Thin Crust Killers Page 6

  I was about to reply when Cynthia came to our table with our checks.

  Steve said, “I’ve got both of them, Eleanor. This is my treat.”

  Cynthia answered, “You’re too late. Mr. Young already paid.”

  “That’s sweet of him,” I said.

  “Yours, not his,” Cynthia said, never looking at Steve.

  Steve nodded, and it was hard to hide my smile. The message was clear enough. I mouthed a “thank you” to Art as we left, and he nodded and smiled.

  Out in the parking lot, Steve said, “Let’s get you back home. I have some things to take care of while I’m in town.”

  I tried a few times to get him to elaborate on his past relationship with Mr. Young on the way back to my place, but he refused to comply. Ten minutes later, he dropped me off, barely slowing down enough for me to get out before he tore away from the curb.

  I wondered where he was going in such a hurry, and I thought about following him, but I had something more important to do today before it was time to go to the pizzeria. Maddy and I were going to go talk to Karen to see if she could give us any insights about who might want to hurt her father, and it was going to have to be handled delicately if we were going to do any good.

  I reached for my cell phone to call Maddy when it rang in my hand.

  “How’d you know I’d be finished with breakfast?” I asked as soon as I knew it was her on the other end.

  “That’s easy, I cheated. Look on your porch.”

  Sure enough, my sister was sitting there, ready to go.

  “Where’s your car?” I asked her at the foot of the stairs.

  “I parked around the corner so it wouldn’t spook Steve. What happened? He took off like he’d just seen a ghost.”

  “I’ll catch you up on the way to Hank’s place,” I said. “I’m still thinking that we should give Karen a little time.”

  “I appreciate the sentiment, but we can’t dawdle here, Eleanor, and you know it. We have to find out what happened to Hank as fast as we can. Who knows when folks around here are going to start pointing fingers in our direction?”

  “You don’t think someone’s going to believe that we had something to do with the bank robbery, do you?”

  Maddy shrugged. “Maybe not directly, but the killer had to get that menu somewhere. If folks start thinking it’s not safe eating at the Slice, we could be in serious trouble.”

  “I know you’re right, but it feels a little creepy asking her a favor after what happened to her father.”

  “There’s where you’re wrong,” Maddy said. “We’re not asking her for anything; we’re trying to do her a favor ourselves. Don’t you think she’d want to know if that shooting was planned instead of spur-of-the-moment?”

  “I guess so,” I admitted. “Let’s just hope she’s in the mood to talk to us and doesn’t decide to throw us out, instead.”

  “Ladies,” Valerie said as she met us at the door. It was almost as though she’d never left since I’d seen her the evening before, though she’d changed clothes in the interim. This morning she was decked out in an expensive black dress, and had a matching veil pulled up at the moment. I wouldn’t have been able to find a place to buy a veil if I had a road map and a hundred-dollar bill. In her clear, smug voice, she added, “I’m guessing you didn’t come by on your way to the funeral, given how the two of you are dressed.”

  “Sorry, Maddy and I aren’t going to be able to make it. We’ve got to get to work, but we wanted to give Karen our condolences while we had the chance,” I said.

  “How sweet of you, but Karen’s not seeing anyone right now. She’s too distraught about the funeral.”

  “Is Jenny here?” I asked as I tried to peer around her inside the house. “Perhaps we could speak with her.”

  Valerie’s features sharpened. “She’s otherwise engaged,” she said. “If you’d like, I’ll tell Karen that you were both here. I’m afraid that’s the best I’m going to be able to do.”

  “Do about what?” Karen asked as she came out of one of the back bedrooms. She was dressed in a somber black dress as well, but she’d forgone the veil.

  “Seeing us,” Maddy said, something that earned us both another sharp glance from Valerie.

  “Of course I’ll see you,” Karen said. “The kids are with my friend, Emma. We can talk in the den.”

  “You mustn’t tire yourself, Karen,” Valerie said. “You heard what the doctor said.”

