Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
There was one thing about Liam that Natalie both respected and hated. He always did what he said he would do.
No procrastination. No excuses. No I can do that tomorrow, which happened to be her personal favorite phrase and procrastination technique.
Liam operated in the polar opposite way compared to Natalie. And as Liam strode out of the apartment and toward the front door of the shop to greet Mudville’s deputy sheriff, his unwavering responsibility was the most annoying trait about the man she loved.
She looked longingly at the cup of coffee she had only gotten to take a sip from before the law would invade her sanctuary.
She’d had to abandon the coffee on the counter when she realized Liam had already called the sheriff’s department.
She’s had to rush to put on some real clothes or risk being caught in pajamas when they arrived.
Grr. Darn Liam. Being all responsible and all.
Yes, they had agreed last night to call about Lionel’s body’s head injury in the morning. What Natalie hadn’t known at the time, what she never considered, was that he’d meant eight in the morning.
Ten a.m. firmly qualified as morning in her opinion and was a much more civilized hour to greet the local law enforcement.
She took one more sip of the now lukewarm coffee and then decided, screw it, she could greet Deputy Carson Bekker with the mug in her hand. Why not?
Being armed with caffeine didn’t make this meeting any more palatable. She dragged her feet, literally, through the shop, around the front table and stopped next to Liam by the front door.
“Good morning, deputy,” she said with enthusiasm she didn’t even come close to feeling. Working with the public in retail had trained her well.
Ken doll handsome, Carson cut an undeniably attractive but hella intimidating figure in his neatly pressed, khaki-colored Mudville Sheriff’s Department official uniform.
He dipped his head in a single nod. “Natalie.”
Even his voice sounded official…and scary.
Natalie lifted the mug to have something to do besides quake in his presence. She hadn’t even done anything wrong. So why did she have that twist of panic inside her?
It was the same feeling she got when driving well above the posted speed limit only to suddenly spot that patrol vehicle parked on the side of the highway, radar gun pointed straight at her car.
Tiny notebook in hand, just like they showed on television, Carson turned his attention back to Liam, who didn’t look at all scared or intimidated.
“So I know we talked on the phone this morning, but I think I’m going to need more…” Carson began.
“More what?” Liam asked.
Carson let out a short laugh. “Everything. I’ve been called to the scene for a dead body before, but never in a situation quite like this. I guess I should start with the identity of the possible victim.”
“Yeah. So about that. I’m not supplied with the cadaver’s name through the anatomical donor program. However, we knew his identity in this case because Natalie, um, knows him.” Liam angled his body to include Natalie in the conversation.
That tidbit of information brought the deputy’s head up from his little notebook.
At least Liam hadn’t revealed the rest. That she knew Lionel because they’d fought, in person and online. Or the other delicate part of the truth—that she’d been badgered into looking into his cause of death by his ghost, who’d arrived with the delivery of the cadaver.
She could read the thoughts running through Carson’s head as clearly as if they were written across his chest, like closed captioning on a video.
He was no doubt tallying up how many times he’d visited this train depot to discuss bodies or bones in the short time since Natalie had purchased the building.
He’d likely never forgive her, or at least never forget that she’d called the sheriff’s department to report Liam as a serial killer. In her defense, he had been a stranger then, new in town, and what other assumption could she make given the number of bodies he had stashed in the warehouse?
And that human bone they found buried in the depot’s side yard was totally not her fault.
She realized Carson stood, pen poised, with eyebrows raised. “Oh, sorry. You want his name. It’s Professor Lionel Graves. But wait, Professor’s not his name. It’s his occupation. Well, that and author. He’s both. Was both.”
“And how do you know this man?”
“We sat on a panel together in Salem and…”
Crud. She couldn’t mention working on the book. Or his ghost.
Lying to the publisher about their working relationship was one thing. Lying to a deputy investing a possible, even an unlikely murder, was quite another.
“And?” Carson lifted one sandy brow.
“And we had some interaction online,” she said, hoping that vague truth would suffice.
“So you recognized the body, then?” Carson asked.
