Personally, Abby thought Valerie should be the one to pony up the money, but she knew Tripp better than to even suggest it. She offered her co-conspirator a grin. “And am I supposed to tell him that you didn’t know your own strength when you twisted on that old piece of pipe?”
Tripp immediately raised both arms and flexed his biceps. “Yeah, that’s me. Too strong for my own good.”
Abby laughed and pressed the back of her hand to her forehead. “Warn a girl if you’re going to flaunt your muscles like that, mister. You could give a lady a fit of the vapors if you’re not careful.” Then to pull his chain a bit, she added, “But if you do that in front of Jean sometime, I bet you’d earn a lifetime supply of tuna casseroles.”
He looked horrified by that prospect. “Sometimes you’re just mean, Abby McCree.”
Then he stood up. “I’ve got to get going. In the meantime, think about which pipe you think you can live without for a few days.”
“That sounds ominous.”
She wasn’t kidding, but Tripp didn’t look too concerned. He started down off the porch but paused on the bottom step. “I’d be more worried that he’s already too booked up to take on a small job. If he can’t come out, then we’ll have to go to plan B.”
“And what’s that, exactly?”
“I’ll let you know when I think of one.”
There wasn’t much she could say to that, so she picked up their glasses and headed back inside to study her plumbing.
Chapter Twenty-One
Abby smiled at Denny Moller as she opened the door. While not as flashy as Bryce Cadigan had been, he was a good-looking man with a friendly smile, the kind that made people want to trust him on sight. If she didn’t have reason to suspect him of murder, she might have felt that way herself. Once again, she kept Zeke close by as she invited the man into her home. “Thanks for coming out so quickly, Mr. Moller.”
“No problem, Ms. McCree. I was in the area and finished up a job earlier than expected. Why don’t you show me the toilet that needs fixing?”
After careful consideration, she decided a chronic problem with a toilet that really didn’t always shut off made more sense than breaking a pipe and risk causing more damage than they meant to.
“It’s just down the hall here. The problem isn’t exactly new, but I had a houseguest for a few days, and it got worse while she was here. Jiggling the handle works some of the time, but that gets old. I also worry that it will keep running all night or while I’m gone.”
Denny looked around as he followed her to the half bath located on the main floor. He stopped to study their surroundings. “I love these old houses, but there’s always something that needs replacing or upgrading.”
“True enough. My aunt did her best to keep up with things, but it got harder for her as she got older. She had the upstairs bathroom completely redone, but she never got around to this one or the one on the third floor. I want to keep everything as original as possible, but I know some upgrades are definitely in order.”
She stopped outside of the small bathroom to let him go in first. It didn’t take him long to diagnose the problem. “It won’t take me long to replace the guts of this toilet with a more modern version. That’ll fix it right up.”
“That’s great. I really appreciate it. I’ll be down the hall in the kitchen when you’re done.”
As soon as she left him, she texted Tripp that their quarry had arrived. He responded that he’d be back home from class in a few minutes. Neither of them had expected Denny would be able to come over as soon as Abby called. Not only had they yet to finalize a workable plan to pry the truth out of the plumber while they had his attention, but Tripp hadn’t wanted her to be alone with the man. After all, if somehow he figured out they’d drawn him there on the off chance he’d killed Bryce, things could go very badly for her.
Luckily, Denny was still banging around in the bathroom when she heard Tripp’s truck in the driveway. A few seconds later, he knocked at the back door. She waved to tell him to come in while she jotted down a few more notes about the future work she’d like to have done, if not by Denny Moller, then by some other plumber.
“How was class?”
Tripp helped himself to a bottled water out of the fridge and joined her at the table. “It was fine, but my biology professor sure does love to hear himself talk. I noticed there’s a truck parked out front. Did something happen while I was gone?”
“Nothing major. I told you that I needed someone to fix the toilet in the hall bathroom. I lucked out, and the plumber I called had a last-minute opening in his schedule. He took one look at it and knew exactly what needed to be done. Maybe I could’ve figured it out myself, but even my dad always said that plumbing was one area where it was smarter to hire a pro.”
Tripp followed her lead. “I’m surprised he got here so fast. You just mentioned you might call someone this morning. I was going to tell you that I could probably fix it for you. I’ve done simple repairs like that before.”
She kept an eye on the hall that led toward the bathroom. “That’s okay, you do enough around here, not to mention you’ve got a full class load to deal with.”
It was hard to tell if Denny could hear any of their conversation, but they’d both felt it was important to have a reason why neither of them had made an effort to do the work themselves. A few minutes later, Denny appeared in the doorway.
“All done.”
Abby set down her pen and smiled. “Boy, that didn’t take long.”
Denny grinned at her. “When you’ve done as many as I have, you’d be that fast, too. Let me show you how it works before I do my paperwork.”
Abby dutifully admired the mysteries of the new float and then invited Denny to follow her down the hall to the kitchen. He stood by the table. “Mind if I sit down while I write out the bill?”
“Not at all. Would you like a cold drink while you work?”
“Sure, if it’s not too much trouble.”
