Barnyard Murder: A Cozy Mystery (Strawberry Shores Mystery Book 2) (6 page)

Chapter 15

“Okay, Laura, you got this. You're the best Energy Therapist around.” Tina's positivity uplifted my spirits for a moment. Then she added, “Well, except for me. You're the second best Energy Therapist around!”

I took a deep breath, pretending to be nervous. I wasn't too nervous about the whole 'Energy Therapist' thing. I was nervous because Tina had decked me out in official Energy Therapist attire—a tie dye t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops that I hadn't worn in months. It was a far cry from my typical outfit.

The construction site looked different than it did during Jeannie's protest. The barn had been demolished and now sat in a charred black heap. The Northern Catalpa had been knocked over and uprooted, leaving a gaping hole in the ground marked off by CAUTION tape. Tim Hayfield sat with his crew off to the side, eating lunch.

Convincing Tina that this is where my 'test' should take place had been easy. This place was full of negative energy after all. Who would absorb it more than Tim and his guys? Surely if anyone needed Energy Therapy, it was the crew working at ground zero.

In reality, it was all a ruse. Tim Hayfield was high on our list of suspects and I needed a way to talk to Tim about the murder. This was the perfect way to do it. I approached the men. The radio nearby was playing a
Nothing Else Matters
by Metallica.

“Howdy, Laura,” Tim said, giving me a small wave. “You look... different today.”

I smiled. “Thanks Tim. I'm an Energy Therapist.”

He smiled too. “Oh yeah? What's that mean?”

Okay, showtime. I had to be convincing. “Well, there's a lot of negative energy here, because of, you know, what happened. You guys are working right here on the site so you're probably absorbing a lot of negative energy.” I thought of asking them if they needed Energy Therapy and then bit my tongue. Then I realized they might just say 'no' and wave me away. “I'm here to purge the negative energy,” I said.

The guys laughed. I blushed.

“Well, sure, go right ahead. Just make sure you're out of the way once the machines light up. We don't want you to get hurt.” They started to go back to their lunches.

“Oh, that's not how it works!” I said. Tina had explained the concept of Energy to me, but I'd forgotten it, so I started making things up. “The body stores negative energy inside it. By addressing the negative energy, you purge it. It comes out through your mouth. So, who wants to go first?”

Tim looked around at the guys. The site was quiet for a minute. “Laura, are you feeling okay?”

My cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling. “Yeah, why?”

Tim shook his head. “This just doesn't seem like you. Are you upset about everything that happened with Jeannie?”

Clearly this wasn't working. Maybe I'd pushed the 'Energy Therapist' identity a little too hard. That was fine; the situation was still salvageable. It was time to take a different approach. I breathed heavily, theatrically. “Yeah, a little bit,” I said.

“Well, I'm upset too,” Tim said. “I didn't care much for the girl, but she didn't deserve to go like she did.”

“You didn't care much for her?” I asked, giving him a sarcastic smile. “You're telling me.”

Tim chuckled. He knew what I was implying. “She meant well, she just had a lousy way of showing it. Heck, I brought her food and a bottle of water the first night she was protesting.”

My ears perked up.
Play it cool
, I said to myself.

“Who knows,” I said, grinning. “Maybe you were the one who poisoned her.”

Tim chuckled. “I'd be lying if I said the thought hadn't crossed my mind.”

I'd been hoping for him to say something specific, like 'I didn't poison Jeannie'. Had there been static, I would have had reason to keep an eye on him. Had there been no static, I could know with relative certainty that Tim was innocent. He hadn't been quite so clear.

So there were two ways I could go with this: I could push the issue and, if Tim got offended, fall back on the 'I'm upset' excuse. Or I could let it go and keep Tim in the dark. I went with the latter. If I pushed too hard, Tim might figure out this was all a put-on. Which would be bad regardless of whether or not he was the killer; if word got out that I was poking around, it might not end well.

“Tell you what, Laura,” Tim said. “Why don't you come over for dinner tonight? It'll give you a chance to get out of your head. What do you say?”

Tim had been telling the truth so far, but then again, I hadn't really been able to ask him any questions about the case. Going to dinner at his house would give me more opportunities. Plus, I'd get a chance to spend time with Mrs. Hayfield. I knew little about her. Maybe Mrs. Hayfield had done the deed herself, so Tim would start getting a paycheck again? The thought hadn't crossed my mind until that moment, but it was worth following up on.

