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Authors: Chris Cavender

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BOOK: The Missing Dough
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“Thanks. I get a good idea every now and then,” I said as I glanced at my watch. “We need to get to the Slice. I still have time to make fresh dough, so we don’t have to rely on our frozen stash. We can look at what we managed to get out of there after we finish our prep work for the day.”
“Or I could start digging into it right now while you drive us to Timber Ridge,” Maddy suggested.
There was no way that I could make her wait, nor did I really want to. “Go on, then. Let’s see what we were able to come up with.”
As she looked through the stack of papers we’d retrieved, she said, “You left the money, I see.”
“I told you I was going to,” I said.
I was about to tell her about the other cash I had found when she added, “How much do you want to bet that dear, sweet Rebecca takes it all and fails to disclose it to anyone else?”
“That might be kind of hard for her to do,” I said with a grin.
“Why’s that?”
I told her about the other cash I’d found and what I’d done with it, all on a whim.
Maddy laughed as she applauded. “That’s brilliant. What do you suppose was valuable enough to hide with the cash?”
“I don’t know. I never really got the chance to check it out, but it’s sitting right there in your lap.”
“Then let’s check it out right now.”
Maddy took off the bands holding the letters in place and then started going through them.
“Hey, the least you could do is read them aloud as you go through them.”
“Sorry. I got caught up in what I was doing.” She started flipping through the letters and then looked up at me. “I don’t get it. Eleanor, they aren’t anything.”
“What do you mean?”
“Apparently, he really
was
fond of Vivian. These are all letters she wrote him over the past year.”
I shook my head. “Seriously? That’s kind of odd, isn’t it? Grant never struck me as being all that sentimental when the two of you were together.”
“He could be when he wanted to be,” she said. “Not that he kept any letters I ever wrote him, I’m sure.”
“In all fairness, did you ever write him any?” I asked.
She laughed slightly. “Now that you mention it, not that I can remember. I did leave him a few notes over the years, but there wasn’t anything newsworthy in any of them.”
“So the hidden drawer was a bust,” I said.
“I wouldn’t say that. There’s ten grand still in there. I wouldn’t exactly call that a dead end.”
“Maybe not, but why would he keep that kind of cash on hand, especially if Vivian had drained him?”
“I can think of some reasons,” Maddy said. “He could have been hiding it from her, paying off a debt, or maybe he just won a bet. Then again, he might have planned on using it to get out of town in a hurry.”
“Why would he do that?” Maddy was my expert on the topic of her ex, so I had to rely on her gut feeling about Grant’s reasoning for doing anything.
“He was always up to something shady,” she said. “Who knows? Maybe he was blackmailing somebody, and that was his ill-gotten gains.”
“If that’s true, where’s the evidence he was holding over them? It’s got to be there somewhere, too.”
“Maybe they paid him off, he gave the evidence back, and the victim stabbed him and tried to retrieve the money, too.”
“Hang on. That sounds kind of like a leap to me. Has he ever done anything like that before that you know of?”
“I had my suspicions, but I could never prove anything. Grant liked to keep things close to the vest, but he did act oddly from time to time. We’d be broke one minute, and then the next we’d be flush, with absolutely no explanation from him about what had changed things. Add to it a few whispered conversations I caught him having just before we had money again, and it all makes sense.”
“Okay, we’ll keep that possibility in mind,” I said.
We were nearly back in Timber Ridge when my sister said, “Wow. Will you look at this.”
“I’m trying to, but I can’t tell what it is from the way you’re holding it,” I said.
“Sorry. Pull over for one second.”
“We’re going to be late if we take any breaks,” I explained.
“It’s worth it. Trust me on that.”
I did as she asked, and once I was safely parked on the side of the road, Maddy handed something to me.
“What’s this supposed to be?” I asked as I opened the envelope she’d given me and studied what was there. I found just one thing; there was a laundry ticket inside, and the name printed on it was Clean Break.
Did it mean that Grant had clothes ready to be picked up at Vivian’s cleaning store, or was there another, darker reason he’d tucked it into an envelope?
“You know, there’s a chance that this might not mean anything at all,” I said as I put the ticket back in its place.
“Or it could be something really important,” Maddy said. “Did you see what was written on the envelope?”
I hadn’t, so I turned it over and saw that there was an odd series of numbers written on it. There were too many digits, and they were not spaced properly for it to be a telephone number. “What does it mean?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t think there’s a chance it’s just innocent dry cleaning, do you?”
