Saints and Sinners: (A Geeks and Things Cozy Mystery Novella #5) (Geeks and Things Cozy Mysteries) (2 page)

CHAPTER THREE

Kalina didn’t want to leave the cool air of the office but she allowed Chris to lead her back outside into the heat and toward the parking lot abutting the church. She fanned herself as he unlocked the squad car he’d come over in. Her car sat a few spaces away.

“Can’t we take mine? I’ll probably just head over to the shop for a little while when I’m finished at the station.”

“OK.” He hit the button to lock the squad car again and followed her a few spaces over. “You want me to drive?”

She flashed him a smile. “I’m perfectly capable of driving, thank you. Besides, I’ve got the seat where I want it and I don’t want you messing with it.”

He held his hands up in surrender and rounded the front of the car to the passenger side. She settled in behind the wheel and started the engine. Chris buckled up beside her and studied something out the passenger side window. Kalina followed his gaze and spotted the uniformed officers loading the woman’s body onto a stretcher.

Chris looked back at her. “How’d you find her?”

Kalina pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the station. “It’s hard to explain. I was visiting my dad’s grave and then I just got this feeling like something was just … off. I wandered a little and then I found her. I guess it was luck or something.”

“Or a mother’s intuition to protect her child,” he said and she caught a small smile
out
of the corner of her eye.

“Maybe, but regardless of what it was, I’m glad she was found so quickly. It has to give you and your officers a better chance of finding the man who did this.”

“Here’s hoping Clint can get a better angle on the man’s face.”

She eased to a stop at a crosswalk, allowing a gaggle of teenage girls to scurry past. “Speaking of faces, hers looked familiar somehow.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it was mostly her eyes that made me look twice. I swear I’ve seen her somewhere before, maybe a long time ago. It’s like there’s a memory buried in my brain but I just can’t reach it.”

Before Chris could answer, his phone buzzed and he answered the call. “Captain Harper.” A pause and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “OK. Well, take prints and we’ll run them and see what comes up.”

“What was that about?” she asked and made the final turn leading up to the police station parking lot.

“She didn’t have any photo ID on her so they’re going to run her prints and maybe we’ll get lucky.”

She pulled into a spot near the front door and killed the engine. Chris was out of the car and opening the driver side door before she’d had a chance to unbuckle her seatbelt and yank the keys from the ignition. She squeezed his hand as he helped her out of the car.

“Are you really doing OK with all of this?” he asked as they walked side by side into the station.

“Yes. She isn’t the first dead body I’ve seen, Chris.”
Even if it is the last
. She’d tell him about that promise she’d made to herself when this was over.

“I’m not trying to be overbearing. I just want you and the baby to be safe.”

She leaned into his shoulder. “I know. And I appreciate that. More than you know.”

“I also know you aren’t going to let this drop. So just run whatever you find by me or Jimmy.”

“Got it. And don’t take any risks,” she added.

“Exactly.”

He held the door open for her and Jimmy greeted them before they’d made it past the reception desk. When all of her adventures in crime solving had begun a year ago, Jimmy had been a fresh-faced, newly minted officer. He’d grown a lot since then. She was pretty sure he’d actually added a few inches in height as well as the full beard he now sported. It made him look much older than his early twenties. He’d also grown as an officer. Only a few months ago he’d saved her from a knife wielding madman.

“They radioed from the scene. I’ll take her statement,” he said.

Kalina caught the look of pride on Chris’s face as he headed for his office, leaving her and Jimmy alone. Silence fell between them for a moment and then Jimmy’s business-like exterior melded a little.

“Come on, let’s get you off your feet.”

“You know, he may not say it but he’s really proud of you,” she said in a hushed tone.

“I try. I’m just glad he’s been around. I have something to strive for, you know?”

“Well, he notices it. Keep it up and you’ll make detective before you know it.”

Jimmy gave a nervous laugh and led her over to a vacant desk in the bull pen. The computer was already displaying a blank witness statement form, ready for her words to fill it. Without having to ask, he put in her contact information and then turned to face her. “So, tell me everything you can remember.”

Kalina was about to fill him in on her graveyard visit when the forensic technician from the cemetery burst through the front doors and barreled past them to Chris’s office. He didn’t even bother knocking. She couldn’t hear what was being said but she didn’t have to wait long to find out what had the man so agitated.

