Clause & Effect Read online

  Books by Kaitlyn Dunnett

  Deadly Edits Mysteries

  Crime & Punctuation

  Clause & Effect

  Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries

  Kilt Dead

  Scone Cold Dead

  A Wee Christmas Homicide

  The Corpse Wore Tartan

  Scotched

  Bagpipes, Brides, and Homicides

  Vampires, Bones, and Treacle Scones

  Ho-Ho-Homicide

  The Scottie Barked at Midnight

  Kilt at the Highland Games

  X Marks the Scot

  Overkilt

  Published by Kensington Publishing Corp.

  Clause & Effect

  Kaitlyn

  Dunnett

  KENSINGTON BOOKS

  www.kensingtonbooks.com

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  Table of Contents

  Also by

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Teaser chapter

  Acknowledgments

  KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2019 by Kathy Lynn Emerson

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  Library of Congress Card Catalogue Number: 2019932225

  Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

  ISBN: 978-1-4967-1257-8

  ISBN-10: 1-4967-1257-9

  First Kensington Hardcover Edition: July 2019

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-1258-5 (ebook)

  ISBN-10: 1-4967-1258-7 (ebook)

  Chapter 1

  “Oh, no. You’re not roping me into this.”

  Neither my best friend from high school nor my oldest enemy paid a bit of attention. The friend, Darlene Uberman, widened her big cornflower-blue eyes at me as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. True to form, Ronnie North pursed her thin lips and glowered.

  We were sharing a table in Harriet’s, a popular café on North Main Street in Lenape Hollow, New York, the small, rural village where all three of us were born nearly seventy years ago. There is no Harriet. The place is owned and operated by Ada Patel, a New Jersey native who drifted into town a couple of years ago and set herself up in the business of dispensing coffee and pastries in the morning and soup and sandwich combos from noon until two. She also makes a mean French fry. I popped one into my mouth in a futile attempt to show that I was done talking about the project Darlene and Ronnie had lured me to Harriet’s to discuss. It was Friday the thirteenth. I’m not normally a superstitious person, but I should have known better than to accept their invitation.

  “C’mon, Mikki,” Darlene wheedled. “You’re the perfect person to tackle this.”

  “I already have a full-time job,” I reminded her, “not to mention a cat who goes into a decline if I don’t spend the majority of my free time at home.”

  Since late last year, I’ve been self-employed as a freelance editor . . . a “book doctor” if you will. After I was widowed, although it had been some fifty years since I last lived in New York State, I moved back to my old home town in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. Why? Because the house I grew up in came on the market. On impulse, perhaps overwhelmed by nostalgia, but more likely due to temporary insanity, since New York is an even more expensive state to retire to than Maine, I bought it. The next thing I knew I was faced with a host of necessary but pricey repairs and had to come up with a way to pay for them. Since my retirement income from decades of teaching junior high English wouldn’t stretch that far, I set up shop as “Michelle Lincoln, The Write Right Wright.”

  My business is not a hobby that can be set aside at will. Even though the most pressing of the renovations were completed last fall, I still need the income to pay for upkeep and one or two additional home-improvement projects that can’t be put off much longer.

  “Where’s your civic pride?” Everything about Ronnie—her tone of voice, her superior attitude, her narrowed eyes—was geared to taunt. “Don’t you want the quasquibicentennial to be a success?”

  “Did you practice saying that in front of a mirror?”

  I was inordinately pleased to have a comeback, even if it wasn’t exactly a zinger. In high school, when Ronnie was the bane of my existence, I had a tendency to shrink into myself or scuttle away rather than stand up to her bullying. An hour or two too late, I’d come up with the perfect response to whatever rude thing she’d said to me.

  Quasquibicentennial? That’s the name given to a 225th anniversary celebration, in this case the anniversary of the arrival of the first settlers in what is now the village of Lenape Hollow. I know how to pronounce the word inside my head, but I’m not about to attempt it out loud. It’s right up there with Worcestershire sauce on my list of tongue twisters to avoid.

  When Ronnie reached for her water glass and took a sip, looking miffed, I suspected I’d hit the nail on the head with that crack about the mirror. Right in character, I thought. It’s all about image with Ronnie.

  The contact lenses she wears to compensate for being nearsighted also brighten the color of rather plain brown eyes and it’s glaringly obvious that she’s had more than one facelift. She can afford it, which makes it hard to understand why she doesn’t spring for a better dye job. Her hair, which at our age should be gray like mine or a fluffy white mop like Darlene’s, is still the unrelieved black of her youth.

