Beyond a Reasonable Stout

by Ellie Alexander

  “Sure. That would be great.” Alex finished every last bite on his plate and went back for seconds.

  Keeping the kitchen stocked with a teenage boy in the house required multiple trips to the grocery store each week and buying in bulk. I made a mental note to order extra-large pizzas for Alex and his friends later.

  We finished our breakfast and got ready for the day. The sky outside was a brilliant shade of blue. I had a hard time concentrating on the road as we drove into town because the trees were putting on a spectacular show of color. Red, yellow, orange, brown, and golden leaves fluttered in the wind. Organic orchards lush with the last harvest of fall stretched in every direction. The mountains surrounded us in a sea of forest green.

  “It’s so gorgeous. Can you believe we live here?” I turned to Alex, who was staring out the window.

  “Mom, you say that every year.”

  “I know, but it’s so beautiful.” I pointed to a red-tailed hawk circling overhead.

  Alex scoffed. “Okay, I guess it’s pretty great.”

  “You better watch your step, young man, or you’re going to end up grounded,” I teased.

  “Right, Mom.” He knew it was an empty threat. I’d never grounded him, let alone ever needed to punish him.

  When we arrived in the school parking lot, I blew him a kiss. “See you later with pizza.”

  “See ya.” He waved and jumped out of the car.

  I waited for a minute and watched him join a group of friends. He looked happy. Was he? Was he faking it? If Alex was okay, I knew I would be okay, but if he wasn’t …

  Don’t go there, Sloan. If I allowed myself to loop through scenarios where Alex wasn’t okay, then I might really start to lose it.

  I pulled away from the curb and continued to the village. The season was definitely changing. Leaves drifted from the trees and piled along the side of the road as I made my way into town.

  I made up my mind in that minute to stop at April’s office before I lost my nerve. Garrett and I kept opposite hours. He was a night owl. I liked the mornings. Brewing in the early hours at Nitro had been a welcome change of pace from Der Keller. The operation at Der Keller was a well-oiled machine with a large staff. I had rarely ever had a moment alone at the brewery. At Nitro I spent most mornings alone. I had come to crave the solace. The gift of time alone with myself had forced me to look inward and confront old demons. I still had work to do, but I could feel myself changing.

  Usually by midmorning, Garrett and Kat would join me. Nitro would rev up with their energy. It was a good balance—solitude and collaboration.

  Since I knew that neither of them would be up for an hour or two, I might as well talk to April while I had the confidence. Her office was at the far end of the village. The building was a converted ski chalet divided in half with April’s office on one side and a vacation property management company owned by my friend Lisa on the other. Lisa was taking a well-deserved three-week getaway to the Caribbean while things were slow in the village. If she were in town I would have opted to work with her instead of April, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

  I had no trouble finding a parking space nearby, another sign that Oktoberfest was behind us. The grass was dewy from melting frost as I walked toward April’s building. I was glad that I had layered with a long-sleeved black T-shirt and a charcoal gray fleece.

  The village sat in a peaceful morning silence. Aside from a handful of workers installing holiday lights and a few business owners preparing their storefronts for the day, things were peaceful. Most of the shops wouldn’t open until later.

  “Morning,” I called to a crew wrapping the trunk of a giant weeping willow with purple lights.

  They greeted me with the classic tongue-in-cheek “Guten Morgen.”

  That would make April happy, I thought as I continued along the sidewalk. Chief Meyers’s police car was parked in front of April’s office, but I didn’t give it much thought. April had likely demanded that Chief Meyers arrest Kristopher Cooper on charges of severe detriment to the community after last night’s confrontation.

  Suddenly, a siren wailed. I jumped and clutched my chest at the surprising and piercing sound. At first, I thought it was the workers playing a joke.

  I paused and listened. Sure enough, the sound of police sirens cut through the quiet village.

  Something had to be going on. I turned and stared down Front Street toward the gazebo. Blue and red lights flashed. They weren’t dainty Christmas lights. They were police lights.

  What was happening? Was April hurt? She wasn’t my favorite person in Leavenworth, but I didn’t want to see her harmed. Could that be why Chief Meyers’s car was parked in front of her building?

  Without thinking, I hurried toward the office and took the stairs to the porch two at a time. The intricately carved wooden door to April’s office was open.

  “April, are you okay?” I called, stepping inside the front lobby.

  The minute I did, I wished I hadn’t. A body was sprawled on the carpet. It had been covered with a sheet, but a red stain the size of a dinner plate spread on the center of the sheet.

  That had to be blood.

  I covered my mouth with my hand.

  Don’t throw up, Sloan.

  Poor April. She and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I couldn’t believe she was dead. A sick feeling swelled in my stomach. I was staring at a dead body. The body of a woman I had known for years.

  “Let’s go, Ablin.” I heard Chief Meyers’s voice coming from the back office.

  Huh? I took a closer look at the body and realized the person was much too tall to be April, and he was wearing black loafers.

  Okay, well, at least April’s not dead. I reached for the white wainscoting to try and steady myself.

  This had to be some sort of bad dream.

