Authors: Sarah Biglow
Kalina let Chris drive her back to the shop with the agreement that he’d meet her there at four and they could go to the jeweler’s together. It would give her time to wrap up business for the day and hopefully Chris would be able to figure out who’d given confidential information to Beth. Her gut told her it wasn’t Jimmy. He looked up to Chris too much to spill the beans, even to a pretty reporter. It had to be someone else in the department but she couldn’t put her finger on anyone specific. Everyone seemed as though they walked the straight and narrow. Just as she flipped the front door sign to “Open” her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. Her mother.
“Hi Mom.”
“Did your sister tell you about the earrings?”
“Yes. I got them this morning. Chris and I are going over later to make sure we get the paperwork for insurance purposes. Everything’s going to be fine.”
“I saw that article in the paper. How are you two holding up?”
Kalina let out a little sigh. “We’re fine. Chris is just digging in to work. Not that I blame him.”
“I just worry about you sometimes.”
“And I know you’ll never stop, no matter what I say. But I promise we’re both safe. They’re close to finding the person who did it.” It was a lie but she knew it would assuage her mother’s worry.
“As long as you’re sure.”
Kalina could see people approaching the front of the shop through the blinds on the front windows. “Mom, I’ve got to go. Customers await.”
“OK. I love you.”
Kalina ended the call and yanked the door open. Her nephew’s rosy face greeted her. She quirked a brow at him but he said nothing, just stepped around her into the warmth of the shop. A few other people followed suit and, before she had closed the door, AJ jumped behind the counter and started taking orders. She settled in the corner and watched him dart around the shop like a pro. He kept a broad grin plastered to his face until the last customer had left the shop and the bell above the door quieted.
“You aren’t supposed to be here,” Kalina chided.
“I told Mom I left some stuff here yesterday.”
“You shouldn’t be lying to your mother.”
“I know. But I saw that article on the news… Mom hasn’t yet and I just wanted to see how you were holding up.”
“I’m fine, kiddo. Chris is on the warpath but I don’t blame him.”
“It said there was a source in the police. Is that true?”
“I don’t know. He’s trying to find out.”
On cue, her phone buzzed with a new text from Chris. “Leak in ME’s office. Ex-boyfriend of reporter.” “And it looks like they solved the leaky department problem.”
“Why do you think she brought up Captain Cahill?”
“To try to draw attention to what’s going on. It was a horrible thing for her to do. I should have realized she was going to write something even though I told her not to.”
“It isn’t your fault, Aunt K.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “I just feel like I could have done more to keep her quiet.”
AJ pulled her into a tight bear hug and she tightened her grip on him too. She wanted to tell him the truth about what was making her so emotional but she wanted to wait to share that news until everything was over, the wedding included.
“Do they have any leads?”
Kalina relinquished her grip on her nephew and wiped at her eyes. “I’m not sure. From what I know, the fiancés are clear.”
“So that reporter lied.”
“Or she interpreted what she saw at the station when she was being interviewed.”
“You and Chris will solve it. You always do.”
She forced a watery smile. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Kalina gave his arm an appreciative squeeze. “Now, you should get home before your mother has a heart attack because you aren’t studying.”
“Do I have to?”
“Yes. Move it, mister.”
He pouted all the way to the front door but cracked a smile before wrapping his scarf over his mouth and heading out into the cold. As the door swung shut, she spotted Chris’s car rolling up the block. He rolled down the passenger side window and leaned over. “You ready?”
“You’re early.”
“Didn’t you see my text?”
“Yeah. But I thought you were going to try to talk to Beth again.”
“I’ve got guys out looking for her. She’s not with the ex-boyfriend and there’s been no response at her house or office.”
“Let me grab my coat.”
The ride over to the jewelry store was short and quiet. Neither of them seemed to know what to say. Kalina still couldn’t shake the feeling that she should have done something more to stop Beth from posting the article. The anger that had made the lines of Chris’s face sharper a few hours ago had dulled a little. At least no one under his direct command had blabbed to the press.
“I’ve got the fiancés coming back in to be questioned about their whereabouts on the days the other women went missing,” Chris said as he pulled into a free spot in the parking lot. He chose the middle spot, equal distance from the door and the edge of the lot. She assumed it was to conceal his presence for as long as possible. There was only one other car in the lot.
“So how are we going to do this?” Kalina asked and unbuckled her seatbelt. She spotted a woman talking with Mr. Hempstead.
“I’ll go in first and see what I can find out. You should just stay here.”
She said nothing to his directive to stay in the car. They both knew it wasn’t going to happen. But she waited while he climbed out of the car and headed for the only entrance to the small shop. With his back turned to her, Kalina ducked out of the car and inched up the sidewalk so she could try to catch snippets of the conversation.
“I told you, I’m done having this conversation,” a woman’s voice said.
“Is everything all right?” Chris’s voice came through the partially opened front door.
“Fine. This is a private matter.” Mr. Hempstead’s tone was harsh.
“Are you sure you’re OK, miss?”
No response but Kalina caught the woman’s head bob up and down slightly.
