A Killer Cake

by Jessica Beck

  “I didn’t say that,” the sheriff said.

  “Do you mean to tell us that Victoria is still a suspect in Roy’s murder?” Moose asked, clearly not believing it any more than I did.

  “No, not really,” Sheriff Croft admitted. “Honestly, I never thought she did it in the first place. It was just nice getting that video as confirmation so I could convince anyone else if I had to.”

  “Did you come up with any other evidence with all of those photos and videos?” I asked the sheriff.

  “Well, we’ve got some random shots on the square that put some of our other suspects there at the crime scene.”

  “Care to share any names with us?” I asked.

  “I’m not so sure that would be prudent just yet,” the sheriff said.

  “We’re not asking to see the pictures,” Moose said. “But a hint or two wouldn’t hurt our investigation, and remember, we’re sharing everything we learn with you as soon as we realize that it might be significant. Sheriff, we’ve proved ourselves over and over again. There’s no reason in the world you shouldn’t trust us.”

  “I guess it’s just habit,” he said. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but none of this is to be repeated. Do we understand each other?”

  “We do,” Moose said, and I nodded my agreement as well.

  “Okay, so far, we’ve got shots of James Manchester, Hank Mullins, Asher, and another woman I’d like you to identify, if you can. But first, do either one of you care to comment on any of the names that I just mentioned?”

  I thought about it, and then I told him, “Manchester and Mullins have already admitted being at the celebration, but the fact that Asher was there is new information. When we spoke to his mother, she claimed that she and her son were together the entire time her ex-husband had been poisoned.”

  “How did you manage to get her to admit that? Every time I’ve spoken to her, Asher won’t let her say a word until he vets it first.”

  “We were lucky enough to catch her alone,” I said. “She was pretty free in telling us both that Asher was her alibi.”

  He nodded. “I might be able to make that work later, then. Thanks for the information. Now about that photograph. Why don’t you both take a look at it, and tell me if she looks familiar to either one of you.” The sheriff reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a single photograph. I took it from him and looked at it as Moose leaned over my shoulder.

  I instantly handed it back to the sheriff, and he looked disappointed by my reaction. “Well, it was a long shot.”

  “I didn’t have to look at it long to know who it was. That’s Loretta Jenkins.” The image had been a little blurry, and Loretta was turned partway from the camera, but there had been no doubt in my mind upon seeing it.

  “Are you talking about the woman who’s been going around claiming that she’s Roy Thompson’s daughter? Are you sure? Both of you?”

  Moose and I both nodded. “There’s no doubt in our minds. How did you know to pull that photo out of the pile in the first place? Was it from the description of her that we gave you?”

  “I admit that it rang a few bells when I saw it, but what really sealed the deal was the man who took it. He said he was trying to get a shot of her to show Roy Thompson.”

  “Why would he do that?” Moose asked.

  “He used to work for Roy, and he noticed that she was following him around the entire time he was in the square. He figured he might be able to sell his old boss the information when he decided that she was up to no good.”

  “Wow, Roy really didn’t inspire much loyalty, did he?” Moose asked.

  “I don’t know if you can say that.”

  “Why’s that?” Moose asked me.

  “Look how long Kelly Raven worked for him,” I replied. “Seven years is a long time.”

  “I’ve been wondering about that, myself,” the sheriff admitted. “From what I’ve heard, he was an entirely unpleasant man to work for, and yet she was with him all those years. Did he pay her that well, or was there another reason she stuck around?”

  “What could that possibly be?” I asked him.

  “I don’t know, at least not yet, but it’s interesting enough to make me want to find out. Do you two have anything else for me from your activities since noon?”

  I thought about it, and then shook my head. “Sorry, but that’s about it.”

  “How about you, Moose?”

  My grandfather shrugged, and then he said, “You know as well as I do that we just got started digging into this with free access to the suspect list. You’ve got better resources, and you’ve had more time to dig into it. I was kind of hoping that you’d have something else for us.”

  “Sorry, but there’s nothing that I’m ready to share,” the sheriff said. As he headed back for his squad car, he said, “Keep in touch, okay?”

  “You do the same,” Moose said, and the sheriff drove away.

  “Where do we go now?” I asked. “Should we try to talk to Mayor Mullins again since we’re in town, or should we try to track Loretta down?”

  “Let’s swing by the mayor’s office. You know how I hate to backtrack.”

  We got to the town’s offices, but unfortunately, the mayor wasn’t all that interested in seeing us.

  “Do you have any idea when he’ll be free?” I asked Helen Parsons.

  The earlier version of her was gone, replaced by a woman who appeared to have forgotten how to smile. “I’m afraid that he’s tied up, and most likely he will be for the rest of the day. You could always try again tomorrow.”

  I looked at Moose, and then I jerked my head subtly toward the woman. Where was the charm now?

  “Helen, I hate to impose, but this really is important,” Moose said in that cajoling voice of his.

  She didn’t give the slightest flicker of acknowledgment that we’d even been there before. “Actually, it’s Ms. Parsons, and I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”

  Moose frowned, and then my grandfather turned to me as he said, “Thank you for your time. Let’s go, Victoria.”

