The Missing Dough (16 page)

“How did he manage to do that?” Chief Hurley asked.

“I’m not sure,” I said, “but the man I spoke to felt as though Art’s involvement was enough to ensure that he was telling the truth.”

“I thought you two were through,” the chief said.

“We were, but we’re back on again.”

“So you got him to use a little muscle for you to get what you wanted. Are you sure that this is really a guy you want as a friend?” the chief asked. He made no bones about his displeasure with my renewed friendship.

“He doesn’t give me any grief about you being one of my friends, so why should you care about him?”

Chief Hurley took his gaze off the road for a second to look at me. “Are we friends, Eleanor?”

“Well, if you had asked me before, I would have said yes, but hearing that question, now I’m not so sure.”

“Easy. I didn’t mean anything by it. To be honest, I’m flattered that you feel that way.”

“I’ll be your friend, too, if I can turn on the siren,” Maddy said.

I looked back at her, and she just grinned. Evidently, riding in the back of a squad car was making her feel a little goofy. If that were the case, I was going to make sure that it didn’t happen again anytime soon.

The chief ignored her request, and soon enough, we were in front of the Slice. I wasn’t sure about the message it was sending to the rest of Timber Ridge for us to climb out of a patrol car, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said as I opened the door.

“Hey, there aren’t any handles back here,” Maddy protested.

The chief smiled at me for a brief second, showing a glimpse once again of the young man I’d been crazy about in high school. “What do you think, Eleanor? Should I drive her around the block once or twice before I let her out?”

I smiled back at him. “You’d better not. She might get to like it and ask you to do it again sometime.”

“That’s a good point,” he said as he unlocked the back door from his control panel.

Maddy climbed out, and as the chief started to drive away, he said, “Be careful, you two.”

“You’ve got it,” I said.

After he was gone, I said, “I know it’s going to be anticlimactic after that high-speed car chase and taking a ride in the back of a genuine police cruiser, but do you feel like making some pizza?”

“It’s almost always my first choice of things to do,” Maddy said. “Sorry about all of that blabbing earlier. I don’t know what got into me.”

“I don’t either,” I said. “I was about to strangle you at one point.”

“Then I’m glad that there was a cage between us,” Maddy said with a grin.

I was about to unlock the front door when I saw that someone had written something on the window glass. In the gaudiest shade of red lipstick I’d ever seen, it said BACK OF in bright letters. It was written in block print, and I doubted there was a single fingerprint anywhere near it that belonged to the person who had written it, but I pulled out my phone and called the chief of police, anyway.

 

“I can’t leave you two alone for three minutes, can I?” he asked after he drove back to the Slice and got out of his squad car. Being the chief of police gave him the privilege of driving straight onto the brick-paved promenade, and he’d been known to take advantage of it before. “Where is it?” he asked.

I pointed to the door as Maddy said, “We keep wondering what we’re supposed to do with the back of something.”

“You both know they meant to say, ‘Back off,’ ” the chief said. “Whoever was writing it was obviously interrupted before they could finish.”

“Do you think someone saw them doing this?” I asked as I looked across the promenade for any potential witnesses. Unfortunately, the square was deserted.

“I don’t have any idea.” Chief Hurley pulled out his camera from the trunk of his car and took a few pictures. After that, he took some powder and dusted it on the glass.

Nothing showed up at all.

“When was the last time you cleaned this?” he asked.

I shrugged, but Maddy said, “Josh cleaned it right before he left last night. He wanted something to do since it was kind of quiet, and I didn’t see what it could hurt.”

“Probably nothing,” the chief said. “I was hoping for a palm or a fingerprint, though.” The police chief packed up his little kit and then returned it and the camera to the trunk of his car.

“That’s it?” I asked. “That’s all you’re going to do?”

“I’ll have one of my men canvass the area in case someone saw something, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.” He could see that I wasn’t happy with the minimal effort, so he asked me, “Eleanor, what else do you want me to do?”

“Nothing,” I said. “You’re right. I just hate that someone tried to scare us off like that.”

“As threats go, it’s a pretty benign one,” Chief Hurley said. “Here’s some cleaner and a few paper towels you can use to get rid of it. This is pretty powerful stuff, so go wash your hands as soon as you are finished with it.”

