Sinister Sprinkles (24 page)

“You know you can trust me,” he said.

My laughter echoed in the tight confines of the Jeep.

“Suzanne,” he said, the scolding in his voice evident.

“Be very careful right now,” I said.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” he said. “Seriously though, did you find anything else? I might be able to help you, if I know what you’ve found out so far.”

I had to admit that Max might have some insights that could help our investigation. “Okay, here’s what we’ve got so far. Wilma claims Darlene stole from her at Cutnip, and we all know what kind of temper Wilma has. Lester Moorefield was paying her an informant’s fee for dirty gossip around town, and we think she might have threatened to tell Wilma about the arrangement. Since she was Lester’s last sponsor, that could be a motive for murder.”

“Anybody else make your list?” Max asked. He hesitated, then added, “Besides me, I mean.”

I let that one go. “There’s her cousin Taylor, but I’m not sure how viable a suspect he is. To be honest with you, I don’t have much information about him, but he’s been hanging around April Springs a lot lately, and from what we’ve heard, he was the executor of his great-aunt’s estate until she changed it to Darlene at the last second.”

“Wow, I’m not sure I even want to know what you and your friends have on me.”

“Believe me, your name has come up in our discussions of suspects several times.”

“George and Grace never liked me,” he said.

I swerved the Jeep—though nothing was in the road—nearly dumping Max onto the floor.

“Hey, take it easy.”

“Sorry, there was a dog in the road.”

He didn’t believe me, and I didn’t care.

After a few moments, Max said, “Who else made your list?”

“There are a few people we haven’t talked about much yet. Darlene’s roommate could have done it.”

“Kimmi? You’re kidding, aren’t you? She wouldn’t hurt a charging bull if she had a stick of lit dynamite in her hand.”

“You know her, do you?”

“We’ve met,” Max said, a little too cryptically for my taste. “Who else is on your list?”

“That’s it,” I admitted. “If someone else did it, they’re flying under the radar.”

“I might have a few ideas of my own,” he said.

“Go on. I’m willing to listen.”

“We can talk after I get the money,” Max said.

“What’s the matter, Max? Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do. Would I have come to you if I didn’t?”

I shook my head. “From the sound of it, you didn’t really have much choice, did you? You were running out of options, and fast.”

“I had other people I could ask for help,” he said. “But I chose you.”

“Then tell me who else you suspect,” I said as I pulled back into town.

“Let me get my thoughts in order a little first,” he said.

We drove through April Springs in silence. As I neared my driveway, I slowed down to a crawl as I spotted a squad car through the evergreen trees.

“Max, I think Chief Martin’s at my house.”

Without a word, the back flap opened and Max slipped out.

“What about the money?” I called out.

But it was too late.

Max was gone.

Again.

*   *   *

“Where have you been?” my mother asked me as I walked into the house. “I’ve been calling your cell phone for the last two hours. Suzanne, why do you even have one if you’re not going to answer it?”

I pulled my phone out of my purse, ignoring Chief Martin for the moment. “The battery’s dead. I’m having a hard time holding a charge lately. Sorry, I’ll get it fixed tomorrow.”

“Phillip wants to speak with you,” Momma said.

“Hello, Chief,” I said as I turned toward him. “What can I do for you?”

“You can start by telling me why you drove to Union Square, then turned around and came back without stopping anywhere along the way.”

Had someone seen Max with me, despite his precautions? No, if they had, the chief would have led off with a very different question for me.

“Are you actually following me?”

“I’m the one asking questions here,” Martin said.

My mother stared hard at him. “I’d like to know the answer to that question myself. You’re here by my favor. The only thing you told me was that it was important that you speak with Suzanne.”

“Pardon me, Dorothy, but I don’t need your blessing to talk to your daughter any time I want to.”

My mother was openly glaring at him now, and I was glad her gaze wasn’t pointing at me. She said, “Perhaps not, but if you wish to remain on good terms with me, you might want to appease our curiosity and answer Suzanne’s question. Do you have an officer following her?”

