Death of a Blueberry Tart

by Lee Hollis

  “Really, Albert, this is totally unnecessary. At home I already have a closet full of clothes I’ve hardly worn. I was thinking of doing some wardrobe purging myself one of these days.”

  Albert finally got the hint and stepped out of the closet and nodded solemnly. Hayley couldn’t help but notice his whole body was slumped over, like a hopelessly defeated, broken man. She felt so sorry for him.

  “Are you sure you don’t want some tea?” he asked.

  “No, thank you, Albert,” Hayley said. “Again, I am so sorry about everything. You and Regina seemed very happy.”

  He didn’t want her to leave. She knew Albert had loved Regina deeply and was now lonely and lost without her. And she decided in that moment that despite her burning curiosity, she was not going to ask him about Julio Garcia. She was about to say her goodbye and quietly slip out when Albert, almost as if reading her mind, broached the subject himself.

  “I’ll miss her every day . . . But it’s not like our marriage was perfect.”

  “Few marriages are,” Hayley remarked with a wry smile.

  Albert grinned. “No, I suppose not.”

  “I’m sure you remember my first husband, Danny. Now that marriage was about as far from perfect as you could get.”

  Albert chuckled and then caught himself. “Excuse me, Hayley, I didn’t mean to make light of your relationship. . .”

  “No, when I think back to all I put up with, it makes me laugh, but he gave me two great kids, so there was definitely an upside.”

  “Was he faithful?”

  Hayley was surprised by the question. It was almost as if Albert wanted to open up and discuss his own marriage troubles. She thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. “You know, I’m not really sure. I thought he was, but by the end we were barely speaking, so who knows what he might have been up to? He was what you’d call a ladies’ man . . .”

  “Well, I never was, but that wouldn’t surprise anybody. I’m more Mr. Magoo than Captain America.”

  Hayley cracked a smile. “I think you’re a wonderful man, Albert, and I’m sure Regina did too.”

  “Oh, yes, I know Regina loved me, but it was more like how a little girl adores her cocker spaniel, which makes sense because she always had me fetching things.”

  Hayley laughed. Albert, if nothing else, had a charming sense of humor.

  “But I often thought my loyalty and devotion to her just wasn’t enough . . . I believe she had certain needs I just could not satisfy . . .” He seemed to be talking more to himself than to Hayley, and suddenly he snapped out of his own thoughts and raised his eyes to meet Hayley’s. “I’m sorry, this is probably the last thing you came here to listen to . . .”

  He couldn’t have been more wrong.

  Hayley knew her opportunity was right in front of her so she seized it. “Do you think Regina was having an affair?”

  Albert scratched his chin and thought about it before nodding slightly. “I certainly had my suspicions. I caught her giggling and whispering to someone on the phone late at night once, and when she hung up and saw that I was awake, she told me it was her sister Betty in Philadelphia. But then the next day, Betty called and I answered and she mentioned that she hadn’t talked to Regina in over a week. That was a big red flag. And I also had this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that wouldn’t go away, but of course I didn’t say anything.”

  “Why not?”

  “In a way, I didn’t want to know the truth. I was willing to turn a blind eye because if it did all come out into the open, I was afraid I might lose her.”

  Hayley walked over and gave Albert a hug.

  He seemed grateful because he wrapped his short arms around her and squeezed so tightly, she could barely breathe.

  He sniffed a few times before finally pulling away and wiping his nose with his hand.

  She knew she had to know one more thing before she left. “Albert, do you have any idea who Regina might have been seeing? Was it someone local?”

  Albert shook his head. “No, and I don’t care. What does it matter at this point anyway? She’s gone.”

  Hayley was not about to mention the name Julio Garcia at this point. If Albert didn’t want to know, then she was not going to be the one to tell him. She turned to leave, but Albert stopped her.

  “I will tell you this, I think it was over by the time of the accident.”

  “Accident?”

  “The bees.”

  “Oh, yes.”

  Albert was firmly in the camp that believed Regina’s death was not a homicide. Hayley was most definitely not. She turned back around to face Albert.

