Authors: Kaitlyn Dunnett
Scotched (15 page)
“I hardly know where to begin,” Margaret said. “It was all such a long time ago and yet, I suppose, it isn't the kind of thing anyone can forget. Or forgive.” She stroked Glenora's sleek black fur and avoided looking directly at Liss.
“I know you don't like to gossip, but it can hardly matter now.” The more Margaret hesitated, the more importance Liss began to attach to the information she was holding back. “I tried to talk to Nola yesterday. She literally shut the door in my face.”
Margaret took another sip of coffee, still trying to delay the inevitable.
Patience had never been Liss's strong suit, but for once, she simply waited. After a long silence, Margaret began to speak in a low voice. “It was over thirty years ago when it all happened. It would have been ... 1973. That's far too long to hold a grudge, don't you think?”
“It probably is, but I can't say until I've heard the details.”
“Nola appeared to be a happily married woman. She had a lovely house and a handsome husband. He had a thriving business. My husband and I saw a lot of them socially. Well, we would, wouldn't we, given the size of the town and the fact that we were all around the same age? Your parents knew them, too. And there were other couples they were friendly withâMoose and Dolores Mayfield; Ernie and Ida Willett. Ernie and Ida were newlyweds then.”
Liss tried to imagine Sherri's parents newly married and happy together. She failed miserably. “That was all well before I was born,” she reminded Margaret. “You'll have to tell me who Nola was married to.” But she had a suspicion she already knew.
“Oh. Nola married Doug, of course. They were sweethearts all through high school. It wasn't long after their marriage that he took over the funeral home from his father. They seemed very happy together.”
“But?”
“Well, it all goes back to Lover's Leap. I'm afraid Nola took up with someone else. An extramarital affair. Doug never suspected a thing until they were caught together up at the Leap. Apparently her lover dared her to go there with him.”
“I thought Nola was afraid of the woods at night.”
“Nola never liked being outdoors after dark,” Margaret agreed, “but if the incentive is great enough, a person can overcome fear. She was youngâyounger than you are nowâand a little wild, and she was crazy about him. And they figured they'd be alone at the Leap. Unfortunately, the police chief we had back then decided to crack down on teenagers going up there to drink and smoke pot. He caught Nola and her lover, buck naked and going at it like rabbits.”
“Good grief.”
“Yes,” Margaret agreed. “The whole town was scandalized. Moosetookalook had its fair share of sex and sin. We even had a commune nearby during the late sixties. But Doug and Nola had dated all through high school, and there had never been any hint of trouble in their marriage until Stu moved to town and opened the ski shop.”
Liss almost swallowed her tongue. “Stu Burroughs?”
“Yes. Didn't I say? Stu was Nola's lover.”
Chapter Nine
T
hat piece of the puzzle fell into place with a resounding thunk.
hat piece of the puzzle fell into place with a resounding thunk.
Nola Ventressâno, Nola
Preston
âhad cheated on her husband with Stu Burroughs. No wonder the tension in the room had gone through the roof when Doug walked into the MSBA meeting and saw his ex-wife sitting in Liss's Canadian rocker. And no wonder Stu had been so determined to pick a fight with Doug.
Preston
âhad cheated on her husband with Stu Burroughs. No wonder the tension in the room had gone through the roof when Doug walked into the MSBA meeting and saw his ex-wife sitting in Liss's Canadian rocker. And no wonder Stu had been so determined to pick a fight with Doug.
“Moosetookalook is starting to sound way too much like Peyton Place,” Liss muttered.
“They were young,” Margaret said. “We all were. Twenty-four, Nola would have been. Stu was barely twenty-two.”
“That's hardly an excuse.”
“Yes, well, there was a divorce, of course, and we all expected Nola would marry Stu. Instead, she left town. It was years before anyone heard from her again. Eventually, I started to get Christmas cards from her. After that, we kept in touch with once-a-year letters. Hers were always interesting. She moved around a lot. New York. Los Angeles. Even Vancouver for a while.”
“What did she do for a living?”
“I've no idea. She never said. I assumed she'd taken early retirement when she moved back to Maine a few years ago. She wouldn't come here, so we didn't see each other, but she sent me pictures of her house in South Portland and we occasionally talked on the phone.” Margaret's voice had a catch in it. “I didn't see her again in person until I made her an offer she couldn't refuse to hold the Cozy Con at The Spruces.”
“Don't start playing the blame game again,” Liss warned her. “None of this was your fault. And I very much doubt that a thirty-year-old love triangle had anything to do with what happened up at Lover's Leap. Maybe if Nola had died first ... but she didn't, did she? And there's no way that anyone could have mistaken Jane Nedlinger for Nola. So it's all just an old scandal. Nothing to do with the present.” Or so she hoped.
“It will be raked up again,” Margaret predicted. “People have long memories. And Dolores Mayfield is a terrible old gossip. She'll talk to the press, even if no one else will.”
