It took me a few seconds to mentally sort through the tears and the wrath to figure out what Kitty had just said.
“Wait,” I said, still confused. “Who’s your boyfriend?”
“Murdering cow?” Terrence whispered, moving his head back and forth in denial. “What kind of talk is that?”
“You heard me,” Kitty muttered through gritted teeth.
“Do you mean Bonnie?” he said, still befuddled. “But she wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Oh, get a life, Terrence.” Kitty gave her hair an imperious shake. “You’re so flippin’ naive.”
I took a step back. I’d never seen her like this, so harsh and out of control. The look in her eyes had me wondering if this was the real Kitty who’d been hiding beneath the surface of the woman I thought I knew. Maybe it was a common occurrence for Kitty to rant, but I wouldn’t have thought so. Of course, I’d never been an insider at the Courtyard. Just a frequent visitor. Still, this was downright bizarre. And Terrence seemed to agree with me. And he was definitely an insider.
So now I had to wonder if Joey had been having affairs with both Bonnie and Kitty behind their backs. Was that how he’d gotten himself buried under a thousand pounds of stainless steel? But that would mean that either Bonnie or Kitty would have had to push the massive thing over by herself. And that was highly unlikely. So if somehow one of them had managed to do so, she would’ve needed some seriously heavy-duty equipment or the help of some really strong friends. Or maybe the two of them had worked together to take out the man neither of them could trust. Either way, that would have meant that Joey’s death was premeditated murder.
And that possibility almost knocked the breath out of me. Could I be staring at a murderer? Kitty? But would she be shouting out accusations if she was the actual killer? I would think she’d be keeping quiet as a mouse, not wanting to bring attention to herself. So why was Kitty loudly hurling accusations of murder in Bonnie’s direction?
Kitty’s hat shop had been a delightful mainstay of the Courtyard for as long as I’d been living in the neighborhood. So that meant that Kitty and Bonnie had to have known each other for at least five years, probably longer. I imagined the two women had been friends once upon a time. They were similar types—flamboyant, flirtatious, attractive—and were both around the same age. On the other hand, maybe all of that similarity had bred contempt, to paraphrase the old saying. Judging from Kitty’s attitude at the moment, they were definitely not friends anymore. More like jealous rivals.
But that didn’t mean that either of the women had done anything to hurt or kill Joey.
“Look, Kitty,” I began, anxious to get the full story. “Why don’t you—”
“Why don’t you buzz off, Brooklyn?” she shot back, glaring at me so hotly it should have set my hair on fire. “Why don’t you all buzz off?”
“Okay, then.” I retreated a few steps and had a sudden wish for a rope of garlic and a cross to hold up in front of me for protection.
Terrence looked affronted, but Kitty didn’t seem to care. Without warning, she whirled around and made a run for the Rabbit Hole door twenty feet away, yanking open the door before anyone could stop her.
Taking one step inside, she came to an immediate halt. “What in the heck happened here?”
I was watching and saw the annoyance on Inspector Lee’s face. “Claymore,” she called to the policeman guarding the entry to the store. “Why isn’t that door locked? I don’t want any civilians in here contaminating the scene.”
“No, let me stay!” Kitty cried. Her fury faded away, turning to distress as she pointed at Bonnie. “Arrest her. She’s a murderer.”
From my spot at the doorway, I could see Bonnie finally focusing on the hubbub going on across the store. “Kitty, what’re you doing here? What are you talking about?”
“Admit it, Bonnie,” Kitty shouted. “You murdered Joey.”
Bonnie’s face turned red, but her voice was remarkably calm. “Be quiet, Kitty. You don’t know what you’re talking about. The shelves fell down on top of him. It was a tragic accident.”
Inspector Lee turned and pointed at Bonnie. “You. Be quiet. Stay here. I’ll be back.” Lee slid off the stool and jogged around the periphery of the shop over to the front door, where Kitty stood waiting. With a tight smile, Inspector Lee held up her badge and introduced herself, then said, “What’s your name and why are you here?”