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Because the day before, she kept talking about how she wanted us to go on a trip, take a second honeymoon, maybe a cruise or something . . . it sounded like she wanted to try and rekindle our romance, which gave me high hopes that whatever she was doing behind my back was finished.”

  “I see,” Hayley said, curious to hear more.

  “I don’t know if you know this, but over the last few years I’ve made a few bad business investments, and I’ve lost a lot of money . . . A lot of money . . .”

  “No, Albert, I didn’t know. I’m so sorry to hear that.”

  “Regina never wanted for anything . . . until recently. It’s been a struggle for both of us. It nearly killed me, but I had to tell her money was too tight for us to take a trip, but she told me not to worry about it. She said she’d pay for everything, although I have no clue how—she was as broke as me. At first I figured she was just going to charge the whole thing to her one credit card that hadn’t been canceled yet and we’d worry about it later. But then she mentioned she was about to come into some money but remained vague about the details and didn’t want to talk about it. I was just happy she wanted to spend time with me so I didn’t press her. Sadly she never got around to booking anything . . .” He sniffed again, and then before he got too emotional, cleared his throat and changed the subject. “Are you sure you don’t want to take at least one dress with you, Hayley?”

  “Thank you, Albert, I’m sure.”

  “Well, if you don’t want any of Regina’s clothes, how about some perfume?”

  She knew what he was doing. He was making up excuses for her to stay because he didn’t want to sit in this quiet house all by himself without the wife he had loved so much.

  “Honestly, Albert, I don’t need anything . . .”

  But he was already dashing to the bathroom, perusing a few perfume bottles, picking one up and holding it out to Hayley. “She loved this one. Lavender Extreme by Tom Ford. She ordered it from Bergdorf Goodman and it just came the other day. It’s never been used.”

  “I’m not a perfume kind of gal,” Hayley said.

  Albert was already on to the next beauty product on the bathroom countertop. He held up a bottle. “She wore this lotion every day. Slathered it all over herself. She bought it in bulk from Julio. No wonder she maxed out all her credit cards, buying so many dresses and beauty products.”

  This suddenly got Hayley’s attention. “Julio Garcia?”

  “Yeah, he sells all kinds of face creams, hand creams, body lotions, whatever a woman needs, but this stuff here, Regina was obsessed with it.” He popped the top open and took a big whiff. “It smells real nice. Here, see for yourself, maybe you’d like a bottle or two to take with you, I’ve got about a half dozen she never got around to using . . .”

  Albert bounded over to Hayley and shoved the open bottle right up underneath her nose. She couldn’t help but inhale the fragrance, which was admittedly quite nice, but had an overpowering scent of . . .

  “Honey . . .”

  “Yes, it’s pretty strong,” Albert replied, nodding. “But you know what, it reminds me of her, and sometimes I’ll open a bottle and take in the aroma and it’s as if she’s still here in the house.”

  Hayley studied the bottle and then arched an eyebrow. “That’s odd.”

>   “What?” Albert asked.

  “Well, I was just reading the list of ingredients and I don’t see honey extract.”

  “It has to be a misprint. All I smell is honey.”

  “Me too,” Hayley said, reading through the list again. And then she gasped as if she had just been smacked in the head.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing . . . It’s just that . . .”

  It had finally come to her.

  How Julio Garcia had managed to kill Regina Knoxville without physically being in her presence at the time.

  He had sold her his personal body lotion, which she loved so much and wore every day. What if he added one extra special ingredient to the bottle? Honey extract. And a ton of it. He knew Regina went blueberry picking in the park every Saturday. She probably told him the exact location where she liked to go. He was also probably aware that she was allergic to bees! What if he donned some gloves and a face net and moved the beehive close to the blueberry patch where he knew Regina would be? The bees would naturally be drawn to the honey slathered all over Regina’s body. She would have panicked, the bees would have stung her, and after a severe reaction, she would have collapsed and died with no one around to save her!

  It was the perfect murder.

  Almost.

