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“But why would Denise kill Ralph?” Lauren asked as they turned into their street. There weren’t any passersby, so she didn’t think their conversation could be overheard. “Because she was upset that he was going to close down the senior center?”
“Exactly.” Zoe pointed a finger at her. “She was so angry about it, that she killed him. Or maybe she told him, “Continue the lease on favorable terms and I won’t kill you.” And he laughed at her. And then, BAM! She killed him.”
“By running him over?”
“She got in her car after he laughed at her, and then ran him over.”
“But Denise said she was talking to Martha and a few others while were packing up after the party that night,” Lauren pointed out. “And then she said she went straight home.”
“Well, there is that,” Zoe reluctantly admitted. “But do we know for sure that she went straight home? Don’t forget, Martha was writing things down in her notebook. Denise was there this morning, sitting right next to her at the cafe when she was jotting things down. Maybe she got worried about what Martha was writing in her journal, so she thought she’d better take care of her.”
“I think of Denise as efficient, but not capable of doing something like that,” Lauren said slowly.
“But has she done anything about crowdfunding for the center?” Zoe asked as they walked up the porch to their cottage. “We haven’t gotten an update from her about it. She was going to look into it last week, wasn’t she? And then update everyone on her research.”
“What about Barry?” Lauren asked as they entered the cottage. “He’s the director. Shouldn’t he be in charge of sourcing funding if they need to move to a new place?”
“Maybe he’s delegated it to Denise,” Zoe said as they walked into the living room.
Annie was still curled up in a ball on the sofa.
“Shh.” Lauren touched her finger to her lips.
“Ohhh.” Zoe’s voice was soft. “Let’s go into the kitchen.”
They tiptoed past Annie. Once they were sitting at the kitchen table, Zoe continued.
“Barry might have told Denise to look into the crowdfunding because maybe he’s not good on the computer – or the Internet. Or he might be too busy running things and driving the seniors around to have time to research it.”
“But Denise said she’d look into it at the meeting.”
Zoe shrugged. “Because she knew he was too busy. Or not good on the computer. And if she wanted it to get done, she knew she’d have to. Like packing her husband’s clothes for the cruise – if that’s what she was going to do and it wasn’t just a lie.”
“So you think Denise is a suspect,” Lauren said.
“Yep. And Barry. He was pretty upset about the developer’s big announcement at the party.”
“That seems so long ago.” Lauren shook her head.
“I know. And it was only last week!”
***
THE NEXT DAY, WEDNESDAY, Lauren gave Annie the day off.
“Brrt.” She sounded pleased at the idea.
They were all at the breakfast table, Annie sitting on the chair next to Lauren.
“What do you think you’ll do today, Annie?” Zoe asked.
“Brrt!” Annie jumped off the chair and trotted out of the room.
“Maybe she’s going to play with her toy hedgehog,” Lauren suggested.
“Or push my string-art threads under the sofa again,” Zoe joked. “It’s okay, I don’t mind her doing that because now I’m beading!”
“How’s it going?”
“I haven’t started, yet,” Zoe admitted. “We’ve been so busy with our half price specials and everything, that I haven’t had time. But maybe tonight I can get going with it.”
Before they left for work, Lauren found Annie sleeping on her bed. She lay on her back, her silver-gray tummy on full display. Lauren’s heart filled with love as she gazed at her.
***
BUSINESS WAS SLOW BUT steady that Wednesday morning.
“Maybe everyone came in yesterday,” Lauren said as she surveyed the one-third full café.
“And they might have overcaffeinated themselves,” Zoe added. “Oh well, we can treat ourselves to one of Ed’s pastries for lunch.”
“Good idea.” Lauren placed two apricot Danishes into a paper bag. “For us.”
Zoe grinned, then her expression changed. “Oh, look. Crystal!”
“Where?”
But Zoe was halfway out the door.
Lauren watched through the large café window as her cousin hailed the young widow. Today, Crystal’s strawberry blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore expensive looking jeans and a clinging jade sweater. Zoe and Crystal spoke for a moment, then Zoe ushered her into the café.
