A Killer Cake (14 page)

“My team has been checking folks who had
cameras or cell phones who took pictures at the celebration
yesterday,” he said. “That was one of the reasons we spoke to so
many people after Roy was murdered.”

“That’s absolutely brilliant,” I said,
meaning every word of it. Why hadn’t Moose or I thought of that? It
reminded me that, as good as my grandfather and I were at digging
into murder, Sheriff Croft was certainly no amateur.

“Is that sarcasm, Victoria?” the sheriff
asked, his voice suddenly hard.

“No, sir, it is open admiration. Did you have
any luck?”

He appeared to accept the compliment, and
then he shrugged. “We got the scene with you and Roy on film from
some high school girl’s video phone. She seemed to think that it
was pretty hilarious.”

I was suddenly embarrassed yet again about
the way I’d acted. “Why would she want to tape that?” I asked.

“She didn’t start out filming you. Her mother
was at home sick with the flu, and she wanted to see what was going
on at the festival, so her daughter took some video of the square.
She was filming when she saw you and Roy, and we’ve got pretty good
visual proof that you didn’t dose that cake with rat poison while
it was in your possession. If you did it, you managed to fool all
four cops who’ve watched the video.”

“At least that’s good news,” I said, though I
must not have showed much enthusiasm.

“Funny, but I thought you’d be a little
happier about us clearing your name,” the sheriff said.

“I’m happy enough about it, but then again, I
already knew that I didn’t kill Roy, so all your proof does is
clear me from your suspect list.”

“I didn’t say that,” the sheriff said.

“Do you mean to tell us that Victoria is
still
a suspect in Roy’s murder?” Moose asked, clearly not
believing it any more than I did.

“No, not really,” Sheriff Croft admitted.
“Honestly, I never thought she did it in the first place. It was
just nice getting that video as confirmation so I could convince
anyone else if I had to.”

“Did you come up with any other evidence with
all of those photos and videos?” I asked the sheriff.

“Well, we’ve got some random shots on the
square that put some of our other suspects there at the crime
scene.”

“Care to share any names with us?” I
asked.

“I’m not so sure that would be prudent just
yet,” the sheriff said.

“We’re not asking to see the pictures,” Moose
said. “But a hint or two wouldn’t hurt our investigation, and
remember, we’re sharing everything we learn with you as soon as we
realize that it might be significant. Sheriff, we’ve proved
ourselves over and over again. There’s no reason in the world you
shouldn’t trust us.”

“I guess it’s just habit,” he said. “Okay,
I’ll tell you, but none of this is to be repeated. Do we understand
each other?”

“We do,” Moose said, and I nodded my
agreement as well.

“Okay, so far, we’ve got shots of James
Manchester, Hank Mullins, Asher, and another woman I’d like you to
identify, if you can. But first, do either one of you care to
comment on any of the names that I just mentioned?”

I thought about it, and then I told him,
“Manchester and Mullins have already admitted being at the
celebration, but the fact that Asher was there is new information.
When we spoke to his mother, she claimed that she and her son were
together the entire time her ex-husband had been poisoned.”

“How did you manage to get her to admit that?
Every time I’ve spoken to her, Asher won’t let her say a word until
he vets it first.”

“We were lucky enough to catch her alone,” I
said. “She was pretty free in telling us both that Asher was her
alibi.”

He nodded. “I might be able to make that work
later, then. Thanks for the information. Now about that photograph.
Why don’t you both take a look at it, and tell me if she looks
familiar to either one of you.” The sheriff reached into his shirt
pocket and pulled out a single photograph. I took it from him and
looked at it as Moose leaned over my shoulder.

I instantly handed it back to the sheriff,
and he looked disappointed by my reaction. “Well, it was a long
shot.”

“I didn’t have to look at it long to know who
it was. That’s Loretta Jenkins.” The image had been a little
blurry, and Loretta was turned partway from the camera, but there
had been no doubt in my mind upon seeing it.

“Are you talking about the woman who’s been
going around claiming that she’s Roy Thompson’s daughter? Are you
sure? Both of you?”

