“Can you honestly eat after all we’ve just had?” David asked.
“Maybe not right now, but give me enough time, and I’ll manage just fine.”
“Ladies, why don’t the two of you keep your seats? David and I will clean up,” Bob announced. “You two deserve a break.”
I grinned as I quickly sat back down. “That’s one order from a man that I’d be delighted to obey. Should Maddy and I supervise you, or should we just enjoy the evening while you two take care of things?”
I don’t know what Bob’s answer might have been had we not been interrupted just then, but suddenly it didn’t seem to matter one way or the other about his generous offer.
A police cruiser came down my street in an awful hurry, and though there were no sirens wailing or lights flashing, it was clear that something was not entirely right with the cozy little town of Timber Ridge, North Carolina.
The second Chief Hurley got out of his car, I knew that something bad had happened, and worse yet, there was no doubt in my mind that it involved the four of us.
“What’s going on, Kevin?” I asked as I hurried down the porch steps toward him. “Did something happen?”
“Why do you ask that?” he asked as he stopped in his tracks.
“You’re clearly a man on a mission,” I said, “and it’s pretty obvious that something’s wrong.”
“I wish I could say that you’re wrong, but I can’t. How long have the four of you been here on the porch?”
“You’re not going to tell us what happened first?” Maddy asked.
“If you have any hope of getting anything out of me, you’ll have to answer my questions first,” he said in a voice that offered no compromises.
“Hold on there just one second—” Bob said, but I interrupted him. I knew the attorney would want to control this situation, but it wasn’t the time for us to dig our heels in.
“We won’t gain anything by holding back.” I turned to the police chief and said, “After we left the fair, we came here and had a little impromptu picnic right out here in front of everybody. We don’t have anything to hide.”
Was it my imagination, or did he look a little relieved by my admission? “Let me ask you this. Did the four of you come here together, or were you each in separate vehicles?”
“Maddy and I came together, but David and Bob drove their own cars. We all had to shower and change because someone in the crowd at the celebration threw a cup of beer on us as we were leaving.”
“So, you two alibi each other,” Kevin said to Maddy and me, and then he turned to Bob and David. “How about the two of you? Is there anyone who can confirm that you did exactly what Eleanor just claimed you did?”
David shook his head, as did Bob. The attorney said, “Chief, we don’t have airtight alibis, if that’s what you’re asking. No matter what Eleanor says, I’m afraid that I’m going to have to insist that you tell us what this is about before we answer any more questions.”
The police chief considered the request for twenty seconds and then shrugged as he said, “I don’t know what harm it will do telling you now, since you’ll hear about it soon enough.” He turned to Maddy and said, “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but someone killed your ex-husband at the fair tonight.”
Chapter 3
“He’s really dead?” Maddy asked incredulously. The look of shock on her face would have been impossible to fake. “Kevin, how can he be gone? We all just saw him not an hour and a half ago.”
“I’m afraid it’s true enough,” Kevin said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
“And you think one of us did it?” Bob asked angrily.
“Bob, everyone in Timber Ridge knows that you were fighting with him at the celebration tonight,” the chief said, “so save your righteous indignation for somebody else. If you’ll recall, I had to break you two up before you started brawling on the promenade in the middle of the fair, like a couple of teenagers.”
“It wasn’t nearly as bad as all that,” Bob said.
Kevin bit his lower lip for a second before speaking again. “If Grant Whitmore hadn’t just been murdered tonight I might agree with you, but as it stands, you have to know that you’re at the top of my list.”
Bob just shrugged. If he was particularly upset about being accused of murder, he wasn’t showing it. “If you’re here to arrest me, I’ll be happy to go along with you willingly.”
“He might come peacefully, but I’m not making any promises,” Maddy said. “Chief, I’m truly sorry to hear that someone killed Grant, but Bob didn’t do it.”
“How can you say that for sure, Maddy? Eleanor told me herself that you split up coming over here.”
“I know Bob,” Maddy said. The shock of her ex-husband’s death was finally sinking in. “How exactly did he die?”
“It wasn’t a very pleasant way to go. Someone stabbed him in the heart with a barbeque skewer,” he said as he looked at the foil-wrapped feast we’d all just had. “Did you folks happen to have some barbeque at the fair tonight?”
“Of course we did,” I said. “Along with just about everyone else on the promenade. It was just about all there was to eat there, remember?”
“But you got more to bring here with you when you left, didn’t you?” Kevin asked.
“We didn’t steal a skewer, though,” David said.
The police chief didn’t respond to that, so I had to wonder if he’d already made up his mind about Bob. Kevin was usually a good cop, but when he got his sights set on one suspect, it took some monumental evidence to get him to change his mind. That was usually where Maddy and I came in. We’d been known to dig into a murder or two in the past, and it was looking more and more as though we were going to be forced into duty again. Not that I minded. I wasn’t about to let my sister’s fiancé take a fall for something he hadn’t done.
“David, what exactly was your contact with the deceased?” the police chief asked.
