Kilt Dead (12 page)

“LaVerdiere is just blowing hot air. If he had a case
against you, you’d already be in jail.”

For a second he thought she was going to keel over on
him. Her face lost every vestige of color. “They don’t …
he wouldn’t. . ” Her voice trailed off, but for once Dan
had no difficulty reading her thoughts. Anyone who watched
television news shows knew there were people on death
row who didn’t belong there.

“Maine doesn’t have the death penalty,” he blurted.

She pressed her palms against her ears and closed her
eyes. “This isn’t happening. I’m going to wake up soon
and find myself on the road somewhere. No bad knee. No
murder.” Bright spots of pink flared in her cheeks. “No
you!”

“Damn it, Liss. I’m on your side. I’m trying to help.”
Crossing to her, he wrapped his arms around her and
hugged, settling her head on his shoulder.

She went stiff as a board but he didn’t let go. If anyone
had ever needed cuddling, it was Liss MacCrimmon.
After a moment, she gave a little sigh of resignation and
relaxed against him. They stood that way, neither moving,
neither speaking, until the doorbell buzzed to announce
the arrival of the pizza delivery girl.

Liss ate three pieces of pizza, although she did refuse
a soft drink in favor of plain water. Dan polished off the
rest and waited until the box was in the trash and they
were settled on the sofa again before he broached the
subject neither one of them could afford to ignore.

“LaVerdiere’s dead wrong, you know. About you and
about Mrs. Norris. No way was she blackmailing her
neighbors.”

“Everybody has secrets, even if they’re just silly little
ones”

He chuckled. “Borrowed Moose Mayfield’s truck,
huh? Who’da thunk it?”

She punched him in the shoulder. “I’m not proud of
it.”

“But you wouldn’t have paid a blackmailer to keep it
quiet, either. Right?”

“Of course not” She almost smiled. “I can’t imagine
very many frugal Mainers would be willing to pay someone off just to keep them quiet about a youthful prank.
Not in this day and age. Most folks around here would
say `go public and be damned’ and that would be the end
of it. Besides, you’re right. I can’t see Mrs. Norris eking
out her retirement income with extortion.”

“Still, if anyone knew where all the bodies are buried
and who was carrying on with whom, it was Mrs. Norris.”

“But what information she collected was hardly secret. She didn’t gossip, exactly, but if I’d asked her questions she’d have given me an earful over apple pie.” Liss paused, looking thoughtful, then sent him a wicked smile.
“I wonder what she’d have said about you?”

Dan, who’d gotten caught up in watching her eyes
change from blue to green, didn’t immediately react to
what she’d said. Only when he realized she was waiting
for an answer… or a confession … did he blink and
pull back.

“No idea. I’m pretty sure I haven’t murdered anyone
lately and I haven’t got a wife or girlfriend to cheat on”

“Ever fool around with married women?”

“No” And it bothered him that she could think he
would.

She must have read his reaction in his face because
she dropped her gaze, staring at her tightly clasped hands.
“Sorry.”

“Forget it. The foot-in-mouth thing must be contagious. Anyway, my point was that LaVerdiere is wrong
about Mrs. Norris and he’s wrong about you.”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence, but as long as he’s
convinced I’m guilty, he’s not going to look elsewhere for
a suspect”

“He’ll have to realize he’s wrong eventually. Detectives report to the attorney general. Even if LaVerdiere
doesn’t, the A.G. will realize there’s no case against you”

“Is that supposed to reassure me?” In her agitation,
she couldn’t seem to sit still. She jumped up and began to
pace, her steps taking her the length of the living room
and back again. “I can’t just sit around and wait for
LaVerdiere to see the light. I need to prove I’m not
guilty.”

“How?”

“Well, I can ask around. Find out if anyone saw anything.”

“The cops will do that. Probably have already.”

“What if they didn’t ask the right questions? If they think I did it, they wouldn’t have tried to find out who else
was around yesterday.”

