“Hey, Bob, it’s Eleanor Swift.”
“Hi yourself, Eleanor.” He paused, then said, “There’s nothing wrong with that window, is there? Sometimes those tracks are tricky. If it won’t roll down, bring it by and I’ll have another go at it.”
“That’s not it.” I took a deep breath, then said, “I need a new one.”
“Now just you hang on there a second, Eleanor. I said I could fix it, and I meant it. It won’t take me ten minutes, and you don’t even have to come by the shop. I’ll swing by your place and have it done in a heartbeat.”
“There’s nothing to adjust,” I said. “The window shattered into a thousand little pieces.”
“It fell out? You’re kidding me. I don’t see how that could happen.”
“That’s because it didn’t,” I said as I saw the preheat light go off on the griddle. I cradled the telephone between my chin and my shoulder, then poured some batter rounds onto the matted black Teflon surface. “Somebody took a shot at me last night.”
“Are you okay? What’s gotten into this town?”
“I’m fine, and so is Chief Hurley.”
“What’s he got to do with this? You two weren’t out dallying around, were you?”
I didn’t even try to bite back my laughter. “When you hear pigs flying overhead and there’s an ice hockey team in Hades, look for the two of us out on the town together. He was doing me a favor. I got a suspicious delivery call, and I wanted someone else there. We got to the address, and somebody shot out the window.”
“Are both front windows gone?” he asked as I noticed that tiny bubbles were forming in the battered rounds. I slid my spatula under one, flipped it, then did its mates.
“No, just the driver’s side. I hate to ask, but is there any way you can fix it today? I really need my car.”
He paused, and I heard pages flipping. Finally, Bob said, “Eleanor, maybe we should make a standing appointment every day. I’m sure I can get you a better deal on windows if I buy them in bulk.”
“I don’t plan on making a habit of this,” I said. “Can you help me out?”
“I can probably squeeze you in. Where’s your car now?”
“I have no idea,” I said as I removed the pancakes and dropped more batter onto the griddle. “You’ll have to call the police station.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. It might not be a bad idea if you tried to keep a lower profile than you’ve been doing lately. Maybe then folks will stop coming after you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said. As I hung up, Maddy came into the kitchen. My pajamas hung off her like flour sacks, but she still managed to look her usual cute self in them.
“Those smell great,” she said as she grabbed a plate and loaded up. She looked around the counter, then asked, “Where’s the syrup?”
“I forgot,” I said as I dug into the small pantry and pulled out a bottle. “Give me a few minutes and I can heat some up on the stovetop.”
“That’s okay, I don’t mind,” she said as she drowned her hotcakes in it.
“Help yourself,” I said, laughing despite the heavy mood in my heart. My sister had a way of cheering me up when the outlook for a smile was dismal.
“I did,” she said after taking a bite. “Is that coffee I smell?”
It had been percolating on an automatic timer and was now ready. I poured her a cup, then got some for myself as well. It was time to flip the next batch of pancakes, and after I had them turned, I said, “Bob didn’t believe me at first when I told him I needed a new car window.”
“Can you blame him?” she said as she finished her small stack. “I’m sure he rarely gets back-to-back requests for something like that.” She pointed to the pancakes on the griddle as she said, “Those look ready to me.”
“Piggy. These are mine.”
“You should make them bigger, then,” she said.
“Okay, I’ll split them with you.”
She bit her lip, then said, “No, you’re right. It’s only fair. You go first.”
“How can I, when you’ve already had some?” I put two of the small pancakes on my plate, then slid the other two onto Maddy’s.
“You sure?”
“Just eat them before I change my mind.”
She didn’t need any more coaxing than that and quickly devoured the two on her plate.
“How do you eat like that and stay so slim?” I asked.
“Just lucky, I guess.”
“You’re telling me.” I split the next batch, then finished off the batter.
“You don’t want these, do you? Don’t feel obligated. I just hate to throw good batter away.”
Maddy held her plate out. “Then think about how much worse it would be to throw perfectly good pancakes away. I’ll eat them while you’re in the shower.”
“Fine, be a glutton,” I said with a grin as I put them on her plate. “Don’t worry about the dishes. I’ll get them later.”
“Sounds good to me,” she said.
After my shower, I came back out into the kitchen, my hair wrapped up in a towel and a cozy robe cinched tightly around my waist. Maddy was just finishing up the dishes, to my surprise.
“Hey, I thought we were going to leave them,” I said.
“You know me, I hate to see a dirty dish. Why don’t you finish rinsing these, and I’ll get started on my shower.” She frowned, then said, “On second thought, I’ll do these. You get dressed. Then we can go to my place so I can get ready there.”
“I don’t mind if you use my shower,” I said.
“Neither would I if I had anything clean to change into. Hurry up, though. We’ve got to brace the mayor while his wife’s out jogging.”
“I won’t be long,” I said. I dried my hair quickly, then assembled my make-up into a travel bag.
When I came back out, Maddy said, “I didn’t mean you couldn’t take the time to put your make-up on.”
