COZY MYSTERY: Murder At The Festival: A Cozy Mystery in the Mountains (Book 4)

by Liz Turner

  Chapter 10

  One of the first people Victoria spoke to was Margie’s teacher Mrs. Crankleshott. An old lady with a rather significant mole on her nose, Mrs. Crankleshott was a beloved teacher who had been teaching nearly 40 years at Everdeen High School. Victoria herself had once been taught by her. She remembered Tenth Grade English class, where she’d often ignore lessons and write her own stories under the desk. She laughed to herself; Mrs. Crankleshott had never known.

  “So.” Mrs. Crankleshott offered Victoria a biscuit as she sat down in front of her. Despite herself, Victoria felt nervous, like a schoolgirl who’d just been caught cheating on a test. “This is about Byron, I presume?”

  It was easier to let her think that, so Victoria nodded.

  “If it’s about that fight he had with Jay Cutler, I’d say ignore it. I’m a little old-fashioned, maybe, but I think this new-fangled method of zero tolerance to violence is ridiculous. Boys have been scrapping with each other forever. It’s part of their biology. Look at Rams and stallions in the wild. It’s their path to growing up, really. Don’t worry about it too much, and don’t try to lasso him. That’s my advice. Though it’s not Principal Sherman approved.”

  “I’m only worried because it’s about that girl,” Victoria said. “Byron had a thing for Margie Thompson, I think.”

  “Well, he had good taste. Margie was a fine girl.” Mrs. Crankleshott said. She looked a little sad. “I just don’t understand why she did it. Why run away?”

  “Colonel Jager said she’d been reported thrice before for running away.”

  “Teenage hijinks.” Mrs. Crankleshott waved it off. “Her mother is one to over-react, I guess. But then again, a lot of mothers are like that.”

  So Jay Cutler wasn’t the only one to think that this time was different than before, Victoria noted.

  “Did you see her behavior change in any way?” Victoria asked. “Was she moodier lately?”

  Mrs. Crankleshott tapped her nose with a long, slim finger. “To be honest with you, she was always moody. I thought it’s because she was sleep deprived. She always had dark circles under her eyes. I believe she was addicted to her phone and her computer. Youngsters these days, ah well, I suppose if she’d been born ten years earlier, she’d have been addicted to books instead.”

  “I’ve been told she was quite loud and cheerful,” Victoria said.

  “She was, sometimes.” Mrs. Crankleshott said. “She had a lively sense of humor, that girl. It endeared her to a lot of people. She told me she got it from her father. Her real father, not that Jonas fellow.”

  “You don’t like Jonas much then?”

  Mrs. Crankleshott wrinkled her nose. “I think he’s a parasite and an opportunist.” She said heatedly. “He married her mother when she was most vulnerable, just a year after his brother’s death. Poaching, I call it.”

  Victoria nodded.

  “But still, my opinion is probably influenced by Margie’s.” Mrs. Crankleshott pointed out. “She absolutely detested Jonas. I think she saw him as the reason her mother paid her less attention. She wanted either him or herself out of the house. Unfortunately, Michelle is very much in love with Jonas, so I suppose Margie decided to get herself out. Still, there wasn’t that much wrong with the family that she had to leave the way she did. No note, no goodbyes… it makes me uneasy.”

  “The night before Margie left, she had an argument with her boyfriend, Jay,” Victoria said. “At least that’s what I heard.”

  “Ah, that breakup with Jay Cutler.” Mrs. Crankleshott nodded. “I’ve heard of that too. No, I don’t suspect the boy of doing things to get rid of her, though. He’s a bit weird, but he’s sweet at the core.”

  “People can be deceptive,” Victoria said. “And even the most loving people can do things they regret in a moment of anger.”

  “But not Jay.” Mrs. Crankleshott said. “Not to Margie, anyway. He liked her too much. He was perfectly crazy about her, in fact. Many times I’ve caught him in class, drawing pictures of her in his notebook or doodling her name over and over.”

  “The sign of a boy obsessed with a girl,” Victoria said.

  “He must be devastated, poor thing.” Mrs. Crankleshott said.

