"He's trained to provide quality protection," Brian said. "Mike isn't. Please don't take any unnecessary risks, Sally."
I disconnected and walked into the back room where Josie was placing dirty mixing bowls and utensils in the sink. She looked up expectantly. "Does Brian think that fruitcake is involved?"
I shrugged. "We're trying to consider all options."
The bells on the door sounded, and I jumped about ten feet in the air. Josie reached out a hand to steady me. "Sal. Nothing's going to happen to you while I'm here."
I blew out a breath. "I don't like being afraid."
"There's nothing to be afraid of." She glanced past me, and I saw her body go rigid. "Okay, maybe I spoke too soon."
I turned around to see Ally Tetrault standing near the front window watching us and looking very uncomfortable. It was enough to make me want to face a firing squad instead. Almost. She smiled tentatively as we came through the doorway leading to the front room.
"Hi, Ally," I greeted her. "Can we get you something?"
She cut her eyes from me to Josie and swallowed nervously. "I was wondering if we could have a little talk, Sally. Just the two of us."
Great. "Of course. Why don't you sit down?" I turned to Josie. "You can go back to what you were doing."
Josie gave Ally a look that would freeze the sun. "Are you sure, Sal?"
I nodded. "Ralph's out front. I'm fine."
Ally sat down by the window and ran her hands nervously over the white tablecloth. She was tall and slender with short auburn hair the same shade as Josie's and striking gray eyes that now regarded me with suspicion. "Who's Ralph?"
"My bodyguard."
Ally's mouth opened in surprise. "Your what?"
I folded my hands on the table. "Didn't Brian tell you we think someone is trying to kill me?"
She gave a slight shrug. "He might have mentioned it. I guess I thought that you were all overreacting a bit."
I shook my head. "Afraid not. We think the bullet that killed the woman at the bakery the other day was meant for me. And now someone's sending me threatening messages through my father's blog and other means too."
She stared at me with a veiled look that I tried to make out and failed. Doubt? Dislike? Perhaps some warped sense of satisfaction to see me suffer? I didn't think the last one was possible, but then again, this wasn't the same Ally I had known in high school.
Ally was a nurse. Her lifetime was devoted to helping people, not putting them through pain. Perhaps I was an exception to the rule.
She gave me a tight smile. "I'd like to ask you something personal, if you don't mind."
I had a sense of what was coming and braced myself. "Go ahead."
"Were you and Brian ever involved at any point? You know…" She broke off. "Involved."
Oh brother. "You mean together?"
Her face flushed, and she nodded.
I shook my head. "Nothing ever happened between the two of us." Sure, I'd kissed him a couple of times, but jeez, did she really need to know every sordid detail?
She reached out and grabbed my hand in a tight grip. "I'm in love with him, Sal. Please don't screw this up for me."
What was with this woman? Ally had always seemed so self-confident and together, but now she was unraveling right before my eyes. I didn't want to say anything since it was none of my business but thought I knew Brian well enough to surmise he wouldn't like the idea of a woman clinging to him. Yes, he had indicated to me that he was crazy about her. But if she wasn't careful, she might drive him away.
I didn't want anything to do with this mess. For crying out loud, I had my own problems to deal with.
"Ally," I spoke gently. "I have only loved one man my entire life. After many years of being apart over a stupid misunderstanding and going through a horrible relationship with someone else, I'm finally marrying him on Saturday. No offense, but I have no interest in anyone else's love life, and that includes Brian's. You have my word that I'm not trying to screw anything up. I'm actually very happy for the both of you."
She glanced at me doubtfully, and I had a sudden urge to shake her. Why did she still think I was lying?
Ally twisted a tissue between her hands. "I appreciate your honesty. I don't want you to think I'm some clingy type that can't live without a man because nothing could be further from the truth."
Although sorely tempted, I didn't comment because that's exactly what I was thinking. "My opinion doesn't matter here."
