A Criminal Celebration in Hillbilly Hollow Page 4

  Pinned to the fridge I found a scrawled note in Grandma’s handwriting. Taking it down, I smiled and shook my head. Instead of a list of chores, she’d left me a message: “You’re getting married soon. Just relax and look forward to your wedding.”

  It was sweet of her, and the gesture made me smile, but while I was still here, I intended to make myself useful. I wandered out to the back of the farm with Snowball still trotting along beside me. I looked around. The chickens had already been fed and their eggs collected, and I knew Grandpa had his own strict routine when it came to the larger animals. I decided to settle for weeding the vegetable patch and the flower beds and sweeping the yard. They weren’t majorly pressing tasks but things that needed doing. Anyway, it would save my grandma some work.

  I made my way over to the barn with Snowball beside me and went in.

  “Hey Molly,” I said as the owl screeched out what I liked to think of as a greeting but what was much more likely to be a complaint at being disturbed.

  I gathered up a pair of tough gardening gloves, a hoe, a hand fork, the sweeping brush and a shovel and a thick black garbage sack. Then I made my way back to the backyard area.

  When I got down on my knees and slipped the gloves on, Snowball instantly put her front hooves on my lap, thinking I was going to give her some more scratching. I tried to stroke her, but she looked at me with an almost human expression that said I don’t think so when the gloves touched her.

  She moved back out of my reach and stood watch over me as I began to weed the first vegetable patch. She kept looking at the gloves and then looking at me, almost as though she was trying to convince herself they were definitely not a permanent fixture. I didn’t much like the feel of them either, and they were far from permanent as far as I was concerned. I actually preferred the feeling of the earth beneath my hands, but I wasn’t going to risk blistering my palms or breaking my nails so close to my wedding. I wanted my hands to look soft and beautiful on the big day.

  I soon began to wish I’d brought one of Grandma’s old cushions to kneel on as the hard ground hurt my knees, but I was reluctant to go all the way back to the barn to get one. I would just have to suck it up. I told myself the faster I got done, the faster I could be back on my feet and off my knees. The thought spurred me on a little bit and I made quick and efficient progress around the area.

  As I weeded and turned the ground over, I thought back to the time I had spent here on the farm. Firstly, there was me growing up here with my grandparents after my parents were killed in a car wreck, and then returning here after my own accident. It had always been my happy place, this house. It had always been filled with the hustle and bustle of an honest day’s work and the laughter of a happy life.

  I knew I would be sad to leave it all behind. It wasn’t just Snowball I would miss. It was my grandparents and their home, my home, as well. It was like the end of an era. I also knew it was the only way. It was time to look to my future and I felt a rush of happiness as I thought of Billy and a flash of excitement at the thought of finally living with him.

  Yes, I would miss this place, my grandparents, Snowball, Molly. Even the chickens. But I would only be a couple of minutes down the road in town, and I would visit often. Probably too often. Billy would be at work all day, and because I could set my own hours, there would be nothing to stop me visiting daily if my grandparents needed my help. Or if I wanted to use that as an excuse to come over regularly.

  Even though Billy’s house was soon to become my home, a part of me knew that this place would always be home deep down in my heart as well.

  4

  I was practically skipping as I made my way along Main Street. I had been for a quick coffee with Suzy and of course a big hug off little Emma Rose who had made the cutest little gurgling sounds as I held her. She had blinked up at me with her beautiful blue eyes, her long black eyelashes eventually lying on her cheeks as she had fallen asleep in my arms. I was almost jealous of those eyelashes. I needed mascara just to show people I actually had eyelashes and not just stumps.

  Suzy had spent most of the visit listening to me as I babbled on about this and that and everything. I was turning into a nervous wreck. My wedding was in two days’ time and I was an almost constant mix of excitement and nervous energy.

  I had even been singing to myself this morning as I mucked out the pig sty and cleaned the chicken coop, definitely not my favorite jobs in the world. Somehow knowing I was about to become Mrs. Emma Stone made even the most mundane tasks seem like something I could enjoy. I was happy, that was the main thing of it all. Billy made me happy. And now I knew I would be his forever.

  I had plenty of chores around the farm and design tasks for my business, enough to keep me busy and my mind occupied. But for the first time, I was starting to regret having a wedding planner. It was good in some ways to know that if there was a problem Summer would be there to fix it for me. But in other ways, it left me at a bit of a loose end, and I was a little worried that something would go wrong without me knowing about it.

  I had been checking in regularly with Summer, who was quick to reassure me. Even though I was sure my calls were a nuisance to her, she had never once made me feel like I was bothering her or tried to stop me from calling.

  I had called her again this morning, as had been my standard thing for the last few days, but she hadn’t answered this time. It was very unlike her, and it gave me an uneasy feeling, like maybe something had gone wrong, something so big that she was still trying to work out how to break it to me.

  The rational part of my mind knew I was being crazy. I knew that she was a busy woman and she was most likely stuck in meetings or something rather than purposefully avoiding my calls. But still, it gave me something to focus my energy on, the worrying.