  “How were her grades?” Victoria asked. “I’ve heard that sometimes if a kid is failing in class, he can run away in response. That would make sense.”

  “It would.” Mrs. Crankleshott nodded. “But Margie was doing really well. Since she started taking a computer course, her average had improved quite a bit. In fact, she was getting an A in my class this term.”

  “So it makes no sense to me why she’d run away,” Victoria said. “The more I think about it, the more afraid I am that someone… did something to her.”

  Mrs. Crankleshott shuddered. “I’d prefer to think she’s touring the world with a rock band if it’s all the same. We’ll never find out anyway.”

  “We ought to,” Victoria said. “Someone has to know. A girl can’t just vanish, and make no difference. That’s too tragic.”

  “She did make a difference.” Mrs. Crankleshott said kindly. “People always do. Jay will carry her around in his heart for a long time to come. So will her mother. So will Byron, maybe.”

  Victoria nodded and sighed. “Well, Byron said she left this at our house, but Margie’s mother said it wasn’t hers.” She brought out a lavender necklace. “Do you suppose it was one of her best friend’s?” In fact, it was Victoria’s, but she had to figure out a way to talk to those girls.

  “Rebecca and Janie.” Mrs. Crankleshott said. “Their lockers are side-by-side. Numbers 302 and 304, if you want to catch them at break time.”

  Thanking her, Victoria walked away.

  “Oh, Victoria.” Mrs. Crankleshott called out.

  “Yes?”

  “You didn’t fool me in Eighth Grade, you know.” She said with a twinkle. “I remember you thought you were sneaky, writing your stories and poems with the notebook on your lap.”

  “You saw that?” A blush climbed up her cheeks.

  “I thought it was cute, so I let you continue. But us teachers see everything.” Mrs. Crankleshott said. “Remember that.”

  Victoria was still blushing when she caught Rebecca and Janie at their lockers. Rebecca was the taller of the two, a blonde dressed in a track suit, while Janie, with her curly hair and glasses, looked more studious.

  “Hi, I’m Byron’s mom. I was at school today, and I thought I’d return this to you.” She showed them the necklace. “Margie accidentally left it over at our place, and her mother said it must belong to one of you.”

  “Never seen it,” Janie said, glancing at it.

  “Oh, that’s mine.” Rebecca took it, lifted it up in the air to get a better look, and nodded. “Yep. Definitely mine.”

  “Oh.” Victoria raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on her lie. “Well, I’m glad I could return it to its rightful owner. Byron is pretty upset about Margie’s disappearance. I’m sure you girls are too.”

  “It’s devastating,” Janie said. “I just don’t understand why she did what she did. Why run away when so much good stuff was happening?”

  “She’d just broken up with Jay, hadn’t she?” Victoria said. “Maybe she was really upset about it.”

  “Upset? She was happy about it.” Janie said. “She’d gotten so distant. She said Jay was far too jealous and possessive. She was glad to break up with him.”

  “Well, I mean, he was justified, wasn’t he?” Rebecca laughed. “Margie was as good as cheating on him with Byron.” She looked at Victoria.

  Victoria only shrugged. “If it’s true, it’s true.”

  “She did say something weird to me, though.” Janie frowned. “Something about Jay.”

  “Janie, come on. We’ll be late to class.” Rebecca said.

  “It’s slipped my mind anyway,” Janie said. “Jay’s not a very nice guy, Mrs. Armstrong. Tell Byron to be careful. If he’s got a grudge against him, it could be dan
gerous.”

  “I’ll do that,” Victoria said. “You two be careful now. Rebecca, you be careful with that necklace of yours. It’s a beautiful piece.”

  “Yes.” Rebecca’s nose flared. She turned around and stalked away, whispering something to Janie as they left.

  After school that day, Rebecca waved goodbye to Janie, walking over to her car. Victoria was waiting, leaning on the door.

  “Oh.” Rebecca stopped. “Mrs. Armstrong. Again. What’s up?”

  “Just came over to pick up my daughter,” Victoria said. “I was thinking about that necklace, Rebecca, and I don’t believe that it’s yours. I think you know it.”

