COZY MYSTERY: Murder At The Festival: A Cozy Mystery in the Mountains (Book 4) (3 page)

As was her habit, Victoria was up by 5 am the next day to get started on all the baking that Cafe Spring Hopes needed to be done. By noon, she felt like she had been on her feet all day. Little warning aches were climbing up her calves, and she remembered her doctor’s instructions to do more stretching exercises with a wistful sigh. Tomorrow, she promised herself. Tomorrow she would begin doing yoga or something. But today, she was looking forward to getting home, crashing on the couch with Annie, Byron, and their golden retriever Vanilla.

Her daydreams were interrupted by the ring of her smartphone. She picked it up and felt her stomach freeze as a formal sounding voice said, “Mrs. Armstrong, this is Janice from Everdeen High School. Could you come over immediately? It’s about your son Byron.”

“Is… is Byron alright?” Victoria stuttered. The calm, smiling host who had served thousands of customers found her tongue becoming thick with fear.

“There’s nothing wrong with Byron. We just need you here to get him home. He’s been in an altercation” The voice on the other end said, in a tone Victoria had often dubbed as the “I don’t care, but I have to be polite.”

“I’ll be right there,” Victoria said.

Fifteen minutes later, she was sitting on an uncomfortable chair across a large mahogany desk, as the Principal of Everdeen High glared at her. Beside her, Byron was looking very interested in the pattern on his sneakers.

“The school will be recommending an in-school suspension.” Principal Sherman said. “I’m really sorry to see Byron behave this way, especially this close to graduation.”

“I’m sorry too,” Victoria said. “I can’t imagine what could possibly have gotten into him. Byron isn’t the kind to fight.”

At this, Byron gave out a little chuckle, which he immediately swallowed down as two glaring pairs of eyes focussed on him.

“You’re going to be grounded for a long time if you don’t get serious,” Victoria said. “You could have been expelled, Byron. Do you know how serious this could have gotten?”

“It’s pretty serious already,” Byron said. “We’re sitting here, aren’t we?”

“So what happened?” Victoria asked.

“He isn’t talking,” Sherman said.

Byron shrugged. “It was stupid, and I’m sorry. I’ll never do anything like it again, ok?”

“You better not.” Principal Sherman warned. “Go on now, Byron. You’re a great guy and one of the good kids. Don’t get into trouble again. Wait outside while I talk to your mother.”

Byron nodded and moved outside.

“What happened, exactly?” Victoria asked.

“I’d recommend you talk to Byron and confirm.” Principal Sherman said. “But as far as I could tell, Byron was in the backyard fighting with another boy when the basketball coach Andrew Fox happened to be wandering by. He broke it up and held Byron back, but the other boy ran away before Andrew could see him. Andrew said it looked like Byron was clearly overpowering the other boy. Byron refuses to give any details about the fight, and no one else has stepped forward. He just keeps saying that he’s sorry, and it won’t happen again. We haven’t gotten a word out of him.”

Victoria nodded.

“I wouldn’t be too worried.” Principal Sherman said. “But it doesn’t hurt to make sure that Byron is ok. Have a talk with him about bullying and the disastrous effects it can have on lives, alright? I personally have my suspicions. I’ve seen fights like this before in my career and nine times out of ten there's a girl. Still, he’s your kid, and hopefully, you can connect with him and drill it into him that this wasn’t the right way to go about it.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Victoria said as she left.

Out in the hall, Byron was looking sulky. Victoria sat next to him and spent a minute just examining his face.

He had a bruise on the side of his mouth that looked like it was going to get worse, and a small scrape on one cheekbone. His face was alright, really. It was his knuckles that were in terrible condition. Both of his hands were bandaged with thick gauze.

“The nurse took good care of you, I see,” Victoria said.

Byron examined his hands with a grin. “You know, she’s really nice. She even gave me a lollipop as if I were a little kid.”

“You are a little kid. You are a little fool.” Victoria gave him a hug. “It’s clear that you hurt the other guy a lot more than he hurt you, though.”

“Yep.” There was a smug smile on Byron’s face that nearly made Victoria burst out in anger. She was careful to keep her voice calm as she said. “I’m ashamed, Byron. I haven’t raised you this way.”

