by Lynn Cahoon
“Of course, we’d be glad to have you.” Cat heard a cheer from the spectators near the front. “Uh oh, Dee Dee must have gotten a good swing in.”
“I better get in there before Paul shoots someone.” He pointed a finger and repeated, “You go home.”
“Yes, sir.” Cat grinned at Tammy, who moved to the sidewalk and away from the bakery.
“I guess he told you.” Tammy smiled as she watched Cat’s uncle move his way through the crowd, telling people to leave the premises.
“He worries.” Cat glanced back at the bakery and wondered who had come to evict Dee Dee if Greyson had been her landlord. Maybe Nate was wrong about that. She decided to head to the library and see if she could access the town’s ownership records online. “I’ve got an errand to run at the college. So we’ll see you Friday?”
“Looking forward to it. I’m bringing a ton of craft books that are related to mystery writing as well as a slew of the recent releases. At worse, we’ll have a great discussion.” Tammy paused at her store’s entrance. “Thanks for including me in your retreat. It’s nice to get out and talk to writers once a month. It keeps me working on my own manuscript.”
“I didn’t know you were a writer.”
Tammy beamed. “I haven’t told a lot of people, but I started writing a novel a few months ago. I guess you gave me the bug.”
“Well, good luck, and if you ever want to grab some coffee and talk, just let me know. I’d love to sit down with you anytime besides retreat week.” Cat turned to head to the college library.
“That would be awesome. I’ll call you next week. It will have to be evenings after the store closes. Is that okay?” Tammy was almost vibrating with energy.
“Sure. Just call and we’ll set something up.” Cat waved and took a few steps away.
“You’re the best,” Tammy called after her.
As she walked away, Cat wondered if she would regret making the offer. Sometimes new writers were more interested in someone telling them how good their work was rather than listening to ways it could improve. But she’d give Tammy a few meetings to talk. Besides, it might be like talking to retreat guests. Now it was time to find out more about Dee Dee’s building.
Chapter Fourteen
When she got to the library, Cat headed straight to the reference section. Miss Applebome was at the desk. Not who she wanted to see. The woman still hated her for borrowing a book without checking it out a few months ago. It wasn’t like Cat was stealing it. It just wasn’t available for regular checkout and she needed it to get Linda to talk. She took a deep breath and stepped forward. “Miss Applebome?”
The woman didn’t look up.
Cat spoke a little louder. “Miss Applebome?”
“I’m not deaf, Ms. Latimer. I’m just waiting for the question.” This time she did look up. “Or were you just checking to see if I was awake before stealing another book?”
Cat felt her face turn beet red. “I told you why I took the book. It’s not like I was going to keep it or anything.”
“I was pulling your leg. I’m busy. What do you want?” Miss Applebome went back to looking at her computer.
“I was wondering if the library has access to the city or county records where they store the building deeds. Like who owns a particular property?” Cat rattled off her question, not sure if she was making sense.
“Are you looking at doing a title search on your house? The town keeps building ownership records back to the founding. But I thought you did that research years ago when you bought the house?”
The woman never forgot anything. “I did. Actually, it’s not my house I’m wondering about. It’s one of the buildings downtown. I was wondering who the owners were.”
“For what purpose?”
Now, the librarian watched her carefully. Cat figured the woman could spot a lie before it even left someone’s mouth, so she decided to be totally honest. “I want to know who owns the bakery.”
“And you didn’t answer my question. For what purpose do you want this information?” Miss Applebome looked at her watch. There was no way it was time for her to leave. But maybe Cat should just come back in the evening when a less experienced librarian was on the desk.
“I think it might have something to do with Greyson Finn’s death.” Cat decided to put all her cards on the table.
“I thought you might be investigating again. You really need to learn to keep out of things that aren’t your business.” Miss Applebome wrote something on a sheet of recycled scratch paper and handed it to Cat.
“What’s this?” She glanced at the neatly scripted words.
“It’s the user name and password you’ll need for the town archives. Try not to get yourself killed.” Miss Applebome gazed at her with such concentration, Cat took a step back. “I’d hate to be the one to tell your uncle what you were doing.”
Cat swallowed hard. “He knows. I tell him everything.”
And that was almost the truth, but the ancient librarian seemed to sense the hesitancy in the statement. She turned back to her computer. “I certainly hope so, Ms. Latimer.”
Cat stepped away from the desk, hoping she wouldn’t be asked more questions. It was almost impossible to lie to the woman. Especially to her face. She just had that look. Cat’s mother had the same look, and Cat had never gotten away with a lie when she was growing up or even now that she was an adult.
She hurried over to the computers and keyed in her password. The college had allowed her to keep her teaching access, probably in hopes that they could talk her into some adjunct classes sooner or later. Cat hoped her financial situation wouldn’t cause her to need to take them up on the offer, but you never knew in the book business. One year you could be up, the next down. Royalties were hard to plan for. The retreat was holding its own, but Cat knew it had to pay off the remodeling costs before she could really count the income as profit.
She got into the town’s website and then found the records link. Carefully, she keyed in the user name and password that Miss Applebome had given her. When she looked up the address, she saw the building had been through several owners in its over 150 years of existence. The last sale was to a holding company, the FFF. They’d bought it ten years ago.
