Flat White

by Sandra Balzo

  ‘I don’t see how. He relayed it all to me as we talked on the phone, so I could write it down.’

  ‘Where?’ I asked.

  ‘In my notebook, of course.’ She picked up the spray bottle. ‘Along with usernames and passwords for his accounts.’

  ‘He gave you those, too?’ Sarah demanded.

  ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘How else was I going to get into the accounts online?’

  How else indeed.

  She kept talking as she sprayed another table. ‘Silly Barry, he pretty much used the same password and username for everything.’

  ‘Silly Barry,’ I repeated.

  ‘You probably do the same thing,’ Sarah told me.

  ‘I do not,’ I countered. ‘I use different ones and can never remember them.’

  ‘That means you write them down,’ Christy said. ‘Which isn’t good. We’ll have to talk about cyber security, Maggy.’

  Right now the little potential hacker was the last person I wanted advice from.

  ‘Barry hadn’t even set up his security questions,’ Christy continued. ‘I had to do all that before I could get to anything else.’ She set down the spray bottle. ‘I hate to say it, Barry being dead and all, but he wasn’t very organized.’

  ‘Maybe Helena set up the accounts,’ I suggested.

  ‘Maybe so. Barry was detail-oriented in so many other ways.’ She sniffled. ‘That’s why we were so perfect together.’

  ‘Except for that detail of his being married,’ Sarah reminded her.

  ‘Yes, that.’ Christy pulled out a chair, wiping it off with the cloth before sitting. ‘I just don’t know what to think about him.’

  ‘That he was a slimeball?’ Sarah offered.

  I wasn’t sure if I was glad Sarah was there or not.

  Good thing Christy wasn’t easily offended. ‘I guess he was. But maybe I just fall for that kind of bad boy. Like Ronny.’ She held up a hand. ‘No offence.’

  ‘None taken,’ Ronny’s step-cousin said. ‘He’s a slimeball too.’

  ‘And a killer,’ I reminded them both.

  ‘That’s true,’ Christy said, brightening. ‘Barry wasn’t that, at least.’

  Sensing an opening. I pulled out the chair across from her and sat. ‘But what was he, do you suppose?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You know that the Margraves accounts were emptied.’ Helena had confided this little nugget, so I wasn’t revealing anything I had learned from Pavlik alone.

  ‘Emptied?’ Christy’s eyes were wide. ‘No, I didn’t know that.’

  ‘And you didn’t do that either?’ Sarah asked, picking up the now navy and white rag and sniffing it. She coughed.

  ‘Did I empty their accounts?’ Christy said. ‘Of course not. I just sold a few securities and then transferred the money out of the brokerage account, so Barry could pay some bills.’ Her face reddened. ‘I thought for a diamond.’

  ‘The one that’s still missing,’ I said. ‘In the manila envelope.’

  ‘Yes,’ Christy said. ‘And now I’ll never know for sure what was in it.’

  ‘Then there may not even be a diamond?’ Sarah asked, tossing down the rag in disgust. ‘Why are we even talking about it?’

  Pavlik told me that money had been wired for the purchase of a diamond, presumably the one in the missing envelope, but I wasn’t free to tell Christy and Sarah that. ‘Back to the Margraves accounts. If you didn’t empty them, Christy, then Barry must have done it.’

  ‘But why?’ Realization dawned on Christy’s face. ‘Because he planned to run away with me?’

  ‘Sure,’ Sarah said. ‘And the two of you would live happily ever after on some tropical island, spending his and the betrayed wife’s money.’

  ‘Oh,’ Christy said, her hands balled up under her chin. ‘That sounds wonderful.’

  ‘It sounds like fraud,’ I said. ‘Which is what you’re going to be formally charged with if you’re not careful.’

  ‘Don’t forget murder,’ Sarah said.

  ‘But Maggy and I were together when Barry was killed,’ Christy said.

  ‘Then you must have hired somebody.’ Sarah hung onto a new theory like Mocha did with a bone Frank coveted. ‘Or you and Maggy are in it together.’

  ‘Cahoots,’ I said.

  They both looked at me.

  ‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘Just something that keeps popping into my head. But, in answer to your question, Sarah: no, Christy did not kill Barry and neither did I.’

  ‘Fine.’ Her arms were crossed. ‘Though I didn’t phrase it as a question.’

