Blackberry Burial

by Sharon Farrow

  “And you’re a rude pig,” I shot back. “By the way, don’t worry about Theo talking to the police. I’ll be the one doing all the talking, starting tonight. Captain Holt will be quite interested to hear how you were threatening Theo.”

  Gordon swore under his breath. “You don’t know what’s going on. I was only trying to prevent things from getting out of control.”

  “You’re the one who seems out of control, Sanderling.” Crossing my arms, I planted myself in front of Theo. If Gordon made a move toward Theo, he would have to get by me.

  “That’s where you’re wrong. Events are spinning out of control.” He pointed over my shoulder at Theo. “And a fool like him could get people killed.”

  “What does that mean?” I was torn between anger and frustration.

  “Maybe he isn’t talking to the police, but I suspect he is. The police are questioning everyone about Sienna’s murder. Of course they’d question him. And what will they get from your nervous baker? Cryptic, confusing statements that could incriminate other people.”

  “You perhaps?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Not just me, you idiot. And stay out of this. Haven’t you caused enough grief by digging up Sienna’s body?”

  “Marlee didn’t do anything wrong.” Theo amazed me by coming to stand by my side. “Leave her alone.”

  “Exactly what I should do. Leave the two of you alone to cause all kinds of trouble. And you will if you keep interfering with things you don’t understand.”

  “Then enlighten us,” I said. “What don’t we understand?”

  “That if things spiral out of control, someone else may wind up dead.”

  Theo took my hand, which surprised me as much as Gordon’s statement.

  “Is that a threat?” I asked.

  “No,” Gordon said. “A prediction.” Theo and I stared after him as he stalked off, his figure swallowed up by the darkness waiting just outside the narrow reach of the lampposts.

  “He frightened me,” Theo said.

  I didn’t want to worry Theo by telling him that I was frightened, too. And I felt as surrounded by darkness as Gordon’s retreating figure. Except this darkness would not be over by sunrise. This was a darkness that had lasted twenty years.

  Chapter 12

  My breakfast meeting with Leah meant I had to skip beach yoga, which was for the best. I hadn’t been in a tranquil state of mind since I’d discovered the bones of Sienna Katsaros. Last night’s encounter in the parking lot didn’t help. Following my conversation with Gordon, I went looking for Captain Holt to tell him what had occurred. Although unhappy to learn I had confronted a suspect, Holt immediately left to track down Gordon with questions of his own. I hoped Gordon said something incriminating during their conversation. If Gordon was in police custody, I’d breathe easier about Theo’s safety. And mine.

  At least I had a delicious breakfast to look forward to. A favorite with natives and tourists, the Sourdough Café had been run by the Schells for sixty years. The Schells freshened up the country farm décor only about twice a decade, and they changed their menu even less often. But if I had to choose one place to eat breakfast for the rest of my life, the Sourdough Café would be my pick. Working at the Gourmet Living Network had exposed me to some of the greatest chefs on the planet, but I had never tasted eggs, bacon, waffles, or pancakes cooked as divinely as the Schells did at their café. And at a reasonable price, too.

  Because of this, I wasn’t surprised to see a line of people waiting for a table. Throughout the summer, a wait for a table was the norm. I didn’t see Leah among the crowd milling about the front door, so I assumed she wasn’t here yet. Best to get our name on the seating list.

  Before I could add my name to the pad of paper on the counter, I heard a voice shout, “Marlee, we’ve already got a table!” Leah beckoned me from the rear of the café.

  As I dodged around servers and tables filled with customers, I was glad to see Leah had snagged a booth along the window. The café boasted the longest booths in town, easily fitting eight people. More, if any of them were as thin as Leah. Dressed in tight jeans and a lime green tank top, she seemed even slimmer than she did last night. Her bare arms appeared skeletal. I’d be shocked if her weight topped ninety pounds.

  “We’ve been waiting for you.” Leah gestured toward the group sitting at our booth.

  Two men and a woman looked up at me. All of them had mugs of tea or coffee in front of them. I wondered how long they’d been sitting here, especially since I had arrived early.

