by J A Whiting
“I knew Ashley for about two years. I met her at a charity thing we both attended. She was smart and fun. A nice person.”
“Something happened that makes you suspicious of someone?” Claire asked.
“Not too long ago,” Meg said, “we were at another charity event. Both of our firms like to have employee presence at the things they help sponsor, so I go. I should back up a little. Ashley had moved in with Michael, her boyfriend, a few months before we went to this event. She told me she wasn’t sure it was going to work out. Michael had been growing distant. They’d been arguing.”
“What about?”
“Ashley was ready to get married, she wanted to have a family someday soon. Michael felt differently. He had become moody, was staying out late a lot of nights.”
“Was Ashley planning to end the relationship?” Claire asked.
Meg gave a nod. “I think that her breaking up with Michael was right around the corner. Ashley had enough. She knew there was no future with him and she wanted to move on.”
Claire said, “From his behavior, it seems that Michael had lost interest in the relationship?”
Meg rolled her eyes. “He didn’t like being with one woman. I think he would have been happy to stay with Ashley, but only with the condition he was able to see other women.” Meg’s eyes narrowed. “He told Ashley he didn’t see anything wrong with a relationship like that and didn’t understand why it would bother her.”
“He wanted to stay with her then?”
“He said so. He told her he loved her, but needed to have an “open” relationship. Ashley wasn’t on board with that idea.”
“It seems that they were on different wavelengths,” Claire said, “and wanted different things for the future. Michael thought he could change Ashley’s mind?”
Meg straightened up on the bench. “I think there was a very important reason that Michael wanted to stay with Ashley.”
Claire looked at the young woman.
“Ashley was loaded. She had lots of money, inherited it from her parents.” Disgust washed over Meg’s face. “Michael always persuaded Ashley to buy him expensive things … clothes, electronics, vacations. She paid the townhouse rent, he didn’t kick in a cent. She even bought Michael a car. I think he wanted her to stay around so he could benefit from her money. He’d talked to her about buying a condo at a ski resort and a place on the water in Florida.”
Meg shook her head. “Then he could entertain his women at one of the homes while Ashley was here in Boston.”
“Wow,” Claire said under her breath.
“Yeah,” Meg said. “Ashley knew what he was about. She would have given him the boot very soon.” Letting out a sigh, she said, “Ashley told me Michael came up with the idea to take life insurance policies out on each other. In the event of either one’s death, the surviving partner would receive a million dollars.”
Claire almost jumped from her seat. “Did they arrange the policies? Had the policies been canceled?”
“I doubt it.” Meg sighed. “You know how it is when you’re in the middle of stuff, things you intend to do get pushed off. I don’t know if Michael’s policy on Ashley was still in force or not. Here’s another gem. Michael wanted Ashley to name him in her will.”
“What?” Claire couldn’t believe the nerve of the guy. “Did she do it?”
“I’m not sure, but I know she wasn’t sure it was a good idea.” Meg turned to Claire. “So these are my reasons to worry that Michael Burton may have had something to do with Ashley’s murder.”
“The police must have found out about life insurance policies and whether or not Michael had been named in Ashley’s will.” Claire thought out loud.
“Can you ask your police friend about it?”
“He isn’t allowed to tell details like that, but I’ll let him know about it in case it’s a clue they missed.” Claire remembered something Meg said at the start of their conversation. “You mentioned a charity event you went to with Ashley. Was there something you wanted to say about that?”
“Oh, I got so caught up in talking about the financial aspects of Ashley and Michael’s relationship, I forgot to go back to that. It’s important, too.” Meg squeezed the bridge of her nose. “I think Michael was seeing someone. On a regular basis. There were tons of people at this event. It was black-tie, fancy hors d’oeuvres, a band, complimentary drinks, ice sculptures, the whole nine yards. I ran into Ashley there, and Michael. Michael was off schmoozing with people. Ashley was furious with Michael.”
