Dressed to Drill, page 20
“Don’t shoot!” The figure held up his hands and the flashlight pointed to the cave-like ceiling, causing the light to dance wildly on the surface.
“What’s your name?” Eric demanded.
“My name’s Buck Buckner. I didn’t do anything.” He aimed his flashlight right at me. “Shannon? Is that you? Hey, Wade.”
“Buck,” I said. “What’re you doing down here?”
“Just getting back to work,” he said.
Eric stepped forward. “Turn off that flashlight.”
“Okay, okay.” He turned it off.
“How did you get down here?” Eric asked.
“Oh, hey. Hi, Chief Jensen. What’s going on? Is somebody missing?”
“Buck,” I said. “You need to answer Chief Jensen’s questions.”
“Right. Jeez.” He exhaled nervously. “Sorry. I took a lunch break, and I was just heading back to work.”
“Through a tunnel?” Eric said in disbelief.
“I know, right?” He stuck out his thumb and pointed it toward the way he’d come. “There’s a really cool opening under the pier that leads down to this tunnel.”
“How in the world did you find it?” I asked.
“My aunt showed it to me.”
There was a long moment of stunned silence. Finally I said, “Your aunt Flora knows about this tunnel?”
“Pretty cool, huh?” he said genially. “We were having lunch on the pier, and I realized it was getting late, so she said she’d show me a shortcut. Said it would take me right up to the basement of the church.”
“Show us,” Eric insisted.
He didn’t move. “The thing is, my aunt asked me not to tell anyone about it.”
“You’ve already told us,” Eric said reasonably. “Now will you please show us?”
The question left Buck no opportunity to argue. He swallowed nervously. “Yes, sir.”
In the dim glow of the flashlight, I saw Eric’s expression and could almost read his mind. If Buck’s aunt Flora knew about these tunnels and knew the way back to the basement, was she the one who’d left the priest’s chasuble on the landing? The one with all the blood?
I cringed at the thought, but it made sense, unfortunately. Flora could be the killer. But why? What was her motive?
And then there was Buck. He seemed innocent and easygoing, but that could be an act. Could he have done it? But again, why?
He led us toward the pier, back the way he’d come. After another hundred yards or so, he stopped next to a barnacle-encrusted piling. He pointed to something a few feet farther under the pier. “If you take those steps up, you’ll come out right by that fish restaurant.”
“I can’t see where you’re pointing,” I said, and walked in the direction he’d indicated. It was cleverly hidden behind several other pilings, and the opening was barely a foot wide.
We stared at it for a full minute. Eric slid between the pilings and disappeared for a moment, checking out Buck’s story. He came right back, and he and Wade and I glanced at one another. We didn’t say anything, but I could read their expressions of disbelief and astonishment. Wade and I had lived here our entire lives and had never known about these steps. And Eric had been chief of police for at least five or six years. I couldn’t believe he wouldn’t have known about this little secret passageway to a hidden tunnel. It sounded ludicrous, but it was real.
I had a sudden thought that Mac would kill to be in on all of this crazy intrigue. Imagine, tunnels under the pier that led to the old church! I would’ve loved to give him a call as soon as we got back, but he wasn’t in town, and I knew he had a busy schedule. And, oh boy, I missed him more than I could say. I would just have to tell him all about it tonight when we talked.
“Okay, let’s get back to the church,” Eric said.
“Sure thing,” Buck said.
We retraced our steps back into the tunnel, and the light quickly dimmed. Eric turned on his Maglite, and I got out my phone with the flashlight app. It was slow going, and that was okay with me because I didn’t want to trip over something I couldn’t see. And I wanted to study this bizarre tunnel. Some group of people had obviously constructed it, but how? And why? And when did they do it? It looked pretty old.
I shined my flashlight along the tunnel wall and examined it for a few seconds. Had they used pickaxes? It wasn’t a smooth surface. In fact, it was badly pitted. I wondered if it was mentioned in any books on the history of our town. I had done quite a bit of reading on that subject, but I had never come across any reference to tunnels under the old church.
Maybe I would have a little talk with Flora when I saw her again.
Finally we made it to the stairs leading up to the sacristy.
“Aunt Flora said to ignore this first set of steps,” Buck explained. “The basement is just a little farther down.”
“Lead the way,” Eric said.
About forty feet beyond the stairway to the sacristy was a large concrete structure that looked pretty solid.
“Here we go,” Buck said cheerfully. “She said the door is always unlocked.”
“It won’t be after today,” Eric muttered.
Three wide concrete steps led up to a heavy door. Buck headed up the steps, but Eric stopped him. “Have you been through here before?”
“Never. But my aunt was right. It’s pretty easy to get here if you’ve got a flashlight.”
“Did she tell you how she found this tunnel?” I asked.
“She just said she’s known about it for years.”
“Are there many others who know about it?” Eric asked.
Buck shrugged, unsure of the answer. “I guess somebody must’ve told her.”
Wade, Eric, and I exchanged another look. This was crazy.
“I can get the door for you,” Buck offered.
