Sealed with a Kill (19 page)

“Maybe she expects a big chunk of his inheritance,” Brenna said.

“If she’s mentioned in his will,” Nate said. “If she isn’t, she’ll get squat.”

“If that’s the case and you were the wife about to be left for her, wouldn’t you want her to get squat?” Brenna asked.

“You think Mrs. Lester did him in before he could change his will?”

“It would be a motivator, but she has an alibi,” Brenna said.

“I think we need to share this with Chief Barker.”

“He’s going to be irked with me,” she said.

“He’s always irked with you; you should be used to it by now.”

“I suppose. I’ll go see him tomorrow.”

“Promise?”

“Yes.”

Nate picked up their plates and rinsed them in the sink before putting them in her compact dishwasher. Brenna tried not to dwell on how right it felt to have him here in her kitchen with her.

Hank wagged his way over to them. He had his ball in his mouth and was obviously ready to go out and play again.

Brenna rubbed his ears as she walked them to the door.

“There’s one more thing,” Nate said. He turned to face her at the door. “We need to talk.”

“Isn’t that what we just did?” she asked.

“Not about the murder,” he said. “About us.”

“Us?” Brenna repeated.

Oh no, was this where he gave her the I-like-you-asa-friend spiel and that kiss the other day was just a reaction to the heat of the moment, yada yada, blah blah? She tried to brace herself for the crushing blow, but a surge of adrenaline caused the blood to rush into her ears, making it hard to hear.

“I like you,” he said. “A lot.”

Brenna swallowed past the lump in her throat.

“And I think we—” he began, but she interrupted in a fit of panic and said, “should just be friends.”

“Really?” he asked. He looked surprised and a bit bewildered. “I was thinking we should go on a real date, but if you don’t want to, that’s okay.”

“No!” she said more loudly than she had intended, making them both jump. She took a deep breath. “That is, I’d love to go on a date with you.”

His gray eyes scrutinized her face and then crinkled at the corners when he smiled. “Does that mean you don’t think we should just be friends?”

Brenna wondered if there was a flash point of humiliation where a person would just spontaneously combust from embarrassment. Probably not; that would be too easy.

“No, I just . . .” Her voice trailed off, and she almost left it at that, but then she figured he deserved the truth. If there was going to be anything worth having between them, then it needed a nice foundation of honesty. “I was afraid that was what you were going to say, so I made a preemptive strike.”

“That’s just silly talk,” he said. “Just friends—as if. Pick you up tomorrow at seven?”

“Sounds perfect,” she said.

He leaned close and gave her one swift kiss before he stepped out the door. Hank wagged after him, as if delighted with this sudden turn of events. Brenna was surprised she wasn’t wagging herself. She pressed her fingers to her lips, which were still buzzing from the contact with his. A date? With Nate? She must be dreaming, and for once she didn’t want to wake up.

 

Luckily, the next day was her day off, so after stopping by Stan’s Diner, she made her way over to the police station with a steaming latte-to-go in her hand. Stan had molded her froth into an autumn leaf dusted with nutmeg. Brenna had hated to put a plastic lid on it, but she didn’t want to risk spillage.

She crossed the town green with an easy stride. She enjoyed the nip of cold air against her cheeks, the crunching sound of the fallen leaves under her feet, and the peaty smell of the earth as the same fallen leaves began to decompose on the ground. Autumn was being nudged aside by winter, and it would not be long before all the leaves were gone and the first snowfall came to call.

Halfway across the green, she spied Preston from the inn, leading his group of leaf peepers around the square.

She saw Julie and Suede, Jan and Stan in matching zipper vests, Paula, and Lily and Zach. The whole crew was out.

“Hi, everyone,” Brenna greeted them.

“Well, look at you,” Preston said. “You are glowing today. What’s the occasion?”

“Frigid temperatures,” Brenna said. She had no intention of telling Preston about her date with Nate. It’d be all over town before she made it to the police station.

“Uh-huh,” he said. It was clear that he didn’t believe her.

“What is the group doing today?” she asked.

“Well, it’s our last day, so I am taking them on a walking tour of the town.”

Brenna fell into step beside Julie and her son.

“We’re going to see the graveyard,” Suede said. He looked more animated at the prospect of seeing the historic resting place of the dead than he had at any other aspect of his trip.

Julie shook her head. “I suppose I should have taken him on a tour of cemeteries instead of changing leaves. Who knew?”

“Boys,” Brenna said with a shrug. “Speaking of, how was your date?”

“Oh, are you sure you want to know?” Julie asked. “I mean, I didn’t know you and Dom were a thing, and I don’t want to come between anything.”

“Julie, relax,” Brenna said. “We’re just friends.”

“Are you sure?” Julie asked.

Brenna felt a small twinge of regret, but then she remembered her date with Nate. “Yes, I’m positive.”

“Well, okay, then.” Julie huffed out a big breath. “I really like him. He’s funny and handsome and kind, and Suede just thinks he’s all that. I don’t know if there’s any kind of future, since it would have to be a long-distance kind of thing, but it was really nice to go out with someone who made me feel special. You know?”

“Yeah, I do,” Brenna said.

“I think he has feelings for you,” Julie said. Then she bit her lip as if afraid she’d said too much.

