I stood up and shot Adam a questioning gaze. “Where have you two been?”
“I’ll tell you all about it in a moment,” he answered cryptically as he followed me back inside.
“I’m going to have to be careful—he’ll forget who his real owner is,” I said, fetching Jasper a treat from the pantry. A pig’s ear, his favorite. Maybe that would bribe back his affections. “Not that I don’t appreciate you taking care of him while I’ve been so busy.”
Adam sat down on a stool. “So,” he said, sounding very deep and meaningful all of a sudden. “I’ve been taking Jasper for a walk beside the lake every day.”
I wasn’t quite sure what the big point was. Did he want a medal? “Yes? That’s his favorite spot to play and go for a run. Sometimes I even let him go into the water, if it’s a warm afternoon.”
Adam nodded. “It’s just that the last few days, Jasper has been meeting up with a friend down at the lake.”
I took a bowl of salad out of the fridge. I knew that Adam preferred grilled cheese sandwiches, but a few greens would do him some good. It would do me some good too. I’d been existing on very little but pasta and wine over the past few weeks. “What do you mean, a friend?” Did dogs even have friends? I mean, they had owners, and people like Adam who walked them and sneaked them snacks. But did they have friends?
I supposed they did. I was about to hear all about it.
“She’s a Dalmatian,” Adam explained. “Her name is Flora. She and Jasper have been meeting up every day at four and playing together. Sort of like a little doggy date.”
I stared at him for a few moments. It was the first I was hearing of this Flora. And I’d been walking Jasper around the lake for months before Adam was even on the scene. And I’d never even spotted a Dalmatian.
“Hang on,” I said. “Dogs don’t ‘meet up.’ Not on their own at least. This Flora has an owner, doesn’t she?”
Adam coughed and nodded. “Yes. Her name is Felicity.” I swore I saw his cheeks turn just a little pink.
Felicity, eh? I would have put a fairly large wager on her being young and attractive.
“I see.” I started dishing out the salad, adding just a touch too much salt to Adam’s bowl. “So, really, it’s you and Felicity who have been meeting up. For these little doggy dates. Not Jasper and Flora.”
Adam pulled his bowl of salad toward him and added extra ranch dressing. I stuck with vinaigrette.
“It’s not like that, George.”
I shoved a mouthful of leafy greens into my mouth. “I’m not saying it’s like anything.”
“You seem a little jealous.”
I wasn’t about to dignify that with a response.
Adam played around with his food for a few minutes before finally speaking. “I think that Jasper and Flora may be in love.”
I burst out laughing. “That’s ridiculous, Adam!” I was laughing so hard that at first, I didn’t realize that he had taken a little offense.
He folded his arms and shook his head at me. “Why is it ridiculous? Why can’t two dogs fall in love?” He raised his eyebrows. “You don’t see them together every day like I have been. I can tell. They are in love.”
“I-I…” I was a little speechless. I threw my hands up in the air. “Okay, fine, they are in love. I’ll take your word for it. What do you want me to do about it?” Why was he telling me all this in such a solemn fashion, like it was serious news that I needed to know?
“Well, it’s just that, Felicity and I have been talking, and we think that Jasper and Flora should get married.”
The words dropped like they were lead.
Okay, now I wasn’t just a little speechless. I was completely without words.
Beside me, Jasper, who’d been laying on the ground and listening to us this the whole time, looked up at me with sad puppy dog eyes. I stared back at him. Was it really possible that Adam was right? Are you really in love with Flora, boy? Do you really want to marry her?
I looked back at Adam. “I’m not sure why you and Felicity have gone and arranged this behind my back. I am Jasper’s owner, after all.”
He seemed relieved I was at least willing to talk about it. Consider it. Maybe. “We haven’t. Not officially. I told Felicity that I would think about it.”
I walked over to the wine rack and pulled out a bottle of Pinot Noir. I needed a big glass right then.
