Alice in Murderland Read online

  Despite the cold, I quickly slowed down to appreciate how incredible the village looked at night. The shops all emitted warm yellow light from their storefronts, and Christmas lights decorated the trees despite the fact that it was long past the holiday season. Flags advertising the latest festival blew softly in the wind, and red-cheeked people walked slowly past, absorbing the atmosphere as I was doing.

  Pickles’ Pizza was only about a five-minute walk from my apartment. I entered the rustic log-cabin style restaurant and was immediately blasted with warmth. At the back, an open wood-fire pizza oven cackled as workers were busy assembling their pizzas.

  “Hi, can I find you a table?” a hostess asked me.

  “Can I just order a pizza for take-out, please?” I asked.

  “Sure thing, here’s a menu for you to look at. Just place your order at the counter when you’re ready,” the lady told me. It only took me about three minutes to decide on the Hawaiian–pulled pork and pineapple, with bacon. Yum!

  I made my way to the counter, ordered my pizza, then sat down at the bar to wait for it to cook. I nursed the glass of water the barman gave me while I waited and half-heartedly began to watch the NHL playoff game on TV between two teams I didn’t recognize.

  “Excuse me,” I heard a voice say at my side. “Aren’t you Cat Calliope’s cousin?”

  I turned and saw a man who looked to be in his early forties, just beginning to bald, with a kind face looking at me.

  “I am, yes.”

  “I thought so, I saw you with her in the cupcake shop this afternoon when Denise came by. I’m Frank Harding.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” I said, shaking his extended hand. “Alice Calliope.”

  “You must be Jennie’s little girl. So sad, what happened to her. I heard you were coming back to take over Francine’s bookshop. That’s a tragedy as well. Cancer takes the best of us. Well, I just wanted to welcome you to Sapphire Village. Don’t worry about Denise; she’s mostly bark and very little bite. Those of us who think with our brains and not our mouths know that Cat never would have killed anyone.”

  “That’s very kind of you to say,” I replied. “Has it been confirmed, then, that Edith was murdered?”

  Frank nodded. “Yes, the coroner’s office released the information a couple of hours ago. Apparently, they suspect poisoning.”

  My mind immediately went to the coffee cup that I’d seen in Edith’s cup holder. My heart pinched a bit when I realized it was the same kind that Cat used for take-out coffee at her cupcake shop.

  “Oh, that’s too bad,” I said. “There’s no good way to die, of course, but a heart attack is much better than murder.”

  “Absolutely,” Frank said. “And don’t let it scare you off from our little town. There hasn’t been a murder here since the eighties, it’s perfectly safe.”

  “Thanks,” I said with a smile. “I grew up in Miami though. As long as it’s just the one murder, it’s still probably significantly safer than back home.”

  “Oh yes, Sapphire Village is really very safe. I’ve lived here my whole life and I still don’t lock my front door when I’m home.”

  “Of course it’s safe,” a woman chimed in from behind Frank. “I am surprised though. Most of the town is opposed to the new development, but I didn’t think that would be a reason to kill her.”

  “What is this new development?” I asked curiously. Cat had mentioned a little bit about it, but I wanted to know more.

  “The company that owns the ski resort wants to turn Sapphire Village into a year-round resort. Right now, during the winter the main attraction is the skiing, and in the summer people go to the lake, or use the bike paths around town. But Sapphire Mountain Resort wants to add a whole host of new things. They want to add a water park, a go-kart track, a giant hotel in the middle of town and a mall on the outskirts. They’re projecting an extra 2 million people will visit Sapphire Village per year,” the woman explained. “They’re calling it the ‘Renaissance’ project.”

  “Wow, that’s a lot of extra people,” I said. “Won’t that be good for the economy here, though?”