  I had decided if she hadn’t called me back by one o’clock, then I would call Autumn. I was sure Autumn wouldn’t screen my calls, and even if I couldn’t get her to spill everything, I would know by her voice and the way she handled my questions whether I really had something to worry about or not.

  I had just reached my truck when my cell phone buzzed in my pocket and I felt a flood of relief. Summer must have been in a meeting or with a client or something, that was all, and now she was calling me back.

  I glanced at the screen and frowned when I saw Billy’s name there instead of Summer’s. I checked the time. It was eleven fifteen and Billy should have been mid surgery, not calling me. Something was most definitely wrong, and this time I knew I wasn’t being paranoid.

  “What’s happened?” I demanded as I answered the call.

  “How did you know something happened?” Billy asked.

  His words did nothing to quell the panic rising inside of me. He hadn’t reassured me everything was okay; he’d just asked how I had known there was a problem. It meant I was right. Something was very wrong. Hearing his normal voice did ease my worries about him, though. It didn’t sound like he was hurt or sick or anything. He wouldn’t sound quite so normal if something was the matter with him.

  “You wouldn’t be calling me in the middle of your surgery if nothing had happened,” I replied, answering his question.

  I wanted to ignore it and demand he just tell me what was going on, but at the same time, I wanted to buy myself a little more time. A little more time where I was ignorant of whatever had gone wrong so I could stay happy for a moment longer.

  Billy said. “Okay, Emma. Are you sitting down?”

  This was getting worse by the moment. Something really bad had to have happened for him to need me to be sitting down. My thoughts went immediately to my grandparents. If either of them were hurt Billy, as the town doctor, would no doubt have been called to attend. And he would want to be the one to tell me, rather than leaving it to Sheriff Tucker or a stranger from the hospital.

  “My grandparents…?”

  I trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence, afraid of the answer I might hear.

  “They’
re fine,” Billy finished. “Are you sitting down?”

  There was that question again. The sentence people always used to prepare you for something really bad.

  “No,” I snapped, getting impatient now. “I’m just about to get into my truck. Just tell me what it is.”

  He had assured me my grandparents were fine. He was obviously okay and I knew Suzy and Emma Rose were both good because I had just left them. What else could be wrong that I couldn’t cope with? I could deal with this standing up.

  Then, a thought struck me. What if it was Brian? What if I had to go and tell Suzy something bad had happened to Brian?

  “Emma, Summer Martin has been killed,” Billy said quietly.

  His words silenced my fears about Brian, but they brought with them a whole new set of emotions and problems. My head spun and I reached out a hand, resting it on the side of the truck to steady myself until the dizziness passed.

  “Summer Martin as in our wedding planner?” I asked, sure I had somehow misunderstood.

  “Yes,” Billy confirmed.

  “How?” I asked. “What happened?”

  My mind was racing. Was this somehow my fault? I had momentarily wished I didn’t have a wedding planner, and now I didn’t.

  You’re being ridiculous, Emma, I told myself. Your fleeting thoughts couldn’t kill a woman.

  I still felt guilty, though, not least because my first concern upon hearing the news was for our wedding. I had no idea who Summer had booked for half of the things. I didn’t know where my dress would be coming from or where it would be sent to. I didn’t know who was doing the catering, or how to contact the band. I didn’t know anything. Not even who to contact at the church on the day to collect the keys and let Doris the florist in.

  They weren’t the thoughts you were supposed to have upon hearing of a death. You were meant to feel sad for the person who had died, sad for the friends and family they had left behind. I was sure that would come later.

  “Emma?” Billy said. “Are you alright?”

  I took a deep breath and let it slowly.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” I said. “This is just so unexpected.”

  It would all be okay. I could make this work. Autumn would surely have a copy of our wedding folder, or at least know where it was. I could work everything out myself from that.

  My mind was already whirling, so full of details that it took me a moment to realize Billy hadn’t answered my question from a moment ago.

  “What happened to Summer?” I repeated.

  “Tucker got a call saying there had been an accident. He rushed to the scene to find Summer’s car crashed into a wall. She must have been driving pretty fast. The front end was smashed to pieces. She was in a bad way, but she was alive. Tucker called an ambulance and then me because he knew I was here in town and might get there faster. I did get there first but was too late to save her. She was dead by the time I arrived. And there’s more. It looks like it wasn’t really an accident, at least according to what I overheard Tucker saying.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Her brakes had been cut,” Billy replied.

  My mind was spinning again. Everyone in town knew Summer’s distinctive white sports car. And everyone knew she liked to drive it too fast. It probably wouldn’t take much work cutting her brake cables.

  “Tucker said the way they were damaged showed they had broken down gradually,” Billy went on. “Whoever was responsible did it in a way that meant the brakes wouldn’t fail immediately, that she’d have to get up enough speed to shake them lose, meaning they would fail right at the moment she needed them most.”

  “Wow,” I breathed. “She could have hit another car, or ploughed through a bus line of people. Whoever did this to her wanted her dead badly enough that they didn’t care who she took out with her. Does Tucker have any idea who it was?”

  “No,” Billy said. “But that’s not your problem, Emma. Just let Tucker deal with this one. You have more than enough on your plate with work and the farm. And now the last minute jobs for the wedding.”

