A Real Pickle (22 page)

“I’m not worried about that,” I said.  “Are you game?”

“You know I am,” Moose said.  “So, who does that leave on our list of suspects?”

“Just Tristan and Jeffrey now, as far as I’m concerned,” I said.

“Can you really see either one of them doing it, Victoria?  Jeffrey doesn’t seem like a killer to me, and I’m not sure that Tristan had the guts to kill Curtis, let alone do it in front of everybody at the diner.”

“I don’t like either suspect myself,” I said, “but we really don’t have any choice.”

“You might be right, but I don’t have to like it.  I hate to say it because I like the man, but Jeffrey is by far the strongest suspect, in my opinion.”  

There was another crash of lightning, and the afterimage was burned into my retinas.  The explosion of thunder afterward was deafening.  I waited for the lights to go out, but they flickered for a few moments, and then they came back on.  

I quickly threw my things together as I said, “I like Tristan for it myself.  There’s something that I’m missing, but it’s just barely out of reach.  I’ll get it.  Just give me a little time.”

“I know you will,” Moose said.  “Is your bag ready?”

“It is,” I said, and we left my room and headed for his bedroom next door.  I knew that technically I wasn’t any safer there than I had been in my room, but I certainly
felt
better.

“Now, why don’t you get settled in, and we’ll figure out how to trap the real killer,” Moose said.  “While you’re doing that, I’m going to brush my teeth.”

I nodded as I unzipped my bag.  That’s when I realized that I’d left my cellphone and charger back in my room.  “I’ll be back in a flash.  I forgot my phone.”

“Want me to go with you?” he asked as he held his toothbrush six inches from his mouth.

“Don’t be silly.  I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, but when you get back, be prepared to be brilliant.”

“I will if you will,” I said with a grin.

I left my grandfather in his room and hurried next door.  The cellphone was just where I’d left it, and I had a full charge, though I didn’t have any signal.  The storm must have been doing it.  As I grabbed everything, another bolt of lightning flashed, and the rumbling was even deeper.  The lights held again.

But the real killer had taken advantage of me being distracted, and was now standing between me and the doorway.

It appeared that I had just used up my last bit of luck.

Chapter 24

“What gave me away, Victoria?” Tristan asked as he pointed a gun at me.  From the way he spoke, I realized that he’d never been drunk at all.  He’d had to get away from that dinner table in order to ambush me back in my room.  The oddly amusing part of that was that at that point, I hadn’t even realized that he was the one who’d done it.

“The turpentine,” I said.  “I smelled it in the passageway, and then again in your studio.”  I knew that if I stalled long enough, Moose would barge in.  Which way would he come, though?  I might be able to turn Tristan toward the door or the secret entrance, but I couldn’t make him face away from both of them at the same time.  I had to be ready based on the slightest clue, or my grandfather would be walking straight into a trap.

“You realized that?” he asked.  “How very clever of you.  I don’t understand, though.  Surely there couldn’t have been that much turpentine on my hands.  How did you smell it?  I’ve used it so long myself that I’ve grown inured to the odor.”

“Did you use it to clean the hinges on the passageway door?” I asked.  It had taken me until the moment before Tristan broke in to realize that the smell from the passageway was also the smell from his studio.

He shook his head and smiled.  “I didn’t even think about that connection.  Very good.  Surely that wasn’t the only thing that gave me away though, was it?  That nearly made it the perfect crime.”

“What will the police find if they search your room?” I asked.  “Will they discover the outfit you wore when you killed your uncle in my diner?”

He looked at me smugly.  “That’s all been taken care of.”

“How about your shoes?” I asked, and I saw that I’d scored a direct hit again.

“I never thought about that, either,” he admitted glumly.

“It turns out that you weren’t nearly as good as you thought you were,” I said.  “Why kill him now, Tristan?  The man was dying anyway, and as far as you knew, you were going to get a quarter of his entire estate.”

“You didn’t know about him threatening to sign a new will?  I overheard him on the phone.  He was all set to give all of his money to that mongrel of his, so I had to stop him.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked him, truly puzzled now.