She looked into his eyes, hoping to find some measure of guilt there. Instead, she only found anger.

“I did what I had to,” Byron said.

“You have a chance at getting a scholarship to BCU!” Victoria exclaimed. “You’ve worked hard on admissions, and you’re going to have a bright future at Uni. I know you will. Unless you do something stupid like get expelled for fighting! I’ve never seen you do something like this before. Have you gone mad?”

“I thought you’d get it,” Byron said. “But no. You just want to come in here and attack me like the rest of them. Okay mom, whatever. I won’t do anything to get expelled, ok? Just trust me and relax.”

“I do trust you,” Victoria said. “It just… I was shocked, Byron.”

“Yeah. I get that.” Byron said.

“So what happened, exactly?” Victoria asked.

Byron didn’t say a word. He fiddled around with the bandages on his hand.

“Come on, Byron. Answer me.”  Victoria held both his hands, stilling him.

“Nothing, alright. I’ll say it again. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” He answered monotonously as if he were recording a message on an answering machine. Ding-dong, nobody’s home, leave a message.

“I’m on your side,” Victoria murmured. “Please, Byron.”

“It’s hard to tell,” Byron said, getting up. “I’m sick of this, mom. I’m supposed to go meet Mr. Brews for my detention. I’ll see you at home tonight, alright?”

“Alright,” Victoria said, feeling sick herself. “And Byron?”

“Yes?”

“You’re grounded for two weeks. No going anywhere but home and school; no tv, no phone.” Victoria held out her hand. “Starting now. Hand over your phone.”

Byron’s face went red. “You can’t be serious!”

“Oh, I am.”

“Just… just give me a break why don’t you?” His voice rose higher.

“You’d best keep your voice down when talking to me,” Victoria said.

“Fine!” Byron spat out. He dropped the phone next to her and stalked away.

What had happened to her little boy? Victoria wondered. He had inherited a bit of the brooding nature his father used to have, but before today, Victoria had always felt proud of Byron. He had friends, he had good grades, and he was moderately sweet to his sister. He’d been nothing but a good boy. There was an obvious connection, of course. Uncomfortably, she remembered how Calum had asked her where Byron was yesterday. She’d said he was with friends, but the truth was, she hadn’t actually known. She never did know these days. It came with the territory of teenagedom. Byron had become moodier over the past few months, and beyond single word answers like “Nothing” and “Fine”, he rarely talked much these days.

He was close to Karen though, Victoria thought. I should talk to her about it.

She was about to leave when Bessie Jacobs came walking down the corridor.

“Victoria!” A smile lit up Bessie’s face. “Well, what a surprise to see you here. Normally it’s always me who’s coming into your workplace.” Bessie gave a wink. “I do love those pancakes.”

“I..” Victoria didn’t know what to say. She didn’t exactly want to tell Bessie about Byron’s fight- though knowing how schools worked, Bessie probably knew already. Luckily, she didn’t seem to want to talk about it.

“The results are out.” Bessie patted her stomach. “I’m having a boy. We’ll be calling him Nick Jr most likely.”

“Oh, congratulations!” Victoria gave her a hug, feeling genuinely happy for the first time since that phone call from the school. “Congratulations on the play too. I heard the audience loved it yesterday.”

“Yes well…” Bessie’s eyes grew shadows under them. “I’m very sad about Margie, of course.”

“Oh yes. Margie Thompson was in your play, wasn’t she?” Victoria asked. “Did you know her well?”

“Oh, I’ve been teaching Margie some class or the other for five years now.” Bessie sighed. “She’s a smart girl. A little older than the rest of the class, but I heard it’s because she skipped a year or two of school when her father died.”

“Yes. I’ve heard that too.” Victoria nodded. “Poor Margie.”

“I hope she’s happy, and I hope she finds people who support her.” Bessie sighed. “That’s all I’m going to say.”

“Do you think her parents didn’t support her?” Victoria asked, surprised.

“Well… Michelle is so busy with her boutique. She’s the one who brings home the bacon, you know. Works crazy hours to make sure she holds the family together. As for Jonas, I don’t think Margie is especially fond of him. You were at their house yesterday, weren’t you? Nicholas was there, and he told me everything that happened. I’m appalled at how Jonas behaved.”

