“Only this.” He reached in his pocket and handed me a pink Post-it. It read: I shouldn’t have done it. Sorry. Raven.
My mind raced with the implications of the note. I tried to hand it back to him, but he waved me off and started to sob.
“And you have no idea what she did? What she was apologizing for?”
Alex sucked in a deep breath. “I do, but I’m too afraid to say.”
Did he too suspect her of murder? I wanted to ask him but wasn’t sure how.
He suddenly jumped up. “I’ve got to go. I’ve said too much. Thanks for listening.” He turned and hurried to his car, leaving me sitting there holding the broken pieces of his life.
Chapter 23
I called Jake and told him about my encounter with Alex. As usual, I was ready to jump into action. “Do you think I should go to the sheriff now?” I chewed on one of my freshly painted nails.
Jake, on the other hand, took a more practical approach. “Do you think Grady will take the time to listen to all the evidence?”
“No.”
“Will he consider all the connections you have pieced together?”
“No.”
“Would there be any real harm in sticking to the original plan and waiting until after the arts fair is over this weekend?”
“Probably not. I’m sure they have ways of tracking down Raven if she really took off.”
“Then I think you have your answer,” Jake said.
I smiled into the phone. “How did you get so smart?”
“Years of practice.”
I drove back to the studio. No appointments today. Practically everyone in town was getting ready for the start of the fair. I thought about calling Nancy to have lunch but remembered she was taking the day off to work on her pie...or pies, I should say.
When I had made a comment at Lorenzo’s that I wouldn’t want to eat a pie that had been sitting out on a table for several hours while hundreds of people walked by and ogled it, Mrs. Faro had rolled her eyes and explained that the pie in the silent auction was just for show. The real pies were kept refrigerated and handed out after the auction. Apparently, you didn’t even get to taste the pie before you bid on it.
Whatever. I was tempted to just go buy something frozen at the market and try to pass it off as homemade. Nancy put the kibosh on that plan before I even brought it up. I guess she knew me too well.
With nothing much else to do, I went back to the studio to get some more work done. It was hard to concentrate on the pictures of Polly’s posies knowing there was a killer on the loose. Whether it was Raven or not, someone sinister was out there and may have a motive to attack again.
You know what they say about idle minds. I hatched a plan. I would go to the sheriff’s office under the guise of returning the memory card containing the wedding video. I could ask to give it to the sheriff personally since it was confidential evidence. I doubted he would be there, but maybe Deputy Morris or even Rick Darnell might meet with me. I could feel them out to see what the status was on the case.
Anything was better than hanging around here watching tourists walk back and forth past my studio window. I put the disk in my computer to make a copy. The last thing I needed was for Grady or one of his deputies to lose it. Instead of opening the file in a program to view the contents, I just clicked on the icon so I could drag the folder onto my desktop. That’s when I noticed that there were actually two folders. I clicked on the first one and saw it contained the video file. When I clicked on the next one, it listed two jpegs, or images. I opened the first one and nearly fell out of my chair.
It was dark and a little hazy, but it definitely showed Alex Wright stuffing money in a topless woman’s bikini bottom. This had to be one of the pictures Artie took through the window of Brett’s house at Alex’s bachelor party. I looked at the next one. It was even worse. In that one, the woman was draped across Alex’s lap and his hands were on the no-fly zone of her chest.
Raven had said none of the pictures Artie took showed Alex doing anything wrong. Either she had a different definition of “wrong” than I did, or else she never saw these two pictures. I had a feeling it was the latter. If she went ballistic on me for even talking to her husband, these would have sent her over the edge. And if that were the case, it would probably be Alex’s murder the sheriff was investigating.
No, I had a feeling Artie never showed her these. But Artie wasn’t one to miss an opportunity, according to Clyde. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. This was the disk in the camera when Artie confronted the “lemon.” Who better to squeeze money from than the man with a jealous, crazy wife?
