by Jessica Beck
“Somebody had to investigate,” Moose said.
“I told you before what held me up,” the sheriff said. “It took me this long to get permission to come here and even ask questions. But then that’s my job, isn’t it?”
“We both know that, but you really should be thanking us instead of chewing us out,” I said. “If it weren’t for us, none of this evidence would have even been here. Do you honestly think that Charlotte was really in his room looking for a book? She was there searching for something, and if it hadn’t been for us, I have no doubt that she would have found it. As for the rest of them, I don’t have any problem imagining any of them going through his room. It would have been like Grand Central Station in there.”
“Okay, take it easy. I get your point.” The sheriff sat down on one of the chairs with the evidence we’d found on his lap. “This is good work. Even I have to admit that. I guess I’m just frustrated having my hands tied.”
“I understand. Thank you,” I said.
“You’re welcome,” he said with a hint of a smile. “This is a political bombshell. It appears that the Trane family has more influence than I thought. I really have to tiptoe around this family.”
“How about Crane? Have you checked his room yet?”
The sheriff nodded. “I went there before I came to see you two,” he replied.
“What do you think? Was it foul play?”
“I don’t have any idea at this point,” he said.
“What about the blood?” Moose asked.
“Like I said on the phone, he could have done that shaving. As for the room being wrecked, I’ve seen worse.”
“That still doesn’t explain where he is now, and why he disappeared,” I said.
“I’ve got some of my people out looking for him,” the sheriff said, “but for now, there’s no reason to suspect that he just didn’t get tired of staying here and left on his own.”
“What about his car?” Moose asked. “Has anyone looked for that?”
“It’s still parked in front of his house,” the sheriff said. “Jeffrey brought him here in the limo, so we can assume that he either took a taxi back or he’s on foot.”
“Have you followed up on that?” I asked.
The sheriff nodded. “There are no record of any pickups here today that we can find. Who knows? Maybe he called a friend to pick him up. These things take time.”
“Crane might not have all that much time left,” I said.
“Don’t be so melodramatic,” the sheriff said. “Nine chances out of ten, he’ll show up and be surprised about the fuss being made over him.”
“Maybe so, but it’s the tenth time that I’m worried about,” I said.
“Like I said, I’m looking into it.” He waved the documents around in the air. “I need to speak with your list of suspects. There are some questions I need answered.”
“Good luck with that,” Moose said. “They are all pretty good at avoiding anything that even resembles a direct question.”
“You don’t have to worry about me. I have my own methods of questioning suspects,” the sheriff said when his radio squawked, calling his name.
“Croft here,” he said.
“Sheriff, we need you back in town pronto.”
“I’m busy out here, Melinda,” he said. “Is it important?”
“I think so. Someone just fired a shot into the mayor’s house,” the dispatcher said.
“Was anyone hurt?”
“Apparently His Honor got hit. His wife, Missy, called it in, and she was so hysterical, I couldn’t make any sense out of anything she was saying. She kept screaming, “Frank’s been shot. Frank’s been shot.” As of this second, I don’t know anything else yet. You’d better get over there ASAP.”
“I’m on my way,” the sheriff said, and then he turned to us as he headed for the door. “Sorry, but I have to go.”
“What about the murder investigation?” Moose asked.
“You heard what Melinda said. An active shooting takes precedence over a victim that’s already dead, and it looks like I’ve got a shooter on the loose in Jasper Fork.”
Sheriff Croft was gone before either one of us could even reply. “Moose, who would want to kill Frank Unger?”
“Nobody that I can think of. What’s this world coming to?”
“I don’t know. Things do seem to be more violent these days than I can remember.”
“Maybe you can’t remember bad times from the past, but I can recall plenty of them,” Moose said. “I don’t know if things really are getting worse, or if we just hear about them more these days with all of the instant communication we have.”
“I don’t know.” I looked at my hands for a second, and then I asked my grandfather, “What are we supposed to do in the meantime?”
“I’d say that we have to keep digging,” he said. “The sheriff’s going to have his hands full for a while, and somebody needs to keep investigating Curtis’s murder.”
“It would have made it a whole lot easier if he had deputized us,” I said.
“I don’t think so. I like it just fine not having to deal with any of the rules and regulations that restrict him. After all, we don’t need anyone’s permission to solve Curtis’s murder.”
“That’s true,” I said.
“Victoria, I’m all for doing more snooping, but if I don’t eat something soon, I’m going to pass out from hunger,” Moose said.
“Don’t you think that you might be exaggerating just a little?” I asked.
“If anything, I’m understating the situation,” he said.
“Give me one more minute, and then we’ll go,” I said.
“What can’t wait until after I eat?” Moose asked.
“I thought you might like to learn what I overheard while I was in that secret passageway, but if you want to wait until after we eat, that’s fine with me.”
