Claret and Present Danger, page 13
“And shortly before his final show started.”
Damien nodded.
“But you didn’t know about the second encounter?”
“Not until after my arrest. The police brought it up. Someone who witnessed Ozzie hitting on Charlotte, and me punching him, also saw him with her and her friends later.”
“So the police think you found out about the second incident, went out and picked some monkshood, did whatever was needed to make it into a substance that could be administered to Ozzie, and then poisoned him before his show started?”
“That’s about the size of it. If I hadn’t been late for work that evening, the case against me wouldn’t be as strong, but since I can’t account for my movements for a while after my fight with Ozzie, I’m in trouble.”
“Where were you after the fight?” I asked.
“I took a long walk until I’d calmed down. Unfortunately, no one can confirm that.”
I got to my feet, not wanting to impose on him any longer. “We’ll find a way to prove your innocence.”
He walked to the front door with me. “Remember your promise.”
“I’ll do my best to be careful and stay out of trouble,” I assured him.
I said goodbye and then hurried over to my car, not wanting to give him a chance to ask me to make any further promises.
* * *
Hanging out at Grayson’s place that evening turned out to be exactly what I needed. Although we chatted about the murder and Damien’s temporary release when I first arrived, we talked about far less serious things while we ate the burgers Grayson grilled for us out on his patio. His back lawn was bordered by the forest, and it would have been harder to find a more private location so close to the center of town. The peace and quiet, interrupted only by our voices and the twittering of birds in the trees, helped me to relax and let go of some of the stress that had haunted me since Damien’s arrest.
By the time we’d finished eating, I could almost believe that nothing was amiss in the world. Not quite, but almost.
“Thank you for dinner,” I said as I relaxed on the outdoor couch. “It was delicious.”
Grayson sat down next to me and put an arm around my shoulders. “I’m glad we had this chance to spend time together.”
I rested my head on his shoulder. “Me too.”
Bowie trotted over and lay down at our feet.
“I’m working on adding a couple more people to my staff,” Grayson said. “I’ve interviewed two candidates already, and I’ve got a few more lined up. Once I decide who to hire and get them trained, I’m hoping I’ll have a little more time available to spend away from the brewery.”
“Trying for a better work-life balance?” I asked.
“Trying to make sure I have more time to spend with you.”
My heart melted. I couldn’t find my voice, so I kissed him. It was a while before either of us spoke again.
“I’ve been thinking about adding to my staff too,” I said eventually. “Teagan’s sister, Zoe, is going to fill in for Damien while he’s under house arrest, but I think I’m at a point now where I can afford to hire an extra person long term, on a part-time basis, anyway. That would give me a little more freedom.”
“I’m glad the pub is doing well.” The warmth in his voice told me how sincerely he meant that statement.
“I’ve been very fortunate.”
“You’ve put in a lot of hard work,” Grayson countered.
“That too, but the support from the locals has been invaluable. If I get Damien’s name cleared, everything will be as right as rain.”
Just like that, my mind was back to obsessing over Ozzie’s murder.
“What are you planning?” Grayson asked.
His question surprised me. “What makes you think I’m planning something?”
“I can tell.”
“How?”
“There’s this look you get in your eyes.” He touched a finger to my forehead. “And you get this little furrow right here.”
I rubbed a hand across my forehead, hoping to smooth out any creases. Although I couldn’t help but feel pleased that Grayson could read me that well already, it also scared me a bit, because it made me fall a little farther. And I’d already fallen a long way. I wasn’t quite ready to tell him that, though.
Instead, I answered his initial question.
“I’m thinking I’d like to know more about my suspects, especially the ones who work at the faire. And I was wondering if maybe there was a way to observe them when they’ve got their guards down.”
“You mean when they’re not performing for an audience.”
“Exactly.”
“I think I know where this is going,” Grayson said with a half grin.
“You think you’ve got me all figured out, don’t you?”
He laughed. “Not yet, but I plan to get there in time.”
My heart did a backflip in my chest. The way his eyes locked with mine stole all the air out of my lungs. I either had to say something or kiss him senseless. I went with the second option.
“So, when are you planning to go?” Grayson murmured the question into my ear several minutes later.
“Go where?” It was hard for me to think straight when he was trailing kisses down my neck.
He stopped the kisses—to my disappointment—and tucked my hair behind my ear. “To the fairgrounds.”
He really did know me well.
“Maybe once it’s nearly dark,” I said.
“All the better for sneaking around.”
“You could put it like that.”
“How about we take Bowie for a short walk before we go?” Grayson suggested.
“We?”
“Maybe I want in on the trouble.”
“Who says there’s going to be trouble?”
“You’ll be snooping,” he pointed out. “Trouble is pretty much guaranteed.”
I elbowed him in the ribs. “Very funny.”
He stood up and pulled me to my feet. “Come on, Bowie,” he said to his dog. “Trouble is calling.”
