Deadly Devotion (23 page)

The strain in Darryl’s voice chipped at her certainty. She searched his eyes for the truth but didn’t trust her judgment. “I need more than your word. Let me and my bodyguard see inside the house.”

Relief softened the tension creasing Darryl’s face. “Okay.”

Kate waved Keith over. A moment later her cell phone rang.

“What’s going on?” Keith barked.

“Darryl has agreed to let us see the house.”

“Can you spell ambush?” Keith’s windshield wipers flicked across the windshield. His accompanying glare said if Darryl didn’t kill her, Keith might.

“Darryl knows you have the police on standby. Tell them if we don’t contact them in five minutes, the SWAT team should be deployed,” she said loud enough for Darryl to hear.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Keith hung up but didn’t immediately join them, and she wondered if he was calling Tom to make good on her bluff.

Darryl shifted from foot to foot, glancing from Kate to Keith and back again.

She almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

Keith stalked up the driveway, keeping a wary eye on the
front windows. “I want the drapes opened and your guy on the inside in plain sight, hands in the air.”

Darryl reached for the knob on the door behind him.

“Not so fast,” Keith bellowed. “We don’t go in until you call your partner and tell him to get those drapes open.”

“My phone’s in the car.”

Keith turned to Kate. “Give him yours.”

Kate slid her phone across the trunk of Gord’s car.

When Keith made a show of consulting his watch, beads of sweat popped out on Darryl’s upper lip.

The living room drapes opened, followed by the blinds in the next two rooms.

“Check the back,” Keith said to Kate.

She moved to the end of the carport and looked around the corner. “Everything’s open.”

Again Darryl reached for the doorknob.

“Not yet. Wait here.” Keith pressed his back to the wall and moved cautiously along the front of the house until he reached the first window. He peered over the lip and quickly scanned the room.

He moved to the next window the same way, and Kate’s legs turned to Jell-O. She’d never forgive herself if he got shot.

Keith circled the house, checking each window. He even knelt in the wet grass and shone a flashlight into the basement windows. “Okay, we’ll go through the front,” he said when he’d finished. His tone left no room for negotiation.

Gord stood in the middle of a furnished living room with his hands in the air. The chocolate brown sofa had seen better days and the rug was threadbare, but the forty-two-inch high-definition TV in the corner was state-of-the-art.

“What are you doing here?” Kate asked Gord.

“Research.”

“What kind?”

“I already told you,” Darryl cut in, “we can’t discuss the nature of our research.”

“Is Darryl paying you?” Kate asked, letting the earlier question pass unanswered.

“The company is. Plus room and board.”

“You expect us to believe that a legitimate company set up a lab in a house?”

“I don’t care what you believe. I get paid to do what I’m told.”

Kate glanced at Keith to see if he bought the story.

He just shrugged.

They found a sophisticated lab in the back bedroom and a mushroom-growing operation in the basement.

When they returned to the living room, Keith said, “Looks to me like you’re farming a new breed of hallucinogenic designer drugs.”

“Is that what you think too, Kate?” Darryl said with a note of apology in his voice.

“They’re working on a cure for depression,” she said without emotion. No wonder he hadn’t wanted to tell her.

Keith scratched his ear. “How do you figure?”

“A company out of Switzerland did some promising preliminary research involving mushrooms, but a few days before they were scheduled to release their findings, the research facility exploded. The researchers and all their documentation were lost in the fire.”

“You mean to tell me this lab is a bomb waiting to explode?”

“No, a gas leak caused that explosion. Some say the lab was sabotaged. Could be Darryl’s client didn’t want a recurrence.
Everything looks legit.” Even if Darryl smelled as rotten as the manure feeding his mushrooms. “Nothing here contravenes the terms of his contract at the research station,” she said in his defense, but that didn’t stop his betrayal from swallowing her from the inside out. “Let’s go.”

“I’m not convinced he didn’t murder Daisy to ensure his secret stayed secret.”

“I am. Daisy never would have betrayed his secret.”

