The widow looked up, startled, when Chase entered the booth. She wore long spiral earrings that twirled when she moved her head.
“Hi, Chase.” Anna’s voice was bright, in contrast to Elsa’s glum expression. “Have you met Elsa Oake?”
Chase shook her head. “Pleased to meet you,” she said.
“Yes. Same here.” The woman sniffed, as if she had been crying. She dabbed at her eyes, but they were dry. She swiped at her nose with the same tissue that she had dug out of her large shoulder bag, then walked out of the booth.
“Is she all right?” asked Chase.
“Of course not, Charity. Her husband has been murdered.”
“Well, yeah. But I meant, should you go after her?”
“She’s meeting someone official from the fair, or maybe the police, to collect the rest of Mr. Oake’s things. They’re releasing some of his tools. The things they’re not holding for evidence.”
“I saw his workstation.”
“Poor Elsa is especially distraught because of the situation between her and her husband when he died.”
Chase helped herself to a Lemon Bar. She couldn’t be around them all day and never eat any. “What situation?” She held the tangy goodness on her tongue to savor it as long as possible.
Just then a chattering family came in and bought so many dessert bars, they seemed to be stocking up for a famine. The rush continued until closing time. The two women worked nonstop, except for brief forays for sustenance when they got so hungry they were ready to drop.
Finally, it was time to pack up. Chase spied something shiny on the floor. She stooped to pick up a spiral earring. “I think Elsa Oake must have dropped this,” she said.
Anna took it and held it up to inspect it. “I think you’re right. This looks like hers. Looks like a nice one, too.”
“We should try to return it. She didn’t give you her phone number or address, I don’t suppose.”
“No, but she said she’s staying at the Crowne Plaza downtown. If you want to run this stuff to the shop, I’ll stop by there and see if I can give it to her.”
“Anna, what were you saying earlier about her situation, when her husband . . . died?” Chase hated to say the word murder.
“It’s tough. She had been going through some papers of his—I’m not sure why—and she found a stack of real estate ads he’d cut out. I think she’s naturally snoopy. She confronted him before they came here, and he said he was going to buy a live-in studio in Madison and carve butter full-time if he won the prize at this fair.”
“He thought he could retire on that prize?”
“How much is it?” Anna asked.
“It’s twenty-five thousand dollars, which is a nice amount, but that’s not enough to live on for the rest of your life.”
“Apparently, he’s done well with other business ventures, and this would be enough for him to acquire the property and retire. However, his plans didn’t include his wife.”
“He was going to leave her?”
“If he won,” Anna said.
“According to Julie and Jay, he would have won. I don’t think anyone here could have beaten him. Not if he really was the best butter sculptor in the Midwest.”
“Elsa said she was livid about it. They’ve been arguing ever since they arrived, but she finally blew her stack.”
“Did that happen in the sculpture building?”
“I’m not sure. I got the feeling that the confrontation was here at the fair, somewhere. The argument was the last time she spoke with him.”
After Anna left with the earring, Chase twirled her hair and wondered exactly how angry Elsa had been. Angry enough to commit murder?
NINE
Julie called Chase at eleven, after Chase had arrived home, taken a bath with heavenly rose-scented salts, and gotten her flannel PJs on. The nights were getting colder and colder. She would have to break out her long johns soon so she could be warm and toasty while she slept.
“Chase, can I come by to talk?” Julie asked.
“Sure. I was getting set to watch television for a while before I go to bed.”
Julie had sounded somber. Chase wondered if there was trouble between her and Jay. She hoped not. She hadn’t yet seen that much of him, but she liked what she’d seen. Julie hadn’t been serious about anyone for so long. In law school, her time was taken up with studying and graduating at the top of her class, plus interning. After graduation, she landed the job with the district attorney’s office, and they kept her even busier than she’d been in school. Her schedule seemed to be easing up a bit the last few weeks. At least she had time to date.
After Chase let Julie up to her apartment over the shop, she made cinnamon-sprinkled cocoa for both of them.
“Mmm, this is exactly what I need right now.” Julie cupped the mug with both hands. “It’s getting downright chilly out there. I think a new cold front went through while I was on my way here from the office.”
“Is everything going okay, Jules?” Quincy rubbed against Chase’s flannel pajama–clad leg, leaving ginger-hued hairs on the black watch plaid.
“I guess,” Julie said. “But I, well, I’m not quite happy with what I’m doing.”
Chase waited. Not happy with her job? With her boyfriend? When Julie didn’t continue, Chase voiced those two options.
Julie laughed. “Not with Jay. Everything is super with him. No, it’s my job.”
“Has something changed?”
“Not really. I think that I’ve been working so hard I didn’t have time to notice whether or not I liked what I was doing. I’m getting a better handle on how the system works as time goes on and as I work there longer. I have a tiny bit more time to think lately.”
Quincy jumped into Julie’s lap, purring, and she adroitly saved her chocolate from spilling.
“I’ve noticed that. And? What do you think?”
“I think I don’t want to work in the public sector.”
“Why not? I thought you enjoyed it.”
“I do, sometimes, but prosecuting has such negative connotations. I think I’d rather do something positive. And it’s not enough pay for such hard work.”
“Do you want to move to the private sector because Jay works for a private firm?”
“Maybe. I know he works just as hard as I do, maybe harder, and it’s basically the same field. Being a defense attorney is the other side of the courtroom from prosecution.”
“That’s what you want to do? Defense?”
“Not really. Maybe. I’m not sure yet. That’s what’s making me so edgy lately. I really don’t know what I want to do. I thought I did when I took my job, but this isn’t it.”
“Isn’t it good to discover that now, before you spend years and years doing something you don’t enjoy?”
“I’m sure you’re right. But I don’t know what I do want to do. It’s an unsettling feeling. It makes my stomach hurt.”
“Have you talked to Jay about it? I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know what your other options are. He might know better.”
“I haven’t talked to him. He knows something’s wrong, but I didn’t want to tell him.”
“Why not?”
Julie looked at Chase’s ceiling for the answer. “Maybe I don’t want him to think I’m flighty. Or a person who doesn’t know how to run her own life.”
Quincy abandoned Julie for Chase and got a neck rub for his trouble.
“If he’s noticed something’s wrong, he probably assumes it’s about him. Don’t you think?”
They both sipped their chocolate in silence for a moment. Then Julie spoke with a decisive air. “You’re right. That’s not fair, is it? If our relationship is good and is going anywhere, I have to share this with him.”