Dead of Spring: An Alexa Williams Novel

by Sherry Knowlton

  Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs but not every man's greed.

  ―Mahatma Gandhi

  That we may do the thing that is truly wise and just.

  ―William Penn

  (Inscribed in mosaic on the inner rotunda of the Pennsylvania State Capitol)

  For my brother, Rock Rothenberger, who has spent most of his adult life living in and protecting the wild places of our nation.

  Chapter One

  Alexa stood alone in the looming silence of the deserted rotunda. Above her head, the crimson-paneled dome soared upward more than two hundred feet. Here, in the heart of this dazzling capitol building, she could almost believe in the grand purpose of government. Alexa tilted her head to gaze up at a panorama of gilded cherubs and luminous mosaics. As she watched, Law, dressed in a red gown, seemed to float from her rondel painting into the dome. Law’s face glistened as if bathed in tears. Feeling lightheaded, Alexa blinked to clear her head.

  “Get a grip,” Alexa muttered aloud as she sank onto a nearby marble bench to shake off the effects of glitter overload. When the brief dizzy spell passed, she twisted her mouth into a wry smile. Reality check time. How many sex trafficking victims waiting for justice would buy into that whole grand purpose thing? The click of heels echoing down the corridor shook Alexa out of her cynical reverie.

  Keisha Washington dashed into the rotunda, her short Afro bouncing with each step. Alexa marveled at the young woman’s speed over the century-old, cobbled brick floor. Those heels had to be three inches high. But, Keisha was a rising star, renowned among the Senate staff for her dress-for-success fashion sense.

  “Sorry I’m late.” Keisha plopped next to Alexa on the concrete bench. “They’re going into a late-night session soon, and I had to go over some information with Senator Gabler.”

  “And I thought lawyers’ hours were crazy. I can’t believe you have to work all these evenings. Is something big going on tonight?” Alexa asked.

  “This will be the umpteenth time the Senate’s brought a State Employee Pension bill to the floor. It’ll be a miracle if it passes. Pension reform and fracking are the two hot items right now. At this point, they seem closer on fracking. Pensions are going nowhere.” Keisha grinned. “I’m so glad we’re going to talk about something else. Thanks for meeting tonight.”

  “No problem. I was in Harrisburg for a deposition. I just got here.”

  “Let’s head up to the office, and we can go over the agenda.” Keisha bounced to her feet.

  “That’s all we have to cover, the agenda for this next commission meeting, right? Can’t we just stay here and run through it?” Alexa eyed the empty rotunda. “We won’t be disturbing anyone.”

  Keisha frowned. “I have to keep an eye on the floor discussion. You know, on the closed circuit television. They’re breaking out of caucus soon.” She glanced down the corridor toward the Senate-side elevators.

  Alexa shrugged off her coat. She was losing patience with this whole commission process. “I’m really beat. By the time we walk up to your office, we could have this knocked out. The sooner we’re done, the sooner I can hit the road. I need to take care of my dog; he’s been alone all day.” She stifled a yawn and used a cajoling tone. “You’ll only miss a few minutes.”

  Keisha took another lingering look down the hall before she sighed and joined Alexa on the bench again. “I’m glad I brought the file along. Here’s the draft agenda.” She shoved a paper at Alexa, a flicker of suppressed anger peeking through her professional façade.

  Alexa ignored the attitude and scanned the document. “This looks like a good framework.” She shivered and draped her coat over her knees as a blast of cold air swept down the grand central staircase. “Damn, it’s chilly in here. How can we avoid the infighting? I don’t want to repeat the last meeting.”

  The young staffer rolled her eyes. “Getting this cast of characters to agree on anything is impossible. Do you have something in mind?”

  “Well, one idea―” Alexa broke off when an explosion of angry voices erupted on one of the upper floors.

  “I will not be a party to . . .” The rest of the man’s raspy protest faded out as several men talked over one another.

  Both women looked up, but the mezzanine above blocked their view of the upper floors.

  The quarrel flared when one man shouted, “You can’t back out now!” His heated words reverberated through the dome.

