The Buzz Kill

by Katherine Hayton

  Alice’s ears perked up at that. A picnic packed by somebody in a bad mood could have contained anything Betsy wanted. She tilted her head to one side and studied the woman’s face in bits and snatches. It didn’t seem to add up to the mask of a murderess, but one could never know these things for sure, these days.

  “What food did you have?”

  Alice had only just asked the question when a knock sounded on the door. Betsy got to her feet and moved over to answer it, revealing the tall figure of the sergeant standing on the step outside.

  “Mrs. Thomson?”

  Betsy nodded and waved for the policeman to come inside, but he shook his head.

  “I’d like you to accompany me to the station, so we can ask you about the last movements of your husband.”

  Betsy gave a gasp, and her hand went up to fiddle at the button on the neck of her blouse. “Am I under arrest? Do I need a lawyer?”

  “No, you’re not, and as for a lawyer, that’s up to you.”

  “So, I can refuse?”

  The sergeant gave his funny half-bow and looked Betsy straight in the eye. “I wouldn’t recommend that, Mrs. Thomson. If you do, then the next time we show up here it will be with a warrant for your arrest.”

  Alice stood up from the table, feeling entirely out of place. Her movement caught the sergeant’s gaze, and she had to bow her head quickly to avoid his level stare.

  “Ms. Townsend. I didn’t know you two knew each other. What are you doing here?”

  Alice wondered that same thing herself. “I’m just leaving.” She turned to Betsy. “If you need a ride from the station or any other help, feel free to give me a call.” She nudged past the two of them and moved to stand on the sidewalk next to her car as the police car drove away.

  Just as the vehicle turned the corner, out of sight, a dark-haired woman in her early thirties came running out of the bushes beside the Thomson’s property. She barely paused to see if traffic was oncoming before she rushed across the road to stand in front of Alice.

  “Did she do it?” the strange woman shouted at Alice’s stunned face. “Did she kill my boyfriend?”

  Chapter Nine

  “Your boyfriend?” Alice echoed. “I don’t even know who you’re talking about.”

  “Russell Thomson,” the woman explained. “That was his wife being escorted away by the police, wasn’t it? I’m his girlfriend.”

  Alice shook her head, trying to sort things out in an order that made sense. However, her thoughts didn’t want to cooperate. “I didn’t know he had a girlfriend. Betsy never said.”

  “Well, I suppose she wouldn’t, would she?” The woman placed her hands on her hips, jutting her lower lip out. “My name’s Darlene Stamp, and I’ve worked with Russell at the courier company for near on three years now. We’re very much in love.”

  In love?

  For some reason, Alice thought Darlene was lying. Not just from her aggressive posture, a pose that seemed to anticipate a reaction of denial, but from the strange flickering expressions that danced upon her face, then were gone. Micro-expressions, she thought they were called.

  With her gaze always focused anywhere but at a person’s laser eye gaze, Alice had long picked up on the tiny giveaway details people’s faces broadcast without them being aware. Still, like everything else that had to do with human beings, she was never sure what she should learn from them. If her words said one thing and her face said another, chances were the truth lay somewhere in between.

  “I don’t know anything about that,” Alice said, choosing the path of least resistance. “I just dropped by because Russell died on the land I set up my beehives on, and I found out it used to belong to him and Betsy. Nothing more. I wouldn’t have stayed as long as I did, except Betsy seemed desperate for company.”

  “Probably because she’s as guilty as sin,” Darlene said, punching her right fist into her left palm for emphasis. “Russell told me he was going to leave her any moment now.”

  The woman’s face suddenly collapsed, moving from anger into grief. “I guess he told her last night and she couldn’t take it. That must be why she killed him. Poor Russell.”

  “You might be right,” Alice said with a thoughtful nod. “Betsy told me she and Russell got into a big argument yesterday. She went storming off back home and left him out in the red zone section alone.”

