Murder on Consignment (7 page)

“I will,” I promised.

Shep grabbed my hand and squeezed lightly. “I know you will.”  

We grew silent again
. For a second, I thought he’d fallen asleep.

Suddenly, his eyes popped
open. “Now I need to ask you something really serious,” he said, a slow smile creeping over his face. “What are you wearing?”

I stopped
and looked down. I forgot I was still wearing Cherry’s gawd-awful bridesmaid dress.

I laughed. Then laughed some more. Soon I was rolling with almost hysteric laughter. From bawling to laughing. My emotions were shot.

“This,” I said, taking off my coat and twirling around, “is a dress I have to wear in front of two hundred people next Saturday for my cousin’s wedding. What do you think?” I struck a couple of poses, just to give him the full affect.

“Whew … that’s ugly—really ugly.”

I laughed and sat back down on the edge of his bed. “Isn’t it?  Even I think it’s horrible and you know I’m no fashion diva.”

He offered a weak smile in response. “Wish I could help you out with that, hon.”

I shook my head. Tears were starting again.

Thankfully a nurse came in to change his IV. As she entered, I caught a glimpse of his parents hovering outside the door.

“I think I should go and let you rest,” I said, laying my head down on his shoulder for another hug.

“I’m cou
nting on you,” he whispered in my ear.

I nodded and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before moving out of the way for the nurse.

I left the hospital thinking how quickly life can change. Here I was, so stressed out over this stupid dress when two people had lost their lives and my best friend was fighting for his.

Chapter 10

When I reached home, I found Sean’s car parked in my drive. He was sitting on my bottom step, waiting. I sat next to him, shivering in the cool autumn night air.

He wrapped his arm around me. “It was Pauline,” he said softly. “
She was shot to death at the Retro Metro. I’m sorry, Pippi.”

“I know. Shep
told me. I just … I saw her yesterday.”

Sean turned
me until I was facing him. “Why’s Shep at the hospital?”

“He’s sick. It doesn’t look good. Cancer.” The words caught in my throat.

Sean searched my face, but remained silent.

“He feels like it should have been him instead of Pauline. I left you a message earlier, but it might not have made too
much sense. Sean, I think Jane and Pauline’s murders are connected and that they’re tied to James Farrell somehow. You can check the gun ballistics, right? See if they match.”

“
Pippi, I don’t think—”

“I don’t care if you agree with me or not. Just promise me that you’ll check into wh
at I’m saying. I told Shep I’d make sure Pauline’s killer was brought to justice. He seems to think the police won’t put much effort into investigating her murder because she’s a reformed addict.”

There was a long pause. To my surprise, he didn’t argue. Instead, he leaned in, kissed my forehead lightly, and raised my face to his. “The Westmont PD is handling Pauline’s murder, but
I’m in contact with the lead investigator. Plus, I’ve already starting checking into A to Z Estate Sales. If there’s a connection to James Farrell, I’ll find it. In the meantime, promise you’ll be careful,” he said. Then he stood and left.

*

I set my alarm earlier than usual. I needed to get up and get busy first thing. Not only to keep my mind off Shep but to keep my business going. I needed to increase my cash flow, especially if I was going to be tied up looking into things for Shep.

My first task, after my usual morning routine
, was to turn my attention to packaging a few extra on-line sales. These would be my late payers—the people I had to invoice two or three times before getting a payment. If only everyone could just be an instant payer.             

After packaging, I hurried and rushed through my on-line account and responded to questions about auction items. I was sailing through my responses too, until I opened a question from
FrugilMom5
, who was bidding on a lot of kid’s clothes. She wanted me to measure every item from pit to pit and crotch to hem. Ugh!

My finger hovered over my mouse, as I briefly considered committing email homicide. I would have just loved to click her request into the cyberspace graveyard; but I was a professional, and who knew, she might end up being my high bidder.

So, after a half-hour of tedious measuring, and a couple bowls of cereal, I had satisfied my daily work quota and was ready to get down to the business of checking into Pauline’s murder.

I packed a soda to go, grabbed the packages I needed to ship, and headed out the door for the Retro Metro.

