“Give me one minute alone with either Charles or Peter,” she said.“I’llfind out what was given to her.”
“I said the exact same thing to the state police,” he replied. “You’ve done enough. What’re you going to do about your article?”
“I’m filing two pieces. One for the AP about Charles and Peter, and the other is exactly what you’d expect forAdventure Escape. The AP story will probably be co-authored by a true investigative journalist my boss knows, while my article for the magazine won’t come out until next year’s December issue. By then, the stink from the Banyans will have worn off, and you’ll have a nice, positive story. At the end of the day, Sparkledove reallyisthe perfect place for Christmas.”
He rose from his chair. “I’d better get over to Stephie’s before she hears things through the gossips, if she hasn’t already.”
“Her whole life changed this morning,” Goldie acknowledged. “I know somethin’ about that. Let me know if I can help.”
“I want to revisit what you said about your distrust of law enforcement officers,” he reminded. “You said it was a long story. Despite what happened today—I’ll make time to hear it.”
She shook her head. “I gotta make arrangements to go back to Columbus. I think I’ve done what I’m supposed to do here.”
“Stay through the weekend,” he suggested. “The Tour of Homes is really nice and, if youreallywant to help, like, talk with Stephie Banyan or Martha Eggleston, you can’t do it if you’re gone. Take some time to wrap things up and say goodbye to the friends you’ve made. You might be surprised just how well-liked you are.”
She looked at him and smiled a little. “Maybe I will. There are still a couple of mysteries about this town that I haven’t figured out, and?—”
“Goldie,” he interrupted. “Stand down. Breathe. Go hiking in the mountains, make a snowman, Christmas shop, or just go down to Miller’s, sit in front of the stove, and chew the fat with Deke.”
She considered for a moment that if she went to Columbus, it would be an existence totally unknown to her. What new questions, problems, and strangeness would she encounter? Maybe it was because she had gotten so little sleep the night before, but she was tired. She wanted to relax. As Eli had suggested, she simply wanted to breathe.
Twenty-Nine
SURPRISE MOVES
The next two days, Wednesday, December 9th, and Thursday, December 10th, were days filled with talk and aftershocks. Owen Mitchell made sure that his friend at the Associated Press coordinated with Goldie and got the entire story about Charles and Peter Banyan’s alleged land grab scheme, attempted murder of Harriette Noise, as well as their suspected involvement in the murders of Bucky Eggleston and Jason Shirk. When the story broke in theDenver Postwith a dual byline that included Goldie’s name, the townspeople of Sparkledove were genuinely taken aback by Peter’s involvement, but many were quick to believe Charles’ guilt. People started coming out of the woodwork, revealing truer feelings of how Charles always rubbed them the wrong way with his dictatorial rules to homeowners and his superficial political smiles. “I always thought he was crooked about this,” or “I always suspected something was funny about that,” entered into a lot of conversations.
The city council unanimously voted to fire Charles Banyan as mayor. A special fire department rescue team from Denver explored tunnel “22,” but after going down two hundred feet with men on ropes, determined Crosby’s body was irretrievable. After being interviewed by both Eli and the state police, Stephie Banyan was cleared of any wrongdoing. Lupe and Margarita, as well as Paul and Saul McCaw, also gave their statements. During these two days, Goldie took an extremely grateful Martha Eggleston out to lunch and spoke over the phone with Evie Hines. In a surprise move to cut a deal with the prosecutor, Peter Banyan confessed that arsenic was the poison of choice used on Jason Shirk and Harriette Noise. Harriette’s doctor diagnosed that although the former schoolteacher was very ill, he was cautiously optimistic about a recovery, and the entire town seemed to take a collective sigh of relief upon learning this, since she had taught three generations of citizens.
Goldie already had a level of notoriety in Sparkledove, but after the AP story broke, she couldn’t go anywhere without people stopping and talking to her. Some were happy and grateful for her investigative efforts, while others were concerned about the negative impact the scandal would have on the city’s tourism business. She told person after person that while she’d never want to do anything to hurt the economy of the town, the Banyans and their plans had to be stopped.