  Once we were outside, I asked, “What was that all about?”

  “I’m guessing that His Honor wasn’t too pleased with how she dealt with us before.”

  “He must have really raked her over the coals. She barely made eye contact with either one of us.”

  Moose just shrugged. “I never claimed to be a miracle worker. What do you say? Should we go on and head to Laurel Landing?”

  “I don’t see any reason why not,” I said. “There’s nothing left here for us to do at the moment.”

  As we walked to where the truck was parked, I said, “It really bothers me that Loretta just dropped off the face of the planet like that. I wonder where she is.”

  “Victoria, do you think there’s the slightest chance that she might have killed her father, and now she’s in hiding?” Moose asked me.

  “I don’t even know for sure if Roy Thompson really was her dad,” I answered.

  “I’ve got a hunch that she’s going to need more than a simple blood test to prove it,” Moose said. “Can you imagine Asher giving up a nickel of his father’s inheritance without a fight?”

  “I can’t even see him sharing anything with his mother, let alone a stranger who shows up claiming to be his half-sister,” I said.

  “Oh, I have a hunch that she’s not going to have any problem fighting to prove that she’s a rightful heir as well.”

  “Like father, like daughter, I suppose,” I said.

  “So, where does that leave us?” Moose asked.

  “Well, we now know that Asher was at the celebration, and if what Sylvia told us was true, she had to be there, too, since she claimed that they both alibied each other. That means that either one of them had the opportunity to lace that cake with poison,” I said, “but then again, so did James Manchester, Hank Mullins, and Loretta Jenkins.”

  “Who else does that even leave on our suspect list?” Moose asked.

  �
��Just Kelly Raven. If she was at her desk all morning like she claimed, then it would clear her of murder.”

  “I don’t even know about that,” Moose said. “It might be pretty hard to prove that she was there all morning, since she was supposedly alone. Then again, that rat poison doesn’t act instantly, from what I’ve read about it. She could have dosed him with it before things even got rolling on the square.”

  “But she still couldn’t have gotten it into the cake unless she was there at the celebration,” I said. “Remember? That’s where they found traces of it when they analyzed the sample.”

  Moose nodded. “Good point. That had slipped my mind. That’s why we’re such a good team, Victoria. Between the two of us, we have one good brain.”

  “I hope we have more than that,” I answered with a smile as we got to Moose’s truck. “We can’t rule Kelly out as a suspect based on what we know so far.”

  “I just hope that we have more luck in Laurel Landing than we’ve had around here,” Moose said.

  “I can’t think of any better place to dig, and while we’re there, I’ve got someone else I’d be interested in talking to, if we can find him.”

  “Who’s that?” Moose asked, a troubled expression creeping up. “You’re not holding out on me, are you?”

  “No, but remember when I first spoke with Loretta, she mentioned living with a boyfriend in Laurel Landing? Surely she told him about her rich father. What if he decided to help her out and make sure that Loretta got her share of the estate sooner, rather than later?”

  “That’s an excellent point,” Moose said. “But how are we going to find him? We don’t even know his name.”

  “I admit that it won’t be easy,” I said, “but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t at least try.”

  “I agree,” he said. “Let’s backtrack later if we have the time and give it another shot trying to speak to the mayor. Right now, though, I feel like Loretta is a much better lead at the moment.”

  “Let’s go,” I said.

  We’d been on the highway for less than twenty minutes when I looked back over my shoulder for the third time since we’d gotten back in the truck.

  “You’re going to strain your neck if you keep doing that,” Moose said.

  “I can’t shake the feeling that someone is following us. Have you noticed that black sedan four cars back?”

  Moose adjusted his rearview mirror trying to see the car, but clearly he didn’t catch it. “I don’t see any black sedans,” he said.

  “It was there, I tell you,” I said.

  “I believe you, Victoria, but it’s got to be a coincidence. This is the easiest way to get from Molly’s Corners to Laurel Landing. It wouldn’t surprise me if all of us were headed in the same general direction.”

  I looked back again, but if the car was still tailing us, I couldn’t see it. “Never mind. It was probably just the result of my overactive imagination.”

  “There’s no crime in that,” Moose said. “After what happened to Roy yesterday, I think we’re all entitled to be a little jumpy, don’t you?”

  “Maybe you’re right,” I said. I looked back twice more, just in case, but the sedan was gone. Either the driver had realized that we knew he was tailing us and dropped out, or he’d arrived at his destination without a single thought about my grandfather or me.

  As we pulled into Laurel Landing, I asked Moose, “Do you have any ideas how we might be able to find Loretta or her mysterious boyfriend?”

  “Well, we’re not without resources here, are we?”

  I thought about our earlier visits to Laurel Landing when we’d investigated murders before, and two places came instantly to mind. We’d made friends with a local attorney named Monica Ingram, and Moose had gotten reacquainted with the owner of the BBQ Pit, a man named Charlie. I’d met two waitresses who worked there, Josephine and Stacy, but I wasn’t all that certain that either one of them would welcome a return visit from me. I’d suspected both of them as possible murderers earlier, and my questioning hadn’t been entirely welcome. Hopefully, neither one carried a grudge, but I had a hunch that Moose and I were about to find out.

