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“SO GLAD YOU COULD MAKE it, Ms. Sweet. Did you find parking okay?”
“I found the spot okay, but not the fee,” she said.
He grinned. “A charming lady with a sense of humor. Yes, parking can be pretty expensive in the downtown core. I’ll reimburse you. No worries.”
“Oh, I can’t ask you to do that.”
“No really, it’s okay,” he said.
She settled into his office. It was a small office on one of the side streets in a small brick building with about four floors. There was a Tim Hortons coffee shop on the lower level. She’d grabbed a small cup of French Vanilla cappuccino and took a sip. The rich creamy hot drink soothed her. She’d never tasted French Vanilla so good.
“I see you’re hooked on Tim’s.”
“Love it.”
“So, what can I help you with today, Ms Sweet?” he asked her as he grabbed some files from his cabinet.
She hesitated for a moment. “Well, you will find out about this soon, but...it’s about Brenda.”
“Did they locate her?” He looked concerned.
“Yes, they did. I’m afraid she’s...dead.”
“What?” His eyes bulged out of his head. “What? How? What happened? Was she in an accident?”
“Well, that’s what the forensics are trying to determine.”
He sat down, dazed. “That’s terrible. We were supposed to meet yesterday morning.”
“I know. It was a good thing you called the police in our area to check on things.”
“So they found her?”
“Well,” Dana hesitated again. What was she going to say? That she and her cousin were snooping around in Brenda’s house and saw her body—even though the police didn’t usually look for missing persons until 24-hours unless there was reason to suspect foul play or unless they were in danger or vulnerable?
“Well, you see, she lives...lived next door to us and we had the key so we let ourselves in.”
“We?”
“My cousin and I. She didn’t show up to pick up an order at the café yesterday and she mentioned that she was going to see you later yesterday morning, so...”
“I see,” he said, combing his hand through his thick main of brownish greyish hair. For some reason his gesture reminded her of Troy. She swallowed hard. What on earth would Troy think if he knew she was there asking questions from the guy Brenda was supposed to have met the day her body was found?
She tried to push that thought out of her head for now. Brenda was her next door neighbor and she had to get answers fast before it was too late. She didn’t think she was going to get too much information from the maid or the gardener right now. Somebody was hiding something and she was hoping that Peter would be able to shed some light.
“How long have you known Brenda?” she asked Peter.
He looked out the window, sorrow in his eyes. “Not that long. You see, her grand aunt came to me.”
“She did?”
“Yes. I’m an investigator who specializes in helping people find lost relatives.”
“I see. Brenda told me you were a lawyer.”
“I was. I practiced law but gave that up to help missing heirs after...”
“After what?”
“Well, you see, I’d been working on a case involving a man who had left money to his estranged daughter. I had to track her down by my locator services. It wasn’t easy since her mother had changed the daughter’s last name. I did my own work to find out what happened. It turned out that her mother and father never got along and the mother told her that the dad died at birth. Turned out she’d lied. I actually preferred to do investigative work than working on court cases. It turned out to be a success and she was awarded the money her father had left to her.”
“That’s very noble of you.”
“Thanks. Mrs. B was a nice lady. I’m glad I was able to help her out. She didn’t have many relatives and she’d asked me to locate any possible biological heirs to leave her house to in the event of...Well, anyway, she was one sweet lady.”
“Yes, she was....” In a unique sort of way, Dana thought. Her grandma would always say never speak ill of the dead. There was always something redeeming about most people. And truth be told, even though Mrs. B could be cantankerous at times, Dana never really had a problem with her.
“So then you located Brenda for Mrs. Barinotta?”
“Yes, we found her, my team and I...down South in the States. She’s the daughter of her estranged late brother.”
“I see. Brenda must have been surprised when you located her.”
“Oh, she was. She thought it was some joke or scam or something. But eventually she searched about us and knew we were legit.” He sighed. “But we also did some searches on her.”
“And?”
“Well, I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but when you told me who you were, I did some searches on you, too. And you’re quite a reputable person. A successful mystery riddles blogger and café owner, I figure you’re an okay person to trust.”
Dana flushed.
“Anyway, seems like Brenda had a few colorful characters in her company, to put it lightly.”
“She did?”
“Yes, she did. I warned her about letting too many people know about her recent inheritance.”
“Oh, my goodness.”
“She liked to, well, let’s just say, party a lot and she was a high spender after her inheritance. She would go to bars and drink a lot and buy everyone drinks. That sort of behavior often attracts the wrong kind.”
“Of course.”
“Anyway, there was this boyfriend who was stalking her. An ex. She told me that he found out about her and visited her in Berry Cove.”
“She told you that?”
“She was supposed to meet with me yesterday morning to help her.”
Dana swallowed hard.
The hairs on her neck stood up. Then she remembered about the pen. “Peter, do you know any L. Roberts? A Luke Roberts, maybe?”
He thought for a moment.
“L. Roberts?” he said to himself. “Well, as a matter of fact her ex’s name is Luke Roberts, why?”
Dana’s body tensed. So Luke had been to see Brenda then? So Brenda was using his credit card? Did Luke kill her? How much could she tell Peter? She’d just met him. But then again, he was some sort of an investigator, wasn’t he?
“Oh, it’s probably nothing but the gardener picked up a pen that was just outside my property. It was personally engraved with the name L. Roberts.
He looked concerned. “Well, that is something, isn’t it? But he’s supposed to be across the border. It’s possible that she’d had it on her and borrowed it from him in the past.”
“Hmm.” Dana took out her notepad and began making some notes. “But what if he isn’t south of the border?”
“I see, you’re quite a sleuth, Ms Sweet. Noticing details.”
She flushed. “Thanks but I just like to take note of everything. It’s one of my OCD tendencies,” she joked.
