She found him to be smart and a good entrepreneur. She had learned a thing or two from him about running her business.
Kate admired his ability to adapt after having come from Philadelphia. Dean sat at a table with a half-eaten cinnamon bun. Kate slid onto the chair opposite him to wait for her coffee.
“Hi, Dean. I hear you put a bid in on renovating the community center.”
He frowned. “I did, but I’m up against the mayor’s brother from what I understand.”
Clara handed Kate her to-go cup of coffee then left them alone.
“The lowest bid is what they have to take. That’s how government works out here in the sticks,” Kate said. She’d like to think that little Rock Ridge didn’t have the corruption of a big city like Philadelphia. Then again, this was still Pennsylvania.
Dean looked concerned about getting the project. She knew he did good work, but she understood that sometimes nepotism occurred. She hoped not in this case. She didn’t trust the mayor’s brother. She’d heard rumors, and when she’d met him, she’d gotten a bad vibe from him.
“I saw your plans. They were top-notch.”
Dean shrugged. “We’ll see how it goes.”
“Good luck,” she said.
Kate had a special place in her heart for the community center after having taken her sons to classes there when they were small. Now the twins were soon-to-be sophomores in college, spending their summer with AmeriCorps, and she figured the center was probably ready for a redo. Dean would do a great job.
She’d seen what he’d done to a vacant strip mall that was now thriving.
“I’m sure Dudley will do the right thing,” Kate said.
“You have more faith in him than I do.”
That Dean was worried about this one job made Kate wonder about the stability of his fledgling company. She couldn’t imagine that he’d been having any trouble getting business.
She sipped her coffee while studying him. He had dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn’t been sleeping. She didn’t know him well enough to ask any personal questions. Then there was the fact that she had been the one to discover his girlfriend’s dead body.
For a time she’d been a suspect simply because she had stumbled upon the body. But she had been cleared that same day because she had an alibi for the time of death. She had no idea what Dean thought of her, but he’d always been nothing but professional in her presence.
As if wanting to change the subject, he said, “Did you see that new office building I just completed?”
“Yes, I was wondering why it was so far out of town.”
The building had been constructed to house all types of offices, including medical doctors.
He shrugged. “I have no idea either, but a bunch of the bigwigs in town own it, so they must have a reason.”
She’d thought it odd that the mayor, among others, had bought the land out there. It was as if they knew that the town would eventually grow in that direction. Rock Ridge hadn’t made any leaps in growth like that in years. She also didn’t want it to grow in that direction because her house was there.
When her husband, Greg, had wanted to raise their sons in the country, Kate had been opposed to the idea. But since then, she had grown to love her little piece of heaven outside the town.
“Whatever they were thinking, the building looks nice. Your work is always good. The mayor should know that,” she said.
He didn’t seem to want to be mollified, and it wasn’t Kate’s job to be his cheerleader. She had her own business to worry about.
She stood. “I need to be on my way. The mayor is waiting for me.”
“What are you doing for him?”
“Some shelves the DPW can’t seem to get to. He’d rather pay me than wait for them to come around and do it.”
“Isn’t the mayor’s other brother head of that department?” Dean asked.
“Yes.”
Dean ran a hand through his black hair. It stuck up at odd angles, and the mother in Kate resisted the urge to brush it back into place. He was a grown man, even if he was a young one.
“Is everyone related to everyone else in this town?”
Kate understood how it could feel that way to an outsider. Her husband had not been born here, and he’d remarked on many occasions that everyone was related to at least one other person in town.
“Seems that way sometimes. I’m not related to anyone else. My dad moved away a few years ago. My sons are away. It’s just me.”
Dean laughed, but the humor didn’t reach his eyes. Part of Kate wanted to reach out to him, but part of her wanted to mind her own business. She’d been involved in finding his girlfriend’s killer, but she’d hung up her detective hat after that.
Now she wanted to build her business and get on with her life in the wake of her husband’s disappearance. She had to support herself since there would be no life insurance until she could either find him or declare him dead.
“Maybe that’s why I like you, Kate.”
Another woman might have read into that statement, but he was practically young enough to be her son. “No nepotism?”
“None with you. Have a good day, Kate.”
“You, too, Dean. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you get that job.”
“Thanks.”
She left him to finish his cinnamon bun, though he never left her thoughts as she climbed into her truck. She tried to start it, but it balked. She’d had it in the shop just a month ago. What now? She was calculating what she could afford to fix on it when it finally caught.
“I thought you weren’t going to get her going,” Scott said, his hand on her open window.
“You scared me,” she said.
For a big guy with such a presence, he could be quiet when he wanted to be. Guess that came from patrolling the mean streets of the City of Brotherly Love. He didn’t need to do that in the not-so-mean streets of Rock Ridge.
“Sorry. Beginning your day?”
“Yes, at the mayor’s office. You want a ride to work?”
The mayor’s office was in the same building as the Rock Ridge Police Department.
