Menace in Christmas River (Christmas River 8) (18 page)

Luck
didn’t seem to accurately describe how they’d been able to find their way back. Miracle was a better word for it.

It could have easily gone a different way out there in the snow and ice.

“We just followed the road…” Libby chattered away. “We just…”

I piled another faded grey blanket – which had been stashed away in one of the janitorial closets – on top of her. Meanwhile Samantha, who said she had some mild medical know-how from her time as a Mormon missionary, checked Mrs. McBride’s eyes and injuries.

“I thought… I thought we weren’t… going… to… to… make…” Libby continued.

“I think she’s going to be okay,” Samantha said, standing up. “She’s just in shock right now. As long as we keep her warm and hydrated, and keep that sprained ankle of hers elevated, she should be fine.”

I heard Kara let out a big sigh of relief from behind us. Samantha left Libby and went over to Barney McBride, who was also starting to look like he was coming back to life after being out in the storm.

“Did you hear that, Libby?” I said to her, pulling the blanket tighter around her large shoulders.

She nodded, and then did what she could to force her cold lips into a smile. That caused her teeth to dance like a live powerline.  

I pat her on the back reassuringly, then stepped away for a second, pulling out my phone.

There was nothing more from Daniel.

I prayed it was on account of the spotty reception, and not because he was lost out there in the storm, too.

When I had seen that it wasn’t him out there with the flashlight, I’d been disappointed. But part of me had been glad, too. Glad that maybe he hadn’t been foolish enough to risk his life again out on the icy roads tonight. Comforted by the thought that maybe he’d made it back home instead, and was now sitting by the fire with Huckleberry, Chadwick, Warren, and Aileen, all warm and safe and sound.

But something about that whole scenario just didn’t add up.

Daniel wasn’t the type to just go home when I was out here, stranded with a possible killer.

Like Eleanor had said: Daniel was one of those old time sheriffs. And as much as I wished he was sitting at home, safe and cozy, I knew better. 

He would try to come and get me.

Come hell, or high water, or a mountain of ice.

“Everything okay, Cin?” Kara asked.

I shrugged.

Me complaining about the situation we were all in wouldn’t make it any better.

She cleared her throat.  

“You know, something’s been bothering me,” she said.

“Are John and Laila okay?”

She put up a hand, shooing the question away.

“Yes, they’re just fine,” she said. “Eating some leftover pork roast and having a
Madmen
marathon, no doubt. You see John never saw the show when it was on, but now he can’t stop binge watching it.”

“Then what’s troubling you?” I asked.

“Just something that that harpy said earlier.” 

“You mean Julie Van Dorn?”

Kara nudged my elbow and pulled me over into the corner of the lounge area. Then she looked back at Barney, Libby, and Samantha, as if to make sure they couldn’t hear what she was saying.

“Remember how Julie implied that you… well… that you might have done something with Cliff last night after driving him back to the resort?”

I felt my cheeks burn with anger at the mention of it.

In the time since, I’d done my best to forget the fight that we’d had. I’d done my best to not think about the nasty, slanderous things she was probably saying about me to the folks here who were looking for ways to take their minds off their current depressing predicament. I’d done my best to focus on other, more important things – like who had tried to kill Cliff.

But now, as Kara brought it all up again, I felt my blood boil with resentment.

“Yeah,” I said in a low, controlled voice. “Being called an adulteress to your face isn’t something you forget too easily.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking… How did she know that? I mean, how did she know that you dropped Cliff off last night and that you were at the resort? I don’t imagine you told her about it.”

I shrugged.

“No, I didn’t tell her,” I said. “Which means it was either Cliff, or there was this concierge down at the resort’s reception who saw the two of us walk in together. I could tell she thought something was going on that wasn’t.”

Kara glanced off to one side, looking as if she was trying to figure out the next move in a high-stakes chess game.

“Yeah, but if the concierge told anybody, I can almost guarantee you that Moira Stewart would have found out about it. And as of early afternoon, old Moira didn’t have any inkling that you and Cliff might have, well, you know…”

“We didn’t,” I said, reiterating it just in case my best friend had any doubts of her own.