  “Chief, you don’t understand, it wasn’t me. You can’t arrest me! I didn’t kill him, I swear. I did not kill anyone!” April’s earsplitting voice jarred me back to reality.

  Was Chief Meyers arresting April? And who was dead on the floor in front of me?

  Chief Meyers led April down the hallway toward me. “Look, Ablin, the more you resist, the worse this is going to be.” She had ahold of April’s wrist.

  April caught my eye. Her face was wild with fear and confusion. Black mascara had streaked down her cheeks. “Sloan! You have to help me! Tell her. Tell Chief Meyers that I didn’t kill him.”

  “Keep moving.” The chief directed April out the front door and into her squad car as two other police vehicles squealed into empty parking space in front of the building.

  I followed them outside and stared in disbelief. What was happening? April was being arrested?

  Once Chief Meyers had secured April in the car, she came over to me. “Sloan, I’m going to need to ask you to stand back.” She pointed behind her to April’s office. “This is an active crime scene. My squad is going to secure the area now.”

  “What happened?” I pressed my thumbs into my hips, trying to keep from sounding as hysterical as April. “There’s a dead body inside, isn’t there?”

  Chief Meyers adjusted the walkie-talkie clipped to her snug-fitting khaki uniform. “I’m afraid that April Ablin is under arrest.”

  I blinked twice. The flashing lights were making it hard for me to concentrate. Or maybe it was the reality of having just seen a body.

  She motioned for two officers to move past us. “There’s been a murder, and April’s our prime suspect.” She glanced to the police car and then back to me. “Sloan, April could use a friend right now.”

  I could tell from her hard stare that she was talking about me. “Me? April and I aren’t exactly friends.” Being friends with April would be like drinking mass-produced beer. The thought made me shudder.

  Chief Meyers frowned. “Like I said, she could use a friend, and I think you and I both know she doesn’t have many.”

  “What did she do? Who was killed?�
� I couldn’t believe this was happening.

  The chief sighed. “Kristopher Cooper. I know that you’ll be discreet, Sloan. The news will spread soon enough, but I’d like to keep it under wraps as long as possible while my team does their initial investigation.”

  Kristopher was dead? My God. I thought about the town meeting last night. Everyone in the room had wanted to kill him.

  “Things aren’t looking good for April. I’m sure she’d appreciate any help you can offer.” With that, she returned to her squad car.

  What did that mean?

  I had known Chief Meyers most of my adult life. She was intelligent and fair. If she thought that April was involved in Kristopher’s death, she must have good reason. April Ablin wasn’t on my short list of people I wanted to spend time with, but there was one thing I knew for sure—she was no killer.

  CHAPTER

  FIVE

  MY MIND REELED AS I walked to Nitro. April was a suspect in a murder? Impossible. Or was it? She had been fuming last night. But she couldn’t have killed him, could she?

  I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my puffy fleece. The frosty morning air made my cheeks sting with cold. Smoke puffed from the top of the chimney on the bookstore. The bookstore was one of my favorite places to steal away a lazy Saturday afternoon. It was tucked on the hillside and looked like an enchanted castle from a brothers Grimm fairy tale. There were carts of books, covered with a plastic tarp, lining the porch. In classic Leavenworth fashion, the bookstore owner left overstock outside at night without worrying it would disappear.

  The sound of sirens and the flashing lights had brought the workers to a halt. Shop owners and employees began coming out to the sidewalk to see what was going on.

  I walked in a daze, barely noticing the activity. Kristopher was dead. He was currently the most despised man in the village, and he was dead. Could someone who opposed Kristopher’s stance on prohibition have taken matters into their own hands? But who?

  I certainly didn’t want to see our little beertopia turn dry, but I couldn’t imagine any of my fellow business owners going so far as to murder Kristopher. Given last night’s turnout, it didn’t make sense. It was evident that Valerie had the majority of voters in her camp. Maybe someone snapped after Kristopher initiated a fight.

  A wave of guilt washed over me. I had walked by when I saw him, April, Ross, Valerie, and Conrad in front of The Nutcracker Shoppe. Should I have intervened? What if one of them killed him?

  A line had formed in front of Strudel, the pastry shop. I wondered if news was already spreading or if it was because they were making their famous Bavarian waffles today. The sweet waffles smothered with buttercream and strawberries were so popular that whenever they were on the menu they sold out in a matter of hours. Leavenworth had a reputation for gossip. It came with the territory, living in a small town of two thousand permanent residents. The gossip wasn’t mean-spirited, it was simply that news tended to travel fast, whether that news was a murder or delicious waffles.

  “Sloan!” a woman called from the back of the pastry line. It was Heidi, who owned the Hamburg Hostel next door to Der Keller. She and I had volunteered together on a number of fund-raising committees. The Hamburg was a boutique property with ten guest rooms. Getting a reservation for the busiest times of year at the hostel required booking months—sometimes years—in advance.

  “Morning, Sloan. Have you heard the news?” She pointed down the street in the direction I’d just come from. She was dressed in workout gear. Her black spandex pants were skin-tight as was her neon orange tank top. A warm-up jacket and towel hung over her shoulder.

  I wasn’t sure how to respond, since the chief had asked me to be discreet. “No. What’s going on? Are they serving waffles today? And aren’t you freezing?” I rubbed my arms.

