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

by Mary Maxwell

  “Because she smiled?”

  He nodded. “Yes. And then later, people around town started saying that Arlene and her new boyfriend were behind the robbery all along. But the police were never able to get any evidence to stick. A few months after that, she quit her job and left town. My brother talked about her all the time, trying to figure out if she could’ve been somehow responsible or—”

  “Katie?”

  Rex jumped and spun around to see Harper in the office doorway.

  “Sorry to bother you,” she said. “But a group of twelve just walked in. Can you help me get their orders?”

  Rex was out of the chair before I answered her question.

  “I should go,” he muttered, grabbing his backpack. “I’m taking up too much of your time.”

  “Sorry,” Harper said again. “I’ll see you out there, Katie.”

  I smiled and gave her a quick thumps up. When I looked back at Rex, he was holding a stack of the flyers with his brother’s picture.

  “Maybe you can give these out?”

  “I’m sorry we were interrupted,” I said, taking the leaflets. “We close at three o’clock. Would you like to come back and finish our conversation?”

  “Um, maybe,” he said, slinging the bag over one shoulder. “I mean, if I can. The car’s been acting weird, so I might have to take it to the gas station or something.”

  I followed him into the hallway.

  “I really want to hear the rest,” I said. “Maybe we can give Deputy Chief Walsh a call and—”

  “Oh, that’s okay,” he said quickly. “I was already planning on telling the police myself. I’ll hope to see you later so we can keep talking.”

  CHAPTER 5

  By four o’clock that afternoon, I was back in my office reviewing notes for the monthly cooking class that I planned to introduce as soon as I finished sorting out the details. I’d attended something similar at one of my favorite restaurants when I was living in Chicago. It seemed like an ideal way to promote Sky High Pies—casual, early evening gatherings for a small group of guests featuring tasty recipes and a nice selection of wines.

  I was calculating food costs for an Italian-inspired menu when Harper knocked on my office door.

  “You busy?” she asked.

  “I’m going over a few things for the cooking class,” I answered.

  She smiled. “Again?”

  “I just want to make sure that I’ve covered everything.”

  “You will,” she said. “And you have. I think it’s time to bite the bullet and send out the mailing. Enough people have heard about it by now that the first session will probably fill up lickety-split.”

  “You think so?”

  She giggled. “I know so, Katie.” She pointed at the phone on my desk. “Trent’s on hold. Said he’s returning your call from earlier.”

  “Thanks. Are you about finished with the dining room?”

  She raised one eyebrow. “I was done with that ages ago. I decided to indulge my sweet tooth, so I’m camped in a booth with a sliver of cherry pie, a mini mocha cupcake and a tiny piece of chocolate fudge.”

  “That sounds like fun! I’ll check on you in a bit to see if you’ve lapsed into sugar shock.”

  Harper gave me a frown, burst out laughing and pirouetted into the hall. As I picked up the phone to greet Trent, I could still her Harper’s joyful giggling in the distance.

  “Deputy Chief Walsh!” I said. “Thanks for getting back to me.”

  “You okay, Katie?” Trent asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “Have you been drinking?”

  “No! Why do you ask?”

  “Because you sound too happy,” he grumbled.

  “Well, I am happy,” I said. “But I can’t say the same for you. Is everything okay?”

  “For the most part.”

  “And what about the other parts?”

  “It’s no big deal,” Trent said. “I had my annual physical yesterday and the doc told me to lose weight.”

  I smiled, but didn’t comment on the news.

  “Like thirty pounds,” he added. “Do you know how long that’s going to take?”

  “No idea,” I said. “How long?”

  “Probably about four months,” he griped. “And that’s only if I give up everything that I love.”

  “Like ice cream and French fries?” I said. “Or candy from the vending machine?”

  “I don’t love fries, Katie. I can’t tell you the last time I had some.”

