“If she worked for Alice, what’s she doing here?” I knew the question was inappropriate almost as the words left my mouth.
Paula looked up at me with raised brows and a look that told me she had no intention of answering my question.
“I saw Bruce’s car is here. I wanted to talk to him for a minute.” I headed straight toward Bruce’s office.
Paula jumped up from her desk. “No, you can’t. He’s busy. He’s got a lot of catching up to do, and he’s not exactly in the mood to work, considering his personal circumstances. He can’t be bothered.”
By now, she was standing in front of the door. I reached my hand around her waist, grabbed the doorknob and promptly open the door to Bruce’s office.
I ignored Paula completely, looking past her to say, “Hi, Bruce.”
Bruce, who looked like he was busy at his desk, glanced up and said, “Can I help you?”
The indifference in his voice made me think he didn’t know who I was. But I knew this was impossible. Was he acting as if he didn’t know me because of Paula? None of it made sense.
“I just need a minute of your time. Can we talk?”
Bruce looked at Paula and nodded his head slightly. She stepped out of my way and I waltzed into his office.
I moved to have a seat at his desk, then noticed a dark brown Louis Vuitton shoulder bag in the chair. I hesitated.
“Oh, sorry about that. Just throw it on the floor. I was planning to go to the gym after work. Lots of stress to work out of my system.” Bruce put his pen down and slid the papers he was working on off to the side. “What do you want to talk to me about?”
Now that Paula was no longer between us, or in the room, he was much more cordial.
“I was just wondering how it went at the police station. Did you get everything worked out with the cops?”
Bruce leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh. “I think it went okay. I came clean and told him about the relationship problems Alice and I had been having. I told him about the divorce, too, and answered any questions that they had. I don’t think I’m a suspect any longer.” There was a palpable change in his tone. It sounded like relief.
“Have you learned anything new?” I was pushing my limits. I’d known these people for years, but we weren’t that close.
“They haven’t shared anything with me. Have you heard anything?” Bruce asked.
I chewed on my bottom lip, wondering how much I should share with him. Then I decided he deserved to know. “Do you know much about the business doings at the Poached Pear?”
Bruce looked at me and frowned.
“I’m trying to decide where to start. So I’ll just start. I hired one of Alice’s former employees. He didn’t have the Poached Pear as one of his references, so I had no idea that he had worked at Alice’s restaurant. Paula informed me that Jacob Jackson, he’s the guy I hired, had been fired from the restaurant. She told me he’d been stealing money and Alice really read him the riot act.”
Bruce’s lips all but disappeared before he said, “Yes, I know all about that. It was not a proud time for us, or for Alice. She was still embarrassed that she lost her temper the way she did.”
“But that didn’t stop her from blackballing Jacob.” I couldn’t help but be a little defensive of Jacob, even if I wasn’t sure I trusted him. After all, where was the evidence?
Bruce shrugged. “You know Alice. She holds a grudge. I’m not surprised she blackballed him. But in reality, I think Alice had bigger fish to fry.”
“Jacob was late to work the day Alice died. And you know the cops say they’re pretty sure Alice was attacked and killed that morning.”
“Where are you going with this?” Bruce leaned forward, his elbows on the desk and his fingers steepled.
“Paula made me think Jacob could possibly have a motive for murdering Alice, and when I asked him about his alibi he said he didn’t have one. Then suddenly I get a phone call, and he has an alibi. He said he was with one of the servers from the Poached Pear. They’ve been seeing each other and had been together that morning.” I was saying it all wrong. “I mean, Jacob didn’t tell me he was with her; the girl called me. She explained that he didn’t want to tell me because she’s married, and he didn’t want her to be involved because her husband was volatile.” I looked toward the door and looked back. “And I just saw that same girl leaving your office. Bridget Toomey.”
Bruce chuckled. “Oh goodness, I promise you, Jacob was not with Bridget the morning Alice died. Nor is Bridget married.”