“Have a latte on the house.” Zoe smiled at Crystal, then gave Lauren a look that said, I’ll explain later.
“Where’s your cat?” Crystal looked around the café and the occupied tables. “Wherever I go in this town, people are always talking about her.”
“She’s having a day off,” Lauren told her. “Zoe will find you a table.”
“This way.” Zoe guided Crystal to a table near the counter, where the neighboring tables weren’t occupied.
Lauren made the latte, the hissing of the milk wand providing a backdrop to the low buzz of conversation from their customers.
“I hope you like it.” Lauren placed the coffee with a peacock design in front of Crystal.
“Oh, wow.” Crystal’s eyes widened. “I haven’t seen a design like that in Sacramento – apart from one café there.”
“That must be Amy’s,” Lauren said. They’d taken an advanced latte art class there a couple of months ago and learned how to make swan and peacock latte art.
Crystal took a sip and sank back into the wooden chair. “I think I needed that. I’ve just been to the senior center and spoken to Barry. My lawyer said to let him take care of things, but I thought going in person might help make up for the distress my husband caused with his big announcement.”
“What did you say to him?” Zoe leaned across the table.
“Zoe,” Lauren hissed.
“It’s okay. I inherited the center, as well as most of my husband’s property.” Crystal took another sip. “I don’t know if I was imagining things, when I told you I thought he was looking around for a new wife, or if he hadn’t had time to change his will. But I have to wait for probate to go through before I can access the money.”
“So?” Zoe prompted.
“So I went to talk to Barry, to tell him the senior center was safe. I’ll renew the lease on the same terms as before, for as long as they want.”
“But your husband made it sound like the big hotel was practically a done deal,” Lauren said.
“Not really. He had partners lined up, but they hadn’t gotten development approval or anything like that yet. Who knows?” Crystal shrugged. “It might never have gotten approved anyway—” she hesitated “—unless he was able to approach the right people. My husband liked to boast about his achievements, sometimes before they’d even happened.”
“That’s very good of you to renew the center’s lease,” Lauren said.
Crystal smiled. “I like that old lady, Martha. She nearly got me with her rolling walker on the night of the party. She reminds me of my great-aunt.”
“So what will you do now?” Zoe asked.
“I’m going to sell the house in Sacramento – although I might have to fix the height level on the barn first, because of the neighbors, which will be a pain. My lawyer’s handling that for me. But once the money comes through from probate, I’m going to Hawaii for a while.”
“Hawaii?” Lauren asked.
“I went there once on spring break when I was in college,” Crystal replied. “I loved it. I wanted to go there on my honeymoon, but Ralph said he didn’t have time for one, he was too busy negotiating some deal. So I’m going now. No one can stop me.” She looked fierce.
“What about your cabin here?” Zoe asked curiously.
“I’m going to keep it – for now.” Crystal stirred her half full latte. “If I come back from Hawaii, I might want somewhere I can just chill for a while. And I know I can get a good meal at Gary’s Burger Diner. And great coffee here, of course,” she added.
She spoke for a few more minutes about her upcoming trip to Hawaii, then thanked them and left.
“Well.” Zoe stood behind the counter, her hands on her hips. “Huh.”
“What does “Huh” mean?” Lauren asked. No customers had come in during Crystal’s visit, so she sank down on a stool next to Zoe.
“I think she’s the killer.” Zoe kept her voice down.
“What?” Lauren reared back to eye her cousin. “I was thinking the opposite.”
“What?” Zoe sounded shocked.
“If she killed her husband, wouldn’t she want to continue with the mega resort deal her husband was making?”
“But she’s fleeing to Hawaii,” Zoe pointed out.
“The FBI could bring her back here. It’s not as if she’s moving to another country in the middle of nowhere which doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S.”
“Isn’t she?” Zoe scrunched up her nose. “She told us she was going to Hawaii. What if she’s really flying somewhere else? Somewhere without extradition?”
“I’m sure the authorities will check that out,” Lauren said.
“You can ask Mitch,” Zoe suggested. It sounded like an order.
“Yes, I can. But Crystal said she was waiting for probate to go through. So she’s not going anywhere yet.”
“That we know of!”
