by Cat Chandler
Standing at her kitchen counter she pulled out a bottle of the Grand Reserve Chardonnay from Holland winery. It had been a gift from the owner for identifying the person responsible for killing his head winemaker. Giving herself a healthy pour, she took her glass into her home office and sat in her desk chair, staring at her murder board. She told herself she would spend a few minutes updating it and then put it aside for the evening and work on the outline for her next spy novel. She was sure her hero, Tyrone Blackstone, must be feeling very neglected by now.
The sound of the front door opening was followed by Jenna’s distinct “helloooo”. Nicki waited until after the inevitable door-slamming before she called back.
“In the office.” When Jenna’s face appeared around the corner, Nicki lifted her glass. “It’s the Grand Reserve from Holland’s. If you want some, the bottle is in the wine fridge, bottom shelf.”
Jenna came in and plopped down on the small sofa and held up the long-necked bottle in her hand. “As it so happens, I was in the mood for a beer, and since I know you don’t stock that particular item, I brought my own.”
Nicki leaned back in her desk chair and took a leisurely sip of her wine. “So, how’s the plan going for the new client? Hit any glitches that will require you to make a trip to Silicon Valley.” The only thing Nicki knew about Trident Industries was that it was headquartered in Silicon Valley. And its founder was in his mid-thirties, very easy to look at, and very wealthy thanks to being an engineering genius when it came to designing computer programs.
“Hard to have a glitch when I’m figuring out how to best showcase the coolest software in the world. Did you know one of their product lines is only sold to law enforcement agencies? Oh. And the CIA. I’m not sure if they qualify as ‘law enforcement’, but they’re some sort of agency.” Jenna’s eyes shone behind her glasses. “Their age and face enhancement programs are far superior to anything else I’ve ever seen. And they have a fingerprint scanner that can be installed in all kinds of portable devices.” Jenna paused and sighed. “When I grow up, I so want to be like the guy who designed this stuff.”
Nicki laughed. “From what I read of your new client’s profile, he’s only five years older than you are.”
“Then I’ve got a long way to go in a short amount of time,” Jenna declared. “But before that, I’m supposed to tell you that Alex wants a ‘catch-up’ call in…” Jenna glanced at her wristwatch. “Oh, about three minutes.”
“That’s perfect.” Nicki immediately perked up a bit. Talking this whole thing over with her friends was just what was needed. The well-grounded Alex and the ever-logical Jenna would help her unravel this puzzle. Nicki was sure of it. Opening her desk drawer, she removed the power cord for her phone and plugged it into the wall. She was just setting it on its stand when it rang. Nicki pressed the answer button and grinned at Jenna who’d moved and was now sitting on the floor next to Nicki.
“Hey, Alex! How’s the doctoring world?”
“Same as usual. Lives are saved, people go home happy.” The background noise from the call sounded as if Alex was taking a brisk walk.
“Where are you?” Jenna demanded. “It sounds like you’re passing through Grand Central Station.”
“The ER is packed tonight. I’m just going through the lobby to get to a quieter spot outside since there isn’t one any peaceful spot inside at the moment.”
“Well walk faster,” Jenna complained.
“Ha ha. Now stop talking, I told the staff I’d only take a twenty-minute lunch break tonight.”
The noise level coming through the phone suddenly dropped to near silence. Nicki guessed Alex had finally made it outside and was headed to that quiet spot she knew about.
“Okay. I wanted some privacy as well as quiet, “Alex explained. “Are you near the murder board?”
“We’re in my office,” Nicki confirmed.
“Good. Then you can update the board as we go along. I have the information from the autopsy report.”
Jenna sat straight up and pumped a fist. “Way to go Alex! How did you get that?”
“The chief of staff in the emergency department is friends with Dr. Thomas Garland. He’s the medical examiner for the county. The chief was kind enough to cash in a favor and got the information from Dr. Tom.”
“And what did you have to promise your chief in return?” Nicki asked. She was sure the information hadn’t come without some kind of price tag on it.
