by R A Wallace
“Interesting. Do you know who she was?” Megan asked.
“No, but he was so upset with her that he said her name really loud more than once. He called her Verna but that’s all I know.” Tyler looked over Megan’s shoulder. “Gotta go.”
“Thanks, Tyler.”
“Oh, hey.” Tyler backed up. “Thanks for putting in a word with Cy Douglass. I figured it was you.”
Bev looked up from her lunch. “What was that about with Cy?”
Megan reached for her purse. “I understand he’s renting his house to Tyler and Holly now.”
“That sounds like a nice solution to his problem,” Vince said.
Megan stood. “Thanks for the information. If you think of anything else, let me know.”
Chapter Seventeen
Traffic on the streets in town had already begun to increase, another indication that the holiday season was ramping up. Rhys entered the police station and waved to Martha on his way in. Now that she had stopped trying to hook him up with all of her unmarried relatives, he’d even been known to stop and speak with her at times like the other officers did. In the process, he’d gotten to know her a little better and realized that she had quite the sense of humor. It made him wonder if she really had as many young unmarried relatives as she’d claimed.
He found Jerry reading through some notes while standing in front of the murder board. He’d jotted a few more comments on the board since the last time Rhys had seen it. Rhys stood back and read them before taking out his own notes. He moved forward a few steps and stood next to Jerry.
Jerry looked up from his notes. “What’ve you got?”
“The people I spoke with couldn’t remember seeing either Linda Spelling or Claire Jennings in close proximity to the deceased the night of the class reunion.”
“Yeah, but was that because they were watching him on the other side of the room plotting his death?” Jerry asked, more to himself, as he stared at the murder board.
“Everyone I’ve spoken with so far did say that the two women sat at the same table and spent a lot of time talking. Some seemed a little surprised about that.”
Jerry thought back to a previous murder case about secrets. “Because he cheated on them both?”
“Yeah. Apparently, the women had a falling out over it and hadn’t spoken since.”
Jerry rubbed his chin. “Claire moved away. Maybe they just lost touch. It happens.”
“Maybe. I’ll keep on it. What did you get?”
“I have a lot of questions about the brother-in-law.”
“Mack Berman?”
Jerry nodded as he looked back down at his notes. He flipped through a few pages. “Sounds like he and the deceased didn’t get along.”
“Did you talk to the sister again?”
“Yeah. I have a lot of questions about her as well. She definitely seems like she’s hiding something.” Jerry glanced over at the phone on his desk.
Rhys saw Jerry’s focus swing to the phone. He knew what it meant. Jerry was used to working with Erica. If she returned to work after her family leave, Jerry would continue working with Erica and Rhys would return to being the new guy on the roster working second or third shift. He’d miss being able to help as much on cases like the current one, but he’d known all along that it probably wasn’t a permanent assignment. That is, unless Erica chose not to come back.
“You going to call her?” Rhys asked.
“Nah. I don’t want to bother her.” Jerry gathered up his notes. “You ready to get back out there?”
***
Maybe it was the regular rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Brad looked down at the warm bundle spread across his front as he leaned back in his office chair. Serious eyes contemplated him before fluttering. She was finally falling asleep. Afraid to move until she was firmly caught in the throes of slumber, he remained as motionless as possible. Finally, after several more minutes, he was certain Maddie was out.
He reached one hand out toward his keyboard and tried to enter some more code. From the other side of the house, he heard Mason’s cries begin to lessen. He knew that Erica was walking him around, trying to get him to sleep as well. Brad entered the commands to compile his code and sighed. It returned a fatal error message. He had a mistake somewhere in the code.
It had been happening a lot since the twins were born. It wasn’t something he’d been used to before their birth, but the constant interruptions now caused disruptions in his concentration. It made it much harder to complete the work. He assumed it was just a typo, a tiny mistake somewhere within the hundreds of lines of code.
That wasn’t what really bothered him. He’d find the typo and fix it. It was the extra layer of security that he felt this particular program was missing. Given the client, that extra layer was critical. Brad had a plan to implement it, if the client would agree. Rubbing at the stubble on his face with his free hand, he contemplated the options. He barely noticed when the doorbell rang. Several minutes later, Kaylee appeared in the doorway of his office.
“Do you want me to take her?” Kaylee said quietly.
Brad swiveled in his chair to greet her. “Sure. Maybe if I have both hands, I can fix my code.”
Kaylee moved to take the sleeping bundle but remained next to him and glanced at the error message on the large screen.
“That’s one of my favorite languages.” Kaylee said as she adjusted Maddie to comfortably lay against her.
“Yeah?” Brad turned back to his computer and pressed a few keys. The window opened to display line after line of cryptic code. “I think the problem is somewhere around here.”
Kaylee barely glanced at the screen before looking back down at Maddie. “Yeah, you’re missing a semicolon on line three eighty five.”
Brad smiled when he saw the problem. “Good catch.” He swiveled back around to face her.