“Oh, obviously not,” she said. “I know you run true blue, Cin. But you see, Moira Steward would just jump at the chance to spread a rumor that juicy around. But the woman didn’t have the slightest idea.”

“Well, maybe Moira’s just off her game,” I said. “She can’t know
everything
that goes on in Christmas River.”

“No, but if Moira didn’t know, then it most likely wasn’t the concierge who leaked it,” Kara said. “And besides – they’re supposed to be discreet, right? Which means if it wasn’t the concierge, then Cliff would have had to have been the one to tell Julie.”

Cliff probably had told her. Probably elaborated on it, too, putting those ideas in her head in the first place just to be spiteful after I’d refused his offer for a night cap.

“I suppose it was him, then,” I said.

I didn’t know why any of this mattered much, or why we had to keep talking about it.

If I had known the trouble it would have made, I probably would have just left Cliff Copperstone at the Geronimo Brewing Co. pub the night before, right where he passed out on the bar.  

“Look, I know Cliff acted like a jerk,” Kara said, hushing her voice so that Samantha wouldn’t hear that last part. “But does he really seem like the type to kiss and tell?”

“Well, there was no kissing,” I said. “Or anything else for that matter, so there was nothing to tell.”

“Exactly,” Kara said.

I still didn’t understand what she was getting at.

“I’ve got a theory I’ve been thinking about,” she said. “About who else might have bludgeoned Cliff Copperstone. Want to hear it?”

I lifted my eyebrows in disbelief.

Kara was one of the smartest people I’d ever met. But while I knew she liked gossip, I had never known her to be much of a sleuth.

But maybe I had underestimated my best friend.

“Okay,” she said, shifting her weight excitedly between her feet. “You know how I think Julie knew that you dropped Cliff off at the resort last night?”

“How?”

She took in a deep breath.

“She knew because she was there, Cin. I know you’ve been busy all day judging the competition and haven’t had much of a chance to see the way she’s been looking at Cliff. But I tell you, those weren’t benign looks she was giving him. I’m good at reading people’s body language. And Julie’s had a heck of a lot to say whenever she was around Cliff Copperstone. And not all of it was good.”

I crossed my arms and stared blankly at the beige wall in front of me, thinking it through.

“But that doesn’t necessarily mean anything, Kara,” I said. “She might just have been her usual flirty self, you know? It might not mean a thing.”

“No, it might not,” she said. “It might be absolutely nothing, Cin. But it’s something, isn’t it? And wouldn’t you say that right now, that’s the best we’ve got to go on? I mean, if she was involved with Cliff, and he had… I don’t know, scorned her somehow, wouldn’t that give her motive? Wouldn’t that…”

Kara trailed off, looking at me with a hopeful expression.

“Don’t you see?” she said.

I ran a hand through my hair and looked down at the ground for a moment.

I knew that Kara disliked Julie. So did I. But that didn’t mean she was involved with what happened to Cliff.

Bashing someone over the head wasn’t a dispassionate crime. It was something done by someone either desperate, or in a fit of passionate rage.

It took a lot to do that to somebody. And the short period that Cliff had been in Christmas River didn’t seem like enough time to become that angry with—

I gasped suddenly and felt my eyes bulge as something occurred to me.

“What?” Kara said, her voice nearly trembling with excitement.

“
The smoke
,” I said, glancing back at her. “Cliff doesn’t smoke.”

She furrowed her brow, not understanding.

I grabbed Kara’s arm without realizing it, squeezing hard.

“When I dropped Cliff off last night and made sure he got to his room okay? He opened the door and asked if I wanted to come in. And when he did that, I smelled cigarette smoke. It was fresh, too.”

Something sparked in Kara’s eyes, and I could tell that she suddenly understood what I was saying.

“And you know who
is
a smoker, don’t you?” I said, hammering the point home.

“
Julie
,” Kara said, blurting her name out so loud, it caused Samantha to glance over in our direction.

