Francie wasted no time. “Go, go, go! Before he takes off!”
I left Daisy with Duke and rushed back through the living room and out the front door. Wolf’s car was parked across the street. On a hunch, I opened the gate to the passage along the side of the house and walked to Abby’s patio.
Wolf stood in the middle of the patio, staring at the spot where the cat collar had hung in the bushes.
“Wondering why someone tossed the cat collar up there?” I asked.
“You noticed that, too? Cats get stuck on all kinds of things, but those branches don’t look strong enough to hold a cat.”
“That’s what Nina and I thought.”
“I’m glad to see you. I was planning to stop by.”
“Is everything okay?”
“That would depend on your definition of okay.” Wolf faced me and looked me in the eyes. “Turns out the woman in the freezer isn’t Abby.”
Chapter 11
Dear Sophie,
My family loves chicken and dumplings. But everyone complains about my recipe because the dumplings aren’t biscuit-y like my grandmother’s version. She’s gone now, and all I have is a list of the ingredients. She kept the instructions in her head. What am I doing wrong?
Frustrated Cook in Chicken Creek, Alaska
Dear Frustrated Cook,
Instead of the conventional method of steaming the dumplings on the stove top, try baking them in your oven. Maybe that’s Grandma’s missing trick.
Sophie
I blinked at Wolf. “What? How is that possible? Who is it?”
“I don’t know the answer to either of those questions. I’ve been asking myself the same thing since we found out. We were operating under the assumption that Abby was a nice woman who met a terrible fate for reasons unknown. I’ve been talking to people who knew her and trying to figure out who had a beef with her. But this changes everything. It throws all our theories in the air again.”
“Do you think Abby murdered the woman in the freezer?” I asked.
Wolf took a deep breath. “I don’t know what to think. I’ve got one unidentified dead woman, one missing woman, and one cat collar way up higher than it should be. What are you doing here, anyway?”
“The two sleuths next door sent me to find you. They’re eager for an update. But I don’t think they were expecting this.”
Wolf nodded. “No one was. Who is the second sleuth?”
“Francie Vanderhoosen.”
Wolf smiled. “Come on, let’s fill them in. It will be on the evening news, but they’ll feel special hearing about it early.”
If I had known there would be four of us, I would have brought more food. When we walked into the house, Francie and Eunice were eating, with both dogs shamelessly watching and hoping for a bite.
“I found Wolf, and he has big news.”
Both of them stared at Wolf expectantly but continued eating their dinners.
“The body in the freezer isn’t Abby Bergeron,” said Wolf.
Eunice and Francie stopped eating. There was a long moment of silence before they peppered him with questions.
“How do you know?”
“Does that mean Abby is alive?”
I longed to add my own questions, but I figured he’d get around to answering them if we gave him a chance.
Wolf sat down. “We brought Abby’s ex-husband in to identify the body.”
“I could have done that for you,” Eunice said. “I know what she looks like.”
“That might have been preferable. It was a very difficult moment for him. He clearly dreaded it. And then when it turned out it wasn’t Abby after all, you can imagine his joy. But that was tempered with guilt because you don’t really want to be happy about anyone being dead. Even if she is a stranger.”
Eunice slapped a hand against her chest. “The divorce was hard on Abby. She never said a mean word about him. From what she said, he seemed like a decent fellow.”
“Then who was in the freezer?” asked Francie.
Wolf held up his open palms. “We don’t know yet for sure. Abby’s husband, Benton, didn’t recognize her.”
“No purse or identification?” asked Eunice.
“Her pockets were empty, and the only other things in the freezer were frozen foods. No purse, no phone.”
“Will they be releasing a photo?” asked Eunice. “Maybe someone in town will know who she is.”
“It will be a drawing,” said Wolf. “A photograph would be too graphic. It should be on the local news tonight.”
Eunice’s eyes narrowed. “That’s the strangest thing. Do you think someone kidnapped Abby and killed this other woman?”
It was interesting to me that Eunice jumped to the idea that Abby had been kidnapped, when my first thought was that Abby had killed the unidentified woman and made a run for it. There were a lot of possibilities. But I hadn’t known Abby, and Eunice knew her well.
Wolf shrugged. “I have to be honest with you. Anything is possible. All we know is that a woman was in Abby’s freezer and no one knows where Abby is. Eunice, did Abby give you any indication that she planned to go away? Did she say anything about a trip she wanted to take? A sick relative she planned to visit?”
Eunice answered quickly. “She most certainly did not. Listen here, Wolf, something untoward has happened to Abby. There is no way she would have let her cat run around loose in Old Town. No way! Abby is a decent and responsible woman.”
“Could the woman in the freezer have been Abby’s cat sitter?” I asked. “Maybe she had to go away in a hurry and Oliver got out when the cat sitter was murdered.”
Wolf gazed at me in shock. “I have considered a lot of scenarios, but that’s one I hadn’t thought of.”
“Eunice, maybe Duke and I should stay with you for a while,” said Francie. “Something very strange is going on in the house next door.”
“Nonsense! Whatever horrible thing happened there has already taken place and I didn’t even know about it. I am quite safe here, Francie,” Eunice said emphatically.
Francie shot me a knowing look. “We’ll talk after these two leave, Eunice.”
I took that as a cue that it was time to go. Motioning to Wolf, I said, “Ladies, have a good evening. And call me if you need anything.”
Wolf rose. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. And let me know if either of you recognize our victim from the sketch they’ll show on the news.”
I called Daisy, who reluctantly left Duke and accompanied me to the door. When we were outside, I asked Wolf, “How did the woman in the freezer die?”
“I don’t have the autopsy reports yet. They’re waiting for her to thaw. There wasn’t anything immediately obvious like a bloody stab wound. But she was kind of, um, folded up, so it was hard to see if she had injuries.”
“I guess you’re searching for Abby?”
“Naturally.”
“What do you think happened to her? Could she be the killer, or did she run away to save herself?”
“We sprayed luminol and found some blood spatter. At this point, all we know is that it doesn’t match Abby or the woman in the freezer.”