Santa Sleuth (3 page)

“The guy hit her often?”

“Yeah.” I sighed. “He really did. Ellie and I were both so happy every time it seemed like she had broken things off with him for good and were equally upset when she would go back to the guy after she’d promised us that she wouldn’t. When I saw Jason’s truck in front of the restaurant I guess I let my irritation with Levi manifest itself into rage toward Jason. By the way, did Levi ever show up?”

“I don’t know,” Salinger said. “No one has mentioned that he’s missing.”

“He probably just flaked on the Santa thing and was spending the afternoon with friends. I’ll ask Zak when he gets back. He should know.” I put my hand to my throat, which was beginning to hurt. Salinger poured me another glass of water, which helped quite a lot.

“Can you continue?” he asked.

I nodded my head that I could.

“So back to Jason and Kelly,” Salinger prodded.

I took a deep breath and continued. “I decided to see what was going on, so I parked in the lot next to the wharf and went inside. When I poked my head in the door Kelly and Jason were arguing. The restaurant was closed—the Hut closes at three during the winter—so they were the only two on the premises. I’ll admit there was a little voice in my head that warned me not to get involved, but I ignored it.”

I felt a catch in my throat as the seriousness of that decision began to sink in.

“I should have realized that Jason had been drinking, and that confronting him was the wrong thing to do, but I was so angry I wasn’t thinking straight. I told them that I planned to call you to tell you everything I knew about the situation. It was the wrong thing to say. Jason slapped Kelly and accused her of spreading rumors about him. She began to cry and swore she hadn’t, but I knew too much and he realized she was lying. He continued to hit her, so I attacked him with all the force I could muster.”

“And then?”

I frowned. “Actually, the whole thing is kind of a blur. I remember fighting with Jason and then everything went blank. I remember waking up to find a fire burning all around me and wondering how the fire got started. I looked around to try to get my bearings and saw Kelly lying near the flames. I remember summoning enough energy to pull her out of the building. I guess I must have passed out because the next thing I knew I woke up in the hospital.”

“And Jason?”

I closed my eyes as I tried to call up an image. “I remember seeing him lying on the floor, but I also remember thinking he was already dead.”

“Do you remember how he died?” Salinger asked.

“I’m not sure. Everything seems distorted and out of sequence.” I squinted my eyes as I tried to focus my thoughts. “Blood. I remember seeing blood. A lot of it. I remember knowing Jason was already dead, so there was no reason to go back in for him. I remember being confused and wondering if I’d killed him. How did he die?”

“It looks like he might have been stabbed. By the time we recovered the body the fire had destroyed most of the evidence, but we did find a knife lying near him. The coroner hasn’t declared a cause of death yet, but he did confirm that the man was dead before the fire got to him.”

I grimaced at the thought of what Salinger meant by the fire
getting
to him.

“I must have done it. There was no one else there.”

“What about Ms. Arlington?” Salinger asked.

I rubbed my head as I tried to remember. I felt like the answer to what had occurred was just beyond my ability to grasp it.

“Kelly was already passed out. I remember Jason hitting her and her falling to the floor just before everything went blank the first time. I don’t remember stabbing Jason, but I must have. We were the only people in the building other than Kelly and I’m certain she was already unconscious when everything began to get fuzzy.”

“Maybe she woke up after you blacked out.”

I frowned. “Maybe. How can we know for sure?”

Salinger shifted in his chair. “Ms. Arlington is still unconscious, so asking her isn’t an option at this point. I don’t know who stabbed the man we found in the fire, if in fact he was even stabbed, but I feel like I know you well enough to realize that if you were the one who stabbed him, it must have been in self-defense or in defense of Ms. Arlington. I don’t plan to arrest you right now. What I do plan to do is to try to figure this whole thing out before my boss takes it upon himself to make an arrest. If you think of anything at all call me.”

“I will. And thank you for having more faith in me than I have in myself at the moment. How much time do you think we have?”

“My best guess is that we have until the end of the month. The county offices are getting ready to shut down for the Christmas holiday. I don’t see the commissioner or the district attorney wanting to take on a new case until normal business hours resume after New Year’s. If we don’t have this figured out by then my gut feeling is that someone from the county will step in and hurry things along.”

