A Slice of Murder (20 page)

“We don’t mean to pry,” I said. “Whatever you do behind closed doors is your business, not ours.”

“I never thought I’d do anything with Harriet Bambridge, I can tell you that,” Wilson explained. “I can’t hold my liquor—I never could—but that trip was a mistake in more ways than I can count. In the morning, she brusquely told me that we wouldn’t be opening any branches in Raleigh, at least not with her money, and that I was to never contact her again. I’m sure the police will verify the story, since she called me right after she spoke with Chief Hurley and blessed me out six ways from Sunday. Is that good enough for you?”

“It is,” I said. “I’m sorry we had to pry.”

“I’ve just got one more thing to say to you both, and then I expect you to keep your word and leave me alone forever.”

“What is it?” I asked.

He looked me dead in the eye and said, “If you did kill him, try not to feel bad about it. You did the world a favor, whether anyone realizes it or not. Now go.”

Before I could protest my innocence, we were hustled out the door like a couple of vagrants looking for a handout.

Maddy glanced back at the door. “I don’t know about you, but I believe him.”

“I don’t see how we can’t,” I said. “It would be too easy to check with Kevin to see if it’s true.”

“But we’re not going to, are we?”

I grinned. “If you want to, feel free.”

“No, thanks. So, we finally have someone we can cross off our list. Who does that leave?”

“We’ve still got the mayor and his wife, Olsen’s sister, and his next-door neighbor.”

Maddy added, “And don’t forget whoever he was blackmailing.”

“How can I? It’s the biggest unknown in the equation.”

We left the building, and as we got to Maddy’s car, I saw that we should have been at the pizzeria half an hour before. If we could rush our investigation, I still might be able to speed up the dough-making process as I had the day before. But I had to put that out of my mind. If we had time, fine, but if not, we’d go with the frozen dough we had on hand.

This was too important, and I felt we were finally starting to make some real progress in the case.

At least more than the chief of police had been able to so far.

“I’m still waiting,” Maddy said, bringing me out of my musings. “Where do we go next?”

“Start driving toward Richard Olsen’s place,” I said.

“Are we going to talk to Sheila again?” Maddy asked as she started the car.

“Not right off the bat. I’d like to have a conversation with Travis White.”

“You really think he would kill Richard over a property line?”

“I hate to break it to you, but I’m sure it happens all the time,” I said. “Travis White isn’t going to like us butting into his business.”

“We can try the honesty approach again,” Maddy suggested.

“I’m not sure that’s always the best policy, especially when we’re dealing with a murderer.”

“What could it hurt?” Maddy asked. “Honestly, I can’t think of any other way of asking him for an alibi, can you?”

“We never asked Sheila for one either, did we? She just kind of showed up at the pizzeria the next day, and we never thought to ask where she’d been the night before.”

Maddy frowned, then said, “You know what? You’re right. How has she stayed under the radar the entire time, when she’s the one who profits most from Richard’s death? Have we had a blind spot about her?”

“Not entirely,” I said. “She did make our list, remember?”

“But she hasn’t been as high a priority as she should have been.”

“Then we bump her up the list,” I said. “But I still want to talk to Travis first.”

When we got to the street in front of the two houses, Maddy stopped in front of the White place, parking just far enough away that Sheila wouldn’t see us out the front window if she happened to be at her brother’s place.

Travis White was out in the side yard between the two properties with some kind of tool in his hands and a pile of icy dirt at his feet.

As we got out of the car and cut across the dry, dead grass toward him, he called out, “Use the sidewalk, both of you.”

“You’re not,” Maddy said, pointing at his shoes, planted firmly on the barren ground.

“Yeah, but it’s my yard, isn’t it?”

I grabbed Maddy’s arm and pulled her over onto the sidewalk. We got as close as we could to the man, and I asked, “Could we talk to you a moment, Travis?”

He stopped working for a second, and I saw a posthole digger in his hands. “What are you planting?” I asked.

“Posts,” he snapped.

“You’re putting up a fence in January,” Maddy said.

“You’re a marvel at observation, aren’t you?” Travis snapped. “Now what is it you want? I’ve got holes to dig, and this ground’s as tough as concrete.”