“Hang on a second,” Maddy said as she pulled out her cell phone and took a few pictures herself. “Go on. I got it,” she answered.

After I cleaned the window and handed the spray bottle back to the chief, he said, “If there’s nothing else, I’m going to take off.”

“See you later,” I answered. “Thanks for coming back so quickly.”

“That’s my job, to serve and protect. Seriously, though, call me if
anything
comes up, no matter how trivial it might seem to be to you.”

“We’ll do our best,” I said.

He let that slide as he got into his cruiser and drove away.

“Still feel like making pizza?” I asked Maddy.

“Now more than ever. A little normalcy would be nice right about now.”

Unfortunately, that ended up being the last thing we got.

“E
leanor, Maddy says she needs you up front,” Greg said as he came into the kitchen a little later. He was working double shifts to make up for his absence lately, and we were glad to have him. “She said to tell you that it’s important.”

“Tell her I’ll be right there,” I said as I slipped the final pizza order onto the conveyor. Peeking in through the other side of the oven, I saw that I had around five minutes before the first sandwich on the conveyor was due to come out.

I walked out to the dining room, wondering what was so urgent, and that was when I saw my sister talking to Rebecca Whitmore.

As I approached them, Maddy said, “Okay, she’s here now. Now go ahead. What was it that you wanted to tell me?”

“I found some money in the hidden drawer, just like you said, and I thought that it was only fair to split it with you,” she said as she started digging around in her purse.

“That’s really nice of you,” Maddy said, “but if it’s a lot of money, you don’t have to give me half.” We both knew that ten thousand was substantial, and it was odd that Rebecca was being so generous.

When she pulled out a slim envelope, there was more than cash there, though. “All I need is for you to sign a waiver for the rest of Mom’s stuff, and half the money is yours.”

“So, you’re trying to buy me off, is that it?” Maddy asked, not taking the envelope.

“Believe me, I’m doing you a favor. All that Mom left behind were bills and two mortgages. There’s not going to be anything left, so I’d advise you to take this and be happy that you’re done with it.”

“Well, I can’t sign anything until I know how much we’re talking about,” Maddy replied, studying the skinny envelope. Unless Rebecca had deposited the money and written her a check, there was no way that there was five grand in there.

“I’d really rather it was a surprise,” Rebecca said stubbornly. “Does it honestly matter how much it is? This is pure profit for you.” She pulled out another copy of the waiver we’d seen before and handed it to Maddy, along with a pen.

My sister promptly put them both down on a nearby table without signing anything. “Sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be able to sign anything without knowing what you’re offering me in return.”

Rebecca started to pout a little and then shrugged. “Fine. Spoil the surprise.” She opened the envelope again and pulled out five one-hundred-dollar bills. “Think about what you could do with that money.”

“This is half of what you found?” Maddy said as she looked at the anemic pile of cash.

“Right down the middle,” Rebecca said, averting her gaze for a moment as she said it.

Maddy shook her head. “Thanks, but no thanks. I wouldn’t take it if it were ten times that much.” I echoed her smile, since we both knew that the real amount from an equal split would be exactly that, five thousand dollars.

Rebecca glanced at me quickly, and I did my best to kill my smile.

“You’re making a huge mistake,” she said to Maddy.

My sister picked up the waiver and the pen and handed them back to Rebecca. “Maybe so. It wouldn’t be the first time, and I’m pretty sure that it won’t be the last. Have you decided what you’re going to do with the house?”

“I’m moving in, at least for now. I managed to scrape up eight grand to pay off most of the bills, including the second mortgage, so I’ll be okay for a while.”

What a coincidence. After taking eight of the ten grand from the drawer to pay off the second, she
still
wasn’t giving Maddy half of what was left. I wouldn’t trust the woman to count my fingers for me.

“Funny, I wouldn’t think you’d choose to live there after what happened to your brother and mother,” Maddy said.

“Mom died at the hospital, and Grant was murdered over there across the square,” she said as she pointed to the spot on the promenade. “Besides, it’s going to take a long time to go through everything at the house, and it will be quite a bit easier if I’m staying there to do it. I wouldn’t want to miss anything. It was important to my mother, you understand.”

