Mistletoe is Murder

by Kathy Cranston

  “I see,” the chief said, jotting something down on his notepad.

  Jessie knew this was just an attempt to psych Claudia into confessing. Chief Daly knew exactly where she’d been—he’d been there himself.

  “You were at the scene of the crime,” he said, as an afterthought.

  Jessie cringed. She hated hearing him describe her café as a crime scene, but there was no avoiding it. That’s what it was now. She and Bee had already discussed remodeling the bathrooms, such was their revulsion at the thought of what had happened there.

  “So were you,” Claudia said mildly. “So were a lot of people.”

  “Nobody with a grudge against Lottie Benson.”

  Claudia laughed. “I imagine plenty of people had a grudge against Lottie Benson.”

  “Oh? Who do you mean in particular?”

  Claudia shook her head. “Nobody. I meant… look, Lottie is an aggressive woman. She’ll start an argument over the merest hint of a slight. So while I don’t have a grudge against her, I imagine there are many people that do. I simply couldn’t bear to put up with her anymore. That’s why I cut off our friendship.”

  “Okay,” Chief Daly said nodding as if he accepted her explanation. “Okay. How many left-handed people do you think hold a grudge against Lottie?”

  Claudia frowned again. Jessie realized that was the expression she got when she was thinking hard. “I don’t know,” Claudia said at last. “I suppose we’d need to work it out.”

  “This isn’t amusing.”

  “No, I know,” Claudia said, shaking her head earnestly. “Now, Lainey says around ten percent of the population is left-handed. I guess if we extrapolate—”

  “You’re left-handed yourself?”

  “Yes,” Claudia said, before straightening in her seat. “Though I fail to see the relevance here.”

  “The relevance is you’re a known enemy of Ms. Benson. You’re left-handed. And the modified email was traced back to your home.”

  Claudia shook her head. “No. No. That’s crazy. Ridiculous. You think I’m some kind of killer?”

  Chief Daly let that question hang in the air.

  Jessie glanced down at her phone and was frustrated to see that Melanie hadn’t replied to her. They were probably chatting, but Jessie needed to speak to somebody even if it was just over text. There was so much going on and she was struggling to process it.

  There was something in the back of her mind; a seed that she couldn’t put her finger on no matter how hard she tried to focus.

  “You had Lottie Benson’s cat in your home. Are you trying to tell me that’s a coincidence?”

  Claudia seemed to have composed herself by now. “No. Well, I don’t know. I told you—that cat loves my neighbor. Sometimes he comes onto my property when she’s not around. And she’s been gone for weeks because of the remodeling. You saw how he reacted to me—he doesn’t like me at all. Now, you think I’d have any chance of getting that cat to come into my house unless he decided to do it himself? No siree.”

  Jessie wrinkled her nose. Claudia had an answer for everything. She picked up her phone and found Lottie’s number. She dashed off a quick text.

  What are you guys doing? Talk to me.

  She knew Lottie would tease her like crazy for being so needy, but she didn’t care. She was restless after so many hours of activity. There was no way she could actively participate in the interrogation—and she knew that—but sitting in the back didn’t feel like much help.

  So Jessie’s head swam with relief when the door of the interview room opened and Pete Kendall appeared. Jessie was torn then—she wanted to go find the others, but she needed to stay there and watch the interview just in case there was something the chief missed because he was too close.

  She sighed and looked longingly back at the door.

  Who was she kidding? She was an amateur—her main addition to any investigation was manpower and an extra set of eyes looking through documentation. She had no experience of interrogations and her knowledge of human psychology had been gleaned from daytime talk shows.

  Jessie stood and stretched reasoning that her presence wouldn’t be missed for a moment or two. She’d pop out and speak to the others and then go back to the observation room feeling refreshed and focused.

  She shuffled the short distance to the door and grabbed the handle, half-focused on the proceedings in the interview room. Pete was there now—she wasn’t going to be able to add anything that two cops weren’t.

