Shelley Freydont - Celebration Bay 03 - Independence Slay (11 page)

Chaz shrugged and gestured to Liv. “After you.”

The look Hildy gave him sent a chill up Liv’s spine, but she started down the hall to the stairway. Liv moved as close to Chaz as she could without looking like the chicken she was.

Just as they reached the first floor, the doorbell rang, a hollow gong that only added to the gothic atmosphere. Hildy shuffled across the foyer and, shifting the shotgun into one arm, she opened the front door.

Liv had never been so glad to see Bill Gunnison in her life.

He, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be glad to see her or Chaz at all.

“Trespassers,” Hildy said, taking up the shotgun again and holding it cradled in her arms like a baby.

Bill’s mouth tightened. “So I see. I’ll take them off your hands now, Hildy. Thanks for calling me.”

He motioned Liv and Chaz toward the door.

“Now, you just wait a minute, Bill Gunnison. Aren’t you gonna frisk them? They broke in the window upstairs and were messing around in one of the rooms. No telling what they took.”

Bill nodded. “Well, Hildy, they look like pretty desperate characters. I’m going to take them down to the station where I have backup waiting, and if they have anything they ought not to have, I’ll make sure you get it back.”

“I want to press charges.”

“Aw, Hildy,” Chaz began.

Bill shot him a look.

“I’ll take care of it,” Bill said, and practically pushed Chaz and Liv out the door.

Hildy watched until Bill opened the back door of the cruiser and Chaz and Liv crawled in. And even though Liv was pretty sure it was for Hildy’s benefit, she thought that Bill pushed Chaz’s head down with a little too much enthusiasm as he guided him into the cruiser.

Bill got in the front and drove away.

Chaz started humming under his breath. “Seems Like Old Times.”

Liv nudged him with her foot.

“Bill,” she began.

“Don’t,” Bill warned. “I don’t want to hear what the heck you two were doing in there. You’re lucky Hildy didn’t fill you both with buckshot.”

Liv’s stomach flip-flopped. “She’d really shoot us?”

Bill ignored her but turned to Chaz. “What were you thinking?”

Chaz shrugged. “Liv made me do it.”

“I did not.”

“Be quiet, both of you.”

“Are you going to arrest us?” Liv asked.

“Not if I can help it.” Bill pulled to a stop in front of the
Clarion
office. Turned around so he could see them both, though it was a little hard to talk comfortably separated by the bulletproof glass.

“So, what did you find out?”

Chaz scratched his head, leaving his hair standing up in spikes. “That somebody could jump off the parapet and land on the ledge below without hurting themselves. Which we knew.”

“Somebody who was athletic.”

Chaz shrugged. “So we can guess Hildy didn’t kill Rundle.”

“And Leo was sitting on the roof when Ted and I arrived,” Liv said, not sure what point she was trying to make.

Chaz cut his eyes to her, warning her to shut up, she guessed. But she didn’t think Leo had killed him. If Leo had come up the “secret” way and killed Rundle, he could have easily escaped the same way, instead of sitting whimpering on the floor.

“See anything else?”

“It’s more like what we didn’t see,” Chaz said.

“Which is what?” Bill asked.

Liv wondered, too.

“Well, the biggest question is, where is Henry Gallantine?”

Bill glared through the bulletproof glass that separated them. “I wish people would stop asking me that. I’ve contacted his sister, where he usually spends summers.

“She said he would normally be there by now. But he called last week to say something had come up and he wasn’t coming. She said she’d call us if she hears from him. Okay? That’s not classified. Or have you already made your own inquiries?”

Liv shook her head.

“Not me,” Chaz said.

“Uh-huh. We’ve also tried to get in touch with the nephew, but he’s not returning our calls.”

Ted had already relayed this information. Surely they had found something new by now.

“Henry would never go there,” Chaz said. “The last time Frank was here—Frank’s the nephew—” he told Liv, “Henry told him to get out and stay out, that he’d paid his last gambling debt. Or do you already know that from
your
inquiries?”

“Chaz,” Liv warned quietly. “Stop it.”

“We’ve checked the hospitals, have an APB out on his car.”

“His car is missing?”

“He had his car serviced over at Jerry’s, just like he does every year, got it back on the third, just like always. No one’s seen it since.”

“And that’s it?” Chaz asked, a slight edge to his question.

