Digging for Dirt (Heavenly Highland Inn Cozy Mystery Book 9) (5 page)

V
icky and Ida
pushed aside some of the crime scene tape and stepped inside Freida’s room. One of the first things Vicky noticed was the empty food tray on the table. Vicky knew that the food had been collected out of caution, but it still made her a little uneasy. She couldn’t imagine taking a bite of food one moment and then dying the next. At least she was certain that Chef Henry’s pasta was some of the best that Freida had likely ever eaten.

“Look at this, Vicky.” Ida hovered beside the bed.

“What is it?” Vicky joined her. Ida pointed out some papers that were sticking out from under the bed. Vicky found this odd as the staff kept the rooms impeccable, and that included under the bed. Ida crouched down and pulled the papers out. They were crumpled up. Ida handed one of the papers to Vicky and began smoothing out the other one herself. Vicky read over the text on the paper. It seemed to be the introduction of an article.

With the number of lies being bantered about on the campaign trail, please allow me to interject some honesty.

“What does yours say?” Vicky asked. She peered over her aunt’s shoulder.

“It’s similar, just worded differently. She must have been trying to figure out the best introduction.” Ida set the paper down under the bed where she had found it. “I guess this article isn’t ever going to see the light of day.”

“I guess not.” Vicky frowned. A buzzing sound alerted Vicky to a cell phone ringing. She followed the buzzing and crouched down to see the phone on the floor. It had fallen under the bedside table. Vicky picked up the phone nervously. She didn’t want to be the one to notify next of kin, but she knew that if she was a friend or family member, she would want to know. The caller ID indicated that it was ‘Heather’. She answered the call.

“Hello?” Vicky spoke tentatively.

“I’m sorry I must have dialed the wrong number, I’m trying to reach Freida Frans.”

“You have the right number. May I ask who’s calling?”

“This is her editor, Heather. Why do you have Freida’s phone?” The woman’s voice raised with urgency.

Vicky cringed as she knew that there was no easy way to put this. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but Freida passed away this morning.” Vicky tried to be as gentle as possible.

“What? Is this some kind of joke?” Heather demanded.

“No, I’m sorry it’s not. My name is Vicky, I’m one of the owners of the inn she was staying at. I’m afraid we found her this morning, she had passed away some time during the night.” Vicky looked over at Ida who nodded her head in support.

“Oh no! This can’t be happening! I knew it! I knew that bastard would kill her!” Heather sounded hysterical. Vicky couldn’t understand everything she was saying.

“So far it looks like she died of natural causes, there’s no indication of foul play.” Vicky tried to get her message across, but Heather had already hung up the phone.

Vicky felt a dull ache begin in the center of her chest. Was Heather the same person that Freida had been on the phone with when she said she wasn’t afraid of Roman Blade? Vicky pushed the thought out of her mind. The clearest assumption was that Freida had died of natural causes. She led a very stressful life, and perhaps that stress had finally caught up with her.

“What did she say?” Ida asked. She could tell from Vicky’s wide eyes that it had been unexpected.

“She said she knew that bastard would kill her,” Vicky explained. “At least that’s what I think she said. It was hard to tell as she was so upset.”

“We’ll know soon enough if there was anything suspicious about her death.” Ida sighed. “It looks like there isn’t much more to see in here.”

“She hadn’t even slept in her bed.” Vicky looked at the perfectly made bed. “We’d better get downstairs, I have a feeling a few guests are going to want to check out.” Vicky headed for the elevator. “We also don’t want to be caught in here.”

“I’ll be right down, I’m just going to change.” Ida headed for her room.

Alone in the elevator Vicky thought about the last time she had spoken to Freida. It hadn’t been a very pleasant exchange. She wished that she had been a little kinder to the woman. Perhaps she had been too quick to judge her. Just because she promoted gossip, that didn’t make her a bad person. As Vicky stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor, she felt an increasing sense of dismay. She didn’t want to face the guests who would have plenty of questions.

As she walked out into the lobby she noticed there were a few people milling about. They seemed to be watching the coroner’s van and gossiping to each other. Vicky caught sight of Monica sitting at a table outside. She was stirring a cup of coffee and staring at the table. Vicky pushed open the glass door and walked quickly over to her.

