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Authors: Debra Burroughs

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BOOK: Debra Burroughs - Paradise Valley 06 - The Harbor of Lies
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“So you admit you knew the murder victim?” the chief asked.

“Barely.”

“Have you questioned anyone else?” Colin asked. “The other guests? Hotel staff?”

“Well, uh, I was just about to,” the chief replied, a sheepish look on his face. He turned toward a couple of officers who were holding back the crowd. “Jenkins! Fortnoy!” He motioned for them to come to him.

“You two go round up the staff and have them wait for me in the lobby. Then, go door to door inside the inn and see if any of the guests saw or heard anything, especially these rooms that face the pool.”

“Yes, sir.” The two officers marched off to do as they were ordered.

“Who’s going to process the crime scene?” Colin asked. “And what about the medical examiner. Is he on his way?”

“I called him on the drive over. They’ll have to come from Bangor, so it’ll be at least an hour before they get here.”

“What about me, Chief?” Emily leaned on the top of the open car door.

“Stay right here in the car and wait for me,” he replied.

She crossed her arms and pursed her lips into a pout. “Wait? How long?”

“Am I going to have to put a guard on you?” The chief arched his brow.

“She’s just getting chilly.” Colin slid off his jacket and handed it, with a glare, to Emily. “Isn’t there anyone else that can question her, Chief? Anyone down at the station that can take her statement, like a detective maybe?”

“This isn’t the big city. It’s me and a handful of officers. The only one down at the station right now is the night receptionist.”

“Great,” Emily mumbled, slipping Colin’s jacket over her shoulders.

“I could round up a couple of off-duty officers I guess, but the mayor won’t like the extra overtime pay.”

“We’re happy to help, Chief,” Colin offered, “if you’ll let us. I was on the force in San Francisco and now—”

“No! You just stop right there, Detective.” It seemed as if Chief Taylor’s pride wouldn’t let him accept any outside help. “We haven’t had a murder in this town for nearly fifteen years—that’s a fact—but that doesn’t mean I can’t handle it.”

“I’m a private eye,” Emily explained. “We’ve been—”

“Stop!” He raised a hand to her. “I’m a little short-handed at the moment, is all. I can sort this thing out. So take a load off, lady, and I’ll get to you as soon as I can.” The chief began to walk away. “Henry,” he shouted to the officer holding the crowd back, “watch this one here that she doesn’t budge.”

The officer nodded and turned a stern gaze on Emily.

“Ma’am, you’d better be here when I get back,” Chief Taylor shouted over his shoulder, “or you and your boyfriend are going to be in a kettle of hot water.”

Emily perched on the edge of the cruiser’s back seat, facing out, with the door still open. “Now what?”

Colin bent down and kissed her softly. “Do what the man says, Babe.”

She nodded reluctantly.

Colin straightened. “Are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine, as long as that Chief Taylor doesn’t try to pin this thing on me.” Emily stuck her hands out, palms up, as if showing her innocence. But judging by the look on Colin’s face, she had done the opposite.

“Emily?”

She followed his gaze to her hands. She had removed much of the blood with the moist towelettes given to her by the girl at the front desk, but some remained around her nails and dried in the folds of her skin.

“The vic’s blood?”

She nodded.

“How’d that happen?”

“It was dark. I couldn’t see much and I tripped over the body.” She gestured to her sweater too. “Before I knew it I was sprawled on top of him. I think I hit my hip on the arm of the wooden chair. Feels like I bruised it.”

“Why the deck to your room?”

“I haven’t a clue.”

“Maybe I’d better get Alex over here to go with us to the police station.” Colin sounded concerned.

“You think I need a lawyer?”

“Better to be safe.”

“Why would someone want to kill a minister?”

“He must have had some pretty scary skeletons in his closet,” Colin guessed. “How did you meet him?”

“Susan uses him for the weddings here at the inn. She, Camille, and I met with him for about ten minutes this morning. That was it.”

“Well, we have a few days before the wedding. Maybe we can solve the mystery before then and you won’t have to worry about it.”

“No, Colin. This is our wedding. I don’t want anything distracting from that.”

“I don’t either, but if you get detained, or worse, arres—”

“It should be pretty clear I have no motive, so I’m not going to let myself be concerned about it, unless something changes and I have cause to be concerned.”

