“Well, I hear from people the two guys didn’t get along,” Finny said. “I’ve seen them a couple of times. Once in a bar ... I think I told you this already. The police were called because Grant was being a pain. Porter showed up and made Grant leave. Grant was not happy about that.”

  “Where was the second time you saw them?” Shelly asked.

  Finny ran his hand over the top of his head and once again took a glance at Shannon. “I came to work really early one morning. It was around 4:30am. I had the odd feeling I’d left a gas can behind the wheel of one of the snow removal vehicles. I tossed and turned until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I was afraid somebody would run over the can and it would blow up. It’s stupid, I know, but the idea wouldn’t leave my head so I got up and went into work. It was dark. I walked up the sidewalk from the parking lot to head over to the garages behind the barn.”

  Nervous tension caused Shelly’s neck muscles to ache. “Did you see something?”

  “I didn’t see anything. I heard voices. They sounded angry.”

  “Where were the voices coming from?” Shelly asked.

  “Around the back of the first garage building,” Finny said and then looked over his shoulders to be sure no one was coming close to them. “It was Grant and a guy talking. They didn’t seem to be getting along. I stood close to the side of the building. I wanted to hear what they were saying. It was unusual for Grant to be at work so early. No one else was around.”

  “Except the guy who was talking to Grant,” Jack pointed out.

  “Yeah. It was that cop. Porter Walton.” Finny said.

  “Could you hear what they were talking about?” Shelly asked.

  “Only a little. The cop was mad. He told Grant he’d better back down. Walton told Grant he wasn’t going to get into trouble because of him. He said something about the past, but I couldn’t make it out.”

  “Did Grant speak loud enough that you could hear what he was saying?” Shelly asked.

  “He said something like Walton was no good back then and he was no good now. Something like that.”

  “Did the argument go on for a while? How did it end?” Shelly asked.

  “I took off. I didn’t like the sound of the whole thing. It made me nervous.” Finny fiddled with the end of his shirt sleeve. “So I don’t know how it ended.”

  “When did this take place?” Jack questioned. “When did you see them arguing?”

  “A couple of mornings before Grant and Benny got murdered.” Finny’s face was tight and pinched.

  “Did you tell this information to the police?” Shelly asked.

  Finny shook his head. “Nah. You can tell them, if you want, but I’m not going to the police station myself.”

  “Why don’t you want to report this yourself?”

  “I told you before … I don’t like cops. I don’t trust them. I’m new at the barn. Wouldn’t it be easy to pin those murders on me?”

  “There isn’t any evidence against you,” Jack pointed out. “The crime can’t be pinned on you.”

  Finny’s eyes flicked nervously around the room. “I didn’t like Grant, but I didn’t do anything to either one of those guys.” The dark-haired man looked to the attractive young woman sitting beside him. “Shannon wants to tell you something, too.”

  Shannon gave Finny a look that could kill and then she turned to Shelly. “I really don’t have anything to say. Finny and I were just talking. I don’t want to say anything bad about anyone.”

  “Do you think you might know something about what happened at the barn?” Shelly asked the woman with a kind voice.

  Shannon’s fingers ran through the ends of her ponytail. “I don’t know anything.”

  The waiter cleared some dishes from the table and then poured coffee for everyone. Shelly stifled a sigh. She’d wanted to spend the evening in Jack’s company and wished that if Shannon had something to share, she would get on with it.

  “Tell them what you think Grant said,” Finny encouraged. “Tell them what you think he was talking about.”

  Daggers flew from Shannon’s eyes. “I don’t want to spread rumors.”

  “You heard him so it’s not a rumor,” Finny explained.

  Shannon’s lips were tight and thin when she raised her eyes to Shelly. “I was at the barn. I was working a little later than usual. I was going towards the kitchen when I heard Grant’s voice. He was talking on the phone.”

  “He was talking in a whisper,” Finny added to the story.

  Shannon gave him a look. “Grant was talking in a soft voice. He didn’t know I was around. He was standing in the mechanic’s office with the lights off.”

