Sconed to Death

by Lynn Cahoon

  She leaned in close and discreetly pointed at the woman. “Do you know her?”

  “Of course, that’s Greyson’s girlfriend or significant other or current shack-up. It depends on what side of the argument you’re on.” He lowered his voice. “Sandra Collins is a very well-known decorator in Denver. I hear they met when she was redoing his latest restaurant and he had her redo the house to her specifications, then asked her to move in with him. It was quite the classy touch.”

  “So who’s arguing?”

  Dante adjusted his coat. “The family. Now that his share of the family money is up for grabs, they’d like her to go away quietly and not make a claim on what they see as their money.”

  “That’s horrible.” Cat wondered if people talked about her that way. After all, she inherited Michael’s insurance as well as bank accounts and the house that became paid off at the time of his death. Michael liked his insurance. It was like he’d known he’d be the first to leave this mortal plane. Wow, sitting here in the funeral had her revisiting a lot of things in her head. Instead of wallowing in her thoughts, she needed to get Dante talking about Greyson again.

  “So were you close to him?”

  Dante’s eyebrow went up just a tad. If Cat hadn’t been watching for any reaction, she would have missed it. “You mean Greyson? Are you asking if he was family?”

  “No,” Cat answered too quickly. “Oh, no, was he?”

  Dante chuckled. “Not everyone I know is part of the family.”

  “I know. That was silly of me to assume.” Cat tried to backpedal. There was no way she wanted to get Dante mad.

  “You have a right. And, Catherine, I would never lie to you.”

  Cat felt Shauna’s knee bump and knew what her friend was saying. “Anyway, enough about me. How did you know Greyson?”

  “I visited his restaurant several times. The man was a genius with food. I’d talked to him about investing in an expansion, but he said he had enough investors.”

  “Really? When was this?” The music was coming to an end and Cat knew she wouldn’t have much more time to ask Dante anything.

  “Just last week when I was here.” Dante glanced at the flower-draped coffin at the front of the chapel. “Maybe he should have taken my offer.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Are you going to tell Seth?” Shauna hurried to catch up with Cat, who had bolted out of the cathedral as soon as the service was over. She moved her into the line of people that was going away from the parking lot where most of the mourners were heading. The family had to drive to Denver for the second service that would be held at an even bigger church in the city. Cat hadn’t even seen Jessica, the crowd had been so large.

  Shauna pulled her over to the side and off the sidewalk under an oak, and when she looked around to see that they were alone, she asked again. “Are you going to tell Seth?”

  “What are you talking about?” Cat wasn’t sure what Dante had said that had gotten Shauna so worked up about Seth. Cat had been more concerned about Dante’s implication at the end of their conversation. “You don’t think he’d kill someone because he didn’t go into business with him, do you?”

  Shauna glanced around for a second time. “You don’t?”

  Cat took her friend’s arm and they started walking toward home again. “I don’t know what to think with him. I mean, he seems so reasonable. But he’s like petting a sleeping tiger. You never know when he’s going to wake up and bite your arm off.”

  “That’s about as good of a description as I’ve heard. The guy is crazy hot, but there’s just something dangerous underneath. You can smell it.”

  Cat laughed. “I think that’s his cologne. Anyway, to answer your question, yes, I’m going to tell Seth. And Uncle Pete. If they want to blame anyone for sitting me down next to Dante, they can talk to Professor Turner. That guy has strong hands for such a little wimp.”

  “That’s for sure. I saw you almost fly into Dante. Good thing the man is built.” Shauna looked at Cat, who had stopped walking and was staring at her. “What, I have eyes. I’m not dead, you know. And yes, I remember he’s trouble. But wow, just wow.”

  “I’ll tell him you admire him the next time we bump into each other.” Cat worried that there would be a next time, sooner than she wanted. “So did you get any vibes from any of the mourners? I couldn’t really see a lot of people because of the stupid hat the woman in front of me was wearing.”