  “This is Marlee Jacob,” Leah announced. “Marlee, meet my BAS Drupes. The bushy-haired guy is Joel MacGregor, also known as the programming prince of Cleveland.”

  “Marlee,” said the chubby fellow, who boasted a scruffy beard and wavy brown hair hanging to his shoulders.

  “The woman next to him is Dawn Vance,” she went on. “If you love fiber art, you may have heard of Vance Designs. She’s wearing her product. Then again, she never wears anything else.”

  Dawn smiled at me. “She’s jealous because she can’t afford my clothes.”

  “I don’t blame her. They’re lovely.” I found Dawn’s tunic top covered with leaf designs in copper, ginger, and garnet quite striking. The ginger hues matched the color of Dawn’s hair.

  “Thank you,” she said. “And I’ll finish the introductions. The sleepy man across from me is Zack Burwell. Ignore the bags under his eyes. His plane got in late last night. Although we’re having a hard time ignoring his shaved head. I have no idea what that’s all about.”

  “Hi.” Zack lifted his coffee mug in greeting. “And shaving my head keeps life simple. One less thing to worry about.” Even without hair, Zack was an attractive man, but his guarded gaze made me uneasy.

  Dawn scooted over, although the booth held lots of room. “Sit next to me, Marlee.”

  Once I sat down, all four of them looked at me. “I’m sure Leah told you I’m the owner of a downtown store called The Berry Basket. Theo Foster bakes for me.”

  “Can’t believe Theo is a baker,” the rotund guy introduced as Joel said. “Then again, he did spend a whole summer at BAS baking pottery in that kiln.”

  Zack shook his head. “I thought Theo came from Illinois or Indiana. I’m shocked he’s living here now. Is he staying with relatives? Or a group home?”

  “There’s no reason Theo would be living in a group home,” I said. “He’s perfectly capable of taking care of himself.”

  Dawn appeared dubious. “I honestly can’t see Theo living on his own.”

  “He was only seventeen when you were at BAS together. Hard to figure out what people will become when they’re older.” I felt the need to defend Theo.

  “Not always,” Joel replied. “Leah teaches fine arts, and Dawn is a walking showcase for her product. We all knew the two of them would be the only ones to remain interested in art. The rest of us wasted our time—and our parents’ money—at BAS. Money flushed down the Blackberry Bayou drain. It certainly didn’t help me to become a computer programmer.”

  “There’s more to life than paying bills,” I said. “BAS gives children and adults a chance to focus on nothing but art and beauty for a few precious weeks. How often will that happen again in their lives? BAS tuition fees seem a small price to pay for such an experience.”

  “The last thing Joel’s parents worried about was the price of tuition. He comes from one of Ohio’s richest families.” Leah laughed at his scowling expression. “Don’t try to deny it.”

  I looked across the table at her. “Where do you teach fine arts?”

  “Pratt University in Brooklyn.”

  Pratt was a premier art institution in the country. I was impressed.

  “I never thought I’d return to BAS. Then an invitation arrived for the school’s centenary week. I almost didn’t come.” Leah’s smile faded. “The last memory of my summer here was the Coast Guard finding Sienna’s clothing in the lake. It shattered me.”

&nbs
p; “I was just a kid then,” I said. “It only became real when I found the body last week.”

  The four of them looked at each other; they wore varying expressions of dread, fear, and sadness. There were all sorts of undercurrents at this table making me feel unwelcome—and suspicious. I was happy when Drea, my favorite waitress at Sourdough, appeared.

  “Hi, Marlee,” she said with a wide grin. “Didn’t know it was you this table was waiting for. Should I give everyone a few more minutes or are you ready to order now?”

  The others snatched up the menus scattered in front of them and quickly ordered. By the time it was my turn, I worried I’d have little appetite while among this group. Still, it might seem odd if I only asked for something to drink.

  “A chai latte and two eggs, sunny side up. No toast or potatoes.” Drea appeared stunned by the brevity of my order. Usually I ate enough food at the café to satisfy a trio of lumberjacks.

