by Vikki Walton
Hope handed Carson his gun and climbed back up on the porch. Spencer, down in the snow and tightly hugging the eighty-pound puppy, gazed up at Carson.
Carson pointed toward the house. “You. Inside.”
Spencer got up and the Newfoundland followed obediently. “Bear, down.” The dog went to a corner by a chair and rested his big furry head on his paws.
As Carson made his way onto the porch, Hope reached over and touched his arm. “Sheriff, if it’s okay with you, I think we could all use a breather to digest everything before you lay into Spencer.”
“Fair enough,” He responded. “I could go for a cup of coffee.”
“I’m on it.” Kandi, always her ever-bubbly self, even after cheating death, grinned broadly.
Anne hobbled inside, her foot pulsing with pain now. “Owwww,” She moaned.
Taylor slung her arm around Anne’s waist, and pulled Anne to her side. “You lean on me. Liz was right about one thing. I’m thinking you may have broken your foot, Anne. We need to take you in for an x-ray to check it out.”
A shaken Beth and Lil clung to each other as they went back into the house. Lil sat quietly as Hope dialed Sam. She knew the ladies had experienced a traumatic shock and would need to be checked out. Beth sat at the end of the table, silent tears streaming down her face. Anne felt an ache in her heart for the woman whose marriage and friendship with Liz had been nothing but lies.
No one spoke as Carson pointed to a fretting Spencer to take a seat. He then walked toward the back room and when he returned he was in full gear, his Glock secured back in its holster.
“That was, like, crazy.” Kandi finally broke the silence. “She could have killed us all.”
A huge sob came from Lil who was now trembling with the shock. Beth reached over and laid her hand on Lil’s. The shaken woman looked up and both had tears in their eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Lil. All this time I hated you because of the lies Liz had told me about you. I’m ashamed to admit that I believed everything she ever told me. She—and Edward too—must have thought I was such a fool.” The tears spilled down her cheeks.
“It’s not your fault,” Taylor interjected. She was crying too. Anne could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she watched the trio mending long broken fences.
“Taylor’s right, Beth. She manipulated all of us.” Lil reached over and hugged Beth.
“I’m so sorry about Edward. I had no idea Liz was like that.”
Beth rubbed her arms. “I really don’t know how to feel right now. Certainly, I’m sad. But . . . and this will sound horrible . . . or maybe not, now that you know what I’ve had to deal with, but I’m a bit relieved. He’d become such a bully. Every day when he was around was a trial. I lived on pins and needles. Now I wonder if Liz wasn’t giving him something that made him that way.”
Kandi helped Hope put hot cups of coffee in front of everyone.
“I don’t know what happened to her or when. She always seemed nice, but maybe she’s been a manipulator the entire time we’ve known her. I never would have forgiven myself if she’d have hurt any of ya’ll.” Taylor choked back a sob.
Beth wiped her face. “And you, young man,” She pointed to Spencer. “You nearly scared me half to death.”
Spencer looked at the group from underneath his messy russet bangs.
With everyone’s attention on Spencer, Carson took charge, “Spill it.”
“She was going to shoot so I—”
Carson flipped a chair and sat down. “No. From the beginning. You know social services and Mrs. Laurence are going crazy looking for you.”
“All she cares about is the monthly check she gets,” He muttered.
“Don’t be disrespectful to your elders,” Carson said.
“Um, yes sir.” He swept his bangs out of his eyes with his hand.
Kandi took a tray of various pastries out of the hot oven. “Wait, a minute, I forgot!” She pointed her finger at Spencer. “I almost, like, ran over you! I had to swerve and everything.”
Spencer sighed and looked at Kandi sheepishly. “Okay, so at the foster home, Mrs. Laurence is okay. But she said I couldn’t keep Bear. He, you know, needs me. I’m the only person he has. They were going to put him in a shelter. You know how bad those shelters are. No way I was letting that happen just because that dweeb at the house has some allergy. Plus, she said she couldn’t afford to buy food for a monster.” He looked at the women for sympathy. “Can you believe it? She called him a monster!”
