Debts and Debtors: (A Geeks and Things Cozy Mystery Novella #3) (Geeks and Things Cozy Mysteries)

by Sarah Biglow

  “Did your husband call you that night?”

  “No. Which is why I started to get concerned. He always called.”

  Chris scribbled something on the pad and looked up. “How often would your husband work late?”

  “What?”

  “Out of a month, how many nights do you think he worked late?”

  “A few. I don’t really remember.”

  “Can you try to think a little harder?”

  “I guess maybe five or six times a month. It didn’t seem that frequent. Why? Is that important?”

  Chris cleared his throat and pursed his lips. Kalina could tell he was choosing his next words carefully. “Is it possible your husband wasn’t working late those nights?”

  The color in Savannah’s cheeks drained. “Are you accusing my husband of cheating on me?”

  “I can’t imagine there was much reason for a real estate broker to work late that often.”

  “He’d never cheat on me.” Savannah’s cheeks burned bright red and her shoulders stiffened. Chris had clearly hit a nerve.

  “I don’t mean to sound insensitive but you aren’t Mr. Chase’s first wife,” Chris said.

  Kalina shot Jillian a confused look. There’d been another Mrs. Chase? Clearly, being away from town during college and afterwards had done her more of a disservice in being in the know on town gossip than she’d realized.

  “That isn’t fair, Detective,” Jillian interrupted.

  “His first wife died of breast cancer six years ago. It took him a really long time to get over her,” Savannah said, her tone much quieter now.

  Kalina tried to hide the shock on her face but quickly realized no one was really paying her any attention. Chris looked down at the notes he’d taken and then back up at Savannah.

  “I wasn’t implying anything negative about his first wife. But … it is a little suspicious that a woman such as yourself would be interested in a man like Thomas.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You’re quite a bit younger than he was.”

  Savannah leapt from her chair, her hands balled into fists, and shouted, “Are you calling me a gold digger?”

  Chris didn’t appear fazed. “No. I’m merely stating that it might seem strange to some people that there was such a big age difference.”

  “We were in love.”

  Jillian tugged on Savannah’s arm until the blonde woman sat back down. Her facial features stormed with anger and insult. If Chris had struck a nerve with the implication that Thomas had cheated on her, she was livid with the accusation that she’d only married him for his money.

  “I don’t appreciate you dragging me or my husband through the mud like this, Detective. I want to know what you’re doing to find out who did this to him!”

  “I apologize, Mrs. Chase. I didn’t mean to upset you. I can assure you we are looking into every lead we can. Was your husband selling any beach-front property that you knew of? Maybe he was meeting a client later in the day out there?”

  “He didn’t talk about his work much.”

  “So you didn’t know which properties he was currently trying to sell?”

  “No. I’m sorry. Not that I can think of anyway.”

  Chris tapped his pen against his notepad and stared intently at it. Kalina could tell he was weighing the best option on how to move forward. By the way his shoulders tightened and he leaned forward, she guessed he wanted to continue to question Savannah. But she appeared to be closing herself off.

  “Mrs. Chase, I’m going to need you to go to the morgue and make an identification just so we can be absolutely sure it’s your husband. Do you think you can do that?”

  Savannah let out a couple more sniffles and dabbed at her eyes. “I think so. Can Jillian go with me?”

  “Sure. I’ll have Jimmy go with you.” He waved to get Jimmy’s attention.

  Jimmy pulled on his jacket and waited for Jillian and Savannah to stand up and gather themselves. Kalina stayed seated, as did Chris. He scribbled down a few more notes before spinning around his chair.

  “Mrs. Chase, just one last question.”

  She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Yes?”

  “What company did your husband work for?”

  “Eastern Seaboard Realty.”

  “Thanks.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Chris blew out a breath as soon as they were alone. Kalina scooted her chair over and took his hand in hers, hoping it would help alleviate some of the stress keeping his jaw and shoulders tight.

  “That went … sort of well,” she offered with a one-shouldered shrug.

  “If it really is her husband, I feel sorry for her.”

  “Do you really think someone would want to kill him? A client or something?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. I mean real estate can be rather competitive.”

  “I met him once. A couple months ago when Nadine was selling her place. He seemed nice enough and she was happy with the money she got from working with him.”

  “What’s your take on Mrs. Chase?”

  Kalina arched a brow. “What do you mean?”

  “Do you find her credible?”

  “If you mean do I think she’s really upset that her husband is dead then yeah. I’d say she’s credible. Other than that, I only met her last night. All we talked about was her husband being missing. Dinner wasn’t exactly full of conversation.”

  “Everything all right?”

  Kalina let out a sigh. “It was just an argument with Jill about AJ working at the shop this weekend. It will get sorted out.”

  “Speaking of which, isn’t today a big sales day for you guys?”

  “Yeah. I left AJ in charge.” She glanced at the time. “I should get back. I promised him I’d only be gone an hour.”

  “I might bring my nephews by a little later.”

  “I’ll look forward to it. And I hope things work out with this case and you get a lead.” She kissed him for longer than strictly necessary. He didn’t seem to mind in the least.

