When Magic Is Murder (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 4) (9 page)

CHAPTER
19

The next day around four, after Sky
High closed and I’d finished the daily bookkeeping, Julia banished me from the
kitchen. “I can deal with these last two orders,” she’d said confidently. “And
you deserve some time away from here.”

Since I needed to run a couple of
errands downtown, I figured a stop at Becca Hancock’s vintage clothing store
would be on the way. Timeless Gold was located on Meadow Drive, a tree-lined
street filled with retail shops and restaurants a few blocks north of the
Crescent Creek town square. Becca had opened the boutique shortly after she and
her husband moved to town. While Red ruled the roost at The Wagon Wheel, a
popular bar and gathering spot, Becca sold exquisite second-hand things along
with a limited number of brand-new originals by regional designers and artisans.

“Hey, Katie!” she said warmly as I
came in the door. “I’ve got something that’ll be perfect for you!”

Before I could say a word, she
disappeared through the fluttering blue silk curtains that separated the front
of the shop from the storage area and office in the rear. When she returned a
few seconds later, I knew she was right; the plum-and-rose kimono in her hands
was exactly the kind of thing I loved to lounge in after my nightly bubble
bath.

“Well?” Becca said eagerly. “What
do you think?”

“How much?”

“Fifteen,” she answered.

“Sold!” I reached into my purse.
“But please don’t let me anywhere near that sale rack over there. I’m trying to
be more responsible with my budget.”

She smiled and started folding the
kimono on the countertop. I glanced longingly at the discounted bargains and
then watched her wrap my purchase in white tissue paper.

“I knew this had your name all over
it,” she said, slipping the garment into a roomy lavender paper bag with twine
handles. “Someone else tried to buy it, but I steered them toward another
option.”

“Thanks for looking out for me,” I
said, putting a twenty on the counter. “Without you, I’d probably end up
wearing the same three outfits for the rest of my life.”

Becca shrugged. “It’s part of the
joy I get from running this place,” she said. “Red tells me it’s the best thing
that ever happened to our marriage.”

“Timeless Gold?”

“Yep. When I worked in that
insurance office after we first moved to town, I guess my moods were a bit
unpredictable. But now that I’ve got the shop, I go home at the end of the day
with a smile on my face. We still have to pinch pennies, but it’s totally worth
it!”

“Well, you’re luckier than most,” I
said. “So many people come into Sky High and grumble about their jobs.”

She murmured a similar sentiment.
“I had a woman do that in here last week,” Becca said. “Really sweet girl until
she opened her mouth. I’m not kidding, Katie! Between the language and volume
of her complaints, it reminded me of a truck driver I once dated years ago.”

“Been there,” I said. “Done that.”

We shared a grateful smile and I
asked Becca if she had time for a few questions.

“About the trucker driver?”

I laughed. “Heavens, no. I was
curious about a man who bought a tuxedo from you. Fairly handsome guy with a
beard. I think he was around forty, and he had a scar on one cheek and a—”

“The Dynamic Dimitri!” Becca
announced cheerfully. “He bought the tux from me a couple of weeks ago.”

I smiled at the name. “Okay, so…”

“And he’s a magician,” she
continued. “A pretty good one, according to what he had to say!” She chuckled.
“Why, Katie? Are you thinking of hiring him for a special event at Sky High?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m
trying to find out who killed him.”

Becca’s smile shuddered briefly
before vanishing. “Oh, my…” One hand went to her cheek. “He’s dead?”

“Yes, two days ago. And there was a
tag from your store in his pocket. I’m guessing he bought the tuxedo from you.”

She nodded. “Is this about what
happened at Connie’s hotel?”

“Right,” I answered. “His body was found
in—”

“The gazebo! Red was talking to a
guy in the bar the other night after it happened. I guess he heard the story
from a girl that works at the Lodge. She told him about a body being found, but
I didn’t hear that he was wearing a tuxedo.”

“It’s a tragic situation for
everyone involved,” I said sadly. “Especially Mr. Dimitri.”

“It’s not
Mr
. Dimitri,”
Becca said. “It’s
Dynamic
Dimitri. I mean, at least that’s his
professional name.”

“How’d you find out that he’s a
magician?”

“It was all he talked about,” she
said. “Well, that and the fact that the love of his life is from around here.”

