Unraveled (14 page)

Jennifer let her stitches drop to her lap and stared out into the empty room, lined with yarn bins and bookshelves. “I told the cops everything I knew about that phone call when they questioned me. It wasn’t much because I never spoke with Birmingham. I wonder what they found out about him.”

“Well, Jayleen says Renee is wondering, too. Jayleen asked me to find out what Burt has heard from his county cop friend Paul. I have to admit I’m curious, too.”

“Uh-oh. That sounds like sleuthing to me.”

“Can’t help it, Jen. It’s in my nature,” Kelly teased.

Jennifer’s head jerked up from her knitting. “Oooo, what about that spooky guy you saw lurking around the cabin. Did the cops ever find out who he was?”

“Yes, Burt told me he was the owner of the property right next to Turner’s and has lived in the canyon a long time. Kind of a recluse. Apparently he didn’t have too much to say when police questioned him.”

Jennifer gave a little shiver. “Well, I’m glad he never came over while I was out there all by myself. He would have scared the bejeezus out of me.”

Kelly laughed out loud at that and decided to change the subject. There was something else she was curious about. “You know, I saw Steve the other night. It was at one of those Denver project’s mini mob scenes. We had a speaker then a dinner. We were all out in the lobby bar before dinner, and I saw him drinking a beer and talking with some woman. A blonde, of course.” Kelly deliberately used a lighthearted tone.

Jennifer looked over at her, busy fingers stopped their movements. “Oh, really? Did he see you? Did he come over and talk to you, I hope?”

“Yes and no. Steve turned and spotted me. I swear he was so shocked his mouth dropped open.” Kelly said in a wry voice. “But he didn’t say anything or do anything. He just stood there and stared at me.”

“And what did you do?”

“I stood there and stared back. Didn’t blink. I was half expecting him to walk over and say something. After all, you guys told me Steve wanted to apologize. That would have been the perfect time. But he just stood there.” Kelly said, concentrating on her stitches.

“I thought you said you didn’t want Steve to come over and apologize when you were at a meeting. Did you change your mind?”

Kelly shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, the meeting was over, and we were all standing around with drinks. It would have been the perfect time to do it if he wanted to. But he looked so surprised to see me, he just stood there. After a minute he kind of looked like he was going to say something, but Dave came up then and said they were ditching the rubber chicken for a steak house.”

“Ahhhh, so you went with Dave, then?”

“Absolutely.” Kelly gave her a sly grin. “Rubber chicken can’t compete with steak.”

“Good. I’m glad you did. And, I’m glad Steve got to see it.”

“So am I,” Kelly admitted. “In fact, I met Dave for drinks after dinner. I wanted you to know that I’m following your instructions, Doctor.”

Jennifer returned to her knitting. “Good for you, Kelly. Maybe that will kick Steve into making a move.”

“Hey, maybe I don’t want Steve to make a move,” Kelly felt compelled to reply. “He walked out on
me
, remember?”

Jennifer kept knitting. “I remember. And believe me, so does Steve.”

Ten

“Stand
still, Carl, I’m trying to dry you off,” Kelly instructed her Rottweiler. Carl ignored her and kept wiggling, snowflakes on his nose. “Carl, sit,” Kelly commanded in Alpha Dog voice.

Clearly, Carl didn’t want to sit, he wanted to wiggle and jump around the kitchen. Kelly gave a little tug on his collar to ensure compliance. Carl sat, reluctantly, while Kelly wiped off the rest of the snowflakes.

“Okay,” Kelly said, releasing Carl from his sit. Carl immediately raced around the kitchen, sniffing the floor. Just in case stray food crumbs were hiding. “What were you rooting around in the snow for?” Kelly asked her dog as she reached for her now-empty coffee mug. “Did you find Brazen Squirrel’s cache of nuts?”

Carl didn’t bother to look up but kept investigating the floor in hopes that food would miraculously appear, no doubt.

Kelly gave her dog a head rub and slipped on her winter jacket. March may have the first day of spring on its calendar, but it was still cold. And March snowstorms were often heavy and wet, causing all the evergreen branches to droop with snow.

Kelly grabbed her knitting bag and headed out the cottage front door. About five inches of soft snow crunched beneath her mountain boots as she made her way across the driveway and through the outside patio of Pete’s café. She needed coffee. After spending an entire Saturday morning working on the computer spreadsheets of her two clients’ accounts, Kelly needed Eduardo’s strong brew. And maybe some lunch before she returned to number crunching and analysis.