“I’ll do it at your place while you’re showering. You’re right, we don’t have a whole lot of time.”
I hoped we wouldn’t see anyone while driving to Maddy’s, but if someone didn’t like my “natural” look, that was too bad. Joe had always preferred me without much make-up, which had been a real relief to me. As girls, Maddy had been the one who stole Mom’s lipstick, while I’d been more interested in Dad’s cowboy boots.
After a quick shower and change back at her place, Maddy was presentable in record time.
“Let’s go,” I said.
“I thought you were going to put some make-up on,” Maddy said.
“I did.”
“Oh. It looks good.”
“Liar.”
She laughed. “You caught me. I wish you’d let me teach you the fine art of applying make-up. You could look really pretty, if you’d just try a little harder.”
“Wow, that’s a nice backhanded compliment. I especially like the way you spanked me there at the end.”
“You know what I meant,” she said.
“Why don’t you stick to what you do best, and I’ll do the same.”
She shook her head. “Eleanor, if we’re being honest about it, we’re both out of our league right now.”
I studied her carefully. “Does that mean you want to drop our investigation? We can, if it’s making you uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable, nothing. I’m scared to death. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be done,” she said. “We didn’t ask for this, but that doesn’t mean we can turn our backs on it, either.”
“You don’t have to be involved,” I said softly. “It’s not your fight.”
“It involves you, Eleanor. That makes it my fight.”
There was no denying the strength of commitment in her voice. “Good. Then let’s go find the mayor and see what he has to say for himself.”
We found Steve Baron scraping the frost off his darkly tinted VW windshield when we pulled up in front of his house. He was bundled up against the cold, bu
t so were we. Our part of North Carolina, though firmly in the South, still got its share of snow, frosts, and freezes. And while it wasn’t as bad as Maine got every winter, it was enough to make folks in Florida shiver at the thought of the temperature drops we faced.
“Steve, can we talk to you?” I asked as we approached him. He was a large man with a ruddy complexion even without the cold weather we were experiencing, and I could see his closely cropped hair stand out on his neck. Steve Baron had prided himself on being the star quarterback on his high school football team, but that had been twenty years and thirty less pounds ago.
“What can I do for you ladies?” he asked. “I just love a brisk morning, don’t you?”
“I like the Bahamas myself,” Maddy said.
Steve chuckled. “Well, I wouldn’t say no to a little hot sand under my feet, either, now that you mention it.”
“The cold doesn’t seem to bother your wife much,” I said.
“Faith’s got the constitution of a horse,” he said, then realized how that must have sounded. “I didn’t mean it that way,” he added quickly.
“We know,” Maddy said. “How are you two getting along these days?” Leave it to my sister to ask something like that.
I would have preferred we approach it a little more delicately, but that option was now gone.
Steve’s gaze focused on each of us in turn. “Why? What have you heard?”
“That’s an interesting way to respond to a question like that,” I said.
The mayor shook his head. “It’s a natural enough question. Being in the public eye like I am, folks tend to talk, even when there’s nothing to say. I’ve heard the rumors about Faith, but that’s all they are. She’s a friendly woman, always has been. That leads to tongues wagging.”
“Among other things,” Maddy said.
“I’ll thank you to tread carefully,” Steve said, an angry edge in his voice.
“She didn’t mean anything by it,” I said, stepping in before Maddy could reply with something that would effectively end the conversation.
“The reason we came by was that we thought we saw you talking to Richard Olsen right before he died. That was you, wasn’t it?”
Both he and Maddy gave me the same look of disbelief, but thankfully my sister’s expression was out of his range of sight. I was taking a stab in the dark, but what else did we have at this point?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“If you weren’t with Richard, where were you the night he was killed?” I asked. “The only reason I came to you before I talked to Kevin Hurley about it was that I wanted to give you a chance to explain it to me instead of the police.”
The mayor looked at me, glanced over at Maddy, then returned his gaze to me. “I was with my wife.”
“All evening?”
“Yes,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. “We were at Dusty’s, in Clearmont, eating out. Is that all you wanted?” As he got into his car, he said, “If you ladies will excuse me, I’ve got important work to do at City Hall today.”
I nodded, and after he was gone, we walked back to my sister’s car.
Maddy said, “He was clearly lying, wasn’t he?”
“I think so, too. The question is, which part was he lying about: the fact that they ate at Dusty’s, or that they were together all evening?”
“There’s only one way to find out. We need to talk to someone at the restaurant and see if anyone remembers seeing them there.”
“That’s not exactly information they’ll be willing to give out, though, is it?”
Maddy said, “Normally I’d say no, but I’ve got a friend there who owes me a favor. What better time will there ever be to cash it in?”
“Do I want to know what the original favor was for?” I asked.
“I don’t think so. Just accept it for what it’s worth, and be glad that your sister isn’t squeamish.”
“Fine, you can call this afternoon. But what do we do in the meantime? There’s no reason to talk to the mayor again until we have something a little more concrete than one of my bluffs.”
