Santa Sleuth (8 page)

“Just don’t tell anyone I gave it to you. It’d be bad for my badass reputation if anyone found out I was working with the sheriff.”

“So what do you think?” Ellie asked after we left the shop and returned to the car, where the dogs were waiting.

“I’m not sure. I definitely want to talk to both Andrew and Bram, and it might not hurt to talk to Kelly again. Riley isn’t the only one to suggest that Kelly could have woken up and killed Jason. Salinger said as much as well. I suppose we can stop by Tizzy’s to see if he knows where to find this Blugo, and I still want to talk to Wiley about the fire. I stopped by the firehouse yesterday to ask him about fostering a few of our golden retriever pups, but he was off.”

“Let’s head back to the boathouse and drop off the dogs,” Ellie said. “I promised Scooter’s teacher I’d bring his costume in before lunch. We can do that and then get a bite to eat. After that we can go talk to Kelly together. I know her better than you do, so I might better be able to tell if she’s lying. After we talk to her we can figure out our next move.”

Chapter 6

Ellie and I decided to try out the new Mexican restaurant that had just opened a few weeks before. It was colorfully decorated in bright reds and greens, and the smell of spicy food cooking was enough to make my stomach rumble in anticipation of the enchiladas I planned to order.

“If the food tastes as good as it smells we’re in for a real treat,” Ellie commented.

“I agree, although I do miss your homemade soups.”

“The next time I make soup I’ll bring some over,” Ellie promised. “I was thinking of making Zak’s favorite casserole as a thank-you.”

“Thank you?” I asked.

“Zak not only hired an attorney to deal with the insurance company for me but he put an indecent amount of money into my checking account so I wouldn’t run short while we’re getting everything worked out. I tried to tell him I couldn’t take his money, but you know Zak; he insisted.”

“Zak loves you. He wants to help. We both do. And we both feel bad about what happened to the restaurant.”

“It’s not your fault.”

I shrugged. We’d danced this dance before and I saw little point in going over the same arguments again.

“Hopefully your claim will be settled in time for you to break ground on the new restaurant in the spring, as soon as the snow melts. It’s going to be tough if you miss the summer building season.”

“Actually, I’m not sure I’m going to rebuild,” Ellie informed me.

“Not rebuild? Why?”

“When I first decided to open the restaurant I saw it as a way to get out from under my mom’s shadow. But owning a restaurant is hard work and extremely time consuming. I guess I didn’t really understand how many hours I’d have to put into the place. I realize I should have had a better understanding of the time commitment, given the fact that I was brought up in the restaurant business and my mom has always worked a lot of hours. But in the back of my mind, my little business was going to be a quarter of the size of Rosie’s and would therefore, I figured, require a quarter of the time and effort to run it. Boy, was I wrong. If anything, I think I worked longer hours than Mom because she can afford more help than I could.”

I frowned. “I’ve known you a long time and I’ve never known you to be afraid of hard work. I get that you might have had to work longer hours than you planned, but the Ellie I grew up with has always been willing to do what it takes to make her dreams come true.”

“That’s the thing—I’m not sure that owning my own business is my dream any longer. Now that I’m back to thinking about having a child, I’m realizing that I don’t want a job that’s so totally consuming. To be honest, I was kicking around the idea of selling even before this happened.”

“I had no idea.”

“I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I talked to Zak for a bit and he assured me that at a minimum I’ll get enough from the insurance to pay off the loan I took out to buy the place. I’ll still have the land to sell, which should give me enough to start over with something new.”

“Wow.” Ellie and I were best friends and she’d never once mentioned that she was anything but thrilled with the Beach Hut. I had to wonder what else she hadn’t been telling me. I guess we had drifted apart a bit once Zak came into my life.

“I still haven’t decided for sure, and so far you and Zak are the only two who know what I’m thinking, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything until I can make up my mind.”

“Certainly. I won’t say a word. Have you discussed this with Levi?”

“No. Not yet.”

The fact that she’d told both Zak and me and not Levi really did seem to indicate that the romance between them might be in trouble.

The conversation paused as the waitress set our food in front of us. It looked as good as it smelled. The tortillas were handmade each day and the sauces were mixed on-site.

