Killer Dress: A Small Town Cozy Mystery (Shot & Framed Book 1)

by Nancy McGovern

  “Thank God you managed to post bail!” Sharon nearly lifted Caro off the ground. “I was so worried about you. So was Dad.”

  “I’m here too,” Dani joked. “But, seriously, you’re going to be alright, Caro. We’ll make sure of it.”

  Darwin scratched the back of his neck, and said, “If she could just step this way to fill out a form?”

  “Go on.” Sharon let her go. Caroline hesitated.

  “Where’s Martin?” She asked. “Does he…does he not want to see me anymore?”

  “He should be here any-” Sharon stopped as the doors to Darwin’s office burst open and a man charged in.

  Only it wasn’t Martin. It was Leo.

  “Caro, I heard you posted bail. I came immediately.” Leo was freshly shaved, but there were dark circles under his eyes. “Are you alright? Anything you need, anything at all, I’m here to support you.”

  “I’m fine,” Caro said. She had that peculiar frozen look on her face again, as she gazed at him. “You shouldn’t be here, Leo.”

  “Like hell I shouldn’t! I’ve been a mess since I found out about Jessica’s death. I know you and I aren’t together anymore, Caro, but the three of us were the musketeers, weren’t we? We were special. We were friends.”

  “Much as I appreciate a good soap opera, this is a police station, not a cafe,” Darwin interrupted. “Leo, the lady said you shouldn’t be here. So maybe you should leave. Write her a nice letter about your feelings if you want.”

  Leo shot him a glare. Dani glanced from one man to the other. Darwin was usually so polite. It was unusual to see him this way. He was being almost aggressively rude. Almost as if he were hoping to provoke Leo and start a fight. Wisely, Leo backed down.

  “I’ll wait outside,” he said. “I need to talk to you, Caro.”

  Caro simply shook her head, her eyes wide and her face scared. “No, Leo, it’s for the best if you just-”

  The door banged open again, and Martin walked in. “Sorry I’m late. A patient was-” His words tapered off.

  “What’s going on?” Martin looked around the room, his face sparking with anger as soon as he caught sight of Leo. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’ve got a right to be here,” Leo said. He looked petulant, like a child being rebuked by a teacher. Defensively, he added, “Jess was my friend and Caro’s friend, not yours. If anything, you hated her, didn’t you Martin?”

  “Caro,” Martin said. “We should leave.”

  “Don’t order her around, you’re not her boss,” Leo snarled.

  Martin’s face, which had been angry, now turned stone cold. He threw his shoulders back and advanced on Leo. Leo, equally recklessly, moved a step forward until he was toe to toe with Martin. It was obvious who would win in a fight. Leo was nearly three inches taller and quite a bit broader than the lean Martin. He was also more muscular.

  “You want to have a go, brother?” Leo taunted him. “It’ll be my pleasure.”

  “No! Stop! Leo, just, don’t do this. Please!” Caro sounded nearly hysterical.

  Leo’s eyes looked at her pleadingly. “Caro, you have to know, I’m here for you. I only want the best for you.”

  “If you do, then leave me alone!” she cried. Gripping Martin’s hand tightly, she began to move away. Leo tried to follow, but found his path blocked by Sharon and Dani.

  They didn’t say a word, but stood firm as a wall, while he looked over their shoulder and called out, “I’ll talk to you soon, Caro!”

  “Sharon, could you go out for a bit?” Dani asked. “There’s actually something I wanted to discuss with Leo and Darwin.”

  “There is?” Darwin looked surprised.

  “There is?” Leo looked even more surprised.

  Sharon nodded quickly, thinking that Dani was just distracting the two of them until Caro was safely out of reach. She shut the door behind her as she left.

  Darwin came out from behind his desk, and leaned on the table. “What’s happening, Dani?”

  “Do you want to tell him, Leo? Or shall I?” Dani asked.

  “Tell him what?” Leo asked. “I barely know you, Dani. This is ridiculous. I’m leaving.” He turned towards the door and placed a hand on the doorknob, ready to yank it open.

  “I was in the woods today when you and Mona were having your little chat,” Dani said.

