Chocolate Most Deadly (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 2) (18 page)

“I know you want to help your
friend’s brother, but Jake Breen and his boys are bad news. Why don’t you let
us handle the rest of this?”

“Oh, I will,” I said. “I just want
to satisfy my own curiosity about a couple of things.”

“Such as?”

“If someone did try to kill Tim,” I
answered, “maybe it was just a sideshow to Jake Breen’s bank robbery scheme. Or
maybe it’s something entirely different.”

Caldwell smirked. “You’ve been
watching too much television, Kate. That kind of thing doesn’t happen all that
often in the real world.”

I shrugged. “Maybe not, but I want
to check it out anyway.” He kept looking at me, but he didn’t say a word.
“Besides,” I continued, “investigating crime is in my blood. Once I get started
trying to unravel a new case, I’m like a dog with a bone.”

He rolled his eyes.

“No cracks, please,” I said.
“That’s an unfortunate comparison. Maybe it’s more like what they say—you can
take the woman out of the PI business, but you can’t take the PI business out
of the woman.”

He laughed. “Who says that?”

“I’m not exactly sure who ‘
they’
are,” I said, adding air quotes. “But I do believe they’re absolutely correct.”

We sat in silence as Caldwell
contemplated my wobbly defense. I added a few more things about my intentions
for one final sleuthing expedition into Denver. I told him that I wouldn’t
cross any lines. I promised not to overstep any boundaries. And I assured him
that I would get in touch immediately if I learned anything that I thought
might be useful for his investigation of the La Junta bank robbery or either of
the murders.

“Okay, sure,” Caldwell said when I
finished. “But can I ask you to promise one more thing?”

I smiled. “Of course,” I said.
“What’s that?”

“Just watch your back, Kate.”

“Absolutely,” I promised. “I’ll
watch my back, my front and both sides.”

Caldwell shook his head, laughed
and clambered down the stairs. I stood and watched until he disappeared around
the corner. Then I went back inside, poured a cup of coffee and headed for my
office to finish the bookkeeping for the week.

CHAPTER
38

My slice of German chocolate cake
and I were sitting comfortably on the sofa in my apartment when the phone rang
and
VIVECA ENGLAND
flashed on the screen. I reluctantly put down the
fork and answered the call.

“Hey, Viv. How are you?”

She squealed loudly before
repeating my name at a rabbity pace like an anxious child. “Kate!” she gushed.
“Oh, Kate, Kate, Kate!” She inhaled loudly and a man in the background told her
to calm down. “You’re
not
going to believe this!”

“Try me,” I said, my ravenous eyes
still glued to the wedge of cake.

Viveca laughed brightly. “Take a
guess!”

I wasn’t in the mood for games. And
I wasn’t in the mood for silliness. I was in the mood for a slice of German
chocolate cake and an episode of
Modern Family
before climbing into a
hot bubble bath.

“Kate?”

I licked a smudge of frosting from
one finger. “Can you give me a clue?”

“Guess who’s sitting at my kitchen
table?”

“Brad Pitt and George Clooney?”

She groaned. “My brother and Delilah!”
The squeal that followed was so loud I had to hold the phone away from my ear
until she stopped. “They got here about an hour ago! I saw that your car was
gone, so I figured we’d wait until you were home to tell you the good news!”

I put my plate on the coffee table.
“Are they okay?”

In a rush of excitement, Viveca
told me that Tim and Delilah were fine. After the incident with the poisoned
cupcakes and Delmar Singer’s murder, they decided to get out of Denver for a
few days. In the mad dash to leave town, their phone chargers had been left
behind. When the batteries died, they were essentially off the grid for the
remainder of the trip.

“It’s really that simple!” Kate
added. “I mean, isn’t that
amazing
? I’ve been worried the whole time
that something bad had happened to them, but they were camping and fishing.”

I dipped my finger in the frosting.
“Lucky them,” I said, quickly depositing the dollop of sugary paradise in my
mouth.

“It’s the best thing
ever
!”
she chirped cheerfully. “They’re going to stay here with me for a few days,
just until things at the apartment cool off a bit more.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” I said.

“I thought so, too,” Viveca agreed.
“Do you want to come over for a glass of wine to celebrate?”

