In the Shadows (The Outsiders Book 1) (27 page)

“We used to get together for card games once a week
at different locations,” Nick said. “Sometimes we met at their house, sometimes here, or at the Randolphs’ house, Sally’s, Ian’s, or even Rob’s. The Randolphs moved away about four months ago.”

Jenny said, “That’s right. We thought it only fair to switch off
. That way, no one got stuck hosting and cooking every time. Of course, all of that was before the divorce.”

“What happened after the divorce?”

“We tried to stay friendly with both Elizabeth and Peter,” Nick said. “Peter was okay, but Elizabeth made it difficult. She was bitter and would gripe about Peter and his girlfriend every time we got together. Kind of ruined the evenings for us. Eventually, by group agreement, we stopped inviting them.”

“Did you go to her house?”

“Yes. A few times. For cards and dinners—like before.”

Jenny said, “I
do miss her. We used to be close. It’s so sad.”

“What was her relationship with her son? Did you notice any changes in their relationship after the divorce?”

Nick and Jenny exchanged glances. Jenny said, “The few times we saw Jared, they argued.”

“Do you know what they argued about?”

Nick said, “Just usual teenager-parent stuff as far as we could tell. I remember when my parents divorced. I was around the same age. My behavior was rather atrocious. It was a phase. That’s all.”

Jenny shook her head. “Call it what you want, but their relationship wasn’t good
. I wouldn’t have allowed his behavior if he’d been my son.”

“What about Robin Sutcliffe’s relationship with Jared? Did you ever see them together?”

Nick said, “I think we only saw them together once or twice. That was when Peter invited us over to his new home for dinner. Jared walked out in the middle of the meal. Poor Peter was embarrassed.”

“Why did Jared
do that?”

“We don’t know. He and Robin were whispering together in the hallway, and then he left.”

“How long ago was that?”

Nick shrugged. “Maybe a month or two before he was
killed.”

“Did you know
Maua Barrington, the woman who rented a room from Elizabeth?”

Jenny said, “
Maura, yes, sort of. She was there when we went to Elizabeth’s house for dinner. We only spoke briefly. She seemed nice, quiet.”

“Did she eat dinner with you?”

“No. She only came out of her room for a few minutes.”

“Was it a large dinner party?”

Nick shook his head. “Only the two of us, a few other neighbors came, and Elizabeth’s sister and brother-in-law.”

They left the
Hallowells’ house shortly after and walked over to the street where Rob Carsters lived. Kate pulled up her jacket collar to ward off the wind, which had become rather chilly.

Dave zipped up his own jacket. “Did they ever find the murder weapon?”

“I don’t think so. The post-mortem report indicated it was probably a kitchen knife, but the weapon hasn’t been recovered.”

“Are any knives missing from the
Raybourne house?”

“Elizabeth couldn’t tell the
detectives,” Kate said.

“Why is that?”

“Apparently, she didn’t cook much. She didn’t really know how many knives they had.”

Dave frowned. “The Hallowells said she invited them over for dinner. Who did the cooking?”

“That, I can’t tell you,” Kate said. “Though it seems like a good question.” She glanced sideways at Dave.

Dave said,
“I have another one for you. Why did the inspectors assume someone used a key to enter the house?”

“I can’t answer that
either,” Kate said. “All I know is that they said it didn’t look like a break-in.”

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean he didn’t let someone in. For that matter, he could have left the door unlocked, maybe for his mother or maybe out of laziness. Who knows?”

Rob Carsters didn’t answer his door, and when Dave and Kate turned around to leave, they almost bumped into a man who was walking a collie up the sidewalk to the front door. The dog pulled on the leash and the man let go.

Dave reached down and petted the dog who was wagging its tail and lapping up the attention.

“He likes you. Were you looking for me?”

“That depends. Are you Rob Carsters?”

“I am.” He pulled a key out of his jacket pocket, walked past Dave and Kate and up the steps, and unlocked the door. He turned around to face them, obviously waiting for them to say something.

Dave introduced himself and Kate. The man nodded.

“Come on in. I don’t have anything to offer you. I’ve been running errands off and on all day. No time for domestic stuff.”

“That’s fine,” Kate said. “We
would like to ask you a few questions about your neighbors—especially the Raybourne family.”