I’d just taken my first bite when I received a text from Jeremy, letting me know that someone had left a dog crate with a mama cat and six kittens on the stoop at the shelter. He wanted to know if Alex would be willing to foster the family until the kittens were old enough to adopt out. I texted back that I would ask her, but I was certain she’d be more than willing.

“Sorry,” I apologized to Ellie because I was basically ignoring her. “I need to text Alex really quick. Kitten emergency.”

“Everything okay?”

I explained about the cats left on our doorstep.

“Who would do a thing like that? It’s freezing outside. What if Jeremy hadn’t found them right away?”

“I agree that it seems like the responsible thing to do would have been to bring them inside, but there are some people who just don’t want to take responsibility. At least they brought them to the shelter rather than just abandoning them somewhere.”

Alex texted back, saying that she would be thrilled to foster, so I let Jeremy know that I’d pick the kittens up later in the day.

“So where were we?” I asked after I returned my attention to my food and my conversation with Ellie.

“I was about to ask you whether you wanted to head to Tizzy’s first after we eat or go directly over to Kelly’s?”

“Tizzy’s is closer, and the feed store isn’t all that much farther. We can head over to talk to Tizzy about this Blugo and then go to the feed store to talk to Bram. After that we can stop by Kelly’s. I need to pick Scooter up from school, so that will probably be it for the day. Are you coming to Scooter’s play tonight?”

“I’m not sure. I’m supposed to have dinner with Levi, if he doesn’t end up canceling. I’m going to try to pin him down as to what’s going on. It’s hard to say how that conversation will go or how long it will take.”

I placed my hand over Ellie’s and gave it a squeeze. I wished I had the perfect thing to say but I didn’t, so I just let her know by my actions that I was there for her should she need me.

Tizzy’s Tats was a colorful place offering piercings as well as ink services. Tizzy was a small, well-groomed man in his midforties who didn’t sport any visible piercings and only a couple of small tattoos, which was odd for a man in his profession. In spite of the fact that he didn’t look the part of a tattoo artist, he had the reputation for being skilled in his profession.

“What can I do for you girls today? Maybe a lip ring for the holidays?”

“We aren’t here for any body art today,” I said. “We really just wanted to ask if you know a man named Blugo.”

“Yeah, I know him.”

“Does Blugo have a last name?” I wondered.

“Dunno. And I’m pretty sure Blugo isn’t his real first name.”

“Have you seen him lately?” I asked.

“No. He used to live in that rundown apartment building south of town, but I haven’t seen him for weeks, so he might have left the area. I got the impression he was a man who liked to move around a lot.”

“I guess you heard about Jason Overland,” I continued.

“Yeah, I heard. Guy was a snake.”

So far every person I’d talked to had referred to Jason as a snake or some other equally unpleasant equivalent. It was almost surprising that someone hadn’t whacked him sooner.

“I heard Jason might have cheated Blugo out of some money. Does Blugo seem the type to seek revenge for something like that?”

“Hell yeah. Everyone knows you don’t mess with Blugo. If Jason cheated Blugo he’s as good as dead.”

“He is dead,” I reminded him.

“So he is. Maybe Blugo didn’t leave town after all. It’s hard to tell with him. The guy tends to keep to his own timetable. If I were you I wouldn’t go looking for the guy. He won’t take kindly to someone poking around in his business.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“So what now?” Ellie asked as we returned to the car.

“I’ll call Salinger to give him the information we have regarding Blugo and then we can have our chat with Bram.”

“Do you think Bram could actually kill someone for messing with his sister?”

“I don’t know. I hope not. I like the guy, but I have noticed that he seems overly protective of Jennifer. I know she’s gotten herself into some trouble in the past and I’m sure he’s probably just trying to help her keep her life on track, but I’ve overheard a few conversations between the pair that sound more like a parent speaking to a child than one sibling speaking to another.”

Willard’s Feed had been a staple in Ashton Falls since before I was born. Bram’s grandfather had opened the store at about the same time my own grandfather started Donovan’s, the general store my dad now ran. Bram’s father had taken over for his grandfather initially, but after suffering a fall on the ice five years ago, he’d decided to move to a warmer climate, leaving Bram in charge of both the store and his wild child sister.

