Chapter 15

She pulled into the parking lot outside the ranch-style red brick building that housed the police station. There were only five fulltime staffers here, and a handful of volunteers when they were needed.

She'd already been fielding calls from the mayor and knew that if she didn't have something soon to keep him off her back he'd bring in the state patrol. Something she didn't want to happen, because she didn't want to lose her first real case since moving to the small town.

But the way things were looking she didn't hold out much hope that she'd be left at the helm. Time was of the essence but no amount of time was going to help if she didn't get a clue as to what was going on. And going over and over the case in her head was only leaving her with more questions than answers. What a mess!

"Morning boss! I've already got started on those leads like you said but I don't think we're going to find any help there. Two of the places that ordered the acid are commercial cleaners, office buildings, that kinda stuff and the rest are housekeepers."

"I've spoken to a few of them and we can go have a talk with them if you'd like, but they're all sixty if they're a day. I don't see any one of them going into the woods and nailing that freakish clown to a tree and all the rest of it. And I didn't find a connection between the victim and any of those women."

"All the same we'll go talk to all of them. It's the only lead we have now that we're getting nowhere with the phone. Did you hear from Andy?" He shook his head and went back to his computer screen.

Detective Sparks went to her own desk to go over her notes one last time before heading out again. There was something niggling at the back of her mind but she couldn't quite grasp what that something was. Whoever had done this had given it a lot of thought.

At first glance it may seem like an accident, just a string of coincidences that came together to bring forth this one disastrous outcome. But it was too clean, too compact. The clown, the trap, and the acid waiting for the victim to fall into.

If any one of those things were off by just a smidge the whole thing would've been avoided. So how did they know that it would work? How had they calculated so precisely? She was sure that whoever it was hadn't stuck around otherwise old man Doss would've seen them or at least heard them running off.

The key was in there somewhere she was sure. She needed to get into that phone, to at least have that thread to tug on before she could move forward, but the phone was a dead-end unless she found the new code and she was certain Niall Davis would be of no help there.

"Let's go Pete, I want to take a run at those housekeepers but first I think we need to stop by the Davis place on the way. There're some things I forgot to ask him." She headed for the coffee pot in the break room and poured some lukewarm coffee in her carry mug after dumping in enough sugar to put her in a coma and a good dollop of cream.

She didn't miss the look on Pete's face, it's a running argument between the two of them, how bad her sugar intake is, but he let her off easy this time with just a shake of his head. "You know people are already speculating as to what really happened." He mentioned as he held the door open for her.

"Old widow Connors stopped me on my way in this morning to give me her take."

"And what did she have to say?"

"Witchcraft of course and she knows just who's responsible."

"Let me guess, her neighbor Mrs. Ivory."

"You guessed it. They've been at it again; she swears Mrs. Ivory sprayed her hedges with something that's killing it. She wants us to come out and take a look." She nodded her head and made a note of it.

This was a once monthly occurrence, them having to go out there to keep the peace and it wouldn't make a difference to the eighty year old woman or her seventy-eight year old neighbor that they had a murder to solve. Life in a small town sure had its little peccadilloes. But she wouldn't change it for anything. She's never once missed her life back in the city, and was now entrenched in this place she now called home.

***

Valerie rang the doorbell and waited for the housekeeper to open and let her in. It was still early in the morning, just a little after eight, a time when Niall would usually be at work, but she'd guessed correctly that he would take the day off.

"Morning Nettie, how is he?" She smiled at the woman who looked a bit harried this morning.

"About what you'd expect I guess. The children have been a handful this morning and he and Bridgette are trying to get them settled."

The older woman moved over to the side table to wipe a water spot left by the glass Mr. Niall had sat there the night before. It was more for something to do with her hands than anything else. Ever since the day before she's been on pins and needles with worry.

The last time there'd been a murder in this town she'd been little more than a child so it hadn't affected her as much, but this was too close to home. She hadn't been overly fond of the woman she worked for, but still.

To die so young and in such a horrible way if the rumor mill was true, only a heartless person wouldn't feel compassion for the poor soul. Valerie was still thinking about the news about the children, she'd comforted herself with the thought that they were too young to really understand and would not suffer as much.

"Oh no, I thought Junior might be old enough to understand but not Andrea and Abigail. Surely they're too young aren't they?"

"Well, they might not understand death but they know that their mother's not here like she usually is. Poor little mites, they hardly slept a wink according to Bridgette." Nettie sighed and turned to look at the other woman.

"You'll find Mr. Niall upstairs with them!" Nettie turned and headed back towards the kitchen where she'd been busy cleaning up after breakfast and left Valerie to find her way upstairs to the nursery. She'd been here often enough to know her way there.

Valerie felt strange being in the home now that her friend was gone. Her eyes landed on the large portrait of Sonya that sat above the fireplace in the great room as she walked by. She didn't stop to look as her heart raced in her chest and she begun to feel sick. It was finally hitting home that she was gone, that she wasn't going to come bounding out of one of the rooms with that infectious grin on her face.

She made her way up the stairs where she could hear the slight din of voices and came to a stop in the doorway to the nursery. Niall was seated on the floor with little Abigail on his lap, a faraway look on his face.

His eyes were red as if he'd been crying all night and she felt helpless standing there with nothing to offer but empty words and meaningless platitudes. "Good morning Niall, hello children." She walked into the room and he looked up with a ghost of a smile on his face.

He looked nothing like the always well- groomed dashing businessman she was accustomed to and it broke her heart just a little. Yesterday when they came here she'd let Riley do most of the talking because she was still in a state of shock, now she was on her own she found herself still at a loss for words.

He put the baby down and gestured to the nanny, what was her name again? Oh yes, Bridgette. Valerie barely spared the girl a glance as he came towards her in the door. "Let's go have a cup of coffee on the back porch." She nodded her acquiescence and they turned and left the room to the sound of the babysitter trying to entice the kids to play some game.