Love is Murder

by Kate Bell

  “Pretty bad, huh?” she asked, taking a sip of the caramel latte she had ordered.

  I nodded. “Alec said we’ll need to clean and paint and buy furniture. I’ve seen the mayor’s office and that one was pretty nasty, to be honest. Wouldn’t surprise me if mice have taken up residence in the place. But it’s also exciting. Alec is getting to do the thing he loves the most, and he’ll also be working for himself instead of grumpy old Sam Bailey.”

  “You two are quite the item. I’m so happy you found each other, Allie,” Lucy said.

  “Thanks. I agree. We are quite the item,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “I can hardly believe I have someone in my life like him. After Thaddeus died, I didn’t want anyone else and I thought I was happy with that. Now I can see that I wasn’t.”

  “That’s a wonderful thing to figure out, sweetie,” she said. “Has business picked up for you yet?”

  I sighed. “Not yet. But I’m sure things will turn around. They always do, right?” I asked hopefully.

  “You bet. If anyone can make it selling baked goods, it’s you,” she said.

  We both looked up at the same time when Mr. Winters stood beside our table, cup of coffee in hand.

  “Well hello, Mr. Winters,” I said.

  “Hello to you two,” he said, nodding at both of us. “I thought I’d do you a favor and come to you instead of waiting on you to come to me. May I?”

  I nodded as he took the seat he had indicated. Mr. Winters was the town gossip. It was hard to believe, from looking at him, but the old guy knew a thing or two about almost everyone.

  “How are you doing Mr. Winters?” I asked.

  “Oh, my arthritis doesn’t like this cold, wet weather and all my joints are creaking. I’ve got a cataract startin’ up in my left eye and I need new dentures,” he said smiling big and giving me a chuckle. “But other than that, I’m fine and dandy.”

  His Maine accent was so thick, it was almost hard to understand some of his words, but I laughed with him. I liked Mr. Winters. He always had information for me and he was a quirky, fun person. I wondered if it was having worked in the circus when he was younger that made him that way.

  “So, what do you know about the murder that happened over by Cherry Avenue park?” I asked him.

  “Oh?” he asked. “There was a murder?”

  “Indeed. Spencer Cranston was found dead in his car,” I whispered and looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was listening in.

  “I don’t believe I know a him,” he said thoughtfully. “I’m surprised I hadn’t heard there was a murder. I need to take some of my news sources to task on that one.”

  “Hmm, well the victim was new to town. He and his wife Meg moved here around six months ago. He worked for Stanton Industries and they moved an entire office of people here to work. Do you know a Jenna Maples?” I asked.

  He swirled his coffee around in his cup, releasing steam, then took a sip of his coffee. His white hair was thinning and his dark rimmed glasses slid down on his nose. “I heard some funny things about that company. Some say it’s a computer company. Some say they work for the government and some say they are in touch with aliens on other planets. That would be old Ned Alderman that said that and you know as well as I do he’s nuts.”

  I smiled. “I’ve heard that before.”

  “I heard he once climbed a tree in Addie Davis’s front yard, meowing like a cat. She had to call the fire department to get him out of it,” Lucy added, nodding.

  “I imagine that company is somewhere in between all of those things, though,” he said, peering over his glasses at me. “It’s a funny thing they moved that company out here in the middle of nowhere though. And brought in all their own people, I’ll tell you that much. They didn’t hire anyone local, that I’ve heard.”

  I nodded. “That’s true. That is kind of odd. But maybe the city council gave them a break on taxes or something.”

  “Well, I’m going with a top secret government operation,” Lucy said, leaning back in her chair and pushing her hair out of her face. She had colored the tips of her blond hair a puce color. It wasn’t the prettiest of colors on it’s own, but it somehow worked for her.

  “Did you know a Jenna Maples?” I asked again.

  “No, can’t say as I do.”

