Sugar Coated Sins (7 page)

“As a matter of fact, maybe we
do,” I said.
 
This time I was the one
restraining her.

“Suzanne, where else can we go for
what we need?”

“Grace, Ray’s not the only one
around here who can help us,” I said.

“I’d love to hear who else you
have in mind.”

“We need to speak with Karen
Harris.”

“The old librarian?” Grace asked.

“I wouldn’t call her old to her
face, but yes, that’s who I’m talking about.”

“You know what I mean.
 
Didn’t she retire five years ago?”

“She did,” I said, “but the day
after they forced her into retirement, she came back to work as a volunteer.”

“I never did understand that,”
Grace said.

“Why shouldn’t she do what she
wants when she’s retired?”

“But it’s the same thing she did
for a paycheck before.”

“Grace, I’m not entirely certain
that it was ever about the money for her.
 
The woman loves to be around books, and what’s more, I know for a fact
that she’s handling all the newspaper and magazine archives at the library.”

“How did you happen to know that?”

“She comes into Donut Hearts once
a month and buys treats for the other volunteers.
 
I’m willing to bet that she knows more about
what happened fifteen years ago than anyone else still in town, including Ray
Blake.”

“Then by all means, let’s go ask
her.”

The only problem was that when we
got to the Research Room, the doors were locked and the lights were out.

I found a library assistant and
asked her, “Excuse me, do you know when Karen is coming back?”

The young woman bit her lower lip
before she answered.
 
“You haven’t heard
the news, have you?”

A bolt of dread shot through
me.
 
Had something happened to her?
 
“No.
 
What’s going on?”

“That’s the thing.
 
Nobody knows.
 
She was here this morning same as always, but around one, she locked the
doors and told Mrs. Benchley that she wouldn’t be coming back, ever again.
 
We’re all a bit in shock, to be honest with you.”

“Did she at least tell anyone
where she was going?” I asked.

“You run the donut shop, don’t
you?
 
Why do you want to know?”

It was a fair question, but I
didn’t have a good answer ready, so I said the first thing that came into my
mind.
 
“The last time she was at my shop,
I accidently overcharged her, and I have to pay her back immediately or I won’t
be able to get to sleep tonight.”

“That was a few days ago, and it
was just a dozen donuts,” the assistant said.
 
“How much extra could she have paid?”

“It’s not the amount, it’s the
principle involved,” I replied, realizing that it was lame as I said it, but I
was going to have to stick to it.

“Wow, you really go the extra mile
to be honest, don’t you?
 
I admire that,
to be honest with you.
 
She’s still at
her place on Wickham Street, at least as far as I know.”

“Thanks,” I said.

As Grace and I were leaving the
library, she asked me, “You didn’t really overcharge her, did you?”

“Me?
 
No, I’m pretty careful about the change I
make, but I had to come up with something.”

“It made you sound like a nut job;
you know that, don’t you?”

“What do I care?
 
We need to get over to Karen’s place and see
what’s going on.”

Grace looked at me oddly.
 
“Suzanne, you don’t really believe that this has
anything to do with what you and Jake found in the time capsule, do you?”

“How can it not be related?” I
asked.
 
“If we’ve learned anything in our
investigations, it’s not to trust coincidences.
 
I just hope that we’re not too late.”

Chapter
9

“There it is,” Grace said as she
pointed to Karen Harris’s tiny cottage.
 
It looked to be big enough for one person, but I doubted that two could
live in it very comfortably.
 
Still, with
the small lot it sat on, I doubted that a full-sized abode would even fit on
it.
 
It had its own charm, though, with a
small porch protected by white gingerbread railing facing onto a shingled
exterior.
 
There was even a circular
window above the porch, a bit of whimsy that looked perfect in its
setting.
 
I couldn’t think of what the
cottage reminded me of, and then I realized that it was very much a scaled-up
dollhouse.

“It’s a neat house, isn’t it?” I
asked as we parked in front of her driveway, cutting her off from a quick
departure.

“You’re kidding, right?” Grace
asked me.
 
“I’d be constantly hitting my
shins and elbows if I tried to live in such a tiny space.
 
It looks more like a kid’s playhouse than a
place for a full-grown adult.”

“I don’t know,” I said as we got
out and approached.
 
“I’m not at all sure
that I’d mind this.”

“Try to fit Jake in one of
those.
 
I dare you,” she said with a
grin.

“No thanks.”
 
The front door was closed, so I knocked a few
times.
 
Surely if she were inside, she’d
be able to hear me from no matter where she might be.

Karen opened the door almost
immediately.
 
“Yes?
 
What is it?”

“Hi, Karen.
 
