A Killer Cake (21 page)

He laughed softly. “You make a good point.
Just how bad is she?”

“They’re cutting her out of her car right
now,” I said.

“Do they have any idea about who might have
done it?”

“All I know is that everything’s up in the
air right now.”

“Well, keep in touch,” he said, and then the
attorney hung up on me.

I thought about where the wreck had happened,
and realized that it was less than a ten minute drive from Jasper
Fork. Kelly certainly had time to force Loretta off the road and
head back to the office. Then again, she might just be out buying
office supplies. The telephone call didn’t eliminate her from our
suspect list; that was all that I knew at that point.

I wasn’t sure if Sylvia and her son, Asher,
counted on my list or my grandfather’s, but I decided to call her
anyway.

The butler picked up. “Jones residence.”

“May I speak with Sylvia, please?” I
asked.

“I’m afraid that she’s unavailable,” he
said.

“Okay, let’s play this a different way. Is
she unavailable to me, or is she just gone from the house right
now?”

There was a moment’s pause, and then he
responded, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to tell you that, either
way, she can’t speak with you at the moment.”

“Listen, I’m not trying to put your job in
jeopardy, but this is important. I really need to talk to her.” I
had a sudden thought. “Is there any way I could have her cell phone
number? She would never know where I got it; I promise.”

“Madam doesn’t believe in them,” the butler
said. After another pause, he reluctantly asked, “Should I have her
telephone you when she returns?”

So, he’d decided to help after all. “Yes,
please.” After I gave him the number, I hung up, and then I walked
over to where Moose was still talking on the phone. He’d stepped
aside so we wouldn’t be talking over each other, but now I wanted
to know what he’d found out.

He was still chatting as I sat down across
from him, and from his end of the conversation, I could tell that
he was talking to James Manchester. “Yes, Sir. That’s fine, Sir.
Thank you.”

He hung up, and then Moose smiled at me.
“That was quite brilliant, Victoria. I managed to catch the man in
his office, and since the scene of the accident is a good forty
minutes from his place of business, he’s in the clear.”

“How about the mayor?”

Moose grinned. “We’re two for two there.
Helen patched me right through when I told her that it was an
emergency, and the man spent five minutes telling me exactly why he
was finished taking my telephone calls now and forever. He didn’t
have time to run Loretta off the road and get back to his office,
either. Did you have any luck on your end?”

“I couldn’t confirm or deny the whereabouts
of Sylvia, Asher, or Kelly,” I said.

“So, then there were three,” Moose said.

“Only if the person who killed Roy Thompson
also ran Loretta Jenkins off the road,” I answered.

“Come on, it’s too big a coincidence
otherwise, no matter what the sheriff said before. We have three
viable suspects left on our list. How are we going to narrow the
names down even further?”

“I’d like to speak with Sylvia and Asher
again in person,” I said.

“You’re not giving up on Kelly, are you?”

“No. On our way to Sylvia’s place, we’re
going to swing by Roy Thompson’s office and check out her car.”

“That’s another good idea. One question,
though. If Asher and Sylvia aren’t back yet, why are we going to
their place?”

“If we have any luck at all, they’ll be back
home by the time we get there.”

“And if they aren’t?” Moose asked.

“Then maybe we’ll snoop around a little on
our own.”

“That’s the kind of thinking I like,” Moose
said. “Let’s go.”

The problem with great ideas is that
sometimes they don’t pan out. Not only was Kelly not back at the
office yet, with Paul Gray’s car no less, but Sylvia and Asher were
still gone as well. The butler gave us that much but no more, so
our snooping was cut to zero.

“What now?” Moose asked.

“I suppose the only thing we can do is to
head back to Jasper Fork. We can swing past Roy’s office again on
our way, but otherwise, there’s nothing else we can do.”

“Maybe there’s
one
thing,” Moose said.
“If someone was in a car accident, where would they go?”

“To the hospital,” I said instantly.

“What if
they
weren’t hurt, but what
they were driving
was
?” Moose asked me with a grin.

“Then they’d probably go straight to a
mechanic,” I said. “Since Wayne took over Bob’s shop, we should get
a little more cooperation than we used to under the old ownership.”
I had shivers thinking about going back to the repair shop, but we
didn’t really have any choice.

