by Ritter Ames
“This is really coming along well,” Meg said, as she turned on the kitchen sink and added dish soap to the water. “The trash was cleaned up without an argument. We only have a few things to wash, and our dessert is being made for us by our own lovely children.”
Kate laughed. “And this way they can attempt to eat double their weight in s’mores without us noticing.”
“Honestly, if everyone sleeps tonight so I can get rid of this headache growing behind my eyes right now, I’ll let them eat all the chocolate in the place.”
“I’m sorry,” Kate said, grabbing her purse. “I had no idea you had a headache. I have aspirin or something.”
Meg wave a hand. “It’s still currently manageable. I’d planned to wait until bedtime then medicate myself.”
“Okay, but it’s here if you need it.” Kate tossed the small bottle toward her open purse, but she overshot, and the bottle rolled under the sofa. “Oh, darn it.”
She pulled out her keyring and turned on the tiny flashlight that was attached. Then getting to her knees, Kate searched from the spot where the bottle rolled and disappeared.
“Do you see it?” Meg asked.
“Yes, but it’s farther back than I think I can reach.”
“Wait. I’ll get one of the long-handled serving spoons.” Meg hurried over and passed the spoon to Kate.
Peering into the near darkness, with the light reflecting back from the white bottle in the cramped space, Kate had to run the spoon by a couple of times to get the bottle to roll back to her through the carpeting. “It almost flew under here, but it's like the carpeting doesn’t want to let go of it,” she groused.
“You’ve heard of the monster under the bed,” Meg said. “You’re encountering the demon carpet under the sofa bed.”
Kate half-turned her head and grinned. “It all makes sense now. I should have realized.”
“Just make sure you don’t bring anything creepy back with the aspirin.”
“Thanks so much for putting that into my head, because I just realized there’s something else under here,” Kate replied, picking up the rescued bottle, and moving the spoon to the side of the sofa where she noticed the other foreign object.
“What is it?”
“A phone, I think.” She caught the item with the edge of the spoon and pushed it sideways, so it landed between the sofa and the corner table. Then she reached into the void and withdrew a smartphone with a sapphire blue cover. “Look like anyone’s you know?”
Meg snatched the cell phone and shoved it into the pocket of her shorts. She whispered, “I know exactly who’s phone it is. Grab your purse and come with me. We’re going to pay our neighbor a visit.”
“You mean Paul?”
“Yes, that’s exactly who I mean.”
“But you said you didn’t want Gil confronting him,” Kate spoke in a normal tone, and Meg shushed her.
“I didn’t want Gil to go there because we had no proof,” she whispered. “I knew Paul would spin some yarn and my dear husband would believe it all.” She patted the pocket with the phone. “But we have proof with this cell, and Paul won’t be able to weasel his way out of this with me like he might be able to do with my husband. The phone was with Paul at the house last night. When he gave up what was supposed to be his only key to the cabin. So, how could it end up under the sofa tonight unless Paul was in here while we were gone this afternoon?”
The women stood up, and Meg motioned with her head toward the door. “Just follow my lead when we’re outside.”
“Honey, I’m getting a headache, so Kate and I are going to run back to the little store and get me something for it,” Meg called to Gil, as the women headed for the Camry.
“I’ll go,” Keith said, pulling the Jeep keys from his pocket.
Meg waved a hand. “Thanks, but I’m not sure what they’ll have in stock, so I want to be able to read ingredients. Kate’s going with me, and she can drive if I feel like I shouldn’t. We want to run before it gets too dark. I saw the sign on the door about closing times, but I can’t remember what time for sure.”
“Okay, be careful,” Gil said. “You have your phone?”
“Yes, don’t worry.”
Seconds later they were driving sedately down the quiet drive. Where Meg had been wearing a “poor me” face minutes before, now her jaw was set, and her eyes were squinted like she meant business. At the main road, they had to wait for a car to pass, then Meg took a fast left, and the Camry shot down the road.
“Don’t go so fast we’ll miss the turnoff,” Kate warned. “That little drive wasn’t well marked.”
“Believe me, I don’t intend to miss it.” And she didn’t, turning down the overgrown lane and driving slowly to keep from risking damage to her car on the ill-kempt trail. Soon the small caravan was in sight, and Paul’s green Jaguar parked alongside.
Meg slammed on the brakes and flew out of the driver’s side door, with Kate hurrying to try to keep up. The women went to the door of the trailer and the redhead pounded on the metal, hollering, “Open up, Paul Gaines.”
Nothing but silence came from inside.
Banging again, Meg yelled, “Come on out, Paul. We need to talk. And I have something I know you’re going to want.”
Still no response.
Lights shined through the windows, and Kate moved closer to the nearest one and looked in. Through the sheers, she could see Paul sitting in a chair across the room, but he wasn’t moving.
“Do you see him?” Meg asked, hurrying over to look before Kate could answer.
“Yes, it’s hard to see clearly with the sheers, but that’s him in the chair.”
Meg growled and jumped back up the stairs, this time not stopping to knock, but instead grabbing the doorknob. It wasn’t locked, and she pulled with such force Kate was afraid Meg would fly off the small stoop. But she maintained her balance, then stomped inside, with Kate following close behind.
