“I don’t think so,” Bill said. “When I first came over he said he had just gotten back from a walk in the garden. He made a detour there after the bar. Said he had been thinking about the movie and replacing Dirk.”
A sheath of papers lay on the desk. As I walked closer, I realized it was a movie script. The typewritten pages were covered in red ink. Angry comments and exclamation marks were scrawled all over the pages. I bent down to study it more closely and saw that many of the comments were signed with an initial D, which I took to be Dirk.
“It’s a marked-up copy of High Noon Heist,” I said, though no one was paying me any attention.
Tyler and Bill stood near the bathroom, while Aunt Amber hovered by the door.
“I swear no one was in here when I left. And I was only gone for a minute. My room’s next door, so I can’t imagine why I didn’t hear anything.” Bill shook his head. “This is one dangerous town. What the hell’s happening?”
I smelled the alcohol on Bill’s breath, though I stood more than a foot away. Either he was lying or the booze had distorted his time estimate. Someone had most definitely visited the room.
“The window’s open,” I pointed out. The closed curtains billowed softly from the evening breeze. “Maybe the killer left down the fire escape.”
Tyler walked over and pulled the curtains back. He leaned out the window to get a better view of the ground below.
I followed behind him and peered out the window. The fire escape ladder ended at the second floor. From there it was a nine or ten-foot drop to the grass below. It seemed a likely escape route. It was impossible to see from where we were on the third floor, but the killer could have left tracks in the grass or other evidence. Unless the suspect had escaped down the hallway, which implied that the killer was still inside the Inn. I shuddered involuntarily.
I lowered my voice so Bill and Aunt Amber couldn’t hear. “I guess Brayden can’t be mad at you now.”
He sighed. “I can’t charge a dead man, can I? I hope I’m not the only one crossing Steven off the suspect list.”
Aunt Amber turned to Bill. “Steven was acting so weird lately, like when he yelled at you about the missing gun.”
“Forget about it.” Bill waved his hand in dismissal. He seemed anxious to leave.
“Wait—what’s this about the missing gun?” Tyler turned away from the window to face Bill.
“I told Steven all about the missing gun as soon as I noticed it,” Bill said. “He said not to worry about it. That he had bigger things to worry about.”
“Why didn’t you mention this earlier?” Tyler frowned. “It’s an important detail.”
“He’s my boss—at least he was.” Tears welled in Bill’s eyes. “I was covering for him. I thought he’d get in trouble over the missing gun. You know—it would look like he killed Dirk. It’s kind of irrelevant now, because Steven would never harm Dirk. Or anyone.”
“I’ll decide what’s relevant or not,” Tyler said.
“It’s totally important that the gun’s been used in a murder.” Aunt Amber’s hand flew to her mouth as she turned to me. “When did Westwick Corners become such a dangerous place? I don’t even recognize this town anymore.”
“You should have told me, Bill.” Tyler frowned. “What else are you covering up?”
“Nothing, I swear. Look, all I know is that I told him about the gun, but he said he had bigger things to worry about. What those things were, I don’t know.” Bill raised his hands, palms out in surrender. “I didn’t want a gun to fall into the wrong hands, but when I suggested reporting it to the police, Steven said not to bother. I tried to reason with him, but he’s the boss.”
The only person I knew to be innocent was Steven, and now he had a knife in his chest. The man everybody loved apparently had at least one enemy.
Maybe Aunt Amber wasn’t exaggerating about her own personal safety after all. As long as we were unclear on the killer’s motive, everyone else in the movie was in danger too.
I shivered as I glanced at Aunt Amber sobbing into her sleeve.
Who would be next?
21
Tyler called the medical examiner and the Shady Creek Crime Unit back to the Inn. Aunt Amber and I stood guard outside Steven’s suite while Tyler contained the scene. The Shady Creek folks arrived in record time, and within an hour Tyler had handed off the crime scene to the ME and the forensics techs. Then we headed downstairs.
