A Slice of Murder (25 page)

“You don’t trust Faith, either?”

“Certainly not with any of my husbands,” she said, “but I don’t know if she’s a murderer. Do you?”

“Can we really take the chance that she’s not? Whether she killed Richard or not, Kevin still deserves to know what was going on between them.”

“And what if Richard was blackmailing Kevin as well? Wasn’t that what you were told?”

“Then we can put his mind at ease and tell him what Sheila did with the evidence. It’s only right.”

Maddy shook her head. “Then you don’t mind having a police chief with something so bad in his past he was being blackmailed for it?”

“Kevin’s not a bad man, or a bad law enforcement officer,” I said.

“Wow, I didn’t realize you’d become such a fan.”

“Maddy, are you coming with me, or not?” I’d grown tired of the cat-and-mouse edge to our conversation.

“Just try to stop me,” she said.

I called out, “Bye, Greg, we’re locking the door behind us.”

“Bye,” he called back, his voice muffled through the closed door.

“I’ll drive, if you don’t mind,” Maddy said. “That way if anybody wants to take a shot at you, they won’t know you’re with me.”

“Who else rides around town with you?” I asked as I got into her car.

“That’s not the point. That Subaru of yours must have a target on it or something.”

“I resent that,” I said as she headed toward my house.

“But you don’t deny it,” she said.

Four minutes later we were at the house.

I turned to Maddy and said, “Wait right here. I’ll be back in a second.”

She shut off the engine as she said, “I don’t think so. For the foreseeable future, I go where you go.”

“Nobody’s lurking in the shadows of my own home waiting to grab me,” I said.

“Then we won’t have to use this,” Maddy said, pulling the stun gun out of her purse. “But if we do, I want to be ready.”

I unlocked the door, and we slipped inside. Maddy actually went to the trouble of dead bolting the lock as I reached behind the orchid painting and collected the lavender letter. I’d half expected it to be gone, and was relieved to find it still there.

“Check inside to make sure she didn’t just leave the envelope,” Maddy said over my shoulder.

I did as instructed and found the letter still inside.

“It’s here.”

“Then let’s go find Chief Hurley,” she said.

“You’ll have to wait over there,” Helen Murphy, the police dispatcher and receptionist, said after we’d asked to see Kevin and she’d called him on the internal phone line. “The chief’s tied up right now.”

I leaned forward and said softly, “Is he really busy, or is he just blowing us off?”

Helen said sternly, “I’m sure the chief would never do that. He’s in a meeting, but it shouldn’t be long now.” Losing the frown, Helen said, “Sorry, I just do as I’m told.”

“I understand,” I said. “By the way, how’s Amy? I haven’t heard from her in years.”

“She just had her first baby. Would you like to see a picture? She’s the most beautiful little girl in the world. I just love being a great-aunt.”

“I’m hoping someday to be a pretty good one,” I said, “if my sister ever has any kids of her own.”

Helen laughed. “How about you? Any prospects? I heard you had dinner with an eligible young man last night.”

“So, we’ll be waiting right over there,” I said, completely ignoring the question. “Let us know when the chief can see us.”

Maddy was leafing through an old issue of
Field and Stream
when I joined her. “Thinking about taking up fly-fishing, are you?” I asked.

“It was either this or
Trucks, Trucks, Trucks.”
She put down the magazine. “What was Helen laughing about?”

“Her niece Amy just had a baby.”

“And I’m willing to bet the conversation quickly shifted to your date with David last night.”

“How could you possibly know that? Were you eavesdropping?”

“I didn’t have to,” she said. “In a small town, what other question could she ask? Speaking of which, you never told me when you were seeing him again.”

“I’m not,” I said, trying to make the statement flat and not open for discussion. It was futile, and I knew it, but at least I made the gesture.

“Don’t be so thickheaded,” she said. “You don’t exactly have your choice of men panting after you, do you?”

“Said the kettle to the pot,” I answered. “One is too many for me. He’s a nice man, but he’s not Joe.”

I hadn’t meant to say the last bit, but it wasn’t like it wasn’t the truth.

Maddy said, much too loudly, “For heaven’s sake, Eleanor, it’s time to move on.”

Everyone in the room was suddenly looking at us.

“Would you like to repeat that a little louder? I’m not sure Greg heard you all the way back at the Slice.”

“You’re hopeless, you know that, don’t you?”

“I keep forgetting, are we talking about me or you?”

