Jennifer Morey - Hometown Detective

“I think it’s a definite possibility,” she said. “Whenever I talked to her or when I saw her, she didn’t seem like someone who was about to off herself.”

“Maybe she didn’t want you to worry,” Roman said.

He earned a glower from her.

“Thanks for talking to us, Blaire,” Kendra said, then turned to him again. “Let’s go.”

“Did Kaelyn ever mention she was talking with her twin sister?” Roman asked Blaire.

Blaire shook her head. “I was as shocked as everyone else when Kendra came to town.”

He could tell his question irritated Kendra. He’d had to ask to confirm what she’d told him.

Out on the street, Kendra headed for her car. “Don’t say it.”

Roman walked beside her. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

She eyed him as he walked next to her.

“I wasn’t,” he repeated. “In fact, I was going to suggest we call her coworkers.”

“What about her sleazy husband?”

“He’s in jail. Just found that out this morning. Arrested for embezzlement.”

“The streets are cleaner.” She reached her car. “Where’s your car?”

“I left the rental at the hotel. Took a cab here.”

“Get in.”

He did. “The husband has a tight alibi the day Kaelyn killed herself.”

“Stop saying that. Kaelyn was murdered.”

Roman sighed. This was going to be a long day.

“I didn’t tell you this yet, but Kaelyn slipped once when we were talking on the phone. She said she met someone in Chesterville and she called him Bear.”

“So you knew she was seeing someone.”

“No. She said she met someone and she called him Bear. She backpedaled when I questioned her and wouldn’t say more.”

* * *

Kendra contained her frustration after talking with a few of Kaelyn’s coworkers. All of them corroborated what the police had surmised. Kaelyn had been unhappy and depressed before her death. Having Roman with her to do the questioning hadn’t gotten her anywhere. She felt his doubt oozing through the air between them. The only reason he’d stayed was because of her secret relationship with Kaelyn, and maybe their night together. Would he ever be swayed?

Now they walked along Main Street not far from her shop and the pub. Ahead, a throng of people caught her eye. They’d have to cross the street to get around them. A camera crew lingered among them in front of the courthouse.

“What’s going on there?” Roman asked.

“I don’t know.” Kendra was active in her community but wouldn’t call herself up-to-date on everything going on in town.

People had gathered on the steps of the courthouse. What they hoped to see, Kendra couldn’t be sure. But then a couple stepped out of the building. The man, tall and muscular with slightly graying dark hair, wore slacks and a vest over a white dress shirt. Not much shorter, with blond hair and a black dress, the woman wore expensive jewels, like Christmas ornaments, and a fitted black business dress with black high heels. Her blond hair was shoulder-length and styled in a perfect, swooping bob.

She stopped with Roman at the crowd of onlookers.

“Who are they?” Kendra asked.

A woman next to her said, “That’s Hudson Franklin and his wife, Melody. Hudson is the county prosecutor. He’s prosecuting a new case.”

Melody waved to the crowd as though acting. Her husband kissed her cheek and she smiled at him, much more genuinely. The two seemed to have real feelings for each other.

Someone broke from the crowd, rushing for Melody and Hudson.

“You sent an innocent man to jail!” the man hollered, feverish to reach them. “All you care about is winning trials!”

Melody’s smile vanished and she shrieked, startled and frightened.

Two beefy security guards blocked the stranger just in time and Hudson swept Melody away, letting the guards flatten the man onto the concrete sidewalk.

From behind the couple, a big, dark blond–haired man rushed forward. “Mother! Are you all right?”

Shaken but safe now that the man had been subdued, the blonde faced the man. “Thank you, Bear. Yes, I’m all right.”

As she watched Melody lean away from the man’s embrace, Kendra felt a cold chill race through her, prickling her scalp and arms. When Kaelyn had slipped when talking about her second lover, she’d called him Bear.

Chapter 4

Raelyn Johnston checked out a customer in line at the gas station counter. This was the only job she could find after college. She didn’t want to leave Chesterville. Her grandparents lived here and that was really all she had left of family. Kendra came to mind then. She didn’t like thinking about her. Mom hadn’t told her a thing about her. Why not? The only explanation was that her mom hadn’t been close to her and maybe hadn’t wanted to bring her into their lives.

It didn’t matter anyway. Raelyn didn’t want her aunt in her life. She looked like her mom the way other sisters did but not in a twin way, and just reminded her of the hellhole her mother had left her in when she killed herself.

Raelyn slammed the cash register shut with a fresh wave of anger. She still got so mad over that. How could her mother have done that to her? Living with Dad had been horrible but at least they had had each other. How could her mom have left her in that situation?

The last year living with Dad had been a nightmare. She’d come home from school to cops swarming her house and her mother’s body being wheeled out in a black bag. Her dad hadn’t even called the school.

A cop had told her that her mother died and the coroner would be in touch to explain how.

After they’d all left, her dad had started drinking and only told her Kaelyn had killed herself by hanging. No hug. No talk over how she’d deal with such a huge loss. He seemed to not care at all. Looking back, she realized he’d drowned whatever sentiment he’d had for her mom in alcohol.

Another patron showed up at the counter. She looked up and saw a tall, beautiful blonde she recognized from the news. It was the prosecutor’s wife, Melody Franklin. She put a cold bottle of iced tea on the counter.

Raelyn began checking her out and Melody inserted her credit card into the machine, eyeing Raelyn.

“You’re Kaelyn Johnston’s daughter, aren’t you?” Melody asked.

She recognized her? “Yes.”

“I was real sorry when we heard about her death all those years ago.”

What was this, Hash Over Her Mom’s Suicide Day? She didn’t respond.

“She was so well liked in town. No one ever really got to know your dad. He never came with her when she visited.”

“My dad was and still is a first-class loser.”

“You seem to have turned out all right despite that fact. You’re quite lovely.”

Raelyn grew uncomfortable with the compliment. She thought she looked okay, but what did lovely mean?

“I heard your aunt hired an impressive private investigations firm to look into your mother’s death.”

What? Raelyn handed Melody her receipt. “What detective agency? Why is she looking into her death?”

Raelyn felt a surge of multiple feelings assail her. Rage. Pain. The sting of tears. She couldn’t take this.

“As a possible homicide. You didn’t know?”

“My aunt and I haven’t spoken much.”

“Doesn’t she keep in touch with you? I would think she’d want nothing more than to be in touch with her twin sister’s daughter.”

That was getting too personal. “She does, but I’ve been too busy.”

Melody glanced over the cash register and counter as though she found that difficult to believe. Raelyn only worked at a gas station. How could she possibly be too busy to be in touch with her aunt? Clearly she didn’t want to be in touch with her aunt.