Murder on Wheels

by Lynn Cahoon

  “Do you know that guy?” Still crouching, Bill turned to see what I was looking at.

  “Kind of. He’s part of that geocaching club that Kacey was into. I’ve talked to him a few times. Emma really doesn’t like him.”

  “She’s a good judge of character.” Bill gave Emma a kiss on the nose, then stood. “You should take her warnings to heart.”

  “Bill, you shouldn’t scare the girl. No one’s going to mess with her when she’s got Emma in tow.” Mary leaned in to her husband, her arm going around the crook of his elbow. “So, you tell your aunt to call me. Just because she has a new man in her life doesn’t mean she can ignore her friends. Men come and go, but girlfriends are forever.”

  “I’ll tell her that.” I checked the time on my watch. “I’ve got to open the shop in less than an hour. I guess I’d better head home.”

  “Do you want us to walk with you?” Bill scanned the beach in the direction Taylor had disappeared.

  “I’m fine, but thanks.” I grinned. “I’ve got one of South Cove’s finest living in my shed.”

  Mary frowned. “Greg moved in with you? Are you sure that’s a smart idea? You know what they say about free milk and cows.”

  I tried not to giggle at her analogy. “No one’s living with me. Toby needed a place to stay, so we set up the back shed for him. It makes a nice little apartment.”

  “Well, isn’t that nice. I’m sure the extra money comes in handy.” Bill gave Emma one last pat. “Being a good landlord is all about setting boundaries. Just remember that piece of advice from the professional here.”

  As Emma and I ran home, I thought about what Bill had said. Was I really a landlord? Bill and Mary ran the South Cove Bed-and-Breakfast, so they knew what it took to rent out a place. I hadn’t even talked to Toby about charging him rent. And would people think he was living with me? Like in a boyfriend-girlfriend kind of way? I hadn’t thought this idea through enough. Of course, most of my decisions were made that way, spur of the moment and by the seat of my pants. Why should this be any different?

  Toby was just pulling in the driveway when we got back. He looked tired from his night patrol. I waved as he unlocked the shed door and disappeared inside. Emma and I went in through the backyard gate and I entered the house through the kitchen door. My dog went right to her water bowl. I, on the other hand, went to the coffeepot and poured me a large mug. I took the black liquid upstairs with me to shower and change into my work uniform: a T-shirt and capris. In the summer, the uniform became a tank top and city shorts or on rare occasions, a sundress. Really rare occasions.

  No one waited for me at the shop. Sasha had a class this morning, so I wouldn’t see her until tomorrow. I opened the doors and started my morning setup routine. Ten minutes after opening, my first commuter coffee drinker came in and I was kept busy until eight. I took the time to scan through the bookshelves, looking for a book or two to take home since I’d have a long weekend.

  As I checked out a couple of possibilities, the bell over the door rang, and Bill Sullivan walked in. Relief filled his face when he saw me. I raised my eyebrows in a silent question and he shrugged. “Sue me, I was worried about you. Mary told me I was being stupid, but something about that guy really bothered me. I’m glad you made it home all right, and I guess I’ll be going.”

  “Do you want a cup of coffee? I actually need to talk to you about the water committee, they’re getting out of hand.” I walked to the counter. “Or are you on board with this crazy idea of Mayor Baylor’s?”

  Bill met me at the counter and sat on one of the stools. “No, I think you’re right. There’s something wrong about separating out the power like this. The decisions about the town’s water conservation should come from the city council. I have an agenda item for our meeting next week. I want to make sure the committee knows they are only advisory.”

  “Josh is issuing fines for watering.” I watched Bill’s face to see if he’d known this, but the shock on his features told me it was news to him. “Without even checking with the committee, it seems. I got a letter about my nonexistent watering taped to my door.”

  “He shouldn’t be doing that. He could put the city in jeopardy of being sued for false citations.” Bill shook his head. “I knew this would be an issue when the mayor insisted on the committee. Josh is too much of a hothead to be put into a power position. The man drives me crazy sometimes.”

