Ring In the Year with Murder--An Otter Lake Mystery Read online

  Scary thing was, the more time that passed, being framed for murder wasn’t the worst thing I was imagining anymore. It wasn’t like Grady to just disappear. I had a bad feeling about what it could all mean. Actually, it wasn’t so much a bad feeling. It was more like horrible, morbid scenarios kept running through my head … like I would open a door to find the love of my life sprawled dead across a bearskin rug. Not that Matthew would ever own such a thing, but—

  “Get it together, Erica,” I mumbled in a harsh whisper as I reached for yet another door handle—how many freaking rooms did this estate have? This door was open just a crack, and I was just about to go in when I heard a voice.

  “I’m sorry! How many times do I have to say it?”

  I peeked through the sliver of space into the room. Bethanny, Candace’s sister, was pacing the far side of what I was guessing was the library, judging by the old books that looked like they might dissolve into a pile of dust if you actually touched them. It was pretty dark. Only one small lamp was on.

  She stopped walking in front of the leaded beveled-glass windows on the far side of the room. The dim light from outside cast strange shadows on her face. “It’s not like this is how I wanted to spend New Year’s either, okay?”

  And here I was eavesdropping again. I couldn’t just leave though. I needed to tell Bethanny about Candace. Actually, we kind of sucked for forgetting about that earlier, but now seemed like an awkward time to interrupt. And more importantly, it definitely sounded like she was having a conversation with her boyfriend … and wasn’t she supposed to be broken up with her boyfriend?

  “I know,” I heard Bethanny say. She had her hand on her forehead. “I know!”

  Oh wow, it was one of those arguments. You know, the kind you have over and over again, come to an agreement, then totally do the same thing that pissed your partner off again in the first place? I knew all about those.

  “It’s not that easy, okay? They’re my parents.”

  I held my breath as I waited for her to go on.

  “Oh nice. That’s really nice. So what do you think I should do? Just cut them all out of my life? How would I even pay for school?”

  Whoa. Granted, I couldn’t hear the other side of this conversation but most people were usually more concerned with the emotional aspects of cutting off their family than the financial. Then again, most people probably weren’t eavesdroppers either.

  “Just … don’t say that, okay? It’s going to get better. I promise. I know what I have to do.”

  Maybe it was just the murderous circumstances, but that sounded ominous.

  “I love you.”

  Another moment of silence passed.

  “What? You’re not going to say it back?”

  I waited.

  Bethanny let out a small shriek as she whipped the phone away from her face.

  My cue.

  I counted backward from ten and knocked softly on the door. She didn’t answer, so I peeked around the frame and said, “Oh, there you are. I thought I heard someone in here.”

  Bethanny quickly swiped her cheeks. “It’s Erica, right? Sorry. I’m not sure if I should be in here. I just needed some privacy to make a call.”

  I walked into the dimly lit room. “Listen, I’m glad I found you. There’s something I need to tell you.”

  Bethanny’s eyes locked onto mine.

  “First, let me say she’s all right,” I said, holding up my reassuring no cause for alarm hands. “But Candace has sort of been in an … accident.”

  Candace’s sister stared at me. Then the strangest thing happened. A small sound escaped her lips. It almost sounded like a huff of … laughter? It was quickly followed by another one. And then another. Yup, she was laughing. Really, truly laughing.

  Huh, well, that wasn’t exactly the reaction I had been expecting.

  Bethanny continued to laugh as she threw a hand over her face and collapsed into a green velvet armchair. “I’m sorry,” she said, waving her other hand out. “I’m sorry. I just need a minute.”

  I couldn’t stop my brow from furrowing into a really judgmental crease.

  “It’s terrible,” she said, taking a shaky breath. “I know. I shouldn’t be laughing. What kind of accident?”

  I gave her the lowdown on what had happened outside. I decided to keep the poisoning suspicions to myself though. Not entirely sure why. Probably had something to do with all the unexpected chortling. When I was done, Bethanny just shook her head. “Yup, sounds like Candace.”