“Did he tell you his real name?”

She frowned. “Um…” I watched as she
pulled a small box from beneath the counter. “He paid with cash, but left a
business card,” she said as her fingers flipped through the alphabetical
dividers in the box. “Here it is!” She plucked a glossy black card from the
collection and studied it through narrowed eyes. “The Dynamic Dimitri.” She
flipped over the card and checked the back. “Nope. There’s a phone number and
an address in Boulder, but no other name.” She smiled and ran her finger along
the front of the card. “Although it does have his motto, I suppose you’d call
it:
Magic at the speed of fright
.”

“I don’t get it,” I said.

Becca shrugged. “Yeah, neither do
I.” She handed the card to me. “Maybe he was a spooky magician.”

“A spooky magician?”

She smiled. “I don’t know. What
else could it mean?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “But that’s
just one of many unanswered questions about the man.”

Becca was quiet; her eyes were
fixed on the black business card.

“Have you talked to Dina Kincaid
yet?” I asked.

She shook her head, still staring
at the small rectangle of glossy black paper.

“I imagine she’ll be in at some
point today,” I said. “I was at the Lodge when the body was discovered. When I
saw the price tag that they found in his pocket, I told Dina it was from your
shop.”

“Yeah, of course.” She shifted her
gaze from the card and smiled weakly. “I’m just so…I mean, you know? He was
just in here buying that tux, but now he’s…”

I waited while she continued
processing the unexpected news. Then I asked if she remembered anything more
that the man said during his visit to the shop.

“Not really,” she said. “When he
told me that he’s a magician, I asked about his work. You know; the types of
places he performs, whether he does children’s parties and the like.”

“Do you recall what he told you?”

She bit her lower lip. “Uh, mostly
private parties. I think maybe he mentioned corporate gigs, too.” She paused,
trying to conjure a memory of the trivial chat with the magician. “I mean, he
wasn’t here all that long. He came in, asked if I had a second-hand tuxedo and
got really excited when I told him that I did.”

“Was he alone?”

Becca blinked. “Alone?”

“Yeah, did he come in by himself
or…”

She smiled. “He told me that he had
to hurry because his girlfriend was waiting for him in the car.” Her lips
formed a mischievous grin. “And, I’m not one-hundred percent sure about this,
but I think it was that Whitney girl.”

“Whitney Morgenson?”

“That’s her,” Becca answered. “I
saw the red sports car that she drives sometimes.”

“The Maserati?”

“Whatever it’s called,” she said.
“I drive an old Buick, right? I don’t know jack squat about…” She stopped and her
face lit up with a wide smile. “Hey! I just remembered something. Let me go
grab it and I’ll be right back, okay?”

Before I could say a word, Becca
slipped through the blue curtains again. When she reappeared a moment later,
she had a plain brown envelope in her hand.

“He left this behind in the
changing room,” she said, handing me the envelope.

“What is it?”

“See for yourself,” Becca said. “I
called the number on his business card about four or five times because I
figured it wasn’t the kind of thing you’d want to be without.”

I opened the brass clasp, peered
inside the envelope and immediately knew she was right.

“An EpiPen,” I said, glancing at
Becca.

“I know, right? I tried to let him
know it was here, but then I figured he probably had another one so it wasn’t a
huge deal.”

“That makes sense,” I agreed.
“They’re usually sold in packages of two.”

“My sister knows a guy at work who
carries one.” She leaned closer, squinting at the autoinjector inside its clear
plastic tube. “He’s horribly allergic to bee stings.”

“You said this was in the changing
room?”

“Uh-huh, yeah. He wanted to make
sure the tux fit. I guess he had that needle thing in his pocket. I’m not sure.
And, like I said, I’ve tried calling him a bunch of times, but…” She sighed and
leaned into the counter. “At least, now I know why he hasn’t called back yet.”

“I can drop it by the station on my
way home so Dina can add it to the evidence for her case. And I’ll give her the
business card, too. Maybe they’ll help identify the victim.”

Becca kept staring at the EpiPen
until I resealed the envelope. Then she came around the counter and we stood
together in a shared moment of silence.

“It’s so sad,” she murmured. “One
minute, he’s buying a tuxedo so he can perform at a private party. And the next
thing you know, he’s…” Her voice cracked. “Golly, what’s the matter with me? I
don’t even know the guy.”

