Mrs. Fix It Mysteries: The Complete 15-Books Cozy Mystery Series Read online

  Even so, she was shaken up about finding a dead body and not in the mood to be nice. She wished there was someone for her to call and talk to. Someone to calm her down. Her boys were at college and she didn’t want to bother them.

  “You sure you can’t tell me what is going on?” Beth said.

  “Yep.”

  Kate rocked a little more in the chair, her head filled with visions of the dead woman on the kitchen floor. She wasn’t in any hurry to go back into Scott’s house, but she’d have to return eventually to finish the repair.

  She probably wouldn’t get back in until they were finished with the crime scene. Even if that was days from now, the woman’s eyes were going to haunt her.

  “What are you doing here?” Beth asked.

  “I’m not answering any questions.”

  The officer at the door came out onto the porch. “You have to go, Beth.”

  “I’m not leaving. The public has a right to know.”

  Kate wanted to roll her eyes—the idealism of youth. The officer led Beth off the property and told her she could stand on the sidewalk. When he returned, he looked at Kate. “The chief will be out in a few minutes to talk to you. FYI, they are bringing the body out, but it will be in a bag.”

  Kate shuddered. “Can I go sit in my truck?”

  “Sure.”

  She unclipped her keys from her belt and climbed into her truck, still parked in the driveway. She turned on the air conditioning since the truck had heated up as it sat in the sun. She also turned on the radio and looked down at her phone. The body would come right by her, and she had no need to see it.

  She heard noises and saw people in her peripheral vision as they made their way to the ambulance. Then Scott was standing outside her truck. He knocked on the window and she rolled it down.

  “She’s gone.”

  “Good. I didn’t want to see that.”

  His eyes didn’t hold their usual sparkle. Kate would have thought that being a homicide detective in Philadelphia, as Scott had been, would have vaccinated him against feeling too much. Instead, he looked a little hollowed out.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “As good as one can be having seen a dead body,” Kate said.

  It was a sight she didn’t want to see again. At funerals, people were made up. They looked serene. She’d stick to that.

  In fact, she suddenly decided that she wanted a closed casket when she died so no one would have to look at her.

  Scott nodded. He still had that strong presence that she remembered. She’d always had the sense that he could take care of everything. In a way it was surprising that she ended up marrying someone so different from him—an academic.

  Greg had made her feel emotionally safe. She’d never needed to feel physically safe because her father had taught her to fight. Still, it might have been nice to know that her husband could defend her if needed. He certainly couldn’t now from wherever he was.

  “We need to take your statement, but the detective on the case wants to do it at the station.”

  She looked around. “I can’t get out. Can we move some of these vehicles?”

  “I’ll move them for you.”

  “Am I a suspect?”

  “Kate, everyone is a suspect. Until we know time of death, I’m a suspect. I’m just not in handcuffs out of professional courtesy.”

  Handcuffs? Yes, it happened in his house, but surely he’s being melodramatic.

  She waited as he moved vehicles so she could get out. Meanwhile, she turned off the radio. It was just too strange listening to happy songs after the morning she’d just had.

  How had that person gotten into Scott’s house? The door was locked. Her inquisitive mind wanted to know it all, though she doubted that Scott would tell her anything.

  She started her truck when the driveway behind her was empty. The truck backfired and threatened to stall. She made a mental note to get it to the shop. She’d been counting on part of this job’s pay to do just that. She tried to calculate what bill she could put off to get it in sooner rather than later.

  “Sounds like you need a new truck,” Scott said, standing beside her vehicle.

  Lost in thought, she hadn’t realized he’d returned. She jumped and put a hand on her heart in surprise.

  “I can’t afford one.”

  Then she had a thought. “Did you know that woman?”

  That would explain the look on his face. No matter how jaded you were from working homicide, if you knew the person, then you’d be affected by it. Scott must have recognized her, because Kate didn’t think the woman was from Rock Ridge.

  “Yes.”

  “Who was it?”

  Scott stared back at her, not blinking. “That was my ex-wife.”

  Chapter Two

  The Rock Ridge Police Department was part of the municipal complex in town. All the government offices were in a building next to it, along with a community center. The fire department, a paid operation, and the first-aid squad (strictly volunteer) had a building nearby.

  The noise hit Kate when she walked in. Phones rang. People talked. A few people yelled. They were all behind a glass partition, but the cacophony seeped out into the lobby. A petite blonde sat behind the partition, not smiling but waiting. She wore a uniform and had a large belly that made it hard for her to reach the phone on the desk. When Kate first entered the lobby, she’d watched the officer answer it, and it had been a struggle.

  She must have been on light duty; she looked ready to deliver that kid any minute. Kate shuddered, remembering how large she’d been with the twins.

  “Can I help you?” the young woman said.

  Kate realized she had no idea who she was supposed to see. “I guess I’m here to see the chief.”

  “He’s still out. You can wait in the lobby.”

  “I’m supposed to make a statement about the thing he’s at.”

  The woman nodded. “I’ll see if someone else is here that can do that. Just have a seat.”

