A Killer Cake (18 page)

“And it sounds as though Roy duped them
both,” I added. “We saw how upset James Manchester was at Roy’s
office. Let’s not forget that the mayor has been claiming that he
could take the hit of losing money, but the sheriff and Kelly both
discovered that Mullins doesn’t have nearly as much money as he
likes to claim around town. And speaking of Kelly, I have a few
suspicions about her myself.”

Moose looked genuinely surprised by that. “Do
you honestly think that she could have killed her boss?”

“Why not? Could you have worked for that man
for seven days, let alone seven years, without entertaining
thoughts of killing him?” I asked.

“Nothing that I’d ever follow up on,” Moose
said.

“How do we know what Kelly’s motivation might
have been? If she did it, I’m sure that she had her reasons.”

“It just doesn’t make sense, though. She
could have poisoned him any day of the week,” Moose protested.

“Sure, but then the suspicion of his murder
would fall directly on her. Think about how much more clever it was
to wait until lots of other people had a chance to do it as
well.”

“Victoria, do we have any reason to believe
that she had anything to gain by basically killing her golden
goose? Without Roy, Kelly is bound to be out of a job soon.”

I nodded. “Sure, but what I really want to
know is if she’s mentioned by name in the man’s will. They worked
closely together for seven years, and Roy wasn’t all that close
with anyone else. What if he left her enough so that she could
afford to retire? It might not be a fortune in most people’s eyes,
but it could be motive enough for her.”

“I’m getting tired of guessing. We need to
get our hands on that will,” Moose said.

“We can always ask Rebecca to look into it,
but there’s a good chance that it hasn’t been filed yet, so there’s
no way for us to know.”

“Was she his attorney?” Moose asked.

“I have no idea, but if it’s been filed, she
might be able to find out who his beneficiaries are.”

“Then call her, Victoria. Knowing what he
wrote in that will could go a long way toward figuring out who
killed him.”

“It’s worth a shot,” I said as I took out my
phone and dialed Rebecca’s number.

Fortunately, she picked up on the first ring.
“Hey, it’s me,” I said. “Do you have a second?”

“Just about that,” Rebecca said.

She sounded stressed out, and I hated to
bother her. “This can wait. Just call me when you get a
chance.”

“No, I can talk, just not for long. What’s
up?”

“Moose and I are trying to find out if Roy
Thompson’s will has been filed with the probate court yet. Do you
happen to know anything about it?”

“I heard rumors that he used an attorney in
Charlotte, but when he files the paperwork, he’ll have to do it in
our county.”

“Can you ask around and see if it’s been
submitted yet?”

“I’m due there myself on another matter in a
few minutes,” Rebecca said. “I’ll call you if I find anything out.
Sorry, but I really do have to run.”

“Go,” I said. “And thanks.”

Unfortunately, she’d already hung up by the
time I’d gotten my thanks out.

“She doesn’t know, but she’s going to look
into it,” I told Moose as I put my cell phone away.

“Rebecca’s a good friend to have,” Moose
said.

“For more reasons than her connections at the
courthouse,” I agreed.

“So, is that it for our list of suspects?”
Moose asked.

“Well, unless there’s yet another mystery
partner that we don’t know about, that just about covers it. It’s
enough, though, don’t you think? We have six pretty viable
suspects, and any one of them could have killed Roy Thompson.”

“So, we’re pretty sure that it’s one of the
following people: Sylvia Jones, Roy’s ex-wife; Asher, his estranged
son; Loretta Jenkins, his illegitimate daughter; James Manchester
and Hank Mullins, two of his scorned business partners; and
finally, Kelly Raven, his secretary/receptionist. Does that about
sum it up?”

“That’s all that we know about,” I said. “If
Sheriff Croft has other names on his list, we don’t know about
them.”

“If he does, he can deal with them himself.
We already have more than we can handle with the names that we’ve
got.”

“So, the only people we’ve been able to
eliminate so far without a doubt are the one ex-con we had as a
suspect and our town’s best barber. The rest of our suspects are
supposedly honest and upright citizens. One of them’s a mayor, for
goodness sakes.”

