Iris Avenue

by Pamela Grandstaff

  “She was in love with him. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like long-term.”

  “I think I know Sam,” Patrick said. “But I don’t, not really. I’d do anything for him, and he for me, but I wouldn’t say we’re close like we were in high school. He keeps himself to himself.”

  “Maybe he’s gone off the deep end. Speaking of which, have you talked to Anne Marie since she got back? I had to throw her out of my bookstore.”

  “Anne Marie came into the Thorn and tried to convince Ian to quit selling alcohol. He had to call Knox to come get her.”

  “I’m beginning to think everyone in this town is crazy, not just our family. Who could ever have believed Brian would do what he did?”

  “I’m just glad he didn’t go to Mom and Dad’s house.”

  “He won’t get far in my car,” Maggie said. “The voltage regulator is about to go, and if you run it faster than fifty miles per hour the whole car shakes so hard you think it’s going to fly apart.”

  “It’s time you retired that thing and let me get you something more reliable. I found a car for Ed that…”

  “You don’t think Brian would go to Hannah’s,” Maggie interrupted, and they looked at each other in horror at the thought.

  “Hold on, Banjo,” Patrick said.

  Maggie gripped the dog’s collar as Patrick put his foot down hard on the gas pedal.

  Bonnie Fitzpatrick arrived at the family bakery at four o’clock. She turned on the ovens and tied on her apron before taking the chilled croissant dough out of the walk-in fridge. She assembled all the ingredients necessary to make the croissants, cinnamon rolls, and doughnuts that were the staple of her early morning offerings.

  She thought she could probably do the work in her sleep, and did in fact feel half asleep as she went through the motions. She’d loaded the trays of cinnamon rolls into the proofing box when she heard a knock at the front door. It was Ed and Tommy.

  “My coffee maker finally bit the dust,” Ed said. “Could I prevail upon you to make some coffee for us?”

  “Come in, come in,” Bonnie said. “I could use a cup myself. But Tommy shouldn’t be drinking coffee. I’ll make him some nice hot tea.”

  Ed didn’t point out that tea had as much caffeine in it as coffee. In Bonnie’s mind children did not drink coffee; they drank hot sweet tea with a splash of milk in it.

  Bonnie put a filter into one of the two commercial coffee makers behind the counter and then spooned ground coffee into it. She asked Tommy if he would grind some more beans for her, and he did as he was told. His mother worked there each day, and Tommy helped out almost every day after school, so there were few tasks he hadn’t done before. Ed sat down on one of the stools at the counter that ran around the perimeter of the bakery.

  “I was sorry to hear about Brian,” Ed said.

  “I appreciate you not putting that shameful business in the paper,” Bonnie said.

  “It didn’t happen in Rose Hill,” Ed said, “and it hasn’t officially been reported to the public yet. I don’t print rumors and I don’t like to hamper the police.”

  “I don’t know what I’ll say when it’s known,” Bonnie said. “With a son who’s broken out of prison and turns out to have a second wife and a child no one knew about.”

  “I don’t know why Brian did what he did, but he’s still innocent until proven guilty.”

  “Thank you for that,” Bonnie said. “I know the people in this town, and there’s bound to be many a tongue wagging already, although no one’s been brazen enough to ask me about it.”

  Ed didn’t think anyone was brave enough to ask Bonnie about her son Brian, lest they suffer the wrath of her legendary temper. So fearful were people of Bonnie’s temper that she didn’t have to actually do anything except raise an eyebrow and look as if she might fly off the handle. The fact that she was known to have done so in the past was enough to put the fear into anyone.

  “Brian gave you another fine grandchild,” Ed said.

  “He did,” Bonnie said. “He’s the spitting image of Timothy at the same age. Just as feisty, too. Wants to hold his bottle all by himself and sits up already.”

  Bonnie gave Ed a paper cup of coffee with a lid, and the same but tea for Tommy. Bonnie then surprised Tommy by giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek before he left.