Meg let out a sigh of disgust. “I’d seen him earlier in the night dancing with other women, having a really good time. He basically deserted Ashley and left her on her own. I stepped out onto the balcony to get some air and I saw Michael down below in the garden. He was engaged in a long, passionate kiss with someone. The woman pushed him away. Maybe she didn’t want to be seen kissing in public.” Meg’s voice dripped with anger.
“You think he was seeing this woman behind Ashley’s back?” Claire asked.
“I think Michael was seeing plenty of women behind Ashley’s back.”
“Did Ashley know what was going on?”
“She never mentioned it to me and I didn’t think it was my business to bring it up.” Meg shook her head. “I should have. I should have told her. It was all happening right under her nose.”
“Was it a woman from work that you saw Michael kissing?” Claire asked.
“I’m not sure who she was.” Meg’s lips were tight. “I know Michael was after the woman who lived in their building. She looked a lot like Ashley. I had drinks with all of them one night at the apartment. Michael was practically drooling over this neighbor of theirs.”
Rose. Claire’s heart rate increased. “Did you tell the police what you’ve told me?”
“No.” Meg’s eyes looked sad. “The police didn’t talk to me. I wanted to run this by someone first. When Michael’s sister told me she’d talked to you, I decided to find you. What do you think about all of this? Do you think I should tell the police?”
Claire nodded. “Yes. Tell them. It could be very important.”
Meg checked the time on her phone. “I need to get to work.” After thanking Claire, Meg headed off down the path through the park to the financial district.
With the conversation replaying in her mind, Claire got up and walked towards the North End. Rose and Michael? Claire had sensed that Michael was attracted to Rose. Had they started a relationship?
She stopped in her tracks. Rose told Claire her real name. Was she attempting to switch the focus of the murder to throw off the police? To make it seem that Rose was really the intended victim and not Ashley? Were Rose and Michael working together? Did they plot Ashley’s murder to get rid of her … and to get access to some of her money?
Her thoughts were spinning so fast, Claire almost felt dizzy. She needed to talk it over with Nicole. What is going on?
16
Claire, Robby, and Nicole discussed what Ashley’s friend had revealed about Michael Burton and his relationship with the murdered woman.
Robby was horrified. “His sister is so nice. How could Michael be such a conniving monster?”
“Siblings can be very different people from one another,” Nicole pointed out as she ran the mixer in the back room of the chocolate shop. “And they’re not blood siblings anyway. The information about Michael being so eager to get at Ashley’s money, wanting to be able to see other women, and his possible relationship with Rose is all concerning. He had motive to kill Ashley. We need to move him to the top of the suspect list.”
Giving Claire the eye, Robby asked, “What does Clairvoyant Claire think?”
Claire rolled her eyes. “The jury is still out.” After sliding a tray of cookies into the oven, she’d said, “I think we need to find some people who know Rose. We need to find out more about her.”
“We need to talk to her husband, too.” Nicole spooned dough onto a baking sheet. “What’s his na
me? Did you look him up?” she asked Claire.
“He’s a Boston-area restauranteur. His name is Ricky Harris.”
Nicole spun around, her eyes wide. “Ricky Harris? He’s the organizer of the food festival.”
“Well, then,” Robby smiled. “You’ll have plenty of time to talk to him at the all-day food contest.”
“Okay,” Claire said, shaking her head. “That’s a strange coincidence. Now we know where to find him anyway.” Adding some platters to the dishwasher, she asked, “Do either of you know anything about Ricky Harris? What he’s like? Any background?”
Nicole said, “He’s well-known in the food community and not just in the city, all over the country. I heard he was offered a television show, but declined. He’s written a bunch of cookbooks, has the restaurants, gives classes, has a line of cookware. He’s a celebrity.”