I wasn’t sure what was so funny. “And how do you know this?”
Bruce dropped his hands on the desk. “Because I’ve been having an affair with Bridget for at least three months. We were in San Francisco. If you don’t believe me, you can call or have the police check the video at the South San Francisco Hyatt Regency.”
I’m pretty sure my heart stopped. I should’ve left sleeping dogs lie. This was something I didn’t want to know. So Bruce had been cheating on Alice. This was why she had taken him out of the will, I was sure of it. And damn, now Jacob didn’t have an alibi again. But Bruce sure did.
“For the love of God, Bruce, you were cheating on Alice?”
He put both hands up to stop me. “No, no, no. You don’t understand. Alice and I have been legally separated for over a year. She had every right to date, and so did I. Just because we were living in the same house didn’t mean we weren’t free to date other people.”
That hit a little close to home. I wasn’t sure I was ready for the day that Peter started dating again. I think when that happened, one of us would have to move out. Considering it was Hattie’s property we lived on, I’d be the one moving out.
I took a deep breath, trying to squash my anger. “So you were with Bridget the morning Alice died. That means that Jacob doesn’t have an alibi. Why on earth would Bridget call me?”
Bruce shook his head. “I have no idea, but you can bet I’ll be asking her. I do know this, she and Jacob do not now, nor have they ever, had a relationship. If they had, she would have been defending him to the end of the earth when Alice fired him. That’s just her personality. And maybe this was her way of defending him. Maybe he didn’t steal that money.”
Bruce had a point. What if Alice had discovered who had really stolen the money? Would she have confronted that person, too? Maybe she’d asked them over to the house to talk about it in private. If she was embarrassed about her outburst in public, maybe she thought it was a better way to take care of it.
“Did Alice ever say that she suspected someone else of stealing the money, other than Jacob?”
“After a couple of weeks, she did admit that she was wrong about Jacob. But she wasn’t about to eat crow and admit it to anyone but me. It’s funny, we still talked about a lot of business and personal things. We were still really good friends. We just moved in different directions.” His voice sounded far off, as if he was recalling a memory. “She did say she suspected someone else. But for the life of me, I cannot remember who it was.”
I jumped up and nearly tripped over Bruce’s gym bag. “Oh my gosh, this is something else John needs to know. There’s another suspect that the police aren’t even looking into. This is huge, Bruce, huge.”
I went to the door and opened it, eager to talk to John and give him the information.
“I’m glad I could be of help. Do you want me to call the police?” Bruce asked. He came around the desk, picked up his gym bag, and swung it over his shoulder.
“No, I need to talk to John anyway, so I’ll let him know. Enjoy your time at the gym.” I rushed past Paula’s desk, but didn’t see her.
Chapter Seventeen
The door to the building had been locked. I had to wait for Bruce to unlock it, then I followed him out. He locked the door behind us and set the alarm. “Willa, thank you for your interest in finding Alice’s killer, but I do think you should stay out of it. Things could get dangerous and I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt.”
Bruce walked me to my car, and I wondered if his comment to stay out of it was a friendly warning or a threat.
“I’m just going to give John this one last piece of information, and then I think I’m done. I think this new direction will be the right one for the police. Thank you for your concern, Bruce. Have a great night.”
It was dark outside when I got out to my car, and I noticed that mine and Bruce’s car were the only ones in the lot. As I turned the key, I wondered: did Jacob beat the other thief to the punch? I mean, he had been blackballed by Alice. The rest was just speculation. If he was innocent, why would he have Bridget lie for him? Even if Alice had been wrong, she’d still ruined him. What better reason to go after someone? She had completely stolen his livelihood and taken his career away from him.
I pulled out of the parking lot to head back toward the sheriff’s office to tell him about this possible new suspect. When I arrived at the jail, I didn’t see his car there. I drove into the parking lot anyway and parked, wondering if I should go in. Instead, I pulled out my cell phone and called the non-emergency number. The dispatcher who answered the phone told me that John was gone for the day, but I could leave a message if I wanted to.
