Blended Bribes

by Jessica Beck

  “Paige, it won’t take a second,” I said firmly.

  She looked at me for a moment, and then she shrugged. “Okay, but I honestly don’t have much time.”

  “We’ll take as little as we can,” Grace said. “What were you about to tell us outside earlier when you realized that we were speaking with someone else?”

  “It’s about what happened at ReNEWed,” she said. “I heard Mindy Fulbright arguing with Gabby about something yesterday in front of the bank. It’s not all that odd for Gabby to have a public disagreement with someone, but given what happened later, I thought it might be important.” She lowered her clipboard for a moment. “You two are looking into the fire, aren’t you?”

  “Haven’t you heard? The SBI said it was an accident, and Chief Grant isn’t arguing the point,” I said.

  The bookstore owner looked at us both askance. “Come on. I don’t believe that any more than you do. How did the fire supposedly start?”

  “There was a faulty old toaster oven in back,” Grace volunteered.

  “Now I know it’s not true,” Paige said. “Gabby wouldn’t make anything in that shop, not even a piece of toast.”

  “That’s what we said,” I told her, “but nobody seems to care what we think.”

  “Well, I do,” Paige said.

  “I didn’t realize that you and Gabby were that close,” Grace said.

  The bookstore owner lowered her voice. “We aren’t, but if someone’s burning businesses down in April Springs, it matters to me.” She paused before adding, “Besides, nobody deserves dealing with that kind of total destruction. Have you heard anything, Suzanne, I mean about Gabby?”

  “She’s still in critical condition,” I said. I wasn’t about to share what Penny had told me. Not only did Paige not need to know, but I was still trying to mend my fractured relationship with the nurse.

  “That’s too bad,” Paige said. “Listen, keep me posted, okay? I hate to say this, but I’ve really got to get back to work.”

  “No worries,” I said. “We’ll get out of your hair. There’s just one last thing. Did you happen to overhear exactly what Gabby and Mindy were fighting about?”

  “Money, from the sound of it,” Paige said.

  “How so?” I asked.

  “I don’t have a clue. I guess the only way to find out is to ask Mindy.”

  “We’ll put her on our list,” Grace said.

  “Thanks for chatting,” I added as Grace and I started to leave the bookstore.

  “Anytime, except maybe right now,” she said with a frown. “I’m truly sorry I can’t give you any more time.”

  “Hey, running your business well is important,” I told her.

  “So is keeping up with friendships,” she answered.

  “No worries on that account,” I said.

  After Grace and I were back outside, she asked, “So, which one do we talk to first?”

  “I’d say we start with Tyra and then speak with Mindy,” I said. “Do you mind if I call Jake while we’re walking to my place to pick up my Jeep?”

  “That depends. Do you mind me eavesdropping?” Grace asked me with a grin.

  “Have I ever in the past?” I asked with a smile in return.

  “Not that I can recall,” she said.

  I got Jake on the fourth ring. “Is this a bad time?”

  “I’ve got a second,” he replied, sounding distinctly out of breath.

  “I can check back in with you later,” I answered.

  “No, I need a breather, and so does my supervisor,” he said.

  “I said I was sorry,” I heard the mayor say in the background.

  “I heard you,” Jake said, and I could hear footsteps followed by a door opening and slamming shut behind him. “I’m on the porch, and by the way, I wasn’t the one who slammed that door. It’s got a habit of catching the wind and shutting itself.”

  “How are you two doing?” I asked him.

  “We’re fine. We just had a difference of opinion. I wanted to do something the right way, and Mayor Morris wanted to do it his way.”

  I did my best not to laugh. They were two bullheaded men, and the only thing that amazed me was that they weren’t clashing more often than they were. “Do you need a referee?”

  “No, we’ll be fine. What’s up?”

  “Listen, do you remember me telling you about Buster Breckenridge a long time ago?”

  “The arsonist? Yeah, I remember,” Jake replied. “What about him?”

  “He’s out of prison, and worse yet, he’s decided to come back to April Springs,” I said. There were a few moments of silence until I started to get uncomfortable. “Jake, are you still here?”

  “I am,” he said. “Have you seen him yourself?”

  “He was in the park, looking at our cottage,” I admitted.

  “Is he still there?” Jake asked, and I could hear him starting to head back inside.

  “Relax. He’s on his way to Union Square, where evidently he’s working, at what I do not know.”

  I could hear his footsteps stop. “How did he seem to you?”

  “As a matter of fact, he was oddly calm,” I told him.

  “He might be now, but I read those transcripts right after you told me about him before we were married. He threatened you in open court, Suzanne.”

  Knowing Jake, I wasn’t surprised that he’d researched the case after I’d told him about it. “Jake, he threatened a great many people, including the mayor, but he claims that he’s a changed man.”

  “I know some folks can change, but it’s a lot harder than most people think,” Jake said. “I need to tell the mayor. Could you hold on for one second?”

  “Sure,” I said. He muffled the receiver so I couldn’t hear what he was saying, so I turned to Grace. “He’s telling George.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Grace said. “I’d hate for something to happen to the mayor.”

  “Do you believe that Buster started the fire at ReNEWed?” I asked her.

