by Leona Fox
The Fatal Fury
An East Pender Mystery Book 6
Leona Fox
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 1
It had been another peaceful day in East Pender. After the saga with the mill, Ellen was glad to have enjoyed some quiet moments with her friends. The tension that had pervaded the town after an outsider had threatened to rip out the soul of East Pender by selling off the mill now had dissipated and life mostly had gone back to normal. The new manager of the mill, Ray, who was overseeing things in the absence of the rightful owner Emily Bright, had taken to his new role with aplomb and seemed a natural fit. It was good to see someone rewarded for all their hard work. Ray had been a fixture in the mill all his life, and represented the spirit of the town.
Michael van De Lay's funeral had turned into a celebration for East Pender and it really had brought the town together. Van De Lay had lived decades ago, and had been responsible for transforming East Pender into the place it was today. Ellen was glad they finally had been able to send him off to the afterlife properly, and lay his bones to rest after they had been laying in a cave since his mysterious disappearance all those many years ago.
The community spirit was once again in effect. After seeing the town split and give rise to a raging mob it was difficult, but in the end the people had come together and shown what they all meant to each other. It relieved Ellen's soul, for the main reason she had stayed in East Pender was she felt as though she belonged there and didn't feel as lonely as she did in the big city, in which she had spent most of her adult life.
As she swept the café floor and placed the chairs upside down on the tables, she shouted at Scampy as he scurried across the floor, seeming to think the broom was a game. Ellen couldn't stay mad at the small dog for long, though, and, soon enough, a smile appeared on her face as Scampy growled at the broom, baring his teeth and snarling before yelping away as the wide brush came inexorably toward him. The floor was smooth and his paws scrambled as he scampered away, and Ellen giggled.
Ellen paused and leaned on the handle of the broom. Looking around the empty cafe she reflected on her life and realized she was genuinely happy. This place had filled her with a sense of contentment and tranquility, and her relationship with Andy made her feel fulfilled. The moon shone outside and the night was clear so all the stars were visible. Sometimes she liked nights like this, nights when she was alone. Although she was a gregarious person and enjoyed the company of others she never had been one to despise solitude. In fact, she welcomed it as a respite from the rest of her life and it was pleasing to take stock of how far she had come.
When she first had decided to stay in East Pender she didn't have any idea of what she was going to do in the town. It was small and there wasn't the corporate infrastructure she had been used to in the city, which wasn't a bad thing since she had wanted to get out of that line of work anyway. Since her parents had been ill she had been thinking about her life and how empty it was, how there was nothing of meaning in it. She had spent a long time developing her career, but even then, while she was on a good salary it wasn't fulfilling work and she felt detached from everyone else, as though she wasn't really making a difference in the world.
But being with her parents and being back in East Pender made her realize what she had been missing. The decision to abandon the life she had made for herself in the city was a surprisingly easy one. In one weekend she had shipped out everything from her apartment back to her parents' house, and taken care of them while they had grown weaker and more despondent. When they eventually died Ellen's new life had to begin.
At first it was difficult to be without her parents in the town where she had grown up as all her memories were tethered to them. Everywhere she looked she was reminded of the two people who had nurtured and cherished her. It was painful, and in the first weeks following the death of her parents she wept constantly. However, she always had been the practical sort and wasn't prone to losing herself to her emotions. So while she indulged them for a little while she soon composed herself and got on with the matter of living.
With a cool, analytical eye, Ellen examined her life and asked herself what she really wanted to accomplish from it. She wanted to be around people, to interact with them and be a part of their lives, and in turn share her life with them. When she came upon the cafe being sold it felt like kismet, and immediately she began imagining the things she could do with the place. Before her it had been run by a matronly woman who was rather standoffish. It hadn't taken much persuading when Ellen came along with an offer, but then Ellen did major work on the place to give it a new face. Before it had been a dingy little diner, but now it was a cultured place in which people could feel welcome. The lighting was bright, although that gave way to intimate candles during the evening, and most people in the town flocked to The Chrome Cafe regularly.
Seeing people enjoying themselves gave Ellen a sense of well-being and she often found herself smiling at the way her cafe had brought people together. She had seen old couples enjoying each other’s company, had seen young lovers enjoy first dates there, and groups of friends spend time talking and gossiping. And then, of course, there was her amateur career as a sleuth. It had happened entirely by accident one day but even since then it had been an important part of Ellen's life. She always had been intrigued by mysteries but now it was greater than that. She had a need to protect the town, to help innocent people find peace and bring those who broke the law to justice. Of course, it wasn't always as simple as that, and she had faced danger many times, yet always had come out unscathed. She had seen a side of East Pender of which she had been completely unaware before. Even in a small town there were people with big plans and darkness lurked in the shadows, and she had taken it upon herself to aid the police and use her skills for the good of the people in the town.