***
“LET’S VISIT BARRY,” Zoe announced that afternoon. “We can see if he’s fixed Martha’s walker. And find out what Crystal told him about the new lease for the center.”
“Okay,” Lauren replied. She was glad their investigating seemed to be helping take Zoe’s mind off her drama with Mitch’s friend, but would they learn anything new from Barry? She didn’t know who her lead suspect was.
Lauren locked the front door at five o’clock on the dot.
“Do you think Barry will be at the center or at home at this hour?”
“Let’s try his house first.” Zoe pressed the buttons on her phone. “It might be closer than the center.” A minute later: “I’ve found his address! He’s only a couple of blocks away from Denise’s house.”
“We could take Annie for a walk.” Lauren vacuumed the hardwood floors while Zoe cleaned the counter. “She might like some fresh air after being home all day.”
“Good thinking.” Zoe grabbed her phone. “I’m ready.”
“So am I.”
They trooped down the private hallway to the cottage. Annie sat in a kitchen chair, facing her toy hedgehog on the table.
“Brrt?”
“Want to go for a walk with us?” Lauren asked.
“Brrt!” Annie hopped down from the chair.
“You’ll have to wear your harness,” Lauren warned.
“Brrp.” Annie’s mouth formed a pout.
“We’re going to visit Barry,” Zoe told her. “From the senior center.”
Annie looked interested as Lauren buckled her into the lavender harness.
“Let’s go!” Zoe led the way out of the house.
A few passersby stopped them on their way, wanting to say hello to Annie.
“We should check on Mrs. Finch,” Lauren said as they rounded the corner into Barry’s street. “She didn’t come in today.”
“Good idea,” Zoe said. “We could visit her on the way home. Annie would like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Brrt!” Annie’s plumy tail waved in the air.
They walked along the sidewalk until they reached Barry’s Folk Victorian house, a simpler and smaller version of the typical Victorian house in Gold Leaf Valley. An attached garage, painted in the same pale yellow, was closed. There was no sign of his car or minivan.
“Maybe he’s not home.” Lauren furrowed her brow. She didn’t know if this was a good idea or not.
“We won’t know until we try.” Zoe marched up the path to the front door and rang the bell.
A faint ding dong echoed through the house.
No one came to the door.
Zoe pressed the bell again.
“If he doesn’t answer this time, I think we should leave,” Lauren said. “Maybe he’s at the senior center.”
“All right.” Zoe chewed her lip. “Ooh, maybe he’s in the garden. Remember he told us he likes growing veggies?”
Zoe left the porch and walked around the front garden to the left. A tall wooden fence with a gate blocked their view of the backyard.
“Hello?” She called out. “Barry?”
“I’m back here,” a man’s voice called out. “Come through the gate.”
“Come on.” Zoe pushed back the bolt and opened the gate.
“Brrt?” Annie looked up at Lauren.
“Zoe wants to talk to Barry,” Lauren told her.
Annie followed Zoe, towing Lauren.
“Hello, girls.” Barry straightened up from his vegetable patch. He wore old brown trousers and a white shirt. Small green plants that looked like spinach dotted the rectangular piece of soil. “What can I do for you?”
Lauren waited for Zoe to take the lead. She didn’t have to wait long.
“We bumped into Crystal today,” Zoe said, seeming to forget that it was she who had encouraged the widow into the café. “She said she’d given you good news for the senior center.”
“She has indeed.” A big smile spread across his face. “I’ve already posted a notice on the board, and I’ve told the rest of the staff and the volunteers to give everyone the great news.”
“How’s Martha’s walker?” Lauren asked.
“I managed to fix it.” He shook his head. “Someone cut the brake line. Terrible.”
“It certainly is,” Zoe agreed. “Where’s your car? We didn’t see one parked outside.”
Lauren frowned at her cousin’s nosiness.
“It’s in the garage.” He chuckled. “My doctor said my blood pressure is a bit high and I should lose some weight.” He patted his paunch. “So I’ve been walking to the center.”
“That’s quite a distance,” Lauren said.
