Goodnight Moo Page 4

  That’s right. The day of the accident.

  “Are you in the market for a tractor?”

  “Not this year, no. I have cows. The only growing I do is hay and grass for them. I hire someone to help with it. Cheaper that way,” Brynn said.

  “The new tractors are amazing,” he went on. “I’ve been in the business thirty years and used to fix anything. I had to send my son to school to learn the new stuff. All computerized.”

  Josh had lost control of the tractor. Could something have gone wrong with the engine, with whatever computerized version of it was popular now? Brynn didn’t see how to approach the subject with the man, who she was sure the police had already questioned.

  “Hey, Brynn!” Another voice came up behind her. Willow reached over and hugged her. “Come and see the craft hall. It’s amazing, if I do say so myself! Hey, David, how are you?”

  “Good, and yourself?”

  After they exchanged pleasantries, Willow dragged Brynn to the craft hall, which was buzzing with activity. Shelves and shelves held crafts of every kind—crochet, pottery, jewelry. The quilts were displayed at the end of the hall. Brynn stood a moment to take in the breathtaking sight. The colors, patterns, fabrics reached out to her. People made these things with their hands.

  “They are all hand quilted. It’s the rules. No machine quilting allowed.” Willow gestured. “Look at this one.” It was a red one-piece blanket with a pattern quilted onto it. “This is an Amish technique. Simple with the one piece of fabric, no piecing. But look at the stitching.”

  Brynn was astounded. “Must have taken forever. Look at those little stitches. And they are so even.”

  Brynn’s phone buzzed. She looked at the screen. It was Wes. They’d just spoken. What could he need or want?

  “Sorry, Willow.” She answered the phone. “Hello, Wes. What’s up?”

  “I need you to meet me at the sheriff’s station,” Wes answered.

  “What did you say?”

  “Sheriff’s station. I need you to meet me there.”

  Brynn’s heart thumped hard. Why would she need to meet Wes at the sheriff’s station? Was he in an accident? “Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay. But I just found a dead body.”

  Chapter 9

  Brynn tried to focus on driving the speed limit. Every stop sign felt like an assault. She needed to get to Wes. She needed to find out what happened. How did he find a dead body? Who was it? Was it someone they knew? Poor Wes! What a horrible thing to stumble on. He was such a softhearted, good young man.

  The drive was a blur, and when she walked into the small station, the lights snapped her back to reality.

  She scanned the four-seat waiting area and looked for a person to answer her questions. There was nobody behind the desk. She spotted another door. Should she open it and move forward? Her heart thudded in her chest. What to do?

  “Can I help you?” a woman said as she entered the room.

  “Ah, yes. I’m here to see Wes Scors.”

  She smiled and nodded her head, as if she’d never heard of Wes.

  “He called and said to meet him here. Said something about finding a . . . a . . . body.”

  The woman’s smile vanished as her mouth formed an O. “Yes, I realize who you mean. I’ll let them know you’re here.” And she left the room.

  Once again, Brynn was alone in the tiny waiting area. She waited several minutes, checked her phone for messages, and then sat down in the least comfortable chair she’d ever sat on.

  The door opened. It was Sheriff Edge, dressed in his brown uniform, with no hat. She’d met him a few months back when they were investigating the fire at the church.

  “Brynn, good to see you.” He smiled a stiff smile, rimmed in dimples. She’d not realized how handsome he was underneath the huge hat he usually wore.

  “Sheriff,” she said. “How is Wes?”

  “Come on back,” he said. “It’s complicated.”

  “Complicated?” Brynn followed him back into an open area with desks scattered haphazardly. Two offices sat off to the side.

  “Yeah,” he said. She continued to follow him into an office where Wes sat, pale, frightened.

  “Wes? Are you okay?”

  His eyes watered and he shook his head. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

  “He’s a little shaken,” Sheriff Edge said.

  “As anybody would be, I suppose,” Brynn said. “You don’t run into something like that every day.”

  “You can take him home,” the sheriff said, turning to Wes. “But as we talked about, please don’t go anywhere out of the area.”

