Verse and Vengeance

by Amanda Flower

  Now I was grateful for that moment because I knew where she lived, sort of. I knew the building but no more than that.

  I parked my bike in the rack in front of her building and walked up to the door. It was locked. I shook my head. Of course the building was locked. It had been a waste of time coming here.

  I was just about to leave when a young man, who I assumed was a student, came through the door.

  “Need to get in?” he asked.

  “Yes.” I hurried forward and grabbed the door. “Thanks so much.” I paused. “Do you know if Jo Fitzgerald is here today?”

  He stared at me blankly. “Who?”

  “She is petite, just five feet, and has black hair and an eyebrow ring.”

  He shook his head. “She must be new. I’ve lived in the building for three years and have never seen anyone like that.” He walked away.

  I frowned. I knew for a fact that Jo wasn’t new. She had lived in this building at least a year.

  I stepped inside and found myself in a wide entryway. There were doors that I assumed led to five apartments on this level and stairs going up to the second floor that led to another five units. Of the ten apartments, how was I to know which one was Jo’s when her neighbor didn’t even know she had been living there? I had dropped Jo off at the building once but had never been inside. I didn’t see a mailroom where I could look at the names, either.

  I may have my braver moments, but I wasn’t brave enough to knock on all ten doors in the building, asking where she lived. That was a good way to get attention from the police. Rainwater had enough to deal with without being called to the complex because of a prowler, especially if that prowler was me.

  There was a bang on the floor above me, and then nothing. At this point, a wise person would have left the building, but I was close to campus and felt relatively safe. I also patted my pocket to make sure my phone was still there. I promised myself that at the first sign of trouble, I was out of there.

  I crept up the stairs. My footsteps were noiseless on the carpet. I reached the second-floor landing, which looked almost identical to the first floor. All the doors were closed except one at the end of the hallway. This would have been one of those times I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised if my cat Emerson just popped out of the open door. The cat had a penchant for being in places he wasn’t supposed to be. I was grateful when he didn’t appear.

  I removed my phone from my pocket and made my way down the hallway. Light came out of the doorway, and I could hear someone moving around inside. Was Jo’s apartment being tossed? Was I even right to think this was Jo’s apartment? I stepped in front of the open doorway. I peered into the room. There was a tiny kitchenette and a living space. The area was neat and tidy. I just wanted to peek in a bit more to confirm that this was Jo’s apartment; then I was out of there.

  Whoever was in the apartment was in a back room. I didn’t step inside the apartment, but the refrigerator was right beside the door. On it was an elaborate calendar for the month of May. Each day listed all the places Jo had to be between school and her three jobs. Most of the listings were back-to-back.

  It made me realize how hard Jo tried to make her life work. I wanted her to go to a four-year college, since she had so much potential, but seeing that calendar, I realized she was just trying to keep her head above water most of the time to pay her bills and go to school. Most of my students were juggling a lot. College students today were expected to handle more than ever before, but Jo’s was the worst case I had seen. I wished there was a way I could help her.

  “What are you doing?” a male voice asked me.

  I jumped. I hadn’t realized I had stepped all the way into the kitchen to take a better look at Jo’s calendar.

  Vaughn glared at me. “Do you know where my sister is?”

  I blinked at him and then sidestepped until I was in the hallway so that I would a have means of escape should I need it. He didn’t stop me. “No, that’s why I’m here. I wanted to check on her to see if she was all right.”

  “Have the police been here?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. I just came because Jo’s my friend and student. Like I said, I wanted to make sure she was all right.”

  He seemed to relax after that. “Oh. Because the police asked me to meet them here.”

  “They did?” I asked. “In your sister’s apartment?”

  “I have a key, and they wanted to take a look around.”

  I swallowed. Neither of us said it, but we both knew the police wanted to take a look around because of the murder.

  “There’s no sign that my sister has been here since she left this morning. Everything is in its place, like it always is with her.”

