Do or Diner: A Comfort Food Mystery (24 page)

“Antoinette Chloe, can I ask you a personal question?” I asked.

“I suppose so.”

“I know that you and Mr. Cogswell had a relationship in high school. Did you still…uh…have a relationship with him?”

Tears flooded her eyes and black mascara dripped down her cheeks in small streams.

“I’m a married woman, Miss Matkowski.” She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue that I handed her.

Suddenly, I felt sorry for ACB. It would be awful to have loved someone since high school and decades later still be in love with him, but be married to someone else.

If she was in love with Marvin Cogswell, why did she marry Salvatore Brownelli?

I didn’t have a chance to ask that. Ty’s cell phone started ringing.

“But I’m in the middle of something, Lou,” I heard him say. “Okay, I’ll be right there.”

He looked at me. “I have to go.”

“Go right ahead,” I said. “I can walk to my car.”

“Why don’t you let me drive you?”

“I’m fine, Ty. I’m going to talk to Antoinette Chloe some more. Girl talk. You go and take care of business.”

He glared at me, straightened his hat on his head, and hurried out of the restaurant, without so much as a good-bye.

ACB’s eyes darted to the kitchen again.

I spoke up. “Antoinette Chloe, I understand that all three of you went to high school together: you, Sal, and Marvin Cogswell.”

“And Laura VanPlank Tingsley and Rick Tingsley. Roberta Cummings was a year behind us. Most of the town went to SHHS.”

“But you and Marvin Cogswell were a couple,” I said, “And you never stopped loving him, did you?” I put my hand over hers.

She nodded, tears dripping down her face. “I loved Marv in high school,” she finally said. “I’ve always considered him a good friend, but I love Sal now. And, Trixie, I don’t know how a piece of my dress came to be at your diner. I’d never kill Marvin. Never!”

“Why did you marry Sal just out of high school if you loved Marv?” I asked, gently.

“I—I was pregnant, and Marvin…well, he wasn’t the marrying type.”

“Was it Marv’s baby?” I asked gently.

She nodded, sobbing harder. “Sal married me so I could save face, but then…but then I lost the
baby, but I stayed with Sal. He’s a good man, and I owe him for marrying me. It was a different time back then.”

She looked down, as if embarrassed. “I really need to get back to work.”

I decided to change the subject, but I pushed on. “Antoinette Chloe, you really never said why you tossed your muumuu over the fence to the Crossroads Dumpster. It seemed like you were hiding it.”

If looks could kill, I’d be the next thing she tossed in the Dumpster.

“I said that ours were full.”

I didn’t believe her. “But there certainly would have been enough room for a little bag.”

“I just wanted to go for a little walk, to get some fresh air. The sun was shining, and I didn’t think that Laura Tingsley would mind me using her Dumpster, for heaven’s sake.”

She dabbed at her eyes and raised her head. I could tell that our conversation was over.

“I know you were lying about wanting my house to be on the historical society’s tour, you know.”

“I most certainly was not lying. I’m the chairperson of the tour. Just ask Mrs. Leddy.”

“Oh! Oh, that’s wonderful! Have you made a decision on my home yet?”

She’d been sitting at the table with a deputy sheriff and had been questioned about a murder, but she was still concerned about being included on a house tour. Go figure.

ACB was either very naïve or very innocent. Maybe both. Or maybe she was just a good actress.

“I haven’t made a decision yet, Antoinette Chloe, but as soon as possible, I’ll let you know.” I stood to go, but then decided we still had some unfinished business.

“I hear that congratulations are in order. I understand that Sal finally sold his property on the lake.”

If possible, ACB went white under her heavy makeup.
“He did
what?”

I ignored her shock. “Are you and Sal going to do something special with the money? Maybe take a European cruise? Add that ice-cream stand onto the restaurant?”

For a moment, I thought she was going to faint.

“I just came from the assessor’s office,” I said. “Sal sold the land.”

“We were going to build our retirement home on the waterfront,” she mumbled to herself. She looked down at her glittery fingernails, and then gripped the edge of the table with her hands until her knuckles turned white.

“I’m sorry to break the news to you. Obviously, you didn’t know.” I truly was sorry. ACB seemed totally shocked.

“I—I have to get back to work.” Fresh tears trailed down her cheeks, washing away more makeup.

