Green Living Can Be Deadly (A Blossom Valley Mystery) (21 page)

 

Drew lived in one half of a duplex on the south side of town. The paint was faded and the venetian blinds in the windows on her side were bent in places, but the yard was tidy and the flowers in the beds were fresh.

I rang the doorbell. After a moment, footsteps sounded from within and the door swung open. Drew blinked at me, momentary confusion written on her face.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said, her words slightly slurred.

Had I awoken her from a nap, or had she been drinking?

“Hi, Drew. I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by. Mind if I come in?” I stepped forward before she could give my request too much thought. She automatically moved back.

Three short steps brought me into a modestly furnished living room. The slightly stained brown carpet looked freshly vacuumed. The battered coffee table was recently polished. I settled onto the sofa and sank into the cushions. I noticed the slipcover felt crisp and new under my hands.

Drew stood near the couch, swaying slightly. I got a whiff of fruit mingled with the stronger odor of alcohol. Yep, she’d definitely been drinking. Any second, she might topple over like a mighty redwood at the hands of a saw blade.

I hurried across the room, removed a straight-backed chair from the corner, and then placed it behind her, easing the seat into the backs of her knees. She collapsed and stayed there. I reclaimed my spot on the sofa.

“You okay, Drew?” I asked, praying she didn’t slide off the chair and onto the floor. I wasn’t sure I could lift her, and I’d hate to leave her there.

Tears ran down Drew’s cheeks. “Nothing’s okay. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“What exactly are you talking about?”

Drew gave me an incredulous look as though I was the drunk one. “Wendy. She’s dead. And Preston.”

“Do you know something about that?” I scooted to the edge of the cushion. “If so, you need to tell the police. It might help them figure out who’s behind these deaths.”

Drew started to jab a finger in my direction, but then she let it fall back in her lap. “Don’t you think I want to? Kurt would kill me.”

I pressed my hands together.
Is she telling me that Kurt was responsible?
“Did Kurt murder his sister?” I whispered. My voice sounded deafening in the silent room.

More tears slid down her cheeks as she shook her head. “No. I got Wendy killed.”

My heart beat faster. “Are you saying that you did it?” I was still whispering, afraid Drew might clam up if I spoke too loud.

“No, but I blabbed to Marvin that all the money had disappeared at Invisible Prints. I know that’s why Wendy was killed.”

I nearly fell off the couch. Drew was the source of the anonymous tip? “The police don’t know for sure why Wendy was murdered,” I said. Though odds were good, the missing money was involved.

“The day after I told Marvin, Wendy got her throat slit. For all I know, he’s the one who did it.” She slumped down on her chair, sliding a bit.

I wondered if I should prop her back up, but I decided not to disrupt the conversation. “How did you know about the missing money, anyway?”

Drew hiccupped. “I’m thirsty.” She staggered to her feet, momentarily clutched the chair for balance, then lunged across the room in what, I could only assume, was the direction of the kitchen. I heard a refrigerator door open, bottles were clanking, and then the fridge door slammed shut. A
clink
here,
bang
there, and Drew reappeared, gripping a wine cooler in both hands as though it might slip out of her grip and run away.

I stared at the bottle, transfixed. She was drunk on wine coolers? I’d never been positive those things even contained alcohol.

Drew tried to sit back on the chair, missed, and fell to the floor, landing on her butt. “Good enough,” she mumbled. She licked where the wine cooler had sloshed out of the open bottle and spilled on her hand.

I thought about helping her up, but she looked pretty comfortable on the floor. “So how did you discover the money was missing?” I asked again.

She waved the bottle at me. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you?”

I put a hand to my chest. “Not at all. That’s why I need your help figuring everything out.” Time for a new tack. “How’d you meet Kurt?”

“At the bowling alley. My friend threw a singles party and we ended up on the same team. We can’t bowl at all, but we hit it off all right.”

“Were you working for Wendy then?”

Drew held up the bottle and studied the label. “Naw, I was in between jobs.”

