Death to the Highest Bidder: A Jill Andrews Cozy Mystery #2

by Nicole Ellis

  I scrambled out from under the desk, grabbed the gift basket from where I’d left it on the floor and wandered out the door in a daze. I was so lost in thought that I accidentally wandered out on to the warehouse floor.

  “Hey, lady!” a man shouted. “I almost ran you over.”

  I looked up to see a yellow forklift stopped just in front of me. “Sorry.” I shivered at the close call and scurried over to the pathway along the wall, making my way out to my minivan. Terri still wasn’t back when I passed the reception desk.

  Things were certainly a mess at Ericksville Espresso. It seemed like ages ago that Desi and I had been excited to see the inside of the building. Now that I knew the tangled web of its inhabitants, I had no desire to ever go back there.

  8

  On Saturday, I brought the kids over to Desi’s house to play so I could go in to work for a few hours at the Boathouse. I’d hoped to not have to work over the weekend, but I needed to check on a few things.

  As soon as we got to her house, Mikey ran off to play with Anthony, leaving his aunt, myself, and the babies alone in the living room. I held Lina while Desi bounced Ella on her knee.

  “How are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’m fine,” I said automatically.

  She peered at me. “No you’re not. C’mon. I can tell when something’s wrong.”

  “It’s the auction and Louis’s murder and Adam not being here. When the auction is over, my stress levels will go down.”

  “Do you need help with it?”

  “No, it’s all taken care of. I feel like I did with my wedding though. You plan and worry about all the details, and then it’s finally the big day. Afterward, you’re just grateful that it’s finally over with.” I knew Desi had a lot on her plate too, and I didn’t want to trouble her.

  “Got it. Well, if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

  “I did—you’re watching my kids for me.” I grinned at her.

  “True.” She laughed and waved me off. “Go, get to work. Make this the best auction Busy Bees has ever seen.”

  I’d left my phone in the car, and the screen showed a missed call. I checked the log. My parents. With all the commotion over Louis’s murder, I’d forgotten to return my mom’s phone call. Again. I tapped the button to call them back, hit speakerphone, then drove toward the Boathouse.

  “Hi, Mom,” I said when she answered.

  “Jill,” my mother said warmly over the line. “It’s so nice to hear from you.”

  “You too. Adam told me you called, but this has been a crazy week. I’m sorry I didn’t call you back sooner.”

  “Don’t worry about it, honey. We know you’ve been busy. Your dad and I were just wondering about when we should come for Mikey’s birthday party. It’s still next Sunday, right?”

  I froze despite the warmth trapped in my car. Oh no. How had I managed to forget Mikey’s fourth birthday? I vaguely remembered discussing it with my mother a few months ago and making plans for a party next Sunday. Unfortunately, that was as far as I’d gotten on party planning.

  “Uh, yes. One o’clock.” My mind spun, trying to work out everything I’d need to do. Invitations, party guests, food, decorations. How would I possibly get everything done? It didn’t escape me that I’d been too busy planning other people’s events to remember my own son’s birthday. “I’ll get the guest room ready for you.”

  “Oh no. You don’t have to do that. We’ve already made plans to stay in a hotel in Ericksville. We don’t want to inconvenience you.”

  “Are you sure? It’s no trouble.”

  “Yes, honey,” she said. “It’ll be easier for everyone.”

  They always stayed at my house. I knew I should be relieved that I didn’t need to get the guest room ready, but something felt off.

  “We’re planning on coming out on Wednesday.” Her voice caught a little. “We have something important to discuss with you, so maybe we can get together the next day.”

  She sounded serious. I pulled over and held the phone to my ear.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?” A car whizzed by with pop music blaring out the open windows.

  “We’d rather tell you in person.”

  “Are you ok? Is Dad?”

  She hesitated for a moment. “We’re fine. But we need to talk with you. Can you do Thursday morning?”

  I checked my phone calendar. I could move some things around.

  “Sure. Does ten o’clock work? I can meet you at the hotel with the kids. I know Mikey will be excited to see you both.”