“It’s an odd time of year to be digging them then, isn’t it?” I asked.

I was expecting another outburst, but Travis merely nodded at my question. “It is, but I just got final revocation of rights from the dingbat next door, and as soon as I registered it at the courthouse, I started working on these holes. I’ll have my fence up before the ink’s dry on the deed.”

“So, you bought the land in question?” I asked.

“Not all of it,” he said, “just the strip that we were arguing over. Ten feet wide, and the length of our property. It’s what was rightly mine in the first place until that crooked surveyor came to check the land, and Olsen sweet-talked him into moving the stake.”

“You ended up paying for it twice?” I asked.

“I’d have done it four times if money was the only issue. Olsen knew I wanted it, so he wouldn’t budge.”

“But it’s yours now,” I said. “And it wouldn’t have been if he was still alive.”

He drove the digger deep into the cold, nearly frozen soil, and I could see the strength in the man, despite the white hair and wrinkles. There was no doubt in my mind he was perfectly capable of committing murder.

“Is there an accusation in there somewhere?” he asked, his gaze directed straight at me.

“Should there be? You had the motive, the means, and plenty of opportunity. The police have to have talked to you by now.”

“They did,” he said, “and I sent them on their way. I might have killed him; the man had a way of rubbing me the wrong way that was maddening, but I didn’t, and I can prove it.”

“How can you do that?” I asked.

He laughed, with a hollow echo of mirth within it. “I don’t have to tell you that, now do I?” He reached for the diggers again, then said, “I’m no longer amused by this conversation, so I’ll thank you both to get off my land.” As he drove the diggers home again, he added with emphasis, “
Now.
”

Maddy and I didn’t tarry.

“We’re going to have to ask Kevin what his alibi was, aren’t we?” Maddy asked as we hurried back to the sidewalk.

“He’s not going to tell us,” I said. “For now, we’re just going to have to believe that Travis is in the clear.”

Maddy nodded. “We don’t have much choice, do we?”

“No, but we can still ask Sheila for hers.”

We walked up the steps to the Olsen house, but Maddy put a hand on my shoulder before we got to the door. “She’s not here,” she said.

I saw her point to the empty driveway. “Maybe her car’s in the garage,” I said.

“Knock then,” she said.

I did, and when there was no response, I said, “We ask her later, then.”

“What do we do in the meantime?”

I glanced at my watch. “We go to the Slice, speed up some dough, then open for business as usual.”

Maddy clearly looked disappointed by my suggestion. “What’s wrong? Don’t you like working there anymore?” I asked her.

“That’s not it. I’m happy being there,” she said. “I was just hoping we’d make more progress than we have so far.”

“We eliminated one and a half suspects,” I said as we got into her car. “That’s got to count for something.”

“Where does the half come in?” she asked.

“We can’t confirm his alibi, but Travis seemed pretty sure of himself. That should count for at least a half, shouldn’t it?”

“I think we should crank it up to a whole,” Maddy said. “After all, it wouldn’t take much for the police to prove he was lying, and he’s not locked up, so I’m guessing he’s got a decent alibi, even if we don’t know what it is.”

“Then that’s even better,” I said. “Two suspects down, four to go.”

“At least four,” Maddy cautioned. “We still don’t know how many people Richard was blackmailing.”

“Are you trying to depress me?” I asked as we finally neared our parking spot in back of the building.

“I’m just trying to be pragmatic,” she said.

“Well, do it another day, would you? For now, I’m going to focus on the four suspects we’ve got.”

“I can live with that,” she said.

We parked, then walked around to the front of the building. I half expected to find the front glass shattered or some other dire circumstance, but instead, the place looked exactly as we’d left it the night before.

As I unlocked the door, Maddy said, “I’m glad Greg’s coming in today.”

“He’s always a good worker,” I said.

Maddy looked at me oddly as she said, “It’s more than that. Today he has the front, and I’m doing all the kitchen work.”

I was about to ask her what she was talking about when it suddenly dawned on me that I wasn’t going to be at the pizzeria tonight.

