Foul Play at the Fair

by Shelley Freydont

  Liv cast a sideways glance at Chaz.

  “It was thirty years ago.”

  “Still, it wouldn’t look good for Joss if—”

  “Not gonna happen. Those are the ramblings of some guy decades ago. Hearsay, even then. And unsubstantiated.”

  “Except everyone knows that Joss sent Pete away after that. He could have been pretty mad if he suddenly showed up and was back to his old tricks.”

  Silence from Chaz.

  The next article. “Dinghy Found at South End of Lake.”

  “Oh God,” Liv exclaimed as she read through the details of finding the boat. “That poor kid.”

  “Yeah. So now are you satisfied?”

  “I think that is a poor choice of words. I understand better what happened.”

  She read through the last two articles and slipped them all into the folder.

  “Thanks for showing these to me.”

  Chaz shrugged. For someone with such a glib tongue, he was being stubbornly quiet.

  “Do you know more that you’re not sharing?”

  “Not me.”

  “Where are the boxes from these years?”

  “Aw hell, Liv. They’re in the hall closet. Yeah, I got them out. It’s like an addiction, okay? I took one little peek inside, and that thing was sitting on top.” He lifted his chin toward the accordion file. “The rest is history.”

  He sighed, and she heard him mumble under his breath, “And history repeats itself.”

  Was he talking about Pete or something more personal? Liv just didn’t get him, and she was usually pretty good at reading people.

  “It didn’t say anything about Pete’s blackmailing propensities. Of course, it wouldn’t. Blackmail is paid to prevent public knowledge.”

  “Pete was blackmailing, too? He couldn’t have been more than eighteen or nineteen then.”

  “Well, he was, and as you said, history repeats itself.”

  For the first time that evening, Chaz looked interested. “Since he came back?”

  Liv nodded.

  “Want to share?”

  “I promised not to, but everyone seems to know anyway.” She told him about Dolly and about catching Janine in the Zoldoskys’ trailer.

  “That it?”

  “That’s as far as I’ve gotten. No one has come forward saying, ‘Guess what—Pete’s blackmailing me.’”

  “But if he was and Joss found out about it…”

  “But Joss didn’t know he was back,” Liv reminded him.

  “So he said. Now can we eat?”

  The restaurant in the inn was closed, but they were serving in the bar. A smiling hostess led them to a booth at the back where they were met by a smiling waitress. It seemed that Chaz was a favorite of all the staff.

  “So Janine’s brother was one of the gang,” Chaz said, digging into a rare T-bone steak.

  “That’s what she said.”

  “So we know two of the culprits. I wonder who the other two were?”

  “We could ask Joe Tudor,” Liv suggested.

  “He lives in Detroit or someplace.”

  “I think you should call him.”

  “He might not be too anxious to recall those days, especially if Pete’s accusations are true. And if he thinks he might be incriminated, he might tip off the other two. One of whom might just be Pete’s murderer. Forewarned. Besides, they’re probably long gone.”

  Liv sighed. “Okay, scratch that idea. I just hope the murderer isn’t someone we know and like.”

  “Tough. You get what you get. And once you start, you can’t turn back. I learned that the hard way.” Chaz signaled the waitress, who hurried over and flashed him another toothy smile. “I’ll have another beer. Liv?”

  Her wineglass was still half full. “No, thanks.” She played with a julienned zucchini strip. “So we have the Dolly, Fred, Bill, and Pete situation. Janine and Pete. Joss and Pete.”

  “And it looks like you’ve questioned them all.”

  “Not Joss, and I wouldn’t have to if somebody else in this town would lift a finger.”

  “Don’t look at me.”

  “I gave up on that days ago.” She was disappointed that he wouldn’t help, but she was no longer angry. There was more to Chaz’s reasons for leaving journalism than met the eye.

  “I wonder if the police talked to Andy.”

  “Liv, leave it. If they don’t catch someone soon, it will become a cold case and quietly fade away.”

