by Misty Simon
Gina raised her gaze to the ceiling and steepled her fingers under her chin. “His name is Craig Johnson, and he’s a philanderer. Or at least he was.” She blew out a breath, looking at me again. “He owned a company that could refurbish houses or upgrade systems and said that he had a partner.”
“Excellent, a partner.” I scribbled it onto my notepad. “Name?”
“Steve? Drake? Manny?”
“Are you just pulling names out of the air? None of those sound like each other.”
“No, those were guys I thought about clicking on instead of Craig.” She laughed derisively. “I should have chosen anyone but the golden boy.”
I reached across to give her hand a squeeze.
“No, I’ve got this.” She typed furiously into the laptop. When she was done, she smiled and turned the computer around so I could see the screen. “Johnson and Fuller Construction. Drake Fuller. And I did almost click on him.”
So both men were out looking for playmates. Was Drake married, too? He had to have known Craig was messing around if Craig had taken Gina to the office. Or maybe Craig had only taken her because he’d known the office would be empty. My pencil tapped in a staccato beat on the pad in front of me.
“Perhaps we should go talk to this Drake about an addition onto my apartment. Or maybe opening up the third floor to use more of the space so I don’t have to be cramped in just the one room with a Murphy bed.”
Gina’s eye sparkled for a moment, then dimmed. “Don’t you think he’ll be grieving? Or that the death of one of the owners would cause the office to be closed?”
Either of those were possibilities, but I was not going to let a “maybe” deter me. “Seems to me that there’s a chance that it could be open and now would be a good time to hit him with a few questions. Let’s call.”
Shredding a tissue in her hands, Gina shrugged. “I don’t know, Tallie. What if he is there and he thinks I did it? I don’t want anyone else going down to the police station and making this harder than it already is.”
I understood her concerns, but this was important. Too important to dillydally or worry about what others thought. “Don’t get cold feet now. We have to start somewhere.”
“I just want it to all go away.” She settled back into her chair, the smile long gone and the fire in her eyes banked.
Squatting in front of her, I placed my hands on her knees. “I get it. I do,” I said when she huffed out a breath. “You think I wanted to try to find out who killed Darla and then get caught up in the thing with Waldo?” I rose to my feet and answered before she could. “No, I didn’t, but it was important, and this is important, too. It could be that he just broke into your house and then fell down the stairs. There could be truth to that. But unless we explore the options, we won’t know the players. And if we don’t know the players, then we won’t know what to watch out for.”
“You’re right. I know you are, but I’m so tired and it hasn’t even been twelve hours.”
“You can take a nap on the couch up in the apartment if you want. I’ll call Drake and go by myself. That way you don’t have to worry about being seen or questioned by him.”
The more I thought about it, the better the idea sounded. I could cover far more ground by myself, and Gina needed to run through the rest of her emotions. It hurt me to see her hurting, and I was going to do something to fix this. After all the years that I had separated myself from her, here was my chance to redeem myself.
After escorting Gina upstairs and locking the door behind her, I trotted down the stairs and almost ran smack into my older brother.
“What are you doing here again?” I asked, holding onto the wall behind me to keep from toppling over.
“I, um, wanted to see if there was anything I could do for your friend.”
“She’s been your friend, too, for years. Why are you acting like you’ve never seen her before?”
“If she didn’t tell you, I’m not going to either.” And he walked away, shutting himself into the kitchen. I heard the lock click, but I still banged on the door.
“You can’t say something like that and then shut me out.”
“Yes, I can,” he said, clear as day through the sturdy door.
I could go around back and unlock the other entrance with my key, but a call was coming through on my phone. I’d left a voicemail for Drake Fuller on my way down the stairs. It appeared he was calling me back.
I would deal with my brother and Gina later.
Whatever they had going on was probably none of my business—or they’d tell me that anyway, but that didn’t mean I’d pay attention.
* * *
The office of Johnson and Fuller was about twenty minutes away, which in central Pennsylvania meant I drove through seven towns to get there. It was a pretty drive with the sun shining and flowers in bloom. People were out in their front yards mowing the grass and putting down mulch. Little of it registered, though, because I was trying to come up with the best way to approach the remaining partner at the home renovation firm with questions he might not want to answer. In fact, I needed to ask Drake Fuller about his partner and if he knew that the guy was a cheater. And if there was anything else he cheated at.
Could a dissatisfied customer of his firm have followed him to Gina’s and just happened to be at the right place at the right time to take revenge for a shoddy job on a building? I wasn’t ruling anything out at this point.
After I parked in front of the building, I stepped back to take in the storefront. They’d taken the street view and dressed it up like a house exterior. Light blue with white trim and black shutters, it invited you in to a home and the dreams of one of your own. They’d done a good job. It looked inviting and homey. I wondered how Craig’s death was going to affect their business and who got Craig’s portion when it was all said and done.
Opening the front door, I wasn’t greeted by a happy receptionist but a bawling woman who was throwing paper towels over her shoulder onto the floor. How many women were crying in a twenty-mile radius due to the death of this guy?