I took the bottle from her hands and set it on the coffee table. “Did Kurt get you hired at Invisible Prints?”

She snorted. “Guess you’re not that smart after all.”

I worked to keep the exasperation out of my voice. “Why don’t you help me out here?”

“Kurt told me all about his sister. How she took everything he ever wanted his whole life. How she always kissed up to their mom and dad so they’d love her best. She even got their mom to leave all the money to her so poor Kurt was left flat broke.”

I’d heard all this before, but I nodded along to keep her talking. “What else did he tell you?”

“He knew she was a crook. Always had been. So he came up with this great idea to get back at her.”

“Tell me about it,” I said.

Drew hiccupped again. “Kurt saw an ad in the paper for a receptionist at Invisible Prints. He helped me dummy up a résumé, make some fake references. Then I lowballed my salary requirements. Kurt knew Wendy would want to hire cheap.” She let out a laugh and used the back of her hand to wipe the spit from her lip. “She even called one of my friends I’d listed as a reference, and my friend pretended she was some muckety-muck at a big company. And Wendy was dumb enough to believe her.”

I stiffened at this attack on my friend. “Wendy never struck me as dumb.”

Drew sniffled. “No, and now she’s dead.” She reached for the half-empty wine cooler on the coffee table and stared into its depths.

“What happened when you started working for Wendy?”

“Kurt was sure she was running a scam. Once I got hired there, he wanted me to spy on her. If I could find something that would prove she was a big phony, Kurt would expose her and ruin her reputation. I followed her to appointments and dug through company e-mails, but I never could find anything. Not until I went old-school.”

I waited, but Drew’s gaze focused on a stain on the carpet and stayed there.

“What did you do?” I asked.

Drew’s head snapped up. “What?” She took a swig from the bottle. “Oh, right, I went through the shredder clippings. Wendy bought these cheap-ass shredders for everyone. She thought ’cause it was crosscut that you couldn’t read anything once you shredded it, but you can. It’s just in shorter strips. The strips clump together sometimes, so it’s easy to figure out which strips go together.”

I made a mental note to replace the shredder at the farm. “And you found proof that Wendy was stealing?”

“I wasn’t sure what I’d found, but I told Marvin about it. I would have found it sooner, only it was the wrong shredder.”

Before I could ask what that meant, someone knocked on the door. I’d been so intent on what Drew was saying that I literally jumped, all my nerves springing to life. I stayed silent, willing Drew to do the same. Maybe a magazine salesman was at the door, one who would give up and go away, so we could get back to who had killed Wendy.

The knock came again, and Drew used the seat of the chair to rise, almost pulling the chair down on top of her instead.

“Wonder who that could be,” she said as she reeled to the door.

She turned the knob. Whoever was on the other side shoved it open, whacking into Drew and sending her back to the carpet on her rump.

“Jesus, Drew,” Kurt said as he appeared in the doorway. He grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet. “Why aren’t you answering your cell? I got worried.”

I felt sweat break out all over my body. If Kurt had scratched up my car over me asking a few simple questions, what would he do when he found out his girlfriend had been blabbing to me?

 

Kurt hadn’t noticed me yet. I rose from my spot on the sofa, readying myself in case he reacted badly to my presence. “Drew and I were talking,” I said, sounding a lot braver than I felt.

He jerked his head around and glared. “What are you doing here?” He gripped Drew’s shoulders and gave her a little shake. “Have you been drinking?”

“Drinking away my pain,” she said.

Oh, boy.

“Drew told me she’s the one who blew the whistle on Wendy’s embezzlement,” I blurted out. “After you convinced her to spy on your sister, that is.”

Kurt let go of Drew and moved toward me. I wondered if I’d overstepped my bounds. With a drunken girlfriend as the only witness in this tiny place, who knew what he might do to me?

“I was sure Wendy was conning people,” he growled at me. “She always had something going. I wanted to ruin her, like she ruined me. She took away my whole life.”

“Do you blame her for your wife leaving?” I asked, mentally cursing my inability to keep quiet.

