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“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“I had a tip,” she said. “Do you have a moment?”
The sheriff satisfied himself that Green had been confined to the back of a cruiser, then turned to her. “Okay.”
“I heard a shot,” began Lucy.
“Warning shot, we’d caught up to him. He was tangled up in some briars.”
“It seemed like a very smooth operation,” suggested Lucy.
“Yup. Went pretty much according to plan. He did try to run for it, but Captain, that’s our K-9 officer, was right on him.”
“I assume Green’s going to be charged with defrauding the sculptor Karl Klaus . . .”
“Aucoin will have all the details,” said the sheriff, clearly ready to be done with the interview. “Meanwhile, we’re going to search the premises, seize any evidence, the usual thing.”
“Well, congratulations on a well-executed arrest,” said Lucy.
The sheriff smiled. “Nobody got hurt,” he said, adding with a chuckle, “apart from our suspect, who’s pretty scratched up. Those briars can be real nasty.”
Back in her car, with the heater on high, Lucy reviewed her photos. The little screen on her digital camera revealed she’d gotten the entire episode, including some terrific snaps of K-9 Officer Captain in action. She decided she didn’t need to stay any longer, she remembered passing a gas station a short way down the road and she needed a restroom.
That mission completed, she purchased an energy bar and headed back to Tinker’s Cove, chomping on the nut and grain bar as she drove. She was pretty pleased with her scoop and was thinking about the rest of her day, which she planned to quit early, after covering the drawing for the prize Easter basket, now complete with its golden egg. She had just stopped at the town’s single traffic light, on Main Street, when the fire department ambulance suddenly emerged from the station with its siren blaring and lights flashing.
Lucy waited impatiently for the light to turn green and the second it did, she was off after the ambulance, which had pulled to a stop at Cove Jewelry. The EMTs were already out and racing up the outside staircase that led to the apartment occupied by Dave and his wife, Sandy Lenk; they were soon joined by police officers Sally Kirwan and Barney Culpepper. Moments later Sally came down the stairs and went into the shop.
Figuring this was her best chance to find out what was going on, Lucy got out of the car and entered the shop, where she found Alison sitting on a chair, with Officer Sally standing beside her holding a box of tissues. “I couldn’t believe it, all that blood, and poor Dave,” she heard Alison say before she completely broke down in sobs, shoulders heaving. Sally was pulling out tissues when she spotted Lucy.
“Sorry, Lucy, but you’ll have to leave.”
“No problem,” said Lucy, turning to go. “Is Dave going to be all right?”
Hearing this, Alison began to wail and Sally shook her head. Taking this for a no, Lucy stepped outside, encountering Barney.
“What’s up?” she asked. “Did Dave have an accident?”
“Nope,” said Barney, shaking his head, jowls quivering. “Looks like he did it on purpose. Blew his brains out.”
Lucy felt her knees go all wobbly and Barney grabbed her. “Steady on,” he said.
“Sorry,” said Lucy, taking a deep breath. “Wasn’t expecting that.”
“Yeah,” agreed Barney. “He’s the last guy you’d think would do a thing like that.”
Yeah, thought Lucy, heading back to her car. Dave was sure full of surprises.
Chapter Ten
Completely shaken by Dave’s death, Lucy made her way down the street to the Courier office. Phyllis was at her desk, the coffeepot was dripping, the air was overheated. “Smells like a coffee shop,” observed Lucy, plunking herself down at her desk, where she pulled off her hat and began unwrapping her muffler.
“Were you planning on a trip to the Arctic?” inquired Phyllis, who had gotten up and was adjusting the old-fashioned wooden window blinds to let in some daylight; not sunlight since it was a cloudy, lowering sort of day.
“No. I was up early,” said Lucy. It took her a moment or two to clear her mind and recall exactly why she’d needed to dress so warmly. “I covered a predawn police raid. At Karl Klaus’s studio. The sheriff arrested the guy who scammed him.”
“Was there trouble?” asked Phyllis. “You don’t seem quite yourself.”
“The raid went off like clockwork, but when I came back I saw the ambulance racing down the street. It stopped at Cove Jewelry. I drove down and,” here Lucy’s voice broke and she took a deep breath before continuing, “they said Dave Forrest is dead. He shot himself.”