Once again, Kitty backed down in the face of authority. “I—I’m Kitty Barnes. I own the hat shop a few doors over. I was looking for Bonnie.”
Inspector Lee gave her a long, considering look. “I’m just finishing up with Ms. Carson, but then I’d like to talk to you, Ms. Barnes. Please wait outside until I call you.”
Kitty wouldn’t give up that easily, though. “But . . . did she already confess?”
Lee tilted her head, studying Kitty. “That’s not a question I’m going to answer. But let me ask you, are you here to confess to something?”
Her eyes widened. “Me? N-no!”
“Okay, then,” Lee said reasonably. “Wait outside until I’m ready for you.”
Kitty’s shoulders slumped as she turned and headed back outside to join Terrence at the table, despite the fact that Terrence didn’t look too happy to have her back. Derek and I slipped past Kitty and moved into the shop while the inspector wasn’t looking. I closed the door behind us. I thought it was a pretty bold move, what with the police watching, but Derek acted as if we were completely entitled to hang around. I guess that was what happened when you were a tall, dark, and dangerous former British secret agent. No one had ever asked him to leave anywhere. If they had, he wouldn’t have gone anyway.
But since I’d been first on the scene that morning, and since Inspector Lee hadn’t said anything specific like “Get out of here!” I figured I would stick around, too, until they kicked me out.
Inspector Lee hustled back to the juice bar and continued questioning Bonnie.
I turned to speak to Derek and realized he wasn’t there. “Derek?”
I knew he hadn’t left the shop, so I walked to the short aisle at the end of the store and peered down the other two aisles. I found him along the far wall, studying the shelving units that were still standing.
“What are you looking for?” I asked.
“I’m curious,” he murmured, then knelt down and hunched over to take a good look at the bottom of the shelf where it met the floor. He got up and walked farther down the aisle, again kneeling down and checking along the bottom of the shelving unit. Standing, he glanced around. Walking over to the far corner, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his white linen handkerchief. Then he extended his arm into the narrow space between the two shelving units and pulled out something that resembled an extra-long pry bar or tire iron. He held on to it, using the handkerchief. Was he concerned that it was dirty, or was he worried about getting his fingerprints on it? I couldn’t say, but the tool he was holding looked hefty, made from either steel or cast iron. It was about three feet long, with one end bent and flattened slightly to form a small square.
“What is that?” I said it softly, not wanting to alert Inspector Lee.
“Watch.”
He took the tool and inserted the flat square end into a small square hole he’d found at the bottom of the steel shelving unit. It fit perfectly. Then, using the tool as a lever, he pushed down on the longer end and was able to lift the entire shelving unit.
I actually felt my eyes widen and my jaw drop. Derek had just discovered exactly how the shelf had been tipped over. And if it was that easy, Kitty or Bonnie could have done it on her own.
“Oh my God,” I whispered, amazed that he’d figured it out.
“Exactly,” he said. “It’s a fulcrum.” He eased the shelving unit down until it was flush with the floor again and walked back to the cubbyhole where he’d found the pry bar. Reaching into the space again, he pulled out a thin metal rack with casters attached to it.
“You see, love?” he said. “You lift the shelf with the fulcrum and slide these rollers underneath. Then you can move the entire unit anywhere you want.”
I grinned in amazement. “You could reconfigure the entire store if you wanted to.”
“Yes, or you could simply lift the one unit high enough with the fulcrum until you’re able to push the shelves over quite easily.” He simulated the movement. “And hundreds of pounds of metal shelving, along with the weight of whatever they contain, can be made to fall over.”
I reached out and, using Derek’s handkerchief, took hold of the pry bar, feeling its heft and testing its strength. “I can’t see Rabbit doing something like this to Joey, so it had to be someone else. Someone other than Rabbit who knew the way to move the shelves around.”
“Indeed. I think it’s safe to say that the shelves did not fall by accident.”
