A Killer Cake (7 page)

As Moose parked, he asked me, “So, are you
ready for this?”

“I’m going to follow your lead this time,” I
said. “After all, you’re the one with the letter of
recommendation.”

“I don’t have a letter,” he told me. “Holly
just told me that I could use her name if I thought it might
help.”

“I understood that. I meant what I said,
though. I’ll let you take the lead.”

“That would be great.”

We walked into the town hall, and Moose
approached a police officer standing nearby. “We’re looking for the
mayor.”

The officer looked us over, and then he
pointed to a nearby door. As we started toward it, he said in a
voice barely above a whisper to me, “If your business can wait, you
might want to come back tomorrow. He’s already thrown three people
out of his office today.”

“Is that some kind of record?” I asked, just
as softly. I stayed behind, and Moose hadn’t even realized that I’d
tarried.

“Are you kidding? We’re not even close yet,
but I have a hunch we’re about to add two more names to the
list.”

“Thanks for the heads-up, but we’ll take our
chances,” I said.

Moose finally noticed my absence. He paused,
turned around, and then he asked me, “Victoria, are you
coming?”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” the cop said
with a smile. “See you in a second.”

“We’ll see,” I replied.

I caught up with Moose, and as I did, he
asked, “What was that all about?”

“It appears that the mayor is in one bad
mood.”

“Well, it’s not getting better for him any
time soon,” Moose said.

If we weren’t investigating a murder, I would
have looked forward to the confrontation that was about to happen.
My grandfather was quite good at arguing his way around any issue,
and it sounded as though the mayor was a man cut from the same
cloth.

There was a stylish woman in her sixties
sitting behind the desk when we walked through the door, and I
noticed that she perked up considerably the second she laid eyes on
my grandfather. “How may I help you?” she asked. The name ‘Helen
Parsons’ was etched on her nameplate, and it was placed precisely
on her desk.

How had the old charmer managed such intense
and immediate attention? I didn’t blame my grandmother one bit for
resenting the attention that Moose got at times from women his age,
and even younger.

“Helen, it’s so nice to meet you. We’re here
to see Hank,” Moose said in an easy voice that made it sound as
though he and the mayor were old friends. It was bold, a big fat
lie, and told very convincingly.

The woman smiled at the sound of her name,
but it dimmed when Moose mentioned the name Hank. In a soft voice,
she said, “No one calls him Hank here. It’s Mr. Mayor, or Mayor
Mullins. Anything else gets you thrown out immediately.”

Moose smiled warmly at her. “Thank you for
the tip. Would it be possible for us to see him?”

“May I ask what it is in reference to?” she
asked, her smile warming right back up. Honestly, it was as though
I wasn’t even there.

“I’d tell you if I could, but I’m afraid it’s
rather personal,” Moose said lazily.

“I don’t doubt it, but if I try to send
someone into his office without giving the mayor fair notice about
what it is concerning, I’ll lose my job. I’m truly sorry, but
there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“We completely understand,” Moose said. “I’m
sure he wouldn’t want us broadcasting it, but we’d like to talk to
him about his connection to Roy Thompson, the man who was murdered
in Jasper Fork earlier today.”

That got an immediate reaction. Ms. Parsons
stood abruptly, slipped past us, and went to the door across the
way from her. She entered without knocking, or sparing us a single
look back.

“Wow,
that
turned out to be a hot
button, didn’t it?” I asked Moose.

“I believe that we hit a nerve,” my
grandfather said.

“While we have a second, I have a question
for you. Do you realize it when you’re doing it, or does it just
come naturally to you?”

Moose was still staring at the door Ms.
Parsons had walked through, and he barely gave my question a second
thought. “Do what?”

“Seduce every woman anywhere near your age
that you come into contact with,” I said.

That got his attention. “I’ll have you know
that I’ve been loyal to your grandmother since the day we said our
vows, young lady.”

“Okay, maybe ‘seduce’ was the wrong word. How
about charm? Do you like that any better? You should, since it’s
what you named your diner when you opened up. Sometimes I forget
just how slick you are when you’re in action.”