Kurt squeezed his hands into fists. “My wife always had expensive tastes, and that requires money. If I’d gotten my fair share of the inheritance, I’d still be married.” Drew let out a little whimper, and Kurt patted her arm. “Hey, I’m glad we met, honey. Don’t get upset.” He faced me again. “Once Drew told Marvin what she’d found, I could watch Wendy’s life fall apart. No way could she talk her way out of this one.”

“So, you’re saying you didn’t need to kill her, since you were going to mess up her life instead?”

“You got it. I planned to sit back and enjoy the show. That’s it. I’m not a violent guy.”

I put my hands on my hips, completely forgetting to keep my defenses up. “Then how do you explain my car hood?”

Confusion crossed Kurt’s face, and I felt an inkling of doubt. “I don’t know anything about your hood.”

“Are you saying that you didn’t scratch ‘back off’ in the paint?”

Drew leaned against Kurt, and he used one hand to prop her up. “If I wanted you to back off, I’d tell you to your face. In fact, I have, more than once, but you don’t seem to be getting the message.”

If Kurt hadn’t done it, who else would have scratched my car? I looked at Drew. “Was it you?”

“Nope.” She waggled a finger at me. “Somebody doesn’t like you.” She slapped a hand to her mouth and gagged a couple of times. Then she threw up all over the carpet.

That was my signal to leave. I moved to the door as the first acidic smells of the mess on the floor assaulted my nose. Kurt made a disgusted noise and disappeared into the kitchen, returning almost immediately with a roll of paper towels. Drew stared at her shoes, mesmerized by the goo that ran down the sides.

“I can show myself out.” I slipped out the door, keys already in hand, the faint stink of vomit still clinging to my nostrils. As I headed to my car, I almost bumped into Helen as she came up the walk.

She raised her eyebrows. “Dropping off your snickerdoodles?” she asked.

For a second, I had no idea what she was talking about. Then I remembered my ridiculous excuse for needing Drew’s address. “All taken care of,” I said vaguely. “What brings you here?”

Helen held up an envelope. “Drew’s two-week severance. With me leaving, and the company in limbo, I have no idea when, or even if, she could return to work. I don’t want to string her along. I had business in town today, so I thought I’d deliver the check in person.”

I studied Helen with her business suit and professional haircut. “You sure got hired at that new place fast. Any chance you were already looking?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I’m a well-respected member of the green community. I’m often approached with job offers from other companies.”

I wasn’t buying it. “But Wendy just died. Either the place where you’re going has a very streamlined hiring process, or else you accepted the offer before Wendy’s death.”

Helen clutched the envelope tighter, leaving creases in the paper. “Perhaps.”

“But Invisible Prints was your life. I can’t imagine that you’d accept another job, unless you felt Wendy’s company was failing.” Then I had another thought. “Did you know about the missing money before Wendy was killed?”

Helen tossed her head. “Wouldn’t I have said something if I’d known?”

Not exactly a denial. “I don’t know, would you?”

Helen checked her watch. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, I don’t have time for this.”

I crossed my arms. “Tell me the truth, and I’ll stop pestering you.”

“Do you have any idea how hard it would be to stay in this industry if word got out that Wendy stole all that money? No way would people believe that I wasn’t involved.”

“What about all that respect you were just talking about?”

Helen shook her head. “That’s no good against the rumormongers. They would have dragged me down, right along with Wendy. As soon as I realized what she’d done, I started looking for another job. Once I landed something, then I would have gone to the police, but Wendy was killed before that happened.” She moved forward and I stepped aside. “Happy now?” she asked.

“Very. Thanks.”

She huffed past me, and I turned toward my car, thinking about the information I’d just gathered. I’d confirmed why Drew was working at Invisible Prints and who had told Marvin about the missing money. And Helen had admitted she knew about the money before Wendy was killed, but she had decided to pursue a new job before reporting it. But what, if anything, did all of that have to do with Wendy’s murder?

