A Killer Deal (A Seagrove Cozy Mystery Book 1) (6 page)

“The thing is,” she said, “a few days after Roger ran me out of his shop. I was walking up the alley, junking as I sometimes do, and I heard Olivia and Roger in the back room of the coffee shop. They were arguing. Olivia was real angry. She said Roger was doing her wrong buying from those nose spray people.”

“Nose spray people?” Sadie asked.

“That’s what it sounded like to me,” Rosie said. “Nose spray. Like what the doctor gives you when you have a sinus infection.”

“What happened after that?” Sadie asked.

“Roger told Olivia she was out of her mind if he wanted to buy nose spray she couldn’t stop him. Then they exchanged some pretty foul language, that I will not repeat, and then Olivia said that Roger owed him because he was ruining her reputation and she would make him pay.” Rosie took a deep breath. “Although how you can pay for reputation I don’t know.”

“I don’t think you can,” Sadie said. “It’s a difficult thing to build up a reputation once it’s been ruined. It’s much easier to start from scratch than to rebuild. At least in my opinion. But maybe that’s not really what she meant when she said she’d make him pay.”

“You don’t think she meant she was going to kill him?” Rosie asked. “Over something like a reputation? Why that’s just wicked.”

“I don’t know what she meant, Rosie. But people have killed for less than a reputation. Why don’t you come on over to the shop and have a cup of coffee with me and I’ll call and see if Chief Woodstone is available to come talk to us.”

But Chief Woodstone wasn’t answering his phone, so Rosie went on home after making Sadie promise that when the time came she’d go with Rosie to see the chief. Sadie sat on the little balcony over the front door to the shop and drank her coffee. The scone she’d bought the day before was still pretty good if not up to Roger’s standards. She missed her morning discussions with Roger. They’d always been so lively. She wondered if there was something she should do to honor their friendship. She’d have to think on that.

“Sadie!”

She looked down to see Lucy standing on the sidewalk below. She must have been far away in her thoughts not to see Lucy walk up.

“Come on in Lucy,” she said. “Doors not locked.” She got up and made her way inside and down the stairs into her shop where Lucy accosted her.

“What do you mean the doors not locked?” She said. “There is a murderer running about and you still leave your door unlocked?”

“It’s business hours,” Sadie said. “I have to keep the door unlocked during business hours. And I could see anybody going in or out. I don’t know why you and Chief Woodstone want to treat me like I’m a little girl. I’ve got gray in my hair for heaven sake.”

“Never mind that,” Lucy said. “I’ve got news. But we can work on unpacking some more boxes while I’m telling you.” Sadie dragged another box of China over to the table and Lucy began to unpack it.

“This one’s Wedgewood,” she said, looking at a blue and white teacup. “Wedgewood’s not Irish.”

“The Irish drink tea from cups made all over the world just like the rest of us,” Sadie said. “I’m not that picky when I’m shopping. Teacups will sell no matter where they’re from. Now tell me what’s your news?”

“You know I have a friend that works in the coroner’s office, right?” Lucy asked. Sadie nodded her ascent.

“Well she called me this morning, Roger Roberts died of a heart attack, not from the burns.” Sadie thought of the burns on Roger’s chest and shuddered. Such a gruesome memory.

“Apparently, he had a heart defect that nobody knew about. Certainly his doctor didn’t know. Anyway, what probably happened was that the shock of being burned caused his heart to stop. So the perp probably wouldn’t be charged with murder. Probably it’s whatever accidental homicide is called.”

“Involuntary manslaughter, is what I think you mean. But in this case because he was being assaulted it would be regular manslaughter because maybe they didn’t mean to kill him but whoever it was didn’t mean to harm. I think that’s how that works anyway,” Sadie said.

“Manslaughter,” Lucy said. “There’s a grizzly word for you. I think they could have done better. Manslaughter makes me think of cows. You know, like you are killing them because you want to eat him. Cannibalism.”

“Well aren’t you an interesting state of mind today,” Sadie said. “Give me the information from the bottom of the next teacup otherwise were going to be here all day.”

“Walpole,” Lucy said. “It’s a beautiful pattern there’s a tiny chip.”

Sadie took note of the chip and handed Lucy a sticker with an inventory number put on it. She pulled out another teacup.

“Wedgewood,” she said. “Mint condition with saucer. Nothing ever breaks when you ship China?”

“Used to break all the time,” Sadie said. “But I’ve become an expert shipper. Had to throw away all my profits.”

