Murder of a Bookstore Babe

The three of them stopped near his SUV, and Chase jerked his chin at Xenia, asking, “What did she say?”

“Xenia tells me you started calling her as early as eight fifteen, but you said you started at midnight.” Skye thought she’d begin with the easy stuff.

“I’m not a clock-watcher.” Chase shrugged. “Maybe it was earlier than I thought. So what?”

“You also told me that you and Kayla were getting married later this month, right?”

“Yes.” Chase opened the BMW’s front passenger door, grabbed a can of beer from a cooler on the seat, and offered, “Want one?”

“No, thanks.” Skye edged back as he popped the top, not wanting to get sprayed. “Xenia says that Kayla changed her mind and was going to call the wedding off.” Although this wasn’t exactly what Xenia had said, Skye hoped it would make Chase angry enough to blurt out something incriminating.

“That’s not true!” Chase shouted. “We were going to get married, have kids, and settle down. She was going to forget all about making those stupid movies.” He gulped back a sob, then took a slug of beer. “I had it all planned out. It was going to be perfect.”

“But since you didn’t see her that night,” Xenia interjected, “you didn’t know if she was going to dump you or not.”

“No!” he roared. “Kayla knew she could never leave me.”

“But she had won a big award and had the chance to show her movie to lots of famous directors and producers.” Skye leaned against the rear passenger door. “Xenia, wasn’t Kayla going to Hollywood?”

“Yes.” Xenia stared at Chase. “She showed me the airline ticket.”

“You’re lying.” Chase jerked as if he’d been Tasered. “That was before. We talked it over and she wasn’t going.”

“Before what?” Could it be what she thought? Skye held her breath.

“Before she saw reason?” Chase’s tone was almost a question, as if he hoped that was an answer Skye would accept.

“Could she have changed her mind?” Skye persisted. His defenses were definitely beginning to crack. “Girls do that all the time.”

“No.” The young man shook his head wildly. “She promised me.”

“But a chance to go to Hollywood and work for a celebrity, maybe become a celebrity herself . . .” Skye let her voice trail off. “Scumble River and her high school boyfriend might have begun to seem like settling for bronze when she had a chance at the gold.”

Chase’s shoulders slumped, and he choked out, “Why would you say something awful like that?”

Skye flinched. She felt a little nauseous, as if she were burning ants with a magnifying glass. But they had no other leads, and it wouldn’t be fair to Kayla if her murder went unsolved.

Unable to meet his eyes, she glanced into the SUV’s window. What was that in the backseat? She tilted her head. It was a half-folded, superelaborate, heavy-duty baby stroller with a cracked blue plastic footrest. Various facts zipped through her mind in a matter of seconds.

Holy moly! The last piece of the puzzle fell into place. Earlier, when Xenia had mentioned that she thought Kayla had changed her mind about marrying Chase, Skye remembered that at the Dairy Kastle Kayla had said she hadn’t been hungry the past week or so and that food wasn’t appealing to her. Kayla hadn’t been dieting. She’d been pregnant.

Chase followed her gaze, and his mouth tightened.

Oops! “Well, thanks for clearing that up.” Time to get Xenia and herself a safe distance away and let Wally bring Chase in for a formal interrogation. Meanwhile, one of his officers could obtain a search warrant and see whether the plastic of the broken stroller matched the pieces found in Kayla’s hair.

“I’ll let you get back to your game.” Skye took a step away. “Looks like your team is about to take the field.” She gestured with her thumb to the men in the dugout rising from the bench.

“You know, don’t you?” Chase’s demeanor changed from sorrow to rage, and he lunged at Skye. “You figured it out!”

Skye stumbled back, but Chase grabbed her wrist in a viselike hold. “Let go of me this instant,” she ordered in her firmest teacher voice.

“It’s women like you who ruin everything.” Anger seemed to ooze from Chase like pus from a popped pimple.

He jerked Skye toward him, but Xenia launched herself at him, landing on his back and wrapping her hands around his throat, screaming, “Leave her alone!”

Chase’s gasp was an inverted howl; then all three toppled to the ground with Skye on the bottom of the pile. She pushed, but the combined weight of Xenia and Chase on her chest was too much. She couldn’t get free.

Just as she was feeling woozy from lack of oxygen and starting to panic, Chase was plucked off her. Wally pinned him to the ground and handcuffed him while reading him his rights.

Xenia hopped around, pumping her fisted hands in the air and shouting obscenities. Skye wasn’t sure whether Xenia was aiming the profanities at Chase for killing her friend, or at Wally for stopping her from beating the crap out of Chase. Probably both.