Brushing aside a tree branch heavy with snow, she paused for a moment beside the canvas-covered tables and chairs. All the bushes had been painted with the same snowy brush. It was so quiet. Even the street traffic outside the stucco walls surrounding the Lambspun property was muffled. That was one of the things she loved about snow. It seemed to swallow noise as it fell and enveloped the world in white.

An icy breeze blew against Kelly’s face and tousled her hair. Through the café’s wide windows, she could see the waitresses serving lunch. Hitching her knitting bag up her shoulder, Kelly ended her short solitude and hurried inside where it was warm.

Wonderful aromas assaulted her nostrils the moment she stepped inside the café. Burgers, fries, soups. Lunchtime. Kelly’s stomach growled as she stomped her snowy boots on the floor mat.

“Hey, Kelly, come and join me,” Burt called from the corner table. He waved her over. “I need your help with this hamburger. I ordered it in a weak moment. I have no business eating the whole thing.”

Kelly laughed as she slipped off her jacket and pulled out the chair across from him. “So, once again you want me to save you from yourself, is that it?”

Burt gave her a big grin. “Something like that. Here, I’ve already cut it in half. You can eat this, and it won’t even show. You run three miles a day. Me, it’ll show immediately.”

Kelly looked at the tempting burger, and her stomach growled again. “First, it’s pancakes. Now, it’s a burger. Okay, Burt, you’re lucky you caught me when I’m starving. I’ve been immersed in client accounts all morning.”

“Thanks, Kelly. You’re a lifesaver,” he said with a chuckle as he placed the half burger in front of her.

Julie hastened over with her coffeepot in hand. “Need a refill, Kelly? Or should I even bother to ask?”

“You know me, Julie, I
always
need coffee.” Julie snapped open the mug and poured a black stream inside, then returned to other customers.

The burger’s tempting aroma teased Kelly again, and she succumbed. She took a bite and savored the flavorful meat and mayonnaise and tomatoes and condiments.
Yum
. She licked her lips afterward. “Boy, Eduardo makes a good burger, doesn’t he? And you’ve got all my favorites on here. A classic burger.”

“Don’t I know it. That’s one of the things that makes working in the shop so risky. Food smells. I swear they come floating out of here and find me all the way in front of the shop where I’m spinning.”

“Keep running, Burt. You and Mimi are still working out, aren’t you?” Kelly took another bite.

“Oh, yeah. Believe me, that’s the second hardest thing I do every day, after staying away from temptation here.”

Kelly savored the rich taste, then followed it with some of Eduardo’s black gold. Strong and dark. The caffeine helped her remember the questions she had for Burt. “By the way, Burt, I was wondering how that investigation is going into Fred Turner’s death. Do the police have any suspects?” she asked innocently.

“Well, it’s proceeding, according to Paul,” Burt said as he leaned back in the wooden chair and folded his arms across his chest. “They’ve been questioning Turner’s wife and his acquaintances and the office assistant. It looks like the guy didn’t have any friends to speak of. But Paul said Turner didn’t lack for people who were not his friends.”

Kelly licked a drop of mustard from her lip. “According to Jayleen, Turner had a lot of enemies around northern Colorado. People he’d either cheated in real estate deals or managed to steal property from them by using shady practices. Have they found any that raised their suspicions?”

Burt smiled over at her. “I’m afraid the only person who’s raised any suspicions at all is Turner’s wife. I know she’s a friend of Jayleen’s, but right now, she’s not in a good spot. According to Paul, she went to confront Turner. They’d been wrangling over property in a nasty divorce.” Burt wagged his head in a manner Kelly recognized. “Not good. And apparently she paid Turner’s assistant to keep tabs on his real estate deals and the money involved.”

Kelly swallowed the last bite of burger and grabbed her napkin. “I hear you, Burt. Jayleen updated me yesterday and asked if I’d try to find out what’s happening in the investigation. Jayleen swears one of Fred’s enemies did him in. And Renee keeps asking about that British guy, Birmingham, who left a phone message at Turner’s office. Apparently the office assistant played the message for Renee, so she knew the guy wanted to buy the property and was going to meet Turner at the site Saturday morning.” She took a sip of coffee. “Has Peterson learned anything about this guy?”