Wayne was out front, smiling and talking to a
customer, when we drove up. “Good to see you both,” Wayne said
after he finished speaking to his earlier visitor. “There’s nothing
wrong with this old beauty, is there?”

Wayne loved trucks, the older the better, and
he and my grandfather had a simpatico relationship when it came to
forms of transportation. “No, she’s fine. We were wondering if
anyone’s brought in anything with body damage to it today.”

Wayne nodded. “We’ve gotten two in, as a
matter of fact,” he said.

“Any chance you might tell us who owns them?”
Moose asked him.

“I don’t sign any confidentiality agreements
with my customers, if that’s what you’re asking,” Wayne said. He
pointed to one of the bays and said, “The Jag just came in.
Evidently somebody sideswiped a parked car with it.”

“May we see it?” Moose asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Wayne replied. “How’s
Ellen doing?” he asked me softly.

“She’s great. You should come by the diner
and see for yourself.”

“Maybe I will sometime,” he said with a
slight grin.

Wayne walked into the bay, and my grandfather
and I followed him. No one was attending to it at the moment. The
door looked fairly smashed in, with extensive damage.

“Where did this happen?” Moose asked.

“They didn’t tell me, but it’s pretty clear
that somebody got careless while they were driving. It’s too nice a
vehicle for that kind of treatment, if you ask me.”

“Does it happen to belong to Sylvia or
Asher?” I asked.

Wayne looked startled by the question. “It’s
one of Sylvia’s. How did you know that?”

“Call it a lucky guess,” I said. “What about
the other one?”

“You mean the car the Jag hit? I don’t know
anything about that.”

“No,” Moose explained. “What other body job
did you get in today?”

Wayne frowned, and then he said, “I don’t
know the fellow who owns that one. He’s from out of town.
Charlotte, I think.”

Bingo. “By any chance, his name isn’t Paul
Gray, is it?”

Wayne’s eyes grew wide. “Okay, now you’re
just freaking me out. There’s no way that you could know that.”

Moose said, “She’s scary good. Did a young
woman happen to bring it by?”

He described Kelly, and Wayne nodded. “That’s
the rush job. We’ve got to replace the whole fender, but we get a
bonus if it’s finished by four today. She said that she hit a tree,
and I don’t doubt that she scraped one pretty good. How do you both
suddenly know so much about my business?”

“We’re just talented, I guess,” I said.
“Thanks, Wayne.” I had another thought, and I added, “You might
want to stop doing any more work on either vehicle until the
sheriff can take a look at them both.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, startled by my
suggestion.

“Someone ran a woman named Loretta Jenkins
off the road earlier today, and I have a hunch that Sheriff Croft
will appreciate it if you don’t destroy anything that might be
evidence.”

“I’ll call him right now,” Wayne said. “I
don’t need any trouble with the law.”

“This should earn you some goodwill with
him,” I said.

“I’ll take all of that I can get,” he
said.

I turned to Moose and said, “We need to go
have a talk with Kelly right now.”

We found her in Roy’s office, but Paul Gray
wasn’t around.

“How exactly did you wreck Paul’s car?” Moose
asked bluntly.

She started crying the instant my grandfather
said it. “I borrowed it to run errands for the company, and I
wasn’t used to driving it. I sideswiped a tree over near the dry
cleaner. Don’t tell him. I’m begging you. It will be as good as new
before he knows anything about it.”

“Where exactly was the tree you hit?” I
asked.

“What? It was on Elm Street. Why do you want
to know?”

“We need to see if there’s any sign on that
tree that you’re telling the truth,” Moose said.

She looked hurt by his accusatory words, but
I noticed that her tears dried up almost instantly. “Why won’t you
believe me? I don’t have any reason to lie.”

“Because someone used a car to try to kill
Loretta Jenkins,” I said.

She looked shocked to hear the news. “It
wasn’t me! I hit a tree! You’ve got to believe me.”

“We don’t have to believe anything,” Moose
said. “I don’t doubt that you scraped a tree, but what else did you
hit? You should tell Mr. Gray what happened.”

