Beyond a Reasonable Stout

by Ellie Alexander

  I let out a long sigh. My theories were becoming wilder with every passing minute. The other thing I had to take into consideration was that, in the unlikely circumstance that Kristopher’s secret investments spoke to something more sinister for the village, it put April back on the top of my suspect list. No one would protect Leavenworth like April. If Kristopher was plotting a total town revamp, then April had a clear motive.

  I picked up Conrad’s empty glass. There was only one way to find out. I was going to have to speak with Heidi again. I didn’t know if she would tell me anything, but I had to give it a shot.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-FOUR

  ALEX SHOWED UP AFTER SCHOOL. He had showered and changed into a pair of jeans and a University of Washington sweatshirt. I could smell a hint of cologne on him but didn’t comment, as I was confident that his appearance had something to do with Kat.

  “You’re a Husky fan?” she asked, noting his purple hoodie.

  “Yeah. I’m thinking about going to school there. It’s on my short list.”

  “That’s so cool. Where else are you going to apply?”

  “Maybe Stanford. Cal. I want to go to a Pac-12 school and one with a good design program.” Alex squared his shoulders as he spoke.

  “Amazing. You must be one smart kid.” Kat tapped her index finger to the side of her head. “You get your brains from your smart mom, right?”

  She was oblivious to Alex’s dejected look when she called him kid.

  “You want to come upstairs and see the progress?”

  He cleared his throat (I suspected in an attempt to make his voice sound deeper). “Sure.”

  Poor Alex.

  “Someone has a crush, huh?” Garrett came up from behind me. He held an iPad that he used to track our beers in one hand. We watched as Alex tagged after Kat.

  “Is it that obvious?”

  “Nah. I just remember being his age. You can’t blame the kid. He has good taste. My first crush on an older woman was Ms. Flyer. She was my French teacher, a subject I had no interest in learning before her. My mom was shocked when I asked if I could get after-school tutoring from Ms. Flyer. She thought I actually wanted to learn French.”

  “And?”

  “She set up a conference with Ms. Flyer to talk about my grades and the possibility of paying for some extra help. She took one look at the woman and figured it out. The next thing I knew, she had arranged tutoring with a kid who lived down the street from us. He had serious hygiene issues and the worst breath.”

  I laughed so hard I snorted.

  “Funny. Yeah, go ahead and laugh. My mom crushed my teenage dream of running away with Ms. Flyer. Promise me you won’t do the same to Alex.” Garrett set the iPad on the bar.

  “Crush his dreams? Never. But I’m not going to encourage him to run away with Kat either. Your mom sounds hilarious, by the way.” I rinsed a pint glass in the sink.

  “Glad you think so, because you’re going to have a chance to meet her soon.”

  A familiar rumble of butterflies erupted in my stomach. What did he mean by that? “Oh yeah, why?”

  “My parents are coming to Leavenworth next week.”

  “They are?”

  “Yep. Get ready for the invasion. We’re going to have to set up some ground rules for dealing with my parents. My mom still thinks I’m twelve, so I’m already anticipating being smothered with her kisses and having her ask if I want the crusts cut off my sandwich.”

  “That sounds sweet.” I didn’t mean anything by my comment, but I could tell from the look of worry in Garrett’s eyes that he thought he had offended me.

  “Sorry, Sloan. I’m an idiot. I didn’t mean…” He trailed off.

  “Your parents are allowed to be sweet. I’m excited to meet them.”

  “They’re excited to meet you too. I’ve been telling them about Nitro and the village, about you and Kat and, well, everyone. They’ve been in Australia for the last six months, so the first thing they’re going to do after dropping off their stuff in Seattle is come out this way. Tess was my mom’s aunt. She’s dying to see the transformation.”

  Garrett had mentioned that his parents were traveling. They had retired a couple of years earlier and had set out on adventures in Africa and Australia.

  “My sister is going to try to come up too,” he continued. “She’s trying to swap shifts with one of her fellow residents.”