  “You and me both.” I poured Bill a cup of coffee and warmed my own up before I walked around the bar to sit with him. “So you’ll talk to the mayor and council about this? I told Aunt Jackie, but I think she has a vested interest in the committee’s stature. And besides, I think he cited me because of his relationship with her. What’s to say he won’t go off the deep end when she does talk to him?”

  “The Harrold issue, right?” Bill nodded. “I can see Josh being upset. I mean, he thought he and Jackie were an item. I always knew there would be a day when she found someone who made her pause.”

  “I’m happy for her. I just don’t want to be drawn into the fight.” I ran a finger around the edge of my coffee cup.

  Bill tapped my arm. “Don’t worry about it. As of today, the committee has no standing to issue citations to anyone. And if I play this right, by the end of the month, there won’t even be a committee to have to deal with.” He finished his coffee and stood. “I need to get back to the B&B. Mary’s been complaining about the oven not working right, so we have a repair guy showing up this morning. I sure hope he doesn’t just recommend we purchase a new range. I’d need to be in tourist season to finance a purchase like that. Especially since I’ve seen the ones that Mary’s been looking at online.”

  I said good-bye to my friend and went back to pulling a few books for the weekend. By the time Toby arrived, I had my tote filled and was ready to head home.

  “Busy shift?” He smiled as he entered the empty shop.

  I pulled the tote over my shoulder and waved. “Yours will be. It’s always a good shift when you’re working.”

  “See you at home,” he called out as two of his regular customers came in. The women looked at me, narrowing their eyes. Apparently the rumor mill would be buzzing again that Toby had left Elise to move in with me. One woman’s eyes filled with tears, and her friend put an arm around her.

  “He’s probably kidding,” I heard the woman whisper. “Look at her hair, and no makeup? He’s not living with that.”

  My hand started to raise to my head to tamp down the unruly curls, but I stopped myself before it was noticeable. I wasn’t going to play the I-can-snag-Toby game, even if he’d put me in play with these women. I pushed the front door open and ran smack into Josh Thomas.

  “Oomph,” he uttered as the wind was knocked out of him and he went backward onto the sidewalk.

  “Oh no! Josh, are you okay?” I knelt beside him, making sure he hadn’t hit his head or something. I stuck two fingers up near his eyes. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

  He swatted my hand away. “Two, and if you don’t leave me alone, you’ll lose both of them.” He struggled to a sitting position. “Seriously, Miss Gardner, do you have to attack me every time we meet?”

  “I didn’t attack you,” I muttered, knowing my words weren’t going to change Josh’s opinion of me any more than saying something to Toby’s girls would have helped.

  Toby hurried through the doorway and bent down to Josh’s level. “Do you need an ambulance? Should I call the paramedics?”

  Josh glared at Toby. “No, you should mind your own business.” He waved Toby away, then sighed. “You could help me to my feet, though.”

  Toby put his hand under Josh’s arm and with me on the other side, we lifted Josh to his feet. Once he was stable, he shrugged off our assistance and peered into the storefront. “Jackie’s not in there, is she?”

  “She wasn’t when I left,” I muttered. I kind of hoped Aunt Jackie had seen Josh on his butt, especially now that he was being a jerk about our help.
“Do you want me to call her?”

  “I know how to use a phone, Miss Gardner. Your aunt asked me to meet her here for coffee at noon.” He glanced at the digital display on his watch, which I could see read eleven thirty-four. Josh was early.

  “I’m sure she’ll be down soon.” I adjusted the strap on my tote. “Well, if you don’t need me, I’ve got some reading to do.”

  I could feel the glare from Josh on my back as I power-walked away toward the house. I thought I knew why Aunt Jackie had asked to meet with Josh. I wanted to be locked safely in my house before he realized he was being dumped.

  The rest of the day was uneventful. I didn’t hear from Aunt Jackie or Greg. I saw Toby come back to the shed to change as I was reading out on the porch. A few minutes later, he was dressed in his South Cove Police Department uniform and waved as he backed his truck out of the driveway.

