Easter Buried Eggs (Black Cat Cafe Cozy Mystery Series Book 10)

by Lyndsey Cole

  “She left through the door connecting Dawn and Gloria’s offices and hid the gun in the toilet tank before she left through the outside door in Gloria’s office.” Sean raised both palms. “It’s the best I’ve got.”

  “That seems unlikely that she’d be able to get in and out of the bathroom without being seen.” Annie pointed at Marvin. “You were around watching stuff and you didn’t see her go to the bathroom, did you?”

  “No,” Marvin answered hesitantly. “But maybe she didn’t hide the gun in the toilet tank until the next day. She could have left with it, wrapped in part of the Easter bunny costume, and brought it back, waiting for the right moment to dump the gun in the tank and plant the costume in Sylvia’s apartment.”

  “But why bring it back? That seems way too risky.” Annie shook her head.

  Sean rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Dawn obviously wanted to frame Sylvia. It would make her look much guiltier if the gun was found somewhere in Golden Living. Sylvia wouldn’t be able to get rid of it elsewhere very easily.”

  Annie sat back in her chair and sighed heavily. “An awful lot of ifs would have to fall into place for your timeline to work perfectly. And with Dawn going in and out through Gloria’s office, where was Gloria during all this?”

  Both Marvin and Sean shrugged.

  “I saw her outside with Dawn before all the chaos, but then I lost track of her,” Marvin admitted.

  “Did you actually see Dawn come back inside?”

  Marvin shook his head and helped himself to the last brownie.

  Annie pushed Sean’s timeline back across the table to him. “If you look at all this from the point of view of the police, I hate to say it, but Sylvia certainly looks like the killer. We’re trying to make something fit because that’s what we want to happen.” She stood. “There has to be some other piece of evidence or I just don’t think Sylvia has a chance to beat this.”

  “We can’t give up on her,” Marvin said. “My common sense just knows she didn’t do it.” His eyes pleaded with Annie.

  “I agree, but it doesn’t matter if we can’t find the missing piece to prove it was someone else. As a matter of fact, when I first started looking into all this, I thought either you, Marvin, or you, Sean, could have been the killer. You both were near Dawn’s and Gloria’s offices.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sean said. “I didn’t even get close to the offices when I went to pick up my dinner. The police were already swarming the halls. I told them that I was trying to get my dinner and they told me too bad. It was part of a crime scene and to get back to my own apartment.”

  “You never got the stuffed zucchini I made special for that night?” Annie wondered if Gloria ended up eating hers and Sean’s, or maybe one of the policemen ate it.

  “Stuffed zucchini? Now I’m hungry. I wouldn’t say no to a raincheck.” Sean actually smiled at Annie, a smile that caused the corners of his eyes to crinkle, and she realized he had a kind face when it wasn’t pulled into his usual scowl.

  Annie yawned and stretched her arms over her head. “I’m going home. I don’t know what else we can do but tomorrow’s another day and, maybe after a good night’s sleep, some new angle will show itself.”

  “You haven’t given up, have you?” Marvin asked, his voice filled with worry.

  “Not at all, but I can’t think about this anymore tonight. If I give my brain a rest, I’m hoping I can see this puzzle in a new light tomorrow. Either Martha or I will pick you up if you want to visit Sylvia.”

  “I’ll be here, ready and waiting. And I think Martha promised to bring hot cross buns,” Marvin added.

  “You asked for some but I don’t recall hearing a promise. You’ll have to wait and see,” Annie teased. She was surprised how quickly Marvin’s quirky personality had grown on her. He really was like a pesky guard dog. Not a big tough German shepherd, but a small, yippy, ankle-biting rat terrier, who always showed up in the nick of time. She couldn’t stand his crestfallen face. “I’ll be sure you get your hot cross buns tomorrow.”

  Marvin’s smile was a satisfying way to end her day, she thought, as she closed Sean’s apartment door and walked down the long hall toward the main entrance.

  Light glowed from Gloria’s open office door. Was she still working? Annie peeked into the office to give Gloria the stuffed zucchini recipe she had promised to share. Gloria wasn’t around. Probably better that way for a quicker exit and return home.