  “We’re looking forward to seeing them as well. That’s perfect. We’ll be at the Sunset Hotel. Just give me a call when you arrive.”

  After she hung up the phone, I stayed parked for a few minutes. Even though Mom had said she and Dad were fine, something was definitely wrong. I tried to push it out of my mind though as I still had some things to take care of at the Boathouse. The clients for the Tuesday wedding had called with a last-minute change to the guest list and needed to decrease their catering count, so I fired off an e-mail to our catering manager, Lizzie, to let her know. Then, I checked on the wedding reception set-up. Things were going smoothly, so I worked on more auction details and then returned to Desi’s house to pick up the kids.

  “You look like something the cat dragged in,” were the first words out of her mouth.

  I glared at her. “Thanks a lot.”

  “What’s going on? More auction drama?”

  “No. My parents are coming to town for Mikey’s birthday party next Sunday.”

  “Mikey’s birthday party?” She cocked her head to the side. “I don’t remember getting an invitation.”

  “That’s because I forgot.” I grimaced.

  “Oh. So what are you going to do for Mikey’s birthday?”

  Ugh. I needed to figure that out ASAP if I wanted anyone to show up next weekend. I’d have to bake a cake, buy decorations, and decide whom to invite. That last item was a big sticking point with me right now.

  “Did I tell you that Dorinda is a parent of one of the kids at Busy Bees preschool?”

  “No, which one? In Mikey and Anthony’s class?”

  “Yes, Daniel.” I waited for her reaction and wasn’t disappointed.

  Her mouth gaped open. “He’s the one who’s been biting Anthony, isn’t he?”

  “They told you who it was that bit Anthony?” I was surprised as the school wasn’t allowed to disclose anything about a student to anyone other than their parents.

  She scoffed. “Of course not. All I got from them was, ‘a friend of Anthony’s’ did it. A friend—ha! But I asked Anthony, and he told me it was Daniel. It’s not the first time he’s complained about Daniel hurting him or his friends.”

  I sighed. “I know, I hear the same thing from Mikey, but Daniel has gone through a lot. When I went to Ericksville Espresso again to pick up the auction basket, I met Daniel’s mother, Dorinda. Turns out she’s a co-owner. Anyway, his dad died recently and they moved down here from Bellton, which is probably why he’s so unhappy. But I don’t think most of the kids like him, Mikey included. Daniel is coming over tomorrow for a playdate, and I’m hoping to change Mikey’s opinion, but no guarantees. Do you think it would be ok for me to invite him to the birthday party?”

  She frowned. “Are you inviting all the other kids in Mikey’s class?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, you definitely have to invite him.” She stared at me. “I get it, I’m not keen on Anthony being bitten either. But if you invite all the other kids, you can’t leave Daniel out. And it sounds like he’s had a rough time. We’ll just keep a close eye on everyone at the party.”

  My shoulders slumped, and I gulped my coffee, the mild burning sensation distracting me from my problems for a moment. “Ok. What about Nancy’s daughter? Do I have to invite her?”

  “As much as I don’t want to spend any more time with Nancy than absolutely necessary, you have to invite her kid too.”


  “Do you think if I invite people now, they’d be able to come to a party on Sunday?”

  “Uh …” She looked at me. “Do you want the truth?”

  “I know. I should have done it earlier, but I was overwhelmed with everything else and forgot.” My spirits rose. “On the bright side, if I send out invitations now, maybe not everyone in his class will be able to come. Twenty kids and their parents would be an awful lot of people in my house at one time.” I changed the subject. “Something is going on with my parents. My mom said they’re coming into town on Wednesday, but they’re staying in a hotel.”

  “Well maybe they wanted to stay out of your way.”

  “That’s what my mom said, but she also said they need to talk to me about something. She wouldn’t say what.” I twisted my wedding ring around my finger. “Desi, what if it’s something bad? Like one of them is sick or something?”

  She put her hand on my arm. “I’m sure everything is ok. Besides, you’ll see them soon. Don’t work yourself up before then. Do you want to stay for dinner?”

