Part 22 (1/2)
Alma blushed. ”Well, yeah, but I didn't know it was that big of a thing. He's normally so quiet, so predictable. I never expected him to react with such pa.s.sion.”
”What's the saying-'Still waters run deep'?”
”How deep is the real question,” Stella mused aloud. ”Deep enough to shoot Weston?”
With that, they heard the crunching of tires against the gravel and dirt camp road gradually drawing nearer.
”Good lord, it's Charlie,” Alma announced as the Windsor County Sheriff car rolled into view. ”Please don't mention what I've told you! If he isn't the killer and he finds out what I thought about him, it would hurt him so.”
Having stopped his car behind the Buckleys' vehicle, Mills jumped out from behind the steering wheel and ran to the front porch of the cabin, leaving the driver's-side door open behind him. ”Alma, thank goodness you're okay. I've been looking all over for you.”
”I'm fine, Charlie. Why wouldn't I be?”
”Got a call that someone broke into your next-door neighbor's home.”
”Oh my G.o.d! Bunny? Is she okay?”
Mills removed his hat and hung his head. ”I'm sorry, Alma, but I'm afraid she's dead.”
CHAPTER.
15.
ALMA, TOO DISTRAUGHT to drive, rode with Stella in the Smart car, while Nick in the pickup and Mills in the patrol car followed them to the trailer Alma shared with her brother. The scene that greeted them was like one from a television police drama. Emergency vehicles, their sirens muted, splashed the surrounding homes and trees with bright blue light while the inside of Bunny's doublewide, lamps glaring, cast an eerie glow into the inky Vermont darkness.
Haunted by her conversation with the dead woman, Stella delivered Alma to her brother and ensured that both were settled in before journeying next door, where she found Nick asking the sheriff to recount the details of Bunny's final moments.
”Come on,” Nick urged. ”You know we had nothing to do with this. Besides, it will be all over town by morning anyway.”
”Nick's right. Why, just look at your deputy.” She pointed to the young man in the uniform and wide-brimmed hat who was chatting up a pretty girl in the crowd that had gathered around the police cars.
Mills sighed. ”All right ... the killer came in through the back bedroom window and shot the victim in the chest while she watched television. No struggle. Nothing missing. Hunting rifle again, so one bullet did the trick. Whoever did it came in, took care of business, and then took off.”
”Who found her?” Stella inquired.
”Hank Reid. He and Bunny had a ... relations.h.i.+p. It being Sat.u.r.day night and all, he called to see if she was free. When she didn't answer, he came by to check on her.”
”Reid? And Bunny?”
”Jeez,” Nick remarked. ”Is there a warehouse of little blue pills in this town?”
”Huh?”
”Never mind my husband, Sheriff; he's being tested for Tourette's. We do have some things we need to discuss with you, though. Preferably where no one else can hear us.”
Mills nodded and led the couple to his car. ”This good enough? Or should we get in?”
Confident that no one was within earshot, Stella shook her head. ”This should be fine.”
”Okay, what is it you want to talk about?”
”We spoke to Alice about my conversation with Bunny last night.” She launched headlong into the meeting at Vermont Valley Real Estate and Alice's word of warning.
”Those are exact words she used? 'Tell her to watch her back'?” he clarified when she had finished.
”Yes.”
”And you figured you'd wait until someone else was dead to tell me all of this?”
Nick leapt to the defensive. ”If memory serves me correctly, I told you about Bunny this morning at Alma's, but you dismissed her as an 'eccentric busybody.' And yes, those were the exact words you used.”
”That was before Alice Broadman confessed to mortgage fraud and threatened another woman's life. Why you would keep something like that quiet is beyond me.”
”Oh, and you haven't kept anything quiet, I suppose,” Stella retaliated.
Sheriff Mills blanched. ”What do you mean?”
”Alma told us about her relations.h.i.+p with Weston and how you ran out of the Sweet Shop the day before the murder. I'm sure neither of those details have made it into your case files. When did you plan on coming clean?” Stella hesitated before speaking again but decided to go for broke, if only to see the sheriff's reaction. ”Or are you trying to cover the fact that you murdered Weston?”
”Now hold on a minute, there. I'll admit I had an axe to grind with Weston, but why would I want to kill some harmless gossip?”
”Because the night I met her at Perkins, Bunny mentioned your name as a suspect too.”
”My name?”
”Bunny didn't know the extent of Alma and Weston's relations.h.i.+p, but she had noticed a certain chemistry between them. She suggested you'd noticed the same thing and did away with Weston out of jealousy.”
”That's ridiculous!”
”Is it? Everyone in town knows you go to Alma's first thing every morning. It's obvious you have feelings for her. Even though I'm sure most people probably dismiss it as a silly crush, I'm certain it's more.”
”All right,” Mills yielded to Stella's reasoning. ”What do you want me to say? That I care about Alma? Of course I do. That's why I was trying to protect her.”
”By killing Weston?” Nick asked.
”No, not that the idea hadn't crossed my mind. I remember that morning at Alma's. Didn't want to pry, but I could see she'd been crying. Put up a brave front, she did, but she caved in the end. Didn't tell me details, just that she couldn't believe he had hurt her like that. That's what she kept saying over and over; couldn't even say his name. That's how upset she was.
”Again, I didn't want to push,” Mills went on, ”but I had to confirm my suspicions. See, Bunny was right. I had noticed Weston in the shop a few times, eyeing Alma up and down, so I had an idea he was the man in question, but I wanted-I needed-to hear it straight from Alma.”
”Did she eventually tell you?”
”Yup. When she finally said his name, I felt my blood boil. Don't know if I've ever been that angry before. I flew out of the shop and drove directly to Weston's house.”
”Was he there?”
”Yup, c.o.c.ky son of a b.i.t.c.h came to the door in his bathrobe and slippers, looking like some backwoods Hugh Hefner. I was all ready to tear a strip off him, but he didn't give me a chance. Seems that, unknown to me, Weston had called the police before I left Alma's. He thought I was answering the call.”