  “He said I needed a tranquilizer, but I’m not about to take that, either. Isn’t there somewhere you need to be, Valerie?”

  “I’ve put my entire life on hold for you, dear,” she said.

  Karen looked stifled by her presence, and I had an idea. “Is someone taking care to make sure the flowers are in the right place at the funeral home? We were at a memorial service last month, and one of the arrangements had a banner on it that said, good luck in the future.”

  Maddy shook her head slightly, but Valerie was oblivious to it. “Are you serious?”

  “I doubt Hank would approve of something like that, don’t you?”

  That was clearly Valerie’s call to action. “If you ladies will excuse me, I’ll go see to it that doesn’t happen again.”

  Once she was gone, Karen looked at us both, then laughed out loud. “Good luck? Seriously? Tell me you made that up to get rid of her. Not that I’m not permanently in your debt because of it.”

  “We made it up,” Maddy said proudly. “I saw the way she was hovering over you. It looked like you could use a break.”

  “You have no idea. The Terrible Twosome wanted a say in everything from Dad’s casket to the music at the funeral. He was dating them, not married to either one of them. Not that you could tell by the way they’ve both been acting since he died.”

  “Valerie I can see doing that, but Jenny, too?”

  “Okay, she’s not nearly as bad as her rival, but she’s still driving me nuts. I appreciate you two coming by, but I know you’re both busy running the Slice. Dad loved having lunch there. It was one of the few bright spots in his day.”

  “He didn’t like working as a guard at the bank?” I asked.

  “No, he hated it. That’s why he was trying to do something else.”

  “Like working as a private investigator,” Maddy said.

  That got Karen’s attention. “How did you know that? Strike that. You’re dating Bob Lemon, aren’t you? Not that it was any big secret, but no one was supposed to know until Dad passed his exam. I can’t imagine him having any trouble with it. After all those years on the force, he still studied every night after he came home. I know that firsthand, since the girls and I have been living here since I separated from my husband.”

  “Is he coming to the funeral?” I asked innocently enough.

  “If he does, I fully expect my father to come back from the grave and haunt him. If that wouldn’t be enough to bring him back, nothing would. I made it a point to tell Chuck that he wasn’t welcome here, and he’s going to abide by my wishes.” She smiled softly, then added, “I’m willing to bet that he’s afraid of Dad coming back, himself.” Karen looked at me a second, then said, “Okay, what’s going on, Eleanor? There’s another reason you’re here, and it doesn’t have anything to do with giving me your condolences, does it?”

  “You’re as sharp witted as your father was,” Maddy said.

  “I don’t know about that. You’ve clearly never met my husband. Still, I like to think I take after Dad at least a little. So, why are you both really here?”

  I was suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious about the truth. I didn’t quite know how to say it, but Maddy did it for me. “Karen, what if your father’s death wasn’t an accident?”

  She looked confused by the statement. “What do you mean? The bank robber shot him as he was trying to escape. There were half a dozen witnesses.”

  “Eleanor’s got a different idea of what might have happened,” Maddy said, looking at me to elaborate
.

  “Go on. You’ve both certainly got my attention.”

  “I can’t help wondering if the robbery might have been an elaborate ruse to deflect suspicion about the murder. It’s the perfect cover, isn’t it? Nobody, especially the police, is going to look into your father’s life to find a killer with the obvious motive staring at them. Could one of your father’s clients have done it? Is it possible he saw or learned something he shouldn’t have, and he paid for it with his life?”

  Karen was silent so long I was beginning to wonder if she was about to tell us to leave when she suddenly nodded. “It’s possible, I suppose,” she said.

  “We were wondering what it could hurt if we were wrong,” Maddy said. “The police are going after the bank robber, and we can dig around a little on the edges.”

  “Dad said you’d done that before, and were pretty successful at it, too.”

  “Your dad knew what we’ve been up to?” I asked. “He never said a word to me about it.”

  “He told me that on your best day, you two could run circles around our chief of police. You know what? Stay right here. I’ll be back in a second.”