I stared at the mouth-watering wedge
of cake. I looked down at my bathrobe and fuzzy bunny slippers. And then I
listened as Viveca repeated the question three times in a rat-a-tat tumble of
breathless exhilaration.

“I’ll be right there,” I said.
“Give me five minutes to change my clothes.”

CHAPTER
39

Tim England was even more handsome
in person. He was a slender man with tousled light brown hair, a
stubble-covered chin and the most radiant hazel eyes I’d ever seen in my life.
He also looked the part of the indie musician: a few tattoos, a trio of thin
leather strips knotted around one wrist, weathered jeans, a faded denim shirt
and battered black brogues. When I came through the kitchen door at Viveca’s he
was perched on the counter, swigging from a bottle of beer and watching Delilah
as she flailed her arms overhead and clomped across the linoleum floor in her
bare feet.

“Delilah’s showing my sister how
much she enjoyed fly-fishing,” he said by way of explanation. “You must be
Kate.” He put down the beer and slid off the counter, drying his hand on his
jeans before holding it toward me. “I’m really grateful for you helping my
sister,” he added as we shook. “She told me that you used to be a detective or
something?”

“Private investigator,” I said. “I
was just trying to help Viv figure out what had happened to you two.”

Delilah laughed. “We went fishing,”
she said. “After Delmar got killed, the freak show in Denver got too spooky.”

Viveca came out of the pantry with
a box of crackers. She gave me a hug and asked if I wanted a glass of wine. I
shook my head and asked for water. While she went to the cabinet for a glass, I
asked Tim and Delilah if they were aware of what had happened in her apartment
after they left town.

“You mean Toby?” she said gently.

I nodded, but didn’t say anything.
They locked eyes for a few seconds and Tim told her it would be okay.

“We heard he got shot,” Delilah
said softly. “It’s just horrible.”

“Do you know what he might’ve been
doing in your apartment?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Other than
invading my privacy, I have no idea.”

“Is that something he did often?”

“The guy’s a total loser,” Tim
said. “Or…he
was
a loser. Jake Breen used him for odd jobs around the
building. Toby’s name was on the deed because his dad’s pretty well known in
town and Jake had a police record. None of the banks would loan him the money
to buy property, so he propped Toby up as his business partner. I don’t
understand all of the details, like how they pulled it off and everything. But
I guess Jake had some wild-eyed plan to buy a bunch of real estate in the city
so he could eventually go legit. We heard rumors at York Street that some of
his cash was forcibly withdrawn from a couple of small banks around the state.”
He flashed a smile. “If you know what I mean.”

I matched his grin with one of my
own. “I’ve heard the same rumors,” I said. “But you think Breen was planning to
leave the life of crime behind?”

“Or his life of whatever,” Tim
shrugged. “I just know what Heidi told me.”

At the mention of the other woman’s
name, Delilah’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know why you’d believe anything she
says, Tim.”

Viveca drifted over with my glass
of ice water. I took a few small sips while Tim finished his beer. After
realizing that he wasn’t going to respond to Delilah’s remark, I asked them
both what they knew about Heidi Zimmer.

Delilah heaved a sigh. “That girl
is a witch,” she hissed. “Actually, they both are—Heidi
and
Hannah. We
all went to high school together in Omaha, me and the twins and Jake Breen.”

“What about Anton Hall and Lois
Jordan?” I said.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “They were part
of the rowdy bunch. After Jake and Anton moved to Denver, it just sort seemed
natural for the rest of us to follow. We were all pretty tight in school.” She
paused for a brief moment. “Back then,” she continued, “everybody joked that
Heidi and Hannah were in a coven or something. Heidi used to totally follow
guys around like a shadow. Then she’d tell everyone they were going out even
though the guys didn’t even know her name. It was creepy.”

“You never told me any of that,”
Tim said.

Delilah looked down at her hands.
“I didn’t want you to know,” she mumbled. “I wasn’t the nicest girl back then.
I was afraid one of the twins would tell you about some of the things that I
did.”

The admission left us in an
uncomfortable silence. Viveca kept her eyes focused on her half-filled glass of
wine. Tim went in search of a fresh bottle of beer. And Delilah pulled out a
chair from beneath the table and sat down.