“Did Dolores have a grudge against Nola?” Liss asked. “If they were friends, maybeâ”
“Hah! Dolores was a friend of the fair-weather kind. Moose is the one who was close to Nola when we were kids. I don't think he ever asked her out, but everybody knew he had a major crush on her.” Margaret shrugged. “He only took up with Dolores after it was clear Nola and Doug were an item.”
“So Dolores knew she was his second choice.”
Margaret nodded.
“Well, no matter what comes out, it will all blow over.” Making her voice as bracing as she could, Liss urged her aunt to go home, get dressed for work, and head out to the hotel. “I'll be there at nine,” she promised, “when the dealers' room opens.”
“The show must go on?” Margaret managed a wry smile as she set Glenora on the kitchen floor.
“Something like that.”
After her aunt left, Liss toasted two slices of rye bread and refilled her mug with coffee. Then, moving quietly so as not to wake her sleeping fiancé, she readied herself for the day.
She saw Margaret's car pass by from her bedroom window, which was situated directly over the living room. Liss had a good view of the town square and could also see Moosetookalook Scottish Emporium next door. Her aunt's apartment was on the second floor. And just beyond the front of the Emporium, the edge of a sign stuck out. It was held aloft by a life-sized figure of a skier mounted on the roof of Stu Burroughs's front porch.
The curtain Liss had pulled aside fell from her limp hand. Stu and Nola had been lovers. They'd had an affair that had broken up Nola's marriage to Doug. And Nola had taken off after the divorce. Liss wondered why she hadn't married Stu. As far as she knew, he'd never had a wife.
She frowned. Had anyone told Stu that Nola was dead? Margaret had wanted to last night, but they'd stopped her. The authorities would have had no reason to notify him. And since the story probably hadn't aired yet, and news reports wouldn't have released Nola's name even if it had, then Stu still might not know.
A glance at the clock told Liss that it was only half past eight. It would take her less than ten minutes to drive to the hotel. On impulse, she left the house and walked the short distance to Stu's place. Like most of the other buildings around the square, it was a white clapboard Victorian. It was, however, the only one with purple shutters on the windows.
It was too early for the ski shop to be open, so Liss headed for the outside staircase that led to the second-floor apartment that was Stu's home. She rapped lightly on the door.
“It's open!” The invitation sounded halfhearted and the words were muffled.
Liss went in anyway. She found Stu in his living room. There were no lamps burning, but the early-morning sun provided enough light to show her a lumpy shape in an overstuffed chair. Stu clenched a half-empty bottle of beer in one hand. It wasn't his first. A dozen dead soldiers lay scattered across the floor.
“I guess you heard about Nola,” Liss said.
“She was a good woman.” He sounded defensive.
“I liked her.”
“Some surprise, seeing her again after all this time.”
“Thirty years, huh?” Liss perched on the edge of Stu's sofa, facing him. She watched in silence as he guzzled more beer.
“More than thirty. I was barely legal. She was the older woman. Experienced.” He dragged out each syllable of the last word. The expression on his face suggested especially fond, and possibly lewd and explicit, memories.
Liss did not want to hear details of Stu's sex life. Eeew! But she was curious about something else. “Why did she leave town?”
“Wanted to
find
herself.” Stu gave a derisive snort. “That was a bigger deal back then than it is now. Women had been liberated for a while, but they were still trying to figure out how to have it all.”
find
herself.” Stu gave a derisive snort. “That was a bigger deal back then than it is now. Women had been liberated for a while, but they were still trying to figure out how to have it all.”
They still are,
Liss thought, but she kept her opinion to herself.
Liss thought, but she kept her opinion to herself.
“Had you been friends with her and Doug? As a couple?”
“Naw. Doug was a stuck-up prick even back then. I've got no idea why Nola married him in the first place.”
“Still, it was kind of hard on him, wasn't it? Finding out his wife was fooling around with one of their neighbors?”
“Don't think he cared all that much. Oh, he was embarrassed, sure. And he didn't like going through a divorce. He'd counted on having the little woman around to take care of the office and smile at the bereaved clients. Doug doesn't have what you'd call a real reassuring manner. He looks too much like a ghoul.”
Liss fought a smile, since she was inclined to agree, but she didn't interrupt.
“Nola said he was stiff in bed, too, and not in a good way.”
Way
too much information, Liss thought. “I guess you weren't happy to see her again, then, since she abandoned you?”
too much information, Liss thought. “I guess you weren't happy to see her again, then, since she abandoned you?”
Stu shrugged. “It was over thirty years ago, Liss. Nobody holds a grudge that long.”
“Not even a husband who's been betrayed by his wife?”
He started to laugh and then lost control. Tears streamed down his round red cheeks as he chortled. Liss handed him a tissue from a conveniently placed box.
