Snow Way Out (23 page)

If it wasn’t Mark or Erin or Pinky or Benjamin Arnold, did that mean the pendulum of potential guilt swung toward Pamela or Lauren or May? There were two things the killer had to have a connection to: the snow globe–making class and Erin Vickerman’s knife. Archie? He hadn’t taken the class, but he was at Erin’s house on a fairly regular basis. Besides, why would he take one of her knives? He was protective of Erin and wouldn’t do anything to implicate her in a crime, especially stealing her knife then using it to kill someone.

I couldn’t imagine Pam would have been involved either. She was sincerely broken up by Jerrell’s death, further evidenced by her need to give him a decent burial.

My top two suspects, then, were May and Lauren. How either one of them had pulled the whole thing off, then returned to plant and remove suspicious-looking snow globes, was a mystery I couldn’t quite solve. I went into the bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief when I unzipped my dress, got out of my costume, and put on my pajamas. The little bird in the living room clock let out a lone “cuckoo,” letting me know it was one o’clock in the morning.

I pulled on my pink bunny slippers and smiled. They were silly and not at all my style, but they were from one of my best friends in the world. One who’d thrown a big party in my honor. I cinched the robe’s tie on my waist and went into the bathroom to wash off my makeup and brush my teeth, then went back to the couch. I pulled the fuzzy afghan from the back of the couch and tucked it around me as I slid into a reclining position and recapped the evening, thinking about each person I’d met at Tara’s and each one who’d been at my birthday party. When I’d mentally gone through the whole group of high school friends, and all our conversations, my mind shifted to my encounter Thursday night and locked on a pressing question. “Where in Brooks Landing are you hiding, Mr. Benjamin Arnold?”

I
woke up momentarily disoriented while the little cuckoo bird was chirping. When I glanced up at the clock, I saw it was nine o’clock. I had finally relaxed enough to get a good night’s sleep and awoke full of energy, ready to tackle the day. I guessed it was because of the relief I’d experienced when I learned the reason for my friends’ odd behavior. But had I known how the day’s events were all going to shake out, I may have been tempted to lie back down, pull the covers over my head, and stay put.

I had just enough time to shower and dress before Clint was due to pick me up. I’d wait until I got to work to have coffee and a muffin, but drank a big glass of apple juice to quench my thirst and give my body some vitamins and minerals. When I went into the bathroom, I glanced at my Marilyn Monroe hairdo, which, surprisingly, was still in place. Oh, well, time to wash away the last remnants of Marilyn. It had been fun while it lasted.

I climbed in the warm shower and let the water and shampoo wash away the hairspray. When I finished I wrapped a towel around my body and went to the bedroom closet to pick out an outfit. The days were getting cooler as Halloween approached so I decided on a pair of tan wool pants, a matching silk blouse, and a brown cable cardigan. I laid them on the bed and returned to the bathroom to dry my hair and put on my makeup. I was back to being Camryn Brooks, green eyes, freckles, and all.

I was watching out the front window when Clint pulled up in his police car four minutes early. When I walked out the door, I checked to be sure it was locked, convinced I had acquired an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Clint had gotten out of his car, but when he saw me, he climbed back in.

“Good morning,” I said as I settled into the passenger seat.

“Morning,” Clint said, as he picked up a coffee cup from the center console and took a loud, slurping sip. He had been fairly decent to me lately, and I did my best not to let the sound grate on my nerves. I could put up with almost anything for a few minutes.

“You know, you would have stolen the show last night, even if it wasn’t your birthday party.” He turned his head to me then back to the road.

“You mean because of my ‘getup’?”

He smiled. “You bear a strong resemblance to Miss Monroe.”

“At least I can make myself look like she did when she was all dolled up.”

“You looked good last night, but you look better this morning.”

My face warmed. “Oh. Thanks. I guess sleeping eight solid hours helps.”

Clint looked over at me. “When we locate and apprehend Arnold, that’s what I plan to do: hibernate for about twelve hours.”

“That’d be good.” I’d noticed Clint had been looking more haggard the past week. I should have figured he’d be losing sleep with the extra hours he was working and the stress of having an unsolved murder on his hands.

He pulled to a stop by my car. “Glad to see your car is intact since I was the one who made you leave it here last night.”

I opened the door and climbed out. “Thanks for the ride.”

“You know what to do if you have a Benjamin Arnold sighting.”

