Hush-Hush

by Elizabeth Spann Craig

  It was something to look forward to.

  Later that day, I headed out to the grocery store to finally make some headway on restocking my fridge and shelves. The store was right next to the little vegetarian deli where Luna and I sometimes ate. Sitting outside under an umbrella, was Connor with a woman I recognized from around town, but didn’t know.

  Connor spotted me and stood up, looking embarrassed. “Ann,” he said.

  I smiled and walked over. “Hi, Connor,” I said cheerfully. In some ways, it sort of amused me to see him looking so uncomfortable since he was always so collected.

  He quickly introduced me to his friend who gave me a cool smile in return.

  “Well, good to meet you. And good to see you, Connor.” I walked to the grocery store and went in.

  I wasn’t surprised when, sometime after supper, Connor called me. His voice was penitent on the other end. “Hi, Ann. Sorry about all that today. She and I were just having lunch together.”

  “Connor, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. We’re not tied to each other, after all. You’re free to have lunch with anyone you choose.”

  Connor said in a persistent tone, “But I’d like to be tied down, Ann. I love spending time with you.”

  “I like spending time with you, too. But the truth is I think you and I are just too different to make things work. We want different things.” Plus, I had to admit I was feeling conflicted about Connor’s possible connection to Ellie.

  Connor said, “What do you mean?” His voice indicated he thought I might be making some sort of subtle dig at him and his priorities when that wasn’t true.

  “It’s just that I’m used to a pretty set routine and like a lot of quiet time. Connor, I think I’d probably bore you to death after a while. Right now our relationship is still new and all the faults and cracks haven’t really shown up yet. It wouldn’t take long for you to want something or someone a little more exciting.”

  Connor was quiet for a few moments, absorbing this. Then, apparently, he was willing to accept it. Maybe, after all, he had been attracted to the woman he was having lunch with—maybe he was already wanting a relationship that wasn’t quite as quiet. Then he said, “All right, Ann. But if it’s all right with you, I’d like to be friends. Maybe we can sometimes do things together as friends?”

  I chuckled. “This town is way too small for us to feel uncomfortable around each other. We’d simply keep endlessly running into each other if we’re not friends. Besides, there aren’t too many people in Whitby who’ve known me most of my life.”

  Connor sounded relieved. “Great! All right, I’ll make sure to call you up for a coffee or a drink at some point soon.”

  That settled, Connor made his goodbyes and hung up. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was getting right back on the phone again to schedule dinner with the woman he’d had lunch with.

  The next morning, I was the one giving Fitz little snuggly rubs to wake him up. He gave me a disbelieving look since it was still dark outside and even earlier than it would have been if I’d been getting ready for work.

  My phone rang and I frowned, craning my neck to look at the screen while I was scraping Fitz’s breakfast into a bowl.

  “Hi, Wilson,” I said, cradling the phone between my shoulder and ear as I plopped the bowl of cat food in front of Fitz and watched as he enthusiastically ate it up.

  Wilson greeted me and said, “Sorry about calling you on your day off.”

  I told him it was no big deal. But the reason it wasn’t a big deal is because Wilson frequently did call me on my off-days. It was fine—he was usually very brief. It always seemed like he had something on his mind and needed to contact me right then to bounce it off.

  “We’re getting quite a few messages and calls from people asking when the next tech drop-in is,” he said. “I’ve been looking on our calendar and I don’t see one scheduled.”

  “Really? Wow, okay. Well, as you know, there was a good deal of turnout for our first one. Maybe word has spread or maybe the folks who attended have even more tech problems with different devices. I don’t have a day set up yet. Because of the volume, I really need to have Timothy there with me to help out.”

  Wilson said in his measured voice, “Is he amenable to that?”

  “Definitely. He talked about it being a unique way to get volunteer work in for school and it ties in to experience for his future plans, since he wants to go into IT. But I need to check with him and find out some good dates. I may just go ahead and schedule the next two or three, if possible. Then I can advertise them on social media.”