“Yeah, a case against you would be pretty weak. It’s clear, though, that the chief has no experience solving this type of crime,” Colin said. “He could really use someone who knows their way around a murder investigation.”

“You heard him,” she argued. “He doesn’t want our help, so we need to butt out.”

“At the very least, Emily, we could give him some tips, point him in the right direction. We could—”

“Ugh! It’s always something, isn’t it? Something trying to jump in the way of our getting married.” An anger rose up in her at the constant barriers, like the universe was trying to keep them apart. Three bad things had already happened to them, so from here on out it would be smooth sailing—that’s what Colin had said—but no, now there was a fourth thing and it was a doozy. “Murder or no murder, we’re going to get married this Saturday, come hell or high water—even if the ceremony has to take place in a jail cell. No more delays. No more bad things happening. This wedding is moving forward.”

“All right now. Calm down.” Colin reached for her right hand, but then hesitated, examining it for signs of blood before he kissed it. “This Saturday, Babe, you and me, ’til death do us part.”

~*~

Although the chief had ordered one of his men to keep an eye on Emily, he had mentioned nothing about Colin. So, with Chief Taylor off speaking to the staff, Colin wandered over to the body, still sprawled out on the white Adirondack chair. He slid his phone out of his pocket and took a couple of photos before anyone noticed. Then he went to find Alex in the crowd.

As Colin walked past the well-lit entrance to the inn, he peeked inside, through the french doors and the surrounding wall of small-paned windows. There were several people in dark green blazers—which he assumed were management or desk clerks—milling around, and a few women in light blue dresses who appeared to be maids, seated on the sofas.

A thirty-something man with sandy-brown hair, wearing a dark gray suit stalked up to the chief, waving his arms around. The expression on his face looked more like worry than anger, which made sense if he was the manager, afraid of losing guests.

Colin watched as Chief Taylor said something to the man and then turned to speak to a younger man that appeared to be, perhaps, a maintenance worker or groundskeeper. It didn’t seem like Chief Taylor was getting anywhere with any of them.

Soon, Colin moved on to find Alex to escort him to where Emily sat waiting. By the time Chief Taylor returned, Colin and Emily had brought Alex up to speed on the situation.

“Any luck?” Colin asked as Chief Taylor approached.

“I’m not sharing information with you, Detective. This is my crime scene and my case. Besides, I don’t know yet how your girlfriend figures into this.”

“I don’t figure into this, Chief.” Emily bolted off the car seat. “The killer just happened to pick my deck to drop the body. I’m an innocent tourist.”

“We’ll see.” The chief took a long gaze at her, then turned to Alex. “And who’s this?”

“Alex Martínez, attorney-at-law,” Alex said, extending his hand.

The chief shook it, eying him suspiciously.

“I’m only here to advise Ms. Parker at this time.”

“I see.” The chief’s gaze moved to Emily. “You don’t figure into this, huh? Then why the lawyer?”

Emily was saved from answering by the medical examiner and his crime scene investigation team driving up, drawing the chief’s attention away from her for the moment. The police worked to disburse the crowd enough that they could get through and do their work.

After an onsite examination of the Reverend’s body, the attractive female ME wandered over to where the chief was still standing talking to Emily, Colin, and Alex. She pulled off her latex gloves and tugged him aside to talk privately.

They still had a keen eye on Emily, but Colin was able to inch close enough to hear most of what they were discussing. It might not be completely ethical to eavesdrop, but this was his fiancée, and besides, that boat had sailed when he took the photos with his cellphone.

The ME said the blood pattern on the man’s shirt indicated he’d been stabbed, but told the chief that there had also been blunt-force trauma to the head. And until she got the body back to her lab and went over it thoroughly, she did not want to make a definitive declaration on the cause of death.

“Based on the internal temperature, I’d say he’s been dead approximately two hours,” the ME said, which would have put Emily’s gruesome discovery within the window of his time of death.

Although it would have been better if his death had occurred hours before she’d found him, Colin surmised, surely there was no way Chief Taylor could realistically pin this on her. She barely knew the man and had no motive whatsoever to kill him.

Colin noticed Emily trying to edge closer and he glared at her until she froze to her spot near the car. Then he eased his way back to her so that he wouldn’t attract attention to the fact that he’d been listening in.

