Killer Crust (9 page)

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Authors: Chris Cavender

Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #Women Sleuths, #General

BOOK: Killer Crust

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She hesitated a moment more, and then Kenny barked out loudly, “Anna.”

She left us quickly, and Kenny shot us a look of triumph just before they left the restaurant together.

“Is she really afraid for her life?” Maddy asked once they were gone.

“She didn’t actually come out and say it,” I reminded my sister.

“Did she have to? We need to get her away from that man.”

I understood my sister’s sentiment, but we had a job to do. “Maddy, she’s a grown woman. She can do whatever she wants to do.”

My sister studied me for a second as our server approached, and then asked, “When did you get so cold, Sis?”

I frowned, and then said, “I’m not, but we have to watch our step. We’re in the thick of this too, remember?”

“It’s not likely I’ll forget,” Maddy said as the young woman reached us.

“We’ll do what we can for her, but we can’t let it hurt our investigation.” I hated coming off sounding so cruel, but I meant it. Maddy and I were trying to find a killer. If we could help Anna get away from Kenny we would, but it couldn’t be our top priority.

“May I start you off with beverages and an appetizer?” the waitress asked once she was at our table.

“You may,” Maddy said. “We’ll start with the artichoke and spinach dip, and a pair of Cokes.”

“Very good,” she said, and then quickly left us.

“When did you start ordering for the two of us?” I asked my sister with a smile. I was happy that the earlier frost was out of her voice now.

“You can choose your own entree, but I want that dip, and I wasn’t about to order it just for me. Is there a problem with the soda?”

“No, actually, that all sounds good to me,” I said. “I’m not finished talking about Anna yet, though.”

Maddy waved a hand in the air as though shooing away a pesky fly. “It’s okay. I get it. You’re all about the crime-busting these days.”

“If you believe that that’s true, then you don’t get me at all anymore,” I insisted. “I don’t want anything to happen to Anna either, but Kevin’s not letting anyone go anywhere at the moment, remember? Besides, Kenny needs Anna by his side if he’s going to have the slightest chance of winning this competition, especially now that it’s going to be a fair fight. She couldn’t be any safer than if she were in protective custody. Anyway, we can keep an eye on her, but we can’t protect her around the clock.”

“You’re right about all of that,” Maddy said as she pushed her menu aside and looked at me. “I’m sorry. I’m frustrated by the situation, but I know that I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. I guess I just hate the idea that we’re involved in another murder. What is it about us, Eleanor? We seem to attract this kind of behavior no matter what we do these days.”

“I’d prefer to think of it as though we’re dragged into these random incidents against our will,” I said. “Otherwise, I’d have to believe that there’s something we’re doing to cause all of this, and that’s something I just can’t bring myself to accept.”

“I agree; it’s not a pleasant thought to consider.”

Our server brought our drinks and the dip, and then took the order for our entrees.

Once she was gone, Maddy took her first bite of the dip, and then let out a contented sigh. “This is truly amazing.”

I tried some, and found that it was as delicious as she’d described. “You know what? We should make this.”

Maddy laughed. “Are you kidding? Do you know what we’d have to charge our customers for this kind of appetizer?”

“I didn’t mean that we should put it on the Slice’s menu,” I explained. “I was saying we should try to make it at my house sometime.”

“I can’t imagine how much trouble it would be,” she said. “Besides, if we really want it, we can always just come here and order it.”

I had to laugh. “As long as you’re buying, I’m game.”

Maddy grinned at me. “Don’t worry about that. After all, I’m engaged to an attorney, remember?”

“So we’ll let Bob buy.”

“Why not? He derives a great deal of pleasure in showering me with the things that I want. Who am I to deny him of that experience?”

“Wow, from the way you put it, you’re practically a humanitarian.”

“I do what I can, however little it might be,” she said with a smile.

We had nearly finished the dip, and Maddy was debating about ordering more, when our entrees came. I had a wonderful salmon dish, while my sister had brisket that disintegrated the second her fork even got near it.