“It takes me about thirty minutes.” He looked pleased with himself. “I don’t know if I’ll stick with it, though. I’d rather drive to work and spend my free time in the garden.” He gestured to the veggie patch. Green lawn took up the rest of the garden apart from some shrubs near the back fence line.
“I see you’re into composting.” Zoe glanced at the big pile of grass clippings, and fruit and vegetable peelings at the end of the bed of soil.
“I’ll have to get a composter,” Barry said. “I think the heap has started to attract a few mice – or other creatures.”
“Oh, no.” Lauren took a few steps away from the pile.
“Annie wouldn’t let a mouse get you, would you, Annie?” Zoe grinned at the cat.
“Brrt!” Annie seemed to agree.
“Can I offer you two something to drink? I was just about to go in and grab a glass of water.” He mopped his shiny face with a handkerchief. “I’m afraid I’ve been out here a while and I’m starting to feel it.”
“We’re fine,” Lauren told him. “But thank you.”
“Yep.” Zoe nodded. “Maybe we should get going. Oh, we’ve decided to have another half price coffee hour next Tuesday.”
Lauren shot her cousin a look. We have?
“So it would be great if you could tell all your members,” Zoe finished.
“I will.” He smiled. “I’m sure some of them will be happy to hear that.”
They said goodbye and watched him go into the house through the back door.
“I think we should go,” Lauren said, “and discuss half price coffee.”
“On the way to visit Mrs. Finch,” Zoe said in an unconcerned tone.
“Brrt!”
“Yes, we’re going to visit Mrs. Finch next,” Lauren told Annie.
Annie sniffed around the compost heap.
“Brrt!” She pawed at something at the bottom of the grass clippings, hooking it out.
“What have you got there?” Zoe bent down to look. “Lauren,” she whispered. “Quick!”
“What is it?” Lauren squatted down. Her eyes widened as she looked at the small piece of purple glass. Her mind flashed to the scene of the hit and run. On Ralph’s wrist had been a smashed watch, the glass casing shattered – the exact distinctive shade of this fragment.
She straightened up and looked at Zoe.
“It was Barry!” They spoke at the same time.
“Let’s get out of here.” Lauren picked up Annie. “And call the police!”
“Not so fast.” Barry suddenly loomed in front of them. “I knew I should have gotten rid of that piece of glass – the senior center would have been the perfect place to dispose of it in the trash – far too many suspects for the police to deal with. But I actually thought it would be safer to bury it at the bottom of my compost pile.” He laughed harshly. “I watched you just now from the kitchen window. I saw what you found.”
Annie’s ears flattened.
“I knew there was a reason we suddenly didn’t see your car around,” Zoe told him. “You’re getting it fixed, aren’t you? At some shady chop shop in the middle of nowhere, to repair the damage you did running over Ralph.”
“You watch too many crime dramas.” Barry shook his head. “I didn’t use my car. I used the minivan.”
“But – you’re still driving it around,” Lauren said.
“After the ... accident, I checked the bumper for damage. I couldn’t see any. That van is tough. I checked again early the next morning, which is the day I always get it washed anyway, and decided to clean it myself. I couldn’t see any blood – or anything else on it. Nobody suspected a thing.”
“But what is the piece of watch glass doing here?” Lauren furrowed her brow.
“I have no idea.” He tsked. “I didn’t discover it until I got home and changed my clothes. I washed them, just in case there was a hair fiber or something caught, and that’s when I saw the glass on my trouser leg. I got out of the van after I hit him to make sure he was dead.”
“But you said you had an alibi for the time of death,” Zoe pointed out.
“Yes.” He smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “When I got out of the van to check on Ralph, I changed the time on his watch to an earlier time in order to give myself an alibi, wiped my fingerprints, and then smashed it with my wheel brace. The police thought the time of death was the time on the watch.”
“That is ... genius.” Zoe stared at him, appalled.
“Isn’t it? At the fake time of death, I was driving the seniors home, and they’re my witnesses.”
“But ... what was Ralph even doing there, on that side road?” Lauren asked.
“I slashed his tires – two of them – in the parking lot,” Barry replied. “I was so angry when he announced he wasn’t going to renew our lease and was going to build a mega resort instead, that when I went outside to get the van ready to take my members home, I slashed his tires. That’s all I was going to do.” His face twisted.
