A VENEER OF MURDER (Mrs. Fix It Mysteries Book 3)

by Belle Knudson

  She stared at his blotter while waiting for him to return. She couldn’t get the sight of Meghan’s eyes out of her mind. How did Scott deal with dead people when he was a homicide detective in Philadelphia? She’d never get used to it.

  He returned with a paper cup filled with hot tea. She sipped the steaming liquid as he cleared off his desk. Then he leaned on it, staring at her. It was a little unnerving to have this large man hovering over her. Greg hadn’t been that way. He assumed she could take care of herself. He wasn’t cold; he’d just never been this concerned about her.

  “I’m upset, but I won’t shatter.”

  “You’re much stronger than that, I know, but I’m still concerned,” he said.

  Kate rolled the word around in her mind. “Murdered?”

  “Most likely. I will need to ask you some questions, Kate. It can wait until tomorrow if you’d like.”

  She shuddered. “Just give me a few minutes.”

  “Okay, honey.”

  She let the endearment go. Today it felt good for him to have this much concern for her. She’d just found a friend dead. She could use all the warmth she could get. Hugging the cup, she sipped it slowly, beginning to feel human again.

  “Can I get you anything else?” Scott said.

  He hadn’t moved. He was just within her reach, but she didn’t reach out to him. She couldn’t.

  “No, the tea’s fine.” Kate took a deep breath, let it out then composed herself. “I’m ready to answer questions.”

  “We need to go to an interrogation room, so I can record it. You okay with that?”

  Whatever he needed. She wanted to talk while it was all fresh in his mind. “Fine.”

  She followed him to such a room. She’d never seen him so solicitous toward her. He touched her more than usual, and she appreciated the human contact. Finally, he was ready to ask her questions.

  “You were supposed to meet Meghan in the library?”

  Kate thought back over her conversation with Meghan at the reception. She wasn’t specific about the item she had wanted to show her. “Yes. We talked about it at the wedding reception. She had something to show me.”

  “Did she indicate what it was?” Scott said.

  He sat across from her. A microphone hung in between them. He had his cop face on now. Serious. He was studying her as if trying to read her body language. She didn’t take offense. This was his job. His life.

  “She said it had something to do with a book that my husband had taken out of the library and not returned.”

  “Did she tell you what book?”

  Kate shook her head then realized the microphone wouldn’t pick that up. She’d been puzzled and curious about what Meghan had wanted to show her. “No. She didn’t say the title or the subject.”

  “So you don’t have any idea what she wanted to show you?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  Kate set the empty cup down. It no longer was keeping her fingers warm. She figured nothing would right now. The vision of the letter opener in Meghan’s neck wasn’t going to leave her mind anytime soon.

  “You need some more tea?”

  “No, thanks.”

  Scott nodded then went on. “So you met her at the library.”

  Kate took a deep breath. Scott held her hand. “I did. It was dark, which I thought was odd. She usually turned some lights on so I could see.”

  “Did you often meet at the library?”

  “Once in a while when she wanted to show me something new that I might like to borrow,” Kate said.

  They’d share a pot of tea and sometimes cookies. It was sweet and fun. They were two middle-aged women who had had a lot in common. Her friendship with Carly was the same, but Carly had never been married. Meghan had.

  “So the lights were off.”

  She remembered being bothered by the light being off. It should have been her first clue that something was off. “Yes.”

  “You didn’t think it might be dangerous?”

  “Rock Ridge Public Library? No. The thought never occurred to me.”

  As much as there had been two, now three murders in town this year, Kate still felt safe here. That had been important when she’d chosen to have children and raise them in Rock Ridge. She wanted them to be safe.

  “What did you do next?”

  “I walked back to Meghan’s office. I called out once, but she didn’t answer,” Kate said.

  “Then what?”

  “I saw her slumped on her desk. I checked for a pulse then called you.”

  “Did you notice anything unusual besides the body?”

  “That she had a letter opener sticking out of her neck. A piece of paper was stuck on the opener.”

  “Did you look at it? Did you touch it?”

  “I didn’t touch anything but Meghan’s neck,” Kate said.

  “Anything you want to add? Any enemies you could think of?”

  “No, not at all. As far as I knew, everyone liked her,” Kate said.

  “Anything that happened earlier in the evening you want to add?”

  That’s when Kate remembered that Meghan had argued with Celia. “Uh, at the wedding reception, she told me she had an argument with Celia Johnson.”

  Kate felt bad for saying that, but she had to be honest. She couldn’t hold back from Scott.

  Scott nodded. “Anything else? Anything you can think of, even if it seems insignificant?”

  “Nothing else.”

  She didn’t think the man staring at her had anything to do with Meghan’s death. Could he have even gotten to the library that quickly?

  Scott turned off the recorder. “This will be typed up, and I’ll need you to come back to sign it.”

  “No problem. Can I go?”

  “You want me to drive you home?”

  She shook her head. As much as she didn’t want to be alone, she had to keep this man away. There was a strong possibility that in her current she would do something stupid. “My car is back at the reception. I just need a ride to Knights of Columbus Hall.”

  “I can take you.”