Stu wiped his eyes, then swallowed the dregs of his beer. “That's a good one, Liss. What are you thinking? That Doug shoved Nola off a cliff because she walked out on him? Have you
seen
wife number two? Lorelei's a real stunner. And she keeps that business running like a Swiss watch. Plus she popped out a son and heir. Trust me, Doug came out way ahead of the game and he knows it.”
seen
wife number two? Lorelei's a real stunner. And she keeps that business running like a Swiss watch. Plus she popped out a son and heir. Trust me, Doug came out way ahead of the game and he knows it.”
“And you, Stu? How did you really feel when Nola left town?”
He heaved himself out of the chair before he answered, heading for the kitchen to get another beer. “Damned woman broke my heart ... for about a week.”
Liss scrambled up and followed him. “And when you saw her again?”
“I was surprised, like I said.” He foraged in the refrigerator and came up with another bottle of a local brew. “I never expected she'd come back here. She said she was leaving to become rich and famous. She was going to be a best-selling novelist.”
“A novelist?” That was news to Liss. “Did she ever get anything published?”
“I doubt it. Looked to me like she turned into fangirl instead.” He laughed again, and not in a nice way.
“So, if you didn't care anything about Nola anymore, why did you and Doug almost come to blows over who was going to drive her back to the hotel on Thursday night? I'd have thought neither one of you would want anything to do with her.”
Stu laughed again, but this time only a short bark. “Old habits die hard. And old rivalries. I guess we both wanted to know which one of us she'd pick.” He turned, drank, and frowned. “Geez, Liss. I don't know. Maybe we all had a few regrets. But she didn't want to reminisce with me, did she? Or rekindle any old flames. The next day, she acted like she barely remembered the good times we had.”
“I'm sorry, Stu,” Liss said, and meant it, but there was nothing she could do for him while he was in this maudlin frame of mind.
“Yeah, yeah.” He collapsed into the nearest kitchen chair. His head fell forward to rest on his folded arms. The beer tilted. Liss rescued it before it could spill out all over the floor and set the bottle upright just out of Stu's reach.
“Very confusing,” Stu mumbled. “All the memories. Nola ruined Doug's life. That's what he thought then. He blamed me for it, too. For a while. Till he saw sense. Why blame me? By that time I wasn't too happy with her either. Not after she ran off and left us both flat.”
“Seeing each other again at the meeting could have given all of you a sense of closure,” Liss murmured. She edged toward the door. She really had to get a move on if she didn't want to be late opening the dealers' room.
Stu's head lifted. His bleary eyes met hers. “Nola got old and lost her looks, just like the rest of us.” He sounded as if he found this fact extremely satisfying.
“Nola was nervous about attending the meeting,” Liss told him. “Maybe she had a guilty conscience.” Then another thought struck her and she blurted out a question before she thought it through. “Did either you or Doug threaten her all those years ago?”
“Oh, yeah. Right. Can you picture Doug swearing to kill her if she ever came back to Moosetookalook?”
Put that way, the idea did sound absurd. Besides, Doug would have to be an idiot to risk everything he'd built in this community for the sake of revenge on his ex-wife. And Stu? Liss sent a pitying look his way as she left. She had a feeling he was grieving as much for his own lost youth as he was over Nola's death.
Dan was waiting for her the bottom of the staircase. “Want to tell me what you were doing at Stu's?”
“Jealous?”
“Hardly.” But he stayed put, arms folded across his chest, until she answered his question.
“If you must know, I was paying a condolence call. Stu and Nola used to be lovers.”
“You've got to be kidding!” He fell into step beside her, frowning when she headed across the town square toward the funeral home.
“No joke. And the affair took place while Nola was married to Doug.”
“No way.”
“That's what Aunt Margaret told earlier me this morning, and Stu just confirmed it.”
“Huh,” Dan said. “That must be what Dolores Mayfield was going on about yesterday. She came out to the hotel looking for Nola. Dad sent her away with a flea in her ear. It was like he was protecting Nola or something.”
Liss momentarily broke stride. Just how many people had been in love with Nola Ventress back in the good old days in Moosetookalook? Noâshe wasn't going to go there. But she heard herself saying, “They all knew each other. They were in school together.”
“Yeah, so I gathered. Dolores said she wanted to talk to Nola about a reunion, but Dad wasn't buying it. Anyway, on her way out, Dolores said she'd told Jane Nedlinger everything.”
“Maybe she was just talking about the murders here in town.”
“That wasn't the impression I got. It sounded more like Dolores told Jane something personal about Nola. I guess this thing with Doug and Stu would qualify.”
“You wouldn't think such an old scandal would still matter to anyone.”
Dan caught her arm as they reached the funeral home. “You're going to talk to Doug. Why?” His eyes narrowed. “Please tell me you don't think our highly respected town selectman murdered his ex-wife.”
“The thought barely crossed my mind. He's too straitlaced. I just want to tell him about Nola's death, in case he doesn't know yet. Do you want him to find out from some news report on television?” She started up the steps with Dan right behind her.
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