  “Mrs. Rice.”

  Cat jerked her head around and scanned the street. “Where? I’ve been successful in avoiding her since last month.”

  “No, silly. Mrs. Rice was the one with the hat. I thought you would have recognized her. She gave me such a dirty look when we first sat down because we giggled. Then she saw Professor Turner and it was all sunshine and light. You don’t think our neighbor has a crush on the good professor, do you?”

  “Weirder things have happened.” They were walking past Mrs. Rice’s house now but the woman was still at the church. “I wonder why she was at the memorial though.”

  “Oh, all the old-timers were there. I heard at the grocery store that her bridge club members were all going out to The Diner for lunch afterward.” Shauna was peering around the barn to the back pasture. “I haven’t seen Snow out grazing today. I hope she’s not sick.”

  “Horse flu?” Cat didn’t know how a horse could get sick.

  Shauna shook her head. “Maybe I should rethink this trip to New York.”

  “Don’t be like that. I can call a vet if I think she’s not doing well.” Cat wondered if she would know or not. “Besides, I’ll have Seth check on her daily while you’re gone. He’s more the horse type.”

  “And you have an excuse for Seth to be over here when you have the house to yourself,” Shauna teased.

  “Actually, we probably need some couple time. I don’t think we’ve been out on a real date for over a month.” Cat wondered if this new issue with the money Seth borrowed from Greyson would make it even harder to get together. “But yeah, I’m on the same wavelength.”

  They walked up the driveway and entered through the back door. When they came into the kitchen, Anne burst in from the hallway on the other side. “You need to come. I can’t get her to stop crying.”

  Cat and Shauna rushed to follow Anne into the living room. “What happened?”

  “We were at Reno’s and someone brought her the house phone,” Anne explained when Cat put a hand on her arm. “Anyway, he was on the line. He said he’d found her and he could always find her, so she might as well just come home.”

  Rick stood at the living room door looking furious. “If I could reach that guy, I’d beat him to a pulp.”

  “Don’t say that. You have to be strong for Bren. Show her there are good people out there who don’t use violence or harsh words with others.” Anne put a hand on his forearm and even Cat saw the instant relaxation.

  “You’re right. How come you always know the right thing to say?” He took in Cat’s and Shauna’s appearance. “I’d forgotten you’d gone to the funeral. Did you figure out any new suspects?”

  Cat pushed the mental image of Dante out of her head. There was no way he was involved in Greyson’s murder. Maybe she should see if he had even been in town that weekend. Of course, that wouldn’t mean anything. The guy had his own private plane.

  “We better go talk to Bren. Maybe we can talk murder suspects later.” Shauna pushed Cat past Rick and into the living room.

  “Oh, I am so sorry. I knew why you were here. Please, go ahead.” He swung an arm like he was Cat’s new bellboy, inviting them to step into the parlor. “I hope you can get her to calm down.”

  A sobbing Bren sat on the sofa. Colleen sat on Bren’s left and Anne moved around Cat and Shauna to join the women on the sofa.

  Cat moved in front of her and sat on the coffee table to bring her face aligned with Bren’s. “Hey, are you all right?”

  Bren nodded, then shook her head. Then she nodded a
gain. “I don’t know. I know I shouldn’t let him get to me. I just thought since I’d turned off my phone, the next time I talked to him I could be in control. In charge.”

  “And he ambushed you.” Shauna took Bren’s hand. “You’re shivering. Did you get to eat anything?”

  “Not much. Our food had just arrived when the waitress brought Bren the phone. I guess she didn’t think it odd for a customer to get a call,” Colleen explained.

  “They wouldn’t think it odd at all. We all know where our favorite eats are and when we like to go to lunch. I’ve tracked Cat down several times when I needed to ask her something.”

  “Usually it’s to have me bring home sugar or some type of spice you’d forgotten.” Cat smiled at her friend.

  “She’s pretty predictable,” Shauna added. “I can usually track her down with less than two calls.”

