Chocolate Caramels and Conmen (A Chocolate Centered Cozy Mystery Series Book 12)

by Cindy Bell

  “No, you’re wrong.” He shook his head. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I just wash the dishes.”

  “Maybe you heard him saying something to someone else then?” Charlotte raised an eyebrow. “Did you hear him ask someone for help?”

  “No, I didn’t.” He stood up and began to pace. “Why are you here?”

  “We’re here because we’re trying to find out what happened to Marcus. Do you remember him?” She followed his movements closely. The motion made her picture an animal, ready to pounce at any moment.

  “Marcus?” He nodded. “Yes, I remember him. I saw him a few times.”

  “A few times?” Charlotte pulled out her phone to take notes. “Not just at the restaurant?”

  “No. I saw him here. Before he came to the restaurant. He was asking me about some guy he was looking for.”

  “What guy? Do you remember?” Ally’s heartbeat quickened as she sensed that she was getting close to an important detail.

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged, then sighed. “It was Blake, I think. Something like that.”

  “Do you know this Blake?” Charlotte glanced at Ally, then back at Rod. She wondered if he might be lying just to throw them off his scent.

  “No, I don’t know anybody named Blake. He kept trying to shove a picture in my face, and I told him to buzz off. I’m not interested in anything like that.” He pursed his lips.

  “You didn’t want to help him find a friend?” Charlotte scrutinized his expression.

  “He wasn’t looking for a friend, I can tell you that much. Whoever he was looking for, he had a problem with. I know better than to get involved in situations like that. Look, I didn’t tell him anything. I didn’t look at the picture. I didn’t have anything to do with Marcus’ death either. I don’t know why you two are asking so many questions, but I can tell you this, I won’t say a word to the cops, so don’t even bother.”

  “You’re not the least bit concerned about someone being murdered in our town?” Ally shook her head. “What about the other people that could be harmed because you’re unwilling to help?”

  “This town?” He laughed and sat back down on the edge of his bed. “It’s just like any other little town. I’m here for a few months, and then I’ll move on. This isn’t my town. But if you’re so concerned about it, you should figure out who Marcus was looking for. My money is on the fact that the guy didn’t want to be found, and if he didn’t want to be found, he might have just taken care of Marcus. You know what I mean?” He smirked and dragged his fingertip across his neck.

  “Yes, we got it.” Ally rolled her eyes, then looked over at her grandmother. “We should get going.”

  Charlotte nodded and followed her back out of Rod’s room. She shot a brief look back at him, but he’d already stretched out on his bed. He didn’t seem to have the least bit of concern for Marcus, or the fact that a killer was on the loose. Perhaps that was because he really did know who the killer was, and the entire conversation was just a way to point them in the wrong direction. She bumped into Ally, who had stopped in the hallway.

  “Sorry.” She frowned.

  “I’m just looking over this list. I don’t see any Blake listed on here, not by first or last name.”

  “Rod could be lying.” Charlotte adjusted her purse on her shoulder. “I don’t trust him.”

  “I don’t either. But, Carl said the same thing. He said that Marcus was looking for someone, and this was the address. If he was looking for Rod, he would have found him. Right? He was at the restaurant and Rod said he had spoken to him. So, I doubt it was Rod he was looking for.”

  “Maybe it was Paluo?” Charlotte shook her head. “It’s hard to say.”

  “That’s true, but let’s say we do believe him, and there really was someone here that Marcus was looking for. Rod is right, if that person didn’t want to be found that would be a very good motive for killing Marcus.”

  “You’re right. And, if he was trying to hide, then he probably wasn’t using his real name, or any name that Marcus would know him by.” Charlotte looked over the list again, then shook her head as she handed the phone back to Ally. “No Luck.”

  “I’m going to send this list to Detective Jenkins and see if he can run background checks on them. It’s worth a try.” Ally shrugged. When she sent the text, she felt some relief as she realized they might have a lead after all. “In a boarding house, more than one name might come up as fake, but at least it will give us a start to hunting down whoever Marcus was looking for. Carl wasn’t very helpful about why he was looking for the person. I’m not sure how we can figure that out.”