  “What was he saying?” Shelly asked when Shannon seemed like she wasn’t going to say any more.

  Shannon shifted her eyes downward. “I heard him say it’s payback time. I’ve got him good and now it’s time for him to pay.”

  A cold shiver moved over Shelly’s skin. “Do you know who Grant was talking to?”

  “No. No idea.” Shannon took a long sip of her hot coffee.

  “When did you hear Grant say this?” Shelly asked.

  Shannon moved around on her seat. “I don’t remember exactly. It was probably the week before he died.”

  “Do you have an inkling what Grant might have been referring to?” Shelly asked.

  “I don’t know what he was talking about or who he was talking to.” Shannon shook her head.

  “Do you think Grant had a hand in the attempted robbery of the safe?” Jack asked.

  “Was he that stupid?” Shannon asked with an exasperated tone. “Did Grant think he could steal that safe? Did he try to?” The woman moaned. “Really? Grant knew the safe was cemented into the office floor. How could he be so stupid to help someone steal it?”

  “What about Benny?” Jack asked. “Would Benny go along with something illegal? Would Benny go along with whatever Grant asked of him?”

  Shannon straightened in her seat. “No. Benny wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t do anything like that. He wouldn’t have helped Grant with something like that.”

  “If Grant had something to do with the robbery, do you think he could have killed Benny?” Shelly asked. “Would he do that to a friend?”

  Shannon looked a little pale under all of her makeup. “I don’t think Grant would hurt Benny. But maybe the person Grant was working with would.”

  23

  As Juliet maneuvered the car over the narrow country road, Shelly gripped the arm of the door and tried to control her breathing by slowly taking a breath in and then slowly letting it out.

  “Are you okay?” Juliet took a quick glance at her friend knowing she suffered distress while riding in a vehicle.

  “I’m fine.” Little beads of perspiration showed on Shelly’s forehead. “We’re almost there.”

  Juliet pulled into the lot of a little country store and cut the engine. “I thought we should talk before we get to Emmy Norris’s house. It’s less than five minutes away. If we stop for a few minutes, it will give you a chance to collect yourself.”

  Shelly gave a grateful nod.

  The young women had made arrangements to speak with Grant’s wife, Emmy, again.

  Juliet said, “I’ve been feeling sorry for Emmy. Her husband dead, money worries. It would be hard not to feel bad for Emmy’s predicament. But … I don’t trust her. Melody from the diner told you Emmy stole from her own mother. She didn’t seem all that heartbroken over Grant except that she wouldn’t have his income to help with the finances anymore.”

  Shelly used a tissue to dab at her forehead. “I’ve been thinking the same thing. It was hard to read Emmy the first time I was there. One second, I was so sad for her, and the next, I thought she was hard and uncaring. I also think we can’t believe what comes out of her mouth.”

  “This interview might be a time to heed the warning in your dreams,” Juliet said.

  Shelly nodded and put the passenger side window down to get some air. “Some things aren’t what they seem. We need to question everything. I’ve been going over everything that Finny and Shannon said last night. Are they trying to make us believe Grant was in on the robbery? Are they trying to turn attention away from someone else?”

  “Like themselves?” Juliet asked. “Finny and Shannon might be the ones who planned and executed the crime. They might push the idea Grant was in on it to move suspicion from themselves. They were also pushing the idea that Grant and Porter Walton have issues.”

  “Are Finny and Shannon being honest? Is something going on between Grant and Porter?” Shelly asked. “Or are Shannon and Finny playing us and making things up about the men to make us suspect them of wrongdoing?”

  “We need to be on our toes when we talk to Emmy,” Juliet said and started the engine. “Hang tight. We’ll be at the house in a few minutes.”

  “What’s wrong with the police?” Emmy asked with an edge to her voice. “I didn’t really care if I got Grant’s lunchbox back, but now I want it. How could they lose it?”