  “Well yes,” Frank answered. “But it will also bring a whole lot of problems. For one thing, the village will lose a lot of the quaint charm it current exhibits.” I could definitely see that; this wasn’t the kind of place where you wanted to see a mall, or water slides. This was a little piece of nature nestled into the mountains, where you went to get away from it all. “Also, there are a lot of logistical factors as well. We have limited homes here; all those extra tourists are going to want to be served by people, but we don’t have enough housing for all of them. Also, you saw the road on the way in. It’s an old, ratty, two-lane highway. When there’s an accident, we’re completely cut off from everyone; there are no other roads. We’re just not set up for such a large expansion. It would essentially double the size of our town, which already gets pretty busy on weekends.”

  “You say all that, Frankie, but doesn’t tourist money put food on your table,” the woman behind the bar said. She looked to be about the same age as Frank, with long black hair tied back in a braid that ran down her back.

  “Sure, Karen, but when you can’t find enough people to serve your customers and people end up waiting an hour for a pizza, they’re not going to be coming back to Sapphire Village again, and even if they do they’re not going to come back here.”

  “Well, that’s a problem I’ll face when we get there.”

  “If we get there. I hope that wasn’t why Edith was killed, though. I might be opposed to the new development, but I certainly don’t want those who aren’t have their voices silenced.”

  “You knew Edith just as well as the rest of us, Frank,” Karen replied. “You know she was so annoying that half the town wanted her dead.”

  “Yeah, but there’s a big difference between wanting someone dead and actually doing it,” I said, and Karen nodded at me.

  “True. I can’t see someone killing Edith over this, though. After all, she’s just one voice in favor of the expansion.”

  “One voice who yelled and shouted to be heard above the din, and then berated anyone who disagreed with that voice,” Frank said.

  “That’s true. Well, I’m sure Chief Griffin will find whoever did it. He was in the marines, you know?” she said to me, and my eyebrows raised.

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “And he’s single,” she added with a wink. I felt a blush crawl up my face.

  “Oh I’m not... I mean, I’m single too, but I’m happy that way,” I managed to stammer out, and Karen laughed.

  “Sweetie, half the married women in this town would suddenly become single again if Chase Griffin showed an interest,” she told me with a wink. “He’s gorgeous. No shame in that. Just letting you know the lay of the land, if you’re interested.”

  “Thank you,” I managed to reply. “I’m happily single though.”

  “Maybe it’s better that way. Chief Griffin has been back in town for three years and hasn’t had a girlfriend since he’s been back. A total waste, if you ask me. Anyway, here’s your pizza.”

  “Thanks,” I told her. “It was nice to meet all of you,” I said to Karen, Frank and the other woman.

  “You too, Alice,” Frank said. “It’s good to have another Calliope in town.”

  I left the pizza place with a bit of a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. I’d only been here for a day, but already it felt like I belonged. Miami had been great. I liked the beaches, I liked the atmosphere, all of that. But this was different. I already had a sense of belonging to the overall community here. And it felt good.

  Making my way back to my apartment, I saw my suitcase waiting for me on the front step of the bookshop. Thrilled that I finally had the rest of my belongings, I grabbed it with my other hand and awkwardly made my way into the shop. I didn’t see Archibald. However, as I made my way up the steps to my apartment–I was getting more and more confident that they wouldn’t
collapse under me at any moment–I suddenly heard a little meow at my feet. Looking down I saw a grey tabby looking up at me with sad little eyes.

  “You must be Muffin,” I said to the cat, who meowed again, shifting his eyes to the pizza box I was holding. “Ah, that’s what you want,” I said with a smile, opening the door. Muffin ran into the apartment, and when I got to the kitchen he was sitting on top of one of the stools at the breakfast bar, his tail slowly wagging, patiently waiting for his own piece of pizza.

  I found some plates in the cupboard and put a slice of pizza on one of them before heading back to the TV. Muffin dutifully followed me, and gobbled up the piece of pulled pork I gave him like he hadn’t eaten in days.

  “You’re a nice little kitty, aren’t you?” I asked, and in reply Muffin placed a paw on my leg, looking up at me with those little eyes that screamed “feed me your pizza!”

  After our shared dinner, Muffin curled up next to me on the couch, and I stroked his fur until I fell asleep right there on the couch with him.