“Sure,” I said. “That would be great. What time would you like me to show up?”

Tim looked at his watch. “Well, I get out of here at five, so probably around six? I'll introduce you to Lanette. George might be there too.”

“Great,” I said. “I'll see you then.”

With that I turned on my heel and headed back to Tina.

“I heard what happened,” she said. “You lost control! It's okay though, it's okay. Don't worry.” She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed. “The negative energy got to you. You have to be a pro. Let me handle it.” She pushed past me and approached the crew.

I left her to it.

Chapter 16

Dinner at the Hayfields was roast beef, potatoes, and green beans. Mrs. Hayfield and I had wine, and the boys had beer. I sipped. I didn't want to get drunk; I was here on business. I showed up at six and conversation was light. We sat down to eat at seven.

“So Laura,” Mrs. Hayfield said between mouthfuls of potato, “Tim says you write.”

I nodded. “Yup. One of my books is in the library. It's called
Murder in Tomato Town
. It's on Amazon too.”

“Very nice. What's it about?”

“It's about a girl in a place called Tomato Town, who solves the mystery of a man named Mr. Streams.”

Tim chuckled. “Tomato Town? Mr. Streams? Sounds a lot like Strawberry Shores and Mr. Brooks.”

“Ugh, Tim,” Mrs. Hayfield said. “Why did you have to bring that up? That was months ago.”

Now was my opportunity. I'd been wondering how to shift the conversation topic to Jeannie. Murder wasn’t really a great subject of dinner conversation. Tim had just made my job a lot easier. “Yeah,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Now we have Jeannie Ferdinand. I think Strawberry Shores is replacing Washington D.C. as the murder capital of the world.”

Mrs. Hayfield wiped her mouth with her napkin, shaking her head. “Unfortunate business, that.”

I focused. The Hayfields didn't have a radio playing, so I'd have to pay extra special attention to the static. “Did you know Jeannie?” I asked.

Mrs. Hayfield shook her head. “No, not personally,” she said.

Was that static I heard?

“I don't think anyone knew her personally,” Tim said. “She just appeared one day and started making enemies.”

“Had she ever been in Strawberry Shores?” I asked. In the interest of keeping anyone from getting wise that I was digging for clues, I followed it up. “Sorry if this isn't the best topic of conversation for dinner. But this is the first time I've talked about it with anyone since it happened.”

“No, no, it's fine,” Mrs. Hayfield said.

“Of course Laura,” Tim said with a sly smile. “You're clearing out negative energy, if I remember correctly.”

I blushed.

“She's never been here,” George announced. “And it's so sad that she passed away.”

“Of course you'd say that,” Tim said. “You were drooling all over yourself when you first met her. That's bad for business, you know, falling in love with the people who hurt your business.”

Mrs. Hayfield laughed. “That's enough, Tim.” She looked at me. “George is inheriting the construction business when Tim retires. Tim is convinced that George is going to fall in love with the wrong woman and bankrupt Hayfield Construction.”

“You know, Laura,” Tim said. “You seem to have a good head on your shoulders. Have you and George ever...”

“Timothy Hayfield!” Mrs. Hayfield blurted out. She looked at me. I was blushing. “I'm sorry, honey.”

“No, it's all right,” I said.

“It's pointless anyway,” George said. “I don't think I'll ever get over losing Jeannie. She was the one for me.”

“Now now,” Mrs. Hayfield said. “I think you'll manage.”

“In answer to your question,” Tim said, “As far as I know, she left when she was eighteen. Her father lived here his whole life and she only just recently came back after he died.”

“So who do you think would have killed her?” I asked.

Tim shrugged. “I'm not entirely convinced she was murdered. I'm thinking she probably ate something bad and then couldn't get to the hospital, since she was chained to the tree.”

More static, as far as I could tell. Or was I just imagining it? Even without the static, I felt like Tim was trying to hide something. We didn't know much about the case, but we did know that Jeannie had the key; if she'd eaten something bad then she could have very easily gotten free.

Was Tim trying to downplay Jeannie's murder to take the pressure off himself?

