Murder Served Cold (9 page)

“You think I’m living your life?”

“I think when you plan your life around another person and put yourself second, you’re not doing yourself any favors. Kevin, you’re a wonderful person, but you forget to put the oxygen mask on yourself before helping the people around you. The best way for you to continue helping people is to make sure that you’re in a good place first.”

“Huh. That makes sense.” The connection crackled. “Going…bridge…” When the connection was clear again, he said, “Okay. I think I do get it now. Thanks for listening to my attempts to help you, anyway.”

“Of course,” I said. “I do want the best for you. You just won’t find it here.”

I made a detour into The Friendly Mart to pick up a bottle of water. I was parched on the hot day. I looked around for Ruben, but didn’t see him, which wasn’t a surprise. He’d been headed here a few hours ago and I was sure he was long gone.

I grabbed a water bottle and stood at the checkout. No one was there. I glanced around the store and couldn’t see any employees. I was about to set the bottle down and come back later when shouts erupted from the front of the mart.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Marina shouted at Dominic.

Dominic cowered. “I didn’t want you to be upset.”

“I’m not mad at you,” Marina told Dominic. Her face had red splotches from her anger. “It’s
her
.”

“She didn’t do anything,” Dominic protested.

The
her
they mentioned wasn’t me. I wavered, not wanting them to see me during their personal conflict, but wanting to find out what they were talking about. It looked like Dominic had told Marina he’d been sneaking out of Colleen Byrd’s house when she wasn’t looking.

“That’s right,” Marina conceded. She took a deep breath. “I know it’s not her fault either. I’m angry because now we’re stuck with her and we can’t pay for her medicine.”

This was taking a different direction than I had originally thought. I had thought that Dominic was cheating on Marina or stealing from Colleen and today’s visit had been to case the joint.

“Ruby?” Marina noticed me.

I held up the water.

“It’s okay. She saw me earlier,” Dominic explained.

Marina gave him a sharp look. To me, she said, “Rodger Becker gave us free rent on our store in exchange for taking care of his sister. It turns out that we’re now her legal guardians, if you will, and he left us no money to pay for her medicine.”

“Can you talk to the family?” I asked. “I would think that they’d want to help.”

Marina rested her hands on her hips. “I don’t know what to do. Quite honestly, I’m not sure they’re aware of her existence.”

“Rodger took great pains to cover her up,” said Dominic. “Even though she tells every person she sees that she’s related to him.”

“We couldn’t convince her to move in with us. I’d rather see her in a more friendly environment — no pun intended — than in her rundown place,” said Marina. “We couldn’t convince her, though.”

“I was checking her medicine supply when I ran into you. She doesn’t like people monitoring her and also refuses to tell us when she’s running low. We don’t even know exactly what it is that she has — we just pick up the medicine from Rodger when she runs out. He said how much it cost one time and he better have been exaggerating because it’s more than we can afford. I mean, we want to make sure she’s all right. We can’t leave her on her own even though we were coerced into helping her out.” Dominic’s brown eyes narrowed. “Why were you there?”

I figured honesty was the best policy. “Ruben Grimes asked me to see what was going on.”

“He was here a couple of hours ago. He would be the one to figure this out and want to make sure things are okay,” said Marina. She had regained her composure and her cheeks had returned to their normal hue. “I get so upset over these things because there’s no one else who can help her. I couldn’t bear to leave a person stranded, you know?”

“I know,” I said.

Marina took my water bottle to the checkout and I purchased it. She gave me a free snow cone, which was perfect for the sunny day.

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,” I told them on my way out.

I had finished my snow cone by the time I’d made the short walk to Scoop. I rubbed my head after eating it too fast. Brain freeze was no joke.

I was stopped by Taryn Horn, who was coming out of Scoop.

“I had to give her my handwritten thank you note for hosting bingo in person,” said Taryn, all bubbly. “It’s not the same as in the mail.” She lowered her voice. “Did you hear the news?”

“No,” I said, matching her whisper.

“There’s a woman. Colleen Byrd. You probably don’t know her, but she worked for Rodger Becker and it turns out that they’re actually related! Can you believe it? Brother and sister! Who knew?”

I knew, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. “Whoa.”

“Right? This is earth-shattering. I had no idea. I wonder if she’s included in the will.”

“I don’t see why not,” I said.

Taryn shook her head in disappointment. “Rodger wasn’t the type to include anyone in his will. We’ll see, of course. I’m just glad that he’s done with. The people here are better off without him.”

Taryn saw a friend and called to her. They whispered together — without a doubt, she was sharing the same news.

Jade came out of her shop as I turned to go into it.

“Rebecca’s closing today,” Jade said, and suggested that we go to The Parrot Tree for dinner. “I know you went there last night, but tonight is half-off meals. We can’t miss that!”

“Is that a normal thing?” I asked.

Jade laughed. “No. They’re discounting meals because of Rodger’s death. It’s going to be a huge celebration. Corey said that he and his dance crew were preparing a special performance for it and everything.”

The Parrot Tree was about as full as A Scoop of Sunshine had been before we organized the chaos. We got our number and waited for a table to open up.

