CHAPTER TWENTY
Case put his finger to his lips. “Stay here.”
He walked quietly out of the office, then I heard him chuckle as he turned the lock.
“Are we bolting the door during the day now?” I heard Lila ask angrily.
Abby and I walked out to find her with her hands on her hips. “How are clients supposed to get in?”
“Sorry,” I said. “I had a run-in with a stranger and thought I was being followed.”
“We’re taking precautions,” Case said.
“I suppose that’s okay, then.” Lila put her shoulder bag on the reception desk and sat down behind it. She was wearing a slim-fitting white skirt with a bright blue blouse and matching heels. Her long blond hair lay loose around her shoulders. “How’s the investigation going?”
“Slowly,” I replied. “What are you up to?”
“I’m on my way to the mayor’s campaign headquarters,” she said. “I just thought I’d stop in and see how things are going.”
Case, Abby, and I stood in the reception area waiting for her to continue. Over the past several months, I’d come to know Lila Talbot very well. I didn’t expect her to come right out and say she was wrong about Charles, but at the very least, I expected her to come clean about it.
“So, no problems with the mayor?” I asked.
She tapped her French-tipped nails on her purse strap. “No. No problems at all. We’re going to work on his speech for Sunday night.”
“And he hasn’t tried any funny stuff?” I asked.
“No. He’s been a perfect gentleman. I told you I’d have no problems with him.”
“Really? Because I was at the mayor’s office last night,” I admitted. “I saw what happened.”
Her fingertips halted, and she looked up at me with wide eyes. “You were there?”
“Yes, Abby and I were both there.”
She looked away quickly and resumed her nervous tapping. “Then you know that I handled it. He won’t try it again.”
“Why would you keep information from us?” I asked. “This is the very reason you went to work for him.”
She lowered her head slowly. “It’s embarrassing.”
Feeling sorry for her, I put my hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault.”
“I thought he really needed me,” she said. “I thought I was finally needed somewhere.”
“You are,” Case replied. “You’re needed here. You might’ve been wrong about Charles, but your mission was successful. Now we know for certain that he’s capable of cheating on his wife.”
“More than capable,” Lila told us. “I have no doubt the rumors about him are true.”
“You don’t have to stay on as campaign manager,” I told her. “Your job is done.”
“I can’t just leave. I made a commitment.”
“Would you be willing to continue your undercover work?” Abby asked.
Lila looked up at her, her eyes brightening. “Sure.”
“While we were investigating,” Abby explained, “we found several letters Carly had received about building a proposed casino. Do you think you might be able to work some talk about the casino into your next conversation with the mayor?”
Lila nodded confidently. “No problem.”
“What is Charles doing tonight?” Case asked.
She thought a moment. “He’ll be at the office until three. We have to work on his speech for tomorrow. Then we have dinner with the county commissioner, so that should go till about seven thirty. Then he’s doing another meet-and-greet at the fairgrounds. That usually lasts till around nine.”
“Try to get that info tonight,” Case told her. “We’re running out of time.”
Lila rubbed her hands together with a smile. “I’ll do my best.”
“And, Abby,” Case continued, “you were about to tell us some good news.”
“Yes, Marco is going to start researching CB Development Company later today. He’s working at Down the Hatch all day, but he’ll have a chance to do his internet sleuthing this evening.”
Lila looked confused. “Who is Marco?”
“My husband,” Abby answered. “He’s a private investigator.”
“And what is Down the Hatch?” Lila asked.
“It’s a bar he owns.”
Lila shook her head as though she understood, but the look of confusion lingered.
“Okay, I’m running late,” Case said. He reached inside his pocket for his key ring. “I’ll try to finish up in Saugatuck quickly and be back before dark. Don’t forget to lock the door when I leave.”
Case gave me a hug and walked out the door, but before closing it, he turned around. “And by the way, Lila,” he said, “good work.”
I locked the door when he left and turned to find Lila dabbing her eyes. “Case just give me a compliment.”
* * *
Back at Spencer’s, Delphi told me the electrical repairman would have to come back on Monday to finish repairing the wiring. In the meantime, Delphi explained, we needed to keep the generator gassed up. I knew my dad wasn’t going to be happy about that. Running Spencer’s on the generator meant that just the big barn, cash register, and office, with its computer, stayed on. No lights in the conference room, kitchenette, storage room, or the hanging lanterns around the patio. Luckily, there were hardly any customers all day.