  “There’s a man that lives across the street from the park. Phil Jones. He seems a bit odd,” I said, not looking at Mr. Winters. I didn’t know much about Phil Jones and couldn’t remember ever hearing anything about him.

  He snorted. “Phil is the oddest oddball I’ve ever met. And I’ve met a few of them. What day did you say that fella died?”

  “February 3rd.”

  “Well now, if I remember right, Phil was out back in my alley early that morning. I remember because that’s the day I get my social security and I like to get an early start on paying my bills and doing my shopping,” he said.

  “How early did you see him?” I asked. If I remembered right, Phil had said he was in bed asleep.

  “Oh, it was still dark. He got my neighbor’s dog, Franny, barking. I’d say around 5:30,” he said, thinking back on it.

  “Really? That early?” I said. “What was he doing in your alley?”

  Mr. Winter’s shrugged. “He was hanging around the dumpster back there. When I heard Franny barking up a storm, I went out and looked over the fence, and there he was. All bundled up in his snowsuit, with the lid to the dumpster open. I hollered at him, but he didn’t answer back. Just let the lid shut and walked on down the alley.”

  “Huh,” I said, pondering what Mr. Winters had just said. “Maybe he was trying to hide something.”

  Lucy nodded her head. “Makes you wonder.”

  “Especially when he told Alec and I that he was sleeping that morning,” I said. Phil had some explaining to do.

  “Had you ever noticed him in your alley before, Mr. Winters?” Lucy asked.

  “Not that I recall, although Franny does take to barking lots of early mornings. I’m so used to hearing it that most mornings I don’t even think about checkin’ to see what she’s barking about. I don’t even now why I did check that morning, to tell you the truth. I guess from here on out I might take a look out there and see,” Mr. winters said thoughtfully. “You never know what might be goin’ on right outside your own backyard.”

  I nodded. “That’s the truth. I can’t imagine how Spencer was murdered right out in the open near the park like that, other than it must have happened while it was still dark.”

  “Did the Medical Examiner say what the time of death was?” Lucy asked.

  “He said it was somewhere between midnight and five a.m. Because it was so cold out, it was only an estimate, so it could have been earlier or later.”

  Alec and I still had a lot of investigating to do to figure out who killed Spencer Cranston. I had to wonder about Stanton Industries. Just why had they chosen Sandy Harbor, Maine to relocate?

  --13--

  “Hey,” Alec, said sneaking up behind me and kissing the side of my neck.

  The hair on my arms stood up and I let out a scream and jumped. “Where did you come from?” I asked, turning around to stare at him wide-eyed.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said and grinned at me. “You need to keep your front door locked. Anyone could have slipped in on you.”

  “Point taken,” I said, putting a hand over my heart. “Hopefully my heart will calm down sometime today. It’s a good thing it’s strong from all the running I’ve done.”

  “I’m sorry, honey, I really didn’t mean to scare you. I did knock. I guess I had better knock louder next time.”

  “I guess I was absorbed in my work,” I said, turning back toward the kitchen counter. I had heavy cream, dark chocolate, flour, sugar, and an assortment of other baking ingredients laid out in front of me.

  “What are you working on?” Alec asked, heading to the coffee maker on the opposite counter.

  I sighed. “I d
on’t really know. I’m thinking I need something different from my usual desserts. Any suggestions?”

  He poured a cup of coffee and turned back toward me. “Anything you make will be great. It always is. And I like anything sweet, so whatever you decide on, you can’t miss with it.”

  “With business being as slow as it is over at Henry’s, I need to come up with a winner. I still need to work on my dark chocolate cake for Valentine’s Day, which by the way, is coming up in six days. Hint, hint.”

  “Valentine’s Day you say? Hmm, it seems like I’ve heard of that before, but I can’t remember where.” He looked up at the ceiling, furrowing his forehead in thought. “Valentine’s Day, Valentine’s Day.”

  “You’re so funny. Seriously. Where are you taking me?” I asked.

  “I know this fancy French restaurant downtown,” he offered.