She was about to reply when Helen interrupted. “He’ll see you both now.”

I stood. “You can wait here if you’d like.”

“No, thanks,” she said.

We went back to Kevin’s office. Sometimes we reverted to childhood arguments without any warning, and boys had been a part of that dialogue for as long as we’d first noticed the difference.

Kevin was sitting behind his desk, still on the phone with someone. His office was austere, with few photos and memorabilia. One thing he did have was a picture of him and his son, Josh, fishing somewhere in a mountain stream.

I pointed to it and said to Maddy, “Look, someone else who likes to fish.”

For some reason she found that amusing and started laughing so loud that it earned a dirty look from Kevin.

He whispered something into the phone, hung up, then asked Maddy, “What’s so funny?”

“Sometimes the world just strikes me that way. How about you?”

“My son’s still missing, I have an unsolved homicide on my hands, and you two are suddenly in my office. I don’t find anything all that funny at the moment.”

“I’m really sorry about Josh,” I said. “I can’t imagine where he might be.”

“Should you even be in here without your attorney?”

I’d forgotten all about Bob Lemon. He was going to scold me for sure, and I should have invited him to this party, if only I’d thought of it. “Probably,” I said. “But this couldn’t wait.”

Maddy asked, “Let’s get back to Josh. Eleanor, do you honestly think he’d tell you where he was? You ratted him out the last time he told you, remember?”

“That’s not fair,” I snapped. “It wasn’t my fault.”

Kevin asked, “Do I really need to be here for this? If you two are just going to argue, why don’t you do it out in the hallway? I’ve got some telephone calls I need to return.”

“Sorry,” I said as I pulled out the letter and slid it across the desk to him. “We thought you should see it.”

He looked at the envelope without touching it, then deftly flipped it open and extracted the letter with two pens, never touching any of it. After opening the letter and reading it, he shoved it back toward us. “What is that supposed to prove?”

“Faith and Richard were having an affair,” I said. “That’s a motive for murder.”

“Lots of people sleep around,” Kevin said. “There’s got to be more than that.”

“They broke up recently,” Maddy snapped. “Faith told us herself when we asked her about this letter.”

Kevin’s face clouded up. “So what I’ve been hearing around town is true. You two have been butting into police business, haven’t you?”

“Think of it as fact-finding,” I said. “It worked, didn’t it? I bet you didn’t know about the affair.”

“You’d lose your money if you did,” he said. “I’ve spoken with her twice, and I’m satisfied at this point that she didn’t kill Richard Olsen.”

“How is that possible?” I asked, my voice growing shrill. “You’re not still hung up on the restaurant alibi, are you?”

“I’m not under any obligation to tell you anything I don’t want you to know,” he said. “But just so you know that I’m not totally incompetent at my job, I know that their VW was in the shop the night of the murder. Anyone could have taken those keys and chased Olsen across town.” He added, “You could have done it yourself.”

“For the thousandth time, I didn’t kill him,” I said.

Maddy stood and gestured for me to join her. “Come on, Eleanor. I told you he wouldn’t listen to us.”

I stood and said, “You were right, but I had to try.” I turned back to Kevin and said, “If something happens to Sheila Olsen, it’s going to be on your head, and not mine.”

“What about Sheila?” Kevin asked, suddenly interested in the conversation again.

“Nothing,” Maddy said. “She didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Hang on, that’s not fair,” I said. “I told you I’d tell him, and I haven’t changed my mind.”

“You don’t owe him anything,” Maddy said.

“For the love of Pete, would one of you tell me what’s going on?” Kevin bellowed.

“Richard Olsen was blackmailing some folks in town,” I said, searching his face for a reaction.

“Go on, I’m listening.”

“Sheila found the safety-deposit box where the leverage was all stashed, so she destroyed it,” I added quickly.

The look of relief on his face was evident, though he tried to hide it from us. “It’s all gone, then?”

“Every last shred of it,” I said.

“She should have turned it over to me,” Kevin said.

“Probably, but this way is best, don’t you think?” I said.

Kevin shrugged. “There might have been a motive for murder buried somewhere in there.”

“True, but if there was, it’s gone now,” I said.

He reached for the phone, then told an officer on the other end, “Find Faith Baron. I’d like to talk to her.” Then he added, almost as a second thought, “And keep an eye out for Sheila Olsen. No, it’s not urgent. I’d just like to have a word with both of them.”