  He froze. Instantly, a look of guilt appeared on his face, and then, just as quickly, it vanished.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Sure about that?” Dani asked. “No idea?”

  “None,” he said.

  “Fine, then. Mona said the dress was hers. What did that mean? But more importantly, Mona said that Jess had been to see you as little as an hour before she was murdered. Does that jog your memory a little bit?”

  Darwin got up, his voice grim. “You better sit down and talk, Leo. Before I get a warrant out against you.”

  “There’s no need for threats!” Leo seemed to shrink. “I haven’t done a thing. It’s a horrible mess but I can explain all of it.”

  “Well, there’s no time like the present,” Darwin said. “Explain.”

  Leo sat down on one of the chairs, and buried his face in his hands. “Do you think I need a lawyer?” he asked.

  “Depends,” Darwin said. “Did you kill her?”

  “I didn’t touch a hair on her head,” Leo said. “I swear to you I didn’t!”

  “Someone did,” Darwin said. “Someone shot Jess. I have to say, pal, it’s pretty shady that you didn’t come to us with your story about meeting her.”

  “I’ll tell you all about it,” Leo said. “Just promise me you’ll keep my sister out of this. She really has nothing to do with it.”

  “Nice of you to defend her considering she was trying to blackmail you,” Dani said.

  “Mona was just teasing. You wouldn’t understand. She loves me overall. She just can’t help that she’s greedy. Jess was the same way, you know?”

  “What, she was blackmailing you?” Darwin asked, looking interested.

  “No! Nothing like that. Look, I can tell you the whole story, ok. In fact, Sheriff Mackenzie can even vouch for some of it. I was with her until 8pm last night when she dropped me home. We’re on the town council for redevelopment together and we were discussing some fund allocations. So I’ve got an alibi.”

  “An alibi for before the murder.” Darwin said. “Doesn’t help much.”

  “Fine, I’ve got a character reference, then!” Leo said. “Anyway, I went home and decided to reheat some pizza and relax with a movie. I had just sat down and taken off my shoes when I heard a knock on my picture window.” Leo paused. He looked at Darwin as if trying to get some sympathy from him. Seeing it was useless, he continued.

  “Well, I turned around and nearly had a heart attack. It was Jess, staring at me through the window. Only she looked completely different. She looked nearly unhinged, in fact.”

  “Unhinged?” Darwin raised an eyebrow.

  “Mad,” Leo said. “She looked totally mad. Her eyes were leaking makeup, and her hair was in a mess, but worst of all, she was in a wedding gown! It was like she was practicing for Halloween or something!”

  Darwin nodded. “Fantastic!” he said, with some enthusiasm. When Dani gave him a look, he hurriedly added. “I mean, so now we know she had the wedding gown on before she was murdered. Part of me was wondering if the murderer had some twisted sense of humor and forced her to put it on.”

  “Right,” Leo said. “I guess she wore it herself. Anyway, I was frightened but I let her in. We’ve known each other forever and, at that point, I thought she’d explain what had happened. I was actually a little worried that she might be sick or something. Mental breakdown.”

  “Was it?”

  “No. I don’t think so. She seemed mentally lucid but I couldn’t make much sense of what she was saying. At first, she was just shivering. She didn’t stop shivering until I put a blanket around her and
gave her some coffee. I thought she’d just calm down and then talk. Oh boy, did she talk!”

  “What did she say?”

  “She asked me if I loved Caroline, if I truly loved Caroline,” Leo said.

  “What did you say to that?” Darwin looked interested.

  “I told her the truth,” Leo said. “That there was only one woman I’ve ever been destined for, and that was Caroline. I know life is strange and the universe is big and all that, but as far as I’m concerned, the first day I walked into class and locked eyes on Caro, I knew she was the one for me. I’d never seen anyone as beautiful.”

  Dani shifted uncomfortably, and Leo said, “I know you may not like to hear this, Dani, but there’s no one who loves your sister the way I do. I made some mistakes and losing her was the biggest mistake I made but, if I have to work for the rest of my life, I’ll work to make sure she comes back to me someday.”

  “She’s moved on,” Dani said. “So should you.”