  Once she left, an awkward silence hung over the table. Joel kept scratching his beard as he stared out the window. He reminded me of a shaggy brown bear: one to be approached with caution. Leah examined her green painted nails as Zack sipped his coffee. It had to be a nervous gesture. I’d seen him empty the mug a moment earlier. When I turned to my left, I met Dawn’s steady gaze. She was an average-looking woman with none of Leah’s natural beauty. Her chin-length hair framed an angular face, one side of her hair tucked behind her ear, the other side falling in a sleek curve over her other cheek. There was nothing delicate about her features; her nose was long, her mouth wide. I suspected there was little delicacy about her temperament, either. If I was to get any information to help me with Theo, it would most likely come from her.

  “Leah told me that all of you had another close friend in your Bramble twenty years ago. A girl called Amanda Dobson. Is she coming to the centenary, too?”

  “Not according to the last BAS newsletter.” Dawn smiled at my puzzled expression. “Amanda is a professor of botany, at Harvard no less. Her parents are botanists, too. She spent her whole time at BAS either sketching the forest vegetation or hiking through it. We found it ironic when she ended up falling into a patch of poison ivy.”

  “She had to be sent home,” Joel added. “Amanda was mortified at having to explain to her parents how she failed to identify such a common plant. But she’s made up for it since.”

  Zack signaled to Drea for more coffee. “She’s some big-deal botanist now. Writes books on the subject, travels around the world gathering plant species.”

  “Amanda’s in the Brazilian rain forest collecting specimens.” Leah continued to study her nail polish. “The newsletter announced she’ll be part of a PBS special on climate change.”

  “Even if she were in the U.S., why would she come back here?” Joel’s voice rang with bitterness. “There’s nothing but unhappiness at the bayou. Then again, she left weeks before Sienna died. Amanda missed out on all the black horror we had to go through. Now we learn Sienna’s body has been discovered after all this time. It’s like a filthy joke. I think all of us should get the hell out of here today. How much more do we have to suffer over this?”

  “Take it easy, Joel,” Zack said in a low voice.

  Dawn turned to me. “You probably regret meeting us for breakfast.”

  “Not at all. I wanted to see if any of you could help me understand Theo better. He was quite disturbed to hear Sienna’s body was found. I’ve thought about contacting his father, but it might offend Theo. After all, he’s not a child.”

  “He’s always acted like one.” Zack gave Drea a brief nod when she refilled his mug.

  “Sometimes he does,” I said. “But he has thirty-seven years of living behind him.”

  “Thirty-seven years of living like a child.”

  I frowned at Zack. “I don’t know how you can make such a judgment. You haven’t seen him for two decades.”

  Zack took a deep breath, as if he was counting to ten. “Look, Marlee, I knew Theo better than anyone else here. He and I were ceramics students, which meant we were often in the pottery studio together. I had more than enough occasion to talk with him. Certainly enough to know he wasn’t a normal teenager. Although the boy did know how to throw a pot.”

  “He knew Sienna well enough, and she wasn’t a potter. How did they become close?”

  Zack snorted, while Joel gave a deep sigh. The two men were getting on my nerves.

  “Theo was infatuated with Sienna,” Dawn explained. “And they had something in common. He was a surprisingly talented potter. Sienna was a gifted painter. They both received a lot of attention from the instructors.”

  “Especially Sienna.” Finished examining her nails, Leah tossed her long blond hair back in a gesture worthy of Natasha. “None of us could hope to compete with her.”

  “Sienna cast such a long shadow,” Zack said, “it was as if she was the only real artist at BAS that summer. Like we all said whenever her name was mentioned, ‘That girl is the—’”

  “‘—bane of our existence,’” they said in unison.

  While they exchanged pained looks, I recalled Theo had used the exact same phrase “the bane of our existence” when he told me how the other students felt about Sienna. Despite their gently mocking tone, the others at the table had been jealous of this girl. Were any of them jealous enough as teenagers to resort to murder?

  “You mentioned how talented Theo was. Did the other students resent him, too?”

  “Most of the students ignored him,” Dawn replied.

  “He did trail after Sienna,” Leah said. “It was a little creepy. We’d call it stalking now.”