He seemed to chew the question over in his mind, and I knew the fact that the chief’s yearning for my mother hadn’t lessened any over the years was weighing heavily in his response. He was going to answer, and all three of us knew it.

Finally, he shrugged and said, “One of my officers was in Union Square, and he spotted Suzanne’s odd behavior.”

“How did he happen to be there in the first place?” I asked.

“He wasn’t following you, and I told him not to tail you when you turned around and came straight back here. I don’t work that way, and you know it. My officer called me out of curiosity, but he was there with his family, not there to watch you.”

I had to believe that, since Max hadn’t been apprehended the second he’d left my Jeep. At least I hadn’t heard of it happening, and I figured the chief would have mentioned that particular turn of events with real pride in his voice.

“Now, it’s your turn,” he said. “What happened?”

It was time to lie, and this time, I didn’t feel bad about doing it at all. “I was going to eat at Napoli’s, but then I changed my mind at the last second.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t feel like eating alone,” I said.

He scratched his chin. “Okay, we’ll leave that for now. What are you and your friends up to? I heard you and Grace were at Darlene’s house the other day. You’re not snooping into my murder investigation, are you?”

“We were looking for a place to live,” I said, recalling Grace’s excuse to search Darlene’s room.

“You’re not leaving here, are you?” my mother asked, with more than a hint of hurt in her voice as she spoke.

“It’s for Grace,” I explained. “She’s tired of living alone.”

My mother looked relieved by the admission. “That’s fine, then.” She frowned, then said, “She could always come live with us on a permanent basis. It’s been lovely having her around.”

“The point may be moot,” I said. “There might be a big change in her life soon.”

The chief cleared his throat. “Ladies, can we get back to the subject?”

“I wasn’t aware there was one,” I said.

“We both know better than that. How did you find out where Muriel Stevens was hiding before my men did? And why didn’t you come to me straight away as soon as you knew, instead of going there yourself.”

I looked out the window, wondering if Max was out there, watching. I was getting tired of the chief’s questions, but I wasn’t at all sure I could refuse to answer. “I have hunches myself, you know,” I said. “It’s as simple as that.”

“Now why don’t I believe you?” the chief asked.

My mother had finally had enough. “That’s it, Phillip. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

He looked surprised by the request. “Dorothy, you told me I could talk to her when I came to the house.”

“You may talk, but so far, you’ve refused to accept a single answer she’s given you as the truth. We’re finished here.”

As she stood, so did the chief, albeit reluctantly.

I tried not to look at him, and diverted my gaze back to the window. I don’t know what kind of look might have passed between them, and frankly, I didn’t want to see it.

I didn’t turn around again until the door closed, and I saw Chief Martin walking down the steps, an angry scowl on his face.

“Thanks, Momma, I owe you one. I love the way you stood up to him.”

“You are my daughter, my only child. Of course I’m going to take up for you.” She paused, then added softly, “What exactly were you hiding from him?”

“What makes you think I wasn’t telling the truth?” I asked.

“Oh, please. I can tell when you’re lying from twenty miles away. There are a set of signals you give off that are like flares to me.”

“I’ll have to work on that then, won’t I?” I said with a smile.

“I’m still waiting for an answer.”

I thought about lying to her—I honestly did—but suddenly I found myself telling her about Max, and all he’d said to me.

After I was finished, she merely nodded. “As you know, I’m not Max’s biggest fan, but if you believe he was telling the truth, then I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when he says he didn’t kill that woman.”

“Why should you?”

“What?” she asked, obviously startled by the question.

I looked hard at her. “You said it yourself, you’re not a big Max supporter. So why do you believe him?”

She took my hands in hers. “Because you do, my dear. I trust your instincts.”

I was so flabbergasted, I didn’t know what to say. At least I was saved from an awkward response when the house phone rang.

“I’ll get that,” I said.

Momma beat me to it. “Nonsense. I’ve been expecting a call all afternoon.”

She spoke to the caller, then handed the phone to me. “It’s for you.”

