Thin Crust Killers

by Chris Cavender

  After he was gone, Maddy said, “You didn’t even find out what that tarp was hiding. Aren’t you the least bit curious about what he sent you?”

  “I guess I am, a little.” I frowned at Maddy, then added, “I thought you were going to scold me about scaring someone like that just now.”

  “Are you kidding? I don’t want to be on Mr. Young’s bad side any more than that man did. To be honest with you, he kind of scares me.”

  That thought struck me as unusual. I didn’t think my brave sister was frightened of anything.

  “You know he would never hurt you, don’t you,” I said emphatically.

  “Not unless I was stupid enough to get in his way,” Maddy said, “which I’m not very likely to do.”

  “That’s not the point,” I said.

  “It’s close enough for me. I’m still not exactly certain how you two bonded like you did, but I’m not sure it’s the healthiest relationship you’ve ever had in your life.”

  “It’s probably not the worst one I’ve had, either,” I said. “We’re friends. It is what it is. Don’t try to read too much into it.”

  “Me? Would I do something like that? You know me. I’ve always been the kind of gal who keeps her nose out of other people’s business.”

  We both broke up laughing about that, it was such a huge lie. At least the restaurant was nearly deserted. The few customers we’d been serving had decided to leave at the first mention of Art Young’s name, a definite negative aspect of having a friend with a dark side to him.

  It was nearly time to close for our afternoon break, and Greg was already wiping the tables down where our customers had just left.

  I walked over to him. “As soon as you finish that table, you can take off. You’ll be back later, won’t you?”

  He nodded. “My class was canceled today, so I’m yours all day, if you can afford to have me.”

  “I think I can manage it,” I said with a smile.

  Greg threw his dish towel in with the dishes in the bin and said, “Let me take this to the kitchen and then I’m out of here, too.”

  “I’ll get it,” I said.

  “Are you sure?”

  Maddy said, “If I were you, I’d go before she changes her mind.”

  He didn’t need another hint. As he left, I followed him to the door, flipped our sign from open to closed, and dead-bolted it behind him.

  Maddy grabbed the dirty dishes without prompting, and I followed her into the kitchen, turning the lights off in the dining room as I did.

  “What’s on tap for our investigation today?” Maddy asked. It had become our habit to work during our time off, since it gave us the perfect opportunity to quiz our suspects without being forced to shut the pizzeria down.

  “I’d like to talk to Bailey again, but first, I think we should go by the newspaper office.”

  “You want to grill Trent another time?”

  “Honestly, I want to find out if he’s seen my brother-in-law yet. I’ve got a bad feeling about Steve for some reason.”

  “Maybe because he’s been bad news since the first day you met him,” Maddy said.

  “No, it’s more than that. I have a hunch something might be wrong.”

  She knew enough to take my instincts seriously. They’d proven right too many times in the past, though they were by no means infallible.

  As for Steve, only time would tell if I was right about him being in some kind of serious trouble or not.

  Chapter 8

  “Hello? Is anyone there?”

  I’d knocked on the door of the Timber Talk several times, but no one had answered. The building was made of old faded brick, though it had no particular style to it that I could discern. It was a few blocks away from the promenade, but Maddy and I had decided to walk instead of drive, as much for my waistline as for the fuel economy.

  I tried the door handle, and was surprised to find that it was locked. “What’s going on here?” I asked Maddy. “I’ve heard a dozen people over the years say that Trent never locks this door. He’s too paranoid that he might miss something, and he’s always boasting that there’s nothing in his office worth stealing.”

  “Maybe there is now,” Maddy said.

  “Do you have any idea what that might be?”

  “You’re the one with all of the theories,” my sister said. “I’m counting on you.”

  “Even if that were true, which I’m not conceding, I’m fresh out of them at the moment. Trent told me he’d be here for the rest of the day. Something’s going on.” I noticed a piece of paper on the ground near the door. I reached down and grabbed it, then opened it to see what it said.