Even though I’d been edging closer and closer to that possibility all morning, I was still troubled by the realization. Gazing up at Derek, I nodded glumly. “Joey was murdered.”
• • •
A few minutes later, Inspector Lee escorted Bonnie outside to the courtyard. Derek and I watched from the doorway as Lee walked with the woman over to the staircase that led to her top-floor apartment. I couldn’t hear the inspector’s exact words, but she was pointing upstairs, and it was clear to me that she was advising Bonnie to stay home for a while and avoid speaking about the incident to anyone else.
On her way back to the Rabbit Hole, she stopped at the table where Kitty was sitting with Terrence. Thankfully for my nosy nature, we were close enough to overhear.
“Ready to talk to me?” Lee asked.
Kitty looked terrified. “I guess so.”
Terrence took a hint and stood. “I’ve got to get back to my store.”
“Which one is yours?” Lee asked.
“The bookshop.”
“Ah.” At the mention of books, Lee glanced my way. “I might stop by later and look around.”
“You’re welcome anytime.”
Derek and I stepped out of the way and Lee ushered Kitty into the Rabbit Hole. Apparently the juice bar functioned as an effective interrogation space.
“Why don’t you wait for me over by the juice bar counter?” Lee said. “I’ll just be a minute.”
Kitty complied, and when she was out of earshot, Lee turned and looked at me. “I can tell by the way you’re hopping around that you’ve got something to tell me. What is it?”
“I don’t hop.” I turned to Derek. “Am I hopping?”
Derek bit back a smile. “I believe Inspector Lee is teasing you.”
“Sure, yeah,” Lee said, smirking. “Just teasing.”
I sighed. “Go ahead and mock me. I can take it.”
“I wouldn’t do it if you couldn’t,” she said, giving my arm a friendly elbow nudge.
I leaned in close and said, “You’ll be the one hopping when you see what Derek discovered.”
She glanced at Derek. “Yeah?” He nodded, and she said, “Let’s see it.”
We led the way over to the last aisle and Derek demonstrated what he’d found.
“Are you kidding me?” She shook her head in dismay. “I’ve got to try that.”
Still using the handkerchief to avoid adding our own fingerprints to whatever the police might find on the pry bar, Derek handed it to her. She tried it herself, fitting the square end into the hole, then pressing down on the longer end and managing to lift the entire shelving unit several inches off the floor.
So a woman could’ve done it after all, I thought again, as Lee set the unit down gently.
She stared at the pry bar for a long moment. “I wonder how many people know how these things work.”
“Not that many, I’d guess,” Derek said.
She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t like this one bit.”
Derek folded his arms across his chest. “Nor do I.”
She turned to me, her frown marring the smooth skin of her forehead. “I can hardly believe I’m saying this, but, Brooklyn, it looks like you’ve walked into another murder.”
I was no happier about it than she was. “I’m afraid that’s what it looks like.”
She shook her head, muttering, “You’re a magnet, I swear.”
“I’m really not,” I insisted.
“Could’ve fooled me.” Inspector Lee sighed a little. “Before I met you, my life was far less interesting.”
“Yay me?” I tried a half smile, which she returned . . . eventually.
“You’re hard work, Brooklyn.”
I knew she was kidding, sort of, but I didn’t need it right now. I already felt completely guilty just for walking in and finding Joey and Rabbit in the first place. Which was ridiculous when you thought about it. It wasn’t as if my mere presence had caused the shelving unit to fall and crash onto Joey. And I certainly hadn’t bashed Rabbit in the head. But still, here I was—and here was another murder.
Derek draped his arm over my shoulders and squeezed lightly. “We’re just lucky she uses her power for good, Inspector.”
Lee snorted. “You’re right. Make sure it stays that way.”
I shrugged helplessly. “You know, it’s not like I wander around town looking for dead people. In fact, if I could change one thing about myself, it would be this death-magnet thing.”
