Chapter Eight
I entered my apartment and inhaled the delicious smell of something both sweet and bacon-y wafting through the air. And there was my man, standing in my small kitchen, at the stove, with one of my aprons tied around his waist. This one at least didn’t have ruffles.
“So you’re going to get involved in another murder?” He turned from the stove and gave me a raised eyebrow when I closed the door. Leave it to Max to point out the obvious.
“It’s not like I go looking for these things,” I said, sidling up to him and sneaking a piece of bacon from the paper towel to his right. Crunching away, I silently relished the fact that foodwise, having Max here for a month was going to be awesome. He liked to cook and was very good at it. I liked to eat and was also very good at it. A match made in heaven. It wouldn’t necessarily be so good for my hips, but who cared? “Wait, what are you doing home? I thought you were going into the office.”
“They told me to wait for the moment and they’d call me in this afternoon.”
Bonus for me. Now I knew what to do with my day.
The bacon was delicious, and I had to say that for once, I was happy that my apartment was small, because the smells of a good breakfast permeated every corner. Peanut was happy, too, and she paced throughout the whole place with her nose in the air and her tail wagging.
Yet I kept thinking that I just didn’t know where to start this time. I didn’t know Audra that well. We had been on our way to a better friendship, but it had been a budding friendship, not a solid one. I didn’t know her boyfriend well, though Letty could help with that. I wasn’t sure about where Audra came from, since she hadn’t lived here her whole life. I felt unequipped this time, as I hadn’t before.
On the other hand, I had a lot going on with Max, and I should be able to trust that the cops could do their job. At least that was what I was telling myself while I stood and ate a piece of cinnamon-sugar toast. It was not the cheesy goodness of the bread Max had made the other day to go with his pasta, but it was still good.
Max shepherded me toward the small table and got out plates for the quiche that he had pulled out of the oven and that smelled amazing. I wasn’t ready to sit down, though, as I munched on my toast.
“Who are you going to irritate this time? And what are you doing home? Aren’t you usually out chasing down clues by now?”
I scoffed, then told him about the whole morning, following up on new developments with Caleb and Preston and Matt. “I just feel so bad for Letty. She seems really shaken up by this.” I tried to sneak another piece of toast while Max dished out the quiche and then placed my slice on the table.
“No more bread, or you’re not going to eat the main dish.” He pulled out my chair for me and held it for me while I sat before he got his own plate of quiche and put it on the table.
I waited for him to join me at the table with a big bowl of fruit before I continued my thoughts. “I am never going to be able to eat all this.”
“Leftovers are even better. Now, what’s going on?”
I admired my quiche as I filled a little bowl with fruit. “Caleb is her nephew, and she says there’s no way he could have done this. My understanding is that life had not been overly nice to him when he was a teen, and Letty used to work with him at the youth center. Now that he is in his twenties, Letty has been trying to get him to get his life in order, and she was really helping him get back on track before he was dragged down to the station.”
“That’s horrible.” He crunched into his bacon, and I was taken in again by his face and the set of his chin, his eyes. I didn’t know what I had ever done to deserve someone like this, but I was happy I’d done it.
“She wasn’t exactly happy about him dating a woman that was significantly older than him, but she’d started to like Audra, at least a little. And now Audra is dead, and Caleb has apparently been through the ringer with the police.”
“Also horrible.”
I continued with my thoughts, just to get them all out of my head. “But they have to let Caleb out of custody now, because they have nothing to charge him with. Burton was completely convinced that he did it, and the kid took off running during questioning at the mansion. I guess I could have seen him being guilty . . . I guess, but then, that’s no longer a factor. Burton is not happy that they’re back to square one.” I cut into the quiche, and it looked divine, with ham and eggs and cheese. I tried not to think any more about all I didn’t know regarding this murder, or I would get myself all up in a tizzy. Not knowing where to start was eating at me.
“Burton doesn’t seem to be happy very often in general. What’s different about this time?”
“I guess nothing much. It’s just that this is a really busy time for the department, with a lot of things going on, and they’re trying to cut the force.”
