Thin Crust Killers

by Chris Cavender

  “To be honest with you, I’m a little afraid to spend it on anything. If Steve got this from the robbery, it could be marked, and then what am I going to do? The people I owe money to would not appreciate getting marked bills from a bank robbery. Until I see how things shake out, I’m sitting on it until I find out exactly what’s going on.”

  “Do you have an alibi for the time of the robbery?” Maddy asked.

  “What are you, a junior police investigator? I don’t need to tell you anything.” He stood, then added, “As a matter of fact, we’re done here. If you don’t want to leave on your own, I’ll call the police chief and have him remove you by force.”

  “You can’t really afford that kind of publicity,” I said. “Don’t think we won’t tell everyone in Timber Ridge what you’ve been up to if you force us to.”

  “Tell them whatever you want to,” he said as he reached for the telephone and handed it to me. “Call the cops yourself for all I care. I haven’t done anything I’m not in the process of fixing. If you ruin me before I can make things right again, just think about how bad you’re going to feel destroying a man’s life.”

  I had no desire to listen to another lecture on minding my own business from Kevin Hurley, let alone explain to him what Maddy and I had been doing in Bailey’s office.

  “Put the telephone down,” I said to him as I stood. “Come on, Maddy. Let’s get out of here.”

  “Are you sure?” It was clear she was ready to be carried out by the police, but I wasn’t willing to go that far myself.

  “I’m sure.”

  We were nearly at the door when Bailey said, “Given the circumstances, it might be a good idea if you shopped for your insurance somewhere else, Eleanor.”

  Was he actually dumping me? Well, I wasn’t going to let him before I could do it first. “Honestly, I was about to tell you the same thing. I’m not sure how safe I feel with you as my agent. No offense.”

  “None taken.”

  So, now we were both lying. I’d meant to offend him, and hopefully it had worked. After a second, he added, “I’ll cancel your policy as soon as you leave.”

  “Why don’t you go ahead and do it now? Since we’re here, you can issue me a full refund for the unused portion of my last payment.”

  “I’ll mail it to you,” he said.

  “I don’t think so. We don’t mind waiting,” I said as I sat back down in the chair. “If you’d like to call the police chief and get rid of us after all, I can give you his number. I’d be interested to hear what he thinks of everything we’ve discussed today.”

  He didn’t like it, but Bailey made a few telephone calls, then cut me a check himself. He wouldn’t even hand it to me, sliding it across his desk instead. “That’s it. There’s no reason for either one of you to come around here anymore.”

  “Is that a threat?” Maddy asked as we both stood. “I just love being threatened. It makes me feel so warm and tingly all over.”

  “It’s not a threat, but it is a firmly stated request.”

  I picked up the check, studied it longer than I had any earthly reason to, and then turned to go.

  Maddy had to get one last shot in, though. “I’d be careful who I alienated in this town if I were you. You never know how folks might react to the news of what you’ve been up to. Have a good day.”

  He didn’t bother responding, and Maddy and I were soon on our way back to the promenade.

  “You’d better deposit that before it bounces,” Maddy said as she pointed to the check still clutched in my hand.

  “Can you believe the nerve of that man?”

  “Sis, nothing seems to surprise me any more. I’m serious about the check, though.”

  “You’re probably right. I can’t believe I’ve got to go through the hassle of finding a new insurance agent.”

  “Come on, as small as our town is, there are still three or four other agents you can go to. And honestly, given what we’ve learned about Bailey in the past few days, do you really want him handling your business?”

  “I guess not,” I said.

  We made a stop at the bank and deposited the check. There was a pair of men in suits conferring near the vault, and I asked the teller, “What’s going on, Anna?”

  “It’s been like this every day since the robbery,” she said in a whisper as she made the deposit and prepared my receipt. “I keep hearing rumors around town that they’re close to arresting someone, but I don’t believe it.”

  “Why not?”

  “If they are on somebody’s trail, why are they still hanging around here?” she asked as she slid the deposit slip toward me. “Do you need anything else? I’d be glad to process your business deposit if you’d like.”

  “It’s still at the Slice,” I said. “I didn’t know I was coming over here until the last second.”

  Anna looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to us, and when she saw that they weren’t, she said, “You know, you’re not the first person to cancel your policy with Bailey Bradshaw this week.”

  “Who else has?” Maddy asked.

  “I could get fired for telling you this, but the list includes—” she said, and just as she started to name names, the two FBI men started walking toward us.

  Anna smiled at us brightly, then she said, “Have a nice day.”

  As they neared us, one of the men asked, “Is there a problem here?”

  “No, sir. We were just catching up.”

  It was clear by his frown that he didn’t approve of idle conversation and speculation, and when he didn’t move away, I said, “Bye, Anna. I’ll come back later with my business deposit.”

  “I’ll be here,” she said.

  Maddy and I were outside before my sister asked, “What was that all about? I wonder who else canceled their insurance.”

  “And why would they?” I added. “Do you think someone else read Hank’s files before we did?”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me one bit,” Maddy said.

  As we walked back to the Slice, Maddy was quiet, and when we were finally back at the front door, I asked, “Is there something on your mind?”