“Are you honestly asking me if I had a motive?” my boyfriend asked.
“At the moment I’m just looking for information,” he said.
“David was acting as a peacemaker, not an instigator,” I said, trying my best to defend him. It was only a second later that I realized what I might be implying about Bob. “Chief, you might not know this yet, but we weren’t the only folks angry with Grant tonight.”
He was clearly unhappy to learn that I might know something that he might not yet. “What are you talking about, Eleanor? If this is a ploy to distract me, I’m telling you right now that it’s not going to work.”
“It’s the truth,” I said. “David and I saw Grant arguing with a stranger during the show, and when the cover band playing onstage took a break for the fireworks, it was pretty clear that the lead singer wanted to talk to Maddy’s ex-husband, and just as obvious that the guitar player wasn’t pleased about the prospect.”
“Eleanor, you can’t be serious.”
“You bet she is,” David said. “I saw that myself. Why aren’t you talking to them instead of coming here and grilling us?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll talk to everyone involved before I’m through.” He stepped away and had a conversation with someone over his personal radio, and I had to wonder if the band was being detained even as we tried our best to listen in.
When Kevin Hurley finished up, he turned back to us. “That’s taken care of. They’ll be held until I have a chance to speak with them.”
Maddy pulled out her telephone as Kevin spoke, and he put a hand on hers before she could dial. “Who do you think you’re calling?”
“I have to phone Sharon,” Maddy said as she tried to pull her phone away.
“Who exactly is Sharon?” Kevin asked.
“She’s Grant’s mother. Kevin, if you haven’t told her yet, I want to break it to the woman myself. She’s getting older, and the shock of hearing about what happened to her son just might kill her.”
The police chief looked very uncomfortable
suddenly, and for some crazy reason, I wasn’t all that surprised when he said, “You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” Maddy asked.
“I didn’t realize that the two of you were that close. I’m sorry, Maddy, but Sharon died last week herself.”
“Was she murdered, too?” I asked.
“Why would you jump to that particular conclusion?” the chief asked.
“It seems to be happening a lot lately, that’s all,” I said lamely.
He decided not to comment on that any further. “No, from what I’ve heard, her death was strictly due to natural causes. Was that why Grant was here? Was he trying to work up the nerve to tell you about what happened to his mother?”
I looked at Maddy, and we had one of those silent conversations we had grown accustomed to over the years. It was something we’d developed as girls, and the two of us could convey more in a few glances than most kids could manage in half an hour of text messages these days. With my expression, I was arguing that she should go into more detail about Grant’s averred reason for coming. I insisted, and she finally agreed.
“I’ve already told you that he wanted me back in his life,” Maddy said reluctantly. “At least that was what he claimed when he came by the pizzeria this afternoon. What I didn’t tell you about was his level of enthusiasm, and the harshness of my rejection of the very idea of ever being with him again.”
“So, even without your current boyfriend, there was no way you were going to take him back?” Kevin asked her.
“Not on your life,” my sister said, and she must have realized how bad it sounded. “What I’m saying is that it wasn’t exactly an amicable divorce. I caught him cheating, and not even Grant was stupid enough to believe that I would ever take him back after that happened. Honestly, I don’t even know why he’d want to try. He had to know what I would say to any attempt he made to reconcile with me.”
“My guess is that he had some kind of ulterior motive,” I said.
“Hang on a second,” the chief said as he looked oddly at me. “There’s something in the squad car I want you to look at, Maddy.”
He started back to his car, and I saw Maddy put a hand on Bob’s as she whispered, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. You’re the one I’m worried about,” he said. “I know he wasn’t a great guy, but you loved him enough at one point to marry him, and I’m truly sorry for your loss.”
Maddy shook her head as she began to cry, and I had to check myself to keep from consoling her myself. Bob was doing a fine job of it, and there was no need for anything but an extra pat on her shoulder from me. David looked like he had no idea what he should be doing, so I smiled at him to try to reassure him.
The chief came back with a letter that had clearly been folded at one time but was now open fully in a plastic evidence bag. There was enough light coming from the porch that Maddy could read it, and I did my best to look over her shoulder so that I could see it for myself.
It was some kind of legal document, and I saw a scrawled signature at the bottom of it. It looked a bit like Maddy’s, but not enough to fool me.
“That’s a forgery,” I said the second I saw it.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” the chief said.
“Maddy, is that your signature? Did you sign this document today?”
“No, of course not. What is it?”
“It’s a quitclaim deed,” Bob said, clearly recognizing it for what it was. “It’s pretty common in my circles.”
“What exactly does it mean, though?” Maddy asked.
Bob looked at the document in question a little closer and then said, “If you had signed it, you would have relinquished any and all of your rights to the estate of Sharon Appleton Whitmore.”
“But I didn’t even know that she was dead,” Maddy protested. “Why would my former mother-in-law leave me anything in her will, anyway?”
“That’s kind of what I was hoping you’d be able to tell me,” Chief Hurley said.
“I wish I knew, but in all honesty, I don’t have a clue.”