After leaving the post office, I called Shep at the hospital so that he could arrange for someone to let me in the store. It was closed for the week so the employees could have time off to attend Pauline’s funeral. I didn’t want to think about it, but wondered if perhaps the Retro would never reopen, especially since Shep was so ill.

Pessimistic thoughts plagued me the entire drive until I pulled into the parking lot about a half-hour later. I immediately recognized Owen as soon as I saw his unforgettable piercings. Today, he seemed nervous, fumbling with the key a few times before successfully opening the door. Of course, a murdered co-worker would make anyone nervous. I felt sorry for the kid.  

As soon as I walked in, it hit me that Pauline was actually gone. In the face of my sorrow for Shep, I hadn’t been able to grasp her death; but, it was right here, just a few days ago, that I had seen her last. Now she was gone and I was trying to find out the truth about her murder.

Owen hovered wide-eyed just inside the entrance. His arms were crossed tightly around his chest, as if he was trying to hold himself together.

“Were you here yesterday during store hours?” I asked him.

“Yeah. I was here until we closed at five. Pauline was staying to work on some stuff for Shep. She wasn’t going to stay too long because she was going to go out with her boyfriend.”

“Tanner’s his name, right?”

“Yeah. He’s a nice guy. He hangs around here a lot. They were serious, I think.”

I made my way toward Shep’s office. “Was she in here?” I asked, although I needn’t have. I already knew. The room had a forbidden feeling. Almost like death was still hanging in the air.

He nodded, keeping his distance. I tried to imagine what he was feeling. I wondered how he was going to be able to come back to work after losing his friend in such a horrible way.

I skimmed over the room, not looking too hard. I really didn’t want to see any signs of her brutal murder. Instead, I mulled over what Owen told me. It was almost as if the murderer had timed his visit to find Pauline alone. Why? To kill her or for something else? How did he know she’d be alone in the office?

“Owen, did you have a lot of customers yesterday?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. We were busy, I guess.”

“Anyone who
stood out? You know, someone who was maybe dressed weirdly or seemed to act suspicious.”

“No,” he said, but I sensed a slight hesitation in his reply.

“How did you know Pauline had a date last night?”

He paused and shrugged again. “I don’t know.”

“This is important, Owen. How did you know? Did she mention it while you were working?”

He squinted, obviously trying hard to remember. “I think she told me right before we got ready to close down for the day.” His eyes widened. “Yeah, that’s when she told me. I remember, she had just got off the phone with Shep and she told me to take care of the cash register
receipts before I left. She said she’d be staying late to do some work in the office. She’d wanted to get it done because Tanner was going to pick her up around six or something.”

I stood and walked to where he was standing and looked him directly in the face. “Were there customers around when she told you that?”

“Sure, I guess.”

I put a hand on his shoulder. “Really think about it, Owen. I need to know who was in here and what they looked like.”

“Maybe three or four people. One was a couple. They were young. I think they were moving in together or something and were looking for furniture. They were really into each other. They got real cozy on that couch over there.” He pointed to great leather sofa about twenty feet away. It was the centerpiece of a modern display featuring clean-lined furniture and lots of black accents.

He continued, “Then there was a woman shopping for stuff. She seemed mostly interested in books.”

“Books?” That caught my attention.

“Yeah, she hung out by the book cases. I asked her once if I could help her find a particular book, but she said she was just looking around.”

“What did she look like?” I wondered if perhaps she was the same woman that visited Chuck at A to Z Estate Sales.

“I don’t really remember. Just normal, I guess. She was older.”

“Older like me, or older like your mother?”

He shot me a strange look. Certainly I looked much younger than his mother. Didn’t I?

“I don’t know,” he said after a moment. “I can’t remember. I’m not sure I even looked at her.”

I tried not to appear as discouraged as I felt. “How about the other person, woman or man?”

“Him, I remember. He looked like a big spender. I was trying hard to make a sale with him.”

My antennae shot up. “What made you think he was a big spender?” 

Owen perked up. “His shoes. Actually, everything about him. He seemed, I don’t know … like he had money.” 

James Farrell had money. “Old or young? Dark hair, short, tall, fat ….”