  “It can wait until we’re inside,” she said.

  I let us in, then locked the door behind us. “We have five minutes before Greg and Josh show up. What’s going on?”

  “You’re not going to like this, but there’s something else we need to do.”

  “What’s that?” What in the world could my sister be so nervous about talking to me about?

  “As crazy as it might sound to you, we really need to talk to Steve. I don’t think Bailey was lying to us, do you?”

  “I’m sure he was about something, but probably not about Steve. Can you believe the man’s nerve? When Bailey laid those bills out on his desk, I felt my stomach drop down to my feet.”

  “It spooked me a little, too. I hate to admit it, but it sounds like your brother-in-law might have had something to do with this after all.”

  “Why does that possibility bother you? I know you’ve never been a big fan of Steve’s, not that you don’t have your own reasons.”

  “That’s sort of the point,” Maddy said. “When I don’t like someone, I tend to be especially careful about how I judge them. I know I’ve got a bias sometimes as big as a bus, but I don’t like it to taint my feelings.”

  “You’re a unique individual, you know that, don’t you?”

  She laughed as she put an arm around me. “Sis, I’ve been telling you that for years. Thanks for not being upset about the suggestion.” Maddy paused for a second, then she added, “Hang on a second. That was a compliment, right?”

  “Of course it was,” I said.

  I reached for my cell phone, and Maddy asked, “Who are you calling?”

  “If one thing’s certain, we need to talk to Steve, and it needs to be sooner rather than later.”

  “How’d you get his cell phone number?” Maddy asked.

  “I’m not sure I do. He
gave it to me years ago, but I can’t believe it hasn’t changed since then.”

  It was still his number, but when the call went straight to voicemail, I said, “It’s turned off.”

  “Aren’t you going to at least leave him a message?”

  “That’s not a bad idea.” I hit ‘redial,’ and when I got the prompt, I said, “Steve, I need to talk to you. The second you get this, I expect you to come to the Slice. This is important, so don’t blow me off.”

  After I hung up, Maddy said, “I guess that’s all we can do for the moment.”

  “That’s not true,” I said. “We can make pizzas and feed the starving masses.”

  “There’s always that, isn’t there?”

  Greg and Josh knocked on the front door, and as I let them in, they continued the conversation they’d evidently been having for some time.

  “I say we offer ourselves as dates,” Josh said. “We’re a couple of handsome, eligible young bachelors. Think of all the bids we’ll get.”

  Greg shook his head. “Are you kidding me? How many girls do we know with enough money to bid on a date with us? You can’t even get half the girls you ask out to go for free, let alone pay for the privilege.”

  “Well, it’s still better than your idea.”

  “What’s wrong with offering an adventure package?” Greg looked at me and said, “Eleanor, I think we should do something exciting for the auction, but Josh is more interested in getting a date than raising money. What do you think?”

  “I think both your ideas have merit,” I said, lying as much as I had in one sentence than I had in a very long time. “But here’s a thought. Consider your audience. Do you really think anyone coming to the auction is going to want a date or a whitewater rafting trip? I think you’d raise a lot more money offering yard work or a day running errands. If you really want to swing for the fences, offer to clean someone’s attic. I’m willing to bet that you’ll raise more money than anyone else if you do that.”

  Both young men dismissed my idea without even giving me the courtesy of telling me I was crazy.

  “Maddy, what do you think? You’re a little more in tune than your sister,” Greg asked without skipping a beat.

  “Yes,” I said before she could answer. “I’d be really interested to hear that, especially from a woman as savvy as you apparently are.”

  My sister started laughing, then said, “If either one of you thinks you’re going to get me to take sides, you’ve completely lost your mind.”

  “Eleanor gave us advice,” Greg said.

  “And look what she got for her trouble. Neither one of you goons even thanked her for what was probably a pretty good idea. Do you two know the marketing creed?”

  “What are you talking about?” Josh said, his youthful impatience showing more than normal.

  “It’s simple, really. You find a need, and fill it,” Maddy said.

  “It can’t be anything that easy,” Greg replied.

  Maddy just shrugged. “While you two are debating what you’re going to offer for bid, Eleanor and I will be in the kitchen getting ready for our dinner crowd.”

  We waited until we were in the kitchen with the door closed to start laughing.

  Greg poked his head in, then said, “We can hear you out there; you know that, don’t you?”

  “Don’t take yourselves too seriously,” I said to Greg with a smile.

  He shook his head as he left us, which caused another round of laughter.

  “Were we ever that young?” I asked Maddy.

  “You were born thirty years old, but I’m sure I had more boneheaded ideas than that even on my best day.”

  “I fouled up as a kid, too. You can’t take all the credit.”

  “Okay, Sis, whatever you say.”

  I wasn’t about to stand there arguing over who had been the most trouble as a kid, mostly because I knew as well as Maddy did that I would lose, hands down. While I’d made my share of mistakes in my youth, my sister had been the undisputed queen of fouling up.

  Greg came back as we were prepping for the evening with an order. “I need this to go,” he said a little stiffly.