Chapter 20
We ended up taking Bowie with us to the park. We figured he’d help us appear more innocent. If anyone found us on the fairgrounds, we could simply say we were out walking our dog and hadn’t realized we weren’t supposed to be there. Temporary fencing had been set up around the perimeter of the park, except on the side where it was bordered by a patch of woodland. Grayson knew of a trail that led through the woods and had walked Bowie on it before. He assured me that it wouldn’t be too hard to leave the path and cut through the trees to the park. I hoped he was right. I hadn’t exactly dressed for an excursion through the underbrush. My shorts, T-shirt, and flip-flops had seemed like a good wardrobe choice earlier in the day, but now I wished I’d worn jeans and sneakers like Grayson.
With Bowie on the leash, we entered the woods and followed the trail Grayson had told me about. Although it wasn’t quite dark out yet, not much of the remaining daylight filtered in through the forest canopy. It wasn’t so dark that we couldn’t see where we were going, but I was glad Grayson had brought a powerful flashlight along in case we needed it later.
The deeper we got into the woods, the more I wondered if we’d need the flashlight sooner than I’d thought. I couldn’t make out much in the way of details anymore, and I could feel myself growing jumpier. When something rustled through the underbrush, I clutched Grayson’s arm.
“Is that a bear?” I noticed a dark shape in among the trees to our left. “It is a bear!”
Grayson laughed. “It’s a stump.”
“But . . .” I stared harder at the shape.
Grayson flicked on the flashlight and aimed the beam through the trees.
Sure enough, what I’d thought was a bear was indeed a large tree stump, standing about four feet high.
The tension whooshed out of my body. “I heard something.”
“I did too, but it wasn’t nearly big enough to be a bear. Maybe a raccoon.”
I dropped my hand from Grayson’s arm, feeling silly now.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “We walk this way all the time, and we’ve never run into a bear. Have we, Bowie?”
Bowie glanced up at him, but only for a split second. Then he focused straight ahead again, leading us along the path.
Something else rustled in the bushes. I nearly jumped and grabbed Grayson’s arm again, but I managed not to. I didn’t want him to know how freaked out I was by walking through the woods in the growing darkness. I would have been fine in the daylight, but everything looked and sounded more ominous at night.
Maybe Grayson had an idea of how I was feeling, anyway. He took my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
He’s a keeper, a voice said in my head, scaring me almost as much as the non-bear.
“Let’s not go there.”
“Go where?” Grayson asked. “The fairgrounds?”
Now I was grateful for the darkness, so Grayson couldn’t see my flaming red cheeks. I hadn’t meant to talk to myself out loud.
“Um. No. Never mind. We’re still going to the fairgrounds.”
I hoped he wouldn’t ask me more questions about what I’d meant.
To my relief, he stopped on the path and shone his flashlight into the trees to our right. “If we cut through here, we’ll reach the park.” He aimed the flashlight at my feet. “Maybe we should have stopped by your place so you could get better shoes.”
“Too late now,” I said. “Just don’t go too fast. And don’t leave me behind.”
I thought I heard a quiet chuckle coming from his direction. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I won’t leave you for the bears. Or the wolves.”
“Wolves?” The word came out as a squeak.
This time I definitely heard Grayson laugh.
“Argh.” I gave him a shove. “No teasing.”
“No promises,” Grayson said.
Even without looking at him, I knew he was grinning.
Still holding my hand, he led me off the path, his other hand gripping Bowie’s leash. The dog’s tail wagged happily. He was excited to stray from the path and explore the woods. I wasn’t quite as enthusiastic. I was determined not to complain, though, even when a sharp twig poked at my foot, nearly causing me to swear from the sudden pain.
After we’d crashed through the undergrowth for a minute or so, Grayson drew to a stop. “This is the tricky part.”
I moved up next to him so I could follow the beam of his flashlight. Ahead of us, the ground dropped away, sloping steeply downward.
“A ravine?” I said. “You didn’t mention a ravine.”
“Didn’t I?” He tightened his hold on my hand. “I’ll help you down.”
“I’ll be fine.” I slipped my hand out of his. I’d managed to sound more confident than I felt.
Bowie was ready to bound down into the ravine, but Grayson kept a firm grip on his leash as we slowly began our descent. I nearly lost my right flip-flop at one point, but I stopped and slipped my foot back into it before it could tumble out of reach.
We’d almost reached the bottom, and I was beginning to feel relieved about how much easier the descent had been than I’d expected. Then the dirt crumbled away beneath my feet, and both my legs went out from under me. I crashed to the ground and rolled and bounced the rest of the way down the embankment.
“Sadie!” Grayson yelled.
I came to a stop on my back at the bottom of the ravine. Bowie’s cold, wet nose nudged the side of my face. Grayson reached my side a second later.
“Sadie, are you okay?” He sounded worried.
I tried moving my limbs. “Nothing’s broken.” I sat up. “In fact, I don’t think I’m hurt at all.” If I didn’t count my bruised pride.
Grayson helped me to my feet and gave me a kiss before running the beam of his flashlight over me from head to toe. “It doesn’t look like you’ve got any cuts.”
“I’m fine. Really.” I brushed some dirt from my clothes. I hadn’t even lost a flip-flop. “Let’s keep going.”
We crossed the bottom of the narrow ravine and began our climb upward. This time I let Grayson help me. I really didn’t want to take another tumble.
