by Dawn Eastman
Katie took a breath, debating whether to tell Colin about seeing Taylor. Instead, she switched tactics. “Were you guys getting along okay?”
There was a long moment of silence. “You’re just like the cops. Always blame the boyfriend.”
“No, that’s not—”
Colin interrupted. “I love Taylor and would never hurt her. All I want is to get her back safely. Listen, I gotta go.”
“Wait—”
But Katie was talking to dead air.
Ten minutes later, Katie grabbed a spot in the Purple Parrot and watched for Caleb. He rounded the corner just as her tea was delivered to the table.
The Purple Parrot was one of Katie’s favorite places in Baxter. Run by a mother-daughter team, they made the best coffee in town and also knew how to serve pots of tea. Couches and comfy chairs huddled around coffee tables in several groupings. Books and knickknacks filled the shelves on the back wall, making the whole space feel like a cozy library. Purple and yellow dominated the color scheme, which would not have been Katie’s first choice, but it gave the comfy space a bright, happy vibe. There were five or six small tables near the counter. The menu was heavy on comfort food: potpies, stews, and soups with a few salads thrown in for the virtuous.
“Hey, Katie,” Caleb said. “I’m really hungry. I might have to have one of everything.”
Katie smiled and sipped her tea. “Go for it.”
“What are you having? The usual?” Caleb asked.
“I like what I like,” she said. She shrugged and pointed to the potpie on the menu.
“Yeah, the chicken potpies are really good here. If I get something else and you have the potpie, I’ll be jealous. But if I get something else and it’s better than the potpie, then you’ll be jealous and I will win the best menu choice game.” Caleb pumped a fist in the air.
Katie shook her head and smirked at him.
“I didn’t know that was a thing,” Katie said.
“Of course it’s a thing. And you win most of the time. I don’t know how you do it.” Caleb hunched over the menu as if studying it for ancient secrets, or coding errors.
“Just get the potpie, Caleb.”
“Yeah, okay,” Caleb said. “Then we’ll both win.” He flipped the menu shut.
Bella Peterson, the daughter of the team, arrived at that moment to take their order. She was in her midtwenties, blonde, with blue eyes and a sweet smile. She flashed one at Caleb and he grinned.
After she left, he leaned back in his chair. “I haven’t had any luck yet with those thumb drives. I’ll have to work on it some more this afternoon. So, what’s this research project you’ve lured me into?”
Katie told him her theory that because Taylor had been investigating Eugene’s case, maybe there was a connection. She had hoped there would be a clue in the files, but she said they could do some of their own research into the case. She thought she should learn more about what had occurred all those years ago.
“I always feel a little lost when something like this happens. Everyone in town already knows the story, and I’m just trying to figure things out. I don’t have any context.” Katie stirred her tea. “But Eugene’s mother insists that not only was he being targeted but that he was innocent.”
“Well, what mother is going to say her son was guilty?”
Caleb smiled at Bella Peterson when she brought the potpies to the table. Katie narrowed her eyes. There was an awful lot of smiling going on with these two. Bella was exactly the kind of girl Caleb liked. She wondered why he hadn’t mentioned Bella before. Katie liked Bella. Maybe she and Matt could double date. It would probably go better than the double date with Gabrielle that she had ruined by interrogating Russell.
Katie reined in her thoughts. She didn’t even think the two were dating, but something was up. Bella wandered off and Katie had Caleb’s attention again.
“You’re right, of course,” Katie said. She cut into the top of the pie to let it cool. The delicious aroma of chicken, vegetables, and butter wafted up in a cloud of steam. “But the way Matt described it, Eugene was just there. No one saw him push her, or talk to her, or even had any way of showing that they knew each other.”
“Okay, so where do we start?”
“I think we should visit the Baxter Gazette office. They must have covered the case, and maybe Linda will have something about the local perspective as well.”
Caleb looked at her in a deadpan way. “I assume you’ve already tried the Internet? Source of all knowledge?”
Katie smiled. “Yes, but the Gazette archives don’t go back that far. I think they’ve only been online for the past couple of years.”
“M-kay,” Caleb said, and focused on his lunch.
* * *
Linda Carlson was petite, with sleek gray hair cut in a bob. She smiled broadly when Katie stepped through the door to the Baxter Gazette offices.
“Katie, how nice to see you.” Linda came forward and took Katie’s hand in both of her own. Linda, John’s wife, also believed that Katie had saved their beloved Bubba, and she was treated like royalty every time Linda saw her.
“Linda, you remember my brother, Caleb.”
“Of course!” Linda turned to Caleb as if he was the most exciting person she had ever met. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.”
“Likewise, Mrs. Carlson.”
“Linda, please, you’ll make me feel old.” She flapped her hand at him.
“Linda,” Katie said, “we were wondering if we could look at your archives?”
“Of course. Is there something in particular you’re looking for? Last time you came here, you wanted news from forty years ago.” Linda laughed. “How far back are we going today?”
“Just ten or fifteen years,” said Katie. “I’m interested in Eugene Lowe and any information about his arrest and trial.”