The chief nodded and then said, “Grant’s sister, Rebecca, is coming by in the morning to handle things for the family, so if you’d like to ask her, you can.”
“Just give me a time and a place and I’ll be there,” Maddy said. “I still don’t understand why Grant would forge my signature in the first place. The second I found out that he’d done it, I would tell everyone that it wasn’t mine.”
The chief shook his head. “Don’t ask me to explain why the man did what he did. I’m just trying to catch his killer.”
“Well, I can assure you that none of us did it,” Bob said stiffly.
“We’ll see,” the chief said. “Counselor, you’re not planning any trips out of Timber Ridge in the near future, are you?”
“I have a thriving law practice here,” Bob answered. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good,” the chief said and then he turned to David. “How about you?”
“I’m supposed to visit a few branches of my company out of town in the next few weeks,” he answered.
“Could you put that on hold for now?” Kevin asked him.
“I’ll do what I can,” David said.
“What about us?” I asked. “Should Maddy and I stick around, too?”
“With you both working at the Slice day and night, I kind of took it for granted that you’d be around if I needed you.”
“You don’t honestly suspect that Maddy and I could have stabbed Grant together, do you?” I asked.
“I’m not ready to say one way or the other about anything just yet,” he said as he moved back to his patrol car. “Have a nice evening, or what’s left of it.” He paused and then turned to Maddy. “I’m sorry I had to just spring Mrs. Whitmore’s death on you like that. It’s pretty clear that you cared about her.”
“She was a fine woman, and she deserved a better son than she got,” Maddy said. “I know I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead like that, but Grant wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and I won’t pretend that he was just because he’s gone.”
After Chief Hurley left, we all stood around in the front yard, the party mood now broken completely.
Maddy finally asked, “Bob, what should we do?”
“For now? Nothing would be the best course of action. None of us killed your ex-husband, and I have faith the police chief will determine that soon enough.”
“Then you’ve got more faith in him than I do,” Maddy said.
“Maddy,” I said, scolding her softly.
“Let’s face it, Eleanor. He can handle bicycle thefts and petty larceny just fine, but when he’s investigating murder, it’s not too tough for him to get in over his head. We need to figure out who killed Grant ourselves,” Maddy said.
“Would it mean anything if I told you that was the worst thing that you could do?” Bob asked. “It will just make me look even guiltier than I do now.”
“I’m sorry about that, but we can’t just stand by and watch the police chief try to hang this on you,” Maddy said. “Don’t worry. Eleanor and I will be subtle about it.”
Bob just shrugged. “I know that you believe you will be.”
“That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it?” David asked.
I put a hand on his arm. “Bob knows what we’ve done in the past. He has every right to voice his opinion, since it involves him so directly.”
“He told me to hang around town, too, remember? All I’m saying is that if I can help your investigation, all you have to do is ask,” David answered.
“As will I,” Bob said, and David nodded his approval. “I wasn’t doubting your abilities.”
“If we need anything, you can believe that we’ll ask for it,” I said. “In the meantime, there’s nothing that any of us can do tonight. Let’s just call it a night and tackle everything fresh first thing tomorrow. Maddy, would you like to stay here with me this evening?”
She looked questioningly at Bob, who nodded. He said, “That’s most likely for the best. I’m not going to be good company tonight, anyway. You really should stay here with Eleanor.”
“That’s just a suggestion, though, right?” she asked him with a gentle voice.
“My dear, I’m not foolish enough to try to make it an order,” Bob said and then kissed my sister. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” He turned to David and then asked, “Shall we get out of here and leave the ladies in peace?”
“That’s fine by me,” David said and then kissed me good night, a short peck hardly worth the name.
It wasn’t until after they were both gone that I realized that Maddy and I were going to have to clean up the mess we’d all made, after all. I almost said something to that effect, trying to get a smile out of her, but I doubted there was much humor that could be salvaged this evening, so I kept it to myself as we cleaned up.
After she was safely in bed, I walked through the house, turning off the lights and checking the locks one final time before I called it a night myself.
I needed my rest if we were going to start our investigation the next day. Though I hadn’t lost someone I’d been close to at one time to murder, I had nearly as much motivation to solve Grant’s murder as Maddy had. I knew from bitter experience that our lives wouldn’t be the same until we could wipe this dark cloud away.
Tomorrow Maddy and I were going to once again go looking for a murderer, and I hoped for all of our sakes that we would be able to find whoever it was who killed Grant Whitmore.
Chapter 4
“Hey, are you awake?” I asked Maddy the next morning as I tapped lightly on the guest-room door.
“Come on in,” my sister said, and I pushed the door open to find her sitting up in bed. It was pretty clear by looking into Maddy’s eyes that she’d been crying, but I wasn’t about to bring it up if she wasn’t going to. She had the right to mourn in whatever way she saw fit, and whether it was for Grant or his mother, I was going to respect it.
“How did you sleep?”
The Missing Dough (A Pizza Lovers Mystery) Page 3