“May I have his cell phone number, please?” I wasn’t sure what had come over me. I mean, why would they give me the sheriff’s cell phone number?
Nonplussed, the dispatcher said, “I’m sorry, we don’t give out that kind of personal information.”
Feeling stupid, I hung up without leaving a message. I’d go home and find out his number from Hattie. We all knew she had his personal information. I smiled to myself.
I hated driving after dark, because my vision seemed to be wonky about headlights. The glare bounced off everything, and I saw things in the road that weren’t really there. I’d been meaning to make an appointment with my optometrist. I’d even swerved a time or two to avoid hitting something that didn’t exist. And for a second, I thought it was my imagination, but the car behind me seemed to be driving too close.
I considered slowing down to let them pass, but continued at my regular rate of speed. The car swerved and caught my rear bumper. I gripped the steering wheel to keep from losing control. Maybe slowing down to let them pass wasn’t such a bad idea, so I took my foot off the gas. This didn’t help the situation, because this time, the car behind me deliberately smacked into the backside of my car. Not a direct hit, but it slammed into the left side of my back bumper. My heart jumped into my throat. I didn’t have a tight enough grip on the steering wheel and lost control. My car spun around, and I ended up with the nose of my car facing the opposite direction I’d been driving, and in the ditch. I looked to see what kind of car had crashed into me. The glimpse I caught looked like a late model black sedan.
As I was trying to maneuver my car out of the ditch and wondering how I was going to explain it to Peter, my mind started reeling. Then it all started coming together.
The gym bag I had just seen in Bruce’s office was a Louis Vuitton brown canvas and leather bag. The one I’d seen in his office the day before had been an old, ragged, blue canvas bag.
I let this roll around in my head as I turned my car around and headed home. I turned off the radio to listen to my car and see if there were any noises that shouldn’t have been there. I heard a little rattle, but nothing that would keep me from getting home.
When I arrived on the property, I saw the sheriff’s car. I blew out a breath of relief. John was at Hattie’s house.
I drove up to the big house. John and Hattie were sitting on the front porch. I parked my car, got out, and walked around it to assess the damage. It looked like only the back bumper had been damaged from careening into the ditch, but the left back bumper was crushed. Note to self, a Lexus will lose a fight with a late model sedan. My entire body was shaking as I walked up to John and Hattie.
Hattie jumped from her rocking chair and jogged toward me. “My dear, are you okay?”
I looked at her with a quizzical look on my face. “What do you mean?”
John walked up behind Hattie and echoed her words. “Seriously, Willa, are you okay? You look really shaken up.”
I had no idea I looked as bad as my insides felt. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I said, “Someone just ran me off the road. I think they were trying to kill me.”
Hattie wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight. “Oh, Willa, I’m so sorry. I’m glad you’re okay.”
John looked at the two of us, not sure what to make of what I had said. I could see the questioning look on his face.
Hattie let me go and stepped back, but stood close. “Start from the beginning, honey, and tell us what happened.” She took me by the hand and walked me up the stairs, then made me sit in her rocking chair and stood beside me.
“I was at the Parker building talking to Bruce, when I had a revelation, so I thought I would go to the sheriff’s office to talk to John. But he wasn’t there, so I decided to come home and get his cell number from you, Hattie. Bruce and I figured out that there might be another suspect. I wanted to let you know, so you could investigate.”
John sat down in the rocking chair next to me. “Tell me what you learned. I’m not sure I don’t already know, but I’m willing to listen.”
And then before I could tell him about the possibility of there being another thief, I remembered the gym bags. “But then something else happened on the way home. As I was trying to figure out how I was going to get my car out of the ditch without calling a tow truck, Bruce’s gym bag flashed through my head.”
Hattie asked, “What does Bruce’s gym bag have to do with anything?”
