COZY MYSTERY: Murder At The Festival: A Cozy Mystery in the Mountains (Book 4) (7 page)

Mayor Calum’s office was mahogany paneled, with a large oak desk dominating it. He sat on a leather chair that looked one step removed from a golden throne. He sat with his hands occasionally stroking the armrests, and watched Victoria, as she sat in front of him. A cross was framed on the wall behind him.

“I don’t see why you’re wasting your time on this.” He said coldly. “So I advised Karen not to do anything to Margie. So what? I’m a kind man, I believe in second chances. I only told Karen that she had the power to ruin a young girl’s life, and she should wield it carefully.”

“You didn’t mention the other line you said,” Victoria said. “Let me remind you. You also told my sister that if she didn’t wield it carefully, that if she caused problems, you’d be miserable and that she shouldn’t make you unhappy.”

“Did I say that? I have no memory of doing so.” Mayor Calum said. “I’m not sure why this is important anyway.”

“It’s important, alright,” Victoria said. “It’s one of the first questions I had about the case, remember? Why are you so interested in it?”

“I’m interested in keeping the peace in this town.” Mayor Calum said. “I wanted to make sure that the police weren’t being too lackadaisical. As it stands, they were. I’m going to make sure that Corporal Jager’s higher ups are informed about what I view as an incredible lack of effort on his part.”

“Corporal Jager did nothing,” Victoria said. “He was following procedure as he’ll be able to prove to his superiors. But you, from the first, wanted to make as much noise about Margie as possible. You’re the one that created a scene with Jonas that night. He was rude, yes, but he didn’t get aggressive until you started it, really.”

Mayor Calum banged his hand on the desk. “How dare you! I was trying to keep the peace!”

“Were you? Or were you attracting attention?”

“I’ll warn you, Victoria, you’re going out of hand. Maybe it was a bad idea to try and hire you.”

“Oh, you got exactly what you wanted,” Victoria said. “The entire town kept talking about Margie because I kept asking them questions. But why? That’s my problem. Why would you want people to pay attention? Why would you want everyone to focus on Margie’s disappearance?”

“Yes, why would I?” He asked. “I clearly had no hand in it.”

“Didn’t you? I wonder.” Victoria said. “I found out that Margie had an internship in your office, did you know that? She worked in IT.”

“So what?”

“So maybe she uncovered something while she was here,” Victoria said. “Something you wanted to cover up.”

“If I murdered her, as you’re suggesting, why would I make a noise about her disappearance? I’d want it to die down.” Mayor Calum snapped.

“So you’re admitting that you made a noise, then,” Victoria said with some satisfaction.

“I’m admitting nothing!” Mayor Calum retorted. “The only thing I’m realizing is that maybe Corporal Jager should be replaced with someone more hardworking. I’m not comfortable letting him be responsible for the security of my town.”

Victoria nodded, trying to piece it together. “It seems to me as if what you’re really after, the purpose of making noise and the goal of hiring me, was to get rid of Corporal Jager.” She said. “I should have seen that before.”

Mayor Calum’s angry face suddenly broke out into a sly smile. “Is that what you think?” He asked. He couldn’t hide the pleased expression on his face. The man looked positively gleeful.

“I’ll be telling Corporal Jager about Margie’s internship. You can expect him to visit your office soon.”

The mayor shrugged. “I have nothing to hide.” He said.

“Nothing?” Victoria smiled. “Nothing to hide at all? No little… frauds?”

The gleefulness on his face was instantly wiped off. “What?” He asked, looking very pale.

“Ah.” Victoria stood. “I see I’d better show myself out.”

“No, wait.” The mayor ran after her desperately. “Sit down. Talk to me. What fraud are you talking about?”

Victoria shrugged. “I’m not feeling very talkative right now, Mayor. Why don’t you talk for a while, and I’ll see if I have anything to share in the end.”

“It’s a bluff.” Mayor Calum said. “You can’t know anything. Nobody can.”