  Chapter Seven

  I woke up early the next morning and ate the extra cupcake Cat had given me the day before for breakfast. It was incredible, and single-handedly made moving to Sapphire Village worth it. Looking outside, the sun was shining today, with the temperature in the low 30s. It blew my mind that it could be that cold out when the sun was shining, but I threw on some jeans and my new jacket, and made my way outside to wander around the village.

  An hour later, with Muffin fed (I had found some cat food in the cupboard, but he did manage to convince me to give him some leftover pizza as well), I waited for Cat to show up. She made her way to my place just after ten in the morning. Today she was wearing Converse sneakers, a pair of jeans and a white sweatshirt with a cartoon cat on it that had “Show me your kitties” written on it in big black letters.

  “I was thinking we should go down to the police station and give our statements,” Cat told me.

  “Oh, yeah, of course. I completely forgot we had to do that!” I exclaimed.

  “Don’t worry, if it wasn’t for the fact that it actually was a murder I’m not sure Chief Griffin would even care.”

  “I don’t hear a ‘you were right Alice, and I was wrong, I totally didn’t think it was a murder’,” I teased, and Cat stuck her tongue out at me.

  “Fine. You were right. You’re bringing all your bad city habits with you. We can walk to the police station from here, it’s not far.”

  “It seems like everything around here isn’t far,” I said. “Hey, by the way, I’ve never actually run any kind of business before, so is it all right if I ask you questions while I try and figure out how the bookshop works?”

  “Of course!“ Cat replied as we started walking down Main Street. “Honestly, the timing worked out pretty well. Usually April and May are the low seasons, so there aren’t as many tourists about. Things will start up again in mid to late June when the weather gets nicer, so you have a few months to kind of settle yourself in and get used to things before they get busy.”

  “That’s a relief,” I said with a smile. A few minutes later we turned off the main road and found ourselves in front of a modern-looking, low building which housed City Hall on one side, and the police station on the other. Cat and I entered the police station and found ourselves in a single-room office, with a receptionist who looked to be about my age sitting at a desk by the entrance, playing Solitaire.

  “Oh, hi Cat,” she said with a smile when she looked up. “Who have you brought with you today?”

  “This is Alice Calliope, my cousin.”

  “I heard you were moving back to Sapphire Village!” the receptionist exclaimed. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Andi. I’m guessing you’re here to see Chase?”

  “Yeah, we need to give our statements to Chief Griffin about what we saw yesterday, since we were the ones who found Edith’s body.”

  “Did you hear she was murdered?” Ali whispered in a conspiratorial tone.

  “I did, it’s been officially announced, you don’t need to whisper anymore,” Cat teased.

  “Well, it’s still crazy, isn’t it? I mean here! In Sapphire Village. The worst thing that’s happened since I’ve worked here, was one drunk tourist from England deciding to punch another drunk tourist in the face. And I’ve been here two years now.”

  “I agree. Never seen anything like it.”

  “Well, if you want to go in, Chief Griffin’s in his office at the back. We had the coroner visit this morning! I’d never met him before. He looks like he has one foot in the grave already, if you ask me.”

  Cat laughed. “Thanks, Andi. We’ll do that.” I smiled at her as the two of us walked past and toward the back of the large room. It turned out there was an extra office in the room; it was tiny and tucked away, which was why I hadn’t noticed it when we first walked in. Sitting at a plain metal desk, going over some papers, was Chase Griffin, the man who would easily win the contest of America’s Sexiest Police Chief.

  Even now, with his brow furrowed in concentration, Chase looked more like he belonged in an episode of Hawaii Five-0 and not working as a chief in a small town in the mountains of Oregon.

  “Knock, knock,” Cat said as we walked into the office, and Chase leaned back in his chair.

  “Ah. Cat and Alice. Good to see you.” I couldn’t help the fact that my stomach fluttered as he remembered my name. Get a grip, I scolded myself. He remembers your name because you found a murdered body. Besides, you’re not interested in him.

  I was very, very happily single, I reminded myself. The memories of Tim, my ex, still felt raw sometimes. Still, it didn’t mean I couldn’t admire what was available, I told myself.