  “Okay,” I said, sitting across from her, “I get that sibling relationships can be complicated, but…”

  “I should have a little more compassion?” Bethanny asked with a humorless smile. “You sound just like my mother.”

  I pressed my lips together. Well, I hadn’t actually said that, but I was thinking it. What the heck was going on here? I hadn’t considered Candace’s sister as a suspect in her attempted murder, but right now it was looking like Miss Bethanny did it in the library with a … book? Okay, that wasn’t quite right. Freddie was better at the Clue thing.

  Bethanny looked over to the fireplace, seemingly studying the blue tiled pattern of the hearth.

  “Is there something you want to talk about?”

  I hadn’t really expected an answer, but suddenly the young woman looked at me and said, “I can’t do it anymore. I can’t take care of her.”

  “Who? Candace?”

  “Yes,” she said nearly in a shout. “My whole life it’s been, Bethanny, can you go up to Candy’s room and see if she’s okay? Bethanny, can you make Candy something to eat, you know she’s not good at taking care of herself. Bethanny, could you maybe skip that sleepover—just this once—and watch a movie with your sister? She’s had a hard day.” A tear slipped down her cheek. She quickly swiped it away. “I am the younger sister! But, nope, we all had to take care of Candace. I thought it would be better when she went off to school, but that just made my parents worry more.”

  “I thought … I thought Candace was looking out for you tonight?” I said carefully. “You know, your bad breakup?”

  “Ha! My boyfriend and I aren’t broken up. We’re fine. Well, we would be if…” She didn’t finish the thought.

  “Well, why tell Candace that…” I paused, trying to figure out what exactly it was that I was asking. “Why get her to take care of you if you’re not really broken up?”

  “I’m taking care of her!” Bethanny said lightly, slapping her chest. “She’s the one who’s getting dumped!”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  “You’ve lost me.”

  “My mother got the feeling that Candace was about to get dumped,” Bethanny said, shaking her head. “So she sent me here, like always, to make sure she’s okay. Didn’t matter that I had plans. We gotta make sure Candy is okay. And make up some ridiculous story in the process, so she doesn’t know that’s what we’re doing.”

  “So, this is a bit of a pattern?”

  “Yeah, you could say that,” she said, getting to her feet and walking back to the window. “How well do you know Candace?”

  I shrugged. “Um, well enough, I guess? She’s always struck me as a really sweet person.”

  “Oh yeah, she’s sweet.” Bethanny crossed her arms over her chest. “And kind. And full of sunshine and lemon drops.”

  I waited for her to go on. I wasn’t exactly sure what to make of this speech, but the emotions were real. And kind of scary.

  “What Candace is not—at least according to my mother—is able to take care of herself. It’s like she believes my sister is just too precious for this world.”

  I waited again as Bethanny resumed her pacing. Suddenly she whirled around and asked, “Did you know Candy was seriously overweight when she was younger?”

  I blinked.

  “My parents would kill me if they heard me say that. But it’s true. She didn’t exactly have an easy time making friends.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “
I’m pretty sure that’s why my parents adopted me. So there would always be someone to look after Candace. They wanted to make sure that she’d never be alone.”

  “Wow.” It was all I could think of to say.

  “So yeah, now it turns out I may be getting dumped by a really great guy because once again my parents demanded I take care of my sister.”

  “I’m sorry about your boyfriend, but I don’t think … I mean, Candace doesn’t strike me as the type of person who needs a round-the-clock babysitter.” You know, except for when she did. “She has a lot going for her.”

  “Tell my parents that.” Bethanny took a deep breath. “Growing up I tried so hard to be perfect. To make my parents proud. But it didn’t matter how spectacular a report card I brought home, or what event I won in track and field, the question around the dinner table was, How was your day, Candace? And you know what’s crazy?” She shook her head. “I got it. I mean, like you said, she’s a nice person. For so long I did my best, but…”

  “But?”