  “Moved on to what? That Martin guy? I don’t like him one bit, and neither did Jess. She agreed with me. He’s too boring for our Caro. Caro needs someone with a spark in them. Besides, we have history together. Nothing he does can ever compare to what we’ve shared. We’ve grown up with each other!”

  “Sure, but she broke up with you,” Darwin pointed out. “So maybe you grew apart.”

  “No we didn’t,” Leo gave out a frustrated grunt. “I was an idiot. I was a 20-something-year-old kid who wanted to see the world and explore other women, and just… play around. You know my own father was a bit of an alcoholic and it messed me up a little inside. I had a lot of issues to work through. I wasn’t ready to be serious with her. But I couldn’t bear to be apart from her either. So, Caro and I, we kept breaking up. Until the last time, when she broke up with me for good.”

  “What does this have to do with Jess anyway?” Darwin asked.

  “Jess loves…loved…Caro just as much as I do, and she wanted to ask me for advice.”

  Darwin leaned forward, eager to hear more.

  “Jess asked me if I thought she were a bad friend to Caro. I told her the truth again. I told Jess she had a tendency to bully Caro once in awhile but that, at heart, she always put Caro’s best interests first,” Leo said. “But Jess was adamant that day. She was adamant that she’d been a bad friend to Caro. I don’t know why.”

  “Didn’t she give you a clue?” Darwin asked.

  “I asked her and she just looked conflicted. She had something on her mind and I could see it. She almost told me what it was, too. But then, she must have changed her mind.”

  “What did she say to you, specifically?”

  “She said, ‘I’ve been a terrible friend to Caro, Leo. But I swear, I didn’t know the whole truth. I didn’t put it all together until just now! If I had, I’d never have done what I did.’ I asked her what it was that she had done, and Jess only said, ‘I can’t tell you that. That’s the saddest part. I’m a coward. I don’t want to tell you what I’ve done because as much as I love Caro, I don’t want you and the rest of the town to think any less of me. Maybe it’s best if I just bury all this and forget about it. Maybe Caro can just live happily ever after with Martin.’”

  Darwin gave Leo a frustrated look. “So she said nothing helpful at all?”

  “That’s all she told me,” Leo said. “She left soon after, thanking me for the coffee. If I’d known I’d never see her again, I guess I’d have done a lot of things differently!”

  *****

  Chapter 13

  Back Home

  Dinner that night was a quiet affair. Dani realized as she sat at the table that this was the first time in ten years that all four of them were actually together in one room. Her father had been discharged from the hospital, and sat at the head of the table, with Caroline and Sharon on either side of him. Martin sat next to Caroline and Dani sat facing her father.

  With everyone far too exhausted to cook, Sharon had thoughtfully bought takeout. So the table was covered with paper boxes stamped with Dragon’s Chinese Food Restaurant. Dani scooped up some rice and the orange chicken. It was delicious, tangy and greasy, but she found herself chewing it unenthusiastically. Her mind was on too many things.

  First and foremost, she was worried about Caroline. Her sister had come back a different person. She looked shell-shocked. Their father was right. Sharon and Dani were both relatively tough. But Caro? Sweet Caro, who never could hurt a fly, she now looked scared and unhappy. As anyone in her position probably would.

  Martin hadn’t stopped holding her hand since they came back home. Even now, as they ate, he had a hand on her leg. Dani found it sweet. She imagined that Jess would have said something rude about his behavior, however.

  Why had Jess not liked Martin? Was it possible that she, as Caro’s best friend, had seen something that the rest of them were missing? Dani remembered how Martin had been ready to fight Leo and she wondered just how far Martin would go to protect their relationship.

  Would he go as far as murder? Could Jess have discovered something about him? DJ had said something about Jess having a new gold bracelet and a new iphone. Maybe she’d been blackmailing Martin? Or maybe she’d been having an affair with him? It could be possible. Maybe she’d finally come to her senses and that’s why she’d gone to Leo, to make sure he’d still be there for Caroline. Only maybe Martin had confronted her first, and killed her.

  But then what? Dani frowned. How was Caroline involved in all of this? Why did Caroline have a gap in her memory?