How are you?” I asked cordially, despite the
rather abrupt greeting she’d just given us.
 
Her normally sweet manner wasn’t present this afternoon.
 
The older woman’s white hair was in a bit of
a state, with strands floating everywhere around her face, and she was a bit
flushed as well.
 
“Is something wrong?”

“No.
 
Nothing’s wrong.
 
Why should it be?”

“We just went by the library, and
they were rather disturbed by the way you just walked away from everything,”
Grace said.

“I’m a volunteer.
 
I’m allowed to come and go as I please,” she
said a little abruptly.

We didn’t need to antagonize this
woman, especially since we were about to ask her for a favor.
 
“Of course you can.
 
I’m sure the entire community appreciates all
that you’ve done on behalf of the library.”

That seemed to mollify her a
little.
 
“I don’t do it for exaltation,”
she said.
 
“I love that place.”

“So, if it’s not too personal a
question, why are you leaving it so abruptly?” I asked her gently.

She frowned for a moment before
she answered.
 
“Trust me, this isn’t as
abrupt as it may seem from the outside looking in.
 
I’ve been thinking about doing this for ages.
 
All I can say is that it was just time.
 
I’ve decided that I’ve had my fill of it, all
of it, so I’m leaving town, and I have no plans to ever come back.”

I glanced past her and saw that
the tiny living area inside was overflowing with boxes, many of them already
packed and taped shut.
 
“Are you sure
that it’s not too drastic a change, leaving everything that you know behind all
at once?”

“What if it is?” she asked.
 
“After all, in the end, it’s my life, isn’t
it?
 
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve really
got to get back to my packing.
 
There’s a
whole other world out there, and I mean to start exploring it today.”

“Where exactly are you going?”
Grace asked her.

“That I haven’t decided yet,”
Karen admitted.

“Why the rush, then?
 
Surely you have two minutes for us.”

Karen seemed to think about brushing
us off entirely, but it wasn’t in her nature, and she finally decided to let us
inside the homey space.
 
“That’s about
all that I have, and if you stay, you have to promise to keep out of my way
while I pack.”

That was going to be hard to
guarantee given the size of her space, but we’d do our best.
 
“You’ve got a deal.”

“What is this really all about,
you two?” Karen asked as she walked in and started storing items from her small
kitchen in one of the waiting boxes.
 
“I
appreciate you both expressing your concern for my wellbeing, but it’s clear
that there’s another motivating factor behind your visit, and I’d appreciate it
if you’d tell me what it is.”

“Benjamin Port,” I said.

She dropped a glass when I said
the dead man’s name, and it promptly shattered as it hit the hardwood floor.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle
you,” I said.
 
“Where’s your broom?
 
I’ll sweep it up.”

“I’ll do it,” she said, basically
ordering me to stay right where I was.

“Did you know Benjamin very well?”
I asked her.

“Me?
 
No.
 
Why?
 
What did you hear?
 
Why on earth would you bring his name up
after all these years?”

The former librarian was clearly
on the defensive now.
 
I could either
back off or push her harder.
 
I didn’t
have the opportunity to decide, though.
 
Grace made her decision faster than I could.

“We need answers from you, not
questions, Karen.
 
Surely you’ve heard
about the note they found in the time capsule today.
 
Why should you mind answering a few of our
inquiries?”

Karen finished sweeping up the
glass shards and depositing them in a waste can.
 
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything about
the man other than what I heard around town in idle speculation.”

“Suzanne, you were right.
 
She’s not going to talk to us.
 
Go ahead and call Jake,” Grace told me, as
though we’d already planned on that as being our backup plan.

“The sheriff? Why would you call
him?” Karen asked, clearly troubled by the turn of events.
 
It felt as though we were forcing her into
answering our questions, something I hated, but how else could we get her to
talk to us?
 
She clearly wasn’t going to
do it on her own.
 
Still, I couldn’t
bring myself to bully this sweet old lady, no matter what the consequences.

“Don’t worry.
 
We won’t call him, Karen,” I said, suddenly
feeling remorseful about using Jake’s position as leverage for our
investigation.
 
“Just tell us about
Benjamin.”

“Well, for starters, I can say
without hesitation that he wasn’t a very nice man,” she said after a moment’s
hesitation.

“Really.”

“Take my word for it.
 
I know from firsthand experience.”

“Did you two ever happen to date?”
Grace asked her.
 
The ages didn’t quite
match up, but so what if Karen was older than Benjamin might have been at the
time he was murdered?
 
If it was okay for
men to be older in a relationship, why shouldn’t women have the same advantage?

“No, not that he didn’t try.
 
I knew for a fact that he was already going
out with at least three women in town when he approached me.
 