At six o’clock, my dad took Nicholas home for dinner, and shortly afterward Abby called to say Marco had uncovered some startling information about the CB Development Company. Since I had to stay at the garden center that evening, I suggested we meet there. Abby said she hadn’t eaten, so we decided to order food from the Blue Moon Café, and she’d pick it up.
At seven o’clock, she arrived carrying a large white paper sack filled with two containers of food. I apologized for having to eat in the office, explaining about the generator.
I cleared off my desk to make room for Abby to sit across from me. She pulled up one of the chairs that faced the desk and removed the food. We ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, then Abby began to fill me in on Marco’s information.
“We were right,” Abby said. “Carly was the brains behind CB Development. She’s listed as the company CEO and treasurer. And you’ll never guess who her business partner is.”
“Donald,” I guessed.
“Nope. Charles Sloan.”
“The mayor!” I said in surprise. “Her business partner?”
Abby nodded. “A silent partner.”
“I can’t believe it.”
“But the file he has makes sense now, doesn’t it?” Abby asked. “Carly handled the correspondence, and Charles kept everything in his office, which is why he made no attempt to forward Carly’s mail to her estate.”
“But that means he was aware of the plan to build the casino, going against everything his campaign stands for.”
“Ah, but here’s how he was going to get around it,” Abby explained. “The land they were intending to use is actually outside the city limits, so technically, Charles could still say he was going to keep Sequoia small.”
I shook my head. “He can’t campaign against big business and then build a casino. It doesn’t matter where he builds it.”
Abby held up her index finger. “Here’s where it gets interesting. Charles pulled his investment two weeks before Carly was killed. Without the money, Carly couldn’t move forward with the deal.” Abby pulled up the photo app on her phone. “Look at this. The latest correspondence Carly received was from Unified Construction. They were ready to start the project. All they needed was the initial payment.”
“That fits the timeline,” I told her. “Rosemary heard them arguing about two weeks before the fashion show. Carly must’ve found out that Charles pulled his investment and threatened to expose the affair if he didn’t follow through.”
“That would give him a strong motive to kill her,” Abby said. “If Carly exposed him as a fraud, he’d be ruined. It’s possible Charles hired the bodyguard to dispose of his problem. Ben could’ve been on the lookout for an easy opportunity to get rid of Carly, and what better way to do it than while the mayor has a whole audience as an alibi?”
“So, what do we do?”
Abby thought for a moment. “All I can think of is to confront Charles directly.”
“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”
“Not if we catch him at the fair, where there are people around. I’ll set my phone to record and see if we can get him to confess.”
“That won’t be easy.”
Abby shrugged. “It’s the best we can do. I can’t see Detective Walters going after the mayor unless we have some kind of confession.”
“You’re right about that.”
“Great,” Abby said. “We can try to talk to Charles tonight. I think his meet-and-greet is over at nine.”
I looked at the clock. It was almost time to close the store. “Okay, give me twenty minutes and I’m ready to go.”
“I’ll go freshen up,” Abby said. “Are the lights working in the bathroom?”
“No, sorry. You’ll have to use the flashlight on your phone.”
* * *
At eight o’clock, Drew closed the register and headed home. I locked the front doors and returned to the office to complete my final report on the computer. I was just about finished when my phone rang. Case’s name popped up on the screen.
“Hey, Goddess. What’s going on?”
“Listen to this,” I told him. “Marco dug up some information on CB Development company. Guess who Carly’s silent business partner was.”
Without pause, Case answered, “Charles Sloan.”
The pause came from my end. I did not expect him to guess correctly.
“Am I right?” he asked.
“How did you know?”
“Easy,” Case explained. “Because you said silent business partner. Charles wouldn’t have wanted anyone to know that he was building a casino, which makes me wonder if the silent business partner didn’t silence his business partner.”
“Good detective work, hotshot,” I teased.
“Funny. But that still leaves me with one big question. Why would Charles get involved in this scheme to begin with?”
“I don’t know, but maybe Abby and I will ask him that tonight.”
“Ask who what?” Abby said as she entered the room.
“I’m on the phone with Case. He wants to know why Charles got involved with Carly in the first place.”
“That’s a very good question,” Abby responded cheerfully. “Maybe we’ll lead with that one.”
“Now, hold on a minute,” Case said. “I don’t want you getting yourself into a dangerous position while I’m out of town.”
“We won’t be in any danger,” I told him. “We’re going to confront him at the fairgrounds.”
“I don’t like it,” he said. “Not with Ben around. I think you should wait until I get there.”
“Where are you now?”
“I’m about twenty-five minutes outside of town. Just do me a favor and wait until I get to the garden center.”
