Pistols & Pies (Sweet Bites Book 2) (Sweet Bites Mysteries) (26 page)

Before I reached Marty’s second construction site, my phone was already ringing. Shawn’s number was on the display. Too bad, he’d just have to hang tough.

After determining that Marty was nowhere around—making me wonder what he did all day—I pulled in front of the future office building and turned the ringer off, sticking it in my pocket. I might need it to take pictures of evidence. In my dreams.

The ground was freshly dug and they were starting to set up forms for pouring the foundation. It was a good location: near major crossroads, with plenty of space to put in parking. Not as good a location as my shop, of course, but you couldn’t have everything.

One of the other guys came over, happy to talk when he saw the bakery box containing leftover cupcakes and brownies from the previous day. One thing I’d learned since moving to Silver Springs: If you wanted information, sweetening people up first was always a good idea.

“Hi, can I help you with something?” the guy asked. I realized I’d seen him playing pool with Marty earlier that week.

“Sure, it seems your boss wanted to say thanks. He asked me to bring these goodies over for you guys. I guess it’s been a crazy few days.”

“You have no idea.” He took the treats and cracked open the box, his eyes widening with pleasure. “’Bout time he did something like this.”

“I’m sure he appreciates what you do. It must get nuts here sometimes. For example, the day that there was the murder at the fitness center. He said he had to rush to his other site, then hurry to the next emergency.” I shrugged and tried to act like it was idle curiosity—I already knew where Marty went, but it wouldn’t hurt to verify. “There must have been something going on.”

The man stopped to scratch his neck. “I don’t know about that. What day was it?”

“Tuesday. Didn’t you have him come by to fix something that afternoon?” I fluttered my lashes and hoped he wouldn’t turn into a stalker.

He shook his head. “No, ma’am, you must be thinking of Wednesday. Never saw hide nor hair of him Monday nor Tuesday. Things went smooth as smooth getting this hole dug, so there was no need for him here. I’m kind of the man in charge when he’s not around and I’ve taken care of everything.” He puffed his chest out in pride.

Oh, good grief. “That is impressive. Well, you must know everything that’s going on.” I used my best flirty voice.

“Sure do.”

“I’ve been thinking about getting some work done around my place. Does Marty do renovations?” I had done all the repairs needed when I first moved into the building, but I really wanted to see the inside of the office trailer.

“Sometimes. Your building is pretty old, so it would need to be done right to maintain the integrity of the structure.” He said this last deliberately, as though trying to impress me with his amazing vocabulary.

“Can you give me some information?”

He waved me toward the nearby trailer. “Come with me.”

It was a small single-wide with vinyl floors, a sofa and two chairs on one side, a coffee machine and a desk area—which was four inches deep in papers. There was a noticeable lack of filing cabinets.
Nice organization, Marty.

The man started fishing in the pile of papers. “I know he’s got cards under here somewhere.”

I studied the place. “Looks like he doesn’t spend much time in here.” There were bits of paper on the floor and a sprinkling of glitter on the carpet and sofa.

“He’s here pretty often, actually. Not so much as to be in the way when we’re working, mind, but he stops in for consultations and to check on our progress. He works late a lot.”

I could hear the sound of tires crunching on gravel and I looked out the window to see a silver Mercedes parking beside the trailer. Hoping I could distract him for a moment, I pointed out the window. “It looks like you have a visitor. Maybe you should go see what they need.”

He glanced out and straightened his shirt, puffing out his chest a little. “Yes. I’ll be right back.”

I wondered who the visitor was; apparently they were important. As soon as the door shut behind him, I moved around the desk and started pulling out drawers, looking for receipts or anything that might prove if Marty was really out of town. What I really wanted was the receipt for the bracelet, though. If it was worth five grand, I’d go sugar-free for a month.

Glancing out the window to make sure he wasn’t coming back in yet, I moved to the filing cabinet and began flipping through the folders. “Utilities. Lumber yard. Window place. Dinner receipts.” I glanced out the window again to see him leaning over the front window talking to the driver. 

I combed through the receipts, thinking maybe there would be a dinner receipt in Phoenix. Italian, Mexican, five-star restaurants, dinners for two. Always dinners for two.

I caught sight of the Tiffany’s receipt and pulled it out.  It was dated the afternoon of the murder. Drat. And there
were
two pieces of jewelry on the invoice. The bracelet, as I had thought, was only triple digits, though in the high end. An emerald and diamond necklace and earring set was listed for the rest of the money and the price made me want to whistle in surprise. That made up the difference in what Jessica thought he’d paid for the bracelet. She was one lucky lady.

If
she was the lucky one. Now I’d seen all of his meal receipts, I wasn’t so sure. If he was working so late, who was he eating out with?

The car’s engine hummed when it pulled out of the parking spot. I shoved the papers back into the file, closing it quickly, then hurried around the desk to the front again.

The man returned and pulled a business card out of the top drawer of the cabinets where I’d just been working, triumph on his face. “I
knew
he had some here.” He passed it over with a flourish and I grinned at him.

A moment later we were heading down the stairs to the parking lot again. “Thanks for showing me around,” I said. “This is so fascinating.”

