Body Movers 4 - 4 Bodies and a Funeral (34 page)

bouncing around in her chest. A blind person could see

where the relationship between the two of them was

headed. Not only were they physically matched to each

other, but she could tell from the expression on Jack’s face

that he was truly listening to what Maria was saying. They

were intel ectual equals, with a shared passion.

It was the way it should be.

She lifted her hand and rapped on the outside of the wall.

Both of them turned in her direction. Jack’s expression

opened, while Maria’s closed. Carlotta ignored the snub.

“Hi, Jack. I found the, um, article we talked about last

night.” She reached into her purse and pul ed out the

bracelet box, then handed it to him.

He stood and opened the box. “When did your father give

this to you?”

“When I was fourteen.”

Maria took the box from him and Carlotta stiffened.

“Did he give you all these charms?” the woman asked.

“Most of them, yes. It was our father-daughter ‘thing,’ I

guess.”

“Are any of the charms missing?” Maria asked.

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

She gritted her teeth. “That’s what I said.”

“Thanks for bringing it in,” Jack said, breaking through the

tension.

“No problem.” Carlotta crossed her arms. “Jack, why was

Wesley here yesterday?”

“Hmm? Oh…he just needed to sign some paperwork

having to do with the recent charges.”

“Good. Because I was beginning to wonder if you and your

partner were systematically accusing every member of the

Wren family of being The Charmed Kil er.” She smiled

sweetly at Maria. “Did you want me to take that polygraph

exam while I’m here?”

“We’ll let you know,” Jack intervened.

Carlotta reached into her purse. “I brought these, too,”

she said, placing the stack of folded handkerchiefs in his

hand. Maria saw the exchange and turned back to the

reports. Something fel on Carlotta’s shoe and she looked

down to see the piece of Bazooka bubblegum the

prostitute Pepper had given her.

Jack leaned over to pick it up and handed it back to her

with a smile. “Bubblegum?”

She flushed at the memory of the woman’s promise that it

would make her jaws strong and for what purpose. “I…am

trying to quit smoking.” She unwrapped it and popped it

into her mouth.

“Has the black SUV been back?” Jack asked.

“Not that I’ve noticed,” she said around the stiff gum.

“You’ll cal if you see it again?”

She nodded because her mouth was so ful , then gestured

to the exit. “Hannah’s waiting, so I should go.”

“Is that your best friend, Hannah, the one you know

nothing about?” Maria asked, her eyebrows raised.

With great effort, Carlotta maneuvered all the bubblegum

to one side of her mouth, then looked back to Jack. “I’m

leaving now.”

He shifted his feet. “We’l get the bracelet back to you as

soon as possible.”

Carlotta turned and walked away, chewing like a cow. Jack

and Maria were now a “we.”

23

Carlotta walked out of the police precinct tel ing herself

that Detective Marquez was trained to get under people’s

skin—it was undoubtedly how she gleaned information

from people to “profile” them.

Stil , when Carlotta climbed back into Hannah’s van, she

studied her friend’s profile, which was actually very pretty,

and conceded that while Hannah seemed to happily blend

into the Wren family—she was like a surrogate aunt to

Wesley—Carlotta knew next to nothing about Hannah’s

background.

“Hannah, where are your parents?”

“Hmm?” Hannah pivoted her head, then looked back to

the road. “They’re in the area.”

“What do they do?”

Hannah frowned. “What’s with the questions?”

“Just making conversation. You never talk about them.”

“Oh…they’re in business.”

“What kind of business?”

“This and that—property, mostly.”

“Do you have any siblings?”

“Yeah.”

“Wel —sisters? Brothers?”

“Yeah.”

Carlotta lifted her hands. “And?”

Hannah’s face darkened. “And we don’t get along. End of

story. Change channels.”

“Okay,” Carlotta murmured, sorry that she’d pushed her

friend, and angry with Maria Marquez for making her feel

as if she should.