“You’d better hurry,” I said.
“You’d better wait,” he responded.
No sooner had I ended the call than I heard a sharp knock on the front door. Abby and I locked eyes immediately.
“Are you expecting someone?” Abby asked.
I racked my brain. No one in my family was expected to return that evening. I checked my phone but hadn’t received any calls. “Officer Maguire mentioned the police would be on patrol in the neighborhood,” I told her. “Maybe it’s them.”
“And if it’s not?”
I paused to consider her question, but my curiosity won out. “I’m going to take a look outside. You can stay in the office.”
“No way.” Abby stood up. “I’m coming with you.”
“Then stay behind me and keep your phone at the ready. If anything happens, lock yourself in the office and call the police.”
The ceiling lights from the office crept through the slats in the blinds, giving me just enough light to see my way down the hallway. Abby followed closely behind. As luck would have it, the power being off worked in our favor, keeping us safely encased in shadows as we passed the register.
Just then I heard another knock on the front door. “Athena,” I heard. “Are you in there? It’s Eleni Sloan.”
“What in the world is she doing here?” Abby whispered.
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
I approached the door slowly, peering out through the window as I drew nearer. At another loud bang, I shot back into Abby, who lost her balance and fell backward into the base of the statue of Athena, causing her mother’s mushroom garden stakes to fall over. She tried to grab them, but they scattered loudly across the floor.
“Athena,” Eleni called again. “I know you’re in there. Open up. I’ve got something exciting to tell you.”
I glanced at Abby, who apologized and said, “If you want to let her in, I still have my phone at the ready.”
I stood with my hand near the door lock, contemplating my decision.
“It’s about Charles,” Eleni added.
I unlocked the front door and let her in.
Eleni entered the garden center carrying a large tote bag and wearing a wide smile. In a buoyant voice, she said, “Hello, girls. Have I got news for you!” Without even waiting for our answer, she pulled a bottle of champagne out of her tote. “I hope you have glasses.”
Her black hair was pulled back in a loose bun, and the deep hues of her makeup shadowed her eyes. The bottle she held glinted in the bright glow of the overheard emergency lighting as she swung it happily back and forth. “Well,” she said, “are you ready for my news?”
I led the ladies back through the dimly lit garden center and into my office, where I offered Eleni a seat in front of my desk. Abby declined to sit, preferring to stand in the doorway, her phone still at the ready.
“How did you know I was here?” I asked Eleni.
“I spoke with your mother.”
Her eyes were red and swollen, as if she’d been crying, but her smile was in complete contrast. I remembered what Abby had said about her inner radar, and mine was buzzing like an alarm clock.
“Why didn’t you call?” I asked her.
“I don’t have your number.”
“But my mother has my number.”
“Athena,” Eleni said in exasperation, “I wanted to surprise you. Both of you. Do you want to hear my news or not?”
“Why us?” Abby asked.
Eleni turned in her seat to look at her. “You’ve opened my eyes. You kept asking why I stayed with Charles, and honestly, I didn’t have an answer. Come, have a seat, Abby. This is a time to celebrate. Now, where are those glasses?”
My suspicions were aroused, but so was my curiosity. I walked over to the cabinet the coffeemaker sat on and looked inside. “All I have are paper cups.”
“That’ll do,” she said as she peeled back the foil around the cork.
I glanced around at Abby as I set the cups on the desk. She gave me a look that told me she was suspicious, as well.
Eleni popped the cork on the champagne.
“Maybe we should go to the diner,” I offered. “It’s just a few blocks away. We can get some nice glasses and toast properly.”
“Not necessary,” Eleni said. She began to fill the paper cups. “You know, I didn’t want to believe it. In fact, I forced myself to think Charles would never cheat on me again. Clearly, I was wrong. And I must thank you for that, too. If we hadn’t gone to his office, I’d have never known about Lila.”
As Eleni finished pouring the champagne, she spied the dusty copy of The Crucible lying on the desktop. “I see you kept the book I gave you.” She picked it up and flipped through it. “Are you reading it?”
“Not yet,” I replied. “I haven’t had a chance.”
Eleni put the book down and covered a sneeze.
And then I thought of the bookstore, of the dust floating through the air, of my own allergies kicking up, causing my eyes to itch and water. I glanced at Eleni and again noticed her red, swollen eyes, just like Fran had reported seeing the night of the murder.
And suddenly everything became clear.
Lifting her paper cup, Eleni said, “Girls, please, have some champagne while I make a toast.”