“You didn’t suspect?  It turns out that I know something that you don’t.  Charlotte found out about Jeffrey long ago and hired him just so she could keep him under wraps working in her house in San Francisco.  They were never supposed to meet, not with a continent between them, but Curtis popped in unexpectedly, and the two got together and hit it off immediately.  My uncle hired him and brought him back here.  Charlotte probably nearly died when that happened.  No one knew about their real connection, though.  Charlotte must have thought that she was safe, but I realized it from the moment I saw Jeffrey.  They walked the same, and they even had the same snort when they laughed.  He wasn’t really an orphan after all.  Everyone else figured it was just because the two of them were so close, but
I
knew the truth.  I have an artist’s eye for such things.”

“Jeffrey is Curtis’s son?” I asked, not able to take it all in.

“Keep up, Victoria.  Didn’t I just say as much?  I had a feeling that Curtis suspected it himself a few days before I killed him.  You see, I couldn’t afford to wait any longer.  I knew that Uncle Curtis wouldn’t do anything until he had a DNA test done, but time was ticking, and if I hoped to inherit what was rightfully mine, I was going to have to move fast.”

“But if Jeffrey really
is
his son, doesn’t that make all of this rightfully his, not yours?” I asked.

“I am a Trane, not him!” Tristan shouted.  “That’s what my aunt and uncle were fighting over the night before he died.  She was going to try to stop Curtis, but he told her that it was already too late.  He was bluffing, though.”

“No, as a matter of fact, he wasn’t.”

“What are you talking about?” Tristan asked me, his voice suddenly growing hoarse.

“He already signed the new will.  You killed your uncle for nothing.”

“You’re lying!” he shouted just as another flash of lightning hit.  This one took out the lights, and the roar of thunder afterward was deafening.  A shot rang out, and I knew that I was out of time.  I couldn’t get to the door, but I could reach the switch for the secret passageway.  I stabbed it as another flash of lightning blew up around us, followed by another, and another.  It was as though we were in the middle of some kind of heavenly battle.

I couldn’t risk standing, so I crawled toward the passageway door.  If I hurried, I might just get out with my life.

I shoved it aside and hurried in, but as I did, a hand grabbed the door from above my head as I tried to close it.  

I hadn’t been quick enough after all.

Abandoning that plan, I headed for the exit, but as soon as I heard Tristan roar behind me, I knew that I’d never make it.  The only thing that saved my life was the darkness in the passageway.  I couldn’t see anything, but neither could my attacker.  Instead of going toward the hallway, I stopped at the entrance to Moose’s room.

I hoped that he was ready for me as I shoved the door open and crawled inside.

He wasn’t, though.

Apparently I’d just outsmarted myself.

The room was empty, and Tristan was right behind me.

Chapter 25

“Nice try, but you’re just postponing the inevitable, Victoria,” Tristan said.  “You have to die.  You see that, don’t you?”

“Haven’t you killed enough?” I asked as I searched for something to fight back with.  The only thing nearby was a chair, and it easily outweighed me.  I couldn’t lift it over my head to hit him.

I might be able to shove it at him though, but I had a feeling that would just make him laugh.

“Any last words before I pull the trigger?” he asked me.

I looked up at him, ready to spit on him in one last defiant act, when I saw my grandfather looming behind him.

“Moose, be careful.  He’s got a gun.”

That made Tristan laugh.  “
Really
?  
That’s
your last play on this earth?”

“No, but it might be yours,” my grandfather said as he smashed Tristan in the back of the head with a heavy brass lamp.

He went down in a tangle of arms and legs, and I knew that he wasn’t getting up anytime soon.  

I scrambled for the gun, and then I told my grandfather, “Call the police, would you?  I’ll explain it after they get here.”

“There’s no need.  I was in the passageway all along.”  

Moose used the cord from the lamp and wrapped it around Tristan’s arms and legs.  Let him get out of that.

“I was afraid that you were going to stumble in and get shot,” I said as I made it to my feet.

“I nearly did, but then I heard you two talking.  I was going to sneak into your room through the passage as a joke.”