  Now that he mentioned it, I noted that the apartment was impossibly clean. There wasn’t a stray spoon on the counter or a piece of junk mail. The furnishings were sparse but well cared for. The neatness of the space and her crazy calendar gave me a new perspective on my student. It seemed to me that she was doing her best to control her life, and in her apartment at least, she had mastered that.

  I backed out into the hallway a little more. “Well, I should be going before the police get here. I know you will want to talk to them alone.” I said it like I was doing him a huge favor, even though I was desperate to get out of there before Rainwater or one of his officers arrived. I knew if I was still there, I would get an earful from them.

  He nodded. “Thanks for looking in on my sister.” He swallowed. “If you see her, can you tell her to call me? I know that we haven’t always been the closest, but I’m worried about her and about …” He trailed off.

  I was about to ask Vaughn what else he was worried about when I felt someone behind me. I turned to see Officer Wheaton walking down the hallway. It had to be Wheaton, didn’t it?

  “Violet, well, goodness, it is such a surprise to see you here,” Officer Wheaton said sarcastically.

  Vaughn stepped out into the hallway. “Finally, you’re here. You took your time getting here. I’m a busy man and have more important things to do than stand around here waiting for you to show up.”

  “Sorry, sir,” Wheaton said with a scowl. “But a man is dead. That takes a little more time to deal with than a jaywalking violation.”

  Vaughn’s cheeks flushed. “I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any disrespect. As you can imagine, I’m worried about my sister.”

  “So finding your sister isn’t as important as those other things you have to do?” Wheaton cocked his head.

  “I didn’t say that, but I know Jo. She can take care of herself. She’s been taking care of herself for most of her life. If she decided to leave for a little bit, I don’t know where she would have gone.”

  “It is a concern when a man that she spoke to just a few hours ago is dead. She has a part in the case, and we would like to talk to her.”

  “My sister didn’t kill anyone,” Vaughn said.

  “I just said that we would like to talk to her. Why would you jump to killing?” Wheaton asked.

  I frowned. It seemed to me that Wheaton was having far too much fun tormenting Vaughn by drawing out this conversation. “Just look at the apartment, Wheaton,” I said. “Jo isn’t there. It’s a tiny apartment. It shouldn’t take you long to verify that we are right.”

  The officer scowled at me. “What makes you think you can tell me what to do, Violet? Is it because you are dating the police chief?”

  Vaughn’s mouth fell open, and he looked at me as if I had betrayed him somehow. I had a feeling I wouldn’t have any more luck getting information from him about his sister.

  I glared at Wheaton. “I have to go.” I turned to Vaughn. “I care about your sister and will keep a lookout for her. If I find her, I will tell you.”

  He nodded, but he looked at me with suspicion now. I had Wheaton to thank for that.

  As Vaughn went back into the apartment, I started down the hallway, but I had made it only two steps before the young
officer grabbed my arm. His grip was loose, but it was enough to stop me. Wheaton worked out obsessively and was fully aware of his strength. “I want to know the real reason why you’re here,” he said.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Everyone else might have forgotten, but I remember that you and Redding didn’t get along too well last winter. I know that you disliked him. It was clear on your face whenever his name came up.”

  I cursed my expressive face. I wished I was better at hiding my feelings. “I didn’t like him because of what he put Lacey through when her sister died. I had no other reason.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t believe you.”

  I wrenched my arm from his grasp. “No one is asking you to. I’m just asking you to leave me alone, Wheaton. That’s all I’ve ever wanted from you.”

  “I wish I could, Violet,” he said.

  As I wondered what that might mean, he said, “If you run into your friend Jo, tell her the police want to talk to her.”

  I scowled. He would be the last person I would tell.