Victoria sighed. “Yes, he was bad.”

“These artist types are all a little crazy,” Bessie said. “They’re too self-important. That’s what I think. Jonas didn’t care much for Margie, and that’s probably the reason she ran away.”

“Lots of kids have issues with their stepfathers. Not all of them run away.” Victoria said. “Bessie, tell me about Marge. What kind of a girl was she?”

“Margie?” Bessie considered this. “She was… average, I guess. Nothing special. She wasn’t bad looking, but not the best looking. She wasn’t stupid, but she wasn’t a genius either. She was a fairly loud, cheerful girl. She didn’t participate much in class. She was always tapping away on her laptop instead of focussing on me. I wish the school would ban laptops, actually, but seniors are allowed to have them even in class. I feel like they distract students from really learning.”

“Yes. Well… who was she dating?” Victoria asked. “I saw the boy yesterday at Michelle’s, but I haven’t seen him around.”

“Him?” Bessie laughed. “Jay Cutler. He’s a sweet kid. A little shy with elders, and not very interested in studying, but he’ll do ok in life, you know? He and Margie have been together two years as far as I am aware. That’s forever in high-school timelines.”

“Hmm.”

“I was actually surprised she was dating Jay. Look, I don’t subscribe to it, but there’s a definite hierarchy in high-schools, and you’d be surprised how rare it is to find people who step clear of it. It’s an unspoken code more rigid than the army, really. Jock's date jocks, brainy people, date brainy people, the losers hang out among themselves… yet here Jay was dating Margie.”

“So Jay was a loser?”

“He had anger issues,” Bessie said. “He was the type of boy who hangs out smoking in the backyard and getting into needless fights just to prove that he’s manly. You know?”

All of a sudden, Victoria did. It was very clear to her that Byron had been fighting him.

At home, the atmosphere was tense. Victoria sensed it as soon as she walked through the door. Annie was curled up on the couch with a book in front of her face, but Victoria could tell she was not reading. Even Vanilla, as she came bounding up to greet Victoria, had a little less bounce in her step. The dog wagged her tail and humbly offered her belly for scratching. Victoria bent down and began petting her. Why was it so quiet?

“Hey, Mom,” Annie said. “Byron’s gone out. He told me that you have his phone, so I should tell you he’ll be back home around 10.”

“He what?” Victoria thundered. “He’s supposed to be grounded.”

“I know. He told me.” Annie said, looking scared. Victoria realized exactly where that fear was stemming from.

“Oh, Annie.” Poor Annie, always the peacemaker. Victoria went up and sat on the couch next to her, taking Annie’s feet on her lap and rubbing them. “It’s alright.”

“I don’t want… I hate it when you and Byron fight.” Annie said, her lower lip quivering a little. “He’s always so… mean for a while after.”

Victoria felt a pang. Annie hadn’t always been like this. Back when Michael was alive, Annie would happily participate in the yelling matches with Byron, and give back as good as she got. After, she seemed determined to have peace at all costs and anything that disturbed that peace would make her quake.

“People fight sometimes,” Victoria said. “But it’s always possible to make it right, and in a family, people always come together after they fight. Sometimes stronger than before.”

“That’s not true for Margie, is it?” Annie asked. “It didn’t work out for their family; things just got worse.”

Victoria sighed. “Margie had a complicated history with her family.” She said. “But it doesn’t mean that she won’t be back. I’m sure they’ll all work it out together eventually.”

“No, they won’t,” Annie said, and her eyes seemed to grow bigger. “Mom, what if Byron runs away? What if he runs away and never comes back?”

“Byron?” Victoria laughed and then grew serious. Tears were clinging to her eyes, ready to be released. The sight made Victoria want to cuddle Annie until all her fears were driven away. Of course, she knew that wasn’t the solution. “Annie, dearest. Byron loves you.” The solution, of course, was to quench Annie’s fear of abandonment, a fear that had grown into a black pit after Michael’s death and had a nasty way of opening its jaws even after it had been taped shut. Grief didn’t have an effective bandage.

