by Iris Kincaid
“No problem.”
Ruby took Irma’s envelope to be mailed and quickly excused herself. Finn had sounded as if this next guy was a really strong possibility. And for a man on the pay clock, Sam Singleton had stopped in way too many living rooms.
*****
Eli Morrow was the mean dog owner’s name. He had to lock his dog up in the bedroom while the interview was conducted, but they could hear it snarling, scratching, and howling from behind the closed doors. Ruby wondered, why would anyone keep such a horrible dog around?
Eli was indeed a bit squirrelly. “I know why you’re here. You think I had a problem with Sam Singleton. But we took care of that. It’s in the past. He got his settlement, and it was done.”
“Hmm. Why don’t you take it from the top?” suggested Finn. “What were the exact circumstances leading up to this . . . settlement?”
“You must have all that on record. My Alfonso got a little excited when Sam came by, but that’s pretty typical. Dogs always hate the mailman, right? So, he took a little bite out of his leg. That’s what a dog is supposed to do. Protect the property and protect the owner—that’s all that he was trying to do. But it was the mail guy, and he had to get a lot of stitches, and he was ready to have my Alfonso taken away and put down. Just because of one single, teeny-tiny incident.”
“Your dog sounds vicious,” Ruby said.
“It was just the one time, okay? No dog should be put down for a single, solitary incident. If it had been two times, then I would’ve had to give him up. But it wasn’t. It was just the one time. And the courts said okay. I paid a fine. I paid a settlement. And I got to keep my dog unless it happens again. Which it didn’t. Sam just couldn’t get over it. He was always saying that he would get my dog put down if it even looked at him funny again.”
“Sounds like you two had some serious issues with one another. But I still don’t understand why there’s all this evidence of Sam in your living room if you two disliked each other so much. It seems like he was a frequent social caller here. What’s up with that?” Finn asked.
“You know. I invited them in for coffee a couple of times. Trying to extend the olive branch. I know how to take the high road.”
“Uh-huh,” Finn said, thoroughly unconvinced.
Ruby was also sensing that something was way off. But was it murder, or was Eli hiding something else entirely, like Reverend Wilkie?
*****
On her way home, Ruby was pleasantly surprised by the sight of Griffin Wynter and someone who was readily identifiable as his baby sister. She was wearing both the black V-neck T-shirt and her new birthday necklace! Griffin broke into a big grin when he spotted Ruby, and he ushered his sister over to speak with her.
“I bow down to your great fashion wisdom. Brooke, this is Ruby, the wise young lady who steered me in the right direction toward your new necklace.”
Brooke gasped in happy excitement. “Oh, my God, I don’t even know how to thank you. It’s just the most perfect, perfect thing. I don’t ever want to take it off. I was so afraid that he was going to get me some stupid, stuffy thing that cost a lot of money and that you have to make a big, noisy, grateful fuss over, even though it’s just kind of dull. But instead, I’m so, so happy with this.”
“Well, it’s a very happy necklace. And after he showed me a picture of you, I knew that it would be a perfect match,” Ruby said.
“None of his other friends are this smart. Griffin! Why don’t we have her over for dinner tonight?” She turned to Ruby. “Do you like Indian food?”
“As a matter of fact, I love Indian food. I wish there were more Indian restaurants in Oyster Cove.”
“Oh, we can do better than a restaurant. You come over to Griffin’s place and get some real home cooking,” Brooke assured her.
Griffin’s place? This was just the opportunity that Ruby had been looking for. Once inside the condo, she was going to be able to locate that new will and discharge her promise to Melvin Wynter’s ghost—and get a tasty meal in the bargain!
CHAPTER NINE
The luxury condo had been decorated by Melvin Wynter, and he was a man who spared no expense. But it felt conspicuously and excessively upscale, out of step for the casual, easygoing lifestyles of Griffin and his sister. For heirs to the Wynter fortune, Ruby had certainly been expecting a chef, a bodyguard, a housekeeper, and an entourage. There was none of that, just Griffin chopping onions and garlic with expertise on the granite island counter and the smell of chicken korma filling the air.
