“The reality is that the remains were burnt to the point where it was pretty much impossible to say anything conclusively,” White reminded me. “What the coroner actually said is that he found skeletal evidence consistent with the idea that Dale Conover might have suffered from a gunshot wound at some point. He doesn’t know whether or not the man had been shot just before the fire. For all we know, the fire was started by something like an electrical short, and the man simply died due to a terrible accident.”
“But...”
“There is no but about it, young lady. The facts are unclear in this case, and I won’t have that newspaper of yours printing speculation that is sure to bring a sense of panic to the town. Haven’t we already had more than our share of tragedy to deal with in the past six months?”
“Well, yes, I guess the town has suffered from an abnormally high murder rate lately. But just because it’s inconvenient for Dale Conover to have been murdered, doesn’t mean he wasn’t.”
“Like I said, everything you think you know is based on nothing more than speculation. I suggest that you remember that when you write your story.”
This guy was a real piece of work. I understood that he wouldn’t want to cause panic amongst the town folk for no reason, but since I’d known him, he’d demonstrated a consistent willingness to ignore evidence that would point toward murder, even when that outcome seemed likely. “Actually, I’m not writing the piece about the fire. Brock Green is.”
He frowned. “Well, that’s unfortunate.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall. “I really need to go. I have an appointment to get to. It was nice chatting with you.” Or not, I thought to myself. Of course, as much as the guy annoyed me, I did wonder if he was right. Cass said that it looked as if Dale had been shot and had probably died as a result of the gunshot wound to the chest and not as a result of the fire, but I also remembered the gunshot wound was based on a bone fragment, which in my mind, made the whole scenario far from conclusive.
When I last spoke to Cass, he’d shared that he was going to look into it further, but I wasn’t sure if he’d had the time to do so. I wasn’t writing that particular story, so while I didn’t need to gain clarity concerning the cause of death, I really wanted to call Cass and ask him about Mayor White’s assertions. The thing was, I had an interview to get to, which seemed to be time-sensitive, so I supposed it could wait until I saw him later in the day.
I headed toward my car and then headed toward the area referred to by many as the downtown area of Foxtail Lake. The downtown area was about four square blocks, but it was the general geographic location where many of the local businesses were housed. My first interview of the two I’d set up for today was with a woman named Constance Long. She was a recent match who’d apparently found true love with a man named Steve Winston. I didn’t know either Constance or Steve, but I had spoken to both briefly on the phone. Constance expressed a willingness to speak to me, but Steve told me to get lost. At first, I was irritated by his rude reply and abrasive attitude, but then I realized that an interview with half the couple was better than no interview at all.
Constance was a hairdresser who owned her own salon, so I arranged to meet her between clients. She was booked fairly solid, but she had found a twenty-minute break this afternoon and informed me that if I could work with that twenty minutes, she’d take the time to speak to me. It seemed tight, but twenty minutes was better than nothing, so I agreed.
“Constance?” I asked the redheaded woman who was standing at the cash register, chatting with a blond with streaks of blue in her hair.
“Yes, I’m Constance. You must be Callie.” The redheaded woman turned toward the blond. “This is Kim. She is a client of mine who was also matched by Ms. Cupid. She came in for a blowout, and I asked her to stay. I figured you might want to speak to both of us as long as you are here.”
I frowned. “Kim? I don’t think your name has come up to this point.”
“It probably hasn’t come up because, unlike most of the matches, mine was a bust. Constance thought you should have both sides of the story, so I agreed to stay and meet you.”
“I appreciate that.” I glanced at Constance. “And thank you for asking Kim to stay.” I looked around the salon. “Do you want to talk here or would you prefer to move to another location where we can sit down?”
“Here is fine,” Constance said. “I need to listen for the phone, and since our conversation is going to brief, there is no reason to get too comfortable.”
“Okay, then.” I took out my notepad and set it down on the counter. I supposed I could just use it to write on if we were going to stand. I would think Constance, who probably spent most of the day on her feet, would want to sit down, but whatever. I glanced at Kim. “Since we haven’t spoken, I’d like to start by getting your full name, the full name of the man you were matched with, and the reason you felt the match was a dud.”
She twirled one of her blue streaks with the index finger of her left hand. “My name is Kim Cromwell. I prefer not to mention the name of the man I was matched with since I don’t have his permission to do so. The guy was a really nice guy with a great sense of humor and a fantastic job. I can see why Ms. Cupid thought he’d be a good match, but the truth is, I wasn’t looking for anything serious. We had a lot of fun, but after the first date with my one true love, I could see that he had marriage and kids on his mind. I’m only thirty-two. Much too young to settle down.”
“I see.” I paused and then continued. “Had you been ready to settle down, do you feel the man you were matched with would have been a good fit?”
She nodded. “Totally. He’s handsome and athletic. He loves to travel and had a lot of stories to tell. In many ways, he would have been the perfect life mate if I’d been looking for something like that, which I’m not.”
“So if you weren’t looking for happily ever after, why did you sign up with Ms. Cupid, who is known for making matches of the forever kind?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I was curious about who Ms. Cupid would come up with. I’ve done other dating sites in the past. I recently did this one program with apps that allowed you to track the movements of the men you’d indicated that you were interested in. At first, it was fun to see where these men went during the day, but then someone pointed out that I’d basically become a stalker, so I quit the service. I’ve joined other dating sites that rely less on technology, but most of the guys were losers. Ms. Cupid has a reputation for weeding out the losers, which appealed to me, so I decided to answer the questions and see what happened. Looking back, I guess I should have thought it through before I agreed to go on a date with a guy who really is perfect for me.”
“Seems to me instead of dumping Mr. Right, you might want to reexamine your attitude about settling down,” Constance said.
Kim crossed her arms across her chest. “Just because you seem to be ready for babies and stretch marks doesn’t mean we all are.”
I turned to Constance. “So tell me about your first date with Steve Winston.”
Her face softened. “It was magical and absolutely perfect. I love fishing, which you may not guess by looking at me, but I do. My first date with Steve was a fishing date on Foxtail Lake, followed by a romantic picnic with some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. It was a gorgeous fall day, and the mountainside was rich with color. I really did feel like I was in some sort of Hallmark movie.” She took a breath and then continued. “We spent the day fishing, eating, and getting to know each other. We laughed and talked and shared our dreams for the future, and by the end of the date, I knew I’d just met the man I would marry.” Constance looked at Kim. “No, I wasn’t sure I was ready for that level of commitment before meeting Steve. Like Kim, I suppose I was curious and willing to give it a try and see how things worked out, but unlike Kim, I have no intention of throwing back the perfect guy just because my timeline had been moved up a bit.”