After he hung up, he turned to us and said, “Thanks for coming by.” As he glanced at his watch, he asked, “Don’t you have a restaurant to run?”

“We’re going there right now,” I said.

Maddy waited until we were in the car on our way back to the Slice to say, “That rumor was right. The police chief was definitely relieved when you told him that evidence was destroyed.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” I said, for some odd reason defending Kevin.

“You’re kidding, right? He should have been furious when you told him everything had been burned, but he hardly seemed upset by the news at all.”

“Hey, he’s going to talk to Faith and keep an eye out for Sheila. That’s a win in my book.”

“And we go back to making pizza,” Maddy said.

“For now, it’s all we can do.”

We were near the pizzeria when I said, “I’m still glad we told him the truth.”

“Let’s just hope he does something about it,” Maddy said.

I was relieved to turn over what we’d learned to Kevin. Maybe now I could get back to my business, and my life.

But not yet.

David Quinton was standing in front of the Slice, and worse yet, he had a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

“G
ood, you’re back,” David said, as he handed me the flowers. “Do you have a second?”

“Honestly, it’s not a great time for me,” I said.

Maddy got out her keys. “Go on, I can get things started inside.”

I rolled my eyes at her, but there was really nothing I could do. “Come on in, then. I’ll get you a soda.”

“If you don’t mind, I’d really like to talk to you out here. It’s not as intimidating if we’re away from the Slice. That’s clearly your domain.”

“That’s a good thing,” I said.

“For you, maybe.”

“Okay then, let’s take a walk.”

I gave my sister the flowers as Maddy flipped the sign out front to
OPEN
as David and I started walking down the promenade. Paul was sweeping the pavers in front of his shop, and he waved to me as we walked by.

“I want to talk to you about last night,” he said.

“Funny, I need to talk to you about it, too,” I replied.

“Let me go first.”

I wanted to stop him before he said anything he’d be embarrassed about later, since I was ending this here and now. “I really should have my say.”

“Eleanor, can I have my way just once?”

“If it’s that important to you,” I said as we went by Little Tykes, a clothing store for only the wealthiest families in Timber Ridge. Annie Farrar was in the window dressing a little-girl mannequin in an outfit I couldn’t afford on my best day, and she nodded toward me and smiled.

“It is,” he said. “Maybe this was a mistake.”

I was about to agree out of relief when he added, “It’s like you’re the mayor of the square, you know? I need your full attention.”

I pointed to a bench that was away from the shops. “We can sit over there.”

It was still cold, but at least the fog was gone, though it was forecast again for this evening. I bundled my jacket closer as we sat down.

“Go ahead,” I said, “You’ve got my full, undivided attention.”

“Don’t say no,” he said.

“What are you talking about? I just said I would listen.”

“I mean don’t cancel our next date. I know you’ve had time to think about it, and your first reaction is to back away from me, but I’m asking you for a real chance.”

“I never promised you more than one dinner,” I said, uncomfortable with his intensity.

“Do you really think that’s enough time to decide if you’d like to see more of me?” I started to say something when he interrupted. “Okay, if our date last night was horrible, I can understand you wanting to end things, but we had fun. Both of us did, so don’t try to deny it.”

“I wasn’t about to,” I said. “But it’s still too soon.”

“How long does it take?” David asked. “It’s been two years since Joe died.”

“The way I feel right now, it could be ten or twenty more,” I said, not wanting to hurt him with my blunt honesty, but not really having any other choice.

“Or it could be our next date. My point is, how are you going to know if you don’t give yourself a chance?”

“David, I like you, I really do.”

“But,” he said. “Why does there always have to be a ‘but.’”

“Not always, just this time,” I said.

“Before you say something we’ll both regret, let’s try this another way. Have dinner with me next week, and once a week after that until you’re tired of my company. For my part, I won’t pressure you anymore about dating me.”

“I’d be doing just that, though, wouldn’t I?”

He laughed. “We can set some ground rules. We’ll take turns driving, picking the restaurant, and even paying, if it would make you more comfortable getting the check once in a while. All I’m asking for is your company. I’ve got to warn you, though. I won’t try to kiss you good night, so if you change your mind about me, you’re going to have to be the one who makes the first move.”

I laughed in spite of the serious nature of the conversation. “I can’t believe I’m negotiating this with you.”

“Why not? We make each other laugh; you can’t deny that. Is there any better reason to spend time together?”

