With more thoughts rolling through her head the next morning than flowers in her garden, Gilda gave up forcing her focus on paperwork. She changed clothes and wandered among the peonies and daylilies out front. Between the funeral and playing detective, her yard had been neglected due to all the interruptions over the past few days, and pulling weeds would help clear her mind and relax her.
The guys were right. She needed to let Thayer do his job since that was why the town paid him. At least hiding in her garden would keep her away from Gary and Mick, like Chloe asked. From somewhere beyond the white picket fence, a car door closed and footsteps drew closer. She cringed, wanting to be left alone.
Thayer leaned on the gate without bothering to push up his sunglasses. "Do you have a few minutes to chat?"
She dropped her attention back to the marigolds and bachelor buttons. "I'm busy."
"So am I." He opened the gate and walked to the front steps. He sat on the third step, his face drawn and hair rumpled. "But I could use your help to solve the murder of your coworker."
"No, you want me to rat out my friends." She sat back on her heels and took a stern look at him. Dark circles surrounded his eyes, and his skin seemed more sallow than usual. She sighed and allowed an inkling of sympathy to emerge. "When's the last time you slept?"
"Which day was Walter killed?" He bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "Sorry. What's going on with everyone at the karate place?"
Her jaw tightened. "It's a school, and I'm not one to gossip."
"That's good, because I want the truth," he said. "I was in Café Beanz earlier and heard all the gossip I can stomach and even more that I couldn't. I just want the real story."
A trickle of sweat slid down Gilda's spine like a cold finger. "What kind of gossip?"
"I thought you didn't like to gossip?"
She scowled. "Look, Thayer, you and I have one common goal. To sort fact from fiction and figure out who killed Walter. If you want my help, you need to tell me what you know."
He rested his forearms on his knees. "Since that's not going to happen, you have to tell me what you know about Walter."
"He was a karate instructor, worked at the cheese factory, had a wife, three kids, and grandkids, and everyone loved him as a teacher."
"Everyone?" Thayer rubbed his bloodshot left eye. "You do know how he met Jade, don't you?"
She clamped her lips together and looked away.
He pulled out his handcuffs and lunged toward her. "Stop being childish. I know to you this is all a game. You just want to see how frustrated I'll get."
"No, I—"
Thayer stood in front of her with his hands on his hips. "Let's make this clear. If you don't tell me what you know, I'll take you to the station and lock you up. If Mick wants you back, he'll have to bail you out."
"And you'd arrest me for what exactly?" she asked.
"Interfering in an ongoing investigation. Withholding information. Being a pain in the ass. Take your pick." The handcuffs dangled at his side and gleamed in the sunshine as they swayed.
She folded her arms across her chest. "Fine. I get the point. Walter was a high school teacher who fell in love with one of his students. He left his wife, three kids, and his teaching career to marry Jade, and then they had three kids and moved here. Last I heard, he worked full time as a foreman at the goat cheese factory and part time at Yoshida's."
"Better." Thayer's shoulders relaxed. "Who taught his classes when he wasn't there?"
"No one," she said, wishing Gary would choose now to make an appearance. "Walter's rarely ever taken a sick day while I've worked there. He's hardly ever missed a class, except when his oldest daughter got married last fall. Then Mick looked after his classes."
Thayer's jaw tightened. Was he jealous, or was there more to his reaction? "Did Walter and Mick get along?"
"Mick ran the business, Walter looked after classes, and I kept them both on the same page. Most of the time they only saw each other in passing." The other black belts had ample opportunity, though.
Thayer nodded. "What time do you start work?"
"Eleven." She frowned, not wanting him to pester her there either.
"You'd better get moving, or you'll be late. If you hurry, I'll even escort you."
"Great. Thanks." She dragged her feet getting into the house and closed the door in the hopes Thayer would take the hint and leave.
He wandered inside and studied her locks. "You may want a better lock on your front door. Someone could break into your house just by sneezing on the door."
Gilda scowled. "Could you please wait outside? I don't like you invading my space."
"That's ironic." Thayer winced. "We'd once planned to share a space. We probably would've bought a much nicer place than this. Something in the newer part of town with a large fireplace and a big backyard with a pool."
"Yeah, well, that was before you decided to fool around with the girl at Café Beanz." Gilda waved a hand. "I know the story, and I don't care, especially now I know about all the other women. I kicked you to the curb and moved on. Get over it."
Thayer turned away. "I'll wait outside."
"Good idea." She locked the door behind him and waited for a couple minutes, in case he actually sneezed on the lock and kicked the door down just to make his point.
All the kids' classes were full to capacity that night. Either everyone truly missed training, or they just wanted to see the murder scene and catch up on the latest news. Most parents stayed to watch their children, gawk, and eavesdrop.
"It's great to see everyone here again." Marion leaned against Gilda's desk.
She smiled. "I was afraid they'd never return. It's been a long week."
"Especially you," one of the moms said. "It will be very different for all of us with Walter gone, but it's nice to have Sensei Mick teaching classes again. He's a much better teacher than Walter ever was and a lot easier on the eyes. I haven't seen him and Chloe together in ages. Is he still seeing her?"
Marion nodded. "I heard a rumor they broke up. I also heard Walter met his wife when he was a teacher and she was a high school senior. Is that true? Oh, and was Razi really married once, and is he single now?"