  As Annie scribbled a note to attach to the recipe, the door from Dawn’s office opened. “Oh, Annie, I’m glad you’re still here. Dawn read me the riot act that I never got you to fill in the proper papers for your visits with Roxy.” Gloria let out a little laugh. “You know, for insurance.”

  “Okay.” Annie decided to use this opportunity to dig some information out of Gloria. “About Dawn, you said you were keeping your eyes on her. She was pretty ruthless with her pressure to get Thelma to sign her intent to move in. Is that normal?”

  Gloria sat at her desk and leaned on her elbows toward Annie. “Unfortunately, it is. I shouldn’t be blabbing but I like you. The president of Golden Living wants this place full at all times. You know, maximum profits for him, so he gives a signing bonus.”

  “Does that pit you and Dawn against each other?” Annie was flabbergasted at Gloria’s information.

  “Sort of, and I was ticked off when I thought I would get the opportunity to sign Thelma but Dawn said I could have the next candidate. It’s much better if we work together. Plus, she is my boss.”

  “I see.” Annie didn’t really see much of anything except more questions. “And most people use their home equity for payment?”

  “That’s not uncommon.”

  “You know,” Annie used Gloria’s words to pretend some sort of camaraderie, “I’m only asking these questions to help Thelma with her decision.”

  “Of course. Ask away.” Gloria sat back, crossed her legs, and waited as if she had all night to entertain Annie.

  “Okay. Here’s the thing. I’ve heard some chatter that many residents are going through their money much faster than expected. To be blunt, is everything above board here?”

  Gloria leaned forward again. She had a gleam in her eyes. “I’ve wondered the same thing but I’m not privy to the financials for the residents.”

  “Do you think someone is skimming money out of these people’s accounts?”

  Gloria raised her eyebrows and shrugged. “It’s a valid question but without access to where the money is going, I don’t have an answer. If I was your friend, Thelma, I’d be sure to have a good lawyer check all the paperwork before she signs anything.” She laughed. “But you didn’t hear that from me.”

  Annie stood. “I can’t help but wonder if any of this is connected to why Forrest was murdered. Do you have any theories?”

  “Forrest was a busybody and my guess is that he pissed off the wrong person.” Gloria’s voice had a slight undertone of disgust.

  “Right. And that’s what bothers me with all this attention on Sylvia. What could he have done to upset her enough to kill him?”

  Gloria stood also. “Poor Sylvia. All I know is that the police think they have an airtight case against her. Such a shame.”

  “I almost forgot.” Annie pointed to the recipe card on Gloria’s desk. “The whole reason I popped in here was to leave you the stuffed zucchini recipe.”

  “Wonderful. I just loved it.” Gloria walked around her desk with the papers for Annie to sign.

  Annie skimmed the form in front of her saying Golden Living would not be responsible if the visiting animal caused harm to anyone. By signing, Annie agreed to accept all responsibility. She wasn’t convinced this would hold up in court if anything happened and someone wanted to sue Golden Living but that wouldn’t be her problem. She signed the form.

  “By the way,” Gloria said, “Sean loved the stuffed zucchini, too. He couldn’t say enough about what a treat it was from the normal cafeteria vegetari
an offerings, when the cook even remembers to make him something.”

  “When did Sean get the meal? I thought he told me he never got it.” Annie shook her tired head. There was too much to keep straight.

  Gloria tittered a high pitched quick laugh. “Oh, we must have discussed a different night. Maybe it was the eggplant parmesan he said he loved so much.”

  As Annie turned to hand the form to Gloria, she accidentally bumped into a canvas tote bag sitting right on the edge of the desk. The contents spilled all over the floor. “Sorry.” She immediately bent down to retrieve the items.

  “Oh, my container that I gave you the stuffed zucchini in. I use this all the time. I’d forgotten that you had it and I wondered what I did with it.” As Annie picked it up, something inside rattled around.

  Gloria held her hand out. “Sorry I didn’t return that yet. I have a few items stored inside. It’ll only take me a minute to find something else to put it in.”