  She retrieved her phone and sent off a text to her nephew, assuring him she’d be there in a few minutes so he could take lunch. She hoped the lunch rush wouldn’t be too bad because she had a little research she wanted to do on Eastern Seaboard Realty.

  Five minutes later, she pulled in behind the shop. There weren’t hordes of people beating down the doors so maybe she’d get lucky and have some peace and quiet. AJ greeted her at the back door—another sign things weren’t too busy—and grinned at her.

  “Things went awesome while you were gone. We made a bunch of sales. I even convinced some people to get more than they came in for.”

  “Good job. I’ll take over for a while.”

  “I could stay if you want. Just in case.”

  She pushed past him into the game room and headed to the front of the store. He trailed behind her like an eager puppy.

  “I think you should take a little time off,” she said without looking at him.

  “Why? I thought I was doing well?”

  “You are. You’re been a great help.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  She turned to face him. “This isn’t a punishment, okay? Your mom and dad told me last night that your mom’s been having a hard time with you being away from the house so much.”

  “So she put you up to this?”

  Kalina kneaded her temples. “You are growing up so fast and before you know it you’ll be out in the world at college and living your own life as an adult. Your mom isn’t ready to let you go just yet. I think she just wants to spend a little time with you. That’s all this is. I promise.”

  Her nephew pouted and his shoulders fell as if he’d been scolded. He looked so much younger than his sixteen years in that moment and she had to resist the urge to wrap him in a tight, comforting embrace. Here, she was his boss not his aunt. Hugging an employee would be totally inappropriate.

  “It’s only for a c
ouple days,” she said and tried to give him a reassuring smile.

  He rolled his eyes and made his way back through the game room. The back door slammed shut and Kalina let out a sigh of frustration. Why did teenage boys have to be so moody? She settled in behind the front counter and checked the transaction log on the tablet and did a quick cash count just to be sure everything looked right. She had to admit she was impressed with the number of sales. She made a mental note to compare next year to see if the holiday weekend was consistent.

  Satisfied that the books were temporarily settled, Kalina pulled up the browser on the tablet and easily found the contact information for the realty company. According to the contact page, the company’s main office was not far from the waterfront where Thomas had been found. After deciding to play the part of a prospective client, she entered the number into her phone and hit ‘Call’.

  After four rings, a bored sounding woman’s voice answered, “Eastern Seaboard Realty. How can I help you?”

  Kalina put on her bubbliest voice possible. “Oh, hi, I was hoping to speak with one of your realtors about listing my house for sale.”

  “Hold for a moment.”

  The line turned to static as Kalina was put on hold. She pulled the phone from her ear to check that the connection was still good. The timer on the call continued to tick off the seconds. She started kicking her heel against the bottom of the stool while she waited for the woman to come back on the line.

  “I’m sorry, all of our realtors have full client lists.”

  “Are you sure? A friend of mine referred me. She said the realtor she had was great. Thomas Chase was his name.”

  “He doesn’t work here anymore.” Her tone shifted, taking on an edge.

  “Are you sure? She only worked with him a couple months ago.”

  “Yes. I’m sorry but we can’t help you.” The line went dead and this time the timer stopped and ended the call.

  Kalina stared at her phone in confused silence. Her little experiment had only yielded more questions. Did Savannah know her husband was no longer working for the real estate company? When did he stop working there and where had he been going all this time? More importantly, why couldn’t the firm help her even if Thomas was no longer an employee? There was definitely something off about the whole situation. Before she could decide what to do next, her phone screen lit up with a call from her sister.

  “Hey, I wanted to let you know that I gave AJ the weekend off.”

  “Oh, thanks.” She was clearly distracted.

  “How did it go at the morgue?”

  “It’s him. It was so awful seeing him lying there like that.”

  “Tell Savannah I’m so sorry.”

  “Yeah. Look, I need Detective Harper’s direct number. Can you send it to me?”

  “Sure. Why, what’s going on?”

  “Someone vandalized the Chases’ house. Broke and smashed up a bunch of stuff.”

  “Oh, God, is everyone okay?”

  “We think it happened while Savannah’s been with us.”

  “I’ll get you Chris’s number right now.”

  “Thanks.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Kalina let the phone fall from her fingers and clatter to the countertop. What would make someone want to vandalize the Chases’ house? Maybe whoever shot Thomas had been watching the house and did it after Savannah left the night before. Something about the timing piqued her curiosity and she flipped the front door sign to ‘Closed’ and headed out again. If Chris asked why she was at the new crime scene, she could reasonably say she was there to support her sister and friend. She also wanted to tell him about Thomas no longer being employed at the real estate firm.

  She had to look at the address online before she headed out. It turned out that the Chases lived in a not-so-modest, three-story, sprawling house near the beach. It was set far enough back that high tides wouldn’t cause trouble but close enough that they could still claim they had beach-front property. The flashing lights of the police cruiser nearly blinded her as she pulled up and parked one house over. Crime scene technicians were already flitting in and out of the house with evidence bags and fingerprint powder. Savannah huddled with Jillian off to the side, talking to Chris. Kalina climbed out of her car and got within earshot long enough to hear the gist. According to Savannah, the house had been fine when she left on Thanksgiving and she hadn’t been back until then so that had to be the window of opportunity.

