4 Cupids Curse (5 page)

“Afternoon
, Willa,” I greeted her. Willa is a petite brunette in her midforties, though her sophisticated nature makes her seem much older. She’s an exemplary employee and loyal friend and neighbor. She lives alone and, as far as I knew, never married or had children.

“Zoe, so nice to see you. Where’s Charlie?”

“Waiting in the truck. I figured I’d only be a minute. I wanted to ask you about Trent Everett.”

“Come in
.” Willa motioned me to come inside and indicated I should take a seat. “Trent was such a nice young man. It’s such a shame about what happened.”

I could see Willa was fighting an obviously strong emotion
despite the casualness of her words. “You visited him at the Zoo the night he was killed.”

“I did,”
she choked out. “He was supposed to come by my place for dinner, but he called to say he had to cancel because there was an emergency job you needed done. I had plenty of meat loaf, so I took him a sandwich and some of my homemade soup.”

“You’re friends?”

“He rented a room from me when he first moved to town.” Willa paused as she wiped away a tear. “He’s since gotten his own place, but he still comes by once a week or so to share a meal.”

“Do you know anything about his past?”

Willa took a perfectly pressed white hankie from her cardigan pocket and gently dabbed at the tear forming in the corner of her eye. “No, not really. He mentioned being from the East Coast and having family in both New York and Florida. He seemed to really miss them, especially his grandmother. I think that’s why we bonded the way we did. He said my cooking reminded him of a better and simpler time.”

“But he never said why he moved to Ashton Falls?”

“No. He did mention some trouble in the past but didn’t elaborate. I sort of got the impression that he fell in with a rough crowd when he was younger.”

“Do you remember what time it was when you took Trent his supper?”

“’Bout six.”

“Did you tell Salinger this?”

“Certainly. Is there a problem with my being at the Zoo?”

“No, not at all. You know you’re welcome anytime.”

“You’re investigating,” Willa accused. “I should have realized there was a reason for all the questions.”

“I’m not,” I
said, defending myself.

“I specifically heard that Salinger told you to stay out of it and you promised you would.”
Willa glared at me in such a way as to make me feel like I’d been caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

“I’m out. Really
.” I held up my hands. “I spoke to Pack Rat, who saw you go in, and I was just curious whether you noticed anything out of the ordinary.”

“I didn’t
, and
we
didn’t have this conversation. I like you, Zoe, you know I do, but I work for the county. If you’re participating in activities that Commissioner Cromwell or Sheriff Salinger wouldn’t approve of, I don’t want to know.”

“Okay, I’m gone. And Willa
. . .”

“Yes
?”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me unless you’re going to take my advice and stay out of it.”

“Okay.
Have a good afternoon.”

I momentarily considered taking Willa’s advice, but, well, after all, I
am
Zoe, and even I have to admit that quitting when I still had one lead to check out would be a very un-Zoelike thing to do. I didn’t know who the man was, but it wouldn’t take any time at all to have a chat with Tawny, a single mom, who ran the local preschool and is also an event-committee member. It was still several hours before she would close for the day and considered waiting to track her down at home but decided to stop by the facility to get a feel for things. If Tawny was busy with the kids, I’d just say hi and leave, but if she was working at her desk, I’d find out what I could about her relationship with Trent.

The Over the Rainbow Preschool
is a brightly painted building with a large play area in the center of town. I knew Tawny had decided to open the center after her husband left her so she could both earn a living and spend time with her young children. The preschool and afterschool day-care facility was a huge hit with busy parents in the area because Tawny and her staff were both creative and disciplined in their approach. Luckily, it was nap time, and Tawny was eating a sandwich in the break room when I arrived.

“I thought you might be by
.” She glanced up at me as I walked through the door.

“Really?” I tried to appear innocent.

“I heard about Trent. I figured it was only a matter of time before you found out I was one of the last people to see him alive and came by to talk to me about it. To be honest, I’m surprised it took you this long. Tuna fish?” She pointed at a stack of sandwich halves.

“If you have extra.” I really was starving by this point.

“Where’s Charlie?”

“In the truck.”

“Nap time is about over. Bring him in and I’ll have my assistant supervise while he plays with the kids so that we can talk.”

I returned to the truck and
brought a very excited Charlie inside. Charlie adores playing with the kids. He’s gentle and patient in spite of the fact that some of the younger kids haven’t been taught how to play with a real-live animal and at times take all sorts of malevolent glee in pulling his ears and trying to poke him in the eye. Normally, I try to be there to supervise to ensure that the little ones don’t actually injure him, but Tawny’s assistant assured me she’d keep a close eye on things. By the time I returned to the break room, Tawny had poured me a glass of milk to go with my sandwich.

“
Trent sometimes helps me out with projects I have going on at the preschool,” Tawny jumped right in before I could even ask her a question. “I don’t have extra money, so Trent pretty much does the work for cost. We try to keep it quiet because part of Trent’s agreement with Kevin is that he isn’t supposed to moonlight. We had been discussing a room addition so that I can accommodate additional infants in the hope of turning an actual profit, and he’d e-mailed me the plans earlier in the day. I wanted to discuss a few things with him, so he suggested I stop by the Zoo so we could chat while he fixed your electrical panel.”

Tawny paused to catch her breath. I could tell that, like Willa, she was suppressing
an emotion she didn’t want to share.

“He was fine when I stopped by. He mentioned that Willa had been by and brought him a meat
-loaf sandwich, which he planned to enjoy once he finished the work he’d promised to do for you. He appeared to be all but done by the time we spoke. I think I arrived at about six-thirty and probably left fifteen minutes later.”