  “No,” she said. “I don’t.”

  I was about to ask her why when Jake came back onto the line. “Okay, he knows.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He told me that if Buster wants trouble, he’ll get more than he can handle,” Jake said. “Suzanne, I don’t like this.”

  “Jake, there’s nothing we can do about it. I’m not worried.”

  “Well, maybe you should be,” he said.

  I thought about it, and then I asked him, “In your expert opinion, if he started the fire at Gabby’s yesterday, would he really allow himself to be seen around town today?”

  He gave it some thought before answering. “It all depends on what kind of guy he is,” Jake finally said. “What do you think?”

  “I don’t know,” I answered honestly.

  “I don’t either, but I’m going to talk to him and find out.” I didn’t like that tone of voice, the deadness to his words that always scared me.

  “Jake, he was right when he said that he served his time. Remember, you’re not a cop anymore.”

  “Believe me, I’m well aware of that fact. There’s nothing that says we can’t have a nice polite conversation though, is there?”

  “I don’t suppose so,” I said. “Listen, I want to talk to you about something else.” I wanted to ask him about Chief Grant’s suggestion that Jake help the Union Square police chief out with his robbery investigations.

  “Can it wait until tonight? The mayor is inside slamming things around again.”

  “It can wait. Be careful, okay?”

  He chuckled softly. “Right back at you.”

  Our talk would have to wait until later after all.

  “What were you about to say?” I asked Grace as I put my cell phone away.

  “It doesn’t matter anymore,” she said.

  “Of course it does. Go on. I’m listening.”

  “I was going to suggest the same thing you just did to your husband. Why on eart
h would Buster stick around after torching ReNEWed? It just doesn’t sound as though it’s something an arsonist would do, at least as far as I’m concerned.”

  “I’m not saying that we should take his name off the list entirely, but it does seem a bit odd, doesn’t it?”

  “It’s something to consider, anyway,” she said as we approached my Jeep. “Do you need to go inside for anything before we get into this?”

  “No, I’m ready to roll if you are.”

  “Then let’s go see what Tyra Hitchings and Mindy Fulbright have to say for themselves.”

  Chapter 9

  “Hi, Tyra. Do you have a second?” I asked the older woman—elegantly dressed but looking a bit haggard—as she answered her front door. The house had once been stately, neatly painted and carefully landscaped, but it was clear from the outside that it, like its owner, had fallen on hard times. Tyra herself was still dressed nicely, but I was willing to bet that the clothes she was wearing hadn’t been bought new for several seasons.

  “Sorry, but I’m in a bit of a rush,” she said as she tried to block our view of the foyer.

  “I understand,” I said as I leaned in and peered inside, trying to get a better look. “Woops. Sorry about that,” I said as I forced the door open. “Are you going somewhere?” There were four large pieces of luggage stacked near the door.

  “Those bags? No, I’m clearing out my closets and my attic and donating some things to charity,” she said as she bit her lower lip.

  “The prospect of making ends meet now that Gabby’s shop is gone must be tough for you,” Grace said.

  Tyra frowned at her, and I could see her temper start to flare before she pulled herself back in. “Grace, I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Come on, it’s common knowledge that you’ve been selling your things to ReNEWed for months now,” Grace said. “There’s no shame in it, Tyra. I’ve done it myself a time or two.”

  “As I said, I’m making a rather large donation of things I don’t need anymore. I’m planning on downsizing, and in order to do that, a great deal of my things have to go first. I’ve been rattling around in this big old house by myself for much too long. Sometimes I feel as though I’m serving it and not the other way around. What do I need with five bedrooms and three bathrooms? I live alone, for goodness’ sake. Streamlining my life is the only reason I’ve dropped a few things off at Gabby’s recently. I’ve got to do something with all of this stuff,” she said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I really must attend to some things.”

  “We’re sorry to bother you,” I said as the door started to close. “We thought we’d give you the courtesy of checking with you first, but if you’re so busy, we’ll just go by and talk to the police chief and tell him.”

  The door never made it all the way closed as Tyra opened it again quickly. “What are you talking about?” There was definitely a hint of temper in her voice, and while so far she’d managed to control it pretty well, it was still clearly there. Then again, I might have gotten annoyed myself if someone were pressing me like we were pushing her.

  “Someone spotted you arguing with Gabby yesterday before the fire in front of her shop,” I said.

  “And we just happen to have it from other sources that you’ve been sneaking around selling things for quite some time,” Grace added. Okay, our source for both pieces of information was Trish Granger, but we weren’t about to give our friend’s name to this woman.

  “I’m sorry, but that is complete and utter nonsense,” she said crossly. “Certainly I had words with Gabby. The woman is as abrasive as steel wool. I challenge you to find five people in all of April Springs who haven’t had some sort of altercation with Gabby Williams in the past.”

  She had a point, but I couldn’t let logic interfere with our questioning. “Then you should be fine. Gabby keeps a complete set of records of everyone she bought from. You knew that, didn’t you?” I asked. It was true as far as it went. I knew Gabby liked to keep lists, but whether she’d ever compiled the names into one place I didn’t know, at least not for sure.