  “She what?” Darlene suddenly grabbed hold of Alice’s upper arms and shook her. “That’s basically an admission of guilt.”

  A surge of horror roared up Alice’s body as Darlene’s touch registered and she kicked out in her need to get free. “Don’t touch me!”

  The woman released her just as quickly as she’d grabbed hold, and Alice fell down onto her butt with the backward momentum of pulling away.

  “I’m sorry.” Darlene shoved her hand in Alice’s face, a gesture of help to move her back on her feet again. Alice pointedly ignored it, scrambling upright under her own steam.

  “Don’t worry about it. I just don’t like being touched, is all.” Alice brushed the dirt of her jeans, wondering if this was the point Darlene would laugh at her. Instead, when she looked over, the woman’s face was full of concern.

  “I apologize. I should’ve realized. You’re autistic, aren’t you?”

  Alice gave a curt nod, wondering what on earth she’d done now to give it away.

  “My brother’s like that.” Darlene held her hands up, palms out, and pasted a large smile on her face. “I promise, no more touching. Are you hurt?”

  “Mainly just my pride.”

  Alice straightened, then opened up her car to take a seat.

  “Don’t go,” Darlene said. “I’d really love to ask you some more questions.”

  “If it’s about Russell’s death, I don’t know anything more than what’s been on the radio. I mean—” Alice stopped and swallowed hard as the image of his dead body on the riverbank flashed into her mind. She rubbed at her eyes as though that could rub the picture away.

  “Do you know what killed him, at least?” Darlene shifted from one foot to the other, wringing her hands together. “I don’t even know that. When I phoned up the police station for more information, they said they could only release details like that to close family. I tried to point out I was his girlfriend and there’s no one closer to Russell than I was, and they laughed at me!”

  Alice felt a wave of compassion wash over her body. She understood that feeling far too well. “Have a seat,” she said, leaning across to open the passenger side door.

  When Darlene gave her a quizzical glance, Alice smiled. “I’m not going to drive you off anywhere you don’t want to go. It’s just more comfortable than standing out in the street.”

  Darlene sat down, keeping the door ajar so the noise of birdsong from the suburban houses wafted inside, a beautiful background against which to talk.

  “I’ll tell you everything I know, but it isn’t much,” Alice warned. “This morning, the police found his body down by the river. At first, they thought Russell had been stung to death, with an allergic reaction being the cause.”

  Darlene was shaking her head before Alice even finished the sentence. “No. That can’t be true. Russell wasn’t allergic.” She paused for a moment, her lips pursed. “At least, not to bee-stings.”

  “You’re right. When I was down at the police station—”

  “What? Why were you in there?”

  Alice sighed. Really, everything would go so much quicker if people just left it up to her what order to say things in. “I was in there because they needed information on the bees. Once they realized I wasn’t involved, the sergeant let me go.”

  “Well, of course, you couldn’t be involved. It’s not like someone can train bees to attack on command.” Darlene gave a sharp laugh, apparently finding something humorous in the thought.

  “It was more like they believed someone might have forced him near the hives and got the bees agitated, so they’d be more likely to sting. Any
way, while I was there, I overheard the pathologist say Russell had been poisoned.”

  “Oh, no!” Darlene turned to look up the driveway of the Thomson’s house, her brow furrowed in a deep frown. “I can’t believe she’d do that to her own husband. Even if Russell was on the verge of leaving her, it’s a dreadful thing to do.”

  “Well, anyway, that’s all I know.”

  Darlene turned back to face Alice, while she averted her gaze. “Thanks for letting me know that.” She gave a long sigh, ending on a note close to a sob. “It doesn’t bring Russell back, but for some silly reason it makes it easier knowing how he died.”

  “Glad I could help.” Alice pointed to the only other vehicle parked on the short stretch of road. “Is that your van?”

  There were bright orange stripes along the length, ending in a burst of yellow and red flame. Spring Into Action Couriers was emblazoned down the side.