  The three women sat in the living room of the small cottage with cups of tea. The place was a mess with clothes flung over the back of chairs, a couple of dirty plates on the coffee table, dirty slush marks on the carpet. A stale odor of cigarettes and old takeout pizza lingered on the air and caused a wave of nausea to squeeze Shelly’s stomach.

  “I don’t know if the police have found your husband’s lunchbox. Somehow the one they have was mistaken for Grant’s,” Shelly said. “Do you know if someone at the barn had a similar looking lunchbox?”

  A flash of annoyance passed over the woman’s face. “How would I know? I only know the one you brought here the other day doesn’t belong to Grant … and I want to know where Grant’s box is.” Emmy’s hair hung in strands around her face giving the appearance of not having been washed in days. Dark half-circles showed on the skin below her eyes. She held an unlit cigarette between the fingers of her right hand and used it to poke the air for emphasis when she talked.

  “The police are working on it,” Juliet said in a comforting tone of voice.

  “Could you tell us how Grant was feeling prior to the day he was killed?” Shelly asked.

  Emmy gave her a dirty look. “We’ve been over and over this.”

  “It helps to go over things more than once.” Shelly gave the woman a slight smile.

  Emmy pushed her stringy bangs from her forehead. “What was the question?”

  “How was Grant’s mood? Did he seem like himself?” Shelly repeated.

  “He was fine.”

  “Was he happy at work?” Juliet asked.

  Emmy looked up. “He was the same as always.”

  Shelly asked, “Was he looking forward to anything? Did the two of you have plans for anything?”

  Emmy looked stone-faced. “No.”

  “Have you been working, Emmy?” Juliet asked. “Have you been able to return to work?”

  “Some, yeah. I need the money to move. I’m going to live with my sister in New Jersey for a while. My sister was supposed to come up here and help me, but she couldn’t get the time off from work.” The woman put her head in her hands. “Stupid, Grant,” she whispered.

  “Why do you say that?” Shelly asked.

  Emmy sat up. “He always had a scheme. Was always into something. Nothing ever worked out.”

  “Did Grant have a scheme going on recently?” Shelly asked.

  “What?” Emmy shook her head. “No.”

  “Was he trying to make a little extra money?” Juliet questioned.

  “He was always trying to make some extra money.” Emmy blew out a breath.

  “How did he try to make money?” Juliet lifted her mug from the coffee table.

  “Selling stuff, fixing things up, stuff like that.” Emmy’s voice betrayed the woman’s exhaustion.

  “Who was Grant friendly with?” Juliet asked before taking a sip of her coffee.

  “Benny. You mean at work or outside of work?” Emmy held her hands together in her lap.

  “Either.”

  “He had a few guys he hung out with. He knew them from high school. They’d go out for a beer, play darts, go fishing, get together to watch sports.”

  “He was still friends with people from high school?” Shelly asked. “That’s great.”

  “Yeah, he was.” Emmy rubbed at her forehead.

  “The new officer from town went to Grant’s high school. He came to talk to you the first time Shelly came here,” Juliet said in a light voice. “Grant must have known him. Porter Walton. Did Grant ever talk about Porter?”

  Emmy’s head snapped to attention. “Once in a while. Not much.”

  “Had they gotten together since Porter moved here?” Juliet questioned.

  “No. They weren’t close in high school,” Emmy said.

  “Had Grant run into Porter in town?” Shelly asked.

  Emmy flicked her eyes to Shelly. “I don’t think so. Grant didn’t tell me he’d run into him.”

  “Someone told us that Porter had to bounce Grant from a bar not long ago,” Juliet said.

  Emmy’s eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t know that.”

  “Grant didn’t mention it to you?” Shelly reached for her mug.

  “I don’t think so. I don’t remember anything about it.”

  “Someone at the barn heard Grant on the phone with someone,” Juliet said. “He was talking to someone about payback. It happened right before the murders took place.”

  Emmy sucked in a breath.

  “Do you know what Grant meant by payback?” Shelly asked. “Do you know who he might have been talking with?”

  Emmy reached up to fiddle with a strand of her white-blond hair. “Payback? What does that mean? Why would Grant say that?”