  I ate dinner alone in front of the television watching one of the crime dramas I had recorded. I was too far behind on most of them to ever catch up, but I enjoyed checking in with my imaginary friends every once in a while.

  I let Emma out and watched her through the back screen door. Toby had left a light burning in his new apartment. Some things were going to be hard to get used to, including having people around me at all times of the day. Of course, Toby worked longer hours than I did, so I probably wouldn’t see him much, except on days when the shop was closed or on weekends.

  Emma had done her business and was whining at the door. We climbed the stairs and I fell into a fitful rest, with too many unknowns flying around in my head to sleep well.

  Even without the alarm, I was up by six the next morning. My eyes felt gritty and my body ached. My body’s internal clock had me trained to get up early. I tried to fall back to sleep, but sensing my movement, Emma licked my hand, indicating her need to go outside. I pulled myself to a sitting position. “Fine, but we’re coming right back to bed.”

  I opened the back door to let her out and was about to close the screen, when I heard a step on the porch. I whirled toward the noise, my hands up in a defensive position. Ten years of martial arts classes had taught me one thing: the stance.

  “Hold on, slugger. It’s just me.” Toby put his hands up to protect his face. “Seriously, you’ve got to lay off the caffeine. You’re getting a little jumpy.”

  I leaned against the doorway, taking in a few deep breaths to calm myself before I did kill him for scaring me. “What on earth are you doing out here?”

  Toby shrugged. “I thought if you were up, we could have coffee together.” He held out a box. “I stopped at Lille’s and got some donuts.”

  I could smell the grease and fat, and I made a decision. “Come on in. The coffee’s made but I’m running upstairs to change.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Don’t think this is going to be an every-morning occurrence.”

  He held the door open so I could walk through. “Of course not.” His words were promising, but for some reason I didn’t believe my new neighbor.

  I climbed upstairs and went into my bathroom. My hair looked like I’d teased it using a blender. I brushed it into submission, then washed my face, brushed my teeth, and changed into cutoff shorts and a long tunic. I put my hand over my mouth to stifle a yawn. I wasn’t ready to start the day, but I guess I didn’t have much of a choice. Tomorrow morning, I’d definitely sleep in, I promised myself as I made my way downstairs.

  I poured myself a cup of coffee, then grabbed one of the donuts and sat at the table across from Toby. I pointed the donut at him. “So, why are you here?”

  “I got to thinking last night that you typically have an idea on who the murder suspects in a case are, sometimes before we can narrow it down. This Kacey Austin investigation is totally stalled and unless Greg can come up with a viable suspect, I think Austin is going to go down for a murder he might not have committed.” Toby opened his cop notebook. “So spill. What do you have on the murders so far?”

  “Nothing.” I kept my eyes on the coffee I was sipping like it was ambrosia from the gods.

  He pushed. “You can’t lie to me. It’s not very polite, and you are my boss. You’re supposed to set a good example.”

  I glared at him. “Fine, you want to know what I have?” I pulled out my notebook where I’d started writing out clues. “Nothing. I have nothing, and it’s driving me crazy.”

  He held out his hand. “Let’s see. Maybe two heads are better than one.”

  I paused, wondering what his game was today. “You’re going to be in trouble with Greg.”

  Toby shrugged. “Actually, I won’t. He’s told me I won’t be working the case. Something about the mayor and overtime issues so he’s not allowed to devote any hourly manpower to the investigation, unless the DA approves another suspect. I guess the mayor isn’t in the Save Austin camp.”

  “So you thought you’d work the case in your spare time?” I grinned. “Seriously Toby, when do you sleep?”

  “Right now, after this thing with Elisa, I don’t sleep very much.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Can you just give me a break here? Working helps keep me sane, and I need the distraction.”

  I didn’t want to pry about why Elisa had called it quits. Okay, I really wanted to know, but I didn’t want to ask. I kept hoping Toby would just tell me. I looked at my notebook. “I’ll share on one condition. You can’t even think that Sadie or Nick are suspects.”

