Murder on the Rocks (27 page)

“We’ll never know if Ginny would have done it because she never got the chance,” Duncan
said. “She and Riley were supposed to meet up the night before her death, but Riley
was forced to cancel because of the plumbing leak. Ginny decided to stop by the store
anyway to see if Riley needed any help. He had gladly accepted, and the two of them
had worked side by side for several hours, disposing of the already ruined books,
and moving boxes of others and Riley’s collection of rare editions out of harm’s way.

“Early in the wee morning hours Riley took a break and dozed off on an old couch he
had in the basement. While he slept, Ginny kept working and at some point she stumbled
upon the Capone books and the old building blueprints. After studying the blueprints,
she discovered the access to the tunnel in Riley’s basement, a set of wooden shelves
that hid a door much like the one in Mack’s basement. After seeing where it led, she
started putting two and two together and wondering about both Big Mack’s death and
the mysterious plagues that had befallen Little Mack ever since. She returned to Riley’s
basement and woke him, confronting him with her suspicions. Fearing she would expose
him, Riley grabbed a knife he’d been using to open boxes and stabbed her in the chest.
At first he thought about tossing Ginny’s body into the river, but it was getting
close to sunrise and he was afraid of being seen. Then he had a better idea. The initial
wound had incapacitated Ginny but it didn’t kill her. As she lay on his basement floor
bleeding, Riley broke into Mack’s bar, stole the knife from her kitchen, and returned
to his basement to finish Ginny off. That, plus his disposal of Ginny’s body by Mack’s
Dumpster and the careful planting of the knife where it could be found were all attempts
to pin the murder on Mack and force her to sell the place.

“In an attempt to cover up the evidence, Riley hosed down his basement floor, using
an industrial vacuum to suck it back up. He figured the plumbing leak would explain
all the water.”

I let out a mirthless laugh. “Unfortunately, water would prove to be his eventual
downfall because the heavy rainfall that came with the storm so drenched the earth
that water backed up from the exposed earthen bottom of the crater in the secret room,
eventually filling it, flooding out of it into the room, and seeping beneath the wall
into my basement. That water is what led me to the discovery.”

Tad shook his head and made a sad face. “Thank goodness you did. Who knows what would
have happened if Riley hadn’t been found out?”

“He almost got away with it,” I said. Then I turned to Duncan as a thought hit me.
“One thing I still don’t know is what happened to Ginny’s car.”

“Ah, that was a clever bit of work by our Mr. Quinn,” Duncan said, making me taste
sweet chocolate—a reaction I was keeping to myself. “A month or so ago he overheard
one of his employees, a high school student named Doug who worked on the weekends,
telling one of the other kids about the money this friend of his was making stealing
cars for a car chopper. The friend kept trying to recruit Doug with promises of easy
money so Doug said he did it once by stealing his neighbor’s car, but he was so afraid
of getting caught, he never did it again.

“The employee Doug told this to was skeptical, but Doug offered enough details to
make his story believable. Among those details were the name of the used car dealer
on the edge of town he went to, how he had to drive to the back of the lot between
the hours of two
A.M.
and six
A.M.
where the service garage was, and how he had to push the doorbell outside a regular
door in that garage in an SOS pattern: three short pushes, three long ones, and three
more short ones. Some guy came out and told Doug to wait where he was while the guy
took the neighbor’s car and drove it around back where, judging from the noises Doug
heard, he pulled it into the garage. Then the guy came out again, directed Doug to
a car parked nearby, and after giving Doug three hundred bucks, drove him to within
a block of his home and dropped him off. The guy’s final words to Doug were about
what he would do to him if he ever told anyone.”

“And yet he told one of his coworkers?” Tad said, shaking his head.

“Male teenage ego and bravado,” Duncan said. “It makes all of us stupid to some degree
at that age. Apparently Doug was trying to outdo a story the other kid had told so
he offered up the car theft, making the other kid swear to secrecy. I imagine Doug
was a little relieved when the other kid didn’t believe him.”

“Did you arrest this kid, Doug?” I asked.

