Murder Likes It Hot

by Tracy Weber

  The idea made sense, considering the odd match that was my mother and Dale.

  “So tell me, Miss Kate, where should I send the check?”

  “Dale, I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “You don’t have to. Family helps each other.” He wrapped me in a huge hug. “Do you want the money now or later?”

  “Later, after I set up an appointment with the clinic.”

  “Good. Glad that’s settled. Now let me put on that monkey suit so I can take our young friend to Detective Martinez.”

  By the time I woke up at seven the next morning, Michael and Dale had both come home and left again. Dale must have snuck in sometime after I’d fallen asleep at one, which meant I was completely in the dark about what had happened at the police station. I paced back and forth across the living room carpet, feeling anxious and at loose ends. Rainbow had the best representation available, and that was great news. But as Dale had admitted himself, he could only do so much. I wanted to help.

  Every cell in my body ached to call Martinez, but interfering between her and Dale right now might cause more harm than good. I considered going back to the Woodland Park encampment to press Echo for more information, but what would I ask her that I hadn’t already asked Rainbow? More than that, I desperately wanted to question the other kids who’d worked in the kitchen. How many of them knew about that broken window latch? Rainbow hadn’t seen anyone other than Gabriel at Teen Path HOME the night of the murder, but that didn’t mean he was the only one in the building.

  I called Teen Path HOME and got the same frustrating voicemail message I’d gotten earlier. The center was closed “until further notice.” I would have tried Fred Fredrickson next, but Dale was planning to follow up on Rainbow’s trust. Put simply, I was stuck.

  So I tried to be productive.

  I ground and pre-medicated Bella’s kibble, tried for the thousandth time to pet Mouse, then spent five minutes disinfecting and bandaging the fresh, deep red cat scratches bisecting my hand. Daily futile bonding attempt complete, I headed off for the studio. I walked in the door at nine, which gave me ninety minutes to putter around until my students started arriving for the ten forty-five class. I decided to spend fifteen of them picking Rene’s brain.

  When I walked into Infant Gratification, Rene was helping a mother of triplets determine the optimal accessorizing strategy for two three-month-old girls and their same-aged brother. Ten minutes of babbling over baby baubles later, Rene had talked her into an animal theme. Each child would wear a unique creature from the safari collection, thus allowing the siblings to coordinate while having their own signature look.

  The boy would be giraffes, the blonde girl would be lions, and the brunette would be elephants. The enthusiastic mother purchased three of almost everything: coordinated hats, infant jewelry, booties, onesies, rattles, toys, bottle holders, and blankets. She even bought three pairs of those horrible bejeweled tennis shoes.

  I held back a gasp when Rene announced the four-figure price tag, but the new mom’s smile remained as bright as her gold credit card. She maneuvered the stroller out through the door as Rene called, “See you next month, Evelyn!”

  “Next month?” I asked, horrified. “She spent my wardrobe budget for the entire year!”

  “Evelyn comes in at least once a month. Wait till she sees my Christmas collection. She’ll go gaga.”

  “But she’s already spent over a thousand dollars on infant accessories.”

  Rene eyed me drolly. “And your point is?”

  I would have come up with a snappy retort, but a surprising revelation shocked me silent. I’d spent the last ten minutes in the same room with adorable triplets and their doting mother, and for the first time since discovering I was infertile, I didn’t feel jealous. I didn’t feel angry, either. Ditto bereft.

  I felt …

  Normal.

  I was concerned about Rainbow, sure. But I felt like Kate again. I would have chalked it up to being distracted by Gabriel’s murder, but I sensed that the change went deeper than that. I still didn’t know whether or not I could get pregnant, but I was finally able to take action, and action brought optimism. For now, that was enough.

  Rene interrupted my thoughts. “Earth to Kate, is anyone home?” Her brows knit together. “Are you all right?”

  “Honestly? I am.” I quickly filled her in on Dale’s generous offer and my decision to begin IVF treatments.