 

 

The next morning, I parked my Honda in a vacant spot at the farm and walked along the path past the vegetable garden. As I neared the corner of the cabins, I saw Lily over by the spa entrance.

“Lily!” I called.

She looked back, a frown on her face. “Why are you here?” she demanded as I caught up to her.

Yikes, how offended should I be?
“Well, I do work here.”

“Sorry, that sounded terrible.”

She put a hand to her temple, as she had during our previous conversation, and I had to wonder if I was the cause of her headaches.

“If I’m ever going to soothe my spirit, I need to surround myself with positive things.”

Am I negative?
I’d always thought of myself as rather upbeat. “Something still bothering you? I didn’t expect to see you back so soon after you rushed off yesterday.”

“Gretchen was able to squeeze me in for an early-morning appointment. I’ve cleared my mental tensions, and now I must rid myself of the physical constraints.”

“Good luck with that.”

Lily reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope. “It must be divine intervention that I ran into you. I was planning to give this to Gretchen, but if I’m going to atone for my deeds, I need to face them head-on.” She shoved the envelope into my hand. “Now, excuse me. Gretchen’s waiting.”

Wondering exactly what wrong she was righting, I opened the envelope. Inside was a stack of twenties, several hundred dollars’ worth, judging by the thickness.

Why on earth is Lily giving me this? What is she paying for?
Realization dawned.

“Hey,” I called before she could disappear into the tent, “you’re the one who scratched my hood. Why?”

She stopped in midstride and faced me. She looked like she was ready to protest her innocence, but then her shoulders sagged. “I’m so embarrassed. I’ve been working on my anger issues with my therapist, but sometimes I can’t control myself.”

I didn’t hide my irritation. “You scared the crap out of me.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. But you were asking all those questions like I was a suspect. Me! I’m a nurse. I help people, and you went and accused me of something as horrible as killing a person.” She was starting to talk faster, her words flying. “All you were doing was stirring up trouble, and I wanted you to stop.”

“That was a reason to vandalize my car?” A flash of inspiration struck. “Did you break all the windows at Invisible Prints, too?”

She flushed. “I didn’t mean to. I went there that night to talk to someone and see where all that money went, but no one was there.” She looked off toward the hills, but I was pretty sure she was really looking toward her memories of that night. “I stood outside, staring at the building that represented all these lies, and I was filled with such rage.” She searched my face.

I couldn’t condone her actions, but I could definitely understand her fury at being duped. “You lost a lot of money,” I said.

“It’s not so much about losing the money, but that it wasn’t used to do anything good. No one planted trees. No one supported the wind farms. While I was busy flying all over the country, my money did nothing.” The flush reached the tips of her ears. “I only meant to break one window. I picked up a rock and threw it at the closest one. The sound of the breaking glass, the sense of power, it was so cathartic. I couldn’t stop myself. I scooped up anything I could find and broke them all.” Her face was colored a full-fledged fire engine red now. “I’ve been ashamed ever since, which is why I gave you that envelope a moment ago and sent Invisible Prints money to cover the damages.” Lily laughed. “Funny, isn’t it? As much money as I’ve already given them, I shouldn’t have felt obligated, but I still did. And I got my first night’s sleep last night.”

“Now that I know who marked up my car, maybe I can sleep, too.”

She had the good grace to drop her gaze. “I should really get that massage,” she mumbled. With a sweep of her long brown hair, she turned and disappeared inside the tent.

I carefully tucked the envelope into my pocket and resumed my course toward the house, with my thoughts on Lily. She might have moved on, now that she’d paid for her actions, but I hadn’t. If she was so angry that she couldn’t stop herself from breaking those giant windows and scratching my car, then surely that same anger could have propelled her to kill Wendy. It only took a second to slit someone’s throat. Lily could have acted before she even knew what she was doing.

Of course that didn’t explain Preston’s murder. Maybe he knew something, and Lily had killed him to protect herself, even if she’d claimed she’d never heard of him. What could he have known? And how could I find out?