Vinnie nodded to his sister. “You still gonna take Brittney shoe shopping in the morning? I got a little business to take care of and figured while you girls are maxing out my plastic, I could take care of my stuff.”
“Yes, I’ll take Brittney shoe shopping in the morning,” Mercedes said. “If I remember correctly, the new mall has several designer shoe stores. Brittney should have a field day.”
“Thanks, Mercedes. I owe you one. I guess now that I’ve given Savannah a chance, it’s not such a bad place to visit,” Vinnie said.
“It’s also a great place to live. You should consider it if you get tired of Atlantic City,” Carlita hinted.
“Not a chance. This place is nice enough, although a little too low key for my tastes. Speaking of tastes, Brittney and I would like to treat the family to dinner tonight.”
“That would be nice,” Carlita said. “Have you asked Tony?”
“Yeah, we just came from there. He told me he had a few things to take care of after work, but said he could be ready by seven-thirty. We’re gonna meet downstairs near the back door.”
“Seven-thirty is perfect. It will give Mercedes and me time to take care of a couple of things ourselves. Do you have a restaurant in mind?”
“Brittney spotted a tapas restaurant she wants to try, if you don’t mind.”
“Tapas?” Carlita lifted a brow.
“You know, those cutesy little food dishes people share at the table. I wouldn’t mind checkin’ it out since we’re thinking of closing one of the bakery restaurants in the casino and opening something new and fresh. According to Brittney, tapas are all the rage.”
“I’m game. Tapas sounds good to me.”
Vinnie and his mother agreed they would all meet at 7:30 and then Vinnie headed back inside his apartment.
Mercedes motioned to her mother, and the two women tiptoed to Shelby’s front door. Carlita stuck the master key in the lock and unlocked the door. “Are we sure we want to do this?”
“Do we have a choice?”
“No. As much as I’m against invading a person’s private space, we have to get to the bottom of what is going on.” Carlita eased Shelby’s door open.
The interior was dark, with only a small amount of light beaming through the slits in the living room blinds.
Mercedes reached for the light switch.
“Wait.”
“What?” Mercedes lowered her hand. “We can’t snoop if we can’t see.
“True. Go ahead and turn the lights on.”
Mercedes flipped the switch and bright light illuminated the tidy space.
Carlita took a step back to ease the door closed when she heard a sharp voice ring out from the hall.
“Hey!”
Chapter 16
Startled, Carlita spun around, coming face-to-face with Elvira. “What are you doing in here?”
“I forgot to ask you when you wanted to plan a visit to the Black Stallion. Your back door was locked, but it wasn’t latched. You might wanna get that fixed. I pushed it open and walked right in.”
“Great,” Carlita grumbled. “Remind me to have Bob Lowman take a look at it, Mercedes.”
Elvira craned her neck, peering over Carlita’s shoulder. “You find anything yet?”
“We just got in here.”
Elvira slipped past Carlita and entered Shelby’s apartment. “This is a nice apartment. It looks bigger than my old apartment.”
“All four of the apartments are identical with the exact same square footage.”
“Huh.” Elvira nodded. “I know you haven’t asked for my opinion, but if I was going to search the place, I would start in the desk area, filing cabinets, something like that.” She pointed to a small desk, located between the living room and the kitchen area.
“I’ll do it.” Mercedes hurried to the desk. On top was a vertical divider with several bills sticking out. Next to the desk was a file box. She lifted the lid. “There’s nothing out of the ordinary in here, utility bills, bank statements, that kind of thing.”
“Junk drawers can be goldmines.” Elvira approached the kitchen cabinets. “I’ll take a quick peek inside here for you.” She pulled one of the drawers open. “Silverware.”
“Oh brother.” Carlita shook her head.
It was too late. Elvira was in her element as she began digging through the kitchen drawers. Carlita was certain it would take longer to convince her former tenant to leave than it would to quickly search the place and get out.
“Don’t destroy anything,” Carlita warned.