  “I think he went into my bank account and saw where we were going to lunch.” Bren grabbed a tissue. “I have to get this relationship over and done with so he won’t be following me around in Chicago. I like living there. I don’t want to have to move.”

  “You’ll be fine.” Anne patted her back. “If he starts this, you’ll just file a restraining order. He’ll get the hint.”

  Cat didn’t want to point out that sometimes a restraining order didn’t stop a determined stalker. They’d had experience with that before here at the retreat. “Well, let us know if you need anything. You’re safe here. Do you want me to call Uncle Pete and ask him to reach out to the Chicago Police Department to go tell him to knock it off?”

  Bren snorted. “I think Chicago’s force is a little too busy to deal with a little phone harassment.”

  “We do have a pretty high murder rate, especially if you add in the suburbs.” Colleen nodded, agreeing with her friend. “I have a link on my computer where I can go see all the reports.”

  “Why on earth would you do that?” Anne looked at her friend in horror.

  Colleen shrugged. “It’s research. I hate writing about the same type of murder over and over. How many times can you shoot a guy without your readers getting bored?”

  “But these are real life murders.” Anne wasn’t giving up on expressing her distaste for Colleen’s habit.

  “I think it’s brilliant.” Rick moved farther into the room. “Besides, you can watch who gets caught and who doesn’t. That’s why I like looking at cold cases. It’s a great way to get new ideas for your books.”

  Cat smiled at Shauna and they moved their way out of the room. By the time they got into the foyer, the writers’ discussion had taken off. Cat glanced back at the group. “Bren will be okay. She has the support of a lot of people who care about her.”

  “It’s nice to see them bond together. I worry about her going back to move out of her house, though.” Shauna picked up a water bottle that had been left on the desk.

  “Me too. I’m going to give Uncle Pete a heads-up on this. Bren might be surprised at how helpful the law enforcement in her town can be, especially with a heads-up that there might be a problem.” Cat glanced down at her dress. “I’m going upstairs and getting out of this. What about you?”

  “I’m going to check tomorrow’s treats and breakfast items, but I’m heading upstairs too.”

  They left each other at the bottom of the stairs. Cat decided to do a little Google investigating on the grieving girlfriend she’d seen at the service. She quickly changed into jeans and a T-shirt, then headed into her office to boot up her computer. Maybe the grief was staged and she’d been the one to kill Greyson in the bakery. Especially if she thought he was cheating on her with his sister-in-law.

  When she keyed Sandra’s name into the web search she was surprised at the number of hits the woman had. She’d been active in the Denver real estate and design world. She’d penned several articles that looked well researched and well written. The woman wasn’t a showpiece. She knew her business. Had Greyson threatened that in some way?

  Cat skimmed through the available articles, then happened on a picture of the home she’d shared with Greyson. The white columns made the front of the house look more like a southern plantation than a Denver house. The house was restored and located in one of Denver’s more upscale neighborhoods, Cherry Creek.

  Cat wrote down the address and then grabbed her notebook. She had just enough time before dinner to make a quick trip to the library. Hopefully the password Miss Applebome had given her earlier would also work on the state or Denver property records site.

  When she got downstairs, Shauna wasn’t in the kitchen, so she wrote a quick note on the whiteboard and headed to the college.

  The first password she’d tried hadn’t worked, so she’d had to track down Miss Applebome. She caught her with her large tote and purse heading out the door. She touched her arm to get her to stop.

  “What, Ms. Latimer? What can you possibly want now?” Miss Applebome looked at her watch. “You have three minutes before I’m officially off the clock.”

  “What’s the password for the Denver property records? I tried the one you gave me and it wouldn’t work.” Cat rushed the words out, hoping she was asking the right question because it looked like she’d only get one. “I need to look up who owns a house in the Cherry Creek neighborhood.”

  Miss Applebome stared at her. Finally, she pulled a notepad out of her purse and scribbled something on a page. “You’re determined, that’s for sure.”