Ugh. As if she would ever rush over to Liam’s lab to check out the new cadaver delivery? She didn’t even like walking past them while they were covered up.
But if she didn’t view the cadaver, how would she have been able to identify him as the professor?
Once again she considered and dismissed bringing up the ghost thing.
Yes, the whole world, or at least most everyone in her world, knew she was on that ghost reality show. They had watched her talking to spirits.
Some people believed her and some absolutely did not, preferring to assume it was all fake. Orchestrated for the show. She had a feeling Carson would fall into the latter category.
“Um, yes,” she finally said, taking what was definitely too long to answer a simple yes or no question.
Carson drew in a deep breath that strained the buttons of his uniform shirt. “Maybe I should see this cadaver? We can figure out how to proceed from there.”
Liam nodded. “Sure. He’s in the lab.”
Yes. Present Carson with the physical evidence and let him run with it. More importantly, if he had a body to examine it would take the focus off her. All she did was identify him. Her part was complete. The rest, the forensics or whatever, was for the authorities to handle.
“Good. Good plan,” Natalie agreed, maybe too enthusiastically. But it was a good plan.
Or at least it was until Professor Lionel Graves himself came strolling through the front window to look Carson up and down. “Oh, good God. This is the local authority? Am I in Mayberry? Was Andy Griffith not available?”
Natalie managed to ignore Lionel, maintaining what she hoped was a poker face, expressionless, until Alice came around the corner of the building and into view
Her short brisk stride down the sidewalk had her yanking open the front door before Liam and Carson could leave and head to the lab.
“I heard that guy you hate was murdered,” Alice announced at the worst possible moment.
“What? No. I don’t hate anyone—” Natalie stuttered, shooting Deputy Carson Bekker a quick glance.
“Sure looked like you did in that blow up fight you two had on Facebook. And I don’t blame you. Harp told me all about how he humiliated you on that panel in Salem. What an ass.”
“Excuse me? Who is this woman?” Lionel demanded.
Natalie ignored the ghost in favor of saving her own neck with the deputy sheriff, who’d pivoted back to face her, his brows impossibly higher.
“Uh… No. Really, it wasn’t that bad.”
“That’s not what I heard."
She forced her attention from Alice back to Carson. “Alice is exaggerating. It was nothing. This is all just a big misunderstanding.”
Carson drew in another deep breath. Something he did a lot around her, she’d noticed. “I think you’d better come down to the station and give an official statement.”
“Fine.” Liam agreed with more confidence than she felt. “Nat, grab your coat, bag and keys.”
“Don’t worry, Nat. The Ladies Amateur Detective Society have been itching for a new case. We’re here for you. We’ll figure out who did him in. We’ll get you out of jail!” Alice called after her.
“Lovely. Now Miss Marple and her knitting circle are on the case along with Barney Fife here. My murder should be solved in no time,” Lionel said with a dramatic eye roll, proving he did indeed understand sarcasm.
“She doesn’t answer anything without her lawyer,” Alice shouted at Carson. “Nat, I’ll call Dee Flanders and tell her the fuzz have you in the hoosegow. She’ll come bail you out.”
“Natalie doesn’t need a lawyer. She’s not under arrest, Alice,” Carson said with a weariness in his tone.
“Don’t even think about roughing her up. I’ve got you on video, Bekker,” Alice said with her cell raised in front of her in one hand as the ninety-year-old punched the air with her other fist while shouting, “Attica! Attica!”
Even Liam’s arm around her shoulder as Carson led them out the door didn’t keep her from feeling like she was about to pass out. And it definitely didn’t quell the feeling that calling the sheriff’s office had been a big, huge, mistake.
Caught between tears and laughter at the ridiculousness of it all, Natalie glanced up at Liam as they loaded into her car while Carson got into his own.
Holding her door open for her, Liam shook his head. “Don’t say it, Nat. I know.”
“Know what?” she asked, lowering into the passenger seat on shaking legs.
“You were right. We shouldn’t have called.”
Liam was admitting she was right? And she hadn’t even had to say I told you so first. At least that was something…