Duncan shrugged. “Sort of. Doug apologized to the neighbors and promised to do some
charity work as probation, so they weren’t interested in pushing the issue. The DA
offered him a deal if he’d testify but he was too scared to take it. The cops were
able to bust the ring with an undercover sting and get enough evidence on their own,
so the DA is making Doug do time in juvey at Doug’s request. He wants it to appear
as if he was busted along with everyone else so they won’t think he squealed. And
his parents were fine with him doing the time. Said they hoped it would teach him
a lesson.”

“Are you going to tell us that Ginny’s car was chopped up by this group?” Tad said,
wincing. “Because that truly would be a crime. That little convertible of hers was
a sweet car.”

Duncan shook his head. “We don’t know what happened to it, though we do know the ring
got it. Remembering Doug’s story, Riley took Ginny’s keys and drove her Mercedes out
to the used car dealership Doug had mentioned. His experience was exactly as Doug
had said with one exception: Riley refused to take any money, saying all he wanted
in return was silence, a ride to downtown, and a quick disposal of the car. He had
the car chopper guy drop him off several blocks from the store just to be safe and
then he walked back. I suspect they might have tried to sell that car as it was rather
than chop it up. A lot of their stuff got shipped overseas, and we couldn’t find any
traces of Ginny’s car.”

I found it hard to believe that a man who I thought was so kind and caring could be
twisted into something so evil over the faint promise of a treasure. But I learned
that Riley’s money situation had been as dire as mine, maybe more so. Without Ginny’s
help he never would have been able to buy my bar. The combination of his monthly alimony
and child support payments, and the decline of sales in his store now that paper books
were going the way of the dodo, had left him broke and desperate. Capone’s hidden
gold had been his only hope.

Only there was no gold. There
was
a hidden treasure, however, though it wasn’t in the secret room. I finally got around
to emptying that storage room in the basement, the one that had been accumulating
stuff for years. And behind one wall of shelves I found a hidden compartment. In that
compartment were several cases of liquor dating back to Capone’s time. I decided to
keep a half dozen of them for myself, but the rest have been auctioned off to collectors
who paid a tidy sum to own a small piece of Capone history. The secret room and the
tunnel were merely used to hide people or help them escape back in Capone’s day, people
like illegal bootleggers who were trying to hide from the law.

“So what’s next, Mack?” Frank asked. “The money Ginny left you takes a lot of pressure
off, I imagine.”

“That it does,” I said. “Between what I got from the liquor bottles and Ginny’s life
insurance policy, I no longer have to worry about money on a day-to-day basis. And
you folks are the first I’m going to tell about my future plans. I’m buying Riley’s
store and I’m going to expand the bar into that space.”

My announcement was met with a cacophony of congratulations from the group. I was
pretty excited about the new plans but also nervous. Buying Riley’s space would give
me full control of the secret room and tunnel that connected the two and it turned
out to be something of an attraction. Ever since the story of what happened hit the
news, the bar had been flooded with customers who wanted a glimpse of what was now
being called the Capone room. We let folks go down there and see it, doing mini tours
several times a day and keeping it locked otherwise. Once my purchase of Riley’s place
was finalized, I planned to explore the idea of creating a special private dining
room in the secret Capone room, one that could be rented out for a fee.

All the expanding would mean hiring additional staff, something that made me a little
nervous, in part because I planned to hire enough staff to allow myself more time
off. It was a decision I knew would’ve made Zach happy, except that I had recently
put our relationship on hold because I felt I needed to figure out what was going
on with Duncan first.

So far most of what was going on with Duncan was free labor. Today was a classic example.
It was his day off and instead of relaxing or doing something fun outside to enjoy
the beautiful weather, he was working behind my bar, entertaining customers with his
drink mixing skills and friendly banter. Given that he’s good at it, willing to do
it for free, and I like having him around, I can’t see any reason to tell him no.

Our relationship hasn’t yet moved beyond friendship, I think because there was the
small matter of clearing me as a suspect in Ginny’s murder, which has taken weeks.
During that time, Duncan has been eager to help me sort out all my synesthetic clues
and cues, and lately he’s been testing me the way my father used to, only he uses
objects from crimes, or in one case, a crime scene for me to analyze.