“I do.” I closed the door and got into my own vehicle. Clint waited until I started the engine before he left. We drove off in separate directions. I fell into what had become my customary procedure on the way to the store, looking down all side streets as I drove past. Maybe I was becoming compulsively obsessed after all.

Pinky was working away, grinding a batch of coffee beans when I arrived. “Hey, pal, all you do is work. And throw super-duper parties.”

She stood up straight with her eyes wide open. “Cami, you gave me a start. I didn’t hear the door dinger.”

“That grinder is loud. Those beans smell really good and remind me I need a cup of coffee.”

“Help yourself. Jamaican Blue Mountain on tap. Hey, you caused a stir with that sexy little outfit last night.”

“Believe me, I would have changed had I known where Clint was taking me.”

“You really were surprised, weren’t you?”

I gave her a light hug. “I really was. The best birthday party of my life. But don’t tell my parents I said that.”

Pinky raised her right hand. “I’m glad it turned out so well, and I promise not to tell your folks.”

“Can you keep another secret?”

“It depends.” That was true. Pinky tried, but I knew she didn’t always keep her lips sealed about confidential matters.

“Guess who wanted to kiss Marilyn Monroe last night?”

“Who?” A couple of her curls broke free from under her headband.

“Mark.”

“
Our
Mark?”

“Our Mark.”

“Ew. I mean, Mark’s a great guy, good-looking, dependable, stable job. But—”

“You don’t have to explain. We both love him like a brother, not a boyfriend.”

“Exactly. Or else I would have nabbed him years ago.”

“No spark.”

“No spark.”

“I’ve got a few minutes before I need to open up shop, so I’ll take a cup of coffee to my back room to do a little organizing. Some new snow globes came in yesterday, and I need to get them marked and make room on the shelves for them.”

“Have fun.” She went back to her batch of beans.

I had twelve minutes, and that would give me a jump start on the project before any clients came in. At about five minutes to ten, I was on my way from the back room to use the bathroom when I saw Archie in my shop, setting something on a shelf. I held back and watched, wondering what he was doing. Was there a special snow globe he had his eye on that I could put aside and give him for Christmas? I could only see the back of it, but its shape alerted me that something was wrong. He stared at it for a few seconds, probably until the snow had settled, then picked it up again and put it in his jacket pocket.

I stepped out of the shadows. “Archie?”

His shoulders shot up a few inches and his eyes were wider than Pinky’s had been when I’d startled her. His cheek moved back and forth rapidly in a nervous-looking twitch. “Uh—uh—uh—Cami. I didn’t know you was here.”

“What are you doing?” I spoke the words as casually as possible.

“I’m not stealin’ nothin’.”

It felt like arrows were shooting through my heart. “Why don’t we go into Pinky’s shop and get a cup of coffee, and we can talk about the fun party we had last night? I was just going to call Erin to thank her and see if she wanted to come down and join us.”

Archie held his hand against his pocket as though he was protecting something precious as we walked side by side. Pinky looked from Archie to me when we came through the archway. “Archie, where’d you come from? Why do you guys have funny looks on your faces?”

I made a “shh” face at her and hoped Archie didn’t notice. “Pinky, can you get Archie a cup of coffee while I turn on my lights and unlock the door?”

Her eyebrows squeezed together. “Uh, sure.”

Archie headed to a table and I had my shop open in about thirty seconds. My cell phone was in my pants pocket, but I picked up the shop phone also on the way back to Brew Ha-Ha. Pinky was still behind her counter putting cups and a plate of scones on a tray. I glanced over at Archie and saw him sitting at a table, moving the napkin holder around. I leaned in close to Pinky and whispered, “I’ll take that tray. You call Mark and tell him to get over here right away. And Clint, too, but don’t let Archie hear you. Go in my shop, if you need to.”

Pinky knew me well enough to know I meant serious business and it was not the time to ask questions. She held my eyes with hers then nodded. I carried the treats to Archie’s table, unloaded the drinks, and set the plate of scones in front of him. I’d lost my own appetite. I pulled a chair out from the table and sat down.

“I musta had too much to eat last night ’cause I’m not real hungry right about now.”

“That’s okay, you don’t have to eat.”

“It was a real nice party, all right. I sure do appreciate bein’ with you kids.” He fidgeted and kept his hand on his pocket.

“I’m glad you were there to help celebrate.” I pointed to the hand that was stuck like glue to his jacket. “Archie, something is bothering you. And I’d say it has to do with whatever you’ve got in your pocket.”