  “For what it’s worth, Kate, I think it’s fabulous. I know it’s hard for you to accept help, but if you don’t at least try IVF, you’ll always regret it.”

  “Thanks. You’re right.”

  The right corner of Rene’s mouth lifted into a smirk. “I always am.”

  “Then maybe you can help me with something else. I’m fresh out of ideas on what to do next to get to the bottom of Gabriel’s murder.”

  “Sam told me about the hubbub at Gabriel’s memorial. I meant to call and grill you last night, but the twins were beyond fussy. Before I can brainstorm, I need to get caught up. What did you learn?”

  “A lot, actually.”

  I filled her in on everything that had happened the day before. Talking to Echo and Jace outside the funeral home, finding Rainbow at the homeless encampment in Woodland Park, arranging for Dale to represent her, and his taking Rainbow to the station to turn herself in. It had been less than twenty-four hours, but in many ways it felt like a lifetime.

  “Wow, Kate. That’s a lot for one day. I’m impressed. You’re better at locating suspects than the police are.”

  “Don’t be too impressed. I got lucky. Echo overheard me ask Jace about Rainbow, and I paid her off. Not exactly earth-shattering detective work. The problem is, I don’t know where to go from here.”

  Rene leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Tell me more about your suspects so far.”

  “I don’t have many, at least not many good ones. On the surface, Rainbow is by far the most likely killer. She saw Gabriel the night he died, she admits that he interrupted her in the middle of a burglary, and her gun was the murder weapon.”

  Rene cringed and scrunched her face in a classic don’t-kill-the-messenger expression. “Don’t get upset with me, Kate, but I have to say something. Rainbow’s stepfather was right about one thing: the artwork in her room was disturbing.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning there are lots of maybes. Maybe you shouldn’t put so much blind trust in that kid. Maybe she’s hiding violent impulses underneath an innocent mask. Maybe something unimaginable happened that night.”

  “You think she killed Gabriel?”

  “It’s possible, isn’t it?”

  I sighed. “Of course it’s possible. But Dale thinks she’s innocent. So do I.” I picked a stuffed bunny off the counter and twirled his floppy blue ears around my index finger. “If she did kill him … ” The words tasted bitter on the back of my tongue.

  I thumped Mister Bunny Ears back on the counter. “Sorry, Rene, I don’t buy it. Rainbow could be fooling me about a lot of things. She may be a fabulous liar. But energy doesn’t lie, and her energy isn’t that of a killer. She’s telling the truth, at least about Gabriel being alive when she left.”

  “Fine. Let’s assume she’s innocent for now. If she left her gun in the kitchen like she claims, then anyone could have picked it up and used it.”

  “I know, but how does that help us?”

  “It covers means. Let’s talk about opportunity. Who had access to the building after closing? I know Sam has a key, so I suspect the rest of the board does, too. Plus full-time staff. Who else?”

  I shook my head. “The killer wouldn’t have needed a key to get inside. Rainbow snuck in through a window with a broken latch. Pretty much anyone could have gotten in that way.”

  “Okay,” Rene replied. “A lot of people had means and
opportunity. We’ll focus on motive. Who might have wanted Gabriel dead?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that. The motives I’ve come up with so far seem pretty flimsy.”

  “So what? We’re brainstorming.”

  “Okay. Let’s start with Gabriel’s wife. Cherie was convinced that Gabriel was having an affair, and she was definitely unhinged at the memorial. I think she might be having a nervous breakdown.”

  “Sam thinks she’s losing it, too,” Rene said. “So Cherie is suspect number one.”

  “Suspect number two is the mistress.”

  “Any idea who that might be?”

  “I don’t even know for sure that a mistress exists. But Vonnie seemed awfully broken up about Gabriel’s death at the memorial service.”

  “Vonnie?”

  “She teaches art classes at Teen Path HOME. She and Gabriel seemed a little too friendly the first time I saw them together, but it makes complete sense if she was his lover.”

  “Why would Gabriel’s lover kill him?”

