Tippy Toe Murder

Book 2: Lucy Stone Mystery

by Leslie Meier

Genres: Amateur Sleuth; Cozy Mystery; Female Sleuths

Synopsis

With three kids underfoot, a fourth on the way, and an oppressive heat wave bearing down, homemaker Lucy Stone is hardly enjoying an idyllic summer. But her preoccupation with swelling ankles, Bavarian cream doughnuts, and sewing sequins on ballet-recital tutus gives way to dread when she learns her waistline isn’t the only thing that’s recently vanished. The strange disappearance of a retired dance instructor has the tiny coastal town of Tinker’s Cove, Maine, in a tizzy—which turns into terror when a notoriously cantankerous shopkeeper is slain right on Main Street. Now Lucy’s up to her bulging belly in suspects and red herrings. Eluded by a cold-blooded killer, with her due date looming and the temperature soaring, she figures something has to break soon. With any luck, it won’t be her water…

Release date: May 16, 2014

Publisher: Kensington Books

Print pages: 229

Sample

Where’s Caro? That’s what Caro’s oldest and dearest friend, Julia Ward Howe Tilley, was asking herself later that morning. She turned off the flame under the shrieking kettle and peered out the kitchen window, looking for Caro’s little blue Honda. Caro stopped by every morning after exercising George to share a cup of tea and a chat.

Perhaps something was wrong, she fretted. The car might have a dead battery, or Caro might have a touch of the flu. In either case, however, she would have expected her to call.

Miss Tilley (only her very closest friends dared to call her Julia) reached for the phone and dialed Caro’s number. Although she let the phone ring ten times, and then hung up and dialed again, letting it ring ten more times, there was no answer.

Where was Miss Hutton? Gerald Asquith, president of Winchester College, pressed the button on his intercom and asked his secretary if there had been any message from her.

“No, sir, none at all,” she answered.

“Well, that’s rather unusual,” said Asquith. “Isn’t she scheduled for a two o’clock meeting?”

“Yes, she is,” agreed the secretary. “Do you want me to call her?”

“No, that’s all right,” he said. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss a rather large bequest Miss Hutton was planning to make to the college, and Asquith didn’t want to appear too eager. On the other hand, it was very unlike Miss Hutton to be late.

Maybe she’d had trouble with her car, maybe she’d had a flat tire en route. That was the most likely explanation, he decided, making a note to call her the next day. That would send just the right message; he would appear concerned but not anxious.

Kitty Slack, Caro’s neighbor, was surprised on Tuesday morning when George appeared at her kitchen door looking for a breakfast handout.

“Go home,” she told him.

The dog cocked his head and scratched the screen door, adding a whine for emphasis. But when Kitty opened the door to let him in, he refused to enter. Instead, he turned right around and headed home.

Kitty followed him across the driveway that separated the two properties and knocked at Caro’s kitchen door. The door was unlocked, so she went in, calling her neighbor’s name. There was no answer as she went from room to room. She even checked the cellar and garage.

Everything was just as it ought to be. The car was in the garage, the clean dishes stood in the dish drainer, the towels were neatly folded in the bathroom. It seemed that Caro must have stepped out just for a minute. But if that was the case, why was George whining so?

Kitty picked up the phone and rang the police station.

“Tinker’s Cove Police,” recited the bored young dispatcher. When she took the job she thought it would be exciting, but she soon discovered nothing much ever happened in Tinker’s Cove.

“This is Mrs. Slack,” said the old woman, hesitating. “I don’t really know if this is a matter for the police.”

“Why don’t you talk to Officer Culpepper?” suggested the dispatcher, transferring the call. Barney Culpepper was good with old ladies and children.

“Well, good morning, Mrs. Slack,” said Culpepper, his voice booming through the telephone line. “What can I do for you?”

“I don’t know if I should be bothering you with this, but I do think something is wrong.”

“It’s no bother. What’s the problem?”