As entertaining as it was to watch the young billionaire at work, it was also an opportunity to snoop around that Ruby couldn’t pass up.
“While you’re doing your thing, maybe Brooke can take me around for little tour of the apartment,” Ruby suggested innocently.
“Yeah, why don’t I do that? I want to show her my room,” Brooke said. “The rest of the place is not that interesting, but I’ll show you everything. We’re actually thinking about having it redecorated. It suited our dad really well. He liked feeling as if he was in a hotel. But who wants to live in a hotel, right?
“There’s got to be some way of making this place feel more like a comfy home. Maybe you could give us some ideas. You’re so good with jewelry. I bet you really know how to decorate a place too.”
Ruby shrugged modestly. She did have a few ideas about how to warm up the place. Not that that was why she was here. She was on a mission. But it couldn’t hurt to help these two out with a few tips.
Brooke’s room had a barely lived-in look, as if she had just gotten into town and her clothes hadn’t even been taken out of her suitcases yet. But the walls were white, as were the walls in every room in the condo.
And the paintings that had been put up were museum-quality but not at all successful in impressing a seventeen-year-old. Rock star and movie posters would have helped a teenager to stake her claim a lot better. Brooke secured Ruby’s promise to go on an expedition for some cheerier furnishings in the near future.
Thankfully, they made their way to the office, which Brooke took only a cursory interest in, but for Ruby, it was the Holy Grail.
“Is the file cabinet locked?” she asked innocently.
Brooke tugged at the drawers. “Nope, they’re full of business stuff. I don’t know when Griffin is ever going to go through this. He hates paperwork.”
“Really? But he’s taken over your father’s business, hasn’t he? It may be a pain, but isn’t he going to have to go over all of these files just to get a good fix on what’s happening with the business? For example, this file, Legacy—that sounds important. Do you mind if I take a look?”
Brooke didn’t care one way or the other, and Ruby was quickly able to lay her hands on the invaluable last will and testament.
“I think your brother’s gonna want to see this.”
The dinner was mouthwateringly perfect. Griffin even knew how to make a great cup of chai tea. It was the last thing that Ruby would have expected from a young man who had probably been surrounded by servants and ease most of his life. The main topic of conversation revolved around the recently discovered will and its implications.
“I can’t believe that it was just sitting there in the file cabinet, hiding in plain sight,” Griffin said.
“You never would’ve found it,” Brooke said.
“No. I never would’ve found it. But I can’t believe you did,” he said to Ruby.
“All that talk about redecorating and reorganizing the condo made me wonder whether there wasn’t some more aesthetic way to store business records,” Ruby rambled, hoping that it sounded like a credible excuse for rummaging through the file cabinet.
“Well, I’m really glad you did. Now Jesse can stop fighting this and wasting legal fees. He’s just going to have to accept that Dad changed his mind and left everything to me.”
“Why, exactly, did your father change his mind, if you don’t mind my asking? It seems like his business empire is certainly big enough t
o have plenty of responsibility for both of you. Or all three of you, if Brooke wants to get involved when she’s older.”
“I know that seems to be the fairest thing. But Dad thought that Jesse was a total screwup, and he’s probably right. He got a juvie record when he was younger. Got kicked out of prep school. And then he decided against going to college . . . which I can’t exactly fault him for.”
“You’d better not!” Brooke wagged a finger at him. “You got a little off the straight and narrow path yourself. And besides, that was ages ago. He’s changed so much since then. I just don’t think you or Dad gave him enough credit for really growing up and getting his act together. But how could you know? You two almost never talk.”
“No, we don’t. Not since the funeral. And even before then, not much at all. I just always had the feeling that he sort of resented me.”
“Because you were your father’s favorite,” Ruby said with conviction. “Weren’t you?”
