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Authors: Debra Burroughs

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BOOK: Debra Burroughs - Paradise Valley 06 - The Harbor of Lies
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“You did what, now?” Chief Taylor asked, his voice rising. “You had no right to do that. I told you before, don’t go pushing your way into my investigation.”

“I had to do something while I waited.”

“Now, Chief,” Emily rested a friendly hand on his arm, “why don’t you let the detective help you?” She knew Colin would be happy to help, and it might keep him occupied while she dealt with all the wedding details.

“And Emily’s a private eye,” Colin offered. “She and I could—”

Susan stepped in. “Absolutely not. Emily and I have a wedding to get planned, and now we’ll have to search for someone else to perform the ceremony. Poor Pastor Ben, bless his heart. But Alvin, Colin would be a great asset to you. You’d be crazy not to let him help you.”

Chief Taylor’s eyes narrowed as he rubbed a hand over his square jaw, pondering Colin’s offer. “What’d you find out?” As quickly as he asked, he waved a hand at him. “Nope. Never mind. I’d better check the man out for myself. You all go on and get outta here.”

~*~

Standing in the parking lot of the police station, Emily thanked her sister for coming, and gave her a quick squeeze before Susan walked to her car.

“I hope you all won’t regret coming to Rock Harbor for your wedding because of what’s happened tonight,” Susan muttered.

“Don’t worry, Sis,” Emily said. “This isn’t our first brush with murder.”

“I guess not, but I don’t know how you two do it.” Susan gave a wan smile, then opened her car door. “See you tomorrow.” She climbed in and drove away.

“I’d better get back,” Alex said. “Isabel will want to hear every detail of what’s going on.”

Emily chuckled. “The others will too, I’m sure.”

Alex gave them a ride the few blocks back to the inn. “See you in the morning,” he said as he strolled off to his room. “Try to get some sleep, you guys.”

Colin walked Emily to her room, pausing as she unlocked the door.

“You want to come in?” She turned around to face him.

“I’d better not. I’ve been up since four this morning and I’m beat.”

She slipped her hands around his neck and drew his face down to hers. “Not even for a little while?”

He closed the gap between them as he slid his hands around her waist, pulled her against him, and covered her lips with his. He reached behind her and pushed the door open, guiding her backwards into the room. “Maybe for a little while.”

~*~

The next morning, after Emily, Colin, and their friends met for breakfast, they gathered in the comfortable lobby of the inn to decide what to do with their day. Camille and Maggie said they wanted to rent bicycles to ride around town and on the bike path down along the shore. Isabel and Alex decided they would go for a hike in the nearby Acadia National Park.

Susan strolled in and joined the small crowd, clutching a thick binder against her chest, just as Colin’s phone began to ring. It was Chief Taylor.

“Hello, Chief. What can I do for you?”

“I tried to search for a Ben Kinney in this area and nothing came up before he moved here six months ago,” he blurted out, sounding exasperated, “which is what you probably found out last night, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but you were pretty adamant that you didn’t want my help.”

“Eyah, about that. I was just being bullheaded and prideful, at least that’s what my wife said. After sleeping on it, I have to admit that I’m in over my head.” He paused for several beats and then continued. “I could use your help, if you’re still willing.”

“Happy to help, Chief.” Colin eyed Emily as he replied. The arch of her brow told him she wasn’t pleased.

“What would you do first?” Chief Taylor asked. “Fingerprints?”

“Yes, run his prints, see who he really was. Such a short history screams
alias
to me.”

Susan’s eyes widened. “Alias?”

Colin held up a finger, hoping the shocking news would be held at bay by those listening to his side of the conversation.

Chief Taylor continued. “Eyah, I can get those from the ME. What else?”

“Check his phone records and his financials.” Colin moved a few steps away from Emily and the chatty group, since they’d all seemed to ignore his gesture for quiet. “I’ll come down there and we can talk it through.”

“I’d appreciate that, Detective.”

“Oh, and, Chief, see if you can get any security video from the inn.” Colin hung up and rejoined the group.

“So,” Emily said, “he wants your help now?”

Susan stepped closer. “What was that about an alias?”

“Sorry, I’m not at liberty to discuss it at this point,” he replied.

