Skein of the Crime (14 page)

Rachel wandered their way, and Jennifer signaled her. “Remember, I’ll start off. And you just stay mellow, okay?”

“Mellow,” Kelly repeated, smiling. “Not sure I even know what that means, but I’ll give it a shot.”

“Hey, what can I get you two?” Rachel asked, notepad in hand.

“Two turkey salads, please,” Kelly spoke up. “And I’ll have black coffee.”

“Make that two coffees,” Jennifer said.

“Well, that was easy,” Rachel said with a smile.

She had a nice smile, Kelly noticed. Jennifer was absolutely right. Rachel looked exactly like hundreds of other twentysomething young women who worked the cafés and shops and peopled the stores and classrooms and filled the university town of Fort Connor. Nothing exceptional, and certainly, nothing suspicious about her.

“Haven’t you and I worked together before?” Jennifer offered with a friendly smile. “I waitress a lot of the catered jobs in town and around campus, and I think I recognize you.”

Rachel peered at Jennifer for a moment. “Yeah, come to think of it, you do look a little familiar. We probably have worked together. I waitress at the university for extra money all the time.”

“Yeah, I still pick up a catering job over there every now and then, when I’m not working extra at my regular job. I’m over at Pete’s Porch near the golf course on Lemay Avenue.”

“Oh, yeah . . . I know where that is,” Rachel said, eyes lighting up. “It’s in the back of that knitting shop, right?”

“Yep. It’s a great place to work. Plus the boss, Pete, does a lot of catering at night, too.”

“Well, keep me in mind if he needs some extra help,” Rachel said, flipping her order pad closed. “Can I get you two some water first?”

Kelly decided this was as good a time as any to jump in. “This may sound funny, but you look a little familiar, too,” she said with a bright smile.

Rachel studied Kelly for a couple of seconds. “I don’t think I remember working with you. Are you at the university, too?”

“No, no, I’m over at the knitting shop a lot, and I think I remember seeing you a few days ago. Didn’t you go to that girl Holly Kaiser’s funeral? There were a lot of college students there, and I thought I saw you.” Kelly tried to sound as casual as possible. Jennifer was watching her closely.

Rachel’s pleasant expression disappeared. Her face hardened. “I’m afraid you’re wrong on that one. I know who Holly Kaiser is, but there’s no way I’d go to her funeral. I grew up with her, and she was a conniving bitch.”

Kelly blinked. She couldn’t help it. Rachel’s harsh comment on Holly’s character was beyond blunt. “Wow . . . it sounds like you two go way back.”

“Oh, yeah,” Rachel said scornfully. “We went through high school together. She was a manipulating bitch then, too. If you got in her way, she’d bad-mouth you to anyone who’d listen.”

Kelly noticed Jennifer looked as surprised as she did. Kelly couldn’t resist following up. “Well, I didn’t really know her, not really. But I know Barbara Macenroe at the shop and saw her son, Tommy, who was all broken up over Holly’s death. He was her boyfriend apparently.”

“Tommy was too good for her,” Rachel said in a bitter tone. “I never could understand what he saw in her. Holly used to jerk him around like a puppet on a string.”

Kelly feigned an amazed expression. “Really? Wow, it sounds like Holly had two different personalities.”

Rachel’s expression turned scornful. “Yeah. Around Tommy she was all sugary sweetness. But when Tommy wasn’t there, she was cheating on him behind his back with another guy.”

Kelly didn’t have to feign shock this time. “Are you sure? All I’ve heard is how Tommy and Holly were sweethearts since high school.”

Rachel’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, I’m sure. I saw her with some Greeley dude all summer. He and his friends come into Fort Connor regularly to party. Everybody knows about him. Even Tommy’s old buddies from high school. Nobody wanted to tell Tommy, of course.” Rachel glanced around the café. “Well, enough of the soap opera. I’ve gotta get back to customers. Your order won’t take long.”

“Sorry we delayed you, Rachel,” Jennifer offered as Rachel turned to walk away.

“Whoa . . .” Kelly said, watching Rachel head to another customer’s table. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Yeah, I could tell, but only because I’ve been briefed on this soap opera. You handled it well, though, I have to admit. You’ve gotten to be an effective liar.” Jennifer sent her a sly smile.

“Gee, thanks. I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”

“It’s not. But it is a useful trait when you’re out sleuthing around, right?”