Linda’s smile fled from her face. “Ah, Eugene. That was a sad story.”
“Do you remember it?”
“Of course. It was all anyone could talk about that whole winter. He was arrested on Halloween, and the trial was in the spring, I think. I, for one, was shocked. He’d always been a quiet, gentle kid, and I couldn’t believe that he would hurt anyone.”
“So, did other people in town agree with you?”
Linda shook her head. “I wouldn’t say that. The town was pretty much divided on the subject. Eugene had had that unfortunate incident with the Stewarts. Alicia Stewart’s father had nothing good to say about Eugene, and some people sided with him. Eugene was different and not everyone appreciated that.”
“Do you think there are any stories in the Gazette?”
“Unfortunately, I’m quite sure there aren’t,” said Linda. She ran her hand through her hair and it fell right back into place. “My father was still in charge of the paper back then, and he felt that tempers were running high enough. He didn’t want the paper to wade into the mess.”
“Really? He just censored the whole thing out?” Caleb asked.
“Well, not censored, exactly, but remember, it all happened in Ann Arbor, and their newspaper had tons of coverage. My dad just felt like he didn’t want to add fuel to the flame of either side of the argument, and it wasn’t like there was no coverage.” Linda shook her head. “I think that was when he really decided to retire. He just didn’t have the heart for it anymore. He turned everything over to me the next year.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Katie said. She rapidly rethought her plan and was already mentally checking her schedule for a free couple of hours to go to Ann Arbor during the week. “I was hoping to get some background on the case. Eugene is my patient, and I hoped to fill in some of the gaps.”
“Oh, I didn’t say there was no information. Just not from the Baxter Gazette.” Linda waved them over to a filing cabinet behind her desk. “I was fascinated with the story, so I have files on all the news reports. There are even a couple of articles I wrote hoping my dad would change his mind.” She rummaged in t
he cabinet. “I think I had a transcript of the trial in here somewhere …”
Katie and Caleb exchanged a glance. Katie’s look was thrilled, while Caleb’s was incredulous that people still used filing cabinets.
Linda pulled out a thick file folder and brought it to the desk.
“You’re welcome to look through this and see if it helps.” Linda tapped a finger to her lips. “I wondered at the time whether that was the full story. This all happened right around the time of the recession, when newspapers started closing around the country. It was shortly after this that the Ann Arbor newspaper went to digital only. I know they were working with a skeleton staff.”
“But you still publish a hard copy newspaper?” Caleb couldn’t hide the shock in his voice.
“It’s a labor of love,” Linda said. “I write all the stories, businesses in town still buy ads so I can pay for the printing, and I only publish once a week. But even that will likely stop eventually.”
“Too much work for one person?” Katie asked.
“Not that so much as my main paper subscribers are dying off. I publish to the website as well, and I do midweek updates. Most of the younger readers just read it online.”
“It does cut down on the tree killing,” Caleb said.
“You’re right, of course. But there is something very satisfying and calming about reading the paper in the morning with a cup of coffee. Scrolling on the screen is just not the same.”
Katie elbowed Caleb in the side to keep him from pursuing one of his favorite topics.
“You were saying you wondered about the coverage?” Katie said.
“It’s just that … well, you’ll see. There wasn’t a lot of new information after the initial story. It’s the kind of thing that would have warranted follow-ups and human-interest stories. They just sort of let it drop and I always wondered why.”
“Do you mind if we sit over here and take some notes?”
“Be my guest,” Linda smiled. “Let me know if you need anything.”
Katie and Caleb sat next to each other and opened the file.
The yellowing and brittle newspaper articles had been cut from their original pages and were labeled at the top with dates in fading pencil.
Katie scanned the articles and carefully turned the fragile pages. She felt like maybe she should be wearing white gloves and working in an environmentally controlled room. The headlines ranged from subdued to sensational. Coed Dies in Law Quad. Law Quad Killer Arrested! And the usual editorial pieces: Alcohol and Undergrads and Rape on Today’s Campuses. Even though Katie was pretty sure Heather had not been raped.
Linda’s article was very well-written and had more information than any of the others. She described the Halloween party Heather had attended just before she was killed at a University-sponsored event. She hinted at the need for further inquiry into the amount of alcohol that had been smuggled in (something the other stories had failed to mention). She also had written a haunting description of Eugene sitting alone in his jail cell. Katie felt certain that if Linda’s article had been published, Eugene would have had more people on his side in Baxter.
By the time they had finished skimming through the articles (which, as Linda had suggested, repeated the same information), Katie felt no closer to understanding what had happened. Mrs. Peabody and Miss Simms had provided a better synopsis.
The court transcript was dense, and Katie decided to ask Linda for a copy. She could go over it later when she had more time.
She noticed Linda had a summary of the postmortem report but not the report itself. Cause of death was head trauma, but Katie would have loved to see the whole report.
She sighed as she flipped the last article over and closed the file.