  Chapter Eighteen

  At the Red Inkers meeting that evening, Richard shifted in his seat as he read an essay he’d written. I glanced at the other members of the group. Everyone was paying attention. It seemed to me that I was the only one with a wandering mind. It was little wonder. I still hadn’t heard from Rainwater, and it had been hours since I’d last seen him outside Le Crepe Jolie. I had texted him several times with no answer. I’d finally broken down and called Officer Clipton to see if she could tell me where he was. She wasn’t any help. She said, “The chief asked not to be disturbed. I guess, since you don’t know where he is, that means you too.”

  Richard closed his notebook at the end of his essay and cleared his throat. “That’s all I have so far. I’m still thinking of an ending.”

  “That was lovely, Richard.” Sadie, who never struggled to come up with a compliment, said. “I like the way you compared the earth to your mother’s mac and cheese. I don’t think I have ever looked at our planet in such a way.”

  Nor has anyone else, I thought.

  Simon and Renee gave Richard praise for his essay as well. The only member of the group not present was Rainwater, and he was the one I most wanted to see. I bit the inside of my lip. I couldn’t get the look on his face outside the café out of my head.

  “Violet,” Renee asked. “Do you have any comments to add to Richard’s piece?”

  I blinked. “I liked it,” I said quickly. “Richard, you should have enough essays now to publish a collection if you want.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think my work is ready to submit yet. I have much to do.”

  “You need to work up some nerve, Richard,” Renee said. “Time isn’t going to stand still for you, and opportunities will pass you by.”

  Simon and I raised our eyebrows at each other, and Sadie placed a hand over her month to hide a smile. Everyone in the room knew Renee was talking about something much more than Richard’s essay collection.

  “Besides, we know that it can happen.” Renee held up her copy of Sadie’s book. “Sadie is proof of that. I predict we will all be published one day and look back at this time fondly. We’ll laugh over what caused us to wait so long in the first place.”

  Richard didn’t look nearly as certain. “In any case, it will be Sadie’s turn to read at our next meeting, which is fitting with her release of her book in a few weeks. Will you be reading from the book, Sadie?”

  She shook her head. “No, the sequel. I hope you’ll all like it. I have a bit of fear over the sophomore slump.”

  “I’m sure we will.” Richard stood. “Another great meeting. I only wish that David could have been here with us.”

  Sadie looked to me. “Have you heard from him, Violet?”

  I stood up and folded my chair and then Richard’s chair next. “I haven’t heard from him since this afternoon.”

  “It’s such a strange thing that a man would die in the bike race. Does Rainwater know what happened?” Richard asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know what he knows. He’s on the case, and I’m sure that everything will be clear soon.”

  I hoped what I said was true.

  “Will you help him, Violet?” Renee said.

  I didn’t say anything.

  She laughed. “We know that you will. You can’t resist poking your nose in a case.”

  “Well,” I said, thinking of Jo and how much I wanted to help her. “I don’t think Rainwater would like it.”

  A book slammed against the wall, and everyone screamed. Richard’s scream was by far the highest in pitch. My hand flew to my chest, and I could feel my heart thunder against my rib cage. I forced a laugh. “Faulkner! That’s a very bad crow for scaring all of us.”

  “Faulkner threw the book?” Sadie asked. “I didn’t see him leave the tree.”

  “He’s fast,” I said swiftly. “Sometimes he moves around the store so quickly, I don’t even know it.”

  “How could he throw the book?” Simon asked.

  “From his talons.” My answer sounded lame to my own ears.

  “Can he do that?” Richard asked.

  “Oh sure,” I said.

  Overhead, Faulkner fluffed his feathers, “Not a day passes, not a minute or second, without a corpse.”

  “Your crow is a little a morbid,” Renee said. “That’s even worse than when he was reciting Poe all the time.”

  I laughed. “Well, he is a crow.” I stood up and walked over to the fireplace. The book that I knew very well Faulkner hadn’t flung against the fireplace wall lay open on the hearth. As I expected, it was Leaves of Grass. The book was open near the end.

