Murder in Calico Gold: A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Part 4

Kelly felt like she'd taken a step back in time when she walked into Betty's Salon. The walls were covered with posters of lipsticks, products for permanents, and makeup ads. Kelly remembered the names from when she was a child. There was even one for Johnson's Baby Oil "Cover Yourself in Baby Oil and Get the Tan of Your Life."

Right, Kelly thought. I wonder how many people are paying for that today with wrinkled skin. Glad it was usually overcast, cloudy, and rainy where I grew up. Who knows what I'd look like if I'd gotten a lot of sun?

"May I help you?" asked the young receptionist, never taking her eyes away from her cell phone.

"Yes. I don't have an appointment, but I'd like to get my hair trimmed."

The young woman reluctantly looked away from her phone and examined the appointment book in front of her.

Of course there would be an appointment book and not a computer. I'll bet nothing has changed in here since this place opened. They even have the old chair style hair dryers I remember from Wanda's Salon when my mother took me there as a kid.

There were two hairdressers working and they, too, looked like they'd been stuck in time. They had identical large backcombed beehive hairdos which probably looked great in the 60's, but not so much now.

The receptionist walked over to one of them who looked at Kelly and said, "Have a seat. I'll be through here in a few minutes, and I can take you then."

While she waited, Kelly leafed through some of the beauty magazines that were scattered on a nearby table. She wondered if the hairdressers would be able to duplicate any of the hair styles in them if a customer asked. She doubted it.

"Honey, come on over here. I'm Betty, and I'm ready for you," the large hairdresser with the pancake makeup and bright red lipstick said. Her lipstick was a shade lighter than her hair color. She wore light blue eye shadow, and her eyes were accented by a heavy band of black eyeliner. It was hard for Kelly not to simply stare, and she was very glad she only needed a trim and nothing more. It was obvious there was a vast difference in their taste in makeup.

"What do you need today?"

"I need a trim. Not a cut, just about " taken off," Kelly said.

"Piece of cake, honey. Don't think I've seen you around here before. New to Calico Gold?"

"Yes and no. I've never been here before, but my husband was here a lot when he was younger."

"Well, welcome to Calico Gold. What's your husband's name?"

"I don't think you'd recognize it, but I'm sure you knew his aunt, Agnes Johnson."

Betty's scissors came to an abrupt stop, and the room became quiet. Everyone's eyes in the little shop were focused on Kelly.

"Knew Agnes well. I hear she was murdered this morning, and her funeral's gonna be tomorrow. Is that true?"

"Yes, unfortunately it is," Kelly said as tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm sorry, it was just such a shock."

"You don't need to apologize. I imagine it was. Do they know who did it?"

"No, but the police chief is working on it. I guess Agnes had some enemies."

"You can say that again, but she also had a lot of friends. Town's practically split apart over whether it should become a destination tourist trap or continue like it's always been. There's real strong feelings on both sides. I happen to agree with your husband's aunt. I like Calico Gold just the way it is."

She was interrupted by an attractive older woman who had just finished having her hair cut by the other beautician. She wore an expensive knit suit which had a very short skirt, cheapening the overall effect. Her hair was dyed blond, and she wore bright red nail polish on her fingers and toes which could be seen through her peek-a-boo high-heeled sandals. She was heavily made up.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. I'm Judge Susan Lane. Your husband's aunt and I were certainly on different sides of the fence regarding the future development of Calico Gold, but I'm sorry to hear she died and even sorrier to hear she was murdered."

Wow! This must be the judge Aunt Agnes mentioned last night.

"Thank you. I only met her yesterday, but I really liked her, and obviously, my husband is quite broken up. She was his only relative, and they were quite close."

"Please give him my condolences. I'll be attending the funeral tomorrow. What's going to happen to Agnes' ranch? I understand several people would like to buy the Robertson Ranch."

"Under the terms of Agnes' Will, the ranch and all of her estate will go to my husband, but he hasn't made any decisions regarding the ranch. There are too many other things that need attending to first. Agnes told us at dinner last night she didn't want her property developed. I don't know if that will affect his decision, but I suspect it will."