  Wes nodded.

  Brynn was confused. “Well, of course not; he lives here, works here. Why would he leave?”

  The sheriff frowned. “Right now, Brynn, he’s our only person of interest.”

  Brynn frowned. “Come again?”

  “I’m sorry, but it’s true. He’s not quite a suspect, but you understand we have to look at everybody who’s come into contact with the scene.” He spoke slowly and calmly, as if he was attempting to soothe her with his voice.

  Brynn felt a little better. Of course. That makes sense. Her stomach settled. “I understand. I’m sure the more you investigate you’ll find he had nothing to do with the death. Who was it? Who did he find?”

  “Donny Iser. He was a summer helper at the Hardy place.”

  Another summer helper dead?

  “That’s strange. That’s the second summer helper who’s died,” Brynn said.

  The sheriff nodded with grim acknowledgment.

  “Was he killed? I mean, how did he die?” Brynn asked.

  “Let’s just say, it’s more than suspicious.” Sheriff Edge used air quotes around suspicious.

  What was going on around here? First the tractor accident where a good man supposedly ran over a helper and now this? Brynn wanted to go home and crawl in bed beneath her warm quilt.

  Brynn turned to Wes. “Are you ready to go?”

  He looked at the sheriff. “Is it okay?”

  “For now, but like I said . . .”

  “I won’t go anywhere. I’ve got nothing to hide,” Wes said, his voice hushed, as if breathless. He stood. “Let’s go home, Brynn.”

  He swayed. Brynn caught him by the arm. “Are you all right?”

  He nodded. “I stood up too fast. I’m fine.”

  And it’s not every day you’re a person of interest in a murder.

  Brynn held his elbow, and they walked out of the cramped office into the larger room.

  * * *

  “Can they really imagine I killed a man?” Wes said as they drove away from the station.

  “Of course not. They need to investigate every lead. You found the body. I don’t know this to be true, but I’ve seen on TV that sometimes killers will call the police and pretend they found a body.”

  “Well, that’s stupid.”

  “It’s a cat-and-mouse game,” Brynn said. “Deep down, they want to be caught.”

  He paused. “I’ve never watched those shows. I don’t like any of them. They’re too ridiculous. Yet here I am in the middle of a murder investigation.”

  “Now, Wes,” Brynn said. “They aren’t sure that’s what happened. They’re not even calling it a murder.”

  She stopped at a stop sign and looked over at Wes, who frowned.

  “Maybe they’re not calling it that yet, but I saw him. And it was definitely a murder. He couldn’t have shot himself in the back like that.” His voice cracked.

  Brynn’s heart almost jumped out of her mouth. “What? Oh, Wes. I’m so sorry you had to see that. How awful for you.”

  “Yeah, it was awful. I doubt I’m ever going to get it out of my head.”

  Brynn continued driving.

  “I hope they find out who killed him soon,” he said. “Whoever did it is definitely a dangerous person. We better make sure to lock up everything tonight.”

  Brynn shivered.

/>   Chapter 10

  Brynn was in the middle of brewing iced tea in the kitchen while Wes sat at the table talking on the phone with his father, explaining the recent events.

  “I knocked on the door, and nobody answered. But I knew someone had to be home. They were expecting me. So I walked out to the barn and there he was.”

  A pause in the conversation.

  “She’d run out to the store evidently.”

  Another pause.

  “No, I don’t need a lawyer, yet. But I promise you if I do, I’ll let you know.” He paused again. “No, Dad, I don’t think the fact that I’m a brown man has anything to do with this. I get it. You’re upset. But I found the body. They had to question me.”

  Brynn was glad to hear him talk so sensibly to his father, Nathaniel, who must be freaking out at the thought of his son being questioned by the police. After all, he’d agreed to allow Wes to live in Brynn’s guest cottage as a cheese apprentice, after a terrible first semester at college. He didn’t allow him to come here so that he’d get in trouble. The worst sort of trouble.