  He drove her to her car and followed her home. She waved at him from the porch, then curled up in bed without undressing and tried to erase the memory of Meghan’s face from her mind.

  ***

  Kate returned to the police station the next morning to sign her statement. On her way, her best friend, Carly, called. She was in hysterics.

  “Carly, what’s wrong?”

  “They’ve arrested my mother, Kate. They think she killed Meghan.”

  Kate cringed, wondering if it was because she had said something. She had to trust that Scott knew what he was doing. She was on her way to the cop house anyway. “Look, I have to go there anyway. I’ll see what I can find out. Get your mother a lawyer.”

  “She’ll need a lawyer?”

  “If they are charging her with murder, or at least questioning her, she needs a lawyer. Tell her not to talk to anyone until she gets one.”

  “Oh, Kate. What will she do? She’s a touch bird, but not prison tough.”

  Celia would probably tell the prison ward how to run his own place. And she’d be right. The woman could be a force of nature.

  “Your father is there. She won’t get a raw deal.”

  Carly’s father, Ken Johnson, was a detective for the Rock Ridge Police Department. Scott must’ve had some serious evidence to warrant bringing Celia in.

  Kate parked her truck at the other end of the complex from the police department. She didn’t want to look at the library today. She just couldn’t.

  Scott was in his office, of course. He wasn’t wearing the same suit. He must have gone home at some point. He looked fresher than she felt. Her eyes were gritty from lack of sleep. She’d showered, but she’d probably washed her hair more than once because she’d lost track. She’d pulled it back into a ponytail.

  He stood when he saw her. “I have your statement here.”

  He handed her a
pen. “Go into the room and read it. If you’re okay with it then sign it.”

  She read it, signed it, then brought it back to him. “I hear you’ve brought Celia in for questioning.”

  Scott put up a hand. “Don’t get involved, Kate.”

  “Carly called me on my way here. Could I at least see Celia so I can tell Carly that she’s okay?”

  He frowned. “You don’t want to be in a relationship with me, but you certainly take advantage of our friendship when you want something.”

  “I’m not asking for that much. I don’t have a file to pass her.”

  He shook his head. “She’s in lockup. You want me to take you there?”

  “I think I can find it.”

  Lockup was in the basement and a uniformed officer sat at a desk by the entrance. He waved her in. It seemed everyone in the police department knew her. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

  Celia sat primly on the edge of the bunk bed in lockup. No one else occupied the cell with her. Whatever drunks had been arrested last night were in the other cell. Kate didn’t glance in there. She didn’t want to know.

  Celia didn’t stand. She just looked at Kate, her lips pressed together. Kate would bet that Celia had never been in jail in her life before.

  “Hello, Celia.”

  “Kate.”

  “Did they tell you why you were arrested?”

  “Besides the fact that I had an argument with Meghan earlier in the night?”

  “What did you argue about?”

  Celia sighed. “About my outstanding fines.”

  “Doesn’t sound like a motive for killing a person.”

  “I said that, too, Kate, but only Ken is listening to me. Scott wasn’t. I’m here now.”

  “Do you have a lawyer?”

  “He’s on his way,” Celia said.

  Ken couldn’t investigate this case. Not as long as Celia was a suspect. Kate could not imagine the woman killing anyone. She could be a pain, but Kate couldn’t see her doing anything as violent as what had happened to Meghan. The killer had been mad.

  Kate leaned against the bars. “Weren’t you at the reception?”

  “No, I’d left. I was walking home. You know how I love to walk.”

  Celia walked the town every morning before her part-time job as administrative assistant to the mayor. She was a retired nurse and had spent a few years home before being hired a few months ago.

  “So you were out walking when they think it happened? Surely someone must have seen you.”

  “They haven’t found anyone, and as far as I knew, no one was out.”

  “I walked to the library and there were a few people out and about. It was still light enough for a walk after dinner,” Kate said. “So all they have is that you had a fight with Meghan?”

  “Well, there’s more.”

  “Oh?”

  “The letter opener used to kill her was mine.”

  “Yours? How did it get in the library?”

  “I don’t know. I lost it at a meeting a week or two ago. I’m not sure.”

  “Only your prints were on it?”

  “Sadly, yes. I don’t know where it was during that time, but I didn’t have it.” Celia rose. She walked toward Kate. “Please help me, Kate. You seem to be good at these things. Find the murderer.”

  Kate was going to anyway. That person had snuffed out the life of her friend, and Kate couldn’t sit by and let that person go free. “I will, Celia.”

  Kate mulled over the letter opener as the murder weapon. Why had the person targeted Celia? “Other than Meghan, have you had a fight with anyone lately?”

  “The only run-in I’ve had was with the new mayor’s wife.”

  Kate groaned. She’d been hearing things about the woman. Kendall Stuart was new money and thought she was better than everyone else. Kate suspected that the woman had come from nothing and was just a snob now that she’d married well. Mayor Harvy Stuart, her husband, was elected to fill the position after his brother was killed by a local reporter. He wasn’t quite the politician that his brother was, but he wasn’t doing any harm at this point.