“Are you as good with security as you are with code?” he asked. He’d gotten the impression that she might be. He still wondered why she’d dropped out of college mid-semester.
Kaylee made a face that said try me.
Brad laced his fingers together and rested his hands on the top of his head.
“I need an extra layer of security for this particular program. A lot of the employees work from the road. I want to make sure they aren’t hacked if they’re using their own devices or an unsecured connection.” He watched Kaylee consider it for the fraction of a second it took her to make her decision.
“I’d have them use a VPN. With a virtual private network, they’d be tunneling in. Their data would be encrypted, and the connection would be secure.”
Brad smiled. It was the solution he’d come up with as well. Points to Kaylee.
“I agree. Thanks,” Brad said as he turned back around to his computer.
Kaylee began walking out of the office. “If that was a test, make it a little harder next time.”
She could hear Brad chuckling as she made her way to the nursery. Erica had already put Mason in his crib. He was sleeping peacefully. Kaylee put Maddie in her crib and watched as her little fist made it to her mouth. She pulled the rocking chair over and sat down to watch them for a while. It gave her a chance to think about the problem with her parents and about how much she missed taking classes. She heard Erica’s voice coming from the living room, but she was speaking so quietly that Kaylee couldn’t make out any of the words.
“So, Jerry. Where are you with the investigation?” Erica was curled up in a chair with a cup of hot decaf tea. She’d discovered that she actually liked it when she’d been pregnant with the twins.
Jerry gave her the details. He hadn’t wanted to bother her by calling her, but since she called him it wasn’t an issue.
“You’re thinking that Linda Spelling and Claire Jennings are looking good for it at the moment?” Erica summarized.
Jerry shrugged even though he knew she couldn’t see him. “Early days yet.”
“And the relatives?” Erica
asked.
“Something isn’t right with the sister and brother-in-law, but I haven’t figured out what yet. It’s the wife that really interests me, though.”
Erica frowned as she tried to come up with the name. “Yolanda? She’s not from around here, right?”
“No. They were just here to visit his family.”
“Does she work?” Erica asked.
“Yeah. Actually, it looks like she was the one who supported the two of them. She’s a radiology technician. Her husband’s work history was pretty spotty.”
“Maybe she got tired of paying all the bills?” Erica suggested.
“The thought occurred to me. I have to run. I need to interview more of the class reunion attendees. It was a pretty large crowd.”
“Sure. Be safe.”
“Will do. Hey, thanks for calling.”
Erica stared at the phone with a frown on her face and thought about all of the cases they’d worked together. Then she stood and walked to the nursery to check on the babies.
Chapter Eighteen
She’d been meeting with as many people as possible, asking them about Clay Freemont, Linda Spelling, and Claire Jennings. Megan found an available spot on the street near the florist shop and parked her truck. After zipping up her coat, she walked a couple of blocks to the building now owned by Ross McMann. It housed several shops, including one of the anchors, Anderson Florist. She found Caitlyn in the back room working on arrangements.
“Thanks for texting me. You think your mom knows something about Clay Freemont’s death?” Megan asked as she unzipped her coat.
“Yeah. She and Ross will be here any minute.” Caitlyn looked over at her friend. “How is the Christmas shopping going?”
Megan grimaced. “I still haven’t figured out what to get Dan.”
Caitlyn grinned. “How many presents is he up on you now?”
“I think he’s on his fourth or fifth project out in the barn. I have no idea what they all are.” Megan leaned against a counter. “What are you getting for Doug?”
“I got a weekend getaway package for the two of us.”
“That sounds nice.” Megan considered it for Dan but discarded the thought immediately. They might be able to find someone to take care of the animals, but they were already at the only place they both really wanted to be. Why leave the Teaberry Farm?
The bells rang on the front door. Megan poked her head out and waved at Susan and Ross then turned back to Caitlyn. “They’re here.”
Megan went out into the front room and greeted them. The front room was much larger than the work room in the back and she thought it would be less crammed.
“Caitlyn said that you might know something to help Linda and Claire?” Megan prompted.
Susan spoke first. “I don’t have much to add, sorry. I mean, we did sit at the same table with them for dinner but once that was over, we pretty much split up.”
“So, you don’t really know who they spoke with all night.” Megan hadn’t thought they would. It was a party. People were probably moving all over, trying to talk with as many people as possible.
“No, but during the time that we sat at the table, neither one of them paid any attention to Clay.” Susan looked at Ross for agreement. “Not that I saw, anyway.”
“Did you speak with Clay?” Megan asked.
“No, but I did talk to his wife for a few minutes. I felt a little sorry for her. Like Ross, she wasn’t from our class and didn’t know anyone. She was pretty much left on her own all night.”
“She didn’t stay with her husband?” Megan thought it didn’t sound like a very fun evening for her.
“No, he never sat still. Every time I saw him, he was somewhere else in the room but she wasn’t with him.”
“What did she say?”
Susan shrugged. “Not much. She mentioned that they were very happy, and that Clay was talking about moving back to Teaberry.”