  “If she did, wouldn’t they have been burned up in the fire as well?” Tyra asked.

  “A year ago maybe, but Gabby’s getting to be pretty computer savvy these days. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit to find out that the information is out there in cyberspace just waiting for the police. You might as well admit it up front to us. Maybe we can help you,” I said. Gabby’s extent of computer awareness was filling out some dating site profiles, at least as far as I knew. I was way out on a limb at the moment, and it would just take a second for Tyra to call me on it.

  But she didn’t.

  “Fine,” the woman admitted wearily. “As you said yourself, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’ve sold an odd item here and there to her over the past several months. At first I wanted to test the waters, but lately I’ve been selling more and more to her. And why shouldn’t I? Let someone else enjoy the things I don’t need or want anymore.” She gestured to the bags. “The money it’s brought has been a nice bonus, and while I feel good when I donate to charity, as I said, this house doesn’t pay for itself. I have money, ladies, but who wouldn’t like a little more to help make ends meet? So what if we did business together?” She looked at Grace. “You said yourself that you’ve done the same thing.”

  “Maybe, but I didn’t storm out of ReNEWed hours before it burned to the ground,” Grace said serenely. “What were you so upset about?”

  Tyra sighed heavily. Clearly we were trying her patience. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time someone was tired of our questioning, and I was sure it wouldn’t be the last, either. She was still standing in the doorway blocking us, and now she sighed and crumpled a little. “I decided to see just how much she was getting for my things. It was a matter of curiosity more than anything else. Did you know she marks up everything she takes in at an outrageous amount? She made three times more than she ever paid me. I didn’t feel that it was fair, and I told her so.”

  “What did she say in response to that?” I asked her. It was as I’d expected earlier, but it was nice getting confirmation from her about my theory.

  “Gabby told me in no uncertain terms that I was invited to see if I could do better on my own if I didn’t like her terms. We both knew that wasn’t going to happen, so I dropped it and left. By the time I got back here, I started to see her point. After all, I hadn’t been under any obligation to accept her offers. I decided that getting something for my things was much better than just donating them, as good as that might have made me feel. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that I’d overreacted, so I was going to go back over there and apologize, but I never got the chance,” she added wistfully.

  “Was that the last time you saw Gabby,” Grace asked her, “or did you happen to see her later?”

  After a split second, Tyra said, “No, unfortunately that was the last time I saw her alive.”

  “Tyra, Gabby’s not dead yet, unless you know something that we don’t,” I told her.

  The older woman looked genuinely shocked by the revelation. “What? Tilly Ranger from next door came over last night to help me pack up those bags, and she told me that ReNEWed was gone, burned to the ground. She said that Gabby had been inside at the time, so I just assumed that she was dead. What great news! I’m relieved she made it out in time. How is the poor thing? I hated the thought that the last thing I said to her was said in anger. She might not have been my favorite person in the world, but I still didn’t want that argument on my conscience.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if she makes a complete recovery,” I lied. I was trying to get a reaction out of Tyra.

  “Then I’ve got a chance to make things right with her after all? That’s excellent. Do you happen to know if she’s home right now? I’ve got to apologize and clear my conscience as soon as possible.”

  “Actually, they’re keeping her at the hospital for observation,” I said, which on the face of
it was actually true. I was sure while she was in intensive care, they were observing her most carefully.

  “Do you happen to know if they will let her have visitors?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said.

  “After the truck comes to pick up those bags, I’ll pick up some flowers and see if I can get a minute of her time.” She smiled. “I’ve got to say, I’m quite relieved to find out I was wrong. That Tilly. I should have known that she’d exaggerate the situation! I appreciate you stopping by, ladies.”

  I was about to ask her a follow-up question when a large truck from Goodwill pulled into the driveway. I could still get out, but just barely.

  “That’s the truck I was waiting for. Thanks again,” she said as two husky men got out of the truck and approached us.

  “Where are the things you wanted to donate, Mrs. Hitchings?” one of the men said.

  “They’re by the door, but I have some furniture in the house, too.”

  It was clear that Tyra was indeed making a donation and not going anywhere. My overactive imagination had jumped to a conclusion when I’d seen those bags, and I’d been proved wrong. It was entirely possible that everything Tyra had told us was true. I’d had more than my share of public rows with Gabby myself. If that fire had occurred right after one of our arguments, I would be the one under intense scrutiny, not Tyra. “Come on, Grace. Let’s go.”

  “What do you think?” I asked Grace after I managed to get the Jeep out of the driveway without hitting anything. “Was she telling us the truth?”

  “Her explanations all made sense,” Grace allowed, “but there are facts that still cast her in a bad light. That fight alone is reason to keep her on our list of suspects.”

  “We’ve both had arguments with Gabby in public in the past, but that doesn’t mean that we were the ones who torched the place,” I reminded her.

  “Trust me, I know that more than anyone else in town, probably,” she allowed. “Still, the timing of it all looks bad.”

  “I think she genuinely felt bad about the fight, given what happened afterwards,” I persisted. “You’ve got to admit that she wanted to find Gabby and apologize as soon as she found out she was still alive.”