Buried in Bargains

by Josie Belle

  “If you need anything—a signature, a pint of blood, my left foot,” Maggie said, “you ask me.”

  “I’m hoping the left foot is not necessary,” Jake said with a laugh. “But we’ll let you know about the pint of blood.”

  Maggie grinned at him.

  Laura arrived back in the kitchen, and asked, “Are you ready?”

  Maggie’s phone chimed, and she grabbed it back out of her purse. It was Sam.

  “Hello,” she answered.

  “Morning, Maggie,” he said.

  She felt her spirits lift at the sound of his voice.

  “I was just headed over to the hospital to check on Joanne,” she said. “Is there any news I can bring her?”

  Sam heaved a sigh that sounded as if it came all the way up from his feet, and Maggie knew that whatever it was, it was bad.

  Chapter 14

  “Oh no. What is it?” she asked.

  “Can’t talk about it on the cell,” he said. “I’ll meet you at the hospital in ten minutes?”

  “I’m on my way,” Maggie said. She ended the call and looked over at Laura. “Sam has some sort of news. Let’s fly.”

  “Be careful,” Jake said.

  “I will,” Maggie said.

  “Give Joanne my best,” Sandy called after her.

  “Will do,” Maggie said as she led the way out to her Volvo station wagon.

  Laura climbed into the passenger seat and glanced at her mother. “I was going to say we should hit the Daily Grind for coffee on the way, but I’m guessing it’s straight to the hospital for us.”

  “Sorry, honey, but it sounds like Sam has information,” Maggie said. “And it doesn’t sound good.”

  “So, no suspects yet?”

  Maggie pressed her lips together. What was she supposed to say? That the most likely suspect was her friend’s husband, who was lying in a coma?

  “No, not yet,” she said.

  They were silent for the rest of the ride. When they got to the waiting room for the ICU, they found Ginger sitting by herself.

  “Joanne is in with Michael,” she said. “They said she could visit for fifteen minutes before the doctors came to check him over.”

  “How is she holding up?” Maggie asked.

  “She’s made of tough stuff,” Ginger said. “Even with the hormone overload she’s got going on, she’s been doing really well.”

  Maggie nodded. “I can wait for her if you need to get back to work.”

  “I don’t have a client scheduled until ten,” Ginger said. “I stayed up late last night, working on his file so I could relieve Claire this morning so she could get to the library.”

  “That was really good of you,” Maggie said.

  “No more than you,” Ginger said. “This is why we run our own businesses. Flexibility.”

  “I’ll watch the shop today, Mom,” Laura said. “It was good to be busy yesterday, and Mrs. Swopes dropped off a big box of coats that have to be gone through. I think some of them will need to be dry-cleaned, as they smell like her cedar-lined closet, but otherwise they looked to be in great shape.”

  “I don’t want to take up all of your free time with the shop,” Maggie said. “Maybe it would be better for you to be visiting with your friends, you know, to get your mind off things.”

  “Max and Bianca are coming by the shop for lunch,” Laura said. “And Aaron said he’d pop in after his shift at the health-food store. Maybe I’m suspicious, but I’m getting the feeling that people are afraid to leave me alone.”

  “Aaron mentioned that he was worried about you,” Ginger said. “He knew you were trying to help Diane adjust to the town and make some friends. He said she was a very nice girl.”

  “She really was,” Laura said. She looked sad and then glanced at the doors to the ICU, which were closed, and asked, “How about I go get us all some coffee?”

  “That’d be nice,” Maggie said. “Thanks.”

  “Yes. Thank you,” Ginger said.

  Both women dug into their purses to give Laura some money, but she waved them off.

  “Please,” she said. “It’s the least I can do.”

  Maggie watched Laura walk away and looked at her oldest friend.

  “Should I go after her?” she asked. “I’m having a hard time with the fact that my baby is a grown woman.”

  “I think she’s all right,” Ginger said. “But I know what you mean. I feel as if I blinked, and suddenly all four of my boys were taller than me.”

