A Fatal Chapter

It was Earl’s turn to be silent.

“And I wonder, if I dug a little deeper, if I’d find the bag filled with the remnants of the flowers that were snipped,” Tricia continued.

An imposing Hanson stood with his hands on his hips, towering over Earl.

Earl’s head dipped, as though he’d suddenly found his shoes to be very interesting. “I have nothing to say.”

Hanson turned to Tricia. “What do you want me to do?”

“If nothing else, I want you to write a report saying what was found in Winkler Exterminating’s Dumpster so that it can be presented to the Board of Selectmen at their next meeting.”

“Now, wait a minute,” Earl protested.

“The village board paid for half the cost of the flowers. I’m sure they won’t be happy to learn one of their own destroyed them.”

“They’re not destroyed,” Earl protested. “The flowers will grow back.”

“Not anytime soon,” Tricia countered.

“How much are the hanging baskets worth?” Hanson asked.

“Thousands of dollars, and this late in the season, they can’t be readily replaced,” Tricia said. Was it her imagination, or was Hanson on her side? He stood looking at them both for long seconds.

“Technically, you’re both at fault. If Mr. Winkler wants to press charges, that’s his prerogative. The same could be said for you, Ms. Miles, and I can arrest you both. It’ll cost you attorney’s fees and will leave a smudge on your reputations. I don’t think you want that, Mr. Winkler. Not with your history.”

Winkler looked up sharply but said nothing.

“My suggestion is that you two work this out together.”

“I won’t press charges, but I can’t say what my sister will do. Of course, she’s in business with Nigela Ricita Associates, and I do believe they are one of your biggest clients, Selectman Winkler. She won’t be happy to hear that you’re involved.”

The threat to Winkler’s wallet was devastating. His expression fell and he looked close to tears.

“And as the silk flowers were paid for by Nigela Ricita Associates, I am bound to return them and tell them exactly where they were found.”

“You’ll put me out of business,” Earl protested.

“You should have thought about that before you vandalized the flowers in the first place.”

“Then I may as well press charges against you.”

“Nigela Ricita Associates has very deep pockets,” Tricia countered.

That shut Earl up. Suddenly he looked weary.

Tricia considered what Angelica would do. She’d threatened to put the vandal in jail, but Tricia suspected she’d just been blowing off steam. After all, the plants weren’t dead. Earl had been right. In time, they would bloom again. Instead of snipping the blooms, he could have killed them with an herbicide.

“I do have a suggestion,” Tricia said.

Earl looked up. “What’s that?”

“Apologize.”

“Are you crazy?” Earl said, his eyes flashing.

“No, I’m not. Apologize and offer to help put back the silk flowers until the plants can grow new blossoms.”

“That would take hours.”

“It must have taken you hours to cut the blossoms, and then yank out all the silk flowers, too.”

“It sounds like the perfect solution,” Hanson said. “What do you say, Mr. Winkler?”

Earl seemed to realize that he’d been beaten. “Oh, all right. I’ll do it. Monday morning, I’ll go over to the Chamber of Commerce and apologize.”

“And if you don’t . . .” Tricia said, leaving the threat unsaid.

“I said I would, and I will,” Earl grated, pivoted, and stormed to the back door to his business. He slammed the door.

Tricia looked at the policeman. “Thank you for brokering a peaceful solution.”

“You’re the one who came up with the idea.”

“Yes, but you made it possible for me to do so. Why didn’t you just arrest us both?”

“It’s a lot of paperwork,” the young officer said wearily.

“May I ask why you seemed to take my side?”

“Mr. Winkler’s reputation precedes him.” He didn’t elaborate. Had Earl pulled the same stunt on residential clients as he had in the business community to try to drum up trade?

“Will you be mentioning this little exchange with Chief Baker?”

“I’ll have to file a report, but it’s more to chronicle my time off patrol than anything else.”

Tricia nodded. “Thank you again.”

Hanson tipped his hat. “Ma’am.”

Tricia watched as the officer got back into his patrol car, then she turned and closed the lid to the Dumpster, gathered the torn bags of silk flowers, took the big trash bag from her pocket, and transferred the flowers to it. She intended to take them back to the Chamber; it would be up to Angelica to negotiate a time for Earl to restore the baskets. Then again, how good was he at flower arranging? If nothing else, he could accompany Angelica—or whomever she assigned to do the task—and schlep the ladder up and down Main Street. Tricia was determined it wouldn’t be her that did so.

As she turned, the cruiser took off. She gave Hanson a good-bye wave and started back for the Chamber office. She’d put the bags of silk flowers in the garage. As she walked down the road, the bulky plastic bags smacking into her thighs, she decided she’d better warn Angelica about the forthcoming apology. She didn’t have to tell her who was going to make it. Then again, she knew Angelica would nag, nag, nag her until she dished the dirt. Her sister could be very persuasive. Tricia figured she’d decide later. For now, she had a date with the shower. She’d never been much of a fan of Dumpster diving.

TWENTY-ONE

Tricia had just made it back to the Chamber office when Pixie’s wreck of a car passed. She watched as the car pulled up to the curb in front of the Dog-Eared Page, then Tricia tossed the bag of silk flowers into the shrubbery and took off at a jog. By the time she made it to Booked for Lunch, Michele was exiting the car. She gave Pixie a wave and turned for the door. Pixie pulled out into the street and headed south, turning at the crossroad, no doubt to come up the alley and park in the municipal lot. Meanwhile, Tricia dropped back to a walk and called Michele’s name. She turned.

“Tricia, thank you so much for coming to my rescue last night.”

Tricia came to a halt before the barkeep. “I’m thankful we were able to chase that guy off.”

“I don’t know how I can ever thank you and Angelica.”

“In the future, have Shawn walk you to your car.”

Michele gave a quiet laugh. “Definitely.”

“I’ve been thinking about all that’s happened, and I’m convinced you’re right. Whoever killed Pete and hurt Janet deliberately came after you last night. Somehow this person is out to stop the ghost walks from happening.”

“It probably won’t surprise you to hear I’m withdrawing my acceptance of the docent’s post.”

“I can’t say I blame you. But I wonder if you wouldn’t mind letting me have a look at the papers Janet gave you.”

“I was going to return them to the Society this afternoon—and let the entire village know I’d done so. I don’t want you to be hurt.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to make myself a target. But I want to see if buried somewhere in those papers is a reason someone is willing to risk all to stop the ghost walks.”

“I must admit I can’t make top nor tail out of some of them. Most of them are photocopies of old records. But there are a few odd things in there, too.”

“Such as?”

“Notes about a plot of land that’s for sale not far from the cemetery. Pete made a notation that he wanted to check out the property, although I don’t know why he would. Perhaps he was thinking of building.”

Land for sale? And who was—or until recently had been—the biggest realty company in the area: Kelly Real Estate, owned by Bob Kelly. Tricia wondered, if she showed the papers to Karen Johnson of NRA Realty, would she see something others wouldn’t?