It felt funny signing the check with only our room number, but Gina had been serious about comping our meals, and I wasn’t going to say no. Like Maddy, I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, especially when it all turned out so nicely for us.

“I don’t know about you,” I said as we walked out into the lobby, “but I’m too full to just go back to our room yet. Do you have any interest in walking around the grounds a little first?”

“It’s awfully chilly out, and besides, aren’t you worried that there’s a murderer on the loose?” she asked.

“No more than usual,” I said. “We can’t let fear keep us from living our lives.”

“You’ve got a point,” she answered. “Sure, why not? Let’s grab our jackets first though, okay?”

“I know it’s technically winter, but it was still pretty balmy outside the last time I checked,” I said. “Let’s at least try it without our coats first.”

“Admit it, Eleanor. You’re just afraid that if we go back to our room, we’ll go in hibernation mode, aren’t you?”

“The thought crossed my mind,” I said. “Come on, we’re made of tough stock. Let’s brave the elements.”

We walked outside, and I felt as though we were almost in daylight instead of the surrounding darkness of the hour. The parking area for the resort was well lit, and it was easy to see everything to the edge of the property, though the light dropped off dramatically as it was absorbed into the thicket of surrounding trees.

I was admiring the layout when Maddy grabbed my arm and whispered, “Eleanor, look over there.”

“Where?” I asked. I tracked her gesture, and that’s when I spotted three men standing on the edge of the light, one of them just barely out of the shadows.

“Who is that with the twins?” I asked as I spotted our competitors from Raleigh.

“I’m not sure,” Maddy said. “I can’t get a clear look at him.”

I kept looking, but whoever the man was, he was keeping in the shadows, almost as though it was intentional. One of the twins handed him a thick padded envelope, and the next second, the man in the shadows took it and was gone.

“Let’s go after him,” I said as I started toward them.

“I’ll take the shadow man, and you take the twins,” Maddy said, clearly eager for the hunt.

“No, it’s not safe. We’ll brace the twins together,” I said. “Besides, the man they were talking to is probably long gone.”

“Are we certain that it was a man?” Maddy asked as we hurried toward the twins.

I thought about what I’d seen, and how much my mind had filled in, and I finally admitted, “I can’t say without a doubt one way or the other. Can you?”

Maddy shook her head. “No, I never got a real good look. What are we going to say to these two?” Maddy asked as we neared them.

“I don’t know about you, but I feel like the direct approach,” I said.

As we walked up to the men, who were still in deep conversation, I said loudly, “Who were you just talking to, and why were you giving him an envelope? Is there a chance that you were paying someone off, gentlemen?”

They looked startled to see us. One said quickly, “What are you two up to, and what in the world are you doing out in the cold without jackets?”

“We don’t owe you any explanations, and we know what you were up to the second we walked outside,” Maddy said.

“You only
think
you know what you saw,” one twin said as he stepped closer to us. “You need to drop this if you know what’s good for you.”

“Is that a threat?” I asked.

He seemed to consider his answer carefully, and then he just shook his head. “Think of it more like a friendly warning.”

I looked at Maddy. “Did he just seem all that friendly to you?”

“I thought he was a little icy myself,” Maddy replied.

“We’ve had enough of your comedy routine to last us a lifetime,” the other twin said, and they started back toward the hotel.

We followed them closely, and they finally stopped and faced us. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“We’re cold,” I said, pretending to shiver. “Going inside suddenly sounds like a good idea to both of us right now. Would you guys care to join us by the fireplace? We can have a nice friendly chat about what just happened before we all go talk to the chief of police together.”

For once I wasn’t bluffing, but they weren’t buying it anyway. “We’ll pass. Right, Reggie?” he asked as he glanced at his twin.

“Right, Todd,” the other said.

“Wow, I didn’t even see your lips move that time,” Maddy said. “How do you even tell each other apart?”

They each considered commenting on her sarcasm, but decided to remain silent as they headed for the elevator.

“Should we keep following them?” Maddy asked me.

