Bowled Over (21 page)

“I don’t get it, either.” Jaymie stretched out in the Adirondack chair and looked up at the sky, now shading to a lovely
cobalt. Both were quiet for a long minute, soaking in the peace of a Queensville evening, robins singing their evening song, a dog woofing in the distance. But Jaymie couldn’t stop thinking about what Kathy’s death meant to her: no more chances to make up their quarrel. One day it seemed as if you had all the time in the world to settle problems, and the next, all that time had evaporated into nothing. “Who would say something so awful, period? I mean, that’s really hurtful, no matter what way you look at that. It would take someone really mean to say it.”

She thought of Johnny Stanko at that moment and how he’d said he wanted to apologize to Craig for all the mean things he did and said back in high school. But as far as she knew, he wasn’t even aware Kathy existed back then. As far as she
knew. Hmmm.
“Johnny knew Craig, but I don’t think he knew Kathy back in school, did he?”

“Well, I wasn’t there,” Valetta replied. “But I don’t think so. He was older than you girls, remember.”

“Craig was only a year ahead of Kathy and me, though,” Jaymie reminded her friend. “And he sure knew Craig.”

“They had classes together. Johnny was older, but had been left back so many times, he and Craig were in the same grade.”

Jaymie glanced over at the bed-and-breakfast; Anna was out on her deck with Tabby, and she waved to them.

“Jaymie, I have something to tell you!” Anna called. “Something I forgot! Wait a minute; I’ll come over.” She descended the deck stairs and went down the backyard and through Jaymie’s gate, letting Tabby down the minute the gate was safely closed behind them. The little girl immediately found Hoppy and the two began a rousing game of tag.

Jaymie got Anna a chair and a cup of chamomile tea to settle her icky stomach. “What’s up?” she asked.

Anna turned a little pink and looked down at her mug. “I can’t believe I forgot to tell you this; it’s really important, but lately I just can’t seem to remember anything!”

“Mommy brain,” Valetta said with a sympathetic smile.

“I guess,” Anna said.

“So what did you forget to tell me?” Jaymie asked, thinking it was probably a request for more help, maybe with the cleaning and laundry now, in addition to the cooking. Anna was in over her head with the bed-and-breakfast, and it was only a matter of time before she figured it out and admitted it.

“You remember when I told you I went to Craig’s office and caught him and his wife kissing?”

Jaymie smiled sadly. “Yeah. I feel so bad for Craig. If he and Kathy truly had a good relationship, he must be just lost right now. In fact, his sister said he’s always gone, out walking alone.” Dipsy, next door, started yapping in response to Tabby and Hoppy’s game. She jumped at the fence until Mimi came out and got her. Mimi waved at Jaymie, who waved back.

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure he’s walking
or
alone,” Anna said, and she frowned darkly. “When you pointed out Kathy to me on July Fourth, I realized that the woman I caught him kissing in his office was
not
his wife!”

“What?” Jaymie and Valetta chorused together.

“What do you mean, not his wife?” Jaymie said, sitting up in her chair.

Anna glanced over at Tabby, who was now lying in the grass with Hoppy. Denver was ready to pounce, his hind end wiggling in anticipation, but Tabby leaped up and ran in circles and Denver dashed off to glare at the world from under the holly bushes.

“What do you mean? Tell me!” Jaymie whispered, leaning
toward her friend. Valetta had moved to the edge of her seat, too.

“It wasn’t Kathy Cooper I saw that morning at the Laskan Cooper office kissing Craig.”

“Well? Who was it?”

“I don’t know.”

Jaymie sat back in her seat and glanced at Valetta. “Did you know anything about Craig cheating on Kathy?” she asked her friend, the town’s gossip center.

“I didn’t.”

“And I’d swear his own sister didn’t, either,” Jaymie commented.

“Chloe Cooper? I go to her to get my hair done,” Anna said.

“This changes a lot,” Jaymie said. “And it possibly explains why Craig canceled the move to Toledo.” But was it a motive for murder? Was he getting ready to kill Kathy, or just to tell her their marriage was over? There were a lot of new questions that needed mulling now.

“Anna, I’m trying to think of who all had access to the Depression glass bowl,” Jaymie said. “Did you see anyone with it?”

She glanced over at Valetta, and then said, “You mean other than that big guy? The guy wearing the cutoffs?”

Johnny Stanko. “Did you see him with the bowl?”

“Well, yes.” Anna hesitated. “I heard he was just arrested.”

Valetta remained tight-lipped and silent.

“Did you see him bring the bowl back at any point?”

“No. No one brought the bowl back, I’m almost sure of it. I was sitting there the whole time while Becca and Dee were cleaning up.”

Tears formed in Valetta’s eyes. “Johnny didn’t do it. I’ll swear on a stack of bibles.”

Jaymie was silent. Valetta might not want to admit it, but there was no proof he
didn’t
do it, and lots of reason to think he might have. He had lied about at least one thing: Jaymie was reasonably sure he’d never brought the bowl back, or someone would have seen him do it. You couldn’t miss him in a crowd, with his big bozo feet and large, muscular frame.

“I’d better get Tabby to bed,” Anna said, noticing her little girl dozing in the grass with Hoppy curled up against her.

After they were gone, Valetta said that she had better go home, too. She had some early calls to make the next day and wanted to meet with Johnny’s lawyer.

Jaymie called Becca and brought her up to date with everything that had happened, including the real reason Kathy hated her, and Johnny Stanko’s arrest.

“I know Valetta doesn’t believe it, but Stanko is a definite possibility. He does have anger issues,” Becca said, agreeing with Jaymie on that.