"You never know. People say one thing, and then when they see how much money they can make by ignoring what the deceased person wanted, they tend to forget about it. Money can be very seductive."

"You don't know my husband. Money has never been that important to him."

"Sorry to disagree with you, but it's been my experience that money can and often is more important than anything else. It's been nice talking to you. I have to hear some cases this afternoon. See you tomorrow at the funeral."

That is not a nice person. No wonder Agnes was funding the young man's campaign who's running against her. Think I'll make a contribution to him as well.

"Honey, don't pay no attention to the judge," Betty said. "She don't know when to keep her mouth shut sometimes. They say she's a good judge, but I sure have my doubts. Lots of rumors about her being in the pocket of the big real estate developers. Might be some truth to that. They say if you do what she says and one of your family's in trouble, the judge is real lenient, but if you go against her and one of yours is unfortunate enough to have some legal problem, it's gonna be a bigger problem by the time she's through with you. Don't know. Just sayin' what I hear, and you can't begin to imagine everything I hear in this shop."

"I'm not surprised. I own a coffee shop in a small town in Oregon, and everyone comes there to gossip. It's probably the same here."

"It is. I heard about Agnes' death about the same time the police chief got to the Robertson Ranch this morning. It was all over town in minutes. Even heard when and where the funeral's gonna be held. Everyone's talking about what's gonna happen to the ranch. A lot of people want the money that would come from increased tourism if a golf course was built on the property, and a lot of people don't want the tourism and don't want the ranch sold to some out-of-town developer. Guess is, your husband's probably going to be pressured from both sides in the next few days. Kinda feel sorry for him, although it's hard to feel sorry for anyone who's suddenly that rich."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean," Kelly said.

"Well, everyone knows Agnes was a very rich woman. Her lawyer's secretary gets her hair done here, and she told me Agnes was probably the richest person in Calico Gold. Figure she'd know if anyone would. Heck, in a town this small everyone knows everyone else's business. Not much else to do. Hear she had a lot of stocks and investments and was a multimillionaire in her own right. Since your husband's the sole beneficiary of Agnes' Will, that means he's gonna get everything. That'll make him a millionaire, just like Agnes was."

"I have no idea what his inheritance might amount to, and I don't think he does either."

"Well, the townspeople sure think he's gonna get a bundle." She finished tr.i.m.m.i.n.g Kelly's hair and handed her a mirror so she could look at the back of her head.

"Looks great, Betty, thanks."

"You can pay the receptionist on your way out. It was nice to meet you. Tell your husband I'm sorry about his aunt. Might want to tell him to be real careful. I'm thinkin' if Agnes was murdered, someone maybe wanted somethin' from her, and now that she's gone, your husband just might have what the killer wanted."

"Thank you. I'll tell him."

Like he doesn't already know.

CHAPTER 16.

Kelly had just pressed the automatic car door lock on her car after leaving Betty's Salon when a woman said, "Kelly, please wait," in a loud voice. Kelly turned around and saw a woman walking quickly towards her dressed in a T-s.h.i.+rt, sweat pants, and expensive looking tennis shoes.

"Thanks. I'm Lucy Thomas, a friend of your husband's aunt. I was in Betty's Salon and couldn't help but overhear your conversation. A friend of mine called me early this morning to tell me about Agnes' death. I can't believe it. Even though she was quite a bit older than me, we became very good friends. In fact, I often ate dinner at the Robertson House. If you have a minute, I'd like to talk to you."

"It's nice to meet you, Lucy. Why don't we get in my car and talk there, rather than standing here on the sidewalk?"

"Thanks. My feet would appreciate it. I love to walk and often walk more than ten miles a day, but at times my feet let me know they're maxed out."

After they got in the car she said, "I'd like to tell you a little story. I'm one of the people who has been going to Agnes' home for the weekly meetings she held trying to keep future development out of Calico Gold." The attractive fortyish woman reached in the small purse she had clipped to her belt and pulled out a tissue. She wiped her eyes and said, "I'm sorry. I'm having a very hard time dealing with her death. She saved my life."

"What do you mean?" Kelly asked.

