Traveling Town Mystery Boxset Page 19

  “Sure, if you count Old Smokey.” Wink slapped another piece of trout onto Ella’s plate.

  “Is that a person, place, or thing?”

  “A truck,” Will said. “And it’s gone.”

  “What? It is?” Wink asked. “What happened?”

  “Caught on fire a few months back, ironically.”

  “And I missed it? Where was I?” Wink snapped her fingers. “Must’ve been when Flo and I were in the slammer.” She looked back at Ella. “I guess we don’t have a fire department then. Just some volunteers and their garden hoses.”

  “Good to know. I’ll carry an extinguisher around with me.” Ella eyed her plate, feeling her pants grow tighter each minute. Just when she was starting to glimpse the bottom, Wink would pile more on. “Where’s Chester, by the way?”

  The older woman motioned towards the back porch. “Out making eyes with another squirrel. He’s got a girlfriend.”

  Ella was tempted to ask more questions but let the matter drop, fearing Wink would give details about Chester’s love life that would make Ella want to set her ears on fire. And since there wasn’t a fire department to put out the blaze, Chester’s date was best left to the imagination.

  After they’d finished eating, they began clearing the table. Wink set their dirty plates in the sink and attacked them with suds from handmade soap, talking over her shoulder as she did.

  “I forgot to ask you, Ella, but what did you find out about the jewelweed?”

  Ella’s mouth went dry. Should she tell them about the leaves missing from the conservatory? They were both close with the Murrays and would probably be offended that she suspected anything untoward about them or that she’d told the sheriff about the plant.

  “What about jewelweed?” Will asked.

  “Oh, Ella had this theory that maybe that’s what killed Kay.”

  “Really?” He rummaged through a cupboard in search of a lid, his back to Ella, but there was no mistaking the frown in his voice. “But it’s only poisonous if you ingest it. And Pauline would’ve found bits of the leaf in her stomach.”

  “How do you know Pauline didn’t find that in Kay’s stomach?” Grandma Wink asked, sloshing soapy water all over the counter.

  Ella and Will exchanged a glance, and she answered for him.

  “Because we asked.”

  “And she was just nice enough to tell you out of the goodness of her heart?”

  “Yep.”

  Wink lowered her eyebrows. “Hm, doesn’t sound like Pauline.”

  “What can I say? I think she’s got a thing for Will.”

  “Hey—”

  “She is sweet on him,” Wink conceded.

  Will set the dish containing the one leftover fish fillet in the fridge and grumbled about not liking where the conversation was going. “If you want me, I’ll be in the other room, reading.”

  “Oh no you don’t.” Wink grabbed him by the ear and redirected him back to the counter, leaving a trail of suds in her wake. “You enjoyed that food, didn’t you? Want more of it in the future? You ate, same as we did. You’ll clean the same as we do. Just cause your plumbing’s a bit different—” she glanced at his nether regions “—don’t excuse you.”

  Ella applauded then handed him the plate of biscuits.

  After the kitchen looked less like a tornado had come through, they settled into the family room. Ella had been right about the couch. It swallowed her like a cloud, and her eyes began to droop.

  They popped back open when the couch dipped as Will settled in beside her, pulling an old album from under the coffee table.

  “Have you seen this?”

  “No, what is it?”

  The spine made a cracking noise as he opened it up. “Clippings of the town newspaper over the years.”

  Ella stared at the yellowed paper behind the clear sheet protector. “Keystone has a newspaper?”

  “Well, newspaper is being generous, but yeah. It’s only a couple pages and comes out on Sundays.”

  Leaning over, she brushed her finger over the words Keystone Corner. The article was dated from 1920 and was about the local store burning down. She wanted to point out that the blaze probably could’ve been avoided if there had been a fire department but didn’t think it helpful to point out after the fact.

  “Wow.” Her eyes scanned the article then drifted up to Wink. “Why do you collect these?”

  “I only collect the ones of big events. I’m the town historian. I catalog all of the major goings-on over the years.”

  “There are big events in Keystone?” Ella held up her hands. “Only kidding. But seriously, this is pretty cool.”