Moose and I both nodded. “There’s no doubt in
our minds. How did you know to pull that photo out of the pile in
the first place? Was it from the description of her that we gave
you?”

“I admit that it rang a few bells when I saw
it, but what really sealed the deal was the man who took it. He
said he was trying to get a shot of her to show Roy Thompson.”

“Why would he do that?” Moose asked.

“He used to work for Roy, and he noticed that
she was following him around the entire time he was in the square.
He figured he might be able to sell his old boss the information
when he decided that she was up to no good.”

“Wow, Roy really didn’t inspire much loyalty,
did he?” Moose asked.

“I don’t know if you can say that.”

“Why’s that?” Moose asked me.

“Look how long Kelly Raven worked for him,” I
replied. “Seven years is a long time.”

“I’ve been wondering about that, myself,” the
sheriff admitted. “From what I’ve heard, he was an entirely
unpleasant man to work for, and yet she was with him all those
years. Did he pay her that well, or was there another reason she
stuck around?”

“What could that possibly be?” I asked
him.

“I don’t know, at least not yet, but it’s
interesting enough to make me want to find out. Do you two have
anything else for me from your activities since noon?”

I thought about it, and then shook my head.
“Sorry, but that’s about it.”

“How about you, Moose?”

My grandfather shrugged, and then he said,
“You know as well as I do that we just got started digging into
this with free access to the suspect list. You’ve got better
resources, and you’ve had more time to dig into it. I was kind of
hoping that you’d have something else for us.”

“Sorry, but there’s nothing that I’m ready to
share,” the sheriff said. As he headed back for his squad car, he
said, “Keep in touch, okay?”

“You do the same,” Moose said, and the
sheriff drove away.

“Where do we go now?” I asked. “Should we try
to talk to Mayor Mullins again since we’re in town, or should we
try to track Loretta down?”

“Let’s swing by the mayor’s office. You know
how I hate to backtrack.”

We got to the town’s offices, but
unfortunately, the mayor wasn’t all that interested in seeing
us.

“Do you have any idea when he’ll be free?” I
asked Helen Parsons.

The earlier version of her was gone, replaced
by a woman who appeared to have forgotten how to smile. “I’m afraid
that he’s tied up, and most likely he will be for the rest of the
day. You could always try again tomorrow.”

I looked at Moose, and then I jerked my head
subtly toward the woman. Where was the charm now?

“Helen, I hate to impose, but this really is
important,” Moose said in that cajoling voice of his.

She didn’t give the slightest flicker of
acknowledgment that we’d even been there before. “Actually, it’s
Ms. Parsons, and I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”

Moose frowned, and then my grandfather turned
to me as he said, “Thank you for your time. Let’s go,
Victoria.”

Once we were outside, I asked, “What was that
all about?”

“I’m guessing that His Honor wasn’t too
pleased with how she dealt with us before.”

“He must have really raked her over the
coals. She barely made eye contact with either one of us.”

Moose just shrugged. “I never claimed to be a
miracle worker. What do you say? Should we go on and head to Laurel
Landing?”

“I don’t see any reason why not,” I said.
“There’s nothing left here for us to do at the moment.”

As we walked to where the truck was parked, I
said, “It really bothers me that Loretta just dropped off the face
of the planet like that. I wonder where she is.”

“Victoria, do you think there’s the slightest
chance that she might have killed her father, and now she’s in
hiding?” Moose asked me.

“I don’t even know for sure if Roy Thompson
really
was
her dad,” I answered.

“I’ve got a hunch that she’s going to need
more than a simple blood test to prove it,” Moose said. “Can you
imagine Asher giving up a nickel of his father’s inheritance
without a fight?”

“I can’t even see him sharing anything with
his mother, let alone a stranger who shows up claiming to be his
half-sister,” I said.

“Oh, I have a hunch that she’s not going to
have any problem fighting to prove that she’s a rightful heir as
well.”

“Like father, like daughter, I suppose,” I
said.

“So, where does that leave us?” Moose
asked.

