Bowled Over (22 page)

The rest of the day was spent cleaning the cottage, making a few small repairs and assessing the need for a new sump pump. Kevin was quite handy with a tool kit and tinkered with it, but he was concerned that the flooding of their leaching bed was a bigger problem than just their erratic sump pump. The couple asked her about how the police investigation was going, and she went through the dramatic arrest of Johnny again, for Kevin’s sake, and told them what she had learned about Craig having an affair. They talked about it for a while, but there was a lot to do and not much time, so they parted a few hours later, Kevin and Becca to
take the ferry back to Canada, and Jaymie and Hoppy to go back to Queensville, Jaymie having gotten no further in her theories concerning the murder.

It had been a long day, and Jaymie was tired, so there were no more troublesome dreams that night. She awoke refreshed and determined to figure out what had really happened to Kathy Cooper, whether Johnny was the killer or not. It was easy to write off Valetta’s belief in him as mistaken loyalty, but maybe her friend was right and the cops were wrong.

After making and serving breakfast at Anna’s—Clive had, of course, gone back to Toronto the evening before—Jaymie sat down in the bed-and-breakfast kitchen with a cup of coffee and a muffin. Tabby, in the corner of the sunny kitchen, played tea party at her little table and chairs. She had her odd assortment of dolls at the table, including a stuffed tiger known as Mr. Stripes, and a hand-sewn clown, Pushy. She also had many of the children’s dishes Jaymie had found for her at various estate sales and thrift stores, bowls and plates and cups of all sizes.

“Tabby, why don’t you give Mr. Stripes the bowl?” Jaymie asked. “Kitties like to drink out of bowls.”

“Clowns like bowls, too,” she said, with a prim nod of her head, as she had Pushy lapping up pretend tea.

“Oh,
do
they, now?” Jaymie said.

“She’s got her own ideas, that’s for sure,” Anna said, smiling at her little girl’s intense demeanor. “Look, Jaymie, I didn’t want to say it the night before last in front of Valetta—she appears to have strong feelings about that Stanko fellow’s innocence—but he just seems like the kind who could snap and do something to Kathy Cooper.”

“I know; I think that, too. I can’t ignore the possibility
that he’s guilty. But what if she’s right? I can’t rule out Kathy’s hubby, his business partner or her own sister.”

“Especially since Craig was cheating on Kathy. That’s the oldest reason in the world. Especially if Kathy was a part owner of Laskan Cooper.”

Jaymie’s eyes widened. “I never thought of that! How awkward would that be for Craig, if his wife owned part of the business and he wanted to divorce her? Brilliant idea!”

“Thank you,” Anna said, standing and curtseying. “Now, shoo! I have cleaning to do.”

“Wait, one more thing…what did Craig’s girlfriend look like?”

Anna thought. “She was gorgeous: blonde, tall, stacked. The kind of woman who makes the rest of us feel inadequate. But she had nice eyes, too. They smiled, even though she was clearly embarrassed to be caught.” She nodded. “Now, go! I have work to do.”

Jaymie’s first stop was the Emporium. She had a box full of clean dishes and linens to make up the baskets for the next weekend’s rentals. Mr. Klausner, reading the paper, magnifying glass held out between him and the
Wolverhampton Howler
, nodded to her but went right back to his reading. Jaymie unpacked the box, restocking the shelves for the basket rentals, and then checked the rental book. Craig’s name leaped out at her again, along with the lack of a check mark in the
Return
column. As she made up that day’s rental baskets and phoned over to the Queensville Inn to confirm the food hamper to go with it, she pondered the conundrum of Craig’s basket. He certainly had not rented the picnic basket for him and Kathy that day, so who had he shared the dinner with, his mistress? Time for some hard questions. Craig would be her first order of business.

Valetta motioned for her to come back to her pharmacy window before she left, so Jaymie wove between the aisles back to her white-coated friend.

“How are you doing?” she asked Valetta, knowing how troubled she was by Johnny’s arrest.

“I’m good.” Valetta glanced around, pushed her glasses up onto her nose more securely, and said, “Look, I talked to my brother after church yesterday morning. It turns out that Brock knows the insurance agent for Kathy and Craig. They had policies on each other. That’s not so strange, I guess, but listen to this: Craig contacted the insurance company two days after her murder to find out about the policy’s payment schedule!”

