Sugar Coated Sins (14 page)

Evidently Grace was under the
impression that it was.
 
“He was trying
to have you killed.
 
Did anyone ever tell
you that?”

“What?
 
Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, though it was
obvious from her expression that this wasn’t the first time that she’d heard that
particular bit of news.
 
“That’s complete
and utter nonsense.”

“Is it?” Grace asked.
 
“We have a police officer’s statement that
it’s true.”

“I don’t doubt that Benjamin might
have joked with someone about it, but he always had a twisted sense of humor.
 
I’m guessing that the person who overheard
his statement didn’t know him and assumed that it was true.
 
I’m here to tell you that it wasn’t, not one
little bit.
 
Now if you’ll excuse me, I
really do need to go.”

She might have been ready to get
rid of us, but I wasn’t going to let it happen just yet.
 
It was time to get as many questions in as I
could before we were shown the door.
 
“Where were you at the time he was murdered, and did you have access to
the time capsule before they buried it?”

I didn’t think she was going to
answer, but she looked at me steadily, then at Grace, and finally back to
me.
 
With a tone of complete defeat in
her voice, she said, “I was here when Benjamin died.
 
Where else would I be?
 
As for the time capsule, Benjamin and I donated
an engraved steel copy of the town’s event calendar to the cause, so I was
invited to the capsule’s interment, as my brother had been when we made the
donation.”

“But it was an invitation he’d
never live to accept, wasn’t it?” Grace asked.

Lisa Port Smith just shook her
head.
 
“Enough.
 
I need you both to leave.”
 
She stood at the door, holding it wide open
for us, and I realized that whether we liked it or not, Grace and I were
finished questioning the victim’s sister.

Chapter
16

“What do you think about her
answers?” I asked Grace as we walked around the building and back out to
Springs Drive.

“She wasn’t surprised by the news
that her brother wanted to have her killed,” Grace replied.
 
“I saw no reaction whatsoever that it was new
information to her.”

“I wasn’t sure if it was the right
time to bring it up or not,” I admitted.

“Me, either.
 
That’s why I decided to go ahead and pull the
trigger anyway.
 
What can I say?
 
I had an impulse to see what she’d do.
 
Sorry if I jumped the gun on it.”

“No, it was the right thing to
do.
 
That’s why this team needs you as
one of its members.
 
Between the two of
us, we make one good investigator.”

“Come on, I think we at least
deserve to be one and a half,” she said with a laugh.

“Okay, but that’s as high as I’m
willing to go,” I answered, grinning myself.

“So, Lisa knew about the proposed
hit.
 
The question is whether she knew it
about it before Benjamin Port was poisoned or afterward.”

“Because if it was before, she
might have acted to preempt his strike on her,” I said.

“Exactly.
 
How do we find that out?”

“We could always ask her, but I
doubt she’s going to be willing to speak with us again.
 
We pushed her a little hard, didn’t we?”

“What could we do, Suzanne?
 
If she wasn’t afraid to deflect when Jake interviewed
her, what chance did we have without being more insistent about getting
answers?”

“I know you’re right, but I still
feel a little uneasy about bullying people.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Grace
said.
 
“The question is, what do we do
now?
 
We’ve seen where Benjamin lived and
worked.”

“Technically we saw an apartment
like the one where he once lived,” I corrected her.

“Do you think Betty would let us
peek into the one next door?
 
What could
it hurt, since the current tenant isn’t even in town?”

“Forget it,” I said.
 
“Unless we have a more substantial reason to
go snooping there rather than our idle curiosity, we’ll have to do without a
tour.”

“I suppose you’re right.
 
Seeing Betty’s place didn’t help our
investigation, and speaking with Lisa wasn’t much better.
 
If feels as though we’re spinning our wheels
again, Suzanne.”

“You know as well as I do that’s
the way these investigations go at times,” I reminded her.
 
“Remember, if it were easy, everyone would be
doing it.”

“Would they, though?” she asked me
with the hint of a smile.
 
“Do you think
the average resident of April Springs has some hidden desire to be a crime
fighter, to bring punishment to the murderers of the world, or is it just us?”

“I think you’d be surprised if you
knew what was in people’s hearts,” I said.
 
“Just about everybody wants to live in a world where justice prevails.”

“How could you possibly know
that?” Grace asked me.

“Well, it’s not like I’ve taken a
survey or anything, but it stands to reason, doesn’t it?
 