“We did date once,” Brenna said. She wasn’t going to lie to Julie. She liked her and considered her a new friend. “But I care for someone else. I think Dom just hasn’t met the one yet. Who knows, maybe it’s you.”

“Wouldn’t that be something?” Julie asked. She sounded optimistic, as if there hadn’t been anyone special in her life for a while. Brenna hoped that if things didn’t work out with Julie and Dom, then she would find someone worthy of her. She was a lovely lady.

Brenna glanced at the group that had fanned out around the park. Lily and Zach were leaning up against a tree, staring into each other’s eyes.

“I miss that,” Julie said, following Brenna’s gaze. “That feeling that another person is your other half.”

Brenna’s gaze moved from the young couple to Jan and Dan, who were holding hands while they strolled through the colorful trees. She watched the way Dan tipped his head toward Jan to listen to her speak and the way she laughed at his jokes with abandon. She would be hard-pressed to determine which of these two couples was more in love.

“It is a beautiful thing to find your soul mate,” Brenna said.

“I don’t believe in that,” Paula said as she joined them. “I don’t think love lasts. Sure, they’re all happy today, but all relationships end badly. Either someone leaves or someone dies; either way there is no escaping the fact that heartbreak is inevitable.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Brenna said. “But I wouldn’t give up the joy of falling in love just because the ending is a little rough.”

“You’re braver than me,” Paula said.

Julie smiled at them and drifted off to join her son, who was bugging Preston to go to the cemetery right now.

“I don’t know if it’s bravery or stupidity to fall in love,” Brenna said. “I just know it’s fun.”

Paula made a sound of disbelief and Brenna turned to study her. She really was a lovely girl in a very understated way.

“Are you excited to be going home?” she asked.

“No, this is such a lovely town,” Paula said. “I can’t believe how at home I feel. I’m just waiting for the library to open, so I can read up on its history.”

“Oh, I’m glad you like it,” Brenna said. “I’ve only lived here a couple of years, but I can’t imagine living anyplace else. And Preston and Gary really do make their inn feel like a second home, don’t they?”

“They do,” she said. “When I get back home to New York, I’m going to tell everyone I know about this place.”

“Just do us a favor and don’t mention the body in the woods,” Brenna said. “I can’t imagine that would boost our tourism.”

“You never know,” Paula said with a shiver of macabre delight. “Some people like that grisly sort of thing.”

Brenna nodded. It must be nice to be young like Paula and think of death as just the next great venture. Brenna was old enough to be too aware of the finality of it all. Had Harvey Lester known when he entered those woods that he wouldn’t be leaving? It gave her the shivers to think of it, and not in a good way.

It was nine o’ clock now and as Paula and the others left to go, Brenna walked to the police station. It was still quiet this early in the day. She entered the main room and gestured to Officer DeFalco, who was on the phone, that she was going in back to talk to Chief Barker. DeFalco nodded for her to go ahead.

Chief Barker was sitting in his high-backed, rolling desk chair. He had a rod and reel in his hands and it looked as if he was trying to untangle a knot of fishing line.

“Morning, Chief,” Brenna said. “Got a minute?”

“Got two,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the Lester murder,” she said.

“Why am I not surprised?” he asked. He ran a finger over his gray mustache and put the fishing reel down. “What’s on your mind?”

Brenna took a deep breath and told him everything she had learned about Siobhan and that it wasn’t just her but that Nate, too, felt there was something not right about her. She hoped that would add more weight to her argument.

“How is it you had such an opportunity to study Ms. Dwyer’s work?”

“What do you mean?” she asked. Had she given away too much? She’d been very careful not to make it sound like she’d snooped around Siobhan’s cabin, which of course she had.

Brenna was spared from answering, however, as the door banged open and there stood Tenley. Her eyes flashed blue fire and her stance was rigid, as if she were ready for combat.

“I demand an explanation,” she said.

Brenna blinked. Tenley sounded exactly like her mother, Tricia. She’d heard her mimic her mother before—it was always good for a laugh—but this time she sounded serious and she looked furious.

Brenna glanced at Chief Barker to see how he was taking this. He glanced at Tenley and spoke slowly, as if she were perched on a fifty-foot ledge and intent on jumping.

“I know you’re upset,” he said.

“Upset?” she gasped. “I am more than upset. I am livid. How could you? How could you arrest my father for a crime he can’t possibly have committed?”

“What?” Brenna whipped her head from Tenley to Chief Barker. “Is this true?”

Chief Barker heaved a sigh. “We got a tip. We found the murder weapon in the glove box of your father’s Buick. We had no choice.”

“A tip from who?”

“I’m not at liberty to divulge that information.”

“You’re not at liberty, or you can’t because you don’t know?” Tenley asked.

Chief Barker didn’t answer.

“I knew it. It was anonymous, wasn’t it?” Tenley pressed.

Chief Barker gave her a reluctant nod.

“But of course, don’t you see, whoever killed Uncle Harvey is setting my father up.”

“The investigation isn’t over. If that’s the case, then we’ll find out who really did it.”

“And in the meantime?” Tenley asked.

“Your father stays with us.”

Brenna steered Tenley back to Vintage Papers. She was so rattled, Brenna was afraid she’d walk out into traffic if she wasn’t led by someone else.