To be fair, though, she could just be crying over the loss of a wonderful boss and man, but I didn’t think so.
“I can come back,” I said, having no intention of doing any such thing but thinking it was probably best to lead off with that.
“Oh!” Her head popped up, a brassy yellow and orange that was teased within an inch of its life. She dabbed the paper towel under her eyes, though it didn’t touch the streaks of mascara running down her face. I would not stare, I told myself, as I did just that.
Scooting her chair closer to the desk, she folded her hands on the smooth surface and seemed to be trying to compose herself. A few sniffs and another eye swipe, this time with her finger, which came back black, and she stared at me.
“I don’t think we’re open. We’ve just had a terrible loss, so you might want to come back another time.”
“Now, Noreen, there’s no need to turn away a customer. We must all soldier on even with our recent loss.” The man was tall with a flowing mane of silvering hair and a nicely pressed shirt. With his sleeves turned up at his wrists, he looked approachable and hard working. With his chiseled good looks, he appeared trustworthy and honest. But there was something about his eyes and tone that made me hesitate. Then again, maybe I was just looking for suspects everywhere and trusted no one unless I’d known them for at least twenty years.
“I’m so sorry. When we spoke earlier I didn’t realize you’d lost someone in the firm,” I lied. Hopefully he wouldn’t know any different or my cover would be blown—like Max’s was nine months ago when he tried to pass himself off as a flower delivery guy.
“That’s okay. It’s a shock, of course, but the firm is still standing, and we still have to do business. Drake Fuller,” he said with his hand outstretched.
“Tallie Graver,” I returned, waiting to see if he recognized my name.
The answer to that was no. The smile didn’t change and t
he handshake was over after a brief moment.
“Why don’t you come on back? Noreen can get you a cup of coffee.”
“Oh, that’s okay, no coffee necessary.” I followed along behind him, but still heard the wailing that resumed after he shut the door to his office.
Plush carpet muffled my footsteps and warm mahogany wood decorated the office from the desk to the framed art on the walls.
Settling himself in behind his desk, he mirrored Noreen’s pose from earlier with his hands folded on the blotter. Was that something they did on purpose? Like did they learn it when they walked into the building?
“Now, my apologies for the tears out there. My partner, Craig Johnson, was killed this morning and Noreen is taking it hard. He was a good boss to her. A good partner to me. This will take some time to get over. In the meantime, I can’t let the company fall apart. I wouldn’t want to leave the widow with nothing.”
“Of course.” Interesting that he would mention the widow. What did she have to do with it? I made a mental note to ask Max if he could search records for tax returns and profit reports when I got back home.
“So you said this was a smaller project?”
I fought the urge to clasp my own hands in my lap. Keeping them wrapped around my purse was my best option.
“Yes, nothing too big. The house I live in has a third-floor apartment that I’d like to consider expanding to cover most of the third floor. It would mean knocking down some walls, installing others, and making the previous attic into a living space.”
“I see.” He settled back into his chair, and though he might have seen what I was asking for, he did not look impressed with the prospects. Too small of a job? I could have faked something bigger, but I was already going to be in enough trouble if he saw through my ruse that I wasn’t willing to throw a fake house in there, too.
“The attic is four thousand square feet,” I offered.
That brought him forward. I wasn’t sure if I liked this guy, but I couldn’t tell yet if it was a genuine unease, or if I was simply projecting and wanting him to be the one who’d hurt Craig to get Gina off the hook.
“That’s impressive. Might I ask where you have an attic that’s four thousand square feet?”
“I live on the third floor of Graver’s Funeral Home.”
“Ah, the name. I should have put the two together.” Taking a sheet of paper from under the blotter and a fancy-looking pen out of a silver cup, he began making big loops that I couldn’t understand from my point of view.
When he turned the letterhead around, I almost wished I had left before finding anything out.
Why don’t you worry about your friend the home wrecker and killer instead of snooping where you don’t belong?
Chapter Four
I sat frozen in my oversized chair, not sure what to do. Was he just telling me to mind my own business or was the note more sinister than that? Fortunately, I didn’t have to get up the nerve to ask him. I would never be so thankful to be interrupted, as Noreen came running into the office with a clipboard.
“Drake, this just came in and they want a signature from Craig or they won’t release it.”
As much as I wanted to know what kind of delivery would make a specific signature absolutely necessary, I also wanted to get out of there before Drake had a chance to follow up on that note.
I did, however, snatch up the note he’d made the mistake of writing on his own stationery.
Booking it out of his office, I waved to Noreen as if I didn’t have a care in the world.
Of course, inside I was shaking like one of those hula girls people still liked to put on their dashes. I made it to the car and turned the key in the ignition hard enough to almost snap the metal. As I raced down the street I considered handing the note over to Burton but, really, this was not a threat. Not yet at least. I might eventually get into trouble for snooping when I had specifically been told not to, but I was keeping it just in case the murderer ended up being Drake.