“Like she literally called him a monster?” Kandi’s many bracelets jangled. She set the warm pastries down on the table where everyone helped themselves.
“Yeah, you know, she literally did.” Spencer was on a roll now with all the attention. “Anyway, some other kid had also had a bad experience with a dog. I had to hear how he eats a lot, and sheds a lot, blah, blah, blah.” He opened his hands up. “I had no choice. I stole some dog food. But I’ve paid it all back. Now Miss Patty wants me, you know, to keep helping out ’cause I’m good with tech.”
Spencer continued, “I had, you know, to do like community service but the owner gave me some dog food. Mrs. Laurence didn’t like the idea of Bear being outside, but she wouldn’t let him inside. I overheard her talking to someone at a rescue place.” He held up his hands with a pleading look on his face. “I had no choice. I booked it out of there. I’d heard this place was empty from some guys at school so I, you know, came here.”
He looked up at Carson who nodded at the boy. “Go on.”
“I figured I could hang out here for a while, you know, until I could decide what to do. It was easy to put Bear into the basement at night and then I’d go up to the attic where I had my place. That way I could look out the windows and see if that guy was coming over.”
“Stewart?”
“I don’t know his name. But he comes over and hangs out until she comes over.” He cocked his head toward Kandi. Her face turned a bright pink as everyone turned toward her. “I think he’s got a, you know, crush on her or something.”
Anne asked Kandi, “I just realized, where is Stewart?”
“He took Autumn back over to Hope’s place.”
Hope said, “But if you were in the attic, how did you get down to the basement without any of us seeing you?”
“Oh, I went through the stairs.”
Anne looked up from her cup. “What do you mean you went through the stairs?”
He looked over at Carson. “Should I show her?”
“That’s fine.” He took a swig from the coffee mug he held in his hand. “But then, right back here.”
Kandi and Hope moved over to the stairs while Lil and Beth stayed seated.
“I want to see!” Anne exclaimed.
“Come on, then, I gotcha.” Taylor helped Anne to her feet. Anne hopped to the back stairs.
Spencer motioned for Anne and the other ladies to wait at the bottom of the stairs while he and Hope went upstairs. At the top, he pulled on the iron knob at the end of the railing. In front of the group, a set of three stairs opened up.
“Way cool!” Kandi squeezed by Anne and went up a couple of steps to look inside the opening. Hope and Spencer had come down the stairs and joined the others. Spencer pulled a headlamp from his pocket.
“So that’s where that went to.” Hope rolled her eyes.
He shrugged his shoulders and turned it on, pointing it down to where a ladder was attached to a wall.
“You take that ladder and you end up in the basement.”
With Taylor’s help, Anne knelt on the bottom steps and peeked into the dark crevice. “Hope, did you know the house had this?”
“No. This is the first I’d seen it.” She turned to Spencer. “How did you find out about it?”
“I’d been in the upstairs bathroom when I thought I’d heard someone coming up the stairs. I had to get out quick, so I ran over to the backstairs. I almost fell when I grabbed the handle and pulled on it. Then, you know, the
stairs popped open.”
“That is, like, so cool.” Kandi clasped her hands.
Hope stepped back so Spencer could shut up the opening in the stairs. He let it drop.
“There’s our slamming noise!” Anne and Hope spoke in unison.
“A few times I had to hurry, so I didn’t get to close it easy.”
Carson appeared at the bottom of the steps behind the women. “Okay, we need to get back to the business at hand.”
Hope was now assisting Anne back over to the table. “What business?”
“Do you all want to press charges against young Spencer here for trespassing?”
“Let me have a word with my partners,” Hope responded. While Carson sat there with his arms crossed, she continued, “If you and Spencer could wait in the living room for a few minutes, that would be helpful.”