  Another man interjected in an icy tone, “He who dances must pay the fiddler.” Alexa caught a bit of a drawl in the speaker’s voice. A third male murmured something unintelligible in reply as the voices lowered. Although the squabble continued, Alexa could no longer hear what they were saying.

  Keisha shifted in her seat. Then she remarked in an apologetic tone, “Typical legislative bickering.”

  “The governmental process at work.” Alexa’s reply was sardonic. These guys sounded more like her old boyfriend’s rugby team in the scrum than elected officials. She could tell Keisha was embarrassed that Alexa, an outsider, had overheard the senators’ rowdy disagreement. But, the staffer was in no way responsible. Alexa glanced down at the agenda in her hand, trying to remember where she had broken off the discussion.

  When a sudden silence fell, Alexa and Keisha exchanged an amused look. “Guess you were right about pension reform. Those guys sure aren’t on the same page,” Alexa observed, raising an eyebrow.

  Keisha stifled a laugh. “Glad I’m not responsible for staffing that legislation. Even leadership doesn’t agree on whether this current bill is the right way to reform the system. What a nightmare.”

  Alexa opened her notepad and leafed through a bundle of papers tucked in the inner flap. “Here.” She pulled out two pages bound by a red paperclip and handed one of the papers to Keisha. “I typed up some ideas for how to keep us on track . . .”

  A subtle shift in light caught Alexa’s attention. Her eyes rose from the notebook as she sensed a whisper of motion in the open space above. She gasped as a body sailed through the air, careening toward the grand central staircase. For a moment, time stalled and the body appeared to drift in slow motion as it floated through the bright rotunda. But, as it neared their bench, the body seemed to pick up speed. Alexa watched, frozen in place with hand to her mouth in horror, as it hurtled closer and closer.

  Then, with a tremendous crash, the body smashed into one of the tall winged statues that flanked the foot of the stairway, shattering a beaded crystal orb the angel held aloft. A spray of blood and glass beads spiraled in a shiny pink mist from the falling man as he bounced off the statue. Losing forward momentum, the body made an abrupt drop and slammed into the clay cobblestone floor.

  Keisha’s shrieks muted the leaden thud of body hitting bricks. Recovering from her initial shock, Alexa leapt to her feet, scattering her coat, notebook, and papers to the floor. Slipping on crystal beads and uneven bricks, she rushed toward the motionless form that had landed less than ten feet away.

  Alexa knew immediately he was dead. The corpulent, silver-haired man lay face up in a pool of blood. With fatal irony, his flight had brought the man to rest midway between a bat and a dragonfly, two of the famed Moravian mosaics inset into the rotunda floor. His body clung to the tiles like a gray flannel octopus. Its red tentacles appeared to sway as rivulets of blood streamed into channels between the bricks. The back of his crushed head seemed to sink into the cobblestones. Both arms splayed on the floor; one leg twisted at an unnatural angle. Alexa shuddered at the glimpse of bone sticking through his pant leg.

  Just as Alexa leaned over the man, two capitol policemen raced around the corner from their post at the
main entrance. One jostled her aside and barked, “Move away. Sit down over there. We’ve got this.”

  Alexa reeled back to the bench where Keisha stood, tears streaming down her face. Alexa collapsed onto the seat and tugged the young woman down beside her. “They want us to stay here. Are you OK?” Before Keisha could answer, Alexa’s stomach lurched and began to whirl. She leaned forward, elbows on knees, and propped her head in her hands. The vision of the man’s crumpled form blurred into the memory of another body. Elizabeth Nelson also had been lying on her back, legs askew, when Alexa had found her lying in the woods.

  When her nausea abated, Alexa sat up and turned to Keisha. The staffer sat silent and stone-faced as she watched the whirlwind of activity. A paramedic leaned over the body. A contingent of capitol police bustled around, cordoning off the staircase and most of the rotunda with yellow tape. The piercing blare of a siren somewhere outside the capitol rose and fell in steady waves. Alexa suspected the cops had propped the front doors open. She could feel an icy breeze wrap its tendrils around her ankles. The noise level rose to a frenzy as more policemen thronged the scene. Everyone was shouting to be heard over the din.