Mercedes continued searching the desk area while Carlita headed to the small hall and the bedrooms in the back. There was a good chance they wouldn’t find anything since Mercedes and Carlita had helped Shelby clean up earlier and hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.
Carlita did a quick visual search of Violet’s pink and pastel princess bedroom before she moved on to the bathroom. She did a quick search of the medicine cabinet and the cabinet under the sink before heading to Shelby’s bedroom.
The door was ajar, so Carlita nudged it open with the tip of her shoe and stepped inside. The bedroom light was already on and she hesitated for a fraction of a second as an internal war waged. She was uncomfortable invading what was not only her tenant’s space, but also the private space of her son’s girlfriend.
She took a tentative step to the right and the bedroom dresser. On top of the dresser was a glass bowl. Inside the bowl were hairpins, a bracelet, a pair of earrings and one silver key.
Carlita moved past the dresser to a folding chair propped against the wall. In front of the chair was a wicker laundry basket. She lifted the lid and peered into the empty basket before walking to the far side of the bed and the bedside table.
On top were a rainbow-colored stacked glass table lamp and a cork coaster. A quilted blue and yellow bedspread covered the bed and several small throw pillows were scattered along the headboard.
She retraced her steps, to the other side of the bed and the second bedside table where she found a matching table lamp and coaster. The room was clean…almost too clean, but then Carlita reminded herself they had straightened the apartment right before they dropped Shelby off at her uncle’s house.
She paused briefly, deciding whether to open the dresser drawers and take a quick look inside when she heard an excited yelp coming from the other room.
“Jackpot!”
Carlita hurried into the living room. “You found something?”
“Mercedes did. Check it out.”
She joined her daughter and Elvira, who were standing at the bar staring at a piece of paper. “What is it?”
“Shelby’s cell phone bill.”
“Her cell phone bill is a clue?”
“Not the bill itself,” Elvira explained. “It’s the call log.” She ran her finger down the list of numbers. “Do you recognize any of these numbers?”
Carlita squinted her eyes. “I don’t have my reading glasses. I can’t make heads or tails of the numbers.”
“I can.” Mercedes lifted the cell phone bill. “This is Tony’s number, this is the pawnshop phone. I see your number Ma. There are a few I don’t recognize.”
“I’m sure one of them is the post office.”
“There are several incoming calls that aren’t local, and they’re all within the last thirty days.”
“It could be nothing,” Carlita said.
“Or it could be something,” Elvira said. “Think about it. You said yourself Shelby’s ex didn’t live in the area. How did he contact her?”
“I have no idea.”
Elvira began to pace. “Here’s my theory. Robert was somehow able to track Shelby here. He may have even gotten her cell phone number and called her.”
“Shelby did say she met Robert. She never said anything about him showing up on her doorstep.”
“Which means his first contact could have been via cell phone, unless she has a home phone.”
“She doesn’t,” Merc
edes said. “How are we going to figure out if any of these numbers is a clue?”
Elvira snorted. “It’s a good thing I’m here to help. I need a cell phone.”
Mercedes tugged her cell phone from her back pocket. “I have mine.”
“Perfect. Take a picture of the phone log. When you get home, start calling the unidentified numbers.”
“And tell them what? I’m Shelby’s landlord; I broke into her apartment, snooped through her personal belongings and started calling everyone who contacted her over the last thirty days?”
“Of course not,” Elvira snapped. “You make up some excuse. In fact, I have one I’ve been dying to try for a while now. May I?”
Mercedes reluctantly handed her cell phone to Elvira.
Elvira switched the phone on. “Where’s the camera-thingy?”
“Here.” Mercedes scrolled through the icons and tapped the screen.
“Perfect.” Elvira shifted the phone away from the sheet of paper and pressed the button. “There are more numbers on the other side.”
She flipped the sheet over and snapped a second picture. “This should be fairly easy, although I must say I’m surprised she has a paper copy of her cell phone records. Not many people request those anymore unless, of course, she’s able to turn them in to her employer for reimbursement if she uses her cell phone for business purposes.”