As much as she enjoyed taking on these cases she was glad for the break, since the last one had been incredibly stressful. It even had placed pressure on her relationship with Andy, given that a woman from his past had emerged and thrown doubt on the feelings she shared with him. But they had come through it stronger than ever before and to Ellen it felt as though she was embarking upon a new chapter in her life, one where she was more attuned to her emotions and was able to give herself fully to another person.
As she was thinking about these things, the door opened and a customer walked in. Ellen glanced at the clock. There was still half an hour before the cafe was closed, but she had been thinking about closing up early.
The man upon, seeing all the chairs on top of the tables and a broom in Ellen's hand, asked, “I'm sorry, are you closed?”
“No, don't worry about it, still open for a little while. Come in and sit down. What can I get for you?”
Ellen placed the broom against the counter and walked behind the bar. Scampy looked at this new person intently, his beady eyes peering at the man. Ellen didn't recognize him but he certainly had a distinctive look. He was of average height with a shock of blonde hair, and his face was marred with scars from a burn. The tarnished flesh spread along one side of his face and down his neck, and although she wondered what had caused this she knew better than to make it a focal point of the conversation, and did not acknowledge it. She poured him a cup of coffee and he went to sit down at a table and look out of the window while Ellen continued cleaning up the cafe.
Glancing over at him, she could see he was restless, tapping his fingers on the table. His leg was jerking as well.
“Haven't seen you before, you new in town?” she called out. He looked a little startled, not expecting her to speak to him, but seeming glad she did.
“You could say that. I don't get here as much as I used to. I'm just back for a couple of days helping out my aunt with some home repairs.”
“Oh, what's her name?”
“Mary Speed. I doubt you'd know her though.”
“You'd be surprised. I know most people.” The man grunted and didn't seem to want to talk anymore, but something about him sparked Ellen's curiosity.
“You used to live here?”
“Oh yeah, born and raised. I moved to West Callow years ago, though. Always keep meaning to come back to visit more often but I never can seem to find the time, it's one of those things, y'know. I'm Gary, by the way.”
“Ellen, a pleasure to meet you,” she said.
“It's a nice place you have here.”
“Thanks, I've put in a lot of work to make the place what it is. I'm just glad everyone seems to enjoy it as much as I do.”
“I'm sure. It's nice to build up something yourself. This is good coffee, by the way.”
“Thanks. So have you ever thought of moving back here?”
“No, I knew when I was younger I never would live my whole life here. Had to escape, you know, overbearing parents and, well, it was kinda painful to live here with all this,” he said, gesturing toward his scars. Still Ellen did not ask about them because it was not her place to pry.
“Needed to get away. Start a new life. It's more exciting like that, I think. Get to see the world a little bit, not that West Callow is much different from this place, but it's different enough, I suppose.”
They continued talking for a little while, although neither of them said anything of consequence. Ellen couldn't quite place her finger on anything specific but there was definitely something off about this man. His eyes darted about and they had a far-off look in them, as though he was peering beyond the veil of the universe. Still, she thought, given the mention of his parents and his scarring he evidently had been through a lot in his life, and there was probably much trauma in his past. He couldn't have found it easy being in East Pender, either, so she placed most of the reasoning on that. He didn't take long to finish his coffee, and then he returned the cup to the bar and bid Ellen farewell. He stopped to stare at Scampy for a moment, then bent down to pet the dog on the head.
“See you around,” Ellen called out after him.
Although Gary did not respond, she was glad for the company she had until close, having gone about the final routines of the day while she was speaking with him. As soon as he left she turned off the lights, locked up, and followed him out of the door, only to see Andy coming up the path, passing Gary on the way. Ellen beamed as they greeted each other with a kiss.
“Always one last straggler,” Andy said, referring to Gary.
“Yeah, he's just visiting town for a couple of days. Used to live here but I think this place has some bad memories so I doubt he'll be sticking around. He had terrible burns along the side of his face I can't imagine what must have caused them.”
Andy placed his arm around her and they strolled along the road, making their way back to his house. “So tonight I thought we could sample a little romantic film.”
“Romantic?”
“Surprised?”
“Yeah, you never choose the romance films.”
“I know; I'm just feeling in that kind of a mood tonight. I guess it's just the effect you have on me, making me all soft.”
“I'm not sure about that but I'm not going to argue with it, romance sounds good to me.”
They returned to his house and snuggled up together with some hot chocolate. Ellen rested her head against him and took great delight in the steady rise and fall of his chest. She breathed in his scent and allowed her hands to explore his body. His hand gently caressed her back. The mood was relaxing. Being with him lulled her into a state of bliss where she felt as though she was floating on a cloud, and she never wanted that feeling to end. When she was with him she wondered how she ever could have been without him for so long. All that time they spent dancing around each other’s affections felt wasted, but now they were together and everything was perfect.