“As Taryn says, a line is a good sign,” said Jade as we sat on the long vinyl sofa the restaurant had for waiting customers.

The couple sitting next to us were discussing Rodger Becker.

“I heard he has a sister,” the woman said. She was holding a card that had the number three on it.

The man said, “I heard that too! I can’t see why that would need to be kept hidden. I have a sister and you don’t see me hiding that fact.”

“News travels fast,” I remarked to Jade.

“You’re telling me,” she replied.

The couple’s number was called and they went to their booth.

“I have to say, I don’t get why Colleen was a secret,” I said. “Was he hiding her because she needed pills to make her act like the rest of us? That’s no reason to keep her hidden away.”

“I don’t get it either.” Jade crossed her legs. “What if she’s more dangerous than we thought? We don’t know her and what she’s all about, really. Maybe she’s the stabber.” She said it as an off-hand remark, but after she’d said it, Jade began to believe it. “No one would suspect her. It’s the perfect crime.”

“Maybe not perfect
.
It is a good one, though.” I glanced at our number card. Seventeen. “I bet we have time to talk to Ruben and get back before our number is called. Do you want to find out why he told everyone?”

Jade stood. “Let’s go. Are you sure he’s the one who leaked it? He doesn’t seem the type.”

“That’s what concerns me,” I said. If it wasn’t Ruben or the Friendlys, then who was it?

I don’t know why I was surprised to find Ruben at his office after work hours. Probably because I had come over here without considering that he wouldn’t
be. He seemed like the type of person who was always at work and, so far, he had been proving that theory right.

Ruben closed the lid on his salad bowl. “What can I do for you ladies?”

“Why did you spread the word that Colleen’s related to Rodger?” I asked. I didn’t think he had, but I had to be sure.

“I didn’t do that,” he said slowly.

“Someone did,” said Jade.

Ruben frowned. “It wasn’t me. I’m the guy who wants to be invisible. Telling the world gossip — even true gossip — is the exact opposite of that.”

It suddenly came to me. Why hadn’t I seen it before? “Tim Becker was there. He must have known the location of his aunt’s house. He drove off when I did, and I didn’t see him come near Colleen’s house. Why was he there?”

“Let’s talk to him,” Jade suggested. “We can swing by his house on our way back to The Parrot Tree.”

“I don’t think he’ll be there,” said Ruben gruffly. “A kid isn’t going to stick around in an uncomfortable situation.”

“I think I know where we can find him,” I said.

Jade and I drove to Colleen’s house and, sure enough, his car was parked at the end of the street. Jade had started to head over there when I heard footsteps. “Wait.”

A light flicked on in Colleen’s house. A few seconds later, it turned off, plunging the house back into darkness. I heard a faint thump and then Tim came running out of the backyard, his eyes manic.

“Whoa,” I said, flagging him down.

“I’ve got to get out of here,” he said frantically.

“Hold on,” Jade began.

Tim looked us in the eyes. “She’s dead. There’s a knife lodged in her chest and if I don’t get out of here, everyone’s going to think that I did it.” He dashed to his car, almost tripping on a wet, white cone-shaped paper, and sped off.

We stood there in shock.

“We should get out of here,” I suggested. Jade nodded.

Sirens blared and flashing lights shone on us before we could make a move. The paramedics rushed in and Corey came up behind them.

“Please don’t tell me this is a repeat,” he said. “I got called in for this. I had to skip my solo moment and everything. You would have loved it.”

Jade smiled. “You can show us after this.”

Corey’s feature’s softened. “It’s no big deal. I’ll show you two my moves one of these days. You’d better watch out, then!” He went into the house with a smile plastered on his face.

After spending a while at Colleen Byrd’s house and giving our statements, Jade and I returned to The Parrot Tree. We told the police about seeing Tim and they said they’d look into it.

“Fourteen!” a server called out.

I poked Jade. “We’ll still make it.”

She smiled. “Excellent.”

I saw Taryn Horn get in line. “She really gets everywhere.”

“Taryn’s the most connected person there is. Definitely in Red Palm, possibly in the world,” Jade smirked.

Taryn received her number and sat next to us. “I’ve got a bunch of people meeting soon. I hope the wait isn’t too bad. By the way, where did you put the wildlife preserve donations?”

Jade frowned. “I gave them to you.”

We had gone with a wildlife preserve fund when we couldn’t find a specific fish charity on short notice.

“That’s what I thought, but when I got home, I checked the envelope and it was empty.” Taryn twisted a strand of her light hair.

“The money was in there,” said Jade, becoming worried.

“Money doesn’t have legs. It can’t walk away.” Taryn pursed her lips. “Also, they let Allen go, so I’ve taken down the flyers. We don’t need them now that he’s free. They couldn’t hold him when his knife didn’t match up to the one that Rodger was stabbed with.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“Most of them had mysteriously disappeared.” Her eyes narrowed. “I’m sure you don’t know anything about that, do you?”

“Nothing at all,” I said cheerfully. I wasn’t about to tell her that Kevin had torn them down.

“Seventeen!” the server called out.

“That’s us,” I said.