Moose looked surprised by my comment. “When you didn’t say anything to the sheriff about it, I just assumed that you hit a blank wall.”
“I did, but there was a hidden door in the passageway that opened up onto a viewing area,” I said. “I was about to walk out when I overheard Tristan and Sarah talking.”
“What did they say?” he asked eagerly.
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until after breakfast?” I asked him with a grin.
“Victoria, don’t toy with a hungry old man.”
“Fine. Tristan was worried about us, but Sarah was more concerned about what Jeffrey and Crane might do to hurt them.”
“Hurt them? In what way?”
“I never got the chance to find out. They’re up to something, though.”
“Where exactly did that passageway end?” my grandfather asked me.
“It opened up into the hallway landing where we spoke to everyone last night when we came out of Curtis’s room,” I said.
“That’s too bad,” Moose answered.
“Why is that?”
“Think about it, Victoria. I was hoping that it would lead directly to someone else’s room. At least that way we’ve have a good idea about who visited you last night. If the passageway goes into the hall, anyone could have accessed it.”
“If they knew that it was there in the first place,” I said.
“Sure, but we don’t have any way to discover who knew about the passageway and who didn’t, do we?” he asked.
“Is there any way that we can block the entrance into my room?” I asked as I glanced over at the panel.
“It opens inward, so I don’t see how. It really bothers you, doesn’t it?”
“Wouldn’t it irk you?” I asked. “I just don’t feel safe here.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Moose said. “If we’re both on our toes all of the time, we have a better chance of making it out of here alive.”
“The killer doesn’t have any reason to come after us now, right?”
“I don’t know about that,” Moose said as he s
cratched his chin. “After all, we’re asking a lot of pointed questions, and they might not like us digging into what happened to Curtis. If we get too close, we could become a threat they feel they have to deal with.”
“I wish we were,” I said. “Right now I feel as though we’re just spinning our wheels.”
“It’s not all that bad,” Moose said. “After all, we’ve got some angles to explore with our suspects, and there’s always the fact that Crane has vanished altogether.”
“Do you think that means that he’s the one who killed Curtis?”
My grandfather shrugged. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that, but if he left of his own volition, he might be up to something. Think about it. He didn’t look all that comfortable about having Renee here last night, did he?”
“No, it was pretty clear that the news of her involvement wasn’t something that he was all that happy to learn about. Would that alone make him run?”
“If he was cooking the books, having a forensic accountant examine them is probably the worst thing that he could imagine happening,” Moose said. “Then again, it could all be innocent.”
“You don’t believe that any more than I do,” I said. “It has to mean something.”
“Yeah, more than likely it does. We just don’t know what yet.”
“Then let’s get a quick bite of breakfast and then see if we can find out,” I said.
“Finally, we get to eat,” Moose said with a grin.
“I have a feeling that it’s the only way that I’m going to get you to stop talking about food,” I answered.
“You’re hungry, too; admit it.”
“I could eat,” I said, and then I smiled as I opened my door.
To my surprise, I nearly ran over someone standing just on the other side of it. Had she been trying to listen in on my conversation with my grandfather?
“Sarah, what are you doing here?” I asked.
She frowned in reply. “I was sent to fetch you both.”
“Why didn’t you just knock, then?” Moose asked her as we all started downstairs.
“I was about to when Victoria opened the door and saved me the trouble,” Sarah said. Why didn’t I believe her?
“What do you need?”
“Aunt Charlotte insists that you join us, and no one gets to eat until you do.”
I understood that the household followed certain rules, but I couldn’t believe that they’d actually been waiting for us this long before they’d eat. If it were too much longer, we’d all be having lunch. “We were just on our way down.”
“Good,” she said. “What did that cop have to say?”
“The sheriff?” Moose asked.
“How many cops were here? Of course I mean the sheriff.”
“He just wanted to touch base with us,” I said casually.
“Do you know why he left so quickly?” Sarah asked.
“He had an emergency,” Moose answered. “But don’t worry. He’ll be back.”
Why did I get the impression that Sarah wasn’t all that pleased with the news? She quickly masked it, though. “Good to know.”
We walked into the dining room, and sure enough, Jeffrey was still sitting there, along with Tristan and Charlotte.
“Sorry we’re late,” I said as I took my seat again.
Moose added, “Me, too,” as he joined us.
Charlotte didn’t even comment as she reached for the bell and rang it. The food came immediately, and I expected it to be cold and just about inedible, but to my surprise, it was all hot and fresh. Everything must have been thrown out and they’d started over. I was certain that hadn’t endeared any of us with Chef Cassidy, but it couldn’t be helped.
As we ate, Charlotte made a few attempts at polite conversation, but after everyone pretty much ignored her, she gave up, and we mostly ate in peace.
After we finished, Tristan asked me, “So, what’s on your agenda today?”
“My grandfather and I have a few things that we need to do,” I said. “How about you?”