  I chuckled softly. “It might’ve been last Tuesday,” I told him. “You came in for lunch with Tyler Armstrong and that detective from Fort Collins. You had the tuna melt on sourdough with—”

  “Alright, alright!” He mumbled a few choice words. “I don’t have time to rehash ancient history. What did you need?”

  “Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to pile on with your doctor.”

  “That’s okay, Katie. I know my pudge factor’s been going up lately.”

  I laughed again. “Well, you still look devilishly handsome.”

  “Cut to the chase,” he said. “What’s up? Your message was pretty vague.”

  “I was wondering if you’ve received any missing persons reports lately. I had a visit yesterday and again this morning from someone who said his brother hasn’t been seen since he was here at Sky High last week.”

  “What’s the name?” asked Trent.

  “Theo Greer is the one supposedly missing,” I answered. “His brother’s name is Rex.”

  “I don’t know of any reports,” he said. “But let me check real quick with Dina and Tyler.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  While I waited, I opened my laptop and reloaded the picture that Theo Greer took of himself on the front porch at Sky High. My eyes went instantly to the vivid purplish red tights on the shapely legs in the background. As I stared at the colorful workout gear, I remembered that Julia had told me that they were sold at Simply Chic, Pearl White’s boutique on Prentice Street.

  “It’s worth a shot,” I said to myself, speculating that the woman could’ve possibly seen or heard something related to Theo’s disappearance. “I’ll go see Pearl and take a look at the new merchandise. Maybe that will motivate me to start walking with Viv in the evenings.”

  My neighbor, a bubbly dynamo named Viveca England, had recently started walking after work each day on the track at Crescent Creek High School. She’d invited me to come along, but I’d found dozens of excuses so far not to join her: nothing suitable to wear; my Nikes were lost during the move from Chicago; I get enough exercise running around Sky High every day.

  I was thinking about a few more reasons to skip the workouts with Viv when Trent returned.

  “You still there, Katie?”

  “Here I am, Deputy Chief Walsh.”

  “Dina was away from her desk,” he said, “but I talked to Tyler. He’s pretty sure that our last missing persons case was eighteen months ago when Bernadette Carvel called to report that Lumwinkle was gone.”

  “That who was gone?”

  “Lumwinkle,” Trent said again. “Apparently, he’s her lucky garden gnome.”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I waited for the rest of the story.

  “But there was a somewhat happy ending,” he continued. “Denny Santiago found Bernadette’s missing property the next day. Apparently, Pat and Mickey O’Rourke had painted the little fellow blue, dressed him in a toga and left him on the front steps of City Hall.”

  I smiled. “Was it meant to be a political statement about Mayor Washington?”

  “I have no idea,” Trent said. “And I’m not about to ask.”

  “How did you connect the O’Rourke brothers to the crime?”

  Trent scoffed. “Have you ever met them?”

  “I haven’t had the pleasure,” I said. “Although I’ve heard a few things.”

  “I’m sure that whatever you heard is true,” Trent told me. “Between the
two of them, I’d say you’re looking at an IQ in the high double digits.”

  “Trent! That’s not very nice!”

  He laughed. “But it’s the truth. I’ve got the Lumwinkle report pulled up on my computer. I guess Pat and Mickey had been enjoying a few pints of Guinness down at The Wagon Wheel that day. On the drive home, they decided to stop at Tipton’s Liquor Mart for a bottle of whiskey. As you might imagine, it was all downhill from there.”

  “Sounds almost exactly like another story that I heard about them,” I said.

  “No doubt,” Trent agreed. “But that particular day, when the O’Rourke boys pulled in at Tipton’s, Bernadette was right ahead of them. She took the last parking space and didn’t appreciate it when Pat jumped out of his brother’s truck and told her where she could go.”

  I sighed. “Yep. That was also in the story I heard, but it didn’t involve Bernadette or the liquor store parking lot.”

  “Well, pretty much every other story with those two goes along those lines,” Trent said. “I guess Pat and Mickey were so peeved about the parking mishap that they stole Lumwinkle from Bernadette’s front yard late that night, turned him into a Roman Papa Smurf and left him at City Hall.”

