1 Death on Eat Street (10 page)

“Wouldn’t you like to get your own place eventually?” I asked him.

“Not really. Been there, done that. It’s overrated. I like where I am right now.”

“Isn’t there someone who might like to have you live with them? Family?” Delia wondered.

I wasn’t sure how far we should question him. He didn’t owe us any answers. I didn’t want him to feel like we were prying and get angry.

“You’re not trying to reform me because I helped you out today, right?” Ollie put on his mean face. “I don’t want to do or be anything that I’m not right now. Got it?”

“Got it.” I rolled my eyes at Delia and started the food truck. “Thanks anyway. You were both a big help today. Everyone loved your gumbo, Ollie.”

He made a growling sound. “Yeah, well, don’t get used to it. I’m not good with schedules or promises. I happened to be hanging around when you were leaving this morning. You can’t depend on me, Zoe.”

“I completely understand.” I guess I’d found out how far I could push Ollie. This was probably why he lived in the homeless shelter. If he had family or friends, he wasn’t interested in being part of their lives.

We drove through the crowded streets of downtown Mobile in silence. I was sorry I’d tried to figure out anything about him. I enjoyed his friendship, whether I could depend on him or not. I hadn’t really meant to pry.

In my mind, he was like Delia—a person who needed feeding and some hope. I chastised myself for thinking I could be the person to help them. I certainly had enough problems of my own. I shouldn’t have meddled in his life. Maybe not Delia’s, either.

We got back to the diner, and I groaned when I saw Tommy Lee’s car in the parking lot. Why couldn’t he take no for an answer?

I wasn’t sure if Ollie would help me unload the food truck. I didn’t plan to ask him. I’d done it before by myself. The other times there had been a lot more food left, too. There wasn’t so much this evening. It made me happy enough to want to do a little dance.

I refrained because Tommy Lee was there looking hopeful. Ollie slammed out of the food truck, his brow furrowed. Neither man looked like a good dancing partner to me.

Ollie fooled me. He got right out, and started unloading the food truck. “Still taking leftovers to the shelter?”

“Yes. There’s still some gumbo left, and the last of the biscuit bowls.”

He suddenly grinned at me. “Not as much as the men at the shelter would like, I can tell you that. Your success is gonna mean they miss out on some good food.”

I smiled back at him. Just like that, we were friends again. I vowed never to ask about his personal life again.

“Don’t worry,” I assured him. “We’ll mix them up a special batch on the weekend.”

Ollie started walking toward the shelter. Delia took some things inside.

Tommy Lee took that opportunity to get out of his car and come toward me. I heard Crème Brûlée meowing from the food truck. No doubt he needed the litter box.

Before I could reach in and get him out, another man joined us in the parking lot. It was our thief from outside the police building that day. He’d followed us here.

He’d also found another gun.

“I want what you took from Terry,” he said. “Do it now, or I’ll kill you and your friends.”

I had no idea what he was talking about. I didn’t have anything that belonged to Terry.

“I think you have the wrong person.” I tried to sound very calm and reasonable. I kept hoping someone else might show up. I wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. My first impulse was to run away screaming. That seemed less than useful.

He waved the gun around, his hands shaking. “Don’t play games with me. Give me what Terry gave you. You know what I mean.”

About that time, Tommy Lee decided to get involved. I knew him well enough to know he was about to try and prove himself to me. Tommy Lee wasn’t a hero, but he liked me to think of him that way.

“Excuse me! That’s my ex-girlfriend you’re threatening. I’m sure we can come to an equitable understanding.” Tommy Lee whipped out his wallet with a wry smirk on his handsome face. It was the same look he wore when we were involved in charitable events. He liked to think being rich made him a little better.

“I don’t want your money,” the thief with the gun said. “I want what’s mine. Terry promised to share.”

Tommy Lee’s expression never changed. He took out a hundred-dollar bill and waved it in front of the man, a little like a matador flashes a red cape at a bull.

The thief’s eyes got interested. “I can take both.”

“You leave this lady alone, and you can have this hundred-dollar bill.” Tommy Lee smiled at him in a satisfied way.

“I tell you what.” The thief snatched Tommy Lee’s wallet, and the hundred dollars. “I’ll take all of it. You tell your girlfriend to give me what’s mine. Otherwise, I shoot you both, and take everything anyway.”

“You can’t do that,” Tommy Lee exploded. “That wasn’t part of the deal. Give me my wallet. I’ll call the police.”

The thief advanced on Tommy Lee. I thought he was going to shoot him. Instead, he hit him in the head with the gun. Tommy Lee went down like a sack of potatoes. He groaned and put his hand to his temple.

I was next in line. The thief started toward me. Suddenly, Ollie rose up behind him like a mountain. Before the thief could reach me, Ollie took one large fist and pounded it on top of the other man’s head.