Then Andy's phone rang. It's loud, shrill ring broke up the haze of the moment and dragged her back from the romantic dream in which she had been ensconced. Both of them raised their heads and groaned at the interruption. Andy reached over and took the call. Being a police chief he had to answer everything despite how much he would want to ignore it in this instance, because any call he received could have been a matter of life or death.
Ellen yawned and rubbed her eyes, stretching her back and arms while he was on the phone. She heard a lot of 'yes' and saw a lot of nods on his end but couldn't hear who was on the other line. Andy's brow furrowed in puzzlement and when he put the phone down he looked like he couldn't believe what he just had heard.
“It's something bad, isn't it? Has there been another murder?” Ellen asked, a foreboding feeling spreading through her body as she prepared herself for another tough case. But Andy looked at her and chuckled.
“Actually no, that was my brother,” he said, and paused.
Ellen tensed for he and his brother didn't have a very good relationship. It mostly was because his brother had written a series of books in which a character was based on Andy, and it was not a flattering portrayal. Personally, though, from what Ellen had read she thought Andy had more in common with the hero cop than the one who had been haunted by his failure.
“It turns out they're making a movie based on his books. I think they're mainly adapting the first one so the character he based on me is going to have a prominent role.”
He spoke as though he was in a daze.
“So you're going to be famous, huh? I can't wait to tell Kelly about this,” Ellen said.
Over the course of the following couple of days Ellen and Kelly teased Andy endlessly about it. He evidently was bothered by it, given his sense of modesty. Despite the fact he didn't particularly like the character as written on the page, as it only served to remind him of his own failures, he mostly took the ribbing in good humor.
“It's not going to mean anything for me,” he said, downplaying the news, “my brother just wanted to let me know to keep me in the loop.”
“Aren't you curious about who is going to play you?” Ellen asked.
“Tom Cruise. It definitely should be Tom Cruise,” Kelly said excitedly. Andy merely rolled his eyes.
“That character is not me and while I'm happy for my brother I just would like to concentrate on my work here. That's more important to me. I'm sure once the film is out we can go see it and you can tease me to your heart's content, but until then it's not going to have any impact on our lives. So we should probably just forget about it and move on,” he said, but he knew Ellen and Kelly weren't going to let him forget until the movie was released.
“You have to admit it's exciting, though. It's not every day you can say you're having a movie made about you,” Kelly said.
“I'm excited for my brother but that's it. It's his book, I didn't have anything to do with the writing of it and I'm not going to have anything to do with the film. I'm surprised he told me at all, really. He never usually keeps me abreast of these things,” Andy said.
“Well I'm excited,” Ellen said.
However, soon enough matters in East Pender took precedence. A couple of days after Ellen first had encountered Gary they received news that he had died, and not only that, but he had been murdered. Ellen knew things never stayed quite in East Pender for long but she still wished she had had more of a chance to relax before yet another case found its way to her door.
Chapter 2
The circumstances surrounding Gary's death were rather mysteriou
s. He had been found outside The Chrome Cafe laying on the ground, having suffered from multiple stab wounds. It had happened late at night and only in the wee hours of the morning had someone returning from a pub seen the body. At first this person had assumed Gary was a bum and had passed out. He went to prod Gary, and through his bleary, tired eyes had seen the trail of blood that has spread out behind his body.
Hurriedly he had called the police and, soon enough, Andy and Ellen were on the scene, along with a number of other people. Given that the blood had left a trail along the street it had been an effort for the police to cordon off the area. So it was fortunate it was so late at night and most people were in bed. However, the commotion had woken up a few of the town residents and they had ventured outside, clad in robes, eager to find out what was going on.
A team already had searched the body. Gary barely had had anything on him; a wallet with a driver's license, credit card, subway card, some old movie tickets, and a set of keys but, most curious of all, a small Napoleon figurine in his pocket. This had puzzled the officers but to Ellen it meant only one thing – a clue -- and her mind already was racing to solve what had happened here.
“What are you thinking?” she asked Andy.
“Multiple stab wounds, not accurate, probably a crime of passion. He's still got his wallet so he wasn't robbed. Came here, do you know why?”
“Probably because this was the only place he knew. Or just the closest to where he was murdered. What do you think about the figurine?”
“Could just be a mascot he carries around with him. There's nothing to suggest it means anything other than that. But given we don't have any information about the murder I suppose it could have some significance. We can't rule out anything. Did he mention anything to you when you met him the other night?”
“No, he just said he was in town helping his aunt with repairs on her house and that was it. We only spoke for fifteen or twenty minutes before he left. He did seem a little off, though, I couldn't put my finger on it at the time but now that this has happened...”