Tyler had sworn all of us including Bill to secrecy. He didn’t want any details divulged until Steven’s body was removed and the crime scene processed. I understood why. Everyone would freak out and immediately run upstairs. That would be pretty hard to manage since Tyler was essentially a one-man police force. With two murders, it was clear that things were escalating.
My heart sank as we reached the dining room door. Brayden was still at his table, and he immediately noticed Aunt Amber on the loose as she ran through the dining room and straight into the kitchen. She had essentially blown her chance of house arrest at the Inn, so Tyler would have no choice but to take her to the police station.
But first, he had some explaining to do before Brayden spotted the Shady Creek Forensics Van in the parking lot again. But it turned out that Brayden already had and had even been briefed by the medical examiner on her way in. Things weren’t looking good for Tyler at all, and I expected the State Police to arrive at any moment.
Brayden pointed towards the kitchen door behind which Aunt Amber hid. “Get her out of here.”
I wondered if Brayden thought that Aunt Amber was responsible for Steven’s murder too. It seemed preposterous. But based on Aunt Amber’s earlier confession that she was Steven’s accomplice, maybe Brayden actually believed that Amber was a double murderer.
Tyler tilted his head in the direction of the kitchen. “I’m taking her in, but there’s something I have to tell you first.”
“We can talk later.” Brayden seemed awfully calm, all things considered.
A little too calm, in fact. Now I was certain that the State Police were on their way. There was nothing I could do, no objections I could make, without causing more trouble for Tyler. So I retrieved Aunt Amber from the kitchen and met Tyler outside. Aunt Amber and I got in the back seat and Tyler drove down the hill, past the front gate where dozens of Dirk fans were gathered.
She unrolled her window and stuck her head out. “Help! I’ve been framed.”
I lunged towards her, only to be yanked back in place by my seatbelt. “Stop it, Aunt Amber. You’re acting like a spoiled child.”
Tyler’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. He didn’t say anything.
“Acting. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing.” Aunt Amber pouted. “It’s my only chance for a bit of drama.”
“Well, cut it out. It’s totally inappropriate at a time like this. You’re worse than Aunt Pearl.” My temper was frayed and I wasn’t sure how much more I could put up with. I felt especially bad for Mom, taking care of everything singlehandedly at the Inn while her sisters created havoc. Aunt Pearl was probably burning down the bar right now.
We drove the rest of the way to City Hall in silence. We arrived to find all the parking blocked off by movie trucks.
Tyler swore under his breath and pulled into a parking spot a block away. I helped Aunt Amber out of the back seat and threw my jacket over her cuffs to hide them, but she flung it off and waved her cuffed hands up in the air.
“I’m innocent!” Aunt Amber wailed as she staggered down Main Street towards City Hall. “This is a travesty of justice.”
Luckily Main Street was its usual deserted self. All the film people were at the Inn or elsewhere.
That didn’t make me any less annoyed at Aunt Amber’s theatrics. The three of us walked down the street, tired and dejected. Tyler walked on one side of Aunt Amber and I walked on the other. We headed towards Tyler’s office inside City Hall.
As we got closer, something flashed. At first, I thought the half
dozen or so men and women were part of the film crew, but they didn’t look familiar. As we got closer I remembered that a few of Dirk’s fans had gathered downtown. Except it wasn’t just his fans.
There were a handful of reporters too. The news really was out, on Dirk at least. I wondered how long before they found out about Steven.
Several vans approached and suddenly there were so many rental cars and vans nearby that they created their own little mini rush hour. Based on the frantic level of activity, I feared that news of Steven’s death really had been leaked. That meant either Bill or Aunt Amber. No one else really knew about it yet.
“Did you—”
Aunt Amber shushed me with a wave of her hand. “I am exerting my fifth-amendment rights, so don’t ask.”
“But this is important, Aunt Amber. Why are you being so difficult?”
She just ignored me. Whatever the reason, the press was now on Main Street in full force. I was shocked to see a CNN van parked across the street.
We didn’t attract much notice until Aunt Amber spotted the cameras.