“What’s wrong, boss?” Jimmy asked as Chris approached them.

“The fingerprints came back. They belong to a Verona Maxwell.”

“Why is he so upset then?” Kalina pointed toward the technician.

“Because they also belong to a dead girl.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Both Kalina and Jimmy stared in silence at Chris, letting the revelation sink in. It wasn’t possible for two people to have the same fingerprints. Not even identical twins had the same prints. Kalina opened her mouth to ask the obvious question but Jimmy beat her to it.

“Who was the girl?”

“Paige Fischer.”

“Wait, I know that name,” Kalina said and looked between the two men. “She was a couple years younger than me. She died in an accident or something when she was ten or eleven if I remember right.”

Chris nodded. “She and her brother, Patrick, both drowned.”

“But how does the department even have their prints? Did they take them when they found the bodies?” Kalina asked.

Chris shook his head and held up a pair of files with pictures of a young boy and girl. “Their parents had them printed in case something ever happened. Or so the files say.”

“What, did they expect someone to kidnap them?” Jimmy scoffed.

“They might have,” Kalina answered. “They were one of the richest families in town. I just remember other kids whispering about them when they started at public school.”

“You’ve got a better memory of them than I do.”

“You wouldn’t have interacted with them much. My mom insisted I do a youth mentorship program the school year before they died. It was to help younger kids improve their literacy.”

“No offense but if they were rich kids, couldn’t their parents have afforded tutors or something?” Jimmy said.

Kalina’s face fell at the thought of the pair of them. So young and inseparable. “Looking back, I don’t think their parents really wanted to spend much time with them.”

“Can’t we just ask them if their daughter could still be alive?”

“No. Verona, if that’s her real name, was found between the Fischers’ graves. I didn’t notice when they’d died but they’re definitely both gone.”

Chris set the files on the desk in front of Jimmy and massaged his temple. “I’m going to have the lab run the prints again.”

“What about a DNA test?” Kalina suggested.

“If we can find something that belonged to Paige Fischer when she was ten then maybe.”

Something about the girl’s death was gnawing at Kalina’s memory. She needed to get to the shop to do some digging. “I’m going to finish giving Jimmy my statement and then head to the shop to check on Jill and AJ.”

“Good. I’m going to see what I can find about the deaths of Paige and Patrick Fischer,” Chris said and disappeared back to his office.

“This is going to be a weird one, isn’t it, Kal?” Jimmy said as soon as Chris was out of earshot.

“Yeah, I think it is.”

Twenty minutes later, she’d signed the statement and was back behind the wheel of her car. It was a short trip back to Main Street and the family-owned comic shop she’d inherited from her father. As she pulled up to the turn off for the lot behind the building, a sense of satisfaction warmed her. There was a steady stream of people coming and going. Business was booming. She made her way inside through the back door, which led into the game room. A group of teenagers sat huddled around one of the tables, snickering into whatever they’d drawn in Cards against Humanity. They didn’t react as she walked by and out to the front of the shop. Her sister, Jillian, stood behind the counter taking a five dollar bill from a boy who couldn’t have been older than seven or eight. Kalina watched as his eyes widened when Jillian handed over the package of comics safely sealed in protective covers.

“Hey,” Kalina said once the kid and his mother were gone.

Jillian jumped. “Kal, you scared me. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to make sure everything was going OK.”

“Everything is fine. Although those kids back there have been very quiet.”

“Don’t worry about them. I actually needed to ask you something.”

Jillian pulled the stool over and Kalina settled atop it. “What’s on your mind, little sister?”

“Do you remember Paige and Patrick Fischer? They died in a drowning accident about fifteen years ago.”

Her sister rubbed at her chin in thought. “Sort of. I think Mom took us to a memorial service or a candlelight vigil.”

“What do you remember about what happened to them?”

“Just what the papers said. They were out at the beach and one of them got swept up in a wave and the other one went out to save them.”

“But they never found their bodies.”

“I don’t know, Kal. Why?”

“I was visiting Dad’s grave today and I found a dead woman.”

“It was a cemetery.”

“Not one who’d been buried. Chris ran her fingerprints and they matched Paige Fischer’s.”

