Derek was leaning against the wall, his guitar propped next to him. He was so pale I thought he might pass out. “I didn’t want him to end up dead,” he said.
I nodded. “I know. The man was a jerk but nobody wanted him to die.”
I turned my attention back to Ethan. It seemed to me that I could feel the nervous energy he was giving off the same way that I could feel the heat from Harrison Taylor’s woodstove when I sat beside it.
“Do you have a class list and contact information for your students?” I asked.
He stopped pacing to look at me. “Yes,” he said and it seemed to dawn on him that people were due to be arriving soon. “What am I going to say to them?”
“Just say that due to unforeseen circumstances you have to cancel the workshop. Apologize for it being last minute and say that you’ll be issuing refunds in the next twenty-four hours.” I slipped my messenger bag onto my other shoulder. “You can do that, can’t you?”
Ethan thought for a moment but Derek was already nodding. “We can do that.”
“You probably should get started, then,” I said.
The two of them bent their heads over Ethan’s phone.
I rubbed my stomach with one hand. It ached. It was a familiar feeling.
The responding police officer was Officer Stephen Keller, ex-military, tall, square-shouldered and serious. We’d met under these types of circumstances before. He gave me a quick nod of recognition.
The paramedics were right behind him. I recognized them as well, Ric Holm and his partner. Ric and I had first met when I’d been injured escaping from a house just seconds before it exploded. I awakened wrapped in blankets on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance with a very pissed-off Owen sitting on my stomach and Ric beside me. It was the first time he’d given me first aid but as it turned out it hadn’t been the last.
Melanie had returned with Officer Keller and was unlocking the meeting room door.
“So what’s going on?” Ric asked. He wore navy blue pants that must have had at least half a dozen pockets and a short-sleeved navy shirt with a patch on one shoulder that said Mayville Heights Paramedic. A stethoscope was draped around his neck.
“There’s a man inside, dead at one of the tables. His name is Lewis Wallace,” I said. I held on to the strap of my messenger bag, running my hand along the tightly woven webbing.
“Did you check for a pulse?” Ric asked.
I nodded. “I couldn’t find one. And . . . and I know what someone looks like when they’re dead.”
Melanie opened the door and Ric and his partner quickly made their way over to Lewis Wallace followed by Officer Keller, who shut the door behind them. The two paramedics weren’t in the room very long. Ric came out, pulling off a pair of blue latex gloves. “Is everyone okay out here?” he asked, looking around.
“We’re good, Ric,” I said. “Thanks.”
“Take care, Kathleen,” he said. “I hope next time I see you it’s under better circumstances.”
I nodded. “Me too.”
Marcus arrived then. He put a hand on my shoulder. “You all right?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
“We’re all fine,” I said.
“What’s going on?” He was already pulling a pair of gloves similar to Ric’s from his pocket.
I explained briefly what had happened, how Ethan and Derek were supposed to be giving a workshop and I’d had a meeting planned with Melanie. She nodded in agreement.
“Melanie was just going to let Ethan and Derek into the room—this room—and then the two of us were going to her office to talk about the quilt show,” I continued. “She opened the door and we both saw Wallace. I checked but he was already dead. I’m the only person who actually went into the room.”
Marcus’s blue eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute. Did you say Wallace? Do you mean Lewis Wallace?”
I nodded.
He pressed his lips together for a moment. “Everyone, please, just stay here,” he said.
There was a long wooden bench in the main hallway in front of an emergency exit and a bank of floor-to-ceiling windows. I sat down. I knew we were going to be a while.
Things got busy after that. Marcus came back out after a few minutes, talking on his cell. He had more questions for both Melanie and me. He spoke briefly to Ethan and Derek. They hadn’t seen much so that didn’t take very long. By then the crime scene techs had arrived.
Marcus spoke to one of them and finally came back and stood in front of me. I got to my feet. “You can go home, Kathleen,” he said. “I told your brother and Derek to stay around because I’ll need to talk to all three of you later. You know how these things work.”
I did know. I wished I didn’t. “We’ll stay at the house,” I said. “Call me when you get a chance.”
“I will,” he said and his hand brushed mine for a second.
I promised Melanie that I’d call her and we’d reschedule. I collected Ethan and Derek and we headed home. No one said a word on the drive up the hill.
“Marcus is going to have more questions for us later,” I warned as I pulled into the driveway. Derek was sitting close to the passenger door. I looked around Ethan. “Derek, why don’t you stay here for a while?”
He swiped a hand over his face. “Yeah, I think I will. Thanks.”
There was no sign of Owen or Hercules. I knew the latter could be anywhere given his ability to come and go as he pleased. Owen had to be somewhere in the house. I had my fingers crossed that he wouldn’t “appear” at the wrong time.
We’d been home for about fifteen minutes and I’d just poured myself a cup of coffee when Maggie called.
“I heard what happened,” she said. “I’m making pizza. Don’t make any plans for lunch.”
I leaned against the counter. “Thank you,” I said. I hadn’t even thought about lunch. “Oh, Ethan and Derek are here.”
“It’s okay. It’s a big pizza,” she said.
Ethan had come out to the kitchen while I was talking to Mags. He poured himself a cup of coffee. It struck me that our coffee habit was another way we both took after our mother. Thea Paulson was beautiful, charismatic, opinionated and stubborn. All three of us had inherited that stubborn streak. Ethan definitely had Mom’s stage presence and charisma.
My parents had each been married twice. Both times to each other. Ethan and Sara were the result of their reconciliation. I was fifteen and mortified by the undeniable proof that my mother and father, who I’d thought were barely on speaking terms, were actually much closer than that.
“That was Maggie,” I said, ending the phone call. “She’s bringing pizza.”
A smile flashed across Ethan’s face. I didn’t think it was because of the pizza. It wasn’t my overprotective big-sister imagination. Ethan had a bit of a crush on Maggie. I opened my mouth to say something and took a sip of coffee instead. This wasn’t the time.
“I’m going to make a couple of phone calls,” Ethan said. His hair was sticking up all over his head. I caught myself reaching out to smooth it down the way I had done when he was a kid and stopped myself. Ethan wasn’t a kid anymore and I needed to remember that.
I poked my head in the living room, where Derek was sitting on the sofa with his laptop. “Coffee’s ready,” I said.
He gave me a tight smile, or what passed for a smile at the moment. “Thanks,” he said, setting the computer on the sofa cushion beside him and getting to his feet. He looked tired and a bit gray. Unlike Ethan, who burned off his stress by constantly being in motion, it seemed that Derek kept what he was feeling inside. He poured a cup of coffee, added two sugars and stirred distractedly as he checked his phone. His mouth pulled to one side and he jammed the phone in the pocket of his jeans.
“Is everything all right?” I asked.
Derek let out a breath. “Yeah. Liam hasn’t answered my text.” He shook his head. “Kids.”