As were all the other retail businesses in Ashton Falls, Willard’s was decked out in red and green for the holiday. Perhaps I’d pick up some new toys for the Christmas stockings of all the Donovan-Zimmerman animals while I was there. I’d been meaning to stop by anyway and buying the gifts would give me a good excuse to start up a conversation.

“Those have been real popular this year.” Bram walked up behind me while I sorted through the catnip toys shaped like candy canes, snowmen, and wreaths.

“They’re pretty cute. I think all of our cats will have to have at least one.”

“I have something similar for dogs two aisles over.”

“Thanks; I’ll head there next.” I smiled at him.

“I noticed Ellie came in with you. I wanted to let her know that the brand of dog food she feeds Shep is on special this month. Figured she might want to stock up while the sale is on.”

“I’ll tell her. I think she went to look at dog beds in the back.”

“Shame about her restaurant,” Bram offered. “It was one of my favorite places to grab a bite.”

“It did seem to be a local favorite. I guess you heard Jason Overland died in that fire.”

“I heard.” Bram’s lips tightened. “I was sorry to hear about the building but not a bit sorry to hear about the fact that someone saved me the trouble of killing the guy.”

“I know what happened to Jennifer,” I said gently. “Was she hurt bad?”

“Bad enough. What she ever saw in the guy I will never know. I warned her to stay away from the loser, but she isn’t one to listen to her big brother. When I saw what that monster had done to her face I wanted to kill him. Would have, too, but like I said, someone beat me to it. If you figure out who it was thank him for me.”

“Kelly Arlington and I almost died in that fire as well,” I reminded the man who, it seemed, wasn’t quite the nice guy I’d thought he was.

“Yeah, I heard about that. If it had been me who killed the thug who hit Jennifer, I wouldn’t have left the two of you there to die. I suppose the person who killed Jason was a bigger monster than he was, to be willing to sacrifice innocent lives the way he did.”

Bram had a point. We were looking for a killer who not only had a grudge against Jason but the moral deficiency to allow two innocent people die. Somehow I didn’t think anyone on my list fit that description.

“Just in case you’re wondering, I was here at the store when the whole thing went down,” Bram offered. “There are two clerks who can vouch for the fact that I didn’t leave all day. Saturday’s are my busiest days.”

Ellie and I headed over to talk to Kelly. It turned out to be a short but emotional conversation. Kelly admitted to putting sleeping pills in Jason’s whiskey in a moment of weakness, but then assured us that she had regretted it immediately and would never have attempted something like that again. I wasn’t 100 percent sure I believed her, but she did seem sincere in her assurance that she hadn’t killed Jason.

After we left Kelly we headed over to speak with Tina Littleton, who again admitted to stalking Riley when Jason first broke up with her but swore that her love for Jason was in the past and she hadn’t given him a thought in months.

“What now?” Ellie asked after we finished with Tina.

“I need to pick Scooter up in half an hour and I wanted to drive around the neighborhood where Cupcake went missing to tack up some flyers on stop signs and telephone poles, so I guess I’ll take you home.”

“Cupcake?”

I explained about the missing dog and the little girl who had asked Santa for a Christmas miracle.

“Wow, I hope you find the dog. How awful to lose a beloved pet so soon after losing your mother.”

“I really want to find this dog, but I have to admit the odds aren’t good. She’s been missing for a long time. Besides, it’s been snowing off and on for over a week. Unless she found someone to take her in I’m afraid a little dog like Cupcake might have succumbed to the cold.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for her,” Ellie promised. “In fact, I’ll take some of those flyers and pass them out during Hometown Christmas this weekend. Someone has to have seen her.”

Later that evening, Zak and I sat nervously in the community center waiting for Scooter’s play to begin. Pi was hanging out with friends and Alex was sitting with Phyllis and the girls with whom she shared her home. I’d told Zak the outcome of my afternoon’s sleuthing while we worked together to clean the kitchen after dinner. Ellie and I had given it our best shot, but it turned out we weren’t any closer to solving the case than we’d been that morning.