  His sister was a doctor in Portland. Anytime Garrett mentioned his family, I felt a twang of envy and felt intimidated by his family’s success. His sister, Leah, was in her final year of residency. He had been an engineer before giving up his six-figure salary to start Nitro, and his parents were both retired professors. My two-year community college degree seemed feeble in comparison with Garrett’s professional family.

  “I can’t wait for you to meet them. You’re going to love them.”

  Maybe it was leftover angst from my past, but the thought of meeting Garrett’s brilliant family sent a wave of anxiety through me.

  “Great.” I forced a smile. “Will they stay here?”

  He frowned. “There’s no way the guest rooms will be ready in time. I wish. That would have been cool, but I was going to see if there’s space at the Hamburg. It’s right around the block, and I think they would like a smaller, boutique-style hotel.”

  “Have you ever been inside?”

  “No.”

  “You should check it out, it’s beautiful.” Then a thought occurred to me. “Actually, on second thought, maybe I’ll go over and set up a reservation on your behalf. That will give me a chance to talk to Heidi.”

  “Killing two birds with one stone, as they say.”

  “Something like that.”

  Garrett’s iPad buzzed. He stared at the screen for a minute. “Just got a weather alert. They’re calling for damaging winds and snow later. We’ll have to keep a close watch. Might have to stop pouring early tonight.”

  “Welcome to your first winter in Leavenworth.” I dried my hands on a bar towel.

  “It’s early November,” Garrett protested. “I thought winter didn’t start until January.”

  “Not in the North Cascades. One year it snowed a foot on Halloween. We had to take Alex trick-or-treating in a sled.”

  “I guess it’s time to start stockpiling firewood and flashlights,” Garrett replied, turning off the iPad.

  Kat and Alex came downstairs. Garrett tended bar while Kat and I chatted with Alex. His friend came to pick him up for soccer practice. “Watch the weather tonight,” I called after him. “Go straight home if the storm hits, okay?”

  “Mom, it’s only snow. Don’t freak out.” Alex rolled his eyes.

  The pub was slow. I had a feeling that everyone was loading up on groceries and supplies in case the storm came to fruition. Winter weather in Leavenworth was unpredictable. Sometimes the rugged Cascades served as a barrier, protecting the village from grueling winds, while other times the mountains trapped storm systems, dumping snow on us for days on end.

  “I’m calling it an evening,” I said to Garrett. “I’ll stop by the Hamburg on my way home. How many nights will your family be staying?”

  We went over the details, and I left the sanctuary of the quiet pub. Darkness was beginning to descend earlier and earlier. In this northernmost corner of the state, it would soon be dark when I woke in the morning and dark again by early evening. We would spend the winter months chasing the light. It was one of many reasons that villagers had petitioned the city council to leave Front Street illuminated all winter long. For many years, the winter light festival kicked off the day after Thanksgiving and ran through New Year’s. But a few years ago, a group of business owners put together a proposal to leave the festive lights on through March. The millions of tiny, dazzling lights were a draw for tourists during the slower winter months and helped take the edge off when we were plunged into months of darkness. I especially loved the lights after a fresh snowfall. They reflected off the
white ground and made Leavenworth come to life in a magical glow.

  I breathed in the cold evening air as I rounded the corner to the Hamburg Hostel. Soon my sweet town would be illuminated. I hoped that my visit with Heidi would shed some illumination on Kristopher’s death.

  The Hamburg lobby was empty. I went to the front desk and set up the reservation for Garrett’s family.

  “Is Heidi still here, by chance?” I asked after confirming the reservation.

  The clerk nodded. “I think she’s in her office. Would you like me to call her?”

  “Please.”

  I waited while he made the call.

  “She’ll be down in just a minute,” he said.

  “Thanks.” I took a seat in one of the oversized plush chairs. The one thing I hadn’t considered was how to broach the topic of Kristopher’s financial investments with Heidi. Jumping on her with accusatory questions wouldn’t exactly lend itself to her opening up, so I quickly decided on another option—beer.

