He laughed, “no, it never entered my mind that you would be involved, this is not your deal I’m pretty sure. Unlucky maybe, well, probably, but not involved.”
“Ok, so since I’m not involved but definitely, probably, unlucky, what can you tell me?”
He sighed again, “poison.”
“Huh?”
“Poison, they were poisoned. It looks like a one two punch of some kind,” he shifted in his chair, “did you know nutmeg could be poisonous?”
“Um, kind of? I mean I knew that too much could give you heart palpitations and make you feel weird. So, I kind of knew it might be a little bit toxic.”
“Well, actually, it can be a lot toxic, and in this case in combination with heart medication, it can be deadly.”
“Were they on heart medication?”
“It seems like Amos was, I’m not sure about Ruth, but if the medication was added in to something she consumed…” he trailed off. “Anyway, I shouldn’t say anything else.”
“So what about Eli?”
“The brother? What about him?”
“What’s your information on him?”
“Well, I’m going to assume you know something, since you’re asking. Why don’t you tell me. I can confirm or deny, but I can’t offer you anything. It is an ongoing investigation, I don’t need to remind you.”
“Okay, I’ll go first. He’s a low level punk, lots of arrests for petty stuff, nothing big ever, no murder or assault, just kinda always living on the edge. Broke mostly, stealing stuff to get by, no real interest in hard drugs it seems. I had dinner with him, didn’t talk a lot, ate everything in sight, didn’t offer to pay,” I shrugged “kind of weird. But not a killer.”
“That’s my take too, and it seems like he wasn’t even in town for the first killing. Not that there’s any lack of suspects, your place was full to the brim with workmen, and that gardener, and your staff. But he wasn’t here.”
“He did tell me Nedra said the place was basically already sold, and so he was waiting for her to be able to clear it and finalize the paperwork.”
“Which is weird, is that how he ended up here? Her? It’s funny you mention him because he seems to have left town, and I haven’t found him yet. But when I do I have a whole lot of questions for him. ”
“What do you think are the odds it was him?”
“Well, let’s just say I’d really like to talk to him.”
“So, what about Nedra?”
“What about her?”
“Is there anything you want to share about her?”
Tapping his pencil thoughtfully his gaze met mine and held it levelly “No, not right now, I don’t think there’s really all that much to share.”
I sat back into my chair. “She’s pretty unpleasant.”
“I’ve heard some say that, it’s not a crime though.”
“No, no it’s not. Poison did you say?”
“Yes, that’s what they’re telling me.”
“I wonder…”
“What?”
“Well, I wonder where he got the poison, and her too maybe. They were both at my store, and we had a lot of food around,”
“Are you suggesting you did it, because I’ve thought of that.”
“No! Of course not,” I paused, “did you really think of me?”
“Yeah, of course. We have to consider everyone. It hurt your business though and you didn’t seem to have anything to gain from their deaths. That’s really where we need to be looking, who benefits,” he looked up at me.
“Right. Okay,” this was going nowhere, “I’m going to head out. See you tomorrow?”
“Yeah, sure,” he turned back to his desk.
I left and climbed into the old Volvo. There was a lot to think about, maybe the beach would help.
The parking lot was deserted, I parked in a pool of light underneath a light pole. I could hear the surf in the distance and pulled my sweater closer around me. The ocean was such an important part of my life, it was always the best place for me to go think.
As I walked to the sidewalk I heard a car crunch along the gravel behind me, and I turned and shaded my eyes from the headlights.
It was a late model luxury SUV, with none other than Nedra herself at the wheel. She hopped out of the car carrying a coffee caddy with two cups in it and a pink bakery box.
“Hold up!” she called to me. She had traded her usual high priced suit for jeans and her usual designer heels for trainers. She looked the epitome of beach chic.
“Nedra?”
“Yes, how are you?”
“Fine. Were you expecting to see me here?”
“Oh, no,” she waved away my question, I got two coffees in case I saw anyone I knew and I made these cookies myself. I was going to serve them at an open house tomorrow but when I saw you were here I thought we could enjoy them together.
Warning bells went off in my head. Why was she here, and why was she being nice to me? What a weird coincidence,.
“It is, isn’t it?”
“It is what?”
“A weird coincidence.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize I had said that aloud.”
“You always were funny!” she laughed
“I’m not actually being funny. You know, it’s getting cold, I think I’m going to skip my walk on the beach tonight and head home.”
“Oh, no you must join me.”
I didn’t know what to do. It was probably fine, she couldn’t possibly know I suspected she was involved. Could she?
“How about we sit right here?” I said, indicating the built in benches at the top of the stairs.
“No, we need to be on the beach,” she insisted.
“Really, I’m good right here.”
“No,” she shouted, as her demeanor changed. He hands tightened around the food she was carrying. Her voice became shrill and high, her eyes widened and became wild.
“You need to come with me, you need to do what I say!” she dropped the coffee and I saw the flash of a revolver in her hand.
Where had that come from? My heart beat nearly out of my chest. Uneasily I walked down the stairs, I wanted to talk to her, try to calm her.
“It’s okay, Nedra, no one else knows it was you.”
“You know! I knew it! You just came from the cops too, I bet they know!” her hand shook as she pointed the gun my way and I realized she had been following me after all.
“No, no one knows, I just talked to Drake and he said you hadn’t done anything wrong.”
“You told him!”
“No, no I didn’t. I wasn’t sure, I knew you owed money, lots of money, so you would have wanted to sell the land the compound was on. But I wasn’t sure it was you, I didn’t say anything, I swear,” this was not how I imagined my life ending.