“If that’s what you think, let me go,” Victoria smiled. “Randolf will visit you as soon as I tell him about the internship.”

“Stop it.” Mayor Calum put a hand on his hair and tugged at it. “You can’t be… did she say something? Who did she talk to?”

But Victoria had become silent. She was staring at a photo on Calum’s desk. It was a picture of Calum with his hand around a lovely woman who looked a lot like him. On his other side was a tall, lanky boy.

“Jay.” Victoria gasped, holding up the photo frame. “You’re Jay’s uncle.”

“I am,” Calum said. “Nothing wrong with that.”

“Is that why you gave Margie her internship? Because she was dating Jay?”

“So what if I did? She was a smart, talented girl.”

“You told Jay he needed a lawyer when Randolf questioned him,” Victoria said. “Why? Why insist on it?”

Calum shook his head. “I have nothing to say to you.”

“Fine then, Mayor Calum.” Victoria stood up. “I suppose I’ll see you on the front page of tomorrow’s news.”

“You’re bluffing.” Mayor Calum said. “You have no proof.”

“Even if I don’t, how long do you think Randolf will take before he finds some?” Victoria asked. “He’s a determined man, believe me, not the lazy cop you think he is.”

“He dragged his feet on this!” Mayor Calum snapped. “Or are you too in love with him to think straight? I’m not the only person in town who thinks that Randolf did a terrible job with this investigation. He acted as if it was no big deal that she was missing.”

“He acted calm,” Victoria said. “You mistook that calm for laziness. In fact, he was doing everything he could.”

“Oh sure, his girlfriend is bound to defend him.” Calum sneered. “He didn’t even find that body until you told him about it, did he? I’ve heard from sources. He was telling everyone how it was your idea to look at the hot springs. So if I hadn’t asked you to enquire about Margie… she’d still be classified as a runaway.”

Victoria couldn’t deny this. Instead, she said, “All I know is that you’re acting mighty suspicious, Calum. If you’re innocent, why not be straight with me?”

“Because I don’t trust Randolf not to botch it up,” Calum said. “The day I do, I’ll tell you everything. Until then, I’m saving myself and Jay. Believe me, when I say, I’m not doing anything illegal.”

Despite how smoothly he said it, Victoria had trouble believing him. After all, he was a politician and a notably shrewd one at that.

Margie’s funeral was held the next day. It was a sad affair, with the entire town gathered, dressed in black. Her schoolmates all looked pale and unusually young in their suits and dresses. Her mother wept, and Jonas sat stone-faced as the priest delivered a eulogy about her life and death.

Victoria stood in line and murmured her condolences, wondering if Michelle even saw her through her haze of tears. Then she wandered out back, needing to get away from the atmosphere. It was so awful.

Outside, Byron came up to her, with Janie behind him.

“Mom.” He said. “Janie wanted to talk to you. She told me she'd remembered something.”

Janie nodded. Her face looked very pale against her charcoal colored dress.

“What is it?” Victoria said.

“Jay,” Janie said. “I remembered what I found odd.”

“Well?”

“She said that he was a good actor,” Janie said. “I didn’t really know why she’d say that, but then again, I thought maybe she’s more upset about the break up than she’d led us to believe.”

“What else?”

“I was the one who dropped her home that night,” Janie said. “I’d bought my car to the party, and the two of us left together. So officially… I might be the last person to see her. Assuming that her parents were asleep by 1:00 a.m.”

“Both Michelle and Jonas said they hadn’t seen Margie. The last memory Michelle had is of Margie wanting to go to the party at 9:00 p.m.”

“Yes, well… I dropped her home.” Janie said. “We sat out in the car for a while, just talking, before she went back home. I drove off and...” Janie frowned. “I passed Jay’s car when I left. I thought it was funny because he lives far away from her. What was he doing in her area, you know?”

“Jay’s car?” Victoria gasped. “That could mean that...”

“Excuse me.” Jonas appeared, holding a weak looking Michelle. Conversation stopped immediately.