  She vanished into a back room, and Maddy looked at me with a smile. “It looks like we did it.”

  “Don’t kid yourself. Now comes the hard part. We’re going to have to do this without letting Kevin Hurley find out what we’re up to, and that means we don’t talk about it in front of Josh. Agreed?”

  “Do you honestly think he’d tell his father?”

  “No, but do you want to take that chance?”

  There was a tap on the front door, and to my surprise, Kevin Hurley walked in, dressed in his best uniform. I wasn’t sure who he was expecting to find there, but it was pretty clear that it wasn’t Maddy or me.

  Chapter 4

  “Why am I not surprised to find you two here?” he asked.

  “We just stopped by to offer our condolences on the way to the pizza parlor,” I said.

  “You were here last night,” he said.

  Maddy snapped, “She was, but I wasn’t. Hank was one of my favorite customers. I owed it to Karen to come myself.” My sister took him in, then whistled softly. “My, my, don’t you clean up good. You should wear your dress uniform more often.”

  “It’s just for formal events,” Kevin said, obviously a little uncomfortable with her comment. “Anytime we bury a former officer, the force comes out in strength. I’m still not sure I believe either one of you about why you’re here.”

  Karen came out with a large box. “This is all I could find,” she started to say when she saw Kevin. “Chief, you’re early.”

  “I wanted to see if there was anything you needed before the funeral,” he said. “I’d be glad to escort these ladies out for you, if you’d like.”

  “We were just leaving anyway,” I said. “Is that the box you promised us?”

  “It is,” Karen said. “Sorry there’s not more. It’s the best I could do.”

  “I’m sure it will be fine.”

  I was hoping Kevin would drop it, but I knew in my heart that there was no way he was going to just drop it. He looked at all three of us, one at a time, then said, “Okay, nobody should be surprised when I ask what’s in the box.”

  “It’s for the auction,” I blurted out. Where did that come from? An auction? That was the best thing I could come up with on the spur of the moment?

  “What auction are you talking about?”

  I didn’t have a clue, but Maddy stepped in and saved the day. She said, “We’re collecting donations for an auction to raise money for a plaque of honor at city hall for anyone who has died serving the community.”

  Karen got into the spirit of things, adding, “I’m donating some of Dad’s stamps and coins. He was an amateur collector, so there might be something of value in there.”

  At least the box lid was taped shut, so the police chief couldn’t dig around in what I hoped were the records Hank made of his investigations.

  After a few seconds, Kevin said, “I’ve got a collection of Civil War bullets I’d like to donate myself. It’s a great idea, and I’m proud of you two for doing it. Do you have any flyers about it? I’ll put some up in my spare time, if you’d like a hand with it.”

  “We haven’t had time to make them yet,” I said, an overstatement if there ever was one, since the idea had just been created on the fly.

  “When you do, bring a handful by my office. I expect them by the end of the day. When is this auction set to take place?”

  “Next weekend,” Maddy said. I hoped Kevin didn’t see me looking at her, because I thought she’d lost her mind. Not only was there not going to be an auction, but even if there was, we couldn’t throw one together in eleven days.

  “You’d better get cracking, then,” he said.

  “You’re telling me,” I replied.

  Once we were back in Maddy’s car, I said, “Have you completely lost your mind? We can’t put an auction together in eleven days.”

  “Sure we can. Bob went to school with Jack Valentine. He’s the best auctioneer in our part of North Carolina, and I know he’ll donate his skills for such a good cause. We can print flyers up today and start handing them out to our customers.”

  “Maddy, correct me if I’m wrong, but I just made the whole thing up not five minutes ago, remember?”

  “Sis, sometimes you don’t even know when you’re being brilliant. Think about it. The auction will give us the perfect opportunity to talk to lots of different people when we solicit donations, and if that doesn’t work, we can always hand out flyers and personally invite folks to the auction. It could get us into places we wouldn’t ordinarily be able to access without an explanation. The best part is, we’ll really have an auction, and if we raise enough money, we’ll put that plaque in city hall. It’s absolutely a win-win situation.”