“Well, we now know that Asher was at the
celebration, and if what Sylvia told us was true, she had to be
there, too, since she claimed that they both alibied each other.
That means that either one of them had the opportunity to lace that
cake with poison,” I said, “but then again, so did James
Manchester, Hank Mullins, and Loretta Jenkins.”

“Who else does that even
leave
on our
suspect list?” Moose asked.

“Just Kelly Raven. If she was at her desk all
morning like she claimed, then it would clear her of murder.”

“I don’t even know about that,” Moose said.
“It might be pretty hard to prove that she was there all morning,
since she was supposedly alone. Then again, that rat poison doesn’t
act instantly, from what I’ve read about it. She could have dosed
him with it before things even got rolling on the square.”

“But she still couldn’t have gotten it into
the cake unless she was there at the celebration,” I said.
“Remember? That’s where they found traces of it when they analyzed
the sample.”

Moose nodded. “Good point. That had slipped
my mind. That’s why we’re such a good team, Victoria. Between the
two of us, we have one good brain.”

“I hope we have more than that,” I answered
with a smile as we got to Moose’s truck. “We can’t rule Kelly out
as a suspect based on what we know so far.”

“I just hope that we have more luck in Laurel
Landing than we’ve had around here,” Moose said.

“I can’t think of any better place to dig,
and while we’re there, I’ve got someone else I’d be interested in
talking to, if we can find him.”

“Who’s that?” Moose asked, a troubled
expression creeping up. “You’re not holding out on me, are
you?”

“No, but remember when I first spoke with
Loretta, she mentioned living with a boyfriend in Laurel Landing?
Surely she told him about her rich father. What if he decided to
help her out and make sure that Loretta got her share of the estate
sooner, rather than later?”

“That’s an excellent point,” Moose said. “But
how are we going to find him? We don’t even know his name.”

“I admit that it won’t be easy,” I said, “but
that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t at least try.”

“I agree,” he said. “Let’s backtrack later if
we have the time and give it another shot trying to speak to the
mayor. Right now, though, I feel like Loretta is a much better lead
at the moment.”

“Let’s go,” I said.

We’d been on the highway for less than twenty
minutes when I looked back over my shoulder for the third time
since we’d gotten back in the truck.

“You’re going to strain your neck if you keep
doing that,” Moose said.

“I can’t shake the feeling that someone is
following us. Have you noticed that black sedan four cars
back?”

Moose adjusted his rearview mirror trying to
see the car, but clearly he didn’t catch it. “I don’t see any black
sedans,” he said.

“It was there, I tell you,” I said.

“I believe you, Victoria, but it’s got to be
a coincidence. This is the easiest way to get from Molly’s Corners
to Laurel Landing. It wouldn’t surprise me if all of us were headed
in the same general direction.”

I looked back again, but if the car was still
tailing us, I couldn’t see it. “Never mind. It was probably just
the result of my overactive imagination.”

“There’s no crime in that,” Moose said.
“After what happened to Roy yesterday, I think we’re all entitled
to be a little jumpy, don’t you?”

“Maybe you’re right,” I said. I looked back
twice more, just in case, but the sedan was gone. Either the driver
had realized that we knew he was tailing us and dropped out, or
he’d arrived at his destination without a single thought about my
grandfather or me.

As we pulled into Laurel Landing, I asked
Moose, “Do you have any ideas how we might be able to find Loretta
or her mysterious boyfriend?”

“Well, we’re not without resources here, are
we?”

I thought about our earlier visits to Laurel
Landing when we’d investigated murders before, and two places came
instantly to mind. We’d made friends with a local attorney named
Monica Ingram, and Moose had gotten reacquainted with the owner of
the BBQ Pit, a man named Charlie. I’d met two waitresses who worked
there, Josephine and Stacy, but I wasn’t all that certain that
either one of them would welcome a return visit from me. I’d
suspected both of them as possible murderers earlier, and my
questioning hadn’t been entirely welcome. Hopefully, neither one
carried a grudge, but I had a hunch that Moose and I were about to
find out.

“Why don’t we stop off at Monica’s office
first?”

“We’ll probably have better luck at the
barbeque place,” Moose said.