She screeched to a stop, almost taking me down with her. “Hey, that woman’s from CNN. We’re on national TV.” She fake-smiled at the cameras.
I tugged on her arm. “Let’s get inside. They’re not interested in the movie or you, Aunt Amber. They’re here because of Dirk’s murder.” They couldn’t possibly know about Steven yet.
Aunt Amber turned to the cameras and wailed, “Help me!”
I gritted my teeth and tightened my hold on her arm, half-expecting her to bolt. “Let’s just get inside.”
By now a dozen or so reporters surrounded us, arms outstretched with tape recorders and microphones. “Did you kill him?”
“Hell no!” Aunt Amber yanked her arm from mine. “I did not kill Steven Scarabelli in revenge for killing Dirk.”
“What? Wait!” A blonde thirty-something woman dressed for TV inched closer and stuck her recorder in front of Aunt Amber’s face. “Steven Scarabelli’s dead too?”
Aunt Amber turned to me, trance-like. “Can’t I give an interview?”
“Absolutely not!” Tyler’s mouth set in a firm line. “The only interview you’re giving is to me. A murder investigation is serious stuff, Amber. Nobody talks to the media but me right now. Got it?”
“Got it.” Aunt Amber looked crestfallen. “You two are quite a pair. So straight-laced and always ruining everything with your by-the-book rules. No wonder you need a love potion!”
Tyler’s eyes met mine, a confused expression on his face.
“Grandma told you? Why did—never mind.” I started to protest but stopped short. All eyes were on us, and anything we said or did was bound to show up in a news story. Apparently, Tyler and I were a constant news story too, at least within my family.
It seemed like an eternity, but we finally reached City Hall and stepped inside. Tyler locked the door behind us.
“I wonder if I’ll be front page.” Aunt Amber beamed, her cheeks flushed with excitement. She was thrilled with the media attention, even if it fueled speculation that she was a murderer.
“Stop it, Aunt Amber,” I hissed. “Dirk Diamond and Steven Scarabelli are front page news, not you. Nobody even knows who you are. Nobody cares.”
Her lower lip stuck out in a pout. “I don’t know where you inherited your nastiness, Cendrine West. Certainly not from me.”
“You’re sidetracking the investigation, Aunt Amber. This is no time for acting or theatrics. If you really care, why don’t you do something constructive and cooperate with his murder investigation?”
“Okay, fine,” she said. “Bill wasn’t the last person to see Steven alive. I was.”
22
It took the better part of an hour for Aunt Amber to recount her last moments with Steven Scarabelli. She claimed to be the last person to have seen Steven alive. That contradicted Bill’s statement of just leaving Steven for a moment while he went next door. There was only one version of the truth, so one of them had to be lying.
Actually, they both had been caught in multiple lies, so neither of them could be considered reliable witnesses. That worried me. Aunt Amber’s withholding of information was incriminating, to say the least.
After leaving the Witching Post, she had gone to the kitchen to help Mom clean up, and then left for a walk on the grounds. She claimed to have run into Steven in the gardens that surrounded the Inn. According to Aunt Amber, they had reached a truce of sorts regarding Aunt Amber’s firing.
“Then I went back to the dining room. You saw me there yourself.” Her smile was totally out of place.
I flashed back to her sitting just outside the kitchen, her skin flushed like a cross-country runner who had just crossed the finish line.
I knew she was lying. She had done a lot more than just saunter in from the garden. Not only that, but I doubted there was anything to negotiate about her movie role. It had gone up in smoke with Dirk’s death. No Dirk meant no movie.
Tyler looked up from his notepad. “So…after the walk, Steven went upstairs and you went into the dining room.”
“Uh…yes, that’s what happened.” Her face flushed as she dropped her gaze. “I came in through the kitchen door.”
“Any witnesses?” If she had passed through the kitchen, Mom would have seen her. She was lying and I knew it.
Aunt Amber didn’t answer.
Tyler frowned. “I think you were in Steven’s room, whether you admit it or not. Lying just gets you in a lot more trouble. It might even land you in jail.”
She shrugged as she looked around. “I am in jail.”
