Chapter 15
JUNE
June left him with that thought, making her way back down the stairs and out into the sunshine. Martha Greenway was just returning from her morning break, carrying a coffee from Barb's shop.
"Oh, Ms. June, I'm glad I caught you!" Martha's round face was flushed with excitement. "Wasn't the festival lovely? Well, mostly lovely. Awful about Mr. Melton, of course."
"It was quite an event," June agreed. "You were there, I assume?"
"Oh, yes! I was on the cleanup crew for the evening shift. We worked until quite late getting everything packed away." Martha took a sip of her coffee. "I saw you there during the day, didn't I? At the book sale?"
"You did. I imagine you saw quite a lot, working cleanup."
"Everyone sees everything in Meadowlark Creek." Martha laughed. "I saw a few couples that needed to get a room once it grew dark and the festival was over!”
“Oh… anyone else out late?”
Martha looked down at Pippi and smiled. “There were so many volunteers, all picking up trash.
But, now that you mention it, I saw Judge Melton walking his dog late in the evening.
Must have been around ten or so. I remember thinking it was nice that he was making time for the poor thing after the festival had taken up so much of his day. "
June's mind caught on that detail. "His dog?"
"Oh, yes! A beautiful white Scottie. Or Westie. I can never keep those breeds apart. Beautiful thing. Judge Melton walks it every evening, rain or shine. Very devoted." Martha glanced at her watch. "Oh dear, I should get back to work. Lovely to see you, Ms. June!"
June walked slowly down the courthouse steps, her mind working. Horace had said he went home around six with Petunia. But Martha had seen him walking his dog at ten o'clock… during the time Raymond would have been in the park, drinking from his possibly poisoned flask.
It wasn't necessarily suspicious. Horace could have taken the dog out for its evening walk without mentioning it. It was such a routine activity that he might not have even thought to include it in his account of the evening.
Or he could have been establishing his presence in public, making sure people saw him while his brother died alone on a park bench.
June paused at the bottom of the steps, letting Pippi sniff around the courthouse lawn while she processed what she'd learned. Horace was genuinely grieving his brother. That much she believed. But grief didn't preclude guilt. In fact, grief and guilt often walked hand in hand.
"What do you think, Pippi?" she asked the dog softly. "Did the judge protest too much?"
Pippi just wagged her tail, more interested in a particularly fascinating smell near the courthouse's foundation.
Sara Lee appeared at the corner of Main Street, slightly breathless. "Nana June! I thought I might catch you." She had Mister Smee's carrier with the wide-eyed cat peering out.
June smiled. "Perfect timing. I could use your company for the next part."
"Where are we going?"
"The county records office. It's just around the corner from the courthouse." June adjusted her purse on her shoulder. "I want to look at some real estate documents."
They walked the short distance to the county clerk's office, a squat brick building that shared a parking lot with the courthouse. Inside, the air was cool and smelled of copier toner and old paper. A bored-looking clerk sat behind a counter, scrolling through her phone.
"Help you ladies?" she asked without much enthusiasm.
"We'd like to look at some property records, please," June said pleasantly. "Public real estate holdings for Meadowlark Creek."
The clerk gestured toward a room lined with filing cabinets and a computer terminal. "The search system is over there. Let me know if you need help."
June and Sara Lee settled at the terminal while Pippi sprawled at their feet, clearly happy to rest after their short walk. June unzipped Mister Smee's carrier, and the cat emerged to investigate this new environment, his tail held high, his whiskers twitching.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Sara Lee asked, pulling up the property search database.
"Properties owned by the Meltons. I want to see what real estate holdings they have. There was something he said about Petunia not needing Raymond’s share of the inheritance.”
Sara Lee's fingers worked the keyboard, clicking through screens. After several minutes of searching, she leaned forward. "Nana June... look at this."
June moved closer to read the screen. There were several properties listed under Petunia Melton's name alone, not joint ownership with Horace. Prime real estate plots along the waterfront, commercial properties, and significant holdings. And then she noticed the previous deed owner… it was Horace’s mother.
"That's quite a bit of property," Sara Lee said quietly. "All in her name only."
"Interesting. It appears her in-laws decided to leave her a land inheritance, which isn’t unusual." June pulled out her notebook and jotted down the information. "I wonder if Raymond knew those properties weren’t part of the inheritance he would receive."
"Or if he thought they should have been part of his share," Sara Lee added.
"Exactly." June made a final note, then closed her notebook. "File this information away, sweetheart. It might be important later. Or…”
“Or?”
June chucked. “Or, it means nothing at all. That’s one thing with searching… we’ll find many threads that don’t make a pattern and eventually will lead nowhere. But we can’t dismiss anything right now.”
A soft sound made them both look around. "Where's Mister Smee?" Sara Lee asked.
They found him in the corner of the room, crouched low with his tail twitching, completely focused on the baseboard where a tiny gap showed between the wall and floor. His enormous eyes were fixed on the spot with predatory intensity.
"Mister Smee?" June called softly.
The cat didn't move. His haunches wiggled slightly, his whole body tensed in hunting mode.
Sara Lee peered closer. "I think there's a mouse hole there. Look… you can see where they've been coming through."
June laughed, a warm sound that echoed in the quiet records room. "Well. So much for mystical guidance."
"He's just being a cat and not an investigator today," Sara Lee said, grinning as she bent down to scoop up the feline. Mister Smee protested with a small meow of complaint, his eyes still locked on the mouse hole even as Sara Lee tucked him back into his carrier.
"Okay, buddy," Sara Lee said, zipping the carrier closed while Mister Smee continued to stare toward where he'd been hunting. "Time to go home and leave the mice in peace."
June smiled as they gathered their things and headed for the door. "Thank you," she called to the clerk, who barely looked up from her phone.
As they stepped out into the early afternoon sunshine, June shared her conversation with Horace… his grief and anger, his relief at Raymond's death, and the mysterious threat Raymond had made about Petunia.
"So what do you think?" Sara Lee asked as they walked home, Pippi trotting contentedly beside them. "About the judge?"
June was quiet for a moment, watching the familiar streets of Meadowlark Creek pass by. "I think Horace is telling the truth about one thing… he didn't kill his brother. But I also think he may be hiding something about Petunia. Something Raymond knew or threatened to expose."
June's expression was thoughtful. "He's protecting her. The question is, what was he protecting her from?"
Sara Lee shifted Mister Smee's carrier to her other hand. He was now meowing, no doubt upset he didn’t catch a mouse. "So, where does that leave us?"
"It leaves us with the knowledge that Horace is many things. Proud, complicated, grieving, and protective. But I don’t believe he’s a killer.”
The real question was, could they say the same about his wife?