“I have to spend one of my days off helping Dr. Tom in the ME’s office, and I have to work Halloween,” Alex admitted. “My chief of staff can’t find anyone to cover for him since he’s on the rotation that night, and he wants to be sure he’s home so his teenagers will behave.”
“He’s dreaming,” Jenna called out from her place by the board, the marker poised in her hand. “So what do you have?”
“Believe me, this is fresh off the press.” Alex’s voice dropped. “I don’t even think the police chief has it yet since Dr. Tom was reading off his notes.”
Nicki leaned forward, eager to hear what Alex had to say. She’d definitely be baking lemon bars later on. They were a particular favorite of Alex’s. And an apple spice cake for her to take to Dr. Tom when Alex put in her day with the ME. Maybe if he knew how delicious the bribes could be, they’d have a friend in the coroner’s office. Not that we’ll need one since this can’t possibly happen again. But just in case.
“The official cause of death is from a stab wound,” Alex began, then paused. Nicki could hear the crackle of paper through the phone.
“If that’s it, you definitely got gypped, and I wouldn’t do the Halloween gig,” Jenna yelled from across the room.
“There’s more,” Alex promised. “I just need to get these notes in order. Okay. Here we go. She had a small last meal of some pasta, seafood and bread.”
“The rest of it was still on her plate and splattered across the tablecloth,” Nicki confirmed.
There were more sounds of paper being shuffled before Alex picked up her narrative again. “According to Dr. Tom, there wasn’t anything unusual in her blood work, and it didn’t show that she’d consumed any alcohol in the hours before her death. She was in reasonably good shape, and I quote the doctor here, ‘for a woman her age’.”
Nicki shook her head. “I hope he doesn’t put that in the official report, because that’s just mean.”
“I second that,” Jenna said.
“Let’s see. Time of death was approximately two hours before you found her, Nicki. Now let’s see. He also related some of the forensic findings.” There was another pause and more shuffling sounds. “There were two stab wounds, I won’t tell you where exactly, but both entered through her back, and both hit vital organs so she would have bled out in just a minute or two. The knife penetrated just under six inches.”
Nicki thought that over as Jenna’s marker made squeaking noises across the board. “I could still see part of the blade, so the knife must have been longer than six inches, and from the handle, it looked like it was from one of Zelite’s lines.”
“And give a gold star to the gourmet chef. It was a ten-inch, Zelite, Chef’s knife. And very sharp according to Dr. Tom,” Alex said. “Is that significant?”
“That’s a high-end and expensive knife for someone who refuses to cook at all.” Nicki tilted her head back and closed her eyes. Why would Catherine have a knife like that in her kitchen? Assuming, of course, it came from Catherine’s kitchen.
She sighed out loud. This case was getting more and more confusing everywhere she looked. “I don’t suppose there were any fingerprints on it?” Nicki doubted it, but she had to ask.
“Not a one,” Alex confirmed.
“So whoever stabbed Catherine wasn’t strong enough to shove the knife all the way in.” Nicki’s forehead wrinkled in thought.
“Or knew he didn’t have to in order to cause enough damage to kill her. Especially with two wounds,” Alex pointed out. “Maybe the knife was
n’t Catherine’s? Maybe the killer brought it with him or her?”
“So someone she knows shows up at the door with a ten-inch chef’s knife in his hand and says what?” Jenna asked. “I just brought this along in case you needed me to cut something up?” Jenna scoffed. “I vote that it was already there.”
“It does sound more logical,” Alex agreed. “Someone carrying around a knife with a ten-inch blade is bound to be noticed.”
“But it doesn’t fit Catherine’s personality at all,” Nicki argued. “A high-end chef’s knife owned by someone who doesn’t cook?”
“Well, run it by Matt in the morning. Maybe he’ll have a fresh idea,” Alex said. “And speaking of Matt…”
“I don’t think we were speaking about Matt,” Nicki said, giving Jenna a wary glance as her friend snapped on the top of the marker and walked back toward the desk, propping one hip on its edge.
“I’d like to talk about Matt.” Jenna grinned.
“I second that,” Alex said. “You’re outvoted, Nicki.”
