Chapter 11

After the disturbing discovery at the sandman contest, Rory was relieved to return home to her Saturday chores and a bit of normalcy. While she cleaned and straightened, her mind turned to her neighbor and what she could do for her. When Liz came over later that afternoon, she found Rory finishing up in the kitchen.

Rory carefully removed the glass dish from the oven and slid it into the insulated carrier. “There. I’m ready. I hope she likes it.”

“Who wouldn’t like your lasagna?” Liz looked longingly at the dish.

“Don’t worry. I made two. You can have some later.”

A grin spread across Liz’s face. “I guess I should thank Dashing D for that. You’ve been cooking a lot more since you two started dating.”

“I guess I have. I never thought about it before.”

“Are you going to bring lasagna to his parents’ place?”

“I’m supposed to bring a dessert. They asked me for an apple pie. Said I could buy one, that I didn’t have to make it.”

Liz’s eyes narrowed. “It’s a test. They want to see if you can cook.”

“I’d feel better making it myself, but I’ve never made a pie crust before. That’s my mom’s thing, not mine.”

“You can always buy one of those pre-made crusts at the store.”

“That seems like cheating. Mom said she’d show me how to make one. I’m going over there tonight.”

“Ooh. That’ll be good. Your mom makes the best pies.”

Rory picked up the carrier. “Shall we?”

As they headed across the street to the Kowalski-Palmer residence, Rory crinkled her face in worry. “I hope Tammy doesn’t think we’re intruding.”

“If she does, she’ll tell us. But I bet she wouldn’t mind some visitors.”

They walked up the path to the front door. Rory stared sadly at the holiday decorations. Sometime in the last few days, a life-sized Santa standing next to a surfboard had been added to the mix. “Mindy really loved decorating.”

Tammy opened the door, exhaustion and sorrow radiating from her. When she saw the two of them, the tiredness in her eyes lessened and her face brightened. “Rory, Liz, I’m glad you stopped by. Come in, come in. I was going crazy here by myself. I could use the company right now.” She stepped aside so they could enter.

“We don’t want to intrude. We just wanted to check on you and bring you this.” Rory held out the carrier. “It’s lasagna.”

Tammy took the container and peeked inside. “How thoughtful of you. Smells wonderful. If it’s as good as the cookies you made us when we moved in, it won’t last long. Please, go on into the living room.” She indicated a doorway with a sweep of her hand. “I’ll just put this in the kitchen.”

The two of them stepped into a formal living room, chock full of Christmas cheer. Rory’s gaze swept the area, briefly touching on the decorations, from the Christmas village and train set in one corner, past the stuffed Santas clustered next to the fireplace, finally landing on the Christmas tree in front of a window facing the street. Heavily laden with ornaments of all kinds, both store bought and homemade, the tree took up most of the space on the wall.

“Wow!” Liz said as they settled down on the couch. “They must love Christmas big-time.”

Tammy entered the room and sat down on a chair facing them. “Mindy did love decorating for holidays. We have a whole storage unit filled with decorations. Halloween. Christmas. Fourth of July. You name the holiday, we probably have decorations for it. She was so looking forward to this Christmas. It’s the first time we’ve been in the same city as our daughter and her family since their youngest was born.” She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

“Where is your daughter?” Rory asked. “I thought she’d be with you.”

“I told her to go home when the police came by. I can take care of myself. Her husband and kids need her more right now than I do.”

“Did the police have any news?” Liz asked.

“No, just questions about Mindy. Did she have any enemies? When did I last see her? Those kinds of things.” Tammy stared at the tree. “When she left to go Christmas shopping Friday afternoon, I didn’t think it was the last time I’d ever see her.”

“Did she say where she was going?” Rory asked.

“She wouldn’t tell me. Said it was a secret. Some surprise she was planning for us. But I can’t help thinking there was more to it than just shopping.”

“What do you mean?” Liz said.

“I’m not sure, but I think she was also going to see someone about that Zeppelin kid’s death. I overheard her on the phone, talking about remembering something important from the last night that she saw him.”

“Something other than the argument between Ricky and my dad?” Rory said.

Tammy nodded. “She never said anything about it to me, though. Still, I wonder if she was planning on talking to someone about it and if that could have led to her death.”

“And you have no idea who she was speaking to?” Liz asked.

“No clue. I told the police about what I overheard. Maybe they can find out more.”

“If there’s anything to find out, they will.” Rory looked around the room, searching for a phone. “Was she talking on a landline or her cell?”