I’ve seen some awfully selfless acts in my
lifetime.”

“And I’ve seen enough selfish ones
to counterbalance all of those and more,” Grace added.

“Either way, we’ll never really
know, so there’s no point in debating it.
 
The real question is what do we do next?”

“I was hoping you’d ask,” Grace
said.
 
“I actually have an idea.”

“Well, don’t keep it to
yourself.
 
Let’s hear it, because I’m all
out of plans at the moment.”

“That’s another good reason there
are two of us, Suzanne.
 
So far, we’ve
spoken with our core group of suspects.
 
Now I think it’s time that we really started pushing them.”

“How exactly do you propose that
we do that?” I asked.
 
“Short of accusing
each one of them of murder, I feel as though we’ve already backed each one of
them against the wall.
 
There’s something
else that we need to remember: we have to live with these people after this
case is over.”

“All but one of them, at any
rate,” Grace said.
 
“I see your point,
though.”
 
After a few more steps, she
asked, “Should we make one of our famous lists?
 
You know, one that includes motive, means, and opportunity?”

“That’s what’s so frustrating
about this case,” I answered.
 
“It’s been
so long since it happened that it’s difficult to see any nuance in
anything.
 
Let’s break things down as we
walk.
 
We’ve already established the
motives for each of our suspects.
 
As to
opportunity, anyone could have fed Benjamin something that was poisoned, even
Judge Hurley.”

“How could he have managed it?”
Grace asked.

“What if he gave Benjamin something
to eat as a peace offering, admitting that he’d been wrong about their
dispute?
 
Ben would have probably
relished eating it in front of him.
 
As
for the others, as far as we know, Ben had no reason to suspect that someone
was trying to poison him.
 
If it was one
of the women he’d been dating, it would be easy enough.
 
Even his sister could give him something
without arousing his suspicions.”

“That leaves the means.
 
Who had access to poison strong enough to
murder the man?
 
It would help a great deal
if we knew exactly what it was that killed him, but without a body to exhume,
the possibility of doing an autopsy is gone forever,” Grace said.

“It’s awfully convenient for Lisa
that happened, isn’t it?” I asked her.

“Just because she’s the one who
ordered it doesn’t mean that she’s the killer,” Grace reminded me.
 
“For all we know, the cremation could have
been Benjamin Port’s last request.”

“It would be nice to be able to
trust her, but I don’t see that happening unless we learn something that clears
her unequivocally.”

“I don’t think that’s going to
happen.
 
At this point, my money’s
actually on her.”

“Grace, we can’t jump to
conclusions without more facts.”

“How are we going to get those?”

At that moment, my cellphone
rang.
 
Could it be Jake, calling to check
in with us?
 
No. Instead, it was Gabby
Williams.
 
What could she possibly
want?
 
Unfortunately, there was only one
way to find out.

“Hi, Gabby.
 
What’s up?”

“Suzanne, I need you to drop
whatever you’re doing and come by my shop this instant.”
 
Her voice sounded urgent.

“What happened?
 
Is someone there?”

“I’ll tell you when you
arrive.
 
Come alone.”

She hung up before I could get
anything else out of her.
 
“What was that
all about?” Grace asked me as I put my phone away.

“Gabby needs me at the store,” I
said.

“Want me to tag along?”

I frowned.
 
“She specifically asked me to come
alone.
 
I don’t like it.”

“That’s it.
 
Suzanne, I’m coming with you,” Grace said.

“No.
 
It’s probably nothing.
 
Tell you what.
 
If I get there and everything’s okay, I’ll call
you and cancel the cake order.”

“We’re having cake?” she asked
me.
 
“What’s the occasion?”

“There is no cake,” I said.

“That’s so sad.
 
If we’re not having cake, why did you just
bring it up?”

“It’s a good way for me to tell
you that I’m okay.”

“Here’s a thought.
 
You don’t have to get my hopes up by
mentioning cake.
 
Just say, ‘Everything
is okay here.
 
False alarm.’”

“I don’t want Gabby thinking that
I’m being paranoid.”

“Fine.
 
There’s just one problem.”

“What’s that?” I asked her.

“Now I want cake.”

“Grace, we both know that if we
did get a cake, you’d have a sliver and I’d end up eating the lion’s share of
it.”

“Fine.
 
No cake for anyone.
 
What a miserable way to compromise.
 
I’ll look forward to your call.”

“What are you going to do while I’m
at Gabby’s?”