  “But that would mean the killer would go free.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “But there would be no closure. No one would feel safe.”

  “Oh, give it a rest, Liv. Any one of us is capable of murder. Even so, just because it happened once doesn’t mean it will happen again.”

  She stared at him, incredulous. “You don’t care if he’s caught.”

  “Not really.”

  “But—”

  “Let me give you some advice. This was not a random psychopathic act. Pete was targeted. I think it’s over.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “I can’t.” He finished his beer. “Don’t listen to me. Are you finished? Then let’s go.”

  Chaz insisted on paying for dinner, but Liv thought it was more about impressing the waitresses than it was about treating Liv. They certainly were appreciative, though Chaz didn’t seem to notice. Liv just couldn’t get a handle on the man. Infuriating and intelligent, though he spent most of the time acting like a rube.

  They walked out into the night. Only a few of the inn’s lights shone in the dark, but the moon was full and it cast a shimmer of iridescence over the lake. It would have been romantic, and she was certainly beginning to like Chaz a little better, but the solitary pier at the far side of the parking lot put a damper on any romantic inclinations.

  Without speaking, they walked toward the pier and looked out at the lake. Trying to see into the past and wondering if that was the reason Pete had finally met a violent end. A boy running for his life, bleeding and hurt. Did he make it to the boat? Or was he caught and beaten, left to drown? Or did they throw him into the boat and push it away from shore? Had he fallen overboard? Were his remains out there still?

  Liv shuddered. Chaz’s arm went around her shoulder, then dropped again.

  He took a step out onto the old wood plank and she followed him.

  He didn’t stop until they reached the end of the pier. “It was October. A night like this, maybe. A good night for finding wrigglers.”

  His voice sounded hollow in the eerie stillness. Then he barked out a bitter laugh. “How many lives were destroyed or altered, how many people suffered because of one nasty, amoral boy. It’s always the sad, pitiful, weak ones who get the shaft, who do the suffering. And there’s not a damned thing any of us can do about it.”

  Liv stared at him, stunned. “Is that why you quit reporting? The futility of it all?”

  “It’s why I fish. We’d better get back.”

  He walked her home and by tacit agreement they didn’t discuss the murder or Chaz’s former profession. He didn’t linger but waited for Whiskey to make his round of the garden and for Liv to go inside and lock her door. She watched through a slit in the curtains as he walked away.

  “Strange man, buddy. What do you think? Shall we give him the benefit of the doubt? Maybe he’s not such a deadbeat, after all.”

  Whiskey barked.

  “I know. It’s hard to tell. But one thing I do know. It’s time someone talked to Andy Miller. And I think that someone would be me.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Liv wrapped her scarf more closely around her neck as she hurried toward work the next morning. The rain had stopped, the sun was shining, but the temperature had dropped a good ten degrees. The nip of winter was in the air; frost coated the ground. Ted had said winter was coming, Liv had hoped it would wait until next month. Would people be inclined to go on hayrides in forty-degree weather? She shivered just thinking about it
.

  What if the pumpkins froze?

  No one else seemed concerned, she noticed, as she walked across the green toward the bakery and the Buttercup. When she’d left work on Friday, they were eking out the last few days of the harvest festival. This morning the town was transformed.

  Hay bales that for the last month had been used as benches for the weary were now populated by scarecrows and skeletons. Store windows no longer displayed the golds, browns, and oranges of fall leaves, but the bright orange and black of Halloween.

  The Apple of My Eye Bakery was festooned with orange and black crepe paper. Liv stopped outside. It would be the first time she’d seen Dolly alone since their talk and Dolly’s confession about Pete’s blackmail attempt. She wasn’t sure of the reception that she’d get, but the sooner it was over, the sooner they could get back to normal.

  Just inside the door a pyramid of pumpkins was topped by a plate of samples of pumpkin bread. Wonderful smells wafted in from the kitchen. Dolly came through the doorway carrying a heavy tray of sliced brown bread. She hesitated when she saw Liv, but only for a second.