  Kate suspected that he wouldn’t get elected again. His wife would be the biggest reason. The woman wore tight leopard skin jumpsuits that Kate didn’t even know they still made. She wasn’t your typical politician’s wife. She was loud and told people what to do.

  “What was it about?”

  “Nothing that huge. I just told her she couldn’t barge in while Harvy was on the phone. That was by his request. His wife included. He had business to attend to and she just walked in on those impossibly high heels.”

  Kate knew the ones. To her they defied gravity. Or Kendall did. She hadn’t had a chance to meet the woman, but she suspected it wouldn’t be long before she did. At some point, everyone needed a handyman.

  “She’s the only person you argued with?”

  “Other than that biker dude that’s been hanging out on Main Street.”

  Kate instantly thought of the suspicious man at the café who had been watching her. “Why him?”

  “His motorcycle came a little close to me on my walk one day. I’ve healed finally from the last time I was hit. I don’t want it to happen again.”

  “Understand. Did he threaten you?”

  “No, just leered at me.”

  Kate doubted the man leered at a woman old enough to be his mother. A sneer was more likely, but Celia had probably been upset at the time.

  “Okay.”

  “You’ll snoop?”

  “I’ll do my best. And I’ll let Carly know that you’re okay.”

  “Not like she’ll come and see me.”

  It was a contentious relationship between mother and daughter. Kate never enjoyed being in the middle of their squabbling. “I’ll see you later, Celia.”

  Chapter Two

  Kate left Celia and drove to Carly’s florist. Her friend was probably just opening the store. She parked her truck, then climbed out. The bell above the door rang and Kate’s nose was hugged with the scent of vanilla coffee and fresh flowers.

  Carly always had great coffee on hand. Kate didn’t stop by every day, but when she was she would indulge. Carly handed her a mug and Kate breathed in the aroma. “Yum.”

  “Did you see my mother?”

  Kate shifted onto a stool. She only had a few minutes, but she was going to enjoy this coffee. “Yes. She’s fine.”

  “Are you going to snoop like you usually do?”

  “Celia asked me the same thing. Yes. I’ll look into it, but I do have a job that I have to do.”

  “I’ve seen your truck everywhere lately,” Carly said. She was counting money as they talked.

  “I have been busy. It’s great. I actually have some disposable income.”

  “Where are you off to today?”

  “Jessica’s house.”

  “Isn’t she on her honeymoon?” Carly asked. She put her money in her register, then closed the drawer.

  “Not yet. They’re doing a weekend away. Dean is busy with projects. He told me that they’ll take a real honeymoon later in the year,” Kate said.

  “What are you doing at her house?”

  “Staging it for sale. It’s my new line of work besides fixing things. I seem to have a knack.”

  “Did you learn it?’

  “No, I just read a few books. The real estate agents are clamoring for me now. I staged a living room as a test and they were happy with it. The house sold the next day,” Kate said.

  “And you barely decorated your house.”

  Kate laughed. She didn’t have throw pillows or any accents like that in her own house. “None of the agents asked to see my place before they hired me.”

  “Good thing.”

  “I don’t spend much time at home anyway.”

  “Nope. I guess you don’t. As a business owner, I understand that.”

  “Have you met Kendall Stuart?”

  Carly rolled
her eyes. She liked most people, so if she had a problem with someone, the issue was most likely with that someone. “She came in here demanding a flower that I’d never heard of.”

  “A flower that you’ve never heard of? I can’t believe it.”

  Carly hadn’t gone to college. Instead she’d worked for the florist’s previous owner. The woman had taught her everything, and when she retired, she sold the place to Carly. Carly then renamed it, but not much had changed except that the flowers were of a little higher quality than they had been. Not that Kate could tell. She didn’t know a begonia from a buttercup.

  Others raved about the flowers.

  “Turns out, she was calling it by the wrong name. She showed me a picture and I told her what it was really called. She left in a huff. Came back and asked to speak to the manager.”

  “Bet she wasn’t happy when you told her that you were the manager and the owner.”

  Carly laughed. “On the bright side, I do have a standing order from her husband for flowers to be delivered.”

  “Where are they living?”

  “They’re renting a house over on Kent Street.”

  Not a ritzy neighborhood, but not the wrong side of the tracks either. “I would have expected somewhere fancier than that.”

  “From what I heard, there was nothing available on short notice.”

  “Why did Harvy run for mayor since he didn’t even live here? And why did town council appoint him?”

  Carly shrugged. “Who knows? He won’t get elected again. Not with that wife.”

  “Not from what I’ve heard either.”

  “Why did you ask about Kendall?”

  “I had asked your mother if she’d had run-ins with anyone else besides Meghan. She said Kendall.”

  “Why would you ask that?”

  “Because someone framed your mother.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” Carly hugged her. “I forgot that you and Meghan were friends.”

  That came out of the blue. “Thanks.”

  “You doing okay? Here I am worried about myself and you’re grieving.”

  “Our friendship was just starting. I’ll be okay.”

  “Okay, so you think someone framed my mother.”

  “Yes, the murder weapon was hers.”

  “Not that letter opener that she’d been complaining she’d lost.”