There was the wedding invitation to Hannah and Aaron’s wedding sitting on the bench, right next to where Adam was perched.
Adam picked up the invitation and read over it. “Oh, so you actually got an invite to this thing?”
I set down a bowl of dog food for Casper and chased Jasper outside so that he didn’t gulp it all up before she even got a chance to start. “Well, I have been organizing the decorations for the whole thing, so it’s only fair, isn’t it?”
“I suppose so.” He eyed the invitation suspiciously. “Hey, it says here that you get to bring a plus one.”
I shrugged and made sure that Casper was eating all her food while Jasper pouted on the other side of the window, pawing to get in. “Does it? Oh well, I’d better RSVP and tell them it will only be me, myself and I attending.”
Adam didn’t look convinced. He dug his fork into his salad, but he didn’t actually take a mouthful.
“You mean you’re inviting Ryan,” he said flatly.
I stopped and placed my hands on my hips. “No, actually. I meant it, Adam, I am attending the wedding on my own. I am quite capable of doing that, you know.”
Of course, it was going to be a little difficult getting there with my new car sitting at the auto repair shop. Ryan had taken fingerprints, but told me not to be too hopeful about catching the guilty party. “It hardly matters,” I’d said to him with a heavy sigh. “It’s not like anything was stolen. I had my purse with me the whole time. They didn’t even take the loose coins I had thrown onto the seat.” I’d figured the culprit would have been restless kids, probably those rowdy students from the library, bored and looking to cause chaos just for the sake of doing it.
Adam still wasn’t buying the fact that Ryan wasn’t my secret date to the wedding.
“I was the one you called the other night when your car window was smashed,” Adam pointed out.
“Yes, well, I also called Ryan, technically. Well, I called the police station and he was there,” I replied.
But Adam kind of had a point. When disaster had struck, when I’d needed someone to come to the rescue, his had been the number I’d automatically dialed. Adam had turned up in his car and driven me home, when I’d been too wounded and tired to deal with the mess and the ruin of yet another car.
“Come on,” Adam said with a wide grin and a twinkle in his eyes. I always hated it when he reminded me how charming he could be. “You remember how good I am at weddings. I can be a lot fun. Plus, I’m a great dancer.”
I sighed. “I’ll think about it.” I grabbed my coat. “And I’ll think about Jasper’s wedding as well. Now, can you give me a ride?”
I was accosted by a frantic Bianca before I’d even gotten to the front door of the shop.
Her mascara was running and her hair was in a mess. She wasn’t even in her business suit this time, but instead was wearing sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. I didn’t even recognize her at first.
“I haven’t been to work in days, George. I haven’t been able to eat, and as for sleeping, forget it. All I can think about is Cain…all I can think about is what happened…” She looked at me desperately.
She looked a little unhinged. I glanced around hoping there were witnesses. At that time of evening, the streets were a little quiet. I hoped she wasn’t packing a weapon. “I’m not sure how I can help you,” I said.
She grabbed me by the shoulders. I gulped. Boy, her grip was strong. “I need your help, George. I know the cops think I did it. If you don’t help me, I’m going to jail. And after everything else I’ve been through…”
Wha
t was she talking about, everything else she’d been through?
“Maybe we shouldn’t have this conversation here,” I said, eyeing Brenda who was spying on us through the window like usual.
We took a seat outside at my favorite cafe. It was overcast that evening though, and I shivered at the outdoor table. I just figured it was better to stay where I could make an easy getaway if I needed to.
“How’s the car going?” Bianca asked solemnly as she stared into her black coffee.
“I actually brought a new one a couple of days ago.”
“Yes. Margaret told me,” she said heavily. She glanced around. “Where is it?”
I shook my head and sipped my latte, grateful for the warmth. “It’s fixed now. But after what happened to it, I’m not sure I want to drive it.”
“What happened to your car?” Bianca asked, surprised.