“That you could’ve sold China pieces to crafters,” Lucy said. “Seems like the kind of raw material that a crafter would like.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I break any more teacups,” Sadie said.

Just then the bell on the shop door tinkled or someone came inside.

“Sadie, are you in here?” Olivia called.

“Back here,” Sadie answered. “We’re doing inventory.” Olivia came into view.

“Have a seat,” Sadie said. “You want some tea or soda or anything?”

“No, I’m fine,” Olivia said. “I just came to ask about that branding iron again. Have you got it back?”

“Sorry, Olivia,” Sadie said glancing over at Lucy, who raised her eyebrows.

“I thought I told you that Chief Woodstone is in possession of it. I don’t know when I’m going to get it back.”

“I just thought he would return it by now,” Olivia said. “He really should return it. Can’t you tell him that you want to sell it? That you have a buyer.”

Sadie glanced at Lucy surreptitiously and Lucy gave an almost imperceptible shrug of her shoulders. Olivia was acting very strangely and she had no idea why.

“Are you okay Olivia?” She asked. “You seem kind of confused.”

“I’m not confused,” Olivia said her voice starting to rise. “I need that thing. It’s the only one I’ve ever seen anywhere, and you and Chief Woodstone will let me have it. Are you saving it for someone else? Is that it? You’ve promised it to someone else and you won’t tell me?” She stood up rather abruptly and her chair fell over clattering on the linoleum floor.

“Someone offered you more money didn’t they? Someone knows!” Olivia stood there shaking with rage.

“No, Olivia, that’s not true. The only reason I can’t sell you the branding iron is that Chief Woodstone is using it as material evidence. When he’s done with I can have it back and sell it to you. But until then, it’s in the evidence locker at the police station.”

The minute she said that Sadie knew it was a mistake. Sure enough, Olivia ran from the store. Sadie looked at Lucy.

“I’ve got to go warn Chief Woodstone,” she said, “he’s going to have a crazy woman on his hands.” She dug her cell out of her bag and dialed his number, but he didn’t answer.

“I’m going to go to the station,” Sadie said. “Do you want to come?”

“No,” Lucy said, “I’ll stay here and work on the China. I’m not much interested in being a third wheel.”

“Oh give me a break,” Sadie said. “Third wheel my foot. If you don’t want to come, just say so.”

“I stand by what I said.” Lucy grinned. “Third wheel.” She took the box cutter to a smallish box.

“You are so full of it,” Sadie said. “I’ll be back in a jiff.”

Chapter Six

Mister Bradshaw trotted briskly beside Sadie on the way to the police station. And Sadie could have sworn he knew there was something afoot. She jogged briskly up the steps to the main door of the station house and Mister Bradshaw followed her inside.

The place was hopping. It was shift change, and two shifts worth of police officers were clogging the incident room. Sadie flagged down Chief Woodstone across the room and he used hand signals to tell her he’d be free in thirty minutes. Thirty minutes was a pretty long time in Sadie’s world and she considered going back to the shop, only four blocks away. Then she remembered that Olivia Brown is probably floating around the station somewhere so she thought she better stay. She called to Mister Bradshaw to follow her down the hall to the staff room where she knew it would be quiet and she could have a seat while she waited. When they got to the end of the hall, Mister Bradshaw refused to walk into the room. He stood at the top of the stairs to the basement and growled.

“Mister Bradshaw what has gotten into you?” Sadie asked and then she heard the noise from down below.

The property room was in the basement Sadie was pretty darn sure that Olivia was down there too. She and Mister Bradshaw crept cautiously down the stairs. The door to the incident room was open and the key was still in the lock.

Sadie peered around the door into the biggest mess she’d ever seen. Boxes had been pulled off the shelves and lay scattered on the floor. Thank God all the evidence was tagged and in bags otherwise Chief Woodstone would never have gotten it sorted out again. They would’ve had to throw every case they had out-of-court. Another crash from the back of the room alerted Sadie to Olivia’s whereabouts and she picked her way through the evidence to find Olivia.

“I can’t find it,” Olivia said. “It’s not here anywhere.” She was in the furthest corner from the door, having worked her way through the boxes.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be in here, Olivia,” Sadie said, “authorized personnel only.” Mr. Bradshaw was growling softly.

“Hush,” Sadie said to him. “It’s okay Mr. B.” She reached a hand out to Olivia. “Let’s get out of here,” she said. “Before we contaminate the evidence.” She had a vague idea from crime shows that this could be a real problem for the Chief.