  “I consider you a fine grandchild of mine as well, even though we aren’t kin,” she told him. “Don’t you ever forget that. We may be a family of horse thieves and graverobbers, but we’ll always take you in when you’re cold and hungry. Did you eat this morning?”

  “I did,” Tommy said. “Ed fixed me oatmeal.”

  “That Ed’s a good fella,” Bonnie told him. “Mind you do what he tells you.”

  Tommy smiled and waved goodbye to her and Ed followed him out, thanking Bonnie for the coffee.

  As Bonnie watched them go she felt tears well up and a lump form in her throat.

  “None of that,” she said.

  She wiped her eyes, cleared her throat, and got back to work.

  When Patrick and Maggie came over the ridge top on the long rutted driveway that led from Hollyhock Ridge to Hanna’s farm, the truck slid sideways on a combination of slush, ice, and new fallen snow. The lights were on in the farmhouse and in Hannah’s office in the barn.

  “The dogs aren’t coming to greet us,” Maggie said. “Where are the dogs?”

  They could hear the kennel dogs barking and Hannah’s animal control truck was in the driveway. As they bounced and slid down the final yards to the farmhouse, Maggie had her seat belt off and door open before the truck came to a full stop.

  “Hannah!” she yelled as she ran up the wheelchair ramp to the side door that led into the kitchen.

  She flung open the storm door, opened the door into the kitchen, and yelled again. There was no response. The lights were on in the kitchen.

  Maggie checked all the rooms on the first floor except Sam’s office, which was always locked up tighter than Fort Knox. She ran upstairs and checked all those rooms as well. No Hannah. There was a cellar under the house that you could access via a door outside, and Maggie’s intention as she left the house was to go there. Instead, when she exited the house she heard the kennel dogs barking their heads off.

  When Maggie got to the barn, she found Patrick in the barn office with Hannah. Maggie grabbed Hannah in a quick bear hug. They both started to cry and then laughed at each other for crying.

  Banjo was having a barking contest with the pit bulls in the kennels, although Banjo sounded more like “Olp! Olp! Olp!” and the inmates sounded more like “we want to kill you and eat you!” Pretty soon Banjo began to howl and the pit bulls began to howl along with him. It was an eerie, lonesome sound. Patrick yelled at them to shut up.

  “Let them do it,” Hannah said. “They’re all going to die tomorrow, anyway.”

  Hannah started to cry again and Maggie hugged her again. Patrick carefully took the tazer out of Hannah’s hand, switched it off, and laid it on the desktop.

  “What are you doing out here?” Maggie asked her as she let go.

  Hannah dried her eyes on her pajama shirt and told them what had happened. Patrick went out to look for footprints, taking Hannah’s flashlight and taser with him.

  “I could kick you for coming out here without your cell phone,” Maggie said.

  “I know, it was really stupid. What in the world are you two doing out here so early?”

  “I woke up worrying about you and called.”

  “What time was that?”

  “Around four.”

  Hannah looked up at the ceiling and shook her head.

  “What?” Maggie asked her.

  “Nothing,” Hannah said, wiping new tears away. “Looks like I’m going to start going to church with you and your mom.”

  “What brought that on?” Maggie asked. “And where are Jax and Wally?”

  “They ran off after something, probably a deer. Fat lot of help t
hey are.”

  “Did you see the person?”

  “Briefly. I don’t think it was Brian. This guy was clean shaven. I don’t think I’d know him again if I saw him.”

  “When you didn’t answer, I thought maybe one of the inmates got you.”

  “It was probably some lost hiker or hunter. I probably scared him more than he scared me.”

  “I can stay out here with you from now on.”

  “I heard from Sam.”

  “And?”

  “He says he’s coming home this week.”

  Maggie struggled to suppress all the mean things she wanted to say.

  “I know,” Hannah said. “You don’t have to say anything.”

  Patrick came back with Banjo right on his heels.