I gave her a quick hug. “It’s okay,
Bec. You’ve got a kind heart. And you actually met…” I stopped for a second,
finding it somewhat awkward to use the man’s stage name instead of his real
one. “…well, you met the guy, so it’s understandable that you’d feel
something.”

“I suppose so.” Her mouth drooped
and she sighed. “It’s just so very sad.” She took a breath, tilted her head and
attempted to smile. “Do you know if his family has been notified?” she asked.
“Or…his girlfriend? The one who was here the other day waiting outside?”

I shook my head. “Unless
something’s changed in the past couple of hours, Dina’s still working to
identify him. She’ll be really happy to get these things though, that much I do
know.”

CHAPTER
20

As I left Becca’s shop and walked
toward the car, I pulled out my phone and dialed Dina’s number. It rang once
before she answered in a near whisper.

“Hi, Katie. What’s up?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Because you’re whispering.”

“Oh, sorry. I’m outside an
interview room. We’ve got a suspect in another case and—” A man’s voice
interrupted in the background. I couldn’t tell what he was saying, but he didn’t
sound happy. “Hey, sorry about that,” Dina said when he finished. “I’ve only
got a sec.”

“Sure, of course. I’m just calling
to let you know that I’m swinging by the station in a few minutes. I’m dropping
off a couple of things that I believe are related to the body found at Crescent
Creek Lodge.”

She didn’t say anything, so I
waited.

“Katie?” she asked finally. “I’m
kind of in a hurry, so…”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought
maybe…anyway, I’ll leave these things at the front desk. One is a business card
and the other is an EpiPen. If it belonged to the deceased, there’s a chance
his death might’ve involved a severe allergic reaction to something.”

“Or murder,” Dina said.

“Right,” I agreed. “Or murder.”

“Do you remember the Sharon Altrux
case? It was maybe five or six years ago.”

“I think my mother told me about
that,” I said. “Down in Keystone?”

“That’s the one,” Dina agreed. “She
killed her husband by jabbing his EpiPen into a vein on the back of his hand.”

“Well, I got this from Becca
Hancock,” I explained. “John Doe left it in the changing room at Timeless Gold
when he bought the tuxedo. She said he was in quite a rush that day because his
girlfriend was waiting for him outside in a fancy red sports car.”

“Whitney Morgenson,” Dina scoffed.
“She keeps turning up like a bad penny.”

“Have you talked to her yet?”

“I’m working on it,” Dina said.
“Hopefully, later today. But…you know what? Since you mentioned it, why
wouldn’t the guy go back to Becca’s for his EpiPen? I mean, if you carry one
there’s a reason, right?”

“Sure. But they’re usually sold in
packages of two, so—”

“Oh, of course. So he could lose
one and still be covered.”

“That’s what I was thinking. But,
anyway…I don’t want to keep you. I’ll leave these things at the front desk in a
little while.”

“Thanks, Katie. I’ll go down and
pick them up as soon as I finish this interview.”

“Good luck,” I said. “I’ll check in
later and see how you’re doing. Since I don’t really have anything planned for
the rest of the day, I’m driving up to Boulder to see if I can find anyone who
knows him.”

“Knows who—John Doe?”

“Yeah. The business card has a
Boulder mailing address on it. The guy apparently works as a magician.”

“Did you say
magician
?”
asked Dina. “Or
mortician
?”

“The first one,” I answered. “He’s
a magician with the stage name of The Dynamic Dimitri.”

“Interesting,” she said. “That
explains the weird stuff in his pockets and up his sleeve.”

“Like he was here in Crescent Creek
to perform that night?”

“That sounds reasonable.”

“Maybe I’ll find out about it when
I’m in Boulder.”

“Are you really going, like,
now
?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I’m really going.
I can drive up there this afternoon, check out the address on the business card
and possibly move your investigation one step closer to its conclusion.”

“Well, it is a nice day. Perfect
weather for a little drive through the mountains.”

“I won’t stay long,” I said. “Plus,
it’ll remind me of the good old days in Chicago.”

“When you were getting paid to
investigate,” Dina asked, “instead of doing it all surreptitiously and
everything?”

“I’m not being sneaky,” I said. “I
just told you that I was going up there to look around.”

She snickered. “I know, Katie. I’m
just giving you a hard time.”