I thought about it, but I doubted that we’d be able to do much good. Chances were good that they’d just lock themselves in their room, especially if they knew that we were on their tails. “No, they know that we saw them, and what they did, even though we don’t really know what they were up to. Right now, that’s the best we can do. Let their imaginations fill in the rest.” I rubbed my hands together, and realized that I had gotten cold outside. “Let’s check out the fireplace after all. I could use a little radiant heat right about now. How about you?”

“It sounds great to me,” she said.

The fireplace was exposed on two sides, so Maddy and I found soft, comfy chairs on one side and settled in. The crackling of the wood as it burned, the earthy smell of the fire, and the weaving of the flames calmed me enough to almost put me to sleep.

I was more exhausted than I’d realized.

The next thing I knew, Maddy was shaking me awake. I started to protest when she put a finger to my lips. Instead of fighting her off, I nodded, pulled her hand gently away, and then looked to see what she’d found so fascinating that she’d had to rouse me from a welcome little nap.

When I saw Jeff and Sandy from Asheville on the other side of the fireplace nestled together on a couch, I realized that we might just learn a little more tonight about who might have wanted to see Laughing Luigi dead.

Chapter 9

“W
e’ve got to tell the police chief everything we know,” Sandy said as she stared into her husband’s eyes. “It’s going to look a thousand times worse to the cops if they find out what happened on their own, Jeff.”

“What makes you think they’ll learn anything at all?” her husband asked. “If we don’t tell them, who does that leave? Luigi can’t say a word anymore, and if we don’t talk, it dies with us. Sandy, this isn’t the time or the place for your ethical theories. We could be in some big trouble here if this cop Hurley finds out what really happened.”

“Luigi could have told someone here at the competition, though. Somebody could have heard us,” she said plaintively.

“If they had, don’t you think they would have come forward by now? If we just keep our cool and don’t say a word about it, we’ll be fine.”

“I suppose so,” Sandy said, though she was clearly unconvinced.

I was hoping they’d say something a little more revealing when the restaurant maître d’ approached them. “Excuse me, but your table is ready. If you’ll follow me, please.”

As they left, I asked Maddy, “What do we do now? Should we follow them back into the restaurant and see if they say anything else about what happened here with Luigi?”

“And do what? If I have to eat another bite right now, I’ll explode.”

“We could have coffee,” I suggested, though it wasn’t the drink of preference for either one of us.

“I guess so,” Maddy said. “What makes you think that we’re going to get lucky twice, though? Chances are they aren’t going to discuss anything else juicier than the weather.”

I shrugged as I stood and stretched. “One thing’s certain, Sis. We won’t learn anything new if we just sit here.”

Maddy nodded. “You’ve got a point. Let’s see if we can slip the maître d’ something for putting us close to their table.”

“Fine, go ahead and try.” Maddy was a little more worldly about giving someone money for preferential treatment. I’d always been at a loss as to why I should pay someone extra just for doing their job, which explained why I was kept waiting for tables while my sister breezed past me and laughed. “I’ll just wait for you right over here.”

I found the concierge’s desk near the checkout, both of which were currently unmanned, and started looking at a local open map.

I was still picking out my house on it when a woman’s voice behind me asked, “May I help you?”

“Thanks, but I’m just looking for my house,” I said as I glanced around at the concierge.

The woman looked a little puzzled by my response. “Have you misplaced it, by any chance?”

“No, of course not. It’s where it’s always been. I was just curious, that’s all.”

“So then you don’t need directions on how to get there?” she asked.

“No need to worry about me. I could find the place with my eyes closed,” I said, and then rethought the phrase. “Well, probably not with my eyes closed. Chances are I’d never make it out of the parking lot if I couldn’t see where I was going.”

The concierge was clearly at a loss as to how to deal with me. I hadn’t meant to sound so confusing, but then I realized that it had certainly come out that way.

“Eleanor,” Maddy said to me before I could explain myself any further to the woman.

“It was nice chatting with you,” I said.

“Of course.” The woman looked genuinely relieved that I was moving on, at least away from her desk.