“I’m afraid something has happened to Caroline Hutton. Her dog George came over to my house a little bit ago, and I can’t find any sign of her. Something must have happened to her. She wouldn’t go off and leave George, would she?”

“Are you at her place?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Stay there and I’ll be right over to take a look around.”

“Well, all right,” she agreed, “But I really ought to go home. Morrill will be wanting his dinner.”

“I’ll be there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail, Mrs. Slack.”

Kitty replaced the receiver and stood awkwardly in the kitchen. She didn’t know what to do with herself in another woman’s house, so she finally went over to the window to watch for Officer Culpepper.

When the phone rang, a few minutes later, she picked up the receiver.

“Hello,” she said stiffly, uncomfortable about answering someone else’s phone.

“Miss Hutton? Gerald Asquith here.”

“I’m not Miss Hutton. I’m her neighbor, Kitty Slack.”

“Oh. Can you put her on?”

“I’m sorry, but she’s not here.”

“Where is she? She missed an important meeting yesterday.”

“I don’t know where she is, but I think there’s someone you ought to speak to,” said Kitty, looking up as Culpepper arrived and handing him the receiver.

Culpepper had just finished talking with Asquith and was folding his notebook shut when Tatiana O’Brien appeared at the kitchen door.

“What’s the matter?” she demanded, shocked at finding a police officer in Caro’s kitchen. “Where’s Caro?”

“Dunno yet,” Culpepper told her. “All we know right now is that she’s not here.”

“Not here? That’s ridiculous.” The young woman tossed her glossy long black hair back over her shoulder in a graceful gesture. “I’m supposed to have lunch with her today.”

“Maybe you’d better tell me all about it,” said Culpepper, opening his notebook to a fresh page.

“There’s not much to tell. We were going to discuss the show. It’s a week from Friday, you know, and there are only a few rehearsals left. I called to ask her opinion on a few things, and she invited me to lunch.”

“You’re sure she invited you for today?”

“Absolutely.” Tatiana’s bright blue eyes flashed. She was not used to being doubted.

Culpepper tapped his notebook against the back of his hand and considered the situation. He knew Tatiana taught ballet to most of the little girls in town, and her show took place every year just as predictably as the Fourth of July parade.

“I can’t imagine what’s happened,” said Kitty. “I think poor George is hungry.”

All three looked at George, who was sniffing at his empty food dish. He gave a hopeful wag of his tail and then collapsed on the floor, putting his chin down between his paws.

“I better inform the chief,” said Culpepper, reaching for the phone.

On Wednesday, Chief Oswald Crowley took a call from Hancock Smith, the chairman of the board of selectmen.

“Crowley, what’s all this I’m hearing about Caroline Hutton? They say she’s missing. What are you doing about it?”

“I’m following the usual policy, that’s what I’m doing.”

“Enlighten me, Crowley. What’s the usual policy?”

“Well, sir,” drawled Crowley, “the usual policy is business as usual unless there’s a ransom note or some indication of violence. Chances are this lady went off on a little vacation and forgot to tell the neighbors.”

“You mean you’re not doing anything at all?”

“I wouldn’t say that. No, sir, I’d say we’re monitoring the situation. Waiting for developments.”

“That’s not good enough, Crowley. I’m warning you, you’d better get on this fast or I’ll have your fat ass, understand me? Let’s start questioning her friends and neighbors, conduct a search. The poor old woman could be lying in the woods somewhere. A lot of very influential people are interested in this, Crowley. I just got a call from the state rep’s office. And one from Asquith over at the college. And Miss Julia Ward Howe Tilley is expecting me to return her call as soon as possible. Are you getting the picture?”

“You’re coming in loud and clear, Hancock, but what I wanna know is where’s the money gonna come from?”

“What money?”

“Money for man-hours, that’s what money. There’s no line item in the budget for tracking down missing old ladies.”

“just do it. We’ll figure that out later.”

“Okay,” said Crowley, shrugging and picking his teeth with his fingernail. “But remember, when she shows up in two weeks with a bright-orange Florida tan, you’re the one who authorized this nonsense.”