“Are you doing okay, Monica?” She sat down beside her at the table.

“I don’t know.” Monica shook her head. “I just can’t believe this.”

“Maybe you should go home.” Vicky offered the suggestion gently. “You’ve had quite a shock.”

“No, it’s better if I keep working.” Monica winced. “Trust me.”

Vicky raised an eyebrow. “Is something wrong at home, Monica?”

“No, it’s just I’m so tired, and the baby is very clingy. I think it would just be better if I stayed until I was in a better state of mind.” Monica finally took a sip of her coffee.

“All right. Whatever feels right to you.” Vicky gave Monica’s hand a light squeeze. She remembered how difficult it was for Sarah with two young kids. The infant stage could be trying at times.

“Thanks, Vicky.” Monica grasped her cup of coffee tightly. “I just keep thinking about that poor woman. Maybe if I had just…”

“There is nothing that you could have done, Monica.” Vicky met her eyes with a sympathetic smile. “This was in no way your fault.”

Monica looked back at her with a guilty frown. “I guess you’re right.” She looked past Vicky towards the front desk. “It looks like someone needs you.”

Vicky turned to see a couple waiting impatiently at the front desk. “Okay. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks, Vicky.” Monica took another sip of her coffee.

Vicky walked inside and over to the front desk. She put on her most pleasant expression and prepared for the worst.

“How can I help you?” she asked.

“We would like to check out.” The woman smacked her room key down on the desk. Vicky jumped a little at the sharp sound.

“I understand. This morning’s events were disturbing.” Vicky used the room number to pull up the identity of the couple. The room was registered under Chandler Millers. “I’ll get you checked out as quickly as possible.”

“We aren’t leaving because of that,” the woman said with a snooty tone to her voice. “People die you know. That’s just a thing of life. But I can’t believe that you would allow such people to stay in your inn.” She raised her nose into the air.

“What?” Vicky was confused. “Who do you mean?”

“I mean that scoundrel, Roman Blade, everyone knows that he is a common criminal. Allowing him to stay here with his deceitful campaign manager is like promoting him and his campaign. When I heard that he was staying here I told my Chandler that we had to go right away.”

Chandler, who had yet to speak, lowered his eyes. Vicky grimaced. “We haven’t endorsed anyone for governor.” Vicky did her best to explain in a neutral tone.

“Like I said, renting him a room is the same as endorsing him. We will not stand for it.”

Vicky narrowed her eyes. “How do you know that he’s a criminal?”

“I can read, can’t I?” She laughed. She signed the receipt that Vicky handed her. “In fact I read all about the way he covered up his criminal activity. We don’t need more liars in positions of power, now do we?”

Vicky thought that she was being very harsh. But she knew that there were many people who were very passionate about the politicians they supported. She had no idea that Roman was such a controversial figure, but that would not have stopped him from being able to stay at the inn. Sarah and Vicky agreed that it wasn’t their place to judge a guest.

“Well, I’m sorry that we couldn’t continue to accommodate you.” Vicky handed them a business card. “If you’d like to stay with us in the future, please feel free to contact us at any time.”

“Hmph, I don’t see that happening.” The woman marched away from the front desk. Her husband trailed quietly after her. Vicky looked at them with dismay as she watched them go.

As she finished typing their reason for leaving in the records on the computer, her cell phone began to ring. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out. She could see that it was Mitchell calling. She smiled at the thought of hearing his voice.

“Hello?”

“Vicky, I’ve got something I have to tell you.” Mitchell rushed forward without even greeting her. Vicky knew instantly that it must be serious.

“What is it?” She listened closely.

“I just spoke with the coroner.” Mitchell’s voice was weighted with concern.

“What is it?” she asked again. “Not natural causes I guess?”

“No. It’s worse than that. Freida was poisoned.”

“Oh no! That’s horrible.” Vicky grimaced as she wondered who would do such a terrible thing. “I guess the police will have to investigate. How was she poisoned?”

“Vicky, Freida was killed by ingesting poisonous berries.” Mitchell paused a moment as the revelation sunk in. “They were in the fruit basket.”

“No,” Vicky said with disbelief. “How terrible!”

“Do you know where the fruit came from?”