  “Okay,” I said. “But how’d you know they did the deed?”

  “Facebook,” Trent said.

  “They posted something about it?”

  He laughed. “Yep. Video and a bunch of pictures. By the time they sobered up the next morning, Bernadette had already filed the missing persons report.”

  I decided not to pursue the incident, even though a few questions had started to gather in the back of my mind. Instead, I asked Trent if he would be willing to run a license plate number.

  “Why?” he said.

  “Curiosity,” I answered.

  “Is this related to the visit you mentioned?” he asked. “From the guy looking for his brother?”

  “Actually, it is. Rex Greer was driving a blue sedan with Pennsylvania plates. I don’t know if his brother is really missing or not, but I thought it might be worth asking you to check the tags. My work load is fairly light this week, so I might also do a little snooping just in case.”

  “Uh-huh,” Trent said dismissively. “I’ve heard that before.”

  “You know how it goes. I miss the old days in Chicago. And I still love solving a good whodunit.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said. “But you can scratch that itch by watching reruns of Law & Order or NCIS.”

  “Which I do quite often, thank you very much.”

  Trent chuckled. “Which one is Rex again?”

  “He’s the one I met here at Sky High,” I said. “His older brother’s name is Theo.”

  “What’s the number?”

  “Hang on,” I said. “I made a note on my phone, so—”

  “Maybe just shoot me a text,” Trent suggested. “I need to run out real fast and get something to eat. I’ll plug it into the system after I get back.”

  “That would be awesome,” I said. “What’s on the menu for dinner?”

  “It’s not dinner, Katie. I haven’t even had lunch yet.”

  “That might be part of your problem,” I said. “One of the best ways to lose weight is eating small meals throughout the day at regular intervals to help regulate your metabolism.”

  “Small meals?”

  “Yep. There are tons of great menu ideas online.”

  “I’ll be sure and get right on that,” he said, “as soon as I return from McDonald’s with my teeny, tiny Double Quarter Pounder.”

  “What about the doctor’s orders?”

  He grunted. “Soon, Katie. I’ll start the new diet real soon.”

  CHAPTER 6

  After finishing a few more notes about the Sky High cooking class, I sent Rex Greer’s license plate number to Trent. Then I drove over to Simply Chic to ask Pearl White about the fuchsia tights that the woman was wearing in the background of Theo’s selfie.

  When I pulled up and parked at the curb, the boutique’s front windows were completely dark. Pearl usually stayed open until seven during the week, so I was a little confused until I saw the bright beam of a flashlight darting around the shadowy interior. I grabbed my purse, scrambled out of the car and hurried across the sidewalk.

  “Pearl?” I called after slowly opening the front door. “Is everything okay?”

  I heard something crash to the floor followed by a flock of muffled words.

  “Is that you, Katie?”

  Instead of Pearl’s lilting Irish brogue, the voice I heard belonged to Blanche Speltzer, the oldest living resident of Crescent Creek. The 80-year-old firecracker and retired history teacher was one of my favorite people in the entire world. She was sassy, intelligent, thoughtful and incredibly sweet.

  “Blanche?” I said after spotting a silhouette against the back wall.

  “Yes, sweetheart,” she replied. “Did you come to our rescue?”

  Before I could answer, I heard Pearl somewhere in the distance.

  “I can’t find the thingy with the fuses!” she yelled. “Do you think we should call the police?”

  “How about a private detective?” Blanche shouted. “Will that help?”

  I moved slowly through the gloom, holding one hand out in front as I inched toward the sound of the town’s most skillful chatterbox. While I tiptoed around a table piled with bulky sweaters, Blanche’s flashlight suddenly looped up from the floor and into my eyes.

  “There you are!” she said cheerfully. “You’ve got impeccable timing, Katie! Pearl and I have been wandering around in this blackout for the past twenty minutes.”

  “Can you lower that a little?” I asked. “I can’t see where I’m going.”

