Murder Served Cold (3 page)

He grinned. “I like your thinking. I’m Ruben Grimes. I’m in, ah, real estate. Pleased to make your acquaintances.”

“Same here,” I said.

“We’ll be going,” said Jade, her hand on the door handle.

Ruben set the bat in the corner and sat at his desk. “If you wish. You sure you won’t say why you’re here?”

I took a seat, much to Jade’s chagrin. “Have you noticed anything unusual about Rodger Becker lately? Has he had any strange visitors?”

“Rodger Becker.” Ruben stroked his mustache. “That’s an odd one, he is. No, I haven’t seen anything strange.”

Jade turned the handle. “Thanks, anyway.”

“Other than his usual strangeness,” Ruben continued. “He is an odd person, I’ll tell you that.”

We didn’t have much to discuss after that. Ruben started polishing his desk with a worn rag and we quickly left.

“For being a privacy maniac, he sure is open with his ideas,” I noted when we were out of earshot.

“A lonely privacy maniac,” Jade agreed. “He’s known as a shady character.”

“Why didn’t you say that in his office?”

“He could have had it bugged! I’d rather not go on record saying that he’s shady. He deals with the rich-beyond-rich people, so obviously I’ve never interacted with him before. He’s basically a living urban legend. The story goes that he keeps a nondescript office because he doesn’t want to make his business a spectacle. He’d rather have the gorgeous houses be the center of attention, which makes sense. It’s how he stays in the shadows that’s weird.”

“Maybe he’s shy,” I suggested.

“Maybe.”

Exiting the brown lobby, I noticed Colleen carrying a box to her car. I nudged Jade. “I want to know what’s in that.”

Jade grinned. “I’ll distract her.” She jumped in front of Colleen and engaged her in conversation. I nonchalantly followed Jade and when Colleen’s head was turned, I peered into the open box. A pile of papers sat in it. The top paper had details about cars and their resale value.

“You keep going down this street, make a right, and the beach will be right there?”

“That’s right.” Annoyed, Colleen shifted the box to her other side.

Jade showed all of her teeth in a wide smile. “Thanks!”

We hurried out of Colleen’s sight.

“It looks like she’s selling her car,” I said.

Jade glanced behind us at Colleen’s older car. “She’s not getting much for that.”

“Any little bit helps.”

Rubbing her hands together, Jade headed in the direction of A Scoop of Sunshine. We had walked to Rodger’s office, since it only took about ten minutes. “I’m liking this. Who should we question next?”

I caught up with her after checking out Colleen’s car. It was green, and the paint was peeling on the bumper. Scratch marks lined the side. “You’d think she could afford a newer car when working for a business heavyweight like Rodger supposedly is,” I murmured. I thought of people who could be connected to Rodger. “What do you think about Tim? Would he be capable of stabbing his father?”

“I just can’t see that happening.” Jade sighed. “Come on, let’s go to The Friendly Mart. Maybe the people there saw something.”

Ten minutes later, we entered The Friendly Mart, a small grocery store. It was run by Marina and Dominic Friendly, a middle-aged couple. They prided themselves on buying local produce, had a snow cone machine, and their candy aisle was more colorful than any rainbow.

Dominic spotted us as we came in. “Jade Perry! Here for our famous snow cones? Tired of the rich, creamy ice cream you serve? Has your friend converted you to the beautiful qualities of water?”

“And sugary flavored syrup?” Marina laughed. “You can’t convert to a snow cone when you’re surrounded by the best frozen deserts all day. Unless, perhaps, you’re ready for a change?”

Marina had her chocolate hair wrapped in intricate braids, but Dominic let his curly locks flow freely. Dominic’s outgoing nature and rosy cheeks were balanced by Marina’s keen wit and easygoing attitude. I could tell they worked well together.

“Actually, we came to ask about Rodger Becker,” said Jade.

Marina Friendly’s expression soured. “That man had it coming.”

Dominic maintained a more even disposition. “With as many enemies as he made, something was bound to happen one of these days. He’s destroyed several families’ livelihoods.”

“I was ringing up a customer when the police cars drove up,” Marina began.

“I heard a shout, saw the knife wound, and locked the Mart down while Marina called the police,” Dominic continued.

Marina nodded. “No one came in or out until the scene was cleared.”

Dominic’s stomach bounced in a deep belly laugh. “It was us and poor Taryn Horn.”

“She didn’t like being cooped up in a store when the action was outside,” Marina chuckled.

“Taryn Horn?” Jade said in disbelief.

“She’s a big fan of our kiwis,” said Marina.

The sun was setting, casting a warm, reddish glow over The Friendly Mart.

Dominic smirked. “And not a fan of our ‘no bingo’ rule.”

Jade cracked a smile. “Taryn and her friends got thrown out of the community center last year for being too loud at bingo.”

“Between the numbers being yelled out, the groans of disappointment, and the shouts of excitement, there was a lot of noise coming from the building,” said Marina.

“You couldn’t even hear the music — and they played it louder than a rock concert,” said Dominic.

“The one good thing Rodger Becker ever did was shut that fiasco down,” said Marina.

“Good for you,” Jade muttered. To me, she said, “She moved it to her apartment, and no one complains about the terrible noise every month because they don’t want to get on Taryn’s bad side. She got a couple tossed out of the apartment next to mine for having too many wind chimes.”