“I’ll get it.” Eric pulled out his weapon. “Stay back.”
Buck looked at me, his eyes widening. “Whoa.”
“There’s already been one murder,” I said. “The chief needs to take precautions.”
“I guess so,” he said.
Eric turned the knob and pushed the heavy door open. I waited for him to give the okay, and then I followed him through the door.
He flipped a switch and the room filled with light. I walked in and nodded. “This is the basement we saw the first time we toured the church with Madeline. But the door leading to the tunnel was completely covered up by utility tables and stacks of chairs on pallets.”
“I didn’t even notice a door that first time we came here,” Wade added.
It was a nicely finished basement and a reasonably good-sized space, but was much smaller than the blueprints had indicated.
The floor was a concrete slab, and the walls were covered in drywall and painted a pale yellow.
I remembered seeing several of the utility tables opened and lined along the wall. They’d held several industrial-sized coffee urns and other equipment that I assumed were used for after-church meetings with coffee and cookies.
The space was completely empty now.
The four of us climbed the basement stairs up to the back hallway directly across from the three small chapels. At the top, Eric turned to Buck and gave him a nod. “I appreciate your cooperation. You can go on back to work if you’d like.”
“Guess I’d better.”
I smiled warmly to make up for being suspicious earlier. “Thanks, Buck.”
“No problem,” he said with an easy grin.
“Wait,” Eric said. “Before you go, I have a question.”
“Yes?”
“You said your aunt swore you to secrecy about the tunnel.”
“That’s right.”
“Did she happen to mention the names of anyone else who might be aware of the tunnels?”
Hearing Eric’s question, I realized his strategy. He would ask the same thing in a variety of ways in hopes of getting a different response.
“No, but I got the feeling it was a church thing.”
“How so?” Eric asked.
“She does all the flowers for the church services, you know. So she liked to put the flowers in buckets of water and set them down in the tunnel to keep them cool.” He shrugged. “Said they’d last longer that way.”
Eric nodded slowly. “Okay. One more thing, and this is for all of you.” He gave each of us a look meant to intimidate, and it pretty much worked. “I don’t want you to mention one word about this tunnel to anyone else. Not one word. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Buck said immediately.
And suddenly, I understood perfectly. If the killer knew that I knew about the tunnel, I could be in danger. Same went for Buck and Wade.
And possibly Flora, I thought.
I met Wade’s gaze and saw that he had made the connection as well.
“Got it, Chief,” Wade said.
I looked at Eric. “I understand.”
“Okay, you’re all free to go. Thanks again for your help.”
Buck gave us all a thumbs-up and then walked away, circling the wall behind the central platform on his way out to the nave.
Wade gave me a sideways glance. Was he suspicious of Buck? I was starting to lean that way, too. From day one, there had been so many coincidences surrounding him and his aunt Flora. And I knew what Mac thought of coincidences.
“I’d better get back to it, too,” Wade said to Eric. “Unless you need me for anything else.”
“Not right now,” Eric said. “But thanks.”
“It was enlightening.” Wade looked at me. “I’m going to go check on everyone. See who needs what.”
“Text me if anything comes up,” I said. “By the way, while I was perusing the basement walls for hidden doors and such, I did notice some water damage in a couple of spots.”
“Yeah, I saw that, too.”
“It may be superficial, but I doubt it.”
“Me too,” he said. “We’ll check it out with Niall tomorrow.”
“Nine a.m.?”
“I’ll be there. And I’ll remind Niall when I see him.”
“Good. Thank you.” I watched Wade take off and turned to Eric. “I don’t suppose I can go back to work in the sacristy.”
He was checking his phone. “Leo just texted. He’ll be here in a minute.”
“You’re going to close down my room, aren’t you?”
“Sorry, kiddo. Just for a day or so. Leo needs time to process the scene.”
“I understand. But I’ve still got my tool belt and a jacket in there, so I’d like to grab them before Leo gets started.”
“I’ll walk you over there.”
“Okay.” We approached the door to the sacristy, and I reached for the handle.
He held up his hand. “Wait.”
Then I heard it. Someone was inside the room. There were sounds of a drawer opening and shutting abruptly. Then another cupboard was opened. I knew which one it was, because its top hinge always squeaked loudly. The cupboard slammed shut.
I looked up at Eric. “Do you think it’s Leo?”
“No.”
Of course not, I thought. As an experienced crime scene investigator, Leo Springer wouldn’t be rifling through that big cabinet without some guidance from Eric.
I had half expected to find Leo standing out here in the hall until Eric showed up.
“Stand back,” Eric murmured to me, and for the third time today—or was it the fourth?—he pulled out his weapon.
He twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open quickly, took one step into the room, and shouted, “Freeze!”
The woman standing by the open cabinet drawer whirled around and screamed.
I took one peek inside the room and was seriously shocked. “Madeline?”
Chapter Thirteen
“Oh, Shannon. Thank goodness it’s you.” She clutched her neck with both hands, obviously frightened. But what had she been doing in here? Was she frightened by Eric? Or was there something else going on?