“Do you own a patchwork coat and
floppy black hat?” I asked her.

“No,” she said. “Why are you
asking?”

“Because I saw them in your
apartment,” I answered. “The day that Viveca and I met you.”

She thought for a moment, shifting
her gaze to Tim and then back to me. “Yeah, that’s right. I remember now. But
those don’t belong to me; they’re Hannah’s. Or maybe they belong to her
roommate, that chick named Lois. I’m not really sure. The two of them are
always trading clothes and dressing alike. To tell you the truth, that kind of
creeps me out, too. Like Hannah doesn’t want to be her real sister’s twin
anymore, but she and Lois are trying to be mirror images of one another. Lois
is heavier and a lot shorter, but Hannah usually wears oversized clothes
anyway. I think she has some weird hang-ups about her body.”

“That’s interesting,” I said when
she finished. “Hannah and Lois wear one another’s clothes and dress alike now
and then?”

She scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“Now and then?”

“Are you saying it’s all the time?”

She shook her head. “I’m not saying
that. But I do remember that Hannah left the patchwork coat at my place a
couple of weeks ago. She came over and tried to get me to breakup with Tim by
telling me a bunch of lies about him. She’s so much more messed up than I ever
would’ve guessed. I mean, she thought I’d believe her crap and dump him. And
then—get this part—she believed that if I broke up with Tim, he would instantly
start dating her. Or her roommate. Or maybe her twin sister. It was never clear
which one was really interested in him. But it seemed like they were all
somehow in on it, you know? Like they were working together to get me out of
the picture so one of them could have my boyfriend. When I told her it wasn’t
going to happen, Hannah was so upset that she forgot the coat and hat when she rushed
out the door.”

“Did she come back for them?” I
asked.

Delilah shook her head. “No,
they’re still in my apartment as far as I know.”

I shot a quick look at Viveca. She
was staring at her hands, folded into a tight, anxious twist in her lap.

“When Viv and I went by the day
that Toby was shot,” I said slowly, “the coat and hat were gone.”

Delilah muttered under her breath
and stared at the floor. “Those stupid, ugly…” She looked at Tim. “I bet that
Jake gave them keys!” she said. “Or maybe Anton did. He came by York Street
during a meeting not too long ago and lectured me about being nicer to Heidi
and Hannah.” She heaved a sigh and shook her head. “Can you
believe
that? After all the years that I’ve put up with their madness? My guess is one
of the twins probably just went into my place when I wasn’t home to get the
coat and hat back.” She fumed for another moment, crossing her legs and rocking
from side to side in the chair. “Did you know that Jake and Lois were dating
for a while?” she asked Tim. “I swear that I am
never
going back to York
Street again. I could just tell there was something truly skeevy about those
three girls lately.”

I finished my water and walked the
glass to the sink. “It’s a small world, isn’t it?” I asked when I turned back
to face Delilah and Tim.

“What do you mean?” he said.
“Because me and Delilah go to the same meetings as those guys?”

I shook my head. “It’s more that
two separate groups of people—Jake Breen and his crew along with you two and
the Zimmer sisters—overlap at both AA and your apartment building.”

Tim shrugged. “We both rented our
places after we started going to York Street,” he explained. “Heidi was living
there at the time, on the third floor down the hall from me. Her sister and
Lois were sharing a place on the ground floor, but they all moved out a few
weeks ago after Jake bought a new building.”

“How do you know
that
?”
Delilah demanded.

Tim looked away. “Because Lois was
always slipping notes under my door.”

I watched as Delilah’s cheeks flushed
with color. I expected an outburst, but she didn’t say a word. After a few
silent moments, I asked Tim when he moved into the building on Franklin Street.

“I don’t know the exact month,” he
said. “I was still drinking pretty heavily. And the band was on the road a lot.
I remember it was cold, so sometime during the winter I guess.”

“Did you see it on Craigslist?” I
asked. “Or in the
Westword
classifieds?”

He shook his head. “No, I’d started
going to the late-night candlelit meeting at York Street because I was trying
to sober up,” he said. “I was sleeping on my buddy’s floor at the time, just a
temporary deal after I moved out of my last place. But Heidi came up to me one
night when the meeting ended and said her boyfriend owned a building and he—”

“Jake was
never
Heidi’s
boyfriend,” Delilah interjected. “But I’m sure she told you that.”