  Heidi arrived in the lobby. “Sloan, two visits in one day. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  “I was wondering if you might be free to grab a beer at Der Keller.”

  “You bet. Let me go shut down my laptop and grab my things.”

  I was glad that Heidi hadn’t asked why I wanted to get a beer with her. I hadn’t thought my plan that far through. Hopefully, the conversation would naturally flow to Kristopher. I wanted to take her to Der Keller, a very public setting. On the off chance that my hunch was right and she had had something to do with Kristopher’s death, I wasn’t going to take any chances. I had learned that lesson the hard way.

  “Ready.” Heidi returned to the lobby with a broad smile. “I’m so happy that you stopped by, Sloan. A beer sounds wonderful. I could really use an escape from the office for the night. I’ve been working around the clock since Kristopher died.”

  Could this woman really be a killer? Her attitude didn’t make me confident that I had the right suspect, but then again, I couldn’t make any assumptions.

  “I know. The entire village is on edge,” I said as we walked along Front Street toward Der Keller.

  “Tell me about it. I feel like there’s a dark cloud hanging over us.” She pointed to the starless sky. “And not just because they’re predicting a major storm tonight.”

  The clouds above looked ominous. “Yeah, maybe the weather forecasters are right.”

  She followed my gaze. “You never know. It’s so hit-or-miss. I feel like every time they predict something major, we end up without a trace of snow, and then when they don’t, we end up buried in three feet.”

  We arrived at Der Keller and found a private booth. A waiter I had hired took our order and returned in a flash with two pints.

  Heidi stared at her ornate glass Der Keller stein. “Do you miss it?”

  “What? Der Keller?” I stared at my naked ring finger.

  She nodded. “I don’t mean to pry, but it must be such a change of pace to have gone from an operation like this to a start-up. I only say that because I know what a struggle it’s been for me to try to keep the Hamburg afloat during our renovations.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. Working in a small business is a different beast, for sure. There are lots of pros, but plenty of cons.”

  “Like money.”

  “Money is on the top of the list. It’s strange after having a huge staff, marketing and distributing departments, human resources. Garrett and I are all of those things at Nitro.”

  “Exactly.” Heidi lifted her stein and clicked it to mine. “Cheers to that.”

  “On that topic, I heard something odd today, and I wonder if you know anything about it.”

  “What?”

  “There’s talk that Kristopher had been privately investing in a number of small businesses in the village. Have you heard anything about that?”

  Heidi choked on her beer.

  “Are you okay?”

  She coughed, trying to clear her airway. “I’m fine. I can’t believe that’s gotten out. Sometimes this place makes me crazy.”

  “So you’ve heard the rumors?” I didn’t want to give Heidi any indication that I knew anything more.

  She coughed again. Then she massaged the side of her head. “It’s not rumors. It’s true.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I’m one of those rumors.”

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-FIVE

  “YOU’RE ONE OF THE RUMORS?” I asked.

  Heidi pounded her fingers under her eyes, as if trying to force out her frustration. “It’s a long story.”

  “I have time, if you want to talk.” I pointed to my full pint. “There’s always more beer, and I don’t know about you, but I could go for a bowl of Ursula’s famous beer cheese soup.”

  “That sounds good,” Heidi agreed.

  We ordered bowls of the beer cheese soup and then returned to our conversation.

  “It would be nice to talk about this,” Heidi said, fiddling with her napkin. “I’ve been keeping it bottled up for so long now.”

  “I’m here to listen.”

  She reached for her stein and took a sip of her beer. “It started about a year and a half ago. If you remember, the Hamburg wasn’t in great shape. I mean, we’ve done well in terms of staying booked through the busy season, but we haven’t been able to compete with the bigger hotels in the village. We just don’t have the same amenities—a pool, outdoor patios, suites. You know. And then there’s a lot more competition with the vacation rental market these days. Everyone in the village is turning their spare bedrooms and basements into private vacation rentals.”

  I nodded.