Kelly
guided her sporty red car around the curving canyon road. She was a lot more careful driving these winding mountain roads since her accident a year and a half ago. Of course, it wasn’t winter now, so the roads that wound through Bellevue Canyon were clear and dry, not coated in ice. Even so, Kelly treated those curves with more respect.

At this higher altitude the nights had already dropped to freezing, so fall’s colors were on display. The aspen trees were bright splashes of gold among the thick evergreens crowding the hillsides. Bushes that normally went unnoticed during spring and summer boldly proclaimed their presence, adorned now in pumpkin orange and scarlet red. Deep burgundy vines hugged the hillside and ran between rocks and into crevices. Color was everywhere.

Fort Connor was five thousand feet above sea level, and Bellevue Canyon rose in a steady incline nearly two thousand feet above the city. Alpaca rancher Jayleen Swinson’s ranch wasn’t at the very top of the canyon, but it was close, so Kelly loved the opportunity to drive out there. Spring, summer, or fall, the mountain scenery was always gorgeous. Summer green or autumn gold and orange, the drive through the canyon was almost therapeutic. Kelly always started to relax the moment the road started to climb. Winter driving, however, was a different story.

“Some folks simply have to live up here in the mountains,” Jayleen had once told her, and Kelly believed it. She’d thought she’d found the perfect place two years ago, but she’d been proven wrong. That ranch proved to have “bad juju,” as Jayleen put it. Kelly dumped the property and hadn’t regretted it.

Her cell phone rang on the seat beside her, and Kelly debated answering. Driving one-handed through the canyon was definitely trickier. She slowed down and reached for the phone. Patty’s name flashed on the screen.

“Hey, Patty, thanks for returning my call,” she said, guiding the car around a curve.

“No problem, Kelly. You said you’d learned something?”

“Yeah, my friend Jennifer works at Pete’s café at the back of Lambspun, and she said she’d waitressed with Rachel Gebbard before, so I got her to take me over to the Grill where Rachel worked. After what you said the other day, I wanted to check her out.”

“Really?”
Patty sounded surprised. “Well, uh, did you talk with her? What’d you think?”

“Yeah, Jennifer started because Rachel recognized her from the university catering jobs. So, I kind of jumped in and said she looked familiar, then I asked if she’d been at Holly’s funeral last week. I’d remembered seeing several students there.”

“You
didn’t
!” Patty’s voice sounded shocked. “Jeez, what’d she say?”

“Well, you were definitely right when you said she didn’t care for Holly. She let us know exactly what she thought of her. And how Tommy shouldn’t have wasted his time with her.”

“See, I told you she hated Holly. She’s always been jealous.”

“Well, Rachel also went on to say something that surprised me. She said Holly was cheating on Tommy with this guy from Greeley. I wondered if you’ve heard anything about that when you’ve asked around.”

“What! She’s gotta be lying.”

“Well, she sure sounded believable when she told us. She said she’d seen Holly at several parties, and she was with this new guy. Seems he and his friends come in from Greeley regularly to party here.”

Patty paused. “Well, she was hanging with that different bunch lately, but I don’t think Holly would cheat on Tommy.”

“Well, I questioned Rachel, and she said even some of Tommy’s old buddies from high school have seen her with this guy. Nobody wanted to tell Tommy, of course.”

“Really?” Patty went quiet for a moment. “That makes me curious.”

“That’s why I called you. It made me curious, too, so I thought maybe you had heard something.”

“Not really. Nothing specific, I mean. But, you know, some people did mention this guy. They just didn’t go into detail. Now, I’m going to start asking other people what they know.”

“I figured you would. And while you’re at it, find out if anyone else saw Rachel selling pills. I want to tell Burt.”

“Uhhhh, you better not. I . . . I asked my friend Colleen about it again, and it turns out she was talking about someone else. Not Rachel. She got them mixed up.”

“So, she didn’t see Rachel selling pills?”

“No, it was another girl in the kitchen who was talking to Rachel. Colleen doesn’t know who the other girl is.”

That sounded strange to Kelly. “How’d she get them mixed up? Do they look alike or something?”

“I don’t know. Colleen drinks a lot, so she probably got confused. You know, fuzzy memory.”