  “Morning, Dolly,” Liv said hopefully.

  “Morning.” Dolly pushed the tray onto the top of the counter and looked around. “I was hoping you’d come in today.” She motioned Liv closer. “I thought about what you said and told Fred…everything.” Her mouth worked.

  Oh no, thought Liv. I’ve broken up their marriage. “Dolly, Fred—”

  “Has known all this time. He and Bill fought it out years ago.”

  “It wasn’t fair for him to keep you in the dark, but—”

  “He didn’t tell me because he didn’t want me to feel bad. Wasn’t that just the sweetest thing you ever heard of?”

  Letting Dolly feel guilty all these years?

  “It just cleared the air and we had the best weekend.”

  TMI, thought Liv, and she hastily said, “That’s wonderful, Dolly. I’m so glad.”

  “Thank you, Liv. I just feel like I have a new lease on life.”

  “Great.”

  “Now, what will you have this morning? I’ve been making orange frosting all morning. It’s good but not for breakfast, unless you’re in kindergarten. Now, let’s see.…” Dolly chatted on while Liv got her equilibrium back.

  All’s well that ends well might be good for Fred and Dolly, but there was still a murderer at large, and even though Liv had stopped worrying about him striking again, she still wanted him caught. She sighed. Even if it was someone she liked.

  “Is something wrong, Liv?”

  “What? Oh no. I just was trying to decide between the brown bread and the caramel pecan rolls.”

  “I’ll give you two of both. On the house. A little thank-you.”

  Liv smiled, thanked Dolly, took her bread, and walked next door.

  There was a short line at BeBe’s. Liv looked around while she waited her turn, wondering what decorations BeBe had come up with. She laughed when she saw a grim reaper sitting at one of the little tables, his scythe balanced against the wall and a cup and saucer in front of him.

  The customers left, and Liv stepped up to the counter and read the blackboard specials: Kandy Apple Kona and Devil-Mint Chai. She made a face.

  “You’re such a snob,” BeBe said, reaching for the milk jug.

  “A purist,” Liv amended.

  “No, a purist drinks their coffee black. You’re a snob.” She poured Liv’s latte and handed it to her, leaning forward as she did. “Did you notice anything different about Dolly this morning?”

  Liv shrugged.

  “I think she…um…had a nice weekend.”

  Liv bobbled her cup. “BeBe,” she said, not able to suppress a laugh.

  “I think they’re so cute.”

  “They are that.”

  “Well, fifty is the new thirty.” BeBe slid Ted’s tea in a cardboard carrier across the counter.

  “I thought sixty was the new forty.”

  “Both. Good luck with the board meeting this morning.”

  “Right,” said Liv. “I’d better get going.” Balancing bags, drinks, and briefcase, she hurried past the bookstore where cutouts of black cats and witches grinned from the window, while mobiles of Day-Glo skeletons danced above their heads. The windows of A Stitch in Time were swagged in black and orange fabric.

  Everyone was going about their business getting ready for Halloween, just like their future wasn’t hanging in the balance of the town council vote. Liv was determined not to let them down. Now, if she could just trust Rufus, Roscoe, and Jeremiah to keep their word and vote for continuing the festivals instead of being cowed by Janine, the town would get its celebration.

  Liv jogged up the steps of the town hall and lucked out as Andy Miller came out the front door. He held it open for her to go through.

  “Thanks, Andy.”

  Andy nodded and hurried down the steps.

  Now, what kind of business did he have here this morning?

  “I just saw Andy Miller leave the building,” Liv said as she set the drinks tray down on Ted’s desk.

  “Did you?”

  “Yes. The question is, did you?”

  “Just some festival business.”

  “Anything I should know?”

  “Nothing important. It’s taken care of.”

  Liv gave him a look and went into her office. More secrets, she thought as she opened her briefcase and took out the folder holding her security firm background checks and fee charts.