“That doesn’t leave us a lot of time.”

“No,” Salinger agreed. “It doesn’t.”

“So what do you know so far?” I asked.

“Our victim’s name is Jason Overland. He was thirty-six years old. He moved to Ashton Falls from Orlando, Florida, two years ago. While living in Florida he collected a string of misdemeanors, mostly alcohol-related assaults. After moving to town he worked construction for Tyson Gallagher for over a year. He was fired eight months ago and has worked a string of temp jobs since.”

“Do you know why he was fired?” I asked.

“Mr. Gallagher stated that Overland had settled into a pattern of showing up to work drunk and fighting with his fellow employees. Gallagher also told me that during the first year of his employment the guy did a good job and seemed to get along with everyone. He’s not sure what occurred to change the man’s behavior, but he began drinking heavily, and the more he drank the more violent he became.”

What Salinger was saying seemed to fit what little I knew about Jason from my prior conversations with Kelly.

“Did Tyson think any of the guys Jason fought with held a grudge against him?”

“He didn’t know for certain, but he didn’t think so. Overland was fired quite a while ago and Gallagher didn’t seem to think that any of his guys stayed in contact with him, though he didn’t know that for a fact. Gallagher is getting me the contact information for his employees and I plan to interview each of them individually.”

I closed my eyes and listened to the beep-beep of the heart monitor. This whole thing seemed so surreal. I kept hoping to wake up to find it was all a dream, but I knew it wasn’t.

“Do we have anything else to go on?” I hoped.

“’Fraid not. It looks like you and I are starting from scratch on this one.”

Chapter 3

Wednesday, December 16

“I didn’t expect to see you here today,” Jeremy Fisher, my assistant at Zoe’s Zoo, the wild and domestic animal rescue and rehabilitation shelter we run, said as I walked through the front door with Charlie on my heels.

“I’m feeling a lot better and I needed to get out of the house. Everyone has been coddling me since I’ve been home and I needed a break.”

“You do look better,” Jeremy commented.

I touched my hand to the bandage that still covered the cut on my head. “The headache is gone and I’m pretty much back to my old self except for this gash on my head. How do you think I’d look with bangs?”

Jeremy frowned.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. I just figured if I could cover it up everyone would stop babying me.”

“Maybe a hat.” Jeremy placed a Santa hat on my head, which covered my entire forehead.

“A hat it is. Thanks for the suggestion.”

“Actually, I’m glad you’re here. Mrs. Vine’s kindergarten class is coming for a tour this morning. Tiffany is off this week and it really would be helpful to have someone cover the desk while I take the kids around.”

“No problem. I’ll be happy to. It’s always so much fun when the kids from the elementary school come by. Be sure to show them the hibernating cubs and don’t forget to mention the mountain lions we set free in the fall. Oh, and the raccoons are always a hit with the younger kids and don’t forget the kittens. Everyone loves kittens.”

“Do you want to do the tour?” Jeremy asked.

“No, you can do it. I just want to be sure the wild and domestic sides of the operation are covered equally. Oh, and be sure to talk about being a responsible pet owner by spaying or neutering your pet. I realize they’re only five, but it’s never too early to start educating Ashton Falls’ future animal owners.”

“Will do.” Jeremy grinned.

“Do we have any new residents since I was in last week?”

“A litter of puppies,” Jeremy answered. “Five-week-old golden retriever puppies.”

“Five weeks? That’s pretty young for the pups to be without their mama.”

“I agree, but they can eat from a dish and I’ve been supplementing their meals with puppy formula. I had Scott take a look at them and he thinks they’ll be fine.” Scott Walden was our veterinarian.

“Why did the owner of the mama dog bring them in so early?” I asked.

“Her husband got a job in Kentucky and the family had to move without a lot of notice. The woman didn’t want to drag a litter of puppies across the country.”

I supposed that made sense. And five weeks wasn’t that young. I was sure they’d be fine. If we could find homes willing to supplement the puppy food with formula we could begin adopting them out before Christmas.

