Read Between the Tines (22 page)

The customer spun around to gawk.

"I fell in Lisa's bathtub," I grumbled and shuffled past them.

"It takes a licking and keeps on ticking," Mr. T said, sending Hazel and the customer into a fit of laughter.

Funny, real funny. Well they wouldn't be laughing when I found the killer and once again saved the day.

Heading toward the back of the shop, I spotted Daisy in the perennial garden on the side of the building. I'd planted all the perennials we sold in display gardens so our customers could see the plants at their best. We deadheaded the spent flowers every few days in the summer to keep the plants blooming longer and to display them at their finest.

Daisy, wearing our shop uniform covered by a brightly flowered gardening apron, bent over a large stand of Coreopsis 'Moonbeam.' It was easier to take pruners to this plant and cut it back rather than pluck each delicate bloom individually, but we did the right thing here, not the easy thing.

"Daisy," I said and stopped next to her.

She shot upright stuffing a fist full of deadheads into her apron pocket. "What happened to your face?"

Knowing every conversation I had today would start this way, I sighed. "I fell in Lisa's bathtub this morning."

"Wow, you've had a rough time lately. I heard about your apartment." Her eyes took on a pitying cast. "And I'm sorry to hear about you and Adam, too."

Great, I would really be fodder for the grapevine today. I hadn't really expected anyone to know about Adam, but now that I pondered it, I should have known better. Biddy Miller was at the restaurant last night. Enough said.

"Thanks for your concern," I said quickly to put an end to the topic.

"I don't mean to be tacky, but does this mean you can help me now?" She held her breath resembling a puffer fish wearing bright lipstick.

Tacky? Tacky? She'd passed right by tacky and moved on to vulture, but I wanted to talk to her, so I let it slide. "How about taking a break? We can go to my office and talk about it."

She nodded enthusiastically. "I really am sorry about Adam. I probably don't sound like I am 'cause I'm so happy you can help me now, but the two of you belong together. I'm sure it'll all work out."

"Enough about Adam, already," I said not ready to discuss him with anyone but Lisa and pivoted. "C'mon, let's talk in the office."

Traffic in the shop for a Wednesday morning was pretty typical. We wound through the tables where a quartet of women sipped coffee and chatted about a magazine article on composting. I wished I could stop and join in their discussion as I'd often done in the past, but then they'd ask about my face and the breakin, and drone on about Adam just like Daisy. I couldn't handle any more pity or questions, so I kept going.

In the office, I gingerly lowered my battered body to a sitting position and waited for Daisy to perch on a chair. Her eyes focused on me and locked tight.

Uncomfortable with her intense scrutiny, I cleared my throat. "Last night, Adam told me about the harassment at work. Wish you would have trusted me enough to talk about it."

Nice one, Paige. Burst her bubble and send her plummeting over the abyss of wariness, why don't you?

Her shoulders slumped. "
Normal
looking women like you think it's easy being pretty. They don't understand how hard it is to be nothing more than a pretty face. So I figured you'd think I was just being a big baby. I mean, those guys didn't physically hurt me. Just in here." She thumped her ample chest. "You know?"

I wasn't sure if her calling me normal looking was an insult or not. I mean normal was good, right? "I would have understood, Daisy. In the future I hope you can trust me with your problems."

She brushed dirt from the knee of her khakis. "No offense, Paige, but you really weren't very available. Once I admitted lying to you, you kind of blew me off."

I sat back as if her words had enough force to push me. She was right. I'd done to her exactly what Adam had done to me. "You're right, Daisy. I'm sorry."

She shrugged it off as if it meant nothing, but her eyes told a different story. "You said something out there about maybe helping me?"

"Tell me about the men who harassed you. Did you know any of them?"

She shook her head. "I didn't go into the office very much so I never met many people there. Except the receptionist, Angie. She's really sweet. She's the one who told me to tell
Gary
about the guys."

"Have they harassed other women, too?"

"Angie said nobody's been talking about it. She thinks they just started or they hit on visitors only. Since I don't come in a lot they must think I'm a visitor."

"What announcement did they use to let the others know you were there?"

"They paged Mr. Brooks to come to wherever I was."

"Mr. Brooks? Are you sure that was it?"

"Angie figured it out. Every time I was there, I heard them page this guy. So one day, I asked Angie who he was. She said they don't have a Mr. Brooks working in the office and they've never had a visitor by that name sign in either. When I told her about the men, she figured Mr. Brooks was their signal."

"Do you think you could identify the guys if you saw them? Like if all the men in the office were put in a line up you could pick them out?"

Her eyes lit up. "Are you kidding me? Could I ever."

"That gives me an idea." I shook my mouse to wake my computer and surfed to the Pacific Pickles website. I found a picture of the executive management team and enlarged it on the screen. "Come look at this picture. Are any of these guys the ones who harassed you?" I anxiously waited for her to stab a finger at Nathan Jacobs whose mug was front and center in the picture.

She leaned over me, her eyes wide. She studied the screen then shook her head. "Nah, none of them."

I jabbed my index finger at Nathan. "Not even him?"

"Nope, never seen him before."

"Are you positive?"

"Yeah, why? Did you think he did it?" She sat on the corner of my desk, tipping over a stack of mail.

How could this be? I was certain she'd identify him. I slumped back on my chair. Nathan Jacobs was a creep and a wife beater, but not a killer. I was back to square one. A square that now included querying receptionist, Angie.

"You have an employee key card to get through the factory gate, right?" I tried to keep the excitement of my quest out of my voice, but it sneaked in.

"Sure, yeah."

"Can I use it to go see Angie?"

"Oh, no. Absolutely not. It's for employees only, and I don't want to risk getting fired."

"But you could take me to see her, right?"