Cat dug deeper into the scanned paperwork and found that the initials stood for the Finn Family Foundation. And Greyson and Tyler were full partners along with their mother.
Cat wondered if Greyson had always thought he’d expand his restaurant chain into Aspen Hills. But ten years ago, the town was just a college town. The families who came in for parents week didn’t stay around or have vacation cabins.
Now the town was growing with a lot of the new residents working remotely from home or commuting into Denver. It wasn’t a drive Cat would want to make, but the housing prices outside the Denver city limits made the drive less worrisome. Had Greyson decided the town had grown enough to support a high-end eatery? The Mexican place they went to for the close of the retreat on Saturday nights was high end and usually packed. Rumors said that the restaurant was owned by a famous chef out of the Southwest, but he’d never put his name on the place.
She wrote down all the information she had about the property, including the realtor who did the deal ten years ago. A bank or financial house wasn’t listed at all, which was strange. She keyed in her own address and checked the records when she, Michael, and the bank had bought her Victorian. The realtor was listed as well as the closing title company and the bank that held the lien. The bakery property only had realtors and a closing company. Had the family come in with cash to buy the building?
Then she went back to the main page for the town’s website and looked for the business license page. Hoping the same password would work, she breathed a sigh of relief when it did. Thank God for Miss Applebome’s thorough nature. She looked up the Happy Cupcake. The name of the bakery didn’t reflect the owner’s personality. At all.
Dee Dee had just renewed her business license and h
ad paid the extra money to get the five-year license instead of the annual one. Cat remembered the exact moment when she and Shauna had filled out those papers. The five-year license was the one Shauna had talked Cat into purchasing when they’d opened the Warm Springs Writers’ Resort. Cat had argued that if the resort failed, it would have been a sunk cost.
Shauna had just smiled as she finished filling out the paperwork. “Then we better not fail.”
Cat smiled at the memory. Shauna had more faith in the success of the resort than Cat had ever had. But then again, Cat overthought everything.
Like how upset Dee Dee would have been with Greyson when he told her he was ending her lease. Mad enough to kill him?
But then why was she so upset about this new lawyer coming in and telling her they were ending her lease? Especially if she’d already known? Cat hated to do it, but she mentally scratched a thin line through Dee Dee’s name as a suspect. She didn’t think the woman was that good of an actress.
She reached to close out the session, then thought about something else. She went back to the property ownership page and keyed in Tyler and Jessica’s house. Was it purchased in their name?
When the owner loaded onto the screen, Cat wasn’t surprised. The couple didn’t own their house, the Finn Family Foundation did. Cat wondered who was in charge of the foundation’s funds. Was it Tyler’s mother? Or had it been Greyson? Or was it mild-mannered Tyler? He didn’t have a job, or at least he hadn’t when she’d known the couple. He’d called himself the house husband.
So many questions, but no answers. And even if she had the answers, was any of it tied to Greyson’s death? Or was she just snooping into the details of a former friend’s life. She wasn’t sure, but Jessica had asked Cat for her help. And there was no way she would go into this blind. She wrote down the rest of the information and closed up her notebook.
It was time to have a heart-to-heart with Jessica. By the time she’d gone to the English Department and talked to Lori, Jessica had left for the day. “They are doing a memorial tomorrow at the Lutheran church here in town. I’m sure Jessica and Tyler would love to see you. It’s at one. Then they have to go into Denver where they’re having an even larger memorial service. You know you’re someone when they have two funerals for you.”
“He had a lot of people in his life.”
Lori shook her head. “I don’t want to go out that way. Alone, with only family and customers to mourn me? He should have been married, not mooning over his brother’s wife.”
Cat was shocked at Lori’s statement. “Did you know they were having an affair?”
“Actually, no. I suspected it because the guy met her here at her office a few too many times. When I asked her about her brother-in-law’s visits, they stopped meeting here. But I’m sure they didn’t just stop meeting.” Lori winked. “They definitely had eyes for each other.”
Cat thought about Jessica and Tyler all the way home. She could have sworn the couple was deeply in love. Of course, she thought she and Michael were the perfect couple too. And they might have been had he not felt the need to hold so much secret. Was that what had broken Jessica away from Tyler? Holding secrets?
She hadn’t come to any conclusions by the time she got to the house. Uncle Pete’s car was in the driveway, and as she glanced at her watch, she realized she was late for dinner.
Maybe her uncle could shed some light on his thoughts on who had killed Greyson. Maybe the investigation was over and the killer already behind bars. But she knew that was too much to ask. These things took time, no matter how fast they seemed to go in the television shows.
She bustled into the kitchen and set her tote down on the far cabinet where Shauna stored her larger appliances. She ran to the sink to wash her hands, then sat at her place and started filling her plate with the meat loaf, mushroom gravy, and mashed potatoes on the table. When her plate was filled, she picked up her fork to take a bite and realized everyone was watching her. Setting the fork down, she met their gaze. “What?”
