Death Before Diamonds (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 10)

by Mary Maxwell

  “The first one,” Harper said. “I’ve seen it so many times, too. I love Kevin Bacon.”

  “What time did you shut off the TV?” I asked.

  She reached for the mug of coffee that she always kept on the counter until the first customers arrived.

  “I finally fell asleep around one-thirty or so.” She rolled her eyes and took a big sip. “I have no idea what time Bobby turned it off.”

  I pulled out my phone again.

  “Before we get busy,” I said, “I wanted to see if you recognize someone.”

  I opened the email from Rex, tapped the attachment and made sure the picture of Theo Greer was centered on the screen. Then I held it toward Harper and watched as her eyes expanded into a look of disbelief and alarm.

  “Oh, my word, Katie! Not him again!”

  The declaration left me momentarily speechless.

  “I definitely remember him,” Harper continued. “How could I forget? He came in for lunch, cursed on his phone the whole time and then argued with some woman on the front porch as he was leaving. I don’t know what happened, but they got into a really bad shouting match. She finally stormed off and that guy…” She pointed at the picture on my phone. “…he started yelling that he was mad enough to kill someone. I actually thought we might have to call the police at one point. His attitude was all sour, no sweet.”

  “Seriously?”

  Harper planted a hand on her hip. “Did I stutter, Katie?”

  “No,” I said, flashing a smile. “But I can’t remember the last time I saw you this upset about a customer.”

  She sighed. “I know. And I’m just glad that he wasn’t local. I’d hate to think that one of our regulars would come in here and act like that.”

  “What did he say?”

  “I’m not repeating any of it,” she answered. “We made a new swear pledge at home and I’ve only got ten bucks in my pocket. If I told you even half of what the guy said, I’d owe the jar at home all of that and more in about thirty seconds.”

  “Wow! Sounds like a real gentleman.”

  She scowled. “He was a real something! But it’d cost me a quarter to tell you.”

  We shared another laugh and I asked Harper if she knew who Theo met on the front porch.

  “No clue,” she said. “They talked outside and she stormed off afterward. I only caught one quick glimpse of her from the back, so I have no idea who she was.”

  “And what about when he came in to eat?” I asked. “Did you see him talking to anyone?”

  Harper bit her lower lip. “Um, well…”

  “It’s no biggie if you can’t remember.”

  “Homer Figg and Gilbert Sinclair were at the next table. I bet they spoke to him.”

  “Homer and Gilbert?” I said skeptically. “Together?”

  Harper smiled. “They decided to bury the hatchet,” she said. “It was the first time they’ve been in for lunch in nine months.”

  “That’s what I thought! I’m glad you told me that, too. It’s good to hear they worked out their differences.”

  “Yeah,” Harper said. “They’re like the Frick and Frack of Crescent Creek.”

  “Well, maybe I’ll drop by and ask Homer about the missing guy this afternoon,” I said. “I’ve got to run over to Party Palace and buy supplies for the birthday cake that Eliza Weldon ordered for her husband’s fortieth birthday.”

  “Bill’s going to be forty?” Harper asked. “Again?”

  “That’s the joke,” I replied with a smile. “He made such a big deal when he actually turned forty that Eliza gets the same cake every year—black sprinkles, black candles, licorice icing and black number 40 toothpick candles. I guess it’s her way of ribbing him for being so worried about getting older.”

  Harper frowned. “Who doesn’t worry about that?”

  “Blanche Speltzer,” I said. “She’s got more get-up-and-go than some toddlers that I know.”

  “That’s so true,” Harper agreed with a wide grin. “If I can be half as lively when I’m eighty, I’ll be doing good.”

  “No kidding,” I said. “So…can we get back to Theo Greer for a sec? Did you hear anything he said on the phone?”

  “Besides all the foul language?”

  I nodded.

  “I really couldn’t say,” Harper answered. “To be honest, when I realized that he was being so rude, I dropped the check and only went back once to refill his coffee.”

