by Jenn Cowan
“Where did Sally go after you questioned her?”
He frowns. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I didn’t see Sally at the spa after April was killed.”
“I questioned her in the office. I assumed she was still in there.”
I rack my brain trying to remember the day April was murdered. I didn’t go into the office so it’s possible. “Why would Dr. Gregory come back and try to break into the spa again?”
“Take the focus off Vicky. Make her look like the victim.”
“But why break into the spa after Vicky was already in the hospital?”
Travis opens his mouth and then shuts it again. “I don’t know. I’ll have to ask him when we interrogate him.”
I nod. Travis doesn’t know half of what’s going on in this town. I think I’ll keep it that way for a little while longer. I still need to look over the file Sally gave me. The thought of April having something on me turns my stomach. I was too exhausted and maybe a little scared to look last night, but now I know I have too. It could have more pieces to the puzzle.
Travis steps a little closer and reaches out to rub a hand up my arm. The touch sends electricity down my arm. “You’re awful quiet. Anything you want to share?”
“Maybe later. My lunch is probably ready.” I start toward the café.
He steps in my way. “Autumn…” He pauses. “I’m sorry.”
My mouth drops open. “For what?”
Travis smirks then runs a hand thru his hair. “For the last fifteen years and this past week.”
I blink. Not knowing what to say.
“I can’t believe it’s taken fifteen years to talk to you. To touch you. To be near you and when I get the chance I keep messing it up. Accusing you of murder. Yelling at you for talking to Cat. Giving you the cold shoulder. You name it, I’ve done it this past week. I never thought I’d get a chance to explain things. To make this right.” He motions back and forth between us.
I’m stunned. My mouth starts collecting snowflakes from hanging open so long.
“Autumn, food’s ready,” Josh calls from the steps of the diner.
I glance up. Tears are falling down my cheeks before I even realize it. Josh must have seen them because he comes storming across the parking lot.
“What did you say to her?” He places a protective arm around my shoulder.
“Nothing that pertains to you,” Travis snaps.
Josh balls his fists. “If it has to do with Autumn, it does pertain to me.”
“You don’t own her. She’s not yours to protect.”
“She’s not yours either.”
Travis steps back as if he’s been slapped then he balls his fists and narrows his eyes at Josh. Before he can take a step toward him, I place a hand on his chest. He blinks and stares down at me.
“We’ll talk later, okay.”
He covers my hand with his. “You have my number.” Gives my hand a squeeze before shooting Josh a glare and stomping off to his SUV.
“What was that?”
I stuff my hands in my coat and head inside without answering. The café is warm and cozy. I see our usual booth in the back with our lunches waiting for us. Hopefully, the bacon’s still warm. I slide in and shed my coat.
“Autumn, what’s going on?” Josh slides in across from me and pins me with a look.
I bite into my sandwich. This isn’t a topic I want to discuss with Josh. He’ll flip out. Fifteen years and he’s been the only man in my life. Sure, I’ve dated, but nothing ever lasted. Mostly because they felt threatened by mine and Josh’s relationship. I take another bite and try to figure out how to tell my best friend I’m thinking about giving Travis another chance. Not as in dating again. I’m not ready for that, but we could at least be on talking terms. Maybe go out as friends. Take Cat to a movie or ice skating. Friends do those things, right?
“Autumn, put down the sandwich and talk to me.” Josh’s leg is bouncing up and down underneath the table. Something he does when he’s nervous.
I do as he asks and swallow my food. “Travis was apologizing.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
“Everything?”
I nod.
“So…what does that mean?”
I shrug.
“You’re not going to date him again, are you? The man’s spent the last week accusing you of murder.” He says the murder word a little too loud and a few people glance our way. I smile and wave and they go back to eating.
I lean forward and lower my voice, “Why don’t you just put up a billboard sign if you’re going to shout it from the rooftops?”
Josh cringes. “Sorry. I’m upset. I don’t understand. The man cheated on you. Had a baby with another woman. With April. Your best friend at the time.”
I feel like he just punched me in the gut, but I don’t let him see how much he hurt me. I know he’s looking out for me. “You’ve always been my best friend.”
His worried expression softens. “Your best ‘girl’ friend.”
I sigh. “Josh, it’s been fifteen years, don’t you think it’s time to forgive and move on?”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “No. What he did to you…the pain he caused you…I spent weeks, no, months picking up the pieces of your broken heart.” He drops his head then shakes it. “Hearing you cry yourself to sleep every night on the phone with me, you didn’t smile, barely ate, didn’t go out, you became a shell of the Autumn I know and love. He destroyed you. It wasn’t until we left for massage school that you started to be yourself again. I won’t stand by and let you fall right back into his charming trap.”
“You won’t let me?” I can feel the blood pounding in my ears. Everything Josh is saying is true, but it’s my life. My choice. Not his.
He scoffs. “You know what I mean.”
“Obviously, I don’t.” I raise my voice to get my point across.
“Autumn, Travis isn’t right for you. You have to know that.”
“He was drunk, Josh.”
Josh blinks. “Travis never drank in high school.”
“I know.”
“So, why did he?”
