Murder to Go (The Heights Bed and Breakfast Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) (2 page)

Carolyn
turned to her daughter. “Is that true? You’re concerned, too?

Sarah
covered her eyes with her hand. “Oh, Mom.

David
waved his hand at Sarah. “Don’t you see how you’re making her life harder with
your flippant attitude?”

Carolyn
stiffened. “My.... flippant attitude? When have I ever had a flippant
attitude?”

“You
don’t care about our business,” David returned. “You don’t have to care. Your
reputation and your livelihood doesn’t ride on this B & B. All you care
about is your stupid blog. I’ve tried to get Sarah to crack down on you, but
she’s too soft-hearted. If I had my way, I’d tell you right now to pack your
bags and go mooch off someone else for a while.”

Karl
rose from his seat. “How dare you talk to her that way, boy!”

Carolyn
held him back. “Sit down, dear. I can defend myself. I don’t see any harm in
cracking a few jokes on the side. Like you say, it’s the best way to decompress
after a long, hard day. I would never let the guests find out about them, and
I’m sure you and Sarah wouldn’t, either. Now why don’t we all lighten up? We should
have some fun while we have a moment before the guest come back for dinner.

David
pointed at Sarah. “Go on. Now’s your chance to get them to clean up their act
instead of complaining about it all the time.”

“Don’t
take this out on Sarah,” Carolyn told him. “If you have a problem with me or
Karl, that’s one thing. You don’t have to drag my daughter into this.”

Sarah
glanced around the room. “Why can’t we all just get along?

 
“What do you expect?” Karl asked. “This is the
first time we’ve ever heard that it is a problem we are staying here.”

At
that moment, a knock sounded on the door, and silence fell over the room.

Sarah
jumped up from the table to open the door relieved to have an excuse to leave
the awkward conversation. A curvaceous woman with bright red hair stood outside
the apartment. “Kat Coeur d’Alene! What can we do for you? Do you need anything
for your performance in the bar tonight? I thought you were all set up.”

Kat
looked around, but she didn’t see anything in front of her. “I don’t need
anything. I just....” She trailed off.

Sarah
frowned. “Is anything wrong, Kat?”

Kat
shuddered. “I was just down at the lake. There were a bunch of people swimming
down there today, you know.”

“I
know,” Karl growled. “They all took lunchboxes with them.”

Kat
didn’t hear him. “I just found a man and woman lying on their beach towels by
the side of the lake. I recognized them from my performance in the bar. I think
they had the room across the hall from me.”

Sarah
glanced at her parents. “What do you mean you found two people lying on their
beach towels?

Kat
shook her head. “They weren’t moving.”

Carolyn
came to stand next to her daughter’s side.

Kat
opened her mouth and closed it again. The family stared at her in shock.
Carolyn shuddered. Then she burst into action. “You better come inside, Kat.”
Carolyn told her and waved her daughter over. “Sarah, you make Kat a cut of
tea. I’m calling the police.”

A
tall woman with grey roots showing under her dyed orange hair stood within the
frame of front door. She scanned the interior of The Heights with her quick,
sharp eyes. Then her eyes crinkled when she smiled at Carolyn. She stuck out
her hand. “I’m Babs Gillespie, Homicide Detective. I’m here to investigate why
you have two dead bodies sun bathing next to the lake.”

Carolyn
shook her hand. “So they really are dead?”

Babs
nodded. “The coroner is down there right now. I understand the person who found
them is here.”

Carolyn
stepped back and waved Babs into the apartment. “Follow me.”

Babs
came in, but she stopped on the threshold and peered at Carolyn. “Are you
Carolyn Jacobson?”

Carolyn
started. “Why, yes. Why do you ask?”

“I
thought I recognized you,” Babs replied. “I didn’t know you lived here.”

“I’ve
lived in Evergreen Cove for years,” Carolyn told her. “I never met you,
either.”

Babs
shrugged and turned away. “How long had the couple been staying with you at The
Heights?”

“A
few days, maybe,” Carolyn replied.

 
Babs eyed narrowed, “I see. Where’s the
person who found the couple?”

Carolyn
led the way into the living room. “This is Kat Coeur d’Alene. She’s our lounge
act this week.

Babs
sat down on the couch next to Kat. “Can you tell me what you saw down at the
lake?”

“I’ve
never seen a dead body before,” Kat murmured as she blew her nose. “They looked
like they just finished a swim. They were still wearing their bathing suits and
had their towels wrapped around them.”

Carolyn
sat down on Kat’s other side and put her arm around her shoulders.

“Did
you touch anything?” Babs asked. “Did you disturb the scene at all? It’s okay
if you did. We just need to know about it so we can take it into account for
our investigation.”

“I
didn’t touch anything,” Kat replied. “As soon as I realized they were..... they
weren’t moving, you know, I came back here. I wasn’t sure they really were.... really
were.....”

Babs
interrupted. “That’s all right. I think we can let it go for right now.” She
stood up and faced the family. “The coroner found two lunchboxes which had The
Heights logo on them next to the bodies. There were signs that the couple may
have been poisoned.”

Sarah
cried out in dismay, and Carolyn looked at Karl.

 
“The lab is testing the food now,” Babs went
on. “I’ll need to question whoever made the lunchboxes.”

Karl
stepped forward. “I did. You can question me all about it. I would never poison
anybody.”

Babs
shrugged. “Either way, you’re our primary suspect at this point. You’re the
only person who had access to their lunchboxes.”

“He
couldn’t have killed anybody,” Carolyn told her. “Karl’s the most sensitive,
gentle-hearted person on the planet.”

“Killers
can be nice people too,” Babs replied. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I made
exceptions for nice people.”

“That’s
taking it a little too far, don’t you think?” Carolyn asked. “Can’t you see he
isn’t a killer?”