“Are you going to do a search to find her on the internet? There should be something, since no one is without some kind of online trail anymore.”
“You know it.” I just didn’t know where to start. Looking at my plate, I thought of a few different ways, then glanced back up at Max. “So when are they going to pull you in for work?” I asked. “I thought you said this morning you were leaving shortly after I did. You’re supposed to be working across the river.”
“I went there and got turned back. They’re not ready to start just yet.”
“Can you tell me what’s going on? Without having to kill me after?”
He laughed, as I intended him to. “Nothing too intriguing. And I don’t have all the details yet, so there’s really nothing to share. You know I can’t say anything, anyway.”
“I know, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop asking.”
“Fair enough, and no matter what it is, if it gets me a month with you, then I’m not going to complain.”
We shared a smile and then a kiss, and then I got down to eating the rest of my breakfast. I wouldn’t say this quiche would ever replace my snickerdoodle cookies, because, come on, that was the difference between sweet and savory, but I could definitely get used to coming home to this. And him.
We talked a little more, and then my phone started dinging rapidly, like a trolley on a collision course. Who was texting me so much, and why?
I grabbed my phone, not sure if I was going to get a barrage of questions from my mother about Max’s stay, if Gina and my brother Jeremy were fighting, or if Letty needed to talk through her crying.
But when I picked it up, I had seven messages, all from Bethany.
“Whoa!” I held the phone up and pressed the MESSAGE button. Max stared at me from across the small table.
“What’s going on?”
“I have no idea, but I’m getting a flood of texts from Bethany. Hold on.” On my telephone screen the blank squares where there should have been pictures stared back at me, and then they started to fill in slowly, like someone was unrolling a poster over and over again.
All the pictures I’d been waiting for, almost panoramic shots of each room, with multiple pictures of some of the rooms to show me what we might need to do, and then a list of things she recommended we have on hand. The time stamps on the pictures were coming across wonky, but the images were rolling down the screen like a movie. Some of the pictures were of the room I’d been standing in when I’d seen my vacuum cleaner. There was a picture of the Dumpster in which I had found Audra less than twenty-four hours ago. From the way Bethany had shot the picture, I could see that the thing was empty. We’d put the sawdust and the drywall in there during the first part of the morning, but the carpet hadn’t gone in there until after everyone supposedly went home.
So who had fiddled with the carpet, and when? Obviously, not before Bethany took the pictures, since that carpet was in the picture of the upstairs bedroom. A room that had looked different when I was in there. I mentally went through each room and compared the images in my mind’s eye to the photos to discern if anything else was different.
There was a half wall in one of the rooms in the photos, but I didn’t remember seeing a half wall in any room I’d gone into, and I’d been in all of them. What was it doing there, and how was I going to get back into the mansion to check it out?
I was about to burn up with curiosity when I looked up from my phone. Max was staring at me, with his glass of juice halfway to his lips. “Something new?”
“Uh, yeah, but I’m not sure what to do with it.”
“Show me, and we’ll figure it out.”
I turned my phone toward him and waited.
“Pictures of the house, I presume.”
“Yes, Sherlock, pictures of the house. The thing is that when I was there this morning, that particular wall did not exist, and that carpet in the third picture is the one that I found Audra wrapped in.”
“So I take it you’re about to ‘undecide’ that you aren’t getting involved in this case beyond some research, and you will, in fact, interfere?”
I asked the hard question. “Are you going to be mad if I get involved? This is a working vacation for you, and I don’t want to miss out on time we could be spending together, but I need to find out what happened to my friend.” If it had been one of my girls in my crew, I would have done the same thing. They all belonged to me now, no matter if I had originally wanted them or not.
He looked me over from my head to my hand that was holding a piece of cinnamon-sugar toast tight enough to make it crumble. After taking the bread from my hand, he laid it on my plate and brought my hand up to his mouth. “Tell me what we need to do.”
After a sigh of relief, I got down to business. “I really want to get back into the house, but I’m not going to be able to do that until they give me the all clear, since it’s a crime scene.” I chewed my lip until it hurt. “What if we do a background check on Caleb and another on Audra, just out of curiosity, until Mrs. Petrovski calls to ask me to clean?”