  Wilson said, “All right. Let me know if you run into any issues with finding good dates and maybe the library can pay for our new tech contractor to help out. I hate for patrons to call in and not be able to tell them any scheduled dates for the next event.” He sighed. “I certainly hope this new contractor will prove to know what he’s talking about. He’s coming in today. At least he may not end up murdered, like Frank.”

  I bit my lip to keep from chuckling. Wilson was making it sound as if Frank had been supremely irresponsible to end up murdered. Although, perhaps, he was.

  “You know,” said Wilson thoughtfully, “I intended on speaking with Frank before his untimely demise. I wanted to afford him the opportunity to respond to the allegations against him. He was at the library on one of your days off and when I walked over to talk to him, he was on a call with someone. It sounded to me like he was engaged in some scurrilous activity. At last, it was certainly unprofessional activity.”

  I could tell Wilson was bristling on the other end at the memory. “What was the conversation?” I asked. “Could you hear what he was talking about?”

  “Frank was pressuring someone on the phone. It was quite clear. Frank said, ‘I know you’re selling pills. If you want me to keep quiet about it, you’re going to have to pay.’ That’s when I stopped listening.”

  My mind was whirling. Was Frank speaking to someone who wasn’t one of the current suspects? Or could he possibly have been speaking with Tara? As far as I knew, though, she’d only been taking pills and hadn’t been selling them. I knew that taking using into the realm of selling became a completely different thing in the eyes of the law.

  “What did you do then?” I asked.

  Wilson sighed a heavy sigh on the other end. “Well, I didn’t want to give him the chance to defend himself right then. I decided to just call him after he’d finished the job that day and inform him I was ending the contract. He was suspected of abusing his wife and I heard him blackmailing someone. That was enough for me. But I never had the chance to do it because I got caught up with other tasks and then he was dead.” He must have looked at his watch because he said briskly, “I’ll let you go now, Ann. If you’ll just let me know when you get in touch with Timothy and have a date set for the tech drop-in?”

  And he hung up.

  I glanced at the clock as I was leaving and realized I was way too early to meet Grayson at the park. I decided to run by Keep Grounded first and see Tara. I hoped there was a good way to broach the subject of what Wilson had overheard.

  When I walked into the coffee shop, it was completely dead inside. Tara was busily getting things ready behind the counter—putting out fresh muffins and croissants. She smiled when she saw me walk in.

  “Ann! Good to see you,” she said. “You’re in here early.”

  I grinned at her. “I’m an early riser, but usually I just go right to the library. It’s my day off today, so I’m heading for the park to take a run, but I thought maybe I’d slide by here first and get some fuel for exercising.

  Tara got me set up with a large cup of regular coffee and then came around to join me at a table for a few minutes. “How is everything going with you?” she asked. “How are things at the library?”

  I said, “It’s been good over there, and a little different without Ellie there.”

  “I’m sure it has been,” said Tara snorting. “You d
on’t have to worry about someone listening in on your conversations anymore.”

  There was a bit of sharpness in her tone, but I couldn’t really blame her. After all, she’d trusted Ellie as a friend—confiding in her. Then Ellie had used her trust against her to try and extort money from her. That would be upsetting for anybody.

  I said, “Well, and we could also use some more help over there. The library has been really busy lately, which is great, but a couple of extra hands would really make a difference.”

  “Any news from Burton or anybody about the case?” asked Tara.

  I shook my head. “No one’s been arrested, at least. I’m hoping the police are a lot closer to figuring things out.” I paused. “There’s one thing that’s been on my mind that I wanted to ask you about. Somebody mentioned to me that you’d been selling pills—I guess the painkillers you’d been on? You know how things are in small towns—stuff gets so distorted.”

  A look of irritation flashed over Tara’s features. “I’ve never been a drug dealer in my life. But I’ve been an addict. That’s something I freely admit to. Now I’ve turned my life around, but people still won’t let you forget. It makes it really hard for me to move forward when folks in town are always looking at me and thinking about what I used to be like.”