She flared her nostrils and shook her head. “I mean, it’s
insane
!
For somebody who’s supposedly sober and turning over a new leaf, Heidi’s still
playing the same old games that she played when we were kids. After you and me
started going out, I should’ve insisted that we find a new meeting and
someplace else to live. I knew those girls would be trouble. I knew they’d try
to drive a wedge between us.”

“But they didn’t,” Tim said. “I
told all three of ’em that I wasn’t interested. I made it real clear that I
already had a girlfriend.”

Delilah’s eyes filled with tears.
Viveca quickly plucked a paper towel from the dispenser and crossed the room
with it.

“Thank you,” Delilah whispered,
dabbing at her eyes. “I don’t know why I’m such a mess tonight.”

“Probably because you guys have
been through a pretty rough patch,” I suggested. “It’s not every day that
someone delivers poisoned cupcakes to your door.”

Tim laughed. “Man, I don’t think
I’ve ever been so happy that I can’t eat chocolate.”

Delilah sighed. “I want to find a
new apartment we can share,” she said. “Is that okay?”

Tim climbed down from the counter
and joined her at the kitchen table. He picked at the label on the beer bottle
with one finger while she apologized again.

“Of course, it’s okay, baby,” he
said. “I just don’t understand why you didn’t tell me that you knew those
girls. I don’t care what you did when you were in high school.” He glanced over
at his sister. “I mean, come on; me and Viv weren’t exactly angels when we were
kids.”

“Speak for yourself,” Viveca said
with a grin. “I was the poster child for angelic perfection!”

They shared a warm laugh and
briefly reminisced about their long ago past.

“I hate to interrupt,” I said when
they finished. “But can we get back to Heidi and Hannah?”

Delilah smirked. “Do we have to? I
really dislike those two women.”

I nodded. “I’m still trying to
figure out who left the poisoned cupcakes outside Tim’s apartment, so I—”

Viveca jumped out of her chair.
“You don’t need to bother with that anymore, Katie! Tim and Delilah turned up
and they’re both fine. You should let the police sort out the rest of the
matter.”

“I will, obviously. But I also have
a natural curiosity about these things. I kind of miss that life, you know?”

“What life?” asked Delilah.

I explained that I’d worked in
Chicago for ten years as a PI. Then I asked her why she was so unyielding in
her opinion of Heidi and Hannah Zimmer.

“I don’t know what you’re asking
me,” she said, wrinkling her forehead.

“She’s asking why you hate them so
much,” Viveca said. “Right, Kate?”

I nodded and waited. I could tell
from the look on Delilah’s face that she was thinking about the Zimmer twins. I
imagined that she was dredging up memories from the recent past as well as the
type of secrets, regrets and indiscretions that people reveal during AA
meetings.

“Okay,” she said finally, directing
her gaze at Tim. “Remember that one night we went for Chinese with everybody?”

He stared at her.

“The night I got so upset and we
left early,” she added.

“Oh, yeah,” Tim said. “I’d never
seen you so mad before.”

“Well, right after we ordered, I
went to the restroom,” Delilah continued. “A second or two later, Heidi and some
other chick came in. I was in a stall, so they didn’t know I was listening. But
Heidi started cutting me down and bragging about how she was going to steal you
away from me.”

Tim groaned. “Like I’d ever be
interested in somebody that crazy.”

“Well, the other woman kept telling
Heidi that
she
was interested in you,” Delilah continued. “The second
chick said, ‘If Tim won’t go out with me, then I’ll do something drastic so
you’ll never have him anyway?’”

Viveca gasped. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” Delilah said. “It sends a
chill down my spine now, thinking back on everything that’s happened. But at
that moment, listening to the two women bicker, I just figured they were being
stupid. Like friends fighting over a guy.”

I thought for a moment. “Or
sisters,” I said.

“What do you mean?” asked Viveca.
“Do you think one of the twins is responsible for the poisoned cupcakes?”

“It’s just one of my two theories
at this point,” I said. “I still need to do some more digging before I can tell
if either premise will hold water or not.”