“I’ll be in my studio all morning. I’m painting Sarah.”
His sister rolled her eyes. “Must we do that today, given all that’s happened around here lately, Tristan?”
“I think it might be a welcome relief to both of us to have something to do to occupy our time,” he said. “It will keep our minds off what happened to Uncle Curtis.”
“Sitting on a stool holding a parasol isn’t exactly all that absorbing to me,” she protested. “It might be different if it ended up looking anything like me, but you might as well be painting an umbrella stand as much as it’s going to resemble me by the time you’re finished.”
“I’m trying to capture your inner spirit,” Tristan said, clearly offended by his sister’s criticism.
“Well, you need to keep looking, because when I peeked at it yesterday, it wasn’t anywhere close by.”
“You have to be patient,” he said. “These things take time. Besides, you promised.”
“Fine,” she said with a snort.
“How about you, Charlotte?” Moose asked.
“He keeps asking me, but I refuse to pose for him on general principle alone,” she answered.
“That’s not what I meant,” Moose said. “What are you going to do today?”
“I have work to do, real work,” she said.
“Will you be able to do it from here?” I asked.
“Why do you ask?”
“It will help if we have access to all of you in case we need to talk to you,” I said. “We’re taking Curtis’s last request to us quite seriously.”
“Just as you should,” Jeffrey said. “I’m sure that everyone will be delighted to continue to cooperate with you both.”
“Of course we will,” Charlotte said as she shot Jeffrey a quick glare.
I was bracing myself for his reply when Humphries appeared with a familiar face in tow. “Ms. West has arrived,” he said, and Renee stepped forward.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt your breakfast,” she said. “I can come back later.”
“Nonsense,” Jeffrey said with a grin. “I was finished, anyway. I’m afraid that it’s just going to be the two of us, though.”
“What happened to Crane?” she asked with a frown.
“That’s what we’re still trying to determine,” he replied. “Come on, I’ll explain on the way.”
She nodded in my direction and smiled, and then she did the same with Moose as she and Jeffrey walked away.
“If you’ll excuse us as well,” I said as I stood.
“Of course,” Charlotte replied.
We all left the dining room then, my grandfather and me in one direction, the brother and sister leaving together in another, and Charlotte heading off to who knew where by herself.
That just left my grandfather and me.
It was time to start digging anew.
Chapter 18
“Where should we start today?” I asked Moose as we walked out into the foyer together.
“The first thing that I need to do is call Deb Pence at Joshua’s,” he said as he reached for his cellphone.
He looked frustrated a few seconds later.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
“I can’t get a signal here,” he said. “I’m going to walk out onto the porch and see if I can do any better there.”
I was about to walk out with him when I saw Humphries lingering behind the stairs. I was certain that he thought that he was out of my line of sight, but he’d shifted at precisely the wrong moment, and I’d spotted him.
“I’ll be right there,” I whispered.
Moose raised an eyebrow, and I pointed toward where the butler was hiding. He nodded, and then my grandfather stepped outside alone.
I walked straight to Humphries’s hiding place. “Are you lurking?” I asked him with a smile.
He didn’t even look embarrassed by being caught eavesdropping. “It’s my job to be invisibl
e, but available at all times.”
“Wow, that must be tough to do,” I said.
“It can be challenging at times. Is there something I can do for you?”
I nodded. “You can answer a question for me. What do you think happened to Crane?”
He looked surprised to hear me ask him. “I’m sure that I don’t know.”
“That’s the thing. None of us know, but I have a hunch that you have an opinion.”
The butler looked uncomfortable. “I’m not accustomed to being directly asked my opinion about anything.”
“Then think of this as your lucky day,” I said.
He thought about my question, and then Humphries said, “I think he left of his own volition.”
“That’s interesting. Why do you say that?”
“If he were dragged away, someone would have heard him,” Humphries said. “I’m not the only one listening in to the heartbeat of this house.”
“Who else might have heard something?” I asked.
“It’s well known that Ms. Trane has insomnia,” he said softly. “She doesn’t miss much.”
“You don’t care for her a great deal, do you?”
Humphries took a step back. “I’m sure that I don’t know what you mean. She is a delight.” The stone expression on his face made me realize that I’d overstepped my boundaries with him this time. There was a fine line between having a confidential conversation and showing loyalty to his employers, and though Charlotte wasn’t his boss directly, she was still Curtis Trane’s sister.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. Forgive me.”
Humphries looked surprised. “There’s no need to apologize.”
“Clearly there is,” I said. “If it were you, how would you go about finding Crane?”
“I’m sure that I wouldn’t know.”
There was a barrier that was up now in full force, and I wasn’t having any luck breaking through it, at least not at the moment. He’d been more open to talking with me before I’d asked him about Charlotte Trane, but that door had slammed shut. I’d try him again later, or maybe even have Moose make a run at questioning the butler, but for now, Humphries was just another dead end.
