Tea Cups and Carnage (14 page)

By the time I arrived at the food truck, Toby had already left to get ready for his police shift and the crowd around the truck had dissipated. I opened the side door and climbed in. Nick was on his phone and turned beet red when he saw me.

“Sorry, Miss Gardner. I was just answering a text from a guy at school. We’re debate partners.” He turned off the phone and shoved it in his pocket. He scanned the truck for something to do.

Sasha put her hand on the kid’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go take a break? We haven’t had a customer in a few minutes and I need to talk to Jill.”

“You sure? I could restock the cups. They look a little low.” He stepped toward the storage closet.

Sasha stepped in front of Nick. “Go take a break. Come back in fifteen and then you can restock everything. I don’t want to be worried about breaking any child labor laws because we didn’t let you go to the bathroom. Just don’t sneak a cigarette. Your mom would kill me.”

“I don’t smoke.” Nick climbed out of the truck and I saw him check his watch. The kid would be back before fifteen minutes had passed. I would bet my house on it.

Sasha waited until he was out of sight before turning to me. “Look, I want you to know that I wouldn’t steal from you or Jackie or the shop.”

“I know that.” I pressed my lips together. Actually, I
had
thought there was a chance, but from the way she reacted when I asked her, I knew she couldn’t have taken the money.

“Now, see, I don’t think you do. I mean you seriously asked me if I’d just happened to deposit a check for Coffee, Books, and More into my account—a check that supports the literary event I’m working my butt off to make successful.” Sasha put her hands on her hips. “I’m building a life here for me and Olivia, but if you don’t trust me, maybe I should be looking elsewhere.”

“I don’t want you to leave.” I sank back against the counter. “Frankly, I don’t know what happened to the missing money. All I know is the bank says the check has been cashed.”

“There’s no way I could have switched up deposit slips without someone noticing. Have you thought about that?” Sasha rubbed an imaginary spot on the stainless steel counter, not looking at me. “I want you to trust me.”

“Sasha, if you’re telling me you didn’t take the money, I believe you. It’s not that I think you or Toby
would
steal, I just can’t imagine what happened to that check. Nothing more will be said of the issue.” My lips curved into a small smile. “We need you here. Who else would run the teen clubs with such style?”

Her lips twitched. “You’d probably have to shut them down. Can you see Toby talking to a group of teenagers? He’d do the ‘don’t drink and drive’ lecture every month and tell them about his most recent busts instead of talking about a book.”

Looking to change the subject, I refocused the discussion back to Nick. “How’s Nick doing?” I looked around the neat as a pin truck interior. “Looks like you have him cleaning every minute you’re not busy. I don’t think it was this clean when we bought the truck off Austin.”

“Probably wasn’t.” Sasha shrugged. “I can’t help it. It’s like my own little store so I want to keep it shiny. Silly, right?”

“Who am I to judge? Especially when it makes the store look amazing.” I leaned on one of the counters. “Seriously, how are you doing? Is there enough traffic to keep this place open out here?”

“Maybe not yesterday. I think after Toby got hit with his cosmetology students, the place kind of died off. Today, it’s been slow and steady since I’ve been here. I doubt we’ll get many more customers tonight though. I thought if we were really slow, I’d close up about seven.”

I looked at my watch. It was six now and since I’d arrived, there’d been no customers. “Let’s make it six-thirty. Then Nick can help you clean up and you both can get out of here at a reasonable time.”

“Sound good to me. Just before you got here that Ivy chick showed up and wanted to talk. Ballsy, that one.” Sasha wiped off the counter as they spoke.

“Why do you say that?”

“She asked if she could come in the trailer and sit and chat.” Sasha shook her head. “It’s like she was raised in a barn. She thinks all she has to do is ask and someone will do something for her. You should have heard her go off about Kathi and how her sister had all the business owners blackball hiring Ivy.”

“It hasn’t been that way at all. I can’t get Kathi to say anything about her sister being here except how Ivy would be going back to Texas sooner than later.” I grabbed a bottle of water out of the small fridge under the front counter. “Believe me, I’ve tried to get the gossip. The only thing I learned was the girls’ cousin was the motorcyclist that was murdered at the Inn a few days ago.”