  Chase motioned for us to sit in a couple of the plain chairs in front of his desk. We did as he asked.

  “So,” he started, pushing the paper he was reading to the side. “I assume, because this is Sapphire Village, that you both know Edith Chalmers was murdered?”

  Cat and I both nodded.

  “Ok. Well, I can also confirm that she was poisoned.”

  So, the gossip in town had been right.

  “The thing is,” Chase continued, “the coroner fast-tracked the toxicology report. She was poisoned with destroying angel mushrooms.”

  Cat inhaled sharply next to me. “Sorry,” I asked. “What’s a destroying angel mushroom?”

  “It’s a poisonous mushroom that grows at the base of oak trees here in Oregon,” Cat replied. “They’re very poisonous, eating just a little bit can be fatal.”

  “Exactly,” Chase confirmed, nodding. “An ounce, to be precise, is all a person needs to ingest for it to be fatal. The medical examiner thinks that she ingested a decent amount, however, as the heart attack which ultimately killed her only happened three days after the symptoms began. According to people who knew her she had been complaining of abdominal pain for a few days, but thought it was simply the kidney stones from which she suffered occasionally. When her liver began to fail that morning and she noticed her eyes were going yellow, she told her daughter she was going to the hospital in Portland. That was where she was headed when she died.”

  “Wow,” I said. “That doesn’t sound like a nice way to die.”

  “No, it really wasn’t,” Chase confirmed. “However, I do need to ask Cat about how often Edith ate at her restaurant.”

  “You’ve gotten a visit from Denise,” Cat replied. “She stormed into the café yesterday and accused me of murdering Edith in front of everyone.”

  Chase smiled, and I noticed that when he smiled he had small dimples in his cheeks. Some people just nailed the genetic lottery, and Chase was one of them.

  “She did,” he said, almost apologetically. “I just want to get your statement out of the way. Has Edith been to your café in the last few days?”

  “Yes,” Cat replied. “She liked my cupcakes more than she hated me.”

  “Having tasted your cupcakes for the first time yesterday, I don’t
blame her,” I said, and Chase smiled my way. I liked how he smiled at me. No, I couldn’t think that way. I was sworn off men. Even men who had served in the marines and looked like an action hero.

  “Ok, was she in your shop three days before she died?”

  “I’m pretty sure she was, yes. She always pays with her Platinum Amex card, making sure to flash it around every time she pulls it out, so you’ll be able to look up the details pretty easily.”

  Chase nodded. “Good. Do you want to tell me about the yelling match you had with her the day before that?”

  Cat suddenly looked a bit embarrassed. “Ok, yeah, I lost my cool a little bit with her then, didn’t I? But, to be fair to me, she did call me a whore.”

  Chase raised an eyebrow. “I heard you called her a whore first.”

  “I did, but that was different. I called her a corporate whore, selling out the town for a mall on the outskirts. Besides, we might have fought, but I didn’t kill her. I swear.”

  “Ok, thanks,” Chase said, but I couldn’t help but feel like Cat was still a prime suspect in the murder. After all, Cat had a public fight with Edith Chalmers the day before the woman was murdered? I wasn’t a cop, but I knew I would consider Cat a suspect if I was. I was worried. I’d only known her for a day, but I liked my cousin. I didn’t want her to get into trouble.

  Suddenly, I heard a man’s voice behind us.

  “Sorry to interrupt, Chief, but I just wanted you to know Janet has scheduled a press conference for five o’clock this afternoon,” the man said.

  “Thanks, Len,” Chase said. “Hey, while you’re here, this is Jennie Calliope’s daughter, Alice, who just moved back into town.”

  “I heard from Frank this morning that she was finally here. Welcome,” the man said, holding out a hand, which I shook. He was in his fifties, with a bit of a pot-belly and losing most of his hair but trying–badly–to hide it. “I’m Len Forbes, the mayor here in Sapphire Village. I went to school with your mom; we were in the same grade growing up and we studied American Literature together in college. Such a shame what happened to her, but I’m glad you’re back here now.”