“No big deal,” Susan shrugged. “I’m just glad you agreed to help. Without it, poor Alvin wouldn’t have a prayer of solving this case. And it’s important to this whole community because Pastor Ben was becoming one of us. We all need you to find his killer.” She put a hand to her face and shook her head. “So scary to think it might be one of our own folk.”

He didn’t dare tell her Pastor Ben was probably not who the town thought he was or that all those marriages where he had officiated wouldn’t be legal now.

“You heard your sister, Emily.” Colin put an arm around her. “I don’t want to leave the chief hanging. Let’s help him button up this case, and then all’s clear to get married on Saturday.”

“You think you can wrap this case up in two days?” Emily asked.

“I’ll do my best.” He kissed her on the side of her head. “That’s all I can give.”

She lifted her eyes to him. “Maybe I should go with you. We can solve this thing faster with more people on the case.”

Susan waved her hand at Emily. “Not a chance, Sis. We have wedding details to nail down.” She patted her fat binder. “Now, we’ve got to arrange the rehearsal dinner and find someone else to perform the ceremony.”

“What about the senior pastor at the Community Church?” Emily asked.

“Nope, he’s doing a memorial service in Bangor that day, an old friend, but I know a ship’s captain I can ask.”

Colin and Emily glanced at each other. “No, Susan,” she said, “we want a minister.”

Not wanting to get in the middle of the two sisters, Colin excused himself. “I’d better head over to the police station and leave you ladies to the planning.” He cupped Emily’s face in his hands and kissed her, her lips warm and soft on his. “I’ll call you later and we’ll reconnect.”

“Don’t forget, Colin, we need to apply for our marriage license today.”

“This afternoon.” He began backing toward the door. “I promise.”

~*~

“What’d you find?” Colin asked as he walked into Chief Taylor’s office.

“Dr. McHenry told me she’d get the prints and have them run in Bangor. She’ll phone me with the results.”

“If he’s not, in fact, Reverend Ben Kinney, that could open up a ton of possibilities for who might have wanted him dead.” Colin took a chair across the desk from the chief.

“Why would that be?” he asked. “You think he’s hiding from someone?” His eyes grew round at the thought. “You mean, like maybe he was in witness protection?”

“That’s one scenario,” Colin said. “Or he was working undercover on a case.”

The chief stood and moved to the window, looking out over Main Street. “Or he was pretending to be a minister but he was taking advantage of the good people of our town in some way.”

“You stated you don’t have much crime around here, so that’s not likely, right?”

“Well…”

Colin’s interest piqued. “You have something going on around here that you’re trying to deal with?”

The chief turned away from the window and nodded. “We’ve had a rash of break-ins.”

“What do you think is causing a spike in that sort of thing?”

“We don’t want it widely known, so it needs to be kept quiet,” the chief closed the door to his office, “’cause it would hamper the tourist industry we have around here.”

“So, you’re saying this quaint little fishing village has a seedy underbelly?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a seedy underbelly, Detective, but we have been experiencing a problem with,” he paused and cleared his throat, “with heroin.”

“Heroin? Here?” Colin would never have guessed. The place was so picturesque.

“Every town has a bit of a bad element.” The chief took a seat again. “I figure the drug addicts are burglarizing homes to sell the stuff to pay for their habit.”

The phone on his desk buzzed and his receptionist’s voice came over the speaker. “Call on line two, Chief. It’s the medical examiner.”

He grabbed up the receiver and punched the button to answer it. “This is Chief Taylor.” He listened while the person on the other end of the line spoke. “I see. All right. So what is his name?”

The chief scribbled something on a small notepad. “Thanks, Doc.” He hung up the phone then, with two fingers, spun the notepad to face Colin.

“Benjamin Kingston,” Colin read aloud. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

Chief Taylor entered the name into the computer, and it spit out all kinds of information—criminal history, last known address, known associates, and the like. He then did a search for Benjamin Kingston’s financial history, but it didn’t garner much information. A checking account in New York that hadn’t had much traffic in the last six months, which was about the time the man had come to Rock Harbor.

“Any family, so you can notify them of his death?” Colin asked.

“Nothing listed.”

“Google him, see what comes up.” Colin moved around the desk to see the computer screen.