  “Oh please. No. I am tired of supporting my competition. Think of something else. Please,” I said. I picked up my grandmama’s recipe box and started flipping through the cards. There had to be something different in there somewhere.

  Alec chuckled. “How about, it will be a surprise?”

  “Oh? What sort of surprise?” I asked, looking at him. I had a love/hate relationship with surprises. I loved them when they were good, and hated them when they weren’t so good.

  “See, the thing is, a surprise, is well, a surprise. That means you don’t get to know what it is.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Well, at least give me a hint on how to dress for the occasion.”

  He smiled. “Nicely.”

  “That’s so helpful,” I said.

  “You’re welcome,” he replied and went to the kitchen table and pulled out a chair and sat down. “So, anything new in your world? I think it’s been about twenty-four hours since we’ve seen each other.”

  “Oh, I found out that no one seems to know much about Spencer, Jenna, or Stanton Industries. Lots of speculation about the company, but not much else. More interesting was the fact that Phil Jones wasn’t sound asleep in his bed like he told us, but out behind Mr. winter’s house in his alley.”

  “Doing what?” Alec asked, sitting back in his chair.

  I shrugged. “Mr. Winters didn’t know. But he said it was early, around 5:30 a.m. or so. I think I’m going to make Crepes Suzette.”

  “Isn’t that a French recipe?” Alec asked.

  I nodded. “I can do French, too. Aren’t you interested in Phil?”

  “I am. But we still don’t have an exact time of death, only an estimate that may have been skewed by the cold. He may have had some good reason to be out in the alley at that hour and if Spencer died earlier in the evening, it doesn’t matter much where Phil was at 5:30 a.m.”

  I came and sat at the table across from him. “What do you know?”

  He shrugged. “Not much.”

  I gasped. “You’re hiding something from me! What is it?”

  He shook his head. “I am doing no such thing. What I want to know is, how much information are you giving Mr. Winters and Lucy?”

  “Don’t change the subject, Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome,” I said, leaning in toward him. I had done my best not to spill the beans too much with Mr. Winters, but it was harder with Lucy. If she was going to help me with some of the investigation, then she would have to know at least something. And she was my best friend, and I couldn’t keep things from her. She would know if I was withholding something.

  He tried to suppress a smile. “Answer me.”

  “All I’ve done is ask Mr. Winters if he knows certain people in question. He filled me in on the rest. I never tell him what I know. Lucy knows, well, she knows. Now, what do you know?” I asked.

  “You need to be careful what you’re telling and who you tell it to. Meg Cranston had her husband cremated today and there will be no funeral,” he said.

  “What? Just like that? How could she do that, and wouldn’t his co-workers want to attend? Or family from out of the area? What about their son?” I could hardly believe it. Even if they were having marital problems, I would have thought his death would have brought back good memories for Meg and she would have wanted to celebrate the good times.

  “That’s the way she wanted it, I guess. Let’s go take a look at my new office. I’ve got the key,” he said, holding up a single silver key on a yellow plastic key fob.

  ***

  The stairs to Alec’s new office smelled stale and mildewy. The stairs opened into a lobby that served the mayor’s office, Alec’s office, and four other offices that were unoccupied.

  The lobby had dark 1970’s paneling and green shag carpet and was furnished with brown naugahyde furniture that had seen better days. Alec’s office was directly across from the mayor’s and I thought that might irritate the mayor, Bob Payne since he had a hate/hate relationship with us.

  Alec slipped the key into the door, and turned. The key stuck and Alec had to turn it back and forth several times before it finally caught and unlocked the door.

  “Looks like we need a locksmith in here to fix that,” Alec said as he swung the door open.

  “Wow,” we both said in unison.

  Part of the ceiling had collapsed and a pile of thick, soggy insulation and shredded ceiling tiles sat in the middle of the floor. The mildew smell was overwhelming.

  “Did it look like that when you saw it?” I asked, taking a few steps inside.

