The Season of Killing Leigh Mayberry (early reader chapter books .TXT) 📖

man who had no idea what she encountered in the last week. The social network through the villages hadn’t reached him. The tragedies and investigation hadn’t moved beyond the Kinguyakkii Police Department and the Alaska State Troopers. Even for Barbara McKenzie’s involvement, she was tightlipped about her experiences.

Once the local reporter, Calvin Everett, and the rest of the town gossipers spread the word, the real world continued to move forward. For now, they had family, lots of snow, and holiday bliss week ahead, rolling into the New Year. Meghan wanted people happy, healthy, and safe. It made her job a lot easier.

In good measure, Meghan walked Myles out to the lobby when he left. She faced her officers once the door closed. Each of them wore smiles and looked away when she frowned at them.

***

Following the Postal Inspector’s visit, another visitor showed up. He wandered through the lobby, into the situation room like he was part of the ‘authorized personnel’ staff allowed in the police department.

Meghan watched Rowland Searson, Kinguyakkii Fire Marshal, pour himself a coffee and sit down at the conference table. He saw Meghan watching him through the large bay window of her office. Rowland waved to Meghan but remained seated at the table, waiting for something.

Rowland wasn’t in a hurry, apparently. He wore black-framed glasses and had a bushy black mustache that matched his hair. The facial hair and eyeglasses made his face appear square instead of oval or round. The mustache was big enough to devour his lips. It caught all the food or drink that passed through his mouth.

Every time Rowland sipped coffee, he swiped at the furry thing nesting on his face. It was the same right hand that Riley shook as they conversed in the situation room. Meghan saw Riley wipe his hand afterward on his BDU pants.

Oliver appeared at her door.

“I didn’t call him,” Oliver said.

Meghan kept her voice low, talking to her sergeant. “What does he want?”

She had volumes of reports to finish. The sense of urgency ramped up because Meghan knew the Trooper transporting Matthew Anuun landed in Anchorage. They needed the charging documents at the jail.

“I don’t know,” Oliver said. “Want me to get rid of him for you?”

Meghan smiled. It wasn’t broad enough to get any suspicion from the fire marshal, but enough for Oliver to redirect the man out the door.

Meghan went back to her reports. Now she had more statements to write for the fire department regarding the arson case. All Meghan wanted was a shower and sleep. If she had her way, Meghan could sleep through Christmas.

Meghan gave the rest of her staff off. The men had their families, and they made holiday plans. With Christmas falling on the coming Wednesday, she had Sunday and maybe Monday off before she worked the rest of the week, including Christmas Eve and on.

Lester appeared at the doorway again. He’d worked on his reports in the lobby. The front desk had a large comfortable chair. “I got a call from the troopers. They’re at Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage. They want to know what you’re charging Norman Fisher with,” he said.

Meghan had a lot of hard thinking about what the grandson knew about the murder and the theft. He wasn’t involved with Hilma Fisher’s death.

“You know, with Matt’s confession, I think we need to explore charging him with conspiracy to murder. We can let the DA decide if that’s the right charge. He knew about his grandmother’s murder. He wasn’t involved in that or the arson. But Norman accepted the cash.”

“He wasn’t the only one,” Lester added.

Meghan nodded. Diana Franks, Willie Ortega, Christine Singleton, Jack Boyd, Lachlan, and Marie Bear, plus George Hudson, all accepted cash that came from Hilma Fisher. It was a deep and troubling case that Meghan had a lot of time to consider.

“I think we can go with what we have for now and drop anything outside of Matt and Norman. They were the beginning of this, and I think the rest of them have to face a little frontier Noorvik justice.”

Lester gave Meghan a long look. He seemed happy with that observation.

“I know residents in Noorvik are going to come to terms with this. I have a hard time believing that Norman wasn’t involved with distributing his grandmother’s money.”

“I recovered $4600 from Norman’s pockets,” Lester said.

Oliver wandered to the office to listen to their conversation. Meghan didn’t mind that he was interested. It was good training. She looked from Oliver to Lester again.

“I feel like Norman wanted the rest of the money,” she said. “He felt it rightfully belonged to him. I know he wasn’t part of her death. But after the fact, he didn’t think Matt deserved to have it all. As soon as Norman found out Matt left town, he immediately went after him. All that time we chased the two of them, they were chasing each other.”

“I sent my supplemental reports, I cc’d you to them,” Lester said.

“You know what bothers me most about all this?” she said.

Oliver waited eagerly. Lester was pragmatic and patient.

“I wonder why Matt chose to rob Hilma on Friday. He did it after she left the house and before she went to bingo. If he waited, Matt had a window a lot longer than the gap he chose to rob her.”

Oliver’s face changed as he formulated the scenario.

“You think someone else planned to rob her, and Matt did it first,” Lester said.

Meghan nodded slowly. It was a dark idea that had formed over the course of capturing Matthew. Hearing Lester talk about it made her feel like perhaps Norman was a lot more involved than he let on. It was a disturbing thought.

“Go home,” she said. “I’ll finish up and get out of here so Riley and Oliver can finish out