  Where was the respect for this man whose life had just ebbed away into the historic mosaics? Alexa wanted to scream at everyone to stop talking. Instead, she turned to her still-motionless companion.

  “I can’t believe this. What a horrible way to die. Keisha, let’s try to move away from here.” Concerned at the lack of response, Alexa’s voice rose. “Keisha? Keisha?”

  An officer with an air of authority strode into the midst of the officials surrounding the body, slinging commands. “Put some guys at the front door and the back entrances. Keep the press out. Briggs, CID is on the way. Can you meet them? I have to go upstairs and inform the clerk that the Senate is now out of session. We’ll need to organize a detail to interview everyone in the building.”

  As the officer turned, he noticed Alexa and Keisha sitting on the bench. “Christ almighty. Get these two women out of here. Move them to a secure room. Are they witnesses?”

  A burly uniformed policeman approached. “Ladies, please come with me.” Solicitous, the policeman asked, “Are you OK?”

  When the cop grasped Keisha’s elbow to help her up, she jerked her arm away and glared at him before rising. Alexa knelt on the floor to gather up her belongings. The man made no move to assist but allowed Alexa to remove the notebook and papers from the scene.

  “Follow me, please.” The cop headed toward the House side of the capitol, Alexa and Keisha trailing behind. Unlocking the door of a big hearing room, he switched on the lights and held the door wide. “I want you to stay in this room. Someone will be coming to question you in a few minutes. I’m also going out in the hall to radio the paramedics. They should check you both out. Do you need anything?”

  “No thanks,” Alexa refused as they entered the empty room. Keisha didn’t reply. When they were alone, Alexa looked at the distraught young staffer. “My God, what a terrible experience.”

  “I’ll see that body fall through the air every time I close my eyes.” Keisha choked back a sob and retreated back into silence.

  With little success, Alexa struggled to block the slow-motion video of the moment the man hit the floor from looping through her mind. She sighed in relief when a petite paramedic walked through the door. “Hi. I’m an EMT, Lillian Ortiz. I want to make sure you’re both OK. I understand you’ve just been through a pretty traumatic event.” She turned to Keisha and said, “Honey, let’s take a look at you first.”

  Alexa wandered to the far side of the big hearing room and collapsed into a chair along the wall.

  How does this keep happening to me? she silently lamented. This is even worse than finding the bodies of Elizabeth Nelson and then Cecily Townes. At least they were already dead. This guy died right in front of me, literally at my feet.

  Tears brimmed in her eyes. As Alexa brought her hand to her face to brush them away, she noticed spots on her hand. Blood. The falling man’s blood.

  Trembling, she grabbed a Kleenex from her purse and rushed to the water cooler. She used the dampened tissue to rub at the spots peppering both hands and the lower sleeves of her gray suit. With a shudder, she wiped her face with a second tissue. Taking deep breaths to hold back tears, Alexa returned to her chair. When the paramedic approached, Alexa, still fretting, asked, “Is there blood on my face?”

  “What?”

  “I just cleaned spots of blood from my hands and arms. I can’t see if there’s any more on my face.”

  The paramedic leaned close. “No, your face is fine.”

  Despite her protests, the woman insisted on taking Alexa’s blood pressure and pulse. “Elevated, slightly. But, you’ll survive.” Ortiz nodded toward Keisha. “You know her, right? Does she have someone who can come and pick her up? She’s barely said a word. She’s pretty broken up.”

  “Watching someone take a dive into a solid brick floor can do that to you. Do you know the guy’s name, the one who fell?”

  “Nope. And if I did, I couldn’t tell you anyway. That’s police business.” The paramedic gave Alexa an appraising look. “You seem like a pretty tough cookie, but you might want to call someone too. There can be a delayed reaction to an experience like this. I don’t want you to come down with the shakes on the road and wipe out some little old lady driving home from her bridge game.”

