Slip and Go Die (A Parson's Cove Mystery) (18 page)

I hung up before he could ask any more questions.

If I’d accomplished anything, at least, I’d made Reg Smee start thinking. He knew very well that no one goes out the door without a coat on when it’s about twenty below.

I don’t remember when I fell asleep. All I know is that I’d put the last log in the stove and hoped that by some miracle, it would burn slowly all night long.

The dream, however, I do remember. It’s a recurring one and one that I wish would go away and never haunt me again. The old cabin and the wood stove must have rekindled memories from my childhood without my realizing it.

I was back in my own house, the house my father had built before I was born. He was standing at the bottom of the stairs, wearing his worn, gray housecoat and holding a cup of tea. My mother was at the top of the stairs, looking prim and proper in her cotton housedress with a white starched apron. I was on the stairs, halfway between my father and mother. They were both talking to me at the same time. How could I listen to both of them? Why did they always do this to me? Then, their hands reached out. My father’s teacup fell to the floor. Mother screeched at him. Next, each one grabbed one of my arms. They were pulling me in opposite directions.

“Mabel! Mabel!”

They were shouting in my ear. I’d had enough. I was an only child. I couldn’t take this anymore. It was impossible to please both of them. Why couldn’t they leave me alone?

“Mabel! Mabel!”

One of them had reached me. Or, was it both of them? One of them was shaking me and yelling my name, over and over. I tried to force my eyes open. All I knew was that I had to get out of this dream.

“Leave me alone,” I screamed. I lifted my arms and started pounding. Usually, when I have this dream, by the time I get to the pounding part, I wake up and find that I’ve been beating either the air or my pillow. This time, I was hitting something that felt very much like another real live human being. I pried my eyes open.

There was a massive man standing in front of me. His hands were still grasping my shoulders but thankfully, he’d stopped shaking me. There was a flashlight on the coffee table casting an unnatural glow around the room. The fire was out. The room was cold.

“Reg,” I gasped. “What are you doing here?”

Chapter Twenty Three

It took about ten minutes to get my heart to return to its normal beat. Meanwhile, Reg disappeared through the white door into the bathroom. Within seconds, the furnace came on.

“Don’t know why you’re sitting here in the cold,” he mumbled as he stumbled to the front door. He flipped on the light switch and suddenly three lamps came to life.

“How did you do that?” I asked.

“What?”

“Get the electricity to come on.”

“Oh, we shut everything off in the switch box.”

I pulled on my jacket. “You mean I’ve been sitting here in the cold freezing to death and all the while I could have had heat?”

He nodded.

“Now all I need to know, Mabel, is why are you sitting here in the first place? You know that I could arrest you for break and enter, don’t you?”

“Not if I got caught in the storm and had to seek shelter.”

“Yeah, right. Quick thinking.”

“How did you know I was here anyway?”

“You’re pretty easy to read. First of all, half the town saw you drive down Main Street and you never take your car out in the winter. Secondly, you never phone me unless something is up. I went over to your place. Your car was gone. You’d phoned and asked about Beulah. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where you’d gone.”

“But it’s storming. How did you get out here?”

“I borrowed Scully’s snowmobile.”

“You came all the way out here in a storm to see if I was all right?”

Reg heaved himself into the other chair. His face was wind burned and his clothes reeked of gas fumes from the snow machine. He pulled off his fur hat and placed it on the end table with his mittens. His hair stood up in all directions.

He sat and stared at me for a couple of seconds before answering.

“I suppose I did, Mabel.”

“Why? You knew if I were out here that I’d have shelter. After all, I phoned you. I had to be okay.”

He sighed. “Just thought I’d better check, that’s all. I am the sheriff. It happens to be my job to protect everyone in Parson’s Cove. Even you.”

I knew Reg Smee better than that. There was no way that man would leave the comfort of his nice warm home and venture out into a storm unless he had good reason. As Flori would say, I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday.

“I don’t buy that, Reg.”

“What do you mean, ‘you don’t buy that’?”

“You wouldn’t come all the way out here unless you thought I was in really big trouble. Don’t give me this nonsense about protecting everyone in Parson’s Cove. You came out here because you suddenly realized, just as I’ve said all along, that Beulah had to have been murdered and my life could well be in jeopardy too.”

Reg let out another sigh and unzipped his jacket. The room was slowly starting to warm up.

“Isn’t that right?” I continued. “You were worried that perhaps the murderer would come back here, that he or she could have followed me.”

“Why do you think the murderer would follow you?”

“Aha! I knew it. You said ‘murderer.’ You do think someone pushed Beulah down, don’t you?”

Reg ran his fingers through his thinning hair. Some of it stayed down.

“You know what? I honestly don’t know what to think. As much as I hate to admit it, it does seem mighty strange that Beulah would be found outside in the snow without a coat on. On the other hand, it really doesn’t prove that someone pushed her.”

“But, why would she be outside in the first place?”

Reg shrugged. “It could be as simple as running out to throw out some bird seed. She wouldn’t need a coat for that.”

