Adams Grove 03-Wedding Cake and Big Mistakes (22 page)

Carolanne said, “Except that we know she was here in Adams Grove.”

Connor spoke up. “It’s dark on that part of Route 58. If she’d been walking, it could have been an accident, and if the initial injuries were sustained on Route 58, there’s no telling where the driver is. Could have been anyone from anywhere cruising down that stretch of road.”

“True.” Scott frowned. “Can you determine an approximate time of death?”

The ME answered, “You found her at about one thirty in the afternoon. I’d say that she was in the water about five and a half hours. Maybe around eight-o-five a.m.”

“You can get that precise?”

He laughed. “No. Scientifically, I came to the conclusion of four to six hours, but honestly, her watch stopped at eight-o-five. Probably when the water seeped into the mechanism. I’m guessing it probably ran for a little while, but the water would have caused the battery to fail.”

Scott put the phone on mute. “This guy drives me nuts. He’s one weird dude, but he does know his stuff.” He took the phone back off mute. “Had to have happened early that morning, then. Thanks, man. Keep me posted.”

“I will,” the medical examiner said. “Don’t think there’s much more I can tell you on this one.”

Scott ended the call. “We’re making progress.”

“I think we’ve got something else that will help.” Connor handed the bag over to Scott. “Carolanne found this. It belonged to Gina, and Derek Honeycutt knew the girl, too.”

Scott pulled the items out of the tote one at a time. “Gina, what were you looking for? Who didn’t want you to find it? Or was this really all one big accident?”

Carolanne folded her arms across her chest.

Connor wondered the same thing. Could it have just been some kind of random accident that she died right here in the same town, within a mile of the other tragedy her family had endured in the seventies?

It seemed a little too convenient, but somehow that seemed more comforting than thinking there was a killer among them.

Chapter Nineteen

Feeling a little zoned out, Connor wondered what Carolanne was feeling as they walked back to the office. It was unsettling to hear the details come together about the mystery woman with the turtle on her leg. When she was a mystery woman, the death hadn’t seemed nearly as bad—now that she had a name and ties to the town, it felt personal.

They hadn’t said a word the whole walk back, and Carolanne went upstairs to her apartment instead of back to work. Connor went to his office and forced himself to put his mind on work so that he might elevate his mood. He worked up the papers for Mac. It wasn’t his place to make him wait, he’d decided.

Once that was done, Connor went and pulled the paperwork on the Dixon farm and reviewed it again. If Gina truly had been the daughter of Lindsey Dixon, then the decisions on the Dixon farm would have been in her hands. If there were no other heirs, that property would go to the town of Adams Grove.
Who stood to gain from that?
Just about anyone with the cash to buy the property. It was definitely prime real estate. Plus, if they logged the land, there’d be a heckuva windfall just from that.

He tucked the paperwork back in the folder and filed it away. He spent the rest of the afternoon responding to inquiries, but his mind kept going back to the cute redhead upstairs packing to move. For a tiny little gal, she clomped around like an elephant.

Nostalgia swept over him again.
What is it about weddings and accidents that make people reexamine their own lives?
Losing Mom this year hadn’t helped, either. Connor opened his desk drawer and grabbed the keys to the lockbox area where they stored records. It didn’t take him but a moment to find what he was looking for. He knew exactly where it was.

He pulled the original DVD from the file and walked back to his office. He dimmed the lights and stuck the disc in the DVD player built into his credenza.

Pearl Clemmons came into view. He fast-forwarded through most of the beginning of the video addendum to her will, then pressed the play button.

He laughed out loud when she accused him of calling her a pimp-granny.
I never said that!

Although, in hindsight, it was probably a pretty accurate description. Once Pearl had a couple matched in her mind, she was like a pit bull about letting go of the idea. That old gal was a pistol. If Jill was even half as feisty as Pearl, Garrett would have his hands full.

Memories of the day Pearl Clemmons had spent in his office were crystal clear. The recording wasn’t even ten minutes in total, but she’d spent nearly the whole day in his office. She’d even coerced him into buying her lunch on his dime. She must have started and restarted a hundred times. She was playing actress and producer, shouting “cut” and “roll ’em” like she knew what it meant.

You gave me a run for my money, Pearl.

Finally, once she’d said what she wanted to say—the
way
she wanted it to be said—she’d surprised him with that last little
add-on. He hit play again and watched as she fussed into the camera. The video moved off Pearl, but only for a second. Then it came right back into focus on her.

Pearl had gone off on him for stopping the recording before she said she was done. He’d pressed the record button out of sheer exhaustion in hopes that the day would finally end.