They spent the afternoon driving in an ever-widening

circle, visiting more grocery store bakeries and coming up

empty until they were as far east as Decatur. Carlotta was

losing hope that they’d find what they were looking for.

She glanced at her watch.

“You got a date?” Hannah asked.

“Peter is picking me up for dinner in an hour.”

Her friend made a face.

“He’s trying to suck up to you,” Carlotta said. “He sent you

gorgonzola ice cream the other night.”

“When?”

“When Coop called about a body run Monday evening. I

was having dinner with Peter and I, um, sort of fibbed and

told him you were picking me up. He sent you ice cream

from the restaurant.”

“What happened to it?”

“Coop ate it.”

Hannah sighed. “I would’ve wanted him to have it.”

“I’m worried about Coop. I’m afraid he’s on the verge of

falling off the wagon.”

“Al recovering alcoholics are on the verge of fal ing off the

wagon,” Hannah replied as she parked the van in yet

another grocery store parking lot.

“I guess you’re right,” Carlotta murmured, then opened

the door to climb down.

A few minutes later they were standing in front of the

bakery manager, showing him the now-curled picture of

the cake. When he scratched his head, Carlotta’s shoulders

fel , but then he nodded and tapped the photograph. “Yep,

that’s one of Tina’s designs—she’s our main cake

decorator.”

Carlotta’s heart raced. “Is Tina working today?”

The man checked the clock on the wall. “She just took a

break—she should be back in forty-five minutes.”

Carlotta turned to a rack of clearance summer items in

front of the bakery counter and picked up a pack of

sparklers. This was definitely looking like the place. “We’ll

come back.”

She and Hannah went back to the van to wait, but Carlotta

was too anxious to sit stil . “Pray that this Tina knows who

bought the cake. If we need to come up with a receipt,

we’re screwed.”

“I take it Jack doesn’t know anything about this little

information-gathering exercise.”

“Uh, no. Wait—look!” Carlotta pointed. “By the

Dumpster.”

Hannah squinted. “All I see is a guy on rol er skates.”

“The guy with the cake was on rol er skates. It has to be

him!” The man wore the dark utility jumpsuit of a

handyman. He was using the rol er skates to transport a

stack of broken pallets to the Dumpster, a few pieces at a

time.

“Do you recognize him?” Hannah asked, handing her a pair

of binoculars.

Carlotta adjusted the focus. “Same height, same build.”

Then she looked at his feet. “Same skates. It’s him, I’m

sure of it.”

“Do you want to call Jack?”

Carlotta lowered the binoculars. “No, let me see if he’l

talk to me.” She opened the glove compartment and

removed a map. After opening the van door and jumping

to the ground, she set off toward the guy.

“Excuse me,” she said, waving the map—the international

damsel-in-distress signal. “Can you help me?”

He stopped and looked her up and down. “Sure.”

“I’m lost.” The closer she walked to him, the more sure she

was that he was the man who’d mown her down with the

cake cart. “I’m looking for the Lenox Square mall,” she

said.

“Honey, you’re way off. You need to get back on that road

and head toward I-285—” He stopped and narrowed his

eyes. “Do I know you?”

“I might look more familiar if I were facedown in a sheet

cake,” Carlotta said wryly.

His eyes widened and he turned to flee.

She grabbed his arm. “What did you do with Eva McCoy’s

charm bracelet?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He shoved her

to the ground and lunged toward the street, swinging his

arms to gain momentum on his skates.

“Stop!” she shouted, stumbling to her feet. “Come back, I

just want to talk to you!”

A few strides later something struck him in the head and

he dropped to the ground, his legs tangled. Carlotta ran up

to him, and Hannah was right behind her. A lumpy broken

brown-and-white crumbly mess lay all around the

groaning man, who had a bloody gash on the back of his

head.

“What did you do?” Carlotta asked Hannah.

“Nailed him with a frozen chocolate cream pie. It works

the same as a Frisbee.” Her friend pointed to the tin pan

rol ing away. “It’s all in the wrist.”

“You could’ve kil ed him.”