“That doesn’t make him honest or upright,”
Moose said with a grin.

“I already know your opinion of politicians,”
I said with a laugh. “We can’t let that influence us one way or the
other, though.”

“Agreed, though it’s true that the man’s been
acting strangely when it comes to us.”

“Who knows? Maybe he acts that way around
everybody.”

“I doubt he’d get reelected if he did,” my
grandfather said.

“Our list is the best we can manage to come
up with at the moment given the information we have,” I said as we
neared the diner. “For now, I just want to finish my shift, and
then go home and have a fire with my husband.”

Moose looked up at the sky. “You’ll have to
have it in your fireplace inside. It’s going to rain before you get
off work.”

I looked up, and while there were a few dark
clouds in the sky, I had no idea what the weather might bring. “How
can you be so sure? Are you basing that on just a few clouds?”

“That, and the fact that my leg is killing
me. Whenever it hurts like this, it’s going to either rain or snow,
and I don’t think it’s cold enough for snowflakes. It will still be
chilly, but it’s going to be rain when it hits the ground.”

“You sound pretty sure of yourself,” I said
as my grandfather parked the truck in the back of the parking area
we all used.

“I’ll bet you ten to one that I’m right. You
pick the stakes.”

“No, thanks,” I said. “I know you wouldn’t be
that bold if you weren’t sure.”

Before we made it to the front door, the
first raindrops hit us both.

We dashed inside together, and I looked at my
grandfather, who couldn’t stop grinning.

“What’s so amusing?” Martha asked when she
saw her husband’s face.

“Nothing much. I just love being right; do
you know what I mean?”

Martha grinned. “We all know what you mean,
Moose. Did you have any luck with your investigation?”

“It’s too soon to tell,” I said. I kissed her
cheek, and then I said, “Thanks for watching the front for me.”

“It was my pleasure,” she said.

I smiled at Jenny as I walked past her, and
Greg was happy to see me when I came back into the kitchen.

“Hey there,” he said with a smile. “I missed
you. Are we having a fire outside tonight?”

“I’d love to, but Moose just made it
rain.”

Greg looked puzzled by my statement. “I knew
that he could do a remarkable number of things, but I didn’t
realize that he was all that proficient at rain dances.”

“Well, maybe he didn’t cause it, but he
surely did predict it. I’m afraid we’re going to miss our outdoor
fire tonight.”

“There will plenty of time for that later,”
Greg said as he hugged me. “After all, we’ve got the rest of our
lives.”

“Maybe so, but I wanted one tonight,” I
said.

“Then we’ll light up the fireplace and
snuggle under a blanket together. How does that sound?” my husband
asked.

“Like we should close up now and avoid the
rush,” I replied with a grin.

He laughed, and then my husband released me.
“Patience is a virtue, my love.”

“I know. I just don’t feel all that virtuous
at the moment.”

I made my way back out front, and I found
that Jenny had her hands full with our dinner customers. I jumped
in and started helping out, glad that our diner’s business hadn’t
completely blown away with Roy Thompson’s death.

I did notice that not many folks were having
dessert, though.

Chapter 13

“Is it too late to be calling?” Rebecca asked
when I answered the phone at home later that night. “I kind of got
distracted, and to be honest, I forgot all about calling you.”

“That’s okay. It’s not even nine o’clock
yet.” Since I had to be at the diner before six just about every
morning, I had to get to bed at a decent hour so I could get my
beauty sleep. Otherwise, I tended to get kind of grumpy, and nobody
was a fan of that, least of all our early morning customers.

“Okay. I’ll make it quick. I just got back
from having drinks with Roy Thompson’s Charlotte attorney, a man
named Paul Gray. He was at the courthouse at the same time I was
there, and I happened to overhear what he was talking about, and we
had a nice little chat.”

“Is he attractive?” I asked instantly.

“Oh, yes. I didn’t mind the assignment you
gave me at all. There’s a problem, though. He’s just getting out of
a long-term relationship.”

“Don’t let that stop you,” I said with a
laugh. “But what happened to the last guy you were dating? You
didn’t even want to tell me his name because you were afraid that
it might jinx it.”

