Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Natalie gasped at Gabe’s newest revelation which had been accompanied by the simultaneous and exceptionally badly timed appearance of the deputy.
“Uh, oh,” Gabe muttered from where he stood between Harper and Natalie, his gaze on Carson as the man reached for the handle on the door.
“Uh, oh, is right,” Natalie replied under her breath.
Harper spun to her wide eyed and demanded, “What? Tell me.”
Swallowing hard, Natalie had no choice but to say, low as Carson entered the shop, the door’s bell announcing his arrival, “Gabe says they’re blaming you for Doug’s death.”
“Me?” The deer-in-headlights expression quickly was replaced by fear as Harper’s gaze bounced to Carson.
That look of fear, that oh-my-god-my-life-as-I-know-it-could-be-over expression, said it all. It told Natalie it was up to her to run interference with Mudville’s deputy Carson Bekker. And fast.
She headed in the direction of the door to intercept him while Harper got herself together.
This wasn’t Natalie’s first run-in with the law. No doubt it wouldn’t be her last. At least this time it wasn’t likely Carson had come to interrogate her as a murder suspect.
Harper might not be so lucky… Natalie had a strong suspicion Carson wasn’t in her shop at ten in the morning to pick up the latest James Patterson book and a bottle of vino.
She donned a smile she didn’t feel and strode toward the front. She met Carson in the middle of the shop, in the aisle between the Local Author and the Local History bookshelves, effectively blocking his path to Harper behind her by the counter.
“Good morning, Carson. What can I do for you today?” Natalie asked in the most sunshiny and nothing-to-see-here tone as she could manage.
The good deputy wore the same exasperated expression he always did while speaking to her.
In fact, she’d only ever seen Carson looking weary when he was around her.
Right from the first time they’d met. Back when she’d called the sheriff’s department on Liam, then the highly suspicious, possible assassin-slash-serial killer newcomer in town, for sneaking bodies into the old warehouse next door.
Back before the grumpy, closed-mouthed doctor had revealed he was doing research on cadavers. But seriously, how in the world would any of them have been able to guess that?
In any case, Natalie’s file at the sheriff’s office must be getting thick. And as Carson took out his now familiar notebook, she figured it was about to get a little thicker.
“I was hoping to speak to you about last night’s Rotary meeting. You were listed as one of the attendees.”
“Speak to me?” Natalie asked. “Just me? There were lots of people there.”
She tried to fight the irrational panic. She hadn’t even spoken to Pompous Doug. Not one word. Liam, Alice, Mary, all of them were witnesses to that fact.
She tried to rationalize the reaction. She was just twitchy because of the last time Carson had marched into her store to ask her questions about a dead man.
Because that time she had been the suspect and she had more than spoken to the victim.
She’d very publicly argued with him just before he’d died.
Just like what Harper had done last night with Doug…
Visceral memories had her shaking, had her pulse racing and her breaths shallow, and she’d been proven innocent of that crime months ago. Having lived through the experience herself, Natalie could well imagine the fear that poor Harper felt right now.
Carson shook his head. “No. Not just you. I’ll be interviewing everyone in attendance.”
“Oh, all right then. Go on.” Feeling a bit more confident at that, Natalie folded her arms and waited.
“Liam around?” Carson asked while noting something in his little notepad.
“Nope.”
At her curt, one-word answer, Carson raised his gaze from his notebook. He glanced past Natalie then froze as his focus zeroed in on Harper.
Uh, oh, again.
“Harper, don’t go anywhere. I’ll need to speak to you as well,” he said in a much louder and official sounding voice.
More scratching on the pad followed. Natalie was going to have to catch Gabe’s attention. Get him to spy over the lawman’s shoulder and tell her exactly what all the writing was about. Although maybe she didn’t want to know.
Harper moved away from the counter in the back of the shop and toward them, slowly, looking torn between sprinting out the back door and passing out.
Meanwhile, Natalie realized she should probably be texting the local lawyer, Dee Flanders, instead of worrying about what notes Carson was taking about them.
“Natalie, let’s start with you,” Carson began. “Harper, you’re next.”
So no time to text the lawyer then…
“Sure. Love to.” Natalie smiled as she saw out of the corner of her eye Harper go deathly pale.
Natalie was getting good at pretending everything was all right. She’d had enough practice since moving to Mudville. Harper, not so much. The woman looked positively terrified.
Natalie wouldn’t be surprised if Harper ended up out cold on the floor. Or at least hyperventilating.