“No landline. When we moved here, we opted not to get one. We just use our cell phones, though sometimes I wonder if we should have done that. Cell service isn’t always the best in this area.”

Rory nodded in understanding. “It can be annoying at times. Did you check her cell phone to see who she called last?”

“I couldn’t find it. I assume she had it with her.”

Rory and Liz exchanged puzzled glances. “The police didn’t find it with...her this morning?”

Tammy shook her head. “They hadn’t found it when that detective stopped by, anyway.”

“Did they look in her car?”

“The phone wasn’t there. The police asked me if I knew where it was. I’ve looked everywhere, but it’s not in the house. She must have taken it with her and lost it somewhere.” She raised her hand. “And before you ask, she didn’t have a tracking app on it. It was fairly new, so she hadn’t had time to install everything she wanted. Christmas was more important to her. All of the preparations kept her very busy.”

“Maybe the police can track down the phone through the cell company,” Rory said.

“Maybe.” A thoughtful expression on her face, Tammy studied Rory. “You and Detective Green are going out, aren’t you? I saw you two together at the Christmas concert.”

“That’s right,” Rory said.

“Has he told you anything new? Anything that he might not have told me. Are the police sure that the two deaths are linked?”

“He hasn’t said a thing to me. Sorry,” Rory said. “But it stands to reason they’re related, especially if what you said about Mindy remembering something new is true.”

A mix of grief and sadness written all over her face, Tammy stared at the fireplace. “I never expected to be alone, especially in an unfamiliar city. We were going to live out our days here in the sun. I don’t understand.”

Rory’s heart went out to the woman. “If there’s anything we can do to help, don’t hesitate to ask. I’m just across the street.”

“And I’m only a phone call away.” Liz put her business card on the coffee table.

“Thank you both so much. I feel better knowing I have people other than my daughter and her family to lean on. They have enough to deal with right now.”

Rory and Liz stood up and prepared to leave.

“I think we’ve kept you long enough. I’m sure you have arrangements to make,” Rory said.

“Where are my manners? Would you like some tea? I have pumpkin cookies.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. I really would like some company. This has all been so overwhelming.”

When they sat back down, a smile appeared on Tammy’s face. “I’ll be right back.” She returned a short time later with a pot of tea and a plate of cookies. After the tea was poured, they sat back in their seats and tried to come up with more pleasant things to talk about.

Rory selected a second cookie from the plate. “These are really good. Did you make them?”

“Mindy made them yesterday before she left.” Tammy frowned. “They were still on the counter when I got up this morning.”

“Was that unusual?” Liz took a bite of a cookie.

“Very. She always put things like this away in a plastic container before turning in for the night. We’ve had too many problems with ants over the years. I suppose she might have decided to leave it for the morning so she wouldn’t wake me up.”

Rory’s pulse quickened. “Is it possible that she never made it home last night?”

“I don’t know. It never occurred to me. I’m a pretty heavy sleeper. Takes a lot to wake me.” Tammy wrinkled her forehead in thought. “I assumed she left before I got up. Didn’t even think about the cookies being out until just now.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. Sometimes if she comes back late, she sleeps in the guest room so she doesn’t disturb me.”

Rory tucked the information away in her mind, planning on telling Martin about it later.

Tammy ran a hand through her hair. “I wish I knew what happened on Friday. Where she went that day.” She looked at the two of them. “Do you think you can find out for me? I’m not feeling up to it myself right now.”

“I’m sure Mar—Detective Green is working on that. He’ll keep you informed of what they discover.”

“Please. You might be able to find out something the police can’t.”

Rory and Liz looked at each other, silently coming to an agreement.

“We’ll see what we can do,” Rory finally said.

When Rory and Liz left a short time later, they waited until they were in the privacy of Rory’s house to discuss what they’d learned.

“Do you think it’s odd that Tammy doesn’t even know if Mindy came home last night?” Liz asked once they’d settled down in the living room.

“She has a reasonable explanation for that.”

“You’re too trusting. You never believe anything bad about someone you like.”

“That’s not entirely true. I just like to give people the benefit of the doubt, at least until something comes to light that proves otherwise.”

Sekhmet walked into the room and meowed.

“See, even Sekhmet has her doubts.” Liz tickled the cat under the chin.

“She’s just looking for food.” Rory addressed her cat. “You’ll have to wait until dinnertime. You have your dry food to tide you over.”

The cat stared at Rory for a moment then, seeming to give up on food, went racing across the floor, chasing an invisible prey.

Liz watched the cat run up and down the hallway. “Are you getting a tree this year?”

