Stonechild and Rouleau Mysteries 2-Book Bundle by Brenda Chapman

Author:Brenda Chapman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: 2013-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

38

Sunday, February 26, 8:45 a.m.

Rouleau took Stonechild’s call in his kitchen. “You’re up early for a Saturday,” he said while shuffling eggs with a spatula around the frying pan. He glanced at his watch. “Not even nine yet. Eager to put your media training to work?” Her excited voice at the other end made him smile. “No, but I am psyched about something I found out yesterday. I’ve been up most of the night going through the files and I think I have proof.”

“Proof of what?”

“Who killed Tom Underwood and Benny Goldstone.”

“It’s not your case anymore, Stonechild.”

“I know, I know, but this fell into my lap. I was with friends I hadn’t seen in a long time yesterday and the little girl goes to the after four program at the community centre downtown. Guess who her art teacher was?”

Rouleau shifted left to pop down the bread in the toaster. “No idea. Who?”

“Pauline Underwood. Tom’s ex-wife.”

Rouleau paused, the spatula suspended above the frying pan. “And?”

“Pauline told this little girl before Christmas that she was leaving to get married. Her husband was coming back to her at long last. As you recall, her husband was Tom Underwood, and he was planning to marry her best friend Susan.”

Rouleau lowered the spatula and began scrapping the eggs from where they’d begun to brown. “If this is true, it’s bizarre behaviour. Maybe even delusional.”

“Isn’t it? Anyhow, I spent the night going through all the documents and Pauline could have done the murders. In fact, she’s the logical choice when you look at who was killed. Also, don’t forget Susan’s near-death experience in the Gatineaus.”

“Why’s it logical?” The facts of the case filed through his brain.

“Let’s say Pauline found out about Tom and Susan and their affair. Here’s a woman who thinks she’s about to be reunited with her ex-husband, only to find out he’s sleeping with her best and oldest friend. Pauline’s family mentioned a few times her desperation and odd behaviour when Tom left her for Laurel. She stopped eating and visited a counsellor, likely a shrink if you read between the lines. It makes sense she would have tried to make them both pay for what she must have believed was their betrayal. For an unstable woman, it wouldn’t matter that years had passed since she and Tom were married. Tom’s murder was personal. I think she got him to drop in for coffee early that morning and drugged him. She could have parked his car in her garage and left him in the trunk. He might have even been there when we were first looking for him. She must have brought the car to the Central Experimental Farm one night and jogged to a bus stop where nobody would remember her. It wouldn’t have taken him long to freeze to death. As for the attempt on Susan Halliday, the two of them routinely went cross-country skiing together on that trail in the Gatineau Hills. It was just a matter of Pauline following Susan up there and waiting for an opportunity.

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