Megan tucked that information away and turned to Ross. “Did you speak with Clay?”
“No, but I did see him following a woman around pretty closely. He cornered her at one point and they had a pretty intense discussion. I couldn’t tell what they said though.”
“I don’t suppose you know who the woman was?” Megan asked. She wasn’t surprised to see him shake his head.
Susan drew her brows together. “Would you recognize her if you saw a picture?”
Ross made a face as he considered it. “I think so, yes.”
Susan held up a finger. “I’ll be right back. I left the yearbook in my car the other day when we were looking at it.”
Ross watched her rush from the shop and get the book from her car through the front window. She returned a moment later. In the meantime, Megan got out her phone and pulled up the photos that she’d found online from the class reunion.
Susan opened the book and set it on the counter at the front desk. “These pages have the head shots of everyone in our graduating class. You can look at each individual easily rather than trying to pick a face from a large group of people you don’t know.”
Ross flipped through some pages and frowned as he pointed at one head shot. “Well, it’s a little tough to be sure, but it might have been her.”
Susan looked over his shoulder than took Megan’s phone and scanned through all of the pictures she had until she found a group shot with Ellen Harris in it.
“Was this her?” Susan asked. There were over a dozen people in the photo. She pointed to Ellen.
The doubt on Ross’s face cleared immediately. “Yes. That’s her, definitely.”
The phone in Susan’s hand buzzed. Startled, she handed it back to Megan.
Megan saw the caller ID and answered immediately. “Hey, Irlene. What’s up?”
“I might have some information for you, but I’m not really sure.”
“Be right there.” Megan disconnected and looked at Susan and Ross. “Can you think of anything else?”
Shortly after they both shook their heads, Megan was walking into the Teaberry Salon. She hoped Irlene wasn’t going to try to talk her into a cut while she spoke with her.
Irlene was sweeping up hair by her work station when Megan entered. She turned and walked toward Megan when she saw her. There were other customers in the salon, but they were at the far end of the salon. Irlene kept her voice down anyway.
“Like I said, I’m not sure if I really know anything, but I worked on most of the women who went to the class reunion. I figured there might be something, even if I didn’t realize it.” Irlene slipped behind the front counter where she kept her appointment book and took a seat. “Of course, you know my policy about not telling my customer’s secrets.”
“Can you give me some examples of who was in here?” Megan asked.
Irlene gave a half smile. “It would be easier to say who wasn’t. Everyone from the class president, to the woman who organized the class reunion, and on down to the last female was pretty much in here. That’s why I figured I might know something. That class reunion was all anyone has been talking about for weeks.”
Megan was confused. “What do you mean? I thought the class president did the organizing? Didn’t Libby handle everything?”
“Oh, no. Libby was adamant about that. She couldn’t have done it all without Verna. She was telling that to everyone who listened, so it wasn’t a secret.”
Interesting, Megan thought. She should have considered that. When would a full-time medical doctor at a busy hospital have time to handle all of the details for a large class reunion?
“Do you know where Verna would be?” Megan asked.
“Sure. She’d be at the retirement community. She’s the dietician out there. You really should talk to her. She probably knows all of the little details of everything.”
“Do you also do Toni Berman’s hair?” Megan asked.
A worried look passed over Irlene’s face. “I do, but you know I don’t like spreading gossip about my customers.”
> Megan nodded slowly. “I know that, and I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position. But is there anything you can tell me about the family?”
Irlene bit her lip as she considered it. “I guess it’s no real secret that Mr. Berman left the tree farm to his daughter.”
Megan filled in the blanks. “But not to his son.” She’d known that, of course, but hadn’t considered the implications. There may have been tension in the family because of it.
Chapter Nineteen
Hattie sat at her new dining room table and thought about all of the misgivings she’d had before moving to the retirement community. Oh, she’d put up a good face in front of Claire. She’d told her that it was for the best. Hattie knew that she was just beginning to have problems with things. She certainly wasn’t able to keep up with that big old house she’d been rattling around in for years all alone.
And here she now sat, looking around her dining room table. She narrowed her eyes as she considered her current situation. She thought about taking the more conservative path but decided to throw caution to the wind. After tossing a penny into the pile at the center of the table, she looked over at Victor Muncie with more certainty that she felt.
“I think you’re bluffing. I’ll see your penny,” Hattie said as she tossed another penny into the pile. “And I raise a penny.”
Victor Muncie sighed. He’d been ruling the poker roost for so long, he’d forgotten what it was like to have a worthy adversary. Hattie had already beaten him a half dozen times since she’d moved to the retirement community.
He called and placed his cards on the table. He held his breath until he saw Hattie’s cards. The other two players had already folded. Victor sat back in his chair, his hands raised in the air in defeat.
“She won again,” Victor said to the others in the room. He shook his fist with mock indignation. “I think she’s cheating somehow.”
His friend, Silas Granger, got quite the laugh out of the that. “You just aren’t used to losing at cards.”