Paul looked like he was sitting there, waiting for them. Ready to answer Meg’s hello—or her holler. Until Kate noticed his gaze didn’t shift. Then she saw the dark mark on his forehead and the mess on the wall behind him. Then she heard the flies.
“Meg, come on, we need to go, he’s...dead.”
Speechless, Meg nodded and crept out of the trailer. Once they were in the car, she said, “What do you think? Suicide? Or murder?”
“I think it’s unlikely he would shoot himself in the middle of the forehead if he committed suicide. That looked like a mob hit.”
“Omigod.” Meg put a hand to her throat. “The guy on the phone.”
“Maybe,” Kate said, hitting the power door lock before dialing 9-1-1 on her phone. “Or somebody wanted it to look that way.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
NAVIGATION IS IMPORTANT
Never hike in an area you don’t know without carrying a map and compass. Adding a GPS unit is an added bonus. You can’t always count on your cell phone app, as many trails make it virtually impossible to get a cell phone signal if you’re very far from a town or ranger station.
WHILE KATE SPOKE TO the emergency operator and tried to give the location to the site, she watched as Meg pulled out Paul’s cell phone and attempted to access it.
“Of course he locked the darned thing.” She tossed it onto the dashboard.
“Were you trying to call Gil?” Kate whispered, holding a hand over her phone’s mic.
Meg shook her head. “I’ll wait and call him after the police arrive. If I call him now, he’ll be here in a flash, then he’ll have to be interviewed too. This way it will just be the two of us. Again.”
“We’re getting to be pros at the procedure,” Kate said with a sigh. “But I can guarantee both husbands are going to be angry at us for not calling them. They’ll be worried after the fact.”
“I guess the murderer could still be around,” Meg said, looking through the windshield and into the gathering dusk. “It’s going to be dark soon.”
“The
blood was dry already on Paul’s forehead,” Kate said. “And none of the mess on the wall behind him was running down in tracks anymore either. The murderer would have to be nuts to still be around here, and if it’s a mob hit the killer will be long gone.”
“And if it’s not a mob hit?”
“The killer planned this out too carefully to be caught at the murder site an hour or more afterward,” Kate replied. “But why didn’t we hear the shot. We were so close. We should have heard something.”
Meg shrugged. “Must have used a silencer of some kind.”
The emergency operator came back online and told Kate the officer was in the area and en route. A minute later they heard the wail of a siren, and after another minute the bizarre circus effect of the patrol car’s lights hitting all the trees announced the arrival of the police. A second patrol car followed close behind.
Kate informed the operator that the police had arrived, thanked her for the help, and ended the call. “I’ll call Keith.”
“No, there’s no point in you getting into trouble. I’ll call Gil and tell him where we are.”
Two uniformed constables approached the car, and Kate whispered, “I’ll show them the body so you can finish your call in here and they won’t hear Gil yelling over the phone.” Then she stepped out of the passenger side of the door and greeted the men.
“My friend is letting our husband’s know where we are, and that you’re here with us, so they won’t worry,” Kate said, after introducing herself and explaining who Meg was. The two officers followed when she added, “The...body...is this way. I’ll show you.”
They didn’t let her reenter the trailer. The first, older man went inside, and the younger officer stayed back with Kate and watched as Meg finally exited the Camry.
“Hasn’t been dead long,” the older constable said when he came outside again. “Maybe an hour. You say he’d been staying at the cabin you’re using?” he asked Kate.
“Right. Paul Gaines moved into this trailer today. It was only for the weekend, while we used the cabin.”
“And he writes mob-related newspaper stories?”
Meg nodded. “He’s...” She cleared her throat. “He’s won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting.”
“Okay.” The constable took a deep breath and said, “I radioed this in when I was with the victim. We’ll need to get all your information down on a report and test both of you for gunshot residue. No reflection on either of you, but in cases like this we have to check.”
“We probably should process their clothes too,” suggested the younger man.
But the senior constable wasn’t swayed. “The guy’s been dead at least an hour. If they shot him then came back to find him, they would have had plenty of time to change clothes.”
“Still—”
Kate cut into the squabble. “Our cabin is on the next lane down the road. If one of you would like to follow us, we’ll be happy to change and let you have our clothes. We understand you have a job to do.”
“But could you conduct any interviews you need to do here?” Meg asked, hugging her torso. “Our kids are at the cabin too, with our husbands, and...”
Her words trailed off, but Kate knew Meg was thinking about Ben already being affected by what happened that afternoon and didn’t want him traumatized any further. The senior officer, however, already seemed to have made up his mind.
“It’s not a crime to find a body,” he said. “We’ll test your hands for GSR, but I don’t smell any gunpowder on either of you. I think we’ll be fine without adding your clothes to evidence, but we appreciate your cooperation.” Then he shot his subordinate a look that brooked no argument.