“And he’s the last person anyone saw with the bowl. I don’t believe at all that he brought it back to the table, as he says he did.”

“I’d remember if he did,” Becca said. She reaffirmed that she and Kevin would meet Jaymie at Rose Tree Cottage the next morning, since they had some work to do on it between renters, but said she might be going back to London for a couple more days. Kevin had a friend of his coming in from England, and he wanted them to have dinner so he could introduce him to Becca.

“That’s okay,” Jaymie said. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” She filled the sink and put in the mugs and their dinner dishes.

The phone rang. It was Daniel, and he sounded tired.

“What’s up?” Jaymie asked. She hadn’t seen him much
at all lately, and when she had talked to him in the last couple of days, he was preoccupied.

“Trouble at the office. I have to fly back to Phoenix. I’ve been on conference calls for most of the day, but they need me there.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“At least a week.”

“Okay,” she said, setting the washed dishes in the drainer and grabbing a tea towel. He was silent on the other end. “Daniel? You there?”

“Sure. I’ll miss you, Jaymie. Will you miss me?”

“Of course I will.”

“Promise me you won’t go trying to investigate or anything? Or at least wait until I get back?”

She was startled. “Uh, I can’t promise that.”

“Please, Jaymie. I’ll worry about you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Johnny Stanko was arrested, you know.”

“Really? For murder?”

“I’m assuming.”

“Good,” he said. “The police must have a good reason for taking him into custody.”

“E-mail or call me from Phoenix,” she said, and they said good-bye.

As she got ready for bed, she wondered again why Daniel had bought Stowe House, so far from his corporate offices in Phoenix, and from his family in the same city. She’d have to ask him, because it really made no sense.

She read for a while, trying to concentrate on her historical romance novel, but questions kept popping into her brain: How far along had Kathy’s plans to get custody of Connor been? If Craig really was having an affair, as seemed
certain, how did he feel about the Connor situation? She slipped out of bed, got her pad of paper and started writing down her questions.

Bob had said that Ella’s family believed she was delusional; was that true? Did she feel threatened by Kathy’s behavior, enough to take matters into her own hands? How strong or weak was she
really
? And how mobile? She paused and thought: Was it possible that Ella Douglas was faking some of her disability? Making herself seem weaker than she was? She wouldn’t be the first person to fake an illness to get sympathy.

Matt Laskan: What was his secret, the one Kathy had been holding over his head? Was it bad enough to require a murder to conceal it?

Kylie and Kathy appeared to be on the verge of making up. How was that possible when Kathy had been so adamant about getting custody of Connor? Was that tied in with Craig’s secret affair at all? Had Kathy become aware of it, perhaps?

Jaymie set the notebook aside and read for a while, finishing with a torrid love scene between the waif and the duke, a handsome and desirable Adonis. Finally Jaymie turned the light off and drifted to sleep, slipping, eventually, into a lovely dream of a summer day in the woods. A man was with her. He followed her. They played hide-and-go-seek; she turned a corner, and he caught her to him in a strong embrace. He whispered that he wanted her, that he adored her, that there was no one in the world like her.

She knew he was going to kiss her, and she even thought they might do something else. Shivering with physical desire, she put her head back, and he kissed her throat, pulling her to him hard.
“Zachary,”
she whispered.

“
It’s not Zachary. It’s Craig,”
he murmured.

She was jarred awake. Craig? Why was
he
in her dream? That was an even bigger question than why she thought her dream lover was Detective Zachary Christian and not Daniel. She turned on the light and seized her notebook and scribbled quickly: Why did Matt Laskan say that Craig
can’t have gone to the office
that day in the park? If Craig was not working and lied about it, where was he? With his mistress, or plotting to kill his wife?

Thirteen

I
T WAS
S
UNDAY
. Since Clive was at the bed-and-breakfast and could manage the eggs for the guests, Jaymie was able to get going early, so she took Hoppy and went out to Heartbreak Island by the first ferry, at 8:00 a.m. Rose Tree Cottage was vacant until the next morning, and this was her golden opportunity to make sure it was clean and the gardening was done. Kevin and Becca would meet her there at lunch.

As she approached, she was struck, as always, by how pretty the cottage was; set in a grove of pines, wood cladding silvered with time, wine-red roses climbing vigorously up trellises against the walls, it was peaceful. Slanting early morning sun peeped through the trees to play across the terra cotta colored roof tiles. As Hoppy bounced around, Jaymie got right down to work, mowing the small patch of grass with the push mower and then sweeping the grass cuttings off the stone path. The back lawn could wait another
week. She put the mower away in the shed and sat down on the front step of the long, covered porch for a breather.

Heartbreak Island was rustic, and the roads were not paved. Every cottage on her road was surrounded by groves of pine trees that swayed and whispered in the breeze that swept up the river. Jaymie thought back to many years before, when she was thirteen. That summer, Kathy had stayed with Jaymie’s family for a week in Rose Tree Cottage. They’d had a great time fishing, water-skiing, sailing in a friend’s skiff and just generally goofing off. They’d spend all day together, only coming back at night for dinner and a campfire. Something Kathy said then came back to Jaymie. Why, she asked, didn’t the family live in the cottage? If it belonged to her, she’d never want to leave.

Tears welled in Jaymie’s eyes. If only some jerk hadn’t decided to ruin their friendship, maybe there would have been many more weekends and holidays together at the cottage. But the anonymous jerk was not the only one responsible, and she had to remember that. She and Kathy had both played their part. With her thoughts taking such a melancholy turn, she was glad to see Kevin and Becca approach, hand in hand.