“Well, it managed to get jinxed anyway. I’m
sorry to say that he didn’t work out,” Rebecca said.

“Do you have any more details than that that
you’re willing to share now that’s over? You know I live
vicariously through you.”

“Then I’d say that you have a sad and lonely
life. You have to know that I’d trade you for what you’ve got with
Greg any day of the week.”

“And I’d turn you down every time you asked,”
I said. “So, tell me about Paul.”

“That’s not as important at the moment as
what he told me about Roy Thompson’s will,” Rebecca said, “or more
significantly, Roy’s plans to change it completely right before he
died.”

“WHAT?” I asked loudly enough to get Greg’s
attention.

“Is anything wrong?” he asked me.

“No, it’s just Rebecca,” I said in a calmer
voice. “Everything’s fine.”

My dear friend laughed when she heard me say
that. “Since when did I become ‘Just Rebecca’?”

“You know what I mean. What exactly did he
tell you?”

“It was pretty amazing, to be honest with
you. It turns out that Paul was heading to Jasper Fork yesterday as
Roy Thompson was dying.”

“Was he making a change that quickly?” I
asked.

“Roy told him that he was completely
revamping his will, and Paul even brought two people from his
office to witness the changes, along with a notary to make sure
things were taken care of immediately.”

“Did he happen to mention how things were
going to change, or is that not a fair question to ask?”

“Well, I think Paul was trying to impress me
a little, so he probably said more than he would have in ordinary
circumstances.”

“Rebecca, did you take advantage of that man
for my sake?”

I could hear the grin in her voice as she
answered, “Let’s just say that I was in the mood to be impressed.
Would you like to hear what he told me?”

“You bet I would,” I said. This was getting
good.

“Okay. From what Paul told me, every last
dime of Roy’s money was going to go to a foundation for the
preservation of historical landmarks. Everyone listed before was
getting cut of their inheritance completely. From what I gathered,
it’s a pretty substantial amount, too.”

“I didn’t know that Roy Thompson was that
fond of old buildings.”

“He wasn’t particularly, according to Paul.
It was just his way of twisting the knife a little. It’s a shame he
never got a chance to do what he wanted to with his money.”

“So, who gets it all in the old will, the one
that’s still valid?”

“Currently, it’s split right down the
middle,” Rebecca said.

“Between Asher and his mother, right?” I
guessed.

“Well, you got half of it right. Asher is
indeed one of the beneficiaries. It’s the other name he mentioned
that surprised me.”

“I give up. It wasn’t his daughter, was it? I
didn’t think he even knew about her existence.” That would
certainly give Loretta incentive to knock off her old man.

“No, it wasn’t his child, not unless he
adopted Kelly Raven at some point.”

“Are you telling me that Roy Thompson left
half of everything he had to his
secretary
?” I asked,
shocked to learn the new information. “Were they, you know, fooling
around or something?”

“According to what Paul said when he told
Kelly the news, she made it quite a point to stress that wasn’t the
case at all. He said that she seemed genuinely shocked when she
found out.”

“I bet she won’t turn it down, though,” I
said.

“Do you know something about her that I
don’t?” Rebecca asked.

“It just seems kind of odd, if you know what
I mean. Has he already filed the will with the probate court?”

“I have a hunch that
nothing’s
going
to happen with the estate while the two main beneficiaries are both
murder suspects.”

“How long can the court delay things?” I
asked.

“It depends on how much pressure is applied
on it not to process the will.”

“I have a feeling the sheriff is not going to
want to help a murderer collect a big payoff. Moose and I might
still have a little time.”

“I wouldn’t drag my feet, if I were you.
Asher’s already making noises about expediting the entire process,
and from what Paul said, Kelly’s not fighting him at all.”

“I wonder what Loretta is going to say when
she finds out that she’s being left out in the cold,” I said.

“Are you going to tell her yourself?” Rebecca
asked me. It was clear that she was hesitant about that
happening.

“It’s not going to put you in a jam if I do,
will it?”

“If it does, it’s nothing I can’t handle,”
she said.