  Cat took the page and stared at it. When she looked up, Miss Applebome was already out the first set of foyer doors. She held up the paper and called after her, “Thank you.”

  “Your uncle is going to kill me,” the librarian said, and then she walked out the second set of doors and disappeared down the library’s wide stone steps.

  Cat watched her for a minute, considering her words. “No, you won’t be the one in trouble, I will.”

  She turned and headed back to the computers where she’d left her tote and notebook. She got into the Denver city records on the first try and keyed the address into the search engine. It took so long for something to load, she wondered if she’d been kicked out for looking at a dead celebrity’s home address.

  But it came up, and to Cat’s surprise, the house wasn’t in Greyson’s name.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Cat tucked the printouts into her tote and looked up a phone number. When she made the call, the receptionist assured her that Sandra herself would be positively thrilled to meet with her at eight a.m. the next morning.

  Cat figured “thrilled” wasn’t the actual emotion the woman would have, especially if she figured out that Cat wasn’t there to schedule a remodel of the house. But at least she had a good excuse to meet with her since she had transformed her Victorian into the retreat. She’d have to get up early and she might miss out on the first part of Tammy’s seminar, but it was worth it. She needed to know if Sandra had a motive to want her boyfriend dead, which would put Jessica in the clear.

  Cat wasn’t sure why she was trying so hard to clear her ex-friend, especially since they still hadn’t talked about her telling her students that she’d helped Cat write her books. That was unforgivable. And if Jessica had killed Greyson, well, that would be something for Uncle Pete to deal with.

  Now she was heading home for dinner and a meeting with the writers. The group had fallen into a practice of running writing sprints for at least an hour before they went to dinner. Then after dinner, they gathered around the television and dissected movies. This group was fun to watch.

  When Cat came through the back door, Shauna looked up from her laptop. “I’m working on the cookbook tonight, so it’s pizza for dinner. Seth’s picking up our usual order and it will be here in about twenty minutes.”

  “I’ll check in with the writers and be right back.” Cat moved through the room and thought she’d made it out without talking about where she’d been, until she heard Shauna’s question.

  “Tell me, what did you find?”

>   Cat turned around. “I’ll tell you at dinner. I need to update Seth anyway due to the Dante sighting. We can brainstorm who killed Greyson over pizza.”

  “It’s not funny. You’re putting yourself out there and Pete doesn’t have a clue who killed the guy or why. The killer might get wind of what you’re doing.” Shauna had turned around in her chair and was watching Cat now.

  Cat came back to the table. “Look, I’m not doing anything that would put me in danger. And I’m being smart about it. Tomorrow I’m taking Seth to Denver. I’d bring you but you need to be here for the guests and breakfast.”

  “Why are you going to Denver?” Shauna didn’t look convinced that Cat was doing anything smart.

  “Because Greyson’s girlfriend owns a decorating business and I wanted to get some ideas about the house/retreat.”

  Shauna turned back to her notebook and her laptop. “You want to see if she has an alibi for the night Greyson was murdered. You know your uncle can just ask her these questions.”

  “I know. But I feel like I owe this to Jessica. We were friends once. Good friends. Besides, the woman might just have some innovative ideas about the retreat.” Cat paused at the door. “If we can afford her.”

  “Money’s not the issue, but if she thinks you are trying to pin Greyson’s murder on her, she may be unwilling to work with us.” Shauna waved her out of the room. “Go play with our guests. I’m busy here.”

  Cat smiled as she left. Shauna may not have had the writing bug when they first met, but now that she’d found her calling in cookbooks, she was hooked. Cat would find her working on the recipes for days when the retreat wasn’t in session. It was hard to leave a project sitting for a week and now Shauna knew how Cat felt during retreat weeks. Although lately, she’d begun to work during the sprint sessions in the evenings. She didn’t like missing the one today. But her time at the library had been fruitful.

  She paused at the living room door. The room was quiet except for the clicking of laptop keys.