"My ex-boyfriend did quite a number on me," she continued. "He stole money, cheated on me, and was more than happy to let me support him for over a year. Do you have any idea what that's like?"
I had a strong urge to ask her if his name was Colin. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do."
"I've finally met a great guy, and I want to make this last." Her face flushed. "I'd love it if we could get married someday."
I reached out to pat her hand. "I hope everything works out."
She stood, hoisted her purse over her shoulder, and gave me a limp smile. "It will. Oh, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention our conversation to Brian either."
I nodded in understanding. "It's already forgotten."
"Thanks, Sal," Ally smiled. "It feels good to finally take control of my life. Brian and I will work everything out. I'm sure of it."
She gleefully pushed open the front door to the bakery, and I watched as she floated across the street to her vehicle. I went into the back room where Josie was standing hands on hips, shaking her head in disbelief.
"I heard every word. Oh yeah, and I'm sure Brian's all set to get married after only dating her for two weeks. Another woman I'd nominate for Desperate Chick of the Year award." Josie snickered. "She never seemed that needy in high school."
I groped around in my purse for an aspirin then remembered I'd just taken one. "I feel kind of sorry for her. When a man uses you like that, it can change you forever. It's been tough to get over Colin's treatment of me, so my heart goes out to her. I only hope she doesn't let it end up ruining things between them."
Josie raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh, please. She's nuts. You should tell Brian about this. He'll start running for Canada."
"No!" I said sharply. "I promised I wouldn't. Don't go stirring up any trouble, Jos. Maybe they will end up getting married someday. Brian's going to make some lucky girl a wonderful husband."
"You're too nice for your own good," Josie remarked. "A woman who's that desperate for a man will do anything to keep him. Trust me, I've seen her type before. Watch out for Ally."
The front door opened, and Josie peered around the corner. "Please tell me that's not her again."
We were both surprised to see Mickey standing in the center of the room. He didn't approach us but waited patiently for Josie and me to come to him instead. He was dressed in jeans and a windbreaker and carried a plastic bag in his right hand. Josie followed me into the front room, wiping her hands on a dishtowel as she walked along.
I smiled at the teenager. "Hi, Mickey. I don't think you were scheduled to work today."
Mickey's face flushed, and he stared down at the floor. "No, Miss Muccio. I was in the neighborhood and figured I'd stop to see if you had anything for me to do."
Poor kid. Maybe he really needed the money. "Well, we're kind of slow today, probably because of the rain and thunderstorms they're predicting for later. How about a dozen chocolate chip cookies to take home with you?"
He nodded without looking up. "Sure."
I went to the display case and scooped the cookies into one of our little pink boxes for him. Mickey accepted it with another nod and addressed the floor again. "Thanks. Do you mind if I eat some here?"
"Of course not," I said. "Josie and I will be in the back room if you need anything else. We've got some cleaning to do. See you tomorrow?"
Mickey lifted his head, glanced at me, and then nodded. He quickly lowered his head again when he slid into a seat by the window. I turned my back on him as I l
eft the room yet could still feel his eyes on me. I shook off the slightly creepy sensation and grabbed a broom from the corner to start sweeping the floor.
"Sally's got a boyfriend," Josie whispered in a singsong tone.
"Cut it out," I hissed back at her. "Don't you remember what it was like to be that age? Vulnerable and shy? Oh wait, you were never shy."
She chortled. "Sure, I remember. Let's see, you'd broken up with the love of your life over something really stupid, and I'd just gotten knocked up by Rob. My parents were ready to strangle me and him. So yeah, maybe I don't totally get what he's going through."
"You never quit." The bells jingled, and I peered out the doorway in time to see Mickey scuffling across the road toward his beat-up Ford Escort. I checked the table, but he'd left it clean, except for a long-stemmed red rose placed strategically in the center. I picked up the flower and waved it at Josie.
"Aw," she crooned. "Isn't that sweet. It's too late for the prom this year though. Maybe he'll ask you to homecoming in the fall."