  “Yeah. That’s mine. It’s from the courier company that both me and Russell worked at.”

  “I hope you’re not going into work now,” Alice remarked, giving a sidelong glance at Darlene’s face. “You don’t seem in any fit state to be driving around, delivering packages.”

  At that, Darlene laughed, but in such a way Alice knew wasn’t directed at her.

  “I actually look after client accounts, not deliveries, but since I often have to drive out to meet clients, the van comes with the logo attached. A pity, it would be much nicer looking without it.”

  Darlene opened the door wider and jumped down onto the street before continuing, “And you don’t need to worry about me crashing into someone. I’ve taken the day off work since there’s no chance of my being able to concentrate.” Tears welled up in her eyes and Darlene brushed them away with an angry swipe of her hand. “Especially now I know poor Russell was murdered by his awful wife.”

  Alice didn’t think anything she’d said could have led to that conclusion. From where she sat, the question of who murdered Russell still seemed wide open.

  But it was out of her hands for the time being. She needed to get home and get ready to take Chester to his vet appointment. Suddenly the sadness of the two women she’d spent time in the company of leaked across to Alice. As she drove toward home, she too had to wipe a few tears away.

  Chapter Ten

  The waiting room at the vet’s office was half full and, after letting the receptionist know she was there, Alice settled in for a long wait. Two cockatiels, each with a different owner, were courting one another across the room. The first would flutter its headpiece and bob up and down, calling, and the other would pretend disinterest, then give a quick peek whenever the bird’s song halted.

  A kitten, meant to be sitting quietly in its owner's lap, was busy plotting and escaped by flinging its body out onto the floor while the woman blushed apologies and ran to scoop it back up. A dog lay asleep on the floor, its back legs chasing a dream rabbit through never-ending fields.

  Once, in a waiting room this crowded, Chester would have been a handful. Alice could feel the ghost of an imprint where her hand would have been straining to keep hold of his leash. Now, he sat down at her side and placed his graying muzzle down on his front paws. Chester cocked one eye at the sleeping dog, but that was the only interest he showed.

  Alice tipped her head back and stared up at the ceiling, hoping the visit would contain good news, scared that it would not.

  Desperate for a distraction, Alice pulled out her cell phone and connected to the vet’s free wifi. Betsy’s rundown of the property dispute with her neighbor sounded far more absorbing than sitting and worrying.

  Gaining access to the council file database took a bit of rummaging through back doors until she spotted an opening and happily barged her way into a data storage file she shouldn’t have access to. After that, it didn’t take Alice long to find the entry.

  Court filings and injunctions dated back over the past three decades. It seemed Betsy’s next-door neighbor had started the dispute almost the minute he moved into the property and appeared in no hurry to bring it to an end.

  Unfortunately for him, the council appeared to think the matter had been sorted. A final declaration sat on the records, signed and dated by the courts two years ago. The subdivision Betsy and Russell had brought into had finally been cleared to go ahead, and they’d been unlucky enough to wind up next to the man who’d held it up for many years.

  Imagine the horror of that discovery! As if it wasn’t bad enough the Thomson’s had lost their original house to the earthquakes, the place they’d moved to with the payout had turned into just as much trouble.

  Still, the records showed that since they moved in, Clarence’s attempts to reopen the case for a new ruling had dried up. If what Betsy said was true and Russell had made a joke offer to Clarence to pay him out when—if—they sold up, then that must have mollified him enough to stop filing.

  Since the courts weren’t likely to change their minds, Clarence had a better chance of a payout with the Thomson’s remaining next door—unharmed. There wouldn’t be any gain from him poisoning Russell, and the killing method didn’t fit with a male being behind the attack.

  The sleeping dog across from Alice woke up with a start, staring around the room as though it was a strange new world. He shook his head and got to his feet, then spied Chester. With one tug, he pulled the leash out of his dozing owner’s hand and walked across to start sniffing.