"Let me start again. After I heard the terrible news about Agnes, it seems like my mind hasn't been working as well as it should be. I just can't get the mental picture of Agnes being murdered out of my mind." She briefly paused and then resumed, "Seven months ago my husband left me for a younger woman. I thought we had the perfect marriage. He had a good job, and I've been a teacher for twenty years, so money wasn't an issue. He just fell out of love with me." Her voice broke, and she looked out the window for a few moments trying to regain her composure.

"As you can see, I'm still devastated by it. It came out of the blue. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I didn't have a clue he was unhappy. If anyone had asked, I would have said we were as close as any married couple could be. I was wrong. After he left me, it was all I could do to get to school and teach. I was angry and suffered from severe depression. I didn't have anything to live for. I stopped attending the weekly meetings at Agnes'. One afternoon just after I'd gotten home from school, she called me and asked if she could come over. She and Sam, that big collie of hers, came to the house, and she talked to me for over an hour."

"What a kind thing for her to do," Kelly said.

"It was more than kind. As I mentioned before, she literally saved my life. She saw how angry I was and made a suggestion that I took to heart. She told me I had to find an outlet for my anger, or it would consume me. She suggested I start walking. Quite honestly, I was a little overweight then. I've often wondered if that was one of the reasons my husband left me."

"You're certainly not overweight now," Kelly said, looking at the trim athletic figure of the woman sitting next to her.

"Thanks, but you wouldn't have said that if you'd seen me then. Anyway, I started walking, and I became addicted to walking. I was literally walking off my anger. I started getting up an hour earlier than usual, and I'd walk for an hour and then go to school. During my lunch break at school I walked. For an hour in the late afternoon I walked. The weight came off, and I could feel the anger and depression lifting. It was all because of Agnes. After she came to my home that day, she invited me over for dinner quite often, and we became very good friends."

"I'm sorry I'm not going to have the chance to really get to know her," Kelly said. "I met her last night for the first time and thought she was one of the most interesting people I'd ever met."

"She was. I wanted to give you the background of my relations.h.i.+p with Agnes before I told you what I'm about to tell you. I don't know if Agnes had a chance to tell you about the letters she'd been getting in the mail. She was concerned and thought they could have come from one of several people."

"Yes, she told us about them last night."

"As soon as I heard she'd been murdered I thought there had to be a connection between the letters and her death. There were five people she suspected might have sent them to her. One was Judge Lane. She's running for re-election, and Agnes was financially backing her opponent, Huston Brooks. Judge Lane is very close to a developer in San Francisco. I've seen him over at her house on my walks. He drives a silver Lexus."

"Have you actually seen him? He seems to be somewhat of a mystery man. Agnes said she had never met him."

"Yes. I've seen the back of his head when he was going into Judge Lane's house. That's all. Agnes also thought there might have been some type of relations.h.i.+p between the developer and a rancher by the name of John Wilson. He owns the ranch that adjoins the Robertson Ranch and from what Agnes told me, he was desperate to get water for his ranch. He kept asking her to open up the dam on her ranch or else sell him her ranch."

"That's three of the people. She told us there were two others. Did you know them?"

"Several times when I was at the ranch for dinner, her nephew, Daniel Noonan, joined us. I didn't care for him, and I don't think Agnes did either. There certainly didn't seem to be any genuine warmth between them. Several months ago she told me she had made your husband the sole beneficiary of her Will. I remember asking her how she thought her other nephew, Daniel, would take that news."

"What did she say?" Kelly asked.

"She said she didn't think he was going to take it well. In fact, a few days ago she mentioned she was going to tell him when he came to dinner the next night. Also, there was one other person she was concerned about, the guy who lives in the little shack down by the stream that runs through the ranch."

"I've heard he's got a temper. Agnes said she asked him to move out of the shack, and he got very angry. Do you know anything about that?"

"No more than what you just said. I met him once, and I sure didn't think she needed someone like that living on her property. If he's left the ranch, I haven't heard about it.

"I know I've done a lot of talking, and I really thank you for listening to me, but here's one more thing that might be of interest to you. As I mentioned, I like to walk a lot. Usually I walk early in the morning, around 5:00 a.m. That way I can finish my walk, take a shower, and be at school by 7:30 a.m. I try to vary my route so I won't get bored, and I often walk out to the Robertson Ranch, and I even walk around on the property itself. It was fine with Agnes if I did that. As a matter of fact, she was the one who suggested it.

