Almost innocent, p.9
Almost Innocent, page 9
“Did you find backups? Thumb drives? Access to where he stored his stuff on the cloud?”
“Nothing so far. He had his home staged to sell. There was nothing personal left. So he must have had his backups with him. But we didn’t find them. They weren’t on him, or in his suitcase. Whoever took the computer, took those, too.”
“Or he put them someplace safe here in town.”
Booker shook his head. “It was obvious he was never coming back. He had a one-way ticket.”
“So he was bugging out,” Bree laughed. “I’ve always wanted to say that in real life.”
Booker laughed with her. “Yes, he was bugging out. But why? What had he done that he was leaving behind?”
“And what could he have done that was bad enough to make someone kill him?” Bree added. “If we knew the why, we could narrow down the who.”
Booker took a sip of his coffee, grabbed a cookie, and stood. “Thanks for letting me talk this out with you, but gotta go. Perhaps ask the Ruby Sisters to ask around if they have heard anything?”
“You mean like Judith?” Bree said, glancing at her ringing phone.
“He’s right here. Do you want to talk to him?”
Hearing Judith’s answer, she put the phone on speaker and set it on the table between the two of them.
“I’m here,” Booker said.
“I need to bring two people in to see you that have something to tell you.”
“Can’t it wait? We’re in the middle of a massive snowstorm, and I’m dealing with Marshall’s death.”
“That’s the thing. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced this has something to do with Marshall’s death. Have you considered that it wasn’t an accident?”
Bree and Booker looked at each other. Maybe this was the beginning of getting answers.
“I’ll be right over.”
“No, we’ll both be right over. Can I bring Addie with me?” Bree said.
“The more the merrier,” Judith laughed. She loved having people stay at her house. Although the word merrier was probably not appropriate given the circumstances. Nevertheless, she loved having company. No matter what the occasion.
Twenty Four
Daniel and Cindy were in Cindy’s art studio upstairs, deliberating on which pictures to display in her gallery in March. Out of the blue, Cindy blurted out the thoughts that had occupied her mind all day.
“I want to get back the picture I painted for Marshall. Do you think it’s still in his house? What will happen to it if I don’t get it?”
Daniel stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Cindy. Wearing sweats, her hair messily pulled back into a ragged ponytail, and no makeup on, Daniel thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. But he had to laugh at the sight of her standing in the middle of the studio, hands on her hips, looking very determined.
“What are you laughing at?”
“You. So beautiful.”
Cindy softened her stance a little and shook her head. She was no such thing. But if Daniel wanted to deceive himself that way, she would not stop him.
“I’m serious, Daniel. I want to get the painting back. Do you think I should call Booker and ask him when I can go get it?”
“Cindy, When people die, you don’t get the paintings back you sold to them. Why would you get this one back? Booker can’t just give it away. There are procedures. Maybe Marshall willed it to someone.” And then, taking another look at Cindy’s face, added, “Why do you want it back, anyway?”
Cindy sat down and looked up at the skylight, which was now covered with a few inches of snow, and thought about why she wanted it back so badly. Daniel was right. When a painting was sold, she let them go. They were no longer hers. What was it about Marshall’s that made her want it back?
“Maybe I don’t need to get it back. I just want to look at it. I did something different with this painting. Marshall asked me to paint something for him in the corner. He said it was important to him, so I did it. Now I want to see it again.”
“Don’t you take a picture of every painting? Don’t you have one of Marshall’s?
Cindy snapped her fingers and pulled out her phone, scrolled through it till she found Marshall’s picture. Enlarging it with her fingers, she got it as big as she could and then showed it to Daniel.
“What does this mean?”
What Daniel saw was a closed eye nested inside a triangle. A single vine wrapped tightly around one side of the triangle’s border before reaching away.
“Do you know what it means?”
“He didn’t tell me. And I think what’s bothering me is that I allowed him to dictate what I put into the painting. Plus, there is something I don’t like about the symbol itself.”
As he stared at the symbol on Cindy’s phone, Daniel had to agree. There was something he didn’t like about it, either. He wondered what it meant. Closed eye, triangle, vine. Nothing strange about any of those things.
“Let’s take each part of the symbol one at a time. Maybe we can figure it out that way.”
Cindy said the closed eye seemed obvious. Not seeing. Daniel looked up the triangle and read that it was an ancient emblem for power and hierarchy. They both agreed the vine was growth.
It was Cindy who summed up what they had found. “Well, if we take this at face value, this symbol means not seeing the power and hierarchy growing out into the world.”
“Well, that’s freaking creepy,” Daniel said. “Especially since Marshall liked it enough to ask you to put it into a painting. Was it a message about what he was doing or what he saw the world doing?”
“Well, let’s hope it is not the former,” Cindy sighed. “But have you ever seen this symbol anywhere else?”
Daniel shook his head no.
“Oh well, maybe it will come to us.”
Cindy put her phone away, and the two of them went back to sorting through paintings. She decided it wasn’t a big deal, but from now on she would not put anything in any painting that didn’t belong there, no matter how important the client was.