A dark sedan pulled up right then, with an ambulance coming in behind. The older constable said, “There are the teams. If you ladies will go to the two patrol cars, my partner and I will come and go over everything with you to fill out our report.” He looked at the younger officer and said, “You get them each settled in a car, and I’ll brief the guy from the State Police office in Manchester, and tell the medical crew what they can expect. Then I’ll interview one of the ladies.”
Kate felt like the night was déjà vu all over again. Night had completely fallen, and with she and Meg separated again in two police cars, it was much like an event they’d lived through in mid-summer during an organizing job. This time, at least she didn’t have to worry about trying to keep her client out of jail. She was relieved to see the man who emerged from the dark sedan was not Lieutenant Johnson. The lieutenant had been in charge and had found it necessary to interview or at least interact with them at some point in all the murders they’d stumbled onto in the past year. But while he, Meg and Kate were all known entities to one another, the lieutenant probably appreciated getting a break from them as much as they did from him.
Too much togetherness isn’t a good thing, Kate thought wryly.
Having some experience with the procedure also helped this interview go quickly with the younger officer. Whenever his inexperience showed, and he hesitated about what to ask or say, she was able to figure out what he actually needed to know. This was not the kind of skillset, however, that she wanted to list on her resume.
The ambulance was just driving off with Paul in back, zipped into a body bag, as Kate answered the last question and verified her contact information. She noticed Meg climbing out of the other patrol car, as her young constable said, “I’m sorry you and your friend had to happen upon this, but we appreciate your cooperation. You can go back to your family now.”
“Thank you,” Kate said. She reached over to accept his clipboard and pen to sign her name at the bottom of the page.
Minutes later, they were back in the Camry and heading back to the cabin.
“I texted Keith an update when the officer was busy writing,” Kate said. “He texted back that they put the kids to sleep in the tents, but were packing up most of our stuff so we could head back home tonight. We can wake the kids when we’re ready to leave.”
“Good. I agree with the constable’s assessment that the murderer is probably long gone,” Meg said, turning onto the main road. “Though I’d be awake all night if we stayed any longer in the cabin.”
As they drove back down the lane, the area around the cabin was fully ablaze.
“They have to have every light in the place on,” Meg commented.
The back door of the Jeep was open, and the rear space appeared completely loaded again.
“Looks like the guys have been busy,” Kate said. “They must have added all the extras we carried in the trunk of this car because it doesn’t look like there’s room for the tents to go in again.”
“I’ll leave the tents here for all eternity if it gets me home safe and sound tonight, Batgirl,” Meg said.
“You and me, both, Wonder Woman,” Kate replied.
The guys met the car as it approached and opened their doors for them. All Kate could think was, uh oh. But as she and Meg removed their seatbelts and stepped out, they were both crushed in hugs.
“You have no idea how difficult it was not coming to check on you,” Keith whispered in her ear.
She felt tears coming, so she hugged him back and pressed her face against his warm t-shirt. When the risk of crying passed, she pulled back and asked quietly, “Do the kids know?”
“I think they figured something was up when you didn’t come back like you’d said, but they have no idea the seriousness of the situation.”
“I’m so sorry. We never meant to—”
Keith chuckled softly and stopped her words with a kiss. When they broke, he said, “I know, Katie. You and Meg stumble into more trouble than any two women I’ve ever seen. We should have brought the cat so he could have gone with you.”
“Robin-Hero isn’t good with even short car rides,” she said, shaking her head. “I can’t imagine spending nearly an hour in the car with him.”
“Yeah, that’s what you can’t imagine.” Keith grinned, and put an
arm around her shoulders, guiding her toward the Jeep. “I think we have everything but the tents. We’ll leave them for now and come back when it’s daylight to take them down.”
Kate noticed the Bermans had moved around to the back of the Camry and were talking in hushed tones. Meg’s demeanor didn’t appear defensive, however, so she hoped for the best. “Has Gil called his editor yet to tell him what’s happened?”
“After Meg called. But he told his boss he didn’t have all the information yet and would text him more details later.”
“At least Paul wasn’t killed here at the cabin.”
“Too right,” Keith agreed. “I imagine the value of the property will drop a little with a murder on the next drive, but it would likely plummet if this had been the scene of the crime.”
“Not what any of us planned for this weekend.”
“But not completely unexpected,” Keith replied. “You have to admit Paul irritated more people than just Meg. When you factor in the mob connections and enemies the guy had because of his stories, that makes the outcome look that much more probable.”
“Sad but true,” Kate said, frowning.
CHAPTER NINE
BUILD MEMORIES WITH Pictures
No one argues about whether a camera is important on a hiking trip—they just argue about what kind to carry. A cheap, disposable camera is a great way to offer kids the ability to take their own pictures, and lightweight digital cameras are available in all price ranges. It’s always better to come back with pictures that tie to your stories. Your friends will likely believe your tales, but they may not realize the impact of the scene if you’re trying to tell them with words instead of adding graphics to go with the story.
THE COUPLES DECIDED to go with the same riding configuration they’d used to arrive that morning. Kate and Meg grabbed the folded sheets that were re-packed in the back of the Jeep, so that they could cover up the kids for the drive home, then headed for the tents to rouse the troops.