Did she even have a paper bag in the shop for Harper to breathe into? That was the remedy for hyperventilating. At least that’s what she’d seen on TV. Would a plastic trash bag work—
“Did you speak with the deceased last night?” Carson asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“What? No. Of course not,” she answered on a nervous laugh.
Carson stopped and pinned Natalie with a stare. “Why did you say it like that?”
Uh oh. “Um…let’s just say he wasn’t very nice.”
“Jeezus, Natalie. Do you want to be a suspect?” Gabe asked, shaking his head.
Gabe was right. She needed to keep her answers short and sweet. Emphasis on the sweet part. Yes or no. That’s it.
“Then again, I really didn’t know the man. Not personally anyway. I mean, do we truly know anyone nowadays? And Liam and I arrived late, after the meeting was already underway, so I really didn’t have the opportunity to, you know, socialize. Ask anyone.”
So much for the yes and no answers. She finished her babbling ramble but thought it had actually gone pretty well. Carson looked more bored than suspicious. Good. Crisis averted… at least as far as she was concerned.
“Did you witness the deceased interact with Harper Lowinsky aka Harper Lowry at any point last night?”
Crud. Crisis mode engaged once again.
Natalie nodded as she parsed her words carefully, thinking before speaking…
for once. “Um, the only verbal exchange I saw between Harper and…the deceased was when she was interacting with the entire audience in a question-and-answer period during her official presentation, which she gave at the invitation of the Rotary.”
There. Ha! Let Carson try to find fault with that.
Natalie looked toward Gabe and saw him nod in approval. Harper’s expression too showed a glimmer of hope. This was good. She’d helped.
How could they really think Harper capable of murder? Which begged the question, if they did think that, why?
Natalie raised one hand. “Um, Deputy Bekker?”
Carson lifted his gaze from the notebook. “Yes?”
“How did the deceased die? Do you have a cause of death?”
Gabe pointed at Natalie. “Yes! Good question, Nat.”
Proud she’d thought of it, she tipped her head to one side and waited for the deputy’s answer.
“The body is awaiting an autopsy by the county coroner’s office in Morris…” Carson began, and although he looked as though he had more to say, he stopped.
Natalie nodded, having had much more first-hand knowledge about the autopsy procedures in this county than any civilian should. She knew findings took time. Time she wasn’t willing to wait when her friend’s fate hung in the balance.
“Come on, Carson. What did it look like for the cause of death? Was there a knife sticking out of him? A gunshot wound? What?” Harper asked, manic panic shading her voice as she was obviously not willing to wait patiently for autopsy results either.
“I really can’t say.”
Harper shrugged. “That’s fine. I’m assuming an ambulance was called. I’ll just ask Stone’s brother who is on the fire department to text the EMT who responded…”
Defeated, Carson sighed. “Fine. Initial reports indicate a cardiac event.”
“A heart attack?” Harper repeated.
“Then why are you interrogating everyone who saw him last night?” Natalie asked.
“This is just fact-finding for the official police report--” Carson’s excuse was interrupted by the arrival of Rick running at full speed through the front window.
Rick, a middle-aged man who’d died in the early eighties, functioned as the deceased community’s chief information officer, just as Mary Brimley did for the livings. And apparently Rick had news as he slid to a stop just short of barreling into the group.
Instinct had Natalie taking a half-step back to avoid the collision she saw coming but the other livings did not. Not that it would matter. Rick would just pass right through her. A creepily strange sensation that both the living and the dead usually tried to avoid whenever possible.
“Oh my god. Did you hear?” Rick asked. “Pompous Doug’s widow is suing Harper.”
Gabe nodded. “Yup. That explains it. All the deputy’s questions. Official report, my ass.”
“Wait, Pompous Doug was married?” Natalie asked before she realized her mistake, on two counts. One, she’d insulted Doug in front of the law by using the unflattering nickname Harper had given him, and two, she had talked to a ghost in front of the livings who couldn’t see or hear him.
Harper’s gaze flew to Natalie.
Meanwhile Carson frowned and turned to Natalie. “Excuse me?”
Gabe’s slow head shake told Natalie she was past fixing this. “Just forget it, Nat, and tell poor Harper what Rick said.”
Rick nodded. “Seriously. You were filmed talking to ghosts on a damn reality show. Give it up, doll. The jig is up.”
“Fine.” She let out a burst of air and turned to Harper. “According to Rick, who just arrived by the way, Doug was married and his widow is going to sue you.”
“Rick who?” Carson frowned.
“One of the graveyard ghosts,” Natalie answered at the same time Harper began her rant.