Framed For Murder (An Anna Nolan Mystery) (2 page)

I looked up to see Steve returning through the trees. I pushed Wendy away and sat up as he climbed into the front seat and turned to face me.

“I’m going to have to take you to the station now, Anna.”

“What about a lawyer, Steve?” I asked, my stomach clenched with tension.

His face hardened as he looked at me. “You have the right to have a lawyer present, Anna. Do you want one?”

I looked down at my hands.
“I’m not being charged with anything, am I?”

“No, but you do have to make an official statement about how you found your ex-husband’s body.”

“Alright, I guess I don’t need a lawyer for that. There’s not much to say, since I’m not guilty of anything.” He nodded and started up the cruiser. “Steve, it looked like Jack had been shot,” I blurted.

“The coroner is with him right now, Anna.
We’ll have to wait for the report.” His eyes caught mine in the rear-view mirror. Usually, Steve’s eyes had a twinkle in them, but they looked plenty worried as we pulled away.

We drove to the RCMP station on the other side of Crane.
Steve couldn’t leave Wendy alone in the cruiser, so he led us both through the station’s back door and down a concrete hallway to a small interview room. It was furnished with a scarred wooden table, a tissue box, and three plastic chairs. The overhead fluorescent lights made the room look flat and dreary. I glanced around, trying not to cringe, and chose the chair facing the door.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes, Anna,” Steve said, shutting me in with Wendy.
I stared at the back of the door, feeling like I was wrapped in some kind of fog that prevented me from feeling or thinking straight.

“Jack is dead.
Jack is dead. Somebody shot him. Jack is dead,” my mind chanted over and over while Wendy sniffed around the room and finally settled at my feet. The door opened a few minutes later, and Steve re-entered carrying a glass of water and a plastic bowl. He set the glass down on the table in front of me, and the bowl on the floor for Wendy.

“Here you are, girl,” he said.
As Wendy rose and began lapping up the water, my eyes began to tear. I was just about to thank Steve for his unexpected kindness when the door opened and Staff Sergeant Eddy Mason strolled into the room. He hesitated, his eyebrows rising when he saw Wendy drinking from the bowl.

“You providing room service, Walker?” he asked.
Steve looked coolly back at him without saying a word. “Evening, Ms. Nolan,” Eddie said, shifting his gaze to me. He shut the door and took the seat opposite me. Steve pulled a notepad from his pocket and slid into the chair at the end of the table.

I knew Eddy by sight.
We bumped into each other from time to time at the post office, where we chatted about the weather or complained about the number of advertising flyers stuffed into our mail boxes. He was a short, rotund man with glasses perched on the end of his nose who didn’t in the least resemble Santa Claus, despite the similarity in their proportions.

Eddy didn’t waste any time with pleasantries.
He plunged right into questions, asking me to describe the events leading up to the discovery of Jack’s body. Steve took notes, keeping his face buried in his pad.

“I got home from work tonight about 5:15.
Traffic was bad – there was an accident leaving the city.”

“Where is work, Ms. Nolan?”

“I work at Chinook University in Calgary. I’m the Administrative Assistant for the Kinesiology Department.”

Eddy nodded.
“How long have you worked there?”

“Four years.”

“And?”

“And I had a book club meeting at the library at
6 PM, so I had didn’t have a lot of time to get ready. I let Wendy out and fed her, changed my clothes, and made a sandwich. I left the house about a 5:45 and walked to the library.”

“Who else was at the meeting, Ms. Nolan?”

“There were only three of us tonight, Sergeant. May Weston, Erna Dombrosky, and me. One of the other ladies was sick, and Helen McDonald is away on vacation.”

“Were Erna and May already there when you arrived?”

I thought for a moment. “Usually I’m last, since I’m the only one who works outside of town, but Erna came in a couple of minutes after I did.”

“So then what happened?”

“The meeting broke up early because there were only the three of us. Around 7:30. I left the library and walked home.”

“Did the other two ladies leave with you, Ms. Nolan?”

“No. Erna said something about wanting to find a book, and May stayed to give her a lift home. I left on my own.”

“And what happened next?”

“I walked home and read for awhile.”

“Did you see anyone on the walk home, Ms. Nolan?”

“I don’t remember seeing anyone, Sergeant. It was raining and I was using an umbrella. My head was down.”

Eddy nodded.
He seemed relaxed and in control of the situation, while my nerves were frazzled. “So, you went home and read – for how long?”

“Till 9:30.
Then it was time for Wendy’s walk.” Wendy stirred at the mention of her name and started to get up. “Lie down, girl,” I murmured.

“It would have been dark by then, Ms. Nolan.
Do you always walk your dog at night? You live right on the edge of town, don’t you?”

“Yes, but the dark doesn’t bother me.
I know the area really well and I feel safe.”

“Go on.
Was it still raining?”

“No, it stopped sometime after I got back from the library.”

“Where did you walk?”

“Down Wistler Road headed out of town.”

“Did anyone see you?”

“No, no one.”
I went on to explain how Wendy had found Jack’s body, finishing with an abridged history of my marriage and divorce, including my lack of contact with my ex-husband over the past few years.

“When was the last time you saw Jack Nolan?” Eddy asked.

“About four years ago when we met at the lawyer’s office to finalize the divorce details. Jack gave me full custody of Ben and was supposed to contact me whenever he wanted to see him.”

“So, did he?”

“No.”

“Never?

“No.
Jack wasn’t around much when Ben was growing up. He’d be away for weeks at a time on a film shoot. Other times he’d be at home, but with theatre rehearsals and evening performances, he wasn’t home a lot. After we separated, he just didn’t bother to see Ben.”

