“No, it won’t,” she choked out through sobs. “Rex is dead. It’ll never be okay for him or for Fawn. And if they don’t arrest Barry Vannett, then something is seriously wrong with the universe.”
I inched closer. “Why would Barry Vannett be involved?”
Honey looked up. Tears streamed down her face, but she made no move to wipe them away. “Because,” she spat out, “when Rex talked to Barry about an easement for the trail, Barry threatened him. Told Rex to get off his property, that the red roof had been the first sign of bad judgment, and that if he ever tried to get a trail across his farm again, he’d get a face full of shotgun.”
Chapter 4
Rafe, Katrina, and I were eating together in the dining room. Which sounds grander than it was, because we were at a table of plywood plopped on top of sawhorses and eating sandwiches from Fat Boys Pizza accompanied by a side order of bread sticks with garlic cream cheese for dipping. The bread sticks were a request of my niece’s, and I was pretty sure I was going to gain five pounds this summer due to a complete inability to stay away from the delicious little buggers.
“So, Kate, how was it working with Mitchell today?” Rafe asked.
Though Rafe had already switched from Katrina to Kate, I was having a harder time. I hadn’t used the name on her birth certificate out loud all day, which I was considering a victory, but I was still translating in my head. I was also still having a hard time with Mitchell Koyne as anyone’s boss, let alone my niece’s.
Until last year, Mitchell had been one of those laid-back Up North guys who switched jobs with the seasons. Construction in the summer, snow plowing and ski resort work in the winter, and making do in the shoulder seasons by hauling firewood and setting and removing docks.
Though he was smart enough (in a goofy Mitchell sort of way), his brains hadn’t been accompanied by a single ounce of ambition. But then he’d started dating Bianca Sims. No one, including me, had thought the relationship would turn into anything serious. How could the energetic and ambitious Bianca, one of the area’s most successful real estate agents, see anything in slacker Mitchell, even if he was suddenly waking up to the fact that he could have a career?
Kate reached for a napkin and wiped cream cheese off her mouth. “He seems nice. And his wife came in and introduced herself.”
Yes, Bianca Sims was now Bianca Koyne, and had been for almost six months. They’d been married by the local magistrate, and the ceremony had been followed by a noisy, crowded party at the bowling alley.
“Were things busy?” I’d heard from the owner that the toy store had substantially increased its profits since Mitchell had taken over as manager. Truly, wonders never ceased.
Kate rolled her eyes. “It’s my first day. How would I know?”
She had a point, but the eye thing seemed unnecessary. I shut away memories of my own teenage eye movements and tried to think of a question that couldn’t possibly be answered by a gesture I was starting to despise.
We ate in silence for a few moments. How could conversation with a teenager be so hard? Weren’t teen girls supposed to talk all the time? Not that I had, but I’d always known I was different.
“Did you stop at the sheriff’s office?” Rafe asked.
Katrina flinched, dropping a messy slice of tomato onto the plywood.
I handed her a fork, but she ignored it and used her fingers to tuck the red squashiness back between the layers of lettuce and turkey. “Yes,” I said. “Hal wasn’t there, but I talked to Ash.” Even as I said the words, I realized I hadn’t done what Rafe asked me to, namely let the sheriff’s office know that I wanted to help find the killer. Huh. Well, I’d have to fix that later.
“He didn’t have much time to talk,” I said. “But he did tell me Rex and his wife, Fawn, were out on a boat almost all day on the Fourth, and most of the night.” I explained about the food truck order. “Fawn was on the boat the entire time,” I said, “so she’s out as a murder suspect.”
“What if she hired someone?” Katrina asked. When Rafe and I looked at her, she added impatiently, “To kill her husband. What if she paid someone to have it done?”
I dared not look at Rafe for fear the laughter that was bubbling up inside of me would escape, thereby damaging the tentative relationship with my niece. “Um,” I said, but couldn’t figure out what next to say.
Rafe reached down, grabbed yesterday’s edition of the Chilson Gazette, opened it to the back pages, and shook his head. “Nope. Don’t see anything under ‘ASSASSIN.’ But it’s summer, maybe they’re booked up like everybody else and aren’t wasting money on advertising during the busy season.”
Smothering a snort, I said, “Kate, no matter what they show in movies, I don’t think it’s easy to hire a killer. Especially in rural areas.”
“I’m not saying it would be easy,” she said loudly. “I’m just saying it’s a theory and the police should take it into account.” She stood. “You’re not taking me seriously and that’s crap. My opinion should matter just as much as anyone else’s. More, because I’m the one who—”
Her voice broke. With a shuddering intake of breath, she rushed out of the room and into the foyer, where we could track her location by a slammed front door and the sound of her sandals flip-flopping down the steps.
I started to stand, but Rafe waved me to sit. “She needs a few minutes. Finish eating and then go after her.”
Half up, I thought his advice through, decided he was right, and sat back down. “I’m really glad you’re our middle school principal. You understand kids better than any adult I’ve ever known.” I watched as he used the end of a breadstick to make a smiley face in the cream cheese. “Of course,” I said, “it’s likely you find kids so easy to understand because you never grew up yourself.”
Rafe put a hand on his chest. “You hurt me, Minnie, you truly do.”
As if. “I haven’t looked for Rex’s obituary yet. Did you?”
“Not up yet. So did you tell Ash you want to help with the investigation?”
“Speaking of the investigation,” I said, “I found something interesting about Rex and Fawn’s neighbor, Barry Vannett.” It didn’t take long for me to explain the proposed trail, Rex’s involvement, the odd comment about a roof, and the threat Vannett had made.
Rafe looked at me over the top of his sandwich. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you didn’t answer my question about telling Ash you want to help with the investigation.” I was still working through all the negatives he’d used when he added, “So I’m going to guess you didn’t tell Ash what you learned about Barry Vannett, either.”
“Not yet,” I said. “I will, though. Tomorrow morning on the way in to the library.”
Rafe waved a bread stick at me. “If you don’t, I’ll have to, and you know how that will end up.”
I did. With Rafe hanging out at the sheriff’s office for half a day, not getting anything done at the house, which would make him cranky as all get-out.
“Promise,” I said, and leaned over to give him a light kiss.
Then I went after my niece.
* * *
It had been easy to find Kate, as she’d gone back to the houseboat, let Eddie out, and flopped on one of the two lounges on the deck. Eddie had jumped onto the other lounge and I’d silently picked him up and sat down with him on my lap.
At first he didn’t want to stay there, but I kept petting him and he eventually started purring and his muscles relaxed to the point where his body started to conform to the shape of my legs.
I was thinking various tumbling thoughts, about Kate and Rafe and the house and Eddie and the bookmobile and Mitchell and the library the next day and Rex and Fawn and Barry Vannett, when Kate sat up. “There’s a movie theater downtown, right? Can we go?”