  It was horrible to even consider but what if Caroline were the one to have killed Jessica? Well, why would she go to the trouble of killing Jessica, hiding the gun, and then leaving blood on her clothes and an incriminating polaroid picture in her own pocket? The police had never found the murder weapon, after all. They’d just found convenient clues that all pointed to Caroline.

  The third possibility was that Leo had killed Jess. Part of Dani wished that it were true, just so that her family would be spared. Leo was a bit of a bully, and if it hadn’t been for Dani’s insistence, he’d never have revealed his conversation with Jess to Darwin. Who knew? It was possible that he’d just made up a story on the spot. He could be lying about his entire conversation with Jessica. It was, after all, very implausible that she came to his house dressed in a wedding gown, and then sat with him for half an hour without telling him the specifics of her story.

  Jessica’s ex-boyfriend was a possible suspect, of course. DJ looked like a snake. But he didn’t feel like a murderer to Dani. He looked like many of the men she had met in San Francisco. Selfish, half-stoned musicians who were incapable of violence and only lived for their next high and their next song. Besides, when DJ spoke of Jessica, he had exactly the right tone in his voice - a tone of sorrow, but not grief. He’d felt bad about her death but he hadn’t cared enough to truly feel sad. It was hard for Dani to believe that he could hate her enough to kill her. Of course, it was possible. Perhaps they had been involved with drug dealers. Perhaps she had insulted him or stolen something of his.

  There was one more person who Dani vaguely suspected but the suspicion was too horrible for her to put into words. She looked at her father, who sat silently chewing his food. He looked up at her and smiled weakly.

  “Now you are being ridiculous,” Dani told herself. “You’re being paranoid, and you’re being ridiculous. Your father is the best man in the entire universe, and you should be ashamed of even thinking that he could harm Jess or Caro.” She pushed the thought away, refusing to even consider it.

  After all, considering it would mean rethinking the pillars of truth that she’d built the last ten years of her life on. Such as, “Your mother is a bad person.” Because if her father were the one to have murdered Jess, perhaps, just perhaps, her mother hadn’t run away. Perhaps there was a more sinister reason as to why she had never been found.

  Frustrated, Dani gave a little impatient grunt and found all eyes on her. She gave
a sheepish smile, and held up a piece of chicken. “This thing just wouldn’t stick to the fork,” she said.

  “You alright, Dani?” Caro asked. “You look a little under the weather.”

  Dani laughed. It was ironic that Caro, of all people would ask her that. Of course, it was also typical Caro- always caring about everyone else far more than she cared about herself.

  “I’m fine,” Dani said, with warmth in her voice. “I’m just very thankful to have you both back where you belong.”

  “Thanks,” Caro said, looking at her father.

  “All I want is for us to put this all behind us,” Harry Hedley said. “I really hope that by next week, we’ve forgotten all about this. After all, we’ve got a marriage to celebrate.”

  Caro looked down at her plate and Martin shifted in his chair. Harry looked at them. “We do have a marriage to celebrate, right guys?”

  “Dad, about that,” Caro coughed. “This was completely my idea. But I’m not comfortable with getting married right now.”

  Harry’s face colored a little. He turned to Martin. “You wanted her to put it off? The wedding?”

  “I didn’t, sir,” Martin said. “I told her we could prepone it if she wanted but-”

  “There’s a chance, however slight, that I may go to jail for a long time,” Caroline said. “If I do, I don’t want Martin to be entangled in the mess.”

  “That’s a stupid thing to say, Caro,” Martin said. “You know I’ll support you no matter what and you know you won’t go to jail. Innocent people never do.”

  “Innocent people sometimes do,” Caro said. “Especially when the odds are stacked against them.”

  “Let’s not talk about this right now,” Sharon said. “I think we all need a break. Can’t we talk about something more pleasant?”

  “I have an idea,” Martin said, latching onto Sharon’s words. “Since we have an award winning photographer here with us, why don’t we go through some of her photographs together?”

  “Oh, she’s been at it since she was five,” Harry said proudly. “My Dani is a genius. I’ve got boxes and boxes of her photographs in the attic. You know when she first started photography?”