  “We do know now for sure that Marcus was involved with criminals, though. Maybe it had something to do with that?” Charlotte peered down the hallway as she thought she felt someone’s eyes on her. “We should get going, this place is making me nervous.”

  “Mee-Maw? Are you okay?” Ally looked up at her. “You’re not usually nervous.”

  “I know, but something just doesn’t feel right.”

  “I agree. Let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter 17

  “Will you call and check on Mrs. Cale? Harold was supposed to be with them and he’s obviously not. I want to see if they found out anything at the truck stop.” Ally started the car and pulled away from the boarding house.

  “Sure, I’ll call right now.” Charlotte placed the call as she gazed out through the windshield. Ally was right, she couldn’t settle down. Her nerves were on edge. She felt as if she should be putting something together, but she couldn’t get the pieces to fit. “She’s not answering. I’ll try Mrs. Bing.”

  “Let’s just go back to the shop. I want to go over everything again. I feel like we’re missing something.” She turned down the road towards the shop.

  “Mrs. Bing isn’t answering, either.” Charlotte frowned. “I’ll try Mrs. White, she always has her phone on her.”

  “Strange.” Ally glanced over at her. “Why do you think they’re not answering?”

  “I’m not sure. There must be an explanation.” She listened to the rings until Mrs. White’s voicemail picked up. “No luck.” She sighed and hung up the phone. “Maybe they all went home for naps.”

  “Naps?” Ally laughed.

  “I’ve been known to take one or two. Sleep becomes a pleasure when you reach a certain age, Ally.” Charlotte tapped her phone on her knee. “You know what? Let’s go to the truck stop, instead. Maybe they decided not to go. We need to find out who was with Barry and Sal that day.”

  “Okay, let’s do it. We’ll give the ladies an hour, but if we don’t hear from them after that, I’m doing door to door checks.” Ally’s eyes narrowed with worry as she changed direction and headed for the highway.

  “I’m sure they’re fine.” Charlotte patted Ally’s knee. But she wasn’t sure. In fact, the longer she waited for one of them to respond, the more concerned she became.

  On the drive to the truck stop, Ally and Charlotte began to sort through their suspects.

  “Sal and Barry are definitely on the top of the list. But I don’t think we can rule out Carl, or Paluo.”

  “Not yet, no.” Charlotte pointed to the turnoff for the truck stop. “There it is. Have you heard anything from Detective Jenkins, yet?”

  “No, nothing.” Ally parked near the front of the café. “It looks busy, hopefully someone will talk to us.”

  “We’ll make sure they do.” Charlotte pulled open the door as determination pulsed through her. “Trisha?” She caught the waitress as she walked past her. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

  “Sure, doll.” She smiled as she looked between them. “You two want a table?”

  “No, just some information. Have you seen Mrs. Bing, Mrs. White, or Mrs. Cale in here?” She glanced over the packed tables.

  “Not today, no.” She looked towards a customer who waved his hand in the air. “Just a second, love, I’ll be right there.”

  The hairs on the back of A
lly’s neck stood up as she realized the three women hadn’t even made it to the café. What would stop them from going, when they were so excited about it?

  Ally described Sal and Barry to Trisha. “Have you seen them in here?”

  “Sure, the other night. They really stood out. They are such an odd couple, didn’t look close at all, but they kept calling each other loving names. They had another guy with them, too.”

  “This man?” Ally pulled up a photograph of Marcus from one of the dating sites on her phone, then showed it to Trisha.

  “Yup, that’s him. He left, and they stayed.”

  “He left?” Ally met her eyes. “Are you sure?”

  “Yup. He took off, and they hung out until closing. I had to kick them out.”

  “What time do you close?” Charlotte pulled out her notebook that contained the details of Marcus’ final hours.

  “One.” She shook her head. “I hate staying open so late, but the truckers need to eat.”

  “Are you certain they didn’t leave until one?” Ally stared at her.

  “Actually, it was closer to two by the time they left. They paid their tab, so I could close out the register. Then I let them stay while I was cleaning up. I think they were waiting for someone. But if they were, the person never showed up.”

  “Hey! What’s the holdup?” The man waved again.