I rebuffed him, and he didn’t like it, not
one little bit.
 
The others somehow found
out what had happened and twisted the situation to put the blame on me; I had
to work hard to convince them that it hadn’t been my idea.
 
I wasn’t sure any of them ever believed me,
though.”

That might have given us a motive
if Karen had been murdered, but someone had killed her would-be suitor
instead.
 
“You said that he was dating
three women, but we only know of two.
 
Care to enlighten us as to the identity of the third lady in question?”

“I’d really rather not say.”
 
The flat tone of her voice told me that I
might be able to come back to that line of questioning with her later, but for
now, it was a dead topic of conversation.

“Okay then, do you know anyone who
might have wanted to kill him?” I asked her.

“You know, I had a hunch all along
that it was murder.
 
I never bought the
idea that he’d been poisoned by a canned chicken by accident,” she said.
 
“From what I knew of the man, he ate all his
meals out; breakfasts, lunches, and dinners included.”

We hadn’t heard that, but it made
sense that he’d made a romantic contact with Hilda at the Boxcar, especially if
he’d eaten there every day.
 
I repeated
my question.
 
“Who do you know who might
have wanted to see him dead?”

“Well, don’t look at me,” she said
a little shrilly.
 
“I didn’t have
anything to do with it.”

“Nobody said that you did,” Grace
replied calmly.
 
I was glad to see that
she realized that we couldn’t push her any more, either.

“Good, because I didn’t.
 
You should really talk to the judge,” Karen
said as she continued to stuff things into boxes.

“Judge Hurley?” Grace asked her.

“Who else?”

“Why did he have a problem with
Benjamin?”

“Didn’t you know?
 
I thought it was common knowledge around
town. The judge hates to be made to look like a fool, but that’s exactly what Ben
did to him not long before he died.”

“How exactly did he manage that?”
I asked.
 
“Would you care to elaborate?”

“He sold Ben some books at a yard
sale back before the judge’s wife died, and it turned out that they were worth
a small fortune.
 
That might have been
all right in and of itself if Ben hadn’t told everyone in town about what he’d
done.
 
The judge was furious, demanding
the money Ben had made from the deal, but of course he refused, and things
nearly came to blows between them.”

“When did this happen?” I asked.

“Less than a month before Ben
died,” she said.

“Getting cheated out of a little
money is hardly motive enough for murder,” Grace said.

“Don’t you see?” Karen asked.
 
“The money never mattered.
 
It was about the judge’s pride.
 
He’d been held up for public ridicule, and he
hated it.”

“Thank you for sharing that with
us,” Grace said, and then she looked long and hard at the retired librarian
before she asked her next question.
 
“Can
we drop the pretense for a second that you’re off to see the world?
 
What’s really got you so spooked, Karen?
 
This isn’t like you, running away like
this.
 
Talk to us.”

“I wish I could, but I can’t.
 
I’m so sorry.”

“You’ll feel better if you share
your burden with us,” I said in my most reassuring voice.

“I’m tempted, I truly am, but I
can’t do that to you.”

That was an odd explanation for
her behavior.
 
“What exactly would you be
doing to us?”

For a moment, Karen looked like a
hunted animal.
 
“I saw a couple things I
shouldn’t have all those years ago, and I discounted them as pure coincidence,
but when your husband found that confession today, I realized that I knew more
than I thought I did.
 
I’ve been stewing
about it all these years, and now my worst nightmare has come true.
 
I live here alone, and I’m vulnerable.
 
The truth of the matter is that I don’t feel
secure in this town anymore.”

“The only way you’ll ever truly be
safe is if you share what you know with someone else,” I said.

Karen was about to speak when
there was a sudden crash from above us, and the glass from the round window
overhead shattered and rained down on us.
 
We all instantly bent over and covered our heads as best we could.
 
Something landed heavily beside me just after
the glass broke.

It was a broken brick, a paver
that looked old and weathered with time and abuse.

“Are you two all right?” I asked
them as I checked myself for any damage from the falling glass.

“I’m fine,” Grace said, a little
out of breath.
 
“A huge shard of glass
just missed hitting me, but I got lucky.”

“I’m okay, too,” Karen echoed,
though clearly she wasn’t, at least not emotionally.

I stood up and headed for the
front door, with Grace close on my heels.

She couldn’t get away from Karen,
though.
 
The librarian grabbed her leg
and wouldn’t let her go.
 
“Don’t leave
me!”

“Go on,” Grace ordered.
 
“I’ll be there in a second.”

I nodded as I raced outside to see
if I could catch a glimpse of whoever had hurled that brick through the glass.

But I was too late.

Whoever had done it was already
gone.