  In bold letters, it said, ‘gone, maybe for good. trent.’

  I showed it to Maddy, who took it and studied it for a second before handing it back to me. “That’s odd, isn’t it?”

  “It makes me wonder what’s happening,” I said. “What would drive Trent off like that after he was so excited earlier?”

  “Maybe whatever was in his file is going to come to light soon, and he had to get out of town before he got caught up in it.”

  I shook my head. “Sometimes you have too vivid an imagination,” I said.

  “Can you think of any other reason he’d leave town like that?”

  “Not off the top of my head,” I said. “What should we do now?”

  “We could always call Kevin Hurley.”

  “And tell him what, exactly?”

  “There’s that,” she said. “I wonder if Trent ever found Steve.”

  “I don’t know. I have no idea where he is myself.”

  “So, now we have two missing people on our list. That doesn’t bode well for our investigation, does it?”

  A gust of wind came up and ripped the note from my hand. After I chased it ten feet, I managed to grab it before it could get away for good.

  “Steve’s not on our list,” I said as I rejoined Maddy on the curb.

  “Maybe he should be.”

  I looked carefully at my sister to see if she was kidding, but it was clear she was dead serious.

  “Come on. What possible reason could we have to suspect him of anything? His name wasn’t on a file, remember?”

  “Maybe he took it with him. That would make him the smartest one of the bunch, wouldn’t it?”

  “Just because you don’t like the man is no reason to accuse him of murder. He hasn’t been in town since Joe’s funeral.”

  “Maybe he had a reason to stay away. Let me ask you something,” Maddy said. “Where did he get the money to pay back Joe’s loan?”

  “He said he made a good business deal.”

  “Robbing a bank could be considered a business deal in some circles,” Maddy said.

  “Now you’re really grasping at straws.”

  “Eleanor, a man who has barely had two dimes to rub together suddenly shows up in town with a thousand dollars for you, and it just happens to be the same day the bank in town is robbed. Are you honestly telling me that coincidence never crossed your mind?”

  I wanted to lie to her, but I couldn’t. “Okay, so I thought about it for maybe a second before I took the money, but I can’t believe he did it.”

  “Why not?”

  “I just can’t imagine Joe’s brother doing something like that.”

  “Robbing the bank, or shooting Hank?”

  “Either one,” I answered. “Both. Take your pick.”

  “We shouldn’t rule anybody out at this point. That’s all I’m saying,” Maddy said.

  “Do me a favor and don’t,” I answered curtly as I started walking.

  “Where are you going?”

  “We wanted to talk to Bailey, remember? You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I can handle it myself.”

  “Just try to stop me,” she said.

  As we walked to the insurance agent’s business, there wasn’t a great deal of conversation between us. Her conjecture about Steve’s possible role in the robbery a
nd murder was just too farfetched for me to believe. And then something occurred to me. What if it were true? What if that box he’d asked me to hold onto for him contained money from the robbery? Was it possible? Given everything I knew about the man, I had to acknowledge that it was within the realm of possibility, no matter how much it pained me to do so.

  After a few minutes of silence, Maddy asked softly, “Are you mad at me, Eleanor?”

  “Yes, but I’m angrier with myself than at you. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. Given Steve’s history, it’s a possibility we should consider, no matter how unpleasant it might be. I’m sorry, Maddy.”

  “Come on, Sis, if I stopped what I was doing to apologize to you every time I was wrong, I’d never get anything else done.”

  “So we’re good?”

  “Good as gold,” she said as she hugged my shoulder.

  We were nearly to Bailey’s office, located a few blocks from my pizzeria, when Maddy whispered, “Eleanor. Look over there. Do you see that?”

  A lot of folks were out walking, no doubt enjoying the invigorating weather. “What am I looking for? Doc Parsons and his wife?” I could see them walking and holding hands, though it appeared that Angie was more interested in the display than her husband was. “So what? They’re married. They can hold hands anytime they want.”