“Oh my gosh, I was right, Cin,” she said, after a moment in a quieter voice. “I was actually right. She was in his room, waiting for him. He probably didn’t know it, either. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have invited you in. Oh my gosh, I can’t believe… I mean...
Wow
…”  

A silence fell over the conversation as we both came to terms with what this all meant.

Publicists always said that old adage, didn’t they? That there was no such thing as bad publicity? Having a celebrity chef nearly die at an event would make national headlines. And while maybe Julie hadn’t done it for the sole purpose of the publicity, she was crazy enough to spin it to her advantage.

And if she handled this fiasco well, there was no telling what kind of business it could create for her PR firm.

Maybe she’d end up killing two birds with one stone. Making a lover pay for his near betrayal, while advancing her career at the same time.

“What are we going to do, Cin?” Kara said. “Should we go confront her now? Or should we—”

“No, that’s not a good idea,” I said. “If she did bludgeon Cliff, then there’s no telling what she’s capable of.”

Kara rubbed her chin.

“That’s a point,” she said. “But if not that, then what do you propose?” I don’t know if I can just sit back and do nothing.”

I exhaled sharply and looked down at the ground again, trying to think it through.  

A little while later, it came to me.

“
Holly
,” I said, looking back up at Kara.

“Holly?” she said. “The gal who found Cliff when…?”

I nodded.

“She’s Julie’s assistant,” I said. “She keeps her schedule. She’s got to know something more. Something concrete that we could use to confirm this. Evidence we can hand over to Daniel when he gets back.”

A slight smile spread across Kara’s face.

And for the first time, I realized that I wasn’t alone in any of this.

I had my best friend helping me – as always.

I squeezed Kara’s arm, and then quickly headed back to the auditorium.

Chapter 39

“How are you holding up, Holly?”

Holly Smith looked small and scared as she leaned forward in one of the auditorium seats. She chewed on a hangnail, staring down at the carpeted floor with a vacant expression.

She didn’t acknowledge Kara or me at all.

“Holly?” Kara said in a louder voice.

That seemed to snap her out her daze. She lifted her head, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes. She let her hand drop from her mouth.

She still looked pale and shaken – not much had changed since earlier that afternoon when she’d found Cliff.

“I’m okay,” she said, forcing a thin, weak smile.

But I could tell by the strain in her voice that she wasn’t.

“Have you heard any news about…?” she said, trailing off and swallowing hard.

I shook my head.

I wasn’t about to tell anybody what I thought Daniel had said concerning Cliff until I could be certain that it was really true.

“We don’t know anything yet,” I said.

She closed her eyes for a long moment and let out a distressed breath.

I knew from personal experience that it wasn’t easy seeing somebody hurt as bad as Cliff had been. It wasn’t like seeing something on television – something you could just turn off and walk away from. When you saw somebody hurt or killed in real life, the image had a way of playing over and over in your head relentlessly, giving you no peace of mind.

And if you didn’t find a way to come to terms with it, seeing something like that could drive you mad.

I scanned the room, wondering how long Holly had been sitting alone like this with her thoughts. It was obvious that Julie wasn’t all that concerned about her assistant. And I couldn’t help but feel somewhat responsible for not following up sooner to see whether or not she was okay.

But a lot of people had been in need these past few hours, and I had tried to do my best to help the ones that I could.  

I took a seat in the auditorium chair next to her. Kara took the one on the other side of the young woman.

“What a day,” Holly finally mumbled. “It’s been like a nightmare come to life.”

“Yeah, I won’t argue with you there,” I said.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” she said, turning toward me. “I mean, when I found Mr. Copperstone. I know my reaction was kind of extreme. But when I came out of the restroom, and saw him lying there outside on the ice… and I went over to see if he was okay, and…”

Her voice wavered and she trailed off, as if the words were too weak to support the emotions behind them.

“I’ve always been really squeamish around blood,” she said. “I remember my mom taking me to the doctor’s when I was a little girl to get blood drawn once, and I had a fit. I mean, something about it just…”