It was Alex who came to the house that day, not Raven!
Suddenly, it all came together. Alex had gone in late to work. Raven never saw these photos. Artie had a history of blackmailing people. But what about Brett? Had he found out about the murder and confronted Alex?
Although my gut said everything added up, I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of the poor grieving man I’d talked to yesterday at the ski resort and this morning at the high school being capable of doing such a horrible thing. He had cried real tears. Of course he hadn’t cried when I dropped that hand weight on his foot. I supposed he could have manufactured those tears to look convincing.
There was one more piece of the puzzle, something I hadn’t been able to get out of my mind all morning. I needed to get back up to the high school to check it out. If I was correct in my suspicions, I would be ready to hand Alex Wright over to Sheriff Grady on that silver platter Jake had mentioned.
Chapter 24
I felt in my pocket. It was still there, although I didn’t necessarily need it since it was so distinctive. Still, it would be a solid piece of evidence to show Sheriff Grady.
It was the calm before the storm, so to speak. It was one hour before the Winter Arts Fair was to officially open. Vendors poured in, ready to man their booths and hopefully make some money. School had let out, so lots of teenagers milled around outside waiting for the doors to open. There was a festive feeling in the air for everyone except me.
I wasn’t sure they’d let me in early, but I couldn’t wait around for another hour. I followed a couple of women inside. The same man wearing the captain’s hat was guarding the door, except now he was sitting in a chair. I hung back to see what the women did. As they walked past him they flashed a ticket and stated they were vendors, and he waved them through. I looked in my purse and then remembered that Charlotte Randall had kept my ticket, probably because I was a contestant.
I grabbed the only red thing in my purse—my Target credit card—and walked in behind another group. Only exposing a corner of the card, I walked closely behind the others and said “vendor” and kept walking. After a few steps, I looked back. The security man wasn’t following me.
I made a beeline to the photography area, cutting my way through the rows of tables filled with jewelry, local pottery, candles, artwork, woodcrafts. You name it, they had it. My super sleuth side had to fight my savvy shopper side to keep me from stopping and looking at everything. But there would be time for that later. A voice came over the loudspeaker announcing that the cafeteria was now closed to prepare for the pie auction and that no one would be admitted in.
When I reached the photography display, it appeared unmanned. A few people walking by glanced at some of the photos, then hurried on their way.
I skimmed the wall until I found what I was looking for. I knelt down to get a good look at the handwriting. Just as I had thought, it was identical. I pulled the Post-it note out of my pocket just to be sure. On the picture next to where Alex had signed his name, the word “Raven” in “Raven’s Revenge” had been written by the same hand that had signed the note with Raven’s name. I stood up and looked at the small table now pushed off to the side. There was the stack of the same bright pink Post-it notes as the one Alex had used to write the note.
“Come to check out the competition?” a voice said behind me
.
I jumped and jerked around to see Alex. He stood a foot away, holding two pastry boxes. I tried not to look as scared as I felt. “What...why are you here?”
“I was dropping off Raven’s pies.” Then he stammered, “I mean, whether she’s coming back or not, she worked hard on these.” I watched his eyes travel down from my face to the Post-it note in my hand and then to the wall of photographs. The smile slipped from his face.
“You’re too late,” I said, slipping the note back in my pocket.
“What?” He leaned in ever so slightly.
I tried to steady my voice. “For the pie auction. It closed at four.”
He locked his eyes on me. “I see.” He forced a smile. “Then how about you and I go somewhere and enjoy this pie together?”
“No, thanks. Diet,” I said and patted my stomach. As I took a step away from him, he blocked my way.
His eyes seemed to darken. “Come on now, you wouldn’t want all that work to go to waste, would you?”
You mean the work you put into killing Artie and then using me to try to frame your wife for it? I snatched the boxes out of his hands. “I’ve got an idea. The coordinator of the competition is a good friend of mine. I’m sure she’ll still take these if I bring them. You wait right here until I get back.”