  “It’s going to be a lot of work,” I said.

  “Since when have we been afraid of that? Come on, this is too good an opportunity to pass up. What do you say?”

  It didn’t take long to see that she was right. Even if we didn’t learn a thing about the case we were investigating, we were going to raise money for a worthy cause and give the town of Timber Ridge a reason to feel good. “I say we have an auction,” I agreed.

  “That’s the spirit.”

  “In the meantime, let’s head over to the Slice and see what Karen gave us,” I said as I tapped the box.

  Maddy laughed, and I asked, “What’s so funny?”

  “For a second there I forgot what was really in the box. I half-expect it to be full of coins and stamps instead of clues.”

  “Focus, Maddy.”

  “You’ve got it. I had a little lapse, but I’m better now,” she said.

  Once we got to the pizzeria, Maddy parked in back and we walked through the breezeway to the front of the promenade. Autumn was in the air, with a bite that promised colder temperatures to come. Maybe this year we’d even get a little snow. It wasn’t always a guarantee in our part of North Carolina, but we usually had one or two good snowfalls every year, since we were close to the Blue Ridge Mountains. While North Carolina had beautiful beaches and the gorgeous Outer Banks, we also offered some of the most beautiful mountains in the world. Okay, I was more than a little biased, but I couldn’t understand why anyone would live anywhere else. Not that folks from other parts of the country, even the world, didn’t have their own special features and attractions that they were proud of, but for me, my state had it all.

  Someone from the city maintenance department had decorated the green pathway, adding hay bales, bound cornstalks, and pumpkins where flowers used to be. The promenade itself, a wide expanse of brick pavers in front of the shops, hadn’t been decorated yet, but it would be soon. Autumn was my favorite time of year, and I always looked forward to it. My wedding anniversary was coming up, and I planned to spend it the way I had since I’d lost my husband, taking the day off and driving on the Blue Rid
ge Parkway alone. It was a day of solitude for me now, a day of laughter and tears, but most important of all, it was a day of remembrance. I felt closer to Joe on that day more than any other throughout the year, and it was a time I guarded closer than anything else I had in my life.

  “What’s wrong, Eleanor? You got awfully quiet just then.”

  “It’s nothing. I was just thinking about autumn.”

  She touched my shoulder softly. “You still miss him, don’t you?”

  “Every day,” I said, wiping an errant tear out of the corner of my eye. I handed the box to Maddy, then got out my keys and unlocked the door. After we were safely locked inside, I put the box on a table in the kitchen. I didn’t want anybody casually walking by to be able to see what we were doing.

  Maddy started to open the box when I stopped her. “That’s going to have to wait, and you know it. We have work to do first. You prep the toppings, and I’ll start on the pizza dough.”

  She glanced at the clock. “Come on, Eleanor, we don’t have to start work for half an hour.”

  “The pizza comes first,” I said. “It has to be that way.”

  “I don’t know how you do it,” she said.

  “Do what?”

  “Stay so focused on work.”

  “It’s easy,” I said with a smile. “If we don’t work, people won’t be able to eat, and we don’t make any money.”

  “Well, when you put it that way,” she said, “you’ve got a point.”

  As I measured out flour, yeast, and water for my first batch of dough, Maddy started working on the toppings. There was a rhythm to the way we worked, and we chatted as we went about getting ready for our first customers of the day.

  “We should get Josh to make the flyers,” Maddy said. “He’s taking an advanced computer class at the high school, and I’m sure he’d be able to whip something up for us in no time.”

  “That’s a good idea. Greg can hand some of them out with every pizza he delivers, and we can send him out with a stapler and a handful of papers when he’s not busy here. We can’t forget the message board out front, either.” There was a covered area of the promenade that was barely the size of a golf umbrella. Under the copper roof was a four-sided post where people could tack up announcements from garage band concerts to babysitting services. It was a habit of most folks walking on the promenade to stop by and see what had been added recently, so our flyers for the auction would be a most welcome addition there.