Side Story #1 - Colt - Page 8

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Colt considered his options.

Even with what little he'd seen so far, Alice Ridgemont was very unlikely to be the one who killed Rexord Margot. Nothing about her gave the impression that she would hurt a fly, much less a person.

But Colt had been deceived before. Hmm.

There was the matter of the physicality of the murder. The killer had to have rigged up the dead body to make it look like Rexford had hanged himself.

But if she were a servant, it would be possible easily. Or maybe she could've used a system of pulleys. Murderers didn't often possess such ingenuity, but Colt wasn't prepared to rule her out yet.

He needed more information.

Just sitting here and watching her didn't seem like it was going to yield much more in the way of results, but should he really go and talk to her? It was daytime now, and she did live in a church, so it wouldn't be difficult to make up some excuse for the sudden visit...

He could hardly believe that he was humoring this notion, right now.

He decided to check in with Bohwanox again. 'Learn anything new, yet?'

'Oh, uh. Yeah, I think so. The sheriff's body was discovered by his nephew.'

'In the middle of the night?' said Colt.

'Apparently, the boy had been staying at the sheriff's house for the last few days. Family visit.'

Colt blinked at that bit of information. 'Was he in the house when the murder took place?'

'No,' said Bohwanox. 'He was out late with friends. When he got back, he found his uncle hanging in the living room.'

Hmm.

'What's the boy's name?' Colt asked.

'Richard Beaumont.'

Colt's expression twitched. 'Is his mother a woman named Janet, by any chance?'

'Older sister, actually, but yeah. How'd you guess?'

'Met her yesterday in the park.'

Bohwanox paused. 'You just HAPPENED to meet a relative of the victim?'

Colt exhaled. 'Yes. Small towns can be like that, you know.'

'...And you're super, EXTRA sure that you didn't kill this guy, right?'

He was starting to get pissed off. 'Bohwanox.'

'Yeah, alright, relax. I'm just trying to add some levity to the situation.'

Colt wondered if he would ever understand the way reapers thought. Probably not, he figured. 'Was Janet staying with the sheriff, too?'

'No. She has an apartment in town.'

Might be worth paying her a visit, but Colt had no idea how he might justify such an encounter without drawing immense suspicion from her--and possibly her entire family. And there was also that dog of hers to be mindful of, too.

'Learn anything else?' said Colt.

'Not really. The cops on the scene are taking their sweet time.'

'Well, it's one of their own. Theoretically, they should be extra motivated to not botch the investigation.'

'Seems like several of them knew him personally,' said Bohwanox. 'They're taking it pretty hard.'

Hmm. That spoke well of their trustworthiness, Colt supposed. 'Can you memorize which of them seem heartbroken and which don't?'

'Sure.'

After that, Colt kept pressing, but Bohwanox didn't have much else to tell him yet. He soon settled back into observing Alice Ridgemont.

Not much changed.

Which was a good thing, of course, but it also meant that he had to make a decision. He couldn't just sit back and keep watching Alice forever. If he was going to investigate Rex's murder properly, he'd have to move on to a different "suspect" sooner or later.

The smell of bacon was still tormenting him, as if trying to lure him to the church, but he resisted temptation.

When the smell of a full diaper hit him, however, he could not just sit around and endure that. He went back to the car and changed Stephanie, and by the time he was done with her, Thomas needed changing, too.

That was how it usually went. The twins pooping schedules had always been quite in sync with one another.

Dear goddess, he couldn't wait until they were potty trained.

Once the kids were taken care of, he decided against resuming the stakeout. Time was not on his side, he reminded himself. If the capital cops had known Sheriff Margot well enough to be distraught over his death, then they were more likely to have strong doubts regarding his "suicide." Perhaps that would be good for the investigation. Or perhaps it would put the suspicious man who lived in the woods in their crosshairs.

He got in his midnight blue Pontiac and went to the church. He parked out front. There was plenty of space. A little white compact was the only other vehicle present, and judging from all its scratches and dents, it had seen better days.

He decided to try letting the kids walk with him for a change instead of carrying them, but as soon as Colt set them down, Thomas started going toward the forest instead of the church, so he picked him right back up again. Stephanie, on the other hand, followed him like a good girl.

He used his back to push open the chapel's front door, and it swung quite easily on its hinges, though not without a rusty screech. Colt spotted a large dent in the adjacent wall were the door's wooden handle appeared to have impacted many times before.

The main hall was moderately spacious, and several rows of pews lined the chamber all the way up to a tall dais at the other end. Colt noticed a few more blemishes in the walls here and there, along with a couple broken windows, but at least the place was clean. All in all, it looked better than it did on the outside, he thought.

Alice wasn't here in the main hall, and it seemed inappropriate to go looking for her in the back, so he chose to take a seat in the pews and wait. The third row from the front seemed like a good choice.

The kids just seemed confused as they waited. This was their first time in such a place. The tall figure of Cocora that hung on the rear wall seemed to have gained Thomas' attention in particular. Colt wondered why. Was it the wings? Or maybe the face?