“I was just going.” The woman’s voice filtered out into the open air. Kalina watched as Chris held the door open for her. She rushed out the front door and exhaled a long, clouded breath in the winter air. Kalina searched her coat pockets and found an unused tissue.
“Here.” She offered it to the woman.
“Thanks.”
Without a word, Kalina guided the woman out of view of the front door of the shop. The woman gave a hiccup and blew her nose loudly.
“I don’t mean to pry but that didn’t sound very good in there.”
“Oh, that. It’s nothing really. Just a little disagreement.”
“Mr. Hempstead seemed pretty upset.”
“He gets very passionate about things. Really, I’ll be fine. Just if you wouldn’t mind not telling him where I’m going. We both need some time to cool off.”
“Sure thing.” She fished for another tissue. “Just in case…”
“Fiona.”
“Well then, just in case, Fiona.”
After taking the proffered tissue, Fiona pulled out car keys, along with a hotel key card with a tree logo—which she promptly shoved back into her pocket—and the headlights flashed on the other car in the lot. Kalina waved her off before heading in to join Chris. She prayed he was having some luck questioning Mr. Hempstead.
The warmth of the shop greeted her as she walked in. Mr. Hempstead was nowhere to be seen but Chris waited at the counter, hands clasped in front of him.
“Hey. How’s it going in here?”
“I’m taking a look at his books.”
Kalina pointed to the display case of engagement rings, still with three empty spots. At least he hadn’t sold any more since she’d last been in. “That’s what I was talking about with the missing ring.”
“I see.” He glanced over his shoulder at the now empty parking lot. “Did you get anything out of the woman?”
“Her name is Fiona. I didn’t get a last name. I think she and the owner are a couple. She seemed upset. But I think she’s just going to cool off.”
“I get kind of an odd vibe from this guy,” Chris said in a whisper.
Mr. Hempstead appeared with the ledger in hand and stopped short when he spotted Kalina. “You’re back.”
She smiled at him. “Yeah, I realized I wanted to ask you for information on insurance for the purchase I made the other day. But I see you’re busy.”
Mr. Hempstead waved his hand dismissively in Chris’s direction. “It’s fine. I’m sure the officer can wait.”
“It’s Captain, actually. And, no, I can’t wait.”
Kalina stepped back with her hands held up in a gesture of surrender. She was a little curious to see how Chris handled the jeweler with an audience again. And not someone he could push around. Color flooded the man’s cheeks and he shoved the ledger across the counter to Chris. “Here’s what you asked for. I still don’t know what this has to do with that article in the paper.”
Chris flipped through the pages and slid his finger down the item line on one page in particular. “I see you’ve got two individuals who purchased diamond engagement rings but I notice that there’s a third one missing from the display.”
“Is there a question in there somewhere?”
Chris set the ledger down and crossed his arms over his chest. “Did you sell a third ring to someone?”
“I don’t remember.”
Kalina caught the tightening of her fiancé’s jaw as he fought to control his temper. Mr. Hempstead was clearly trying to exert dominance in the conversation and it wasn’t helping his case. After a tense moment, Chris said, “You keep meticulous records, Mr. Hempstead. I don’t believe for one second you sold something and didn’t record it. And you should know that, if you keep lying to me, I can have you arrested for obstructing a police investigation.”
“I only record items once they are picked up, paid for and a one week period passes for returns. That hasn’t happened for the third ring, yet.”
“I’m still going to need the name of the person who placed the order.”
“I don’t have it on hand.”
Before Chris could call him on his bluff, his phone rang. “Captain Harper.”
Kalina could make out Jimmy’s voice, albeit tinny and distorted over the open phone line. “Both of the guys came back in. They have alibis for the other dates. Should we cut them loose?”
“You’re absolutely sure?” A pause and a garbled response that Kalina couldn’t hear. Then, “OK. Fine. Any luck locating our missing witness?” Another pause and, by the crestfallen look that came over his face, the answer wasn’t what he’d wanted. “Keep looking. I’ll see you back at the station.”
He ended the call and looked at Mr. Hempstead. “I’m going to come back and I expect you to have that information. If you don’t, I’m going to arrest you. Do you understand?”
“Yes. Fine. Can I help my other customer now?”
“You know what… I’ll just come back another time. There’s really no rush. You clearly have more important things to deal with. Thanks again for the earrings,” Kalina said and backed out of the shop as quickly as possible.
Chris followed once he was sure Mr. Hempstead wouldn’t see them get into the car together. He walked outside and exhaled a slow breath. “He’s hiding something. I know it.”
“You think he knows who the third person is?”
“I do. And if the fiancés have been cleared, we’re back to no suspects.”
“This might sound crazy but could Mr. Hempstead have been involved?”
“I don’t see how. Sure, he sold the rings but what motive would he have to kill them and cut off their fingers? He’d just made a lot of money on those rings. It’s not like he could resell them,” she said once they were back in the car on their way back to the station.
“There’s just something in my gut telling me that something is off about this guy. And why has Beth Finnegan all of a sudden fallen off the face of the planet?”
“I will admit that’s weird. Hey, do you think you could drop me off back at the shop?”
“Sure, but you should take it easy. I don’t want you overexerting yourself.”