“Yes, she would. Nobody just runs outside when it’s so cold. No, she went out for a reason.”

“What do you think happened, Mabel?”

“You’re asking me?”

“It sounds like I am.”

It’s a once in a lifetime experience to have Reg ask for my opinion so I had to take advantage of it.

I cleared my throat. “This is what I think happened. Although I am open to any queries or suggestions.” I cleared my throat again.

“Would you get on with it? We’re not in a court room or anything. I simply asked for your ideas, that’s all.”

I nodded. “Okay. Here goes: I will from henceforth refer to the murderer as the ‘Felon’ or ‘Felons’.”

“Whatever. I do want to get home before next week though.”

“Okay, okay. This is what I think transpired.” Reg rolled his eyes and distracted me for a moment. “Someone, whom I’ve named the Felon, found out that Beulah had something very precious in her possession. Something valuable and worth a lot of money.”

“Sorry to interrupt but how would this Felon know about this? Beulah kept to herself all the time. How many people even went out to visit her?”

“Well, there are a few things that have yet to be solved. I thought you were just asking for my opinion.”

“Okay, you’re right. Keep going.”

The room was now warm enough for me to remove my jacket. My stomach growled. I looked at my watch. It was two o’clock.

“You don’t happen to have something to munch on, do you?” I asked.

Reg grunted and pulled a tiny Snickers bar out of his pocket. There is a reason why our sheriff is a bit on the heavy side. Beth told me once that he keeps chocolate bars on the night table beside his bed. I guess with all the worrying he does trying to protect the citizens of Parson’s Cove, I might end up munching in the middle of the night, too.

I ripped off the wrapper and devoured it in two bites.

“Any more?” I asked.

“No. Now, are you going to tell me what your ideas are about this case or should I leave?”

“You’re not going to leave me here, are you?”

“If you don’t hurry up and talk to me, I will.” He reached over and picked up his hat.

“Here’s what I think,” I said, speaking quickly. “The Felon learned somehow that Beulah owned something worth a lot of money. He, she or they came out to see her, trying to convince her to sell it to them. She told them it wasn’t for sale. They threatened her. She told them to get out and followed them outside to make sure that they left. You wouldn’t put your coat on to do that. Outside, they got into another argument and the Felon or Felons, shoved her down. She hit her head and died. They left before anyone would see them. After all, the Felon could be someone from our own little village. Or, perhaps, Esther scared them off. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they go into the house and search for whatever it was that they were looking for?”

“And that’s why they stole all Beulah’s things from your store? They were searching for something?”

I nodded. “I wonder if they found it? I wonder also, where they stashed all her things? I really do need to get them back, Reg. Otherwise, there’s no way I can pay for my furnace. And, without a furnace, I’ll have to sell my shop. Or, borrow money from the bank. Either way, it all stinks.” I leaned back and closed my eyes. “It really did seem like such a good plan, even if I didn’t come up with it myself.”

“I hate to tell you this, Mabel, but those things might be long gone by now. They could be somewhere on the other side of the country.”

We sat in silence. I wished that I could tell him about Charlie. Charlie was the one who needed the most protection. But, a promise is a promise. If only I could convince Charlie to tell me who it was that had threatened him; who it was that had stolen all my things; who it was that had pushed poor Beulah Henry to her death.

Reg raised his head.

“So, what do you want to do? Do you want to spend the night here with me or do you want to go back home in the storm, riding on the back of the snowmobile?”

“That’s the only choices I have?”

“Afraid so.”

I looked over at the tired old cop sitting in front of me. Imagine someone coming out in a storm like this to check on Mabel Wickles. My heart swelled with affection.

“I’ll stay here as long as you don’t snore.”

“I snore.”

“Me, too.” I pulled my jacket over me for a blanket, laid my head on the arm of the chair and closed my eyes. Never in a million years would I ride through a blizzard on the back of a snowmobile with Reg Smee.

I could hear Reg’s knee crack as he slowly stood up. He walked over to the phone.

“Better let Beth know that I’m spending the night in a lonely deserted cabin with Mabel Wickles,” he said.

Chapter Twenty Four

“Mabel, I can’t believe it! You spent the whole night in Beulah’s cabin with Reg Smee?” Flori’s eyes were almost popping out of their sockets and her eyebrows were completely hidden from view.

“Well, it wasn’t like I had a choice, Flori. There was a raging storm happening outside, you know.”

It was almost one in the afternoon. Flori had been trying to reach me all morning. Of course, I’d been busy being escorted over the snowdrifts by Sheriff Smee and his flying machine. I’m sure he took extreme delight in roaring from snow bank to snow bank, flying through the air and listening to me scream as I held on for dear life. I’d been hoping that by morning, the storm would be over and I could drive my car home. Unfortunately, although the storm had subsided by eight-thirty, my car was buried under a mountain of snow.

As soon as I’d walked in the door and even before listening to all of Flori’s frantic messages on my answering machine, I’d called Mike at the garage. He promised that as soon as the road was ploughed, he’d tow my car back into town.