Broom for One More

by Morgana Best

  “Do you know who killed your boss?” I asked him, but at that moment, he spilt coffee on the floor.

  “Oh no, look what I’ve done!”

  The minister hurried over to him. “Don’t worry about it. One of the ladies of the church will clean it later. Did you burn your hand?”

  I caught Oleander’s eye and shrugged. I wasn’t getting very far with my questioning.

  Oleander nodded in the direction of the victim’s best buddy. I turned around and saw he was looking me up and down. I smiled at him, despite the fact he gave me the creeps, and he sauntered over to me. “I’m Nicholas North,” he said. “You can call me Nico.”

  “Goldie Bloom.” I went to shake his hand, but he picked up my hand and kissed it. If I had some disinfectant, I would have dipped my hand in a bucketload of it.

  “I’m a very competitive person,” he said. “I always did better times in training than Chase Evans, but Chase always beat me in races. We were training together for the Gold Coast Half Marathon that’s coming up next June. Now I’ll have to do it alone, and that annoys me, because I was sure I was going to beat him this time. In fact, I told my wife.”

  He sighed. “My wife refused to come to the funeral because she said she was busy. I know I seem like a dreadful flirt, but I’m madly in love with my wife and I’ve never cheated on her. I went to school with Chase. We were always competitive. Do you know, I wanted to be a vet, too. I missed out getting into vet school by one point, and Chase scraped through by one point.”

  He laughed ruefully. “Still, everyone said he was a good vet, and I went into business instead and became an entrepreneur. I don’t know what it was with Chase. He always beat me in everything. He got on the beach volleyball team and I just missed out. It didn’t matter what we did, he always beat me. We both went in the Gold Coast Half Marathon last year, and he beat me by fifty seconds. I even sprinted to the finish line.” He sighed. “I thought I was going to die. They took me into the medical tent and everything, but I just couldn’t run him down. He looked as though he hadn’t even had a run and I was exhausted.” He shrugged and held up his hands skyward. “What was that with him? It seemed like he had a gifted life.”

  “Until someone shot him,” I pointed out.

  His face fell. “He got what he deserved,” he said. “I don’t approve of cheating, and lately he was always boasting that he was having an affair with a married woman. I don’t approve of cheating,” he said again.

  Detective Power once more appeared at my side. “Do you two to know each other?”

  “No, we just now met for the first time,” I said.

  Power looked at Nico. “Is that true?”

  He looked surprised at the question. “Yes. I was just telling this lady how Chase lived a charmed life.”

  “Until someone shot him,” Power said.

  For once, Power and I agreed.

  As I turned away, I saw a violent argument taking place outside the window.

  Chapter 12

  I hurried over to the window and peeked out. Bree and Georgia Garrison were engaged in a heated argument. Both their faces were red and both were waving their hands in the air. I couldn’t hear a word they were saying. I tried to open the window, but it was locked. “What are you doing?” a voice said behind me.

  I spun around to see Oleander hovering over me. “Look out there!” I said urgently. “The vet’s wife and the vet nurse are having a big argument.”

  “It seems Chase’s wife knew he was having an affair with Georgia,” Oleander said.

  “It would be interesting to know if she knew that all the time, or whether she’s only just found out. I’d like to be able to overhear what they’re saying, though.”

  Oleander grabbed my arm. “Let’s go outside and pretend we’re having a conversation. We might be able to overhear something.”

  I readily agreed that was a good idea, so we hurried for the door. When we got outside, I was pleased to see that the front porch ran close to the corner where the two women were arguing. I nodded to Oleander and she followed me to the far end. We both walked as quietly as we could.

  As soon as we reached the far wall, the women’s voices could be heard.

  “He was never going to leave me for you, you trollop,” Bree yelled.

  “You don’t know that!” Georgia screeched back.

  “I knew all about him. You weren’t his only conquest. He had girlfriends everywhere. He always made sure they were married, because he didn’t want anyone to get too attached to him. You got too attached to him, though. Were you the one who shot him?”

  “How dare you!” Georgia yelled. “Any fool could see you were the one who shot him. You stand to inherit everything.”

  Bree made a grunting sound at the back of her throat. “I was wealthy before I married him. That’s hardly a motive. If you didn’t do it, then tell me who did! And besides, would you like me to tell your husband what’s been going on?”

  “Don’t you dare!” Georgia hissed.

  As I was straining to hear, Georgia stormed past us both. Luckily for us, she didn’t see us.

  I gestured to Oleander that we should go back inside before Bree came upon us, but she pulled my arm and pointed in Bree’s direction. “Now she’s speaking to a man. Can you hear?”

  I strained my ears. “I can hardly hear anything now,” I told her. “Can you hear what they’re saying?”

  “No, not really. We had better go back inside and look out the window.”

  Both of us hurried back inside and headed for the window, but Athanasius forestalled us. “Where have you two been? I was getting worried.”

  “I’ll tell you in a minute,” Oleander said urgently. “First, we have to look out the window.”

  This time when we looked out the window, Adrian Young was speaking with Bree. They looked awfully friendly. Both were laughing and she was patting his arm in an intimate manner, or so it seemed to me.

