A Flicker of Doubt (Book 4 in the Candlemaking Mysteries)

by Tim Myers

  I smiled. “There are worse things I could do, aren’t there?”

  “The next time, though, you might want to keep voice down when you’re offering unadvertised sales.”

  “Yeah, that’s something I’ll keep in mind.’

  The rest of the day was fairly quiet, though we managed to make several more sales. As dusk approached, the shop was closed, the books balanced, and I was on my way to the bank so I could get the deposit in.

  As I drove through Micah’s Ridge, I saw a man coming out of a building on King Street I didn’t need a second look to know that it was one of the men Markum and I had seen coming out of Becka’s apartment the day we broke in.

  Chapter 15

  I pulled the truck over into a parking spot and waited for him to catch up with me on foot. It was one of the few times in my life that I wished I had a cell phone. Who would I call, though? Sheriff Morton probably wouldn’t believe me. I knew I could trust Markum, and though we’d had some disagreements lately, I still wanted him at my back. It would have felt good having anybody in the cab of the truck with me at the moment, including my feline friend Esmeralda.

  I slumped down in the driver’s seat as the man approached and found myself praying he wouldn’t look my way. He didn’t pay the Ford the slightest attention as he walked past. The man was intent on something, unaware of the world around him.

  I waited until he was a block past me, then I slipped out of my truck and started following him on foot. I’ locked the deposit up in the glove box, so at least wouldn’t be a repeat of what had happened to me before. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing another deposit because of my own carelessness. There were several groups of strollers out walking the streets of Micah’s Ridge, though all the stores but Hannalee’s Icy Treats were closed. Hannalee made the ice creams she sold herself, using the highest butterfat she could from a dairy herd just out of town. It was good enough so that folks came from Hickory, Lenoir, Elkton Falls, Harper’s Landing, Bethlehem and Boone for a taste of one of her special blends.

  I thought the stranger was going to duck into Hannalee’s for a second, but he passed it by. I followed him, being careful not to be spotted, though it didn’t appear the man would notice me if I were on fire. He turned down a side street, and I hurried after him so I wouldn’t lose him.

  As I turned the corner, I felt myself being flung back against the side of the brick building. The man I’d been following had me pinned against the wall with a broken piece of wood he must have found nearby. The board was jammed into my chest, making it hard to breathe and nearly impossible to move. It appeared that I hadn’t been nearly as slick as I thought I had following him.

  He said in a low voice, “Okay, what do you want?”

  “What are you talking about?” I sputtered;

  “You’ve been tailing me for three blocks. What do you think, I’m blind? I asked you a question.”

  He pressed harder on my chest, and I felt my lungs constrict from the pressure of the wood.

  “You know what I want,” I said. “What happened to Becka Lane?”

  That got his attention, but not in a good way. He was really applying the pressure now. “What about her? Who are you?”

  “What did you do to her?”

  He looked at me a second, then said, “Buddy, you’ve got the wrong guy. I never laid a hand on her.”

  “You’re lying. I saw you coming out of her apartment I wasn’t alone, either.”

  He shook his head. “I was doing a favor for a friend. I don’t guess it’s going to do any good telling you I didn’t touch her.”

  “No good at all,” I said. “Who’s the friend you’re doing a favor for?”

  “That, you’ll never know. Listen, this is going to hurt a little, but it shouldn’t kill you.”

  He eased the pressure on my chest when he removed the board, but I didn’t like the way he was shifting it in his grip. It looked like he had every intention of clobbering me.

  I was painfully aware that I was on my own, but there was no reason to let him know that I looked back toward the main road and shouted, “Come on out He’s not going to tell me.”

  He looked around to see who I was talking to. I did the only thing I could think of to save myself. I stomped on his foot the second he shifted his attention from me. To my surprise, it actually worked. He dropped his weapon and crouched down in pain. I started to run, then I realized I still hadn’t gotten the information I was after. I picked up the wood, took the jagged edge and shoved it into his neck. The way he knelt down, he had no choice but to take it. A few dots of blood welled up, and he said, ‘‘Cut that out.”

