Can't Keep a Brunette Down (11 page)

Gravel crunched behind her, and the hairs on her arms stood. She aimed the beam down the alley. Her flashlight cast shadows on the gravel that made her shiver. Nothing scarier than a crumpled beer can and a wad of paper towels shredded by a raccoon or skunk. She must have been hearing things.

Behind the school were four parking spots, two for the staff of the karate school and two for the Nine Lives Consignment Boutique next door. Since Mrs. Watson, nearly eighty, had backed into the building twice in one week, Mick had gotten a gray post with a wide band of reflective tape installed in front of the far corner. Scrapes marred the post and the tape, tinged with blue paint from Mrs. Watson's Ford Fairlane. Below the streaks of blue, a silver scrape had torn the reflective banner. She was willing to bet it matched the paint from the bumper of Xavier's car.

The alley brightened behind her, and Thayer growled. "You'd better have a damn good reason for snooping around in the alley after dark."

She spun around, blinded by a flashlight beam aimed directly into her eyes. Her breath stuck in her throat for several seconds before she managed to push it out. "I work here. I'm allowed to snoop. What are you doing here?"

"Mrs. Watson's grandson lives above the consignment store. He called to report a prowler in the back alley." He lowered the beam out of her eyes.

"I'm not a burglar, and you have no legal cause to arrest me." She ignored him and poked around the alley some more. Still nothing interesting. Only way into the school through the back door might be with a screwdriver. Didn't even open with a key.

"I should haul you in on principle alone. Let me guess. You forgot your key and need to find another way inside." He stood beside her, so close her hair stood on end.

A far cry from her reaction to Mick.

"Admit it—you just can't keep your nose out of my investigation and seem convinced the murderer came out the back way," he said.

Gilda folded her arms across her chest, careful to aim her light into his face to make him shield his eyes. "Which means you and Fabio already searched the alley and found the same things I found."

"Then maybe we should compare notes." He nudged her flashlight down.

"I'll bet you never looked back here, did you?"

"Of course we did. We're trained professionals," he said. "Now, stop stalling. What did you find?"

She pointed her light at the post. "Several blue scratches from Mrs. Watson's car. One deep scrape with silver paint." Which could have come from Xavier's car since his rear bumper had a similar scrape.

"That's it?"

"That's one." She stood her ground. "What do you have?"

"Not a chance. Give me one more."

"A broken light bulb over the back door."

He nodded. "That could be something. So could the pry marks on the steel door. When do you think someone tried to break in?"

"I don't have to think anything. That's your job. What do
you
have?"

He studied her for a long minute then pointed across the alley to one of the signs marking a parking space for the school. The post bore a deep dent that warped the metal. "It looks like someone was in a big hurry. Who drives a silver car besides Xavier?"

"Walter. Razi. Happy. Fabio. Pretty much half of Sandstone Cove."

Thayer scowled. "Only the karate black belts are actually on our suspect list."

"I'm not so sure about that." Gilda shifted. "What about Chloe, Jade, and Gary? They all stood to gain with Walter dead, especially Jade. Chloe might have done it just to get back at Mick. Gary…well, he has connections."

He rubbed a hand over his face and groaned. "You know you don't have to be like this. We could work together amicably. Maybe even be friends again."

"Friends? After what you did to me?" She laughed. "Are you for real? How many ways do I have to tell you I don't want anything to do with you? After two years of me pushing you away, you still don't get it, do you?"

Behind them, a metal garbage can clattered to the ground, making her shriek and jump.

Thayer had his weapon drawn and crouched to one knee seconds before the calico cat raced away down the alley. "Where did that thing come from?"

Gilda shone her flashlight toward the consignment store. A weathered, silvery wood staircase led to the apartment above the store. From there, anyone could climb over the railing and onto the karate school roof. Anyone unafraid of heights, which definitely let her out. Erik, however, used to wash skyscraper windows in Newville.

"Must be the grandson's cat," Thayer said. "Why wouldn't it take the stairs? That's a pretty steep jump, even for a cat. What's up there?"

Her eyes widened. "The roof." And the air conditioner and vent for the school building.

