Billie's Bounce by Claudia Hall Christian

Author:Claudia Hall Christian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, colorado, denver, women sleuths, cold cases, forensic science
Publisher: Cook Street Publishing

Twelve

“That’s what those buffoons at the FBI and that sheriff said,” Mrs. Michaud said. Imitating someone’s accent, “We are doing our best, ma’am.”

Ava smiled at the imitation.

“They did nothing,” Mrs. Michaud said. Her fist came down on the table in a thump. “Sure, they stirred up a lot of dust, but they never found a viable suspect. Just some bogeyman who stepped out of the forest, killed my husband, and disappeared back into the forest. They may as well have just blamed Bigfoot!”

Mrs. Michaud gave Ava a steely look.

“I hired my own investigative team,” Mrs. Michaud said. “They worked for more than a year.”

“And?” Ava asked.

“Two things — one is that the sheriff was behind the lack of progress in the investigation,” Mrs. Michaud said. “Even I could tell that he was hiding something. Before you ask, my investigators couldn’t figure out what. They thought it might have to do with his family. But at the time they were investigating, the sheriff had no family. His siblings were dead. He and his wife never had children. As for how my husband and the Sheriff’s family were connected?”

Mrs. Michaud shook her head.

“Who knows?” Mrs. Michaud said.

“And the second?” Ava asked.

“No hippie did this,” Mrs. Michaud said. “The original investigations focused on this mysterious hippie who was so angry with my husband for his vote against Agent Orange that he or she killed him.”

“Why did they think it wasn’t a hippie?” Ava asked.

“At the time my husband was murdered. . .” Mrs. Michaud said. “I can’t even say his name. Even after all this time.”

Ava nodded.

“I knew you would understand,” Mrs. Michaud said. “You were named after ‘A Melody for Amelie,’ weren’t you?”

“I was,” Ava said with a nod.

Ava’s mother used one of Seth’s songs, “A Melody for Amelie,” as her birthing song. Ava’s parents gave her the name “Amelie” after the song.

“Then you know what it is to love someone beyond reason,” Mrs. Michaud said.

Ava nodded.

“You were talking about the hippies?” Ava asked.

“Yes,” Mrs. Michaud said. “There simply weren’t that many hippies living in the valley when my husband was killed. There used to be a huge community. But in the 1980s? There simply weren’t that many of them. Too expensive for most of them by then. Those who were left were either becoming stockbrokers or fading out due to drugs. If they were a threat to anyone, they were a threat to themselves, not my husband.”

Ava thought about what Mrs. Michaud had said for a moment.

“Can you tell me about your husband?” Ava asked. “What was he like?”

“Oh. . .” Mrs. Michaud sighed. “He was. . .”

Mrs. Michaud looked at Ava and blushed.

“Please,” Ava said. “It’s important for us to understand who he was.”

Mrs. Michaud nodded.

“I’m embarrassed,” Mrs. Michaud said. “A woman like you. . . How could you possibly understand?”

“I might not,” Ava said. “I’m willing to listen and try to understand.”

Mrs. Michaud gave Ava a long look before nodding.

“I was a teenager when I met my husband,” Mrs. Michaud said.

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