“Um, older, but not too old. I’m not sure about the hair. He was wearing a hat and had the collar of his coat turned up. He wasn’t too tall. In good shape. Dark eyes, maybe.”

I bet JimDog was of average height. He was probably fit, too. “Did you see what he drove?”

“No. But I’m sure it was nice.”

“Probably,” I agreed, wondering what James Farrell drove. “Had Pauline been to any estate auctions lately?”

“We do those all the time. Why?” 

“Do you keep records?”

“Yup,” he answered, moving to the office doorway and pointing toward a three-drawer file cabinet. “Bottom drawer. Unless it’s not filed yet; then it would be somewhere on Shep’s desk. We file the receipts and then enter the items on a spread-sheet on the computer. The receipts aren’t really detailed. Just the amount of the purchase and a general description of what was bought. We don’t put everything on the spread-sheet, either. There’s not enough time. Sometimes we bring in a whole truck of stuff from those sales.”

I pulled out another drawer. “No problem. I just need some general information.” I’d found the drawer with files and started leafing through, eager to find one marked Sokolov. There wasn’t any.

“What exactly are you looking for?” Owen asked.

“An inventory for a sale from the Sokolov estate.”

“That sounds familiar. I think we did buy from that estate.”

“Where would the receipt be?”

“In the file cabinet, probably.”

I sighed. If the killer was trying to cover his tracks, it would only make sense that he had removed the receipt. I started rummaging through a few piles on the desk, just in case it hadn’t made its way to the file cabinet.

“Have you received any unusual books lately? Books in a different language?”

He shrugged. “We get
tons of those. Oh, you know Pauline did find something in a book yesterday morning.”

My head snapped up. “What?”

“An envelope.”

“An envelope? What was in it?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask. We were busy.”

“You didn’t see her open it?”

“No, but I’m sure she did. We’re always finding things like that in books or inside sofa cushions. If it’s something valuable, we try to find the owner.”

“Did Pauline try to find the owner?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think much about it.”

Owen was starting to get upset. “You think it has something to do with her death?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Can you remember what book she found it in?”

His eyes grew wide. “I don’t know. There were so many.” 

“Okay. Don’t worry about it.” I tried to calm the panic rising in his voice.

“Were you here when the police looked around?”

“Yeah, Shep called and asked me to come down and answer their questions.”

I looked around. “So, did they take anything for evidence?”

“Just Shep’s laptop. They said they would have it back to us by early next week.”

My eyes immediately moved to the empty spot on Shep’s desk. So much for my
powers of observation; I hadn’t even noticed his laptop was missing.

I restacked a few of the paperwork piles I’d
shuffled through. The Sokolov receipt wasn’t on the desk and there was no sign of the mysterious envelop Pauline had found. “Did you happen to notice if the cops took any envelopes or papers of any sort?” I asked in vain. I already knew whoever murdered Pauline was after that envelope, and it was long gone.

I opened my cell and found it was too low on charge to make a call, so I picked up the phone on Shep’s desk and dialed Sean. He answered on the first ring.

“Sean, this is Pippi. Can you find out if the Westmont police found an envelope or a bill of sale from A to Z at the scene of Pauline’s murder?”

I gl
anced up as Owen motioned that he was going to be in the next room.

“Why?” Sean asked.

“Well, a kid that works here said that Pauline found an envelope in one of the books they bought from an estate sale. I can’t find it here. I also can’t find a receipt for a purchase that they possibly made at A to Z Estate Sales for the Sokolov estate. I thought maybe the cops took it for evidence.”

Silence.

I took a couple of deep breaths. “Sean? Could you check into it for me?  Please.”

“Sure,” he sighed. I was testing his patience.

“Did you happen to find out anything at A to Z sales?” I asked, pushing it a little further.

“I sent a couple of guys over there, but they didn’t get much.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Charlie denied that a woman paid him a thousand dollars for the Sokolov file.”

“Chuck said that? He’s lying. Does he have security cameras in the place?  Maybe you could review the tapes and see if the lady is on video.”  

“Nope, no security cameras. Just a hard-wired alarm system.”