“Who knows?”

“You’re not getting cake, are
you?” I asked.

“I refuse to answer on the grounds
that I might incriminate myself,” she answered with a grin.

I was still laughing as I walked
down to ReNEWed, where Gabby ran her business.
 
Though Grace and I had been teasing each other, Gabby Williams had been
quite serious.
 
What had gotten her so
upset?
 
I wasn’t sure what it might be,
but I had a feeling that I was about to find out.

“Are we alone?” I asked Gabby
softly after walking into her gently used clothing store.
 
I couldn’t see a soul in sight, but that
didn’t necessarily mean that no one else was there.

“Do you see anyone else,
Suzanne?
 
Honestly, why are you acting so
strangely?”

“I never know,” I said as I pulled
out my cellphone and called Grace.
 
“It’s
okay,” I said, forgetting all about our code phrase.

“Suzanne, are you in trouble?
 
I can be there in ninety seconds.”

“Cancel the cake,” I said
quickly.
 
“Cancel the cake.”

“Okay.
 
Got it.
 
Talk to you later.”

As I put my cellphone away, I
found Gabby staring at me.
 
“What was
that all about?
 
Why did you order a
cake, and then cancel it?”

“It’s a long story,” I said, not
really wanting to get into it with her.
 
“What’s so important that you needed to see me immediately?”

“It’s over there,” she said,
pointing to her checkout counter.
 
On top
of it was a box marked simply BEN.
 
I was
more than a little relieved to see that the block lettering on the box wasn’t
anything like the writing we’d found in the confession letter.
 
It wasn’t perfect proof that Gabby hadn’t
done it, but it was something.

“What’s this?” I asked as I walked
over to the cardboard box.

“It’s filled with my memories of
Ben.
 
I have one for every man I’ve ever
dated for an extended period of time.”

I would have loved to inventory
that particular storeroom, but then again, maybe it wasn’t the greatest idea in
the world.
 
I decided to withhold
judgment until I actually saw what kind of mementos Gabby kept of her old
loves.

I peeked inside, not sure what I
might find, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it contained letters,
booklets, flyers, takeout menus, a rather unusual stuffed animal, and an odd
assortment of other seemingly random papers and knickknacks.
 
“Was there anything in particular that you
wanted me to see?” I asked her.

“It’s on top,” Gabby said as she
pushed past me and reached into the opening.
 
She retrieved a torn calendar page and handed it to me.
 
It was from a weekly logbook, and there were
several things circled on it.

“How did you happen to get this?”
I asked her.

“I asked Lisa for a few things
after he died, and she gladly obliged.
 
From the impression I got at the time, I believe that she would have
been happy to dispose of everything Ben owned.
 
I just wanted things that meant something to me, though.”

“So, why this page in particular?”

“It’s from the week he died.
 
See the circled notation?
 
That was what turned out to be our final
date.”

I checked the page and saw a date
three days previous to his demise circled.
 
Within the circle, he’d written, “G.W. NA.”

“The first are obviously your
initials.
 
What does the NA stand for?”

“Napoli’s,” she said.
 
“Ben liked to use his own version of
shorthand to keep track of things.”

I had another rationale for why
he’d done it.
 
G.W. NA. could be explained
in other ways if someone else got possession of his calendar.
 
If he truly had been dating that many women,
some sort of code to record it all was essential to not getting caught.
 
I scanned the page and saw a few more entries
for H.F. and H.M., no doubt Hilda Fremont and Hillary Mast.
 
I almost dismissed the rest of the calendar
entries when I saw that one set had been erased, at least partially,
anyway.
 
Taking a pencil, I lightly
scraped its leaded tip across the entry, and very faintly, I found another set
that of initials puzzled me:
 
J.K.
 
Who might that be?
 
The only name that matched anyone I’d spoken
to about his murder was Jan Kerber, the Register of Deeds.
 
Had she been dating Ben as well?
 
I almost said something about it to Gabby
when I noticed that something else had been erased just below her name.
 
I peered at it for a moment before I realized
it was a time:
 
7:45 a.m.
 
That was certainly an odd time for a romantic
rendezvous.
 
Was it possible they’d been
meeting about something else?
 
If so, why
erase it?
 
Had the meeting been cancelled
and Ben had done it himself, or had someone else tried to disguise the fact
that the two of them were meeting in the first place?
 
I suddenly had a new set of questions for Jan
Kerber.