He explained what he had overheard from the ME.

“What was he hit in the head with?” Emily asked.

“They won’t know that until she takes a closer look back at the lab.”

The ME cleared her throat and walked toward them. “Are these folks the victim’s next of kin? Should I have a talk with them?”

“No. Don’t go telling her anything, Doc,” Chief Taylor moaned. “She’s a suspect.”

“Oh, sorry, Chief.” The shapely thirty-something medical examiner stopped walking.

The chief gave Emily a defiant stare. “In the car, Miss Parker.”

Emily complied and the chief strode up and closed the car door.

“Okay, Doc, we’re headed to the police station for questioning. Get those results back to me as soon as possible.”

“Will do.” The medical examiner spun around and headed back to the dead body.

Chapter 7

After Alex and Emily had agreed to let someone scrape under her fingernails where the Reverend’s blood was, the chief allowed her to be accompanied to the washroom to clean her hands better and bag her sweater to contain the transfer of the blood—whether or not it ended up being evidence was still to be decided.

With Emily wearing Colin’s jacket zipped up after relinquishing her sweater, Chief Taylor took her and Alex into an interrogation room in the small police station, but made Colin wait outside while he questioned her.

She looked at the video camera mounted in the corner just below the ceiling and tried not to fidget or appear nervous in any way.

“Tell me again why you need an attorney, ma’am. You got something to hide?”

“Of course not. He’s here for my wedding. His wife is my best friend.”

“I see.” Chief Taylor eyed her suspiciously, leaning back in the chair. “So, let’s go over why you have the victim’s blood all over you.”

After receiving Alex’s nod of approval, she again explained how she came upon the dead body. Chief Taylor asked more of the usual questions. Did she know the deceased? Were there any problems between the two of them? Did she kill the Reverend?

“I already answered those questions at the scene, Chief Taylor, so no, no, and heck no. What else do you want to ask?”

“Well…” He didn’t seem sure what else to say. Clearly he wasn’t used to questioning a murder suspect. “Give me a minute.”

“How long have you been the Chief of Police here?” she questioned.

“About a month. Why do you ask?”

She glanced at Alex for a moment. No, she wouldn’t answer that. It was way too easy. She even felt a bit sorry for the young man, being thrown in the middle of his first murder case with no experience in solving one. “Have your men finished searching my room? I’d like to get some sleep.”

He nodded. “They’re done. But I’m not done with you.”

“Listen, Chief Taylor,” Alex said, “Colin and Emily, and their entire wedding party, are staying at the Rock Harbor Inn. I think it’s pretty obvious she’s not your killer, but if you have any more questions, we’re happy to come back and answer them for you.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but a knock at the door drew his attention. It opened and the receptionist stuck her head in. “Susan Henderson is here to see her sister.” The woman nodded in Emily’s direction.

“Susan’s your sister?”

“Yes, why?”

“Well, why didn’t you say so? She and my wife are thick as thieves. If Susan will vouch for you, I guess I can let you go—for now.”

They all walked out into the waiting area. Susan rushed to Emily and threw her arms around her. “You poor thing. How awful. I got a call from one of your friends. I came right over and Colin was just telling me what happened.”

“I’m fine, Sis.” Emily flashed her a little smile and proceeded to introduce her to Alex.

After the quick introduction, Susan turned to the chief. “Oh, Alvin, my sister is here to get married on Saturday and you really think she could have killed Pastor Ben?”

“Now, Susan, don’t be like that,” Chief Taylor replied. “She claimed to have found the body, but she was covered in his blood. I couldn’t just let her go ’cause she claimed to be innocent. I had to at least make an attempt to discover if there was more to it.”

“She just met the man this morning,” Susan explained. “I introduced them.”

The chief ran a hand over his neck. “Eyah, that’s what she said.”

“Are we done here, Chief?” Alex asked.

“For now.”

“While I was waiting,” Colin said, “I phoned one of my officers back at my station and asked him to run a background check on Ben Kinney. As you can imagine, there were a number of them across the country, so we narrowed it down to northeast Maine.”

BOOK: Debra Burroughs - Paradise Valley 06 - The Harbor of Lies
5.55Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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