We were walking on the shifting sand now, at the edge of the beach opposite the water. Dunes full of tall grasses rose like dark ghosts to my left, the shadows shifting in the moonlight. I saw something glinting, but then I quickly looked away, trying not to trip and keeping an eye on the gun she had inexpertly trained on me. The surf drowned out most of her words but she seemed to be talking to herself about what to do with me. There was no one around, no one to hear me scream or to hear the gunshot. My goose was cooked.
Seconds later I heard something. A noise? Then another, louder, someone shouted the word down. With a preservation instinct I didn’t know I had I hit the ground, getting a face full of sand, and threw my hands over my head to protect it. I didn’t know what was coming, but it could go either way at this point. Good or bad. Life or death.
I heard it more than I saw it, a long metal object swinging through the air that caught Nedra in the stomach, knocking her flat on her back.
Looking up I saw Carl, the gardener, as he ran past me to pin her to the ground.
Chapter 18
Hours later I was shivering and Gigi was peppering me with questions, “He threw what at her?”
Gigi and
George were sitting with me in their living room, I had a blanket around me but I couldn’t stop shivering. George got up to get me a cup of coffee.
“Tea,” I called after him, I probably wouldn’t want coffee for a while.
“So, she followed you?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t really focussed on her, but turns out she owed a huge amount in back taxes through her business, and I assumed her husband didn’t know anything about it. It seemed obvious a big sale would fix things for her. I wasn’t really ready to say it was her for sure, until she showed up with cookies.”
“Cookies?”
“Yeah, Amos and Ruth were poisoned. As soon as I saw she had food for me, I got scared.”
“But she had a gun on you.”
“I think the gun was plan B, the poison had worked twice before, third times the charm, or something like that?”
“So, just poison you and leave you on the beach to die?”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Or drag me to the water to make it look like I drowned? I don’t know, I didn’t ask. She made these terrible ginger snaps with a ton of nutmeg in them and some crushed up heart medication for good measure.”
“Oh my gosh, I tasted those cookies, remember? There were some in the pantry before the store opened!’
“That you refused to throw away?”
“Yes, but now they can be evidence, right?” she was practically patting herself on the back.
“Well I think Drake probably has all the evidence he needs, but maybe,” I said, including a major eye roll for good measure. She made me laugh even on a night like tonight.
“So tell me about Carl.”
“He’s a superman that guy. He was out on the beach at night with his metal detector. The detectorists, that’s what they call themselves apparently. They take turns walking the beach so most nights one of them is out there. Who knew, right? He had stopped to look at something and heard us making a commotion. He hid in the dunes until we were right there, then he yelled duck and threw his metal detector at her. Hit her square in the chest too. Knocked her out cold.”
“Wow,” Gigi breathed, “then what? How did Drake get there?”
“Carl called him, apparently he’s Drake’s mom’s gardener and he has Drake on speed dial because mom gets some crazy notions about her landscaping. So anyway, Carl let Drake know what was happening, and the next thing I knew there were blue police lights everywhere and Nedra was being taken away.”
“What about her husband? Didn’t he know anything? He’s a lawyer right? He’ll probably get the charges reduced or dropped.”
“Well turns out her hubby has a piece on the side, it’s why he’s never home from Boston. Seems like maybe that’s one of the reasons she felt like she had to spend her money, to keep up appearances. It’s also why he might not want to participate in defending her.”
Drake appeared at the door just then, letting himself in the unlocked screen. “Nice night for a walk, huh?” he teased. “Feeling any better?”
“You mean other than cold and scared, yeah. I’m warmer and less scared. What happened to her?”
“Nedra? She’s locked up, there will be a hearing, she probably won’t be able to bail out. It will be steep and her husband doesn’t seem to be taking her calls at the moment.”
“So,” I ticked off on my fingers, “Nedra was a murderer, Daisy was a cop, Carl turns out to be Superman, Amos and Ruth were running a one size fits all cult slash rehab slash home for unwed mothers.”
“And selling the babies,” Drake added.
“Right, and selling the babies, and the records have burned, so that’s kind of lousy for everyone…”
“Actually,” Drake interrupted, “Daisy managed to scan those documents and send them out, it was a crime after all. So, that information is safely stored.”
“So, I have a question, something’s been bothering me, how did Eli end up in touch with Nedra, and who is the mystery buyer for the compound?”
Well, Nedra spent a little time getting to know Amos and Ruth, apparently, so that’s how she got Eli’s name too. As far as a buyer goes, we have no idea. It’s possible it was a lie, just to keep him on the hook. Seems like he’s walking the straight and narrow now so if the place does sell he’ll get the proceeds. But there doesn’t seem to be a buyer at the moment.”
“I guess that’s it then,” I shuddered. “I can’t think about how that might have ended up. I’m so grateful for Carl. And I guess we can open and not have to worry about dead bodies turning up in the fiction section or anything?”
“Looks that way,” Drake said. “You look awful,” he added, helpfully.
“Well I feel awful, but Gigi said I could stay here tonight, so I’m going to go lie down, if it’s all the same to you.”
“You’ve earned it, I’d say. Sleep well, Ivy Bloom.”
“You too Drake Jordan, come by the store for coffee sometime. On the house.”
“I’ll do that,” he said and he turned and caught my eye.
My heart did a little tap dance and my breath caught, but since the room was full of people, I simply turned and padded up the stairs to bed. The puzzle of Drake Jordan would have to wait until I slept this last mystery off.
Murder & Spice and Everything Nice: Ivy Bloom Mysteries Page 9