“Did you tell Salinger all of this?”

“He hasn’t asked.”

“Did Tr
ent ever mention any enemies?” I wondered. “Anyone who might want to do him harm?”

Tawny paused. “I’ve asked myself that question a hundred times since I found out what happened. Trent was such a nice guy. He was quiet and kept to himself. I can’t ima
gine anyone wanting to hurt him, although he did let it slip one time that he used to hang out with a rough crowd that had gotten him into a lot of trouble. He didn’t clarify what sort of trouble he’d gotten into, but I got the feeling it was something pretty serious. He seemed to have regretted his behavior in his earlier life and was committed to starting over and making a success of himself.”

“How did you meet him?”

“I had a circuit breaker that kept blowing. It created a real problem because it controlled all the lights for the facility, among other things. I called Kevin to take a look at it and he sent Trent. When Trent told me I was going to need all new wiring, I broke into tears. The profit margin for the preschool is pretty much nonexistent. Owning it allows me to pay my bills and be available for my own kids but little more. When I told Trent there was no way I could afford all new wiring, he volunteered to do it for cost. Technically, he cut Kevin out of a potential profit that we figured wouldn’t have gone over well, so we agreed Trent would do it on his own time, after hours.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if Trent made a regular habit of cutting out Kevin
, and perhaps he’d found out about it. Seemed like as good a reason as any for murder, and Kevin knew where Trent was headed that night.

“Do you know if Trent did special deals for anyone else?” I asked.

“Not that I know of, although he did mention that he was planning to help Mary Grayson out with a plumbing issue.”

I kn
ow Mary, a widow with four kids, and she wouldn’t have any more money than Tawny to fix her plumbing.

“If you think of anything else
, please call me.”

“I will,” Tawny promised. “Lord knows Salinger isn’t going to find out who killed Trent
, and he deserves to have justice for his death. He was a good man and I’m really going to miss him.”

I thought about talking to Mary
, but her kids would be out of school by this time of day. She might have something to share, but Pack Rat had indicated that Trent’s third visitor was a man, and my money was on him as the killer. I called Kevin’s office line, but his wife told me he was off the mountain picking up supplies and wouldn’t be available to return my call until the next day. I looked at my watch. Levi would be off work in less than an hour, and Rosie’s had closed ten minutes earlier. I texted both of my best friends to ask if they wanted to meet for a drink. We agreed on four-thirty, which gave me time to take Charlie home and clean up a bit.

Mulligan’s Bar and Grill isn’t known for its food, yet it remains a favorite of long-time residents of Ashton Falls. It’s the type of place you go if you want to sit in your favorite booth with your best friend and eat comfort food. After we’d placed our order, Ellie launched into her seemingly rehearsed speech about the ideas she had for her new sandwich shop.

“Maybe we can build a bench all the way around the fireplace on the back wall,” Levi suggested. “I’m thinking a portable unit of some type that you can u
se in the winter and remove during the summer.”

“Zoe already suggested outdoor seating in the winter,” Ellie informed him, “and I’d already thought of the bench. Got any other ideas?”

“A beer cave.”

“
A beer cave?” Ellie asked. “I don’t have a lot of room.”

“I noticed
a large storage room off the wall on the east side of the room while I was checking the place out. Right now access is from the outside, but it would be easy enough to close that off and create a door from the inside. You’d need to upgrade the insulation and provide refrigeration, but it would be an awesome attraction that would draw in a happy-hour crowd.”

“I don’t know
.” Ellie frowned. “I’m not sure the beer-cave crowd is the clientele I’m looking for, but I like the idea of creating additional interior space by accessing the storage area. I hadn’t even thought of that. Will you help me with the remodel?” Ellie asked.

“I’d love to. We
can start on Saturday.”

I couldn’t help but feel that Ellie’s huge smile had more to do with
who
would be building her extra room than the room itself.

“Any progress on your investigation?” Ellie asked.

“Yes and no,” I said. I explained about the three people Pack Rat had seen go into the Zoo that night. I shared my conversation with Willa and Tawny, and we all agreed that the third visitor had to be our prime suspect. Ellie and Levi both expressed their regret that they’d never gotten to know Trent after learning about his Good Samaritan deeds.

“So how about you?” Ellie looked at Levi. “Anything new in your life?”

“Since yesterday?” Levi laughed.

“Yeah, I guess we have been hanging out a lot this week. How’s Barbie taking it?”

“Barbie and I aren’t talking at the moment,” Levi admitted. “I’ve pretty much decided to break if off with her, but every time I mention to her that we need to have a talk, she makes up some excuse as to why we can’t meet.”

“So don’t call ahead,” Ellie suggested. “Just show up at her house and do it quick. I’m sure she realizes th
is is coming, which is most likely why she’s been avoiding you. You’ll both feel better after you put this behind you.”

“I’m sure you’re right. How are things going with Rob?”

“Good. We’re going out tomorrow night.”

I sat quietly and watched my best friends as they discussed their love lives. At first I
had been horrified by the idea that Ellie might have feelings of the romantic kind for Levi, but as I watched them, I decided that a relationship between the two could be just about right. Of course, they seemed to be on different pages. First Levi was dating Barbie, and now that he’d pretty much decided to end that relationship, Ellie was just beginning one with Rob. I decided that if Levi and Ellie were meant to be together, the universe would have to provide the opportunity, as it had for Zak and me.