“That’s not even remotely funny,” I said.

“I realize that now,” Moose said contritely.  “When I figured out what was going on, I was about to burst in and  help you when I heard the release click.  There wasn’t room to do anything in the passageway, so I went out through the door in my room, circled around, and then ended up following you both back into my room through the passageway again.  Forgive me?”

“Well, you
did
just save my life, so I suppose we’re even,” I said as he hugged me.

Moose pulled out his phone, and then he frowned at it.  “I can’t get a signal.”

“Let me try the landline,” I said.  “Sometimes they work in the worst storms.”

Finally, a little luck came our way.

I got a dial tone, and soon after, Sheriff Croft promised to be on his way.

Chapter 26

“I don’t understand,” Jeffrey said as the police hauled Tristan away.  “What do you mean?”

“Curtis was your real father,” Moose said as he put an arm around the man’s shoulders.  “I’m sorry that you found out this way, but we just learned of it ourselves.”

“He was always so good to me,” Jeffrey said, “but this?”

“To be fair, I don’t think that he knew himself until the end,” I said.  “Charlotte, on the other hand…”

“She
knew
?” he asked me, his voice filled with anger.

“That’s what Tristan said,” I told him.

At that moment, Charlotte and Sarah came in together.  “What’s the meaning of this?” the elder woman asked.

“Get out,” Jeffrey said, the anger seething in his voice.

“What?  Have you lost your mind?” Charlotte asked, but I could see a hint of fear in her eyes as well.

“I just found out.  How could you have kept us apart?  What kind of monster
does
that to someone?  I understand that you never cared about me, but he was your
brother
!”

“Watch your tone, Jeffrey.”

Jeffrey looked at her for a full ten seconds, and then he started to laugh, low and soft at first, but finally bursting out loud.  “You can’t talk to me that way.”

“We’re family, whether you like it or not.”

Sarah looked at her aunt, clearly confused by the recent developments.  “Aunt Charlotte?  What are you talking about?”

“Hush; we’ll discuss it later,” she said.

“I meant what I said.  I’m the executor of this estate, and the only beneficiary.  I want you both out of here, and I mean right now.  If I have to call the police back here, I’ll do it, and gladly.  I’m sure the newspapers wouldn’t mind a tip, either.”

“You wouldn’t,” Charlotte said.  Did she shiver a little as she said it?  “It’s pouring out there.”

“Then I suggest you take an umbrella with you.”

I was about to say something when Moose touched my shoulder lightly.  I glanced over at him, and he shook his head briefly.  He was right.  No matter what was happening here, this wasn’t any of our business.

“Go.  This is your last warning,” Jeffrey said.

“Come along, Sarah,” Charlotte said as she wrapped an arm around her niece.

“I don’t understand
any
of this,” she complained, but she left with her aunt nonetheless.

After they were gone, Jeffrey said, “I’m sorry that you had to see that.”  He looked into my eyes and added, “You probably think that I was a little harsh just then.  Think of it this way.  What if you didn’t know that Moose was your grandfather, and someone kept it from you your entire life?  How would you react?”

I didn’t need long to consider it.  “I would have probably been tougher than you just were,” I said as I squeezed my grandfather’s hand.

“Good.  I hope we can still be friends after this is all over.”

“Absolutely,” Moose said, “but if it’s all the same to you, I think we’ll head back home.  Don’t worry, we’ll be back for the memorial, but I’ve completely lost my taste for the Pickle Palace.”

“Come on,” Jeffrey said as a sudden smile blossomed on his face.  “I’ll drive you.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I said quickly.  “We can call my husband.”

“I insist,” Jeffrey said.  “Besides, I
want
to do it.  It’s a nice way to honor my late father, don’t you think?”

“I think it’s perfect,” I said.

As Jeffrey drove us home through the storm, I glanced back at the Pickle Palace as the lightning lit up the sky one last time.  It looked as though the storm was about to break, and I could see clouds parting to show us the stars.

It was a shame indeed that Jeffrey had missed out on having a father, but knowing how close the two men had become over the last three years, there was some solace to be found there.