“I’m not sure. I’m afraid Sekhmet will decide to climb it and end up tearing it down. I might just enjoy the one my parents have.”

Liz nodded. “Probably wise. Speaking of your parents, have you talked to them since this morning?”

Rory shook her head. “I’ll see them tonight. I’m a little worried about this whole situation. Do you think people will believe that my dad had something to do with Mindy’s death?”

“Because he built the sandman? I know I mentioned someone framing him earlier, but honestly I’m not sure how much of a problem it is. Besides, you were there too. Plus he has no motive. And I’m sure he has an alibi.”

“I guess I shouldn’t worry about it, but it’s hard not to.”

“How do you think we can find out what Mindy did yesterday? I know Tammy wants us to retrace her steps, but she could have gone shopping anywhere.”

“Her car was found near the beach, but that doesn’t mean that’s where she went shopping, just where she ended up. That’s assuming the car was parked on the street all night.” Rory snapped her fingers. “If someone saw it there last night and it was found in the same spot...”

“Then it was there all night.” Liz’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “I know just how we can find out. This is a job for Veronica’s crew.”

Rory cocked her head in puzzlement.

“You remember, the homeless people who give her tips on news stories.”

Liz’s words jogged Rory’s memory of how the Vista Beach reporter had doled out cell phones to some of the homeless people in the city. In exchange for use of the phone, they agreed to keep her informed about anything newsworthy that happened around town.

“Right. I remember now. Good idea. Give her a call.”

Liz picked up her cell phone and dialed the reporter’s number. After a brief conversation, Liz gave Rory a thumbs up. As soon as she hung up, she said, “Veronica agreed to check with her army of informants to see if they know anything about Mindy or the car. What about us? What can we do?”

“The first thing is to talk to the people we know and see if anyone saw Mindy yesterday. You never know, we might come up with something. I’ll make some calls before I head to my parents’ house tonight for my baking lesson. We should probably check with the businesses in town too and see if anyone saw her on Friday. That’ll have to wait until Monday, though. I’ve got church tomorrow plus I’m helping with the Nativity scene in the afternoon. Some of the businesses in town are closed on Sunday, anyway.”

“It’s settled then. We know what we need to do.” Liz stood up. “I need fuel. Where’s that lasagna?”

  

The scent of cooked apples and cinnamon filled her nostrils as Rory carefully moved the rolled-out pie crust from the counter and draped it over the top of the pastry-lined pie plate, covering the filling.

“That’s right. Gently now.” Arika stood next to the island in her kitchen, supervising Rory’s baking. “Trim the crust a bit, then fold the top edge under like this.” She demonstrated while Rory watched. “Once you seal the edges, all you have left to do is to cut a few slits to let the steam out.”

After she’d followed her mother’s directions, Rory wrapped the edge of the crust with aluminum foil and slid the apple pie into the oven.

“Now, we wait.” Arika smiled at her daughter. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Rory sat down at the kitchen table. “Thanks for helping me, Mom. I know I could do the filling, but I’ve never been that good at pie crusts. Not like you.”

“Now you know all my secrets.” Arika placed a twenty-ounce bottle of Diet Coke in front of her daughter. “Your reward for a job well done.”

“Thanks. Hopefully, I can do it all on my own. At least I have almost a week to practice.”

“You’ll do fine. Both with the pie and meeting Martin’s family.”

Rory took a sip of soda. “I’m not totally sure I should be going.”

“What do you mean? Has something happened?”

“It’s this thing with Dad being a suspect and Martin investigating him. I don’t want there to be any awkward moments with his family.”

“Has he said anything to you about it?”

“No, but—”

“No buts. If he hasn’t said there’s a problem, then there isn’t one. Chances are his family doesn’t know anything about the investigation or even the skeleton. They don’t live near here, do they?”

“They’re in the San Bernardino area somewhere.”

“The discovery of the skeleton probably didn’t even make the news there.”

Rory took aonther sip of her soda. “I feel a little guilty baking after what happened today.”

“You can’t stop living your life after bad things happen. It won’t help the police find out who did this horrible thing.”

Rory hesitated, choosing her words carefully. “Do you think people will believe Dad hurt Mindy? She was found in the sandman we put together. Whoever put her there must have seen it after we finished so they could duplicate our work.”

“That includes a lot of people, I’m sure. No one will believe your father capable of doing such a thing.” Arika placed a hand on her daughter’s arm. “Don’t worry, it’ll all blow over soon.”

Rory hoped that was true.