  Chapter 38

  “Albert, do you recall what you were doing on the day Caskie Lemon-Hogg was killed at the bed-and-breakfast?” Hayley asked as they descended the creaky steps back down to the foyer of the Knoxville home, clutching the bottle of honey-scented body lotion Albert had agreed to let her take with her.

  “Was that a Tuesday?”

  “I believe so, yes.”

  “Let me think . . .” Albert said, struggling to remember. “The days seem to blend together now that I’m retired, but I’m pretty certain I was right here, because I remember I had just watched the evening news and was getting ready to make myself some dinner when one of Regina’s friends, Carol Wincott, called here asking if we had heard a body had been discovered downtown, although none of us knew who it was yet.”

  “Was Regina home with you at the time?”

  “No, she wasn’t. She had a book club meeting that night. I remember because usually the group gathers to discuss whatever they’re reading on Thursdays, but for some reason, they decided to move it to Tuesday.”

  They reached the bottom of the stairs and Hayley stopped before opening the door to leave. “Who else is in Regina’s book group?”

  “I know Caskie Lemon-Hogg was in it because she was the one who got the whole thing started. She’s an avid reader, always recommending books for Regina and me to read . . . Poor thing never made it to the meeting that night . . .”

  “Anybody else you can think of?”

  “Let’s see, who else?” Albert suddenly gasped. “Come to think of it, Carol Wincott was a member of the book club too. Now why would she call here asking if Regina had heard about a murder in town if she was already with Regina? I guess I never thought about that at the time.”

  “Thank you for all your help, Albert,” Hayley said as she reached for the door handle.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for some tea, Hayley?”

  Hayley hugged him again. “I’m sorry, I really have to go, but I promise to stop by later this week.”

  He nodded, not sure if she meant it or not, but appeared grateful that she was at least being nice to him. Hayley suspected Regina had found few occasions to be kind to her adoring and devoted husband other than toward the end when she mentioned planning that out-of-the-blue trip together.

  Hayley dashed down the sidewalk to her car, and once she was in the driver’s seat with the motor running, and had tossed the bottle of body lotion into her bag, she scrolled down the list of contacts on her phone and called Carol Wincott.

  Carol answered on the second ring. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Carol, it’s Hayley Powell.”

  “Hayley, I must say this is a pleasant surprise. I hardly ever hear from you.”

  She was right.

  Hayley usually didn’t reach out to Carol, as they had very little in common. Although Carol was friendly and sweet, they just ran in different social circles. Hayley didn’t want to come off as rude or self-serving, so she said in a sing-songy voice, “That’s why I’m calling! I’ve been thinking about you, and I’ve been meaning to call and catch up, and I’m finally doing it! So let’s do it! Let’s catch up! How are you? How’s the book club?”

  Okay, so it wasn’t the height of subtlety, but she didn’t have a lot of time.

  “The book club?” Carol asked, confused.

  “You know, the one you’re in that meets every Thursday . . .”

  “Well, we’ve recently lost two members, so we’ve been on kind of a break . . .”

  “Oh, that’s right, I heard Regina Knoxville and Caskie Lemon-Hogg were members. I’m so sorry . . .”

  “No, it’s all right. If you’re looking to join, I’m sure the other ladies would be happy to have you. When we do reconvene I’ve recommended the new Sally Thorne novel, even though Kate Addison is pushing for that new E. L. James piece of trash. I swear every time it’s her pick, we have to slog through another one of those filthy Fifty Shades–type books that are dripping with sex and bad behavior.”

  Hayley refrained from mentioning that she had read them all. “I’m definitely interested, although I know sometimes you meet on Tuesdays, and Tuesdays don’t work for me because that’s my date night with Bruce.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Hayley, we always meet on Thursdays.”

  “I heard you met a few Tuesdays ago, the night Caskie Lemon-Hogg was killed, in fact.”

  “We certainly did not meet on that day.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m positive. We’ve never in the history of the book club ever had a meeting on any day but Thursday,” Carol said flatly.

  Hayley’s suspicions had been confirmed.