  “I’m talking about who’s following them.”

  I let my eyes track behind them and spotted Missy Plum trying to be as furtive as she could be as she shadowed them.

  “She’s really got a problem, doesn’t she?” I asked.

  “It looks pretty suspicious,” Maddy agreed. “Maybe Hank’s file was right about her.”

  “Just because she’s tailing them doesn’t mean she’s a cold-blooded killer.”

  “You have to admit that it doesn’t look good either.”

  “I’ll give you that,” I said as I watched Missy following Doc and Angie Parsons. Something must have given us away, because Missy’s gaze left them for an instant and turned toward us. We made eye contact for a split second before she ducked into Al’s Gun Shop, a place I doubted Missy had ever entered before in her life.

  “Let’s go talk to her,” Maddy said as she pulled at my arm.

  “You’re actually willing to go in there?” My sister wasn’t a big fan of Al’s, particularly since he’d once made a comment behind her back that she was getting older. Maddy hadn’t reacted well to the barb, and she hadn’t spoken to him since, at least to my knowledge.

  “I’d walk into a pen of pit bulls while I was wearing steak lingerie if it helped us figure out what happened to Hank,” she said.

  “Then let’s go. I’m right behind you, which by the way is exactly where I’ll be if you ever try that stunt with the steak.”

  We walked toward Al’s, but before we could get there, Missy came back out. She tried to avoid us on the sidewalk, but as I stepped in front of her, Maddy cut off her retreat by neatly moving in behind her.

  “What do you want, Eleanor?”

  “I’ve got a question for you. Why were you following our young doctor and his wife down the street, Missy?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, though it was clear from the tremor in her voice that she was lying.

  “We just saw you,” Maddy said from behind into her ear.

  “You just think you did,” Missy said as she spun around. “I can go for a walk anytime I’d like to, and you two can’t stop me.”

  “He’s married,” I said.

  “Don’t you think I know that?” Missy snapped, nearly screaming at me. “She’s evil, you know that, don’t you? The woman is certifiably insane.”

  “Why, because she’s a little paranoid? Does she have a reason to be suspicious of you two?” Maddy asked.

  Missy was about to reply when she took a deep breath, then said much more calmly, “As I told you before, we’re friends; nothing more, and nothing less.”

  “But you’d like it to be more, wouldn’t you?” Maddy asked.

  “I don’t have to stand here and listen to this,” Missy said as she walked away.

  Maddy looked at me for a second, then asked, “Aren’t we going to follow her?”

  “What good would it do? She knows we suspect something, and for now, that’s got to be enough.”

  “Trust me, I’m not about to forget her,” Maddy said. “Somebody should warn the Parsonses that she’s following them around town, though.”

  “Do we really need to give Angie Parsons more ammunition than she’s already got? Right now we need to talk to Bailey. Are you up for it?”

  “Lead on. If he thinks he’s going to weasel out of anything today, he’s badly mistaken. I’m getting tired of everyone calling us liars, all the while they’re avoiding the truth like they owe it money.”

  At least Bailey was in his office when we got there. It was beginning to feel as though the entire town was starting to duck us.

  Not that I could blame them. Maddy and I rarely went out on our investigations looking for reasons to compliment the people we talked to. There was just no easy way to ask someone if they were a cold-blooded killer.

  Bailey answered the front door of his office with a frown. “Ladies, unless you’re here about buying more insurance for the pizzeria, I really don’t have time for this.”

  “Is that any way to treat loyal customers?” I asked.

  “You have a couple of policies with me, but she doesn’t,” he said as he pointed to Maddy.

  “Is that all it takes to get you to tell the truth? Draw up the papers and show me where to sign. But first, you have to talk to us.”

  “If I had a little more free time, I’d call your bluff, but as it is, I’m jammed for time right now.”