  “The snow has covered up the footprints,” he said. “There’s no one in any of the outbuildings. Whoever it was is long gone.”

  “She doesn’t think it was Brian,” Maggie said.

  “Whoever it was just missed being a pit bull breakfast,” Hannah said. “Come on in and get some coffee. It’s the least I can do.”

  CHAPTER SIX - Thursday

  When Scott got to work at eight o’clock, Sarah Albright was waiting out front in a county car. She was scowling, her brow furrowed and her mouth turned down at the corners. Scott greeted her, let her in, then turned on the lights and turned up the heat. He took off his coat and set his thermos and bag of warm muffins on his desk before seating himself across from her.

  “What can I do for you, Sarah?”

  “You can tell me what’s going on with the federal investigation you’re involved with, and what Ray’s murder has to do with it.”

  “I don’t know that Ray’s murder has anything to do with a federal investigation. Why do you think it does?”

  “Because the bureau just jerked the case out from under me, that’s why.”

  “You’re always so busy, why would you mind?”

  “Because I know there’s something big going on and I want in on it. If there’s an important case brewing in my jurisdiction, I want a piece of the action and some credit when it all goes down.”

  “Don’t you still have friends at the bureau? Why ask me?”

  “Because I know you’re cooperating with them and I want in.”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “I know it and you know it. So do me a favor and introduce me to the agent and tell him or her that I’m exactly who they need to have involved.”

  “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. The next time I see a real live FBI agent I’ll tell him or her all about you.”

  “Look, Scott, I know we got off to a rocky start. I haven’t always taken your feelings into account when we collaborated in the past. I’m working very hard to honor our professional relationship, while keeping appropriate boundaries and respecting your right to disagree with me. Can’t we work together as a team to solve this problem?”

  “You’re saying all the right things, Sarah, and I can tell you’ve been paying attention in class, but you have to practice what you preach. I said if I see any FBI agents I’ll tell them about you, and then it’s up to them. That’s all I can do.”

  Scott could see she was really pissed off and frustrated, but she was hamstrung. Now that she’d realized, due to an intervention on the part of her supervisor, that insults and intimidation were not an appropriate communication style in every situation, she had to struggle against her urge to let everyone have it when they didn’t immediately jump when she said they should.

  “Do you want to get some breakfast?” she asked.

  Scott gestured at his coffee and muffins.

  “I’m all set. Thanks for stopping by.”

  “You want to know what we found in Ray’s post mortem, don’t you?” she asked.

  This was a more effective sweetener and Scott was tempted.

  “I do want to know, but I’ve got nothing to trade for the information.”

  She stood up to leave, and Scott thought that meant she was going to refuse to share what she knew in order to punish him. Right before she got to the door she turned.

  “He was killed upriver about twenty miles, next to an old fishing shack down behind the Roadhouse; there was blood on the river bank there. Looks like whoever killed him hid in a drainpipe set in the side of the hill. Our killer was an amateur; he left cigarette butts all over the place. He must have slipped up behind Ray, slit his throat, and pushed him in the river. The water level is so high right now his body slid over two dams before he was caught in that beaver dam. His Harley is still parked at the Roadhouse, but no one reported him missing. They all thought Ray was off on a bender somewhere.”

  “Any leads on the killer?”

  “We sent the cigarette butts over to the state lab for DNA analysis before the feds intervened. You know as well as I do it takes months to get those back.”

  “Autopsy done?”

  “Done, but not filed. Unofficially I got confirmation he was hopped up on speed or meth. Big sharp knife made a cut so deep he was dead before he hit the water.”

  “You think he was meeting Brian?”

  “It’s a possibility. You tell your fed buddies I have some good insights into the whole situation. I’d be a real asset to their investigation.”

  “If I see one, I will.”

  “Right.”