  Regina had lied to Albert about where she was on the day of Caskie’s murder.

  “It’s been great catching up with you, Carol! Let’s do this again real soon!”

  “Wait, what about the book—?”

  Hayley ended the call, tossed her phone on the passenger’s seat, and peeled away from the curb. She felt bad about hanging up so abruptly on Carol and made a mental note to call her again in a few days to sincerely catch up, but she had to concentrate on pulling together all the information she had just learned.

  Why would Regina lie to Albert? More than likely it was to cover up a secret rendezvous with Julio. But according to Julio, he was at his salon training his cousin Juan and had even answered a few calls on the landline from customers who wanted to make appointments. He supposedly didn’t go anywhere all night. It wouldn’t be hard for her to find the women who had called and spoken to him personally, to corroborate his story. So did Regina come to him? That was a possibility, but if Juan was truly there, then that would make a romantic rendezvous rather awkward. Julio could be lying about Juan being there. But what kept nagging at Hayley was what Albert had just told her. He had gotten the impression that Regina’s affair with Julio was over. And what about this mysterious money that Regina had mentioned to Albert that she was going to use to pay for their vacation cruise?

  Hayley tried hard to piece together a plausible theory. It might be reasonable to believe that Julio had broken it off with Regina, and she was angry and vindictive, and perhaps she threatened to spill everything to Jeanette if he didn’t pay her off? That would explain why Regina was expecting an influx of cash, and it would also give Julio a clear motive to want to somehow silence her. And maybe he succeeded in getting rid of her permanently with the lotion and beehive and Regina’s bee allergy. But then there was the beard she had found in the closet at the Garcia home. If Julio’s alibi the night of Caskie’s murder was airtight, then the bearded man who showed up at the bed-and-breakfast and killed Caskie could have be
en his cousin Juan! But why? Why kill Caskie?

  And then she had a eureka moment.

  Of course!

  The answer had been in front of her all along!

  Chapter 39

  Hayley had to do one more thing before she went to Sergio to explain who killed Caskie Lemon-Hogg and Regina Knoxville. She needed one last piece of evidence, and she knew where she would find it. She drove from the Knoxville house straight over to Julio’s Salon.

  Her phone buzzed. It was Sheila. Hayley sighed and answered the call. “Mom, I can’t talk right now—”

  “I just want to know when you’re coming home for dinner. I’m making short ribs and mashed potatoes and a beautiful blueberry tart for dessert. Oh, and I invited Sergio and Randy . . .”

  That was perfect.

  She didn’t have to stop by the police station.

  She could present her theory and evidence right at her own dinner table.

  “I just have to make a quick stop first,” Hayley said.

  “Good, could you pick up some Cool Whip? Just in case people want a dollop on their tart?”

  “Mom, I’m not going to the Shop ’n Save.”

  “The drug store? Because if you are, I’m out of orange-flavored baby aspirin. My doctor has me take one every day as a preventive measure against a heart attack. You know, your Aunt Margery died of heart failure, and she was younger than me!”

  “I’m going to Julio’s Salon!”

  “Whatever for? The short ribs are almost done. I’m not going to make everyone wait to eat while you get your hair straightened and colored!”

  Colored? Really? Of course she would just assume Hayley was going gray. And frankly, her hair had been turning gray at a much faster rate than normal ever since her mother had blown into town. But instead of engaging, Hayley simply said, “I’m not getting my hair done. I’ll be home in ten minutes.”

  “But why do you have to—?”

  Hayley ended the call as she pulled up Rodick Street toward Julio’s Salon. When she stopped her car in front of the building, she saw the closed sign in the window. It was already a few minutes past six o’clock. Through the window she could see Julio with a broom sweeping up, and so she jumped out of the car, ran up to the front door and rapped her knuckles on the window a few times to get his attention. The sound of her knocking startled him. He turned to see Hayley waving frantically at him. He leaned the broom against the counter and sauntered over to talk to Hayley through the door. He glared at her grimly, not at all excited to see her again after she had shown up to drag her mother out of the shop for causing such a scene.