  “Did he pay for his lunch before he left?”

  She smiled. “Left a Benjamin Franklin on the table,” she said. “I can’t remember the last time somebody tipped me ninety-bucks for a BLT and some decaf.”

  CHAPTER 3

  The morning blurred by in a steady stream of special orders, breakfast customers and cappuccinos dusted with nutmeg and cinnamon. At ten-thirty, while Julia stepped into the walk-in to restock the diced ham, sliced cheddar and waffle batter for the impending lunch rush, I stood at the pass window and gazed into the dining room. I watched Harper as she moved from one table to the next, refilling coffee cups and chatting with the handful of diners. Between her warm laughter, bubbly smile and compassionate tone, my childhood friend made every visitor to Sky High Pies feel welcome and respected.

  “She’s good, isn’t she?”

  I hadn’t noticed Julia’s return, but her question pulled me out of the reverie.

  “She’s the best,” I said. “Just like you.”

  Julia blushed bashfully. “Aw, shucks,” she said with a playful giggle. “Little ol’ me?”

  I elbowed her gently in the side. “Yes, little ol’ you. I can’t imagine what I’d do without you guys.”

  “Hire somebody else,” Julia said. “A pair of monkeys could do our jobs with the right amount of training.”

  The comment earned a bawdy laugh before I heard the bell chime on the front door. Since the melodic peal sounded constantly throughout the day, I didn’t give it a second thought until I noticed the expression on Julia’s face and heard her sarcastic remark.

  “Look what the cat dragged in,” she said.

  I turned and followed her gaze into the dining room. Rex Greer stood in the doorway with a half-filled bottle of Diet Coke in his hand and a rumpled blue backpack over one shoulder. His hair was disheveled, a dark stain stretched across the front of his shirt and the left knee of his jeans was caked with dried mud.

  “That doesn’t look good,” I said.

  Julia sighed. “Do you think he’s drunk?” she asked. “Should I call—”

  I put one hand on her arm. “Let me take care of it. That’s the guy who was here yesterday asking about his brother.”

  “Sure we shouldn’t call the police?” Julia’s voice brimmed with concern. “He looks pretty unhinged from here, Katie.”

  I glanced at Rex again. “It could just be the strain of trying to find his brother. Why don’t I talk to him before we get the cavalry involved?”

  By the time I’d walked across the kitchen and pushed through the swinging door into the dining room, Rex was sitting at a table with Eileen Johnson and Annabeth Rudd. The mother-daughter team came in for breakfast at least once each month to compare notes about their respective nursing careers. Without Eileen’s gray hair, most people would probably think they were sisters. They were both the same exact height and weight, with identical button noses, twinkling green eyes and dimpled cheeks.

  “Hey there, Rex,” I said, approaching the trio slowly.

  “How’s it going?” he replied.

  Since their profession made them experts when it came to handling heightened emotions, Eileen and Annabeth were calm and gracious.

  “Do you know Mr. Greer?” Eileen asked as I pulled out the remaining chair and sat across from Rex. “He was telling us about his brother.”

  The MISSING PERSON flyer with the photo of Theo Greer sat on the table between Eileen and Annabeth.

  “We met yesterday,” I said as Rex loosened the cap on his Diet Coke. “Isn’t
that right?”

  He looked up and nodded. “That’s right.” He took a sip and resealed the bottle. “Did you get my email?”

  I nodded. “Yes,” I said. “And I showed the picture to Julia, but—”

  “Did she recognize him?” Rex blurted anxiously.

  “No, I’m sorry,” I said. “Although I also—”

  “Neither did these guys,” Rex mumbled, glancing from Annabeth to her mother. “I thought it would be helpful to ask a few of your customers if they saw Theo last week. This is about the time of day that he took the picture on your front porch.”

  “You know what, Rex?” I kept my tone casual and relaxed. “Why don’t we go to my office and talk about the situation?”