She lifted her hands in an ‘I-don’t-care’ gesture. “It’s going to be a short conversation then, since there isn’t anything to talk about. But I wish you’d stop teasing him about the boyfriend wannabe thing. He gets really embarrassed every time either of you brings it up.”
“We didn’t bring it up, Maxie did,” Jenna pointed out. “And he was only embarrassed because it was true.”
“You should have seen him when we took our walk through the square.” Alex jumped in before Nicki could get out a protest. “When Maxie told him that another guy had a head start on him, and he needed to stop stalling or Rob would sweep you off your feet, all Matt said was ‘no comment’.”
“Maxie might have been exaggerating just a tad,” Jenna admitted. “We all know Rob can’t stop talking about himself long enough to sweep you off your feet. And I guess we could have let Matt in on that, but we wanted to hear what he had to say.”
“And he very politely said ‘no comment’,” Nicki repeated firmly, tamping down that twinge of disappointment. It certainly made his feelings clear enough to her. “He’s a very nice guy. It would’ve been insulting if he’d told my landlady and two best friends that he’s not interested, so he simply went with the kinder ‘no comment’.” She paused and took in a deep breath, ignoring the grin that appeared on Jenna’s face. “Even if he can’t sweep me off my feet, Rob is still my boyfriend.”
Jenna shook her head. “No he’s not. Lover-boy is just a date whenever he’s in town and you’re free. By the way, have you talked to Rob lately?”
“He called this morning. He’s in Atlanta on a last-minute business trip. He wanted to know if the chief had mentioned him having to come back to Arson for another interview or for a trial.”
“That’s nice that he called.” Alex’s tone fairly dripped with sweetness. “Did he ask how you were holding up? And you don’t have to make an excuse for him. I know he didn’t.”
“Wow. There’s a shocker.” Jenna crossed her arms and stared down at her friend.
“Oh shoot. I have to start walking back.” Alex said. “Did you find out anything from the Catherine’s boyfriend? I thought you were going to go talk to him today?”
“I did. Charlie is the sweetest man. He likes to grow roses, and like Maxie said, I can’t see him hurting a fly much less stabbing Catherine in the back.”
“Anything else?” Alex asked.
“Yes. He was supposed to meet Catherine at her house that night after he had dinner at Mario’s. He didn’t know she would be working there that evening. But he forgot and went to bed around ten o’clock. So he has no alibi.”
“Uh oh. That’s not good,” Jenna said. “I like Charlie. Hate his wine, but like him. He wouldn’t do something like this.”
“I went with him today when he went to the police station to get his fingerprints matched to any that were found in Catherine’s house,” Nicki said. “That was really an ‘uh oh’ moment, although he didn’t seem to realize it.”
Nicki frowned when a series of beeps emitted from her phone. “Another call is coming in.”
“No problem,” Alex said. “I have to get back to work. I’ll talk to you this weekend when I come for a visit with Tyler tagging along to act as our collective bodyguard to keep Matt happy. Bye.”
With that connection broken, Nicki touched the ‘answer’ button that had popped up with the second call.
“Hello?”
“Nicki, it’s Maxie. I can’t talk long, dear, but I just got a call from Ramona. She wants us to meet her at Catherine’s house and go through all her mother’s writing journals to see if there’s anything worth publishing.”
Nicki’s eyebrows winged up in surprise. “Ramona? Catherine’s daughter?”
“That’s right, dear. I wanted to call you right away so you can get started on a delicious treat. Just in case we need a small bribe.”
Nicki groaned. She hadn’t planned on anything but a good night’s sleep, not staying up late to make a dessert for Catherine’s daughter.
“I’ll pick you up about ten. And I’ll call Matt at his hotel to let him know when to be ready since you won’t have time with the baking you’ll need to do between now and then.”
When Nicki let out a second groan, Maxie laughed.
Chapter Forty-One
Nicki, Maxie and Matt were sitting in Maxie’s car in front of Catherine’s cute Cape Cod-style house, staring at the steps leading up to the porch and front door.