“I know, kiddo,” Lee said, reaching out to squeeze my arm in understanding, surprising the heck out of me. After a silent moment of commiseration, she pulled back and flexed her arm muscles as a way of shaking off whatever mood she seemed to be edging toward. “Better get things rolling.”
We followed her to the end of the aisle and back over to the mass of twisted steel and metal still piled in a heap in the middle of the shop.
Lee spied the two cops who were standing at attention by the door, awaiting further instructions.
“Officers,” she said, holding up the pry bar like a championship trophy, “we’ve got ourselves a crime scene.”
• • •
The cops immediately went to work, effectively sealing off the shop with yellow crime scene tape outside and photographing and marking spots inside wherever there was any sort of evidence or a trace of blood. The long pry bar tool was carefully wrapped in plastic and tucked inside the officers’ police car trunk for safety’s sake, in the slim hope that they might find fingerprints that didn’t belong there.
As Inspector Lee joined Kitty over at the juice bar, Derek walked me out to the courtyard. “I should get back, but I hate to leave you here alone.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “The police are going to kick me out any minute anyway.”
“Call me when you get home.”
“I will.”
His eyes narrowed on me. “You aren’t going to sneak upstairs and search Joey’s apartment, are you?”
I smiled. Was there anything better than having the man you loved know you so well? “Not without you.”
“That’s my girl,” he said with a half grin as he wrapped me in a tight hug. “Call me if anything exciting happens.”
“Absolutely.” I watched him walk away. Then I glanced around, wondering if I should just go home and forget everything that had happened that morning. But I wasn’t quite ready to leave. Or forget. Instead, I wandered over to the Beanery to finally get my caffe latte. While I was waiting in the short line, my mind wandered back to the Rabbit Hole and Inspector Lee. I wondered what stories Kitty was spinning for her. If her earlier rant was any indication, the hat shop owner was probably filling Lee’s ears with sordid tales of Bonnie’s murderous inclinations. Which seemed ridiculous, but who knew? I thought the two women were friends, but Kitty had surprised the heck out of me. So maybe Bonnie was a killer. Inspector Lee had proven that a woman could lift one of those massive shelves. And Bonnie had admitted to being in love with Joey. So had Kitty, for that matter.
Again, I wondered if maybe Joey had done something to drive one of them insane. But then, they had both been screaming in pain at the realization that he might be dead. I couldn’t believe one of them was faking their emotions. So who was the villain in this picture? Maybe no one. No, scratch that. There was a bad guy, and that person—whoever it was—had killed Joey. I just had no clue who that might have been.
My head was spinning in six different directions.
I stood in the courtyard sipping my latte, deciding whether to go home or back inside the Rabbit Hole to see if I could get some info on Kitty. At that moment, one of the cops walked across the courtyard and stopped in front of Joey’s shoe repair shop. He turned and stood guard, and I realized that it made perfect sense. The police would want to do a complete search of Joey’s place of business and his home to see if they could find any evidence that might indicate why he had been killed. It was absolutely reasonable of them to do so.
Except that my shoes were inside that shop!
Inside, I was screaming, Noooooo! I needed to get my shoes before they sealed the place off completely!
As I was pacing and watching and wondering what to do, Inspector Lee walked out of the Rabbit Hole with Kitty, who looked a little pale around the edges but still alive.
“Please be sure to call me if you remember anything else,” Lee said, handing Kitty her business card.
“I will,” Kitty assured her, and teetered off to her hat shop. I would have to remember to stop by later to commiserate with her—if she didn’t close down the shop and hide out in her room the rest of the day. And if she wasn’t on another one of her weird, scary rants.
“Brooklyn,” Lee said. “What are you still doing here?”
I took a few deep breaths to calm myself as I approached her. “I went to get myself a latte and then remembered something. I really need your help.” It wasn’t easy to admit it, but I was desperate.
She grinned. “It’ll cost you.”
“Very funny.” I tried to smile. “No, really, I need a favor.”
“Did you think I was being funny?”