  ‘Statement, even worse,’ Christy said, miffed. ‘Why would I murder Barry? I loved him. Or thought I did.’

  Loved, past tense. Today was Saturday and Barry had been mowed down in front of us on Tuesday. Four days and Christy already seemed to be viewing him in the rearview mirror. I guessed that was resilience. Or psychopathy.

  Now Christy drew in a breath, her eyes bugging out. ‘Or maybe he’s not dead.’

  ‘I tried that,’ Sarah said. ‘Maggy says Barry’s dead as a doornail, flat as a pancake.’

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ I said, trying to soften it. ‘Good theory, Christy, but Helena identified him.’

  ‘Maybe she’s in … what was your word?’

  ‘Cahoots,’ I said. ‘But there’s also—’

  Footsteps pounded up the front steps and the door opened. ‘Can I use your bathroom?’

  ‘The Plow Man Cometh,’ I said, as Harold Byerly made his way to the bathroom, parka hood up and boots tracking dirty snow.

  ‘Now, Maggy,’ Sarah said. ‘Harold is just using the bathroom.’

  I gave her side-eye. ‘Aren’t we being charitable, all of a sudden. The man needs a good gastroenterologist.’

  ‘Or more fiber in his diet,’ Christy said in a chippy tone.

  ‘Or less,’ I said, as the door opened again and Deputy Anthony entered. ‘Morning, Kelly. Can I get you a coffee?’

  ‘Five, please,’ she said, stripping off her gloves. ‘I’ve got four guys from Public Works digging through snow looking for that phone.’

  ‘What phone?’ Christy asked, as Sarah went back to get the coffee.

  Kelly Anthony just lifted her eyebrows and gave me a dark look, presumably placing the blame for today’s task squarely on my shoulders.

  I turned to Christy. ‘I told you. We think Barry had a second phone he used to communicate with you. But we – or the authorities – haven’t found it.’

  ‘Ohhh,’ Christy said. ‘That’s why you were so interested in my landline, Maggy. And why Detective Anthony took my cell phone.’

  For her part, Deputy Anthony did not comment.

  Not that Christy paused for one, anyway.

  ‘Say,’ she said, getting up from the table and approaching the deputy. ‘Do you think—’

  ‘Umm, Christy,’ I said, pointing. ‘You have something—’

  But the redhead didn’t pause for me, either. ‘We were just talking and Maggy thinks it’s possible that Barry faked his death.’

  I held up both hands. ‘I didn’t say that. Just the opposite, in fact.’

  Christy balled her fists on her hips. ‘Well, you said it was a good theory.’

  ‘I was placating you,’ I said. ‘I also told you that Helena had identified him—’

  ‘And might be in cahoots.’

  ‘I never—’

  But Kelly Anthony was just shaking her head. ‘I don’t know what you all are up to, but the man was identified with dental records and fingerprints.’

  Fingerprints, that was interesting. ‘Margraves’ prints were on file? Did he have a criminal record?’

  I was the target of another one of those looks. ‘Fingerprints are used for everything these days from opening your cell phone to passport ID for frequent travelers. You don’t have to have a “criminal record”, as you put it.’

  I sensed I was not Deputy Anthony’s favorite person right now.

/>   ‘Barry did travel a lot,’ Christy was saying. ‘I’m sure he had some sort of special clearance.’

  A door opened and closed. Harold Byerly emerged from the hallway to join us just as Sarah handed Kelly Anthony a cardboard tray holding four coffees. ‘I’ve got the fifth one on the counter,’ she said, hitching her thumb over her shoulder.

  ‘Give it to Harold,’ Anthony said, pushing her way out the door with the coffees.

  ‘Somebody’s a little surly this morning,’ Sarah said, watching her go. ‘She didn’t even pay.’

  ‘I think it’s on me,’ I said. ‘I’m the one who suggested the missing phone might be in a snow pile.’ I turned to Harold. ‘How are things, Harold? No repercussions from …’ I gestured toward the street.

  ‘Mowing down the love of my life?’ Christy suggested.

  The woman was all over the place. One moment she’s left Barry in the past, the next moment he’s not dead. And now, suddenly, he’s the love of her life again.

  Harold just picked up the fifth to-go cup. ‘Why do you think I’m digging out snow piles instead of driving my truck? Can’t say I didn’t deserve it though. Leaving my truck unattended and all.’