Abby introduced the two men and did her best to ignore Tripp’s smirk as she fixed Denny a glass of iced tea and set out a plate of pecan bars. It was tempting to smack his hand when he reached for one of the cookies, but then she’d have to explain to Denny what the two of them were squabbling about. Okay, fine. She did like to offer refreshments to guests. However, having a quick snack and a drink would also ensure that Denny stuck around a little longer.
He bit into one of the bars and smiled. “This is delicious, Ms. McCree, and really hits the spot.”
While he set up his laptop, he said, “I always like to know how a customer came to call me to do the work. Did you see my ad in the paper or online?”
Again, it was better to go with the truth. “Actually, I thought of you because of your support of the local veterans at the auction the other night.”
Denny looked up in surprise. “You were there, too?” Then he answered his own question. “Of course you were. I thought your name sounded familiar. You were in charge of the whole thing.”
He also glanced at Tripp. After studying him for a second, he grinned. “And you’re the guy who got sold for the big bucks.”
Tripp glared at her as he nodded. Then he bit into a cookie, no doubt using that as an excuse to not say anything more on that particular subject. She had to wonder if he was ever going to forgive her for putting him in that position in the first place.
Rather than dwell on that, she refocused her attention on the plumber. “We appreciated everyone who turned out in support of the veterans. It’s a bit tardy, but thanks for being there that night. Were you there to support a specific veteran or just the group as a whole?”
Looking up from whatever he was typing, Denny said, “Several members of the group are friends of mine, and my dad served in the marines with Clarence Reed.”
Tripp rejoined the conversation. “Clarence is a great guy. He’s really involved in our outreach programs.”
Denny nodded. “I’m familiar with some of what he
does. He occasionally asks me to let one of the guys just out of the service shadow me for a few days to see if they’d like a career in one of the trades.”
He went back to typing again. “Ms. McCree, if you can give me your e-mail address, I can send you the invoice right now.”
She spelled it out for him and nodded when he read it back to her. “I’ll get my credit card.”
She wished she’d thought about getting it out right after he got there. Unfortunately, she’d left her purse upstairs. As she ran up the steps, she could hear the two men talking but couldn’t make out what was being said. Tripp would no doubt fill her in later if he learned anything important, but she hated missing out on the chance to ask a few pointed questions if the opportunity presented itself.
By the time she returned, they were discussing a few other acquaintances they had in common, including Gage Logan. She hesitated in the hallway, not wanting to interrupt whatever Denny was telling Tripp. “Yeah, he talked to me that night and again since then. Actually, twice. Evidently he and that detective from the county somehow caught wind of the fact that Bryce and I have had our problems.”
Tripp looked sympathetic. “I never actually met the man, but Cadigan seemed to be a bit full of himself. Did you do some work for him that he wasn’t happy with?”
She had to give Tripp credit for finding a way to bring the conversation around to the source of trouble between Denny and Bryce without revealing what they already knew. She halfway expected the man to dodge the subject, but he didn’t.
“No, Bryce didn’t live in this area, and I doubt he would’ve called me even if he did. The problem started back in high school when we were on the football team together.”
Tripp asked, “I played on the offensive line in high school myself. What position did you play?”
“Wide receiver.” Denny reached for another cookie as he continued. “Not to brag, but several colleges sent scouts to watch me play. My dad and I even visited a few of the schools.”
He stared off into the distance. “Those road trips were fun. Dad was so proud of me and the possibility that I’d be the first one in the family to go to college.”
“What happened?”
Denny’s smile disappeared, his attention now focused on the leg he had stretched out in front of him. “We were at practice. I went up to the parking lot to get a piece of equipment I’d left in the car.”
He held out his hands, the palms parallel to the tabletop, one higher than the other. “The practice field was on one level and the parking lot was up two flights of stairs. Just as I started back down, I took a header down the steps and tore the heck out of my knee in the process. Several surgeries and a nasty infection followed. Trying to play again would’ve put me at risk of further damage.”
The pain in his voice sounded fresh, not just an echo of something he’d suffered through in the past. Unlike Gil Pratt, Denny’s problem with Bryce clearly continued to haunt him. Abby held out her credit card. “That’s terrible. I’m so sorry.”
Denny took the card and entered the number on his computer. “Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault. Besides, it was a long time ago.”
Tripp looked puzzled. “So was the problem with Bryce that he took your spot on the team or something?”
“No, although that happened, too. The problem was that I’ve always believed someone shoved me down those steps. I never got a clear look at the guy, but Bryce was the only one who would benefit if I was off the team.”
Abby wondered if Denny even realized that he was rubbing his knee as he talked. “That’s terrible. What did they do about it?”
Denny shrugged. “There was a brief investigation, but only because my dad raised such a stink about what happened. But without witnesses, nothing ever came of it. Bryce even came to visit me in the hospital. I might have been drugged to the gills, but I hated the way he smiled at me.”
Denny’s cell phone rang, jarring all of them out of the story. He checked the number and said, “Sorry, I’ve got to take this. It’s the boss. My wife is the one that keeps our business running smoothly.”