The thief dropped to the pavement next to Tommy Lee.

Ollie picked up the gun. “Where did he get another one?” He put the gun into a nearby trash can. “Did he follow us back here?”

I ran to him and hugged him tight. “Thank you. Thank you. I don’t know. I guess he followed us. He kept asking me for something that Terry owed him. I don’t know what he was talking about.”

Ollie’s big, dark face twisted in embarrassment. It made his skull tattoo more noticeable. “No need to get hysterical, Zoe. He’s down. He didn’t shoot you, did he?”

His big hands went quickly and very professionally across my body. It was my turn to be red-faced.

“No,” I squeaked. “I’m fine.”

Tommy Lee was still groaning and asking for an ambulance. Ollie picked him up and slung him across his shoulder. “You’ll be fine. Sit down in the diner for a while, and Zoe will put a wet towel on your head.”

“I may need stitches,” Tommy Lee gasped. “I may need a tetanus shot. I need to be at the hospital.”

“What should I do about him?” I asked Ollie about the unconscious thief.

“You should get some plastic tie straps and put them on his hands and feet. Then call the police, but wait until I’m back at the shelter.”

“How am I going to say I subdued him?”

“You’ll think of something,” Ollie assured me. “Just don’t mention my name.”

With those words of wisdom, my guardian angel put Tommy Lee down in the diner, and stalked back to the homeless shelter.

I wasted no time putting the plastic ties around the unconscious thief’s hands and feet. Once I knew he was secure, I called the police, and Miguel.

By that time, Crème Brûlée was meowing pitifully. I’d almost forgotten him while everything else was going on.

“Poor baby.” I smoothed his ruffled fur. “You’ll be fine. We’ll go inside and help Tommy Lee. After that, we’ll make some coffee and think about all of this.”

After I got Crème Brûlée inside, I got a wet cloth and an ice pack for Tommy Lee. Ollie had left him, unceremoniously, on the floor in front of the counter. Tommy Lee sounded almost as bad as my cat. Then I called 911.

“What happened?” Tommy Lee’s head flopped from side to side. “Who hit me? I hope my brain is still working. I need a CAT scan.”

“The police are on their way,” I reassured him. “If you want, I’ll call an ambulance.”

He definitely wanted an ambulance, but he was starting to sound like himself. “Who was that man, Zoe? Why was he trying to shoot you?”

I couldn’t tell him, since I had no idea. Instead, I entertained him with stories about my day at the food truck. He didn’t find the stories as amusing as I did. I guess you had to be there.

Miguel arrived around the same time as the police and the ambulance. I saw a television news van pull into the parking lot. Good golly! What would my parents think about me being on the news again?

“What’s going on?” Miguel came in as the police were talking on their radios. “Who is that man in the parking lot?”

I told him the whole story, including the part about Ollie knocking the thief unconscious. “Ollie doesn’t want to be involved. He wants me to say that I knocked the thief out. Does that sound plausible to you?”

“Right now, anything sounds plausible.” He nodded at Tommy Lee. “Did Ollie hit him, too?”

“No.” I explained again about Tommy Lee’s run-in with the thief. “I don’t know what he was looking for. He said Terry gave me something.”

Miguel excused himself and went to take a quick picture of the thief on the ground. He came back into the diner, and we looked at the man’s face. “Here come the police. Be careful what you say if you don’t want to include Ollie in your statement.”

“Has Ollie actually done something that could get him into trouble?” I asked quickly. “He was hiding behind the food truck today when Detective Latoure came to buy a biscuit bowl.”

Miguel smiled. “Where were you parked?”

When I told him how well I’d done at police headquarters, he was amazed that Ollie had even stayed there with me.

“So he’s in trouble with the law?”

“Not currently.” Miguel greeted the two uniformed police officers and our conversation ceased.

Officer Schmidt and Officer Gayner were on duty again. I told them my version of what had happened in the parking lot. They looked a little skeptical, but when I showed them the gun in the trash can, they had to believe me.

Marty came over from the shelter. He hadn’t seen anything, but Ollie had told him what had happened. He didn’t tell the police that Ollie had been involved, either. He kind of offered to be of assistance if he could. He smiled, winked at me, and was gone.

The ambulance drivers got Tommy Lee on a stretcher. Officer Schmidt asked him a few questions before they took him to the hospital. Tommy Lee said he couldn’t recall what had happened. That was just as well for my lie.

Another ambulance came for the still unconscious thief. I guess when Ollie put them out, they stayed out.

There was a flurry of activity in the parking lot. Most of the men from the homeless shelter—not Ollie, of course—came out to watch. So did the shoppers who’d been inside the consignment store.

I should’ve had menus to give out. It never hurt to advertise wherever possible.

The responding officers were getting ready to leave when Patti Latoure showed up. That meant going over my story again with her. This time, I sat in the diner with a big mug of coffee. I was starting to feel the long day and lack of sleep the night before.

