaned over his desk reading reports. He looked up and saw me, "Morning."
"Morning, John. Any news?"
"No. I expect the sheriff anytime now," he said as he looked at his watch.
"The phones sure are quiet."
Surprise crossed John's face, "Oh yeah, I turned the ringer off. You better turn it back on." He chuckled.
As soon as I turned it on, it was ringing. The first caller wanted to know why we were late getting to work. I didn't know what to say, so I told them we'd had problems with the phone lines. It wasn't really a lie, I just didn't explain that the problem was because of John.
At eight o'clock the sheriff walked in. His face was pale and the bags under his eyes were unmistakable. He probably hadn't slept much since finding Will's body. I suddenly felt guilty because I had slept pretty well.
He walked past me without much of a hello and headed into John's office. I knew John would share the news with me, but I wished I had been invited in. Of course, my basic job is that of secretary and the sheriff still hasn't gotten over my "investigative" methods from the last murder case, but I had learned to think about things differently since then. I also wasn't quite as naive as I was back then.
Since I wasn't invited in, I let my thoughts return to seeing Peyton earlier that morning when I stopped for coffee. She was a bit more social than she had been, but I could still feel the strain between us and I wasn't sure why there was such a feeling between us. At least she had been friendly to me, that was something and told me that my best friend was still in there, under whatever hardship she was going through. That was another thing that bugged me, why didn't she feel comfortable sharing her emotions with me these days? I knew it had to be a huge adjustment having Paisley's father back, but it could be an easier transition if she'd use me as a sounding board instead of bottling everything up inside.
The front door opened bringing me back to the present moment. I looked up to see Jake's infectious smile. He was carrying coffee and a deli bag of goodies. I stood up and ran around the desk to greet him. He extended the cup of coffee towards me. I ignored it and gave him a hug. He was always there for me when I needed him and I hated that we'd disagreed the night before. I was being stupid.
After the hug, we sat in the two wing-backed chairs by the windows. He'd brought me a cappuccino. I loved plain coffee but grabbed cappuccino when things really bothered me. He handed me the bag of goodies and I peeked inside. It was Boston cream cannoli. He'd driven all the way into the city to get them for me. My heart gushed and I was pretty sure at that moment that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.
The door to John's office opened and the sheriff walked out. Jake stood up as a gesture of respect. The sheriff stopped and shook Jake's hand on his way out of the office, still ignoring me. Jake looked at me and said he needed to get to his office and I needed to get back to work. He motioned with a nod of his head towards John's office. I tipped up on my toes and planted a kiss on his mouth. He pulled away with a grin, "I should bring you cannoli more often if that's the reaction I'll get."
I lightly slapped him on the arm, "You should get that reaction more often without the use of bribes," I bit my bottom lip, "Although, I do like your bribes."
I entered John's office and asked what developments had occurred. He looked up from the file the sheriff had left him, "Come on in, Lexi. These are the fingerprint results."
"Anything we can use?"
"Well, there's a lot of them, one is non-conclusive, but we know most of who had been at the rail lately."
"That's good news. I'm sure our killer is on that list."
A frown crossed John's face, "Yes, and if any of these known fingerprints are the killer, this town may not recover from the news."
I swallowed hard, "You're right. I didn't think of that." We discussed how Alan had acted the day before. He agreed it was suspicious too.
CHAPTER 9
Not long after the sheriff left, the phone rang. Half the town had seen him come and go so they wanted to know what was going on. By lunch time, everyone knew it was now a murder investigation. It didn't matter that I had told them we weren't sure, they automatically assumed the worst. In this case, they were right.
After the phones quieted down, I flipped through some of the pages of the file the sheriff had left. The report claimed there was an appearance of someone wiping the railing of prints in one section, but plenty of prints had been found in close proximity to that part of the rail. A list of names included Alice, Will, an unknown, Alan and a print that was smudged. The unknown print was all over the remainder of the railing as was Alice's, Will's and Alan's. Back when my aunt disappeared, the whole town got a little over-protective and everyone volunteered to have their prints on file, along with the prints of their kids. That's why we had so many identifications. I looked at Alan's name and remembered how he'd ran me off when he discovered me talking to Alice. At first, I assumed he was just being the protective brother. The uneasy feeling in my gut wasn't so sure now. I made a mental note to put him at the top of my suspect list and to start digging into his past to see what kind of rift could have been between him and Will or if he was just protecting his sister's honor. Either way, I was worried about Alice. Losing her boyfriend and then finding out her brother was the reason could devastate her if Alan was the guilty party. Even questioning him could have ill effects on her mental wellbeing. My heart sank thinking about her. She was number one on the sheriff's list, but I had my doubts about her being gu
ilty. I've been wrong before, but she didn't seem to have it in her to kill the one guy who had loved her. I also knew not to let my personal feelings get involved. A few months ago, I had suspected Jake and he ended up being completely innocent. I'd hate to repeat that mistake thinking she was innocent when she may be playing everyone and did kill Will. I needed to get more answers. Jake wasn't happy with the idea of me snooping around Will's home when I suggested it, but I was going to have to do it. The sheriff hadn't released any information on their findings if they'd even searched his house, so I would go in blind. It wasn't the first time I'd done something like that on my own. Maybe I needed better protection than the big flashlight John had given me. Jake had been giving me some pointers on self-defense, but I wasn't sure that was enough. Did I need a gun? A chill shot through my body and I dismissed the thought. If I purchased a gun I would need training lessons on using it. Jake would probably volunteer his services, but at the same time, he may not want me to have one. He definitely wouldn't like the fact I wanted one to go snooping around in places I really had no business being.