  Sam came into the room just then. He was in uniform, the standard dark slacks and a long-sleeve white dress shirt and tie with his badge clipped on the left front pocket. His dark blue jacket was unzipped, as if he’d shrugged it on in a hurry.

  “Hi, Maggie, Ginger,” he said.

  He crossed the room toward them just as the ICU doors swung open and Joanne came out, looking pale and drained. She joined them in the corner and slumped into a chair. Maggie and Ginger began to fuss over her.

  “Are you all right?”

  “How’s Michael?”

  “Can we get you anything?”

  “I’m fine.” Joanne said. Clearly, it was a lie. “Michael’s the same. He hasn’t woken up. No, there’s nothing I need. But thanks.”

  “Have you eaten this morning?” Maggie asked.

  “Claire made pancakes,” Joanne said. They looked at her, and she added, “Yes, I ate some. You can call her and check.”

  She glanced past Maggie and Ginger at Sam. She didn’t say anything, but she looked at him questioningly.

  “No, there’s no news on my end either,” he said.

  “Meaning there are no suspects in custody as yet?” Joanne clarified.

  “Not yet,” Sam confirmed.

  The waiting room door opened, and Alice Franklin, Doc Franklin’s wife, entered the room. She scanned the chairs until she saw Joanne, and she hurried right over.

  “Joanne, I heard about what happened,” she said. She sat down next to Joanne and gave her a bracing half hug. “If there is anything you need, please let me know. I’ve already got a group organizing meals to be delivered to your house, and when Michael is released, we’ll make sure that whatever medical equipment you need will be waiting for you.”

  Joanne gave her a wan smile. “Thanks, Alice. I really appreciate it.”

  Maggie wasn’t surprised to see Alice here, as she was on the hospital board as well as several other civic-minded committees. Alice was a very active member of the St. Stanley community, and Maggie imagined that even while Doc and Alice were estranged Alice was still a powerhouse of good deeds and acts of kindness.

  The waiting room doors opened again, and Doc Franklin entered the waiting room with Laura. He held the door for her while she carried a tray full of coffees.

  There was a beat of silence while everyone in the room glanced between Doc and Alice and then studiously looked anywhere but at the two of them. Awkward.

  “I’m sorry, Sam, Mrs. Franklin,” Laura said. “I’d have brought you both coffees as well, if I’d known you were here.”

  “That’s fine, dear,” Alice said. “I was just leaving.”

  She gave Joanne’s shoulder one more squeeze and then rose from her seat, nodding at the rest of them while she flagrantly ignored her husband. When the door shut behind her, Maggie glanced quickly at Doc, who was looking at the door through which his wife had disappeared with a look of consternation.

  “And don’t worry about me,” Sam said to Laura. “Deputy Wilson makes the station house coffee with more rev in its engine than a V-8. I’ll be good until mid-afternoon.”

  “Oh, I’ll have to try it sometime,” Laura said, obviously trying to lighten the mood of the room as she handed out coffees to Joanne, Ginger and Maggie.

  “I’m going to go and consult with Michael’s doctor,” Dr. Franklin said when he finally turned away from the door. “I’ll see if I can pry any information out of him.”

  “Oh, thank you, Doc,” Joanne said
.

  Ginger and Laura took seats on either side of Joanne.

  Maggie glanced at Sam. She remembered that he had something to tell her. She raised her eyebrows at him in a silent question, and he gave her a slight nod.

  “I’m going to get back to the station,” he said. “Joanne, please let me know if you need anything or if there is any change in Michael’s condition.”

  “I will,” Joanne said. “Thanks for checking in, Sam.”

  Sam glanced back at Maggie. “Walk me out?”

  “Sure. I’ll be right back,” she said to the others.

  Maggie sipped her coffee as they rode the elevator down to the lobby. Sam was tense. She could feel stress coming off him in waves. She had a feeling that whatever he wanted to tell her was not going to be pleasant.

  Once they reached the main lobby of the hospital, Sam took her aside to a deserted sitting area.