The side of his face twitched. “Well, now, why do you think that?”

I didn’t answer right away and the longer I looked at him, the more he squirmed. I wanted to reach over and touch his free hand, but I wasn’t sure how he would react in his nervous state. “Archie, how about you show me what you’ve got? I know it’s a snow globe, but I only saw the back of it, not the scene inside.”

He shifted in his chair. “I didn’t mean to interfere with your displays or nothin’. I only set it on the shelf for a minute to see how it looked with the others around it.”

Was that what had happened the other two times homemade snow globes had appeared and disappeared? Pinky and our off-duty police friend Mark came in quietly and sat at the next table. Archie was looking down at his hand securing the pocket and didn’t appear to notice them.

“Well, I was goin’ to tell you all what happened, but I didn’t know how to without lettin’ you down.”

My heart pounded so hard against my chest wall, I noticed my blouse was moving from its force. Before Archie said more, Clint walked in. I hadn’t heard Pinky’s door’s bell ding and wondered if both Mark and Clint had come in through my shop door instead. Clint casually pulled out a chair between Archie and me and sat down. My stress level dropped about a hundred points. And then Erin came in. When we caught each other’s eyes, I knew Pinky had called her, too, and she was as apprehensive as the rest of us were. Archie’s face lifted to Erin, like it always did. She gave off some kind of radar or something that alerted Archie when she was near. He held his free hand out for her and she moved behind him and put her hands on his shoulders.

“I’ve been keeping a secret for a lotta years,” Archie said.
A lot of years?

Erin gave his shoulders a slight squeeze. “What’s that, Archie?”

He reached up and patted one of her hands. “Well, it concerns you mostly, Erin. You see, when I was stationed in ’Nam, I got pretty involved with a special gal over there, and before long, she was in the family way. Then she disappeared. All I was ever able to find out was that her family sent her away, and she had a baby girl who was given up for adoption.

“When I first met you girls in the park all those years ago, and you told me where you were from, I couldn’t help but think it was possible you were my daughter. ’Course, I couldn’t prove it without a blood test, and didn’t want to upset you or your folks, so I never said nothin’. But I always wondered.”

Erin’s naturally dark complexion paled. We were all looking at her with varying degrees of surprise registered on our faces. It was the very last thing in the world I would have guessed he’d say.

“Oh, Archie, you’ve always been one of my dearest friends, no matter what.” Erin gave his shoulders a final pat and walked over to Pinky’s and Mark’s table. I think she needed to put a little distance between them to process the bombshell Archie had dropped.

I moved a hair toward Clint. “Clint, before you got here, I think Archie was about to show me the snow globe he’s got in his pocket.” I looked at Archie and I’m not sure how, but I managed to smile. A little.

Archie stuck his hand in his pocket. He was finally ready to give up the secret object he’d been guarding. Time had stopped and I wondered if it was still Saturday morning. When he pulled out the snow globe of a man appearing to be asleep on a park bench with trees and a streetlamp behind him and a full moon overhead, and set it on the table in front of me, a gasp left my mouth before I was able to stop it. I had suspected that was what he’d been hiding, but it still pulled the ground out from under me all the same. I heard the others make quiet, stunned sounds. Mark, Pinky, and Erin slid their chairs in for a better view. Clint leaned in for a close-up of the snow globe, but didn’t touch it. When he leaned back I saw how glum he looked.

“Where’d you get this, Archie?” Clint said.

Archie cleared his throat and scratched his head. “I made it, and it sorta turned out to be a sign of things to come.”

“In what way?”

“’Cause of what happened after.”

“Why don’t you start from the beginning, and walk us through it.”

“It goes back to that class the girls had here; you know, the one where that May woman showed you how to make snow globes, snow and all.”

None of us would ever forget it as long as we lived.

Archie took a minute before he went on. “Well, I wasn’t signed up for the class, but when it got to the time when everyone was decidin’ what to use for the inside scene, I started lookin’ myself. When I seen that guy sittin’ on the park bench among all those little figures, it made me want to make one of them globes for myself. I set the stuff I needed on an empty table in the back here in the coffee shop, and glued the little guy and some trees with the moon behind them in place, then helped myself to some of that magic water. That teacher was so busy she didn’t even notice me do that, or when I borrowed one of those glue guns to seal it up.”

She wasn’t the only one.