Kate shuffled into the library and slumped onto the foam floor cushion at the edge of the preschool story time group. Enraptured children sat on bright blue and red and yellow spongy mats, listening to Julie read
The Paper Bag Princess.

Julie gave Kate a curious look, and Kate sank lower on her cushion. She should have gone straight to work after Keith dropped her at home, but Darryl would be there soon and the thought of facing him again made her want to heave.

Julie showed the children a picture of the finely dressed prince scrunching his nose at the sooty princess who wore a paper bag because she’d just rescued him from a dragon. Then, in her best princess imitation, Julie pointed out that he might look like a prince, but he was a bum.

“Isn’t that the truth?” Kate mumbled.

A couple of mothers shushed her, and Kate feigned a sudden fascination with the waffle pattern on the spongy mats. For more than a week she’d dug up dirt on all her suspects, people she never would have suspected capable of murder,
only to end up back where she’d started—proving nothing but that people aren’t what they seem. A lesson Tom had happily dispensed from day one.

Julie asked the children for ideas of how else the princess might have overcome the dragon that had stolen her prince, and a lively discussion ensued. When the suggestions deteriorated into downright silly, Julie ended the class and gave the children free rein of the picture book section.

She pulled up a foam cushion and joined Kate on the floor. “I take it your surveillance didn’t pan out the way you’d hoped.”

“Oh, Julie, I don’t know what to do. Not a single trick I’ve tried on my ‘dragon’ has worked.”

“Do you want me to ask the children for ideas?”

“Thanks, I’ll pass.”

“Maybe you’re fighting the wrong dragon.”

Kate picked at the foam. “Tell me about it. Three times over. First I was sure it was Brewster, only to find the ‘key’ piece of evidence to convince me it was Edward instead.”

“You were right about him being rotten. He conned Daisy.”

“True. But then I made the mistake of trusting Tom, only to have him turn on me.”

“That was pretty bad.” Julie pried Kate’s fingers away from the foam. “What about Darryl?”

Kate buried her hands under her legs. “Darryl is moonlighting for some unknown company. And get this—he’s developing a product that will compete with mine.”

“How can he do that?”

“It’s all legal. As far as I can tell, everything I saw was unrelated, technically, to the work he does at the station.”

“Just because it’s legal doesn’t make it ethical.”

Her leg began to bob. “Tell me about it. I was so crushed I got out of there faster than ants in a rainstorm.”

“You’re positive Darryl didn’t kill Daisy?”

“As positive as I can be. I should be happy. The last thing I wanted to do was upset Beth, but . . .”

“It’s a mixed blessing.”

“Yeah. I hate mixtures.” Kate shimmied higher and planted her feet to stop her runaway leg. “I forgot to tell you that I found Gord. He’s working with Darryl.”

“That’s great news.”

“How do you figure?”

“Look how many people you’ve crossed off your suspect list—Gord and Darryl and Edward, whom, by the way, I still don’t trust.”

“So I’m back to where I started—suspecting the chief of police and his father without a speck of proof.”

“Something will turn up. God has a way of bringing us to the end of ourselves so we’ll finally be ready to see what’s been there all along. Kind of like how the paper bag princess discovered the prince wasn’t who she’d wanted to marry after all.”

“Huh?”

“You were talking about the story, so I thought I’d extend the metaphor, and . . . Oh, never mind. My break is in a few minutes. Do you want to go for a cup of tea?”

The preschoolers, trailed by their mothers, poured out the doors ahead of Kate and Julie and raced to the adjoining park. The sun had burned off the early morning fog, and the colors of the grass and trees looked richer for their morning misting.

“Hey.” Julie pointed to Cal’s garage across the street. “Did you see that? Al Brewster just went in carrying a couple of brown paper bags.”

“So? Maybe he’s eating while his truck gets fixed.”

“His pickup is parked outside the hardware store.” Julie motioned to a twenty-year-old Ford that had orange Bondo patches covering two-thirds of its body.

“He could be visiting his brother.”

Al exited via the big bay door carrying only one bag.