Kelly didn’t have personal knowledge of that, but she’d seen enough people in a chemically impaired state and fuzzy memory was definitely part of the picture. Kelly couldn’t help but remember Jennifer’s warning about the party scene “swamp.”

“You know, that makes me wonder if Colleen really saw an argument between Rachel and Holly or not. Maybe she was confused about that, too.”

“I asked her again, and she swore she remembered them getting into a fight.”

Kelly held the car steady around a curve as a large truck passed on the other side of the narrow road. “Okay, let me know if you learn anything else, Patty.”

“Will do. Listen, I’ve got to run to another class. I’ll talk to you later, Kelly.” She clicked off.

Kelly tossed her phone on the opposite seat again. Jayleen’s ranch had come into view after that last curve, and Kelly slowed down to turn into the gravel driveway. She saw Jayleen’s new silver-gray truck parked beside the barn. Alpaca grazed in the pastures, lifting their heads at the sound of tires crunching on gravel. The elegant creatures observed Kelly’s arrival. Some returned to grazing while others wandered toward the fence bordering the corral and barnyard, curious.

Jayleen stepped out onto a porch that wrapped around the front and side of the log-beam mountain home. She waved as Kelly pulled her car to a stop beside the barn.

Kelly grabbed her shoulder bag briefcase as she left the car. “Hey, Jayleen. Have you got any coffee? I drained mine on the way up the canyon.”

“You betcha, Kelly. I put a fresh pot on after you called me from the interstate,” she said as she approached.

Kelly took the portfolio from her briefcase and handed it to Jayleen. “Here are your August statements. September is looking even better so far.”

“Well, that’s good news.” Jayleen accepted the long package. “Why don’t you claim one of those rockers on the porch while I bring us some coffee.”

Kelly looked over at the rockers, then the gorgeous mountain views across the pastures. “You know, that’s exactly what I need right now.”

Jayleen grinned. “Figured it might be. You’ve been out in Brighton all day?”

“Just about. Warner asked me to come in early this morning so I could go around with him to the building site for a new shopping center. He wanted me to get in on the ground floor so I’d know what was happening. That took all morning. Then he wanted me to have lunch with some of his partners, so it was after two before I left.”

“Sounds like you’re making yourself real indispensable, Kelly girl,” Jayleen said as they walked toward the porch. “You’re gonna have to get me up to speed with these new clients of yours. You go settle in and start relaxing, while I fetch the coffee.”

Kelly didn’t need further persuasion. She dropped her briefcase on the porch and chose a rocker. Nudging the chair into its gentle movements, Kelly kicked off her heels and settled back to enjoy the sight of snow-capped Rockies peeking over a forested ridge in the distance.

 

 

 

Jayleen rested a ceramic mug on her denim-clad knee as she rocked beside Kelly. “I’m really proud of you, Kelly. You grabbed those two introductions Curt gave you and ran with them. Now, it sounds like you’ve got yourself two first-class clients. You won’t be hurtin’ for money anytime soon.”

“Well, you’re right about that,” Kelly admitted with a smile. “I can never thank Curt enough for those recommendations, that’s for sure.”

“A recommendation will get you into the door, that’s all. It was up to you to seal the deal with those businessmen. And once they saw the quality of your work, they were sold.” Jayleen lifted her mug in salute. “Congratulations, Kelly. You done good.”

Kelly returned the mug salute. “Thank you kindly, Miss Jayleen, ma’am.”

Jayleen chuckled. “Sure beats bookkeeping, doesn’t it?”

Kelly grinned. “Yep. It sure does. And speaking of bookkeeping, your accounts are looking really good. Income growing and expenses are in line. Congratulations on that. And I’m glad to see you got that new truck you were talking about. I’ll bet you got the payment you wanted, too.”

“Sure did. Car dealerships are hurtin’ right now, so I felt like I was helping them out.”

Kelly gazed at the distant peaks. September snows had already set the mountaintops glistening white. Snow always came early in the high country. The late afternoon sun set the peaks sparkling with an orange glow. Soon the setting sun would turn the orange to red.

The view from Jayleen’s wide front porch looked out over a broad stretch of green that wasn’t fenced pasture. This stretch of land was edged with evergreens and small brush. It was a perfect place for picnics, and Jayleen had invited Kelly and her friends several times. Like Curt, Jayleen was an enthusiastic host and enjoyed sharing the mountain scenery with others.