“I guess not,” I said.

“Then it’s settled,” David said as he leapt to his feet. “Next week it’s your turn, so be thinking about it.”

He was gone before I had a chance to protest any further. I walked back to the Slice and practically dumped my sister to the ground when I opened the front door.

“He left pretty suddenly,” she said.

“Why shouldn’t he? He won.”

A look of joy spread across her face. “You’re going to start dating him?”

“No. We’re having dinner one night a week, and we’re taking turns driving, picking the restaurant, and paying.”

Maddy looked confused. “And how is that not dating?”

“There won’t be any romantic angle,” I said.

Maddy shook her head. “I don’t know, it sounds like you’re dating.”

“Well, I’m not,” I snapped at her. “Now, are we getting ready for the evening crowd or not?”

“We’re on it,” she said, adding a salute behind my back. I saw the reflection of it in the window, but I decided to let it pass.

Greg came back with an order, and I could tell there was something he wanted to say to me.

“Go on, spit it out,” I said as I prepared the toppings on the pizza he’d requested. The layer of cheese was on the sauce and I started dealing pepperoni slices like they were playing cards.

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re not mesmerized by the way I make pizzas, since you’ve seen me do it a thousand times. There’s something on your mind, and I don’t have the energy to drag it out of you.”

“I’m worried about Josh,” he said.

“So am I,” I answered. “Did he say something to you last night?”

“That’s just it. He never came by the apartment, and he’s stayed with me since he left his folks’ house. So where is he?”

“Does he have any other friends in town he trusts?” I asked as I slid the completed pizza onto the conveyor.

“Sure, but I don’t think there’s anyone else he could be staying with. It’s a lot to ask of someone, you know?”

“But you never seemed to mind,” I said as I cleaned up the workstation.

Greg shrugged. “He’d do the same for me. I figured why not.”

I thought about it a minute, then said, “Maybe he went back home last night.”

“Not after what he heard his dad say in here. I doubt he’ll ever go back.”

“He’s got to, sooner or later. This will blow over between him and his dad.”

Greg started playing with the sauce ladle. “That’s not the only thing keeping him away. He’s concerned about that VW trying to run him down.”

“I wish I knew who was driving it,” I said, “but it looks like it was in the shop waiting to be picked up. Anybody could have swiped the keys.”

“But not just anybody would be coldhearted enough to run somebody over,” he said as Maddy came through the kitchen door.

“You’ve got a new table,” she said, and Greg left to wait on them.

“What are you two chatting about?” Maddy said as she stole a pepperoni slice and ate it.

I’d asked her not to do that a thousand times, but I wasn’t in the mood for a fight tonight, so I let it slide. “Greg’s worried about Josh,” I said.

“The whole world is. From what I’ve heard around town, Kevin’s spending every free second he’s got looking for him. No matter what other flaws he has—and trust me, I’m anything but the police chief’s biggest fan—he loves that kid.”

“I know, but nobody can make Josh show up until he’s ready, or at least until he feels it’s safe to come home again.”

“That’s right; he thinks somebody’s trying to kill him.”

“The mysterious black VW rears its head again,” I said as I grabbed the phone.

“Who are you calling?”

“I want to see if Bob Pickering has been able to come up with a list for me yet.”

I dialed his number, but it went straight to the answering machine, with a message that the shop was closed, and I could try back tomorrow.

“He’s not there,” I said. “He must have forgotten about me.”

“I doubt that,” Maddy said. “You’re his favorite customer.”

I shrugged. “He told me he might not be able to get to it this evening. I’m sure he’ll have something for me in the morning.”

“Nothing’s going to happen tonight anyway,” Maddy said.

Greg came back with another order, and as he handed it to me, he asked, “Have either one of you looked outside lately?”

“There aren’t any windows back here, remember?” Since the building abutted the neighbors on each side, the only other place for a window was in back. Even if we had one, all it would show would be the alley where Maddy and I parked every day.

“You might want to come up front, then,” Greg said.

I made the subs and put them on the conveyor, then followed the two of them out front. After nodding my greetings to our customers, I looked outside. The fog had doubled its intensity from the night before. As I looked out across the promenade, I couldn’t even see the parking spaces our customers used. The closest lampposts were just blobs of light hovering in the air, while the others were completely obscured by the dense mist.

I was amazed anyone had braved the weather just to eat my food.