“First off, I do like the word ‘charmed’
quite a bit better; it’s not nearly as crass as ‘seduced.’ And
second of all, I do no such thing. I merely treat women, all women,
with respect, and I listen to what they have to say, with all my
attention. That’s the only ‘charm’ I’ve ever had.”

I thought about it, and suddenly I realized
that most of what my grandfather had just told me was the complete
and unvarnished truth. I’d never realized the source of his charm
before. Evidently, a man of any age listening with
all
of
his attention and not just some fraction of it was more enticing to
most women than movie-star looks or a billionaire’s money.

I was about to comment on it when the door
we’d been watching suddenly opened. Instead of Helen Parsons,
though, we were instantly faced with a large and angry man who
looked perfectly capable of throwing us out of his office without
anyone else’s help, and more than ready to do just that. His hair
was disheveled, and there was a fire in his eyes that was a little
frightening. This was obviously a man it wouldn’t do to get angry,
but clearly we’d managed to do just that.

“What’s this nonsense about me being tied to
Roy Thompson’s murder?” the mayor asked as he stared hard from
Moose to me, and then back again.

“Do you really want to have this conversation
out here where anyone can hear what we are discussing?” Moose asked
him.

“I have nothing to hide,” the mayor said
angrily.

“Listen,” Moose said, keeping his own voice
calm and level. “I wasn’t going to even bring this up if I didn’t
have to, but a friend of mine thinks it might be a good idea for
you to talk to us.”

“I’m not impressed by your friend, whoever he
is,” the mayor said, but I did notice that his tone of voice
softened as soon as Moose made the statement.

“Judge Dixon will be saddened to learn that,”
Moose said, and then he turned to me and touched my arm lightly.
“Let’s go, Victoria. It’s clear that we’re wasting our time
here.”

I knew that he was bluffing, and I was pretty
sure that the mayor probably realized it as well, but that didn’t
stop us from walking toward the outer door.

We never made it, though.

“Why don’t you both come in and we can talk
about it?” the mayor said.

I knew that grinning would be inappropriate,
but it was still hard not to do it as Moose and I walked in. As we
did, Ms. Parsons passed us, but there was no eye contact made
between any of us. Evidently, we’d dropped all pretense of being
friendly now.

The mayor’s inner office was huge, expansive
and a little too well-decorated for a town the size of Molly’s
Corners. There was no way the town’s budget could afford what I
saw, from leather chairs to a massive mahogany desk that looked
like a piece that belonged in a museum. Mayor Mullins took his
place behind it as though it was the most natural place in the
world for him to be, and as he did so, he gestured toward two close
chairs. “Please, have a seat.”

We did as we were told, but Moose didn’t say
a word after we sat, and neither did I.

After thirty seconds of silence, the mayor
finally spoke. As he did, his voice was much calmer and more
reasonable; it was about what I would expect from a civil servant.
“Forgive my outburst earlier. It’s been a trying day, and your
misconception about Roy Thompson caught me completely
off-guard.”

“Then are you saying that you
didn’t
have a business deal with Roy Thompson, one where you lost a
substantial amount of money?” Moose asked gently.

“What might sound like a great deal of money
to you is merely pocket change to me,” the mayor said with the wave
of a hand. “Look around. This office was furnished with my personal
funds, not the town’s coffers. If and when I’m voted out of office,
it all goes with me.”

“My, you must be rich,” I said, speaking for
the first time. “Surely you don’t make that much from your day
job.”

The mayor looked at me fleetingly as he
explained, “It’s all old family money. I work because I want to,
not because I need to. The business I had with Roy had an
unfortunate outcome, but it was no one’s fault, and certainly no
reason to commit murder.”

“I understand perfectly,” Moose said with a
smile that lacked much warmth at all. “If you’ll tell us where you
were earlier today from eleven to one, we’ll be on our way and not
bother you anymore.”

“You must realize that I’m under no
obligation to tell you that,” he said, the ire rising a little in
his voice as he spoke. Was there a bit of a hunted look in his eyes
for one brief second? I couldn’t be sure I’d actually seen it, it
had flashed past so quickly.