Maddy shrugged. “Whatever you say. Let me know when you’re ready to file for probate. I have a vested interest, you know, and I want to be there.”

“Of course,” Rebecca said through gritted teeth. Maddy was playing with fire. If Grant’s sister was indeed the murderer, my sister was adding her name to the list of those most likely to be killed next.

As Rebecca started to leave, Maddy called out, “And don’t forget to include the thousand dollars you found in your assessment.”

“What thousand are you talking about?” Rebecca asked curiously.

“Well, that’s how much you found in the drawer. That’s right, isn’t it? Half of a thousand is five hundred, and that’s what you just offered me.”

“Certainly,” Rebecca said, and then she was gone.

“My, that was fun,” Maddy said.

“Would you come into the kitchen with me? The next sandwich should be ready to serve now.”

She followed me in, and the second the kitchen door was closed, I asked her, “Did you enjoy yourself just now?”

“I’ve been wanting to tweak her since the day we met quite a few years ago. Yes, I’d have to say that as amusements go, that was right up there.”

“Maddy, we both know that she was lying about the money she found, but what good did it do to let her know that we were aware of the fact that she was cheating you?”

Maddy frowned. “Okay, maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing that I could have done, but I couldn’t let her think that she had outsmarted me. You know why she’s staying at the house, don’t you? Sentiment has nothing to do with it.”

“Obviously, she wants to find every last dollar Grant hid,” I said. “And that’s going to take some time. She probably will, too. A hundred and fifty thousand dollars can’t be that easy to hide, don’t you think?”

“If Grant had an entire house to do it in, it just might be, but she’s got time on her side, and if it’s stashed there, she’s bound to find it eventually.”

“Not if we find it first,” I said.

“How can we do that? We don’t even have access to the place anymore.”

“I don’t know, but I hate the thought of her getting away with it.”

“Murder or theft?” Maddy asked me.

“Well, we
know
she’s a thief. We just need to figure out if she’s a killer or not.”

I took the sandwich out, slid it onto a tray, and then cut it in half.

“When you know how we can do that, be sure to let me know,” Maddy said as she picked the sandwich up and left to deliver it.

 

Josh came into the kitchen ten minutes before we were set to close for our own lunch break. Maddy and I had been discussing all afternoon what we were going to do to investigate, but so far we hadn’t come up with anything concrete.

“You aren’t due to start your shift until we get back from lunch,” I said. “Greg’s working a double shift, so we don’t need you until then.”

“I’m not here to work,” Josh said. “I was digging around on the Internet, and I found something I thought you’d like to see.”

“What is it?” I asked.

He handed me a printout from his computer, and I saw that it was an announcement. Samantha and Kenny Stout were playing an afternoon show in Grayson’s Corners, not too far away from Timber Ridge.

I read it and then handed the printout back to him. “Surely they canceled it. Samantha can’t even stand to be in the same town as her ex-husband, let alone share a stage with him.”

“I just called, and they started playing ten minutes ago.”

“Both of them?” I asked, having a hard time believing that Samantha would play with Kenny after what she’d told Maddy and me earlier.

“Both of them,” he said. “If you close the Slice now, you can get there before the fireworks start.”

“Why would anyone have fireworks in the middle of the afternoon?”

“I didn’t mean literally,” he said, “but just because they started their show doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily finish it.”

There was nothing in the oven, so it was an easy decision to make. “Come with me,” I said as I flipped off the conveyor.

There were two single diners in the Slice, so I walked to the door and flipped the sign that told our customers that we were closed. After locking the door, I told our remaining diners, “Take your time. I’m not trying to rush you. You still have ten minutes.”

Maddy and Greg walked over to us. “What’s going on?”

“We’re going to Grayson’s Corners right now,” I explained, “and the boys are going to clean up for us as soon as our patrons leave. Right, guys?”

“We’d rather go with you,” Josh said. “What if there’s trouble?”

“If there is, we can handle it,” I said. “What do you say? Will you do this for us?”

“Of course we will,” Greg said.

“Why exactly are we going to Grayson’s Corners?” Maddy asked as she took off her apron. “Are we eating lunch at Mama Mia’s?”

