A Cat in the Attic Mystery: The Secret of Logan Pond

by Kathi Daley

  “I agree with that. If we do figure this out and someone did kill Austin, you’ll need to run with the big reveal right off the bat. I suppose you can use the history of what occurred as part of the bigger article relating to solving the case after all these years.”

  “Yeah. I guess. Should we try to speak to either Colin or Bobby today? I know we don’t have appointments, but we do have time.”

  “I’d rather wait until we have a chance to sleep on what we’ve learned from Toby. If something bad did happen to Austin and either Colin or Bobby were part of what happened, we don’t want to scare them off before we can come up with a theory as to what might have gone down on that early spring day a quarter of a century ago.”

  I looked at my watch. “Since we don’t have to meet with Hope and Naomi until five, I’m going to run home and check in with Gracie and Paisley. They’re working on a sewing project today, and I promised to pop in and take a look at it.”

  “Okay. I’ll just meet you at the library. I have a few things to do, as well.”

  A couple months ago, Aunt Gracie decided to convert one of the rooms in her home to a sewing room, which she and Paisley could use to create the garments they seemed to be producing almost every week. Gracie had always loved to sew, and she’d tried to get me interested when I was a child, but I was having nothing of it. Then along came Paisley, a lonely orphan with a huge heart and insatiable curiosity, who, quite conveniently, loved to sew. I could see that Gracie and Paisley were having a lot of fun working on their project of the moment each week, and tried to support their effort with regular check ins when I could.

  “So, what are you working on today?” I asked, after arriving back at the lake house.

  “Short overalls,” Paisley said. She held up a piece of fabric. It had a creamy white background with tiny purple flowers all over it. “This is the material I’m going to use for the pocket on the bib, the straps, and the pockets on the shorts. The shorts, as well as the bib, will be cream-colored denim. I wanted something springy instead of plain blue or white.”

  “I think those are going to be awesome. And you have that purple tank top you can wear under it.”

  “I did think of that. What are you doing today?” Paisley asked.

  “Just doing research for my column. Did you practice the musical number we worked on last Thursday?”

  She nodded. “I did. I’m still having problems with the middle part. I might need you to show it to me again on Monday. We are still having our piano lesson on Monday, aren’t we?”

  “I’m planning on it. I’ll pick you up from school as usual.”

  “Plan to stay for dinner,” Gracie said. “In fact, plan to stay today as well. We’re going to grill steaks this evening since it’s such a nice day,” Gracie said.

  “I can stay,” Paisley said.

  Gracie looked at me.

  “That sounds really fun, but I promised to meet Hope and Naomi at the library at five,” I answered. “I didn’t realize you were going to grill when I made my plans. Cass will be bummed as well that he is missing out on a steak.”

  “I guess we could do the steaks tomorrow,” Gracie said. She looked at Paisley. “Would tomorrow work for you? We planned to spend the day sewing anyway.”

  She shrugged. “I can do either night. My grandma might want to come too. Is it okay if I invite her?”

  “Absolutely,” Gracie said. “We’ll pick up some takeout tonight, and you can bring her some of that as well.” She looked at me. “Will you be back in time to have takeout?”

  “No. I’ll probably grab something with Hope and Naomi. I will definitely plan on steaks tomorrow night, however. This will be the first cookout of the season. I can’t miss that.” I glanced out the window. “It looks like Tom is cleaning up the old fishing boat.”

  “He got it in his head to do some fishing this year and decided to clean up the old boat. We have the garden to get up and going as well, so I hope he doesn’t get too preoccupied.”

  “I’m sure he won’t,” I answered. “Tom always puts your needs and desires first.”

  A look of longing crossed Gracie’s face. “He does. Doesn’t he?”

  I chatted with Gracie and Paisley a while longer, and then headed up to the attic to work on the columns I’d promised Dex I’d turn in on Monday. The piece relating to the charity event to benefit cancer research was fairly easy. I included the date, time, place, and cost of the dinner, and then I added a few quotes from Nora letting everyone know what a good cause it was and how important it was that the entire community turn out to support this research. Once I finished that, I started on the intro to my article about the new health and fitness facility. I hadn’t had the chance to work out yet, so an article on the machines and classes themselves would have to wait, but I was able to provide an overview of the facility based on my tour. The girl behind the desk had given me a class schedule as well as a list of the packages and the associated monthly fees. I just needed to add a few personal impressions, and I’d have my story.

  Once I completed both of the articles Dex had assigned to me, I took some time to organize my notes from the interview Cass and I conducted with Toby, and then I headed outside to enjoy the sunshine and chat with Tom for a while. I’d need to head back into town in about an hour, but it wasn’t often I found Tom alone for a chat.

  “Looks like you’re planning on doing some fishing,” I said as he tinkered with the small outboard motor.

  “Yup. Thought I might toss a line in the lake this year. Never even got my fishing pole out the past couple years, but with the early spring, I find myself motivated.”

  “I used to love to troll around with you when I was a kid,” I said.

  “I remember that. You loved to toss a line in the water, but you didn’t want to catch anything, so we’d weight your line but leave the hook off. You were such a tenderhearted child.”