  “Tell me who you were doing a favor for;” I said.

  “Get that wood off my neck or I’m not telling you a thing.”

  I pushed it harder against him, and he grunted in pain. The only thing sustaining me was remembering how it had felt hitting Becka’s body with my kayak. “If you don’t talk, I’ll use more than the end of this board on you.”

  Maybe there was something in my voice, or maybe he didn’t owe that many favors, because he said, “Okay, I’ll tell you. It’s not that big a deal.”

  “I’m waiting,” I said.

  “Hank Klein had us check out this chick’s apartment. We didn’t even know who she was.”

  “You’re talking about the newspaper publisher? Why should I believe you?”

  “He was dating her. We went there to look for a letter the fool had written, but we couldn’t find it Somebody called the cops on us.”

  “Why would you do a favor for Klein?”

  The man grunted. “We both owed him one. Now you want to let up on that thing? My neck’s killing me.”

  “How do I know you won’t come after me if I let you go.”

  “You’ll still have the board, won’t you? Listen, I’ve been pretty reasonable about this up to now, but if this doesn’t end right now, it’s going to be personal. Do you get me?”

  I took the pressure off him and said, “Go ahead. Get up.”

  He did, eyeing me as he rubbed his neck. “Man, you’ve got a mean streak I wasn’t counting on, and I’m usually pretty good at judging people.”

  “Like you said, it’s different when it’s personal. Don’t try to find me, you understand?”

  He laughed. “You’ve been watching too much television. I figure we’re square, at least for now.”

  I watched him walk away, thought about following him to see who he was going to meet, then I realized he’d probably lose me before I got half a block.

  I was still carrying the wood in my hand when I came back onto the main street, so I dropped it against the edge of the building and walked back to my truck. Thankfully none of the windows were shattered, and the money was right where I’d left it, locked safely in the glove box.

  I drove to the bank, dropped off my deposit, then decided to pay a visit to the newspaper publisher. Maybe if I caught him off guard while he was at home, I might be able to get something out of him.

  I looked up the address in the telephone book, found Klein’s place and drove there. After two sessions with the doorbell of the Colonial, Wanda Klein answered. She’d accused me of murder once, something that naturally still left a bad taste in my mouth.

  “What do you want?’ she snarled at me. ‘

  “I need to see your husband.”

  “He doesn’t have time for the likes of you,” she said. “Go home.”

  From the other room, I heard the publisher’s voice. “Wanda? Who is it? The phone’s for you.”

  She was clearly torn between chastising me more and seeing who was calling her. She made her decision, slamming the door in my face without another word. I waited ten seconds, then I rang the bell again. I was nothing if not persistent

  Hank Klein came out “Go away,” he said.

  “I’m not done talking to your wife. I’m sure she’d love to know about your girlfriend.”

  He shot a glance back inside, then ste
pped out on the porch and pulled the door shut behind him. “Keep your voice down, you moron.”

  “I don’t have anything to hide,” I said. “Don’t tell me your wife doesn’t know you were dating Becka.”

  “Who fed you that nonsense? We weren’t dating.”

  “That’s a lie. You were seen out on a date with Becka right before she died. It was a public place, Klein.”

  “The pizza joint?” he asked. “You’ve got to be kidding me. She didn’t like an editorial I wrote, and if you knew anything at all about the woman, Becka wasn’t shy about sharing her opinions with the world.”

  He had a point; she never ducked confrontation, but I wasn’t ready to give in that easily. “Maybe that’s true, but I’ve got another witness, one of your own associates.”