Babs
studied Karl. “I have to follow the trail of evidence, and right now, the trail
is leading me right back here.”

“Are
you sure there isn’t some mistake?” Sarah asked. “Is there any other way that
they might have died?”

“Not
very likely,” Babs replied.

A
chirping noise interrupted her. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and read
the screen. “Here we are. The tests revealed high levels of amatoxin. It was
hidden in the mayonnaise of the sandwiches.” She put her phone away. “I’ll have
to ask you to come down to the station for further questioning.”

“Amatoxin?
How could Karl get a hold of something like that?” Carolyn demanded.

“It
is a compound found in poisonous mushrooms,” Karl explained. “But I never....”

Babs
held up her hand. “Save it for the interview, but you are exactly right. You
can find the mushrooms pretty much anywhere around the Grey Fox Lake area. You
can explain everything during questioning.”

Carolyn
took a step forward. She just managed to stop herself from moving between the
detective and her husband. “But Karl wouldn’t have killed those people. He
would never do anything to jeopardize The Heights.”

Babs
took Karl by the elbow. “If he’s as innocent as you say, we’ll clear him in our
investigation. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to take him down to the
station.”

Carolyn,
David, and Sarah watched in horror as Babs led Karl out of the room. Karl
stumbled after her as meekly as a newborn lamb.

Carolyn
bit her lip.

David
broke the silence after the door closed in their faces. “Now what are we going
to do?”

Carolyn
turned to her daughter. “What do you know about these people—the ones in the
room across the hall from Kat Coeur d’Alene?”

Sarah
shook her head. “I’m not sure I remember who they were.”

“Can
you check the registry?” Carolyn asked.

Sarah
led the way to the reception desk and bent over her ledger. “Here it is. The
man is Paul Tenboom, and the woman is Monica Rorschach.”

“Tenboom?”
Carolyn asked. “I hope that isn’t Porky Tenboom?”

“Who’s
that?” David asked.

“He’s
just the most hated food blogger in the country,” Carolyn exclaimed. “He’s
ruined more lives and driven more people out of business than any other blogger
on the Internet.”

“That
just goes to show how much I know about the blogging scene,” David returned. “I
never heard of him before.”

Carolyn
blushed. “Call it the nature of the business. I know all my competitors, but
Porky must have had a million enemies. He would give a restaurant a bad review
just for shock value. He didn’t care whose feelings he hurt, or who hated him.”

“What
a jerk,” David remarked.

“You
had to admire him, though,” Carolyn replied. “I get a lot of help from a lot of
different people. I get guests posts so I don’t have to write every day, and I
get contributions from sponsors. Porky always stayed independent. He valued his
integrity more than anything.”

“Now
he’s dead,” David reminded her. “One of his million angry reviewees must have
caught up with him at last.”

Carolyn
closed her eyes. “Oh no. Why did it have to be Porky?”

“The
police will clear Dad,” Sarah exclaimed. “You don’t have to worry about him.”

Carolyn
shook her head. “I hate to think about what your father wrote in the comments
after Porky gave our restaurant a rotten review? He couldn’t sleep for days
after it. Your father hated Porky Tenboom with a passion. Your father wrote
back such a scathing response. I hope he doesn’t say too much during the
interrogation. I think I could have handled being questioned by the police
better than your father. He was always sensitive about that sort of thing.”

Sarah
closed her eyes. “Don’t talk like that, Mom.”

“I’m
just thinking out loud,” Carolyn told her. “Maybe Porky found out your father
was cooking here. He could have come up to Grey Fox Lake to review him and The
Heights. I hate to think what Porky would have written about it.”

“Don’t
forget he was staying in the same room with a woman,” Sarah countered. “Look
here. They booked their rooms separately at two different billing addresses. It
looks to me like Porky came up here for recreation, not business.”

“Let’s
take a peak in his room,” Carolyn suggested. “We might find something.”

“Do
you think that’s a good idea?” Sarah asked. “The police might want to search it
before they let us in.”

“They
haven’t searched it yet,” Carolyn pointed out. “That room is your property, and
you’re running a business here. If they object, you can always say you had to
clean it for the next guest. They can’t stop you from accessing a room in your
own building.”

“But
we might destroy material evidence,” Sarah pointed out. “What if we destroyed
the evidence that could prove Dad was innocent?”

“Your
father hasn’t been accused of the crime yet,” Carolyn reminded her. “And anyway,
we’re only going to look around. The crime lab already looked over the spot by
the lake where Kat found Porky and Monica. They would have searched their room
by now if they were going to.”

Sarah
hesitated. Then she grabbed her keys. “All right, but let’s make it quick. I
don’t want to get caught in there if that detective comes snooping around.”

She
led the way to the room and unlocked the door. She peered inside. “I’m not
going in there. I don’t care what you say.”

Carolyn
stepped forward. “You don’t have to. I’ll do it. You keep a lookout for that
detective. If she comes, jangle your keys to warn me.”

Sarah
shivered. “I don’t like this.”

“I'll
be quick,” Carolyn assured her and walked inside. Two suitcases lay open on the
dresser, and a laptop computer sat on the table. Carolyn opened up the laptop
and pushed a button on the keyboard. The computer screen lit up.

Sarah
gasped from the door. “Mom!”

“What?”
Carolyn asked.

“Don’t
do that,” Sarah exclaimed.

“Why
not?” Carolyn asked. “I’m not going to erase it, and he isn’t coming back. He’s
dead.”

“But
this is a crime scene,” Sarah pointed out.

Carolyn
looked around. “No crime took place here. Besides, that detective would have
told us if the police wanted us to stay out of the room. They would have secured
the place with yellow police tape,” Carolyn explained. “Oh, here’s the log-in
page. Argh! It’s asking for a password. This is a dead end.”