"The day before yesterday, I was walking out by the ranch when a silver Lexus drove down the lane from Agnes' ranch and turned onto the highway. It was barely light, but I clearly saw that the pa.s.senger in the car was Judge Lane. The developer she's been seeing for quite a few months drives a silver Lexus. I remember thinking at the time that it was strange they'd be visiting the ranch that early in the morning. I made a mental note to ask Agnes about it the next time I saw her." She put her head in her hands and cried softly. "I never saw her again. I keep thinking about why the two of them would be driving around out by Agnes' ranch at that time of day and wonder if it had something to do with her murder."

"I agree. It seems really odd. I'll tell my husband about it. He's working with Chief Robbins trying to help solve the murder. Maybe it does have something to do with Agnes' death. I know this has been hard for you, Lucy, and I really want to thank you. I'm sure I'll see you at the funeral tomorrow, and I hope you'll come to the house afterwards."

"When she was alive, I did whatever I could for Agnes, and tomorrow if she's looking down from heaven to see who's attending her funeral, I want to make sure she sees me."

"I'm sure she will," Kelly said.

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention something else that's been bothering me. Everyone knew that Agnes went out to the barn first thing in the morning to groom and feed Missy. If someone was intent on killing her that would be the easiest place to do it."

"If everyone knew, you're probably right."

Lucy opened the door and turned back to Kelly. "Please do me a favor, and let your husband know his aunt saved my life. I don't think I'd be here today if it weren't for her."

"I certainly will. Again, thanks for telling me all of this. Hopefully, we can make some use out of it. See you tomorrow."

CHAPTER 17.

Early that evening, after the last person had expressed their condolences and left, Mike closed the door and took a deep breath. "Kelly, I don't know when I've been so tired, and we still have tomorrow to get through. I hope I can make it. I feel like I'm putting my feelings on hold, and I know that's not healthy. What I'd really like to do is just get in bed and go to sleep. Real macho man, I am, huh?"

"Mike, this has to be one of the worst days of your life. If you want to go to bed and sleep, I'll understand, but if not, why don't you sit down, and I'll get you a gla.s.s of wine. You can talk to me while I make dinner. I saw some jumbo pasta sh.e.l.ls in the pantry that I can stuff. I'll mix some of the different cheeses your aunt had in the refrigerator with some Italian sausage and some Italian herbs. A little marinara sauce, and I'll be good to go. Your aunt has all the necessary ingredients, so it will be easy. Actually, I'll be creating a new recipe. If it turns out the way I hope it will, the dish will probably show up on the menu at Kelly's Koffee Shop."

"That sounds wonderful. Kind of a cross between lasagna and manicotti. I'm all in."

"Here's your wine. I have a feeling something else is bothering you besides the death of your aunt. What's the matter?"

He twirled the gla.s.s of wine in his hand for a long time and then slowly began to speak, "Kelly, you've been involved in solving other murder cases with me, and you know I've always told you to start with who has the most to gain when a person is murdered. Well, guess what? I have the most to gain by Aunt Agnes' death, so that makes me a suspect. If it was my case, I'd probably put me at the top of the list. I'm really frustrated because I don't know how I'm going to prove my innocence."

"Mike I was with you until you found your aunt in the barn. You can't be serious. Who would possibly think you did it?"

"Well for one, the police chief. Oh, he was nice enough about it, but I'm sure he has his doubts. If I were him, I would too."

"Do you know the approximate time she was murdered?"

"No. That will be in the coroner's report, and we'll probably get it tomorrow or the next day. Why?"

"You were asleep in bed with me until you went downstairs to make coffee. You wouldn't have had time to go out to the barn and murder your aunt. It couldn't have happened during the night, because she was dressed in different clothes than what she was wearing the night before. It had to have happened early this morning."

"That's true, but people lie all the time to protect their spouses. I'm sure that's what everyone would think if you provide an alibi for me."

"I know you didn't do it. I'll just have to find out who did, so your name will be cleared."