  “All right, all right!” Trisha rolled her eyes. “Sorry, I have to go.” She headed off to the table.

  As Ally and Charlotte walked back to the car, neither said a word. Once they were inside, Charlotte sighed.

  “We’ve ruled out Sal and Barry as the killers, they were at the truck stop at the time of Marcus’ death, and it would take too long for them to get back to town. Let alone manage to dump Marcus’ body before it was discovered.”

  “No way.” Ally shook her head. “I really thought it was them. But why were they meeting with Marcus?”

  “I don’t know.” Charlotte stared out through the window for a few moments as she ran all of their suspects through her mind. “It could still be Paluo.”

  “It could.” Ally ran her hands along the steering wheel.

  “Don’t forget, there was one other person at that boarding house that we know of that recently came into the area.” Charlotte suddenly looked over at Ally.

  “Are you talking about Rob?” Ally looked up at her with interest. “I thought you didn’t see him as a suspect.”

  “I don’t, I’m not talking about him.” She shook her head. “Harold Michaelson.”

  “Harold?” Ally’s eyes widened as she stared at her grandmother. “Do you really think he could be involved? We have no real reason to suspect him.”

  “Maybe we have more than we realize.” Charlotte’s heart began to race. “He came into town out of the blue for no apparent reason. As soon as the murder happened he started to talk about leaving. That could be a sign of guilt.”

  “It could be, but he was also flirting with Mrs. Cale. Why would he do that if he planned to leave town?” Ally pursed her lips and thought for a moment. “Wait, Marcus was here looking for someone, right? Someone who was staying at the boarding house. So, if Harold was that person, and he discovered that Marcus was looking for him, and he didn’t want to be found, that would be motive for him to kill Marcus.”

  “Right, exactly.” Charlotte nodded. “But that would mean that his name isn’t Harold at all.”

  “You’re right. It would be Blake.” Ally picked up her phone. “Oh no, I missed a text from Detective Jenkins.” She looked up at her grandmother with wide eyes. “Harold’s name isn’t Michaelson. It’s Harold Blake!”

  “Harold Blake.” The revelation caused an instant tension in the car. For a few seconds the silence stretched out. Then Charlotte blinked, and grabbed Ally’s hand. “Wait, just a minute.” She took a deep breath. “Are we saying that we think Harold is the killer?”

  “Yes, Mee-Maw! And he was the last person we saw with Mrs. Cale, Mrs. White, and Mrs. Bing! What if he did something to them?” Ally’s heart lurched at the thought. “How could we miss this?” She snatched up her phone and placed a call to Luke. As soon as he picked up she launched into her request. “Luke, I need you to find out where Mrs. Bing, Mrs. Cale, and Mrs. White are. We think they are missing. Can you ping their phones or something?”

  “Give me a few minutes. I’ve got a situation at Paluo’s restaurant. Carl’s here, and he’s threatening to kill Paluo if he doesn’t confess.”

  “What?” Ally gasped. “Luke, we’re pretty sure that Harold Michaelson is involved somehow. He is the man that Marcus was looking for when he came to town.”

  “I’m sorry I can’t talk now, Ally, I have to go. Stay safe please.” His voice sounded rushed and she could here loud voices in the background.

  The line cut off. Ally looked over at her grandmother.

  “I’ll try Detective Jenkins.” Ally dialed his number, it went straight to voicemail. She hung up, she didn’t know how to explain what was going on. She had no proof. “Mee-Maw, we’re on our own. Luke is occupied and Detective Jenkins isn’t answering. We need to find Mrs. Cale, Mrs. White, and Mrs. Bing. I’m afraid something terrible has happened to them.”

  “How are we going to find them?” Charlotte looked out the window at the truck stop. “Do you think that Harold might have brought them here?”

  “I don’t know. I know when they left the shop that was where they were going. But what if he never took them there at all?”

  “We know he didn’t have them at the boarding house. We just left him there. Maybe he had been there to gather the last of his things. We could check at their houses, but I just don’t think they’ll be there. He wouldn’t risk keeping them somewhere in town.”

  “No, I don’t think he would. Look, Ally.” Charlotte pointed to a small motel that was part of the truck stop. “What if he brought them here?”