  “Honestly? I’m not sure. Maybe he was going to break it off with her. They could have met at the center that night to talk about it. Maybe they got into a fight, and … ” I shrugged.

  Rene raised her eyebrows, but she didn’t comment.

  “What about Rainbow’s stepfather?” I asked. “That guy was a jackass.”

  “I didn’t like him either. But why would he want to kill Gabriel?”

  “The oldest motivator in the world. Money. He needed to get Rainbow home so he could tap into her trust fund. Maybe he went back to the center looking for Rainbow and ran into Gabriel instead. Gabriel might have confronted him. Backed him into a corner, so to speak.”

  “That’s a lot of maybes, Kate.”

  “True. But the stepfather certainly would have known how to use his own gun. Besides, the more I think about him, the more I’m convinced he’s hiding something.”

  “Rainbow’s money,” Rene replied. “But we already know that.”

  “The money, sure. But I think he’s hiding something about April, too. Why did she take off again so quickly when she learned Rainbow was gone? Shouldn’t she have stuck around and tried to find her daughter?”

  Rene nodded. “Speaking as a mother, I certainly would have.”

  “That makes Dean suspect number three. And we should add Chuck as number four while we’re at it.”

  “Chuck?”

  “He runs Teen Path HOME’s kitchen. He and Gabriel had an altercation the first time I met him. Gabriel told me that Chuck wanted his job. Maybe he was willing to kill for it.”

  Rene didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know, Kate. Killing someone for a crap job at a youth center? Seems kind of weak.”

  “It’s not a crap job, though. Chuck wanted to be Teen Path HOME’s director. Maybe he wanted it enough to kill.” Which, now that I said it out loud, sounded about as realistic as someone killing me to take over Serenity Yoga. Why would Chuck risk a lifetime in prison to trade one low-paying job for another? I sighed. “Honestly, Rene, every motive we’ve discussed so far seems weak.”

  Rene’s eyebrow’s narrowed. “That’s because we’re missing something.”

  “Obviously. But I have no idea what it might be. I’d bet Bella’s enzymes that one of the kids at Teen Path HOME has information that will help us find the killer, but I have no idea which one, or how to find them for that matter. I didn’t recognize anyone at Echo’s campsite, and I’m not comfortable wandering up and down Aurora looking for one of the few homeless teens that I’d recognize. It’s too close to the studio. One of my students might see me and assume I’m a drug addict or a prostitute.”

  “Definitely a drug addict,” Rene said. “You don’t dress nice enough to be a prostitute.” She winked to let me know she was kidding.

  I ignored the gibe and kept talking. “I was planning to talk to Vonnie and Chuck at the funeral, but Cherie created that scene before I got a chance. By the time it was over, they were gone.”

  “So call them.”

  “I considered that, but I looked online last night, and they’re both unlisted.”

  “That’s not surprising, actually. Many of the homeless kids Teen Path HOME serves are mentally ill or addicted to drugs. The staff members probably don’t want to risk having them contact them at home.” Rene frowned. “But if you know Chuck and Vonnie’s names, can’t you search property records or something?”

  I sighed. “I suppose, but Chuck already hates me, and I’m about to accuse Vonnie of being Gabriel’s mistress. If I’m not careful, they’ll take out a restraining order on me. Talking to them at the center would be much less threatening.”

  “So where does that leave us?”

  “Until the center reopens, I’m screwed.”

  Rene’s lips slowly lifted into a Cheshire Cat grin. “Why, Kate, I think you’ve discovered our next step.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We’re going to get the center reopened.”

  “And how exactly are we going to do that?”

  “By attending tomorrow night’s emergency board meeting.”

  twenty

  Rene called Sam and confirmed that Teen Path HOME’s board was meeting at the president’s home the next evening. Sam wasn’t exactly ecstatic to have Rene and me tag along with him, but he didn’t argue about it much either. I doubted that either Rene or I could influence the center’s reopening, but I was eager to attend the meeting nonetheless. Gabriel’s murder would undoubtedly be agenda item number one.