  Kate sat on a bench that was as comfortable as being stretched on a rack. Despite the bench looking like wood, she was sure it was made out of concrete. It held the chill of the air conditioning. She had her work overalls on, but they weren’t thick at all, so she felt the coolness on her butt. She was tempted to stand, but she’d been instructed to sit.

  Not that she couldn’t be a rebel, but she was off her game today. Discovering a body will do that.

  “Miss?” the woman said finally.

  Kate stood and moved to the glass. “Yes?”

  “Detective Johnson will see you. When you hear the buzzing, push the door to your right open.”

  Kate heard an anemic buzzing sound and she pushed the door open. Inside, the noise was even louder. How does anyone work here? She was usually alone in her tasks, so she didn’t have office mates to shoot the breeze with. If there was noise, she was the one making it with a power tool.

  She enjoyed the solitude. After years of having two boys in the house, she liked the peace and quiet of working alone. This environment would never do. More than once, the drone of a busy building had convinced her that she hadn’t been cut out for an office job.

  Detective Johnson, or Ken as she knew him, loped toward her. He was a long man. Long limbs, long neck, long body. Making the transition from calling him Mr. Johnson to Ken had taken her years because she and his daughter, Carly, had been best friends since high school.

  He had brown hair and dull, brown eyes, which belied a quick mind. More than once, Kate and Carly thought they were getting something past her father, but it hadn’t happened once. Most people underestimated him.

  Kate wondered if he was close to retirement—or did he never plan to leave the job? He’d been up for the chief of police job, but Scott had been given that. Does he hold any resentment? She hoped not.

  “Hi, Ken.”

  He didn’t hug or kiss her. He was obviously in cop mode. “Hello, Kate. Follow me.”

  S
he did as he asked, and he led her past a maze of desks. She hadn’t realized that the Rock Ridge Police Department was that big. There were at least eight desks in the small room. Each had at least one inhabitant.

  Ken led her to the back of the office to a smaller room. Probably for interrogation purposes since there was a mirror on one wall just like in the cop shows.

  “Have a seat. You need coffee?”

  “Yes.”

  She could drink coffee all day, even right before bed. She didn’t hold out hope that this cup would have much taste. It might have been in the pot all morning for all she knew. Ken grunted, and then left her in the room as he went to the kitchenette.

  A chill went up her spine as she sat there alone. Do I need a lawyer? She hoped not. She couldn’t afford one. If her business had been doing better, she might have been able to, but she’d only started up six months prior.

  It had taken two months after the boys left for college for her to figure out what she was good at.

  Ken came back in with the coffee.

  “Thank you. Do I need a lawyer?”

  “If you want one, we can wait.”

  “No, I’ll answer your questions. I’m not a suspect.”

  “Everyone’s a suspect until we know time of death. Can you account for your time before you found the deceased?”

  “I stopped at Grayson’s for supplies first thing, and then I went to Scott’s to do repairs. You can talk to Chuck if you—”

  “We’ll worry about that when the ME tells us the time of death.”

  That reassured Kate. The woman would have had to have been killed before she arrived at the chief’s house or she would’ve heard someone else there. And people could verify seeing her in town before that.

  “Tell me about finding Jackie York.”

  Kate told him everything she could remember up to and including finding Scott’s ex-wife on his kitchen floor. She wondered how long they’d been married. Jackie York was probably a beautiful woman in her day—the kind that turned heads.

  She was probably the opposite of tomboyish Kate. Kate had long ago learned to be comfortable with herself in most situations, but once in a while a gorgeous woman did intimidate her. She’d bet that Scott’s ex-wife would have been one of those women.

  Jackie would have sported the latest trends in clothing with some person’s name on the tag that Kate had never heard of. If LL Bean or Carhartt didn’t make it, then Kate had no idea what it was.

  “So, you fixed the hole, used the restroom, and then Chief York called you? Do you often wander around your clients’ houses?”

  “I’m not going to answer that. It’s none of your business what I do on a job. I’m not a suspect and don’t have to explain myself.”

  Scott took that moment to stop in the room. “Are you antagonizing Mrs. Flaherty?”

  He looked a little better than he had at the house. He’d straightened his tie and rolled down his sleeves.

  “I’m just doing my job,” Ken said.

  “Well wrap it up. She’s not a suspect.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “She didn’t even know my ex-wife. Right, Kate?”

  Kate shook her head. That was the truth. “Never met her.”

  Ken frowned. “Okay. I’ll print this out and you need to sign it.”

  “Fine,” Kate said.

  She was ready to move on to her next job. She turned to Scott and asked, “Will I be able to get back into your house tomorrow? I need to sand and paint.”

  “No. I can’t even get into my house at this point.”

  Even though it was none of her business, she asked anyway. “Where will you stay?”

  “I have a couch in my office.”

  “Comfy.”

  He shrugged. “I’m hoping it’s only one night.”

  Ken left and quickly returned with a piece of paper. Kate read it and it was exactly what she’d said. She signed it.

  “You’re free to go.”

  As she was leaving the interrogation room, she heard her name. She looked up to see Larry Stadt, chief of the Rock Ridge Fire Department. Larry had been interested in Kate for years.