  Rebecca flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s mine.”

  “You can keep it,” Victoria said. “As long as you answer a few questions about Jay and Margie.”

  Rebecca got into the car. “I don’t know what you want to know.”

  Victoria got in after her. “What’s the problem? Scared of revealing something?”

  “No! You’re a freak like that son of yours. Why don’t you get out of my car?”

  “Ok. Give me back the necklace then.”

  Rebecca bit her lip. She acted like she was about to take the necklace off, then changed her mind. “What do you want to know anyway? I might not answer.”

  “What’s the real story between Jay and Margie?”

  “Margie loved him initially,” Rebecca said. “They became best friends in Eighth grade. Margie was still relatively new then, and he was really nice to her. She still hadn’t gotten over the death of her father… I guess she never really did. I became friends with her around this time too.”

  “Did she ever give you the feeling that she might be suicidal?” Victoria asked.

  “Never,” Rebecca said. “Margie was upset with her father’s death, and a little obsessed with it, but she loved life. She had plans for the future. She wanted to either join the CSI or become a fashion designer.”

  Victoria held back a sudden flood of tears, as well as her own laughter. It was so strange, and so sad, to think of a little girl, for that’s all Margie really was, spinning dreams in her head of what she wanted to be. More and more, Victoria was becoming convinced that something bad had happened to Margie.

  “Did anything happen recently that upset her?” Victoria asked.

  “Well, there was the whole thing with Jay; she kept putting off breaking up with him. But that night, at the party, once she’d finally gathered the guts to do it, she was happy.”

  “Did you talk to her much that night?”

  “She was a little too busy with Byron.” Rebecca laughed. “But… I did see her talking with Janie right before I left. She looked a little upset.”

  Something chimed in Victoria’s memory with Janie mentioning something about Jay.

  “Well, that’s all I know,” Rebecca said. “Apart from the Jay-break-up thing, she was upset when she got fired by your sister Karen, but of course, you know all about that, right?” Rebecca laughed. “I told her she was an idiot, but Margie was so mad.”

  “Sorry?” Victoria focussed on Rebecca. “What happened, exactly?”

  “Margie slit a couple of Karen’s tires,” Rebecca said. “Payback. Unfortunately, Karen caught her at it, and there was a huge showdown.”

  “I didn’t know this,” Victoria said.

  “It was, like, a month ago. Where were you?”

  “Out of town on a catering job,” Victoria said.

  “Well, Karen came on real strong. I was there too. It was just the three of us. Karen threatened to go to Margie’s mom; she even threatened to go to principal Sherman. I’m surprised she never told anyone. Well, Margie must have done something to make up for it.”

  Maybe she had. Victoria thought. But why hadn’t Karen told her about it? That Mustang was one of Karen’s most prized possessions. Yet she hadn’t heard a word.

  “So you left early, and didn’t see Margie leave that party, is that right?” Victoria asked.

  “Yep,” Rebecca said. “I thought she’d go home with either Byron or Janie. I guess she didn’t.”

  Chapter 11

  Victoria couldn’t sleep that night. Everything seemed to float around in her mind. The few dreams she had were of Margie, crying or calling out for help over and over, while Victoria tried desperately to reach her from the other side of a wall of flames. Then Margie’s face turned into Anne’s, and some primal instinct made Victoria leap over the flames to reach her.

  She woke up with tears on her cheeks. Poor Michelle was her first thought. I’m glad it’s not my child, was her second. Imagine if it was? How would she live? What kind of half-life would she lead, forever waiting for news, wanting to know, and yet not wanting to know because she wanted to keep hope alive?

  Victoria hadn’t seen Michelle around, but she knew others who had visited her more often. Within a week, Michelle had also been back at the boutique, trying her hardest to cover up the darkness under her eyes with makeup. Poor woman.

  And Jonas. What kind of a man was he? No one in town liked him much. It was a wonder that Michelle loved him enough to stay with him. Had Margie run away because of him?

  What about Jay? She remembered him saying that his uncle had recommended he hire a lawyer. Why? Surely, if he had nothing to be afraid of, Jay wouldn’t have done that.