  “You’re kidding me, right? The pie lady and her soon-to-be-president son? You think I might consider them falling off the path of good to the dark side?” He tapped the notebook. “Just what have you got in there?”

  “I need your promise.” I thought about Sadie’s tearful confession about how she’d harbored bad feelings in her heart for Kacey. The woman would take the fall for her guilt alone even though I knew she couldn’t kill anyone.

  Toby sat back in his chair and looked at me. “You’re really serious here, aren’t you?”

  I watched his face for a tell or reaction to my condition.

  Finally he put his hands up in the air. “Fine, I’ll take them off the possible suspects list no matter what I see in the notebook or what we find out later. You just better be right.”

  I opened the notebook and started walking Toby through what I’d considered so far—especially my notes on Taylor. Of course, he hadn’t done anything wrong, really. As I listed off the evidence, I could see the dismissal of Taylor as a real suspect in Toby’s eyes. As I shared my facts and theories with my new sleuthing partner, I prayed that Sadie didn’t look half as guilty to him as she did on the surface to me.

  When we finished, Toby stood and refilled both our coffee cups without saying anything. Finally, he sat down and pushed the untouched cup away. He tapped the book. “You’re right. The circumstantial evidence all points to our pie lady.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Toby and I made a plan of attack for the day. He’d go and research what was happening with Austin, but we both knew that hoping Austin was the killer was far-fetched even for South Cove. The guy just didn’t have it in his DNA. I needed to tie up Sadie’s alibi for the night the food truck was vandalized. We agreed to meet again over breakfast Saturday morning with what we’d found out.

  After Toby left to get a few hours of sleep before his next shift at the shop, I took Emma for a run, my mind filled with what-ifs. I kind of liked having someone besides Aunt Jackie to bounce ideas off of. I knew that he couldn’t be totally impartial since he was an actual police officer, but Toby was classified more as the brawn of the force than the brain. That was Greg’s job, and apparently Toby had been restricted to his normal traffic cop, bar bouncer duties.

  But one thing was clear in my mind: No matter who was helping me think through this puzzle, I needed another suspect. If Austin was too granola to kill, and Sadie was too nice, there had to be a third suspect and probably a different reason. Taylor and the club presidency seemed a little far-fetched, even for me. I started thinking about the food truck
. I’d already considered and discarded Lille, but what if the food truck breakin was just a distraction? And what better way to set someone up by giving Sadie her recipes back?

  I plopped down on the warm sand and watched Emma play in the surf. The seagulls were swarming around her and playing with the waves as she chased after them. What if Kacey was involved with the mob? Okay, a totally crazy idea, but I needed to separate out the real from the possible. If she was killed as part of a mob hit, she’d have a bullet hole rather than being killed with an overdose of wheat germ.

  Which told me what?

  My eyes widened. The method of death told me it wasn’t a random or professional murder. Someone she knew killed her because only someone she knew would know that she was that allergic to wheat products. There was a big difference between following a gluten-free diet for your health and doing it because of a deadly allergy.

  Kacey knew her killer.

  I called Emma to come back from the shoreline and stood up from my thinking place. I dusted the sand off my hands and clicked Emma’s leash back on her collar. I needed to talk to Austin.

  By the time I needed to leave for work, I hadn’t had any luck reaching him by phone. I packed my notebook in my tote and took off for town. If Austin was at his store, I’d stop in there and see if I could get a list of people who knew Kacey that well.

  The bike rental shop was closed when I arrived. It looked like it hadn’t been open for a week, and it had a handwritten sign on the door apologizing for the closure due to a death in the family. Well, that and an almost arrest of the shop owner. I went around back to the door where I could walk up the three flights of stairs to Austin’s apartment.

  I was a little winded when I reached the top floor, but that was probably due to the fact I’d run earlier, certainly not the donuts I’d had for breakfast and an early lunch. I knocked on the door. No answer. I knocked again. Nothing. Tempted, I tried to twist the doorknob. Locked. Defeated, I wrote a quick note and slipped it under his door. Hopefully he’d call me soon.