  Wink’s eyes lit up. “Kids today are still saying, ‘cool’?”

  “First of all, thank you for thinking I’m remotely in the vicinity of being young enough to be called ‘kid,’ and secondly, always.”

  Ella turned back to the clippings, to the snippets of history, and marveled at the woman across from her, with her blue hair, eclectic fashion, and questionable taste in pets.

  Will flipped through the thick pages, searching for a section. “Here. This is after the first flash.”

  He shifted the album in his lap so Ella could see better, but she still had to lean in to read the tiny print. The clipping was dated August 23, 1951, and the headline read, “Where are We?”

  “That was two days after the jump. I’ll never forget it,” Wink said. “I was getting ready to hang glide, staring over the valley, when a blinding light shot out of the earth and engulfed the town like a bubble. I couldn’t see for several minutes after that. And when the afterimage was gone, it was night, and there was a bright city on the horizon.”

  “Chicago,” Will mumbled.

  Ella remembered what he’d said, about his home and time being the first jump. “And that’s when you found Keystone?”

  He nodded, his fingers pressing against the article as if trying to erase a memory. Ella could feel the town’s horror dripping from the page. She was about to immerse herself in the clipping when he abruptly flipped the page.

  He leafed through the rest, giving her just enough time to glimpse headlines. At one point, he paused again, his fingers caressing the photo of a profile piece on the latest people to be stranded in Keystone—or “arrivals” as the writer more appropriately termed them. Ella guessed “poor saps” wouldn’t do much to boost morale.

  At the time of the clipping, the town had jumped to 1990’s Michigan. Ella had been starting grade school during that time, but she hadn’t escaped the crimped hair bundled in a scrunchy phase unscathed. Her class photos were a series of awkward perms, bangs reaching towards the heavens, and stirrup pants.

  But the twenty-something woman in the clipping had escaped the fad. She also looked familiar. She wore a sly smile, but there was some haunting secret in her eyes.

  “Kayline,” Will said.

  Ella’s mouth fell open, and she turned the album for a better look. In the picture, Kay stood with three other people. The caption underneath read, “Two families out camping get stranded in Keystone.” Behind Kay stood a squat man with more hair and a slimmer waist than his present-day self, but there was no mistaking Mayor Bradford.

  He scowled at the camera. One hand rested on Kay’s shoulder, the fingers forming divots in her ivory skin.

  Ella finally understood the wild look in Kay’s eyes as fear. Kay had been afraid of her father.

  CHAPTER 19

  WILL GAVE ELLA a ride back to the inn. The front desk was usually empty, so she was surprised to see someone standing behind it. She was even more surprised that it wasn’t Jimmy or Rose.

  “Edwin?”

  The other boarder who’d been stooped over the counter stood abruptly. “Hello. Welcome to the Keystone Inn. Would you like a room?”

  “I live here now, Edwin. We met over breakfast a couple of days ago.”

  “Oh, right. Gemma.”

  “Ella.”

  Edward rubbed a hand over his t
extured skin, his expression flickering with memory. “Right, right.”

  “How come you’re up front here? Where’s Jimmy or Rose?”

  “Jail.”

  “What?!”

  “Well, not jail, per se. But the sheriff came by and hauled them in for questioning. Jimmy asked me to man the desk for him.” Edwin pushed thick glasses up his nose, the kind her grandfather used to wear, before puffing out his chest. “And that’s what I intend to do. Man my post until he returns.”

  Ella’s stomach felt like she’d swallowed a circus and any moment she’d see the dinner she’d just eaten. “Both of them? He took both of them in?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Ella gripped the cherrywood desk. He was just questioning them, she told herself. Nothing to worry about. The sheriff was just doing his job, and she’d anticipated this outcome might be a possibility. It didn’t mean they were arrested or even guilty.

  She kept reassuring herself silently all the way upstairs. Still, it didn’t help her sleep any better.

  The next morning, Ella rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she stumbled into the kitchen. The blue light of dusk stretched through the windows and across the floor. She fumbled for the light switch then choked back a gasp. A disheveled figure sat at the table, their head in their hands.