I looked at my sister and asked, “So where are we sitting?”

“We aren’t,” Maddy admitted reluctantly. “The restaurant is jammed, and short of calling Gina and getting someone else removed from their table, we aren’t going to be getting anywhere near them.”

“We’re
not
calling Gina,” I said firmly.

“I
know
that,” she answered. “Sorry I struck out.”

“Are you kidding? I’m just glad to finally find out that you’re as human as the rest of us.”

Maddy frowned. “You don’t have to look so happy about it.”

I hugged my sister as I said, “Perfection is overrated, if you ask me.”

“I feel the same way about you. So what should we do now? Do we head off to bed so we can rest up for tomorrow, or dig around a little more?”

“You can go ahead if you’re tired, but I’m not done snooping yet,” I said. “We don’t have a whole lot of time, so we’d better keep after this till we drop.”

“Hey, I like the new you. Where did that come from?”

I shook my head. “Believe me, I’d rather just make pizza and let the rest of the world take care of itself, but we’re involved in this whether we like it or not, so we need to dig into Luigi’s murder while we’ve got our suspects all here in one place. I’ve got a hunch that if this murder is unsolved by the time everyone splits up, we’ll never know who killed the man.”

“Great. I’m still at a loss where we should go next, though.”

“Why don’t we see if Kevin’s cleared the greenroom yet? I don’t know about you, but I’d like to see the place where Luigi was murdered for myself.”

“Lead on,” she said, and I headed for the auditorium, and the place where Luigi, aka George Vincent, took his last breath.

The door to the greenroom was locked, though there was no police tape across it. Did that mean that Kevin was finished with it?

“What do we do now?” Maddy asked. “Should we try to break in?”

“Do you even know how?” I asked my sister with a smile.

She grabbed a credit card from her wallet and held it up. “No, but I’ve read about it in enough books, and I’ve always wanted to try it. Stand back and give me some room to work.”

“Before you break your card,” I said as I put a hand on her arm, “I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t we call Gina and have her unlock it for us?”

“What fun is that?” Maddy asked as she put her credit card away.

“Well, the way I figure it, we’ve had enough fun for one day, don’t you think?” I got my phone out of my pocket and dialed Gina’s direct number. It was nice having such direct ties with the complex’s manager. It had to save us a lot of energy and effort not running around in circles trying to make things happen, and at the moment, time was the one thing we didn’t have a lot of.

I was thrilled when Gina answered on the first ring. I didn’t want to give my sister any excuse to try that credit card trick. Knowing her, it would probably end up breaking and we’d still be on the wrong side of the door.

“Go,” Gina answered, instead of saying hello.

“Where exactly am I supposed to go?” I asked.

“Who is this? The number’s blocked on my phone.”

“It’s Eleanor. Did I call at a bad time?”

“No, you’re fine,” Gina said, her voice instantly relaxing. “I had to step away from the property for a few minutes, and my telephone won’t stop ringing. Is there anything I can do for you, Eleanor?”

“If you’re not around, I can ask you later.” I hated to interrupt her rare time away from Tree-Line.

“Nonsense. I’ve always got time for you. All you have to do is ask.”

“This should only take a second. Do you happen to know if the police department has already released the greenroom space where Luigi was killed?”

“I haven’t heard. Let me make a quick call and get back to you.”

She hung up before I could even thank her for her time.

I turned to Maddy and said, “I don’t envy her the job she’s got. She must always be on the clock. When we finish our pizzas, the time we have left is all ours.”

“I don’t know,” Maddy said. “I think it might be fun sometimes to be in charge of so many people.”

“You’re welcome to it,” I said. “I have enough on my hands as it is with three people on my staff. She must have dozens working here.”

“Do you honestly think there’s that many?”

“There’s no doubt in my mind. Besides the front desk and the restaurant staff, I can’t imagine how many maids she has on her payroll.”

“Don’t forget security,” Maddy said.

“There’s that group, too. What made you think of them?”