“Yeah?
Seems pretty odd, a father not bothering to see his son all those years. Must have made you pretty mad, cheating on you and being a lousy father.”

I coloured.
“Who said anything about cheating?” I glanced over at Steve, his face expressionless as he stared at the table top.

Eddy balanced his chair on its back legs.
“Pretty common knowledge in a town this size, Anna. That why your marriage broke up?”

I met his eyes and looked away, flustered.
It was bad enough to find Jack’s body; I didn’t bargain on having to explain my marriage to the police, too. “It was more complicated than that,” I muttered.

“You don’t say?”
I didn’t elaborate. “Alright, so your husband didn’t visit you or Ben after the divorce. What about telephone calls or e-mails?”

I clasped my trembling hands together to steady them, and leaned my elbows on the table.
“I’ll tell you something, Eddy. A year ago, I wrote to Jack care of his agent to invite him to Ben’s high school graduation. Jack didn’t bother to show up. That was the extent of my correspondence with my ex-husband.”

Eddy grunted.
“One last thing, Anna. When you found the body, was it damp or dry?”

“Dry,” I said.

He glanced at Steve, and they both stood up. “That’s good enough for now, Anna. Steve will get your statement typed up and be back to have you sign it. You wait here until it’s ready.”

They left, leaving Wendy and me shut up in the interrogation room again.
I stared at my folded hands on top of the table and thought about Jack lying there all alone on the cold ground. Soon the tears started to come. Damn that man. He’d given me plenty of trouble during our marriage, but now that he was possibly murdered, and probably deservedly so, I grieved for him. I lay my head down on top of my arms and sobbed. Wendy crept over and nuzzled my leg before lying down at my feet.

After a while, the tears turned into sniffles and I began to think.
I loved mystery novels and had read plenty of them, especially Agatha Christie’s. In all of the mysteries I’d ever read, the police always suspected the person who found the body.

“Pull yourself together, Anna,” I urged myself.
“You’re in a bad situation and you’ve got to start using your brain.” I grabbed a few tissues from the box on the table and mopped my face. By the time Steve returned with the paperwork, I was back in control. I noticed that he left the door open this time.

“Okay, Anna, please read your statement and sign it,” he said.
I did as he asked and handed it back to him.

“Okay – that’s it for tonight.
I’m going to drive you home. Just make sure you stay in town for the next few days so that you’re available for questioning if we need you.” Steve’s bearing was stiff and he didn’t make eye contact as he spoke. I wondered what he had to feel uncomfortable about. Maybe the other officers had come back from the crime scene and said something to make him feel uncomfortable with me?

“Have you found out anything yet, Steve?”

“Yeah – maybe – nothing good,” he replied, squatting down to pat Wendy. She licked his hand, now that the situation was non-threatening. He stood up as I got out of my chair and came around the table to lean beside him.

“Look, Anna,” he said, glancing sideways at me, “that stuff you said about Jack not talking to you all those years – are you sure about that?”

“Positive. Once our divorce was settled, Jack disappeared.”

He glared at me.
“Come on, Anna, don’t lie to me. We know that Jack called you tonight.”

My stomach somersaulted and I grabbed the edge of the table for support.
“Wh-what are you talking about? Jack didn’t call me,” I said.

“No?” he replied, his eyes boring into mine.
“The call history on his cell phone says otherwise. Did he call you at other times, too?”

“No, he didn’t.
I swear he didn’t, Steve. What time was he supposed to have called me, anyway?”

“At
7 PM. Was he waiting for you somewhere, Anna? Did he call because you were late for a meeting with him?

“I don’t believe it.
Why would he call me?”

“You tell me,” Steve said, his expression stony.

“No, I’m telling you the truth. Is this some kind of trick?” I was starting to panic and my voice got louder. “I told you, Steve, I wasn’t even home at 7:00. I was at the book club meeting from 6:00 to 7:30. Talk to May and Erna. They’ll tell you that I was at the library with them.”

I was fighting hard not to cry.
Wendy began to whine, and I squatted down to pat her while trying to control myself. I glanced out the door and saw a woman officer peering down the hallway at us. Steve nodded, and she disappeared.

“You believe me, don’t you, Steve?” I asked, looking up at him from the floor.

“Look, we’ll be checking with the other book club members tomorrow. There’s no need to hold you any longer tonight.” He took my hand and hauled me to my feet. “Come on, Anna, it’s late. Let’s get you and your dog home.” The anger seemed to have gone out of his eyes.

I laid a hand on his arm once we were both standing.
“Look, I’m sorry I shouted just now. I guess I’m pretty shook up. I just can’t believe that this is all really happening.”

“So, sleep on it, and maybe you’ll remember something useful in the morning.”

Steve drove us home and waited while I turned the key in my front door before backing down the driveway and pulling away.
I went inside, dead tired and numb.

Chapter Three

Before going to bed in the wee hours, I deliberated over whether or not to call Ben, but decided to spare him for the night. I didn’t want to wake him up to tell him that his father was dead. There was nothing that he could do about it, and I didn’t want him driving out from Calgary, where he shared a house with three other roommates, all tired and upset. He was coming home for dinner tomorrow night – make that tonight – so I decided to wait and tell him then. I did leave a message on my boss’s voice mail, telling her that I was sick and wouldn’t be coming into work on Friday. Dr. Magdalena Lewis had been Chair of the Kinesiology Department and my boss for the past two years.

After leaving the message, I went to bed and had a lousy night’s sleep plagued with nightmares.
I woke up feeling exhausted. Sitting at the kitchen table looking out the sliding door at my blossoming apple tree, I decided that some protein might help. I showered, dressed, and headed for The Diner, walking the six blocks to Main Street.