“No idea, I found the basket on the front desk.” Vicky sighed with dread as she realized that the fruit basket she had asked Monica to deliver to the room had killed Freida. “Monica delivered it. I asked her to.”

“That’s strange!” Mitchell exclaimed. “The card that came with the basket said ‘With Compliments from the Management of the Heavenly Highland Inn. Sorry for any inconvenience caused by the disruption to dinner service.’”

“That’s impossible,” Vicky gasped. “We never arranged any fruit baskets for the guests.”

“Maybe Sarah…”

“No,” Vicky cut him off. “The basket was delivered to the inn. It had a room number and the address of the inn on the delivery slip.”

“Where’s the delivery slip?” Mitchell asked.

“We would have thrown it out already.”

“I’ll get the officers to see if they can find it in the trash.”

“I’ll double check the trash can, but I’m sure it’s been emptied, the trash was collected this morning.” Vicky cringed.

“So, you have no idea who the basket of fruit came from?”

“No,” Vicky said slowly. “I’ll try to find out, though.” Her heart began to pound harder.

“You need to leave this to the police! You can expect that there is going to be a thorough investigation. Someone put those berries in the fruit basket. I’m sure it was an accident. But it’s led to someone’s death so we are going to have to find out what happened.”

“I understand,” Vicky murmured. She could barely catch enough of a breath to speak at a normal level. Finding Freida dead was shocking enough, but to find out that she was poisoned by fruit apparently given to her as a gift from the inn was very upsetting, not to mention confusing.

“I’ll update you as much as I can, Vicky. Just be careful what you say and to whom, until all of this is settled. Okay?” She could tell by the tone of his voice that he expected an actual answer.

“Of course,” Vicky stated without conviction.

“Vicky, we’re sending out some officers to look into the situation more. I will be there as soon as I can. But whatever they ask you to do, you need to do. Showing cooperation will make things easier on the inn.” His voice hardened slightly. Vicky didn’t appreciate the commanding tone.

“I have to do what I have to do to protect my staff and the reputation of the inn, Mitchell. You and I both know that cooperation can sometimes lead to a false arrest, and statements being used against people.” Vicky sighed. She knew that she was taking her frustration and fear out on Mitchell, and that wasn’t fair. “I’m sure all of this will turn out to be some terrible mistake.”

“I’m sure it will, too. I’ll be there as soon as I can. All right?” His voice was warm with sympathy.

“All right. Thanks, Mitchell.” When Vicky hung up the phone she felt her heart sink. She knew that Mitchell had asked her to stay out of the investigation, but she needed to know the truth. She thought she would start by seeing if she could find out where the fruit was from.

When she reached the door to the kitchen, Sarah was there.

“How is everything going?” Sarah asked. Then she noticed Vicky’s grim expression. “What’s wrong?”

“Did you arrange for a fruit basket to be delivered to Freida from the inn?”

“No,” Sarah replied with a puzzled expression. “Why?”

“I just spoke to Mitchell,” Vicky explained gently. “The news isn’t good.”

“What is it?” Sarah asked with urgency.

“The coroner found the cause of Freida’s death. Poisonous berries, which were found in the fruit basket delivered to her room. Apparently, they were delivered with the compliments of the management of the Heavenly Highland Inn.”

“What?” Sarah’s eyes flew wide open. “That can’t be! How is that possible?”

“I don’t know, but the police found the note and the berries with the fruit that were in the basket,” Vicky explained. “Mitchell said that some officers will be here soon to start an investigation.”

“Unbelievable,” Sarah groaned. “This is terrible. That poor woman lost her life, and the inn is going to lose its good reputation.”

“Mitchell said to cooperate with the police, but it seems as if someone might be trying to frame us and I think we need to be very careful what we say.”

“You’re right.” Sarah nodded. She rubbed her cheeks in slow circles with her palms. Vicky could tell that she was close to exploding. She couldn’t even reassure her, because she was feeling the same way.

“I’d better call our lawyer.” Sarah frowned. “We need to know how to protect ourselves in this situation.”

“I’ll talk to Chef Henry and Aunt Ida to make sure they didn’t arrange the basket. Let me know what the lawyer says.” Vicky started to turn away, then paused. “Sarah, we’re going to figure this out. Everything is going to be fine.”