"Cut it out." Seeing the rose made me remember the server from my shower the other day, and I gave an involuntary shiver. Okay, maybe Mickey was a little weird, but he wasn't killer material. "Since this place is dead, what do you think about a field trip?"
She glanced up at me suspiciously. "What sort of field trip?"
"I was thinking that maybe we could do a little investigating. What if we went over to the apartment complex across the street from DeAngelo's Bakery to see if anyone might know the so-called waiter? I can give them a pretty good description. What if he lives there?"
"Hasn't Brian already checked that angle out?" Josie asked.
"Maybe, but I can't just sit here and continue to do nothing."
Josie narrowed her eyes. "If Mike finds out his fiancée has been running around town looking for a possible killer—her own killer, in fact—he's not going to be happy. Plus, what about Mr. Magnum, P.I. out front? He won't let you go anywhere without him."
"Jos, I'm aware of this, and it's fine. We'll tell him we're going to see a friend."
She let out a bark of laughter. "Oh right. He's going to rat you out to Mike for sure."
No doubt. I reached under the counter for our Be Back Soon sign to put in the front window. "That's something I'll worry about later. I'm tired of being afraid."
She stared at me for a long moment. "All right. But what if we happen to find the killer? Then what?"
That was something I hadn't thought about and in all honesty wasn't sure I wanted to.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I was positive Ralph didn't believe my rather lame story about Josie and I wanting to go visit a sick friend at the Paradise Isles Apartments. Of course he knew what had happened at the bakery last Saturday. However, when we insisted that we were fine with Ralph accompanying us and also presented him with an assortment of fresh baked cookies at the side of his car, he wavered a bit. The selection included jelly, black and white cookies, genettis, and raspberry cheesecake bars. No whoopie pies in sight. He glared at me while he selected a jelly thumbprint cookie.
"Mr. Donovan left strict instructions that if you went anywhere outside the bakery, I was to go along. I'll be letting him know about this little trip. You will not go inside the building without me," he said pointedly. "Also, you make sure to let me get out of my car first so I can scope out the area."
Cripes. I'd watched Unfaithful on television last week and kept thinking about the private detective Richard Gere's character had hired to watch his wife's every move. These were different circumstances, of course, since I wasn't cheating on Mike, but the whole situation was so restrictive. I needed to find this person so I could stop living my life in fear. This experience in terror was starting to suffocate me, and I wasn't sure how much more I could stand.
I had been hoping Ralph might conveniently forget to mention the visit to Mike after we presented him with the cookie bribe, but it didn't look like that was going to happen. Instead, I tried to make light of it. "Oh, he won't mind my going out. Plus I do kind of have an in with Mr. Donovan myself, so I'm sure it won't be a problem."
Josie laughed out loud, while Ralph continued to frown at me, clearly not amused.
We took Josie's minivan, with Ralph following closely behind. Josie parked in the paved parking lot behind the building. Ralph exited his car first, surveyed the area, and then gestured for us to get out of the vehicle while he rapidly walked toward us.
The rain was pouring from the sky at a furious and almost blinding pace. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and lightning flashed across the sky in bright silver-colored sparks. The good part about this storm was that it most likely would cool down the temperatures for the next few days. I'd checked the paper this morning, and they'd predicted that Saturday would be a lovely day in the mid-80s with low humidity. Of course there was a chance that Mike and I would be getting married before then. While I was happy about hurrying up our wedding day, it also saddened me, wanting the event to be the same day as Grandma Rosa's birthday. Oh, well. I had learned during my lifetime that things rarely went as planned.
Ralph was holding out an umbrella which Josie gratefully accepted. I was wearing a beige raincoat and hood, so I let him and Josie share the umbrella while we made a mad dash for the back door. There was an electronic keypad on it, so we hurried around front to a steel door that was marked Office. Two small windows were located on either side of the door, and we could see a light on inside. We tried the knob, but it was locked. There was a button above it that said Press for Service. A buzzing noise sounded, and the door unlocked.
