Murder Served Cold (10 page)

Watching the dance crew perform, I came to a realization. It was one that I didn’t like. “I think Tim’s the killer,” I said softly.

“What?” Jade cupped her hand to her ear. The music was pumping at full volume as Corey performed an impressive move on the dance floor. He had returned a few minutes ago.

I whispered it into her ear, not wanting my opinion to be the talk of the town.

“I thought we agreed he wasn’t.” Her eyes widened. “It would sense. He could have slipped out for a few minutes without anyone noticing. Stab your father and return to work.” Her shoulders sank. “I wish it didn’t make sense.”

“Tim was lying when he said he’d found Colleen lying in her house. He had easy access to the crime scene both times. He wasn’t a fan of his father, and he’s the only other person who knew about Colleen.”

“Why kill her, though?” Jade questioned.

“I think he believes that she influenced Rodger when they were younger, driving him to become a selfish person. When I was talking with him earlier, he told me how Colleen had had everything growing up and Rodger was given nothing. He was neglected while Colleen was doted upon. Tim was very bitter when he told me that,” I said, remembering the hatred in his eyes when he was talking about his father’s childhood. We had discussed that after I assured him that’s he’d make something with his life. I guess my talk hadn’t been convincing enough.

Jade gritted her teeth. “I can’t believe I hired a murderer to work at my shop. And, Tim, of all people!”

Just then, Corey swooped by and offered his hand to Jade. They danced to a slow song while I finished my food. I clapped with everyone else when the song was over.

Jade was bright red when she returned to our table.

“Corey!” I called out. Jade tried to hush me, but I waved him over. Instead of teasing him about Jade, like she’d thought I was about to do, I told him my suspicions about Tim. Corey swiftly nodded and said he’d check it out, although he thought that the police would already be doing that since I had told them that Tim had found Colleen.

Corey danced by our table while we were eating desert — ice cream sundaes with brownie bits sprinkled on top. “They checked out Tim. Let’s keep this between ourselves, but it ended up that the Becker family was in the middle of a heated argument. Word will be out about this at any minute, knowing how fast news travels around here. We just don’t need to add to the rumors.”

“What happened?” Jade asked, worried.

“They were arguing over who would take care of a crazy family member. Apparently Rodger left behind a letter, detailing all the horrible stuff his sister had done to him. Who knows how much of it is true. Anyway, the family sent Tim to see how she was doing. He went into the house, found her dead on the floor, freaked out, and ran. A neighbor saw him drive up and go into the house, saw you guys drive up, and so on. According to the medics, Colleen was dead for an hour before Tim entered the house. He’s clear.”

He danced away to rejoin his crew for the next number.

“I can’t believe I had it wrong,” I said. I’d been so sure. It had all added up.

Jade had a look of relief on her face. She twisted a strand of her chin-length dark hair. “I’m glad it’s not Tim. He deserves a good life.”

“I agree.” I
was
glad that Tim was innocent.

I caught the sight of an ordinary man walking by and I hid a smile. “Ruben!” I called out. He came over. “See? I recognized you.”

He smiled ruefully. “I’ve overestimated my blending-in skills. I was on my way to The Friendly Mart, but they were closed. I cut my losses and I’m here at The Parrot Tree. It’s a pity. Do you think The Parrot sells snow cones?”

“Closed…” The mention of a snow cone jogged something in my memory. “Where do the Friendlys live?”

Ruben gave me their address and I raced over there after telling Jade my suspicions. Marina was tossing a duffel bag into her car when I arrived at her house.

“Hey, Ruby,” she greet me.

I caught my breath. “I know your story.”

Her smile faded. “What?”

I played it straight. “You stabbed Rodger and Colleen.”

A nondescript car pulled into a space across the street. Marina didn’t pay any attention to it. I knew, however, who was driving it and why he were there. The windows were slightly rolled down.

She kept a careful poker face as Dominic came out of their house with a suitcase. “Start the car,” she told him.

“You couldn’t handle taking care of Colleen anymore,” I said. “It was too much of a drain on you, on Dominic, and on your resources.”

Dominic twitched.

“And what did you get in return? Free rent. You learned that it wasn’t really free after all. It took no money to pay for your store, but it took way more heavy work to pay for it. Rodger would call you every time Colleen needed help. Every time you went over, she never wanted the help, which made it so much harder to give her what she needed. That stress wore on you. The secrecy of it all wore on you. It wore and wore until you couldn’t take it a second longer.”

“So what if it wore?” Marina put a hand on her hip. “It would wear anyone out, being there for someone who didn’t want help, but who desperately needed it. Do you know how many times she sleepwalked out of her house and a neighbor called us to come and collect her because Colleen refused to let anyone in her house in that state? And she put her foot down on having a spare key hidden outside, because that would attract robbers. She found every key we hid within days of hiding them.”