I brushed past him to the doors leading down the hall to the cafeteria. Sherry had mentioned at the town meeting there would be security at the pie auction. I just needed to find a deputy. If nothing else, it would scare Alex off. I burst through the doors into the cafeteria. The place was a tomb. Except for rows and rows of tables covered in pies, the large room was empty. “Is anyone here?” I yelled.
“Just me.” Alex stood behind me with the biggest pocketknife I’d ever seen. “How’d you figure it out? Surely it wasn’t just the note. Did Brett say something to you?”
He walked slowly toward me as I walked backward. I held the boxes of pie in front of me like a shield.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He raised his arm and slammed the boxes out of my hands. They went flying across the linoleum floor.
My eyes darted around the room as I weighed my options. If I yelled, he might strike and run. There were three exits out and one that went in the kitchen. I could try to run but I knew the floor was slippery. I’m sure he was a lot faster, too. If I could get him to talk, I might stall long enough for someone to show up.
“Alex, you’re not a killer,” I said. “Why did you do it?”
His face was red and twisted now. He started to tear up again. “It was Raven. I loved her. Those pictures Becker had would have ruined everything. I couldn’t risk just paying him off. Guys like that are leeches. He’d have kept coming back for more.”
We continued our slow-motion waltz. I glanced behind me to avoid running into a table. We were getting closer to the kitchen. “And what about Brett?”
“When I got to work that day, he saw blood on my shirt. When he heard about the murder, he put two and two together. I think he knew that Artie had been at the house the night of the bachelor party; he just didn’t know why.”
Suddenly, my leg hit a table and I stopped. “But Raven,” my voice trembled now, “why would you try to blame her for it? You love her.”
His face changed again. He turned the knife around with the blade facing backward. “I already told you! She cheated on me! I killed them for nothing!” As he raised his arm, I reached behind me, grabbed a pie, and flung it at him like a Frisbee. Red fruit filling splattered across his chest as though he’d been shot. Shocked, he took a step back. That’s when a blast reverberated around the room like a gong.
We both turned to see Sherry Grady standing by the kitchen door, a gun in one hand, a pie in the other. “That one was over your head,” she said calmly. “The next one will be between your eyes.”
Alex dropped the knife and held up his hands.
I stared at her. “How...”
“I’m the sheriff’s wife,” she said smugly. “Don’t you know I’m always packin’?”
That’s the last thing I remember hearing.
The next half hour was a blur of people and sirens, ladies giving me water and putting wet towels on my head, paramedics shining a flashlight in my face and covering me with a blanket. It hurt to open my eyes. At one point I heard Sheriff Grady above me barking orders. I wanted to ask him to keep his voice down, but I couldn’t get the words out.
I felt myself being lifted onto a gurney and heard someone say “emergency room.” I wanted to protest, but I was too weak. I felt a lot like I did in college when we’d go to a frat party and have too much to drink. If I could just sleep it off, I’d be okay. But these people wouldn’t leave me alone. I felt something over my nose and mouth and heard an even louder whirring sound. Now I couldn’t tell them anything if I had wanted to.
Frat party? I hadn’t been at a frat party. I was at the high school. Alex was there and Sherry. My eyes flew open and I tried to sit up, but I was strapped down. I tried to yell. A woman leaned over me and stared into my eyes. “You’re okay, Wendy. You’re safe now.”
Chapter 25
Apparently, I had fainted and hit my head on a table. Judging by the lump on the back of my head, I’m not surprised I had a concussion. Jake and Nancy came back to see me in the emergency room as soon as the doctors gave them the okay.
“I can’t believe this happened,” Nancy said as she stood by the hospital bed. “I feel so bad. If I had never called you to take those pictures at the Boswells’, you’d never ended up here.”
“You’re right,” I said. “It’s all your fault. It had nothing to do with that crazy Alex Wright, who tried to stab me with a knife. Guess I’ll have to find a new best friend.”