Caleb had been assigned as note-taker, but all he had done was take pictures with his phone of anything Katie had indicated would be helpful. They both leaned back and stretched.
Linda glanced up from her computer screen. “All finished?”
Katie nodded. “Thank you for letting us look at the file.”
“It didn’t help much?”
Caleb shook his head. “I don’t think there was much more in the paper than we had already heard.”
Katie was irritated with herself. She felt so helpless in the search for Taylor, and now she had wasted more time and gotten no further information. She had hoped to discover whether there were any other suspects in the case. She had Taylor’s list of names but wasn’t even sure what it meant. Was it just people who knew Heather, or something more? Whom might Taylor have suspected? She had the court transcript, but that wouldn’t help Taylor. Plus, she was so focused on Eugene’s case that maybe she was missing something in Taylor’s own life. Colin was certainly defensive, but did that make him dangerous? Katie needed to rethink her plan.
17
John Carlson sat at his dining room table warily awaiting his dinner. He had been busy all day. He’d gotten his hands on some of the interview transcripts and read them over and over again, looking for any clue about Taylor. A false-alarm sighting had had the entire Baxter police force out in the woods for most of the afternoon until they finally located a blonde woman who had been walking her dog. The witness had failed to mention the dog or the fact that the woman was in her forties.
Carlson sighed. The whole community was on alert, but that just meant that they would get lots of sightings of blonde women going about their business. He didn’t want to admit it, even to himself, but Katie’s mention of Taylor researching Eugene’s case had set off alarm bells in the back of his head. He’d requested Eugene Lowe’s file from Ann Arbor and hoped it wouldn’t take more than a day to receive it.
He’d also sent a junior officer into the archives to find anything they had on Alicia Stewart’s restraining order against Eugene. But as of this evening, he had only a fake sighting and a bunch of tired and frustrated officers to show for his time. He remembered the search for Alicia all those years ago. They had hoped to find her alive and had no idea that they would find her due to another girl’s death.
He heard Linda clinking silverware and sat up expectantly.
“Katie LeClair came to see me today,” Linda said as she came into the room from the kitchen. She set a kale salad down in front of him.
He picked through the leaves, looking for fried chicken pieces or maybe some steak. No luck. He hoped this health kick of Linda’s would wear off quickly. He’d noticed that Bubba still got chicken with his dinner.
Carlson nodded and said, “She said she wanted to visit Bubba.”
Linda fixed him with a pitying stare.
“John.” She waited until he looked up from his hunt for meat and looked at her. “She came to the Gazette office. She wanted to see what we had on the Eugene Lowe case.”
Carlson put his fork down. He couldn’t eat kale and focus on Linda’s concerns. Well, he couldn’t eat kale and do anything else. Kale took his full concentration and all of his maturity to choke down.
“She’s taken him on as a patient,” Carlson said. He didn’t add that he was worried she had taken him on as a project as well. He adored Katie. He’d always hoped for a daughter, and when he first met Katie the night she had saved Bubba’s life, he’d felt like they had a connection that he couldn’t explain. Of course, he’d never tell anyone about that moment of connection he’d sensed. He’d especially never tell Linda, as their lack of children was still a painful topic between them even after all these years. “You know how she is when she senses a mystery. It will blow over soon. I’m going to find out who’s been harassing Eugene, and then it will all calm down.”
Linda dove into her salad as if it was the best thing since chocolate-chip cookies. She finished chewing and took a sip of water. No more wine or beer with dinner either.
“I’m sure you’re right. But what if there is something not quite right about that old case?”
Carlson had been wondering the same thing. He took a big bite of kale to drown out his own conc
erns.
18
Katie spooned chili into two bowls and brought them to the table. She and Caleb had four or five meals that they rotated throughout the week. Katie always had some chili in the freezer for nights when neither of them wanted to cook or no one had been to the store. Those evenings had become more frequent this fall as Caleb worked on his app and Katie worked longer hours at the office covering for Nick’s absence. They had Matt scheduled a couple of days a week to help with the overflow, but she and Emmett had both been working harder than ever just to stay afloat.
Caleb smiled as she set his bowl in front of him. He dove in and didn’t seem to take a breath until it was halfway gone. Katie picked at hers and then set her spoon down.
She didn’t like the direction her mind was wandering. What if Eugene was innocent, as his mother claimed, and there had been a murderer living in Baxter all these years? But the death had occurred in Ann Arbor, she reminded herself, so there was no reason to assume the murderer would be in Baxter. So, who was harassing Eugene? Was it just people with long memories and not enough to do?
She got up from the table and rummaged through her bag. She found her notebook and a pen and brought it to the table.
Caleb looked up at her and noticed the notebook. He put his spoon down.
“Things are getting serious,” Caleb said. “Do we have enough information to warrant that?”
“It helps me think,” she said, and flipped to a blank page.
“Know what helps me think?” he asked. “Cookies. Do we have any?” He got up and went into the kitchen. Katie heard him rummaging in the pantry.
“Check on top of the fridge,” she said.
“Why would they be there?”
“Because you never look there.”