“I’m so sorry to spring the news on you like that, but I’d like to talk to Sal. I’m curious to know
who my new neighbor will be,” I lied. “Would you ask him if he could join me for a moment?”

She dabbed at her eyes, then nodded.

ACB seemed to age twenty years in the twenty minutes Ty and I had been talking to her. She got up from the table and wobbled on her flip-flops to the kitchen door. She paused a moment before she pushed the doors open, then disappeared inside.

I waited at least ten minutes for Sal Brown to appear or for ACB to return and give me a reason why he wasn’t coming.

He’s probably finishing up an order,
I thought, my patience wearing thin.

I waited another ten minutes, then decided that I was going to slip into the kitchen and talk to him while he cooked.

When I entered the kitchen, only Sal’s brother was present. He was dropping a handful of potato chips into the middle of a plate containing a turkey club.

“They fought over her gardenia dress,” the burly man explained as if he could read my mind. “She accused him of cutting it up and framing her. Then there was something about their retirement home on the lake. Seemed like a stupid fight.”

“So where’s Sal?” I asked.

“He hustled out of here like his hairy ass was on fire.”

“Where’s Antoinette Chloe?” I asked.

“He insisted that she go with him.”

“D
o you mind if I use your side door?” I asked Sal’s brother. “It’ll be a shorter walk to my car.”

He shrugged a shoulder.

“Thanks.”

As I left Brown’s, I ran through what Sal’s brother had said: ACB accused Sal of cutting up her gardenia dress, and they had fought.

Why on earth would Sal do that?

My cell phone rang, and I immediately thought of Juanita and the diner, but it was Ty.

“I got the test results back on ACB’s dress and the material that Blondie found.”

“That was fast,” I said.

“The lab tech owed me a favor,” he said.

“I can imagine.” I rolled my eyes. “And I won’t ask why.”

He laughed.

“So tell me about the lab results already!”

“A perfect match, but—”

“Yeah?”

“The results showed that a couple edges of the material were cut, not ripped.”

“Cut? As in cut out of the muumuu with scissors?”

“Uh-huh.”

“That’s strange, isn’t it? I would have bet the Silver Bullet that ACB caught her muumuu on my Dumpster when she was waiting for an opportunity to poison Mr. Cogswell.”

“It’s strange all right. It must have been planted.”

“You mean that someone tried to frame ACB for the murder?”

“That’s my guess.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This was huge. This was beyond huge.

“Who would want to frame Antoinette Chloe?” I asked.

“If we knew that, we’d have our murderer.”

“Ty, do you think that Sal Brown could have discovered that ACB and Marvin were having an affair? An affair that has lasted since high school? Remember, they were a couple, according to the yearbook. And ACB told me that she was pregnant with Marvin’s baby in high school. Marv wouldn’t marry her, but Sal Brown did. I’m only assuming that their affair had continued, but it makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“Hot damn. A love triangle, just like you suggested. Where are you now, Trixie?”

“Walking to my car.”

“Good. Go home. I’ll catch up with you.”

“One more thing, Ty. I found out that ACB and Sal just had an argument about the gardenia dress and him selling the land. She was very upset. She didn’t know he’d sold it. She said that they were going to retire there and build a home on the lake.”

“This is huge. Let me handle it from here, Trixie. You did a great job; now go home. Promise?”

“Yeah. I promise. I’m exhausted.”

My brain whirled as I walked to my car, cutting through the parking lots of the various businesses in the tiny downtown area of Sandy Harbor.

I wasn’t paying much attention to where I was walking or what I was doing, but I found myself in another back parking lot. I almost bumped into Brown’s white van.

A banging noise was coming from within the van, almost like someone was kicking the side of the van from inside.

With one hand, I reached for my cell phone to call 911, while with the other I opened the van doors. Someone might be hurt.

My eyes adjusted to the dark interior. There was Antoinette Chloe Brown, bound and gagged, lying on the van floor. She shook her head violently, and lashed out with her flip-flops on the side of the van. I guessed that she wanted me to untie her, but I wasn’t going into that van. I needed to call for help.

But before I had a chance to dial, the phone was yanked out of my hand. I whirled around, ready with my knee to launch a swift jab.

Roberta Cummings jumped back before I could connect.