  “I think I just want to go home.” I felt more weary than I could ever remember feeling in the past.

  “Ok, I’ll get the boys.” She walked to the entrance to the hallway.

  “Mikey!” she shouted. “Your mom is here.”

  The boys thundered in, coming to a halt in front of Desi.

  “Can Mikey stay for dinner?” Anthony begged.

  She ruffled his hair. “No, I think Aunt Jill wants to go home.” Her eyes met mine, and I nodded.

  At the door, she hugged me again. “It will all work out, I promise.”

  Although I didn’t feel up to it, I didn’t want to cancel the playdate I’d scheduled with Dorinda. While I felt like my life was falling apart from stress, Daniel’s world truly had been shattered and I wanted to help him and Dorinda in any way I could.

  “Mom,” Mikey whined. “Do we have to have them over?”

  “Yes.” I glared at him and arranged some carrots, celery sticks, and ranch dip on a platter. To sweeten the mood, I placed some of Desi’s blondie brownies on a plate. “You have to give Daniel a chance.”

  “But he’s so mean to me and Anthony.” He gave me a sad, puppy dog look.

  I knelt in front of him. “I know he hasn’t been very nice to you in the past, but he’s new here and needs friends. You’ve lived here all your life and have had that time to make friends, right?”

  He nodded.

  “Well, maybe he doesn’t know how to be a good friend. Do you think you could teach him?”

  “I guess so.” He didn’t look convinced, but that was probably the best I was going to get out of him.

  “Can you go upstairs and get your boxes of Legos? You boys can play with them down here in the living room while Ella takes her nap.” The baby had fallen asleep after fretting for twenty minutes and, even with her door closed, I didn’t want to risk having the boys wake her up. Besides, if they were downstairs, Dorinda and I could keep an eye on them better.

  He grumbled something and ran up the stairs. I took that as a yes.

  The doorbell rang, and I answered it. Dorinda stood next to her son, a pained expression on her face. Daniel seemed about as happy as Mikey was to have this playdate.

  “Hey.” I motioned for them to come in. “How’s it going?”

  “Things have been better,” she said, staring pointedly at her son before turning back to me. “Here, I brought you some of our most popular coffee.” She handed me a one pound sack of ground Willowby Dark Roast.

  “Thanks, that is so nice of you. I was thinking about making some coffee. Daniel, you can go play with Mikey.” Mikey tilted his head up at the sound of his name, but he didn’t acknowledge his guest.

  “Don’t forget to share, honey,” Dorinda whispered to her son.

  Ignoring her, Daniel ran over to the box of Legos Mikey had brought downstairs, and Dorinda followed me into the kitchen and sat on a barstool.

  “Have things been that bad?” I prepared the coffee, then sat across from her.

  “I don’t know what gets into him. I mean, I know he’s upset about losing his dad, but he seems so angry.”

  “Would seeing a counselor help?” The coffee had finished percolating, so I walked over to the coffeepot and filled cups for us. I surreptitiously sniffed my coffee but couldn’t discern anything special about it.

  “I’ve made an appointment for him to see someone.” She shrugged. “We’ll see if it works.”

  I changed the subject, hoping to take her mind off her son’s behavior. “How are things going at work? Did Terri ever come back on Friday?”

  She glanced over to the kids, and I followed her gaze. The boys were quietly playing separately on the rug, but at least they had developed a sort of coexistence.

  “Yeah, she finally came back, just long enough to tell me she was tendering her resignation. Apparently she wasn’t interested in working there after Louis was gone.”

  “You said before that they had an, um … intimate relationship. Do you know if she went into his office the evening of his murder?”

  She regarded me shrewdly. “You think she may have killed Louis because he had dumped her?”

  I shrugged. “She was acting really odd when I was there, and she admitted to seeing the basket from Brenda.” To me, it seemed suspicious for Terri to quit right after her boss was murdered.

  Dorinda looked lost in thought. “I’m not a huge fan of Terri, but a murderer? I don’t know about that. But, yes, I’m sure she was in and out of his office all day, delivering mail and such.”