  Alexa managed a wan smile. “You’re a pretty tough cookie yourself.” She fished her cell phone from her jacket pocket. “I’ll call my boyfriend. He’s a state cop.”

  “I’ll let the police know they can interview you now.” As Ortiz left the room, she patted Keisha on the shoulder. “Hang in there, honey. Your friend is going to call someone to come pick you up as soon as the police finish their questions.”

  Alexa walked back across the room and sat next to Keisha. “Who can I call to drive you home?”

  “I know him.” The young woman spoke in a low tone but continued to look at the floor.

  Alexa didn’t follow at first. Then, she understood. “The man who fell? You know who he is? I mean was.”

  “Senator Martinelli, Carmine Martinelli. His office is right across the hall from ours. He chairs the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.”

  “Did you know him well?” Alexa kept her voice neutral. She didn’t want to send Keisha back into another extended silence.

  “He was a pretty good guy. I dealt with him quite a bit because my boss is a member of that committee. Senator Martinelli has been in the Senate forever. People always joked he wouldn’t quit until they carried him out of here. I guess the prophecy has come true.” She dabbed at her eyes and looked back down at the floor.

  When her head bobbed up a moment later, Keisha’s tone took on a jarring hint of excitement. Her stricken expression hardened into something much more intense. “I just realized. With Senator Martinelli dead, that will leave the chairmanship of Environmental Resources and Energy open. Senator Gabler is next in line, but he’d have to step away from Law and Justice. I bet he’ll make that leap in an instant.” The flicker of a smile crossed Keisha’s face. “I wonder if that would leave an opening for me to become executive director?”

  As she listened, appalled, Alexa wondered if the woman realized she spoke aloud. She knew the staffer had reached her current position at a very young age through drive and determination. To witness Keisha calculating how the senator’s death could benefit her career, with the body still warm, revealed a ruthless depth to that determination.

  Keisha stopped abruptly, then said, “Senator Martinelli had to be in his seventies, but he seemed to be in good health. Why would that old white man jump off a balcony?”

  Alexa pictured the shattered body lying on the rotunda floor. “A better question might be: How could a man that old and overweight even get over the railing?”

  Chapter Two

  Scout stood just inside the cabin door, tail wagging. When Al
exa entered, he drew back his lips and bared his teeth in a huge smile. “Buddy, I’m glad to see you too.” Alexa scratched the English mastiff’s ears then stood aside as John Taylor opened the door wide to let the dog run past them.

  John tossed his coat on a chair. “It’s cold in here. Let me get some wood in the stove. I guess early March is still more winter than spring.”

  Emotionally exhausted, Alexa toddled to the big couch and collapsed. “Thanks for coming to my rescue and getting Cannon to drive my car back to Carlisle. If I’d left it on the street overnight, the Harrisburg parking tyrants would probably have towed it.”

  “He didn’t mind. Lucky for us, the Flyers weren’t playing tonight.”

  John walked to the couch and extended his hand. The state trooper towered over Alexa, but his voice was gentle. “Get up and get out of that coat. You’d feel better if you change.”

  “You’re right. I need to shower and wash my hair.” Alexa still felt those drops of blood burning like acid into the backs of her hands. Rising to her feet, Alexa nestled into her boyfriend’s waiting arms and sighed into his chest.

  “I know this has been tough. You didn’t say much on the ride home, but I want the whole story.” John smoothed Alexa’s tumble of curls before he ended the embrace with a kiss to her forehead. “How about I cook some eggs?”

  Alexa grimaced. “I’m not hungry.”

  “Go upstairs and change. The eggs will be ready when you get back.”

  Scout greeted Alexa at the foot of the stairs and followed her into the kitchen. She had scrubbed every inch of her body with a loofah and washed her hair before changing into sweats.

  John stood at the stove. An egg carton, shells, and an assortment of bowls and utensils sprawled across the adjoining counter. The sharp smell of raw onions permeated the kitchen.

  “Do you need me to make toast or anything?” Alexa scooped up the broken eggshells and tipped them into the trash.

  “Nope. I’ve got this operation under control.”