Wuthering Homicides, page 6
part #6 of Magical Bookshop Mystery Series
“So, what did you have to ask me?”
“Alice wants to know about her father,” Cat explained, looking toward me. She must have known that I was feeling nervous; now that she had brought up the topic, there was nothing I could do to hide from this conversation.
I nodded. “Cat tells me you know who my father was.”
“I do,” Sage replied. “Although I haven’t heard from him in years and years.”
“Who was he? What was he like?”
Cat picked up a cookie off the plate and began munching away on it, but I was so nervous about Sage’s answer that I ignored the treats and looked at her carefully.
Sage got a distant look in her eyes, like she was thinking back on a time long ago. “Your father was a very nice man. He was what’s called a ski bum; he lived in Sapphire Village for about a year. Before that, I know he lived in Telluride, and Steamboat Springs, and somewhere in Utah. I think he even did a season up in Canada at a place called Red Mountain. He met your mother on the hill here; they were riding the same chairlift.”
“What was his name?” I asked.
“Justin,” Sage said with a frown. “Justin something. Justin Roberts. That was it, Justin Roberts.”
“Did you know him well?” Cat asked, pushing the plate of cookies over toward me. This time, I took one, and as soon as I took a bite, I was reminded exactly where Cat had gotten all of her culinary prowess. It was absolutely delicious.
“To be honest, no. I think I only met him a couple of times. It was a real whirlwind romance between Justin and Jenny. I don’t think either one of them was too serious about it. The October after they met, Justin got a job working at a ski resort in Japan, and he went over there. It was about two weeks after his flight that Jenny came to me and told me she was pregnant.”
“Did she tell him?” I asked, and Sage shook her head.
“No. I wanted her to, of course. I thought he had a right to know, but there were a few problems with that. For one thing, Jenny had no way to contact him anymore. You have to remember, this is back in the eighties. The Internet didn’t exist, and international phone calls cost multiple dollars per minute back then. The only way she could have gotten in contact with him would have been by writing a letter, but he didn’t have an address when he left, and he never wrote to her. All she knew was that he was working at a resort in northern Japan. I’m not sure if he even told her which one it was. Maybe Niseko? I’m not sure. But either way, I know Jenny didn’t want him to know. After all, magical ability is passed down through the mother, so Jenny knew straight away that the child she was going to give birth to would be a witch. She had never told Justin that she had magical abilities; we’re not allowed to tell humans about it unless things are very serious.”
“So she decided to keep it a secret,” I said, staring down at the granite countertops.
“That’s right,” Sage said. “They were young, and given Justin’s lifestyle, Jenny was sure that he wouldn’t want to have a kid. And she was confident that she was going to be able to raise you by herself. I know she intended to tell you about Justin eventually, but of course, she never got the opportunity to.”
“She never told Corinne who the father was,” I said.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Sage replied. “Your mother was very much one to keep things close to the chest. She didn’t even want to tell me initially, but I figured it out on my own. When I told her I knew who the father was, she admitted it to me, but that was the only reason why. And I imagine that when she gave you to Corinne to raise, she had other things on her mind.”
I nodded, and as much as I tried to suppress the feeling, I had to admit I was a little bit disappointed by this new revelation. I had hoped it would turn out that my father had been best friends with Sage as well, and she would have known a whole lot about him, and maybe he even lived nearby, maybe in Portland. I wasn’t sure that I was going to want to meet him, but at least I would have had the option.
Cat, in that way she always had of knowing exactly what I was thinking, placed a hand on mine.
“Hey, it’s not the end of the world, okay? If you want to find your dad, we’ll find him.”
I nodded glumly. “I’m guessing you don’t have any pictures of him?”
“I think I might,” Sage said. “Eat some cookies, and I’ll be back soon.”
I took another cookie off the plate and mindlessly began to chew as Sage left the kitchen and went off to look for the old photos.
“What about your father?” I asked Cat. “Do you know who he was?”
Cat nodded. “I do, yeah. He moved away about fifteen years ago, but he was around for a lot of my early childhood. When he and my mom broke up when I was ten, he decided he didn’t want anything else to do with us, and he left. I haven’t seen him since.”
“Oh, that’s so difficult, I’m sorry,” I said, but Cat just shrugged.
“Thanks, but I’m used to it. Honestly, while I spent a lot of my teenage years thinking I had done something wrong and that it was my fault he left, I’ve come to realize that really it’s his own problem, and that if he doesn’t want to be involved in the life of a daughter as awesome as I am, then it’s his loss.”
I grinned. “I wish I could have the same confidence as you.”
“Well, your father doesn’t even know you exist. Do you know if you want to try and find him?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. After all, what if he’s super mad that Jenny didn’t tell him about me?”
“That’s not your fault, though.”
“True, but will he see it that way?”
“He might not. But he might also love the fact that he has a daughter and want to get to know you. Just because I had a negative experience with my father doesn’t mean they’re all bad. I guess what you have to decide is whether the risk of him not wanting a life with you is worth the reward of finding your father and building a relationship as an adult.”