  Oleander and I exchanged glances.

  “Can you tell me what’s going on?” Athanasius said.

  “Bree, the vet’s wife, was yelling at Georgia Garrison,” I told him. “She said her husband had plenty of affairs, although I don’t know if that’s true.”

  “Did she only just find out about her husband’s affair with Georgia?” Athanasius asked me.

  I looked at Oleander, but she shrugged. “We couldn’t really tell,” she said, “but she wasn’t acting surprised. And what’s more, she’s out there now speaking in hushed tones with Adrian Young.”

  “And Georgia Garrison’s husband is another suspect,” I said. “He might’ve found out about the affair and shot the vet for that reason.”

  “I suppose infidelity is a fairly common motive for murder,” Athanasius said. “I wonder why her husband isn’t here at the funeral today?”

  “Maybe he had to work,” I offered.

  “Go and ask Georgia where her husband is.” Oleander gave me a little push in Georgia’s direction.

  I was going to protest, but Georgia caught my eye, so I walked over to her. “Are you doing all right, Georgia? I can see you’re terribly upset.”

  Georgia did indeed look upset. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she kept dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. “Yes, I’m a having a rough day.”

  “The funeral must’ve been hard for you,” I said, wondering how to work up to the subject of her husband.

  She nodded.

  “Is your husband here to help you through this hard time?” I asked her.

  She looked alarmed, but then said, “No. He’s in Dubai for work.”

  “Dubai!” I said, surprised. “Did he just fly over there, or what?”

  “He’s been there for five months,” she said. “He’s due to fly back at the end of this month.”

  “Oh, that’s awfully hard for you,” I said. “Is he often away for work?”

  She nodded. “Yes, and it is very difficult. I have two sons. They’ve grown up and left home. One of them lives
in London and one of them lives in Dubai, so my husband is staying with that son. He’s the eldest.”

  I shot her a sympathetic look. Meanwhile, my synapses were sparking. It seemed her husband had an ironclad alibi, unless he had slipped back into the country to kill the vet, but it didn’t seem likely for several reasons. If he was staying with her son, then her son would have commented that his father wasn’t there. It was a bit of a stretch to think the son was in on the murder. No, I thought I could discount the husband as a likely suspect.

  I wondered if it was true that the vet had plenty of affairs, because if so, then there could be several angry husbands out there. I would have to find a way to question Bree more closely. She seemed someone who was quite self-serving , so it followed she would not like to answer questions, especially not if she was the one who did it.

  I still doubted that Georgia had done it, because she had seemed genuinely surprised at the time. I was still mulling things over when Georgia touched my arm. I jumped.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, but you were a million miles away.”

  “Oh, um,” I started. “I was just wondering who shot Chase, to be honest.”

  She dabbed at her eyes again. For a moment, I was afraid she would burst into a fresh flood of tears. “Yes, you and me both. I can’t wait for those gunshot residue tests to come back because the police had me down to the police station after hours last night for questioning again!”

  “They did!” I said in shock. “I thought I was the main suspect.”

  “You probably were,” she admitted, “but they found out that I was in the local gun club. I’m licensed to own a rifle. I used to live at Tamworth in New South Wales on a farm, and I had to get a rifle to shoot snakes. Of course, it’s illegal to harm snakes, but when you have a big brown coming at you or one of your animals, you don’t think twice. Every farmer I knew had a rifle for shooting brown snakes. Anyway, the police found out I had a gun licence and now they really think I did it.”

  I was beginning to think they might be right. “Surely we only have a few more days until the residue tests come back,” I said. I couldn’t think of anything else to say. “That will clear you.” Or maybe not, I added silently.

  “I hope so, too. I hope so,” she said, “because everyone knows those detectives put your friend Oleander in the Southport watchhouse with hardly any evidence, and I’m worried they’ll do the same to me.”

  “Actually, I thought that’s exactly what they were going to do to me.”

  Georgia nodded. “They’ve taken my rifles for testing, but so many people around here have rifles.”

  I was surprised. “They do? Why would anyone in the city need a rifle?”

  She shook her head. “No, I don’t mean around Surfers Paradise or Broadbeach or anywhere around where we are now. I mean out at East Bucklebury. There are all those cane fields out there, and plenty of snakes. The farmers on the cane fields have rifles. I know it’s not exactly a full-on rural area like in the country, but it’s country enough.”

  “I didn’t know,” I said. “I’ll be a bit nervous to be out bushwalking again.”

  She laughed. “I’m sure you’re safe. You don’t look anything like a snake.”

  I laughed, too. “I meant I’d be in danger from snakes, not stray bullets. You know, I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but I was standing at that window over there and I saw you have a terrible row with Bree. I couldn’t hear what you were arguing about,” I lied. “Are you all right?”

  She looked shocked, but then said, “She and I have never been friends.”

  “The reason I brought it up was that I’m just as worried as you are about being arrested by the police. I want to find out who killed Chase as fast as I possibly can, and I want to ask Bree questions.”