“Normally I wouldn’t, but it’s hot today.”
“I’ll even turn on the air conditioning.”
Not that she was sure it was going to work. It had begun to be persnickety lately. Just another item she had to get fixed on this truck, but it was still cheaper than buying a new one.
“Riding in style,” Scott said as he climbed into her truck.
***
Kate wanted to park by the Rock Ridge Police Department since it was the quickest way to the mayor’s office. The complex was a maze, each part having been added on as an afterthought.
The parking space was blocked by a utility truck that was working on a downed pole.
“Guess I have no power to work by,” Scott said.
“No generator?”
“Only for the 911 Communications Center. The rest of us have to muddle along without computers,” Scott said. “I’m hoping that I can get another generator put in next year’s budget.”
“You stepped into a mess, didn’t you?”
“Sort of. Coming in halfway through the year means I have to live with someone else’s idea of a budget. And that person had clearly been coasting.”
She thought about the last chief. He probably had been. He’d been chief for a decade and was two years past retirement when he finally gave his notice. After his last day, he’d immediately moved to North Carolina. Kate wondered if the man had something to hide.
“You like a challenge, right?”
He turned his light brown-and-gold-flecked eyes to her. He ran a hand through his snow-white hair. “I do, but I was hoping for a little less of a challenge.”
As if this man couldn’t take on anything that came his way. Having been a star quarterback, he’d led the Rock Ridge High School football team to the state finals three times.
“Oh well. You got what you g
ot,” she said.
She parked her truck by the front door of the complex. The employees were outside, but Kate didn’t see the mayor.
“Why would they be outside?” she said.
“Probably too hot. With no air conditioning inside, it gets steamy. The only thing wrong with building a square building is that some offices don’t have outside windows.”
“Right. The square had been the cheapest option,” she said, remembering the debates that went on with the town council. The original offices had been in two different historic buildings. Both of them should have been knocked down. One fell before anyone could bid on renovating it. So someone was awarded the bid to clean up the site. A soccer field stood there now—a better use of the space, in Kate’s mind.
She climbed out of her truck, but she didn’t want to gather any equipment until she knew exactly what she was fixing. She hadn’t given the mayor an estimate. He’d just hired her because he knew her work was good. She’d painted many rooms in his house and repaired other things. He was probably her best customer.
She needed more customers like Dudley and his wife, Jessica. That would be her dream. If she had customers like that, she wouldn’t have to hustle quite as much to get new work.
She shook herself. She should just be happy she made money doing something she loved, something that allowed her to keep her house and her bills paid. The money for some of her kids’ college tuition came from a savings plan that Greg had opened the day the two boys were born. The rest of the money came from loans that the boys would be responsible for upon graduation.
“You free for lunch?”
She sighed. Scott asked her just about every day to have lunch. No matter how many times she’d made it clear that nothing romantic was going to happen, he still asked. She admired his persistence.
“Uh, I don’t know. We’ll see,” Kate said.
She and Scott had been together in high school. Then he’d left for college and she had been forced to move on with her life. She married Greg Flaherty, a professor at the local community college where she had earned her associate’s degree.
Now that Scott was back in town, he made no attempt to hide the feelings he had for her. Kate only wished he was less forward about his intentions. She had to look at herself in the mirror every morning. She still had to be an example for her kids.
“I guess I’ll wait out here with everyone else. Can’t imagine Dudley’s inside in this heat,” she said.
She pondered staying in the air-conditioned truck. Wearing overalls for work made her too hot to be outside.
“I’ll keep you company,” Scott said.
“Have you made any progress on finding Greg?” she asked to put some distance between them.
He smiled as if he knew what she was doing and that it wouldn’t work. If she didn’t know he was a good guy, she’d be unnerved by him.
“I haven’t. You know that I’d update you if I had something.”
She did know that. No one wanted to find Greg as much as she did, except for Scott. She knew that he had a personal stake in finding out what happened to her husband. Scott wanted to find Greg so she could officially file for divorce. Or find his body, so that Kate could lay him to rest and move on.
She had no idea why he was so persistent. She was just Kate: a middle-aged woman with two college-aged kids. She wasn’t a supermodel. She had a few extra pounds on her, and she didn’t wear anything but overalls most days.
Having seen Scott’s ex-wife, Kate had no idea what he saw in her. The late Jackie York had been sex on a stick.
“This delay is going to make me late to my next appointment.”
Kate pulled out her phone then sent a text to Jessica that she would be delayed. Jessica sent a text back that it was okay. She wasn’t home at the moment anyway.
Tucking her phone back into her pocket, Kate eyed the building. Hopefully the power would be back on soon. Time was money. If she could get to Jessica’s house and be done, she might fit in another job before dinner. Since she lived alone, she didn’t have to worry about anyone else’s schedule. She could eat when she wanted. Sleep when she wanted.
Or do neither, which lately seemed to be happening more.