  Each to their own, I guess. I choose to be proud of my age. I was never a great beauty, and five minutes after dressing in my best, my clothes tend to look like I’ve slept in them, but I lucked out in the gene pool. Although I was a brunette when I was younger, my hair is now that shade of gray that appears blond in some lights. Though I say it that shouldn’t, it doesn’t look half bad on me, and it complements my pale, relatively unlined skin and light blue eyes.

  I let the silence stretch, concentrating on my grilled cheese sandwich. I chewed slowly, happy to let Ronnie stew. Yes, it was petty of me to enjoy having her at a disadvantage, but I didn’t feel a bit guilty about it. She tormented me throughout my vulnerable teen years. She deserved a little payback.

  Across the table from me, Darlene was struggling not to laugh. She knew exactly what I was thinking. She also knew that I wouldn’t turn down their request just to spite Ronnie. It remained to be seen if my other objec
tions would hold up.

  To avoid locking eyes with either of them, I shifted my attention to what was going on around us. Inside the café, Ada was waiting on a foursome of local businessmen. A young woman sat alone in a corner reading a book. A middle-aged couple occupied one of the tables for two, engaged in an intense conversation. Delicious smells filled the air—the ever-present aroma of fresh ground coffee mingled with scents from all my favorite comfort foods. I try to eat sensibly. I do. But I have a weakness for homemade pastries and deep-fried potatoes and innumerable other things that are bad for me.

  I’d finished my sandwich and my fries. To quell the impulse to order seconds, I concentrated on the view through the plate glass window beside me. Although it was a sunny and pleasant afternoon in mid-July, there wasn’t much to see. The sidewalk was empty and even though Main Street is the main route through downtown Lenape Hollow, only a few vehicles passed by.

  Directly across the street from Harriet’s is the Lenape Hollow Police Station, a relatively new addition to the landscape. As I stared at the front entrance, Detective Jonathan Hazlett emerged and headed for his car. He glanced toward the café, recognized me at our table beside the window, and lifted a hand in greeting. I returned the wave and added a smile. How could I not? The man is seriously good-looking. If I were forty years younger . . .

  Squelching that thought, I turned back to my companions. Darlene, a frown emphasizing the lines chronic pain had etched in her face, was just polishing off her turkey club. Studiously ignoring me, Ronnie rummaged through her designer handbag.

  I repressed a sigh. That dig about civic pride had stung. For months I’d been trying, bit by bit, to become more active in the life of the community. I wanted to do my part, but there were limits. I’d be a fool to let myself be talked into taking on more than I could reasonably manage.

  “I’m willing to proofread and edit,” I said, “but someone else will have to handle any rewrites.”

  “How hard can doing a few updates be?” Ronnie asked. “It isn’t as if you have to create an entirely new script for the pageant. The one that was performed for the bicentennial just needs a little tweaking.”

  Hah! I’d heard similar logic in the past. It invariably meant Give up all your free time for the foreseeable future. True, I hadn’t seen the actual text, but the mere fact that it dated from the early 1990s was enough to set off warning bells. Back then, the Internet was still a new phenomenon. Home computers existed, but they were oversize and expensive. Were there laptops? I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t think so. There were definitely no tablets or smartphones.

  “Do you have a copy of the script with you?” I asked.

  Ronnie and Darlene exchanged a look.

  “There’s only one,” Darlene admitted. “It’s kept in the archives at the historical society.”

  “Let me guess—typewritten?”

  “Hey, it could be worse.” Darlene’s eyes twinkled, giving her the look of a mischievous elf. “This is the original, with black ink on nice white bond paper. You should be grateful it isn’t a carbon copy or a photocopy or . . .” She lowered her voice to a sepulchral whisper. “Mimeographed!”

  I repressed a shudder.

  Ronnie looked disgusted with both of us. “This isn’t a joking matter, Darlene. We must move forward on this project without delay. We have a script, Mikki. It isn’t as if you’d be starting from scratch.”

  And if I believe that, I bet you have a nice bridge in Brooklyn you’d like to sell me.

  I kept this sarcastic response to myself. All I said aloud was, “Have either of you read it?”

  “Gilbert—that’s Gilbert Baxter, director of the historical society—summarized the content for us at last night’s meeting of the board. Aside from a few instances where the text needs to be adjusted for political correctness, he didn’t seem to think there was much that requires changing. History is history, after all.”

  “Political correctness,” I repeated, feeling my heart sink to my toes. “That’s the literary equivalent of a field full of land mines.” And another excellent reason to decline the honor they wanted to bestow upon me.

  Ronnie fiddled impatiently with the slim leather wallet she’d pulled out of her purse. “It’s no big deal. Just a few places where references to savages and Indians should be changed to Native Americans.”

  “Oh, that’s rich. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t all our high school teams still called the Indians?”