Bill kept his pointing forward. “Hildy says she hasn’t seen him since Thursday night.” He glanced at Liv. “Which is no surprise. He doesn’t see anybody on the fourth. He likes to prepare for the role and leaves as soon as it’s completed.”

He sniffed. “Used to be an actor. Enjoys a bit of drama, even though he’s been retired for years.”

“So if he isn’t here, and he isn’t there…” Liv began.

“He isn’t anywhere, that darn elusive Pimpernel.” Chaz grinned at her, though Liv thought it looked more like a grimace.

“Very funny.”

“I think you should search the house.”

That was enough to make Bill turn around.

“I thought you and Liv had already done that.”

Liv was beginning to wonder what was going on between the two of them. There was definitely a subtext that she was missing.

“We did search it, the night of the murder,” Bill said. “And A.K.’s men surrounded the house until the end of their shift in case anyone tried to escape.”

“Huh. A.K.’s men,” Chaz said. “Why not the police?”

“Because it was the Fourth of July all over the county, not just in Celebration Bay. Other towns needed support, plus there were several accidents, DUIs. Darn fools.”

“So A.K.’s men searched the house for the killer?” Chaz asked at his driest.

“Yes, and I know what you’re going to say. There are so many hiding places in that old monstrosity, we could be playing cat and mouse with a killer for days. I do have someone watching the house twenty-four/seven, but I’d appreciate if you two would keep quiet about it.”

“I wasn’t really thinking about the killer,” Chaz said. “I was thinking about Henry.”

“Heck,” Bill said, “I wouldn’t put it past him. Sometimes I think he’s lost his grip on reality. Doesn’t know the difference between what’s real and what’s the movies.”

“Maybe Hildy is holding him captive.” Chaz raised an eyebrow at Liv.

She shot him a look that said,
Don’t test Bill’s patience.

Bill snorted. “Why would she do a fool thing like that? Or is this you being sarcastic?”

“Me, sarcastic?”

“Yes,” Bill and Liv said together.

Chaz shrugged. “It just occurs to me that lately Hildy has grown more prejudiced, angrier, and possibly a little greedy.”

“Hmm. I don’t know what Henry pays her, but she’s been with him for twenty years.”

“And why he’s kept her on is a mystery,” Chaz said. “She can’t cook, her housekeeping skills leave a lot to be desired, she’s got a face like an anvil, and she’s not even nice.”

Liv couldn’t tell if he was being serious or just obstructive. His tone was almost conversational, his features perfectly relaxed, as if he had no ulterior motive. But she had seen him in action enough times to know that he had a façade for every occasion.

He usually showed no interest in investigating anything, not even where to hold the next tractor pull, but sometimes he couldn’t help himself. He’d once said investigative reporting was like an addiction. One he obviously wanted to kick, but couldn’t quite give up for good.

For which Liv was glad. But what toll was it taking? And what was this sudden antagonism between him and Bill? Was it mere exasperation on Bill’s part? Liv could sympathize.

“Right now, we’re looking at Henry Gallantine as a person of interest.”

“A suspect, you mean.”

“A person of interest,” Bill repeated, pulling the cruiser back onto the road. “Liv, I’ll drop you off first.”

“Oh,” she glanced at Chaz. “We’re not going to jail?”

“You’re not. What I do with Chaz remains to be seen.”

“Bill, you’re not serious, are you?”

“Yes.”

“Then I guess I’ll take that ride.”

No one spoke on the ride to Liv’s house. Chaz rested his head back on the seat and closed his eyes. Bill kept his eyes forward. Liv felt very isolated with the glass separating them.

When they reached the Zimmerman sisters’ old Victorian, Bill pulled the cruiser to the curb. “I’ll let you off at the end of the drive, if you don’t mind. Don’t want Ida and Edna getting all upset.”

Liv smiled. “You mean you don’t want them to get all excited and start asking you questions.”

“That’s exactly what I mean.” He clicked the locks on the back doors, and Liv got out.

“Good night, Irene,” came from the “sleeping” editor in the backseat.

Liv got out, and the door locked again.

Bill rolled down his window a few inches.

“Liv, there’s a murderer loose, and I don’t want any more civilian casualties. Now, get inside before someone sees you.”

“Should I worry about my reputation?” she asked Bill, only half joking.

“No. Everyone will just think you’re helping with the investigation.”

Liv cringed. Was it resignation she heard in Bill’s voice? Or disgust? “Bill, I—”

“Can’t help yourself. I know.”