“You know what I mean, Amber. For real.” Tyler ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “Honestly, it would be easier for me to just hand you over to the State Police. It might get Brayden off my back at the same time.”
“No, you can’t do that!” I hoped he was bluffing, but I couldn’t really blame him if he’d had enough.
Aunt Amber started mumbling under her breath. As I leaned closer to decipher her words, I suddenly felt drowsy.
“One, two, three, make it not to be…”
I jerked my head up. “Aunt Amber, stop it! You can’t use witchcraft to cover up a crime. You of all people know better.” The Aunt Amber I knew was a respected, high-ranking executive in the Witches International Community Craft Association, not a cheat. The Aunt Amber I knew followed the rules. She didn’t impede investigations. I was shocked at her behavior; it was like my aunt had become a stranger to me.
“I just wanted to put things back to the way they were before I disturbed them.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I’m in too deep.”
My mouth dropped open. “You mean tamper with evidence? I’m shocked that you would do such a thing.” Aunt Amber’s surprise had seemed so genuine. I supposed her acting skills were much better than I gave her credit for.
“Why not? I know I didn’t kill Steven, so I don’t want Tyler to waste time investigating me.”
“You were in Steven’s room after he died? Why?” Tyler leaned forward in his chair.
“We never really made up during our talk in the garden, because I still thought Steven was lying. Later on, I realized it was true: Dirk made Steven fire me. I just went upstairs to apologize. But it was too late.” She sobbed into her hands. “But I definitely didn’t kill him.”
“You were already in the room before we went up with Steven’s roast beef dinner?” I flashed back to her hysterics. She really was a good actor. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“I don’t know. I was too scared I guess. Between that and the film edits, I guess I just thought—”
I jumped out of my seat. ”What film edits? What are you talking about?”
“Well, Pearl and I thought it would be a thoughtful gesture if we went ahead and finished the movie. You know, what with Dirk gone and all… Anyway, Pearl added special effects and we edited the film a bit. Cut out the bad scenes and stuff. All we had left to do was to ad
d my little ole scenes into the movie.”
“Wait—what bad scenes?” As far as I knew Aunt Pearl didn’t have any film production background.
“You know, like where an actor flubs his lines and stuff. I thought if we did a bit of cleanup it would help everybody. Pearl and I just did some of the post-production work with witchcraft so everybody would have less to do.”
“And the movie would get finished faster,” I said.
“Uh-huh. We were almost done when Tyler took the film.” She shook her head. “Lots of cuts. It really was a mess until we fixed things up.”
“You mean the film we’ve been reviewing all this time isn’t the original one? Did you keep a copy of the original?”
She shrugged. “Last I saw, Pearl had it. What she did with it, I don’t know.”
I had to get the uncut film before it was lost forever.
If it wasn’t already too late.
23
I searched everywhere for Aunt Pearl, but she was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t downtown, at the Inn, or even at Pearl’s Charm School.
I headed across the grounds to the Witching Post while Tyler discussed some follow-up details with Bill in the dining room. The voices of drunken partiers drifted towards me as I neared the bar. Judging by the noise levels, it was even busier now. Some of the locals must have drifted in to join the cast and crew.
I opened the door and scanned the bar, taking note which of the cast and crew were present. One thing immediately troubled me. Just about everyone was drunk, evidenced by their staggers, slurs and spilled drinks. Just how reliable they would be as witnesses to alibi Bill was anyone’s guess.
Waiting till tomorrow seemed too late, but what choice did we have?
I spotted Kim Antonelli, Dirk’s former agent, at the bar. She sat quietly, nursing an overfilled glass of red wine.
I was relieved to see Aunt Pearl tending bar. At least she was occupied, even if she was overly generous with her pours. She caught my eye and smiled. Her unusually good mood struck me as odd, but at least she hadn’t shapeshifted back into her Carolyn Conroe alter ego as she was prone to do in the bar. We already had enough trouble as it was.
Witch and Famous--A Westwick Witches Cozy Mystery Page 13
