by Ritter Ames
"Are you trying a new hobby, Katie?" Meg asked. She reached to pull one edge of the bag open farther to take a look, and Kate removed a book and set it on the table so she could see it better.
"The books are for the Collier kids. My idea kind of goes as a flip to the one Lila referenced today when she brought the memory books." Kate opened the cover of the book. "I plan to give one to each of the kids on moving day, so they can build scrapbooks about their lives when they're apart from one another. Then, the younger kids can mail their California adventure books to Sydney, and she can mail hers to the two of them in So Cal." Kate shrugged. "I thought it might help them feel they were staying better in touch with one another if they added ticket stubs and pictures and memory bits that point to the places and events they'd been to while everyone is apart."
Meg flipped through the blank pages. "Great idea. And what a good size. You are always thinking of things I never even consider. I feel like such a shlub."
"Shlub, huh?" Kate laughed. "Don't sell yourself short. Remember this is my business, and I have to think about ways to help people transition from all their stuff, to less of their stuff. And speaking of business." She grabbed her purse from where it hung on the back of her chair. "I need to find a credit card so you can charge these books, Saree."
"Pshaw." Saree waved a hand. "It is my treat for all the good business you brought me from your organize workshop last month. We can have another one soon? Yes?"
Meg put a hand on Kate's arm. "You really need to work up that newsletter idea. You could put a bunch of hard copies in here and build an online mailing list."
"Please, both of you." Kate held up her hands in surrender. "I appreciate the books, Saree, and I'm glad the workshop was a success. And, yes, I will finish up the newsletter I've been working on. But I'm swamped right now with this Collier move. I may be good at organization, but I'm not a time wizard." She smiled to take any sting out of her words.
The counter girl got Saree's attention and pointed to a customer at the book register. The three women said their goodbyes. Meg looked at her watch and added, "We need to finish and get moving if we're going to grab our kids on time."
Minutes later they were in the van, and Kate was about to start the engine when the driver side door flew open.
"I thought that was you!" It was Erin Parker, now standing inside the space between Kate and her open door. "I need you to run some interference for me. To get me access to the house. I promise I'll only be there when you're around. You can tell Blaine that."
"Ms. Parker—"
"Erin."
"Erin," Kate corrected, gripping the steering wheel. Hard. Anxiety coursed through her veins like adrenalin. She stared at the thick green rubber band on her left wrist, and as she willed herself to imagine she'd already snapped it, she was already getting calmer. She spoke slowly to keep the panic out of her tone, "We have our own contract to fulfill. I can't take on more—"
"So you're on his side." Erin hit the glass in the door with her open palm. "I might have known. Well, you just wait, missy. I'll get my way, and you'll regret you ever crossed me."
"She isn't crossing you—" Meg started.
"Well, she certainly isn't helping me!"
Kate took a deep breath and squeezed the wheel for another second before turning a smile toward the scary woman standing beside her. "Erin, you are such a pro at what you do. I know you'll figure a way to handle this through real estate channels. We're all on such a close time frame here, but if you and Lee Ann put your heads together, I'm sure you'll figure out a solution to this problem."
"Lee Ann, right." Erin actually snorted. "The woman is incompetent. If I had to count on her I would never have reached my current position in sales. Everything is up to me."
When she stepped back and slammed the door, Kate sighed in relief. But Erin didn't leave yet. Through the glass, she shook a blinged-out index finger and added, "Too many people want to rock my boat. But it's time I start rocking back. So don't get in my way, Kate McKenzie. Or you either Meg Berman."
She turned away, and Kate and Meg simultaneously hit the power lock on both their doors.
CHAPTER FOUR
For the Newsletter:
As a former pro-hockey wife, I learned how to pack and move the fastest and least expensive way possible. Here are some tips I figured out by trial and error:
Pack glasses and cups in dishtowels, and all the kitchen items stay together and do double duty.
Pack bathroom items, from shampoo to perfumes in bath towels for the same reason.
Pack bedroom knick-knacks in the normally foldable clothes. For instance, use tee-shirts to protect picture frames, and put trophies in the legs of pajama bottoms. Then wrap the cloth around before packing.
Packing in this way not only saves the cost of packing material, but reduces the garbage you create in the move. Plus, some of the paper and fiber packing material leaves dust and little bits behind. Wrapping in clothing and towels often keeps your moved items cleaner.
But the best benefit is that all the room's items are packed together, whether they were liquid or laundry. So you won't have to look for the box marked "Towels" to find a dishtowel—just look in the kitchen boxes, and get the towel you need while you unpack your dishes. And, yes, you can use the towel to wipe out the cabinet before you stow the glasses and dishes. The time you save unwrapping later is time earned. And this method means you can also save the time you would normally use disposing of packing material. You won't just keep the environment green—you'll be saving the green while you clean and pack in a greener way.
* * *
Ten minutes after dinner, Kate heard Meg knocking on the back door.
"Wow! Got chilly all of a sudden," Meg said, hurrying in and grabbing a coffee cup. "Sorry for the intrusion, but I wanted to see if you could run with me to the Collier place, or if I can take the key. I drove by there, but the family is still gone to dinner."