“Michelle needs fresh air,” Jonas explained. “Maybe one of you could go get her some water too?”

“I’ll go,” Janie said, leaving instantly. Byron followed.

“You were asking Janie questions,” Michelle said. “I heard you. You were asking her questions about my baby’s death.”

“I was, yes,” Victoria said.

“Sometimes, I want to find whoever did this and bury them,” Michelle said. “Other times, I wonder what’s the use? I can’t get my Margie back. I never will. I hope no one else ever goes through what I have. I hope that the killer dies a horrible, horrible death.” She broke down into sobs.

“I’m sorry,” Victoria said.

“I keep thinking, maybe I’m a lousy mother. If I’d woken up when Margie came home… if I’d talked to her… none of this would have happened.”

“That’s not true, Michelle. You were a good mother.” Jonas said. He hugged her tight. “Life is mysterious. Not everything works out the way we want it to.”

“But why kill Margie?” Michelle sobbed. “I can’t understand. I just can’t. My baby never harmed anyone.”

“There now,” Jonas said, patting her arm. “They haven’t found a body. Maybe she’s just pretending to be dead.”

“Oh, Jonas…” Michelle clung to him.

Victoria said, “Michelle, is there nothing she said to you? Nothing out of the ordinary?”

“Nothing,” Michelle said. “No. I would remember if she did. I thought everything was fine… and out of the blue, this happens.”

“She did say something odd to me the other day,” Jonas said suddenly.

Both women looked up at him.

“We were having breakfast when she asked me if I wanted to hear a riddle,” Jonas said.

Victoria perked up. “Oh?”

“Yes. What was it now? Three men go to a hotel and rent a room. They pay ten dollars each. The manager realizes he overcharged them five dollars and gives it to the bellboy to take to them. The bellboy realizes you can’t split five dollars evenly between three men, so he pockets two dollars and gives them each a dollar. Now each of these men has nine dollars, and the bellboy has two dollars. Where did the last dollar go?” Jonas laughed. “It took me ages, and I still couldn’t figure it out. Don’t you remember, Michelle? I asked her the next day at breakfast. She said it was a simple riddle, but the solution didn’t matter so much as what the puzzle proved.”

“What did it prove?” Victoria asked.

“The riddle proved that even the simplest of things can be hidden away if you talk about other, slightly related things long enough,” Jonas said. “She said that it’s like magic, but you can apply it in real life, and fool almost anybody. Obfuscation. That’s the word she used. Kind of weird thing for a girl to say, but then, our Margie was a strange one.”

“Don’t talk about her that way!” Michelle said.

“I’m not...”

“You are. You are! You hated her! You always hated her!” Michelle said. “Don’t bother to hide it.”

“She was my niece, Michelle,” Jonas said with tears in his eyes. “I know you think I didn’t care about her, but I’ve looked after her for years now. Years when you’ve been away making the boutique work. She always resented me for taking her father’s place even though that’s the last thing I wanted to do. Still, I loved her. I admit I was angry that first day when I thought she was playing the fool and that you were overreacting. I’m so sorry I behaved badly. If I’d have known, I would have done something. I would have acted.”

“But you didn’t,” Michelle said. “You didn’t, and now my baby’s gone. She’s dead because of you!”

“Michelle...”

“Don’t!” Michelle said. “Don’t come near me.” Angrily, she stalked away.

Jonas moved to go after her, but Victoria restrained him.

“Give her a few minutes alone,” Victoria said. “It’s best to let others comfort her right now and you need to look after yourself too. Otherwise, you’ll both cause a scene and I’m sure you don’t want that.”

“No.” Jonas agreed. “That’s the last thing I want.”

He took a deep breath, put his head up to the sky, and then slowly sank to the ground. Victoria sat down beside him.

“I guess you think I’m horrible too.” He said. “Just like everyone else in this town.”

“I don’t think you’re horrible,” Victoria said.