“So this man came up to you at the food truck today and tried to rob you,” she said. “You thought it was random, but it must not have been. He followed you back here. You said he wanted something you took from Terry Bannister. But you have no idea what that is?”

“That’s what she said, Patti.” Miguel reiterated my statement.

“Doesn’t that seem a little odd to you, Zoe? Obviously this is something important, probably valuable. The man was willing to approach you with a gun
twice
. But he didn’t tell you what he was looking for. Is that right?”

“He acted like he thought I knew what it was,” I answered. “I don’t have any idea what he’s talking about.”

Patti flicked her ponytail off of her shoulder and studied my face carefully. “Do you know who that man was that you knocked unconscious?”

I glanced at Miguel before I answered. He shrugged. “I only saw him today outside police headquarters for the first time.”

“He’s Don Abbott, Bannister’s partner in his taco truck business. You’re sure, in your dealings with Terry Bannister, that you didn’t see his partner?”

“Honestly, Patti, I didn’t even know Terry had a partner until all of this happened. I’d heard some talk on the street about the two of them fighting over some money. But the only person I ever saw from the food truck was Terry.”

I realized that this was the man the police thought could’ve been a suspect in Terry’s murder. He was supposed to have an alibi.

“All right.” Patti put away her pen and notebook. “I hope you’re telling me the truth, Zoe. I don’t know how long we can keep Mr. Abbott in custody. He may be back. Or someone else might be looking for whatever it is that they think you have.”

“Terry didn’t give me anything except a headache and the feeling that I needed a shower,” I told her. “Maybe you need to look into Mr. Abbott’s alibi a little more closely. If he was willing to shoot me for whatever he’s looking for, he could have shot Terry, too.”

“We’ll do our job,” she assured me. “You make sure you’re not in the middle of whatever is going on. Don’t hide something that could get you killed. I don’t want to have to explain
that
to your parents, Zoe. Good night, Miguel.”

“I have a few questions for you, Patti.” Miguel walked out of the diner with her.

I was ready for bed. I hoped all of that mess was over, but I couldn’t help wondering what Don Abbott had been looking for.

The crime scene people had gone over the food truck with a fine-tooth comb. I had cleaned it as well as I could. There was nothing there that didn’t belong.

I couldn’t figure out what else Terry could have left behind, but his legacy to me was becoming more dangerous. In two days, I had been accused of murder and threatened with being shot. Both of those events revolved around him, and the limited time we’d spent together in my food truck.

It didn’t make any sense, but as Patti had said, something was going on. I hoped I could figure out what it was before anything else bad happened. As Ollie had made clear to me, I couldn’t rely on him to save my life all the time.

Miguel came back a few minutes later. I could tell by the frown on his face that he had something on his mind that I wasn’t going to like.

“I think you should consider closing shop for a while, Zoe. Go and stay with your mom or dad.”

“I can’t stop now,” I said. “I had my first good day with the food truck. I have to build on that. My customers will forget me if I’m not there every day.”

“It could be dangerous staying here. We have no idea why that man was willing to shoot you. Whatever he thinks you took from Terry is important to him; it may be important to someone else, too. Right now, you’re in the middle of what’s happening.”

I only wanted to be in the middle of what was happening with the food truck business in Mobile, Alabama. Maybe I was at least on the verge of being important in that industry—I was on the radio today. How could I give that up and run away?

I couldn’t.

“I have to stay. Everything I own is invested here, Miguel. They announced where my food truck was today on the radio. Free advertising. I can’t stop now. For all we know, I’m on the fringe of what happened to Terry. It’s a series of events that I’m slightly involved in. It may be over now since they arrested Don Abbott.”

“I can’t make you leave. I wish you would, for your own safety. If you won’t go, at least look around carefully from now on when you go outside. Don’t let anyone in the diner that you don’t know. Try to keep Ollie with you when you go out tomorrow.”

“I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry. Ollie might be with me. I’m not sure.”

“He gave you his ‘don’t count on me’ speech, didn’t he?”

“Yes. I understand. I felt the same way before I left my job at the bank. Everyone had these expectations of what my life was supposed to be.”

“I know that feeling, too.”

“Would you like some coffee?” I took out another cup and put it on the counter.

“Are you sure? You look exhausted.”

“I’m sure.”
How bad did I look exactly?
I peeked at myself in the shiny steel side of the coffee maker. Not that bad. “It’s the least I can do after dragging you out again.”

“Okay.” He sat down on one of the stools. “I didn’t mind coming.”

“I hope you have me on retainer or something. I don’t want to reduce your billable hours. I know my mom is always worried about that, at least with the lawyers who work for her.”

He added sugar to his coffee and smiled. “The retainer thing would be the other way around. You’d have
me
on retainer.”