  “Oh, you bet, doll!” She giggled softly. “I just wanted to make sure that it was you.”

  “It’s me alright,” I said. “What happened?”

  Blanche’s cheery laugh erupted again. “Oh, Katie! I’m so embarrassed that I can’t even imagine telling you the story!”

  I moved closer, gliding along the glass-topped display cabinets that ran from the front of the shop to the changing rooms in the rear.

  “I’m guessing that maybe someone blew a fuse,” I said. “Is that about the gist of it?”

  “More or less,” she said.

  “Did Pearl plug in something that overloaded the circuits?”

  Blanche snickered. “No, it was me. I was showing her my new glue gun. I think that was the guilty culprit!”

  “And why did you have a glue gun?” I asked.

  “Because I’m starting a clothing line, Katie! It’s called Bedazzled by Blanche! And I wanted to show Pearl my technique for applying crystals. It was supposed to be a quick demo, not the start of a national emergency.”

  “I’m sure she’ll—”

  The overhead lights suddenly flashed and blinked before resuming a bright, steady glow.

  “And there you go!” I said. “Let there be light!”

  Blanche was perched on a stool behind the cash register. She held the flashlight in one hand and a can of spray glitter in the other.

  “I found it!” Pearl cheered, emerging through the black velvet curtains that covered the doorway to the back of her store. “I thought we—”

  She stopped and smiled when she noticed me walking toward Blanche. Despite the unexpected blackout and subsequent scramble to find the fuse box, Pearl looked as flawless and elegant as always. Her shoulder-length reddish-blonde hair was tied back and she was wearing a lavender blouse over slim-cut black slacks. The Dublin-born beauty was around fifty, with a vivacious personality, a zest for fashion and green eyes that sparked with vigor.

  “Hey, Katie! You’ve got great timing. Blanche and I just spent the last hour in the dark.”

  Blanche gave me a wink. “Twenty minutes,” she whispered. “But who’s counting?”

  Pearl hurried over, both hands quivering in the air and a look of deep concern on her face.

  “Are yo
u okay, Mrs. Speltzer? Did you burn yourself?”

  Blanche grinned. “I’m fine, doll. That wasn’t my first blown fuse!” She paused and winked again. “The glue gun didn’t even start to warm up, so we’re all good.”

  Pearl was visibly relieved. She closed the space between them with a few final shuffle steps. Then she wrapped her arms around the fragile, gray-haired local treasure and gave her a big kiss on the cheek.

  “Whoa, whoa!” Blanche exclaimed. “No PDA without mama’s permission!”

  Pearl giggled and stepped back. “I’m just glad you’re okay,” she said. “I had these terrible visions of third-degree burns and ambulance sirens and law suits.”

  “Not this time, sweetheart,” Blanche said, getting down from the stool. “Why don’t I go back there and give it another try? I’ll let you know when I’m ready for the demonstration, okay?”

  Pearl walked over to the velvet curtains and parted them for Blanche.

  “I’ll see you soon, Katie,” Blanche called. “Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do!”

  As soon as she was through the doorway, Pearl let the curtains close. Then she came over and gave me a welcoming hug.

  “That was scary,” she said quietly. “I had no idea that a glue gun could make the lights go out.”

  I nodded. “I’ve never used one, so I wouldn’t know. The last craft project I did was in sixth grade.”

  Pearl smiled. “Oh, that’s cute. What was it?”

  “I put plastic wrap over the toilet seat in the teacher’s restroom,” I said, grinning with embarrassment. “It was back when I was a wild child and the concept of law and order hadn’t quite clicked in yet.”

  We shared a laugh and Pearl went behind the counter.

  “It’s good to see you,” she said. “Are you looking for anything special?”

  “I actually wanted to ask you about some tights,” I said, reaching for my phone. “I heard that you received an order recently, and I wanted to see if maybe you remembered selling a particular pair.”

  I quickly found the email from Rex Greer, opened the picture of his brother and showed the image to Pearl.