  “What is it, Sam?” she asked. “The suspense is killing me.”

  He looked at her, and she sighed. “Sorry. Bad choice of words.”

  “It’s okay,” he said. They sat side by side on a small couch. Sam ran a hand through his hair as if trying to figure out how to tell her what he had to say. Maggie took another sip of coffee and waited.

  “I’ve been reconstructing Diane’s life in St. Stanley. There are some interesting things about it, like she didn’t have a car,” Sam said. “Now, she lived in an apartment in the center of town, so walking to the deli was no big deal for her.”

  He paused, and Maggie said nothing.

  “According to Conner Bishop, who’s worked for Michael for almost five years, Michael let Diane use the deli’s car,” he said. “She did some deliveries for him, and she used it a few times for personal errands.”

  “Okay,” Maggie asked. “I’m not sure why this is important. Not everyone owns a car.”

  “True,” Sam said. “But Diane didn’t have a license on file with the deli, which makes it surprising to me that Michael would let her use the deli’s car. If she had gotten into an accident, it could have been a disaster. Conner verified that the rest of the deli staff had to have their license on file with Michael before they could use the van. Then again, it’s not a big surprise that there is no license on file for Diane, given that she doesn’t have a personnel file at all.”

  “Okay, so other than another lack of information, what else did you find?” Maggie asked.

  Sam met her gaze with a steady one of his own.

  “We searched Diane’s apartment. There was nothing there—no photos, no letters, no computer, no telephone, no bills or mail of any kind. Her landlord, Mrs. Denton, said she paid her rent in cash. And Mrs. Denton only rented to Diane because Michael vouched for her.”

  “Weird,” Maggie said.

  “It gets weirder. I searched the deli’s van on the off chance that Diane had left any documentation in there. I thought maybe she kept her license in the glove box or something.”

  Maggie could hear the resigned note in his voice. This was it. He had found something.

  “What did you find?” she asked.

  “An envelope,” he said and then paused. He let out a long, slow breath. “It was an envelope full of pictures of Diane.”

  “I don’t understand,” Maggie said. Then her mouth formed a little O. “They aren’t dirty pictures, are they?”

  Sam shook his head. “No, but they are disturbing. They are all close-ups, but the feeling you get when you look at them is that Diane had no idea someone was taking her picture. I think whoever took them was using a high-powered zoom lens. The shots are of her in the deli, walking through town, having coffee at the Daily Grind and in her apartment. Whoever took the photos was cataloging her every second of every day as if they were completely obsessed with her.”

  “What are you saying?” Maggie asked. Her voice was tight. She really didn’t like where this conversation was going.

  “The van is Michael’s,” Sam said. “It is registered to him as a commercial vehicle for when the deli does catering.”

  “I know that,” Maggie snapped. She immediately felt bad about it, but she wanted Sam to come out and say what he was thinking. “I want you to tell me what you think of what you’ve found, and I want to know what you’re going to do about it.”

  “I think someone was stalking Diane,” Sam said. “And I think, given the conversation that you overheard between her and Michael, that it definitely had something to do with him.”

  “No!” Maggie argued. “That doesn’t make any sense. If Michael was obsessed with her and stalking her, he wouldn’t have been trying to break up with her.”

  “Agreed,” Sam said. “But maybe it wasn’t Michael who was stalking her, maybe it was a jealous spouse.”

  “Joanne?” she scoffed.

  Sam shrugged.

  “That’s ridiculous!” Maggie snapped. “It’s stupid, preposterous and just dumb. Joanne would never harm anyone—ever.”

  “I’m sorry, Maggie, but I’m going to have to bring Joanne in and question her about Michael and Diane’s relationship, and I’m going to have to show her the pictures.”

  Chapter 15

  “But you can’t!” Maggie protested. “She’s so fragile right now. If Michael was having an affair, it will kill her. You have to think about the baby.”