  “Once the techs are done, I’d like to do a walk through with you, just so we can have an accurate inventory of anything that might be missing,” Chris said and Savannah nodded.

  There was something off about the front door. Trying not to look too obvious, Kalina made her way over so she had a clear view. Someone had spray painted the word ‘Traitor’ on the front door. Traitor of what? To whom? This only made things more complicated. She really needed to share with Chris what she’d found about Thomas’s employment situation but she wouldn’t just horn in on his conversation with a grieving widow. In her peripheral vision, she spotted a man dressed in a dark suit and tie standing at the end of the road, observing the scene. Immediately, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, signaling he didn’t belong. Abruptly, the man turned and strode off, hands in his pockets. Kalina discreetly followed him until he stopped halfway up the beach at a sign for Carlisle Premiere Developments.

  “Excuse me, sir!” The words were out of her mouth before she realized she’d spoken.

  The man stopped and waited for her to catch up and spun on his heel to face her. Up close he was imposing with a sharp jaw and linebacker shoulders. He pressed his lips into a thin line of displeasure at his day being interrupted by a silly comic shop owner playing detective.

  “Yes?” His voice was high and nasally, not at all what Kalina expected to come out of such a large man.

  “You don’t happen to work for the development company do you?”

  Instead of answering, he reached into his breast pocket and produced a business card. She took it and glanced over the text. The mystery man was Victor Mackland, Asset Protection Manager. Mr. Mackland did indeed work for the development company.

  “I saw you down the street and I wanted to ask what you could tell me about what’s happening here on the waterfront. I’m relatively new to town.” She prayed he hadn’t seen her on Main Street any time recently.

  “The company is building a new hotel and some high end waterfront condos.”

  “Oh, wow. That sounds great. I mean it will just boost tourism to town and increase revenue. But … what about the people who live here?”

  “I’m sorry, Miss. If you have more questions, you’ll need to speak to one of our girls in sales. Good day.”

  Before she could say more, Mr. Mackland did an about face and strode off out of sight. Kalina stayed put for a minute trying to process the new information. She needed to do a little fact checking to see if there really was a new development project happening and how Thomas Chase was involved. Shaking her head, she made her way back up the beach and the street to the Chase house. The technicians were loading up the last of their gear and Chris and Savannah had disappeared. Jillian stood alone by the front steps.

  “This is getting pretty crazy,” Kalina said and sidled up to her sister.

  “Savannah is going to stay with us until this is all over. It clearly isn’t safe for her to be here alone.”

  “That makes sense. Hey, do you know anything about a new hotel and condos going up on the beach?”

  “Yeah, a lot of people weren’t too happy when that contract came through.”

  “Why not?”

  Jillian rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Kal. Read a newspaper sometime. Building the new hotel and condos means the people who live there now will have to give up their houses. And a lot of the older population of town live out there. They don’t have anywhere to go. But the town agreed to the project so there’s not much they can do.”

  “Than
ks. I need to get back to the shop. Let me know if you need anything.”

  Her sister gave a weary smile and nodded. Time to do some more digging.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The trip back to the shop was short and she found AJ flipping through the Cards against Humanity deck at the front counter. She set her phone down on the counter beside him and scooted him out of the way.

  “Things seem to have slowed down,” he said.

  “That’s how it usually is.”

  “Sorry I got mad at you before, Aunt K.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “So what’s the latest news on our dead guy?”

  “Well, he hasn’t worked for the real estate firm in at least two months and there was a man from Carlisle Premiere Developments lurking around the Chase house after it had been vandalized. That was kind of suspicious.”

  “Oh, they’re the guys who are building the luxury hotel on the waterfront.”

  “So I’m told. But something seems off. I can’t really explain it.”

  “You know who you remind me of?” her nephew said.

  “Who?”

  “Jessica Jones.”

  She smacked his arm. “I am not.”

  “You help people without being asked and you are pretty awesome. Plus you own your own business.”

  “I’m also not a super powered drunk.”

  “She’s got charm.”

  “Yeah, OK. Look, I need to see what I can find out about this company so I’m going to be in the back if you want to hang out here.”

  “Absolutely.”

  Kalina grabbed the tablet from beside the register and headed to one of the big, comfy chairs in the corner. She could still keep an eye on the store and dig up some dirt on the development company. Needing to concentrate, she put in her earbuds and turned on some instrumental music. With the world effectively drowned out, she did a quick search for Carlisle Premiere Developments. Her search brought up a minimalist website with a contact number and some flashy photos of upscale developments. So at least the company was real. Navigating through the menu at the top of the page, she found a list of affiliate companies. She didn’t have to look far to spot Eastern Seaboard Realty. Had Thomas Chase jumped ship from brokering real estate deals to developing high-end luxury hotels and condos? The change didn’t make much sense to her but her gut told her there was something to this connection.