On Friday and Saturday, December 11thand 12th, the Sparkledove Tour of Homes took place. After purchasing tickets, people could visit the first floors of numerous Victorian homes from the 1860s to the 1890s, decorated in the spirit of those years, between the hours of 4:00 and 8:00 p.m. Homeowners greeted guests in period costumes, and electric lights on the Christmas trees were the only modern exception to otherwise period decorations. One homeowner played a harpsichord for guests. Another had an antique music box that played “O Tannenbaum” and “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Still another homeowner made dozens of ginger snaps and offered them to guests until the supply ran out. As visitors moved from house to house, carolers from a local church serenaded them on a street corner. Meanwhile, downtown, the stores stayed open until 10 p.m., and like the tree lighting ceremony, River Street was closed off to traffic due to the numerous attractions and vendors set up on the street. Two of the biggest draws were a merry-go-round for kids and the opportunity to see Santa Claus sitting in a big red throne that sat in front of the community tree in the courtyard of the post office. Stu Frey played Santa and was a natural, considering his barrel chest, white hair, beard, and age.
Despite the scandal, or perhaps even because of it, the town was jammed packed with visitors Friday night. Members from the volunteer fire department acted as traffic cops, and the city council even allowed Eli to hire two off-duty state policemen to act as designated deputies for the night. In total, there were nineteen homes open to the public, and one of those was Stephie Banyan’s. Although heartbroken, she decided to face any gossip head-on and support her community the best way she could. Many townsfolk viewed her decision as both brave and classy, and although it was too soon to tell, it seemed like the sins of Charles and Peter would not necessarily be held against her.
Dressed in slacks and her outerwear from Miller’s, Goldie visited five homes on the tour, listened to carolers, bought a candy apple from a vendor on River Street, and watched the kids standing in line for their chance to tell Santa their Christmas wishes. She was alone as she moved through the town, yet she wasn’t alone at all. She ran into Lupe and her family, whom she had met before at the Thanksgiving potluck. She stopped and spoke with Maddie and Dean, who were taking a twenty-minute break from their duties at the hotel to stroll among the crowd and absorb some of the festive fun. She saw Herb Pontz, who was taking the night off from the munitions factory in Denver, and met his wife, Sharon. Goldie asked Herb about where he had come up with the line: “It’s been a hard day’s night, and I’ve been working like a dog.” But, like Ed Peterson, who quoted the Bee Gees at the community dance, he couldn’t remember where he’d heard the saying. She didn’t like this ongoing mystery, but she took it in stride. She was accepting that there were some things about Sparkledove she might never figure out.
About 8:30, she ran into Eli, who had been busy all night making sure everything was running smoothly. Even though it was one of the busiest nights of the year, he asked Goldie to hop in his police cruiser and said he wanted to show her something special. Intrigued, she followed him to a side street and climbed into his Ford sedan. He circled downtown, passing dozens of cars parked on the sides of streets, until he was just a few yards from Bridge Street. When they got there, she noticed Bridge Street was closed off, like River Street, but she couldn’t see why. Eli parked his car in a space with a sign that read: Reserved for Sheriff. He turned off the engine, then told her to wait until he rounded the car to get her door. She liked the chivalry but didn’t understand what they were doing.
“So, what’s the deal?” she asked, getting out of the car and not having a clear view of the street from where they parked.
“When the town has some nice snowfalls and freezing weather like this year,” he explained, “we do something special on Bridge Street.”
They came to the street, and Goldie drew a sharp breath in delightful surprise. The street had not been plowed from the recent snowfall of the past few days, and there were horse-drawn sleighs taking folks for rides up and down the street. There were one-horse sleighs, two-horse sleighs, and all the houses on both sides of the street had lit candles in every window on every floor. With the beautiful, clear night, riders bundled in blankets, and the sleighs clanging with bells, it was like a scene from a Currier and Ives illustration.
“Wow! This is incredible!” she said, open-mouthed.
Eli walked her over to a single-horse sleigh, where the owner was holding the bridle of his horse and gestured for her to climb aboard.
“You arranged this for me?” she asked with a dazed smile.
“Research for your article,” he replied. “With thanks to Bart, who owns the rig.”
They got into the sleigh, pulled a blanket over their laps, then Bart, the owner, smiled and stepped aside as Eli took the reins. This was unusual since the other sleighs were being driven by their owners. As the horse slowly clip-clopped away, she felt self-conscious about all the other people waiting their turn for a sleigh ride, but she also loved being treated as someone special.
“So, how does this work with the people who live on the street?” she asked.
“You mean, with their cars?”