“Why don’t you call Matthew Baldwin?” I suggested. “I know his golden passed a month or so ago and he would be knowledgeable and responsible enough to take care of a five-week-old pup. And maybe Estella Greenwidth. Her dog Hilda passed away over the summer and when I spoke to her last she mentioned she was ready to open her home to a new pet. I’d like to get as many pups matched with humans before Christmas as we can. How many pups were dropped off?”

“Ten.”

“Wow, ten is a lot, but I bet if we put our heads together we can come up with enough people who would be able to care for the little guys and gals. Maybe we can ask a few of our more responsible foster families to take a couple each until the pups get a little older. They really should be in homes at this point in their development.”

“I’ll start working on it. Maybe Wayne Dayton will take a few. He’s usually willing to foster several at a time.”

“Good idea. I’m planning to stop by to visit with Kelly this afternoon. Wayne works a few doors down from the apartment building where she lives, so I’ll pop in and ask him.”

“How is Kelly doing?” Jeremy asked.

“Much better. She’s being released from the hospital today and I think her sister flew in to stay with her for a week or two,” I answered.

“Has she been able to remember anything?”

“Not a thing. She doesn’t even remember my being there. She told Salinger the last thing she remembers was Jason coming by to see if she wanted to go out for a drink. Of course the last thing he needed was another drink. My memory is fuzzy, but I do remember that he was totally drunk already when I arrived.”

“It’s so weird that neither of you can remember what happened.”

I shrugged. “Kelly took a pretty hard blow to the head. I talked to Dr. Westlake and he said her memory might begin to return at some point, but then again it might not. As for my own memory, I’m beginning to get flashes of images. The problem is that I can’t quite sort them out.”

“What kind of flashes?” Jeremy asked.

“For one thing, I think I did see another person come into the restaurant before I blacked out. I can’t see a face or even a clear image, but I keep having this flash of a tallish person; a man, I think.”

“Maybe he’s the killer.”

“I hope so, and I hope I can remember what happened. I really don’t want to spend the holidays in jail.”

“Anything I can do, you just need to ask,” Jeremy offered.

“Thanks. Knowing that you’re holding down the fort here is a huge help.”

Jeremy picked up a box of dog and cat toys that was sitting on the counter and began decorating the little tree he’d brought in for the Zoo’s lobby. In addition to the tree, he’d strung lights around the door and windows and hung garlands accented with red bows around the front counter. The addition of the Christmas music in the background gave the shelter a festive feel that made me glad to be there. Not that our house wasn’t decorated. Zak and the kids had been in decorating overdrive for days. But there was something about being at the Zoo that gave me a warm feeling whenever I was here.

“Have you talked to Ellie?” Jeremy asked as he hung a catnip mouse toward the top of the tree.

“Yeah. Every day. I feel this insatiable need to apologize over and over again. She’s been so sweet. She doesn’t even seem mad that her business was burned to the ground. She just keeps saying how glad she is that Kelly and I made it out in time.”

“Buildings can be rebuilt,” Jeremy reminded me.

I picked up some chew toys and began to add them to the tree. “That’s what she keeps saying. Zak has assured me that he’s going to cover any expenses Ellie’s insurance doesn’t, including loss of income, but I still feel so very, very bad.”

“And you still can’t remember how the fire started?”

I frowned. “No. It’s all really odd. I was arguing with Jason. He hit Kelly, so I attacked him, and he tried to hit me. I think I was able to avoid him. I don’t have any bruises that would be consistent with being hit with a fist, but he did hit me with something. I think a chair. The rest is really blurry. There’s this gap between my fighting with him and my waking up with the fire all around me.”

“Maybe Jason set the fire, or maybe the person who came in did.”

“If there was another person on the premises I just need to figure out who that person was.”

“I’m sure it will come back to you. In the meantime, if you need a sleuthing partner I’m in.”

I smiled at Jeremy. “Thanks. I might take you up on that. Zak wants me to stay out of it, Levi has been acting withdrawn and secretive lately, and Ellie is pretty distracted with dealing with the insurance company. Two heads are always better than one.”