Tax Cut (9 page)

Chapter 9

I tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep, unable
to remove the image of the decomposing man from my mind, unable to think about anything other than what had been happening in Coral Beach. The next morning, I decided I was going to do some more snooping. I was determined to get to the bottom of all the craziness. Since the newspapers said the body had not yet been identified from the night before, I booted up my computer at work and typed “Vinny Buttiglieri” into the search engine. Not much popped up. I then tried “Vincenzo Buttiglieri.” Articles about his death appeared on the screen. There were a few new things I learned from the articles. I saw that his former wife’s name was Penny. One said he was a current resident of Bordentown, New Jersey, but he was originally from Coral Beach. His mother was still living and she was also from Coral Beach.

I decided to take a chance and do a
Google
search for “Penny Buttiglieri.” An address and telephone number came up for that name, a person living in Coral Beach. I was hoping Penny didn’t change her name after their divorce, and that I had found the right person. During my lunch break, the urge came over me to call her. I didn’t even know what I was going to say to her.

“Hello?” Penny said as she answered the phone.

“Hi, Penny. My name is Chelsey Alton, and I’m the municipal clerk of Coral Beach.”

“I know, I know, the animal control officer already called me.
I’m late with my dog license. I’ve been so busy, I haven’t had time to take Shmoopsy to the vet to get her rabies vaccine.”

This was a tiny stroke of luck, that I had a valid reason to be calling her, if anyone asked.

“Well, I was calling to let you know that our health department is running a free rabies clinic this Saturday, from nine to twelve, so that you won’t have to pay for the shot.”

“Oh
, great. I’ll try to make it. Is it in the public works garage again?”

“Yes, it is.
Um, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“No, not at all.”

“Were you any relation to the former clerk here?”

“Yes, he was my ex-husband.”

“Oh, I see. I’m new to this job here. I’ve only been here a little over a week, and, uh, could I ask you one more question?”

“Oh
, please, I really don’t want to talk about my ex-husband. His death has put me through hell and back with all the police officers here asking questions. I thought I was rid of him and anything to do with him when we divorced, but it’s like he’s back in my life with all the drama. I kept sending the police over to his girlfriend’s place. I figured, let her deal with all of this.”

“Oh
, geez, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up a sore subject. I didn’t really want to know about him, I wanted to know about my bosses here. It seems a few of them are very difficult to work for and I was wondering if you knew anything about them, that maybe Vinny had told you, that I should watch out for.”

“Well, that
Winifred is a real bitch,” she told me. “Tried to get my ex fired on numerous occasions. I think she’s keeping secrets; she always seems to be up to something. Only votes on items to serve her own agenda. She’s never looking out for the residents.”

“Oh, good to know.
Anyone else?”

“I never liked that
Marc guy either. Him and his Grecian Formula’d hair. He was always a miserable S.O.B., from what I could tell. The rest, I don’t really know anything about. They all came on board after our divorce. I know I should read the newspapers more or keep up on what’s going on in this village, but politics and government bore the heck out of me.”

“Thanks so much for the information.
I really appreciate it. Um, you mentioned Vinny’s girlfriend. Out of curiosity, who is she?”

“Her name is
Rae Ann Sumners. That’s all I know about her.”

“Thanks again!”

We said goodbye and hung up the phone. I thought about Rae Ann and wondered how I could find her. I didn’t know where she lived or anything else about her. When I arrived back at work from lunch, Nero was waiting in the hallway for me. I walked past him without acknowledging him. He followed me to my office door.

“You can’t come in here, Nero.”

“Please, give me five minutes of your time.”

“Don’t you have a job or something?”

“I’m a computer consultant. I own my own business. I make my own hours.”

“Oh
, well, that explains everything. It makes sense that you are part of a Geek Squad.”

“I don’t work for Geek Squad
; my company is Nero Computers.”

“You have thirty
seconds, Nero. What do you want?”

“I will show you
that I’m the guy for you.”

“You aren’t the guy for me
. I told you, I’m taken. Please stop.”

“I don’t see a ring on your finger.”

I rolled my eyes, opened my office door, and slammed it in his face.

“He’s still at it?”
Bryce asked me.

“Yes, and it doesn’t seem like he is going to give up.”

I trotted back into my office and saw my voicemail light was blinking. I cringed. The only people that ever seemed to call on my direct line were Nero, Babs, and Marc, and none of them were welcome callers. I played back the message.

“Hi
, Chelsey, it’s Kris. I apologize profusely for not calling you sooner. I want to take you out to celebrate your new job. Are you free on Saturday? Call me.”

This message put a smile on my face and brightened up my day.
Even though it didn’t seem like we could coordinate our schedules, I liked him…a lot! I hoped he felt the same way about me. The sound of his voice was exactly what I needed today. I decided I would call him back after work and agree to the date on Saturday with him. Needless to say, I walked around in “La-La Land” the rest of the day. Nothing like a gorgeous guy to get a dead one off my mind!

* * *

By the next morning, I had snapped out of my dream world of happily-ever-after with Kris and back into reality. I decided I would do some more snooping. I called Kathy Norcia. I hadn’t seen her since she first gave me the heads up about this job opening and hadn’t spoken to her since I started my new job. I called from my cell phone on my way into work. After a few pleasantries, I asked her if she knew anything about Rae Ann and how I could contact her. Kathy remembered meeting her once when Vinny brought her to a conference, but she wasn’t sure where she lived. She referred me to the municipal clerk of Sanibel Heights, New Jersey, Michele Analoro. She and Vinny had been friends.