“Is it Grace?” I was dying to hear from her, and I’d have to charge my telephone as soon as I could so she wouldn’t have to call the landline.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

I took the phone and said, “Hello?”

“Suzanne, this is Cara, from the radio station. I tried calling your cell phone, but it put me straight through to voice mail. Is it on?”

“The battery’s dead.”

“That makes sense. I looked up your home number, because this couldn’t wait. I’ve got something I need to tell you.”

“Go ahead, I’m listening.”

She hesitated, and I could see that Momma was watching me curiously. I shrugged, and she shook her head as she walked into the kitchen, giving me some privacy for my conversation.

“I’m not sure if I should do it over the phone,” she said.

“Nobody’s bugging my place,” I said. “So, unless your phone’s tapped, we should be fine. You’re not calling from the radio station, are you?”

“No, I’m on my cell phone in my car. Listen, I know I’m being paranoid, but Lester’s been acting strange ever since you left, and I’m getting a little worried.”

“Then perhaps you’d better tell me right now,” I said. I didn’t want anything to happen to Cara—I’d liked her from the start—but if she knew something, I wanted to hear it before anything could.

“You’re right. Here goes. I lied to you.”

“You wouldn’t be the first person to do that, even today,” I said. “What was it about in particular?”

“I told the police that Lester was broadcasting from the Winter Carnival, but that’s only partially true. He started his broadcast from there, but something happened to the live feed, and we had to go to the Best of Lest, his reruns we keep cued up just in case.”

“When did he go off the air?” I asked. “And where was the booth?”

“We set it up across the street from the newspaper. You know how he likes to goad Ray Blake.”

That would have put him within two hundred yards of the crime scene, which meant he had the opportunity to slip away and commit the murder.

“When did the broadcast break down?” This was a crucial bit of information. The timing was everything.

“I’ve got it right here,” she said. I could hear her flipping through pages, then she came back on the line and said, “I checked with a friend at the police department, so I was able to match his absence up with the time of the murder. The feed stopped nine minutes before the murder, and picked back up six minutes after the body was discovered.”

“So he could have easily done it,” I said, more to myself than to Cara.

She said, “That’s not all.”

“There’s more?”

Cara said, “I sent one of my techs out to check the equipment, and there was nothing wrong with any of it. The only way we could lose the feed like that is if Lester did it deliberately himself.”

CHAPTER 13

“Who was that?” Momma asked the second Cara and I hung up.

“It was just a friend of mine,” I said, not wanting to get into it all with my mother.

“I know all your friends, and that voice didn’t sound familiar,” she said. “Does she have a name?”

“She sure does,” I said, trying my best to ignore the direct question. “I’m starving. Is there anything to eat?”

My mother frowned at me. “That’s why I first started calling you this afternoon. I wanted to tell you that I was having dinner with Betty Mathis tonight, and that you’d be on your own. I suppose I can cancel, if you’d like me to.”

“Don’t be silly, Momma. Go eat with Betty. I know how much fun you two have when you’re together.”

“But what are you going to do for dinner?”

I laughed. “Momma, I’ve cooked for myself before. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

She patted my shoulder lightly. “I wish I could believe it.”

“You can,” I said, trying my best to reassure her that I was all right, though we both probably knew otherwise. I couldn’t stop thinking about Max, and what he’d said, and not just about the case, but about our relationship. It was clear Momma could sense that I was troubled, but I prayed she’d drop it.

I could tell she wanted to say something, but at that moment, we both heard a car horn out front. “That has to be Betty.”

She started for the door, then turned back to me. “You’re welcome to join us, you know.”

I would have rather taken a beating from two ugly men than go with them, but it would have been impolite to say so. “Thanks anyway, but it’s been a long day. I’m going to grab a quick bite, then go to sleep. I’ve been missing out on it lately.”

Momma paused at the door and said, “It’s been fun having Grace here with us though, hasn’t it?”

I nodded as the car horn sounded again.

Momma said, “She’s rather impatient tonight, isn’t she? I’m going to have to teach Betty a lesson one day about blowing her horn.”