  But what if he did? What if he had killed Margie?

  If he had, what happened to her body? Victoria asked herself. Randolf was right, bodies don’t simply disappear. If he had dispatched sniffer dogs over a 50-mile radius, well, there was no chance that her body wouldn’t have been found.

  Which brought her back to the question, was she wasting her time? Was Margie, even now, perhaps happily settled in some far off city, and putting her past behind her?

  No, each day that passed convinced Victoria that something had happened. There were too many ways to get in touch with people and if Margie had been close to her friends then she would have messaged them. Let them know she was safe.

  “Bodies don’t go up in smoke.” Randolf had said. She agreed with him. She did not believe in magic, after all.

  “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” She muttered to herself. Then laughed. Real life was rather different than Sherlock’s stories. For one thing, it was impossible to eliminate all possibilities. It was highly improbable that a limousine had pulled up and whisked Margie off. But could Victoria honestly say that it was impossible?

  She sat up in bed and walked to the window. What had happened the night before Margie vanished? She asked herself. Taking a piece of paper, she wrote down all the events she could think of. A web soon formed.

  There was Margie at the center of it, and her family on one side, her school friends on another. On top, there were Jay and Byron. Karen underneath with a question mark over “car incident”.

  Over and over she found herself putting question marks on the paper. Like the hot springs that dotted Larch, the web seemed like an unending hole.

  With a sudden flash, Victoria sprang up. It was barely 5 am now, and the first birds had begun to chirp- but she had to talk to Randolf. In five minutes, she had showered, dressed and run out of the door.

  Randolf was still fast asleep when she banged on his front door. He opened up looking sleepy and boyishly rubbing an eye with his fist. “Victoria?” He yawned. “Whazzit?”

  “Randolf, it’s about Margie.”

  “Hmmm?”

  “Did the Rangers or anybody else check the hot springs?” Victoria asked.

  Randolf’s eyes widened. He caught on immediately.

  Among Larch’s beautiful and medicinal hot springs, there was one named the Teardrop of Flame. This particular hot spring and a handful of others close to it, had acidic waters with temperatures close to 200 C, instantly causing the moisture in the atmosphere around them to turn to steam.

  “I didn
’t think of it,” Randolf said. “The sniffer dogs weren’t much use in that area because the high sulfur concentration blocks their sense of smell. But Victoria… if she was killed because she ventured too far into the hot springs, why there’s absolutely no chance we can find out. The body will have dissolved completely by now.”

  “We have to try, don’t we?” Victoria asked.

  “Try we will,” Randolf said. “I’m close to certain that’s what happened. It seems odd that none of us really thought of it before. At any rate, I’m off to make some calls. Do me a favor, and don’t talk to anybody about this until I get more news, will you?”

  “I won’t,” Victoria promised.

  “Alright then.” Randolf bent down and pressed his lips to her. “You deserve an award, but that’s the best I can manage right now.” He rubbed his nose against her.

  A big goofy smile spread on Victoria’s face, quickly wiped out as she thought of Margie. “Good luck,” Victoria said. “Though to be honest, I hope I was wrong. I hope you don’t find anything.”

  “Me too,” Randolf said.

  She went back home, a little lost in thought, wondering about what the new day would bring. Would it bring a horrible closure to Michelle’s wait? She hoped not.

  Inside, Byron was lying on the couch, his feet propped up on the back, touching the wall.

  “Oh!” Victoria gave a start. “Byron. I didn’t realize you were up.”

  “I’m not up. I’m about to go sleep.” He said.

  “Byron!” She was about to launch into a lecture about why sleep habits were important when something in his expression made her stop. Softly, she asked, “What is it?”

  “I did something,” Byron said. “I found something.”

  “What?”

  “I know you told me that I shouldn’t use the computer. But I was thinking it over last night. Margie had once borrowed my laptop for a day when hers was at the shop. She deleted her files, but I realized that if I did a root, I could bring them back. So I did. I know it’s not admissible in court, but...”

  “You found something?” Victoria asked.