  “Here, I’ll just dump it all into your tote.” Annie, not wanting to wait for Gloria to find something else, pulled the yellow silicone cover off. Comprehension was slow for her tired brain. What was she looking at? “This is an awful lot of medicine.”

  Gloria tried to take the container but only managed to spill all the pill bottles on the floor.

  Annie reached down to help pick them up. Her fingers tightened around a bottle and the name Sean Woodman almost jumped off the label to her eyes. “Huh?” Her heart pounded. Her body tingled with a surge of adrenaline. Her fingers shook.

  Annie felt like she was standing in the twilight zone.

  She looked at Gloria who, instead of cleaning up what spilled on the floor, held a heavy ceramic potted plant above Annie’s head.

  Gloria’s face was drained of color. “I wish you hadn’t done that, Annie. Everything was falling into place so well, and I did enjoy your visits with your dog.”

  As the pot crashed toward Annie’s skull, a body charged into the room and knocked Gloria down. The potted spider plant sailed inches past Annie’s head and shattered on the floor. Another shape moved at the edge of Annie’s vision. By the time her brain caught up with the events happening around her, she saw Marvin on the floor struggling with Gloria. Sean, close behind, maneuvered his wheelchair so it straddled as much of Gloria’s prone body as possible, allowing Marvin to roll free.

  Annie stared at the two unlikely heroes. “I should have suspected something was up when Gloria told me how much you loved the stuffed zucchini, Sean. But she covered it up pretty well with talk of an eggplant parmesan meal instead.”

  “When Marvin saw you walk into Gloria’s office, we decided we should listen to your conversation.” He shook his head. “We haven’t had eggplant parmesan for weeks and I told Marvin. He put two and two together just in time.”

  Annie fumbled to get her phone from her pocket but her trembling fingers didn’t want to obey her brain.

  “Hurry up, Annie. I don’t know how long I can keep Gloria under control,” Sean said. He tried to hold the wheels steady over Gloria’s thrashing legs.

  “Don’t worry.” Marvin jumped on her back and pressed his hands on her shoulders. “She won’t get away if it’s the last thing I do.”

  Annie finally managed to punch in Detective Crank’s number, forgetting that calling 911 might be the better option. “You need to get over to Golden Living as soon as possible,” she blurted out without any greeting.

  “Annie? What’s going on? Is there another death?” Christy asked. Her voice held concern without a trace of sarcasm for a change.

  “Not yet, but there might be if you don’t hurry.” Annie hung up. That was sure to get Christy speeding across town.

  26

  Annie had all the pill bottles lined up on the edge of Gloria’s desk. It just seemed like the right thing to do. And it kept her busy while she, Marvin, and Sean counted the seconds for the police to arrive.

  Sean read the labels—none were prescribed to Gloria Knight. Instead, every single bottle had the name of an elderly resident living at Golden Living clearly printed on the label.

  “You were responsible for all the breakins, Gloria?” Annie wanted to give her a good kick in the side but with Marvin still sitting on her, she decided that was enough humiliation.

  With her face smashed into the carpet, all she managed was a grunt.

  “I think I’ve discovered the answer to who Forrest pissed off. He discovered your little robbery sideline, didn’t he?” Annie demanded. When Gloria didn’t respond, she nudged her arm with her foot. “Didn’t he?” she asked louder.

  Gloria shifted her head enough to give her mouth some space. “Of course he had to be a do-gooder and cozy up to a bunch of the people that live here. I never took all the pain meds, just a few here and there,” Gloria whined.

  Annie’s anger simmered close to the boiling point. “And that made it okay?” She didn’t expect a reply to that question. “Finding Sylvia’s gun on one of your little breakins made for a perfect set up. All you needed was the opportunity to find Forrest all alone, and Dawn gave you that. You knew she planned to skip out without writing his check Wednesday night. It was just a matter of timing.”

  Detective Crank finally marched into Gloria’s office. “I hope you have a good explanation for hanging up on me, Annie. What’s going on in here?”