“What are you? Some kind of junior police officer?” Olivia asked. “No. Let me guess. Chief Woodstone is so taken with you that he gives you carte blanche in the police station.”

“I came in here to find you and bring you out,” Sadie said. “I’m in as much trouble as you.”

“That’s right,” said Chief Woodstone from the door. “Neither of you should be in the property room. And good Lord who made this mess?”

Sadie looked at Chief Woodstone and raised her eyebrows as if to say “you have to ask?” He was holding something in his hand and Sadie could see that it was the branding iron. She tried to signal him to get it out of sight, but he was too busy looking for Olivia and didn’t see her. He moved along the front side of the room, picking his way through the mess until he also had Olivia in his sights.

Olivia had options. Sadie figured she wouldn’t run down the far aisle where Chief Woodstone was waiting at the end. But if she came toward Sadie there were three aisles of shelves she could duck down before she got to where she and Mr. Bradshaw were standing. So Sadie should probably advance on Olivia. This was not something she wanted to do.

“That is my branding iron,” Olivia said. “I want it back.”

“This is evidence in a murder case,” Chief Woodstone said. “And, as you never paid Sadie for it, it is also stolen property held under my jurisdiction.”

“Mine,” said Olivia like she was talking to a toddler. She pulled a wad of paper money from her pocket and several dollars floated to the floor.

“See. I have the money to pay for it right here.”

The hair on the back of Sadie’s neck was standing straight up. Olivia wasn’t making any sense at all. It was like she hadn’t heard a word of what Chief Woodstone had said. So this is what it’s like to be truly crazy, Sadie thought. A shiver ran down her spine. She took a couple of steps forward.

Olivia came toward her and Sadie squelched the urge to back away. She stood squarely in the aisle so Olivia couldn’t run past her. But Olivia didn’t even try. Instead, she shoved the wad of money at Sadie saying “Here. Take this.” Then she went back to her corner – Sadie assumed it was so she could keep an eye on both Chief Woodstone and herself. Sadie stuffed the money into a pocket and advanced on Olivia.

“I paid,” Olivia was saying, “so that belongs to me.”

“Why do you need it?” the Chief asked.

“It’s very useful,” Olivia said. “I’m going to burn brands into my new sign. Did I tell you I’m making a new sign for the farm? I need to attract more customers.”

Sadie stopped just out of arms reach. She wasn’t sure what she should do - if anything. She could tackle Olivia, take her down, but so could Chief Woodstone and he hadn’t done so. She had to assume he could handle the situation.

“Why do you need more customers, Olivia?” Chief Woodstone asked. “I thought you had contracts with the markets and several restaurants.”

“Those backstabbers.” Olivia looked as if she might spit.

“They don’t just buy from me. Like Roger. I knew other farms were trying to get to him. He was buying produce from the Hudson’s. Can you believe it? The Hudson’s wouldn’t know organic if it bit them in the butt.”

“Roger was a baker,” Sadie said, confused, “how much produce could he have used? He did buy some fruit and berries for muffins, but we are talking tiny amounts compared to the restaurants and markets.”

“He was planning ahead,” Olivia said. “Freezing what he didn’t use. He was buying zucchini by the truckload until the others tried to steal him from me.”

Roger made the best ever zucchini bread with chocolate chips, and she knew he bought produce in the summer to freeze for the winter. But truckloads?  Surely she would have noticed if truckloads of produce were being unloaded right next door. The cold chill ran down her spine again.

Olivia was obviously fixated on Chief Woodstone and the electric branding iron, so Sadie ducked down a row of shelves, rounded the corner and came up behind him with Mr. Bradshaw on her heels.

“She’s not making any sense,” Sadie said in an undertone. “Where would Roger store truckloads of produce in a bakery? It’s almost like she’s delusional.”

“There’s no almost here. A produce war is strange enough, but over a baker? There is something going on here I don’t understand. It’s like she’s had a break with reality.”

Chief Woodstone turned his head to mutter to Sadie and Olivia took advantage of his momentary distraction. She rushed past Chief Woodstone and grabbed the branding iron, but he grabbed her arm, causing her to shriek and jump backward. She held the branding iron as a weapon, swinging it around wildly, and Mr. Bradshaw made sure he was between Sadie and Olivia, his growling getting steadily louder.

“Stay back,” she said, “or I’ll burn you.”

“Olivia,” said Chief Woodstone gently, “it’s not plugged in. You can’t burn anyone.”