“You couldn’t take it anymore and as much as Colleen tired you, you knew it wasn’t her fault. This was Rodger’s fault,” I said.

“That’s right,” said Marina as Dominic started the car.

“So you stabbed him to give him a dose of his own medicine.”

Marina laughed without humor. “Wouldn’t you have done the same?”

I needed to get her confession, so I kept talking. “Why did you do it?”

“What do you mean, why did I do it? I did it for every reason you mentioned. I’ve been in this unfortunate position for years and one day, I snapped. I saw Rodger at our store in the morning and knew I couldn’t look at his ugly face one more time, so I grabbed a knife and when the opportunity presented itself, I took it.” Marina’s face was flushed.

The car turned off. Dominic slowly came out of it. “Why did you kill Colleen?” he asked his wife with a mix of confusion, hurt, and some understanding.

“You heard the family. They didn’t want anything to do with Colleen. They believed the lies Rodger gave them. They thought she was out of her mind and you know what, maybe she was. It wasn’t her fault, though. She couldn’t control herself. She didn’t know what she was doing.” Marina’s shrugged. “I wanted to send her to a better place because if I didn’t, she would have been taken from her home and placed in an institution or something where she wouldn’t have known anyone and no one would be there to care for her the way we did.”

Dominic took Marina’s hands. “I wish you had told me this earlier.” He pulled a stack of cash out of his pocket. “I found something to hold us over. It wouldn’t have lasted forever, but it would have given us a start.”

I gasped. “That’s the wildlife preserve money.”

“It’s still going to a good cause,” he insisted. “Or, it would have been. Here.” He returned the money to me. “I don’t think we need it anymore.”

Sirens rang out and the Friendlys scrambled into their car. I jumped out of their way and they got a good start before the police pulled onto their street and blocked their escape.

Ruben Grimes got out of the car parked across the street, holding a recording device. “I got the confession!”

I was sitting on the steps outside Jade’s apartment, drinking hot tea, when Kevin called. A robin flew past me, chirping merrily.

The police had caught up with the Friendlys before they got far and Red Palm was safe for another day.

“I know why we didn’t work out,” Kevin said. “I’m the free-spirited artist with a pottery studio, but I don’t act like it. I’ve got the personality of a banker — predictable, steady. You’re the one with the artist mentality.”

“I’m not an artist, though,” I said.

“We’re opposites. They attract and they can work, just not with us,” said Kevin.

I shook my head. “I wish it would’ve. It would have been easy.”

“No, and I’m starting to see why you changed your mind about our engagement. It would be the easiest thing in the world to stay together. When something that’s easy is so hard to do, you know there’s something not right. Not wrong, just not easy anymore. We could work and work and we’d come to a happy medium, but at the end of the day, we’d be compromising our happiness. I was willing to do that. I was willing to take the easy way out. You weren’t, and for that, I have to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

“The past couple of days, my heart has been racing. I forgot the feeling it makes when it beats. You reintroduced passion into my life because you helped me see that letting things happen to you isn’t really living. You helped me see what’s worth fighting for.”

I watched the robin fly around the apartment complex after Kevin and I hung up. After a while Jade came out and joined me on the steps. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I said.

A comfortable silence followed as the world began to wake up. The sun steadily rose in the sky and I felt a cool breeze sweep my shoulders.

“Did you decide?” Jade asked.

Tim’s family had decided not to renew the lease with the Friendlys. Marina was going to be behind bars for a long time and Dominic was moving to be closer to his family. He didn’t blame Marina for her choices. They both had grown to love Colleen as their own adult daughter and it was difficult for them to see her biological family reject her. They had only rejected her because Rodger had spread false stories about Colleen. He hadn’t wanted anything to do with her and didn’t want his family to form a closer attachment to Colleen than they had with him.

Rodger was a selfish person who didn’t listen to other people’s opinions. He didn’t care about other people, so they didn’t care about him. His caustic personality and bullying business practices drove them away.

With the store empty, Tim Becker and his mother offered a low rate to me if I wanted to rent it out. They told me they were appreciative of my efforts to find Rodger’s killer. I agreed to rent the store on a whim, without the slightest idea of what to put inside it. I figured that my recent choices had been spur-of-the-moment and they had served me well. What was one more decision like that?

“I’m signing the papers this afternoon,” I responded.

Jade clapped. “Good for you! Now we’re shop neighbors.”

I grinned. Here I was, in a new place, with my best friend, and embarking on a new adventure. Running a store was something I had never seen in my future. It seemed to fit, though. I was excited for what lay ahead.

Things were looking up.

Click to read the next book, Murder Close to Home.

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