And even if she couldn’t get the painting back for good, she was going to paint out that symbol. It didn’t belong. It creeped her out. Besides, Marshall would never know. And since it was so small, she was sure no one had even noticed, yet.
All she had to do was figure out how to get the painting back long enough to do it. Maybe she could ask Booker if she could hang it in her studio for a bit in a memorial to Marshall. And if not Booker, she’d ask whoever was in charge of Marshall’s estate.
She wondered who that might be? Who was Marshall’s estate attorney? To whom did he leave his belongings? Did he have any family? How did she not know anything about him other than that he was the Mayor of Spring Falls for so long that she couldn’t remember when he wasn’t.
After a few minutes of looking at paintings and realizing that she wasn’t really paying attention to what she was doing, she decided to call Booker. Sure, he was busy. But what good was it to have a member of the Ruby Sisters dating the chief of police if you couldn’t call him directly?
But it wasn’t Booker who answered. It was Bree.
“Why are you answering Booker’s phone?”
“He’s in the bathroom and left it on the table. What’s up?”
“I wanted to ask him about a painting I did for Marshall.”
“Marshall. The topic of every conversation. Listen, we are heading over to Judith’s to talk about something to do with Marshall. Why not come, too? Before the storm gets any worse.”
“It’s going to get worse?” Cindy asked, ignoring everything else Bree said. It already looked like it would be better to stay home. But then, going to Judith’s sounded like an excellent idea. They had weathered many a storm at her house.
So, after saying they’d be there soon, she called Mimi at the gallery and told her the news about the storm. She told her to close up and get home before they got snowed in there.
Mimi said they were already making preparations to do so. No one was coming to an art gallery in this storm.
Satisfied that she had taken care of business, she and Daniel packed a few things just in case they got stuck at Judith’s and headed over. Daniel didn’t even bother to protest. Once the Ruby Sisters decided to get together, there was very little to stop that from happening.
Besides, even though he had never known Marshall, he wanted to know what was happening as much as anyone else.
Twenty Five
Across town, Colin mulled over his missing cufflink. He pulled out the one that was still in his cuff and put it in his jewelry box. He had thought that he lost the other one when he and Marshall had scuffled at the party, but his contact at the cleaning company said no one had found it.
The scuffle was not one of his finest moments. He hated physical confrontations and avoided them at all costs. But Marshall had said he wanted to talk to him privately, and they had stepped into the storage room.
At first, Colin thought it was only going to be a private goodbye before Marshall went on vacation. Or maybe there was business he had to complete, and he didn’t want anyone to hear.
Instead, Marshall was angry. He didn’t like the way their last deal had gone. Colin had smirked at him, reminding Marshall that he was no longer mayor, and technically had no power to tell him what to do.
Marshall had not liked that answer and had grabbed his arm as Colin started to walk away.
“You’ll be sorry,” Marshall had said.
Colin had stared at him until he let go. And then to appease him—because after all, they had been friends and business partners for years—he said, “You’ll be back and we’ll deal with this problem then.”
Of course, Colin hadn’t known then that Marshall had no intention of returning to Spring Falls. Thinking about it now, Colin started to feel the familiar swell of anger rising in him, and he pushed it back down.
It didn’t do any good to get angry. What was done was done. But it was hard to let it go. Marshall had been planning to leave them all with the problem of what they had done together. He deserved what he got.
As for the cuff link, it wasn’t a big deal. Well, it was in a way because now he only had one, and with Marshall gone, he didn’t know where to get another one. But Marshall being gone was a good thing, even though it didn’t happen the way he thought it would. He’d keep the one cufflink to remind him once again to not trust anyone.
Outside, the snowstorm had taken a brief hiatus, and he wondered if he should try to talk to Margaret about Walt. If he headed to her house now, he’d be there before what was supposed to be the worst of the storm hit.
But then he might be stranded at her house. On the other hand, he thought, that might not be a bad thing. They had many things to discuss, and resurrecting their friends with benefits relationship might be the perfect thing to do in a snowstorm.
Colin picked up the lone cufflink again, rolling it between his fingers. Its cold, metallic feel reminded him of his relationship with Marshall. It was a custom piece, designed exclusively for their inner circle, a reminder that they were bound together by the decisions they had made together.
Staring out at the calm of the snowy landscape outside, he thought about what he had done. The lull in the storm was beautiful. It made the world seem so serene. A stark contrast to the tumult inside him. Things had changed drastically in such a short time, and despite his calm exterior about it all, he was worried.
Margaret becoming the leader of their group had always been the plan. And now, with Marshall out of the picture, she would move their previous plans forward sooner and without Marshall around to mess with them.
However, it seemed to Colin that those plans now had an uncertain future. Because Margaret was right, if they didn’t strategize, the power vacuum left by Marshall’s departure could be exploited by anyone.
With a determined nod to himself, Colin decided that confronting the storm was a small price to pay for securing his position in the town’s political ecosystem. He bundled up, taking one last look at the cufflink before shutting the drawer of his jewelry box. It was like closing a chapter. Marshall was gone. He needed to move forward.