  His eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong with right here?”

  I gestured at Eileen and Annabeth before glancing around the room.

  “There’s nothing wrong with it,” I said. “But we should let everyone enjoy their breakfast. Besides, I think it will be more useful if we talk in private.”

  His head turned slightly to one side. “Why?” he asked. “Do you know something?”

  “Not about your brother,” I said. “But before Sky High Pies, I worked as a private investigator in Chicago. There’s a chance that some of what I learned during those years could apply to your search.”

  “You were a detective?” he asked.

  “One of the best,” Eileen said. “And she’s helped a few folks around town with some tricky situations since moving back here.”

  He considered the news before getting to his feet.

  “Then what’re we waiting for?” he said, plucking the flyer from the table. “Let’s get started!”

  CHAPTER 4

  The next half hour reminded me of the witness interviews from my time as a private investigator. Rex sat in one of the guest chairs facing my desk as I ran through a roster of basic questions. He didn’t fidget or shift on the seat at all. Instead, he kept both feet planted on the floor, his shoulders back and his chin slightly raised.

  “Why do you think that your brother is missing?” I began.

  He took a deep breath. “Because I haven’t heard from him in over a week.”

  “And that’s unusual?”

  “Very,” Rex answered. “Theo and I are real close. Something’s wrong if we don’t talk at least once or twice every day.”

  “Is there a chance he might be ill?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “No way. Even when he was recovering from surgery a couple of years ago, he called me every day.”

  “He called you?”

  Rex’s posture stiffened slightly. “That’s what I said. We always talk on a regular basis, because my brother knows that helps me keep going.”

  “Did you visit him as well?”

  “What do you mean?” There was a trace of something prickly in his voice, a subtle hint of impatience. “I just told you that he called me.”

  “I’m simply trying to understand,” I explained. “Were you living too far away to visit him while he convalesced after surgery?”

  Rex took another deep breath, inhaling slowly and blinking at an equally lethargic pace. It seemed like he was trying to quiet the urge to lash out in response to my question.

  “I just couldn’t go anywhere at the time,” he said finally. “But we still talked on the phone at least once a day.” He stopped to brush a few beads of perspiration from his brow. “That’s how I know that something bad is going on right now.”

  I leaned back in my chair and opened the top desk drawer. As I pulled out a pad and started to record a few quick notes, Rex asked if I believed him.

  “If I believe you?” I said rhetorically. “About your brother?”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  “Well, I’m trying to understand what’s going on,” I said. “Considering that we just met yesterday, I wouldn’t be in a position to—”

  “It’s either yes,” he interrupted sharply. “Or no.”

  I felt a wrinkle of apprehension slide along my spine. His eyes were suddenly fixed and wide, his fingers crumpled into tight knots that he pressed against the arms of the chair.

  “Yes,” I said, hoping to soothe whatever anger had inexplicably erupted within him. “I believe you, Rex.”

  His chest was rising and falling at an accelerated pace; his jaw clenched and released repeatedly. I was glad that I’d left the office door open, and even more relieved that a container of pepper spray was also in the top drawer.

  I was thinking about the sudden change in his demeanor when I realized that he was responding to my last comment.

  “…because he raised me by himself after she left,” he said. “I think that’s why we’re as close as we are.”

  “You and your brother?” I asked, trying to slip back into the conversation.

  He smiled. “Who else?”

  “I just want to make sure that I understand what you’re telling me.”

  “Okay,” he said. “What more do you need to know?”

  I took a moment to gather my thoughts. He seemed less frenzied, as if the spike in his mood had passed.

  “Take me back to last week,” I said. “What did you do when your brother didn’t return your call?”

  “I called again,” he said. “And again. By the fourth day, I knew something bad had happened.”

  “Is your brother on vacation?” I asked.

  Rex shook his head. “No. He came to Colorado because she’s here.” His eyes narrowed again. “The woman he used to work with.”