  “I know. I won’t get involved,” I promised him. “I was just curious. Billy, so many people hated her it would be hard to narrow it down to even a reasonably short list, let alone a single suspect.”

  “I know, but there’s a difference between hating to deal with someone and having a plausible reason to kill them.”

  “True,” I agreed.

  “Listen, Emma, I have to go. Will you be alright?”

  “Yes, of course,” I said. “I’m going to head home and get some work done, and then tomorrow I’ll call Autumn and ask for our folder. I know it’s insensitive when her sister has just died, but I think she’ll understand.”

  “Okay, honey. Talk to you later,” Billy said before ending the call. I realized he was probably shaken himself and needed time to settle down after the scene he had just come from.

  I drove back to the farm in a state of disbelief. How could Summer be dead? Who would have done such a thing? My mind went to Derrick Williams, our wedding photographer. Autumn had made a joke about him snapping one day and killing Summer. It didn’t seem quite so funny now, but it also didn’t mean he had actually killed her. Everyone made throw away statements like that at times. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they meant absolutely nothing.

  I parked the truck and went inside the farm house, trying to silence the side of my brain that was begging me to start investigating Summer’s murder. I had told Billy I wouldn’t get involved and I had meant it. I had far too much to do already. I would leave this one to Tucker.

  I wasn’t overly confident the sheriff would be able to find out any sort of satisfactory answer, but I wasn’t confident I would either. Not with Summer. Not when she had treated so many people badly at one time or another. Maybe I could …

  No, stop it. Don’t get involved Emma.

  I gritted my teeth and pushed my questions aside, as I walked into the house and through to the kitchen, where I could hear my grandma making lunch. Snowball bleated and came running towards me as I walked in.

  My grandma turned around, smiling a greeting at me. The smile froze on her face as she looked at me.

  “Emma, you’re as white as a sheet. Whatever is the matter?” she asked.

  “I’m fine, Grandma,” I said.

  She ignored my protests and led me to a chair. I sat down heavily.

  “I’m going to make some sweet tea. You just wait there a minute and then you can tell me what has got you in such a state.”

  She turned to the kettle and switched it on and then she started collecting up tea bags, sugar, and a pitcher full of ice. I sat silently watching her as she made our tea, absently stroking Snowball who had plonked her little head in my lap the moment I sat down.

  “It’s not Suzy or the baby is it?” my grandma asked.

  I shook my head. “No, they’re both fine,” I said.

  My grandma finished preparing the tea and sat down beside me, pushing a cold glass towards me.

  “Drink,” she ordered.

  I took a mouthful of the icy brew and had to admit that it made me feel a little better. More relaxed. I swallowed another mouthful.

  “Summer Martin is dead,” I finally said between sips.

  “Who’s Summer …? Oh. You’re wedding planner,” Grandma said, answering her own question as the realization dawned on her.

  “Yes,” I confirmed.

  “What happened?” Grandma asked.

  “Tucker told Billy that someone cut her brakes. Her car crashed. She died before Billy could get there,” I explained.

  “Oh, Emma. I’m so sorry,” Grandma said, reaching out and squeezing my hand. “The news must have come as quite a shock to you.”

  “It did,” I admitted. “But I’m fine. Really. I mean it’s not like we were friends or anything.”

  “I hate to sound callous, but what will happen about the wedding?” Grandma asked.

  “Autumn, Summ
er’s sister, who I thought was her assistant is actually her business partner. Now obviously she’s just lost her sister and she’s not going to feel like taking over so soon after her death, but I’m hoping she at least has access to my folder with all of the information in it. I’m going to have to call her tomorrow and ask for it, as insensitive as that is. And then I can work out what needs doing and get on with it,” I said.

  “I’m sure she won’t think it’s insensitive. If she is a partner in the business, she must know this means she’s going to have to step up. Most people would have been on the phone to her by now demanding to know what’s going to happen. She’ll probably just be relieved that you’re being so reasonable about it all,” Grandma said.

  “I hope so,” I agreed.

  As we finished the rest of our tea, I explained to Grandma that as far as I was aware, everything was in place for the wedding. I mostly just needed contact numbers for everyone to confirm times and last minute things. I would need to call all of the contacts, though, just to advise them of my cell phone number and to tell them they would need to call me rather than Summer if they needed anything or if there were any problems. I prayed there wouldn’t be. Surely this was a big enough problem in and of itself without anything else happening. I had to cling to that hope, although I wasn’t confident it would work out that way with Summer out of the picture.

  I got up from the table and picked up our used glasses. Grandma tried to take them from me but I smiled and shook my head.

  “Really, Grandma, I’m fine,” I insisted. “I’m going to rinse these glasses and run out to the outhouse, and then, unless you need me for anything, I’m going to push on with work and try to clear it up so I’m free to concentrate on wedding stuff.”

  “No I don’t need you, honey. Everything is under control here.” Grandma smiled.

  I rinsed the glasses out at the sink and dried them, Snowball sticking to my heels as I moved around the kitchen. Grandma smiled at her antics.

  “She knows you’ll be leaving us soon. She wants to make the most of you while she can,” she commented.