Framed For Murder (An Anna Nolan Mystery) (10 page)

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“Very interesting. Ladies, thank you for your help. I’ll take the clothing with me and have it checked by forensics, although I doubt we’ll find anything since Ms. Bright laundered the clothes. By the way, would you mind dropping by the station tomorrow, Ms. Bright, to provide us with your fingerprints? It would help the investigation.”

“I’d be happy to do that for you, Sergeant,” she said, practically crawling into his lap.

“Thank you,” he said, scrambling to his feet and tucking the notebook into his jacket.
Amy got up, too, and leaned in toward him.

“Ms. Nolan, are you leaving now?”

I glanced at my watch. It was going on 9 PM. “Yes, Sergeant, it’s getting late.”

“Let me give you and Wendy a lift home.”

“That’s not necessary. It’s only a five-block walk.”

“But it’s getting dark, Ms. Nolan.
I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting you walk home alone in the dark.”

“It’s very kind of you to be concerned, Sergeant, but Wendy and I could use the walk.”

“Let me walk you home then, Ms. Nolan. I’d be glad of the exercise, too.”

“Poor guy,” I thought, “maybe he’s afraid that he won’t be able to get away from Amy if I leave him alone with her.”
I accepted his offer and rose to my feet. Tremaine turned back to Amy and extended his hand to her.

“Thank you again for the information, Ms. Bright.
I’ll look forward to seeing you at the station tomorrow. Shall we say at 9 AM?”

“I will if you promise to call me Amy,” she said, holding onto his hand.

“Amy it is, then,” he said with a smile. “See you tomorrow.”

“Night-night, Sergeant,” she said, beaming.
Obviously, she was over her fear of Tremaine. I could feel the heat she was generating from where I was standing. How on earth was she doing that? I shrugged. It was none of my business what went on between the two of them.

“Coming?” Tremaine asked, glancing at me.
I nodded, and Wendy and I followed him across the lawn to the gate. I turned to wave goodbye to Amy, and she smiled and gave me a “thumbs-up” gesture. I nodded before following Tremaine down the driveway and out onto the sidewalk.

The evening air had cooled and I wanted to zip up my jacket.
“Would you mind taking Wendy for a moment, Sergeant?” I asked. He nodded and I handed him the leash. When I straightened up from fastening my jacket, he began walking away before I could take it back. Wendy trotted contentedly beside him while I hurried to keep pace with his long legs.

“How long have you known Ms. Bright, Anna?” he asked.

“Amy was living here when I moved into town. We speak to each other on occasion.”

“And why did you visit her tonight?”

“To be frank, Sergeant, there was talk around town that she had been seeing Jack. I wanted to find out if it was true, and how well Amy knew him.” I thought that my honesty would disarm him, but he didn’t even blink.

“Why?”

“If I’m going to walk with you, Sergeant, you’re going to have to slow down,” I said, starting to puff a little.

“Sorry,” he said, shortening his pace, “I do that to people.
So, why did you want to find out how well Ms. Bright knew your husband?”

I decided to try for a more even footing with Tremaine by appealing to his human side.
“Come on, Sergeant. If it had been your ex-wife who was murdered and you were the prime suspect, wouldn’t you want to find out everything you could?”

He stopped and turned to face me.
“Anna, let me remind you that this is an official police investigation. Prying into the case could land you in serious trouble. Please, stay out of it. Have a little faith in my abilities. I’ll find out who did it. The Mounties always get their man – or woman – haven’t you heard that?”

“That sounds promising.
Do you have any other suspects?” I asked, staring into his eyes. He blinked first. I shook my head and took Wendy’s leash, setting off again.

“I’m following various lines of inquiry.”

“Amy Bright being one of them? You don’t seriously think Amy did it, do you?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

I ignored his reticence. “I had my first real conversation with her today, and I don’t believe that Amy is a murderer. She’s too nice, for one thing, and besides, I don’t think she has the brains to do it. If Amy had killed Jack, the police would have found her standing over his body with a smoking gun.”

“Instead of finding you,” he replied with a blank face.

“Ah, but with no murder weapon, and I had an alibi, or most of one,” I countered.

Tremaine said, “It doesn’t take much of a brain to shoot a man and dump his body beside the road, Anna.
It could have been sheer coincidence that you and your dog found Mr. Nolan.”

“What’s Amy’s motive?” I asked.
He didn’t answer, and I glanced sideways at him. Tremaine’s expression was contemplative as he strode along beside me, his shoulders hunched and his hands in his pockets.

“Are you cold, Sergeant?” I asked.

He shrugged. “The temperature changes quickly here in the Foothills.”

“With the amount of heat Amy was generating, I’d have thought that you would have stayed warm for a long time to come.”

He grinned at me. It transformed his face, making him look younger and a whole lot more approachable.

“You noticed that, did you?”

“Are you kidding? How old are you, by the way?” The words were out of my mouth before I could think better of them. Holy smokes, would he think that I was flirting with him?

“Old enough to know better,” he said.
I snorted, relaxing a little. “Thirty-one. And you’re forty.”

I nodded.
“Forty with a grown son.”

“Ben,” he said, his face turning serious again.
He looked away, and suddenly I felt afraid.

“Ben has an alibi,” I said.

“A partial alibi. He and his girlfriend met at the theatre at 7:15. He doesn’t have an alibi from 6:00 to 7:00. Remember, the coroner set the time of death between 6:00 and 9:00.”

I swallowed because my mouth had suddenly gone bone dry.
“Ben didn’t tell me that he only has a partial alibi. Where does he say he was between 6:00 and 7:00?”

“Running errands.
He said he stopped at the chemist’s for some toothpaste and dropped off a book at the library. Tossed the book down the return chute and threw out the chemist’s receipt, so he doesn’t have any proof. He said he’ll try to find the clerk who waited on him at the store – when he has the time.”