  “Do you know her name?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know her last one,” he said. “She was Arlene back then, although I’m pretty sure that she changed it once she got out here.”

  I made a note and asked about his brother’s profession.

  “Now?” he said. “Or then?”

  “How about both?” I smiled. “Beginning with the current job.”

  “He’s been working in sales for the past couple of years,” Rex said. “But back then he was a security guard for this fancy jewelry store in Philadelphia.” He suddenly stopped and frowned deeply. “Why do you need to know all of these things?”

  “I worked on a few missing persons cases in Chicago,” I explained. “I’m just trying to understand your brother’s background, what brought him to Colorado and why you think he’s disappeared.”

  Rex smiled and relaxed. “Is your memory really that bad?”

  I stared at him, trying to interpret the playful glint in his eyes.

  “I’m just joking,” he said quickly. “I already told you that my brother came here to talk to Arlene.”

  “The woman that he worked with in Philadelphia,” I said.

  Rex smiled. “You really were listening!”

  “Of course. And I’d like to hear more. Tell me why your brother would travel half way across the country to talk to a former co-worker. Couldn’t he do that by phone?”

  “He didn’t have her number,” Rex said. “She’s not listed anywhere.”

  “Were they close friends in the past?”

  Rex shook his head. “It’s not about being friendly,” he answered. “She still has property that belongs to other people, okay? And Theo finally has evidence to prove something about Arlene.”

  “And what might that be?”

  “That she was involved in what happened,” he said. “And that she took things that didn’t belong to her and came out here to go off the grid or whatever you want to call it.”

  “What did she take?”

  He sighed. “There was a robbery at Diamond Galleria, okay? Someone died, so it’s a pretty heavy thing. And my brother suspected all along that she was involved.”

  “Arlene?”

  “Yeah. The woman he came here to find.”

  “And what is Diamond Galleria?” I asked.

  “The place where she and my brother worked in Philly,” he said. “It’s a high-end jewelry store on Chestnut Street in Center City. A
rlene was working there when Theo got his job as a guard about six months before the robbery. He always suspected that she was behind it, but the police couldn’t prove anything at the time.” He frowned and shook his head. “Arlene had been going out with the store’s owner, but then he dumped her and started dating another woman that worked there. The robbery was payback; the murder was just plain evil.”

  “She staged a robbery and murder to get even for a romance that ended?”

  Rex shrugged. “I suppose.”

  “Who was murdered?” I asked.

  “One of the robbers,” Rex said. “The one that lived was Arlene’s new boyfriend.”

  “And you said that your brother suspected that she was involved, but couldn’t prove it back then.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Can he prove it now?” I asked.

  “Definitely. Theo met someone who knows Arlene, and that guy secretly recorded her on the phone confessing to everything: finding the two thugs to pull the heist, giving them the alarm code to get in the back entrance, and keeping the diamonds out of circulation for a few years to try and evade the cops.”

  I glanced at the clock on my desk. I knew that Julia would find me if she needed help with lunch orders, but I didn’t want to spend hours prying the story from Rex in dribs and drabs.

  “Okay,” I said. “When did this happen?”

  “Six years ago,” he answered. “The police thought my brother was involved on account of he was working that day as one of the store guards. But Theo did exactly what the robbers said as soon as it all started. He got on the floor and shut up.”

  “And what about Arlene?” I asked. “Did she comply with their demands?”

  He leaned forward. “What does that mean?”

  “Did she do what the robbers asked?”

  “Oh, okay. I didn’t know that word. But yes, she did. She gave them the combination to the vault and then got on the floor next to my brother.”

  “And then?”

  He shrugged. “What do you mean?”

  “What happened after Arlene got on the floor?”

  “She smiled at one of the guys in the ski masks,” he said slowly. “The same guy that shot and killed the other robber as they left the store. That’s why Theo didn’t believe her later when she told the police that she wasn’t involved.”