  And then something floated into her consciousness. She wasn’t sure if it had been triggered by something that Chief Daly said or something else. She turned and stared through the one-way glass.

  “You’re telling me that you were at church with Pastor Kinsey at the time of Tom Rushe’s murder?”

  Claudia nodded. “Yes. Of course. It’s what I do most evenings.”

  “You go to church most evenings?”

  “Yes,” she said, eyes narrowing at the implication that there was something strange about that.

  “And you’ve got somebody who can verify that?”

  “Pastor Kinsey,” she sniffed. “And Edna. I was with them all evening on the day you’re referring to.

  Chapter 31

  Jessie rubbed her temples and pulled the door open. Whatever insight she had so fleetingly felt was gone now, and she was sorely in need of a soda and an inane conversation about the latest internet fad. Melanie was just the person to give her a dose of lighthearted entertainment.

  She pressed the button and exited the secure area, nodding to Officer Stanley on the other side. She made for the chief’s office.

  Jessie stopped midstep. The office door was open and there was no one inside. Jessie turned back to Officer Stanley.

  “Did my aunt and the others leave?”

  Officer Stanley frowned. “I haven’t seen them all day. I did just start my shift, though. Just before you and the chief arrived.”

  Jessie shook her head, coming closer to the desk. “Didn’t they just come back with Officer Kendall? He was with them at Lottie’s house.”

  “He might have been, but he came back alone. He just got back. Did some paperwork before he went to help Chief Daly.”

  Jessie’s heart was hammering in her temples. There was something going on, what with Claudia’s supposed alibi and the strange feeling Jessie had had for the past half hour. She pulled out her phone and stared at the screen, still blank.

  “How’s the reception in here?” Jessie asked, reasoning that their messages must not have come through yet.

  “Pretty good,” Officer Stanley shrugged. “I’ve never had any problems. Jessie, is everything okay?”

  Jessie smiled as reassuringly as she could. Her heart was racing. She turned and opened her contacts, scrolling through until she found Lottie’s name. Melanie had always been easily distracted, but it wasn’t like Lottie to ignore a message, especially not one that was so ripe with material for her to tease Jessie.

  She hit the number and told herself that she was being paranoid. Her mouth went dry as she listened to the dial tone.

  “Come on, Lottie,” she muttered. “Answer. Come on.”

  Finally—to her great relief—the tone ended and she heard Lottie’s cheery voice.

  “Lottie, thank heavens. It’s me—Jessie. Can you—”

  Jessie’s stomach plummeted as Lottie spoke over her and asked her not to bother leaving a message as she never checked them.

  She’d gotten through to her friend’s voicemail.

  With shaking fingers, she closed out of the call window and scrolled down to Melanie’s number. She hit dial and waited, trying not to think of the fact that Melanie’s phone was rarely out of her sight.

  That too went to voicemail—Melanie was faster off the mark when it came to her message, so Jessie knew immediately that her call hadn’t gone through.

  “What’s going on?” Jessie muttered.

  “Anything I can help with?” Officer
Stanley asked brightly.

  Jessie turned and leaned against the desk. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m going crazy, but something’s wrong here. Lottie and Mel aren’t answering their cell phones and the suspect claims to have an alibi. I mean…”

  Officer Stanley nodded. “It turns out she does have an alibi. Pete just sent me a text and asked me to call the pastor. I just got off the phone with him. He’s what we call an airtight alibi so it looks like you’ve got the wrong gal.”

  “That can’t be,” Jessie gasped. Because everything pointed at her. There was so much evidence. She must have found a way to get away from the church. Jessie steadied herself. “Look, I’m not trying to be rude here, but is there any way she could have gotten the pastor to lie for her?”

  Officer Stanley threw her head back and laughed. “Pastor Kinsey? Are you kidding me? The man is as straight as a die.”

  Jessie grimaced. “Well then, could she have sneaked out?”