“Maybe we should close early,” I said as I glanced at the clock. We only had another ninety minutes, but it could get worse in the meantime.

Greg said, “We can if you want, but I don’t think it’s going to get any thicker. I say we risk it.”

Maddy said, “I’m with him. We already shut down for an hour this afternoon. Let’s stay open and see what happens.”

“Okay, but just remember, I offered.”

I went back to the kitchen, and to my surprise, a few more orders made their way to me.

I personally thought everyone out in that kind of weather was insane.

We got two calls asking if we were still open, and when I told the callers we were, they sounded pleased. I’d grown accustomed to turning down the delivery requests, but many of my loyal customers had been relieved that I was taking call-in orders again. It added an extra hassle to my days, but if it meant mollifying my regulars, I was more than willing to do it.

It was ten minutes until closing, and I hadn’t had an order in twenty minutes. When I walked out front, I was surprised to see that the place was deserted. Greg and Maddy were cleaning up, so I walked to the front, flipped the
OPEN
sign to
CLOSED
, and said, “As soon as you take care of the front, you two can go home.”

“We don’t mind staying,” Greg said as Maddy nodded her agreement.

“I know you don’t, but I don’t mind, really. Go on.”

Greg said, “If you’re sure.” He started flipping chairs onto tables at a record pace, and in a few minutes, he was finished.

“See you tomorrow afternoon,” he said.

I unlocked the door and let him out into a world of whiteness. “Are you sure you can get home all right?”

“I’ve walked this way a thousand times,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”

Before I looked back at him, he was gone, vanished in the mist.

Maddy said, “What a mess.”

“You need to be really careful driving home,” I said.

“Why don’t I follow you, just to make sure you get there okay?”

“Maddy, I don’t need an escort, or a chaperone. I’ll be fine.”

She frowned. “I don’t like leaving you alone like this.”

“For goodness’ sake, I’ve buried a husband; I can deal with a little fog.” As much as I loved my sister, we had been spending a great deal of time together lately, and I could use a break.

“Fine, be that way,” she said as she grabbed her coat.

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” I said, trying to apologize.

“Of course you didn’t,” she said. “Good night.”

She started to disappear into the fog when I called out, “Call me when you get home.”

“Your cell phone’s dead, remember?”

I’d forgotten all about that. “Then I’ll wait here until you make it there. You can call me at the Slice.”

“Now who’s the one who’s independent?” she asked. Maddy reached into her purse, then swore under her breath.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I can’t believe I left my cell phone at home. I know exactly where it is, too—sitting right on the kitchen counter.” She thought a few seconds, then said, “Tell you what. We’ll each give the other one thirty minutes to get home. Then I’ll call you if I haven’t heard from you by then, okay?”

“It’s a deal. See you in the morning,” I said, but she was already gone.

I walked back into the Slice. I had just finished cleaning up the kitchen when the telephone rang.

It was Sheila Olsen, and from the sound of her voice, she was terrified. “Help me,” she whispered.

It took me a second to realize she was the one calling. “Sheila? Is that you? I can barely hear you.”

“Faith Baron’s here at Richard’s house,” she said with a gasp. “She’s talking crazy and waving a knife around. I ran into the bathroom, but she’s hammering at the door.”

I could hear pounding in the background.

“Hold on. I’ll call the police,” I said as I started to hang up.

“Don’t!” she shouted. “Hurley’s in on it, too. Richard was blackmailing him when he found out Faith was sleeping with the police chief, too.”

“Kevin and Faith? Really?”

“I’ve got the photos to prove it. I didn’t burn everything, and now they want them back. He’s on his way over here. You’ve got to help me.”

“What can I do?” I asked.

“Come get me. The window’s been nearly painted shut, but I can get it open if I have enough time. Drive to the house and you can pick me up. Please, I’m begging you.”

“I’m on my way,” I said.

I might not be able to call the police, but at least I could call Maddy. Then I remembered that she didn’t have her cell phone with her, so there was no way I could get in touch with her in time. I left a message on her answering machine and hoped she’d get it in time.

It looked like I was going to have to do this all alone.

As I crept slowly through the fog toward Richard Olsen’s house, I thought of a thousand things I should have done instead of rushing off to save her. If what she told me about Kevin was true, I still could have called Helen Murphy, or even the state police. What was I doing risking my life like this? I had half a mind to turn around and go back to the pizzeria, but there was a small chance I could save Sheila’s life if I acted boldly. What choice did I have?