“But I didn’t.” Hannah bent down and pul ed the guy up by

the col ar. “Tel my friend what she wants to know, or else

I got a frozen layer cake with your name on it, too.”

“I don’t know anything,” he said with a moan, holding his

head.

“What’s your name?” Carlotta demanded.

“Give me a break here—I’m on parole.”

Hannah shook him. “What’s your name, dammit.”

“James Canary.”

“Why did you steal Eva McCoy’s charm bracelet?” Carlotta

asked.

He didn’t respond, so Hannah pinched him on the back of

the arm.

He howled. “All right, all right! Somebody hired me to rol

in a cake cart and steal the charm bracelet. I cut it off the

woman’s wrist, but I dropped it. When all hel broke loose,

I got outta there.”

“Who hired you?”

“I…can’t say.”

Hannah twisted his ear. “Start singing, Canary.”

“I don’t know! Everything was coordinated over the

phone. I picked up five hundred bucks cash at a drop-off

point. I was supposed to handle getting the cake and

swiping the bracelet. She told me to toss it in the river

when I was through.”

“She?” Carlotta said.

“Yeah…it was a chick. But I don’t know her name and I

never saw her, I swear.”

Carlotta gave Hannah a curt nod and she let the man fall

back to the ground.

“Did that tel you what you needed to know?” Hannah

asked as they walked back to the van.

“I’m not sure,” Carlotta said, her mind racing, tossing

around bits of dialogue in her conversation with Eva.

You haven’t heard any news about your bracelet?

No, and I really don’t expect to…I just want all of this

charm insanity to stop…I never realized how much I’d miss

it…

When she opened the van door, Carlotta’s phone was

ringing from her purse. She thought it might be Peter, but

instead Coop’s name was on the caller ID.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hey—we’ve got a third body.”

She gripped the phone. “With a charm?”

“Yeah. I called Wesley, but he isn’t answering. And I can’t

get hold of the new guy who’s supposed to be helping

me.”

“Where are you?”

He gave her the address. “It’s a motel, a little run-down.”

Carlotta glanced around to get her bearings. “Hannah and I

aren’t too far away. We’l meet you there.” She ended the

call and swung into her seat, reciting the address to

Hannah.

“The Charmed Kil er strikes again?”

“Looks that way.” Carlotta tightened her seat belt as

Hannah screeched out of the parking lot.

She dialed Peter’s number and he answered on the second

ring.

“Uh-oh. I’m supposed to pick you up in twenty minutes—

this can’t be good.”

“A last-minute situation,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

“Tel me this doesn’t have anything to do with that serial

kil er.”

“Okay,” she said, wincing.

He sighed. “You’re scaring me to death.”

“I’m with Hannah, and there are police on the scene. I’m

just fil ing in for Wesley. Can I get a rain check on dinner?”

“Always,” he said. “Call me.”

“I wil .” She disconnected the call, then tried to reach

Wesley, but he didn’t answer. She left a voice message for

him to call her and cursed under her breath.

“Where’s Wes?” Hannah asked.

“I think he started his courier job today.” Carlotta pointed.

“Turn here. The High Crest Motel should be up ahead. See

Coop’s van?”

Hannah peeled into the parking lot on two wheels,

attracting the attention of everyone on the scene and

sending a couple of locals scrambling for cover. The person

wearing the biggest frown when they alighted was Jack. He

was standing next to his sedan, talking on his radio. Maria

stood in the open door of a motel room talking to an M.E.

Yel ow police tape cordoned off the area. Coop stood

nearby with an empty gurney, wearing scrubs. Carlotta

hung back and yanked on one of Hannah’s chains to keep

her at bay until Coop signaled them over a few minutes

later.

“Carlotta,” Maria said drily when they walked up. “What a

surprise to see you here.”

Carlotta swallowed a tart comment. “Detective Maria

Marquez, this is my friend Hannah Kizer.”

The women traded hel os, but she could tell from her

friend’s body language that she didn’t like the way Maria