  Romeo entered the room and jumped up on Wes’s lap. Romeo, it turned out, was a girl, even though Nancy thought she was a tomcat. Romeo had a definite preference for Wes. And Wes adored her, even allowing the cat to sleep in his bed with him.

  “Okay, Dad. Will do.”

  She poured Wes a glass of iced tea and placed a couple of sprigs of spearmint from the garden in it. She took it to the table. He glanced at her with wet eyes. “Dad is upset.” He took the glass. “Thanks for the tea.”

  “You’re welcome,” Brynn said. “Of course your father is upset. He’s in Massachusetts and you’re here. It’s tough on a parent when something happens to their kid and they can’t do anything about it.”

  “He’s afraid I need a lawyer. He thinks it’s more serious than we do. He’s afraid they will pin it on me because I’m a Pakistani.”

  Brynn paused before she said anything. These were pretty serious allegations. “I’m not going to soft-pedal this. You know that sort of thing happens every day. But you’ve not been charged with anything and you’re in Shenandoah Springs. These people are good. Besides all that, you didn’t do it. You’re innocent. You’re going to be fine.”

  He took a sip of his iced tea and set down his glass. “Innocent people go to jail every day.”

  Brynn didn’t like the forlorn look on his face, so she tried to lighten the mood. “Not under my watch.” She smiled.

  Romeo sat in a curled-up ball on Wes’s lap. He stroked her and it seemed to calm both the cat and Wes.

  A knock at the door interrupted.

  Brynn walked to the door and opened it to Willow and Schuyler.

  “What the hell?” Schuyler said. “Where’s Wes?”

  The Shenandoah Springs grapevine was working in fine order.

  “He’s at the kitchen table.”

  “I’ve never heard so much bullshit in my life,” Schuyler said as she marched into the kitchen, Willow trailing her.

  “He’s fine,” Brynn said, following. “He’s going to be fine.”

  But neither of the women was listening to her. They were already hugging Wes. They both adored him.

  “We know you didn’t kill anybody, Wes. Everybody knows it,” Willow said, and sat down.

  Brynn poured more iced tea as Wes explained to Willow and Schuyler what had happened.

  “Crazy,” Schuyler said, her amber eyes flashing. “What’s going on around here?”

  “It’s like someone has it in for the summer help,” Willow said.

  Brynn served glasses of tea to her friends.

  “It’s a real scorcher out there,” Schuyler said, and took a long drink of the tea. “Thank you.”

  Brynn nodded. “Yeah, Schuyler. You’re on to something. Both of the recent deaths were of the summer helpers. It’s a strong connection.”

  “We should brush off our sleuthing skills and figure out who did this to get Wes off,” Willow said.

  “Whoa! First of all, Wes hasn’t been charged with anything. And he won’t be. Case closed,” Schuyler said.

  Brynn sipped from her glass. “And besides, I’d rather not get involved with another murder case, thank you very much.”

  “I hear you,” Wes said. “There is one good thing about this. Josh was nowhere around. They can’t accuse him of this murder. He’s still in jail.”

  “He is?” Brynn was surprised to hear it. “Couldn’t he have gotten out on bail or something?”

  “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Willow said. “It was an accident. I don’t understand why he’s still in jail.”

  There were a few moments of silence.

  “I’m still not sure what happened with the accident,” Wes said. “It doesn’t make any sense to me. Josh certainly didn’t do it on purpose. But how did it happen?”

  “I keep going over it in my mind. I was there, and it still doesn’t make sense,” Willow said.

  “That’s the nature of accidents. They don’t make sense.” Schuyler drank her tea.

  “But Donny’s death was no accident. Someone definitely killed him,” Wes said.

  “Which means there’s a someone out there who got away with murder,” Willow said.

  Brynn shivered.

  “For now,” Schuyler said. “Hopefully not much longer.”

  Brynn hoped she was right.

  Chapter 11

  After the evening milking, Wes moseyed to the guest cottage and Brynn ambled off to the house. Most nights they had dinner together, but tonight Wes was exhausted and wanted to go to bed. Brynn was wired with worry about him—and about the murder. Who killed Donny? Whoever it was, the person was still free.