“No, that’s perfectly true,” my grandfather
told him. “I’m sure that Sheriff Croft will ask you himself after
we’ve spoken. Let me remind you that since he’s the county sheriff,
you’re under his jurisdiction as well.”

The mayor clearly didn’t like being
outgunned, first with the judge, and then with the sheriff. “I have
nothing to hide, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to share my
whereabouts with you.” He kept staring at his telephone as though
willing it to ring, and seven seconds later, it did just that. The
mayor nearly leapt out of his chair to answer it, and I suspected
that it had been staged just for our benefit. “Yes, yes, I
understand,” he said gravely, and then hung up. “I’m sorry, but I’m
needed elsewhere. Have a good day,” he said as he stood.

Moose and I followed suit, and soon enough,
the three of us walked out of his office together. The cop on duty
looked surprised to see us being so chummy with the mayor, but he
masked it well. “I’m truly sorry I don’t have more time for you,”
Mayor Mullins said.

“We’d be glad to hang around until your
emergency is over,” I said with a polite smile, knowing that he’d
never take us up on our offer.

“Thanks for your kindness, but this could
take some time.” He turned to the steps and headed for the second
floor of the building, and for just a second, I thought about
following him to see exactly what his ‘emergency’ was, but it
wouldn’t do us any good, and I knew it.

“Well, that was one colossal waste of time,”
I told Moose as we walked outside and got into his truck.

“What are you talking about? Were you in the
same room as I was just now?”

“I don’t follow,” I told my grandfather.

“He’s clearly hiding something,” Moose said.
“You could practically smell his fear in there.”

“His pupils did dilate there for a second
when you mentioned his alibi,” I admitted. “Did we mess up just
now, Moose? What if we just gave the mayor a chance to put
something together before the sheriff could question him?” It was
one of my basic fears related to our investigations that we would
end up inadvertently helping the bad guys instead of the good ones,
and I hoped that wasn’t what we’d just done.

“Trust me, the man didn’t act at all
surprised by the news of Roy’s demise. He didn’t even try to
dispute the fact that Roy had been murdered. When he came out of
his office to greet us the first time, it was pretty clear that he
already knew what had happened in Jasper Fork today. I’m willing to
wager that he’s still working on something that will cover his
tail, and it has nothing to do with our visit. It will be for the
sheriff to determine, though. We’ve stirred the pot a little more,
and that’s a good thing, as far as I’m concerned. Is there anything
else we can do in Molly’s Corners, or should we head back to the
diner?”

“I vote we go to the diner,” I said as I
looked at my watch. “If we hurry, I can relieve Martha before Jenny
shows up for her shift.”

“Your grandmother doesn’t mind working at The
Charming Moose; you know that, don’t you?”

“I know, but I still don’t like to take
advantage of her good nature any more than I have to.”

“You’re a good granddaughter, Victoria, just
in case I don’t tell you enough.”

I hugged him as I said, “As a matter of fact,
you tell me just enough.”

“Could we keep my arrangements with the judge
from your grandmother?” he asked. “I still maintain that I did
nothing wrong, but there’s no use causing trouble when there isn’t
any reason to.”

“I’ll do one thing for you,” I said. “I won’t
volunteer the information, but if she asks, I’m telling her the
truth.”

“I can live with that,” he said. The next bit
was said softly, and I doubted that it had been for my ears, but I
heard it nonetheless. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come up.”

GREG’S HOMEMADE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

This soup is a family favorite when one of us
is sick, but we don’t wait until then to have it as a wonderful
lunch. It’s based on my mother-in-law’s family recipe, but of
course, I’ve made it my own over the years, modifying it as the
mood strikes me. This is especially delicious when it’s served with
grilled cheese sandwiches.

As an aside, my family likes their grilled
cheese sandwiches these days made with mozzarella cheese, but
cheddar is a wonderful choice as well. I’ve found that the key to a
great grilled cheese sandwich is to grill it slowly, with butter on
both sides of the bread, to give the cheese plenty of time to melt
into gooey goodness.