“It doesn’t have to be plugged in,” Olivia said. “It stays really hot. Look I burned myself.” She showed him the burn mark on her arm.

“But Olivia,” Sadie said. “It hasn’t been plugged in days. I don’t think it stays hot that long.”

“Then I’ll strangle you with the cord,” Olivia said. “I told Roger Roberts that I’d strangle him, but I didn’t have to, he died all by himself.”

“Not quite all by himself,” Chief Woodstone said. “You burned him and the stress caused the heart attack.”

“That was so the others would know he was mine. They shouldn’t have been selling to him. Now they know. He’s mine.” Olivia had a serene, almost angelic look on her face. It totally creeped Sadie out.

“He’s not yours, Olivia, he’s dead,” the chief said. “You killed him.”

“No. I branded him. He died all on his own.” Olivia darted sideways and rushed Sadie, wrapping the cord of the branding iron around her neck.

Mr. Bradshaw grabbed Olivia’s ankle getting a mouth full of jeans. Sadie wasn’t going down easy and jabbed Olivia in the chest with her elbow, hard. The air whooshed out of Olivia and Sadie grabbed the cord and yanked it from her neck. Chief Woodstone got Olivia’s arm up behind her back, putting Olivia off balance and allowing Mr. Bradshaw to pull her leg out from under her. Olivia fell onto the evidence littered floor, face down with Chief Woodstone bent over, holding her arm behind her back.

“Good dog, Mr. Bradshaw,” Sadie said to him. “You can let go now.” Mr. Bradshaw released his grip on Olivia’s jeans and came to put his front feet on Sadie’s legs. He licked her hand as if to ask if she was okay.

“It’s okay, boy. I’m good.”

“Roger is mine,” Olivia said. “My customer. My brand.”

“Come on Olivia I think maybe you need to see a doctor,” Chief Woodstone said. “Something here isn’t right.”

A while later, Sadie sat in Chief Woodstone’s office absently rubbing her neck. There’d be some bruising there, she was pretty sure, but she’d be fine. Mr. Bradshaw was sitting in Sadie’s lap. Every so often a cop would put his head in looking for the chief and Mr. Bradshaw would growl low in his throat. He was not happy. Chief Woodstone came in and closed the door behind him, collapsing in his desk chair.

“Never seen a person come unglued like that,” he said. “It’s the damnedest thing. You want a drink of something Sadie? You’re looking pretty pale there.”

“No, Chief, I’m fine,” Sadie said. “I just want to go home.”

“Damn it, Sadie. Call me Zack.” He glared at her.

“I’ll try,” she said but didn’t mean it.

“Do you want to go look at Roger’s freezer with me? I want to check out Olivia’s story.”

“It’s a bunch of nonsense,” Sadie said, “I would know if trucks were unloading in the alley. But I’ll come with you, why not? It’s on my way home.” Chief Woodstone grinned.

“That’s an understatement,” he said.

Chief Woodstone let them in through the back entrance and left the door open. The smell of mold was almost overpowering.

“No one came to take care of this place?” Sadie asked.

“We don’t know who to contact,” Chief Woodstone said. “We’re still trying to find a next of kin or a will, we need something to go on.”

“Someone needs to clean up this mess,” Sadie insisted. “It’s disgusting.” She walked through to the front of the store and opened the door to get a cross breeze.

Then she joined Chief Woodstone at the freezer. He had a walk-in refrigerated room, but only a chest freezer for frozen goods. The Chief opened the lid and they peered in. There were some containers of blueberries, raspberries, and other assorted fruits. There were flat freezer bags labeled zucchini and banana. But those things barely filled a quarter of the freezer. It was mostly empty.

Chief Woodstone looked at Sadie and shrugged. “I told you. Delusional.”

Sadie looked around the kitchen. There were day’s old balls of bread dough that had grown out of mixing bowls and bread pans that were hard and crusty around the edges. There were mixing bowls of batter with mold growing on the top. There was a moldy container of blueberries next to the muffin batter.

“I want to clean this up,” Sadie said.

“Let me put a call in. I want to make sure they are done with this place.” The Chief pulled his cell out of his pocket, and a minute later he was nodding and putting it away again.

“You don’t have to do this, you know, Sadie,” Chief Woodstone said. “A cleaning service could do it.”

“No,” Sadie said. “I want to do this. I feel like I owe Roger. I wasn’t as nearly as good a friend as I should have been. I’m just going to take Mr. Bradshaw next door to keep Lucy company.”