“Who’s this wise woman and what have you done with my cousin?” I teased, and Cat threw a piece of cookie at me.
“Please, I’m the wisest person you know.”
Before I was able to hit Cat with a witty retort, however, Sage came back into the room with a small four-by-six photo in her hand.
“This is the only picture I have of the two of them together,” she said, handing me the image. I had to admit, I was a little bit nervous. This was going to be the first time I ever saw a picture of the man who fathered me. I already knew that I looked like my mom—or at least my mom’s family. The ghost of my aunt Francine was basically a mirror image of me, if I gained a hundred pounds.
I studied the picture for a couple of minutes. My eyes went to my mom first. I definitely did look a lot like her. We had the same red hair, and her smile looked exactly like mine. Her nose was different, though, and her eyes were more like Sage’s than mine. Still, there was definitely a family resemblance there. As I glanced over at the man next to her, however, I had to admit I saw almost nothing of me in him. He had his arm wrapped around Jenny, and the two of them were laughing into the camera. The picture had obviously been taken at the top of the mountain. They were dressed in very eighties ski clothes, with hats and goggles. Justin was taller than Jenny. His dark, curly hair poked out from underneath his hat, and his eyes were set deep into his face but still gleamed with a mischievous joie de vivre. He had a broad smile and a small nose, but what stood out most of all was the look of pure happiness on his face. My mom wore the same expression. She had her arm wrapped around Justin and was leaning into his chest. They were obviously a very happy couple, and I couldn’t help but feel a little bit of sadness that it hadn’t lasted between them.
On top of that, I couldn’t help but be aware of the fact that about a year after this photo had been taken, my mother was dead.
Tears welled up in my eyes involuntarily, and Cat wrapped an arm around me.
“Please, keep that picture,” Sage told me. “I want you to have it.”
“Thank you,” I managed to croak out without my voice breaking completely.
“Come on, I think that’s enough of a trip down memory lane for one day,” Cat told me, and the two of us got up and began to head back toward the front door. Sage met us there a minute later with a Tupperware container full of cookies for the road, and the two of us left and made our way back to the portals that led to the human world.
I remembered virtually nothing of the trip back to Sapphire Village. All I could think about was the picture of my biological parents, which was now sitting in the pocket of my jacket, a protective hand laid carefully over it.
Chapter 10
“Are you okay?” Cat asked when we made our way back into the bookshop.
I nodded. “Yeah, I am. It’s just weird, you know? I never knew what my dad looked like. I never knew what he was like. As far as I knew, he could’ve been some guy who had a one-night stand with my mom. But that picture, it shows how much they loved each other. I mean, you can see the happiness written on both their faces. And that makes me happy, you know? But then I wonder how he would feel knowing he has a daughter. Would he want to meet me? Or would he rather pretend I didn’t exist? I kind of wish I could know the answers to those questions before I go looking for him, but I also know that there is no way to do that.”
Cat gave me a small smile. “I can understand that, for sure. It was really difficult for me, and for Peaches too, to come to terms with the fact that our father didn’t want to be a father to us at all. I’m not sure it would actually be easier to find out as an adult, although I would like to believe it is.”
“I guess I’m getting ahead of myself, anyway,” I shrugged. “I don’t even know where he lives, or if he’s even alive. After all, no one in this family seems to have heard from him in the last thirty years. A lot can happen during that time.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re being realistic about things,” Cat told me. “But if you ever end up deciding you want to see where this goes, please let me know. I’ll happily help you find him online or whatever.”
“Thanks,” I said, shooting Cat a grateful smile.
“Now, what do you say you put that photo somewhere safe and the two of us go grab a slice of pizza for lunch and figure out what it is we’re going to do about this killer going around town.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I smiled.
Fifteen minutes later Cat and I were sitting at a booth at Pickles’ Pizza. Pickles, a cute border collie who spent all of his days sitting in front of the pizza parlor barking for pats from passersby, managed to sneak a couple of belly rubs from the two of us before we made our way in. We had been greeted by Karen, the owner, who immediately told us to take a seat wherever we wanted and that she would send someone by soon to take our orders.
“I think we need a list of suspects,” I said.
“I agree,” Cat replied. “Has your membership into that Facebook group been accepted yet?”
“I haven’t checked. Let me have a look,” I said, pulling out my phone and opening the Facebook app. “Oh, yes, it looks like I’m in.”
Cat snuck around to the other side of the booth, sliding in next to me so she could have a look.
“Is there anyone in there advocating open violence against anyone?”
“Hold on, I haven’t had a chance to look at any of the threads yet,” I said. I began to scroll and found that so far, every single one of the three posts in the group had been started by Simon. There were no comments underneath any of them yet.
“Well, that’s a bit disappointing,” Cat said as she realized the Facebook group hadn’t taken off straight away.
“In a way, it’s a good thing,” I said. “After all, if we had a whole bunch of people on here advocating for violence, we’d have more suspects than we could possibly handle.”
“That’s true,” Cat said just as Karen made her way toward us.