After swiping his finger across the screen, he left the table and disappeared down the hall. “Hi, honey, what’s up?”
While he talked to his wife, she and Tripp exchanged glances. Now clearly wasn’t the time to discuss what they’d learned, but she really wondered what Tripp was thinking. If she had to guess, he was furious about what Bryce might have done to Denny all those years ago. That didn’t necessarily translate into him thinking Denny was the kind of man who would’ve waited this long to exact his revenge.
Speak of the devil, the man in question was back. “Sorry about that. Jaycee schedules most of my appointments, so I don’t like to ignore her calls.”
“Not a problem.”
He sat back down. “So back to Bryce. I almost didn’t go to the auction at all when I found out he was going to be there. I ended up going because my friends deserved my support. Besides, it happened a long time ago.”
Denny finished typing her invoice. “Regardless, I figured it wouldn’t be hard to avoid him considering the size of the crowd that was expected to turn up that night, but he actually sought me out.”
Abby didn’t confess that she’d seen them talking. “Really? All things considered, you’d have thought he would’ve wanted to avoid you, too.”
“I agree, but I think he was having a good time playing the role of the hometown boy who did well. From what I heard, he made a point of bragging about his accomplishments to anyone who would listen.”
To keep the conversation going, Abby said, “I happened to run into Mrs. Alstead at the store where she works. She pretty much said the same thing. She admired Bryce’s accomplishments, but she was just as proud of yours.”
That seemed to please Denny. “She’s a nice lady. We were her first class, you know.”
“That’s what she said. She also said she tutored you while you recuperated from your surgery.”
“And wouldn’t accept a dime for it.” Denny laughed. “My dad had a hard time believing she was actually my teacher when she first approached him. She looked too young to be teaching high school. Heck, she was barely older than I was. A lot of the guys were jealous that I got to spend extra time with her, because she was so hot.”
His face flushed a little red. “Don’t get me wrong, though. She was always very professional, at least with me. I wouldn’t want to give you the wrong idea about the time the two of us spent together.”
Interesting that he’d felt compelled to qualify his comment with that “at least with” him. Had there been rumors that she’d acted differently with someone else? Abby really wanted to know more but suspected he’d shut down completely if she pressed him on it. Instead, she went back to their conversation about Bryce. “I take it he bragged to you, too.”
Denny shrugged. “Yeah, although he made a token effort to ask how my business was doing. I told him the truth. My family and I have a good life together. When Bryce started to rehash his glory days on the football team, I really didn’t want to listen to it. He wasn’t happy when I tried to excuse myself, but I didn’t care. I ended up simply walking away. That’s the last I saw of him.”
Abby wished she could say the same, but she hadn’t been that lucky. Evidently Denny knew that, too. “I’m sorry you were the one to find him, Ms. McCree. That had to be hard for you.”
Then he frowned and gave Tripp a long look. “I heard they arrested a woman for his murder. Wasn’t she the one who bid so much to buy you at the auction?”
He sat up straighter, no longer looking quite so friendly. “In fact, she’s your wife, isn’t she?”
Tripp folded his arms across his chest, still looking remarkably calm. “Actually, Valerie is my ex-wife.”
Denny gave each of them a hard look. “I’m betting she’s the houseguest you mentioned earlier, and you two don’t think she did it.”
Before either of them could respond, he slammed his han
d down on the table. “So that’s the real reason you called me out here on a piddling little job that could’ve waited weeks, if not months. You’re looking for a scapegoat to get your lady friend off the hook.”
He lurched to his feet. “No matter what you think, I didn’t kill Bryce. I have too many good things in my life I would never put at risk just to get some kind of stupid payback after all these years. My wife and kids are worth so much more to me than what I lost back then.”
When he stalked off down the hall, Abby trailed after him with Zeke hot on her heels. Denny probably didn’t want to hear anything she had to say, but she at least had to try to apologize. “Mr. Moller, I’m sorry.”
“For what? For thinking I’m a murderer? For leading me on about the possibility of doing more work for you?”
Darn it, he had every right to be angry, but she and Tripp weren’t wrong to want the truth to come out. Drawing comfort from Zeke’s warm presence against her leg, she did her best to calm the waters. She held out the list of jobs she’d written down earlier. “First of all, I do need to have these upgrades done if you’d still consider doing the work. Secondly, I’m really sorry if we brought back bad memories. We both are, actually, but Valerie means a lot to Tripp. You can understand why we both want to know what really happened that night.”
Denny stopped short of walking out the door. “I get that it’s a problem for the lady, but that doesn’t mean I want people thinking I did it. It’s bad enough the cops have been talking to me about that night. I don’t need anyone else getting involved. I have to live in this town, and I can’t afford rumors flying around that could hurt either my family or my business.”
At least she could reassure him on that point. “I promise we won’t repeat anything you told us.”
Although he had no reason to believe her, she really hoped he’d take her at her word. He studied her list for several seconds before slowly nodding. “I’ll hold you to that. Once things settle down, maybe I’ll call you to set up a time to discuss your plumbing.”
Death by Auction Page 22