Thayer started up the stairs then seemed to reconsider when the light in the small apartment over the boutique turned on. "Is there another entrance to the school from up there?"

"I doubt it. As far as I know, it's just the air conditioner." She gazed up the stairs, across to the roof, and down to the cracked asphalt in the alley—and wished he'd go away so she could find out for sure.

A parkour fanatic, one of those crazies who ran up the sides of walls and did gymnastics on playground equipment, Erik was agile enough to run out the back door, climb the stairs, and run across the rooftops to the grocery store at the end of the block. With all the tourists armed with beach toys, shopping bags, and souvenirs, he could disappear into the crowd. A barefoot ninja. She shuddered.

"Gilda?" Thayer waved a hand in front of her face. "Did you have an idea or a stroke?"

She pushed past him. "Neither. I'm tired. I'm going home."

"I don't think so, honey." He reached for his handcuffs, but he was wearing civilian clothes. "If you know something, you need to tell me, or I'll lock you up."

Her mouth dropped open. "For what?"

"Mostly your protection, but also for impeding an investigation."

"I showed you the post and the dents in the door, didn't I?"

"I guess," Thayer said. "Go home, stay out of trouble, and don't leave town."

She didn't make any promises. Two out of three wasn't so bad. Was it?

 

Gilda jammed her hands beneath her armpits to keep them from shaking. Doc's request for her to meet him at the morgue that morning puzzled her, especially since Thayer and Fabio already sat on two plastic chairs outside his office.

"Miss Wright." Fabio looked up from his magazine. "Nice to see you again. I take it Doc called you too."

She fought the urge to hyperventilate. "Yeah. He wanted to see me about something."

Thayer, head still bowed and frown in place, glanced up.

"Us too." Fabio stretched his short legs and scratched at the growth of stubble on his chin. Since it was about the same length as Mick's, she guessed he hadn't shaved since Walter's murder either. "We've been sitting here for the last hour, waiting."

"Really? That's odd. He just called me ten minutes ago." She tapped his office door.

Thayer jolted upright. "Are you serious? He made us sit out here and wait for almost an hour, yet he just called you?"

"Yes, I did." Doc appeared in the doorway. "Do you want to debate my motives, or do you want to know why you're all here?"

Thayer barged into the room ahead of the others.

Fabio hung back and shrugged before he followed his partner.

"You and I need to have a chat." Doc grabbed Gilda's arm and lowered his voice. "Thayer gave me the coffee you thought was poisoned."

"You didn't drink it, did you?" Her eyes widened.

"No, but from the look on his face, I'm sure he'd want me to right now," Doc said. "You were right. There was a trace of cyanide. Not enough to kill you. Just enough to give you stomach cramps."

"Which is why I went to see you Friday. I've had cramps for the past couple weeks." She glanced back into his office at Thayer, who sat with his arms folded across his chest, while Fabio toyed with Doc's Newton's cradle. "You don't think the two are related, do you? Maybe Xavier wanted me out of the way."

"It's possible." Doc nudged his glasses up his nose.

"But why would he do that?" she asked. "Do you think he killed Walter, or does he think I did?"

"Sorry. I can't help you with Xavier's motives." Doc's reply was punctuated by a curse from Thayer before the metal balls on the Newton's cradle went silent. "I do think I can help you with Fabio and Thayer, however. Shall we?"

She skirted around Thayer and Fabio to sit across the heavy pine desk from Doc. All the questions that went through her head when she took her run earlier were lost to nerves.

"You all want to know about Walter's autopsy," Doc said. "I'm aware this is privileged information, and my duty is to both the police and the victim's family."

Thayer shot Gilda a nasty glare. "Then maybe someone who is neither of those should leave the room."

Doc cleared his throat. "Gilda has a vested interest in this case, and I'd like her to stay."

"I do?" she asked. "I just hoped you'd say it was a crime of passion or a fight gone bad. I don't want to think someone actually set out to murder Walter. If you tell me it was an accident or self-defense, I'll back off."

Doc sat back and toyed with his pen while he gazed out the window. "From everything I saw during the autopsy, the katana attack came after the fist fight."