Griffin shrugged sheepishly. “Yeah, I was. Until I dropped out of college, turned my back on the business path, and spent seven years in India. Then Dad was pretty mad at me. And that was when he wrote that earlier will leaving Jesse with so much control. But then, Dad got sick, so I went back to spend some time with him. And I’m really glad that we had those last four years together. And I made promises that I would carry on with the business. That must’ve been when he wrote the new will.”
“The new will that left Jesse out of it completely,” Brooke noted.
“He became the number-two son again,” Ruby said. “It sounds as if most of his life, when you were father’s favorite son, Jesse knew that he was number two. And then when you were in India and your father was mad at you, then he got a chance to shine and be Star. And then when you came back, he got shoved to the side again. He became number two again.”
Griffin and Brooke were both stunned into a long, thoughtful silence.
“That’s exactly it. That’s it. He always felt like number two. Like second-best,” Brooke said. “When he deserves so much more credit. You should have a look at this article that they wrote in the San Jose Magazine about his start-up. He’s doing something really impressive. He really sounds like he knows what he’s talking about, and he’s got lots of big plans.”
“He’s not in Griffin’s shadow anymore,” Ruby said. “He’s running his own show, and he gets to be Star.”
Ruby had clearly hit the nail on the head, but how could she have figured out so much about his family when she had only known them all for such a very short time? And she hadn’t even laid eyes on Jesse! Griffin had never met anyone remotely like her. He could already see that it was going to be very difficult to get her off his mind. And why would he want to?
*****
The following day started as a pleasantly disorienting day of jumbled distraction. Ruby had two extremely important murder investigations that she was supposed to be helping to solve. And yet, it was difficult to pull her thoughts away from her memorable evening spent with the young Wynters. That man seriously knew how to cook. Perhaps she shouldn’t allow herself to be overly impressed by that. But she couldn’t help it—that was one yummy korma!
But the sight of the creepy Ricky Gerber and his poor little dog was enough to jar Ruby and focus her thoughts back to more pressing matters. She tensed up at the very sight of him. Oddly enough, Lilith appeared to have the same reaction.
“I know that man. I know him! But why is he alive? I was sure that I had dispensed with him,” Lilith railed.
“What? You thought that you had killed him?” Ruby asked.
“I certainly did. He absolutely deserves to be gone. So why is he here? This is one of those things that happened shortly before my own murder. Where there is a fog around my memory. But I do know myself. I never would have permitted him to continue living in this town unpunished.”
“Okay. What did he do? What did you want to punish him for?”
“He’s not from Oyster Cove, not originally. He’s from Maine, where he killed a child and was found innocent by judge and jury. The ridiculously flawed justice system found him innocent.”
“Maybe he was innocent,” Ruby said.
“Except that after the trial, he wandered around from city to city before he finally landed in Oyster Cove. And then what does he do but send a letter back to the Maine courts and brag about killing the boy and how he can’t be touched again because of double jeopardy laws?
A lot of people in Oyster Cove had no idea who was living among them. But I became aware of that letter of confession. That gleeful, unrepentant confession. There is no such thing as double jeopardy in the justice of witches. I made sure that he paid for his crime. Or at least I thought I had. Why is he here? Why is he alive?”
“You remember killing him, but what if what you’re actually remembering is just your intentions—what you intended to do?”
“In any case, it remains for you to finish the job. You must rid your city of this child killer, for once and for all.”
“You can’t mean . . . oh, no. I’m not a killer.”
“Oh, no? Consider this, young Ruby. He is most definitely a killer. And in that taunting confession, you can see his cruelty, his lack of conscience. Those who kill and suffer no consequences will kill again. And how will you feel when that happens? About the deaths of those innocents who will probably be children? They will be deaths that you could have prevented. Is it not your duty to prevent such an atrocity?”
“By killing him myself?”
“As I told you, the dark arts are an army of justice. Soldiers kill for good cause. To protect their homes.”