  Punishment or not, I was surprised Harold had been tapped to participate in the search for the cell phone, given he was involved in the incident. However negligent he might have been, though, Harold had no reason to want Margraves dead. Or to hide evidence if he should come across the phone.

  ‘You were in a real hurry that morning,’ I said to him.

  ‘It’s not easy to find an available bathroom at that time of the morning in a snowstorm,’ Harold told us. ‘I said hallelujah when I saw you were open. Literally, yelled “hallelujah” and jumped right out of the truck.’

  ‘Bless you,’ Christy said. ‘We were glad to be there for you, weren’t we, Maggy?’

  Harold had her at ‘hallelujah’. The woman was a chameleon. ‘Of course.’

  ‘Damn bathroom stank for hours,’ Sarah said. ‘Say hallelujah to that one.’

  ‘Hallelujah!’ Christy piped up, raising both hands over her head.

  But Harold was sheepish. ‘Sorry. I love pad thai, but—’

  ‘It doesn’t love you. I know,’ I said, seeing my opportunity for getting the narrative from the horse’s mouth. ‘Now you saw that we were open, parked your truck in front of Clare’s, hopped down and ran right in here, right?’

  ‘Not thinking to lock it,’ Byerly said ruefully. ‘That was my cardinal sin, according to my supervisor.’

  ‘And the keys?’ I asked.

  He clucked his teeth. ‘In the ignition.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s not good,’ I agreed. ‘In the ignition with the truck running?’

  ‘You know,’ he said, cocking his head, ‘I can’t say for sure anymore. I could have sworn I shut it off, but I guess I was wrong.’

  I wasn’t so sure of that.

  Harold held up the to-go cup. ‘Can I pay you for this?’

  ‘Your coffee is on me, just like the rest of them,’ I said.

  Christy preceded Harold to the door and pushed it open for him.

  ‘Christy,’ I said, as Harold nodded gratefully and left. ‘I think you sat—’

  But the redhead was hanging out the door. ‘Rebecca! Over here.’

  I went to the window to see Rebecca step off Christy’s porch and cross the street.

  ‘I was just putting a note in your mailbox saying I was sorry I missed you,’ Rebecca said, entering the coffeehouse. ‘Hello, all.’

  ‘It’s my fault,’ Christy said. ‘Maggy needed my help and I completely forgot you and I had planned to go out for breakfast.’

  ‘If you want to go now, Christy, that’s fine,’ I said, feeling guilty for having disturbed their plans. Besides, I had gotten all I wanted out of the woman for now.

  ‘But you said you needed me.’ Christy apparently had a need to be needed.

  ‘And I did. But that was before I knew that Sarah was coming in.’ It wasn’t necessarily a lie. I never could be sure Sarah would be in – at least on time. ‘Now that she’s here, you—’

  ‘But I just saw Sarah going out the back,’ Rebecca said. ‘From the train platform to the parking lot.’

  Frowning, I stuck my head in the office. Sure enough. The sneak’s coat was gone.

  I came back into the main dining room. ‘I guess Sarah did have to leave.’

  ‘Well then, I’ll just stay, Maggy,’ Christy said, picking up her bleach-soaked cloth and turning her bleach-blotched butt at me to wipe another table. ‘You can depend on me.’

  Goody.

  Rebecca stayed on for coffee before she left to get on with her day. Commuters came and went and Christy cleaned and cleaned. And talked and talked.

  ‘If it’s all right, Maggy?’

  ‘Yes?’ I had shut her out in self-defense and now she was waving her towel – I’d taken away the bleach – to get my attention.

  ‘The mailman just came so I’m going to run over to my place and get it, OK?’ She glanced up at the clock. ‘It’s only four, so it should be quiet enough.’

  I thought I could make it through while she crossed the street and back. ‘Of course, go ahead and take your time. I’ll be fine.’

  I sat down at a table and laid my head on my crossed arms, like naptime in kindergarten, enjoying the silence. But seemingly not two minutes later, footsteps pounded up the steps and the door slammed open.

  ‘Maggy!’ Christy called. ‘You’re not going to believe this.’

  ‘What?’ I asked, a bit irritably, raising my head. I had been looking forward to my ten minutes of peace.

  She tossed something onto the table in front of me, and I followed my nose down to it.