  Annie pointed to the pill bottles lined up on Gloria’s desk next to her container and the yellow silicone lid. “This ought to be a good starting point. Apparently, Gloria’s addiction got the better of her, but she slipped up tonight.”

  “Oh?”

  “It’s hard to keep the lies straight. She forgot that Sean never got his special vegetarian meal from the Easter dinner on Wednesday night. She also forgot she used my reusable container to store her stolen drugs.” Annie shook her head. “That, along with the minor detail that she tried to smash my head to pieces to shut me up, should be enough to lock her up.”

  “And you two?” Christy turned her attention to Marvin and Sean.

  “Eye witnesses. And I knocked Gloria over,” Marvin said, his chest puffed full of pride.

  “Yes. Marvin is the hero here tonight,” Annie said. “He saved my life.” She looked at Marvin who had tears in his eyes. “Thank you, Marvin.” Annie felt her eyes fill, too. She hoped that finally he might be able to let go of what happened all those years ago in his past and realize that all you can do is your best.

  Detective Crank took charge, letting Annie, Marvin, and Sean leave the office with the promise of getting a complete statement on Monday.

  “That’s one mystery solved, but it doesn’t explain the disappearing money,” Sean said as the three stood in the hallway.

  “I think it will be easier to track all that down now,” Annie said. “At least, I hope Detective Crank finally takes that issue seriously.” She hugged Marvin and patted Sean’s shoulder. “You both are amazing. I’m exhausted, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” She started to walk toward the door with her mind focused on falling into bed.

  “You’re not so bad yourself, Annie,” Marvin said. “Don’t forget you promised to bring me some more of those hot cross buns.”

  When she turned around, his grin reached from ear to ear.

  The lights streaming from the windows of her house when she pulled into the driveway felt like a kiss from an old friend. But she knew she would have to face Jason and explain what happened.

  His face was a mask when she walked inside.

  “You already heard?”

  “Marvin called Martha and Martha called Leona and Leona called Mia and Mia called me. At least, I think that was how it went.” He wrapped his arms around Annie. “I was terrified when Mia called.”

  “Yeah, well, Gloria was stealing pain meds from the people living at Golden Living and Forrest found out about her activity. I don’t know if he was blackmailing her or threatening to go to the police, but whatever happened, she decided she needed to silence him.”

  �
��With Sylvia’s gun?”

  “Yup. I guess she stole that, too.”

  “And the missing money?”

  Annie shrugged. “That one’s still a mystery but I suspect Christy will dig around and get to the bottom of it now.”

  “Are you tired?”

  “Exhausted.”

  He led her to the stairs. “You’d better get some sleep. Leona has an Easter brunch planned and you aren’t allowed to miss it.”

  Annie groaned as she dragged herself up the stairs. Her legs were harder to lift with each step. She wasn’t at all sure she would wake up in time for Leona’s brunch.

  It turned out that waking up wasn’t an issue because Jason pulled the warm comforter off at ten the next morning. “I let you sleep in long enough. Time to rise and shine, Mrs. Hunter.”

  Annie groaned, rolled over, and put her pillow over her head.

  That got yanked off, too. “Hop in the shower. I’ve got coffee ready before we head over to the Black Cat Café.”

  Annie groaned for the third time but she slipped her feet to the floor and managed to get herself into the shower. The hot water helped to wash the last of the exhaustion away. With comfy jeans and a bright yellow t-shirt with an Easter bunny eating a dandelion, as a memento to Forrest, she joined Jason in their kitchen.

  “Here you go. One cup of extra strong, dark roast coffee. I added a swirl of cream.”

  Annie sat at one of the kitchen stools with her hands wrapped around the warm mug. “What’s happening at the café? Can’t we say we forgot and blow it off?”

  “I don’t think that would be a good idea. You know how Leona is. She’d probably come get you if we don’t show up.”

  “Okay, okay.” She rinsed her mug and looked out the window. “At least it’s a beautiful day. Look at that bright blue sky.”

  The parking lot at the café was pretty full. But it was Easter Sunday, after all. Everyone was probably picking up cakes and hot cross buns for family get-togethers.

  Jason and Annie walked arm-in-arm into the café.