I sighed. “It was broken into. There’s still glass all over the passenger seat. And the driver’s seat. I don’t want to drive it until I get it thoroughly cleaned, even though the window is already fixed, apparently.” Actually, that was sort of an excuse I’d been using. I wasn’t sure I wanted to drive at all. It seemed like every time I did, disaster struck.
“Maybe you really are haunted,” Bianca commented flatly.
“Would explain a lot.” I finished my coffee and crossed my arms. “But we’re not here to discuss that, Bianca. If you are really interested in my help, you’d better come clean.”
I spotted a dark cloud heading toward us and my stomach did a little flip. Tomorrow was the day of Hannah and Aaron’s wedding and I knew Hannah had been refreshing the weather forecast every ten seconds, praying for a sunny day.
Maybe it would clear in time.
“I did pull over that day,” Bianca finally admitted. She stared down into her coffee again. “At the gas station.”
At least she was being honest with me about that, at last. “I already knew that,” I said, bluffing a little. At least, I had heavily suspected it. “Bianca, it would have been nice if you hadn’t lied to me this whole time.”
She looked up at me and bit her lip. “I know, but I couldn’t tell you the truth. Not the full truth.”
I shook my head. “And what is the full truth, then?”
She wrapped her hands even tighter around her coffee. “I just broke up with my boyfriend the night before I drove the car over to you and I was very emotional.”
My stomach clenched a little. Was Cain this boyfriend she was referring to? But I let her keep on talking without interruption.
She looked up at me. “I was in a rush when I left the dealership. No, I didn’t check the car. The body…” She shrugged while a single tear slid down her cheek. “It could have been in there when I left. But, George, I really don’t think it was.” She looked down again, guilt all over her face. “I shouldn’t have cut corners. But when I saw Margaret come into work that morning, arriving early, of course, like she always does…” Bianca sounded very bitter. “I had to get out of there.”
I frowned. What had happened between the two of them?
Bianca swallowed and took a long sip of coffee before she continued to talk. “I didn’t check the tank before I left. The car started running low on gas. I should never have pulled over.” She let out a bitter laugh. “Believe me. I should never have pulled over at that darn gas station.”
“What happened when you pulled over?” I asked quietly.
She swallowed heavily again. “Pulled over isn’t actually the right word for what I did. I mean, I was trying to pull over, that was the original plan. But it all ended with a bit of a skid. Because that’s when I bumped into Joshua.”
She said the name Joshua heavily, like it was a name I was supposed to recognize. She looked at me meaningfully.
“And who is Joshua?” I asked her. I tried to scan my own memories, trying to figure out if the name was familiar. I couldn’t place it.
Bianca raised her eyebrows. “He’s Margaret’s boyfriend,” she said in a low, reluctant whisper.
I thought I was starting to get a clearer picture.
“Oh, goodness. You were having an affair with Margaret’s boyfriend, Joshua?” I asked her.
“What? No. No, of course I wasn’t,” she said, shaking her head in confusion. “But thank you for that accusation.”
“Oh.” I leaned back a little.
I was sorry I had accused her, if it wasn’t the truth. But I still didn’t get why running into this man at the gas station was such a big deal if she wasn’t romantically involved with him.
“So why did it matter that Joshua saw you?” I asked.
“On any other day, it wouldn’t have. And if I’d been driving any other car, it wouldn’t have mattered.”
I gulped. “Why did it matter that you were driving my car?”
“Because. Joshua is the person who your car was originally promised to,” she said, looking a little ashamed. But then she crossed her arms and stared at me with a little more gumption.
“Wow. Okay. That was spectacularly bad timing then,” I said, feeling my eyes being pulled wide open, and it wasn’t just due to the hit of caffeine. “So, the person you’d promised the car to was Margaret’s boyfriend?”