Conversation drifted away from the Jeannie murder and I couldn't pull it back, not without being too conspicuous. So we finished eating, had a bit of dessert, and about an hour later I announced that I had to get home. Tim and Lanette walked me to the door. We said our goodbyes and I headed out to my car.

I'd gotten some information—enough to suspect Tim but not enough to conclude him as the murder. As I was walking to my car, I mulled over ways I could bring up the subject with him again.

In a rare turn of events, the problem resolved itself on its own.

“Laura!”

I turned. It was George. He had followed me out of the house.

“Hey. Thanks again for dinner,” I said.

“Sure. Listen, you're trying to solve the murder, aren't you?”

I swallowed hard and shook my head. “What? No. I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Come on Laura,” he said. “I read your book—
Murder in Tomato Town
. That actually happened, didn't it? I heard about Daniel trying to kidnap you guys. That's how
Murder in Tomato Town
ends. Sheriff Caldwell didn't solve the mystery, you did.”

I scratched my forehead. There wasn't much I could do to argue. George had picked up on the secret.
Murder in Tomato Town
was inspired almost exclusively by our adventures with Daniel Berkshire, the main difference being that nobody in the story had the ability to hear static when people were lying. That was a secret I didn't take lightly.

In short, most people thought
Murder in Tomato Town
was fiction. They didn't realize it had happened in real life. George was the first to put two and two together.

“Okay, fine. Emily, Alex and I are suspects in the case because we were the last ones to see Jeannie alive. I'm trying to solve it so we don't get blamed. But—” I put my hand on George's shoulder. “It's important that you keep it a secret. If the killer finds out I'm on the case, he—or she—might come after us.”

“One condition,” George said. “Let me help you. Jeannie was special to me. I want to find her killer as much as you do.”

I looked George up and down. “What can you do?”

“Well, first, I can tell you that it wasn't my mom or dad. They went straight home after the town meeting. Dad was so angry with Jeannie for causing all those problems, he didn't even give her any food or water on the way by.”

I nodded. “Okay, that does help.”

“Who else is on your list of suspects?”

“Dana Jones,” I said. “And Kevin Drake.” I let the names hang in the air for a minute. “And we're also keeping in mind that it might be someone we haven't even thought of. Jeannie made a lot of enemies.”

George shook his head. “I don't see how. Sure, she was a bit abrasive at times...”

I raised an eyebrow at George.

He shrugged. “Okay, maybe I see your point, but still. Anyway, if you're interested, there's a CBSS meeting tomorrow afternoon. It's the first meeting since the murder, so Dana will probably be answering questions about Jeannie. We should check it out.”

“Good thinking,” I said, opening my car door. “What time's the meeting?”

“Four,” he said. “At the library.”

“Good,” I said. “I'll be working. I'll see you tomorrow at four.”

“See you then,” he said.

I climbed into my car and took off down the road.

Chapter 17

George arrived at the library about fifteen minutes before the meeting. I left Susan at the desk and together we headed out back to the meeting. I'd had the foresight to bring a radio to work that day so I took that out back.

Only a few days ago we'd all congregated back here to discuss the situation with Jeannie, with Jeannie chained to the tree across the road. It seemed so much different. People were laughing and chatting and the overall mood was a lot happier. Still, the murder hung heavy overhead like a rain cloud.

“Hi Dana!” I said cheerfully. “I couldn't bring any food because I had to work today, so I brought this.” I lifted the radio. “I figured some background music would be nice.”

“Great thinking Laura!” She said. I set up the radio and retreated with George to the outskirts of the meeting. Miss Tilwell was doing something similar, floating around the edge of the meeting, trying to overhear whatever she could.

“What's with the radio?” he asked in a whisper.

I couldn't tell him the truth; I didn't trust him enough yet. “Peace offering. I'm trying to get on Dana's good side. She's more likely to be more forthcoming with information if she likes me.”

I'd set the radio at a low volume, but it was enough. I listened to a conversation between Kathy Greensburg and Jaclyn Waters; Kathy was telling Jaclyn about her recent divorce. She was saying she was “much happier since I left Harry.” I heard static with her next statement. "I think this was a good move.”

“All right everyone,” Dana said. “Let's get this show on the road.”

Conversation was light to start. The CBSS members talked about revitalizing the gardens out near the library parking lot and discussed (gossiped) about various houses throughout Strawberry Shores that could be 're-beautified'.