She pointed behind me. A big beefy man in his late forties with gray hair was approaching, and from his blazer with the resort logo on it and the way he carried himself, I had a hunch that we were about to meet the head of the department.

“We have every right to be here,” I said quickly before he could throw us out. “I just called Gina, your manager, and she’s trying to find out if we can get in the greenroom.”

The big man smiled, and though he might have been trying to make it look nonthreatening, I wasn’t certain that he could do it on his best day, let alone when a murder happened right under his nose and on his watch that afternoon. “That’s why I’m here. I’ve been instructed to let you in, and do anything else I can in my power to help.”

“Wow, that’s a dangerous offer,” Maddy said as she stepped toward him. “I’m Maddy Spencer, and this is my sister, Eleanor Swift.”

“I know who you ladies are, by reputation, if nothing else.”

“I hope it’s not all bad,” I said with a slight smile.

“On the contrary, my boss speaks very highly of you both. I’m Hank White, by the way.” Before he unlocked the door, he said, “I meant what I said. I’d like to offer any help I can in solving this case.”

I was about to ask him how he knew we were digging into the murder when I realized that Gina had to have told him. “We’re strictly amateurs,” I said. “You should offer any help you can give to the police.”

“I did, but they weren’t interested,” Hank said matter-of-factly. “I used to be a cop a long time ago, so I might be of some assistance.”

“That’s great,” I said. “Let me ask you something. Who had access to this room today? Do you know?”

“Well, as you know, each contestant got a key card that was set to this lock,” he said as he swiped his electronic key through the slot. It didn’t work the first time he slid it through, so he tried it again as he said, “You’re really the only ones who had access.”

“Besides you, the other senior staff, and the caterers, you mean,” I said.

“Point taken,” Hank said as he stopped what he was doing and shot me with his finger. “It wasn’t as secure as I would have hoped after the fact, but then again, no one considered the possibility that someone might be murdered inside.”

“Are there any security cameras around here?” I asked as I looked around the auditorium.

“That’s a good question,” Maddy said as she patted my back. There wasn’t a trace of condescension in it.

“I agree, but I’m sorry to say that the answer is no. Our security cameras are in the lobby, sections of the parking lot, the main hallways, and the restaurant entrance. They were set up in case we were ever robbed, more than anything else. I lobbied for more cameras throughout the property, but that budget was cut so they could fill the atrium with trees and lights.”

“You have to admit that they are quite lovely,” Maddy said.

“They are, but they don’t make my job any easier,” he responded.

“So, have you been able to come up with any suspects?” Maddy asked. “I know that you must have been thinking about it.”

“Maddy, I don’t know that that’s a fair question to ask him,” I said.

“It’s fair enough,” Hank said. “Unfortunately, as far as I’ve been able to tell from what I’ve learned so far, it could have just as easily been any of you.”

I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of being investigated by so many different people, but there wasn’t much I could do about it at the moment. Besides, Maddy and I knew that we were innocent, so that helped.

“That’s fair enough,” I said as he finally opened the door, and Maddy and I walked inside. The greenroom had changed quite a bit since the last time I’d seen it. The tables and chairs were now positioned in different places, and all of the food and beverages had been removed. In fact, besides the little bit of furniture that was still there, the room was nearly stripped down to the walls and the carpet. Had Kevin taken everything with him as evidence? I was going to have a hard time finding any clues, given the state of the place, and then I noticed the carpet.

Were those bloodstains? I knelt down and got a closer look. A section of the carpeting had been cut out, for testing no doubt, but there was enough of the stain still there.

Maddy put a hand on my shoulder. “That’s kind of creepy, staring at bloodstains like that,” she said.

“They aren’t bloodstains,” Hank and I said at the same time.

“My, did you two work that out ahead of time?” Maddy asked.

“No, it’s pizza sauce,” I said. I started to wet my finger and dip it in when Hank said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Why not? He wasn’t poisoned, was he?”

Hank was about to say something when I heard another voice behind him. “As a matter of fact, yeah, it turns out that he was.”