Gilda's mind went blank while she listened to everyone gossip and ask questions she evaded. She kept her mouth shut and typed a full page of complete gibberish on the computer screen. She'd have to delete everything as soon as she could remember how.
"Yes, it is," the mom answered. "I heard he was a teacher and had a family of his own at the time. What kind of creep dumps his wife and kids for a teenage girl?"
She focused on her screen, deleted every line, then started over.
"I Googled him." Marion leaned closer. "Did you know he used to have his own karate school in New York and was run out of town for sleeping with a couple teenaged students?"
Gilda hadn't thought to look up any of the black belts on the Internet, let alone Walter. She made a note. Since the ring was a dead end, she needed a new source of information.
Another mom gasped. "I never would've thought he'd do such a thing. Gilda, did you know about any of this?"
Gilda shook her head. "No, I—"
"Everyone has secrets, don't they? We can't blame you. It's not like Sensei Walter talked about his past to anyone." The mom walked away.
"Come to think of it, neither did Sensei Mick," Marion said. "You know, honey, I think that man owes us an explanation. We should know if the people who teach these kids are actually fit to do so. Do you guys run police checks on them?"
"They were all here before me." Gilda wished she could leave the school long before any confrontations occurred, but it wasn't meant to be.
The semipeaceful evening turned into an explosion of accusations and finger-pointing the instant Mick stepped out of the dojo. Questions flew through the air like missiles, and the parents circled around Mick, leaving him nowhere to hide.
He turned to Gilda, who ducked behind the desk. Since he'd left her with a dead body, she planned to dump all the angry parents on him. To his credit, he listened to all their complaints, then promised them all a discount for the following month. Great public relations for him, but a logistical nightmare for Gilda.
"Thanks a lot," she muttered as she tidied up. "I should be able to sort all that out in a week or two."
Mick shrugged. "It'll all work out. Remind them we have sixty students, and they just have to be patient. Send them to talk to me if they get out of hand."
"I think they've had a lot of patience so far," she said. "After the long weekend and two days without classes, they haven't had a lot of information except—"
"Gilda?" He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Go home. It's all over. Walter's buried, Thayer has a good idea who killed Walter, and it's time for us to move on."
"Whoa. Thayer knows who killed Walter? How do you know that?" she asked.
"He met me at the deli for lunch. He's waiting for some test results to prove his theory that Erik killed Walter."
"Why didn't he say anything when I saw him earlier?"
"Maybe he didn't think you needed to know." Mick caught her in a hug. "Go home, Sherlock. Tomorrow things will be back to normal, and the most stressful thing you'll have to worry about is what to have for lunch."
Gilda really hoped he was right, but deep in her gut she doubted him. What she really wanted was to find out more about Erik. She left the school and groaned when Thayer fell into step with her. "Twice in one day. To what do I owe the displeasure?"
He chuckled. "Cute. You can tell me why you've been hanging out with Gary del Garda so much lately."
"I haven't." She swung her bag over her shoulder and nearly hit him in the head.
"You're lying," he said. "He's been loitering around both the school and your house, and I've seen you talking to him several times. You're either having an affair with him, which is disgusting, or you're not very smart about the company you keep."
"Are you in that last category?"
"Funny." Thayer didn't look amused. He lowered his voice and leaned closer. "He's got a rap sheet longer than all the mats at your school lined up end to end."
"People make mistakes." She smiled. "Look at you and me."
"He's spent time in jail for murder, assault, and selling drugs."
"He's going straight for his daughter's sake." Gilda glanced around. No sign of Gary or his sedan. "I guess he's taking advantage of his second chance."
"Gary also worked for the man who killed your father," he said.
A touchy nerve. She clenched her fists and faced him. "Then why don't you go talk to him. Maybe he's the one who killed Walter, not Erik."
"Erik?" Thayer narrowed his eyes. "I take it you talked to Mick. What would Gary have to gain by killing Walter?"
"Why don't you go ask him?" she asked.
Thayer frowned. "Funny. I thought he would've told you his life story by now."
Gilda poked him in the chest with one finger. "You're the cop. You are the one who needs to get off your lazy butt and do some real investigating instead of following me around. If you think either Erik or Gary had anything to do with Walter's murder, then you need to find the evidence and figure out the motive. Not me."
"Are you trying to tell me how to do my job?" Thayer's mouth twitched and his nostrils flared. "What gives you the right to boss me around?"
She had no right to do or say anything. It just felt good for once. "Somebody has to."
He sputtered then laughed. "I've missed that about you. I really think you and I should sit down with a glass of wine and discuss a few things."
"I didn't kill Walter."
"Not about Walter." He took her hand. "About you and me. We used to make a great team. I think now we've had time to grow up, we'd be even better."
"Are you kidding me? You haven't grown up. You're still a ten-year-old kid in a grown man's body."
"At least you noticed that much." He steered her toward the house. "At least I'm not so serious that I'm no fun anymore."
She pulled away from him. "What are you trying to say?"
"I want you to stop hanging out with guys like Gary del Garda," he said.
"Because he's dangerous, or because you're jealous?"
Thayer recoiled. "Because he's a murder suspect."
"Which he wasn't until you saw him talking to me." When his shoulders sagged, Gilda opened the gate—then shut it between them. "You are so busted."