  “I guess I was. I still am in some ways, but I will fish with a hook now. Do you still have that old rowboat?”

  He nodded. “It’s dry-docked out behind the old shed.”

  “It might be fun to teach Paisley how to row. I remember floating around on the lake, watching the clouds change shapes when I was her age.”

  “I’ll dig it out and fix it up once I get done working on the fishing boat. Are the girls still working in the sewing room?”

  I nodded. “I’m actually heading into town in a few minutes. I’m afraid my schedule has caused the cookout to be moved until tomorrow.”

  “That’s fine. I need to clean up the old grill anyway. It’ll give me more time. I’m hoping to get all my projects not garden related done before Gracie decides it’s time to tackle the cleaning, planting, and weeding of the beds for the season. It seems that once the garden season begins, it keeps us both busy until fall arrives, and we tuck the plants in.”

  I looked at my watch. “I need to run, so I’ll let you go. I hope the old boat starts up okay once you get it in the water.”

  I was on my way up to my room to grab my sweater and purse when my cell rang. It was Cass.

  “Hey, Cass. I was just getting ready to head into town.”

  “I’m going to have to miss our meeting this afternoon. I just received a call to respond to a shooting.”

  “Oh, no,” I gasped. “Who was shot?”

  “Bobby Brighton.”

  My hand flew to my mouth. “Is he...”

  “Yes, he’s dead.”

  “Do you think his death has anything to do with the Austin Brady case?” I asked. “I imagine everyone knows we’re taking a second look at the case by now, and if Austin did meet with foul play all those years ago and Bobby knew what happened, it seems to me that someone might have decided to silence him before he spoke to us.” I remembered how Toby had said that Bobby seemed to be frightened about something at the time Austin disappeared.

  “That explanation makes as much sense as anything, but I guess at this point, I just need to follow the clues an
d see where they take me. It’s also possible Bobby was shot because of something he had going on in his current life, and the timing of it is just coincidental.”

  I doubted it, but I did see why Cass would need to look at all the angles. I decided to keep the meeting with Hope and Naomi. I could hear what they had to say about Austin’s disappearance, and I could ask them about Bobby’s death and their opinions relating to his death while I was there as well.

  Chapter 6

  “I can’t believe someone shot Bobby Brighton,” Hope said after I arrived at the library where she’d been chatting with Naomi. “Do you know where this happened?”

  “I’m not sure,” I answered. “Cass was in a hurry when he called, so I didn’t ask any questions. Did you know him well?”

  “Not well,” Hope admitted, “but I did know of him. He used to be married to Tamara Harwell, one of the teachers at the elementary school. They have two children. Talia is three, and Tasha is seven months.”

  “Used to be married? Are they divorced now?” I asked.

  Hope nodded. “They actually split up before Tasha was born. Actually,” she chuckled, “before she was conceived. I guess after Talia was born, Tamara had some issues with depression, which Bobby was unwilling or unable to deal with. They separated when Talia was one. At some point between becoming separated and becoming divorced, the two had an encounter of the intimate sort, and Tasha was conceived. When Tamara first found out she was pregnant, the two tried to reconcile, but it didn’t work out, so Tamara, who is a very nice woman, by the way, has been raising her two daughters on her own.”

  “And the depression she’d been suffering from?” I asked.

  Hope shrugged. “She seems fine to me. She’s a popular teacher and a wonderful mother. She seems to have worked through whatever it was she needed to work through. I don’t know either Bobby or Tamara well, but based on what I do know, I don’t think Bobby was a very good husband. In fact, he seemed to be the sort who simply would never grow up. Tamara and I have a friend in common, Brandyanne Bradford. Brandyanne told me that it was her opinion that it was Bobby and his irresponsible behavior that caused Tamara’s depression in the first place. She told me that the guy would do the dumbest things like gambling away the money they had set aside to pay their mortgage. She told me that on more than one occasion, he would head out for beer and not come back until the following day.”

  “It does sound like she was better off without the guy. And I do hope she’s okay. I know that you know that depression can be complicated, and sometimes removing the source of stress might not take care of those hollow feelings entirely.”

  “Of course, you’re right. I guess I should check in on her. Especially now. I know she was glad to have Bobby out of her life as a husband and life partner, but it does seem that Tamara maintained a friendship with Bobby for the sake of her girls. I imagine his death will upset her.”

  I sat back in my chair. I really wasn’t sure what to make of any of this.

  “Do you think Bobby’s death is related to the second look you and Cass are making into the Austin Brady disappearance?” Naomi asked.

  “I don’t know,” I answered. “The timing makes it seem that they are related, but Cass pointed out that it’s too early to jump on that bandwagon to the exclusion of all others. I didn’t know Bobby at all. I was seven when Austin disappeared. I vaguely remember it because all the adults were talking about it. Austin, Bobby, and the others, except for Toby, went to middle school while I was just getting started in elementary school. Toby Wallis was a year ahead of me, and I knew who he was, but I didn’t know him well until we got much older. High school, actually. As an adult, I was living away from Foxtail Lake until this past fall, so I really don’t know the history.”