  “What, somebody at the paper told you I was dating Becka Lane? That’s a load of crap, I’ve never cheated on my wife in my life. I don’t dare take the chance.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but the newspaper belongs to her father. I’m the editor by her capricious whim. Newspapering is the only thing I know. Do you think I’m foolish enough to risk losing it? Who is this associate you’re talking about? I’m firing whoever it was first thing in the morning.”

  “I don’t know his name, but he said you asked him to break into Becka’s apartment right after she was murdered.”

  He shook his head. “Harrison, I don’t know why you should believe me, but he lied to you.”

  Could he be telling me the truth? I considered myself a pretty good judge of character. If Klein was lying to me, he was doing it pretty convincingly.

  “So what are you going to do,” he said, “ruin my marriage and my career based on what some thug told you?”

  “No, I don’t work that way,” I said. “But let me warn you, if you had anything to do with Becka’s death, I’ll make sure you’re punished for it”

  Klein rubbed his chin. “Morton told me it was a suicide. What makes you think he was wrong?”

  “Becka hated pills,” I said. “She didn’t exactly keep it a secret, either.”

  “So let me get this straight. You think I was her boyfriend, and that I killed her to cover up our affair. Harrison, think about it. If we were dating, wouldn’t I know she hated pills? I would have come up with some other way of getting rid of her if I’d known that If she didn’t kill herself, you need to think about who wanted her dead and didn’t know her that well Whoever her boyfriend was, I’d think he’d be off the hook.”

  The front door swung open abruptly, and Wanda snapped, “What are you still doing here? Hank, come inside this instant”

  I thought about saying something about my suspicions, but Klein was right. Unless I had more proof, I couldn’t just break up the man’s marriage. Besides, he’d raised enough doubt in my mind to make me reconsider my stance. Was he telling the truth, or was he just so used to lying convincingly that I couldn’t tell the difference?

  “Good night,” I said, but there was no other response than a repeat of the door slamming in my face.

  So who had been lying to me? I wondered as I drove back to River’s Edge. Had a thug I was pressuring lied, or had the newspaper editor? On the face of it, Klein was respected in the community, but he wouldn’t be the first man in power who lied to save his station in life. One thing Klein had been right about: I needed more proof before I brought the walls of his life tumbling down on him.

  When I got back to River’s Edge, it was dark. I saw a figure sitting at one of the tables in front of Millie’s caf6 as I approached, and I started wishing I’d kept the board I’d used when I realized it was Markum. As the security lights came on, I zipped my jacket and said, “What are you doing out here? It’s starting to get cold.”

  “I’m trying to get used to the temperature for my next job” he said.

  “Where are you going, Siberia?” I asked as I sat beside him.

  “It’s close, but I’m not giving out any more information than that. So, what have you been up to tonight? Stumble over any more clues?”

  “I’m not sure.” After I brought him up-to-date on both of my confrontations, he said, “Harrison, if you’re not careful, you’re going to get shot one of these days.”

  “I know I shouldn’t have followed him down that dark side street hut I needed to know what he was doing at Becka’s.”

  “Yeah, that was dangerous, too, but I was talking about confronting Wanda Klein. I’ve heard stories around town about that woman that would curl your toes. Hey, I almost forgot about the run-in you had with her before.”

  “Don’t remind me. I’ve been trying to come up with the answer since I left Klein’s house, but I haven’t had any luck. So what do you think? Which man was lying to me tonight?”

  “Who had the most to lose?” he asked softly.

  “That depends. If the thug thought I might actually club him, he could have. Then again, there’s a strong reason to believe that Klein had a good reason to lie.”

  “Maybe both of them were, then,” he said.

  “What do you mean? Somebody besides Klein paid those goons to break into Becka’s house, but he really was having an affair with her after all?”

  “It makes sense, if somebody was trying to get the dirt on the editor. I know he’s got a ton of enemies in this town, and it wouldn’t surprise me if his own wife paid someone to go after him.”

  “Great, now I’m more confused than ever,” I said.

  We sat there in silence a few more minutes, each of us mulling over what I’d discovered, when suddenly there was a voice from the shadows behind us.