“Wow, that’s pretty quick for a grieving widower,” Jaymie mused, leaning on the pharmacy-window shelf. “But we already know he’s not so grieving. Any idea who the mistress could be?” She gave Valetta the description Anna had given her that morning. Her friend knew everyone in her capacity as pharmacist and catalog clerk.

“I’ll think about it. No one comes to mind. I got something else this morning, too. The lawyer I retained for Johnny is partners with the guy who was representing Kathy in her attempt to get custody of Connor.”

“Really? Did you find anything out?”

“I did,” Valetta said, her eyes shining behind her thick lenses. “Listen to this: Kathy called the lawyer on the third and said circumstances might have changed, and if they had, she might not want to go ahead with the custody suit.”

“If we can establish that Kylie knew about that, then her main motive to kill Kathy just pretty much disappeared—poof!”

“I hope that’s true,” Valetta replied.

“It looked like they were all trying to get along, so maybe we can write Kylie off as a suspect.”

“I feel so bad for Kylie. I hope she can just move on with her life now. She really seems to be trying to get her act together.”

Jaymie leaned closer, and murmured, “Valetta, do you know anything about Matt Laskan? He’s not from around here, is he?”

“I don’t think so. He and Craig met in college. Matt is from Port Huron, if I remember right.”

Jaymie thought for a long moment. “I have a friend who works in fact-checking at the newspaper in Port Huron. I’ll bet she can track down his family.”

“Why?”

“Why not? I’m looking at anything right now. It’s hard to dig into someone’s life. I need to find the path of least resistance when it comes to information gathering. His family might know if he has any terrible secrets, right?”

“You have a point! Anyway, I need to get back to work. One of my customers just phoned in her prescription and it’s a doozy.”

Jaymie didn’t ask who the customer was, and Valetta wouldn’t have told her if she had. The privacy of her pharmacy clients was everything to her. “I need to get going, too.”

“Wait one more sec…I talked to Crawford Funerals to see if they knew when Kathy’s service is, and they said Friday, even if the body hasn’t been released to the family yet. Go with me?”

“I will. Becca will want to go, too. I’ll tell her.”

Jaymie went home. When she was in university in Canada, she made friends with fellow Michigander Wendi Carlyle; they had stayed in touch, and saw each other at least
once a year when they went camping with a bunch of girlfriends. Wendi’s position as a fact-checker at the Port Huron newspaper meant she would have contacts and capabilities Jaymie did not have. She called Wendi, giving as much detail as she could about Matt Laskan. Then Jaymie made a couple of other calls and headed out to discover what she could, determined to either confirm the police’s suspicion of Stanko or figure out if there was a murderer out there getting away with it. As much as she believed Detective Christian was competent, he didn’t know the people of Queensville the way she did. And one heard every day of wrongly convicted murderers spending their lives in prison before some random fact, forgetful witness or DNA sample set them free.

First stop, Laskan Cooper. This was not going to be easy or fun; there were no two ways about it. She parked Becca’s Lexus in front of the converted cottage—she was heading out to Dani’s farm after talking to Craig, so she drove—and took a deep breath. Now or never.

This time Matt Laskan was in, and he came to the reception room. “Hi, can I help you?” He recognized her a fraction of a second later and looked puzzled.

“I’m here to see Craig. It must be difficult for you guys, with no receptionist. Kathy used to work for you, didn’t she?”

“Only part-time, and mostly on data entry. Not in the office proper; she worked from home. We have a college kid working for us this summer, but she called in lazy this morning. You can go on back. I don’t think Craig is really working.”

He turned away, but Jaymie wanted to take advantage of talking to Matt in person. “You know, I used to be friends with Kathy. She could be…difficult at times, but I’m so sorry for everyone who knew her and cared for her.”

He turned back and watched her warily. “She was a good person. Not always easy to deal with, but still…” He shook his head.

“You and your girlfriend probably spent a lot of time with Craig and Kathy…how is she taking it, your girlfriend?”

He looked startled. “Uh, she barely knows Kathy. They didn’t have a lot in common.”

“Yeah, I heard she’s a councilor in Wolverhampton. Is she really running for senate in the next election?”

He swallowed. “It’s possible.”