“What happened?” Lauren clasped Annie to her. The feline purred in a low rumble that sounded dangerous.
“I was driving back to the center. I’d dropped off everyone and I was going to park the minivan in the carport, then go home in my car. I lied to Martha about that at the meeting. Then I saw Ralph’s fancy car.” Barry paused. “He’d managed to pull over in the side road and was peering at one of his damaged tires. Something just came over me and I drove straight at him. He shouldn’t have tried to take the center away from me. I told him how much it meant to me – us – at the party, and that the seniors would be displaced if he went ahead with his plans to build a resort, but he didn’t care. He laughed at me!” Barry sounded like he still couldn’t believe that.
“The senior center is my life. I’ve been so happy there – apart from some niggles with Denise – I mean, she still hasn’t provided me and the members with a list of crowdfunding options, not that we need it now – and I realized right then I had the power to try and save our place from greedy people like him. So I took care of him.”
Lauren stepped back. She sensed Zoe did, too. Rage bristled off Barry.
“We’re the good guys,” Zoe told him. “We gave your members half price coffees.”
“But you know too much!” He took a step toward them.
Lauren now stood next to the compost heap. She gave Zoe a desperate sideways look. Annie vibrated in her arms, her growling purrs louder. She’d have to place Annie on the ground in order to give her last-ditch plan a chance to work.
“What about Martha’s brakes?” Zoe asked suddenly. “Did you cut them?”
“Yes. She loves writing down gossip in that notebook of hers. I didn’t like the way she questioned me at the meeting at the center, asking me if I had an alibi for the time of Ralph’s death. I hoped she’d stop poking around, but when I saw her talking to the other members and writing things down in that journal at your half price coffee hour, I knew I had to do something.”
“I never suspected it was you,” Lauren said.
“When I fixed Martha’s walker, I told her maybe the killer had done it, and she should let the police do their job. She tried to laugh it off but I could tell she was a bit shaken by the incident. I didn’t think she was going to be a problem anymore – but you girls are!”
He lunged toward them.
Annie jumped out of Lauren’s arms and landed at the edge of the compost pile. She dug at the grass clippings and fruit peelings, the debris arcing up into the air and heading toward Barry.
It was as if Annie had read Lauren’s mind. She followed Annie’s lead and grabbed a huge handful of the compost and flung it into Barry’s face.
Zoe zoomed to the other side of the rotting pile and copied Lauren’s actions.
“Ow! Yuck! Stop it!” Barry covered his eyes. His face was covered in green lawn clippings and a rotting banana peel hung off his nose.
They didn’t stop. They chucked huge handfuls of waste at him, Annie’s legs and paws working furiously as she tunneled through the pile, the compost spraying up behind her and onto Barry’s waist and chest.
“Let’s go!” Lauren threw one more handful at Barry’s face, then grabbed Annie.
“I’m with you!” Zoe hurled a wad of grass clippings at him, hitting him square in the chest. “Run!”
Lauren held Annie tight to her chest as they ran out of the back garden and onto the street.
“We should have brought the car,” Zoe panted, leading the way home.
Lauren kept up with her cousin, spikes of adrenaline helping her as she clutched Annie and ran for their lives.
Halfway home, Zoe stopped for breath.
“Is he behind us?” she panted, pulling her phone out of her jeans.
Lauren turned. “No,” she gasped.
Annie’s paws were on Lauren’s chest, and she looked inquiringly at her. “We need the – police,” Lauren managed.
“Brrt!”
Zoe punched the buttons on her phone and was connected to an emergency operator. Sucking in air, she quickly explained what had happened.
“We have to get out of here,” Zoe said, shoving the phone back into her pocket. “In case he comes after us.”
They raced home, Lauren putting Annie down on the carpet, and locking the front door. Panting, she checked the back door was locked, too.
“Maybe I should start going to the gym,” she attempted to joke as she flopped down on a kitchen chair.
“I think I’ll join you.” Zoe’s face glowed with exertion.
“Brrt!”