  “It can’t hurt to check, can it?” Ally stared at the motel rooms. She took a look around the parking lot, but didn’t see any sign of the ladies’ presence. Was it possible that she had it all wrong? “Let’s check it out, we’re here already.” She drove over to the motel and parked in the only empty space. As she started to get out of the car, she heard a voice with a very familiar accent.

  “We’ll be out of here in no time.” Sal walked towards one of the motel rooms, while speaking into the telephone pressed against her ear. “I know, it took us longer than we planned. Blake’s a slippery fellow. But he’s not getting out of this one.” She pushed the door of the third motel room open, then slammed it shut.

  “What is she doing here?” Charlotte ducked low in her seat. “Get down, Ally, what if Barry is right behind her?”

  “We need to hide the car.” Ally backed out of the parking spot and drove back over to the café. Her hands trembled as she parked. “Now we know that Sal and Barry are looking for Blake, too, and they seem pretty confident that they have him. But we saw Harold not that long ago at the boarding house. Do you think they grabbed him since then?”

  “No.” Charlotte’s voice grew tense. “I think they grabbed something he values. I think Sal’s got Mrs. Bing, Mrs. White, and Mrs. Cale in there.”

  “We have to be sure. As of now we have no proof that Sal and Barry are in any way involved in all of this. We can’t call the police without proof.” Ally frowned. “We need to get a look inside that motel room.”

  “Ally, it’s risky.” Charlotte grimaced. “But you’re right, we have to.”

  “We can walk over and come up behind the motel. There might be windows in the back we could look into.” Ally gathered her phone and keys, but left her purse in the car. She sent a quick text to Luke so that he would know what they found, but knew he was probably too busy to read it. As they approached the motel, her stomach flipped. They were about to try to spy on two suspected members of the mob. What could be dangerous about that? With each step that drew them closer, Ally wondered if it would even be worth it. I
f the mob had their hands on Mrs. Cale, Mrs. Bing, and Mrs. White, would they still be alive?

  Ally pushed the thought out of her mind as she approached the back of the motel. She was tempted to tell her grandmother to wait somewhere safe, but she knew they were stronger together. Still, was she taking too big of a risk?

  “Maybe we should wait for Luke.” Ally drew her grandmother back.

  “Luke is tied up with the problem at Paluo’s Restaurant, and Detective Jenkins hasn’t got back to you. Besides, we can’t be sure that he wouldn’t turn this whole thing back on us. We just need to snap a picture of what’s going on inside that motel room. I’m sure that’s all we’ll need to get some help. We might even get a full SWAT team here.” She squeezed her granddaughter’s hand. “Ally, I can’t leave them alone in there. They must be so scared.”

  Ally saw the concern in her grandmother’s eyes. They’d known Mrs. Cale, Mrs. White, and Mrs. Bing all their lives. They were more than just locals, they were their friends, and if they were in danger, something had to be done.

  “All right, let’s go. But very quietly.” Ally crept forward, her fingers still laced through her grandmother’s. When they reached the window they found the curtains blocked their view.

  “I can see movement, and there is more than one person inside, but I can’t tell who they are,” Ally whispered to her grandmother.

  “We need to do better than that. Wait here. Stay out of sight.” Charlotte bolted off before Ally could stop her. Ally watched as she grabbed a rock, then ran over to the dumpster which was several feet away. Charlotte used the rock to bang loudly on the dumpster. The resulting noise was so loud that Ally winced. An instant later, Ally discovered why her grandmother had done it. The curtains were pulled back, and Sal peered out through the window. She flattened herself against the wall and hoped that she didn’t see her. A few seconds later Ally stole a glance through the window. Sal had walked away, but she hadn’t closed the curtain all the way. Ally had a clear view of Mrs. Bing, Mrs. Cale, and Mrs. White. They were all gathered around a small table, at the head of which was Barry. From what she could tell, they were playing cards. She pulled out her phone and snapped a photograph. However, she wasn’t sure what good the picture would do. It looked as if the four were having a nice visit together, not that three of them were being held hostage. Frustrated, she joined her grandmother behind the dumpster.