  To think of time—of all that retrospection!

  To think of to-day and the ages continued hence-forward!

  Have you guess’d you yourself would not continue?

  Have you dreaded these earth-beetles?

  Have you fear’d the future would be nothing to you?

  Is to-day nothing? is the beginningless past nothing?

  If the future is nothing, they are just as surely nothing.

  To think that the sun rose in the east! that men and women were

  flexible, real, alive! that every-thing was alive!

  To think that you and I did not see, feel, think, nor bear our part!

  To think that we are now here, and bear our part!

  I realized Faulkner had been quoting Whitman as I read the next stanza.

  Not a day passes—not a minute or second, without an accouchement!

  Not a day passes—not a minute or second, without a corpse!

  Maybe Faulkner had thrown the book after all. I wouldn’t have put it past the troublemaking bird.

  “Violet, what are you reading?” Simon asked.

  I jumped. I hadn’t realized he was standing next to me.

  I scooped up the book. “It’s just some poetry.”

  “Oh, let me see.” He took the book from my hands. “Whitman?” he asked. “Why, he’s my very favorite. ‘Song of Myself’ is one of the most profound pieces of poetry I have ever read. It taught me what it is to be free with yourself, even living a plain and ordinary life. Whitman saw the beauty in the everyday. The vulgar coachman in New York, the quiet woods, and in the printed word.” He blushed. “I’m sorry. How embarrassing for me to go on and on like this.”

  “No need to apologize. I think every writer can think of the book or author that made them want to write something of their own someday.”

  He nodded and looked over his shoulder. “I wanted to tell you something before I leave. Something that I don’t want Sadie to overhear. It might upset her.”

  I hesitated. “I don’t want to keep a secret from Sadie.”

  He nodded. “Neither do I, and I’m not asking you to. I’ll tell her what I am about to tell you. I just want to wait until tomorrow. She will worry through the night, and I want her to enjoy the day she h
eld her book in her hands for the first time.”

  “What do you have to tell me?” I asked.

  “It’s about Danielle Cloud.” He said this in a low voice.

  I raised my brow. Danielle and Sadie were close friends, so I could understand why he wouldn’t want to upset Sadie by telling her.

  “What about Danielle?” I asked.

  He looked over his shoulder again; Sadie was chatting with Richard and Renee. She held her book to her chest like it was a prized possession, which it most certainly was—not just to Sadie but to everyone who loved her, including Danielle.

  “I saw Danielle at the bike race registration table.”

  I frowned. “So?”

  “She was arguing with Joel Redding.”

  I remembered the scene in front of Le Crepe Jolie just that afternoon—Rainwater with his clearly distraught sister. Had she been broken up over Redding’s death? “When was this?”

  He looked over his shoulder again. “Just an hour before he died.”

  I stood dumbstruck in the middle of Charming Books. This must be why Rainwater had taken his sister away from the café today. It might be the very reason I hadn’t heard from him since. If Danielle was in some way connected to the murder, he would want to protect her. He would also be looking for others to blame if she was a suspect. Others like Jo Fitzgerald. As much as I couldn’t believe Danielle would kill someone, I knew Jo couldn’t have possibly done it either. However, would Rainwater let his judgment be clouded in order to protect his only sister?

  I shook my head. No, he wouldn’t. I knew David Rainwater, and he was a better man than that. He was the most honorable man I knew.

  “Please,” Simon said. “If Sadie mentions it to you after I tell her, act surprised. I don’t want her to know that I told you first.”

  I frowned. “Why did you tell me?”

  “Because you’re close to David Rainwater and Danielle is his sister. Whatever is going on with her is going to impact you.” He paused. “And it might impact you a lot.” He handed the Whitman book back to me.

  I thanked him. I didn’t know what else to do.

  “Simon, are you ready to go?” Sadie asked, walking over to us. She smiled. “The two of you looked like you were having a very serious conversation.”