  Pearly Gray stepped toward us and said, “If I’d known we were having a meeting tonight, I would have worn my warmest coat”

  “You’re welcome to join us anyway,” I said as I pushed one of the chairs toward him with my foot

  “Are you certain I’m not interrupting anything?” he asked.

  Markum was quick with his reply. “No, we’re just trying to solve the world’s problems.”

  Pearly sat with us. “Wonderful, I just happen to have a solution to most of the planet’s woes. The first step would be to emulate the advice of the Bard of Avon.”

  I grinned. “So what’s the second thing we do after we shoot all the lawyers?”

  He smiled at me. “Very good, Harrison. Let’s see, what should we do after that indeed? After the celebrations are over, at any rate.”

  Markum said, “We can go after the politicians next, unless anybody has any objections.”

  When no one spoke, I filled the void. “Motion carried, passed by acclimation. Anybody want to get rid of another group with our third edict?”

  Pearly said, “We’ve turned rather bloodthirsty, haven’t we? I should think we’ve eliminated enough of the undesirables to begin shaping our new world.”

  “Come on, I’m just getting warmed up,” Markum said. “We can do better than that. There are a lot more groups on my list”

  Pearly thought about it a moment then said, “While I’m a peaceable man by nature, perhaps I spoke prematurely.”

  “That’s the spirit” Markum said. “Now who else is going to make our list?”

  “How much time do you have?” I asked.

  “It sounds as though we’re all in the perfect mood for a discussion like this,” Pearly said. . By the time we decided to call it a night an hour later, we’d gone through every group, organization and cluster of people who had ever irritated or annoyed us. It would certainly be a quieter world if we were making real decisions, and a much gentler one, too, at least after the initial purge.

  After Markum and Pearly left, I went upstairs and found myself out of sorts, pacing around the small apartment wondering what my next step should be. I’d managed to alienate quite a few folks over the course of the day without coming that much closer to the truth. I didn’t know how the police ever solved a crime, especially given peoples tendencies to l
ie, skew the truth and spin its rationale to always put themselves in the best light possible.

  At the rate I was going, all of Micah’s Ridge would wash their hands of me before I found out what had really happened to Becka Lane. I didn’t care if I left a wake of hurt feelings and crumpled relationships behind me in my questioning. What mattered most was finding the truth, and if parts of my life suffered for it, so be it. It was the least I owed to Becka. For now, all I could do was sleep, so I could start fresh in the morning.

  Chapter 16

  I’d just opened the candleshop the next morning when an older woman with silver hair and an upright posture came into At Wick’s End.

  “Hello. May I help you find anything?” I asked. I’m looking for Mr. Harrison Black. I understand he’s the proprietor here.”

  “I’m Harrison,” I said. “What can I do for you?” She extended a gloved hand. “I’m Ruth Nash. We spoke on the telephone.”

  “Mrs. Nash, it’s good to meet you. I’d offer you a cup of coffee, but we don’t have any here at the shop. We can get some at Millie’s, though. It’s just twenty feet away.”

  “Mr. Black, I appreciate the offer, but I’m not here on a social call. I must say, I’m quite alarmed about my brother. I came by to collect you as a courtesy only. Would you care to join me?”

  “Absolutely. I’m upset, too. Please, call me Harrison.” I figured, what could it hurt to ask her again?

  She looked at me with obvious distaste, though I couldn’t imagine why. I had on a clean pair of jeans and a new polo shirt.

  “If I must,” she said. “Now are you coming, or shall I go alone?”

  Eve walked in at that moment, ten minutes late. “Harrison, I’m sorry, my car wouldn’t start.”

  “No problem. I need you to watch the store.”

  She looked at Ruth Nash, then said, “Certainly, it’s not a problem.”

  “Would you like me to drive, or should I ride with you? I should warn you, I’ve just got two pickup trucks.”