“Wow, did Greg tell you that? I thought you didn’t talk about cases?” Now I had Sasha’s full attention, the wet rag stilled on the counter.

“Not Greg, Kathi. She said Greg took her down to the morgue to identify the body this morning.” I thought about our conversation that morning. “I have to say, she wasn’t too broken up about him being dead. I don’t understand their family dynamics at all.”

“Well from what Ivy told me, Kathi was the favorite child. Her dad and the rest of the family treated her with kid gloves from the day she was born.” Sasha dropped her voice. “Apparently there was a little love triangle issue and that’s why Kathi left home for here.”

“I can’t see anyone not choosing Kathi unless the other woman was Miss Universe or something. Face it, the girl is gorgeous, and men, sometimes, are stupid.”

“Sometimes?” Sasha started to giggle and I joined in.

The door slammed and we turned to see Nick standing there staring at us like we were deranged. “Sometimes, what?”

I cleaned out the till, leaving them enough to get them through the last few open minutes. I’d refill the cash register to start the day with tomorrow as I was working the food truck first shift, then going to relieve Aunt Jackie and Harrold at the shop for a few hours. If this weekend didn’t kill one of us, we’d be lucky. Too few people and too many hours and slots to fill. I made a mental note about talking to Aunt Jackie again about at least hiring more part-time staff to help out when we had events. And since I was starting up school in a few months, I didn’t want to be missing classes just because we didn’t have anyone to keep the store open.

I said goodbye to Sasha and Nick and trudged home, holding my tote a little closer. I would stick the moneybag into my office safe as soon as I got to the house. I had just crossed the highway, when I heard my name being called from behind me.

“Now what,” I muttered. I realized in my busyness, I hadn’t eaten all day. As soon as I got home, I was opening a can of soup and making a sandwich.

Ivy Corbin was behind me. She crossed the highway, dodging traffic as she ran. When she reached me, she put her hand on her heart. “I really have to start working out more.”

“Did you want to talk to me?” Even I heard the grump in my voice. Ivy blinked at me. “Sorry, I’m starving and I get a little snarky.”

Ivy pointed toward town. “I’m walking into town. I thought we could go together. I’d hate for you to have to walk alone.”

“I’m only going as far as my house, but you’re welcome to tag along until then.” I started walking again and for a few minutes we were both silent. I was beginning to wonder if Ivy had talked herself dry with Sasha when she finally spoke.

“Do you like my sister?”

The question surprised me. Echoes of teenage angst oozed out of Ivy as we walked. I considered my answer carefully. “She seems nice. I haven’t really talked to her that much, so I can’t tell exactly what kind of person she is, but yeah, I could see liking her.”

Ivy seemed to consider what I’d said.

When we reached my driveway, I paused. “This is my stop. Thanks for walking with me.”

“Great house. Looks like someone’s done a lot of repairs.” She craned her head around the garage. “And another shed back there? You have a great set up here.”

“Thanks.” I jingled my keys in my hand. All I wanted was my soup and to crawl into a hot bath and forget about today. “So I’ll see you later?”

“Don’t trust her.” Ivy stared at me with wide eyes.

The statement came out of the blue, then I realized she was talking about her sister. “Kathi? I’m not supposed to trust Kathi?”

Ivy nodded.

“Tall order on no evidence.” I shrugged. “I guess I’ll just have to take your words under advisement.”

As I walked away, I heard her call out. “If you want to keep your boyfriend and your nice little life, don’t trust her. She eats people like you for lunch.”

* * * *

Emma greeted me at the door, whining to be let out. I should have stopped on my way down to the beach, but I hadn’t thought about it. The good news is she hadn’t had an accident. The bad news was she really, really had to make water, as my grandmother used to say.

I flipped through my mail, separating out the majority of the envelopes promising lower interest rates, pre-approved loans, and flyers for the local mall stores. If I got real mail, it was typically a bill. Today didn’t disappoint. My water and credit card bills had arrived on the same day. I put them both on the desk and after turning on the shredder, all the financial junk mail turned into confetti. Or, what I loved to use to start a fire in my backyard fire pit. Greg marveled at my skill in fire building. I just knew how to increase my chances of being successful.