  “Hello?” She snatched the nearest object—a banana—and crept forward.

  Four feet from the intruder, she recognized Jimmy’s thinning brown hair. His eyes were open, staring at the surface of the table in abject dejection.

  “Jimmy, you scared the poop out of me. I was about to seriously hurt you.” She tossed the banana on the table then laid her hand on his shoulder. “Jimmy?”

  Startling, he blinked blood-shot eyes at her from above thick stubble.

  “You okay?”

  He started to nod then shook his head. “He kept her.”

  An icy feeling crept up Ella’s spine. “Rose? Sheriff Chapman kept her?”

  “He thinks she killed Kay. Says she has motive because Kay and I were having an affair.” The mask fell away, and his expression stormed with rage. “An affair, can you believe it? The utter thought is ridiculous. Why would I? Rose is my life.”

  Guilt stabbed Ella’s heart, a knife twisting deep.

  “Where on earth would the sheriff get an idea like that?” Jimmy whispered. His eyes glistened when he looked at her.

  Ella sank onto the chair beside him. “Yeah, why would he think that? That’s insane.” She stared at the banana. “But, uh, you two were seen secretly meeting in the woods together.”

  The innkeeper turned his palms up towards the ceiling. “That doesn’t mean we were having an affair. For crying out loud, you can’t do anything in this town without the gossip mill spreading lies.” He scraped his slender fingers down the stubble on his cheek. “I was helping her out, that’s all.”

  “Kay? Helping her out with what?”

  His chest deflated in a deep sigh, taking some of his anger with it, and he stared out the window. The first kiss of morning stretched golden light across the lake.

  “Her father? Were you helping her deal with her father?” Ella guessed.

  He dipped his chin in a small nod. His eyes became vacant windows, and she knew she wouldn’t get anything more out of him.

  “I’m really sorry, Jimmy. Sheriff Chapman will get to the truth, you’ll see. Rose will be free.”

  He remained as still as a statue. She sat with him for a while longer before attempting to make them a breakfast of scrambled eggs sans shells and burnt toast. Unsure of how else to help, she plied him with the charcoaled toast and managed to coax a bite from him before she slipped out of the kitchen, coffee cup in hand, to get ready for her first day of work at the diner.

  She felt fortunate to live next door to her new job. Getting to sleep in was a luxury she was growing fond of.

  At the top of the stairs, the wood plank flooring creaked underfoot, filling the quiet inn with groans as her thoughts turned to Jimmy again. A new wave of guilt mixed with nausea from her barely edible breakfast churned her stomach.

  This was all her fault.

  However, a small part of her wondered if the sheriff knew more than she did. Maybe he’d uncovered more information. He wouldn’t keep Rose unless he’d had good reason to, would he?

  She had to make this right. Rose was locked up because of her. Maybe she didn’t know who killed Kay, but between Jesse and Rose, her money was on Six being the murderer.

  She paused outside her door. A horrible idea was forming in her mind. The sheriff had warned her to stop investigating, but that was before Rose was locked up because of her. And she wouldn’t be investigating, per se.

  Ella changed direction to another door, a replica of her own just across the way. Her knuckles tapped a light rhythm on the wood. The boards creaked especially loud in this spot.

  Ella prepared to rap her knuckles again when the door tore open. A death ray apparatus burst through the opening followed by wild waves of hair.

  She jumped back, holding her hands up, and wishing she had a banana on hand to defend herself with.

  Crazy Flo let out a string of curses that would make a pirate blush. “It’s just you.”

  “Who the hell did you think I was?” Ella clutched her chest. Between Flo and Jimmy, it’d be a miracle if she lived to see her first shift at the diner.

  “A ghost.”

  “A ghost? Do you normally get ghosts knocking on your door?” Flo didn’t respond. Ella motioned to the weapon still pointed at her. “You mind?”

  Flo lowered it, and Ella eyed the triangular-shaped barrel and duct tape. “Does that thing shoot a projectile of any kind?”