  “You’re proving them all wrong,” I said smoothly, realizing this was a sore spot for her. I was about to move on and start talking about more pleasant subjects when Tara cut in.

  “Besides, you shouldn’t have listened to anything Frank said. You know the kind of person he was.”

  I said, slowly, “I didn’t say it was Frank who mentioned it to me.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Tara paled. Then she lunged, enraged, at me. Taken by surprise, I fell and tried to scramble back up, but Tara kicked me. I was trying to remember my self-defense moves that Burton had taught me some time ago, but was so taken off guard that I ran behind the counter since Tara was between me and the door. Tara followed me and as I desperately looked for something to use as a weapon, she swung a heavy blender at me. I ducked at the last second, then, belatedly, remembered my pepper spray. I pulled it from my pocket and held my arm out straight, emptying out a steady stream of fluid that hit her square in the eyes.

  Tara let out a roar and grabbed at her face. I didn’t wait around to see what happened next—I took off running to the door and out toward my car, dialing Burton as I went. Gasping, I quickly explained the situation.

  Burton was on it. I could hear the faint sounds of a siren some distance away. I turned around to check on Tara and saw her stumbling furiously in my direction.

  The siren was still some distance away, so I glanced around my car for a weapon of some kind to use on Tara to keep her from running off. I figured I’d pretty much emptied the pepper spray so I didn’t want to try it again.

  I was just reaching for the less-than-ideal insulated water bottle I had in the car, thinking I could swing it at Tara when I heard a shriek and a thump and saw Tara had dashed out in front of a car and was lying on the ground as the car screeched to a halt.

  Connor, white-faced, rushed out of the vehicle and crouched next to Tara on the ground. “Are you all right?” he asked intently, checking Tara gently for injuries. “You jumped out right in front of me.”

  Tara was woozy and trying to get her breath. I saw her eyes look wildly around as Burton’s police car finally pulled up to a screeching stop. Grayson, brow furrowed with concern, pulled in just seconds afterward.

  Tara looked like the fight had totally gone out of her. She pushed herself up to a sitting position and pushed at Connor as he still tried to examine her. Burton hopped out of the car and hurried over.

  “What happened?” Burton asked grimly as Grayson walked up to us. Grayson asked if I was okay in a low voice and I nodded shakily.

  Connor said roughly, “I spotted Ann’s car in the parking lot and was pulling in to the coffee shop just to say hi and grab some caffeine before my shift starts. This woman ran right in front of me. We should call an ambulance.”

  “I don’t need an ambulance,” said Tara fiercely. “You just knocked the wind out of me, that’s all.”

  Burton said, “I’m calling one anyway, just to be on the safe side.”

  “Great. So you don’t even believe me,” said Tara.

  Burton quirked an eyebrow as if to say that the situation and the woman before him didn’t really warrant believing.

  He made the phone call and then briskly hung up.

  Connor checked his watch and quickly said, “I’ve got to head to work. I’ll talk to you later, Ann.”

  Burton asked Grayson to wait outside the coffee shop and then locked the door and sat down at a table with me and Tara.

  Burton said, “Now, let’s talk about what happened.”

  Tara was silent, so I said, “Tara realized she’d given herself away as the killer. She attacked me and I sprayed her with pepper spray.”

  Sure enough, Tara’s eyes were still red and watering from the spray and she gave them a resentful swipe.

  Burton informed Tara of her rights as she continued swabbing at her face.

  “Could I give her my water bottle?” I asked Burton. “Just to flush her eyes out?”

  Burton nodded as he took out a small notebook. We watched as Tara both caught her breath and washed out her eyes.

  In his steady way, Burton said, “Tara, it’s all over. You don’t have to run anymore. Could you fill me in and tell me what happened?”

  Tara started rocking in her chair in a self-comforting movement. Then she looked up at me, eyes red from the spray. “Ann, I’m sorry. I really like you.”