“We’ll look into it, I promise,” I said as I started driving again.
We were almost at the Slice, and I was suddenly in a hurry to get back to my safe haven, the pizzeria. It was a refuge for me, something Joe and I had created out of our sweat and tears. Though Maddy and I often discussed murder there, the place still managed to hold me in its warmth, as the joyous memories I’d had there far outweighed everything else.
We pulled up in back of the Slice, and Maddy grabbed our finds as we got out of the car. We walked through the shortcut, and I glanced over at the mural painted there. Timber Ridge had done all in its power to draw folks to the promenade, and as a business owner there, I was mighty grateful for all they’d done. We were through the passageway and on our way to the blue section of buildings where the Slice was when I heard a pounding on a window nearby. Paul, our dear friend and the best baker in our part of North Carolina, was waving frantically to us from inside his shop.
“What do you suppose is going on with him?” I asked Maddy as we hurried to meet him at his front door.
“I don’t know, but I’ve got a hunch that we’re about to find out.”
Chapter 6
“P
aul, what’s wrong?” I asked when he met us outside. “I’m so glad that I caught you. Somebody came by here looking for you not too long ago, and I wanted to give you a heads-up before you got to the Slice,” he said.
“Was it Rebecca Whitmore?” Maddy asked.
“I don’t know who that is, but no, it wasn’t her,” Paul said.
He was about to continue when Maddy interrupted. “Believe me, you can’t miss her if you ever see her. She’s slim, nearly six feet tall, kind of pretty, if you like that type, and the last time I saw her, she had long brown hair.”
“No, I haven’t seen her,” Paul said. “I’m talking about Art Young.”
“Art came by?” I asked, more startled than I meant to show. “Did he say what he wanted?”
“He didn’t tell me anything about why he was hunting for you. He just asked me to tell you when I saw you that the two of you need to talk, and he left this envelope for me to give to you in case I ran into you first. He was pretty insistent about it.”
I took the envelope from Paul as he added, “Eleanor, I know that you two are acquaintances, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to watch your step around him. From what I’ve heard, he’s connected. Listen, if you need a little cash to get through a rough spot, I’d be glad to loan you everything that’s in my account, and it’s interest free.”
I had to laugh. “Art is more than a passing acquaintance to me. He’s my friend, Paul.” I waved the envelope in the air. “There’s no way this has cash in it. I’m curious, though. Why do you think I might need money?”
He just shrugged. “Hey, don’t forget I run a small business, too. I know how tight things can get sometimes.” He took a step backward as he added, “I didn’t mean to overstep my bounds. You and Maddy are two of the best friends I have in Timber Ridge. I can’t help it if I’m a little overprotective of you both.”
Maddy and I laughed, and we each found one of his cheeks to kiss. Paul smiled, but it was clear he wasn’t all that comfortable with our public display of affection. That was just too bad, though. He was like a part of our family, a big brother who just happened to be younger than either one of us. That didn’t mean that he still couldn’t look out for the two of us, though.
“Just for the record,” I said, “we’re fine, financially and otherwise. I have no idea what’s in this envelope, but it has nothing to do with money, I can guarantee that to you. By the way, how’s your love life these days?”
Paul managed to look uncomfortable yet again. I knew that he was still seeing Gina Sizemore, the young woman who ran Tree-Line. It was an elegant resort hotel and conference center on the edge of town, and they were still dating, at least as of the festival last night. I’d seen them together there, walking around the promenade, holding hands and looking as though the rest of the world wasn’t even there. “It’s fine,” he said.
“Oh, it’s bound to be better than just fine,” Maddy said with a wicked gleam in her eye. “We’ve seen the two of you in public.”
His face was beginning to turn crimson red. “Maddy, let’s stop picking on him,” I said as I waved the envelope in the air. “Thanks for delivering this, Paul.”
“I was happy to do it,” he said.
“Even with Art’s reputation around town?” I asked.
“Hey, any friend of yours is a friend of mine,” he said.
I had the envelope open by the time my sister and I got to the Slice’s front door.
“What does it say?” Maddy asked.
“Hang on a second. We can look at it once we’re inside.”
I let us into the pizzeria and then locked the door behind us once we were inside. I looked in the envelope, honestly not sure what I was going to find.