Against my better judgment, I was having dinner with David Quinton, going out on a date that I didn’t want to be on. I didn’t know how I’d get through it without feeling disloyal to Joe, but I had to somehow make it. After tonight, I’d never have to hear David ask me out again.

And I was pretty sure, though not entirely positive, that was what I wanted.

Our lunch crowd was a little stronger than it had been lately, and I found myself wondering if it was because folks were starting to realize that I wasn’t a murderer, or if it was due to the fact that people loved our food and were willing to put little things like murder investigations aside for the sake of their growling stomachs.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

The kitchen door opened a little before two, and I was surprised to find Penny Olsen come through instead of Greg or Maddy.

“Your sister told me it would be all right if I came straight back,” she said. Her hair and make-up were back to their usual standards.

“You look nice,” I said.

She self-consciously patted her hair. “Thank you, but compared to the last time you saw me, anything would be an improvement. I should have known better than to go anywhere looking like I did this morning.”

“At least the police let you go home and change.”

“That? That was nothing,” she said, dismissing her earlier trip in a squad car as if it wasn’t anything unusual for her. “I answered a few questions, and then Chief Hurley took me back to my shop so I could get my car. I had a quick nap and felt so much better.” She frowned then as she added, “I need to get away. I see that now, but I thought I owed you an explanation before I took off.”

“I thought you just got back from a long trip.”

“You don’t understand,” Penny said. “I mean for good. I can’t stay here in town, not now.”

“Are you serious?” I couldn’t believe she’d choose this moment to leave. “Why are you going?”

“The only reason I stayed was to be near Richard,” she said, her words tumbling out like water out of a spilled cup. “I never stopped loving him, despite his errant ways. Now that he’s gone, there’s not much use in me sticking around.”

I couldn’t have been more surprised by the declaration than if she’d stated her readiness to assume the British throne. Then I looked into her eyes and saw that she was deadly serious. “Penny, I don’t know what to say.”

I wasn’t sure how I’d meant it, but she took it oddly. “Eleanor, I know more than anyone else in the world that Richard had his faults, but I kept hoping he’d realize what a mistake he’d made throwing away our life together. I honestly thought he’d come back to me, but now that’s never going to happen, so what’s the use?”

“That’s so sad,” I said, at a loss for what else to say. “What are you going to do about your shop?”

She waved a hand in the air, dismissing the question. “My assistant, Jenny Hathaway, is buying me out. I’m giving her a wonderful deal, and she’s taking it before I come to my senses. It’s time for me to start over.”

I knew what that felt like, so no matter how many things we had that separated us, there was evidently one thing we had in common: each of us had lost someone she loved. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’ll be all right,” she said. “But I started to tell you something before the police chief showed up, and I think it’s important you hear it before I leave town once and for all.”

She looked toward the door, then lowered her voice as she said, “My ex-husband had a taste for blackmail that I never could stomach. He used to steal things from the piles he was supposed to shred, and he’d use them as leverage. He started hiding money in the oddest places around the house before he finally decided to put it in the bank. I never approved of his behavior, and I refused to take any of the money he made from it. When I told him I’d go to the police if he didn’t stop, he just laughed at me. Eleanor, he told me that wasn’t a problem, at least not as long as Kevin Hurley was the police chief.”

“What did he mean by that? Was he blackmailing him, too?”

Penny just shrugged. “I never found out. As soon as Richard said it, he realized he’d admitted too much and he clammed up. All I know is, ever since I found out, I swear Hurley has been waiting for me to say something about it. I’ve never let on that I knew anything about his tie to my ex-husband, but with Richard dead, I’d still feel safer a long way from here. I’m going to California and start another shop.” As she said it, she put one hand over her mouth. “Now I can’t go there.”

“Why not? I won’t tell anyone.”

“I can’t risk it slipping out,” she said. “No worries. I’ll just have to find somewhere else.” Penny sighed, then said, “I was looking forward to their climate, though. I’ve had enough snow to last me a lifetime.” She glanced at my wall clock and asked, “Is that the time? I’m supposed to meet Jenny at the bank so we can finalize the takeover. I shouldn’t have come by, but I needed you to know about the police chief. I know you two were close at one time, but you should be on guard. If anyone knows that a man can have more sides than we can see, it’s me.”