“Not today. Samantha and Kenny are playing on an outdoor stage there right now, and if we hurry, we might just get a chance to grill them a little more before they’re both gone for good.”

“What are we waiting for, then? Let’s go,” she said.

I unlocked the door, and Greg closed it behind us.

As we walked through the shortcut, Maddy said with a grin, “I’ve got an idea. Why don’t I drive?”

“You are so funny,” I said deadpan.

“Have you heard from Bob Pickering yet?”

“He says that a wire came loose somewhere,” I said, “and that I was probably driving too fast on a bad road.”

“That sounds like a really technical diagnosis. It’s a good thing he’s such a veteran mechanic,” Maddy said. “Why hasn’t he brought it back over here yet?”

“He found a few other things wrong when he was poking around under the hood,” I admitted. “I should have it by this evening.”

“I’m glad you can trust Bob. Otherwise, it would sound like too big a coincidence that he found other problems while he was under the hood, you know?”

“Sure, but he’ll do right by me. He always has.”

“Let’s go,” Maddy said as she unlocked her car. “Just a warning, but I might speed a little.”

“Be my guest, but you’re paying for the ticket if you get one.”

“Me? Didn’t you know, Eleanor? I’m too charming to get a speeding ticket.”

“Just keep telling yourself that, and maybe someday it will be true.”

 

When we got to the outdoor stage, though, it appeared that we were too late. No one was playing, and the people who had gathered for the show were milling about as though they were waiting for something that might not happen. The band’s logo from the notice I’d seen,
STOUTER THAN MOST,
was on the stage, but neither performer was there. In the crowd I spotted Jenny Wilkes, the woman who ran the flower shop in town, but she didn’t see me. It was just as well. I didn’t really have time to stop and chat.

“We missed it,” Maddy said, dejected that another lead had dead-ended on us.

I was about to agree when I saw a flash of something backstage. “Follow me,” I said softly and tugged lightly on Maddy’s arm.

As we neared the back area, I could hear a loud conversation going on. Argument was probably more like it. Kenny was clearly angry about something, and Samantha was doing her best to hold up her end under the attack from her ex-husband.

“I’m not going to do it, and I don’t care what you think,” I heard Samantha say.

“If you don’t now, then you’d better start,” Kenny said as he moved closer to her. “Neither one of us can afford to have those two nosy sisters keep digging into our business. You’ve got to stop going to them every time we have a little spat.”

“That wasn’t a little spat,” she countered.

“Do you want to know something? That’s your problem, Samantha. You blow everything out of proportion and read things into the simplest actions. You’ve got to stop and think about what you’re saying before you open your mouth,” he said with an ominous pause.

“It sounds like there’s an ‘or else’ somewhere in there,” Samantha said.

“There you go again. I know how important it is to you that you’re the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral, but the world doesn’t spin that way.”

“I’m not like that,” she said defiantly.

“Try telling that to someone who was never married to you. The more I think about it, the more I realize that was probably the biggest mistake I ever made in my life.”

“Me too,” she said so softly that I could barely hear her.

“What was that?”

Instead of answering, Samantha pointed to her watch. “Our break is over. We just have to go on for fifteen more minutes, and then we’re finished. This is my last show with you, Kenny. After today I never want to see you again.”

“You don’t really mean that, do you?” he said, his voice getting low and mean. “How are you going to avoid it? We both know that I am going to be in this area forever, and so are you.”

“I can do whatever I want to. You don’t own me. The days of you telling me what to do are long gone.”

“Do you honestly believe that’s true?” he asked, and I saw Samantha step back just a little. When she didn’t answer his question, he added, “Remember, no more talking to anyone about anything that concerns me. I have some errands to run after the show, but we’ll discuss this later, I promise you.”

“Whatever,” she said shakily.

“Do us both a favor and try not to cause me any more trouble in the meantime, okay?”

As they headed for the stage, I pulled Maddy back behind a bush so they wouldn’t see us. They walked past us and mounted the platform to the cheers from the crowd. As they started to play, Samantha’s voice was a little shaky at first, but she quickly got it back.

“And I thought
I
had some bad ex-husbands,” Maddy said. “He’s really not a nice man, is he?”