  “Why don’t we stop off at Monica’s office first?”

  “We’ll probably have better luck at the barbeque place,” Moose said.

  “You’re still intimidated by Monica, are you? She’s perfectly harmless. Actually, I’d say that she’s quite nice.”

  “To you, maybe, but then again, we both know that she’s not my biggest fan.”

  “Moose, is there ever any chance that you’ll grow up and get over this?” I asked. Monica was perfectly lovely, but there was something about her that intimidated my grandfather, and that was something that not many folks could claim.

  “I suppose that I could, but then again, what fun would that be?” he asked as he pulled into the law office’s parking lot.

  I got out, and then I leaned back in before I shut the door. “I want you to promise that you’ll stay right here until I get back. No wandering off, and I mean it.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he said with the hint of a smile. “I’ll be here.”

  “Good,” I said with a smile. “Thanks for doing this.”

  “Hey, I’ve got nothing to lose by hanging around,” Moose said, and as I walked toward Monica’s office, I glanced back and saw that he’d already buried his nose in a crossword puzzle. My grandfather believed that puzzles kept his mind alert and agile, and I wasn’t about to dispute it. I liked them myself.

  I pulled open the front door and walked in, only to find more of a day care than a law office inside. The girl behind the desk had a baby laid out on a large pad, and she was in the middle of changing a diaper.

  “I’m so sorry,” the girl said, looking quite flustered. “No one’s due in for an hour. This must look really bad.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said as I offered her my hand without thinking. “You must be Lisa. Monica’s told me all about you.”

  She looked at my hand, and then at hers. “Honestly, it’s probably better for both of us if we don’t shake hands.”

  I knew that Monica wanted to keep her secretary no matter what it might cost her, and I wasn’t about to botch the deal if I could help it. “Is your boss anywhere around?”

  “She’s in court,” Lisa said. “You won’t tell her that you found us like this, will you? I really need this job.”

  “From what I’ve heard, you both need each other. Don’t worry about me; your secret is safe.”

  “Thanks so much,” Lisa said as she finished diapering her child. The used diaper went into a discard bucket with a clever lid on it after she put her baby back in the nearby crib. I recognized it from the last time I’d been in. Monica had been assembling it, and now that there was a baby in it, I hoped that she’d done a good job.

  “It’s fine. I’ll talk to her later,” I said as I started for the door.

  “You could always leave her a note, if you’d like,” Lisa said.

  “Just tell her that Victoria came by,” I answered.

  Her face lit up a little at the sound of my name. “So, you’re Victoria. Monica told me that you were someone worth knowing, and I can see that she was right.”

  “It’s kind of her to say so. I happen to think you’re pretty lucky having a boss like her.”

  “Believe me, you’re not telling me anything that I don’t already know,” Lisa replied. “She was so sweet to hold my job for me.”

  “I have a hunch that it was her pleasure.”

  Lisa smiled as I said it, and then she turned back to her baby. “Justin, I know that expression on your face. Are you doing what I think you’re doing? I just changed you.”

  I wasn’t about to hang around to find out just what Justin was up to.

  I walked back to the truck, and Moose frowned as he looked over my shoulder. “What were you expecting to see?” I asked him as I got in and buckled my seatbelt.

  “What I didn’t want to
see was your attorney friend. Did you get a chance to speak with her, Victoria?”

  “No, she’s in court,” I said.

  As he started off toward the BBQ Pit, Moose said, “It took you an awfully long time to determine that.”

  “I had to wait for her secretary to finish changing her baby’s diaper before I could ask about Monica,” I admitted.

  “Are you telling me that she’s keeping a baby in the outer office?”

  “Come on, it’s not like it’s some kind of wild animal,” I said with a smile. “Lots of people have babies in their offices.”

  “Lots? Really?” Moose asked skeptically.

  “Okay, maybe not lots, but I’m sure that some of them do.”

  “Fine, some offices have babies in them. Did the new mommy happen to say when Monica was getting back?”

  “She’s in court, so who knows how long that might be,” I said. “Most likely, we won’t need her anyway. After all, we’ve still got our diner sources, don’t we?”

  “We do,” Moose said as he pulled into a spot in front of the BBQ Pit and shut the truck engine off. “Why don’t you tackle the waitresses, and I’ll handle Charlie.”

  “You know that I’m perfectly capable of questioning the owner myself, don’t you?” I asked.

  “We both know that you’re more than capable of it,” Moose said, “but if we want any answers that mean anything, I’d better be the one asking the questions. Charlie might tell something to another old coot that he wouldn’t say to a young gal like you.”

  “Are you calling me young just to get your way?” I asked him with a grin.

  “No, not at all. It’s just that when you’re compared to me or Charlie, you’re bound to be the youngest one in the group.”

  “I’ll give you that,” I said. As we walked in, I spotted Stacy waiting on tables. She was working the room alone, and I wondered where Josephine had gotten off to. Was she on break, was this her day off, or had she left the BBQ Pit altogether? I knew that she and Stacy worked their shifts at the diner together, though the two women seemed to have trouble getting along with each other most of the time.