  A manila envelope addressed to Christy Wrigley. And with Barry Margraves’ return address.

  SIXTEEN

  I picked up the manila envelope. ‘This is the envelope? The one you said went missing from your underwear drawer?’

  Along with the bracelet, which also was no longer missing.

  ‘Lingerie drawer.’ Christy sat down across from me and picked up the envelope. ‘But, yes. The very one. Look at the cancellation date. January nineteenth. That was Tuesday, which is when it was delivered to me. The day of Barry’s death.’

  And now here it was Saturday. Christy’s address had been circled, and I traced it with my fingertip. ‘Somebody found it and put it back in your mailbox?’ I remembered Rebecca on her porch.

  ‘No, that’s the odd thing,’ Christy said. ‘I saw the mail carrier slip it into the box just now. That’s why I was so eager to go across and get it. You must have thought me odd, running out like that.’

  No odder than usual. And, besides, I was busy being grateful. ‘Are you going to open it?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Christy said. ‘Do you think I should? What would the sheriff want me to do?’

  Pavlik would want us to go out and hand it to Kelly Anthony. But if I said that out loud, I wouldn’t have deniability. ‘Can you feel anything in it?’

  She ran her fingers back and forth across the envelope like it was covered in braille. She stopped. ‘Maybe a lump here?’

  I felt the lower left corner, where I detected a pea-size bump. ‘Maybe so.’

  We both stared at the envelope between us, hands in our laps now.

  ‘Open it,’ I said.

  She hesitated and then grabbed the envelope and tore it open in one motion.

  A big ol’ diamond fell out.

  ‘Don’t touch it,’ I warned Christy, getting up.

  ‘Oops.’ She was balancing it on her left ring finger. Startled, she let go and the thing bounced on the envelope and then rolled off onto the floor.

  ‘Oh, my God,’ I said, getting onto my hands and knees and crawling to where I had seen it come to a stop. Once there I stuck my hand out, keeping my eyes on the diamond. ‘Glove.’

  ‘What?’ Christy was standing now.

  ‘Glove,’ I said. ‘You kno
w, the things you wear nearly continually? I don’t want to leave prints.’

  ‘But I’ve already touched it.’

  Like I said, I didn’t want to leave my prints. ‘Just give me a napkin, if you don’t have a glove.’

  ‘No, I have a glove,’ she said, going to her purse. ‘Nitrile, latex or rubber?’

  I felt my eyes start to roll and righted them. ‘Nitrile. Please.’

  She handed me one.

  I stretched it over my hand and picked up the diamond, placing it back on the envelope. ‘Watch, but don’t touch. I’ll see if Anthony is still here.’

  ‘I wouldn’t have touched it, if you’d told me not to sooner,’ Christy was saying as I went to the door. ‘In fact, you’re the one who said open it.’

  Couldn’t argue with that. I stepped out on the porch and was relieved to see Anthony was nowhere in sight, though the public works guys were still digging the snow mound where the plow had been stuck.

  I went back and got my phone, speed-dialling Pavlik.

  ‘You found what?’ he asked when he picked up.

  ‘The envelope that Christy reported stolen. The one she thought had a diamond in it? Well, it does.’

  ‘You opened it.’

  ‘Christy opened it.’ I was a snitch. Especially unforgiveable since I told her to do it.

  ‘Is Anthony still out front?’

  ‘No, she’s gone.’ I didn’t know if they’d found something or the deputy had just stepped away. Either way, I preferred dealing with Pavlik, given Kelly’s earlier mood. ‘Want me to bring it to you?’

  Sure, why not close early again.

  ‘No, I’m nearby. I’ll just stop in.’

  ‘Oh, OK,’ I said, a little surprised. ‘Great.’

  I rung off.

  ‘What did he say?’ Christy had the diamond, which looked to be three or four karats to my uneducated eye, in the palm of her now gloved hand.

  ‘That he’d stop by to get it. Will you put that down?’

  ‘I have a glove on.’

  Yes, she did. ‘OK, but let me get a picture.’

  ‘Ooh, good idea.’ Christy held the diamond up next to her face and smiled for the camera.

  ‘I meant just the dia— OK, fine.’ I obligingly took the shot and then had her hold the diamond on her palm again, and just snapped that. Then I pieced together the envelope and took a third shot of that.