There was a single business card in there, with no name and no other indication of who it might belong to. On the front was a telephone number, and on the back, in block letters, someone had printed
Call me ASAP.
I showed it to Maddy.
“That’s odd,” she said after she studied it for a few seconds. “I wonder what this is all about.”
“There’s only one way to find out,” I said.
I grabbed my cell phone and dialed the number on the card.
It took twelve rings for whoever was on the other end to answer.
“I’ll be outside in seven minutes,” Art said and then hung up.
I was still frowning at the phone in my hand when Maddy asked, “What did he say?”
“Art wants to see me. He’s coming by soon, but I still think I have time to mix the dough, if you’ll help me.”
“You shouldn’t make him wait, Eleanor,” Maddy said.
“He’ll understand,” I said, hoping that he would. Art knew how much my restaurant meant to me, and even if I was a minute or two late, I was pretty sure that he’d forgive me.
“I hope you’re right, but we’d still better get on it,” Maddy said.
We measured out flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and water and got the large mixer started.
I handed a spatula to Maddy. “Stop it in two minutes and scrape the sides, okay?”
“I’ve done this a few times myself,” Maddy reminded me. “Go on. You’re going to be late.”
I took my apron off and grabbed my light jacket on the way out the door.
Art’s car was already parked in the promenade parking lot.
It appeared that I hadn’t made my deadline, after all.
 
“I’m sorry I’m late,” I said as Art’s chauffeur held the door open for me. “Did you have to wait long?”
“Not enough to matter,” Art said.
After I slid in beside him, the chauffeur closed the door, and soon after, the car started moving.
“I hate to tell you this, but I really don’t have time to go anywhere right now,” I said.
“This is important,” Art said. “I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t.”
“Okay, I get that. You’ve got my attention. Let me call Maddy and tell her that I’m not sure when I’ll be back.”
Art put a hand on mine. He was a man of slight stature, and his carefully styled blond hair was beginning to thin, but there was an air of importance to him that was undeniable. “There’s no need for that. We won’t be that long.”
I shrugged and moved my hand away from the phone. “Okay, if your goal was to intrigue me, you’ve certainly managed it. What’s going on?”
He took a deep breath, as if buying time to word his next statement carefully. “The inquiry I made this morning about the dry cleaner has aroused more interest than it should have. I asked a favor from a friend, but apparently, it was noticed by others.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” I said. “I’m sorry if I got you into trouble.”
He shook his head. “Whatever is happening right now has been brewing for some time,” he explained. “I’m afraid that this was just the catalyst that is bringing things to a head. I have to ask you not to approach the woman who runs the cleaner again until you’ve heard directly from me. Will you promise me that you’ll do that, Eleanor?”
What was going on with him? I didn’t think Art was afraid of anyone or anything, but I was getting some odd vibes from him at the moment. “Art, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Eleanor. It’s
you
I’m concerned about, though. Will you do as I ask? It’s important, to both of us.”
“I need to talk to her again sometime. Vivian told me her alibi, but I still have a hard time believing it.” I took a deep breath and then decided to tell him what I’d found at Grant’s basement apartment. “I found an envelope with a string of numbers written on it in Grant Whitmore’s desk. Inside the envelope, there was a stub from Clean Break. Does this have anything to do with what’s going on?”
“I’m not sure yet, but to be safe, you need to forget about it, at least for the moment. Eleanor, there are some elements that might try to use my friends against me, and you’re high up on their list.”
“Me?” I asked, shocked by the idea. “Why would anyone feel threatened by me?”
“I’m afraid that our relationship has been noticed in particular circles. For the time being, we can’t be seen together, and I’m not at all sure that it’s safe for us to communicate in any way. We are going to have an apparent rift in our friendship, at least as far as the world is concerned. It pains me to do this, but it’s a necessary step for your safety.”
“You’re not trying to ditch me, are you?” I asked. “I have plenty of friends, but I’m not in the mood to lose any of them, especially you.”
“Your loyalty is without reproach,” he said. “This is just something that we have to do. Maddy cannot know, nor your boyfriend or her fiancé. It must be a complete break if it’s going to work at all. Will you do this, no matter how distasteful it seems, as a favor to me?”
“Fine, but you should know something. I care more about you than this murder investigation. If I’d had any idea I was getting you in hot water, I never would have asked for your help.”
“You can always feel free to request whatever you need from me,” Art said. “I’m just not certain that I can always acquiesce.”
