A Familiar Star (Romance Mystery) (20 page)

Kylie’s eyes widened. She knew what was coming next, and it was not going to be good news. “Where is he?”

“He’s down at the station with Frank.”

“Wait a second! Are you saying he’s been arrested?”

“No!
Frank is just asking him some questions.”

“What questions? They have no reason to think that he had anything to do with this!
He didn’t even live here when the other murders took place!”

“Don’
t worry, it’s just a formality.  He’s one of the only people around the lake they haven’t checked out yet.”

“They haven’t checked me out yet!”
She said defiantly.

“Don’t do that Kylie.”

“Well…when are they going to let him go?”

“Frank said that as soon as he has an alibi for one of the murders they’ll let him go.”
Lucy tried to be as gentle as possible.

“He was
with me the night Leslie died!”

“Not all night he wasn’t.”
Lucy bit her bottom lip.

“What do you mean?”

“Remember it took him much longer than usual to get home that night.”

“He was picking flowers!”

“Those flowers could have come from the ditch Kylie.”

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you!
Whose side are you on?” Kylie stood up and shook her head.

“I’m on your side Kylie and I trust that Frank will figure this out.
I’m sure everything will be okay.”

Kylie was about to walk off when the phone rang.
Lucy picked it up.

“It’s for you,” Lucy said, “it’s Max.”

Max seemed fine but tired. He told her not to go down to the station because he would be home soon. “Don’t blame Frank for this, he’s just doing his job. It’s routine, I’ll see you later I promise.”

Kylie got off the phone
and sat back down on the couch.

“If you c
ome down to the shop with me this morning, it’ll take your mind off things. I’m sure he’ll be back by this afternoon. It’ll be better than just waiting around here.” Lucy tried to sound consoling but her voice was strained.

“Why doesn’t Frank check Jeffery out again
, or Paul for that matter? They were closer to Leslie then Max was.”

“They have alibis Kylie.”

Kylie made a face at her but Lucy didn’t flinch.

“Anyway
, look, forget about it right now and go and get dressed.”

“No.  Y
ou know what, I think I’ll just go back to sleep for a while and then stick around here till Max gets back.”

Lucy studied her sister long and hard.
She knew Kylie wasn’t a
sit around and wait
, kind of girl. “Are you sure, I’m really busy today and could use your help.”

“Then hire someone.”

“Look Kylie I had nothing to do with this so don’t get nasty. This is not my fault.”

“I’m sorry,
I’m so sorry, your right.” Kylie loosened her shoulders. “I didn’t mean to take it out on you.  It’s just that I suddenly have a splitting headache and now this whole thing has got me on edge again. I really do need to go back to sleep for a while.”

She got up and started up the stairs, then stopped.
“Oh, and Lucy everything
will
be all right, because I know Max is innocent. And thanks for being here for me. I mean that.”

“I l
ove you too and I pray that you’re right.” Lucy whispered the last part under her breath as she watched Kylie disappear around the corner.

The lake was deserted despite the beautiful weather. The vacationers had all gone back to town, and the permanent residents were either staying with relatives or locked up behind closed doors.

Kylie sat in her car and stared at Jeffery William’s house.
Paul had told her he was perfectly harmless, but she wasn’t so sure.  Some of the neighbors had described the place to her and they’d been very generous. The numerous gothic creatures that stood motionless on the lawn, no doubt, warned of things to come. The house’s sunken windows and dark stone gave Kylie the feeling that she was in an Edgar Allen Poe poem, and the unkempt lawn was straight out of the Little Shop of Horrors.

Despite the butterflies in her stomach she got out of the car, hurried across the lawn and used the ghoulish winged creature to thump at the large oak door.
After waiting for about a minute she turned to leave.

“Wait!”

Kylie turned back but couldn’t locate the voice.

“Kylie Lawrence?”

“Yes.”

“What do you want?”

“I’d like to talk to you.” Kylie spotted the intercom and the camera.

“I’m busy.”

“I just need to ask you a few questions. It’ll only take a moment.”

There was a long pause.
“Like I said, I’m busy.”

“I could come back later then.”
She waited.

“Tonight, after dark.”

“All right.” Kylie said then heard the intercom click off.

She turned and stared back out at the front lawn.
“After dark?” She murmured to herself, “of course, why not?” She shot a look back at the house as the creeps ran down her spine.

The police station was buzzing with people.
Agents from the city were scurrying about the offices. Kylie found Frank and he brought her to see Max who was sitting in a small room with a black leather couch and two hard chairs. There was another officer with him that Kylie didn’t know. The officer got up and left when Frank nodded at him then he closed the door behind him.

“Hi!”

“Wow, it’s good to see you!” Max jumped out of his seat.

“Are you alright?”
She wrapped her arms around him.

“Y
eah, I’m fine. I just haven’t slept much and I’m a little lightheaded.” He grinned.

“Can you go?”

“Unfortunately not. They seem to believe that I have motive.”

“What?
”

“They’ve devised some cock-a-many story that I went around killing people so someone
around the lake would sell me their house because it’s an area where houses are hard to come by.” He rolled his eyes. “Then when you bought the house first, I coerced Mr. Gibbons into selling it again.”

“That’s crazy. Where did they come up wit
h that, from Paul?” Kylie made a face.