  “We wondered the same thing,” Juliet said.

  “I don’t know,” Emmy said again and then noticed Shelly’s cup was empty. “Do you want more tea?”

  “Yes, please. That would be nice.”

  Emmy’s hand shook as she reached for the mug on the table.

  Noticing the woman’s trembling hand, Shelly said, “I can get it, if you like.”

  “Okay,” Emmy said weakly. “The teabags are in the closet in the kitchen. The water in the pot should still be hot.”

  After asking if Emmy or Juliet wanted a second cup, Shelly headed down the dark hall to the kitchen at the back of the house. She rinsed her cup in the sink and then opened the closet to find the box of teabags. As she took it from the shelf, she noticed a handbag with a price tag still on it sitting on the upper shelf.

  Glancing down the hall and hearing the two women talking in the living room, Shelly reached for the bag and brought it down off the shelf. A Louis Vuitton. She almost gasped when she saw the price. Hurrying to put it back, Shelly noticed several boxes stacked on top of each other. She took one down. Inside was a leather jacket from a well-known designer. Checking the other boxes, she found more expensive things.

  After calculating the cost of the items in her head, Shelly realized the merchandise was worth ten thousand dollars.

  She put everything back on the top shelf and then as she hurriedly poured herself another cup of tea, she saw a small piece of paper with a list of five names and telephone numbers. When she read one of the names, Shelly’s heart skipped a beat ... Andrew Walton ... his name and number had been hastily scrawled at the bottom of the paper.

  Shelly carried her mug back to the living room where she took her seat. “Sorry it took so long. I heated the water up again.” She listened as Juliet asked a few more questions and Emmy answered them.

  “Has Detective Walton been in touch with you?” Shelly asked.

  Emmy rolled her eyes slightly. “I told you already. Grant wasn’t close to Porter Walton in high school. There was no reason he’d get in touch with me. The only time I met him was when he came here with you and that police woman.”

  “I meant Porter’s cousin, Andrew.” Shelly watched Emmy’s face.

  Emmy paused for a second. “Andrew?”

  “Porter isn’t a detective,” Shelly explained. “His cousin Andrew works here in town as a detective.”

  “Oh,” Emmy said.

  “Do you know him?” Shelly asked.

  “No, I don’t think so.” Emmy gave her pat answer and pushed at her bangs again.

  Shelly wanted to ask another question, but didn’t.

  Then why do you have his name and number on the pad of paper in the kitchen? Or maybe it was Grant who wrote it there?

  Was Andrew Walton in on the robbery and murders?

  24

  On the way home from Emmy’s house, Juliet called Jay to report that the woman had high-end merchandise on the top shelf of her kitchen closet and Andrew’s name and number was on a pad of paper in the kitchen.

  Jay was on the way back to Paxton Park from a meeting two hours away. She wanted an officer to interview Emmy about the expensive items in her possession and decided to send Porter Walton to see the woman.

  Shelly’s and Juliet’s concerns about Porter and Andrew were tabled to be discussed when Jay returned home. “There could be any number of reasons why Porter and Grant were talking near the equipment garages. And Andrew may have spoken to Emmy about Grant’s death and the woman simply wrote his name and contact information down on the pad. There isn’t enough to be suspicious of either of the men, but I’ll look into it when I get back.”

  Juliet dropped Shelly off at home before heading to the resort to lead a group meeting in mountain survival techniques.

  Justice greeted Shelly at the door and followed her around the house not leaving her side for a moment. After making a fire in the fireplace and cooking dinner, she changed into soft sweat pants and a t-shirt and sat on the sofa with the Calico cat watching the flames and telling Justice about the interview with Emmy.

  “I know you don’t understand a word I’m saying, Justice, but I need to talk it through so tonight you’re my sounding board.” Shelly scratched the cat behind the ears. “I’m suspicious of everyone, even Andrew and Porter. I don’t feel like the dreams I’ve had are helping me. I must be overlooking something. But what?”

 

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