“It wasn’t Chaz’s fault. I kind of badgered him into doing it.”

“Aw” came from the backseat. Liv hadn’t thought that the intercom was still on.

“You,” Bill said, turning around and pointing a finger at Chaz, “just shut up.”

Liv stepped back. Definitely a subtext going on between the two of them.

Bill nodded to her, rolled the window up, and drove away.

Liv barely had taken a step before Miss Edna appeared on the front porch. She’d changed from her church wear into knit pants and a striped T-shirt that Liv had seen on the pages of a catalogue the last time she’d visited the sisters.

Edna waved. “Liv, Whiskey’s here with us. We didn’t know how long you’d be gone. And Ida has just made tea.”

Caught
, thought Liv. Bill had the good sense not to stop too long. Liv should have had him let her off at the corner.

Liar, liar, pants on fire
. She had a million questions about Henry Gallantine, Leo Morgan, Hildy Ingersoll, and the dead gardener, and the sisters were a storehouse of information both past and present.

They had lived in Celebration Bay their entire lives and had taught most of the residents under fifty years of age. Liv was sure they would have information on the background of all the players.

Liv veered around to the front walk and climbed the steps to the porch.

The first things Miss Edna saw were the shoes in Liv’s hand.

“A long story,” Liv said.

“One that I’m sure will go better with tea and Ida’s red, white, and blue cake. Come on inside.” She held the door for Liv and followed her into the foyer. “Ida!” she called. “Liv is joining us for tea.”

At the sound of her name, Liv heard the click of doggie paws on the hardwood floor of the hall. A few seconds later, Whiskey bounded into the room as if he hadn’t seen her in weeks instead of a few hours.

Liv knelt down to say hello, and Whiskey took the opportunity to sniff her shoes.

“Just shoes, I’m afraid, no hidden treats.”

“Arf,” Whiskey barked, and sat back on his haunches. Then lowered his head to his paws. His pitiful pose.

Liv stood up.

“I’m afraid I’d have to give him an A-plus in English Comprehension,” Edna said fondly.

“Too bad the only word he doesn’t understand is ‘no.’”

Whiskey whined.

“Okay, maybe he understands but chooses not to listen.” Liv sighed. Singing, spelling, and English Comprehension… and he was back to wearing his red, white, and blue kerchief, which one of the sisters must have found and put on him when they picked him up from the carriage house.

Whiskey was thriving in his new home. And Liv was, too, sort of. She’d be really thriving if she had a social life outside of tea with her landladies and her weekly dinners with BeBe.

Ida appeared from the kitchen with a tray of tea and cake. Every time Liv came to tea, which was fairly often, they always used the china teapot and plates. At first Liv thought it had been because they had a guest, but she was beginning to think they served themselves from the best china even when they were alone.

Liv felt a rush of affection for the two spinster schoolteachers, her landladies and friends. And they loved her dog. She had a great life. It would be perfect if she had someone to share it with. Someone who was more than a friend or a landlady or a coworker. Someone who was a… boyfriend?

“We didn’t know where you had gone this morning,” Miss Ida said as she poured Liv a cup of fragrant tea.

“I’m so sorry,” Liv said. “But I was on a mission of sorts.”

“We heard Chaz was home,” Edna said as she took her own cup from Ida.

“We’ve been wondering why he hasn’t shown his face since he got back,” Ida said, and lifted a piece of layer cake with white icing covered in blueberries and a filling of strawberry compote. She handed the plate to Liv. “Did he say when he’s getting the paper back up and running?”

Liv bit back a smile. Her landladies kept their fingers on the pulse of Celebration Bay. Nearly as astute as Ted when it came to gossip. They’d actually been very helpful more than once when Liv had been up against seemingly insurmountable problems. And they hadn’t been averse to helping in a couple of murder investigations. In fact, they had been very enthusiastic participants.

The two of them drank tea and cut cake as if they had no other thoughts in their heads, but Liv knew they were waiting for all the news and they would be just as enthusiastic about telling her all they knew in return.

Bill had said that everything he’d told them this afternoon wasn’t classified, so Liv had no compunction about sharing the information with her landladies and asking their advice. And if she knew the sisters, they’d already found out about her and Ted finding the body of Jacob Rundle. It was probably all over town by now.