“Jill, dear, tell sweet Carolanne that she needs to get her butt back to Adams Grove. She doesn’t need to let that daddy of hers keep her from getting her a good man right here in town. Fact is, he’s been doing pretty good staying on the wagon.” Pearl hunched forward, leaning on her elbows. “I know she and Connor would make a great couple.”

He winced at what was coming next. He remembered the way she shook her crooked finger at him.

“No, you cannot take that off. This is my last wish to my granddaughter. You just roll that ’til I’m done.”

Turning back to the camera, Pearl smiled so sweetly that nobody would ever believe how bossy she could be. “I know Carolanne can wrangle this one. They’re just alike. He’s got that girl in Chicago or California, some big city somewhere, but God knows, if she ain’t here yet, she never will be.”

She’d been talking about Katherine, and Lord knows she was right.
Too bad I didn’t realize it back then.

“I love you, dear. You and Garrett find your happiness. The rest will all fall in place.” She blew a final kiss into the camera. “Now I’m done, damn it. It’s not like I was paying you by the inch of tape. You can shut it—”

The screen went blank in mid-sentence.

He skipped back to the beginning of that section and replayed it.

Pearl had been right about everything.

Right about Ben.
He’s a good man. No crime falling apart after losing the love of your life.
Right about him and Carolanne being
just alike.
We fell into an easy routine in no time. I think I was in love with her before the first week was out.

Right about Katherine, too.

“Hellooo.”

Connor turned off the television, dropped the remote on his desk, and went to the reception area of the office. Jill stood there in jeans and a T-shirt that had seen better days.

“Hi, Jill. You’re a mess. Is this what happens to women after they get married?” Connor walked over to hug her but hesitated. “I was kidding, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you such a sight.”

“I know. I’ve been unpacking pottery all day. It was a dusty mess, then Clyde’s tail knocked my soda can off the table, and now I’m wearing dirty-soda tie-dye.”

“Well,” he tried to reason, “it looks crafty.”

“That’s a backhanded compliment, if I’ve ever heard one. Where’s my partner in crime?”

“She’s upstairs packing.”

“Upstairs?” Jill pointed toward the second floor. “As in like she took off a day of work, upstairs?”

“Yep.”

“That’s a first.”

“I know. I’m beginning to take her being so excited about this move personally.”

“Maybe you should.” Jill leaned against the desk. “So, how are things going with you two?”

“I figured you’d be in a better position to tell me that.”

“No. Not really. I don’t know anything. On a good day, she holds her cards close to the vest, but I have to admit I’ve been a little all about me lately with the wedding.”

“You’ve got to be exhausted. I still can’t believe you didn’t move one of the dates—the grand opening or the wedding date. Two major life events in back-to-back weekends is crazy, even for you.”

“I couldn’t change the grand opening. It really has to be Memorial Day weekend at the latest, and we’d already picked the wedding date. You know Pearl always said changing dates is bad luck. I couldn’t chance that.”

Of course you couldn’t.

“Remember when they moved the Fourth of July celebration to the weekend before, thinking it would be easier for the kids? Rained out. Remember when we moved our camping trip out a week so we could go to that concert? Poison ivy. Remember—”

“Yeah, yeah. I remember.”

“Why tempt fate?” she said.

“I don’t think even fate could come between you and Garrett now.”

“Gosh, I hope not. That whole dead body thing has me pretty creeped out. I Googled it, but there’s nothing on the Internet about what it means to have a dead body float up during your wedding reception. I think I’m a first.”

“It’s got to be better luck for you than it was for the girl. I guess you get to set the precedent for this one. You can start your own Wikipedia page.”

“I think I’ll pass on that golden opportunity.”

Connor shook his head. “Could have been your fifteen minutes of fame.”

“No, thanks. Have you talked to Scott? Has he figured out who she was yet?”

“As a matter of fact, I have and he has. Evidently, that girl had been in the library the other day. Same day Carolanne was in there. She was the daughter of Lindsey Dixon.”

“From the Dixon farm? The Old Mill Pond Dixons?”

“The same.”

“No one has been back to that place in years.”

“I know. I manage the trust.”

“It’s so sad.” Jill stood. “I hope they figure out what happened. You know once the
County Gazette
comes out with the story, other papers might pick it up. I hope we get past the grand opening before they do. This is when it’s nice that the paper only comes out every other week.”

“True,” Connor agreed. “It could work to your favor and keep the bigger presses off your back.”

“I’m praying for that,” she admitted, but she looked worried. “Well, I’m going to go up and check in on Carolanne. I’ll put a good word in for you.”

Am I that transparent?
Connor watched Jill go upstairs, then listened to the girly squeals come through the old ventilation system. Everything in this building echoed.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, wondering what next week was going to be like around here.