“I haven’t had a chance to ask him yet.”
“It still doesn’t excuse his behavior. He made the choice to drink. To keep drinking. To sleep with April. Nothing changes that.”
My hands are shaking and I’m on the verge of tossing this sandwich in my best friend’s face. “I’m gonna go.”
“What? Why? Where?” His eyes are wide and he’s looking at me like I’m speaking a different language.
I stand and slip on my coat. Tiffany walks by and I hand her a twenty. “Keep the change.”
She looks back and forth between me and Josh before hurrying off.
“Autumn, please sit down.” He grabs my wrist.
I shake him off. “I want to be alone.”
“But we drove together.”
“Walking in the freezing cold sounds a lot better than riding anywhere with you. Park my Jeep in my driveway when you get home.”
“Autumn, please,” Josh begs.
I can feel the crack in our relationship grow wider as I walk toward the door. Maybe I should go sit back down so we can talk this out. Then we can go back to my house and watch Netflix, but I can’t go back. I can only go forward. Alone.
15
Why did I think this was a good idea? My nose is practically frost bit. I move it to get some sort of feeling in it. My wool coat is doing little to ward off the bitter wind. Of course, I stomped out into the cold without water proof boots. My feet and toes are aching and my fingers are like icicles hanging from my hands. At least it stopped snowing. Not that it’s helping my current state.
I groan as I think of my toasty fireplace, all ready and waiting for me in my cozy little yellow house. My anger gets the best of me sometimes and makes me do erratic things like storm off into a winter wonderland.
I know Josh is probably driving ar
ound looking for me. Of course, he probably turned right out of the café. Thinking I was going to walk home, which is only two miles from the Eddie’s Fifties Café, but I didn’t. No, I went left. Away from town. Away from passing vehicles. Away from anyone who could help me if the mysterious dark SUV decides to abduct me or worse…
The wind kicks up and I hunker down in my coat, tucking my nose beneath the flap. A crow calls out from the cemetery gate. I shiver. Not from the cold although I’m freezing, but because cemeteries freak me out. I mean they’re worse than funerals. The thought of being buried six feet under in a stuffy box for all eternity. I shiver again. I know when you’re dead, your spirit moves on, hopefully to heaven, but still the thought of worms, insects, snakes…I shiver again…eating away at the flesh. My stomach turns. Time to think of something else.
I stop at the gates and peer out onto the sea of headstones. Each one lined up perfectly with the one next to it. Like soldiers standing at attention. I spot a gray-haired man in a black trench coat hovered next to a tombstone. His back is to me, but his shoulders are shaking up and down. He must be grief stricken. I tilt my head and try to see his face. Then it hits me, it’s the Mayor.
His wife, father and mother are buried next to April. He must have come to visit her grave. It’s been a week since she was murdered. The poor man must be beside himself. Cat is the only family he has left. Of course, he does still have his son-in-law, Bobby, but I never thought those two were very close.
I step thru the gates and for some reason feel like I’m being watched. The air around me stills and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I glance around, but don’t see anyone. My mind must be playing tricks on me. It’s probably just because I’m in a graveyard. The whole spooky ghosts, wandering spirits and haunting stories I’ve heard over the years. There’s nothing to be afraid of…except maybe the Mayor.
“Hello, Autumn,” Mayor Rollins says, not taking his eyes off April’s tombstone.
“Good afternoon.” I keep my distance, but can still read the headstone. April Biggs. April 1st, 1983-January 4th, 2018. Beloved Daughter, Wife and Mother. I notice Bobby didn’t have his name on the stone. Usually husbands and wives are buried next to each other. It is a family plot, maybe the Mayor didn’t buy a space for him. That had to be an awkward conversation.
“What can I do for you, Miss Fisher?” He turns toward me. His breath smells of coffee and onions.
I hold back a cringe. I hate the smell of onions and being called ‘Miss’. It reminds me I’m thirty-three and single. No ring on my finger. No husband to go home to. No little kids running around my feet. I push the thoughts away and focus on what I need to find out…everything. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
He grunts. “Are you?”
The comment makes me pause. He’s trying to throw me. Steer me away from my objective. “I am. April and I were friends…once. Best friends…” I trail off. “I never wanted to see her…not like this.”
He nods. “Me neither. Although I can’t say I’m surprised. Everyone in town resented her. Were jealous of her. She was everything they weren’t. Beautiful. Talented. Smart. Rich. She had everything.”
I hold my tongue. It’s not worth correcting him. Let him think…believe what he wants. Romanticize his daughter’s character. He’s grieving.
“You hated her too. She stole the one thing you loved the most.”
I frown.
He laughs. “Travis wasn’t good enough for April. I told her so when I saw her kissing him at that party. She slept with him to get back at me. It had nothing to do with you.”
I snort.
“What? You don’t believe me.”
I shake my head. “April wanted Travis from the day he went from geek to quarterback. She had a huge crush on him our freshman year of high school. When he asked me out our junior year, I told him ‘no’. It wasn’t until April insisted I go out with him that I finally did. She was my best friend, I told her I wouldn’t date him if she still liked him. April told me she didn’t…guess she lied.”
“She did that a lot.”