“I expected
as much. I bumped into Brittany Stevas. We walk our dogs in the same park.”

“Were she and Jared friends? Did they ever go out on dates?”

He shrugged. “I can’t keep up with all the kids—who they like or don’t like, who is dating who, who just broke up. I gave up trying a long time ago.”

Dave said, “What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a science teacher. If you remember back to your high school days, I’m sure you’ll understand what kids and dating are like.”

“Where do you work?”

“Westglenn.”

Dave studied him more closely. Young, maybe early to mid-thirties, brown hair, brown eyes, athletic build. What had Maurelle told him about Carsters?
She thought the guy was interested in Elizabeth, but she wouldn’t go out with him. Why hadn’t Maurelle mentioned that he was a teacher at her school?

“Did you know Maura Barrington?”

Carsters nodded.

“How well did you know her?”

“We went out a couple of times. Nothing serious.”

Avoiding
Kate’s eyes, Dave said, “Why did you stop going out?”

“
Seemed like a nice woman, but we didn’t really have much in common—other than teaching and neither of us wanted to talk shop.”

Kate said, “Were you surprised by the
rumors of an affair?”

He shrugged again, and sprawled his legs out the way Jonas Lefevre did back in Reynier when Dave visited him.

“Was there a lot of that kind of thing going on in the school? Student-teacher romances?”

“Like I said, I gave up on following that stuff—whether it’s students or teachers or a mixture.”

Dave finally dared to look at Kate. She had apparently been watching him, and a look of something verging on pity flashed in her eyes before she turned her attention back to Carsters.

“There must be a lot of talk amongst the faculty.”

“It’s not my business.”

Again, Carster
s reminded him of Jonas. A laid-back, devil-may-care attitude. Could he get away with murder? He wondered about Carsters and Brittany Stevas and their rendezvous in the park.

Kate flipped a page in her notebook
. She looked up and met Carsters’ eyes. “You were friends with Elizabeth and Peter, is that right?”

“Yeah.”

“What happened after the divorce? Did you maintain those friendships?”

“With Peter and Robin, yes.”

“But not with Elizabeth?”

“Not much.”

“Did you two have a disagreement?”

He shifted in his seat.

“What happened between the two of you?”

“Nothing happened. It’s just not easy staying friends with both of them.”

Outside, on Rob’s front porch, Kate whispered, “I sure would like to know what he isn’t telling us about his relationships with Maura and Elizabeth.”

Maurelle and Jeannette
took hold of Fabienne’s arms and helped her walk back to the stone cottage, though Fabienne kept resisting. “I don’t need help. I’m feeling better.” As the house came into view, it struck Maurelle how warm and inviting it now looked. The light chocolate-colored shutters that had been tightly shut when they’d first arrived were now pulled back, and flowers graced the window boxes. Yesterday, with Fabienne fretting about the flowers she’d left behind, Maurelle had gone back to the store and bought more. She planted them, while the older women sat in their rocking chairs and watched. Two neighbors, having noticed the open shutters and flowers, had come over and cut back some of the overgrown bushes and brush. One of the neighbors, Lucien, told them that they had started performing this ritual at least twice a year in the hopes of stopping further encroachment into their adjacent lands. Jeannette and Fabienne, after ensuring that the men didn’t uncover the hidden car, had gushed over both and sent store-bought pastries home with each of them. Maurelle smiled as she remembered Fabienne closing the door behind him as they left and confessing how embarrassed she was that she hadn’t baked them something from her own kitchen.

Fabienne looked backward
as they neared the cottage. “Can’t we stop at the café for coffee?”

Jeannette said, “
I’ll go pick up your prescriptions and bring you a coffee.”

“No. I want to visit with our friends.”

“Not going to happen,” Maurelle said. “You’re going home and straight to bed. No argument.”

“But I feel
much better now.”

Maurelle open
ed the front door and pointed upstairs. “Dr. Maison gave orders. You’re to take it easy for a few days, and I intend to enforce those orders. Jeannette and I will bring you your meals in bed. If you behave yourself, we’ll allow visitors. Clear?” 