When I got into work, I looked up the phone number for Sanibel Heights and saved it into my cell phone.
I figured I would give Michele a call during my lunch break. To err on the side of caution, I didn’t want anyone at work knowing what I was up to.

By nine o’clock, Bonnie strutted into my office.

“This place sucks. There are no hot guys here for me to fantasize about. Well, with the exception of Bryce, but he’s more your type than mine. And the only ogling going on is from Dingo, staring at my lung protectors all day long,” she said.

“Sorry, I tried to warn you about him.”

“I know you did. I just miss seeing all those hot firemen in Sunshine. Has Nero bothered you?”

“Not since I slammed the door in his face yesterday.”

“He was here again?”

“Yup. He’s like a wart that I can’t get rid of.”

“More like a vaginal itch.”

“Bonnie!”

“Well, an itch like that is worse than a wart, and a wart just doesn’t seem to do Nero justice. Next time, kick him in the nuts.”

I ignored her suggestion to kick a resident between the legs.
“The good news is that Kris called me and we are finally going out on a date this Saturday.”

Before Bonnie could answer me, my phone rang.

“I’ll let you get back to work, but I want details later,” she said as she walked away.

I answered the phone.
It was my old friend, Landon Nero.

“Hey
, Landon! Congratulations on your wedding!”

“Thanks!
I am so sorry that I’m calling like this.”

“Why?
What’s wrong?”

“Well, I don’t want you to think I’m crazy or anything, and I already know what your answer is going to be, but…”

“What’s going on, Landon?”

“Um, well, it’s my cousin, Mike.
He asked me to call you and see if you wanted to go out with him.”

“What are we? In ninth grade?
I already told him no.”

“I know, I know.
Don’t shoot the messenger. He begged me to call you. He said he thought you liked him.”

“Seriously? He thought I liked him when I told him I didn’t want to go out on a date with him?”

“I know; he’s strange. I promise you that he’s harmless. He’s just a social misfit.”

“I’m hanging up now,
Landon.”

“Oh, ok
ay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean bother you. I just promised him I would call.”

“Bye.”

I hung up quickly. I couldn’t believe Landon called me to ask me to go out with Mike. At my work, nonetheless. I didn’t have time for childish antics like that and I thought it was completely inappropriate for him to bother me at work.

The phone rang again.
I rolled my eyes. I was about to say “What now?” because I thought it was Nero or Landon calling, but luckily, I looked at my caller ID first. It was Babs Todaro.

“Good morning, Babs,” I said as I picked up the phone.

“I need to hire some protection,” Babs announced.

“Protection?” I asked

“Yes, protection. The Iceman is after me. He’s going to kill me. I need help.”

“Who is the Iceman?”

“He’s my nephew’s friend.”

“I thought the t
ooth fairy was your nephew’s friend.”

“Um, no, wait.
The Iceman is my nephew’s cousin.”

“Wouldn’t your nephew’s cousin be your nephew as well?”

“You’re trying to confuse me.”

“I’m sorry, Babs, I didn’t mean to confuse you.”

“Never mind,” Babs said, sounding angry, and she hung up the phone.

I asked
Bonnie if she thought that I should tell someone about Babs being afraid of someone trying to kill her. We agreed that a quick call to the police chief wouldn’t hurt. If the police thought it was important enough, they could notify Babs’ daughter. Perhaps her medication still wasn’t adjusted quite right. Or perhaps there was no medication that would help. Dementia is a terrible condition and it, unfortunately, isn’t curable.

I left a message for the police chief and then
I had just enough time to finish the rest of my work before heading out to lunch. I left the building, got into my car, and went to the local pizza place for lunch. I called Sanibel Heights, but didn’t have much luck, as Michele was out to lunch as well. I walked into the pizza place, and I saw Marc having lunch with Gino
RighettiRighetti
Righetti
. I quickly said hello before going to the counter and ordering my slice. I thought that they must be close, since this was the second time I saw them having a meal together. I didn’t want to be anywhere near them, so I took my slice to go, and ate it quickly in the car before heading back to the office.

When I returned
to the office, Michele Analoro called me back on my cell phone. I told Bonnie that it was my doctor calling and then I shut my office door so that no one could hear me. I’d fill Bonnie in later. Michele was able to give me a small tidbit of information—Vinny had moved into Rae Ann’s house in Bordentown shortly before his death. It had not even occurred to me that they may have lived together, nor did it occur to me to look up Vinny’s most recent address in an attempt to find Rae Ann. I thanked her for the information. There is one thing about municipal clerks that I’ve learned along the way—they always seem to know a little something about everything. If you talk to enough of them, you’ll eventually find out everything you need to know. Well, almost everything.

I got on my computer and typed
“Vinny Buttiglieri Bordentown” into the search engine.
Bingo!
His home address and phone number popped up. I realized that Rae Ann might have been at work, so I waited until the evening to give her a call. I had a couple of hours in between the regular workday and the board of trustees meeting that night.

When I finally did call her,
Rae Ann seemed surprised to hear from me, but she certainly sounded like a lovely person over the phone. She dished out all the gossip that she had for me on the village. She kept referring to Marc as the “Village Idiot.” She made it very clear that she did not like him. She said that Winifred ran hot and cold; only looking out for herself and no one else. She said that John and Aspen were the nicest of the bunch and Vinny thought the two of them were trustworthy. She said Jamie was indifferent. Showed up when told, voted how she was told, but rarely contacted the office for anything. She was like a ghost figure. She sounded bitter and teary-eyed when she told me how none of the board of trustees had sent flowers, cards, or even a small acknowledgement about Vinny’s death. I made the judgment that I should watch my back around Winifred and Marc—not that I wasn’t already watching my back.