Annie’s lower lip quivered. “He’s going to leave soon.” She said. “He hardly talks to me these days, you know. We used to be close. He loved to tell me stories about school or make me listen to the songs he liked. Nowadays…”

“Nowadays, he’s got college on his mind,” Victoria said. “He’s working hard on his admissions packet.”

“Maybe,” Annie said. “All I know is he doesn’t seem to care about me anymore.”

“What happened today?” Victoria asked.

“He was watching TV when I came home from school,” Annie said. “I asked him if I could watch my show. I like this band, and they were going to be on The Judy Seal Show. But he started yelling at me.” Annie’s eyes welled up again. “It was my fault too. I kept egging him to let me watch even though he was looking at a match.”

“It isn’t any excuse for him to shout at you,” Victoria said. “I’ll talk to him about it.”

There was a lot she’d have to talk about, Victoria thought. Clearly, sometime between handing his phone to her and getting back home, Byron had decided to disobey Victoria. Knowing him, he’d probably brooded over the whole issue, decided that the world was being unjust, and gotten angry. He was Michael’s son, after all, and a little hot under the collar. She’d speak to him and hear out why he thought she was unjust. She’d been so scared of the thought of a black mark on his record, that she’d grounded him almost out of reflex. Now that she’d had time to think about it, maybe it was better to find out.

The doorbell interrupted her train of thought.

Annie sat up, but Victoria patted her legs. “I’ll get that.” She said. “Maybe it’s Byron.”

But it wasn’t. Leaning on the doorjamb was the same boy she’d seen at Michelle’s home last night. Tall and skinny with a skateboard tucked under one arm and headphones forming a collar around his neck.

“Jay Cutler,” Victoria said. “Someone mistook your face for a doormat and stomped on it, did they?”

Jay touched his nose self-consciously; a large band-aid covered it. One of his eyes was swollen shut now, and a bright purple in color. His lower lip had blood clotted on it.

“Mrs. Armstrong. I came to see Byron.” Jay said.

“Come in.” Victoria motioned him into the living room. To Annie, she said, “Annie, take Vanilla for a walk, would you? I love you, honey.”

Jay sank into the floral armchair, his skateboard next to him. Victoria noted the skull and crossbones on it, along with the legend “Danger: 420 Watts.”

“Can I get you some tea?” Victoria asked.

“Oh. No. I don’t drink tea.” He said. His fingers tapped the armchair. “Mrs. Armstrong, about Byron…”

“Byron’s gone out,” Victoria said. “He’ll be back anytime now. In the meanwhile, I thought you and I could have a chat.”

“Oh. I…”

“Since you’re here, can I fix you something to eat? A sandwich? I’ve got some orange soda too.”

“I’m good.” He said. “Really.” He patted his stomach. Then he held one hand up to his jaw, and Victoria realized the real reason he didn’t want to eat.

“Alright. Well, we need to talk, Jay.” Victoria said. “You fought with Byron today, didn’t you?”

“He told you that?” Jay looked away. “I should have known.”

A little indignant, Victoria said. “He told me nothing. Anyone with eyes knows it had to be you. Byron’s got some silly ideas about not snitching. He saved you a lot of trouble, and got an in-school suspension.”

“That’s it?” Jay laughed. “He should have been expelled! I know I would have.”

“Maybe that’s why Byron didn’t talk,” Victoria said severely. “You owe him, I think.”

“Me? I owe him nothing. He’s a…” Jay bit his lip. “Never mind.”

“Why did you fight anyway?” Victoria asked.

“I only went to him to ask about Margie,” Jay said. “I never thought he’d go off on me like that. Your son 's gone mad. He started shouting at me and beating me up for no reason. Maybe he’s always been jealous about Margie and me being together.”

“That doesn’t sound like Byron at all.”

“Yeah well, look. This isn’t something I want to chat about with his mom, ok? I came to square things out with him.”

“If by square things out, you meant fight again, I’ll tell you now that I won’t take kindly to it. Son or not if the two of you fight again, I’ll hand you both over to Corporal Jager and let him sort it out.”

Jay sneered. “As if that lazy uniform has any idea how to sort stuff out.”