"What's wrong?"
"I forgot and left my phone on the kitchen counter this afternoon, and I need to make some mom-scramble calls tonight. I don't know any phone numbers anymore without my cell."
"I hear ya." Kate put the last two dirty glasses in the dishwasher. "I still use my address book but find I pull it out less often as my phone takes over so many new duties."
"That reminds me. Mother traded in her old flip cell phone for a new smart phone. And the old phone wasn't even broken."
This was news. Meg's mother was a diehard thrifty Yankee who used everything as long as it still had any life left. Her grandsons had teased her mercilessly over her "ancient phone," but to no avail.
"What made her finally make the switch?" Kate asked.
"I used my phone a couple of days ago to show her a photo," Meg said. "I wanted her to see one of Ben's cute looks and homed in on his face in the crowd then enlarged that part of the shot. She went out and bought a new phone the next day."
"Oh, that's sweet. She wanted to better see pictures of her grandkids."
"Nope." Meg said, then laughed. "She wants to be able to take photos of things with small print, like menus in restaurants and product information on medicine bottles, then enlarge the section she needs to read, so she doesn't have to carry her big magnifying glass everywhere she goes."
"Brilliant idea. Bet we'll soon see all of her friends swap out their phones and start using that trick too."
Meg moved her arm out and back, like she was trying to focus on something held in her hand. "May need that little seeing aid myself before very long. I'm not yet to the bifocal stage, but I've found myself stretching my arms out sometimes in order to read tiny print."
Kate smiled. Her friend was probably still ten years away from bifocals but had begun worrying over the "character lines" in her forehead.
In the meantime, everything needing to be put away was wrapped, washed, or wiped off, and Meg's errand dovetailed nicely with the reason Kate planned to trek back to the job site before the Collier family returned from
dinner.
And running errands with a friend is always preferable to going it alone.
She smiled again when realizing she probably wouldn't have even considered the thought the year before. Life was changing for the better. The move to Vermont was definitely helping with her long-term trust issues. Kate scooped her keys from the wall hook and grabbed her purse.
"We don't have to go right this minute," Meg said, waving her free hand. "I don't want to take you away from your family time."
Kate shook her head. "I was planning to go there soon anyway. I forgot to put all of the kitchen blinds back the way I'd found them. Probably not a big deal, but I like to leave things the way the client preferred. Besides, Keith left early for work and dropped the girls off to bake cookies with his mom. That's why they haven't been in here already telling me they're hungry again. Until you came, I was almost to the point of calling time and temperature so I could pretend someone was talking to me."
Meg took a final swallow before rinsing her cup under the faucet. "I must have been driving by the Colliers' when Keith and the girls left. But I know what you mean. It does get quiet pretty quickly, doesn't it?" She jingled her key ring. "My car is in our driveway."
A couple of jackets and sweaters hung on hooks in the mud room, and Kate grabbed her favorite cotton candy pink hoodie.
"It's not like a front is moving in," Meg said, holding open the back door. "The temps only dropped a little."
"Just call me 'thin-blooded Katie.'"
The car was still warm, and Kate snuggled into the heated passenger seat. Daylight savings time meant it wasn't quite dark yet but getting shadowy, and Meg switched on the lights.
"The girls must really like having a grandmother nearby," Meg said as she turned east toward the Colliers' neighborhood.
"Yes, having Jane and George close fills a void we always experienced in the past."
Kate's own parents had died together in a car accident her second year of college. The depression had almost been too much, feeling she'd let them down somehow by leaving to go away to school. She had always felt responsible for her parents, who would get so wrapped up in the latest passions they'd take chances and cut corners. This made the small family grow apart during her teen years, when she felt their environmental activities and the constant moves took precedence over the family's and her needs. Keith's parents had always been such polar opposites of hers, Kate hadn't put up any argument when he left pro hockey and took the job as an on-air personality in his hometown of Hazelton. "It's really been a great transition, but who knew things would go so smoothly when we moved here last fall. Well, if you discount the fact that between Keith's and my new careers we had to contend with a couple of murders in the last month."
"Have to say, you were pretty good at solving the murders, Kate."
"Only because I stumbled into the murderer and almost got myself kidnapped, and likely worse." Kate crossed her arms. "I am so out of the murder solving business. From now on the only crime solving I'm going to tackle are crimes against organization."
They rounded the turn into the development, and Kate glanced up to the master balcony, loving the way the solar lights set along the perimeter of the house lit the back with a soft glow. She was surprised to suddenly realize someone was leaning over the balcony. The illumination wasn't strong enough for her to tell who it was exactly, but with knowing the family was out and seeing all the inside lights were off, she got an uneasy feeling. She pulled out her phone and dialed 9-1-1.
Just as the operator answered, a second person, this one wearing a hoodie, stepped onto the balcony. The 9-1-1 operator answered, but before Kate could get any words out, the shadowy figure on the balcony snuck up on the person leaning on the railing from behind, grabbed the person by the hair, pulled, and ran a hand under the face of the person at the railing. The one in the hoodie then grabbed the torso of the first person and pushed the body over the side, where it landed on the stone patio and didn't move.