  In the meantime, Rainbow was safe, and she had a skilled advocate protecting her. For now, it was time for me to attend to my own life. My conversation with Rene had taken longer than I’d anticipated, but I still had twenty minutes before my All Levels Yoga students would begin arriving. I used that time to call the fertility clinic and make an appointment. Their next opening for an IVF consultation was two weeks away, so I grabbed it. The five-figure deposit they required made my stomach churn, but with excitement as much as with apprehension. Michael and I were finally going to make a baby.

  Three group classes, two private clients, and a month’s worth of bookkeeping later, I left for home with a smile in my heart and a skip in my Birkenstocked step. Things might just turn out okay.

  My unusual optimism vanished the moment I entered the kitchen. Dale and Michael were seated at the table wearing disheartened expressions. Dale stared idly into a half-filled coffee mug. Michael’s shoulders were slumped. Bella—who read energy almost as well as I did—lay curled up near Michael, worry creasing her beautiful face. Mouse glared from the top of the refrigerator, silently passing judgment on them all.

  “Hey guys,” I said. “This doesn’t look good. Is Rainbow okay?”

  Dale slowly shook his head. “No, she’s not okay at all.”

  Michael pulled out the chair next to him. “Sit down, Kate.”

  I sat.

  “It’s Rainbow’s mother, April.” Michael slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again. “She’s dead.”

  “Oh no.” I covered my face in my hands. “Does Rainbow know?”

  “Yes,” Dale replied. “Martinez broke it to her last night. They identified the body on Saturday, but no one knew how to contact the kid.”

  “You found out about this yesterday? Why didn’t you wake me up when you got home and tell me?”

  “It was late, and I was too exhausted to talk to anyone,” Dale said. “Rainbow, well, she didn’t take it well. That tough façade of hers just crumbled. I’ve been on this earth longer than I care to admit, but I’ve never felt so heartbroken. I don’t care to see anything like that ever again.”

  “Nobody takes a parent’s death well,” Michael said. “Especially not a teenager. Couldn’t they have given her a tranquilizer or something?”

  “Rainbow didn�
��t want to take drugs, and I wasn’t about to let Martinez force them on her without a court order. She’s been traumatized by narcotics enough for one lifetime.”

  “Back up for a minute,” I said. “You said April’s body was identified Saturday. When was it found?”

  Dale took a slow sip of coffee. For the first time in the three years I’d known him, he seemed old. “A week ago.”

  “Why did it take so long to identify her?”

  “The body didn’t have a wallet or any form of identification. She’d still be a Jane Doe in the Tacoma morgue if it weren’t for Detective Martinez. She thought Rainbow might be hiding out with April, so she created a missing person report. When she entered the information into NamUs, she got a hit.”

  “NamUs?” Michael asked.

  “The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. It compares missing person reports to records of unidentified bodies. Frankly, April should have been entered into the system right after she disappeared.”

  “Why wasn’t she?” I asked.

  “No one reported her missing.”

  I shook my head, not sure whether I should feel depressed or disgusted. “According to Dean, the police wouldn’t have looked for April anyway. This wasn’t the first time she’d taken off.”

  “He’s probably right,” Dale replied. “Still, would it have killed the man to go through the formality? I sure as hell wouldn’t let Dharma take off without a fight.”

  Michael reached across the table and took my hand. “I wouldn’t let this one go anywhere, either.”

  I appreciated the sentiment, but I wasn’t sure the circumstances were comparable. I wasn’t a heroin addict. Neither was Dharma. How steadfast would Dale and Michael be if it were the third time either of us had disappeared? The fifth? The tenth?

  “Did April die of a drug overdose?” I asked.

  Dale nodded. “Heroin, according to the tox screen. Which was precisely why I wasn’t about to let anyone drug that teenager.”

  “So the death was accidental.” My heart sank. Rainbow had lost her one remaining family member to a horrible, self-imposed accident.