Fabienne stomped up the stairs with Maurelle following. When she reached her room, she sighed and climbed into bed, pulling covers around her.
Although Fabienne’s curly white hair affirmed advanced age, Maurelle decided she looked every bit the naughty child. Funny how in such a short time they’d done such a complete turnabout. It was barely a week ago that Fabienne and Dave had stood by her bedside, treating her as though she was the child.

Jeannette appeared moments later with a cup of coffee from the kitchen. “I’ll be going out for a while. Maurelle and I decided that I should call Coralie and let her know about your
incident. Maybe she’ll be able to pass a message to Dave. Or maybe she’ll have news for us. Either way, I need to call her.”

Fabienne nodded.

When Jeannette returned
an hour later, she brought several locals, people from Jeannette’s and Fabienne’s past. They were all introduced to Maurelle, but their names soon escaped her. Three hours passed before Maurelle had an opportunity to ask Jeannette about the phone call.

When she finally was able to corner her
in the small kitchen, Jeannette told her, “Coralie was shocked about Fabienne’s illness. She couldn’t talk much because the house was full of people. She did tell me though that Simone was there. Oh, and Simone brought a man. I think she said his name was Greg. He’s an American friend of Dave’s. That’s probably a good thing, don’t you agree?”

Maurelle’s heart leapt at the mention of Dave. She figured that Dave had met with Greg in London as planned and had subsequently heard about their new predicament. And Dave, knowing he couldn’t very well show up right now with the gendarmes looking for them, had sent Greg to France in his place.

She smiled at Jeannette and hugged her, whispering “Thank you, Jeannette. I’m sorry that you and your family are stuck in the middle of this, but I’m glad that you’re here in Saint-Julien with us.”

Jeannette patted her on the back. “So am I, dear.”

As they
LEFT
Rob Carsters’ house and walked back toward Willoughby Crescent, Kate said, “I don’t know what to think anymore. That man feels sleazy to me, but it doesn’t mean he would kill someone, does it?”

Dave said, “No.
I wonder, though. If he was interested in Maura, and thought Jared was a rival, might he have been driven to it?”

“
The thought had occurred.”

“
It seems plenty of people could have had it in for Jared. I’m not ruling out Maura Barrington, but my money is on Robin Sutcliffe or Elizabeth.”

“Why do you say that?”
Kate asked.

“
It sounds as though Robin had a brief fling with the boy, or she wanted to. Maybe the mother found out, and they argued. At least two neighbors have mentioned a blow-up between them. Now suppose the ex-husband, Peter, didn’t know about it, and someone threatened to tell him. I’m thinking Jared or Elizabeth.”

Kate
looked deep in thought, then said, “Could be either of them. Robin might have gone to the house to talk to either Jared or his mother. Who knows? My guess is that Robin and Jared got into an argument and in the heat of the moment, she stabbed him. Of course, Elizabeth could have turned on Jared and killed him because she saw him as a younger version of her husband, coming on to Robin. She might have resented him and could no longer cope.”

Dave nodded assent.

As they turned the corner onto Willoughby Crescent, Kate added, “On the other hand, what if Peter did know? What if someone had told him and he confronted his son about Robin? They fought and Peter stabbed him.”

“
You’re right. That’s another good possibility,” Dave said. Approaching Ian Waitley’s house again, Dave saw the curtains move in the front window. Ian was watching them. Not surprising, since they’d already heard he watched the comings and goings of everyone. If anyone had seen the killer, it was most likely Ian.

When
Dave knocked on the door, Ian peeked out the same way as he’d done the previous day, as if he didn’t already know who was there.

Ian opened the door a crack and
nodded his head in Kate’s direction. “Who’s she?”

R
emembering that Greg had been with him on his previous visit, Dave said, “This is Kate Hill, a freelance journalist I’m working with.”

Kate stepped forward and handed her business card to Ian. After glancing at it, he opened the door
for them to enter and tucked the card in his pocket.

Dave
spotted a wooden coat rack in the corner next to the door. Several hats, a cardigan sweater, and a light jacket with a logo on it hung from the hooks. Dave moved in nonchalantly to get a closer look at the logo. It was a circle with a picture of a restaurant or pub on it. Next to the coat rack was a bench, under which was a pair of scuffed sneakers.

Ian led them through the long hallway and into the living
room. “Make yourselves comfortable.” 