“Well,” she said after she’d taken a sip of tea, “when I heard the way people were talking at the fellowship hour, I started worrying about Leo. He wasn’t at church, so I guessed that Reverend Schorr had decided to keep him at home. He’s staying at the rectory.”

“We heard,” Ida said. “I’ve never understood how some people can be so mean, throwing rocks through that poor woman’s window. Bill didn’t arrest Leo. And the idea of that boy killing that old man. It’s absurd.” She
tsk
ed.

“Since when do facts have anything to do with the way people act?” Edna asked. She’d been a middle school teacher and had a more realistic view of the world than her elementary school–teacher sister.

“I just hope some of them took the pastor’s reading this morning to heart,” Miss Ida said. “Starting with Leo’s mother. To think she kicked him out of her house.”

“So do I,” Edna agreed, “but for my part, I don’t think removing Leo from that environment is the worst thing that could happen to him.”

“Is it a bad environment?” Liv asked.

Edna snorted. “If you call living with an irresponsible woman with too many children, none of them with the same father, and who are mostly taken care of by one another…”

“It was just awful,” Ida said. “She wasn’t even sending them to school until the truant officer and social services put their collective feet down. Told her to send them and give them a decent place to live or they were taking them away. She straightened up for a few months.”

“Afraid of losing her welfare checks,” Edna added. “That didn’t last, but by then poor Dina, the oldest girl, turned eighteen and left school to take over doing the cooking and cleaning.”

“That’s terrible,” Liv said.

“An all-too-common story around here, I’m afraid. I know she’d like to get out of there, but she can’t leave the little ones. To her credit.”

“So I guess it’s a good thing that she kicked Leo out,” Liv said. “Maybe he’ll have a chance to do something with his life.”

The sisters nodded and murmured their agreement.

“But where will he live?”

“He can’t stay with Pastor Schorr. He’s got too much on his plate already.” Edna took a bite of cake.

“Maybe get him into one of those residencies,” Ida said, shaking her head. “It seems a shame, but what else is there to do?”

“But you didn’t go to see Leo, did you?” Edna asked, bringing them right back to the subject Liv had hoped they’d forgotten. Silly her. The sisters never forgot anything.

“No. Yesterday, Pastor Schorr said he’d seen a light on at the
Clarion
office, so today I went over to see if Chaz was back.” Liv didn’t miss the look that passed between her landladies. She hurried on.

“I thought Leo might be afraid, staying alone at the rectory, and I knew that he and Chaz are friends. I didn’t know if Chaz had heard about what happened, and once he did he might want to spend time with him. Like one of those big brother programs. I know he does things with the community center kids. Even though he acts like he doesn’t care about anything, he does. Or he wouldn’t do it.”

“He was always a sweet boy,” Ida said.

“He was hell on wheels from the time he got his first tricycle,” Edna said. “But so interesting. Lord, always getting into trouble.” She frowned. “Not real trouble, just pranks, and so curious about everything. I could have used a hundred students like him.”

“A hundred students like Chaz and you’d been sent off for the cure, Edna.”

Edna made a face at her sister, ran her finger over her plate, and licked the last of the cake icing off it.

That earned her a frown from Ida. “If you want more cake, Edna, you just need to ask.”

“I don’t want more. I wanted to lick icing off my finger. The privilege of retirement. So was he home?”

“Yes, but…” Liv wondered how much she should divulge about the status of the local editor.

“But what?”

“When I got there, he didn’t look very good. Actually he looked awful.” Liv paused. He’d probably kill her if she blabbed about his slovenly state to the sisters. Or about the way he and Bill had been acting. And what part her butting in might have played in it. But she needed some advice.

“Well, the house was dark and locked. So I let myself in. The kitchen was a mess.”

“Just like a man,” Ida said.

“But worse. He hadn’t shaved or bathed in I don’t know how long. It was like he just didn’t care.”

Edna nodded. “Took the outcome of that murder trial hard. I was afraid of that.”

“You knew about the case?”

“Sure we did. We’ve been following it on the Internet. And when we heard the outcome on the news last week, we thought he might be upset.”

“Probably feels like it’s his fault,” Ida agreed.

“His fault?” Liv said. “From what I read, the evidence he turned up during his investigation was pivotal in bringing it to trial at all.”

Edna put her plate down. “But it wasn’t enough to convict the man.”

“And you think he feels responsible?” Liv was having a hard time reconciling the lethargic, laid-back Chaz with this paragon of morality and responsibility.