Scott reached out and rubbed a thumb down the middle of her forehead. “You worry too much. You’ll get inside eventually.”
“I would love to just switch the jobs, but Jessica isn’t home, so I can’t even start on her thing until I’m done here,” Kate said.
“It will all be fine.”
Scott had always been an optimistic. Like Winnie the Pooh, he saw everything in the best light. How could he do that after what he’d seen as a homicide detective in Philadelphia? And his wife had cheated on him. He still had a good heart, and Kate wished things were different—that she could love him.
The lights in the building went on and a cheer went up from the crowd. Finally, she could get to work.
The mayor was probably waiting for her, or would be now that the power had been restored.
“Off to the salt mines,” Scott said, a grin on his face.
“You have a good day.”
He stopped then turned fully to her. “You, too, Katydid.”
She wished he wouldn’t call her that. It had been his nickname for her in high school, and it implied an intimacy that wasn’t there. Thankfully, he didn’t do it often.
Yet part of her was thrilled, even if she didn’t want to be. He’d remembered things about her. Things only a lover could know.
She rolled her eyes at him, and then walked in the opposite direction to the mayor’s office. She tugged on her shirt. The air was stifling in the building. She hoped it would cool down soon. Wishing for shorts, she strode to the mayor’s office.
Chapter Two
Mayor Dudley Stuart had a secretary that he shared with the rest of the town council. She didn’t work full time and she wasn’t at her desk today. The older woman who had been secretary had retired a few months ago, and so Celia Johnson, the mother of Kate’s best friend, Carly, had taken the position for something to do since she’d retired as a nurse. Kate suspected she took the position because she wanted to know everything that was going on in the town. A lot of people had been surprised when the mayor hired her, given her propensity for gossiping.
With Celia not at her desk, Kate wondered if it was okay to just knock on the mayor’s door. She couldn’t hear anyone moving inside, but that could mean he might not have returned to the building.
A DPW guy walked past. Kate stuck her head out into the hallway. “Hey.”
The young man stopped. “Yes?”
“Have you seen the mayor?”
“Not today. He wasn’t outside with us.”
The man kept going. Kate frowned. She knocked on the door to the mayor’s inner office. No one answered. She pondered that for a moment, and then she walked toward another outside door. Maybe the mayor was out there. She poked her head out, but there was no one in that parking lot.
With the power back on, everyone was back in the building.
She sent a text to Jessica. I’m supposed to meet Dudley here. Is he with you?
No, he should be at work. I think.
Jessica Stuart was Dudley’s wife. Kate wondered if he had even contacted her about the power outage.
I’ll wait a little longer, Kate texted back.
She went back to the mayor’s office, and something told her to knock again. She did. There was still no answer. She wondered if she could spot what needed repair even without Dudley’s instruction.
Kate wanted to begin her day. Her first coffee was long gone. She wanted her second after this repair. Her day was not going as planned.
She looked down the hall, but no one was coming, so she decided to peek into his office. She took a deep breath, let it out, and then opened the door to see if she could find the repair he needed.
She did. It was a set of shelves that were empty, and one of the brackets had fallen off. That’s easy to
fix.
She had brought brackets with her and would replace all of them. If one went, the others wouldn’t be far behind. Returning to her truck, she hoped Dudley would be back before she began her work.
When he wasn’t, she opened the door fully so no one would question her presence there. That’s when she saw him. On the floor.
“Dudley?”
She knelt down to find a pulse, but there wasn’t one. Not again, she thought. The mayor was dead on the floor, his hand clutching his chest. She picked up the phone on his desk and called the police.
She waited in the outer office, doubting the job would get done today. Or at all. She paced, trying to rid her mind of the sight of Dudley on the floor. He was pale and lifeless.
Scott was the first one in with EMTs right behind him. He glanced in, and then looked at Kate with a grim face. “He’s dead.”
She sighed. Another body that she had been the one to find.
“I’ll need to get a statement,” Scott said.
“Can I load my truck before we do? Clearly, I’m not getting in to make the repair.”
“No, this might be crime scene,” Scott said. “You can load up your truck then meet me in the PD. I’ll have someone take your statement.”
“Thanks.”
She carried what she was holding back to her truck. Her day really wasn’t going as planned. She entered the police department, but the same woman from last time was not at the desk. She must have had her baby already.
Today it was a man with a cast on his arm. He let her in since he knew her; he’d gone to school with her sons.
“Tell Jason and Jared I said hello,” Officer Gunther said.
“Not a problem.”
She passed through the door and found Detective Ken Johnson, the father of her best friend, waiting for her. “You’re like Jessica in that old television show. She found dead bodies everywhere.”
She appreciated his attempt at humor, but it fell short. “I guess.”
He led her back to the same room he’d taken her statement in when she’d found Jackie York dead in Scott’s kitchen. She shuddered at the memory of being held against her will by the murderer.
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