She patted the hand that gripped the gear shift. “That’s sweet of you but the baby and I are perfectly fine.”
“And maybe I’m a little worried that whoever is going after people might go after you.”
“They are recently engaged couples, Chris. We’ve been engaged for a while. We’re getting married in two weeks. They aren’t going to target me. Besides, even if they did, I know you’d hunt them down.”
The shop was quiet, almost eerily so, when she walked back through the front door. The mystery of who had hurt the women was gnawing at her thoughts and wouldn’t let go. There was a piece they were all missing but she was going to find it. She flipped the front door sign to “Closed” and settled in the game room with her tablet propped on her knees. She started with searching for Mr. Hempstead on Facebook. There couldn’t be many guys with that name. Her search returned only three results and the first was the subject for her investigation. His profile picture showed him and Fiona—albeit younger than they both were now—cozied up on a couch. She clicked over to his profile page and saw that his most recent update was a relationship status change to “Engaged”. He’d also posted a short engagement notice.
Bruce Hempstead is pleased to announce his recent engagement to Fiona Hayes of Salem, Massachusetts. The couple has been together for ten years and are excited to forge their new path together as partners in marriage.
At least Kalina had a last name for Fiona now. She saw that Fiona was tagged in the post and so she clicked the link. Curiously, Fiona hadn’t updated her status or shown any indication that she was now engaged. Come to think of it, Kalina hadn’t seen any engagement ring on Fiona’s hand. Did this mean that Fiona’s ring was the third one missing? If that were the case, then Mr. Hempstead was unlikely to have filed it in his ledger. It made sense but in the age of Internet over-sharing, it was strange that Fiona hadn’t followed suit and told the world she was now spoken for. Kalina hit the back button to check the dates on Bruce’s page. It was almost a month ago. Fiona’s latest posts were from a couple days ago so there was definitely time to update if she’d wanted to.
“The engagement must have been what they were arguing about earlier,” she said aloud.
So that was one mystery solved. At least to a point. That still left the larger one of the missing reporter. Leaving Facebook for now, Kalina searched for the town’s online edition of the paper. Luckily, the list of staff writers and reporters was easily accessible at the top of the home page. She found Beth’s name and a list of articles she’d authored filled the screen with “Read More” links after the introductory sentence. The article she’d written about Margaret and Gabriella’s deaths was the top story. It also had the most views of any of her articles. She’d mostly written fluff pieces about town history and small events going on. She really did want to be a crime reporter.
Setting the tablet aside for the moment, Kalina retrieved her phone and placed a call to Chris’s cell. He answered on the first ring.
“Everything OK?” He couldn’t mask his worry.
“I’m fine but I found something that might be helpful.”
“What did you find, Kal?”
“So it looks like, at least according to Bruce Hempstead’s Facebook page, he and Fiona are engaged. He posted about the engagement and changed his status about a month ago.”
“That would explain the missing third ring.”
“But here’s the thing. When I was talking to Fiona earlier, I didn’t see a ring on her finger. And she hasn’t updated her status or even acknowledged the engagement. Speaking from experience, that’s not the kind of thing you really ignore or forget to mention.”
“Maybe she just hasn’t gotten to it yet.”
“She’s posted other stuff since he posted the engagement notice. I don’t think she’s going to post about it. Chris, what if he proposed and she said no?”
“It would certainly piss him off.”
“And if he gave her a similar ring to the ones that Margaret and Gabriella received, seeing them happily flaunting them around town might push him over the edge.”
“But to kill them? Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know. But I think talking to him again isn’t a bad idea.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” he said.
“Did you have any luck finding Beth?”
“None. She’s disappeared and I still can’t figure out how.”
“One thing at a time. Go find out why Mr. Hempstead is flaunting an engagement that sounds like it hasn’t happened.”
“Thanks for the heads up.”
“Go save the day,” she said and smiled.
She heard him chuckle on the other end of the line before it went dead and the call ended. Time to dig a little deeper into their missing wannabe crime reporter. One of the more recent articles was a piece on some of the more established families in town. Kalina opened the article and skimmed it, stopping near the end at a particularly interesting passage.
Perhaps the most influential families in town were the Finnegans and the Hempsteads. Both families were among the first to settle in town after it was established and have been interconnected for several generations. The most recent generation is by far the closest in the town’s history. Despite a large age gap, the Finnegan and Hempstead cousins share Sunday dinner every week. Their bond is deeper than any other family in town. There is nothing each family wouldn’t do for the other in their hour of need.
Kalina’s throat went dry. Everything was starting to make sense. She’d have to double check town records but she was almost certain Beth and Bruce were related. Attacking Gabriella and Margaret would serve each of them in different ways. Maybe, in some twisted way, it would make Fiona say yes to Bruce’s proposal and Beth would get her shot at becoming a crime reporter. The realization turned her stomach and bile burned the back of her throat. She forced it back down and grabbed her phone and keys. She had an idea of where Beth might be hiding and, if that were the case, Fiona was in more trouble than they realized. She tried Chris’s cell again but it went to voicemail.
“Chris, I think I know what’s going on and where to find Beth. Call me back.”