The attorney himself walked in as Moose said
the last bit. “Tell me what?”

When Kelly didn’t say a word, I gave her a
bit of a nudge. “Either you tell him, Kelly, or my grandfather and
I will.”

Kelly took a deep breath, let some of it out,
and then she said, “I had an accident with your car. I’m so sorry.
Don’t worry, it’s being taken care of right now. They’ll have it
fixed before the day is over. Please don’t be mad.” She was giving
it everything she had; I had to give her credit for that.

“Well, I’m afraid that it’s too late for
that,” Paul said coldly.

“I’m getting it fixed. What’s the problem?”
Kelly asked a little petulantly.

“I don’t give two figs about the car. You
lied to me, though. I care more about someone’s word than I do
anything else about them.”

“I
never
lied to you,” Kelly said.

“Omission is a lie just as much as outright
fabrication.” The attorney shoved a few papers into his briefcase,
and then latched it shut.

Turning to us, Paul Gray asked, “Would you be
kind enough to give me a ride to the garage where my car is
currently?”

“We’d be delighted,” Moose said.

“But what about Roy’s estate?” Kelly
asked.

“I’ll have an associate here tomorrow. In the
meantime, I’d appreciate it if you’d turn over your keys and leave
the premises immediately.”

“What about my job?” she asked, the anguish
clear in her voice.

“As of right now, I’m afraid that your
services are no longer required here. You will receive a severance
check in the mail in good time, but you’re finished here.”

Kelly looked shocked by how quickly things
had deteriorated for her. “Is there anything that I can do to
change your mind?” There was clearly more to that offer than I
wanted to think about.

The attorney just shook his head. “I’m afraid
not. Your keys, please.”

Kelly reached into her purse and pulled out a
set of keys, presumably for the office. “You can’t do this to me,”
she said even as she handed them over to him.

“Young lady, I’m the executor of this estate.
Not only am I allowed to do it, it’s one of my obligations. Good
day.”

Kelly left, looking shell-shocked.

Even Moose was surprised. “I can’t abide a
liar any more than the next man, but that was harsh, even by my
standards.”

Paul frowned. “I didn’t want to do it, but
what choice did I have? I have to be able to trust whoever works on
this, and she proved that I couldn’t put my faith in her. It’s been
my experience that little lies often hide larger ones, and it’s a
habit that I won’t tolerate. My word is my bond, and I expect
others to act the same way.”

“If we tell you something, you can count on
it as gold,” I said.

He smiled slightly. “Rebecca’s already told
me as much. Do you know a good locksmith? I’m afraid that I need
rush service.”

“Malcolm Mason is the best,” I said. “Would
you like me to call him for you?”

“That would be greatly appreciated,” he
said.

I got Malcolm on the phone. “Hey, this is
Victoria. Are you busy right now?”

“I’m always overworked. What’s up?”

“I need a rush job. How fast can you get to
Roy Thompson’s office and change the locks?”

Malcolm hesitated, and then he said, “I don’t
know, two, maybe three days, I guess.”

That wasn’t going to do at all. “I’m sorry; I
didn’t hear what you said.”

“I’m really busy, Victoria.”

“Come on, Malcolm.”

“Okay,” he said grudgingly. “If I move a few
things around, I can be over there in half an hour.”

“Ten minutes would be better,” I said.

“You’re killing me. You know that, don’t
you?”

“See you soon,” I said, and then I hung
up.

Paul looked a little alarmed. “I never
expected you to go to such lengths on my account.”

“I just wanted you to know that you can
believe most of us in Jasper Fork,” I said with a smile.

Moose added, “Besides, Malcolm was at the
diner earlier complaining about business being so slow. He’s great
at what he does, but the man’s got a lazy streak a mile long.”

The locksmith beat my ten-minute goal by
three minutes. “I happened to have them in stock, but they’re going
to cost you.”

“I’m willing to pay any reasonable expense,”
Paul said. They haggled over a sum until they agreed on a price,
and Malcolm got to work. He made quick work of it, and soon enough,
he was on his way.

“That was relatively painless,” Paul said.
“Would you mind taking me to my car now?”