“You’re angry at how he’s handling Margie’s case?”

“He’s doing nothing!” Jay exploded. “She’s been missing way more than 48 hours now, and this entire town is doing nothing! Everyone’s just going about their lives like Margie never even existed.”

“People are giving Michelle their time and their sympathy,” Victoria said.

“Time and sympathy! A missing girl needs a search party, not time and sympathy!” Jay jumped to his feet, towering over Victoria. Victoria stared him down, unimpressed.

“What do you think should be done?”

“They… we should all be searching for her.” Jay said. “She could be out in the woods somewhere, hurt.”

“Randolf has organized three search parties in the nearby woods,” Victoria said. “He also called forest rangers and gave them a description of her.”

“They should get helicopters or something!” Jay said. “Mrs. Armstrong, you’ve solved cases, haven’t you? When that old lady died and when the mayor was murdered… you were the one to figure it out. Couldn’t you figure this out too? Someone has to!”

“Michelle said she last saw Margie at 9 pm on the day of the fest,” Victoria said. “Margie was supposed to go home, but she didn’t. So when’s the last time you saw her, Jay? Maybe we can figure this out together.”

Jay looked at his feet and mumbled something.

“What’s that?” Victoria asked.

“My lawyer told me not to say anything about that,” Jay said.

“Why would you need a lawyer?” Victoria asked.

“My uncle told me it was better to have one in case… Randolf decided to arrest me.” Jay said. “But I wanted to tell Randolf. I did. Still, someone else from school must have told him.”

“Told him what?”

“I met Margie that night,” Jay said. “Everyone did. All us seniors from Everdeen were having a festival of our own. Kinda like a pre-graduation party. It got sentimental. I was a little annoyed because I just didn’t get any time alone with her until the party. My uncle had grounded me and taken my car keys the week before, so Margie and I both rode up with Janie.”

“What was Margie’s mood like?” Victoria asked.

“She was…angry.” Jay sighed. “She broke up with me that night.”

“Ah.” Victoria looked at him. Slowly, Jay sank back into his chair.

“I’ve read that people who want to commit suicide, sometimes try to alienate their friends and family deliberately before doing it,” Jay said.

“You think she was suicidal?” Victoria asked. “Just five seconds ago you were convinced she was missing.”

“I think… Margie was complicated.” Jay said. “She was depressed for sure.”

“So where does Byron come in?” Victoria asked.

“I don’t know,” Jay said. “He and Margie were in the computer club together. They.. I didn’t like how she treated him. I told her that Byron liked her and that she should probably stop talking to him. She told me I was just silly. But he did like her. I think she liked him too because after she had broken up with me, ten minutes later she was dancing with Byron.” Tears spilled from Jay’s eyes. He rubbed at them with his sleeve. “I can’t believe she’d treat me like that. I was good to her. We were together two years.”

“Jay, you were together two years. Margie had run away before, hadn’t she?”

“Oh please.” Jay rolled his eyes. “Margie snuck out of her house to stay overnight with a girlfriend or party with our gang three or four times. Each time, her mom majorly overreacted and reported her missing. It was funny at the time when the police got involved. The crazy thing is, now that she is missing, the police aren’t reacting at all!”

“But Margie had a strained relationship with her parents, didn’t she?” Victoria asked.

“Margie hated them both. Jonas didn’t care about her one bit, and her mother was too controlling. A perfect mother hen, you know? Always clucking.”

Victoria wondered if that uncharitable description was Marge’s or Jay’s.

“Did Margie ever talk about harming herself?” She asked.

“Sometimes she talked about death,” Jay said. “But in a general way. Like about how her father had died because of insulin. But I guess that’s what put the idea of suicide in my mind in the first place. Her father’s death.”

“He was diabetic,” Victoria said.

“Yeah but he died of an overdose of insulin,” Jay said. “One time we were in the woods and Margie told me something about it. It affected her a lot, you know. She said she never was the same after it. She said she still sometimes stays up at night wondering if her father had killed himself. If he’d taken the extra dose of insulin just to be free.”

“You’re telling me her father…”

“What are you doing here!” A voice thundered.