  I gave him my biggest smile, then started to hug him. He was too quick for me, though, and deftly stepped aside. “What are you doing, Eleanor?”

  “It’s clear that you’re still upset we were laughing, so I’m not going to stop until I can give you a big hug and you forgive us.”

  Greg held out his hands as if he were defending himself. “Trust me, we’re good.”

  “What, no hug?”

  The mock look of disappointment on my face was enough to crack him up, and the tension between us melted away like snow in summer.

  “Is Josh mad at us, too?” Maddy asked.

  “No, he thinks you’re both crazy, but he’s not angry about the way you acted. I kind of get the feeling he expects you both to be a little off all of the time.” Greg must have suddenly realized how that sounded, because he quickly added, “I didn’t mean it that way, and I’m sure Josh doesn’t, either.”

  “Don’t worry, we’re not going to fire either one of you for being too honest,” I said.

  “This time,” Maddy added.

  Greg wasn’t sure how to react to that, so he did the safest and smartest thing he could do: he left.

  “You shouldn’t tease him like that.”

  “I can’t help myself,” Maddy said. “Sometimes it’s just too easy.”

  My reply was cut off by the muffled boom of an explosion somewhere nearby.

  “What was that?” Maddy asked.

  “How should I know? I’m standing right here with you. Let’s go see.”

  We walked out into the dining room and found Greg and Josh standing by the window. “Did you two hear that?”

  “It was kind of hard to miss. Any idea what happened?”

  Greg shook his head. “Not yet, but I say we find out.”

  The four of us walked out onto the promenade, and I was glad we hadn’t opened for business yet. At least we weren’t deserting any of our customers.

  As I scanned the horizon, I spotted smoke billowing up behind us.

  “It’s over there,” I said as I pointed it out for the others.

  “Let’s go check it out,” Greg said.

  “Hang on a second,” I said.

  “Eleanor, we don’t have any customers yet, so there’s no reason we can’t go see what happened.”

  “I agree,” I said as I shook my keys at him. “I just thought I should lock the place up first.”

  He nodded sheepishly as he said, “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

  After I locked the door, we started in the direction of the smoke, and we weren’t the only ones. It was like that pillar of black smoke was some kind of homing beacon, one we all had to respond to.

  As we got closer and closer to it, it became clear where it was coming from.

  It looked as though someone had blown up the town newspaper.

  I had to wonder if Trent Caldwell had been inside when it had happened.

  Chapter 9

  “Does anyone know what happened?” I asked as I stared at the remains of the Timber Talk building. Maddy and I had just been there, and now the place was a smoldering heap of bricks and burning timbers. Three of the exterior walls were still standing, but the front door had been blown off in the explosion, and window glass had been hurled into the street. The smoke rolled off the structure like black steam, and everything smelled like burned plastic. The fire department showed up a few seconds after we did, and the chief immediately moved everyone across the street so his firefighters could work.

  “There wasn’t any warning,” Harriet Young said in quiet disbelief. “I was restocking my yarn bins up front, and the next thing I knew, there was a deafening roar that shook my front window like I was in the middle of an earthquake or something. It was horrible.”

  Harriet ran a store called A Tall Yarn, and she was one of the calmest people I’d ever
met. It was kind of offputting to see her so shaken, but I couldn’t blame her.

  “Can I get you some coffee or something?” I asked her.

  “Thank you, Eleanor, but I’m afraid it would just add to my jitters. How horrible it must have been for them.”

  “Them?” I asked. “Did you see someone go inside?”

  She was about to answer when Kevin Hurley showed up, along with two of his officers. “Let’s go, people. Move along. There’s nothing to see here. You need to go about your business so we can handle the situation.”

  “We’re not in the way over here,” Maddy said. “Why shouldn’t we stay?”

  Kevin looked as though he wanted to say something in response, then he clearly thought better of it. “Suit yourself, but the first person who crosses that street toward the newspaper office is going to jail. Am I making myself clear?”

  There were several nods from the crowd, and the police chief talked briefly to one of his officers before coming directly over to Maddy and me.

  “You can’t put me in jail for asking a question,” Maddy said defiantly. “I have my rights.”

  “Settle down. It’s Harriet I need to talk to.”

  “But I didn’t say anything at all,” she protested. “Why on earth would you want to arrest me?”

  Kevin was in no mood for the conversation he was having, that much was clear. “Harriet, no one’s getting arrested. I just want to talk to you. Can we go inside your shop?” he asked as he noticed everyone close by straining to hear what he was saying.

  “Of course. I’ll lock the door so we’ll have some privacy.”

  After they were inside, I looked at Maddy. “Now what do you suppose that was all about?”

  “He said he wanted to talk to her,” my sister said. “You were standing right beside me when he said it, Eleanor.”

  “I know that, you nit. What I’m asking is, what would Kevin want to talk to her about?”

  “It’s got to be the same thing you were asking Harriet about when he showed up. It sounds like she knows who was in that explosion.”

  “I wish she’d told us first,” I said.

  “I couldn’t agree with you more,” Maddy said, “But we’re not going to get that particular wish granted today, are we?”