“Fine.” Carson nodded and put his hand on Spencer’s shoulder. The boy slouched off dejectedly toward the other room, like a man headed for the gallows.
A course of action was quickly agreed upon, and Spencer was brought back into the kitchen. Hope addressed Spencer, “We’re not going to press charges. You did try to save Marie’s life and you acted, though not the best idea at the time, to stop Liz. That shows a lot of bravery.”
Spencer grinned.
“However,” Hope continued.
The smile left his face.
“We do believe Spencer needs to do some community service since he’s been eating our food—”
“Your cooking is, you know, really good.” Spencer addressed Kandi.
“Like, thanks.” She beamed.
Anne took over for Hope and continued to address Spencer. “We expect you to come after school and then also on the weekends to help out. We’ll have you do chores like clearing snow, dog walking—”
“Dog walking?” He perked up at that.
Kandi came over and handed Spencer another pastry. “We’ve been thinking that we could use a dog around here at night to keep critters away—the four-legged and the two-legged kind. If you think it’s okay, we’d like Bear to stay here.”
“That’s awesome!” Spencer, forgetting his role as a tough teenager, ran over and hugged her.
He turned to Hope and Anne. “I’ll work really hard. You wait and see.”
“Good to hear it,” Hope responded. “But no more stealing. Deal?”
“Deal.” He went over and held out his hand, which she shook.
A knock on the door announced the arrival of Mrs. Laurence and Sam. Carson escorted Spencer out, and Anne heard him telling the foster mom about Spencer’s community service and the agreement for Bear to stay at the Inn.
Sam listened to the story and asked Beth to join him in the dining room. After Beth and Sam had left the room, Taylor sat down next to Anne.
Taylor leaned toward Anne, “Is it just me or does that guy smell like popcorn?”
“Yes,” Anne said. “It’s a bit of a story.”
“Go ’head. Gimme the real enchilada. Which if you think about it, makes no sense as a saying because who’s going to say, ‘give me the fake enchilada’!” Taylor laughed. “Wait, a minute, that sounds really good. Who wants enchiladas?”
Laughter took over and for a few moments, the women struggled to keep straight faces. Tears mingled with laughter, and Anne knew it was the release of all the stress.
“How about this? We’ll grab some enchiladas in town before you all head out to Denver.”
Hope joined Sam in the other room and checked over Lil and Beth to ensure they were okay for travel after the shock.
Taylor grinned as she returned from the living room. “I just got to add that we should invite Mister Popcorn to come with us. He almost makes you want to be sick, so he can care for you.”
Sam returned to the kitchen, EMS bag in his hand. He spent some time visiting with the ladies before heading out for another call.
Everyone agreed that enchiladas sounded like a good suggestion. Hope called and made a reservation at Abuela’s Cocina for a late lunch. After Carson and another deputy took formal statements from everyone, the women went upstairs to pack.
Lunch was subdued, but everyone ate heartily.
Taylor and Lil agreed that they’d like to come back under better circumstances, while not surprisingly, Beth declined a free return stay.
Chapter Twenty-Three
After they had seen the women off, Anne sat in the Inn’s living room, her bandaged foot and leg propped on a footstool. Hope had called Autumn over to the house to help put things back in order. Anne listened to the muffled music playing overhead.
The back door opened, and Anne heard heavy boots moving across the kitchen floor.
“In here,” Anne called out.
Carson walked into the hallway. He was no longer wearing his uniform but still looked imposing and strong. He took off his Stetson and held it in his hand.
She waved him over to a seat close to her.
“Come in. It looks like this foot is going to be pretty worthless for a bit.”
“Broken?”
“Hopefully not. I’m going over to the urgent care to get an x-ray to confirm it, but Hope’s pretty sure I only twisted my ankle badly.”
“Well, that’s good news.” He sat hunched on the seat, his arms perched on his knees.
“I have to ask you one thing.” Anne shifted in her seat to put less pressure on her ankle.
“Yes?”