“I don’t know, I guess I expected to find you here since I sent you home after I ran into you at the bakery.” Her uncle pointed his fork at her. “I think you even said you were going home.”
Cat shook her head and filled her fork with a large bite of the meat loaf. Her stomach was growling. “No way. I needed to go to the library for some research. You can ask Miss Applebome—she saw me there. We even talked.”
Uncle Pete’s eyes narrowed as he watched her eat. “I’m sure you said you were going home.”
“No, you said I was going home. I just didn’t interrupt you.” She pointed her fork at him in just the same way. “You were busy and didn’t have time to listen.”
Seth watched the interaction between the two. “And round one goes to Cat. But let’s not call the match yet.”
“Shut up, Seth.” Cat glared at him. Then she addressed her uncle. “While I was at the library, I found out something interesting. Do you want to know or not?”
He stared at her a long time before he answered. “Might as well. I’m down to investigating Greyson’s gambling habit to see if that’s what got him killed.”
“The Happy Cupcake’s building is owned by the FFF, which stands for the Finn Family Foundation. Greyson was planning on evicting Dee Dee and opening a restaurant in the place where the bakery is now.”
Her uncle finished his meat loaf and then nudged Seth. “Can you pass the meat loaf and the gravy this way? Shauna, this is outstanding.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you like it. It was one of my mother’s recipes.” Shauna beamed at the praise.
Cat couldn’t believe it. “Did anyone hear what I said? Greyson was evicting Dee Dee.”
“No, actually the law firm he hired was doing it this afternoon. According to the guy who I saved from getting a cake in the face, the eviction has been in progress for about a month. This service was the first she’d known about it.”
Of course, that matched with the fact that Dee Dee had just paid for a new five-year license the day that Greyson was killed. Maybe she hadn’t done it. Which put all the light back on Jessica. “So you don’t think she’s the killer.”
“She has an alibi. She was in Denver with a friend the night Greyson was killed.”
Cat frowned. “No she wasn’t. I talked to her at the bakery that night.”
“After you left, she closed the shop and went to visit a boyfriend in Denver. The guy said she stayed there all night.” Uncle Pete poured gravy over his meat loaf and what was left of his potatoes and his green beans.
“But he might have lied,” Cat declared, but even she didn’t believe it anymore.
Uncle Pete shrugged. “Maybe, but the fact she was surprised by the eviction today doesn’t bode well for that being the motive.”
Cat focused on eating and trying to think. Every time she thought the trail led away from Jessica, it always just died or led straight back.
“Look, I know you’re worried about your friend. But just let me do my job.” Uncle Pete’s voice was softer, calmer, than it had been earlier. “And stay out of trouble. I worry about you. It’s not safe to go poking the bear when you don’t know if he was the real killer or not.”
Cat stayed thoughtful during dinner, trying to keep up with the general conversation going around the table. But her heart just wasn’t into the small talk. When Shauna pulled out warm apple pie with cinnamon ice cream she shook her head.
“I’m going in to check on the guests. Then I’m heading to bed. It’s been a long day and I’m worn to the bone.” She kissed Seth and Uncle Pete on the cheek, then nodded at Shauna. “I’m doing a second seminar tomorrow at ten. Can you have the treat table refilled after breakfast?”
“Of course.”
Cat could see the worry in her friend’s eyes but she just shook her head. “I’m tired. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
When she went into the living room, the guests were all huddled on the couch and chairs, watching a movie. A
nne paused the television when she saw Cat. “Come in and join us. It’s Murder on the Orient Express. Rick’s never seen it.”
Cat leaned against the door frame and took in the group. Everyone was there including Molly. The groups always seemed to absorb the Covington attendee into their tribe sooner than later. Sometimes the student fit in so well, the line was seamless. “That’s okay, I’m beat. So if you don’t need me, I’m heading upstairs.”
“Are you all right?” Bren asked, sitting up straight from her spot on the couch next to Rick.
“I’m fine. It’s just been a long week. I’ll see you all in the morning for the rest of the publishing story. Have fun with the movie.”
Cat was glad she didn’t need to join the group. She was tired. And mostly she thought it was because she still hadn’t dealt with her feelings about Jessica lying about her book. With the whole Greyson murder, this issue seemed a little petty. And if she brought it up, Jessica would pull the grief card to avoid talking about it anyway.
* * *
The next morning, Cat awoke to a feeling that she’d missed something. She thought about yesterday but nothing rang a bell. When she got down to the kitchen, Shauna was on the laptop. She didn’t look up until Cat had poured herself a coffee and sat across from her. “Working on the cookbook?”
“Actually, no, I was talking to my brother. We connected on Facebook last night. He wants me to come to New York for a week.”
Cat sipped her coffee. “Sounds great. When are you going?”
“I’m thinking next week. Once the guests get out of here. I might even have Seth drop me off at the airport at the same time.” Shauna stood and pulled cinnamon rolls out of the oven. “Would you take care of Snow and the dwarves?”
“Of course. But I’m not riding your horse. I haven’t ridden since first grade when I fell off and the horse stepped on my foot.” Cat shuddered at the memory. “Then Mom made me walk to school by myself.”
“Didn’t you live about two blocks away?”