Now that he was looking at it more closely, he realized how elaborate the statue was. For a place as rundown as this? He had to wonder where it had come from.

Footsteps on the wooden floor acquired his attention, and Colt shut his eyes and pretended to be praying.

"Ah!" came an even higher-pitched shriek than Colt might've expected.

He opened his eyes, and sure enough, there was Alice Ridgemont in the open doorway.

She was staring at him. "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt your time of private communion with the goddess! Please, I--! I just--! I didn't expect--!"

Colt remained seated. "Don't worry about it. I was done, anyway"

She still looked shaken, but she was smiling now and walking closer. "Ah, um, welcome! What--uh? This wasn't--er--I--"

Just how desperate for followers was this chick, anyway?

"I'm sorry! I never learned your name! How terribly rude of me! Mine is Alice Ridgemont. I work here as a priestess of Cocora. It's an absolute pleasure to meet you." She offered him a handshake, and he took it.

"Colton Thompson. Colt is fine." He motioned to the kids. "Stephanie. Thomas."

She giggled while giving them little handshakes as well.

The kids just looked like they didn't understand what was happening.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" said Alice. "I am here to serve the community! Please do not hesitate to ask!"

Colt very nearly asked her to babysit right then and there, if only to see how she would react. Instead, he decided to be smart and take it slow. "I'm alright for now. But thank you."

"Ah. Alright, then. Wonderful. That's wonderful." She backed away, but her smile didn't wane at all. "In that case, I will just be right over here, if you need anything. Aaanything at all." She took a seat in the front pew on the other side of the hall.

Colt just gave a small nod. And after a period of silence, he couldn't help noticing something. "You're staring."

"Am I?" she said, turning away and facing the Cocora statue. "I apologize. I didn't intend to."

Colt eyed the kids. They were both staring at him. What the hell was their problem?

And how was he supposed to carry on a conversation with this religious freak, anyway? This had all been a horrible idea.

Well. Of course it was. He hadn't chosen it because it was a good idea. He'd chosen it because it seemed slightly less shitty than all the others.

Miraculously, Alice tried to revive the conversation for him. "It's just--I'm sorry if I come across as a bit of an oddball to you. It's just that... we don't get many people visiting the church, these days."

Yeah, no shit.

But she had said something that piqued his curiosity. "'We?'"

"What?" said Alice.

"You said 'we don't get many people visiting,'" said Colt. "Is there someone else who works here?"

"Ah..." Her gaze went to the floor briefly. "N-no. It's just me now, I suppose..."

That sounded like a sensitive subject. Colt decided to just let it drop, but after a time, Alice volunteered a bit of detail.

"There used to be more of us," she said.

When? Colt had been skulking around Orden for months now, and he'd never seen anyone else visiting the church. Granted, he hadn't spent all that much time watching this place, but still. The way the other townsfolk mostly ignored her seemed relevant as well.

Obviously, he couldn't say any of that, though. So instead, he just asked, "Were there a lot of Cocoranites in Orden?"

That question seemed to surprise her. Perhaps she'd thought he stopped listening. "Oh. Um. No, not really. Actually, there were only seven of us."

"What happened to the others?"

"They... left."

Hmm. That was it, huh? He guessed he shouldn't pry.

Alice ended up elaborating on her own again, though. "They lost their faith, I think. Or had it... taken from them."

That sounded a bit loaded. But it made him curious. "Does that mean they're still in Orden?"

"Some, yes." She pressed her hands together in front of her face and shut her eyes.

Colt waited until she opened them again before asking his next question. He was tired of beating around the bush, so he just went for it. "What do the townspeople have against you?"

She blinked a few times but didn't turn to face him again. "You... noticed that, huh? I suppose anyone would..."

He kept pressing. "Did you do something wrong?"

"I..."

Colt tilted his head at her, just waiting.

"There was... a fire." She took a deep breath before looking at him with a deeper frown than he had yet seen from her. "It has been a while since I spoke of this to anyone other than the Lady of Light. Please forgive me if I do not explain it well."

She was still apologizing for every possible reason she could think of, Colt noticed. Oh well. Maybe it was just part of her religion or something. He decided not to let it bother him.

"...I was out of town when it happened," she said. "Visiting my family in Richland. A happy occasion. My cousin had just gotten married. And when I returned, I learned that... during one of our youth assemblies, a fire broke out and..."

Her voice trembled, and Colt wasn't sure if she was going to continue.

"Ten people perished in the blaze," she said. "Eight of whom had been children." She shut her eyes again, perhaps praying.

Colt thought he could work out the rest. "...And the townspeople blame you? Even though you weren't there?"

When she opened her eyes again, her expression spoke of difficultly. "I don't know if they blame me, exactly..."

"They blame your religion," Colt surmised.

She sighed and bobbed her head a little. "I can't claim to know their hearts. Or the pain that they have been forced to endure. Perhaps some do blame me--and perhaps rightly so. Whether I was present or not, I was in part responsible for the safety of those children..."

Colt eyed Stephanie and Thomas another time. They were both staring at him again.

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