Claire stopped what she was doing and blinked. “This must be the guy that Cameron, my financial advisor, told me about. Remember he told me that he, his wife, some people from Pennington Wealth, and Ashley were in New York City at a fundraiser sponsored by the firm? The cookbook person was all over Ashley trying to kiss her until she pushed him in the throat?”
Nicole nodded. “And the man muttered about how Ashley would get hers someday. Oh, gosh, it was Ricky Harris who was bothering her.”
“Have you heard anything about his reputation?” Claire asked.
“I know he’s pretty hard-driving, demanding,” Nicole said. “He rubs some people the wrong way, but I suppose that’s expected when someone has so much going on and has so many people to work with. You can’t please everyone.”
“He certainly didn’t please Ashley,” Robby noted.
“We’d better keep our eyes on him,” Claire said. “Sounds like he’s hard on his employees. Maybe he’s something worse.”
Nicole eyed Robby and Claire. “Hopefully, you two would only say nice things about me.”
“Right,” Robby deadpanned.
In the late afternoon, the chocolate shop threesome entered the Rose in Bloom boutique with the hope of talking to the employees about their boss. Robby went along because he told the young women he often shopped there with a friend and knew some of the staff.
Arriving at the boutique, Robby walked into the shop like he owned the place. “I love this store. My friend from school has a healthy budget, courtesy of his mom and dad, and is a regular here. I come along for the fun of it.”
One of the chic, fifty-something, blond saleswomen greeted Robby with a wide smile. “Good afternoon, Robby. Where’s Allen?”
“Hello, Liz. Nice to see you. Allen has a class. I’m browsing with my gal pals today.” Robby started off to the menswear section of the store.
Claire’s eyebrow raised at the sales staff’s familiarity with the young man. She whispered, “You didn’t tell us you were on a first name basis with the people working here.”
“You didn’t ask.” Robby held a blue, striped shirt up to himself and looked in the mirror.
“Is Rose here when you usually come in?” Claire asked.
“I’ve never met her. I’ve only dealt with the salespeople.”
When Liz came over to help Robby, Claire asked about Rose. “Is she working today?”
“Not today.” The question had changed the woman’s friendly expression to a tight, unpleasant one. She went to the rack to get two shirts for Robby to try on.
“Ask her about Rose,” Claire told him and moved away.
When the salesperson came back, Claire pretended to busy herself with looking at the jewelry on a display table a few yards away. Nicole was chatting with the saleswoman behind the counter.
“Is Rose working in another store today?” Robby ran his hand over the fabric of one of the shirts. “I need to speak with her about a sponsorship for an event at school.” Giving the saleswoman a grin, he said, “Guess what? The theme of the show is all about roses. I spoke with Rose briefly a couple of weeks ago about it and she was very interested. I haven’t been able to contact her. Any ideas on how to reach her? I wouldn’t want her to miss out on the opportunity.”
Claire smiled to herself at Robby’s cleverness and smooth manner.
Liz said, “You might need to forget about getting in touch with Rose. I don’t think she’ll be back in time to help out with a sponsorship.”
“Where did she go?” Robby picked out two other shirts to try on.
“She’s away,” Liz said with an unfavorable tone.
“A new man?” Robby leaned close to Liz. “Off on a little rendezvous with him?”
“Not quite.”
Robby made eye contact with Liz and smiled. “Someone’s hiding what seems to be some very interesting information.”
“It’s not like that.” Liz’s cheeks tinged pink. “Rose told the staff via email that she needed to go away due to an emergency and would be gone for several weeks.”
“Does each store have its own manager?” Robby asked.
“Yes, and an assistant manager, but…. Rose has caused some tension here in the store.” Liz looked around to see if anyone was listening. “Rose approached the manager here, Beverly, about buying the stores. Beverly had made her interest known to Rose for a couple of years. She was thrilled when Rose stated that it might be time for her to sell. They started talks to negotiate a price and were close to an agreement.”
“What happened?”