I stopped in at the Bean for a few minutes, hoping to extend the nap Gina was supposed to be taking. The place was jumping. Max hadn’t lied when he said there was a line. Not that I had truly doubted him, but I thought he had been trying to make Gina feel better about the situation.
And speaking of Gina, I would not have to wake her up from any kind of nap since she was pouring coffee like a pro and yakking at all the regulars sitting at the counter.
So much for trying to keep her out of the public eye until we could figure out what had happened.
Within seconds I had a hot mocha latte in my hand and was being escorted into the back of the Bean with no explanation. Gina tugged me along even though I wanted to see what was going on out front and hear if anyone was talking. Although, this did give me the chance to scold her for not staying put like I’d asked her to.
“Tallie, you won’t believe the word that’s going around.” Gina plunked herself into a chair while motioning me to take the other one.
“What word?” I sipped and enjoyed, putting thoughts of Drake Fuller out of my head to concentrate on Gina’s news.
“Burton’s coming for me.”
That enjoyment went right out of my head and nearly out of my mouth as I sputtered, “But he said that he didn’t believe you did it and was looking into all the other possibilities.”
“Apparently, the wife was more convincing than we had assumed she’d be and has some kind of evidence that makes Burton think he needs to bring me in for more questioning.”
“What could she possibly have?”
Gina raised eyes swimming in tears to me. “I have no idea. I went out on a couple of dates, exchanged some e-mails and texts with the guy. Nothing more. I’ve been going over and over in my head what she might have, and I’m coming up blank.”
I did not like seeing Gina so defeated. While I knew that I should stay out of this and let the professionals handle the murder investigation—or rather what had been thought of as a suspicious death—if Burton was coming for my best friend, he’d have to go through me first. I was going to figure this out one way or another.
“I wish she didn’t know what I looked like.” I took another sip of my latte. “Then I could go in and see what I could find.”
The watery eyes turned hopeful. “Are you sure she registered you on her radar? The first time she was in your vicinity she was trying to pull out all my hair and the second time she was screaming her head off. Maybe she has no idea you even exist.”
That was certainly possible and not easily dismissed. “It does help that I’m often invisible to people. And what’s the worst that could happen? She could say no to talking to me at all, and I would just figure out a way around her. That Drake guy is a dead end at this point anyway, so I need something to go with next.” I almost mentioned the note in my pocket, but didn’t want to add to Gina’s feelings of hopelessness by letting her know that someone else thought she had killed Craig.
“Do you know anyone who knows her who could recommend you as a cleaning lady so it doesn’t look like you’re just calling her out of the blue?” she asked.
I ran through all the people I knew, from both my married days as well as my current life, but came up empty. “I’ll put out some feelers. From the looks of the Johnson and Fuller office they must have some money, and I still have a few people I might be able to call on. Plus, Letty’s out of town for the week with her mom, so all the jobs are mine, anyway.”
Nervousness vibrated off my friend as she wrung her hands in her lap. “Are you going to have time to help me? I don’t want you to lose money, but I also don’t want you spreading yourself too thin.”
Reaching forward, I gripped her clasped hands. “I would turn the world upside down for you, Gina. No worries. Though I think we might need to have a conversation about you and my brother here soon.”
Her eyes widened in a way that told me far more than she probably wanted me to know. Just great.
“I need to get back o
ut there, Tallie. I’ll see you later and bring any gossip I have with me. Are you free after six?”
I mentally checked my miniscule calendar. As far as I knew I had nothing on it. “Your house or . . .” I trailed off. “Are you allowed back in yet?”
“No, not yet. And I might be staying the night in jail anyway. I’m not going to lay myself at the police’s door, but if Burton comes before I close who knows what will happen? Barring that, my mom has demanded I stay at her house tonight.”
“Jail might be preferable,” I said to lighten the mood.
She giggled. “You know my mom has the ears of a bat when she wants to. You might not want to say that too loud or you’ll go back on the bad-girl list.”
“That’s the truth. I still haven’t completely gotten off it from when we were teenagers.”
Laughing, she rose from her chair and then the laughter stopped abruptly. “No, and Craig would have been on it too if he was still alive.” She bit her lip. “You don’t think . . .” She halted and bit her lip harder.
“You’re going to draw blood. Stop it.”
“I just wonder.”
“What?”
“I did not harm that boy,” Mama Shirley said from the doorway.
Oh man, how long had she been standing there?
“Of course not, Mom.” Gina lowered her gaze and gripped her hands together until her knuckles turned white.
Mama Shirley came further into the room. Using the flat of her hand, she lifted Gina’s chin. “It’s not that I wasn’t angry enough. I considered sitting outside your house in my car last night just to keep an eye on the place after I heard about the drive-by flowering from Lois at the diner. She heard it from her niece who saw it happen. But I did none of that. You’re a grown woman and can take care of yourself. I know this and you know this. I’m trying to put it in practice, but I can’t make promises, at least not beyond the one where I tell you for sure that I did not hurt that boy.”