Even though she was smiling, I started to glare at her. That probably wasn’t a good idea, even though we were friends. She did carry a gun, after all. But like I said, I was desperate.
She seemed to catch my vibe and shrugged. “Okay, okay. Chill out. What can I do for you?”
“I need my shoes,” I said in a nervous rush. “I left them with Joey yesterday. He said he’d fix the heel right away and I’d be able to pick them up today.”
“Seriously?” She barked out a laugh. “You’re wasting my time over a shoe?”
“I’m not. Well.” I chuckled ruefully. “Okay, maybe I am, but I can’t help it. I’m freaking out a little.”
“What’s the big deal? You’ve got plenty of shoes.”
I glanced down at my one good pair of sneakers. “Yeah, not really. The thing is, Derek’s parents are coming to town this weekend and those shoes go with every outfit I own. I love them. They feel good and look good.”
“Okay, but still . . . This is a crime scene.”
“I know. But my shoes didn’t kill Joey.”
She frowned.
“Look, you might not understand my plight, because you obviously know how to shop for clothes and you always look fantastic. I’ll bet you have shoes to match every outfit. Don’t you?” I shook my head. It was a mystery how some women just knew how to do this stuff. I should’ve learned. I even had sisters who were really good at it, but I’d never bothered to watch how they did it. “Never mind. Look, shopping is a scary, depressing experience for me. I can’t do it. And shoe shopping? Forget it.” I waved my hands in surrender. “I’m begging you. I’ll do anything you say. Just please, please let me get my shoes out of there.”
She folded her arms across her chest and breathed expansively. “I feel so powerful right now.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re such a pain.”
She stared hard at me. “Hey, you’re not going to cry, are you?”
I began to laugh. “No, I’m not going to cry! Unless I can’t get my shoes. Then watch me.”
“Okay, calm down.”
“I’m perfectly calm. Just . . . let’s do this.”
She smirked. “You can get awfully pushy when you’re desperate.”
I smiled. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
“Now I’m scared. Okay, let’s go check this place out.” She strolled across the courtyard, with me following close behind.
The cop standing in front of the door to Joey’s shop handed her a key. I figured he must have gotten the key from Bonnie.
“Thanks, Peterson.”
She unlocked the door and pushed it open, then stood before the threshold staring into the shop. There were no lights on inside, and I couldn’t see past her.
She turned to look at me. “When were you last here?”
“Yesterday.”
“So you might recognize if something’s out of place?”
“Maybe. Joey was pretty organized for a shoe repair guy.” I’d been inside some scary shoe repair places, with all their funky smells and shoe polish stains in odd spots, so when I moved here I was glad to find Joey’s shop, which was always relatively neat and clean compared with those others.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” she said. “I’m going to move out of the way, and I want you to stand right here where I’m standing and tell me if anything looks wrong to you.”
The careful tone of her voice was a warning that something might not be quite right, so I kept that in mind as she moved aside to give me room to survey Joey’s store.
“He kept it really clean,” I muttered, shoving my hands into the pockets of my vest. “I’m not sure what you want me to see.” But I stepped up to the doorway and glanced around the dark shop, just as she’d asked.
Everyone knew that shoe repair could be a messy, downright dirty business, but Joey had always been meticulous with his products, organizing them on the Peg-Board on the wall to the left of the cash register so his customers could take their time browsing through them. Shoelaces, leather conditioner and all shades of shoe polish, various types of arch supports and heel cushions, hardware-replacement pieces for belts and suitcases.
These were scattered all over the floor.
Joey had always lined his shoes up neatly on the front counter for customers to pick up. Now they were tossed everywhere. It couldn’t have been an accident, any more than Rabbit’s fallen shelving unit had been an accident.
“Well?” Inspector Lee asked. “What is it, Brooklyn? Anything look wrong to you?”
I felt sick to my stomach. “Of course it looks wrong. Somebody’s been in here and they’ve torn the place apart.”