  “I am truly sorry if this causes Joanne any distress,” he said. “But—”

  “No, there are no buts,” she said as she leapt to her feet. “You can’t do this to her when her husband is lying in a coma and might never wake up. What if the last thing she ever knows about him is that he had an affair?”

  “Maggie, make no mistake: I hate this. But I have a young woman who will never see another birthday, never get married and never have a child of her own, and why? Because someone murdered her, and it is my job to figure out who.”

  He stood, too, and now they were facing each other.

  “And you really think that someone is Joanne?”

  “Honestly?” he asked. “No. Joanne was at the hardware store just like she said and that looks good for her and statistically speaking only three percent of all murders committed against men are carried out by a wife or girlfriend, and the stats are even lower for female-on-female murder. But this isn’t about what I think. I have to look at the facts, Maggie. And when I do look at them, what choice do I have?”

  “You have a choice to wait,” she said. “To not terrorize a pregnant woman who is already scared out of her mind.”

  “Well, gee, when you put it like that,” he growled.

  “How can I not?” she asked. “There’s a family at stake here.”

  “And what about Diane?” Sam asked. “Doesn’t she matter?”

  “Of course she does,” Maggie said. She felt guilt twist her insides as she thought of the timid young woman. “I never said that she didn’t.”

  “Look,” Sam said. “Joanne has all of you. No matter what we find out, she isn’t alone. Diane has no one.”

  Maggie hung her head. She knew he was right, but she knew that she was right, too. There was a family involved here, and until the truth was absolute, she didn’t think they should be put at risk.

  “I have to find out what happened to Diane, and I’m sorry if it upsets Joanne, I really am, but this is my job and I have to do it.”

  “You won’t bend on this?” she asked.

  “I can’t,” he said.

  “Well, I guess there’s nothing more to say.”

  They stared at each other, and Maggie felt as if, despite every step forward they had taken, they’d just leapt back a mile.

  “I guess not,” he agreed.

  “Are you going to question her now?” she asked. She could hear that her voice was hostile, but she didn’t know how to temper it.

  “No, it’ll be a bit later,” he said. “After I’ve met with the coroner to go over his report.”

  “Will you make sure she has someone there for her when you do it?”

&nb
sp; “Really?” he asked. “You have to ask me that?”

  Maggie crossed her arms over her chest and glared.

  “Yes, I’ll make sure Ginger is there,” he said.

  “Fine,” she said. Why that made her mad, she had no idea, but all of a sudden they might as well have been in grammar school again, with him taunting her and her rising to the bait every time. “You do that.”

  Maggie spun on her heel and began to stalk back to the waiting room to be with her friends.

  “Maggie, wait!” Sam said.

  She almost didn’t turn around, but she wasn’t ready to let go of all that had changed between them. She stopped, lowered her head and heaved a breath. When she turned around, Sam was coming toward her with the most intense look on his face that she had ever seen. It narrowed the world into just the two of them and made her breath catch.

  He cupped her face, and then he kissed her. Maggie was so surprised, she couldn’t stop her response and her arms were around his neck and pulling him closer even as she knew that she was still mad at him.

  When they broke apart, he rested his forehead against hers. They were both breathing heavily.

  “I don’t want this to come between us,” he said.

  “I don’t either,” she said. “But I don’t see how it can’t.”

  Sam hugged her. “We’re better than this. We’ll just keep talking, and we’ll work through it. I’ll do everything I can to keep from traumatizing Joanne. I promise.”

  Maggie nodded. She knew Sam would try, but the truth was, she was terrified by what he had discovered. She didn’t even want to consider the possibility that what Sam had told her was true.

  But she couldn’t shake off Joanne’s jealousy of Diane and what she had seen between Michael and Diane at the ball. And now it appeared that Diane had virtually no history, and there were pictures of her in Michael’s van, pictures taken by someone who had been stalking her. It was too much. Maggie didn’t even know how she was going to go back upstairs and face Joanne like everything was normal.

  “All right,” she said, and she hugged him once more. She could feel that things were still awkward between them, but maybe only time could fix that. “Let’s try.”