He hated to douse the light of battle in her eyes, but if
she interfered with LaVerdiere’s investigation she’d only
make things harder on herself. “Bad idea, Liss. It may even
be illegal.” He didn’t know if that was true or not, since
his only information on how the police solved crimes came
from watching television, and he wasn’t a fan of cop
shows.

“It’s the best one I have. And really, think about it. I
know this town. Or at least I used to. And I know things
Scottish. Whoever was in the shop, whoever killed
Mrs. Norris, that person must have had some connection
to Aunt Margaret or her business.”

“How do you figure that?” His money had been on a
stranger. He didn’t want to think any of his neighbors
might be a killer.

Liss came to a halt in front of the sofa, hands on her
hips. “Because Mrs. Norris wouldn’t have gone into the
stockroom for no reason. She must have seen someone
enter through the back door, someone who shouldn’t have
been there. There were no signs of robbery or vandalism.
Maybe whoever was in there did plan to rob the place, but
if Mrs. Norris had thought the intruder was there to commit a crime, she’d have called the cops instead of going
over herself.”

“I thought the same thing last night,” Dan reluctantly
admitted. “She could see the door to the stockroom from
her back porch and it doesn’t make sense that she’d take a
foolish risk if she saw a stranger break in.”

“So, it was someone she knew. Or at least someone
she recognized and thought of as harmless. And I’m better equipped to figure out who that someone might be
than LaVerdiere is.” Liss looked extraordinarily pleased
with herself.

Dan caught her hand and tugged her back down onto
the sofa beside him. Her determination to play detective
alarmed him. He was glad she no longer seemed to be
frightened or apathetic, but there was no sense going
overboard.

“Think about this a minute, Liss.” He angled himself
so that he could look her straight in the eyes. He kept
hold of her hand. “If Mrs. Norris thought this person was
harmless, aren’t you likely to make the same mistake?”

“I’m just going to check on one or two little things on
my own. Come with me if you’re worried I’ll get into
trouble.”

“I’m not sure that would help much if a murderer
takes exception to your snooping. I can’t watch your back
twenty-four/seven”

“I can take care of myself!” Blue fire in her eyes, Liss
jerked her hand free in a sudden display of temper.

“Okay, Liss. If you say so” She’d been on a real rollercoaster ride since yesterday. Dan supposed he couldn’t
blame her for resenting his words of caution.

“Humoring the little lady, Dan?” She hopped up, dancing lightly on the balls of her feet. “Come on. Try to take
me down”

Dan stood slowly, suddenly wary. “I’m not going to assault you”

“No, really. It’s okay. Come at me like you want to
grab me and strangle me” She bobbed and weaved like a
prize-fighter, face alight with anticipation. Euphoria, he
thought. A false sense of security in reaction to the emotions she’d been feeling earlier.

“This is-” He broke off when she jabbed him in the
stomach.

“Chicken!”

“Fine,” he wheezed, his breathing momentarily impaired. She packed quite a wallop. “Have it your way.” Maybe she’d take the risk seriously if he resorted to brute
force.

He moved fast, reaching for her. She moved faster. As
soon as he made contact, she took a step back, disrupting
his balance. Using his own size and weight against him,
she flipped him neatly onto the sofa.

He landed on his back, hard enough to knock the wind
out of him again. Her crow of triumph echoed in his ears.
Closing his eyes, he stayed put. This was not the way he’d
expected things to go. In fact, he’d probably made matters
worse. Now she’d be convinced she could take care of
herself.

Something touched his cheek, softly nuzzling. Dan
smiled and opened his eyes, but Liss was right where she
had been when she’d thrown him. Warily, he shifted his
gaze to the left. Lumpkin gave him another wet-nosed
nudge and followed up by licking him with a warm,
rough tongue.

Dan sat up fast, swiping at the cat slobber on his face.
“Sheesh! Talk about adding insult to injury.” All in all,
he’d rather the cat give him another bite on the ankle than
turn affectionate.