  “Nope. The rain from the other day must have done that,” he said, going over to look up at the hole in the ceiling. He sighed. “I think we have our work cut out for us.”

  “I’ll say,” I said. I took a look around the room. The walls were done in the same dark paneling as the lobby and a faux wood desk stood near the pile of collapsed ceiling. A couple of visitors’ chairs had been pushed up against the walls and a hanging light fixture was suspended in the corner.

  I headed over to the door on the other side of the room and turned the knob. The bathroom was tiny and smelled of rodents and more mildew. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to clean this place. My head throbbed with each breath I took.

  “All I need is a bouffant hairdo and it would be like stepping back in time nearly fifty years,” I said. “And now that I think of it, that’s not a bad idea. I could buy a mini skirt and get my hair done up and we could have a theme PI business. Just think of all the possibilities. The sixties and seventies had lots of PI shows on TV and we could dress like different characters each week.”

  “Oh, that would be lots of fun all right,” Alec said, kicking at the pile of insulation on the floor. “We’re going to need a shovel and rake to clean this stuff up. I guess we better make a list of things to buy.”

  “You’re no fun,” I said, walking over to where he stood. “We could have a blast doing this. I want to wear cat eye glasses and big thick eyelashes. We can play Alice Cooper and Janis Joplin music, and we can charge extra because it would be like no other PI business around.”

  “That’s because there are no other PI businesses around,” Alec said. “And you’re nuts, in case I haven’t told you that lately.”

  I leaned up against him and he put his arm around me. “I’m so glad you’re getting to do this. But I don’t really want to get my hands dirty. This place is disgusting.”

  “I know. But I’ve showed up on more than one very early morning to help you bake. Seems like it’s your turn to help me.”

  I sighed. “I guess you’ve got a point.”

  We had a lot of work to do. Work I really did not want to do. Maybe if I wore a dust mask, the place wouldn’t smell so bad.

  Alec’s phone went off and he pulled it out of his pocket. “It’s our friend Phil Jones,” he said, raising an eyebrow at me.

  --14--

  We hopped into Alec’s car and headed over to Phil’s house. He had said it was an emergency and Alec drove as fast as he dared. It was times like this that he needed one of those stick on sirens like Baretta used to have.

  He ca
reened around a corner, and I screamed.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You’re scaring me! Slow down!”

  He grinned and pulled up in front of Phil’s house. “He said it was an emergency and you wanted to be an assistant PI. Let me know if you’ve changed your mind.”

  I gave him the evil eye and we got out of the car. Phil was standing on his front step, wringing his hands. It was cold out and he was in a t-shirt and stocking feet.

  “What’s going on, Phil?” Alec asked, all business now.

  “It’s Frito! He’s gone!” Phil said, his face twisting in pain.

  “What?” Alec asked.

  “Frito! He’s missing!” Phil repeated, looking at me and pleading with his eyes. A cold breeze kicked up and I wondered how he could stand to be out here without shoes or a coat.

  “You called us over here for your dog?” Alec asked incredulously.

  He nodded his head furiously. “He’s missing. He never goes missing. Something’s wrong!”

  Alec breathed out heavily. “You said it was an emergency and from the tone of your voice, I thought it was something important.” Alec’s mouth formed a tight line.

  “What?” Phil asked, astonished. “Of course it’s important! It’s Frito! Frito’s the only person that understands me! It’s extremely important that I find him before something dreadful happens to him!”

  I looked at Alec. He was staring at Phil, looking like he was trying to sort this thing out in his mind.

  “Frito? Frito’s your dog, right?” he asked for clarification.

  Phil nodded his head again. “That’s right. My Frito. My poor, poor Frito! And I know who took him!”

  Alec glanced at me.

  “Who took Frito?” I asked Phil.

  “That woman!” he said, pointing one chubby finger in Jenna Maple’s direction.

  I was afraid of that. Some neighbors just couldn’t find a way to get along.

  Alec put his hands on his hips.