“A month ago, Rose pulled out of the deal. She said she’d changed her mind. Beverly was furious. She’d already sold her home in Newton planning to move to the city to run the boutiques. She also owned a small shop in Newton which she sold. She had the financing all arranged to buy Rose’s shops. Then, Beverly found out Rose had another buyer who was willing to pay more. I’ve never seen anyone as angry as Beverly was when she found out she wasn’t getting the Rose in Bloom stores.”
“Could she sue Rose?” Robby questioned.
“The contract hadn’t yet been signed, so no, I guess not.”
“Did Beverly quit as manager?”
“She sure did. A few weeks ago. She said, ‘Let Rose find some other sucker to run her lousy boutique.’ She stormed out and hasn’t been seen since. Now Rose has disappeared for a while and we have no manager to run things. It’s a real mess.”
Hearing Liz tell the story of trouble between Rose and Beverly caused the little hairs on Claire’s arms to stand up. Could Beverly be so angry about losing the stores that she would kill over it? The timing seemed right. Did Beverly hire a hit man to kill Rose? Did the killer confuse the identities and end up shooting Ashley by mistake?
“Have you been in touch with Beverly?” Robby asked.
“I called her a few days ago to see how she was doing.” Liz made a face. “Her phone number is no longer in service.”
“Did Beverly move away?”
“No one knows. She was good friends with the woman working at the counter.” Liz nodded to the back of the shop. “She hasn’t been able to get in touch with Beverly either. She even went to the apartment Beverly had rented and no one is ever there. It’s like she just up and disappeared.”
“Do you know who Rose was planning to sell the shops to?”
“Her business partner, Melvin Watts,” Liz grumped. “A bad choice, if you ask me. The guy starts off all friendly, nice, pleasant and then he turns rude and mean. He and Rose were often fighting. If he was the owner, he’d never be able to keep the employees happy. Everyone would quit.”
“Why would Rose sell to Watts then?”
Liz rubbed her thumb, index finger, and middle finger together in the gesture for money. “Because of the cash.”
“Did the sale to him go through?”
“I don’t think so. As far as we know, we still work for Rose.” Liz smiled at Robby. “Why don’t you and Allen buy the boutiques?”
Robby sighed. “My first love is music.”
“Well,” Liz kidded, “your second love could be running these shops.”<
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Robby tried on the shirts, but said he didn’t want to make a decision without his friend, Allen’s, opinion. He, Claire, and Nicole thanked Liz for her help and left the boutique to stroll down Newbury Street.
When Nicole heard what Robby had learned about Rose and Beverly, she nodded her head. “The woman at the counter told me the same things, only not in so much detail. She’s worried about Beverly. She can’t imagine her friend would take off and move away without telling her. The store is in chaos with no one in charge.”
Claire wondered aloud if Beverly could be behind the murder of Ashley Smith. “Beverly could have hired someone to kill Rose and the attacker made a stupid mistake.”
“The suspect list gets longer and longer. There’s a whole lot of anger and misfortune going around,” Nicole said with a sigh. “So what’s next? We find Rose’s former business partner, Melvin Watts?”
“And we’ll talk to Rose’s husband at the food festival,” Claire said.
“I’d better come along when you talk to them.” Robby’s eyes twinkled. “You saw how my charming personality worked in the boutique.”
“Yeah, come with us,” Nicole said, “if things don’t go well, we’ll pin the blame on you.”
Charming. Blame. The words swirled through the air and picked and pulled at Claire sending a shiver over her skin.
17
Claire tracked down Melvin Watts at his office in Boston’s Seaport district and she and Nicole paid the man a visit after the chocolate shop closed for the day. The office was on the ninth floor of a fancy, new, ten-story building with walls of windows offering a spectacular view of the harbor.
The reception room desk was occupied by a very attractive, efficient, young, blue-eyed, blonde dressed in a fitted business suit. The space had high ceilings, light gray walls, wood floors covered with expensive area rugs, and groupings of furniture in shades of subtle blues and grays.