"A fist fight? Like a brawl, or are we talking karate moves like they do in the school?" Thayer asked. "Is that why he was so bruised?"

Doc looked amused. "From the bruising, I can tell they were precise, well-placed strikes. A black belt could be that exact."

Gilda shifted in her seat. "Would the blows have been enough to knock him out?"

"If you're asking if he took any direct hits to the head, the answer is no," Doc said. "At least nothing that left a mark or could have incapacitated him."

She closed her eyes. "Then someone must have poisoned him."

 "I checked him for known poisons and found nothing," Doc said. "But then I—"

"Then maybe the killer was just stronger and faster," Fabio said. "There are a lot of different pressure points martial artists learn to aim for."

"Which is exactly why Gilda is here." Doc turned to her.

She hesitated. "I don't really know all the pressure points. I'm still learning all that. I do know the only people stronger and faster than Walter in our school are a couple of the other black belts."

"Who?" Thayer asked.

"Mick or Razi in particular. Both of them have extensive martial arts backgrounds. Xavier doesn't have the power, but he's big on poisons. Erik might be able to do some serious damage if he was mad enough." She scowled, unable to stop talking. "It has to be someone familiar with both the school and Walter's schedule."

"Like you or anyone else at the Yoshida school," Thayer said.

Fabio whistled. "That's a lot of suspects."

"What if you exclude kids and people who couldn't physically carry out the crime?" Doc asked. "Or someone who didn't have access to—"

Thayer jumped in. "Then we're back to our four main suspects."

"Unless the killer had some help," Doc said.

"Yeah, from someone who either lured Walter to the back room or let in the killer." Thayer's gaze met Gilda's. "What's wrong with you?"

She folded her arms across her chest and turned to Doc. "You found something else."

Fabio raised one eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"She's known me for forever, and she's right. Walter
was
poisoned, but with something we don't normally test for." Doc hesitated. "Cobra venom."

Gilda's heart raced. Cobra venom was far more exotic than she expected and not something she knew much about. She was willing to bet Xavier did. If he and Erik worked together, the two of them could easily…

"Cobra venom? That seems like a long shot, doesn't it?" Thayer asked. "I didn't think you'd have the capabilities to test for something so exotic."

"Normally, no, but I called in a favor." Doc flipped a pen across the backs of his fingers. "I never would've tested for it except I was acting on a tip."

Fabio shifted in his seat. "A tip? You mean a phone call or something someone said?"

"Someone pointed out Razi had recently been overseas to visit family, Mick was in the Dominican last week, and Walter's wife went to Asia not very long ago," Doc said. "I wasn't convinced at first, but when I did some online research, I learned a couple curious things."

"Like what?" Thayer asked.

"Cobra venom is a neurotoxin, which means it paralyzes the nerve centers that control breathing and heart rates. Walter would've become slow and drunk, which made him vulnerable to attack from anyone. Even someone Gilda's size could've beaten and killed him if she were so inclined." Doc shrugged. "I guess this means you gentlemen have some work to do."

Direct and dismissive. Both men took the hint and left. When Thayer paused in the doorway and opened his mouth, Fabio grabbed his collar and dragged him away.

Doc's lips tightened into a thin, white line. "Something tells me you'd better watch your back, my dear. Keep me in the loop, okay? Here's my cell number. Call if you need backup."

"Backup?" She laughed. "You make me sound like some big-league detective."

"We both know you're really more of a nosy Nelly, but I am concerned for your safety." He moved around the desk and stood in front of her. "If there is a murderer in your midst, and you keep sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, there's a good chance someone will try to chop that nose off your face."

"You think someone will try to kill me if I ask too many questions?" A chill ran through her core.

"I brought you into this world, Gilda, and I don't want to watch them bury you," Doc said. "Promise me you'll be careful."

She shuffled out of the hospital, heart pulsing somewhere near the pit of her stomach. Maybe it would be best to let Fabio and Thayer do their jobs so she could get on with her life. Why worry about finding a killer when Thayer and Fabio were far more qualified and had better resources to do the investigating?