Mercedes tapped her mother’s arm. “I told you we need to have a registered business name so it can start paying for some of our expenses. Between the pawnshop, the rental business and the restaurant, we need to make sure we’re taking advantage of all of our legitimate write-offs.”
“We’ll look into it,” Carlita promised. “Just as soon as we get this mess straightened out.”
“That should be enough.” Elvira handed Mercedes her cell phone. “Do you have time to call the people on the list tonight?”
Carlita glanced at her watch. “We’re heading out shortly for a family dinner at some tapas restaurant downtown.”
Elvira looked disappointed. “Crud. I was hoping we could test out my phone inquiry ruse. Are you busy tomorrow?”
“Mercedes is taking Brittney shoe shopping and I have another matter to take care of. We could do it first thing in the morning.”
“Perfect. I have a new client meeting me at eleven. How does nine-thirty tomorrow morning sound?”
“Okay, I guess.”
“Great. Come over to my place around nine-thirty tomorrow morning. We can run down this list faster than you can say Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo.”
The trio exited the apartment after Carlita made sure all of the lights were off. She locked the door and pulled it shut, giving it a sharp tug to make sure it was closed.
“See you in the morning.” Elvira tromped down the stairs, whistling a catchy tune. She gave them a jaunty wave before breezing out the back door.
Mercedes shook her head. “How does she do that?”
“Do what?”
“Take over. You told her we could handle the search. Next thing you know, not only is she helping us search, she’s taken control of the investigation.”
“That’s Elvira. I would like to say we could’ve managed fine on our own, but I’m not sure I would’ve thought to go through Shelby’s cell phone log to search for clues.”
“Me either,” Mercedes said. “We better hurry up and get ready or we’re gonna be late.”
Mother and daughter had just enough time to stop at their apartment to freshen up before meeting Tony, Vinnie, and Brittney downstairs.
Tony looked glum and Carlita was certain Shelby’s situation was weighing heavy on her son’s mind. “Any luck with the laptop?”
“No. I’m still working on it.” Despite Tony’s somber mood, he joined in the conversation as they meandered through the squares, making their way to the City Market.
“This is it.” Vinnie stopped in front of one of the restaurants. “Brittney took a look at the online menu before we left the apartment.”
Brittney studied the menu board on the wall near the entrance. “I have a few things I would like to try, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not,” Carlita said kindly. “It was very thoughtful of you to take a look at the menu ahead of time.”
Brittney beamed at the compliment and a wave of guilt washed over Carlita. She hadn’t been unkind to her new daughter-in-law, but then she hadn’t been exactly warm and welcoming, either.
Of course, she placed some of the blame squarely on her eldest son’s shoulders for springing the shocking surprise of his marriage to the mafia boss’ daughter, for which she still planned to have a private chat with him.
Mercedes and Brittney’s shopping trip would be the perfect opportunity to spend a few moments alone with her son.
Although the restaurant was busy, they were quickly seated at a table. Brittney was knowledgeable about the tapas menu, and Carlita complimented her several times on her selection of shared dishes. There was only one she didn’t care for, and it was merely a personal preference since she wasn’t much of a mussel lover, although the others seemed to enjoy it.
While they ate, they discussed the pawnshop, the apartment rentals and the restaurant renovations.
“You’ve done a great job, Ma. Brittney and I both agree the apartment is very nice and if we were in the market for an apartment, we would jump at the chance to rent yours.”
“Thanks, son. We’ve worked hard to make sure our tenants are happy and it’s a safe place to live.” Shelby’s break-in flitted through Carlita’s mind and she wondered if her tenant hadn’t staged the break-in.
She quickly pushed the thought aside, determined to enjoy the evening with her family. While they ate, Vinnie filled them in on upcoming changes for the casino, his new job as the operations manager and Castellini’s plans for casino expansion.
Carlita reached for her glass of water. “Castellini plans to purchase more casinos?”