  I wasn’t about to let him off the hook that easily. “We’re not finished talking about Hank Webber.”

  He didn’t even try to hide his look of annoyance. “You may not be, but I am. Now why don’t you two leave so I can get some work done?”

  I stepped past him and planted myself in one of the chairs in front of his desk, and Maddy took the other. “Don’t mind us,” I said. “Go right ahead and do whatever you need to.”

  “We can wait,” Maddy chimed in. “We’ve got all day, if that’s what it takes.”

  “What about the Slice? You have to leave sooner or later,” Bailey said as he moved behind his desk and sat down.

  “We’re closed until further notice,” I said on the spur of the moment.

  “So we’ve got all the time in the world,” Maddy added. I wasn’t sure how long I could push my bluff, but I had a feeling Bailey would break before I did, and knowing Maddy, she would actually sit there all day and into the night to get answers.

  Bailey threw his hands into the air, then said, “Fine. I give up. What do you want to know?”

  “Are you running an insurance scam?” Maddy asked him.

  He looked genuinely surprised by the accusation. “What are you talking about? Have you lost your minds?” Bailey looked at me. “Eleanor, I can understand your nutty sister going off the deep end, but not you. I thought we were friends.”

  “Funny, so did I,” I said. “We read Hank Webber’s file on you, so there’s no use denying it. You’ve got a serious gambling problem, and you’re stealing to pay for the habit. Don’t try to deny it. We’ve got proof.”

  “Is that what Webber said?” Bailey asked. “The man was as crazy as the two of you are.”

  “So, you’re saying none of it is true? Be careful what you say next, Bailey. There could be consequences.”

  Bailey took a deep breath, then tented his fingers on the top of his desk. After a full minute, he finally said, “I got into a little trouble last year, but not with any of my business funds. I love being an agent, and I’d never do anything to jeopardize my job.”

  “But you do gamble,” I said softly.

  “No, I used to. The key here is ‘did.’ I got some help, but not before it
nearly wiped me out. As it is, my house is mortgaged to the hilt and I’m living paycheck to paycheck, but I haven’t gambled in eight months and twenty-seven days, and that’s the truth. In seven months I’ll have my debts paid off and I can start putting my life back together. So you see, there was no reason for me to kill Hank Webber.”

  I wanted to believe him, but clearly Maddy wasn’t as forgiving a spirit. “You had twice the incentive to rob that bank as anyone else did. You got the money to pay off your debts, and you kept Hank Webber from exposing your dirty little secret. How many folks in town would trust you with their insurance if they knew what you were up to?”

  “I didn’t kill Hank, and I didn’t rob the bank,” Bailey said forcefully. He looked hard at me, then added, “If you’re grilling suspects, I hope you talk to your brother-in-law.”

  “What does Steve have to do with any of this?” I asked.

  “Are you kidding me? His fingerprints are all over this. First off, he and Hank had a huge fight the night before the robbery. I was working late when I saw them on the corner across the street, and they looked like they were going to come to blows.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” I said. “Steve wasn’t in town until the next afternoon, after the robbery occurred.”

  He laughed. “Did he honestly tell you that? If he did, he’s lying, because I saw him with my own two eyes the night before it happened. There’s one more thing, too.” Steve reached into his drawer, and for a split second I thought he was going to pull out a gun. Instead, he had an envelope that was bulging from its contents. Steve opened it, then fanned out twenty-five or thirty hundred-dollar bills. “He gave this to me two hours after the robbery. He’s owed me money for years, but I never thought I’d see any of it. The timing’s kind of suspicious, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Why did he owe you so much money?” Maddy asked.

  Bailey smiled, but there was no joy or warmth in it. “If anyone in the world was worse at gambling than I used to be, it was Steve. I never thought he’d pay me what he owed me. When he walked in here and laid this on my desk, I nearly fainted.”

  “Why haven’t you used it to pay off some of your debts, if you’re not gambling anymore?” I asked.