Jaymie smiled, her heart pounding, as she said, “Now that your little problem is out of the way?”

“What do you mean, my ‘little problem?’” He sounded sincerely puzzled.

Craig came out that moment, locking his office door behind him, a sheaf of papers under his arm. He started when he saw Jaymie. “What do you want?”

“I…I came to ask about something.”

Both men stood stock-still, waiting.

She should have been more prepared.
Dummy!
“Um…well, Craig, I was at the Emporium this morning and I see that you’ve rented a picnic basket, but you haven’t returned it yet. I wasn’t aware that you and Kathy were using one of our baskets.”

“They weren’t,” Matt said. “He went in and rented it for me and Lily.”

“Oh. So you and your girlfriend were at the Fourth celebration? How interesting. I don’t remember seeing her. How long did she stay?”

“What is going on?” Craig said, moving toward Jaymie. “Why are you asking questions like that? You talked to my sister…What are you up to?”

“Nothing. I was just curious, you know, about the picnic basket. I was sitting right next to Kathy all afternoon, for crying out loud, so I knew
you
weren’t there with her. You came back here to work, right?”

“Yeah…no…”

Matt looked over at his partner. “Kathy said you were coming back here, but—”

“No, no, I wasn’t. She was wrong.”

“I knew she must have been,” Matt said. “Because I changed the alarm code and hadn’t told you what it was yet. You couldn’t have come
here
.”

“I went home to work for a while. She just misunderstood, when I said I had to work.” Craig’s face flushed a bright, unbecoming red. “I have to go. I’m sure you were leaving?” he said to Jaymie, and went to the door, holding it open for her.

“I’ll be right out, Craig,” she said. She turned back to his business partner. “Mr. Laskan, may I speak to you for one moment?”

The other man nodded, curiosity on his face.

Craig looked distinctly put out. “What is this all about?” he asked, his eyes narrowed, door still held open.

“Why does it matter to you?” Jaymie asked him, noting his squinted eyes and firmed lips.

“I just want to know. This is
my
business, Matt is
my
partner. I have a right to know what you want to ask him.”

“No, you don’t.” Anger flared in her gut, making her more daring. Craig’s pale skin looked gray in the fluorescent office lighting, and a nerve twitched in his temple. She glared at him, and said, “You saw fit to help Kathy when she was making me the target of her anger. In May you took photos of my backyard when I had the…that trouble.” She was referring to a fellow’s tragic murder on her summer
porch, and Craig taking pictures of her shed with crime tape wound around it. “You aided and abetted Kathy with all the harassment, the rumors,
years
of crap. And you know what? I have finally found out what it was all about, her hatred of me, and it was a lie.”

He said nothing, just stood there looking at her steadily.

Tears welled in her eyes. “She was mad at me for something I never even said. You owe me, Craig,” she said, poking her finger at him. He moved away, his brow furrowing. “You
owe
me,” she continued, “because now I can’t even make it up with Kathy. Did you even
once
tell her to work it out with me? Did you think I wouldn’t know about the stupid rumors, the mockery? Or did you
want
me to know?” It felt so good to finally face someone about the years of anger. Why hadn’t she had the nerve to be a loud girl and have it out in public with Kathy? Being afraid of seeming “not nice” had taken its toll.

He was stunned and let the door fall closed. Matt stared at her, too.

She was shaking, and she had to calm herself, letting the tears dry in her eyes, because she did not want to weep in front of them. “I’m really sorry, Craig. I’m sure this is a bad time for me to be talking like this, but I’m so angry that when I finally found out what this rift between us was all about, it was nothing. Absolutely nothing! Someone said that I said something awful, but I didn’t. And now I can’t tell her the truth.” Tears welled yet again, but she was not going to cry. “All those wasted years. And you didn’t help, ever! You egged her on.”

He didn’t lash out, like she expected. “I know,” he said, sadness lacing his voice. “I failed everyone, most of all, Kathy. Recently I’ve realized how I let myself be caught up in the anger of the past, all those years ago, and I used
Kathy’s fury against you—and against others—to help me vent. I…I wish I’d figured it out earlier. I was wasting my life.”

She stared at him. He was serious. A thought occurred to her. “I know about the other woman, Craig,” she said. “Is that what’s made you think twice?”