“Mighty short visit,” Julie said. “Let’s follow him.”

“What for?”

Julie looked at her as if she were a few plants short of a flat. “To get your proof.”

Kate’s confusion must’ve been splattered across her face because Julie started talking very slowly. “Cal’s garage. The ‘go-to’ place. To give
more
than your car
a boost
. Looks to me like Al’s a supplier.” Julie started across the street.

Comprehension finally shook Kate’s brain into action. She grabbed Julie’s arm and yanked her back to the curb. “You can’t be so obvious.” She steered her toward the discount store’s sidewalk display and pulled a T-shirt off the rack. “We need to wait to see where Al heads and then pretend we’re going that way too.”

Al glanced their way.

“Act casual.” Kate raised the T-shirt to eye level and pointed out the unique stitching to Julie, who feigned unusual interest.

A moment later, Al slipped into A Cup or Two, and Kate returned the shirt to the rack. “Shall we have that cup of tea now?”

“Sounds good to me,” Julie said, this time sweeping her arm for Kate to lead.

They waited for a delivery truck to lumber by, then hurried across the street and into the shop. The door swung out of Kate’s grasp, and Molly barreled into her before Kate could get
out of the way. A round of apologies that drew far too much attention to their arrival followed, and the door shut behind them with an extra loud jangle. So much for being discreet.

Brewster, paper bag in hand, stood at the cash register watching Beth answer the phone. Beth pressed the receiver to her chest and caught Kate’s attention. “Can you try to catch Molly? Her dad’s on the phone.”

Kate rushed outside, but Molly had already pulled away from the curb in Beth’s red LeSabre. “Wait,” Kate shouted, jogging after her, waving.

Molly drove off, leaving a trail of blue smoke in her wake.

Julie held the door open for Kate and relayed the news to Beth, who relayed it to Molly’s father.

“Did you know that your car is burning oil?” Kate added.

“Yeah, Molly’s running it to the garage for me. I feel bad that she missed her call because of me, though.”

A call from her father?
Edward claimed Molly and her father weren’t talking, that he didn’t know she was in Port Aster. Although now that Kate thought about it, she’d heard Molly on her cell phone with him too.

Beth took the paper sack from Al and handed him a twenty. “Thank your mom again. This stuff works great.”

“Will do.” Al stuffed the bill in the front pocket of his plaid jacket and left.

Julie and Kate exchanged a look and beelined toward Beth. “What are you buying from Grandma Brewster?”

Beth’s cheeks flushed. “You saw that, huh? It’s kind of embarrassing. Here I run a specialty tea shop and I’m buying a mixture of herbs from Grandma Brewster to cure my”—she glanced at Julie and lowered her voice—“morning sickness. I don’t know what she puts in there, but it works.”

Julie’s eyebrows disappeared into her bangs. “You’re pregnant? Oh, wow! Congratulations.”

“Shh,” Kate whispered. “Beth doesn’t want anyone to know yet.” Kate peeked into the bag from Al. The dried leaves were crushed beyond recognition, but she could identify a few familiar aromas. “Have you asked Mrs. Brewster what her secret ingredient is?”

“Every chance I get. If I could replicate this stuff, I’d make a fortune. But she just smiles and says, ‘Don’t worry, I make for you.’” Beth mimicked Mrs. Brewster’s thick German accent. “She learned her remedies in the old country and probably uses stuff that doesn’t grow around here, except in her garden.”

“Well, I’m so happy her remedy is working for you. You look better every time I see you. If you don’t mind parting with a handful of the mixture, I could run some tests and probably figure out what’s in it.”

“Oh, I’d feel terrible sneaking behind her back to figure it out, but thanks for the offer.”

Kate rolled the top of the bag closed and returned it to Beth. “Does Al usually deliver stuff for his mom?”

“Yeah, I’m told that he’s been her courier since he was old enough to ride a bicycle.”

Julie’s shoulders drooped. “I’m sorry, Kate. I really thought we were onto something.”

“Onto what?” Beth asked, her eyes bright with interest.