Hearing a commotion outside, Kitty Slack went to investigate and discovered two uniformed policemen wearing surgical face masks and rubber gloves tipping the contents of Caro’s garbage cans onto a large sheet of plastic. As she watched they began sorting carefully through the pile of trash.

Working in her garden a bit farther out of town, Miss Tilley was startled when she heard the sound of sirens. Looking up, she was distressed to see several cruisers and an ambulance speeding down the road.

In her farmhouse, nestled in the mountains out beyond the town, Lucy Stone heard the sirens come closer and closer. She went out on the porch and saw a procession of official vehicles go bouncing down the old logging road.

“Hey, Mom, what’s up?” asked Toby, her ten-year-old son.

“I dunno, let’s go and see,” said Lucy, who remembered chasing fire engines with her father. She was so small, and the seats in his Buick were so big, that she went sliding every time he took a turn. Those were the days before seat belts, of course. She was just about to share her memory with Toby when she realized he was already quite a ways ahead of her.

“Not so fast,” she called. “Wait for me!” Now six months pregnant, Lucy was finding it hard to keep up with Toby.

Toby slowed just enough to remain in sight. When he reached the clearing that contained Blueberry Pond, he paused and waited for his mother. Together they surveyed the scene.

A K-9 patrol consisting of one officer and a large German shepherd was checking the edge of the woods, and a group of uniformed policemen were launching a small boat in order to drag the pond. Lucy spied her friend, Officer Barney Culpepper, among the group and waved at him. As soon as the boat was afloat, he approached them, crunching across the pebbly beach in heavy black rubber boots.

“What’s going on?” asked Lucy.

“We’re searching for Caroline Hutton,” he said, pulling out a handkerchief and mopping his sweaty forehead. “We gotta check all the places she was known to go. Haven’t turned up anything so far. Seems like one minute she was here, next thing anybody knew, she wasn’t.”

“Like in a magic show?” asked Toby.

Culpepper scratched his chin. “Yeah,” he finally agreed. “just like that,” he said, snapping his fingers.

Gerald Asquith unfolded his paper on Thursday morning and saw the question everyone was asking, in stark black letters two inches tall: “WHERE’S CARO?”

“ ‘Search for missing prof continues,’ ” he read, scanning the front page. A grainy photograph of several men in a small motorboat, one of them holding a grappling hook, was prominently featured.

He switched on the TV, and immediately he saw a long line of volunteers walking slowly through the woods, searching for Caro.

Driving to work, he heard several callers offer their ideas about Caro’s whereabouts on WMVL talk radio.

“This is Susan from Portland. I bet she was raped and killed by some sexual psychopath. They’ll probably never find her body. Maybe he ate it, like that Jeffrey Dahmer.”

“That’s an interesting idea, Susan. Next caller, you’re on the air.”

“My name’s Irma and I live in Tinker’s Cove. I think she was probably kidnapped by Satanists. Didn’t they find signs of Devil worship in the woods over near Gilead last summer? Pentagrams and altars and sacrificed animals? Everybody said it was just kids, but I wonder. Maybe they’ve graduated from animals to humans.”

“Well, Irma, let’s hope nothing like that is going on. It’s almost summer and we wouldn’t want to scare away the tourists, would we? Next caller?”

“Yeah, this is Jim from Lakewood. I was reading in the paper just the other day about how these aliens from outer space abduct people. There was an interview with a fella who said he was taken away by these weird little dudes with bug eyes and floated around in their spaceship for a coupla weeks. They brought him back, and he can remember some of it, but not everything. He said they usually zap your memory, but in his case the zapper must not’ve worked too good. Don’t laugh, I read it in the paper. Aliens. Happens all the time.”

As she drove down Main Street, Lucy Stone couldn’t help noticing how deserted it seemed. After Caroline Hutton’s disappearance last week the town had been overrun with state and local police officials, volunteer searchers, and reporters and TV camera crews. All the excitement soon fizzled, however, when the intense investigation failed to produce any trace of Caro.