“How were you so confident Liz wasn’t going to shoot any of us?”
“Well, ND . . . ”
“ND?”
“You know, Nancy Drew. You didn’t want me calling you Nancy, so I figured I’d call you ND. It’s where it pays to go by facts instead of supposition.”
“What do you mean?”
“The first thing I noticed was her deceptive behavior when we were talking with everyone. Did you notice that she was the only one to point the finger at Beth?”
“Well, yes, but we didn’t know if her story was any truer than any of the others.”
“Ahhh, but here’s where some training comes in handy.”
Anne crossed her arms. “Okay, enlighten me. What training?”
“Interrogation practices regarding lies and deception.”
“Such as?”
“Steepling for one.”
“Steepling . . . what do you mean?”
“Liz steepled her fingers when she talked to us.” Carson held his hands in front of him with his fingers, creating a little steeple. “That’s a subconscious sign that she feels smarter than the person she’s talking to. In this case, me.”
“Interesting. Okay, I get that, but Liz also said she denied having anything to do with Edward’s or Marie’s murder.”
“Yes, but denial isn’t the same as not admitting guilt.”
Anne leaned forward. “Say again?”
“I can deny something but that doesn’t mean I didn’t do it. It’s just that I refuse to admit to it. It’s deflection.”
“Ohhhh, that is interesting.” Anne grimaced as she lifted her leg and tilted her foot.
“Need another pillow?”
“Yes, please.”
Carson rose from his seat, crossed over to the sofa and pulled a pillow from the couch. He returned and motioned for Anne to lift her leg. As she grabbed her calf with both hands, he gingerly set the pillow on top of the other one already in place.
“Better?”
She laid her foot down. “Yes, much. Thanks.”
“Okay, there were some signs that I didn’t catch. But I did catch one really, really, big sign. She had your gun and could have killed us all,” said Anne.
“No, Liz wouldn’t have harmed or killed anyone that way.”
“Why do you say that?”
“First, it was evident that Liz has never held a gun before.”
“How did you know that?”
“Because after I put the gun in the office, I removed the magazine and emptied the chamber.
If she knew guns, she would have immediately known the gun had no bullets.”
“Oh, okay. Of course. That makes sense. But she could have still done something.”
“Don’t worry. I had it under control.” He patted a bulge near his ankle.
Oh of course, he carried more than one gun. Anne nodded to show she understood. “Okay, but that still begs the question, how did she get the gun out of my locked office and cabinet?”
He smiled. “Hypothetically?”
“Yes, hypothetically.” She returned the smile.
“Think about it. I’d told both you and Hope to lock the back staircase door. But then later, we would find that the door would be unlocked. I knew that someone was either using your keys, had another set, or was picking the locks. Turned out that Liz was pretty proficient at lock picking.”
“What will happen to her now?”
“They’ve called in a psychiatrist who will do testing and provide a diagnosis. After that, it’s up to the court to decide.” He rose and wiped off his pant legs.
“Just thought I’d stop by and check in to make sure everyone here is okay.”
“Yes, I’m sure it will be a while before the reality of all this settles in.” She scooted to a better position.
“Okay then, goodbye.” He picked up his hat and made for the door.
“Wait!” She struggled to sit up straighter. “I think if you’re going to call me names like ND, and after all we’ve been through, what should I call you?”
“Carson. But you can call me Sheriff.” He tipped his hat, smiled and walked out the door.
Anne fumed. What a piece of work. That man.
His footsteps halted.
Anne looked up at the opening to the hall.
Carson stood there, hat in hand. “Hypothetically, what would you say about me calling you next week?”
Anne grinned. Hypothetical just got real.
Epilogue
Marie’s celebration of life service was held the following Wednesday. Kandi helped Anne, who wore a boot to brace her ankle, while using a cane that old man Stanley had loaned her. When the service was over, Anne, Hope, and Kandi watched as the vehicles began their procession to the cemetery on the edge of town.