  Strangely, this apology was totally acceptable to me. She was apologizing for trying to kill me just a few short minutes ago, but I know she didn’t want to. It made it easier to forgive, although I wouldn’t forget. I gave her a reassuring nod and waited to see if Tara would fill us in or whether she was going to ask for a lawyer, instead.

  But the desperate instinct to fight that had been so evident when she was swinging the blender at me was gone and now she was just crumpling inside herself. She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I never wanted any of this to happen.”

  “Of course you didn’t,” said Burton, still in that soothing, concerned voice.

  He seemed to give Tara some strength to keep going. She gave him a grateful look and straightened back up a little in her chair. “When I got hooked on prescription drugs, everything went downhill fast. Before that, I had goals and I knew where I was heading. I knew I had a future ahead of me. But the drugs took all of it away from me until all I cared about was getting more drugs.”

  Burton nodded. “They hook you that way.”

  “They keep you from thinking for yourself,” said Tara, bitterly. “Normally, I think I’d be able to see through somebody like Ellie. I mean, she wasn’t ever going to be a real friend to me. She was looking out for herself. But when I was using, I couldn’t see that. It was so obvious. I never would have been friendly with her if I’d been my normal self.”

  Tara made her actions sound reasonable, but I couldn’t forget that she’d killed . . . twice. I kept my voice calm as I noted, “Ellie was good at manipulating people, from what I could tell. You shouldn’t blame yourself too much for not realizing she was trouble. I think she was trying to dupe people into telling her their secrets. Pris mentioned Ellie was thinking of starting her own business. I wonder if blackmailing was the business.”

  Tara gave a sad smile. “Maybe I shouldn’t blame myself, like you’re saying. Just the same, trusting Ellie led me down a dark path, didn’t it? I told you a little about it, Ann. I’d confided everything to Ellie because I was trying to borrow some money from her.” She snorted. “Borrow. Yeah. That money definitely wouldn’t have been paid back to her because at that point I was addicted and just looking to get more pills. Anyway, she turned against me and started blackmailing me.”

  Burton nodded. “But th
en you switched jobs and cleaned yourself up. There’s no way you’re faking being clean right now.”

  It was true—Tara seemed to be in great shape, aside from the red, pepper-sprayed eyes. She didn’t look like a user. But why had she been selling pills?

  Tara replied, “Yeah, I’m clean. But I made one final mistake. I’d just paid the rest of my money for the pills I had on hand. I wanted to get rid of the pills so I wouldn’t be tempted to take them. But I didn’t want to just flush them down the toilet, either. I needed a little money to carry me through until I got my first paycheck from the coffeehouse. So I sold them to somebody else.” She looked sort of sick as she said this, whether from guilt or from the moment she’d sealed her own fate, I wasn’t sure.

  “How did Ellie find out you were selling?” I asked softly.

  Tara gave a harsh laugh. “I sure didn’t tell her, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’d already learned my lesson about confiding in Ellie. No, she actually knew the guy I was selling to and he mentioned it to Ellie offhandedly, apparently. He was an ex-boyfriend of hers, but they were still in touch. Ellie told me he fed her information and then she paid him a cut of what she made from blackmailing her victims.” Tara shook her head. “She was proud of it like she’d started her own business.”

  “Which she had,” said Burton wryly. “Just not a legitimate one. Okay, so obviously Ellie tried to blackmail you again. The first time hadn’t worked because you just ended up quitting your job at the hospital before you got fired and then cleaning yourself up so she didn’t have anything to blackmail you over. This time, you figured you needed to fix your problems another way.”

  Tara nodded miserably. “I didn’t want to. But you don’t know how persistent Ellie was. She wasn’t going to leave it alone. I told her I didn’t have any money, which was the truth. That was the whole reason I’d sold the pills, just to make my rent until I got my first paycheck at Keep Grounded. But she told me I could ask my parents or my sister for money.” Her face was cold at the memory. “There was no way I was going to do that.”