My breath came quicker.
“Maybe if I talked to him, he’d be a little more cooperative, Sergeant.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary, Anna.
After he made that comment, I impressed upon him the importance of coming up with a complete alibi.”

“I’m sure he will, Sergeant.
I’m sorry if the two of you got off on the wrong foot.” It was obvious that Tremaine’s questions had alienated Ben, and that my son wasn’t going out of his way to be helpful. That kind of attitude would hurt Ben in the end.

“I hope so,” Tremaine said. “He certainly didn’t hide the fact that he didn’t like his father very much.”

We had reached the end of my driveway.
I turned to face him, forcing Wendy to sit at my feet.

“He didn’t do it, Tremaine,” I said.
He didn’t respond, and his eyes were guarded. I took hold of the end of his sleeve and gave it a little shake. “He didn’t do it, Tremaine,” I repeated. “I’ll prove it.”

I saw a flicker of concern in his eyes.
“No, Anna,” he said. “No playing amateur detective. I don’t want the murderer to see you as any kind of a threat. Remember your son and stay out of this – please.” His hand twitched, and he shoved it into his pocket.

My mouth stretched into a tight little smile.
“You said that I’m your prime suspect, remember? What murderer are you talking about, Tremaine?”

He frowned.
“I can’t discount anyone at this stage, Anna, including you and your son. That doesn’t mean that I’m not concerned about your safety.”

“Of course, Sergeant.
You’re just doing your job. No problem. You don’t have to worry about us. But, it’s chilly and I’m going inside now. See you around, Tremaine.”

I pulled Wendy to her feet, and we went inside the house and shut the door.
I snapped the leash off her collar and thought about Ben as I headed into my bedroom. Why hadn’t he told me about the big hole in his alibi? I looked out the window and saw Tremaine still standing in the driveway. Our eyes met, and he turned and walked away.

I had changed out of my clothes when there was a knock at the door.
I threw a robe over my pyjamas and hurried to answer it.

“Steve, what are you doing here?” I asked, surprised to see him.
He was in uniform, and I looked past him to see his cruiser in the driveway. “What’s wrong?”

“I heard that Tremaine got called out to meet with you and Amy Bright tonight.
I came over to see if everything went okay. Are you alright, Anna?” I looked into his worried eyes and saw something that I hadn’t seen in years.

“Uh yes, I’m fine, Steve.
Thanks. Why don’t we sit out on the porch?” I didn’t want him inside my house. I liked Steve, but he was still a kid and I didn’t have time for any of his delusions.

“Sure, if it’s not too cold for you,” he said, taking a seat on the bench.
I leaned against the wall and folded my arms over my chest.

“Nope.
I’m surprised that you didn’t pass Tremaine on the way over, by the way. He left here on foot about five minutes ago.”

“I came in from out of town,” he replied.
My porch light wasn’t on and his face was in shadow. “So, what’s going on with Amy Bright?”

“I just found out tonight that she was with Jack on the afternoon he was killed.”

“Huh,” was his only comment.

“Yes, but I don’t think she had anything to do with his death.
Do you know her, Steve?”

“I know who she is, but I’ve never spoken to her.
She has that hairdresser business – right?”

“Yeah.
She seems like a nice person.”

“What did Tremaine have to say?”

“I think he’s a little more sceptical than I am.” I thought about our conversation concerning Ben’s partial alibi. “He’s a little more sceptical than everybody, in fact.”

“He should be.
He has to be.”

“Uh huh,” I said, taking a seat beside him.
I crossed my arms again and my shoulder nudged up against his. It was a small bench. We sat together quietly in the dark, staring out across the lawn. The open front door let out a pool of warm light, and I could hear Wendy snuffling at the screen.

“I shouldn’t be here,” Steve said.
“I shouldn’t be talking to you about the investigation.”

“I didn’t think so,” I said.
“It’s kind of you to worry about me, Steve, but I don’t want you to get into trouble with Tremaine. I don’t want any of my friends to get into trouble over this investigation, and especially not with Tremaine.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he’s sharp, isn’t he? And intimidating. I don’t think anything gets past those eyes of his. He’s not like you boys.”

Steve’s eyes were cool as he turned to look at me.
“He’s a notch above the local police, you mean?”

“More experienced, I would say.”
Suddenly, I felt flustered. “Well, he can hardly help it, can he? He gets sent out on those big homicide cases.”

“Not like us local hicks.”

“Come on, Steve, I didn’t say that.”

“He’s only three years older than me, you know.”

“What?”

Steve jumped to his feet.
“I’ve got to get going, Anna. I’m sure there’s something important I should be doing, like handing out speeding tickets or arresting someone for drunk and disorderly. See you around. Good luck with Tremaine.”

“Steve, don’t be like that!” I called after him as he climbed into his cruiser and reversed down my driveway.
I watched his tail lights disappear as he sped toward town.

What had gotten into him?
It wasn’t like Steve to be so touchy. I shook my head and shrugged. He’d get over it in time, I guessed. And there was an upside to our little spat. Now I didn’t have to worry about letting him down easy.

Chapter Ten

At work the next day, I went back to worrying about Ben and his alibi.
Had he really been running errands between 6:00 and 7:00, or was he hiding something from Tremaine? My hand went to the telephone two or three times, but it was a dumb idea to call Ben. He was at work and he couldn’t talk freely in front of his co-workers. Besides, if I asked him flat out about his alibi, he might think I had some crazy ideas about his involvement with his father’s death. Which I had, heaven help me, but he didn’t need to know that. In the end, I decided to let it ride and wait for Ben and Tremaine to hash out the alibi between them.