About twenty minutes into the meeting, the inevitable happened. Jaclyn Waters rose her hand and asked what was going to replace the burned-out barn and tree across the street.

“Bonnie Burnham bought the property,” Dana said. “She's planning on building a restaurant or something. She's already showed me her rough ideas for the building. It's up to CBSS standards.”

“Good,” Jaclyn said. “It'll be nice to get past that awful murder.”

“Has any progress been made in finding out who the killer was?” Donna Jules asked.

Dana frowned. “Not as far as I know. We're getting a bit side-tracked—”

Dana was losing control over the conversation. It was time to push the topic toward the murder and keep it there for a while. I raised my hand. “Aren't you a suspect in the case?” I asked.

Dana rubbed her forehead. “Yes, that's true. I'm a suspect.”

“Did you kill her?” I asked.

Dana shook her head. “We're getting way off track,” she said.

Darn. I'd been hoping for a yes or no.

The meeting got back on track. I barely paid attention. I knew I'd have to come at Dana from a different angle, but I had to figure out a way to do it. As the meeting was winding down I had a plan.

When the meeting ended I approached Dana. “Hey, Dana, I'm sorry about being so pushy about the Jeannie thing,” I said. “I didn't mean to put you on the spot. It's just, I'm a suspect too, because I was one of the last people to see Jeannie alive.”

“Oh, it's alright Laura,” she said. “No harm done.”

“It's been bugging me,” I pushed. “Who do you think did it?”

“It could be anyone,” Dana said. The static in my head didn't go off, but that didn't mean anything—technically,
it
could have been anyone. I had to get more specific.

“Who do you think it was?”

Dana looked around and led me aside. “Truth be told,” she began, “I have my suspicions about Kevin.”

So far so good. I wasn't hearing any static.

“I know he's eager to impress,” Dana continued, “but sometimes I wonder if he's not trying too hard. You should have seen him during the CBSS meetings. When he wasn't in public, he had some pretty vile things to say about Jeannie. I'm wondering if he heard about what Jeannie was doing when he got back from Dallas and poisoned her that night.” Dana had been sort of staring off into space as she spoke, but she focused on me. Her eyes were a sort of stony bluish gray. “Have you heard anything about him?”

I shook my head. “No. But I'll keep an eye on him, just in case.”

Dana nodded and with that, she turned and started talking to Donna.

The conversation had been fruitful. The static hadn't gone off while Dana had been talking, so I could say two things with relative certainty: one, that Dana wasn't the killer, and two, that she suspected Kevin. It was significant that Dana—who probably knew Kevin better than anyone else—suspected him, but it wasn't enough to indict him. I'd have to focus on him.

I spotted him near the stacks, talking to George. George walked away as I approached.

“Hey Kevin,” I said.

He was loading paperwork into a briefcase and putting on his jacket. “Hi Laura.”

“So these last few days have been pretty excit—”

“Sorry Laura,” Kevin said, cutting me off. “I just got back and I'm pretty busy. Let's catch up later,” he said. He smiled at me. I opened my mouth to say something in response but he'd already turned on his heel.

“Did you notice him acting funny?” George asked behind me.

I turned to him. “A little. He's not usually so brisk. And he hardly spoke during the meeting.”

“I noticed that too,” George said. “Usually he's like Dana's parrot. Did you get a chance to talk to him?”

I shook my head. “Barely. I didn't ask him about the case.”

George shook his head. “Me neither. But he mentioned he's going to the Pelican tomorrow. I'll ask him then.”

“I'm coming with you,” I said. “What time?”

“We're meeting at four,” he said.

I opened my mouth to say 'okay' and then stopped. I was working until five.

“Hold that thought,” I said. “I have to work.”

“It's okay,” George said. “I'll talk to him. You can show up after if we're still there.”

“Sure,” I said. “Sounds like a plan.” I went to pick up the radio and quietly said: “Just be careful. I know you want to catch Jeannie's killer, but take care to catch the right killer.”

“Oh yes,” George said. “I'll make sure the right person goes to jail. I loved Jeannie.”

Just before I unplugged the radio, I heard static when George said 'I'll make sure the right person goes to jail'.

I'd let George talk to Kevin, but I'd figure out a way to talk to Kevin myself later. George's heart was in the right place, but then again, he didn't have the static.

And I didn't want to make any mistakes.