  “I have to start taking care of me.”

  Again with the ominous tone. “I get that. I mean it sounds fair.” As long as taking care of me didn’t include taking care of her sister. I was going to leave it at that—it wasn’t my business—but I kind of felt that I had to say something to defend Candace. When she was doing all that weeping in the snow, she genuinely seemed upset about not being there for Bethanny … among all the other things she was upset about. I really got the impression that she did want to do better by her sister. Be that big sister. The timing was just bad. “Look, I get where you’re coming from. I have a similar relationship with my mother. I always thought she needed taking care of … but it turns out she’s doing just fine on her own. Candace has done pretty well for herself in Otter Lake. A lot of people care about her. Your parents may think you all need to take care of Candace, but I think she’s doing a pretty good job taking care of herself.” Again, crying in the snow aside. But who among us hasn’t been there once or twice? “I really think she’d like to have a different sort of relationship with you. She was just saying earlier that she wanted to—”

  Suddenly the door burst open.

  “Freddie?”

  He rushed in with Tyler … and Bean?

  “What’s going on?”

  “We gotta go.”

  “Why?” I asked, rising to my feet.

  “I’ll explain outside.” Freddie’s eyes darted to Bethanny. “Good thing we found you. Now you can take care of Candace.”

  I winced and shot a look over my shoulder. Ouch.

  “Why is Candace’s sister laughing?” Freddie asked lowly.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “Okay, well, come on. We’ve got to go.”

  I heard Bethanny get to her feet behind me. “Where is Candace?” she asked. “I probably should go check on her.”

  Freddie snapped his fingers in the air. “Tyler, take Bethanny to Candace.”

  “Oh, um.” Hmm, this was awkward. Okay, it’s not like I was thinking Bethanny was the one behind Candace’s so-called accidents, but I couldn’t exactly ignore the fact that she did have motive and Candace was incapacitated.

  “What?” Freddie asked.

  I shot him my best, most intense, panicked eyes.

  “I don’t understand,” he said with a little shake of his head.

  I put even more intensity into my gaze.

  “Timmy’s in the well?”

  “Um…” Think fast, Erica. “Bethanny, here, has kind of had a rough night. I think maybe it’s better if she takes some time to have some fun?”

  Freddie looked at me sideways. “Except that would be really weird because her sister was just in an accident, and she’s probably worried about her.”

  “It’s okay,” Bethanny said, walking past me. “Thanks for the advice, Erica, but I know my job.”

  She left with Tyler, and I whipped out my phone.

  “Who are you texting?” Freddie asked.

  “Rhonda,” I muttered, quickly typing the words Do not leave Candace alone with anyone. Even her sister.

  “Why?”

  “Because I just had a long talk with Bethanny, and her and Candace are not exactly on the best of terms, so I need to give Rhonda a heads-up.”

  “Seriously?” Freddie asked. “You think she’s the killer and you just let her walk off with my charge?”

  “No, I don’t really think she’s the killer, but—”

  My phone buzzed. I looked at the screen.

  Ack.

  That was Rhonda’s short form for acknowledged. The woman really did know how to take an order.

  I looked back up at Freddie then quickly back down and started typing.

  And don’t tell her I told you that.

  I almost added, And don’t ask any suspicious questions, but quickly thought better of it. Telling Rhonda not to ask any suspicious questions might guarantee that she did.

  “Now,” I said, looking up. “What’s your lead?”

  Freddie blinked. “It seems kind of anticlimactic now.”

  “Seriously?”

  “No.” He grabbed my elbow. “It’s awesome. Let’s go!”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  “Where are we going?”

  “Coat room,” Freddie said, speeding down the hallway ahead of me, Sean at his side.

  “Why?”

  “We need to get our coats.”

  I should have seen that one coming. “Why are we getting our coats?”

  “Because we are going outside again.”

  Dammit. That one too.

