Family Matters by Jacqueline Vick

Author:Jacqueline Vick [Vick, Jacqueline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-945403-07-1
Publisher: Jacqueline Vick

Chapter 18

The gravel road made navigation difficult; the wheels of the wheelchair kept skidding on the small stones.

“Over there,” Vanessa said, pointing down a muddy pathway between two rows of ten-foot-high Douglas Firs.

Roxanne stopped pushing and adjusted the bar of the hacksaw over her shoulder, careful to keep the blade pointed away from her leather duster.

“That’s too big. Unless you’re planning on carrying it into the house,” she said.

“If you’re going to be a downer, why come at all?” Vanessa snapped. She craned her neck, reviewing the selection.

Uniformly conical Douglas firs lined one side of the gravel road in neat rows. Directly opposite were the fluffier Blue Spruce trees. Roxanne’s favorite was the Balsam Fir; the natural uplift of the branches seemed energetic and inviting. According to the map handed to them by the attendant at the gate of the Christmas tree farm, it was another half a mile to the Balsams.

Roxanne turned the wheelchair toward the Blue Spruce and pushed it off the gravel road and onto the frozen mud. Vanessa hung on as the chair bounced along the rutted path.

“I think a six-footer is more reasonable,” Roxanne said, just as Deanna stepped out from behind a particularly full tree and announced:

“I’ve decided to go ahead and base my essay on Daniel.”

The wheels of the chair bounced over a muddy groove and tipped forward. Vanessa clutched the armrest, while Roxanne planted a foot against the base and threw back her weight. The chair teetered and then slammed back down to earth.

“Watch it!” Vanessa said through clenched teeth.

“Daniel?” Roxanne scraped mud off her boot using the back wheel of the chair. “I thought we already decided he wasn’t daring and bold enough to commit the crime.”

“He was bold enough to cheat on you.” Deanna scratched her cheek, leaving behind a trail of sap.

“And he ran like a rabbit when you caught him. I will say, he’s a good liar. He tried to compare what he was doing on the park bench with some PG Wodehouse novel where an innocent man is caught removing an eyelash from a girl’s eye.”

“Any man over thirty who reads Wodehouse is gay,” Vanessa declared.

Roxanne thought back. “You know, when I was talking to Sindy and Daniel, she wanted to leave, but he said he couldn’t. He said he had business to take care of. Was it business with Mitch?”

“I wish we could take a peek at Stallworthy’s client list,” Deanna said. “Maybe Daniel was an unhappy client.”

Vanessa snapped her fingers and pointed to a tree, and Roxanne handed her the saw.

“What you’re saying is you think Daniel murdered Mitch because he didn’t like him as an accountant,” Roxanne said, doubtful.

Deanna waved this off as if it hadn’t been her own idea. “No. That’s stupid. More likely, Mitch was the client. What if he had a loan with Daniel and wasn’t making his payments?”

“No-o-o,” Roxanne said. “I think Daniel’s small potatoes at the Savings & Loan. That might have changed, but when we were dating, he only handled small loans.

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