  The reference to stalking reminded me how Gordon was rumored to have stalked his ex-wife. “If you were all eighteen and nineteen back then, you would have been housed in the same Bramble section. Gordon Sanderling must have been around the same age.”

  Dawn nodded. “He turned twenty that summer, making him the oldest in our group.”

  The mood lightened a bit, and Zack actually smiled. “Gordon shared a cabin with Christian, Joel, and me. The chaperones turned a blind eye if he came in after curfew. They were bowled over by him, too.”

  “He was gorgeous,” Dawn said with a wistful expression. “So handsome.”

  “No, he was beautiful,” Leah corrected her. “Half the school was in love with him, including some of the boys. And he had a body only seen on a superhero. Oh, the muscles.”

  “Don’t get her started,” Joel warned. “The Gordon hero worship will make me gag.”

  My mouth fell open. Were we talking about the same Gordon Sanderling? “It’s hard to imagine Gordon as a sexy young guy.”

  “I’ll make it easier for you.” Dawn rummaged about in her purse and pulled out a photo. “This was taken toward the end of our summer at BAS.”

  I gazed intently at the seven young people in the photo, all wearing shorts and T-shirts, some stained with paint. I recognized the four sitting at the table with me, even if they were now older. Joel wasn’t as chubby back then, and Leah seemed to be a normal weight. A tall black student stood front and center, his arm wrapped around a petite brunette. I looked closer at the girl, who I was able to identify as Sienna from the newspaper photos. She wore a sunny smile, which made her look even younger than her eighteen years. It gave me a wrench to gaze upon the girl whose bones I had stumbled upon. But the real surprise was Gordon Sanderling. In the photo, he stood on the other side of Sienna, a relaxed and happy expression on his face. It was a remarkably handsome face, too. Movie star handsome. I shook my head. If I hadn’t been told this was Gordon, I would never have recognized him. And it was only partly due to the weight he had put on. In twenty years, life had done more than aged Gordon. It had ravaged him.

  “Gordon has changed.” I handed the photo back to Dawn.

  Leah threw me a defiant look. “I saw him last night. Yes, he’s gained weight, but he’s still an impressive man.”

  “The rest of us haven’t laid eyes on him y
et,” Joel said. “In fact, most of us haven’t seen each other since that summer. Although we did keep in touch for the first couple of years.”

  “We reconnected after the BAS invitations arrived. It took some time trolling social media to find each other,” Leah said. “Except for Christian and Zack.”

  He shrugged. “We speak on the phone once in a while.”

  Dawn’s expression turned rueful. “We’ve been catching up on each other’s lives this morning on campus. It appears we have more in common than our summer at BAS. In the past twenty years, all of us have had marriages that ended in divorce.”

  Joel lifted his cup with a mocking smile. “Three divorces for me. But who’s counting?”

  “I heard Gordon was briefly married when he was in college,” I said. “Did any of you go to his wedding in Duluth? It would have been less than two years after your summer at BAS.”

  “We weren’t invited.” There was an edge to Dawn’s voice. “I adore Gordon, but excluding us was rude and hurtful. He knew I’d moved to Minnesota to go to school.”

  “Strange thing is, most of us were in Minnesota when Gordon had his fancy wedding,” Leah remarked. “My family is from St. Cloud, which is only about a hundred and forty miles from Duluth. I was home that year taking care of my mom, who had cancer. And Dawn was living in Minneapolis.”

  “When we were at BAS,” Dawn said, “Gordon told me the Minneapolis College of Art and Design had a great fiber arts program. I looked into it and realized he was right. I transferred from Penn State that same year. And before you ask, I did not transfer to be near Gordon. I made the move purely for academic reasons.”

  “You were both in Minnesota at that time, too?” I looked over at Zack and Joel.

  “I’m a sound engineer,” Zack said. “I was on a midwestern tour with a band called Clarion. We were booked to play at Peavey Plaza during the annual Sommerfest in Minneapolis. I read about Gordon’s marriage in the paper. The bride’s family was a big deal.”

  Dawn leaned toward me. “He married a congresswoman’s daughter.”