Софи Келли - Paws Аnd Effect

“I’m starting to think Dani’s environmental work may have been her way of rebelling a little. It looks like she may have been the black sheep of her family.

“Mrr?” Hercules asked, his black-and-white head tipped to one side—mostly so he could view the computer screen without having to move from the spot on my lap where he’d settled.

“No, I don’t think being a black sheep is anything like being a black-and-white cat,” I said. I had no idea what he’d actually been asking me, but my answer seemed to satisfy him.

* * *

John came into the library just after ten o’clock the next morning. Tuesdays were busy, so I’d been keeping an eye out for him and I met him at the door.

“Hi, Kathleen,” he said. “Is the meeting room free? I just need to go though a few more plant samples that look promising.”

“The room is still yours,” I said. “I just made a cup of coffee. Do you have time for one?”

He nodded. “That sounds good.”

I took John up to the staff room. He sat at the table while I poured coffee for both of us. I thought about all the cups Marcus and I had shared in the same space.

“Cinnamon roll?” I asked, bringing over the plate Mary had brought in with her. “They’re wonderful, I promise. Mary made them and she has some sort of secret ingredient I haven’t been able to wheedle out of her.”

I hoped that the combination of coffee and one of Mary’s sweet cinnamon creations would put John in a talkative frame of mind.

“Hey these are good,” he said, taking a large bite. He chewed and swallowed, gesturing with one hand. “Was Abigail serious when she told me that Mary is a kickboxer, or was she pulling my leg?”

“She was serious. Mary has been regional and state champion more than once for her age and weight class.”

“But she looks like Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother.”

I laughed. “And she could take you down faster than the Big Bad Wolf.”

“I’ll remember that next time I ask to use the printer.” John grinned, then his expression grew serious. “Kathleen, how’s Marcus doing, really? It’s ridiculous that the police are even looking at him as a suspect. He hadn’t talked to Dani—or any of us, for that matter—in years. It was just that we met that morning the two of you walked into the restaurant. And then he kills her? C’mon!”

“It doesn’t hang together because Marcus didn’t do it.” I hesitated. “John, was there anyone who had a problem with Dani, maybe a conflict over a project or some kind of environmental issue?”

He slumped back in the chair. “You always get a few crackpots who call us tree-hugging hippies or crunchy granola space cadets but that’s all it’s ever been—words and a couple of times protestors with signs.”

“What about with this project?”

He made a face. “When the different groups banded together to stop the Long Lake project Ernie Kingsley requested a meeting. He offered to make a large donation to every group if we’d all drop our opposition to the project.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I take it that didn’t go well?”

“No, it didn’t. But my point is that Kingsley is a businessman. He solves problems by throwing money at them. Not by throwing a body over an embankment.”

“What about her family? Could someone have gone after Dani as a way to get to her brother or her grandmother, maybe?”

John brushed crumbs off the front of his shirt. “I don’t know that much about her family’s business dealings. They own three or four fancy hotels. They’re the largest manufacturer of sails in the world and they also run several wind-turbine farms. Not a whole lot of controversy or reasons to kill anyone there. She was very close to her brother and her grandmother. They were really proud of her work. And if there was any problem I think Dani would have said something to me. We were pretty close.” He held up a hand. “As friend, nothing romantic.”

I remembered Dani’s bio in McAllister Enterprises’ annual report. If her family was so proud of her work why wasn’t it mentioned? “What about since you all got here?” I asked. “Did you have any run-ins with anyone about the resort plans?” I rubbed the space between my eyebrows with one finger where a headache was forming. “I’m sorry for putting you on the spot with all these questions.”

John leaned forward, putting both hands flat on the table. “Don’t apologize. You’re worried about Marcus. I get that.” He hesitated, opened his mouth and closed it again.

“What is it?” I said.

“I don’t want to offend you or give you the wrong impression.”

“But.”

“Is it possible someone from around here killed Dani?” Before I could say anything both of his hands came up off the table. “I don’t mean on purpose, Kathleen. I mean by accident. He—or she, I guess—came across Dani working out there, they got into some kind of an argument and things just got out of hand. This kind of project can stir up strong feelings on both sides. I’ve seen it before.”

I couldn’t tell him what Hope had shared, that Dani had been hit by a car and her body moved. Even though there were strong feelings on both side of the development proposal I just couldn’t believe that anyone in Mayville Heights felt so strongly that they’d run Dani down over it and then dump her body. I knew these people. I knew what they were capable of and it wasn’t murder. Not over this.

But I didn’t say any of that. All I did was nod and say, “You’re right. It has stirred up a lot of complicated feelings.”

“I need to get to work,” John said, pushing back his chair and getting to his feet. “Look, from what I’ve seen the police here seem to know what they’re doing. Let them do their job, Kathleen. It’ll work out.”

He headed for the stairs and I put the dishes in the sink. I hadn’t learned that much about Dani except that based on what John had said, the conclusions I’d made after my online research seemed to be wrong.

* * *

I took my lunch outside to the gazebo and called Hope. I told her what I’d discovered. It didn’t take very long.

“I didn’t find out much about Ernie Kingsley, either,” she said. “Nothing that isn’t part of the public record. His grandfather started Kingsley-Pearson. They made their money with car dealerships. They own fifty-six of them. But other than saying Ernie is a shrewd businessman, no one will say anything else about him.” I heard her sigh. “At least not to me.”

The breeze off the water blew my hair against my face. I brushed it back. “How about you see if you can find anything more about the McAllisters’ and let me see if I can learn more about Ernie Kingsley?” I said.

“Why not?” Hope said. “You couldn’t do any worse than I have so far.” She said good-bye with a promise she’d call me with whatever she found out about Dani’s family.

So how could I find out more about the developer? Everett? I knew he liked Marcus and if I went to Rebecca she’d nudge her husband to help. Then I remembered Rebecca telling me that Everett was going to Japan on business for a few days. Who else could I talk to? Lita? I didn’t really want to put her on the spot.

I broke my brownie in half and ate it, hoping somehow inspiration would find me. And then it drove into the parking lot in the form of a delivery truck bringing two boxes of easy readers for our Reading Buddies program.

“Simon Janes,” I said aloud. There were no cats to murp their agreement to my idea and the robin in a nearby tree didn’t seem very interested.

Simon Janes was the father of Mia Janes. She’d come to the library as a student intern and worked out so well that I’d hired her part-time. I knew Simon’s company was involved somehow in commercial real estate. Maybe he could tell me something, anything, about Ernie Kingsley. It was worth a try.