Just then, Dana’s stomach rumbled loud as thunder.
How embarrassing. Okay, she really needed to grab a bite to eat and stop skipping meals. That was so unhealthy, not to mention embarrassing when your stomach made you aware of it in public.
“Hey, I was just going to get a bite to eat. Would you like to join me?” he asked.
Oh, great. Now he felt sorry for her.
As her stomach grumbled on, she could not resist.
She glanced at her watch. “I’ve got a few minutes. Sure, why not?”
“We can head over to Druxy’s. It’s not too far from here.”
“Sounds great.”
Peter got on the intercom phone to his receptionist, “Please take all my calls, Betty. I’ll be back in an hour,” he told her.
“Sure thing, boss.”
Dana noticed that Peter was dressed quite nicely with a dark suit that looked as if it was tailored just for him. His shirt looked as if it didn’t have a single crease on it. He was clean-shaven and had dark hair and dark brown eyes. He looked as if he worked out too. She wondered if his commissions were as generous as the inheritance he helped to collect. But she did not want to ask him about how he was compensated. Still, it must be an interesting business and probably paid more than working in a courtroom.
When they got out to the street level, a few drops of rain fell.
“Looks like it’s going to rain soon. I thought we could go for a nice walk but we’re probably better off taking my car.”
“No problem.”
When they walked over to the parking lot, she was surprised when he walked over to his car. It was an old white BMW, but the outside looked as if it could go through a car wash right about now. That surprised her since his appearance was so neat. She figured most men who dressed so sharp made sure their ride was just as sleek at all times. She’d once dated a guy who ran his car through the car wash three times a week. Even if there was a little dust on it.
He brushed off his windshield with a car brush and then walked to the booth and replaced the brush. He opened the passenger side of the car for Dana and she stepped inside. The interior of the car had the nice new leather smell to it.
“So how did Mrs. Barinotta come to contact you?” Dana asked casually while buckling her seatbelt, seeing if she could pry some more information out of Peter. He was, after all, an investigator. He must have some sort of inside information he could share with her.
“Oh, Mrs. Barinotta was a sweet lady, she told me that she’d been given high recommendation of my services.”
“I see.”
“She told me she was concerned about her money going to the politicians.”
“The politicians?”
“Mrs. Barinotta seemed a bit untrusting of a lot of folks.”
“Yes, she was, wasn’t she?”
“Well, anyway, a friend of hers—one of my clients here in the city, had a similar problem. She was a widow with no children and wanted to get in contact with her estranged nieces and nephews.”
“Aww,” Dana said, feeling her heartstrings tug. “How sweet.”
“Yes, it is sweet. You see her friend had kept her distance from her only brother and when he died, she felt as if there was something missing. You never know just how important family is until you reach a point in your life when you have no one around you and you’re old. Money, material things, means nothing with no one to share it with.”
“Amen to that,” Dana said. She couldn’t agree more.
“Well, sadly, some of my clients realize it too late. Anyway, Mrs. Barinotta said that she wasn’t very close to her only brother, either. She’d kept her distance from her family over the years. And she’d built up all of this wealth in her home and in her savings. She said she just didn’t want to it go to the wind—her words, not mine.”
“I see.”
“She told me that she’d left everything to her beloved cat but then he died,” he said as she drove down Front Street. The traffic was busy at that time of day and Dana wondered if they’d have enough time before she had to get back to Berry Cove.
“Yes, I remember that,” she said, quietly.
“Then she wanted to leave everything to her maid and her butler.”
Dana swallowed hard. “Of course. They were very close I hear.”
“Yes, they were. But then she had a change of heart and asked me to see if her brother’s daughter could be located.”
“That would be Brenda.”
“That’s right.” They pulled up to Druxy’s Famous Deli Sandwiches. “Well, hope you’re hungry. They make the best sandwiches around.”
“So I’ve heard.”
When they got inside, the place was busy. Dana was burning to ask Peter some more questions that could shed some light on Brenda’s case but wanted to wait until they were in a quiet booth at the café.
Dana ordered the Druxy’s classic 6 oz smoked meat gourmet sandwich on caraway rye with hot Dijon mustard. She chose mustard instead of mayonnaise to reduce the fat. She had to watch her weight now. All those cupcakes were doing nothing for her hips. Well, they were doing too much for her hips. The massive gourmet sandwiches came with 3 oz. coleslaw or potato salad and sliced dill pickle or veggie sticks. She opted for the veggie sticks and the coleslaw with her sandwich.
Peter ordered an 8 oz Salmon sandwich with a 10 grain bread which contained Druxy’s salmon salad, leaf lettuce, cucumber, red onion, carrot, and mango. Everything on the menu was delicious. She wished she could eat everything right now.
When they settled down to eat, Dana asked, “Do you come here often?”
“It’s a great place to grab a healthy filling sandwich. I love this place.”
“Wish they had one in Berry Cove.”
“You never know if they’ll expand there.”
“Doubt it,” Dana said. She then looked around. “Berry Cove’s a very small town.”
“Yes, so I’ve heard.”
“You’ve never been there?”
“Nope. I was in Texas during Mrs. Barinotta’s funeral. Couldn’t make it. I hear Berry Cove’s a nice small coastal town.”
“It is. Very nice.”
Dana munched into her gourmet sandwich and the taste melted on her tongue. It was simply delicious. She’d never tasted a sandwich so delicious and filling like this before. No wonder it was so popular in Toronto.
“So,” Dana said, after swallowing a tasty mouthful. “What happens now to Mrs. Barinotta’s estate since...since Brenda’s no longer around?”
“Well, if there are no other logical heirs, everything would go to her original executors.”
“Who would that be?”
“I guess that would be her help. The maid and the gardener.”
Dana froze.