  “What about his wife? Did she go in there much?”

  She grinned. “I often joked that I wished I had a wife like Sandy. She brought Louis lunch every day at noon, just like clockwork. If he wasn’t there, she’d drop it off in his office. So yeah, I’m sure she was in his office that day.” She stared at me and twisted her wedding ring around her finger. “I had access to his office, too, as did everyone in the warehouse. It could have been anyone at Ericksville Espresso.”

  “But not everyone had a motive to kill him.”

  “No.” She sipped her coffee, deep in thought. “I’m sure the police are working on it, but I really hope they figure out who killed him soon.” She shivered, despite the warm coffee. “It’s a little creepy in there at night now, knowing there’s a murderer on the loose.”

  A commotion over by the fireplace drew our attention.

  Daniel was holding on to a Lego car, and Mikey was trying to grab it away from him. They were both standing up and glaring at each other, looking almost comical with their petite statures and character T-shirts. Under their feet, the floor was a minefield of scattered Lego bricks.

  “Hey, that’s mine,” Mikey shouted.

  “I had it first!” Daniel dropped to the floor and hunched up in a ball over the car.

  Dorinda and I exchanged glances. Up until this point, things had been going reasonably well.

  Wah, wah. They had woken the baby. Ella’s cries came over the baby monitor and simultaneously drifted down the stairs.

  “I think the playdate may be over.” Dorinda gulped the remaining coffee and walked over to her son, dodging the Legos on the floor. “Daniel, it’s time to go. We’ve got to get to Target before dinner time anyway.”

  “Fine.” He threw the toy car on the couch and ran to the door. As his mother gathered their belongings, he bounced from foot to foot on the doormat with a grimace on his face. “Mom, c’mon.”

  “Sorry,” Dorinda said to me with a look of apology. “Maybe things will go better next time?”

  I nodded. “They just need to get used to playing with each other. Don’t worry about it. When his cousin Anthony comes over, they sometimes argue too. It’s totally normal.” I glanced over at Mikey, who was studiously ignoring his guest.

  “Mikey, say goodbye, please.”

  “Bye,” he uttered without looking up.

  Dorinda waved goodbye
to me and guided her son out the door. “See you at school,” she called over her shoulder.

  “See you.” I shut the door behind them. Ella must have gone back to sleep because the racket from upstairs had stopped. I walked over to Mikey and sat cross-legged on the floor next to him.

  “Mikey.”

  He didn’t look up. I tried again, resting my hand on his shoulder. “Mikey.”

  “What?”

  “Can you please try to be nice to Daniel? He’s going through a tough time and could really use a friend. His dad died last year, and I’m sure he misses him.”

  Mikey appeared to think about it and then looked up at me. “His dad is gone?”

  I wasn’t sure he understood what death meant, but he did understand what it was like to not have your dad around. “Yes.”

  He contemplated my response and then said, “I’ll try, Mom. Can I play now?”

  “Sure. If you want a snack, there’s veggies and dip on the counter. I’ll make dinner in a little bit.”

  I went upstairs to check on Ella. She was awake but lying quietly in her crib, staring at the ceiling. She smiled when I picked her up. I sat in the recliner in her room and held her to my chest, staring out the window for a minute.

  Although I’d managed to get some information from Dorinda about who had access to the basket with the chocolates in Louis’s office, nothing had been cleared up. I’d met Terri, but Sandy was an enigma to me. I needed to find out more about her, but how could I stage a meeting with her without it looking forced?

  9

  When I went back to work on Monday, I was determined to focus on everything I had to do at the Boathouse. I waded through the e-mails I’d deemed non-priority over the weekend and updated some files on my desk. At noon, I came up for air and let myself relax into my leather desk chair, the one luxury in the office. I closed my eyes.

  What would it be like to have a fancy office like the one Louis had at Ericksville Espresso? I didn’t want such masculine furnishings, but a nicer desk than the scarred wooden one I’d been using would be nice. I made a note to ask Beth if there was any budget available for office furniture. After all, I met with clients in my office, and I wanted to make a good impression on them.