  ***

  She wanted the floor to swallow her up as Larry strode across the room. This was not going to be good: two alpha males in one room—both unnecessarily vying for her attention.

  Larry had taken it upon himself to be Kate’s protector. She suspected that he had ulterior motives, but she’d made it clear that she wouldn’t date—him or anyone else.

  She didn’t like her life being in limbo, but until there was a definitive answer about the whereabouts of her husband, she was still married.

  Larry always skated to the edge of understanding that. He stopped in front of her and put his hands on her arms. Marking his territory much?

  She didn’t want to embarrass him but she gently stepped away, out of his reach.

  Larry had brown hair, parted on the side, and soft, puppy-brown eyes. He was one of the sweetest men that Kate had ever known.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Larry. I just needed to make a statement.”

  “You aren’t being charged, are you? I can call a lawyer for you.”

  His taking over like this rankled her. She was an independent woman, and she didn’t need him to do that. “No, I’m fine. I’m on my way home.”

  Scott stepped closer to them. Of course. There was so much testosterone in the room that she’d bet she could pee standing up next time.

  He held out his hand. “I’m Scott York, the new chief of police.”

  Larry looked at the man’s hand then up at his face. He clasped Scott’s hand. “I’m Larry Stadt, chief of Rock Ridge Fire Department.”

  Kate wanted to laugh. Or break out a ruler, so they could all see once and for all whose was bigger. Instead, she walked away and let them play their male games.

  She had work to do.

  Larry caught up with her at her truck. “There something going on between you and that cop?”

  He spit out the last words as if they hurt him to say them. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

  “Not that it is any of your business, but no. We knew each other in high school.”

  Larry’s face relaxed. “You free for lunch?”

  “No, sorry. I have to fix someone’s steps this afternoon. I’m late, but I’m sure they’ve heard that I was at the police station.”

  “Nothing goes unnoticed in a small town.”

  “That’s for sure,” Kate said. “I really have to go.”

  She looked past Larry. Ken was putting Scott in the back of a squad car. He was handcuffed. “What’s going on?”

  Larry turned in the direction she was looking. “Guess the chief is getting arrested.”

  She didn’t like the glee in his voice. She brushed past Larry to talk to Scott before the back door closed. “Scott? What’s going on?”

  “ME gave us a preliminary time of death. I have no alibi for my location, so Ken here arrested me.”

  Ken nudged Kate out of the way. “I’m taking him to the county jail out on twenty-two.”

  Kate knew the place. It was a fortress right next to the county college where her husband had taught. She hadn’t been out that way since the school had asked her to clean out Greg’s office. The trip had taken a lot out of her, and she still hadn’t looked in the box she’d packed.

  “But he didn’t kill her. He’d divorced her already. Ken, this doesn’t make any sense.”

  Larry came up behind her. “Best let the cops deal with this, Kate.”

  He might as well have patted her on the head and told her not to worry her pretty little head. If she could have, she might have jabbed him in the ribs. Not in front of two police officers, though.

  “I’ll be out when my lawyer springs me, Kate. Couple of hours tops.”

  He didn’t look worried, but Kate couldn’t say the same. How could they accuse Scott of killing his ex-wife? If he’d w
anted to do that, being a cop, he could have covered his tracks much better than this. Besides, unless he’d changed in the last decades, she knew he’d never hurt anyone intentionally.

  From what the Rock Ridge Town Council had said when hiring him, he had a spotless law enforcement record. He’d come highly recommended. Even so, the mayor had wanted to hire from within, but he’d been outvoted.

  If Scott had not originally been from Rock Ridge, Kate suspected that Ken would be chief of police. But Scott had that hometown connection on top of his exemplary record.

  Scott’s gaze bore into her. His light brown eyes darkened for a moment. He seemed to be making sure that she looked at him. “I didn’t kill her, Kate.”

  She would have touched his shoulder, but there was a barrier in the patrol car. Of course she believed him. “I know, but what was she doing there?”

  Larry tugged her away. He was beginning to get on her nerves. He wasn’t her keeper. As much as she appreciated that he’d taken her boys under his wing as their scoutmaster, she didn’t think she owed him anything else.

  “I think this is none of our business, Kate.”

  She shrugged off his hands. Why was Ken so sure that Scott did it? Couldn’t he extend a professional courtesy to Scott? Didn’t cops do that? Or was a murder too serious? “Call me when you get out. There’s something not right here.”

  “Katydid, leave this to the cops. They’ll sort it out,” Scott said before Ken pulled away.

  Katydid? No one else had ever called her that. For a moment, she was back in high school. She remembered being young and in love; when the world had been laid out in front of her.

  Then her mother died and she’d stayed in Rock Ridge instead of going away to college. Scott had left for university and never made it back. His parents had moved to Florida not long after his departure, and she apparently hadn’t been reason enough for him to return.

  The anticipation of his return to town after all these years had set her nerves on edge. Now he was being charged with murder? She couldn’t stand by. Even though they had no future, she couldn’t just let him go to jail for a murder he didn’t commit.