Driving through the flurries that had begun again, Colin’s mind raced. If he and Margaret realigned, their combined resources and influence would be unparalleled. While Walt was a challenge, with Margaret’s expertise in managing him, they might be able to put him to use. Barbara and Tanner were another story. What were they going to do about them?
The journey to Margaret’s was slower than he’d anticipated, and the storm was picking up faster than he thought. But once Colin reached Margaret’s driveway, he felt a sense of relief. Her home stood tall and commanding against the storm, a beacon of safety.
Parking his car, he took a moment to appreciate the surrounding serenity. The world was muffled under a blanket of white. His footsteps crunched in the thick layer of snow as he made his way to her entrance.
Margaret answered the door almost immediately. Had she been expecting him or someone else? Seeing Colin, her face showed a hint of surprise but quickly transformed into a knowing smirk. “Unexpected, but not unwelcome,” she said, letting him inside.
The warmth of Margaret’s house enveloped him, chasing away the chill. As they moved to the living room, with its roaring fireplace, he felt the gravity of their situation. This storm could be the perfect backdrop to forge a new alliance, one that would shape the future of Spring Falls.
They had plenty of time. No one knew what they had been up to, and no one was going to be running around in this snowstorm trying to figure out why Marshall had died. Besides, Colin thought, they wouldn’t bother questioning it. After all, he had simply fallen down the stairs.
Which reminded him. He and Margaret needed to plan Marshall’s funeral. How big of an affair could they make it? How could they use it to remind Spring Falls that Margaret was to be mayor and no one else?
Margaret poured them both a glass of wine and they settled on the couch together.
“We have a lot to plan,” Margaret said.
Colin nodded. “That we do. But what about something pleasant to get us into the mood first?”
“Well, if you are referring to planning our future as leaders in Spring Falls, then yes. Let’s do that. Very pleasant,” Margaret said, moving a little away from Colin.
He smiled. She was right. Business was always a pleasant way to spend time together. And it was going to take some time to review everything. Looking outside at what was now a complete whiteout, he was glad he had decided to come to Margaret’s.
He and Margaret were safe, warm, and prepared to do his favorite thing. Plan ways to make more money. And really, between the two of them, no one could stop them now.
Twenty Six
“It’s a snow day party,” Cindy giggled when Judith opened the door. She and Daniel stamped the snow off their boots on the front porch and slipped them off as they came in the door. Two other pairs of boots sat on the rubber mat and she let out a squeal of delight.
“Wait, are Bree and Booker here too?”
“We are,” Bree said, coming around the corner to hug Cindy and Daniel. “And yes, it is a snow day party!”
“Are April and Marsha coming?”
Bree nodded no. “We called. They said they were just as happy holing up in the Ruby House. They were going to make use of the fire stove that they just had installed.”
Cindy said okay, but in her heart she was disappointed. It would have been great to have another storm party. But perhaps April and Marsha were uncomfortable that Bruce, Daniel, and Booker were here. Now it was a couples snow day. Different.
“Want me to help in the kitchen?” Cindy asked Judith, who had come out of the kitchen to say hello.
“I’ll entertain the men,” Bree laughed. “Try to keep them out of trouble.”
In the kitchen, Cindy and Judith decided to make dinner instead of serving snacks all day. They could order in pizza as they normally did when the group got together, but without April and Marsha it didn’t feel the same.
Inspired by her visit to Doveland, Cindy made spaghetti sauce, while Judith prepared garlic bread and set the table. The two of them worked together without needing to talk. Friends since grade school, they knew each other well. It was in grade school that they had bonded along with Marsha, Bree, and April, and started calling themselves the Ruby Sisters.
But then Bree married Paul, moved away, and they lost complete contact with her. It was as if she had disappeared off the planet. April had left when she married Ron. And Marsha had moved to New York to pursue a career in dance and theatre. So for years, it had been just the two of them in Spring Falls.
Every Monday morning, they had coffee together, just as they had that morning. But other than Judith’s weekly phone call with April and an occasional note from Marsha, for a long time they were the only Ruby Sisters left in Spring Falls.
And although Cindy had been happy running her art gallery, and Judith loved being the accountant everyone came to, they were both lonelier than they knew. And heart sick that they were no longer the Ruby Sisters.
But then Paul died, and all the Ruby Sisters received a letter he had written and given to his lawyer to mail after his death. He asked them to help Bree. They didn’t hesitate. It didn’t matter that it felt as if Bree had deserted them. She needed them now. It had been Cindy who went to get her, while Judith, Mimi, and Janet kept the art gallery running in her absence.
After that, everything changed. Judith met Paul’s attorney, Bruce. Bree found Mary, the daughter she had given up for adoption. Marsha fell in love with Nicky, the woman who brought with her the secret that April’s husband Ron was a serial killer. And Robert, April’s son, coming home to comfort his mother, brought his friend, Daniel.
And of course, by then every Ruby Sister had moved back to Spring Falls, so it was no longer just Judith and Cindy. Or even just the Ruby Sisters. Their family had expanded. Daniel found his half sister, Veronica. Mary married Seth and had a daughter named Rho. Spring Falls had opened its arms to all of them and taken them in.