“Lied?”
“Lied. Stole. Blackmailed. Cheated. Bought her way through life. Just like me. April’s dead because of me.”
I gasp not sure I heard him right. “W-what do you mean?”
“April died because she found out something I did. Something I regret doing many years ago.” He hangs his head. “Something I’ve been trying to hide for years. Trying to make right. I never could. Probably never will.”
I’m not sure what to say or what to do. My mouth is hanging open again. I have so many questions on the tip of my tongue, but before I can ask any the Mayor is lunging at me. My hands go up in defense, but don’t do any good. I wasn’t ready for the attack. I mentally prepare myself, my body tenses and prepares for impact.
We go down with a thud. My lower back taking the brunt of the fall. Pain shoots up my hip. I push at him, but he doesn’t move. I hold my breath thinking he’s going to strangle me. Stab me. Bash my head against a grave stone. What?
Nothing happens.
His breathing is short and raspy like he’s winded. His expensive cologne is making me gag. A heavy mix of spices. What is going on? Then I hear it.
Another pop. I heard the sound before he took me down.
The Mayor groans.
Tires squeal in the distance. Another pop sounds from the road. Is it a car back firing? I turn my head in time to see a dark SUV. Another pop sounds before the SUV speeds off.
Something sticky is caking my hands. I push on the Mayor’s chest. It’s wet. Probably from the snow. I push a little harder and he rolls to his side. I sit up. Spatters of red are covering the snow. Oh no. I pat down my body. Nothing hurts except my hip where it hit the ground. I check the Mayor. Blood is pouring out his shoulder. He’s been shot. That’s what the popping sound was. I hear a siren in the distance.
I take off my scarf and hold it to the wound. “Mayor Rollins, can you hear me?”
He groans again.
“Help is on the way. Just breathe. You’re going to be fine.” I hope so anyway.
The sirens are close. I hear a car door slam and glance up. Travis. Relief rushes through me. He hurries toward me as best he can in the deep snow. We got several inches the night before and it’s really piling up.
“Autumn, are you okay? I heard the gun shots from the church.” He scans me when he gets closer and his eyes land on the blood on my coat. They grow dark and his eyebrows pinch together forming a line between them.
“I’m fine, but the Mayor isn’t.” I glance down at the Mayor. His eyes are closed and his breathing is becoming shallower.
“What happened?” Travis bends down and checks the Mayor’s pulse.
“We were talking and the next thing I know the Mayor pushes me to the ground and whoever was shooting at us got a few more rounds off before peeling out of here.
“Did you get a look at the vehicle?”
“Same dark SUV from the spa.”
Travis frowns as two EMT’s crouch beside us and begin to work on the Mayor. We step back and let them whisk the Mayor away.
I shiver in the cold although I don’t feel cold. Maybe I’m in shock. Travis wraps an arm around my shoulder.
“Are you sure you’re not hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital?”
I shake my head. “The Mayor saved me. I thought it was a car back firing.” A tear falls from my eye, and I reach to brush it away when Travis catches my hand.
“Your hands are covered in blood.” He uses his thumb and wipes away the tear. His touch sending a different kind of shiver down my spine. “Let’s get you home and cleaned up. Then you can tell me what happened.”
I nod and let him lead me toward his SUV, which is in the church parking lot. “What were you doing at the church?”
“I was actually at the school. Cat forgot her lunch in my car. When I went to drop it off they said she never showed up.”
“Oh no!
Did you call your house?”
He nods. “I did. She said she wasn’t feeling well.”
“Poor thing. She’s been through a lot.”
“She definitely has,” he mutters.
When we reach his vehicle, he helps me in the passenger seat and buckles me up so I don’t get blood on the seat. We wait for the ambulance to take off, sirens blaring with the Mayor tucked inside.
Travis grabs some hand wipes from the glove box and cleans my hands. “What were you doing out here?” He looks around. “Without your Jeep.”
“Going for a walk.”
He quirks an eyebrow. “In freezing temperatures?”
I shrug. “I needed some air.”
He studies me. “Why are you walking out here?”
“It’s away from my house.”
“And you want to walk away from your house because…” he pauses. “I’m stumped. Am I missing something?”
I sigh and decide to tell him everything. “Me and Josh got in a fight. I didn’t want to ride home with him so…that’s why I’m walking out here.”
“And you know he’s out looking for you so you went the opposite way of your house.”
“Pretty much.”
He frowns. “What were you fighting about?”
I look out the window and bite my lip.
“Autumn?” He squeezes my arm. “Talk to me.”
I glance down at his hand then into his eyes. “We were fighting about you.”
“Me?”
“Josh thinks we’re starting something again.”
“And he doesn’t like it.” Travis clenches his jaw.
“No. He doesn’t.”
“Are we?”
“Are we what?”
“Starting something?”
I shrug.
“I never did explain things. What happened that night. Why I did what I did.”
I close my eyes. Not ready to hear this, but needing to hear it.
“Autumn, I” Travis’s scanner goes off.
“Suspect’s vehicle heading South on Pine St.”
Travis and I stare at each other for a moment before he turns on his siren and squeals onto the street.