  “Freddie, just tell me what’s going on.”

  “I will, but we need to hurry.”

  Sean at least had the decency to look back at me with an apologetic smile. He also looked kind of happy too. Excited. I knew that expression. Freddie had him drinking the chasing a hot lead Kool-Aid.

  Once we were back in the main foyer, a number of people lobbed questions about Stanley to Freddie, but he batted them all away without so much as a glance. This lead had to be a pretty good one.

  A moment later we were inside a room with beautiful dark wood paneling—but no furniture—just long metal racks heavy with coats. Freddie planted his hands on his hips. “Now how the hell did Tyler and his friends organize all these coats?” He spun a plastic disk with a W on it clipped around the top bar. “Is it by last name?” It looked like some of the coats had number tags, but others were filed alphabetically—maybe for the locals that the kids knew? That didn’t make much sense. Then again stealing a boat and launching into a bunch of trees didn’t make a whole lot of sense either. They were probably doing the best they could.

  I headed over to where I thought I might find the B section. “Seriously, Freddie, talk. What’s going on?”

  He flicked his eyes over to Sean. “Bean here came through for us.”

  I cleared my throat. “You mean Sean?”

  “Of course, I mean Sean,” Freddie muttered, whipping through coats like nobody’s business. “You see any other Beans around here?”

  My turn to shoot Sean an apologetic smile, but he didn’t look upset. Actually, he looked kind of amused. Huh, he was extremely good-natured. Freddie needed someone who was extremely good-natured.

  “Bean,” Freddie went on, making my ears cringe, “tell her what you told me.”

  “Well, I knew how worried you both were about Freddie’s dog,” he began. “So I started asking the other servers if anyone remembered getting the pretty blond lady a drink with any peanuts in it or chocolate—because chocolate can be bad for dogs too.”

  “You are so sweet.” I made eye contact with Freddie through some coats and smiled. Freddie’s return expression sliced down my smile like a warrior on horseback.

  “Anyway, nobody remembered anything like that, but Chloe had a funny thing happen.”

  Uh-oh. Chloe? Why did I suddenly have the feeling that Freddie was gathering us for a witch hunt? “When you s
ay a funny thing happened, do you mean, funny ha-ha?”

  “No,” he said, a little gleam coming to his eye. “Funny, odd.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly then let out an excited yip. “Found my coat!” It was in the B section right where I had expected to find it. Of course it also had a sticky note with Blome written on it. Maybe Freddie could tackle Tyler’s spelling next … once he stopped growling with frustration.

  I slipped on my jacket. “Okay, so tell me Chloe’s funny, odd story.”

  “Actually,” Sean said, pushing up his glasses. “I shouldn’t have said funny at all. Chloe’s pretty upset.”

  “Why?”

  A pained expression crossed his face. “I think I should let her tell you.”

  “We’re headed to find her next,” Freddie shouted. “Once I can find my stupid coat! How hard is it to file a coat under the name Ng? It’s two letters, N-G!”

  “Can you at least tell me what it’s about?”

  Sean picked up one of the coats that had slipped off its hanger in Freddie’s rampage. “Chloe thinks she’s the one who gave Candace the drink.”

  “What? Seriously?” I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that.

  He nodded, returning the coat to its place.

  I whipped my head around. “Would you hurry up already!”

  “It’s not under F either!”

  “Wait,” I said, looking at Sean—Freddie was beyond reaching. “Why do we even need our coats?”

  “Chloe is outside going through the trash. She feels terrible. She’s trying to find the glass.”

  “Or she’s destroying evidence!” Freddie shouted.

  Sean shook his head in a little motion and mouthed the words I don’t think she’s destroying evidence.

  I nodded.

  “You know what? Forget it!” Some metal hangers jangled to the floor as Freddie yanked a fur coat off the rack.

  “Um … what are you doing?”

  “I am taking this one.”

  I frowned. “I don’t know if taking someone’s fur is such a good idea.”