“That was well done, by the way. That declaration of yours caught me completely off guard.”
I smiled. “What can I say? I have my moments, too.”
“I knew we had more in common than just our parents,” she said.
“I guess there’s only one other person we need to talk with besides Travis. Let’s go find Richard’s boss and see if he’ll talk to us.”
We got into Maddy’s car and went off searching for Carl Wilson. Hopefully, he’d be able to give us another piece of the puzzle of who had killed Richard Olsen.
We found Mr. Wilson at his desk in a cluster of small offices in what passed as Timber Ridge’s industrial complex. Tucked in among copier repair shops, janitorial supply houses, and bulk office supplies firms was Shred It All.
Sitting at a desk with his nameplate prominently displayed, Carl Wilson was a pudgy man with no hair on his head, but instead, he sported a luxurious, thick black mustache. “Can I help you?”
“We need to speak with you about Richard Olsen,” I said.
He didn’t even wait for us to explain further. “There’s more? I’ve had two formal complaints since the man died. All I can say is that we’re very sorry about what happened, and we’ll do everything in our power to make it right by you.”
“It’s pretty disturbing, isn’t it?” Maddy asked rather glumly.
“You don’t know the half of it. Who would have thought the man would sort through the documents before we shredded them? And then have the gall to try to blackmail our customers.”
“It’s criminal,” I said, hoping he’d open up more.
“I’m fully aware of that. I’ve spoken with my attorneys, and we’re offering compensation for those who were hurt by his actions.” He grabbed a clipboard, then said, “If you’ll give me your information, I’ll see about adding your names to our list.”
That was awkward, since we’d never been clients of the shredding service. Maddy took the clipboard and started to write, though, without any hesitation. When I glanced over at the form, I saw that she was carefully transcribing the lyrics to “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” While she did that, I said, “I’d like to see the list of the others.”
“Sorry, that’s confidential,” Wilson replied automatically.
I raised one eyebrow. “As confidential as your shredding service was supposed to be? It’s a bit ironic that you’re taking that position, don’t you think?”
He looked as though he wanted to cry. “I had nothing to do with any of that. I’m just trying to clean up his mess.” Wilson suddenly scowled. “If I had the power, I’d bring him back to life just to choke it out of him again.”
The intense violence of the statement and his expression scared me more than I would have ever admitted. “You really hated him, didn’t you?”
Wilson got control of his temper, then said quietly, “Not until he was dead. When he was alive, Richard was the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet. He exceeded every sales goal I ever gave him, and when we went out drinking after work, he was always good for a quick round of drinks. I wouldn’t have thought so kindly of him if I’d known he was doing it with my money.”
“Then he stole from you, too?” I asked.
Wilson nodded. “And I’m not just talking about my reputation. The man was a thief, pure and simple.”
“Are we talking thousands, or more?” Maddy asked, losing all interest in her pretense of filling out his form.
“Oh, I doubt it ever topped a grand, even if you added it all together. It’s just the principle of it, you know? How’s that form coming?”
“Just about done,” Maddy said.
As she shifted her focus back to writing, I said, “Just between us, I’d really love to know who else your employee took advantage of.”
“Sorry, I can’t tell you. You know, I never caught what firm you two were with.
”
I was about to try to stall him when Maddy said, “I don’t think I like your attitude.” Her tone of voice was insulting, and I could see Wilson stare at her for a second before he reacted.
“I apologize if I was terse,” he said, though there was no sympathy in his words or expression.
Maddy was having none of that, though. “Our lawyer told us it was a bad idea to come here, but we wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. I see that he was right, and we were clearly wrong.” She tore the form from the clipboard, wadded it up into a ball, then stuck it in her purse. “You’ll be hearing from him by the end of business today.”
Wilson dropped all pretense of trying to appease us. He growled, “Tell him to get in line.”
“Good day, sir,” I said quickly, and then Maddy and I stormed out of the office.
Once we were out of sight, Maddy said, “Wow, he wasn’t a nice man at all, was he?”
I said, “Give him a break. We can’t begin to understand the kind of pressure he must be under. I’m willing to bet he’ll lose his business because of this.”
“I’m not talking about Wilson. I mean Richard Olsen.” As we got into her car, she asked, “I wonder who all he was blackmailing?”
“I don’t know that we’ll ever find out,” I said.
Maddy frowned. “Don’t give up so easily. I bet Bob Lemon could find out.”
I couldn’t believe she was even suggesting it. Bob had already done me a great favor by coming to the police station with me. I wasn’t about to impose any more on him. “No, we can’t do that.”
“I’m sure Bob won’t mind. All he has to do is posture a little, just enough to bully Wilson into giving us those names.”
“Maddy, that’s terrible. We shouldn’t kick the man when he’s down.”
“When should we kick him, then? We need those names.”
I thought about it as we drove toward the pizzeria, then said, “We don’t really need them, you know.”
A Slice of Murder Page 15