CHAPTER FIVE
Check Every Nook and Cranny
Whether cleaning, moving, or just organizing, try to group rooms together, then move through systematically. When boxing up items don't forget to check out the tops of closets and pantry and the seldom used drawers and cabinets in the kitchen, like the ones under the stove. Also, scan past the floor of the attic and garage; check the rafters for infrequently used or seasonal items to take with you, like skis and fishing poles.
* * *
Meg and Kate screamed simultaneously. The person in the hoodie turned their way, but the fabric around the face and the darkening sky made identification impossible from that distance.
"Quick, we need an ambulance and police!" Kate gave the operator the address and information as Meg hurried toward the still body. From her vantage point in the drive, Kate heard the front door crash open. She ran to better see the front of the house, and watched the tall, thin, hooded person pause for a moment then leap the side hedge and quickly disappear down the street. No way she or Meg could have caught the mystery person. More importantly, given the situation it didn't seem prudent to even try. The visual impression she'd gotten as the runner streaked out of the front door told Kate the hooded perp was taller than she was so could still outweigh her.
Relief flooded through her system when the sound of sirens erupted from the direction of the community's entrance. A boxy ambulance pulled up behind the first squad car.
"That way!" Kate pointed, and Meg waved to the EMTs. Constable Banks jumped out of the black and white. She thanked the emergency operator for staying on until help arrived and pocketed the phone. Neighbors started stepping out into their front yards.
It wasn't until she was at the actual scene of the crime that everything suddenly hit her, and she started shaking. Meg moved in for a comforting embrace but was shivering as much herself. One of the neighbors ran to fetch a blanket for them.
Everyone stayed back and let the emergency crew have room to do their job, so Kate didn't see the victim when they turned her over. But she had gotten a glimpse of long dark hair splayed across the back of a pink shirt. She turned away when the visual of all the blood on the stonework hit her. However the shirt and jeans left little doubt in her mind about who lay motionless beneath the balcony. The bigger question was why the real estate woman returned to the house after the afternoon altercation with Collier. Also, why so much blood surrounded the body.
One of the emergency team hurried forward pulling the compressed gurney, and another member raced by to grab more supplies from the back of the vehicle.
Constable Banks gave voice to Kate's thoughts, "Lot of blood from the fall—must have cracked her head. Though I can't understand why she came back. Would have just been arrested."
"We saw someone in a hoodie push her over the balcony," Kate explained. "Someone tall."
Meg shook her head and tried to speak, "No…" She coughed and got some of the tension out of her voice. "I could see when I got close. She didn't just fall…" A tear snaked down her cheek. She started bawling into Kate's shoulder. "Oh, Katie!" Meg hiccupped a couple of times, then said, her voice muffled, "Her throat was cut."
"What was that?" Banks took a step nearer.
"She said Erin Parker's throat was cut," Kate said. "Do you think Collier could have been defending his home?"
"No!" Meg pulled back, trying to talk but unable to.
"I thought that was what you said," Kate apologized. "I'm sorry, I—"
Meg held up a hand, then took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure. She spoke slowly, "Yes, I said her throat was cut. But it's not Erin Parker. It's Lila, Blaine Collier's ex-wife."
"What about Mom?"
Everyone turned and found Sydney behind them, dressed in dark running clothes. Her hood lay back against her shoulder blades, but her outfit was much like the one the mysterious person wore.
A second later, Blaine Collier's silver BMW screamed into the driveway, and he was out almost before the engine wa
s off. "What's going on here?" Blaine Collier strode up to Banks but stretched to try to see what the emergency crew was doing.
"Don't let his kids get out of the car," Kate warned.
"My kids? Why?" Collier glared at Kate. "Dara and Dustin are coming home with the Harper family. They wanted to go to their house and play video games. Bob Harper was fine with it. Now, what's going on here?" He wrapped an arm around his daughter's shoulders, and she clasped her father at the waist.
Everything became clear a second later, when the gurney was raised again, and the body wheeled to the ambulance, a sheet covering the victim from head to toe. Collier took a couple of blind steps backward, and Constable Banks grabbed his arm to steady him.
Banks turned then and waved to the other officer. "Can you take these two ladies into the house and put them in separate rooms until I can get their stories?" Then he turned to Collier. "Sir, I'm sorry, but I have some bad news."
The officer motioned for the women to follow, and they did so quickly, still sharing the blanket wrapped around their shoulders. The last thing Kate wanted to see at this point was the reaction of Collier or Sydney when they finally absorbed the news. She was still having difficulty processing it herself. Not just the fact she'd assumed Erin from the jeans and pink T-shirt, but because she couldn't fathom why Lila would even be at the house when the family wasn't there. Could she have come back to get something that had sentimental meaning for her? Something Collier wouldn't let her have when she asked? And who had been the hooded person? Someone dressed like Sydney. And the teen was tall, but…
She and Meg had watched Lila's head get pulled back by the hair and the hoodie person run something across her throat just before pushing her over. When Kate flashed on the image of the object, she realized the person in the hood took the object back into the house and likely carried it when sprinting away from the scene. What was it?