  Chester roused enough to give a lazy bark, then rested his chin back down on his paws. The dog—a golden retriever—ran a nose along his side then jerked away and scooted back beside his owner. Alice bent down to stroke Chester’s head and gave the golden retriever a worried frown. What on earth had he smelled to make him pull away like that?

  Stop it! You’ll be in the vet’s office soon enough. Wait until an expert has examined him rather than some stranger’s dog.

  Alice returned to the distraction of her phone and looked up the courier company Russell had worked for. Spring Into Action Couriers didn’t even pop up as the first entry when she typed in the exact name. Not a good sign for a business operating in such a competitive field.

  Russell’s name was still listed among the employees, though Alice supposed it was far too early for anyone there to be concerned with a small detail like that. Darlene’s name was listed there too, in customer service just like she’d claimed.

  Alice stared at the listing for a while, her eyes then moving down to the ‘Contact Us’ box at the bottom of the page. The rates the courier company displayed were very competitive. With the regular shipments that Sally’s and her café made to customers up and down the country, it was perfectly acceptable Alice might choose to shop around every once in a while.

  It’s not as though she had anything pressing on tomorrow. A trip with Doug around the back pastures to make sure no plant pests had taken hold. Another progress check on the manuka honey bees to see if they were getting to grips with the flowers on offer.

  Alice thought of the odd note in Darlene’s voice when she claimed to be Russell’s girlfriend. It hadn’t rung true at all.

  She quickly filled out her details, asking for an appointment with a customer service rep tomorrow. Alice’s thumb hovered over the ‘Send’ button, wondering if this was a good idea.

  She could imagine Sally standing with her hands on her hips, giving Alice a look of stern disapproval. Could imagine Doug’s shy smile and the shake of his head as he insisted people be left alone to sort out their own affairs.

  “Ms. Townsend?” The receptionist looked at Alice and nodded her head, offering a reassuring smile. “The veterinarian can see you and Chester now.”

  Alice pressed send, then slipped the phone into her pocket while she coaxed Chester into moving. What harm could it really do? She’d already poked her nose into other people’s business, so it might as well stay there until the case was solved.

  Chester had visited the same vet, Josh Freeman, since he was a puppy and eager to
get into trouble with every passing day. In the first few years, Alice seemed to spend half her time in the waiting room as Chester launched himself into trouble in one form or another.

  He’d eaten a chocolate bar that some litterbug had tossed half-eaten from a car window, right by Alice’s property. She almost had a heart attack seeing him licking the empty wrapper and to this day didn’t know how much of it had been left for Chester to ingest.

  Another time, he’d sniffed too long at a mouse trap in the shed’s loft. The whine when it snapped closed, luckily just clamping on the loose skin of his cheek, had sent a panicked rush of adrenaline straight into Alice’s heart. She’d switched to humane traps after that. After watching the vet remove the steel clamp from Chester, she couldn’t stomach the old-fashioned sort.

  Nowadays, the rats and mice were so intelligent that most of the time, they stole the bait food and escaped the trap. Alice had come into the shed one day and seen a rat sitting on top of the sprung cage, happily eating the slice of ham skin she’d used as bait.

  Better that than a wounded dog though.

  Chester had also learned the hard way a dog shouldn’t jump into a flowering gorse bush. That time, he’d shivered under Alice’s hand while the vet plucked each individual thorn out, syringing the wounds and disinfecting as he went.

  For all the rushed trips to the vet’s office, with the panic screaming so loudly through her body Alice could barely talk to explain the situation to the receptionist, today’s journey scared her more. As she spoke to Josh about Chester’s listlessness and his reluctance to move from his favorite position on the porch, Alice felt her blood turning cold.

  “I’m sure I’m worrying over nothing,” she said as she finished her summing up. What she wanted was for the vet to nod and agree she’d been foolish to bring Chester in. Instead, he sucked his lips in over his teeth and looked at Chester through worried eyes.