Christiane Heggan - Where Truth Lies

Grace smiled. “Don’t take it personally. Sarah is very hard to please. Trust me on that.”

“Steven blamed her for the breakup between the two of you.”

How like Steven to put the blame on someone else. “Did he really?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. He told me how he messed up, but he felt that if it hadn’t been for his mother being so hard on you, you would have forgiven him and stuck around.”

“In that case, he was deluding himself. I broke up with Steven because he cheated on me. Pure and simple. Call me old-fashioned, but trust and loyalty rank high on my list of priorities, especially between a man and a woman about to be married. As for Sarah, she had nothing to do with my decision. I had come to terms with her attitude toward me by simply ignoring it.”

Denise looked at her with undisguised admiration. “You have more guts than I have. One look at the woman and my knees turned to jelly.” She paused before adding, “I can see why Steven was so fond of you. You don’t take any crap from anyone.”

Grace smiled. “Is that what he told you?”

“No, that’s what I’ve been hearing all morning. The way you fought back that robber last night is the talk of the town. Where did you learn to kick like that?”

“In kickboxing class. When you live in the city and work until late at night, self-defense becomes a necessity.”

“Do you have to defend yourself often?”

“Actually, this was my first time. Hopefully my last.”

“Are you all right? Lorraine at the café says that you spent the night in the hospital.”

News traveled fast in a small town. “I’m fine. Just some bumps and bruises.”

Denise sat on the stool in front of the desk, making herself at home. “You seem like a good person.”

“You can tell that after only a few minutes?”

“I’m a good judge of character. How about you? Are you a good judge of character?”

“I like to think so.”

“Let’s put you to the test. What do you think of me?”

Grace laughed. The woman was relentless, and yet, there was something about her that was endearing. “I think you’re very pretty.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“All right.” Grace sat down in the swivel chair behind the desk and put her arms on the armrests. “I think you’re honest—a little insecure, perhaps, but that doesn’t seem to interfere with your candor. And in spite of what you say, I think you’re very gutsy. The fact that you’re here proves it.”

“Hmm.”

“Am I right?”

“Pretty much. You and I could be friends, you know. God knows I could use a friend. As you’ll soon find out, I’m not the most popular person in town these days.”

“Because of your affair with Steven?”

“That, but mostly because of Fred’s arrest. The people in New Hope worship him. He was so much more than their police chief. He was their friend, their champion, their advisor. They could talk to him about anything. Fred was always there, ready to help. I can’t even tell you how many marriages he saved, just by making each couple talk to each other. The residents revered him almost as much as they do Father Donnelly, who’s pretty much of a saint in these parts. And now, Fred’s in jail and it’s all my fault.”

“Guilt is a heavy burden to carry, Denise. And it doesn’t change anything. All it does is make you feel bad.”

“I wouldn’t feel half as bad if Fred was guilty, but he isn’t. He didn’t kill Steven!”

There was a conviction in her voice as she spoke those words that made Grace pay instant attention. “I don’t understand. From what I heard—”

“I know what you heard. None of it is true. My husband did not kill Steven Hatfield.”

“Wasn’t his gun found outside the gallery? With his fingerprints on it?”

“ Pft .” Denise gave a disdainful toss of her blond curls. “Do you think for one second that anyone with an ounce of intelligence would drop the murder weapon as he fled? Which is what Chief Nader says happened.”

“It does sound a little…”

“Sloppy. And Fred is anything but sloppy. That’s what I told Josh. The man worked with Fred since the day he got out of the army. He knows him better than anyone.”

“But you said there was an investigation.”

She rolled her eyes. “If you can call that an investigation. The little Josh did, he did for show.”

“What do you think happened?”

Looking restless, Denise stood up and started walking around the gallery, stopping to look at a painting every now and then. “It all started at Pat’s Pub, where Fred likes to stop for a beer every evening, you know, just to shoot the bull with his friends. That evening, he walked in on a conversation that sent him into orbit. Cal and Lou Badger, two hopeless morons, were talking about me and Steven, apparently in vivid details.

“Fred would have killed them with his bare hands if Eddie—that’s the pub’s owner—hadn’t stopped him. Then he stormed out, and because he was in such a rage, everyone assumed he was on his way here, to the gallery.”

“He wasn’t?”

“Fred isn’t the type to make a scene in a place of business. He’s much too decent to do that. He went home to wait for me.”

“So you can vouch for him? You can give him an alibi?”

“No.” Denise’s shoulders slumped. “I was working on a new line. I make jewelry,” she explained. “And I didn’t leave my shop until about seven. When I got home, the police were there, handcuffing Fred.”

“If your husband didn’t do it, then who did?”

“Take your pick.”

That was a strange comment. Steven wasn’t the type to have enemies. “What do you mean by that?”

“Steven had his share of enemies in this town, starting with Buzz Brown.”

“Who is Buzz Brown?”

“He owns a large farm on Route 232. Six months ago his wife became very ill. Buzz tried to sell his property to a developer so he could move Alma to Arizona, but Steven, who was a member of the township planning board, strongly objected to the developer’s plan to build three hundred single-family homes on the site.

“When the township residents heard that the subdivision would destroy the character of the area, increase traffic and raise taxes, they started attending the planning board meetings and voiced their concerns. As a result, the application was denied and a few weeks later, Alma died. Buzz held Steven personally responsible for his wife’s death. They never spoke after that.”

“Six months is a long time, don’t you think?” Grace asked. “Assuming that Buzz Brown was mad enough to kill, why didn’t he do it right away?”

“Because if he had, he would have been the number one suspect.”

Obviously, Denise had given the case a lot of thought. “You said that Steven had his share of enemies? Who are the others?”

“The dean of the local college, John Amos.”

“The same college where Steven taught an art course twice a week?”

Denise nodded. “As you know only too well, Steven was a hopeless womanizer. One of the coeds reported him for sexual harassment. The dean wanted to fire Steven on the spot, but the faculty intervened in his favor and he was allowed to stay. The dean was furious.”

“Why was he allowed to stay?”

“Why do you think? Steven’s mother stepped in, made a generous donation to the college, and that was that. John Amos is lucky he didn’t get fired.”

The incident must have been humiliating for the dean, but hardly a reason for murder. “Who else?”

“I can’t name anyone specifically ,” Denise said. “But the way Steven flirted with the women here in town…” She rolled her eyes again. “They all loved the attention, but the husbands and boyfriends, well, that was another matter.”