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“We’re bumping into everyone in Brooke’s salon,” Zoe muttered to her.
“Brrt,” Annie agreed in a low voice.
“I was in the area, and came to express my condolences,” he replied, looking business-like in dark slacks and matching jacket. “I know you were close to Francis.”
“Not that close, really,” Brooke replied. “It’s something I feel guilty about. I should have invited him over to dinner more often.”
“I’m sure he understood. I fixed his computer last week, and he said how well you’ve done for yourself with your salon and how you’d gone to the Caribbean on your honeymoon.”
“What was wrong with his computer?” Zoe asked curiously.
Keith turned his attention to her, a puzzled look on his face.
“The café.” He pointed to her. “Right.”
“Yes, you were in there last Saturday with Christina,” Lauren commented.
“We used to be married,” he admitted. “Our divorce has just been finalized – thank goodness – but I’ve always liked her brother Francis. When he called me because he thought he’d picked up some kind of malware on his computer, I came over to have a look. I removed some junk programs and reformatted his hard drive – as good as new. And then I installed a better anti-virus on it for him.”
“Do you work in IT?” Lauren hazarded a guess.
“For the last twenty years.” He chuckled. “I was able to get Christina a job at one of my old workplaces – I still have connections there. Now we’re divorced, she has to make her own living.”
“But she might not need to,” Brooke broke in. “Uncle Francis’s lawyer called me at lunchtime today – he has a copy of the will – and said he’d left me a little something, but also let it slip that the bulk of the estate goes to Christina!”
There was silence for a moment.
“I guess that makes sense,” Lauren finally said. “She was his sister.”
“Yeah.” Zoe nodded.
“Brrt.”
“What did he leave Doris?” Zoe inquired. “She told us she hoped she’d get his buffet in the living room.”
“I don’t know about any other bequests,” Brooke replied.
“Lucky old Christina.” Keith sounded envious. “I know Francis owned his house, but I don’t know if he had any other assets.”
“Neither do I.” Brooke sounded a little prim.
“But he was a bank manager,” Zoe said. “Maybe he was frugal and invested lots of his salary, and had tons of money in the bank!”
“Maybe,” Brooke replied, but she didn’t sound convinced.
“I guess we’ll have to find out from Christina if that’s true – and believe me, she’ll have no hesitation in letting me know if it is.” Keith made a face.
Lauren checked her watch – almost three. They made their apologies and left, Zoe promising to call Brooke tomorrow. When they were halfway down the street, Annie halted.
“Brrt.” She turned around to face in the direction of the salon.
Lauren saw Keith depart and get into a gray car parked at the curb.
“What do you make of all that, Annie?” Lauren asked.
“Brrt,” Annie replied thoughtfully.
“I know what you mean.” Zoe nodded.
They continued walking toward the café.
“I know!” Zoe snapped her fingers. “Maybe we can check out the pawnshops and find Brooke’s jewels.”
“Mitch said he wanted to put Detective Castern on that.”
“I don’t trust that man to do anything right.” Zoe grimaced.
“Brrp,” Annie agreed a little sadly. She’d attempted to make friends with him a while ago and had been rebuffed.
“You’ve got a point,” Lauren admitted. “But we can’t shut the café whenever we feel like it to go sleuthing.”
“Can’t we?”