“Nothing. Forget it.” Kate quickly scooped together a blend of tea and handed Beth the money. “Um, Beth, why did you tell me Molly had no one when I first asked you about her?”

“She doesn’t. Not here. Of course, we’ve become good friends. And, well, I didn’t know about Edward.”

“Hmm.” Kate carried her tea to the table near the fireplace.

Julie hurried after her. “What was that about? Why didn’t you tell Beth about your grow-op theory?”

“There was nothing to tell.” Kate pried her suspect list out of her back pocket, smoothed it flat on the table, and jotted down the new information she’d learned.

“I’m sorry,” Julie commiserated. “It looks like you’ve hit the final dead end.”

“No, I don’t think so.” Kate went over the clues, her mind whirling with new possibilities.

“What’d I miss?”

“Edward told me Molly wasn’t talking to her father.”

Julie jabbed her finger onto the table. “I told you I didn’t trust him.”

“But you didn’t see his face when he told me that Molly left her folks to be with him. He was over the moon. I can’t believe he was lying.”

Julie sipped her tea and the silence stretched between them. Then suddenly she set down her cup. “Maybe he wasn’t lying. Maybe that’s what Molly told him. Maybe she exaggerated the rift to win him back, to convince him that he was more important to her than her father’s money.” Julie straightened her teacup on its saucer. “Not that I’m defending him. He had the most to gain from Daisy’s death and the most to lose if Daisy took what she knew about him to the police. Not to mention he had plenty of opportunity to slip poison into her tea.”

“I agree.”

“You agree?” Julie repeated, looking a little stunned. “So you do think he did it?”

“I haven’t ruled out the possibility.” Kate’s heart twisted. She didn’t want to believe he’d played her.

“Are you kidding me? You accepted a ride with a man you
think could be a murderer and then defended him from the guy who showed up to save you. Are you sure
you
haven’t been drinking tainted tea? ’Cause I think you might be delusional.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Kate took a deep breath to try to dislodge the weight that had settled on her chest. “Okay, let’s look at who we’ve got: Darryl and Gord and their clandestine drug research. The chief who doesn’t want me to investigate—maybe because of pressure from the mayor, or maybe to conceal his dad’s crimes.”

“Alleged crimes. We have no proof.”

“Okay, alleged crimes. And then we have Edward and his girlfriend who just confuse me.”

“That’s because you’re too trusting.”

Kate looked helplessly at her list. “You’re right. I could keep digging until the cows come home in the hope of finding a piece of evidence that will convict Daisy’s killer. It’s time to take drastic measures. Are you with me?”

Julie leaned back and raised her palms between them. “Oh no. You’re not drawing me into one of your crazy schemes.”

“It’s not crazy. I saw it in a movie. We get all our suspects in the same room, here even, along with lots of witnesses so the killer can’t try anything. And then we flush him out. You’ll be perfectly safe.”

Julie hesitated so long Kate wondered if she was mentally cataloging friends to find a substitute who would fit into the maid of honor gown if Kate went down in a hail of bullets.

Julie blew out a resigned sigh. “How are we going to get everyone here?”

“That’s the easy part.” Before Julie could back out, Kate drew her cell phone from her purse and dialed the research station.

Marjorie answered.

“Hey Marge, it’s Kate. Listen. Come by A Cup or Two after work tomorrow afternoon and tell all your frien—”

Julie grabbed Kate’s arm, pulling the cell phone away from her mouth. “Are you nuts? We don’t even have a plan.”

Marjorie’s voice chirped through the air.

Kate pulled back her phone. “Yes, Marjorie. I’m planning to make a big announcement.”

“Oh my, that sounds exciting. Leave it to me. I’ll pack the place.” Marjorie, all atwitter with her newest scoop, clicked off without saying good-bye.

Julie glared.

“Come on, Jules. You want this to be over as much as I do. We have twenty-four hours to come up with a plan. Keith will help.”

“I could ask Ryan if we can borrow surveillance equipment from his dad’s hardware store.”