  “Bobby was a popular guy,” Naomi said. “He worked for a local contractor and seemed to do okay for himself. After he and Tamara divorced, he could be found at one of the local pubs most evenings. He seemed to hang out at Jack’s Place the most,” she referred to a local bar. “Many of the other men in town who work in the construction trade hang out there as well.”

  “Any known enemies?” I asked.

  “He did like to gamble and drink, and that’s never a good combination,” Hope said.

  “Hope makes a good point,” Naomi admitted. “If Bobby was killed for a reason not having to do with what he knew about Austin’s death, he was probably killed over a poker game. Either he was caught cheating, or he lost big and then couldn’t make good with what he owed.”

  “There was that accident this past fall,” Hope said.

  “Accident?” I asked.

  “One of the guys who worked with Bobby fell off a ladder,” Naomi explained. “Now, Jimmy’s paralyzed from the waist down. He insists that his fall was Bobby’s fault since the ground beneath the ladder was uneven, and Bobby was supposed to be holding the ladder steady. Bobby swore he was holding the ladder, but that Jimmy lost his balance and fell to the left, taking the ladder with him. At one point, I heard that Jimmy was going to sue Bobby, but then he realized that since Bobby didn’t have any money, there wasn’t anything to sue for, so he dropped the whole thing. But Hope is right, Jimmy is still pretty darn mad and has made threats about payback on numerous occasions.”

  “Is he able to get around?” I asked.

  “Actually, he gets around pretty well,” Naomi said. “He has a car which has been outfitted with hand controls and a travel wheelchair that is light and easy to manipulate. He can get himself in and out of the chair, and he’s able to get the chair in and out of his car, so he hasn’t lost a beat in some ways, although he can no longer do construction.”

  “Do you think he’d shoot Bobby?” I asked.

  Naomi shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. He is hanging onto a lot of anger, and he knows his way around a gun. Before the accident, he used to go hunting all the time.”

  “Does Cass know about the situation between Jimmy and Bobby?” I asked.

  “He knows,” both women answered.

  “Cass is a good cop. I’m sure he’s already considered everything we’ve discussed,” Naomi said. “I’m sure he’ll talk to Jimmy and Tamara. Cass has spent his share of time at Jack’s Place as well, so he’ll know to talk with Alex about what might have been going on in Bobby’s life.”

  “Alex?” I asked.

  “She’s a bartender at Jack’s. Basically, she’s one of the guys and tends to know what’s going on with all the regulars. If Bobby was into something, she’ll know about it.”

  “Wait,” I said. “Are you talking about that pretty redhead who looks like she just walked off the cover of Playboy Magazine?”

  “Sounds about right,” Naomi said.

  “Cass introduced me to her a couple months ago. She showed up at a restaurant where we were dining. He told me her name was Alex, but he didn’t mention that she was a bartender. Honestly, I assumed she was a model or possibly a movie star vacationing in the area.”

  “Not a model, but not just a bartender,” Hope said. “Alex is doing online classes to get her MBA. I think she’s hoping to either buy Jack’s when he’s ready to retire or start her own bar if he won’t sell to her.”

  “Good for her,” I said. “So, the guys who hang out there tend to talk to her?”

  Hope nodded. “Alex is this really unique combination of ambitious businesswoman, girl next door, and every guy’s fantasy. She’s not only beautiful, but she’s smart and knows what she wants. She can hang with the guys as well as anyone. She’s known for her ability to toss an ax or down a few shots with the bar’s clientele. She’s won the annual dart tournament three years in a row, and she isn’t afraid to spew four-letter words around like candy, which the guys seem to appreciate.”

  “The guys not only know and like her, but they trust and respect her. If they had something they wanted to get off their chest, they’d talk to her,” Naomi said.

  “And Cass knows her well?” I asked.

  “Sur
e. They used to date,” Naomi informed me.

  Suddenly, my admiration for the woman turned an ugly shade of green, which really wasn’t fair since I’d made it clear to Cass that we could never be more than friends.

  “So about the Austin Brady case,” I said, deciding to change the subject mostly because I figured that Cass would be all over the Bobby Brighton shooting and wouldn’t need my help, but also because thoughts of Cass with the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen wasn’t sitting quite right with me. “Cass and I spoke to Toby Wallis this morning.” I then took a few minutes to fill them in on the conversation. “The fact that Toby mentioned that Bobby seemed frightened a couple times seems even more important now given the newest development.”

  “So, do you think he knew something about Austin’s disappearance?” Naomi asked. “Something he’d been sworn to keep to himself, but now that you were looking into things, someone out there was afraid he’d spill after all these years.”

  “It fits the situation. Six boys go camping, but only five make it out alive. The body of the sixth is never found, so no one knows for sure what happened to him, but foul play seems to be a logical explanation. The five surviving boys all swear they don’t know a thing, but what are the odds they were lying? Maybe they were lying to protect someone, or maybe they were lying because the person who asked them to lie swore to hurt them if they didn’t. The boys are scared, but they figure they can’t do anything to help Austin at that point, so they decide to clam up so as not to become the next victim.”

  “It’s a decent theory, but can you prove any of it?” Naomi asked.