“Of course he must be taking it hard,” Ida said. “His father was so proud of him. We all were.”

Liv let that sink in before she said, “He was very successful, from what I understand.”

“Yes, he was.”

“So successful that he gave it up to run his father’s local newspaper?” Liv asked.

“Now, Liv,” Edna said. “His family needed him. He’s also loyal, no matter what some people might think. He came back to his roots.”

Ida sighed. “Now, if he’d just settle down with a nice—”

“What do you know about Henry Gallantine?” Liv asked before Ida could finish her sentence.

“Another one who left and came back.”

“Leo isn’t the only one with a crazy mother,” Edna added. “Henry’s mother, Maddie, erred on the opposite side. Smothered that boy with her doting and ambition.”

“Poor Henry,” Ida said. “She took him to New York to audition for a part in a movie they were making. He was a handsome boy and very photogenic. Next thing everyone knows, she’d packed up the baby and Henry and took them both to live in Hollywood.”

“Left her husband behind. No one heard from her again,” Edna said.

“Just what we read in the papers. We saw a couple of movies Henry was in. He was a good little actor. Then he had a television series for a while.”

“What about the sister? Did she become an actor, too?”

“Not that we ever heard of,” Edna said. “I know she came back to visit a few times, but then she just sort of dropped out of sight until she came to keep house for the current Henry. But that was a long time ago.”

“So why did Henry leave Hollywood to return home?” Liv asked.

“Sad, really,” Ida said.

“The same thing that happens to most child stars happened to Henry,” Edna said.

“He grew up and couldn’t get parts?” Liv guessed.

The sisters nodded together.

“Stuck it out for a while, picking up small parts in bad movies. Finally I guess he just gave up and came back to live like a hermit in that old mansion, just like his father before him,” Edna said. “But I remember the day he came back to town, driving a big old Lincoln, he looked like a young Robert Redford. The whole town lined the streets, waving and applauding. But he just drove straight through town to that big old house without even looking out the window to see.”

“I imagine he was embarrassed,” Ida said.

Edna nodded. “Sad. At first he tried to get involved in things, but the spirit was just gone out of him. That’s when his sister moved in with him to keep house, but talk about your hell on wheels. That boy of hers was incorrigible and spoiled to boot. Henry couldn’t stand him.”

“Well, he was a horrible child,” Ida agreed. “And you know I love children. But this boy stole and lied and made mischief every chance he got. Henry finally had to send them packing.”

“Grew up to be a horrible adult from what we hear,” Edna said.

Ida
tsk
ed. “A pity. And after all Henry had done for them. Henry was like that. Always kind to the kids, gave to various charitable causes, tried to start up a theater group for a while, but couldn’t keep enough people interested.”

“And,” Edna said, “turned out just like his father. Henry’s father never got over his wife and son leaving. And seems like the same thing’s happened to this Henry.”

“He never married?”

The sisters both shook their heads and sighed.

“Such a shame, such a dashing young man. Ida, is there more tea in that pot?”

Ida poured Edna another cup. “Liv?”

“No, thanks.” Henry certainly didn’t sound like a man who would commit murder. Unless, as Bill had suggested, he’d gone round the bend. “Just out of curiosity, what happened to Henry’s mother and father?”

“Maddie did lose her mind—so sad—ended up in an asylum in Los Angeles,” Ida said.

“And Henry.” Edna stopped to shake her head. “The housekeeper found him dead one night out by the hedge. They declared it a heart attack, but some people think he threw himself off the roof out of loneliness.”

“Which he brought on himself,” Ida said with a hint of exasperation, which she seldom showed. “He had good neighbors, and before Maddie and the children left, he had good friends. He could have turned to them, but he chose to lock himself up and pine away.”

Unlike either of the sisters when they’d lost their fiancés to war. They had gotten on with their lives, become teachers, taught a whole generation of Celebration Bay men and women. Productive, nurturing, and well loved.

And what about Chaz? Was that what he was doing? Cutting himself off from the world? She wasn’t really worried. She’d managed to badger him into helping Leo today. Whether he would continue to do so was another story.

Hopefully Bill would catch the killer before it was put to the test.

Ida leaned over and patted Liv’s knee. “You don’t worry about a thing. Just stick to your lesson plan like we showed you, and we’re sure you and Chaz will get to the bottom of this in no time.”