Kate sat in a rocking chair across from Dave.

“I should be offering you tea,” Ian said, standing behind the sofa.

“That won’t be necessary,” Kate said. “We’ve
recently had some.” Ian sat down on the sofa. “Dave tells me that you’ve been keeping an eye on the Raybourne house.”

He didn’t respond.

“He said you see everything that happens around here. That made me wonder if you were home on the night of Jared Raybourne’s murder. Perhaps you might have seen something.” He shrugged. Kate pursed her lips and glanced at Dave.

“Mr.
Waitley,” Dave said, “did you see anyone go to the Raybourne’s house on the night of Jared’s murder?”

Ian
abruptly rose and said, “We need something to drink. I’ll be right back.”

Kate leaned toward Dave. “He’s stalling.”

Ian returned, balancing a tray with a pitcher of lemonade and three glasses. He set the tray on a table next to the couch and poured the liquid into each and handed them to his guests.

Dave took a sip
and said, “Did you see anyone at the house, Mr. Waitley?”

Ian squirmed,
uneasy, slurped his lemonade rather loudly, and finally said, “All right. If you must know, I saw a woman.”

“Why didn’t you tell the police?”

“I mentioned it to one copper, barely out of nappies, he was, took no notice.”

“Could it have been Maura Barrington?”

“No.”

“
You must have some idea of who it was.”

He crossed his arms, uncrossed them
, and rearranged a stack of magazines on the coffee table in front of him. “Robin Sutcliffe, it was” he said finally.

“You’re sure about that?”

He nodded.

Dave looked out of the window at a lamppost across the street,
lighting the area near the Raybourne driveway.

“What time was it when you saw her?”

He shrugged. “Early evening, but I remember it was already dark out, well, except for the streetlamp and it being a full moon that night. She was in the shadows some of the time, of course, but I could see well enough.”

“
Had she driven to the house? Did you see her car?”

He tilted his head
, momentarily thinking. “No, I didn’t see any car. I don’t expect she did. She often rides the train and walks from the station. It’s common around here.”

“How long was she there? Did you hear
any arguing?”

He shrugged again.

Taking a different approach, Dave said, “What do you know about Robin and Jared?”

“Oh, I know plenty about that boy.”

“Like?”

The old man’s face lit up. “He was a menace, he was. And mad as a loon. Well, I’ll be telling you. He spray-painted the school one night. Oh, nobody could pin it on him, but I know it was him.”

Kate looked at Dave. Why hadn’t they heard anything about that? Dave wondered.

“What makes you think it was him?” Kate asked.

“I seen the paint cans through the door of their shed,” Ian said. “It weren’t but two days after the school incident, it was.”

“What else did he do?” Dave asked.

“He killed Abby and Josephine.” 

“What?”

“My moggies.”

Dave drew his eyebrows together in confusion. “
I’m sorry. What are moggies?”

“
Cats, moggies be cats!” Ian said, rolling his eyes at Dave. “Abby and Josephine were my companions for fourteen years, they were. My girls—my own Wilhelmina’s kittens. Of course she’s long gone. My poor moggies.”

“Ah,” Dave said. That was the cat killing they’d read about. He leaned forward. “Why would Jared kill your cats?” 

“He was an evil boy,” Ian said. “He—” The old man snapped his mouth closed. He looked out towards the garden as though drifting off into his memories.

“How did Jared kill Abby and Josephine?”

“He . . . he cut their heads off.”

Dave noted Kate’s sudden intake of breath before asking,
“With what?”

“I don’t know,” Ian said. “I couldn’t get anyone to investigate their murder. The coppers treated the case as petty and not worthy of their time because the victims were
just cats, is what they said.” 

Kate glanced over at Dave, signaling him to stay quiet. Then she calmly prodded Ian to continue. “Why would he do that?”

Ian’s eyes darted between Kate and Dave as though he were trying to decide whether to answer. Finally, sotto voce, he said, “He was trouble, that’s what. We argued sometimes and we didn’t like each other.”

Dave squinted, looked over at Kate and back at Ian.

Kate asked, “What did you argue about?”

Ian shrugged. “I don’t recall. But ask around, why don’t you? Everyone argued with that boy because he picked fights. Ask old Mrs. Winston. I’m sure she can tell you some stories. Ask Brittany Stevas. Ask the Headmaster over at the school.”