Now, the search had been called off “pending further developments,” as Chief Crowley explained in a final news conference. Caro was no longer headline news; she hadn’t even made page 3 in the morning paper but was only mentioned in a two-inch follow-up story on the same page as the obituaries.

Lucy pulled the little Subaru into one of several vacant parking slots in front of Slack’s hardware store and struggled out. The car had certainly not been designed for a woman who was six months pregnant. She crossed the sidewalk and then paused for a moment outside the store to read a handwritten notice that had been tacked on the door. PRESS NOT WELCOME, it read. Then she planted her feet firmly and yanked the sticky door open.

She hardly ever shopped at Slack’s. The place was an absolute relic and the prices were outrageous. But today she didn’t have the time or the energy to drive thirty miles to Portland just to buy a bag of fertilizer.

The store was a fixture on Main Street. In fact, some people believed Tinker’s Cove had been named after the first Slack, a tinsmith named Ephraim. While some Chamber of Commerce members would have eagerly seized on such a link to the past, cultivating an old-fashioned atmosphere for the benefit of the tourists who arrived in droves every summer, Morrill Slack never even considered it. His store was old-fashioned because he was too cheap to modernize it.

Nothing newfangled here, thought Lucy, glancing around. This was not the sort of hardware store that sold salad spinners. Nails were still kept in wooden kegs and sold by the pound. Little wooden drawers behind the long counter were filled with nuts and bolts, and customers had to ask for what they wanted. Pity the poor soul who didn’t know a wood screw from a machine screw or a female fitting from a male. If you didn’t know exactly what you wanted, and weren’t prepared to pay retail plus for it, Morrill Slack certainly wasn’t going to waste his time helping you.

“Hi, Lucy,” said Franny Small, the round-faced little cashier. Everyone in town knew Franny; whenever illness or tragedy struck, Franny followed, bringing a foil-covered dish of Austrian ravioli. Franny was thirty-five years old, lived with her mother, and had worked in the store for years.

“Gosh, it seems so quiet in town it’s almost spooky. Where’d everybody go?”

“After that bomb scare at Kennebunkport on Saturday they all cleared out real fast,” said Franny. “It’s kind of a relief, really. I got sick of being interviewed, especially since I didn’t have anything to say. Of course, they were all after Mr. Slack ’cause he’s Caro’s neighbor and all, but they didn’t get much from him, that’s for sure. He finally put a sign up. Did you see it? Told me not to let any reporters in the store.”

“No reporters interviewed me,” said Lucy, “but the police did. Barney Culpepper came by, along with that state detective, Horowitz, but I couldn’t tell them much. I saw Caro a week ago Friday, walking George as usual. I slept in a bit on the weekend, so I don’t know if she went walking or not. Last Monday was the first time I missed her. They’ve had search parties and dogs all over the woods and down to the pond, but they haven’t found any sign of her.”

“And now they’ve stopped searching,” said Franny.

“I’m sure they’ve got bulletins out,” speculated Lucy. “They’re probably contacting police departments all over the country.”

“Don’t bet on it,” said Sue Finch, appearing from behind the paint display and setting a quart of white enamel on the counter. “Got to paint the Adirondack chairs,” she explained, smiling a greeting to Lucy.

“What do you mean?” asked Lucy. “Why don’t you think they’ll keep looking for her?”

“She’s an old woman with one foot already in the grave. Old women are practically disposable.”

“Sue, that doesn’t sound like you!” Lucy was shocked.

“I’ve been volunteering over at the women’s shelter in Portland and I guess it’s getting to me.” Sue shrugged and pulled a rather elegant French purse out of the leather backpack she used as a shoulder bag. Sue had a natural flair for clothes and accessories that Lucy admired but had long ago given up trying to emulate. It took too much energy.

“It’s an epidemic,” she continued a. . .