When we reached the top of the ravine wall, we stopped for a moment to catch our breath. To my relief, I realized we were standing a mere stone’s throw from the edge of the woods. With Bowie in the lead, we made our way through the trees and out into the park.
We stopped again to get our bearings. Grayson and Bowie hadn’t led us astray. We were indeed within the area fenced off for the faire. I could see the tents and huts looming out of the darkness. The place had clearly shut down for the night, but I could see a faint glow of light beyond the faire’s temporary structures. I thought it was coming from the area where all the trailers were parked.
“Where to first?” Grayson asked, switching off his flashlight. Now that we were out of the woods, the moon provided us with enough illumination to see by.
“Let’s head toward the trailers,” I said. “Maybe we’ll find some of the faire workers over there.”
We made our way down the walkway between the two rows of huts, booths, and tents, all of which were shuttered and closed up tight for the night. Bowie paused every now and then to sniff at an interesting smell, but we otherwise made steady progress. When we were about halfway across the park, we slipped into the dark alley between two huts. I wanted to get a look at the trailers, to see if there was anyone about.
Grayson hung back a bit with Bowie while I peeked around the back corner of the hut that offered costume rentals during the day. There were lights on in several of the trailers lining the edge of the park, but others were dark. Between the row of trailers and the huts, a little farther down from where I stood, a dozen or so people had gathered around a campfire. I studied the shadowy forms but couldn’t recognize anyone from my vantage point.
I crept back between the huts to rejoin Grayson.
“There’s a campfire with a bunch of people around it,” I reported in a whisper as Bowie sniffed around my feet, tickling my toes with his nose. “Maybe if we can get closer, we’ll be able to hear what they’re saying.”
“Even if the killer is at the campfire, they’re not too likely to confess their crime while toasting marshmallows,” Grayson said as we resumed our trek down the faire’s main walkway.
I couldn’t deny that he had a good point. “But maybe we’ll find others hanging around elsewhere in the park. Or maybe we can get around to the other side of the trailers and overhear something through an open window.”
Grayson snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me to a stop. “I don’t know about the second possibility, but it looks like you’re right about the first,” he whispered in my ear.
I followed his gaze through the darkness and noticed something moving in the shadows. A person, I realized a second later.
Grayson kept a firm grip on Bowie’s leash as we quietly crept forward.
Whoever was up ahead was pacing back and forth outside the main tent. As we drew closer, I realized that it was a woman, and she was holding a phone to her ear. When she turned to start pacing back in our direction, we darted out of sight behind the hut that stood next to the tent. Fortunately, we could hear her voice from our hiding spot.
“I know I don’t own the costumes, but I know how they work. We can re-create them and take our own show on the road.”
I thought I recognized the woman’s voice, but I couldn’t quite place it. I knew only that it wasn’t Rachael speaking.
“But we can make a name for ourselves,” the woman said.
It sounded like she was trying to convince the person on the other end of the phone.
“We’ll be costars,” she continued. “And we can make our show unique. Instead of just a quick-change act, we can incorporate acrobatics. I bet I could do the costume changes on the trapeze. That would blow people’s minds!”
At the mention of acrobatics, I finally matched the voice to a person. I was certain the woman on the phone was Collette, the acrobat who’d also worked as Ozzie’s assistant. No wonder she was talking about costume changes. It sounded like she intended to continue on performing the quick-change act, only with someone else.
I didn’t catch any more of her side of the conversation. Her voice faded away and then disappeared entirely into the warm night air. I peeked around the corner of the hut. Collette was no longer in sight.
“She’s gone,” I said to Grayson in a low voice as I stepped out from our hiding spot.
Grayson joined me out in the open. “Do you know who she was?” he asked.
“Ozzie’s assistant. Her name’s Collette.”
“Sounds like she doesn’t plan to let Ozzie’s death hold her back.”
“Quite the opposite.” I thought over what she’d said. “She won’t have to be in Ozzie’s shadow anymore, a mere assistant. If she goes ahead with her plan, it sounds like she’d get an equal share of the spotlight with her new partner.”
“I wonder who that is,” Grayson mused.
“No idea,” I said. “But I already had Collette on my suspect list because of the argument she had with Ozzie shortly before he died.”
“About Minerva the Mysterious?”
“Exactly. Maybe she was mad about more than just Minerva. Maybe she was tired of Ozzie being the one in the limelight. It was always his name in the headlines. It was always his face on the posters. If not for the costume-change act, Collette probably would have gone pretty much unnoticed.”
“So is she taking over Minerva’s spot at the top of your suspect list?”
I didn’t have a chance to respond. A faint glow of light up ahead startled me into silence. I grabbed Grayson’s hand and pulled him behind the hut again. Bowie had other plans. He strained at the leash, trying to get out in the open.
“Bowie, come here,” Grayson whispered.
Bowie did what he was told, but not before letting out a loud woof.
“Hello?” a woman’s voice—a different one this time—called out.
My heart jumped into overdrive.
A beam of light cut through the darkness, lighting up the edge of our hiding spot.