Bianca rolled her eyes. “Margaret offered him a ridiculous deal on it, without getting permission from me,” she explained bitterly. “We were practically going to lose money on it. Ridiculous. She was only doing it because she was worried they were about to break up and she was trying to fix things between them. I was furious at her, told her that she was never allowed to give any sort of discount without my permission again. That she needed to run every last sale by me.”
Well, that explained why she was so terrified to sell a car now. I almost had to laugh. Maybe Bianca wouldn’t be mad to hear about her weak sales pitches. Maybe she’d be pleased.
“And you really didn’t want Joshua to get the car, I gather?”
Bianca shook her head. “But the deal was all but done. So the only way to get out of the deal was to sell it to someone else before Joshua could pick it up. That’s why I was so eager to drop it off for you at your house.”
Looks like it hadn’t been my charm after all, like Adam had suggested. Bianca just wanted to make more money on the car. She’d only offered me five hundred dollars off the sticker price. Lord knew how much Margaret had offered to cut off the asking price for her boyfriend.
It also explained why Margaret and Joshua seemed to have fallen out. Looked like a car couldn’t save their relationship after all, and no car was going to ruin it.
But I still had to find out what happened that day. “What happened after that?”
Bianca took a deep breath. “When I saw that Joshua was parked in the gas station, it was too late to pull back onto the freeway. I pulled the car off the side of the road and went down into a ditch so that Joshua wouldn’t see it. Only he did see it… And, George, he was really, really angry with me.”
I wondered if he was angry enough to kill an innocent by-stander.
“What happened?” I whispered.
“He accosted me in the gas station. I wasn’t even expecting it. Yelled at me. Cursed at me. Threatened me.”
“Sounds like he really wanted that car.”
“I…I had to lie to him and say that I was only taking the car for a test spin before he picked it up later. That it would be back at the dealership when he arrived.” She shook her head. “I didn’t go back in that day in the end, anyway.”
So the car had been left in a ditch, beside the woods. Not in the parking lot of the gas station like I’d previously believed.
I narrowed my eyes. “I just don’t see why you couldn’t have told me all this before. Is it really such a crime to lie about running out of gas? I don’t even think it’s a crime to back out of selling a car to someone, as long as no money had exchanged hands.”
She bit her lip and shook her head. “No, but shoplifting is.”
I was sho
cked. “What did you do, Bianca?”
“I was so frazzled after that run-in with Joshua, that I filled up my tank, and grabbed a bag of candy, and left without even paying for it.”
There had to be more she wasn’t telling me. I sat quietly for a second, waiting for her to speak again. Finally, she did.
“The attendant, Jesse I think his name is, chased me over to my car and threatened to call the cops.”
I was sitting perfectly still. “That sure sounds like him.”
“He was banging on my window, but I pulled away. Shoot, George, I almost hit him with my car. He kept yelling that he was going to call the police, tell them not only about the stealing but about the fight between me and Joshua. I yelled at him that if he did that, I would have to tell them that I’d seen him tampering with the gas pumps, overcharging people.”
My mouth dropped open. “Mutually assured destruction.” Well. That explained why Jesse was adamant that he’d never seen Bianca before in his life.
But my heart sank a little. “I still don’t see how this is getting us any closer to finding out who killed Cain?”
She shook her head. “I left the car unattended, George. Anything could have happened.”
I let out a long sigh. “And anybody could have gotten into the trunk of my car.”
“I’m so sorry, George. I should have come clean a long time ago. Please, you have to help find out who really killed Cain. I’m begging you.” She leaned forward and grabbed my hand.
“George, I think Joshua may have done it.”
Chapter 11
“Wow, this place sure is romantic,” Adam said as we edged our way up the hill to the winery. Hannah had gotten her wish. There was sunshine and the rain from the day before had only added a romantic, hazy atmosphere to the vineyard. “Sure looks like you made the right decision about who to bring as your date.”
“Don’t go getting too cocky,” I warned Adam as we climbed out of the car.
Weddings, Receptions, and Murder Page 7