Chief Taylor punched his name into the search box and hit enter. After a number of links to news stories popped up, he clicked on one of them and scanned the article. “Looks like he was a witness in some RICO case in New York. He was set to testify against some big muckety-muck, but then he disappeared.”

Colin leaned in and glanced over the article. “Maybe that’s who he was hiding from.”

“And the kingpin’s hired gun may have found where Ben was hiding out.”

“I have a friend in the New York City Police Department.”

“Of course you do,” Chief Taylor mumbled.

“Why don’t I give him a call and see what he can tell us?” Colin pulled out his phone and made the call.

The chief stared at the computer screen, listening to Colin’s side of the conversation until he hung up. “Any luck?”

“Not right off.” Colin slipped the phone back in his pocket. “He’ll check into it and get back to me.”

“I wonder how Ben got Pastor Jansen to hire him if he wasn’t a minister.” The chief rubbed a hand over his chin.

“Why don’t we go pay him a visit and find out?” Colin suggested.

“I’ll get my coat.”

Chapter 8

An older woman escorted Chief Taylor and Colin into Pastor Jansen’s office.

“Good to see you, Chief.”

“This is Detective Colin Andrews. He’s assisting me on a case.”

“Detective.” Pastor Jansen shook Colin’s hand. “Have a seat, gentlemen.” He motioned to the two chairs opposite his desk.

He was a tall, thin man, in his forties, with thick, wavy dark hair, graying at the temples. “What can I do for you?” he asked, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

“From the way your young secretary was crying out there, I’m assuming you’ve probably heard by now that Pastor Ben was killed last night,” the chief said as he and Colin took their seats.

“We’ve heard.” The pastor nodded as he sat down in a large leather chair behind his desk. “Poor Whitley. She worked closely with Pastor Ben. She’s taking it hard—we all are. Do you have any idea who could have done this?”

“Not yet. That’s why we’re here,” Chief Taylor said.

Colin leaned forward in his chair. “What can you tell us about him?”

“Like what?”

“Does he have any family in the area? Did you know of anyone he might have had a beef with?”

“No family around here that I know of. He might have had some in New Hampshire, I think that’s where he was from, before moving here—at least that’s what it said on his resume. As far as anyone he might have had a problem with? No. As far as I know, everyone liked him. His methods were a bit unorthodox, but he was charming and friendly, and the townspeople seemed to really take to him.”

“A bit unorthodox?” Colin asked.

“Irreverent sometimes.”

“So why did you hire him?”

“He came highly recommended by Mayor McCormack.”

“Ella?” Chief Taylor wore a quizzical expression. “She recommended him?”

The chief glanced at Colin, as if he seemed to be thinking the same thing Colin was. Why would the mayor recommend someone who was clearly not who he was pretending to be?

“There were other candidates,” the pastor said, “but Ella applied considerable pressure, practically pleading with me to hire him. With her being the mayor and all, I told her I’d give him a trial period. We needed the extra help with all the growth the church has had, and like I said, the whole town seemed to warm to him. Ben was staying at her bed and breakfast, you know. Perhaps you should go talk to her.”

Colin and Chief Taylor stood. “Thanks for your time,” the chief said. “I think we’ll just go on over and pay a visit to Miss Ella.”

“By the way,” Colin said, “where were you between six and eight o’clock last night?”

The pastor breathed a laugh. “You think I murdered someone? I’m a pastor.”

“I don’t mean to sound disrespectful, sir, but anyone is capable under the right circumstances,” Colin said.

“Last night I was home with my wife and kids. They’ll verify.”

The chief appeared a bit embarrassed at Colin’s questioning the minister. “Sorry, but we have to ask everyone. Not that we would ever think…well, you know.”

“I understand.” The pastor rose and shook the men’s hands before ushering them out to the reception area. As Colin walked past the secretary’s desk, he paused. “Miss—”

“Whitley. Whitley Donovan.” Her pale green eyes were moist and rimmed with red.

“We’re investigating Pastor Ben’s murder,” Colin said.

The young woman looked up into Colin’s face, tears began to flood her eyes. She turned away and pulled a handful of tissue from the box sitting on the corner of her desk. She dabbed the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

“Is there anything you can tell us about Pastor Ben that would help us solve his murder? Anyone who might want him dead?”

BOOK: Debra Burroughs - Paradise Valley 06 - The Harbor of Lies
8.52Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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