With that thought in mind, and a pot of condensed soup on the stove heating up, I pulled out my journal and started writing. By the time I’d finished, I had written down everything that had been bothering me, even if they didn’t have anything to do with the murder.

I drew a line down the middle of a page. On the left, I wrote down random thoughts about the missing money. I wished Claire had been at the bank today, I had wanted to find out what she’d learned. The event was coming up soon and I didn’t want this hanging over my head for weeks afterward. I paused and put call Claire on my Monday to do list. Then I made a list about Kathi’s cousin’s death. Darryl Corbin. Son of the family patriarch, Uncle Pride. I guessed that role had passed to Darryl when the uncle had died. With Darryl gone, did that role fall to one of the female survivors? Pushing aside my curiosity about family traditions, I asked the bigger question that was bugging me--what was he doing in South Cove?

I opened my laptop and started a search on Darryl Corbin in Melaire, Texas. I got a few hits. Darryl had been the quarterback at the local high school during his tenure there. According to the local sports reporter, the team had hit a rough patch under his leadership, losing more games than they won. Another link led me to the uncle’s obituary. At the bottom, the paper had listed out his surviving relatives: unmarried Darryl, two nieces, and a brother, which must be Kathi’s daddy. With him ill, he didn’t seem likely to take on the role, especially since Darryl had taken over after his father’s death. On the other hand, now the family didn’t need much of a patriarch since it was down to just three people on Kathi’s side of the family.

No smoking guns there. When I returned to the search field, I changed the name to Kathi and got a ton more hits. Mostly about the pageants she’d entered over the years. Most of them she’d won, but when she got into the bigger venues, like Miss San Antonio, she’d stalled her win/loss record. And after her run for Miss Texas, there was nothing. No appearances, no talks, and no sign of the hometown beauty queen at least on the internet. I checked the date on the Miss San Antonio mention. Four years ago. What had Kathi been doing in those four years? Was that when she worked for the uncle’s store?

I changed my search again and looked up businesses in Melaire. The city council webpage was woefully out of date which reminded me to check out South Cove’s page. I switched over to the site and scrolled through some pages, making notes about changes and updates needed. Then I forwarded the notes in an email to Amy for her to address on Monday. And if she had questions, we had the workout class together on Tuesday. One more thing off my long list of to-dos.

Going back to the Texas site, it bothered me that I didn’t see a general store listed either on the council’s page or as I searched the web. Maybe they didn’t have a web presence, but you would have thought Google would at least have an address, phone number, and picture of the front of the building. But there was nothing I could match up to what I knew about the place.

I closed down my laptop and finished eating my soup, staring at the list of questions I’d written about Kathi and her family. I had focused on the wrong angle. That was the problem.

I turned the page and started writing questions just about the murder and why Darryl was even here. I wondered if Darla had gotten anything new from her interview with the motel clerk.

I picked up the phone and after dialing, reached her. “South Cove Winery, can I help you?”

“Hey Darla, it’s Jill. You busy?” It was a dumb question; I could hear the music and the crowd milling around the tasting room.

“Swamped with customers. It’s great. What can I do for you? Are you and Greg coming down?”

“Actually, I wanted to know who you talked to at The Coastal Inn. I’ve been thinking about the murder and wondered what she knew about Darryl.”

There was a pause on the phone. “Sorry, I didn’t catch most of that, but why do you care about the murdered guy? Are you investigating on your own again? You know that drives Greg crazy.”

“Are you going to tell me who you talked to?” I kept the question short, knowing full well she could hear me.

“Only if you share what you know. I’ll come by the truck tomorrow morning and we can talk.” With that, Darla hung up the phone.

I glanced at the clock. Almost nine and I felt like I’d been awake for days. I took my bowl to the sink, let Emma outside one more time and walked around the house, locking doors and turning off lights. I grabbed a book I’d been reading and a bottle of water and let Emma inside.

Glancing out the window, I could see the little light shining over the door. The rest of the shed was dark. Toby would be out on patrol until five, when he’d come home for a power nap, then return to his patrol duties promptly at noon. Greg would be handling the morning shift at the beach festival. Then Toby, and finally Tim, unless things got out of hand. In that case, all three of them would be called in to handle whatever issue arose.