As we wiped our feet on the mat inside the door, I glanced around at the surroundings. The office was small and airless with walls that appeared to have been white at one time but were now a dingy yellow, probably from the cigarette smoke that lingered in the room. Thin commercial gray carpeting ran underneath our feet, and two oak desks filled the room, one right behind the other. An adjoining room in the back held cardboard boxes on steel shelving, and I could see a door marked Restroom.
A heavyset older woman with short white hair and chunky gold hoop earrings was using a computer at the first desk. She looked up and smiled at us. "Can I help you?"
Okay, time to lie. "Hi. I'm looking for someone who I believe lives in the complex. He's a friend of a friend."
I swear that Ralph snickered from behind me.
The woman stared at me, puzzled. "You think the person lives here?"
"Well, I thought if I described him you might be able to help us out," I said.
Ralph must have had enough of my fibbing. He stepped forward and flashed his badge at the woman. "We're looking for a person who might have been involved in the shooting across the street."
She nodded in full understanding. "The police have already been here talking to Tony. He's the landlord. "Hey, Tony!" she yelled into the back room. "More questions about the shooting."
"How many times are they gonna ask the same stuff? Can't you take care of them, Susan?" a male voice yelled back.
After a few seconds the man who I assumed was Tony waddled into the room. He was balding with thick sideburns a mixture of light brown and gray hairs. Like his female employee, he was heavyset, with black suspenders holding up a pair of dark blue Dickies pants. He wore a short-sleeved, blue plaid shirt paired with them. His face was an unhealthy color that reminded me of powdered sugar. He stared at Josie first, his eyes lingering on her, then at me, and finally Ralph.
"Well, look who's here," he joked. His accent had a bit of a Southern twang to it. "Charlie's Angels and their boss in the flesh. You're missing a girl, ain't ya?"
Ralph ignored his remark and stuck out his hand. "Ralph Chang from R.C. Investigations. We'd like to ask you a few questions related to the shooting Saturday."
Tony stuck his fingers underneath his suspenders. "Look, I told the cops everything I know. Sure, a couple of tenants have guns, but they already checked out. I wasn't even here the day of the s
hooting, so no idea if the bullet came from this building or not."
Ralph turned to me. "My associate has a couple of questions for you as well."
Associate? That was rich. "About how many tenants do you have in the building, Mr., uh…Tony?"
"Benson." His eyes rested on my chest.
"Her face is about a foot higher than where you're looking, mister," Josie snapped.
He jerked his head up, shot Josie a dirty look, and his pale face instantly colored. "This building has twenty-five units, five on each floor. I know everyone who lives here."
"We're looking for a young man," I volunteered. "He has curly brown hair and brown eyes. Nice looking and maybe about five feet ten? In his late twenties or so."
He snorted. "That's not much to go on, honey. Anything else?"
"He has a tattoo on his wrist. It's a red rose with the letter M next to it."
Tony shrugged. "I don't spend much time looking at people's wrists."
No, only their chests it seemed. "So you don't know of anyone like that?"
He shook his head. "Sorry I couldn't help you. If I think of anything, I'll be sure to notify you."
Ralph nodded at Tony. "Thanks for your time."
I knew it was a long shot, but at least it made me feel good to think I had done something to help. Tony lumbered into the back room, and the Restroom door closed behind him.
"Wait a second," Susan said.
We all looked over at her. Susan motioned with her finger for us to come closer. "There's an apartment on the third floor that's been empty for the last couple of months. Tony took a woman in to see it Friday morning. The police checked it out the day after the shooting, which was Sunday. Tony was here that day and said that they thought the shot might have come from there."
"And?" Josie prompted her.
"Tony said he assured the cops there was no way anyone could have gotten in there." Susan grinned. "What a liar. He confessed to me later on that he'd forgotten to lock the door after the showing. When he took the police up to the apartment, it was still unlocked. He didn't tell the cops because he was afraid that the owner of the building might find out and he'd get canned."
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