“Alright, ladies, are you ready to order yet? Or should I give you a few more minutes?”
“I think we are ready,” Cat replied. “At least, I’m ready. But then again, I order the same thing every single time I come here.”
“I know what I’m getting as well,” I replied, giving Karen a smile. “Sorry, we were just looking at Simon’s new Facebook group.”
“The one advocating change with respect to housing in Sapphire Village?” Karen asked. “My daughter was at the meeting last night and came back and told me about it.”
“What do you think about it?” I asked, and Karen shrugged.
“To be completely honest, I’m not sure I like the idea of it. I think something does need to be done. Even though my houses have gone up in value enormously over the last few years, the result of it is that my daughter can’t find a place to stay anymore, since she’s only twenty-one and so obviously didn’t buy a house before prices started going through the stratosphere. I think I would rather my house be worth slightly less if that meant my daughter could afford to live in the town where she grew up. But that said, I don’t think breaking the law is the way to do it.”
“Even if it’s a law that doesn’t actually hurt anyone?” Cat asked.
“Broken laws are broken laws,” Karen said. “I think Cal has the right idea. Advocating for change via legal avenues has got to be the right way to go.”
“Do you know Cal well at all?” I found myself asking. After all, even though he openly advocated for peaceful and legal change, I knew that what people said on the outside and what they believed inside could often be two different things.
“He’s a regular,” Karen replied with a shrug. “We’ve spoken about this before, though; he’s extremely passionate about this town and making sure that we maintain a sense of community through this growth spurt. Why are you asking about him?”
“Well, it’s got to do with the murder yesterday morning,” Cat said, and Karen’s eyes widened.
“I heard about that. I was still asleep when it happened, but as soon as I came into work, I heard about it. What an absolutely awful thing to have happen.”
“It really was,” I nodded. “Unfortunately, Cat and I were among the first people on the scene, and we saw the body. We’re reasonably certain that whoever killed this man did so entirely because he was a tourist.”
Karen sat down in the booth next to Cat, looking a little bit queasy. “You have to be joking.”
“We are most definitely not joking,” Cat replied. “Couple that with the woman who fell off a hotel balcony last night, and I don’t think Sapphire Village is going to have a great reputation for a little while.” I appreciated that Cat was keeping what Chase had told us to herself for now. After all, he had told us that in confidence, and I didn’t want to go around spreading secret police insider information to others.
Karen shook her head sadly. “That’s a tragedy as well. But if someone really did murder that man entirely to send a message that tourists aren’t welcome here, well, I want that person found as quickly as possible. After all, we may have our problems, but the tourism industry is the only reason there is a town here at all, and I personally appreciate every tourist to come through these doors to get a pizza.”
“Agreed,” Cat nodded. “That’s why Alice and I are looking into things, because we absolutely want this person caught. Besides, I don’t want somebody who thinks killing people is acceptable living in the same town as me. Whoever did this belongs in jail, and nowhere else.”
Karen’s eyes widened as she realized the implications of our earlier conversation. “You don’t think Cal could have done this, do you?”
“We don’t know,” Cat said, opening her palms. “We were hoping you might be able to help us out with that, especially if you’ve had a lot of conversations with him. We know that he has been talking about peaceful protest, but what about when he’s not in public? Has he ever mentioned anything to you that might make you think he would be willing to take things into his own hands?”
“Oh, absolutely not,” Karen replied. “I’ve spoken with Cal about the subject ten, maybe fifteen times in the last year, and every time he’s always been insistent that writing letters to counsel, starting grassroots campaigns, and engaging in peaceful protests are the way to get the attention of the council here and to have meaningful change enacted. He’s definitely never once implied that violence might be a solution.”
“That’s good to know, thank you,” Cat said. “The sooner we can eliminate the people who are innocent from our investigation, the sooner we can try and find the actual killer. Do you have any idea who might be willing to go to any lengths to get rid of tourists?”
Karen shook her head slowly. “No, I can’t think of who might want to do that. At least, I seriously hope I don’t know anybody who would be willing to do that. But at the same time, I can’t help but think it has to be somebody who has lived here long-term. After all, the seasonal workers who stay for a year or two, they don’t care. They don’t plan on living here forever or raising their children here. It sucks that they have to pay such high rent, but they’re here for a year or two, mainly to party. As much as it saddens me, I think if someone is specifically targeting tourists, it’s going to be somebody who has been here for a while.”
The three of us sat silent for a moment as the impact of Karen’s words sunk in. She was right; she had to be right. Whoever did this, whoever was killing tourists, was almost certainly a long-term resident of Sapphire Village. We really, really had to find whoever it was.
“Well, on that cheery note, let’s get some pizza,” Cat deadpanned a moment later, snapping the three of us out of our thoughts. Karen stood back up, pulled a notepad out from her apron, and listened as Cat and I placed our orders.
“If only she could serve us up a murderer on a silver platter,” Cat said as Karen left.
“Unfortunately, I think it’s going to be a lot harder than that,” I replied.
Chapter 11