“Oh, you.” She leaned down to kiss my cheek. “Sorry, but you’re stuck with me.” She stepped to the side to make room for Jake.
His face was drawn with worry. “Are you okay? The doctor said you had a concussion. Did they do x-rays? Did they check for broken bones?” He looked as though he were afraid to touch me in case I might break.
I took hold of his hand. “Don’t worry. I’m fine except for this goose egg on the back of my head.”
He squeezed my hand and brushed the hair out of my face.
“How did you find out I was here?” I asked.
“Sherry called me,” Nancy said. “I hope it’s okay that I called your brother.”
As if on cue, Tyler pulled back the drape at the end of the bed. “Hey, sis. What did you do this time?”
I stuck out my tongue like I used to as a kid. “I got in a knife fight with nothing to defend myself with but a pie.”
He snickered. “I sure hope there’s more to that story because I’m pretty lost. Should I call Mom and Dad?”
“No, please don’t,” I said. “I’m sure they have their hands full at the lodge with all these tourists in town.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Nancy said you fainted. I was surprised. You’re not...”
“No!” I felt my face turn red. “Of course not.”
Ignoring Tyler’s comment, Jake, still holding my hand, looked at me earnestly. “Earlier when we talked, you were so sure that Raven was the killer. What happened to make you realize it was Alex?”
“I found pictures on Artie’s disk that showed Alex making out with a stripper at his bachelor party. I figured Artie was probably blackmailing Alex with them. That’s when I realized Alex must have been the one to show up that morning and kill Artie.”
Tyler shook his head. “All that over a woman? Geez.”
“Hey,” Nancy said, “just because you haven’t found your true love yet doesn’t mean other people wouldn’t go to extremes to keep theirs.”
Tyler grinned at her. “That sounds scary.”
“Anyway,” I continued, “today he wrote a note and claimed it was from Raven. He was trying to put the blame on her once she confessed she cheated on him with Brett. When I saw the handwriting, I just kne
w something was up. Sure enough, it matched the handwriting on the picture he entered in the photography competition of the fair.”
“So is that why he killed Brett?” Nancy asked.
“No. Brett found out he had murdered Artie. I guess Brett threatened to turn him in.”
“What a waste,” Jake said. “I mean, Brett wasn’t my favorite person, but he didn’t deserve that.”
Everyone sat quiet for a moment.
“Hey,” Nancy said, looking straight at me, “I forgot that I have a beef with you.”
“With me? What did I do now?”
“Sherry told me what you did,” Nancy said.
I held up my hands. “I’m clueless. You’re going to have to help me out here. And remember, I have a concussion.” I pushed out my bottom lip.
She put her hands on her hips. “Apparently, when you grabbed a pie to throw at Alex, it was my pie!”
“You’re kidding!” I covered my mouth to keep from laughing.
Tyler looked at Nancy and started to chuckle. Pretty soon, Jake and I joined in until the three of us were out of control.
Nancy crossed her arms and glared at us, obviously not seeing the humor in the situation.
I caught my breath. “Just think of it this way, sweetie. Your pie probably saved my life.”
“Not so fast.” We all turned to see Sherry Grady standing at the foot of the bed. “I’m the one who saved your life and don’t you forget it.”
I let out a sigh. “Sherry. I don’t know what to say.”
“Thank you would be a nice start,” she said smugly.
“Thank you,” I managed to choke out.
Jake walked over and gave her a hug. “Thank you, Sherry.”
I was surprised by his obvious display of emotion, as was Sherry, judging by the look on her face.
Tyler, who liked Sherry even less than I did, looked at her suspiciously. “What did you do?”
Nancy grabbed him by the arm. “I thought I told you when I called. Sherry pulled a gun out and fired a warning shot at Alex. That’s when he surrendered.”
Killer Shots Murder Mysteries - Books 1-3 Page 38