“Margie hated me, now Michelle does too.” He said. “I’ll admit, I was actually happy that Margie was finally getting out of the house to go to college. I thought maybe she’d grow up a little bit. Maybe with distance, she’d begin to appreciate me more. I mean it when I say that I loved little Margie. She was my blood, after all. I loved Davis too.”

“It was unusual, wasn’t it,” Victoria said. “Your marrying Michelle the way you did.”

“To tell you the truth, I thought it was crazy,” Jonas said. “I thought it could never work out between her and me. But then… I realized that maybe, out of the horrible tragedy of Davis’ death, we could salvage something good. Other people expected me to feel guilty like I’m committing a sin, but I’m a practical man. Some people think I’m artistic and wild, but the truth is, all the decisions I’ve ever taken come out of practicality. I think the purpose of human life is to find happiness. In the pursuit of happiness, I’m as selfish as I can be. As long as I’m not murdering someone to get what I want, I believe all bets are off.” He stopped, shook his head. “I shouldn’t have said that I suppose.”

“I think I understand what you mean, though,” Victoria said. “Once you’d made the decision to help Michelle and Margie, once you’d realized that you loved them, you didn’t let thoughts like “what will people say” stop you.”

“Exactly,” Jonas said. “It was the same way with my career. Once I decided I wanted to be an artist and travel the world, I did it. Everyone else told me I was impractical, that money was necessary. I told them all to go away and did my own thing. It made me happy, and it always has.” Jonas smiled. “I’m like that. I believe in living for the moment. Carpe Diem. Love your life, or what’s the point of life? ”

“And did you love your life?”

“Well.” He frowned. “I suppose, in between Margie hating me and Michelle working long hours at the boutique, things have been slow. Not to mention this town; I hate this place. It’s a backward little town with no artists and no sense of art. I can’t find like minded people here.” He paused, looked at Victoria. “You’re an exception, of course. You used to be a writer, so you know. You’re someone a person can hold a decent conversation with. That’s so important in life. Just holding a decent conversation with someone. After you’re married enough years, the conversations are just about what you plan to have for dinner or lunch.”

“I left the town a long time ago because I found someone I thought I could have a decent conversation with,” Victoria said, thinking of Michael. “I know what you mean.”

“Ah, your husband. He died, didn’t he?”

“Cancer.”

“Then you know the pain of losing someone you love.” Jonas patted his heart. “It tears you up in a particular way, doesn’t it?”

Victoria nodded. “Nothing can compare.”

“No,” Jonas said. “But people help. People help you heal when everything else falls apart.”

Victoria nodded.

Leaning over, Jonas placed a hand on the back of Victoria’s neck, and kissed her full on the lips.

With an exclamation of disgust, she shoved him away and slapped him hard.

“Ok. Sorry.” Jonas rubbed his cheek. “Shouldn’t have done that.”

“You shameless man!” She said in a low hiss. “You vile...”

“Hey now.” He moved closer, capturing her hands. “Let’s just calm down. You don’t want to make a scene, do you? I misread you. I’m sorry. I thought… when you stopped me from going to Michelle… well.”

“How could you?” Victoria said hotly.

“It’s almost over between Michelle and me,” Jonas said. “I can’t leave her now because of Margie’s death, but the reason I was glad Margie was going off to college was so that I could leave her then. The truth is, I married her out of a mixture of pity and… and the fact that she was so cute back then. So charming. Now, I’m sick of her. I loved Margie though, and I felt responsible for her. But I want to divorce Michelle.  She’ll be glad, and I’m sure she’ll find someone soon. I know I will be as quickly as possible.”

“Men like you aren’t just selfish, you’re downright evil,” Victoria said.

He leaned his head down, touching her forehead with his. “Now, Victoria, come on… it wasn’t such a bad kiss, was it? Surely you felt that spark too?”

“Victoria?” A deep voice said.

Victoria looked up to find Randolf standing there, a look of horror spreading across his face.

“Oh. Hey man. I guess I better go find my wife.” Jonas said. He gave Victoria a wink and a salute. “See you soon.”