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That all sounded pretty respectable to me, so I wasn’t sure I could buy into the idea that Bryce had followed Jack to Globe to carry out his bloodthirsty revenge for what had happened at Cal State Northridge almost four years earlier. Then again, if I’d learned anything since I moved to Arizona and started solving mysteries, it was that people weren’t always who they appeared to be on the surface.
Did Bryce’s evil side include scratching evil sigils on my car?
I wasn’t at all sure about that.
“And he’s been in Vermont this whole time?” I pressed. “No unexpected trips to visit family in California?”
“Ben didn’t say,” Calvin replied. “But I’m sure if there had been any evidence of recent trips like that, he would have mentioned it.”
Most likely. I didn’t know Ben Ironhorse well, but he seemed like a thorough kind of guy, not the sort of person who would leave loose ends dangling.
“Then I suppose that’s that,” I said, trying not to sound too defeated. After all, while it felt to me as though Bryce Arsenault was a dead end, I still couldn’t say for sure that I was ready to write him off as a suspect.
“I suppose so,” my husband replied, and seemed content to leave it there. Or at least, he could tell my brain was still churning away at the problem, trying to poke it from all sides to see what it might eventually reveal. I supposed I should be relieved that he would never tell me what to do…unless he thought my actions might endanger the child I was carrying.
And that absolutely wasn’t going to happen. The accident had been close.
Too close.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to focus on reading, so I turned on the TV and watched one of my home decorating shows on Discovery+. However, I kept the sound low enough that it wouldn’t disturb Calvin, who’d picked his book up again when he realized I wasn’t in the mood for further conversation.
And when my cell phone rang, I immediately took the remote and paused the show I was watching, then grabbed the phone and put it to my ear.
“Hey, Selena,” Chloe said, sounding breathless. “The judge dismissed the case!”
I blinked. Even though this was the outcome we’d all been hoping for, I still couldn’t help being a little shocked that it had happened so quickly. “That’s great news!” I replied.
“It is,” she said, although something in her tone didn’t sound quite as happy as I’d thought it would be.
Maybe I shouldn’t probe…but leaving things alone really wasn’t in my nature.
“Did the judge put any stipulations on the dismissal?”
“No,” Chloe said quickly. “He said there wasn’t enough solid evidence to merit continuing with the case against me, and he threw out the whole thing. It’s just….”
The words trailed off, and I heard a distinct sigh come through the phone’s tiny speaker.
“Just what?” I asked.
“It’s just that….” Her words faded again, but then she continued, her voice sounding a bit stronger. “It’s just that this way, people won’t know for sure that I’m innocent. I could tell that some of the customers who came to the store this morning thought the whole thing was kind of shady, since they kept giving me the side-eye when they thought I wasn’t looking.”
“You said it was quiet at the store this morning,” I responded, my tone growing a little sharper.
She sighed again. “It was. And I mean, it wasn’t as if anyone came right up to me and called me a murderer to my face or anything. But I still got the vibe, you know? And since I’d really like to stay here, it’s going to be hard if there are a bunch of people in town who think I got away with murder.”
“They’re not going to think that,” I said at once. “Judge Adler doesn’t pull any punches. If he thought the case merited going to trial, he would have said so. People will understand. And they’ll also know that I wouldn’t have you working at the store if I didn’t trust you.”
Even as I spoke, however, I had to wonder how accurate my words truly were. After all, I’d kind of blown it with Melanie Knowles. Yes, I’d figured out her villainy in the end…but only at the last minute. There definitely could be a subset of Globe’s population who might still think my judgment was a wee bit faulty.
Well, I’d worry about that later. The important thing was that Chloe wouldn’t be going to trial, and that took a lot of pressure off all of us.
“You think so?” she asked, the plaintive note in her voice telling me she wanted reassurance more than truth right then.
“Yes,” I said firmly. “I do.”
Even though they were relieved that Chloe had been exonerated, the Fairfields decided to extend their stay in Globe a few more days. Whether that was because they expected their daughter to change her mind about living here or whether they wanted to be absolutely sure everything was settled with her before they headed back to Southern California, I didn’t know for sure.
“But they’re not pressuring me or anything,” Chloe said as we drove over to my mother and Tom’s place for our girls’ brunch. She’d insisted on being my chauffeur, even though it was at least ten minutes out of her way to pick me up at the house.