I hesitated, then said, “It’s good to see you, Madeline. Everybody’s been looking for you. We weren’t sure when you’d be back.”
“I wasn’t sure, either. I . . . I just needed to take a few days away. It was so . . . so horrible losing poor Sarah like that.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Eric had taken a few extra seconds before he holstered his gun.
“It’s been hard on everyone,” I said. “I thought I’d have a chance to talk to you at the prayer vigil the other night.”
“I left as soon as it was over,” she said. “I was just a mess, so I decided to take a break and go visit my family.” She looked at Eric. “I called your department to let them know I was leaving town for a few days.”
Eric nodded. “I got the message.”
She could’ve taken a few more days off, I thought, because she still looked completely wiped out. Usually, she was at the top of her game, beautifully dressed and coiffed, but today she wore funky old jeans and a stretched-out sweatshirt. Her skin was pale and her hair was mussed. I was surprised she had even shown up today.
She looked from Eric back to me. “What’s going on?”
“Let’s step out into the hall, shall we?” Eric said.
Madeline looked surprised. “Oh. All right.”
I quickly grabbed my tool belt and jacket and followed them out to the hall.
Eric closed the door behind me. “I’m afraid this room is off-limits for a few days.”
She tried to smile. “I hope I wasn’t breaking any rules by going in there.”
“May I ask what you were doing?” he said cordially.
“Oh. Well. I, that is, I just wanted to make sure the cabinet drawers had been cleaned out.”
“And were they?” he asked.
“Uh, no. There are still dozens of church items filling the drawers. It looks like someone started going through them and packing things, but they still have a long way to go.”
Eric’s smile was downright charming. “And may I ask why that’s a concern of yours?”
Unfortunately, his charm didn’t work on her, because she was clearly insulted by the question. “I’m in charge of everything that’s going on here.” She spread her arms to take in the whole church. “This entire renovation is my responsibility. If something as seemingly insignificant as that cabinet isn’t cleaned out, it interrupts our timeline. It slows everything down. Do you understand?”
Madeline sounded so defensive that it made me wonder if she was telling the truth. Was I being unfair? Maybe, but I had a sneaking suspicion that she’d had a completely different reason for rifling through that cabinet. Was she looking for something? Maybe she’d hidden something inside one of the drawers. Did she know about the secret panel that led to the tunnel underneath the church?
I was reminded of the Scooby-Doo session I’d played with Mac a few nights ago. Good grief, was it only a few nights ago? I shook my head at the realization. Anyway, I recalled that Mac had come up with a frighteningly feasible reason why Madeline might’ve killed Sarah: her basic jealousy of Sarah, the younger, prettier woman, and the fact that once the project was finished, the town council would fire Madeline and bring Sarah on as a cheaper replacement.
But that wasn’t fair, was it? I hadn’t gone along with Mac’s theory that night, and I still had a problem believing Madeline could’ve killed her assistant. But fair or not, I was certain that, right now, the woman wasn’t being truthful. Now I’d have to figure out what her real story was.
Despite what I considered highly suspicious behavior, Eric wished Madeline a good day and thanked her for speaking with him.
As soon as she disappeared down the hall, I turned on him. “Why did you let her go? Don’t you think she’s hiding something?”
“Without a doubt,” he said, his eyes narrowing in on a theory of his own. Sadly, he wasn’t inclined to share it with me. “But, Shannon, I prefer to wait for Leo Stringer’s findings before I draw any conclusions.”
Despite Mac’s theory, I hadn’t actually considered Madeline a possible suspect until I saw her in the sacristy just now digging through drawers and looking and acting as guilty as could be. And then, to see her so outraged by the chief of police daring to ask her questions. As if he didn’t have the right to do it during a murder investigation. It made me wonder.
It seemed as if she might be protesting too much.
* * *
* * *
An hour later, Madeline had calmed down, and she was busily showing Buck and Sean where the artwork would be placed along the south wall of the nave so they could get a good idea of where to install the lighting fixtures for optimal illumination.
“I think that’s going to be perfect,” she said. “You guys are doing a great job.”
“Thanks, Madeline,” Sean said from forty-five feet above the floor.
I was standing by Madeline and watched her interact with my crew. “Do you feel like things are starting to take shape for you?” I asked.
“It’s going really well,” she said with a grateful smile.
“We’ve got a good crew,” I said, then brought up a sensitive subject. “I wanted to let you know that I was making pretty good progress with the sacristy cabinet until the police turned it into a crime scene.”
Madeline gasped. “A crime scene? The sacristy?”
“Yes.”
“I saw all those boxes stacked in there,” she said. “You’re the one packing everything?”
“Yes,” I said, and smiled ruefully. “And you’re right. I’ve barely made a dent.”
She sighed. “Didn’t Colleen send someone over to help you?”
“No. She and Lavinia have promised to send help, but I guess they got wrapped up in something else. Or maybe it’s just not a priority for them like it is for us. That’s why I decided to start emptying those drawers and packing things up myself.”