“But that isn’t possible.”

“It wouldn’t be if she was actually dead. But what if she survived and someone found out?”

“Who would care all these years later?”

“I don’t know. But she was left between her parents’ graves. If this woman really is Paige, someone out there knew the truth and killed her for it.”

Jillian let out a groan. “You’re getting dragged into this. Don’t get dragged into this. Not now.”

“I can’t help it. And this is the last one, I swear. After this I’m out.”

“”You better be. Or else we’ll be going to your funeral because Chris will have killed you himself.”

Kalina laughed. “Thanks for the support. Why don’t you go grab some lunch? I can man the counter for a little while. Besides, I miss being here. Sitting at home was getting really boring.”

“Only you could think getting ready for a baby was boring.”

Before Kalina could get out a retort, Jillian headed out into the sunshine. Kalina retrieved her tablet from below the counter and pulled up the town’s newspaper archives. Because she couldn’t remember the exact date of the drowning, she input “Fischer twins death” into the search bar at the top of the page and waited for it to populate results.

The first result was their joint obituary from August of 1995. It was a brief paragraph with a photo of the twins side by side with the ocean as a backdrop. The next result, dated July 31, 1995, appeared to be the first article about the circumstances surrounding their mysterious drowning.

Fischer Children Lost At Sea

By: Andrew Fisk, Staff Reporter

It is a sad day for the people of Ellesworth as two of its youngest citizens were lost at sea. Ten-year-old Paige Fischer and her twin brother, Patrick, were presumed dead today after the family’s boat, which went missing from the family’s slip off the beach three days ago, was found abandoned near the shore near Marblehead, Massachusetts. Authorities say the children were believed to be aboard the ship when it went missing. No bodies have yet been recovered.

Mr. and Mrs. Fischer refused comment as they grieve the loss of their children. Some in town are suspicious of the way the children died. One neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, noted that the parents didn’t report the children missing until they received a call that the boat had been located. Others questioned how the children could have had access to the boat without adult supervision. It is unknown at this time whether the authorities will be investigating Abigail and Harrison Fischer for their role in the deaths.

Kalina’s pulse quickened as she reread the second paragraph. The Fischers hadn’t even reported their children missing. Her recollection that they hadn’t been very involved parents came back to her with full force. Surely they couldn’t have had anything to do with it. Even absent parents wouldn’t purposely send their children to their deaths. There was one final result on the list. A follow-up article dated August 21, 1995.

Fischers Cleared of Wrongdoing in Tragic Death of Twins

By: Andrew Fisk, Staff Reporter

Less than a month after the family’s boat was found off the shore of Marblehead, MA without the Fischer children aboard, the police have cleared Abigail and Harrison Fischer of any wrongdoing in the deaths of ten-year-old twins Patrick and Paige. A source close to the police shared that the parents were out of town on a business trip during the time the boat went missing.

The children had been in the care of their nanny, Lois Hendrix. According to a statement from Mr. and Mrs. Fischer, Ms. Hendrix has been fired and charges have been filed. A source in the prosecutor’s office declined to comment but it is expected Ms. Hendrix will take a plea deal if offered to avoid a trial.

Well, that was interesting. She didn’t remember a nanny being around when she spent her summer reading to both children. Then again, she’d been wrapped up in her own life and her own friends as soon as the reading time was over. At least now she had something to follow up on while Chris and Jimmy determined whether Verona Maxwell really was Paige Fischer. Perhaps Lois Hendrix would know what happened to the Fischers too. But first she needed to find the woman. She didn’t want to let Chris in on this lead until she had something concrete to tell him so she placed a call to the one person who might know the town’s older, sordid secrets, Mrs. Margaret Grant. She’d been one of former Captain Daniel Cahill’s targets for lying on the stand at his father’s murder trial. She and Kalina had kept in touch since the ordeal.

“Hello?” Margaret’s voice was weak thanks to the partial paralysis she’d suffered at Cahill’s hands.

“Hi Mrs. Grant, it’s Kalina Greystone. How are you doing?”

“Fine. And I told you to call me Margaret.”

“Right, sorry. I was hoping I could come by. I have something I need to ask you about.”

“Yes, dear. Please do come by.”