“How did Peter and Jared get along? Did they argue?”

“Peter’s a pushover. Takes a lot to rile him up.”

Kate said, “What about Maura Barrington? Did she argue with Jared?”

“She wouldn’t kill nobody. I tried to tell the coppers, but they wouldn’t listen.”

“What makes you so sure? Almost anyone could kill, given the right circumstances.”

“Maura’s too nice and too gentle. She might kill in self-defense, but not for the reasons people are saying.”

“Don’t you think she might have considered it self-defense because she would have lost her job?”

He shook his head
rapidly. “No, she couldn’t even kill a spider or a mouse. She’s a softy. I suppose if a wild animal was attacking her, she might fight back and try to kill it, but she wouldn’t unless she was sure it was going to kill her.”

Dave thought about the man who had given Maurelle a ride near Vendome.

“Did Jared ever threaten her that you know of?”

He shrugged.

Dave said, “Do you know anyone who had a grudge against him?”

“
You go ask the Headmaster. I’d tell you to ask Jared’s parents, but they wouldn’t tell you the truth. They know.”

Late at night
, after Fabienne and Jeannette were asleep, Maurelle got out of bed and tiptoed down the stairs. Thinking about Fabienne’s illness and Dave’s absence was keeping her awake.

She sat on the sofa
, tucked her legs underneath her body, and asked herself what Dave would want her to do. Before he left for England, he’d made it clear they couldn’t call each other, but wouldn’t he want to know about their changed situation? Wouldn’t he want to know about his grandmother? She’d considered calling him several times since they’d left Reynier and had held back because she didn’t want to worry him. It was different now that she had some good news. Fabienne was on the road to recovery.

She went back upstairs
, got dressed, and pulled from her bag the piece of paper with Dave’s hotel name and its number. Downstairs, on the kitchen counter, she grabbed the phone card they’d bought. It should still have enough minutes left on it.

The streets were darker than she’d expected
, filled with spooky shadows, with only a sliver of moon and the stars to guide her to the phone booth near the general store. She paused halfway between the cottage and the store and glanced up at the sky. Back in Reynier, she’d been amazed sometimes at the amount of stars. Here, with a clear sky and virtually no lights anywhere in town, the sky was sensational, bright with starlight, like being in an observatory, only much better. She picked out the Big Dipper and Little Dipper the way she’d done with her mother when they were on a holiday, then smiled.

When she reached the phone booth, she pulled out the piece of paper from her pocket and dialed.

The desk receptionist answered and at first was reluctant to put her through until she said it was a family emergency. There was a far off buzzing, and someone picked up on the second ring.

“Hello.”

“Is that you, Dave?”

“Yeah.” He mumbled something she couldn’t understand, then said, “Who’s this?”

“Uh, it’s me. Maurelle.”

Silence.

“Did I wake you?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry. I know I’m not supposed to call. I thought you should know what’s happened.”

“I talked to Simone. She told me
what Paul had done, that the gendarmes were looking for you, so you had to disappear, and you took Grand-mère and Jeannette with you. I sent Greg to Reynier to check the waters and snoop around.”

Maurelle hesitated.
Did Dave sound angry?

“
Yes, but that’s not why I called. Your grandmother became ill. We thought she might be having a heart attack. She had some medical tests done this morning, but she’s all right.”

“What? What happened? I thought she’d made up the story about being ill.”

“She had stents put in two arteries a year ago and was on heart medication, but she forgot her pills when we left Reynier. The doctor doesn’t think there was any damage done. He put her on the same medication she was taking and she seems to be much better now, but she’ll need to get checked out in a hospital when she gets back home.”

“So
, she lied to me about having cancer, but didn’t tell me she had a heart condition. Just wonderful. Why does she do these things? Is she in a hospital now?”

“No. She’s here at home, well, at our temporary home.”

“And you’re all safe?”

“Yes. Are you? Is
—is everything going all right?”

“As good as can be expected, I guess.”

Maurelle hesitated. “Have you found out anything helpful?”

“We’re getting a lot of discrepancies.
Which reminds me, while I have you on the phone, how well do you know Ian Waitley?”