Reaching over the back of Nicki’s seat, Matt placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure you want to go back in there? You can stay out here while Maxie and I talk with Catherine’s daughter.”
“I’ll be fine,” Nicki assured him. “Suzanne told us that Ramona was angry that her mother had refused to give her extra money from her father’s trust so she could spend a year studying abroad. I’d like to hear what her alibi is for the night Catherine was killed.”
“I would like to hear that too,” Maxie declared. “I’m hoping Charlie isn’t the only one who doesn’t have someone to vouch for his whereabouts that night.”
The three of them fell silent again for a moment before Maxie straightened her shoulders and made a move to open the car door. “Well, there’s no reason to put this off. She glanced at Matt through the rear view mirror. “Matt, dear. It might be better if you stayed in the car. Ramona could be in a very fragile state, and a strange, good-looking man close by may keep her from talking as freely as she would if it was just female friends of her mother’s.”
“I don’t know,” Matt said slowly. “Everyone involved in this seems to have a strange side to them.” He nodded back as Maxie continued to stare at him. “This Suzanne sounds like a nut case, and last night? Mario wasn’t even aware he was crushing Nicki’s hand. Even Charlie is odd in his own way. He can’t possibly be so scattered that he doesn’t know that the wine he’s been making for a decade or so is almost undrinkable. Now we’re about to meet a daughter who can’t seem to pick a major long enough to graduate from college, and a sister who didn’t have much contact with her own twin, if Suzanne’s account is to be believed.”
Maxie sighed. “All of that is true enough. And you haven’t even mentioned Catherine’s ex-husband, who owns art galleries in several cities and favors wearing capes.”
“Capes? You mean like a superhero in the comics?” Matt put his fingers to his temples and gave them a good rub. “Seriously?”
Nicki clamped her lips together to keep from laughing. When the urge had passed, she twisted around in her front passenger seat and looked at Matt. “And you also haven’t mentioned the ultra-busy-body neighbor who even this minute is probably watching us from her living room window.”
“Great.”
“That’s small-town life.” Nicki grinned at him. “I also think while we’re talking with Ramona, you should go talk to Beatrice Riley. Find out if she saw anyone go in or come out of the house that night besides Catherine.”
“If anyone would know, Beatrice would,” Maxie mumbled.
Picking up the plate of brownies she’d been carrying in her lap, Nicki opened the car door. “Let’s get going before we talk ourselves out of it.”
Walking backwards she winked at Matt as he came around to stand by the front of the car. “If you see a serial killer coming up the walk, be sure to send us a text.” She smiled when he shook his head at her and Maxie laughed.
“This is my Aunt Cynthia. I asked her to come along since she hadn’t been here since mom died. Gives her some closure, you know?” Ramona looked around before turning her gaze back to Maxie. Other than saying an indifferent “hello”, Ramona had completed ignored Nicki.
“So mom’s journals and stuff are on the coffee table.” She pointed to the low oak table in front of the sofa.
Maxie nodded but the polite smile on her lips didn’t quite reach her eyes. Nicki wasn’t too impressed with Ramona’s attitude about her mother’s death either. Showing a little remorse would have been nice to see.
To Nicki, Ramona’s seemingly unemotional reaction to her mother’s death was as jarring as her hair. The young woman’s brown locks were highlighted with thin strips of green running down both sides. To Nicki’s eye, it gave the appearance of moss, or some kind of mold, growing in her hair. But other than the difference in their choice of hairstyle and color, Ramona looked exactly like her mom, right down to her medium height, slender figure and the gray eyes staring back at Maxie.
“We can get to that in a moment, dear.” Maxie gave the gentle rebuke as she extended her smile to Ramona’s aunt who was standing silently next to her niece. “It’s been a while, Cynthia. It’s nice to see you again, although I wish it were under different circumstances.”
Cynthia nodded before looking pointedly at Nicki. Maxie raised an eyebrow but her smile didn’t budge.
“I asked Nicki along today since she’s a published author.” Maxie smoothly offered the explanation, waiting a beat before adding, “I’m sure, being a former librarian, that you’re familiar with her novels?”