  Sarah left Scott in deep thought. If Brian killed Ray, why wouldn’t Brian use his Harley to get as far away from there as possible? Why come all the way to Rose Hill to steal Maggie’s car? Was there something else Brian wanted to do before he left? And if so, what was so important that he would risk being arrested in order to stay and finish it? Scott hoped it wasn’t to take revenge on his wife or his brother, or whomever Brian blamed for his current predicament.

  Malcolm Behr came in and Scott poured him a cup of coffee.

  “How goes the beaver dam business?” Scott asked him.

  “The feds won’t let us touch it,” Malcolm said. “Meanwhile, that warm front is almost here, and the guy that owns the fields on either side is threatening to break it up himself.”

  “What did the Corps of Engineers say about the dams between here and there?”

  “That they should have been replaced thirty years ago.”

  “That’s no surprise.”

  “I’ve got all my volunteers on call twenty-four seven, and the Corps has put a monitor on the water level. If that thing breaks up we may have a disaster on our hands.”

  “What can I do to help?”

  “Keep your radio handy,” Malcolm said. “If something happens we’ll need to evacuate Lotus Avenue immediately; maybe Marigold as well.”

  “Does the mayor know?”

  “He’s excited about it; he wants a hydroelectric dam, and he thinks if the old ones break we’ll get one.”

  “Do you think the Little Bear is big enough to support that?”

  “I don’t know. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the mayor broke up the beaver dam himself just to find out.”

  Jamie entered the kitchen so quietly Ava didn’t notice his presence until she turned around. She jumped, startled.

  “Jamie,” she said. “You scared me.”

  “Sorry,” he said. “Bad habit.”

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m feeling kind of jumpy.”

  “One of our agents is coming today to work the front desk,” he said. “Her story is she’s researching her ancestry through the city records and is willing to work the front desk to pay for her stay.”

  “That’s clever,” Ava said, summoning up a vestige of a smile for him, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Will she be wearing a false nose and a wig?”

  “I think it will help,” Jamie said, ignoring her question. “I know you’re worried about your aunt. Theresa’s one of the best people I have and she can help with the kids. Do you have a room for her?”

  “Yes,” Ava said. “I’m telling anyone who calls that I’m fully booked even t
hough I have vacancies. No sense in endangering my guests as well as my family. You can fill up every room with agents for all I care. The more the merrier.”

  “I know this is difficult, Ava, but it will all be worth it. We have to gather enough evidence and enough people willing to testify in order to ensure Mrs. Wells and her accomplices go to prison for a long time. You’re a key witness to this investigation. Without you I’m not sure we could succeed.”

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you, what does Lily Crawford have to do with Mrs. Wells? I saw her out at Lily’s farm a few weeks ago when I took the kids sledding. I just recently remembered where it was I’d seen her. How is Lily involved in this?”

  “I can’t answer that, Ava.”

  “I’ll ask her myself, then.”

  Jamie shrugged.

  Ava slammed the sheet pan she was drying down on the counter and was gratified to see him jump.

  “Lily is someone I trusted,” Ava said. “I’ve known her all my life. Now I don’t know who I can trust. You expect me to tell you everything and trust you with all our lives, but you won’t tell me anything!”

  “I’m sorry. I know this is horrible for you. I can tell you this: you are as safe at Lily Crawford’s house as you are here.”

  “Which may mean not at all.”

  Jamie smiled at her and Ava turned her back on him. When she turned back around he was gone. Ava rubbed her aching, cast-covered wrist and wondered if she had damaged it. She called Doc Machalvie and he told her to come right over.

  “It looks fine,” he said, while looking at the x-ray.

  “When can you take it off?” she asked him.

  “Three more weeks,” he said. “We have to be sure it’s fully healed.”

  “It makes everything harder to do,” she said. “Plus I have to wrap it in plastic every time I take a shower or wash dishes. It’s probably covered in germs, and I hate exposing the baby to that.”

  “How is the little fella?”

  “Delia’s got him today. He’s doing really well. He’s getting some teeth, so that’s making him cross, but other than that he’s great.”