“It’s a good plan. Can we finish eating first?”
“Absolutely.” I dug back into my food, with my brain whirling at about forty times its normal fast pace. Audra’s killer wasn’t the boyfriend, at least as far as we knew at the moment. Why would he kill her, roll her in a carpet, then come back hours later and act surprised to find her there? I understood that many criminals weren’t very smart, but that was beyond stupid.
But how did anyone get her rolled up in a carpet and then downstairs, then into the Dumpster, anyway? Yes, when I was there with Preston, I had thought she could have been tossed out the window, but later I had remembered that the carpet had been very neatly arranged at the bottom of the Dumpster. And you’d have to be seriously strong to do that, especially by yourself. When I’d talked to Caleb yesterday, I had noticed that he was tall and lanky, not muscular at all, really. And he’d looked so sad that she was gone, so lost because he wouldn’t see her again. Maybe that was why he had run, which Burton had mistaken for guilt.
But who else would they look at? I knew from Matt that there had been a big drug bust in town the other night, or at least big for our small town. A lot of our police resources were wrapped up in that. Would Burton have time to give Audra’s murder case everything it deserved? Would he try to find someone and charge him or her without looking too deeply, because he wanted the case wrapped up so he could get back to his other work? I shook my head at myself. No matter what Burton had ever done to keep me from getting involved, he was a good cop and would never take the easy way out just to close a case. He’d always been fair and thorough, even after I’d handed him information. Why was I doubting him now?
Burton would get justice for Audra even with so many other things going on. I could make his job easier by finding out information he might not get. I could then very carefully pass it on to make sure the right person was caught. I had to have faith in him and in myself.
He was a good cop. I was a good nosey parker.
My phone rang, and Max and I both stared at it for a moment before I picked it up. It was Burton’s ringtone. Here was the moment.
“Tallie, you can go back in whenever you’re ready. We’ve got our guy, and I already told Mrs. Petrovski that you’re clear to clean. Can you be there in an hour? I’ll meet you to do one last walk-through, and then the house will be released.”
I had a bad feeling about this all the way around, but I agreed to meet him. I didn’t even ask him whom he had taken into custody in the hour or so since I’d last heard from him. Maybe if I got there a little early, I could poke around without Burton and look for that vanished half wall. Maybe then I’d feel that I had a place to start. After I hung up with Burton, I finished my food in a hurry.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Max asked.
I winced, not wanting to tell him no, but knowing that he could be of better use here. He must have caught the wince, because he patted my hand.
“How about I look up the backgrounds of the deceased and her boyfriend while you go into battle?” he said.
My sigh of relief was small, because I didn’t want to seem ungrateful or too grateful. There had to be an in-between there.
Before I could try too hard to find it, I decided to head out to the mansion. Now would be the time to see if I could find that extra half wall. I had a feeling something was going on there, and it had to have something to do with Audra’s death. I could be totally wrong, but I also could be totally right.
* * *
Since I had an hour, I decided to stop in to talk with Gina and get Burton a coffee. Perhaps that would make him happier to see me. I doubted it, but it was worth a try. I’d have to make it quick if I wanted to look around the mansion, yet the gesture of coffee for Burton might go a long way toward him not being angry with me in the long run.
When I entered the Bean There Done That, it was hopping. Coffee scented the air, along with the distinct aroma of fresh-baked cinnamon rolls. I wanted all of them, and I heard my stomach rumble even over the dandy electronic music Gina had playing in the background. I had just had an amazing breakfast, but apparently, my stomach was like Pavlov’s dog when it came to food.
After sidling up to the counter, I waited for Gina to finish with a customer. She smiled, she laughed, and she counted out change faster than anyone I had ever seen, and all with an air of happiness and serenity, which I didn’t think I could ever pull off. The tea shop was out, because I would never rock it like Gina did.
When she turned to me finally, the smile faded a little. “Oh, Tallie, you’re back. Did you decide that you need me to don my deerstalker?”