My group of regulars—Cora, Tad, Kevin, Lewis, Joe, and Frank—and the cops who often
join them have been intrigued by this process. Cora has dubbed us the Capone Club
in honor of the stash in the basement, and declared us amateur sleuths and crime-solvers.
Word has spread and yesterday a writer was here to interview Cora and the others with
the intent of doing a write-up in the local newspaper about the club and the crime
that led to its formation. While I told the group I didn’t mind them advertising what
they were doing, figuring it might attract customers, I did dole out one caveat. My
“little talent,” as Duncan calls it, was not to be mentioned. It’s the Capone Club’s
secret weapon and I want it to remain a secret, though I’m not sure how long that
will be possible. Duncan keeps saying he wants to use me to help him solve crimes
and so far I’ve gone along with it. But I’m wary of what might happen if I expose
my little quirk to others.

For now I’m content to ride this wave of change, expanding my little neighborhood
bar, and helping my Capone Club do their thing by periodically serving up a little
murder on the rocks.

 

 

1 oz. espresso, chilled
1½ oz. Kahlua
1½ oz. vodka
1 oz. white crème de cacao
½ oz. heavy cream (half and half or milk can be used
for a lower fat option)

 

Pour ingredients over ice in a shaker, cover and shake, then strain into a chilled
martini glass.

 

To make a Mock Macktini, use 2 oz. espresso, 1 oz. chocolate syrup, a squirt of vanilla
syrup, and ½ oz. heavy cream, half and half, or milk.

 

 

 

 

 

1 shot Jägermeister
1 shot peach schnapps
Cranberry juice

 

Pour over ice in a shaker and then fill shaker the rest of the way with cranberry
juice. Shake vigorously and then pour into a glass.

For a non-alcoholic version, you can mix 2 oz. peach nectar with 6 oz. cranberry juice,
and top it off with club soda.

 

 

 

 

 

1 oz. vodka
1 oz. gin
1 oz. tequila
1 oz. white rum
1 oz. Triple Sec
1 oz. lemon juice
Beer

 

Combine all ingredients except beer in a shaker half full of ice and shake for about
thirty seconds. Pour into a glass and top off with a beer of your choice.

 

For a mocktail version, combine 4 oz. strong black tea with 6 oz. apple cider and
1 oz. of fresh lemon juice. Pour over ice and top off with ginger ale and a maraschino
cherry.

 

 

1½ oz. vodka
1 oz. sour apple schnapps
1 oz. apple juice

 

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice and add the ingredients. Shake well and then
strain into a martini glass. Garnish with an apple slice.

 

A non-alcoholic version of the Appletini is best made with fresh Granny Smith apple
juice, shaken with an equal amount of bottled apple juice. If you don’t have fresh
Granny Smith juice, you can just add a dash of lime juice and a bit of green food
coloring by dipping the tip of a toothpick in the bottle and then stirring it into
the juice.

 

 

 

 

 

½ oz. berry vodka (e.g., raspberry, blueberry, blackberry)
½ oz. gin
½ oz. white rum
½ oz. Triple Sec
½ oz. tequila
2 Tbsp. lemon juice concentrate
Lemon-lime soda

 

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Add all ingredients but the soda and shake
for thirty seconds. Pour into a large glass and top off with lemon-lime soda.

To make a non-alcoholic Summer Lightning Lemonade, shake together equal parts of a
berry juice of your choosing (or crushed berries if in season) and frozen lemonade
concentrate. Pour into a glass and top off with lemon-lime soda.

 

 

 

 

 

1 oz. Amaretto
½ oz. orange juice
1½ oz. cream or half and half

 

Pour ingredients over ice in a shaker, shake, and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish
with a cherry.

 

You can substitute ¼ teaspoon almond extract for the Amaretto to make a delicious
alcohol-free alternative.

 

 

 

 

 

Add 2 oz. of Irish whiskey to a mug of coffee and top it off with whipped cream. Drizzle
some green crème de menthe over the whipped cream.

 

You can substitute an Irish cream-flavored creamer to give your coffee an Irish kick
without the whiskey.

 

 

¾ oz. bourbon
¾ oz. tequila
¾ oz. Southern Comfort

 

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add the ingredients, and shake. Strain into a chilled
glass and garnish with an orange peel.

 

Perhaps fitting given the name of this drink, there is no acceptable non-alcoholic
version.