  “That’s made it tough to stay competitive, and the hotel was in desperate need of modernization. Our guest rooms were outdated. We needed new electrical and plumbing systems and some ADA upgrades. All to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. I didn’t have that kind of capital on hand and went to a couple of banks to see if I could get a loan for the renovations. The local banks agreed to loan me the money, but the repayment costs were intimidating, and I’d be spending even more in interest over the life of the loan. I was complaining to another business owner, who suggested that I find someone with venture capital to invest in the hotel. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about repaying a huge business loan. It would mean giving up a percentage of ownership, but that was fine by me. I’m not in this to make a fortune. I love the Hamburg, and I love being in the hospitality industry. I just want the hotel to continue to thrive.”

  She didn’t sound like a killer.

  “I wasn’t sure where to start. I’d never sought out venture capital before. It sounded so out of reach. I mean, are there venture capitalists here? I figured I would have to go to Seattle and maybe hire an investment firm to help me, but then I learned that Kristopher was interested in partnering. It was like winning the jackpot. I’d known Kristopher for years, and he was a respected member of the community—a city councilor. I should have done my due diligence, but I jumped at his offer. He agreed to cover the renovation costs as well as put some money into a marketing campaign in some regional travel magazines. He didn’t want any part of day-to-day operations, which was great with me. He wanted to be a silent partner, so to speak, but in exchange for an influx of cash, he asked for a substantial piece of ownership. I didn’t think it through. I’d always been a single owner since I purchased the Hamburg two decades ago. The thought of having someone like Kristopher as a sounding board and partner was appealing. I really thought it would take us to the next level.”

  “That sounds good to me.”

  “Yes, but you know what people say about things that sound too good to be true?” Heidi massaged her temples.

  I nodded.

  “Well, they were. What I didn’t realize was that Kristopher had been investing in a number of other small businesses in town.”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “He had a master plan
to take over the entire village. He wanted to create a German utopia of his making.”

  “Without alcohol.”

  “Among other things, yes. I guess he came from a very wealthy family. His father died unexpectedly, and he inherited a very large sum of money. He’d been using that to take a majority share in every business he invested in.”

  “What was his plan?”

  She shrugged. “I tried to talk to him about it. He came to me when he started his reelection campaign and explained his stance on prohibition as well as informing me that once the campaign was over, the Hamburg was going to take a very different direction.”

  “Like what?”

  “Honestly, I have no idea. I think maybe he was a bit crazy. His father had been killed by a drunk driver, and he went off the deep end. I can understand his grief, but he took such an extreme position. He was convinced that alcohol was the root of all evil. He didn’t care about the businesses in Leavenworth and what banning alcohol might do to our livelihoods. He was on a singular mission, and if the village suffered, it didn’t matter to him. He would be fine.”

  “I had no idea.”

  “No one did. It came as a complete shock.”

  Our soups and glistening buttered pretzels arrived at the table. Heidi broke off a chunk. “I didn’t know what to do. I hired a lawyer, but there wasn’t much she could do for me. I had stupidly signed a contract with Kristopher. He owned five percent more of the business than me, so he had all the power.”

  Knowing that Kristopher’s motivation for canceling events like Oktoberfest stemmed from grief made more sense, but everything Heidi had told me so far made her motive for killing him that much stronger.

  “I hate to admit this, Sloan, but I was kind of relieved when he ended up dead.”

  I plunged my spoon into the gooey, cheesy soup, trying to buy some time before I responded. This was my chance. I needed to craft my words carefully.

  She continued before I could speak. “I didn’t kill him, if that’s what you’re thinking. Absolutely not. That’s not me. I just mean that his death, while terrible, was also a relief. I wouldn’t have to worry about what might become of the Hamburg or my job and income with Kristopher dead. I’m not the only one. I know there are plenty of other business owners who feel the same as me. They were in the same position. Which is why I’m sure that one of them must have killed him.” She barely paused for a breath. “It makes sense, don’t you think? That’s why I’ve been so distracted and staying late at the Hamburg. I’ve been trying to figure out what other businesses he invested in and who might have gotten so desperate that they decided to kill him.”