Eyes wary, she nodded. I didn't wait for full agreement, but jumped to my feet. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Even my toenails ached from the tub incident. Still, I grabbed Daisy's arm and dragged her out of the office. "C'mon. We're going to the factory."

"But I have to finish the—"

"I'm the boss. If I say you can go, you can go." We rushed toward a startled Hazel and Mr. T. "We'll be gone for a while. Call Teri if you can't handle things."

"But Paige—" Daisy whined as I opened the door.

"No, buts Daisy, we're going." I hauled her outside and nearly hefted her into my truck. "Buckle up while I get in."

Keeping an eye on her in case she tried to escape, I rushed around the front of my truck. I know this bordered on kidnapping, but Daisy didn't always know what was best for her. Ahem, okay, so maybe I was equally as guilty, but it was always so much easier to see another person's faults than mine. At least it was easier to admit.

Reaching to put my keys in the ignition, Daisy snagged my arm. "Paige you have to listen to me."

I sighed. I guess I wasn't very good at kidnapping either. "Fine, but you're not going to talk me out of going to the factory."

"My key card. It's in my purse under the counter."

I felt a flood of heat rush to my face. "I'll wait here while you get it."

She slipped out and skipped, yes, skipped inside. Since I had this unexpected time, I should think about what else I needed to do at Pacific Pickles while I was there. I had to talk to Irene about whether she saw
Gary
on Monday morning, and she could hopefully shed some light on Barney Rubble and
Gary
's
Fatal Attraction
woman, the two I'd vote in as the most likely killers at this point. Hopefully, I could pull Irene aside for a moment.

Daisy rushed from the shop, her arms jutting out at odd angles. She jumped into the passenger seat, humming The Bangle's eighties hit,
Walk Like an Egyptian
. And I'd thought of her as Russian sage when all this time she was from
Egypt
.

Truck in gear, I backed onto the street and headed for the factory. The temperature was warming so I flipped on the air conditioner lest I wilt Daisy. She sat back but fidgeted as I drove. Maybe she didn't want to go to the office, as she was worried she'd get in trouble over ruining the Briny costume.

I gave her a comforting smile. "Everything going okay with Briny?"

Her face perked up. "You won't believe what happened. My boss said she was so sorry I had to find
Gary
. Then she told me I did such a good job of keeping most of the costume safe that she wasn't mad about the gloves. She even apologized for not having the suit altered to fit me. Remember that's why I was in the woods in the first place. Anyway, they decided to have two Briny characters and I get to stay on permanently so they're sending the suit out for alterations. Isn't that great?"

"Sure is. See, things can work out."

She laid a fragile looking hand on my arm. "And they'll work out for you and Adam, too. You never did say why you broke up."

And I didn't want to now, but her compassionate smile and tone of voice urged me to share. "You'll probably get mad at me when you hear this, so I'll apologize before I start. I was helping Karen by looking into
Gary
's murder for her."

She didn't look hurt, but confused. "So why did you say no to me, then?"

"When you asked me, I hadn't told Adam about helping Karen yet. I knew he'd be against it so I was waiting for the right time. Then when he asked me not to do this for you, I was afraid to tell him about Karen."

"Asked? He didn't ask. He forbade you to do it."

"See, this is why I didn't tell him about Karen. Then at dinner last night he found out."

Her eyes scrunched up. "Why'd you keep on helping her if he was against it?"

"I had to. She was so upset over
Gary
's death and this was the only way I could comfort her."

"I know what you mean. A couple a years ago, my sister moved to
California
. The only thing that could make me feel better was to go shopping. And I did. Boy, howdy. I spent one hundred dollars in one day. Hid it from Earl. Then he got the credit card bills and figured out what I did. He was mad for a good long time. Man, that guy is so smart. I can't hide anything from him."

I so wanted to blurt out most anyone could have figured out her secret, but she was trying to be helpful so I kept it to myself and concentrated on navigating the final turn into the employee parking lot.

"Hey, I know," she shouted. "Remember last month when Earl got mad at me for spending all my time gardening and threatened to leave me and you offered to talk to him to help get us back together?"

"Yeah, but I didn't have to. He couldn't stay away from you."

"I know, right. Wasn't that sweet?" She blushed and giggled. "I could do the same thing for you. I could explain to Adam how you had to do this. He'd believe me. I'm sure he would."

I shook my head so hard, I got dizzy. "Probably best to let me talk to him first." Second in line to enter the parking lot, I pulled to a stop behind a silver SUV and waited to pull forward. "I'll need that card now."

"I told you. It's for employees only." She unclipped her seatbelt and leaned over me. She couldn't reach. She planted her feet on the passenger's seat and stuck her upper body out the window.

Thankful no one else waited to enter, I held my breath and tried not to breathe on her. The gate swung up, Daisy wound down, and I pulled through, following the path of the SUV to the first available space. The SUV's driver hopped out. Nathan Jacobs. Made sense. He'd probably dropped the beaten wife at home, maybe smacked her around a bit more then headed back here.

"Look, that's Nathan Jacobs. You're sure he's not one of the guys who harassed you?"

"I'm sure."

No, I won't give up on thinking this creep was the killer. "Let's catch up to him so you can get a better look at him." I shoved open my door and yelled, "Nathan, hey Nathan. Wait up, would you?"

He turned around and held a hand over his eyes to shield the sun. I ran ahead of Daisy, each step sending shooting stars of pain through my legs. What was I going to say when I reached him?

C'mon, Paige, think.

Panting, I stopped in front of him. His focus was fixed behind me. I turned. Daisy sprinted our way, looking like a
Bay Watch
lifeguard. Nathan seemed mesmerized. Good, this would be how he would ogle her, so if he was guilty she'd certainly recognize him.