  “I doubt it,” Officer Stanley said, tapping something on her keyboard. “He just told me about their evening in painstaking detail. Now, he wasn’t sure whether she went to the bathroom twice or three times, but each time it was for a minute or two. Jessie, he would have told me for sure if she’d left for longer than a minute.”

  “I don’t understand,” Jessie said, looking around the empty reception area. “It all points to her. Those emails were changed on her computer. How can that be wrong?”

  Officer Stanley shook her head. “No, that happened on her connection; not necessarily her computer.”

  “What are you saying? Somebody else could have accessed her connection?”

  “Well, yeah. It’s not that difficult really. All you need to do is get close enough so that you can access somebody’s Wi-Fi connection.”

  “Wouldn’t you need their password?”

  Officer Stanley shrugged. “Sure. But these things can be hacked or guessed.”

  Hacked. There was that word again. For now, Jessie was sure of two things. One, Claudia wasn’t their killer. Two, she needed to get hold of Lottie immediately and get her back to the station.

  “Can you let the chief know?” Jessie asked, as she found Lottie’s number again and hit dial.

  She leaned against the desk and waited as it rang. She was surprised when it stopped after two rings.

  “Lottie,” she gasped. “Oh, thank goodness. I thought you were in trouble. Listen—you’ve got to get back here, okay? I don’t care if it’s boring, just get here and take the others with you. You hear me?”

  There was a cold laugh at the other end of the line that made the hairs on Jessie’s arms stand on end. She held her breath and waited for Lottie to guffaw and brag about how she’d successfully spooked Jessie.

  But she didn’t speak.

  “Lottie?” Jessie said again, pulse ringing in her ears by now.

  There was a cold laugh again. Then a sharp intake of breath. “Thanks for your concern,” came an icy woman’s voice. “I’ll tell her to keep that in mind.”

  Chapter 32

  Jessie fell against the desk in shock. Chief Daly and Officer Kendall, who were coming out of the secure area, rushed to help her back to her feet. She held the phone to her ear, but all she heard was dial tone.

  “It’s…” she gasped. “It’s…”

  Chief Daly clamped his hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, Jessie. Take your time.”

  “I can’t,” she yelped. “Somebody’s got Lottie!”

  Pete and the chief exchanged glances.

  “Jessie,” the chief said, grasping her shoulders and shaking her firmly. “Focus. Someone’s got Lottie you say?”

  Jessie nodded. She wanted to tell him yes, that she vaguely recognized the icy female voice from the other end of the line but she simply couldn’t get the words out.

  “Jessie,” he said sternly, though she could see the concern in his eyes. “You’ve got to tell us what’s going on.”

  Jessie shook out of his grasp and leaned against the counter. It felt like she was underwater; like her brain was too clogged up to think straight or even form sentences. “I… I… tried to call her. She didn’t pick up and neither did Mel. Then a woman answered.”

  “What did she say, Jessie?”

  Jessie shook her head. It was only a couple moments since the call but she struggled to recall those words. It was the voice that stuck with her. “I… she said… I thought I was speaking to Lottie and I said she needed to get over here. She said—the woman—that she’d tell Lottie to bear that in mind.”

  Pete and the chief exchanged glances. “Who is this? We know for sure it’s not Claudia; not after her alibi turned out to be Pastor Kinsey himself. Who is it?”

  Jessie’s hands flew to her temples. There was something there; something she felt was just below the surface. It had almost hit her but then she’d called Lottie and the shock had pulled it away from her mind again.

  “Why weren’t you with her?” she asked Pete faintly.

  He shook his head, looking almost as rattled as she did herself. “I thought it was over. The chief told me he’d taken Claudia in. Figured I was needed back here and the danger was gone. Besides—those three were starting to drive me and each other crazy. We all needed the time apart. We all left at the same time. I dropped the three of them back into town.”

  “Wait,” Jessie said, freezing. “You mean Lottie’s now back at her house? Where did you drop her? Do you know where she was going?”