  “Sadly, no waffles for me.” She dabbed her face with the towel. “I’m still cooling down from my morning CrossFit class. You should come. It’s a killer workout, but my abs are loving it.” Heidi didn’t have an ounce of fat on her body. She looked like she could compete in body-building contests, with her chiseled arms and lean, muscular legs.

  “You’re not exactly selling it by saying it’s a killer workout. Although maybe I’ll have to join you if I keep finding myself at Strudel every morning.” I eyed a tray of almond-paste tarts in the display case.

  “Sloan, come on. You’re in great shape, and it gives you the biggest endorphin rush. I was telling my instructor that I need a post-workout coffee to maintain the high.” She tossed the towel back over her shoulder. “What’s the scoop with the police activity? Someone in line said they heard there’s been a murder.”

  This might have been a record for gossip spreading. “Really?” I played naive.

  She jabbed the man in line in front of her. I recognized him, too. I’d seen him with April last night—it was Ross, the owner of Leavenworth’s most unusual bar, The Underground. The Underground was literally that. It was a bar that had been constructed in the basement of an old church. To access it, you had to descend a steep set of stairs and then travel through a small underground tunnel.

  “Oh hey, Sloan.” Ross smiled. He was short, stocky, and completely bald, but with a full, shaggy red beard.

  “You’re up early,” I said to Ross. “I thought bar owners shunned the morning sun, especially after the craziness of last night.”

  “Yeah, that was something. Kristopher got what he deserved, if you ask me.” He motioned to the coffee counter. “I usually don’t like to see the sun. I’m more of a stars kind of guy, but that’s why I’m here. I need the biggest cup of java they can brew. We had an issue with the electricity last night. I have an emergency appointment with the electrician in a few minutes to try to get things sorted out.”

  “What happened last night?” Heidi asked.

  Ross massaged his shiny head. “The dude went off the deep end. He started a fight at Der Keller after the rally for Valerie. I thought I saw you there?”

  “No, not me.” Heidi shook her head and then unzipped a tiny pocket on the top of her thigh that was barely noticeable. She pulled out a folded five-dollar bill. “Ross, tell Sloan what you just heard. Maybe it’s really true if there was a fight last night.”

  Ross tried to glance behind us, but both Heidi and I were taller than him. “I heard that Kristopher Cooper is dead. I can’t say that I’m broken up about it. The man was a nutcase. Who in his right mind would think it was a good idea to prohibit alcohol in a tourist destination better known as Beervaria?”

  How had Ross already heard about Kristopher? I had just left Chief Meyers minutes ago. Gossip couldn’t travel that fast. Could it?

  “Seriously,” Heidi agreed. “I’m surprised someone didn’t kill him sooner. Everyone in town hates him. Can you imagine what would have happened to our businesses if he had been reelected?”

  I agreed that banning alcohol would have had a tremendously negative impact on every business in town, but I was surprised by Heidi and Ross’s callous tone.

  “Kristopher had it in for the Underground,” Ross said. “I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that he was behind our mysterious power outage last night. He’s been trying to shut us down for months.”

  “Why?” I asked as we moved forward with the line. The smell of hand-rolled pastries and coffee made me almost want to go for a second breakfast.

  Ross shrugged. “No idea. He freaked out on me when a couple of frat guys got arrested after we kicked them out. They’d had too much to drink at Oktoberfest, so my bartender refused to serve them.” He paused. “You know how it goes, Sloan. There’s no gray area when it comes to overserving.”

  “Right.”

  Heidi put on her warm-up jacket. “Why would Kristopher have been upset about that?”

  “One of the guys threw up on his shoe.” Ross rolled his eyes. “As if that was our fault. They ran into him on the sidewalk, and one of the guys puked. Kristopher called the police and claimed that we had overserved t
hem. We had video footage of my bartender kicking them out basically from the moment they stumbled in, but Kristopher wouldn’t let it go. He said that we were underground for a reason. He had the wildest theories that we were serving minors and running a bootleg operation. He had gone off the deep end.”

  “I had no idea,” I said.

  Ross made it to the front of the line. He placed his order. Heidi turned to me. “Well, I guess we won’t have to worry about next week’s election if Kristopher is dead.”

  “True.” I waited while she ordered. Then I ordered a black coffee for me and lattes for Garrett and Kat. I’ve always been experimental when it comes to coffee. Much like the process of brewing beer, I enjoyed a variety of coffee styles. Some days I drank my coffee black, other days I ordered a latte. We chatted for a few more minutes while waiting for our coffees. Then we parted ways. I figured that Ross and Heidi were likely venting their frustration over Kristopher, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that they had both had a strange reaction to the fact that he had been murdered.

  When I arrived at Nitro, the front door was unlocked, and the brewery lights were on. Garrett was filling the mash tun with malt.

  “I didn’t expect you to be awake yet,” I commented, and handed him a latte.

  “Me neither. Thanks for this.” He took the coffee with a grateful smile.

  “Why are you up so early?”

  “I heard a bunch of sirens. Is something going on?” Garrett took a sip of the latte. His reading glasses were propped on his head.