I looked at her. “The other day, when I went to go get the check for Whine and Roses, I opened the door to Bruce’s office. There was a blue canvas gym bag on the floor behind the door. It kept me from opening the door all the way. I assumed it was Bruce’s gym bag, and didn’t even think twice about it. It was a ragged blue canvas bag. I should have realized sooner that Bruce would never own a cheap canvas bag.”
John leaned toward me now. “Go on.”
“Then tonight, when I stop by to talk to Bruce about my new assistant and find out what he knew, I saw a bag on the chair in his office. This bag was a Louis Vuitton canvas bag with a leather shoulder strap. It even had Bruce’s initials embossed on it. He told me to put it on the floor and said something about heading to the gym. So, if that was Bruce’s gym bag, what was that other bag?”
John asked, “Was that bag still in the office?”
“The brown bag, yes. Like I said, it was sitting on the chair in his office, and I moved it so I could sit down. But Bruce took it with him when we left the office.”
John shook his head. “No, the blue bag. Did you see it in his office this time?”
I thought about it. “No, there was nothing on the floor when I went in tonight. And to tell you the truth, it didn’t even dawn on me until that car ran me off the road.”
Now John had his hand on my knee, but in a fatherly way. “Did you get a good look at this car?”
“I didn’t, but it was a…” I closed my eyes and tried to remember. “a big car. Dark, like navy or black.”
I jumped up out of the rocking chair when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I don’t know why, but it scared the crap out of me. I pulled the phone from my pocket and looked at the screen. I didn’t recognize the number.
I answered tentatively. “Hello.”
“Willa, it’s Bruce Parker.” I could hear he was out of breath, as if he’d been running or was excited.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Oh, yes, I’m fine. I’m on the elliptical machine,” he explained. “While I was working out, I remembered who the other chef was. You know, the other person who could have possibly taken the money.”
I guess working out was good for the memory, too. “Really?”
I waited for him to say Alejandra Luna, but instead he said, “I hate to even say this, because it’
s Paula’s husband, Billy Osborne. He’s Alice’s other chef, who normally works days.”
“Wow, that’s weird,” I said.
“I know, and I can’t believe I’d forgotten. I never did say anything to Paula, because Alice wasn’t absolutely sure. No stirring the hornet’s nest, since Paula is an amazing assistant. Anyway, I thought you’d want to know. Especially if you’re going to talk to the sheriff.”
“Thanks,” I started to disconnect, then said, “By the way, do you own a blue canvas gym bag?”
He didn’t even hesitate. “Nope. Why?”
“No reason. I have to go.” I put my phone in my pocket and turned to leave.
Hattie grabbed me by my upper arm. “No, you don’t. You’re not going anywhere, especially in that car. We’ll have it towed into town in the morning and checked from nose to tail before you drive it again. Heaven knows what could’ve happened to the alignment or the axles when you went into that ditch.”
I smiled to myself. She still loved me. Either that or…no, I was going with she still loved me.
I had planned to drive into town and confront Billy to see what he knew. I didn’t know where Paula and Billy lived, but I did know where he worked. I was just hoping that he was working the night shift, or at least hadn’t left for the day.
John got up and stood in front of me. “Who was that on the phone?”
I looked at my watch. “That was Bruce. He said that the other employee who’d been suspected of stealing was Paula Osborne’s husband, Billy. He’s one of the other chefs at the Poached Pear. And if Alice suspected him, that would mean that not only would Billy be out of a job, but so would Paula. Now there’s your motive.”
John put his arm around me, then said to Hattie, “Go back in the house. Please. I want you to stay here until you see me again. Do you understand?”
A fierceness came across Hattie’s face. She wasn’t used to being told what to do. Then the look softened, as if she understood. “Be careful,” she said as she walked toward the house.
“Are you walking me back to my house?” I asked. “Because I think I deserve to be there when you talk to Billy.”
Pasta, Pinot & Murder Page 13