  Brynn walked around the house, once again, making sure all the doors were locked and the windows were secure. She loved sleeping with the windows open, but the temperatures were so high the past few weeks that she much preferred the air conditioning.

  She sat down at her computer and checked in with the online orders. There were several. She printed them off, which always made Wes chuckle. She liked to have the paper in hand to keep for her paper files—even though everything was also online. The business continued to roll along, even though her work efforts had doubled because of taking on the cheese competition at the fair. But that was okay. She expected a busy summer.

  But what she hadn’t expected, of course, was a murder around the corner from her—or that Wes would be the person to stumble on the body. She didn’t like conflict of any kind, but here it was. But then again, the police might find the killer and wouldn’t need to question Wes again.

  Yes, she was sure that’s what would happen—at least that’s what she’d tell herself in order to get to sleep tonight.

  She clicked on the cheese contest files and scanned them over, checking to make sure she’d gotten all the information she needed for the contest. The types of cheeses listed made her mouth water. Asiago. Romano. Pecorino. Parmesan. Hard cheese was a bit easier to store, so Brynn limited the contest to hard cheese and semi-hard, like Gouda.

  Most of the cheese in the contest would be aged for between two and thirty-six months and, in some cases, even longer. Aging determines the intensity of the flavor. A well-aged cheese is more flavorful, less creamy, and grainier in texture. Brynn’s stomach growled. She had made herself hungry.

  Wasn’t there a container of fresh soft cheese in the fridge?

  She found her way to the kitchen, switched on a light, and opened the fridge. Ah, yes. There it was. She spotted a bottle of half-finished red wine on the counter and half a loaf of fresh bread and voilà, she fashioned herself a lovely light dinner.

  She took her plate and a glass of wine to the living room, got comfy on the couch, and switched on the TV. She flipped the channels until she spotted the local news.

  There was Sheriff Edge talking about the murder of Donny Iser.

  “Do you have any suspects?” the reporter asked.

  “A
s I said, we have several persons of interest. No suspects.” His jaw twitched. “That’s all I can say about an ongoing investigation.”

  The show snapped off to a commercial.

  Several persons of interest? That meant that the police were not only looking at Wes, which was a good thing. It was such a shame that he’d run into a murder victim. Poor Wes. Such a good kid. And of all people to be involved in a tractor accident—Josh was a solid guy. Family man. Pillar of the community. And he was in jail for the accident. There must be more to that story.

  Brynn finished her light dinner and continued watching the news. The big news was the upcoming fair. This year there’d be more animals, more crafts, and more rides than ever before. A special petting zoo, featuring miniature ponies, was an exciting new feature.

  Miniature ponies? The camera panned over them. How cute. Brynn was going to make certain she visited the petting zoo.

  She shut off the TV and moved to the kitchen to rinse off her plate and glass. She left them in the sink.

  Brynn checked all the doors and windows again. She may be paranoid, but better safe than sorry. Everything was locked up, and she headed to bed.

  She tossed and turned, contemplating Willow and what she’d witnessed, and poor Wes and what he’d stumbled on. He was too young to see such horrifying things. Brynn hoped it wouldn’t affect him too much. He was so sensitive, though, she knew that it was just that measure of sensitivity that might influence him so much that he wouldn’t be able to quite get over it.

  Not only did he have to find a dead body, but then to be questioned about it? Wes had been chucked into a mature situation, whether he was ready for it or not.

  She pulled her quilt in closer around her. But then again, how could anybody prepare for such a thing?

  What would she do if it were her? She hoped and prayed it never would be.

  Chapter 12

  The alarm blared at five like it did every morning and Brynn rolled out of bed, slipped on her working clothes, and headed to the barn. When she opened the front door, she was smacked with a wave of humidity. Already. Her cows hated this warm weather. Particularly the new girl, with all that hair. Brynn would make sure there was more than enough water to go around.