  “Do you think she did it?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t have the slightest clue who did it, but I thought she might know something. Do you have any clues as to how I could approach her and ask her questions? I can hardly just walk up to her and give her the third degree like the police can.”

  Georgia tapped her finger on her chin. “You’ll have to make her think it’s in her best interests for you to solve the murder.”

  “How will I do that?”

  Georgia sipped her coffee for a moment before answering. “I know! Tell her that the police will freeze all Chase’s assets until his murder is solved.”

  “Do they actually do that?” I asked her.

  She shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t actually know, but Bree will believe it. That way, she’ll be happy to tell you anything she knows.”

  “Yes, but not if she was the one who did it,” I said.

  Chapter 13

  I stopped the car outside a newly built home rendered in various shades of grey and white. A red golf buggy was parked in the well-manicured driveway. The massive home was in one of the exclusive gated estates in stunning Sanctuary Cove, where it was pretty much impossible to get a house for under a million dollars, and where most houses were worth in the region of four million.

  “I hope she doesn’t mind me coming along,” Oleander said.

  “She probably would have minded if Athanasius was with us as well,” I said. “I hope he’s not too upset at being left at home.”

  Oleander shook her head. “He understands. It’s amazing how you got her to agree to speak with you.”

  “It was Georgia’s idea really,” I said. “When I called Bree to set up the meeting, I suggested we could help each other. She was entirely reluctant until I told her the police were going to freeze her husband’s assets until the murder was solved. After that, she fell all over herself trying to help me.”

  “It seems she can’t be the murderer, then,” Oleander said.

  I shook my head. “Possibly, but things aren’t always what they seem.”

  Oleander scratched her head. “I wonder how they could have afforded that house. How much money would a vet make in East Bucklebury? I mean, I know he was the only vet, but it’s not as if he was a vet in Brisbane or Sydney or somewhere big like that.”

  “Bree said she had her own money,” I pointed out. “And speaking of money, my job starts soon. I’ve become accustomed to being a lady of leisure which is kind of nice, even with my fear of boredom.”

  “Make sure you tell Bree you’re a real estate agent,” Oleander said. “Perhaps she might sell that house one day and you’d get a really good commission on it.”

  My eyes lit up. “I sure would! That’s a good idea. Come on, are you ready?”

  Oleander frowned. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

  We made our way to the wide timber and glass door. I had seen plenty of those doors around the north Gold Coast, in places such as Hope Island and Paradise Point, so I figured her taste wasn’t too out of the ordinary.

  Bree herself answered the door. I was half expecting a butler or a maid. “Come in.” She opened the door and stood aside. Her manner wasn’t exactly welcoming, but there was no trace of hostility in her tone.

  I had expected a grand entrance hall, but it was merely an empty space, to the right of which was an expansive kitchen. The kitchen itself screamed expense, with granite bench tops and glass splashbacks. Bree ushered us past the kitchen, through the dining room, and into a small sitting room. Two white sofas sat at right angles under a massive painting. I recognised the painter’s name. His works weren’t outrageously expensive, but he was quite well-known, so I knew the painting would have cost a pretty penny.

  “Would you like a drink?”

  “Coffee, please,” we both answered automatically.

  Bree laughed, a high-pitched, nasal laugh. “Oh yes. You’re both from East Bucklebury. My husband hated that ridiculous coffee law.”

  She crossed to the kitchen. It wasn’t far away, so I was still able to speak to her.

  “Why did your husband want to work in a tiny, out of the way place like East Bucklebury?” I asked her. I hurried to a
dd, “Forgive me if that’s rude, but I’m from Melbourne. Inner city Melbourne actually, and it’s taking me quite some time to get used to East Bucklebury.”

  She snorted rudely. “Yes, and I’m from Manly Beach, and East Bucklebury is a far cry from the north shores of Sydney. Don’t get me wrong—I do love Sanctuary Cove, and with the shopping and golf courses and everything around here, it’s the best, but East Bucklebury? It’s a terrible dump.”

  I shot a look at Oleander, but she didn’t seem too offended.

  “So why did your husband set up a vet clinic there, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  She shrugged. “He had a big practice in Sydney, with several vets working for him, but he had a health scare ten or so years ago. That prompted him to sell the clinic, and he got a good price. Even though he was young, he figured he would semi-retire to a small town. East Bucklebury isn’t all that far from Sanctuary Cove. I know the locals think a half hour commute is a fair way, but when you’re used to living in Sydney, it’s not far at all.”

  I shot Oleander a significant look. That explained how Chase and Bree Evans could afford such a big house at Sanctuary Cove. His Sydney practice must have been worth a small fortune, and even a tiny, two-bedroom, one-bathroom terrace house in Sydney is worth over a million dollars.

  As she made the coffee, I glanced around. Outside was a rather tasteless billiards room, the table garishly pink with mustard coloured timber. The floors and ceiling of the room were dark-stained timber. Massive, bifold doors opened onto the room. The deep mahogany-coloured timber floor extended the length of the house, and I could see a lap pool with a giant, pink flamingo floating in it.

  “Is that the golf course I can see out there?” I asked her.