“Anytime. You may want to come back in a month or so to check on how things are going. It’ll be a whole new world.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

I hurried back to the shop and found Lenny and Kat in the kitchen. He leaned in and gave her a kiss and she giggled. They were so nauseatingly cute, I hardly knew what to do with myself. I headed toward them, smiling.

That was, until Shawn caught sight of me and stalked over, his blue eyes even darker than usual with anger. “Where have you been? How am I supposed to keep you safe if you go haring off every time I turn my back? You could have been killed.”

I took a steadying breath and looked him in the eye. “Look, I know you mean well, but I’ve got to get through this, and having you at my elbow isn’t always reasonable.”

His hands fisted on his hips as exasperation mingled with anger on his features. “You said you’d let me take precautions, that you wouldn’t act stupid. How can I trust you if you go running out there alone? How am I supposed to keep you safe, huh?”

“I was fine. See,” I held my arms out beside me to demonstrate the lack of blood-spurting injuries. “Fine. I didn’t go chat up a suspect or anything; I was just taking brownies to some guys at a construction site.”

“Marty Grizzle’s construction site, you mean? How is that supposed to make me feel better? You
hoped
to see him there. You might not have talked to him, but you wanted to.”

“No, I wanted to talk to someone
else
.” At least this part was true; it is easier to wheedle the truth out of employees than it is to get it from the man himself if he’s trying to hide something. “Luckily, he wasn’t around, so I was able to get the answers I was looking for. I wouldn’t have been able to ask if he’d been standing beside me.”

Shawn turned away muttering something under his breath that sounded a bit like the Spanish the guys at the hotel restaurant had used when they were angry. Probably not a good sign. 

I glanced at Lenny, who gave me a hard look. “He has a point. Running around like that is pretty stupid.”

Kat’s disapproval was also clear, though it looked kind of like she was trying not to smile. She glanced at Shawn, back at me and wiggled her brows. Apparently now she was happy with Lenny she’d slipped into matchmaking mode—the responsibility of all happily-engaged or married women (or at least most seemed to think so). Just what I needed.

After a long moment, Shawn turned back around to me, his hands on his hips. “So did you actually learn anything?”

“Of course. Jessica was right, Marty was in Phoenix picking up the jewelry on Tuesday. There was a bracelet and an emerald and diamond necklace on the invoice.”

“Was it expensive?” Kat asked, perking up.

“Very. She’s going to go into seizures if it’s a beautiful as its price tag.”

“So we’re back to Michael,” Shawn said. “Everyone else is covered.”

“Don’t forget that Gary doesn’t have an alibi either, as far as I can tell. I can’t figure him out.” I sat on a stool at the counter and picked at the bits of fondant that clung to the space where I had been working earlier. I needed to pull on some gloves and give it a thorough cleaning, but when the inspiration to leave struck, I hadn’t taken the time to scrub up right.

Now I’d cleared another suspect, I was more confused than ever.

Detective Tingey popped by that afternoon to talk after I let Lenny run off with Kat to pick out more furniture for their place. Really, he had just come to talk, not even to get a full confession or to ask me to fill out pages of paperwork.

“Come for a break, or just hungry for conversation?” I asked when he walked through the door.

“Both, if I can have them.” He rubbed a hand over his balding head, looking exhausted.

“Sure thing. What’s your pleasure?”

When I’d served up his latte and cupcake, I sat across from him and Shawn. “So, did you check on Michael’s alibi for the days that I was attacked?” I asked.

“Yes, and you were right. Of course. He couldn’t have done it.” He took a big bite of his cupcake, and spoke with his mouth full. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t kill Eric, though.”

I felt smug, though I tried not to show it too much. “No, but it sure does narrow down the likelihood, doesn’t it?”

He nodded in concession.

I quietly rejoiced. Shawn looked at me like he knew exactly what I was thinking and wasn’t amused.

“But you still need to stay away from things,” Detective Tingey said. “I don’t know who’s responsible yet, and you’ve already had two attempts on your life.”

Since my back—and backside—were still sore from everything I’d been through, I definitely didn’t want things to get worse. On the other hand, if the right information just happened to slip into my possession . . . “So as far as I can tell your only suspect left is Gary Roper.”

Tingey’s brows lifted in surprise. “And why are you so certain it’s Gary?”

“Why are you so certain it’s not?” I asked. “He doesn’t have an alibi for the day in question, and the prison is going to cost him a whole lot of money on property values.”

Tingey took a sip of his latte and smirked. “Actually, we found a guy who works for the Forest Service who said he saw Gary riding his horse up there, round about three o’clock.”

My mouth fell open in surprise. “But maybe he had time—”

“Nope, he was heading
away
from town,
and
,” he paused to take another sip. “He was far enough up the mountain that if he had turned the horse around two minutes later and returned at a gallop, he still would have been unlikely to get back in time.”

I slumped in my chair, full of consternation and totally lost about where to go next. “So there are no good suspects left?”

“Except the step-son.”

“Who you’ve already proved didn’t try to hurt me, so if he killed Eric, who do you think has been going after me? Not his mom, after she asked me to check into things. Who else would want me dead?”

“That’s my hang up, but I’m sure something will make sense soon.” Tingey leaned closer, studying me. “Now tell me, why is it that you’re so certain Michael isn’t responsible? You’ve been certain right from the start.”