“I heard they moved,” said Marina.

Jade scratched her head. “The story changes according to whom you hear it from.”

“And you deliberately mess with Taryn’s head because...” I asked Jade.

Jade put her hands on her hips. “Exercise is good for you. I’m not going to not run just because a little old lady downstairs doesn’t like the sound. Besides, I do it in the middle of the day, not at two o’clock in the morning.”

“Bingo will be perfect, though,” I said. “You can have bingo at Scoop tomorrow afternoon and plenty of people will show up.”

“I don’t know...”

“How many other guaranteed ways are there to get a crowd? A built-in one is the best. It’s simply a location change, and Rodger won’t bother you about the noise because he won’t hear it from the hospital.”

Jade thought. “The people would spill over to the other stores, so I don’t think they’d mind too much... Would you mind if I hosted a bingo session?”

Marina and Dominic exchanged a look.

Dominic slapped his hand to his side. “We should have thought of that first!”

“Maybe we can rotate each month?” Marina suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” said Jade. “Now we have to get Taryn on board.”

Taryn Horn’s apartment was cozy and inviting once you got inside. The water fountain on her stoop splashed drops of water on me as we entered, but that was no big deal. The welcome mat read
Good Day,
but I almost wasn’t sure if she meant that or not. I hoped Taryn was like how she presented her place — tough on the outside and warm once you got to know her.

Taryn glanced at Jade’s running shoes. “Still wearing those crazy contraptions?”

Jade rolled her eyes. “They’re athletic shoes! Don’t people your age normally wear shoes like this, anyway?”

I stayed away from their rivalry and checked out Taryn’s walls. They were lined with pictures of her and a bunch of friends supporting various causes. There was the normal range, like feeding starving children, saving the rainforest, water conservation, and getting medicine to hard-to-reach places. I noted a few more obscure ones as well, like feeding pets organic homemade food, starting a farm in your backyard, reusing shower caps, and gorilla gardening.

They all made sense to me, except for the shower cap recycling.

Taryn saw me looking at the picture of her and her friends wearing bright pink shower caps. “That’s a cause near and dear to my heart. If we could use a cap ten times, we’d be saving the world from so much extra plastic that would be dumped in a landfill and never decompose.”

“How about recycling?” I asked carefully.

“What about the people who forget? Or are lazy or inconsiderate? Everybody uses shower caps and not all of them are made to use more than once.” Taryn shuddered. “There are too many disposable shower caps in the world. We need to cut down on disposable stuff. Stuff is meant to be used, absolutely. That doesn’t mean it can be tossed aside and forgotten the second we’re through with it.”

Her cheeks shone with passion as she finished her speech and I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I didn’t use a shower cap. “I try to recycle and reuse,” I said.

“Good for you.” She gave me a vigorous nod. “That’s the way to live.”

“What’s the current event?” Jade asked.

“Fishing,” Taryn replied. “For sport. When you fish, the hook gets caught in the poor fish and when you let the fish go, it’s hurt. How would you like it if someone skewered you with something big and sharp and then left you to bleed? Wild fish don’t have doctors they can visit. There’s no emergency room for a wild tuna that’s caught and released.”

“Do you think it’s better if they don’t release it? If they keep the fish and eat it?” I asked.

“If the intent is for food, then that’s fine with me,” said Taryn. “I just can’t stand the idea of a fish with hole in it swimming around and becoming a better target for predators. I also can’t stand the idea of a fish that was killed and not eaten. Nobody wins.”

“We should let people know about this,” I said. “Jade has an opening at Scoop and —”

Jade took over. “I’d love to host a bingo event at my shop, if you’ll have me. We can tie it into the fish theme and have a donation jar for the local fishing charity.” Her words rose in pitch with the words, “local fishing charity.”

I was all for a fishing charity, but I had to admit, I hadn’t heard of one like Taryn was describing. I thought it would be a good thing. The poor, hurt fish…

Taryn’s eyes lit up. “Yes, that would be wonderful to get the word out. I feel like it’s something every one knows about, but doesn’t pay enough attention to.”

We wrapped up the specifics with Taryn and headed back to Jade’s apartment.

“Let’s look at the possible suspects,” I said when we reached her front door.

Jade reached into her pocket for her key. “Rebecca White used to own a yogurt store before I met her. Rodger shut her down after it failed to make enough profit and she couldn’t pay her rent.”

“That’s motive,” I remarked. “And you didn’t see her when the attack happened, so she had the means to do it.”

Jade was hesitant. “If that was motive, then she might be after me too.”

“What? Why?”

“Because her yogurt store was what Scoop used to be.”

“No…” I was shocked, mainly because Rebecca seemed like a sweet person and if she had stabbed Rodger, then Jade could be next. “What about Taryn? She was at the scene of the crime and she’s not a fan of Rodger’s.”

“She doesn’t strike me as violent — not physically, anyway. She’s more of a schemer who gets back at people in ways that don’t directly link to her.”

“I agree, but she was there and she had reason to stab him. Let’s not rule her out yet.” I checked the time on my phone. “I’ve got to meet Kevin.”

Jade opened her door. “Good luck,” she called after me.