“I’m not sure if Paul had anything to do with it.
Frank said that they caught up with Mr. Gibbons and he told them that I’d threatened him. He told them I said that if he didn’t sell me the house I’d kill him and after that he was too afraid to go to the police.”

“So the bastard made double and he’s trying to pin it on you.
Unbelievable.”

Kylie stared at Max’s tired face.
He looked worn but not defeated. “Look I’ll go and talk to Frank. I’m sure they can’t keep you here much longer. Frank’s too smart to fall for a stupid story like that. They’re just pushing you around a little to see if you crack.”

Max smiled his gorgeous smile.
“All right.”

“What’s the matter?”
Kylie couldn’t help but smile back.

“You’d make a good Lawyer you know.”

Kylie’s face dropped. “Did they say anything about a Lawyer?”

“Why do you want the job?”
He teased.

“No I’m serious.”
She backed up a step and stared at him.

“I asked Frank and he said at this point it wasn’t necessary.”

“Good, that means it’s like I said and you should be out of here very soon.”

Kylie grabbed her
sweater and purse that she’d thrown on the couch.

“Where are you off to?”
He frowned.

“Nowhere in particular.
I’m going to get a bite to eat then I’ll go back to Lucy’s and wait for you.” Kylie said with a light smile.

“What’s the hurry then?”
Max stared at her hard.

“No hurry.”

“Kylie?”

“What?”

“You look much too serious, like you’re up to something.”

“I’m concerned, that’s all.”
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him goodbye.

“Anyway, this is serious and frankly I’m very pissed off.”

“It’s going to be okay.” He held her tight.

“I know it will be, I’ll see you later then.”

Kylie went out to talk to Frank but he didn’t have much to say. He told her not to worry and that he’d figure it out. Yeah right, Kylie thought. Twenty years since Leslie’s mother was killed and nothing. Obviously Max was not responsible for that so then who was? There was something missing, something that held the key to all of this. Kylie could feel it in her bones.

There was nothing striking about the Troy dwelling.
It was a simple white stucco structure with bay windows and blue shutters. It did, however, possess the Forest Hills charm. The gardens were tidy and bright and there were bird feeders all over the lawn.  The birds took off in every direction as Kylie approached the house.

Mrs. Troy and her two sisters answered the door together for security reasons, Kylie imagined.
  Then they received her in their bright floral sunroom and served her tea.

“Oh yes dear, we did hear about the terrible thing that happened on your grounds.
Are you still staying there?”

“No, I’m staying with my sister.”
Kylie answered their barrage of questions while watching the afternoon sun weaken in the sky.

It was almost 6:00 o’clock and she had to be on the other side of the lake in a couple of hours.
The thought of going back over there was causing her a great deal of anxiety, but she knew what she had to do.  Something was driving her.  And if she’d learnt anything in the past few weeks, she learned that you shouldn’t question what you felt, and that you should always trust your instincts.  So she decided to cut to the chase.

“Mrs. Troy, I really came over to ask you a few questions about Leslie McKenzie and Jeffery Williams.
I know this is very forward of me but you said, at the party, that you thought they were the ones committing the murders.”

The three sisters looked
questioningly at each other then back at Kylie. Mrs. Troy looked the most confused of all.

“Oh, I’m sorry dear
, you must have been hearing things. I would never have said a thing like that.”

Kylie sat back in her chair and almost laughed.
She was at the end of her rope and didn’t need another mystery. Could it be that Mrs. Troy simply didn’t remember, or was she hiding something from her sisters?

“I’m sorry Mrs. Troy
, I could have sworn that’s what I heard you say.”

When the old woman looked blankly at her,
Kylie got up and grabbed her purse. “I have to get going but I’ll come back and visit again soon.”

“I’ll walk you out dear.
No need to get up sisters.” Mrs. Troy said but they both came anyway.  There was an extremely uneasy look on the sisters’ faces.

At the door Mrs. Troy looked determined to say something.
Kylie thanked them and hesitated for a moment.

“I guess it was silly of me
to think it was them committing the murders, Leslie was such a nice person and of course it couldn’t be her anymore. I’m sorry I mentioned it.”

“Leslie was a very nice person,” Mrs. Troy said softly, “and so is Jeffery of course.
They grew up together you know. They did everything together. I know because I babysat little Leslie from time to time because I had no children of my own.”

Kylie smiled.
“She must have been very cute.” She tried to keep the conversation going despite the sister’s disapproving looks.

“She was cute but very mischievous.
I’d turn my back for a minute and somehow she’d sneak off to Jeffery’s without me even knowing about it. It was the strangest thing, one minute she’d be sitting there and the next minute it was as if she’d gone right through the wall. No doors slammed. No outside doors at least. I’d go looking for her and she’d be over at Jeffery’s, every single time.”

Kylie watched in disbelief as Mrs. Troy slowly nodded at her as if she was trying to tell her something, but what?
“Do you think there was…”

“I think she was
a very sneaky little girl indeed!” One of the sisters chimed in, cutting Kylie off mid sentence.

The other sister flashed a stern look at Mrs. Troy and pushed her aside to close the screen door.
“Well then, we’ll see you again soon Ms. Lawrence.”

“Yes, well I guess I should be on my way then.”
Kylie grimaced as the door shut tight behind her. She felt like going back and making her talk. There was something she was trying to tell her. Disappearing through walls, no doors being opened or closed? What did this mean? Well there was one person that might be able to answer some of her questions…if she had the nerve to ask.