“Got it.” I noticed that we were back in front of the Slice, and I started to get out. “Call me as soon as you can,” I said.
“Good-bye, Eleanor,” he said, and his driver quickly drove away.
I walked back into the Slice and realized that I could find a way to tell Maddy what was happening without coming right out and saying it definitively. Art’s tone had spooked me, and I wasn’t afraid to admit it, even if it was only to myself.
“What did he have to say?” Maddy asked me the second I neared the door. “Did he have another clue for us about Vivian?”
“We’re not going to see each other anymore,” I said. The sadness I felt as I said it, even if it was only temporary, was real enough. Art Young and I didn’t exactly have any standing times or dates when we got together, and I never knew
when
I was going to see him, but knowing for sure that I wasn’t going to talk to him for the foreseeable future was pretty unpleasant.
“What happened?” Maddy asked, the concern clear in her voice.
“I can’t talk about it,” I replied, which was true enough. “Apparently, Vivian has something to do with it, and Art warned me that approaching her again anytime soon would be dangerous.”
“Dangerous? Seriously?”
“If you’d heard his warning, you wouldn’t doubt it for one second.”
“So, what do we do?” Maddy asked. “She’s not in the clear, by any means. I don’t care if the police believe her or not.”
“For now, we put her on the back burner,” I said. “We’ve got plenty of other folks to investigate at the moment.”
“Like who?” Maddy asked.
“Well, we can track down that man Grant was talking to in the shadows last night, and we can also find out where the people in that band live. That gives us three right off the bat, and who knows where all of that might lead?”
“I don’t like this,” Maddy said.
“Which part of it? The fact that we have only three suspects, or that somebody might be coming after us because of what we’ve done?”
“None of that, actually. We both know that we’ve started with less in the past, and threats have never bothered us,” she said. “I just can’t imagine Art Young dumping you like that. You’ve stood by him in the past when everyone else in town thought you were crazy. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Maddy, I’ve told you all that I can right now. Let’s just drop it, okay?”
“Sure, Sis. That’s fine with me, if it’s what you really want.”
“It is,” I said, thinking about how stern Art had been when we’d spoken. “What do you say we finish our pizza prep for the day and get on with our lives?”
“That sounds good to me,” she said. “What about the rest of the things we found at Grant’s, though? We’re still going to dig into those, aren’t we?”
“You bet we are,” I said. “I’m more determined than ever to find out who killed your ex-husband, no matter what it takes.”
 
After the dough was finished and put in the fridge, Maddy had the veggies and meat chopped up for the day’s customers. I was cleaning off the counter when Maddy brought out the papers we’d removed from Grant’s place.
“Where should I spread these out?” she asked.
“Bring that card table out from my office,” I suggested. “It should be big enough for what we need, and I don’t really like working at our prep station.”
“I can do that,” she said. “Here. Hold these while I go grab it.”
She shoved the papers into my hands and got the table out from storage. There was just enough room for it in our kitchen, and after she was finished setting the table up, I handed her half the stack as I glanced at the clock.
“Okay, we’ve got less than twenty minutes, so we’ll have to do a quick sort first,” I said.
“I’m fine with that. Let’s put the useless stuff in a pile over here, and we’ll keep the goodies here. Let’s get started.”
The first things I pulled out of my pile were the phone numbers she’d retrieved from the clothes hanging in the closet. “Should we just call these and see who answers?”
“We could, but then they’ll know what we’re up to. Let me call Josh first. I’ve got an idea.”
Josh Hurley was one of our employees and the chief of police’s son. I knew that his family wasn’t all that thrilled with him working at the Slice for a host of reasons, but I was glad to have him on my staff. He was working part-time during his first year of college, while my other part-timer was Greg Hatcher. He worked at the Slice as well, but he didn’t have to. In fact, he had more money than I did, but he loved the place almost as much as Maddy and I did, and we were both grateful to have him. Josh was our resident computer guy these days, and he rarely showed up for his shifts without some kind of computer in his backpack.
“Why don’t I call him,” I said as Maddy started to dial his number.
“That’s fine with me,” she said as she put her phone away. “You do that, and I’ll keep digging.” Ordinarily, I knew that she wouldn’t give in that easily, but there were other things to examine, and my sister’s sense of curiosity was probably as bad as mine.
BOOK: The Missing Dough
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