I crossed my arms on the counter and groaned. “Why does everyone automatically think I’m going to get involved in an investigation just because someone died under suspicious circumstances?”
She simply raised her perfectly waxed eyebrow at me, threw her towel over her shoulder, and crossed her arms. “Really?”
“Tallie!” Mama Shirley came bustling around the corner and into view. I braced myself to deal with Gina’s exuberant mother, because this could go either way. That tone could mean she was happy to see me and wanted me to do something for her; or it could mean she thought I had done something wrong, and she’d been waiting for the opportunity to take me to task.
“What are you doing here, young woman?” She, too, raised an eyebrow, threw a towel over her shoulder, and crossed her arms over her chest. Despite the dyed blond hair on Mama Shirley and the black hair on Gina, they looked almost like twins. I would never tell Gina that, because she’d cut me off from my lifeblood—coffee. Or, more specifically, whoopie pie lattes.
“I am, um, getting my mid-morning coffee and then ordering some to take to Chief Burton, who is opening up the mansion to be cleaned after the death there.”
“I heard about that. Good, good. I was going to tell you to get your rear end out there. I know you don’t want to own a company, but now that you do, you need to take care of it like it’s your baby. Not that you and Gina are providing me with any grandchildren to bounce on these old knees, but at least it’s a step in the right direction. Now, if we could just get your Max to move up here and your brother to finally do the right thing by my daughter.”
Oh so many things in her little speech that I did not want to touch. Correction. Wouldn’t touch. At all. As in ever. Maybe I’d just stop by the gas station for a coffee on my way out to the mansion. I needed to get out of here now.
“Now, what are you having? I’ll fix it myself, since I know what Burton will want, and you’re pretty predictable.”
Gina hid a smile behind a cough and waved to me. I’d see her tonight possibly, if our schedules meshed, and I’d take her to task then. Mama Shirley wasn’t the only one who could bring down the hammer.
“Actually, more than coffee, I was wondering if you could help me out. What do you know about the Petrovskis? I’m wondering why Mrs. Petrovski is totally set on selling the mansion right this minute, so much, in fact, that she demanded Burton close up the investigation and release the mansion so that it can to be cleaned now.”
Mama Shirley leaned in, as if she was about to tell a secret. I mimicked her, hoping that she was about to lay something exquisite on me.
“I have no idea. I thought that was your area of expertise. I don’t really know about the rich people around here.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said back quickly. “You know more than anyone at all around here, and I need info if I’m going to convince Burton that he isn’t insane for thinking I can help.”
She pursed her lips. “I’m not one to gossip.”
Thank God I hadn’t been drinking anything when she said that, as I would have snorted it out my nose. I barely kept myself from rolling my eyes. Gina did that for me behind her mother’s back.
“I heard there might be some trouble in the financial arena for them and the Petrovskis need to sell things off, or they’re heading for financial ruin. She’s got a lot of property that she appears to be preparing for sale.”
It could be very bad for my checking account and my crew if Mrs. Petrovski’s check bounced. Maybe I would follow Audra’s tip to cash any checks immediately.
“But what would Mrs. Petrovski’s financial trouble have to do with Audra’s murder? Surely having someone die at her house will make it more difficult to sell the mansion. You have to disclose that kind of information to a buyer, and everyone in town probably knows about it by now.”
Mama shrugged. “You asked for information. I gave it to you. That’s all I’ve got right now. I’m going to bingo tonight, while you young people are frolicking around. I can keep my ear open for more than the winning numbers if you want me to.”
She eyed me, and I eyed her back. Because often these things came with a price tag. I went for it, anyway. “Okay. Let me know if you hear anything at bingo.”
“Sure thing, sweetheart. Now let me go do my job, so you can do yours.”
Was she talking about cleaning or finding another murderer?
I knew which one Burton would prefer it to be, and I was sad that I was going to have to disappoint him. Well, at least a little. But he needed me, and he’d asked me to contribute, so I was going to take my own advice to Matt and take Burton at face value. I just hoped I wasn’t going to regret that.