  He shook his head forlornly and Jessie couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. They had all believed that Claudia was the one behind the murders. “No. I left them at the café. Bee and Mel were going to do some work there. I can’t recall Lottie’s plan—probably to get as far away from the others as possible.”

  “Right,” the chief said, marching to the door.

  “Wait, Chief,” Jessie said, running after him. “We don’t know where they are.”

  He sighed, not breaking his stride as he hurried down the steps. “We don’t have the luxury of time here. We’ll check her store and then go from there.” He broke into a sprint as soon as he got to the bottom of the steps. Jessie had never seen him run so fast before but there was no time to dawdle around.

  They rushed along Main Street, ignoring the strange looks from passersby. Jessie thought her lungs were going to collapse by the time they reached the butchery.

  Chief Daly pulled out his firearm as they reached the door and gestured for Jessie to stay well behind him and Officer Kendall. She handed him her key chain, holding up the spare key for the butchery.

  Jessie closed her eyes and waited, praying they weren’t too late.

  “It’s clear,” the chief said a few moments later, sounding dejected.

  Jessie’s heart sank.

  “We need to think,” he muttered. “We’re looking for somebody who was at the party who’s left-handed.”

  “And tech savvy,” Jessie added. She frowned. “Not just that, but somebody who’s respectable. They must have loitered around Claudia’s property in order to send that email.”

  Jessie closed her eyes. She didn’t know Claudia well. She tried to remember who she’d seen her associate with in the past. She sometimes came to the café and had breakfast with Candi McShane. She attended a few Springdale women in business meetings, but…

  Jessie groaned. “What is it Mel said? There’s something like one in five people who are left- handed. ”

  Pete shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I’m right handed,” he said, holding up that hand. “I wouldn’t have a clue.”

  “It’s one in ten, I think,” the chief said, shaking his head. “Though I’d question where that statistic came from. It’s—” he stopped when he saw the look on Jessie’s face. “What is it?”

  Jessie stared at him. “Lainey,” she said hollowly. “She’s Claudia’s neighbor.”

  Chief Daly shook his head. “I don’t see what that’s got to do with anything. You’ve got to focus here, Jess
ie. Lainey has nothing to do with this…” he trailed off.

  Jessie squeezed her eyes closed. “She was the one,” she whispered. “She said that thing about lefthanders. I didn’t think it was significant at the time or until now, but there was something niggling me. Like Pete said, who knows a stat like that if they’re not left handers themselves?”

  “That’s no proof.”

  “No, but she’s Claudia’s neighbor. How’s that for coincidence? And… And…” Jessie said, waving her hands excitedly. “Buster the cat loves her, not Claudia. Do you know what she does for a living? I know she’s spoken at the Women in Business meeting but I can’t remember what she said she does.”

  The chief shook his head. “No,” he said thoughtfully. “But I do remember her offering her services for the council. Mike said she was almost relentless. She’s some sort of online marketing guru. Said she could really put Springdale on the map. Seemed quite put out when they didn’t take her up on her offer.”

  “We need to find her,” Jessie gasped. “Right now.” She tried Lottie’s cell again but it was turned off now. Panicking, she scrolled through her phone and found Mel’s number.

  Mel answered almost immediately. “Mel,” Jessie hissed. “You’re okay!”

  “That’s debatable,” her cousin groaned. “I almost died of boredom when we were—”

  “There’s no time,” Jessie gasped. “Do you know where Lottie was headed?”

  “Why?” Mel asked, immediately picking up the urgency. “Wait, never mind. Anything I can do? She was headed for the store when Pete dropped us back into town. But…”

  “What is it, Mel?”

  “Could be nothing, but she got a phone call just as I said goodbye to her. She had turned away from the store to answer it. Might be worth checking the camera feeds from the store?”

  “If only she’d replaced the memory cards,” Jessie groaned, dialing off and turning back to the chief. “Mel says Lottie was going back here when she last saw her. She received a phone call just as she got here. I’ll call Aunt Bee and see if she saw anything.”