“He would like to expand into the Georgia market. Vito has some connections he’s working on, to have the issue placed on an upcoming ballot.”
“Does Vito think he has a shot at getting a vote on the ballot?” Carlita asked.
“Yes, he does.” Vinnie quickly changed the subject. “Mercedes is going to take you shoe shopping tomorrow,” he told his wife.
“I can hardly wait.” Brittney chattered on about the purchases she’d made that day, and then went into a long spiel touting the features of her favorite brand of designer shoes.
Carlita only half-listened as she thought about Vinnie’s words and then she had another thought. “Son, you’re not shopping with the girls tomorrow?”
“No, I have a small business matter to attend to,” Vinnie said. “How about you? You going shopping with the girls?”
“No.” Carlita stared at her eldest son thoughtfully. “I have a small matter to attend to in the morning, as well.”
Chapter 17
“I have no idea how this woman talks us into doing what she wants us to do,” Mercedes grumbled.
“Elvira does have a way about her.” Carlita hurried to keep up with her daughter as they made their way down the sidewalk. “I have to admit I’m curious as to how she’s going to trace Shelby’s cell phone calls.”
“Me too.” They reached the front of Elvira’s building and the EC Investigative Services entrance. “I give it a 50/50 chance of being illegal.”
“Or sketchy at best.”
“Yep.” Carlita opened the door and they stepped inside the building where they found Elvira seated behind a desk, her head lowered as she concentrated on a file in front of her. She glanced up at the bell chime.
“Ah. Right on time.” She flipped the folder shut and pushed it to the side. “Have a seat.”
Mercedes slid into an empty chair facing Elvira and Carlita sat in the one next to her daughter.
Elvira swiveled in the chair and hollered, “Hey, Dernice! You ready?”
“Coming.”
“Dernice is joining us?” Mercedes asked.
“Yeah. We’re cross training. I show her some of the tricks for investigating; she fills me in on her security tips.”
Dernice moseyed into the area. “Hello, ladies. Elvira tells me you’ve been busy spying on one of your tenants.”
“We have not been spying,” Carlita said.
“So you say. Not that it’s any of my business.” Dernice rolled an office chair across the room and plopped down. “Elvira said you have an ironclad rental agreement and your tenant would never win if she took you to court for trespassing.”
“We were not trespassing,” Mercedes insisted. “Elvira, you have a big mouth.”
“Eh. I’ve been called worse.” Elvira rubbed her hands together. “Let’s get down to business. I don’t have all day.”
“Neither do we.” Mercedes handed Elvira two folded sheets of paper. “I emailed the phone records to myself and then printed them off so they would be easier to read.”
“Thanks.” Elvira took the papers from her. “What are your cell phone numbers so I can cross them off the list?” She waved her hand. “Never mind. I have your cell phone numbers right here.”
She pulled out her keyboard tray.
Carlita leaned forward. “You keep a printed list of cell phone numbers?”
“Yeah. I keep this handy when I don’t want to fiddle with my cell phone.” Elvira set the first sheet of paper next to her phone list.
She quickly cross-referenced the sheet, drawing red lines through some of the numbers. She repeated the steps with the second sheet. “That narrows down the list. Let’s call the first number.”
“I’ll put it on speaker phone.” Elvira lifted the desk phone receiver and punched the keys.
The line rang. “Savannah Post Office.”
“Wrong number.” Elvira disconnected the line. “That takes off a bunch more numbers.” She redlined more of the sheet. “Let’s try this one.”
Elvira punched in another set of numbers.
“Savannah Preschool Center, Mary speaking.”
“Sorry, wrong number.” Elvira didn’t wait for a reply and disconnected the line. “Two down, only a couple more to go.” The others sat silently as Elvira tried the third number, this time a pizza place. She hung up on the man, who began rattling off the daily specials.
The Family Affair: A Made in Savannah Cozy Mystery (Made in Savannah Cozy Mysteries Series Book 9) Page 10