“I hear what you’re saying, Lilith. And a lot of it makes so much sense to me. I would absolutely never forgive myself if he killed a child and I thought I could have prevented it. But even so, I don’t know if I could do it. I just don’t think I could.”
Lilith let out a big sigh. “So be it. Hopefully, your toughness and capabilities will grow in the fullness of time. In the meantime, if you cannot summon the strength, then have no fear. It is my hand that will strike the blow.”
But you don’t have any hands, Ruby thought to herself.
How much she has to learn, Lilith thought to herself.
As distasteful as the thought of coming face-to-face with Ricky Gerber again was, Ruby was destined to encounter him again later that same day. Finn had requested to meet her outside Ricky’s home. She quickly filled Finn in on the criminal record that Lilith had apprised her of.
“That’s pretty disturbing. And it’s a lot bigger news than the reason I called you here. I found out that Sam Singleton did file a second disturbance report about Eli Morrow’s dog. It was the second offense that actually would have resulted in having the dog put down.
“But the offense was that Eli’s dog took a great big chunk out of Ricky Gerber’s dog—you know, that cute little spaniel with the big bandage on him. Apparently, that didn’t come from a raccoon. Sam saw Eli’s dog do it and wanted to have him taken away and put down.”
“So, what happened? Obviously, Eli still has his dog, and, uh . . . someone put Sam down instead.”
“Ricky Gerber refused to testify. Most people would have been pretty upset to have a bite taken out of their dog, but somehow, he was willing to drop the matter. Let’s hear what he has to say about this. And no mention of the Maine killing. Not yet, or he’ll be on the defensive. Right now, he thinks that we don’t know.”
Ricky was, once again, all creepy smiles upon seeing the investigation team return to his home.
“Officer Cochran. And Ruby. Great to see you again. Come on in.”
“Thank you. We won’t be long. I just had a quick little question about your dog. Apparently, his altercation wasn’t with a raccoon. It was with Eli Morrow’s big monster of a dog. But you already knew that. Most owners would be furious, but you didn’t file charges and you let Mr. Morrow and his dog off the hook.”
As with his gruesome murder
confession, Ricky had no problem in delightedly acknowledging that he had allowed Eli to pay him off in exchange for dropping all complaints.
“He gave me 2,000 bucks. That’s some sweet dough. And he took care of the vet bill, so I came out way ahead. Which was exactly how I planned it.”
“What you mean, how you planned it?” Ruby asked.
“Sam was always complaining about Eli’s dog after he got bitten. And he said he would file a complaint again at the first opportunity whenever Alfonso bit someone else. So, I walked my dog over to Eli’s backyard, and I made sure that his dog and mine had a chance to get acquainted. I knew my dog would get the worst of it, but that would actually put me in the best position to squeeze a little money out of Eli to keep the matter hush-hush. And it worked like a charm. As soon as this big hole in my dog closes up, I may have to give it another try.”
Finn and Ruby were both having to take deep breaths to prevent from letting Ricky Gerber know what a despicable piece of scum he was. Ruby made a note to herself that as soon as she stepped away from that house, she was going to make a call to report his animal cruelty.
Finn was trying to respond calmly. “So, Sam wanted to report the incident and you messed up his plan. He must’ve been ticked off.”
“Yeah, he was good and ticked off. That’s why he came to visit me so much. Wanted to sweet-talk me into filing the complaint. But my motto is, take the money and run. Hey, can I get you two a cup of coffee?”
CHAPTER TEN
Finn and Ruby headed over to his office at the police station. There was a lot to think about and no clear direction. There, they were greeted with a new lead to follow up on, Alex Wilson, a coworker of Sam Singleton’s who had been reluctant to speak with them when they stopped by the post office.
“I didn’t know if this was important and I also didn’t want to bring it up because it might get me into trouble. But there’s this guy on Sam’s route—Preston Green. And he mailed a letter addressed to the police department. And twelve hours later, he changed his mind, went into a panic, and begged Sam to get the letter back for him before it was delivered.”