  “No, ‘course not. That’d go right through an apparition.”

  “Of course.” Ella put her fingers to her neck, taking her pulse while surveying Flo’s appearance. “Sorry, did I wake you?”

  “No.”

  “So, that’s the normal state of your hair?”

  “Looks better than that nest you got there.” Flo started to close the door, but Ella barricaded her foot in the closing gap.

  “Wait, I’ve got a quick question.”

  “Well, out with it. Don’t dawdle.”

  “Do you know where Six lives?”

  “‘Course I do.”

  Ella took a slow, patient breath. “Okay… can you tell me where?”

  “Why you wanna know? That man’s trouble. Best to steer clear.” She started to close the gap in the door again, and with it, Ella’s chance to prove Rose innocent.

  “Wait! I appreciate the concern. Really, it’s touching coming from—” She stopped when Flo’s nostrils flared. “Anyway, Six’s in jail. How much trouble could he pose? I just want to know where he lives, that’s all.”

  Flo’s beady eyes took Ella in from head to toe, then she shrugged. “Whatever. He lives on the rock flats. There’s a small cabin there.”

  “Thank you. And the rock flats would be…?”

  Flo let out an exasperated sigh, and part of her hurricane of hair flopped forward. “Head like you’re goin’ to the greenhouses, but instead of turnin’ right to Twin Hills, turn left. There’s a large orchard on one side of the road and Twin Springs on the other. That’s where our drinkin’ water comes from, by the way. They didn’t want to drill a deeper pipe, but I told the council we needed to if we wanted enough to supply the town’s needs. It was just a trickle before I—”

  “Thanks, Flo. And the cabin’s past the spring?”

  “What? Oh, yeah. Just up the road. Can’t miss it. If you’re planning on going there though, I’d wait ’til dark.”

  “Why?”

  “Because this town has eyes everywhere. If any nosey body sees you goin’ to his place, they’ll think you’re in cahoots with that scoundrel. Or worse, it might get back to Six that you were on his property. My advice? Stay away.”

  She slammed the door before Ella could say anything more. It cracked open a second lat
er. “But if you’re hellbent on trespassing, do it right and take Wink and I with you.” She slammed the door again.

  Ella shook her head as she quickly got ready for work. Everyone in Keystone was full of advice, only half of it with a kernel of wisdom she intended to heed. And the other half, well, if she lived her life in constant fear, she’d never get out and do anything.

  She decided that after work, she’d check out Six’s place. She didn’t know what she thought she would find, but she hoped there’d be something there to take the heat off Rose and put it back on the outlaw.

  After changing into jeans and a black t-shirt, she strolled through the entrance hall with five minutes to spare. Rushing to the front door, Ella’s foot caught on something soft. A howl broke the morning peace as she fell.

  Fortunately, her left elbow broke the brunt of her fall. White, hot pain shot up her arm. Massaging it, Ella rolled over to glare at whatever she’d tripped on. Fluffy stood several feet away with his back arched and his eyes the size of Twin Hills.

  All of the anger in her dissipated as she cooed apologies and crawled forward. He stared at her, betrayed, before finally acquiescing and slinking towards her. After another couple of minutes of coaxing, she was able to pet out her apology. Sighing, she climbed to her feet, now certain she’d be late.

  As she bolted out the front door, Fluffy slipped past her then followed her the half-block to the diner.

  The bell above the front door tinkled merrily as Ella walked in. Before she could stop him, Fluffy hurdled over her feet in a blur of brown fluff.

  Ella gave chase as best she could without drawing attention. He skittered around the checkered linoleum floor and ducked under the cover of an empty booth.

  As she inched towards the booth, Fluffy hissed. A lone customer sat at the lunch counter, sipping coffee. He turned at the noise.

  Ella flitted her hand in what she hoped was a casual greeting. “Good morning, Mayor.”

  “Miss Barton.”

  He turned back around to Wink who stood on the other side of the counter, cleaning the soda fountain. To make matters worse, Fluffy’s nemesis Chester gnawed on a piece of donut a few feet away, unaware of the cat.