“Roberta, call the police!” I shouted. “Antoinette Chloe is in the back of Sal’s van, and she’s tied up and gagged.”

“Why would I call the police? I’m the one who put her there.”

Roberta Cummings walked toward me, a black metal gun in her alabaster hand. I don’t know my guns or my calibers, but it looked B-I-G, and it was pointed right at me. Then she handed it to Sal Brown.

“What’s going on here?” I asked Roberta. Her cheeks were almost flushed, she had a slight smile, and she looked…excited.

Sal and Roberta were in this together!

Of course! It was Roberta who called Juanita out to the front of the diner so Sal could plant the poison mushrooms in the pork and scalloped potatoes.

I moved a few steps toward Roberta. “It’s not too late for you to get out of this. Roberta, call the police.”

Instead she picked up a travel bag and hoisted it over her shoulder. I noticed more suitcases behind her.

“Now what are we going to do, Sal?” she asked.

“We have to dispose of both of them. My unfaithful wife and Trixie. It’s too bad, Trixie. I liked you.”

My heart was going to fly right out of my chest, I was so scared. “I liked you, too, Sal. But tell me, did you get the Destroying Angels to poison Mr. Cogswell from your land?”

Even with all his facial hair, I could still see his mouth curled up in a smile. “It’s a good name for
a mushroom, isn’t it? Destroying Angel. That’s just how I felt when I…when we…” He looked at Roberta, and she smiled at him.

“Premeditated murder,” I said, digging my own grave. “And it looks like you are skipping town. Did you get lots of money from the sale of your lakefront property, Sal?”

“You’ve been busy, haven’t you?” He clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Too bad.”

“Your major felony made the Silver Bullet a ghost town.” I said, trying to stall. Maybe ACB would attract more attention. I’d left the back doors of the van open, and she was still pounding.

“But the demise of the Silver Bullet made my Antoinette Chloe a happy person. And God knows that I’ve tried to make her happy over the years, but nothing I did ever satisfied her. She never loved me, so finally I gave up.”

I swallowed hard. “But Sal, you tried to frame her, and now you’re going to kill her! And me, too!”

“I’d had enough of hearing about Marvin Cogswell!” he yelled, then sobered. “He’s all she talked about. ‘Marv gave me flowers, this perfume.’ ‘Marv would never do what you did.’ ‘Marv dresses better than you.’ ‘Marv gave me this necklace…’ Marv, Marv, Marv!”

He was snapping right before my eyes. He professed to love his wife, but he’d tied her up in the back of the van to kill her. His big brown eyes were swimming in tears, and for a nanosecond I felt sorry for him.

Then he straightened his spine, wiped the tears
from his eyes with the hem of his tee, and took a couple of deep breaths. “Roberta and I are going to spend all the money that I got for my lakefront property. I knew it would come in handy someday. Now, enough chitchat, Trixie. Walk to the van, and don’t make a sound.”

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“You’re so curious about my land. I know of a nice old well on the property. No one will find you and Antoinette Chloe for decades.”

“Don’t be too sure of that, Sal. Deputy Sheriff Ty Brisco is on your trail.” At least I hoped he was.

“He’s on a nice wild-goose chase,” Roberta said. “All three of the deputies are. I called and reported that a little girl fell into the far end of Sandy Harbor where it meets Lake Ontario. The three stooges are gone.”

“Aren’t you the smart one?” I said sarcastically.

I wished I knew the moves to knock the gun out of Roberta’s hand and get her in a headlock, but what did a Philly tour guide know? In all my years with Deputy Doug, he hadn’t taught me one defensive tactic, and I’d never asked to learn.

I took a deep breath. “The Sandy Harbor sheriffs are not stooges. And they’ll be coming to get the two of you.”

“Walk!” he said, and I could feel his gun in my back.

“Roberta, dammit, call the police!” I yelled.

“Not a prayer, Trixie. Marv wouldn’t marry me. I wasted years on him. Just like Sal wasted years on Antoinette Chloe.”

“But Roberta, I thought that Marvin abused you. Why would you want to marry him?”

She waved a hand in dismissal. “Our fights were legendary. And I was the one who hit him.” She grinned.

“So Marvin got a wrong rap?” I shook my head.

She shrugged. “All part of my plan.”

I looked at both of them, partners in crime, and my stomach roiled.