  The logo is the profile of a chief in a war bonnet. Can you say stereotype? That portrayal isn’t even accurate for this part of the country. As far as I know, the Lenni Lenape and other East Coast tribes never wore war bonnets.

  “That’s neither here nor there,” Ronnie said in a snippy tone of voice. “What’s important to remember is that the quasquibicentennial is Lenape Hollow’s opportunity to take advantage of the resurgence of tourism in Sullivan County. The village board of trustees and the town council both support the decision of the board of directors of the historical society to produce the historical reenactment of our founding.”

  She went on, giving a little lecture on our duty to give back to the community and blah, blah, blah. I listened with only half an ear to this familiar refrain. Ever since Lenape Hollow lost its bid to become the site of Sullivan County’s new casino, everyone and his brother has been coming up with schemes to lure some of the new crop of tourists our way. Once upon a time, resort hotels were the key to prosperity throughout the area, at least during the summer months. Lenape Hollow was desperate to bring back the good old days. They called it “revitalizing” the town.

  “In addition to the pageant, there will be a parade and other events,” Darlene chimed in when Ronnie paused for breath. “People will see that Lenape Hollow is coming back to life and that it’s a good place to live, to work, to play—”

  She broke off when I rolled my eyes at her. “Do you really think there’s going to be much crossover between gamblers and history buffs?”

  “Would it kill you to pay a visit to the archives and take a look at the manuscript?” Ronnie demanded.

  “Maybe it really doesn’t need much work,” Darlene coaxed. “You can’t tell until you take a look at it.”

  Ada chose that moment to bring our bill. Ronnie snatched it up, although she did so with a sour look on her face. After a quick review of the charges, she handed over a credit card.

  “I couldn’t help but overhear,” Ada said. “You should do it, Mikki. Who else are they going to find who can whip a script into shape at this late date? The big day is less than a month away.”

  I glanced at Darlene for confirmation.

  She shrugged. “August eleventh. We lucked out though. One of the other board members is the guy who directs the junior class play at the high school every year. He’s volunteered to take over that end of things. He says he needs two weeks for rehearsals, so you’ll have nearly that long to doctor the script.”

  “So, no pressure, right? Just drop everything and get busy?”

  “Two days’ work, max.”

  I didn’t believe that for a minute, but I could feel myself weakening. Let’s face it. It’s nice to be needed, and I did want the quasquibicentennial to be a success.

  “I’ll think about it,” I said, “but I’m not making any promises.”

  “I don’t know what there is to think about. Either you’re up to the task or you’re not.” Snatching her receipt from Ada, Ronnie got to her feet in such a flurry of movement that a whiff of her pungent perfume eddied my way.

  I wrinkled my nose. I’ve never cared for Emeraude.

  “We do need to have your decision soon,” Darlene said in a tentative voice. “Tomorrow?”

  Ronnie gave a disdainful sniff. “Your sister would already have convinced Mikki to agree. I don’t know why I thought you would be any help.”

  With that parting shot, she left the café. In silence, Darlene and I watched through the window as she got into her obscenely expe
nsive Rolls-Royce and drove away.

  “I used to wonder why she didn’t employ a chauffeur,” Darlene said, “but then I remembered how much she likes to be in control. Put someone else in the driver’s seat? Never!”

  It was a nice stab at distraction, but I heard the unsteadiness in Darlene’s voice.

  “Why did she bring up your sister?”

  “That was just Ronnie being Ronnie.” But Darlene didn’t meet my eyes. “She likes to issue challenges.”

  That much was certainly true. Ronnie wanted me to rise to the bait and prove I could handle the job. It followed that she’d try to motivate Darlene by turning this into a competition between her and her older sister.

  I had almost forgotten that Darlene had a sister, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember her name. I did recall that she was five or six years our senior and had been a cheerleader. When she was a senior and Darlene and I were still in junior high, she’d wanted nothing to do with either of us.

  Darlene reached for her cane as she eased herself out of her chair. So far, this had been one of her good days. On the not-so-good days she used a walker. On the bad ones, she alternated between a wheelchair and a scooter. Near-crippling arthritis all too frequently drained her energy. It had forced her to take early retirement from her job as head librarian at the Lenape Hollow Memorial Library, but she’d refused to become housebound. She served with Ronnie on the historical society’s board of directors and belonged to two or three other local groups as well.

  I collected my shoulder bag from the empty chair on my side of the table, but I wasn’t ready to let the subject drop. “If your sister is so devoted to the historical society, why isn’t she working on this project?”

  “Judy has moved on.” Darlene’s words were clipped. Briefly, she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she sent me an apologetic look. “It’s a long story, and not one I want to get into right now. Besides, I really need to head home. Who knows what trouble the puppy has gotten into since I’ve been gone?”