  “Dolly must think we’re starving,” Ted said, bringing the tea tray into the room.

  “She was feeling generous.”

  “Yep, the cat’s out of the bag and all is right with the world.”

  “How do you know these things?”

  “An ear to the ground, my dear.”

  “So what did you hear from Bill? And don’t say it’s privileged information.”

  “Well, it is, and we’re not supposed to know. Bill isn’t even supposed to know. But that’s how things work here.”

  “So?”

  “Bill made a call to the commissioner to tell him what a hash those detectives are making of this case. Seems they were both on probation, and this was their last chance to make good. Didn’t happen. With any luck we should see the back of them in a few days.” Ted took a sip of tea, his eyes sparkling, and Liv knew there had to be more.

  “And?”

  Ted chuckled so long and hard that he had to put down his tea to keep from spilling it. “They arrested Janine this weekend.”

  “Get out.”

  Ted burst into a full laugh.

  “For murder?”

  “No. For forging checks.” Ted wiped his eyes with a white handkerchief he pulled from his vest pocket. “Mayor Worley bailed her out. And spent all weekend pulling strings to hush it up.”

  “What’s going to happen to her? That’s a serious offense.”

  “It is, but Janine insists that the festival owed Pete for services rendered. We won’t even go there.” He shuddered dramatically. “She said that since you weren’t in your office, she took the check and signed your name. Something we do all the time in the festival offices.”

  “What? We’d never do that. And she doesn’t even work here.”

  “True. And true. We won’t quibble about the check writing. And Pete’s not alive to explain that he was blackmailing her. Ergo…”

  “She broke the law.”

  “Yes, and it’s reprehensible. But she’s not really a criminal, just a pain in the butt. If we don’t pursue it, she’ll get a slap on the wrist, we’ll be chastised for questionable practices, and life will go on.”

  “But we didn’t.”

  “Of course we didn’t, and everyone will know we didn’t. No one will mention it, but everyone will know.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “That’s Celebration Bay. Look on the bright side. It may keep Janine off our backs.”

  “Or make her twice as bad.”<
br />
  “Let’s go find out, shall we. It’s almost ten.”

  They were not the first to arrive. Rufus, Roscoe, and Jeremiah sat together. Nodded together as Liv and Ted walked in. A study in solidarity. Liv just hoped they remembered their promise. A few minutes later the door opened and Liv was surprised to see Chaz. He looked like he’d rather be anyplace but here, and Liv wondered why he had even come. Because of the vote? She hadn’t asked him how he would vote. They still had the majority even if he voted no, unless the mayor opted to override the board’s decision. Would he be able to stand up to Janine?

  Chaz sat down and Liv frowned at him, trying to get his attention, but he just leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

  She caught herself drumming her fingers on the folder. Ted shot her a sideways glance, and she dropped her hands to her lap.

  Finally the door opened and Liv held her breath until the door swung shut and the mayor called the meeting to order. The mayor. Alone. No Janine.

  The meeting went like clockwork. Ted presented the harvest festival’s profit and loss figures. Mostly profit and little loss, which made the council very happy.

  Liv shared the specs on the three security firms she was considering. Rufus, Roscoe, and Jeremiah voted to continue the festivals, contingent on hiring extra security. When the time came for Chaz’s vote, he opened one eye, and said, “Why not?” which made four votes for and none against.

  The mayor banged his gavel. “Well, that’s settled. This meeting is adjourned. Now, let’s get ready for Halloween.”

  Anton Zoldosky was standing outside the locked events office door, a Tyrolean hat in his hand.

  “What’s he doing here?” Ted asked, and Liv realized that she hadn’t had time to tell him what had happened over the weekend. Though knowing Ted, he already had all the details.

  “Mr. Zoldosky,” Liv said. “What can we do for you today?”

  Anton glowered at Ted.

  Ted unlocked the door and showed Anton inside, shooting a look at Liv as he did.

  “I’ll see Mr. Zoldosky in my office, Ted.”