Still smiling, Liss plunked herself down in the chair
LaVerdiere had used earlier. “I feel much better now.”

“I just bet you do”

“Mad at me?”

“No. But I’m still on record that this is a lousy idea.
You aren’t Nancy Drew. Or Veronica Mars”

“How about one of Charlie’s Angels?”

He shook his head.

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer?”

He stood, as tense now as she’d been a short while ago.
“Damn it, Liss. This isn’t make-believe. There’s a real
killer out there, someone who’s a lot more dangerous than
I am. He-“

“Or she”

“-won’t want to be found and won’t be happy to hear
you’re asking questions.”

“I’ll be careful.” As he watched, her expression turned
deadly serious. “I have to do this, Dan. I can’t just sit still
and let myself be railroaded straight into jail.”

Now it was Dan’s turn to pace. If she had to do it, he’d
have to help her, if only to keep her safe. She did need
someone to watch her back. “If you’re determined to ask
questions of the neighbors, then we’ll do it together.”

“Five minutes ago you hated the idea.”

“Still do, but I suppose there’s no real reason we can’t
check out a few things on our own; make a list of everyone who was near the Emporium yesterday afternoon and
evening. What would that hurt?” Nothing, he hoped.

“Thank you” She sprang out of the chair to give him
an impulsive hug.

He didn’t let go when she tried to step back. Instead
his hands slid over the silky texture of her camisole and
came to rest on soft, well-worn denim at hip level. Eyes
locked on hers, he started to lower his head.

She jerked away, almost losing her balance as she
broke free. “Now this, Dan, this is a bad idea.”

“Sorry.”

“No, you’re not “

“I’m sorry you’re not interested.”

“I didn’t say that. I-” She stopped speaking and
shook her head. “Bad timing, okay? It’s been a long day
and I just hit the wall.” She headed for the stairs, talking
fast as she went. “I can’t handle anything more tonight.
I’m going to bed to try and get a good night’s sleep.” With
a final, dismissive, “See you in the morning,” she disappeared from view.

Smothering a yawn, Sherri Willett raked her fingers
through her hair and struggled to stay awake. In each of
the last two days she’d managed only three-and-a-half hours
of sleep. She was running on nerves and caffeine.

In the dispatch room of the Carrabassett County sheriff’s office at the county jail at two o’clock in the morning, Sherri was three hours into her eight-hour shift. The
job was mind-numbing when they weren’t busy and this
particular night in late July had been completely uneventful. With a murder investigation going on, she’d have
thought the phone would be ringing off the hook. No
such luck.

Sherri shifted in the ergonomic chair at her console
and wondered what evidence had convinced the state police that Liss MacCrimmon should be their prime suspect. So far, three people had told her thata Fallstown
police officer, a deputy, and the cleaning lady.

After getting up to refill her coffee cup, Sherri made
another check of the security cameras and light panel. A
second corrections officer was on duty inside the jail’s cellblock. A third was assigned to intake, the booking of prisoners, and other assorted paperwork. Given her choice,
Sherri supposed she preferred dispatching duties. At night,
corrections officers, who were also sworn in as deputies
in the county sheriff’s department, handled 911 calls to
local police departments, as well as those coming in to
the S.O. Sherri had toyed with the idea of applying for a
patrol job, but so far hadn’t done anything about it. The
risks were greater, and she did have her son to think of.
On the other hand, it wasn’t quite the dead-end job this
one was.

She glanced through a window made of bulletproof
glass in time to see Craig LaVerdiere crossing the small
lobby at the entrance to the jail. Sherri watched him for a
moment, wondering how she could ever have thought he was attractive. She had terrible taste in men, that was how!
Poor judgment. She’d made one mistake with her son’s
father and another, just about a year ago, after the annual
law enforcement picnic, with the then-newly assigned
state police officer.