“I asked Paul about it, and he said they knew about the phone message. They followed it up, but there was no way to trace the number. Apparently, the guy used one of those disposable phones that can’t be traced to anything. And there’s never been any contact since. Paul says there’s no way to prove the guy ever drove up to the property to meet Turner. They followed up on Birmingham’s name, but got nowhere. Since it’s a total dead end, the guys let it go.”

Kelly stared off into the café. She saw Jennifer standing in front of the grill counter, loading plates of luncheon specialties on a big brown tray. “That’s frustrating. Maybe that guy did drive up there and saw something. Maybe—”

“And maybe he saw Turner’s dead body and took off like a bat outta hell,” Burt broke in. “There’s no way we’ll ever know, Kelly. We don’t know who he is, where he lives, what he looks like, nothing. Trust me, it’s a complete dead end.”

Something about Burt’s statement made Kelly’s little buzzer go off inside, but she didn’t pursue it. “So, that leaves Peterson with only one suspect to concentrate on. Renee Turner.”

“Unfortunately, that’s true.”

Kelly sipped her coffee and another thought wiggled forward. “Did they ever question shaggy neighbor Benjamin again? Maybe he saw more than he’s telling.”

Burt smiled at Kelly, a twinkle in his eye. “That’s a possibility, Sherlock. Sounds like you’re getting interested in this case.”

Kelly gave her friend and advisor a good-natured shrug. “Well, kind of. I promised Jayleen I’d ask questions. But what usually happens is whenever I ask questions, I wind up with even more questions. That’s what sucks me in, Burt. Trying to figure out the questions and the answers. It’s a puzzle. Kind of like accounting.”

Burt laughed softly, then leaned his arms on the table and leaned forward. “You wouldn’t be you, if you didn’t have questions, Kelly. And for the record, an old acquaintance of yours from the canyon, Deputy Don, told Peterson he’d go and ask neighbor Benjamin some more questions. He’s known this Benjamin guy for over fifteen years. Deputy Don says he’s a real loner and can be pretty tight-lipped with strangers. Don thinks he may get more information out of him than Peterson’s guys did. We’ll see.”

Kelly had fond memories of Deputy Don. He was the one who arrived in the nick of time two years ago when Kelly was holding a killer at bay. “Well, if Deputy Don is on the case, we don’t have to worry, do we, Burt?” she said with a grin. “He’ll get answers for sure. How is he doing? Isn’t he nearing retirement age?”

“Don’s doing fine. He’s as ornery as ever,” Burt said with a chuckle. “And don’t ever mention retirement anywhere near him. Don loves his job, he loves those canyons he patrols, the Poudre and Bellevue, and he’s as sharp as he’s ever been. So, I think it’s safe to say he’ll be on the job for a while longer.”

“Have you ever regretted retiring early, Burt?”

“I did for about the first year, but ever since I’ve come here to Lambspun, I feel like I’m halfway back on the force. Thanks to you, Sherlock, and all your questions.”

Kelly joined her friend in laughter.

“Hey,
Kelly,” Jayleen called as she stepped down from her gray truck parked outside the wrought-iron fence behind the café’s patio.

Kelly stopped on the steps leading into Pete’s café and waited for Jayleen to stride through the snow in the garden. “Where’s Renee?” she asked when Jayleen approached.

“She’ll be along in a few minutes. She was at a lawyer’s office, I think.” Jayleen bounded up the wooden steps beside Kelly. “Listen, thanks so much for agreeing to come over on such short notice. I figured I’d better grab Renee while you were still in town and not in Denver. I hope this doesn’t mess up your work schedule, Kelly girl.”

Kelly yanked the door open. “It’s fine, Jayleen. I got a lot done this morning before I came over to the shop for lunch.” She stepped inside and waved at Jennifer, who was cleaning tables. “Hey there, Jen. Is it okay if Jayleen and I take a back table and talk with a friend? She’ll be here in a few minutes. I know you guys will be closing up soon, but you can ignore us.”

“You two are kinda hard to ignore,” Jennifer teased. “Go ahead and find a table. I’ll bring you some coffee and leave a pot on the warmer when we leave.”

“Thanks, Jennifer, you’re a lifesaver,” Jayleen said as she followed Kelly to a corner table. “I can use some strong coffee about now.”

“Is there any other kind?” Kelly joked as she settled into a chair at a table beside a window that looked out onto the still-frozen garden patio.

Jayleen sank into the chair across from Kelly and dropped her Stetson onto an adjacent chair. “I’ll be curious to hear what that lawyer told Renee. I guess it’s a good thing that she went to see him. John Skinner. Good man.”