Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse (A Cape Bay Cafe Mystery Book 1) (12 page)

“
C
an
we drop the dog off at my house?” I asked as Matt pulled his car away from the curb. “He can’t stay in the car while we’re at the urgent care.”

Matt looked skeptical. “Are you sure you want to drop some strange dog off in your house then leave it for a few hours?”

“Well, what do you suggest?” I asked.

“For you to worry more about your leg and less about the dog. How’s it doing there? Does it have enough support?” Matt had put his briefcase and a balled-up sweatshirt under my heel to keep my leg straight and propped up.

“It’s okay,” I replied. “I’m sure it can wait a while if you think it would be better to run to a store and pick up some food and a crate for him.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant,” Matt said. “You know he probably belongs to someone, right?”

I wanted to think that he didn’t actually. He was friendly and comfortable with people, but he was on the thin side, as though he hadn’t been getting enough to eat lately.

“Yes,” I said reluctantly. “But don’t you think they’d want him to be safe and well taken care of until they can be reunited?”

Matt rolled his eyes. “Don’t you think they’re more likely to look for him at the shelter than in your house?”

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I knew he was right. “I guess so.”

“Besides, they’ll be able to get him all checked out and dewormed or whatever.” Matt pulled the car into the animal shelter’s parking lot.

“Okay.” I sighed as he got out of the car. “But make sure you give them my name! I want that dog if no one comes for him!”

“Yes, ma’am.” Matt opened the back door to let the dog out.

The little mutt obediently followed him into the shelter as if it was the most normal thing in the world and he’d known Matt for years.

“Bye, Latte!” I called softly, waving. I’d already started thinking of the dog as Latte because his fur was the exact shade of a perfectly mixed latte. I really hoped he’d come home with me someday soon.

I wiggled around to get my phone out of my pocket while I waited for Matt to come back out. I had four texts and two missed calls from Matt. I’d completely forgotten that I’d put my phone on silent when I went into the police station. I turned the volume back up and had just opened the Internet browser when Matt came back out of the shelter. A big smile broke across my face when I saw Latte tripping along beside him.

Matt opened the car’s rear door and guided Latte in with a new bright-blue leash. Matt tossed a baggie of dog food in behind him.

“What happened?” I asked, trying to restrain my glee as Matt got back in the car.

He sighed. “If someone finds a lost dog, they encourage them to keep it. She said it’s better for the dogs. She scanned him for a microchip, which he didn’t have, took a picture for their website, and gave me enough food to get him through until we can get to the store. I guess you get to take him home after all.”

I clapped and squealed as if I was eight years old. I twisted around as best I could to look at Latte without hurting my leg. “Do you want to come home with me, Latte? Would you like that? I have to go to the doctor for a little bit, but when I come home, we can snuggle on the couch and—”

“Wait, did you already name the dog?” Matt interrupted.

“Well, I couldn’t just keep calling him ‘the dog’! Especially not if he’s coming home with me!”

Matt just shook his head. He drove us over to my house to drop Latte off.

“Put him in the upstairs bathroom—it’s bigger than the downstairs one,” I said. We’d decided that locking Latte in a bathroom would be the best bet for the time being so he wouldn’t get overwhelmed by a big new house and go crazy. “And don’t forget to give him a big bowl of food and water. He looks hungry, don’t you, Latte?” I scratched his chin one more time before Matt got him out of the car.

When Matt came out, he drove me to the doctor, who said I had definitely sprained my knee and would have to wear a brace for a few weeks until it healed. Elevate, rest, cold compresses, and painkillers.

“Do you have anyone at home to help you out around the house until you’re back on your feet?” the doctor asked.

Before I could say I didn’t but that I would be fine on my own, Matt interrupted. “I can take care of her.”

I looked at him, surprised. “You don’t have to do that.”

He shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

We picked up some burgers and fries on the way back to my house—after I’d called Sammy to tell her what had happened, of course. With all the excitement, I’d completely forgotten that I hadn’t eaten until suddenly I was starving. I tried to get Matt to let me pay, but he just refused to take my credit card with him when he went inside. I surreptitiously stuffed fries in my mouth as he drove, and Matt pretended he didn’t notice.

When we got to the house, Matt got my crutches out of the backseat and helped me navigate my way inside, then he went upstairs to let Latte out of the bathroom. Latte raced down the stairs and ran around the house until he found me in the kitchen. He jumped up and licked my face. I knew I should stop him from putting his paws on the table to reach me, but it was so sweet that he was so excited to see me that I figured I’d let him do it just this once.

When Matt and I finished eating, he helped me into the living room and got my leg propped up with some pillows on the couch. Latte jumped up with me at first, but that was a little uncomfortable, so he ended up lying on the floor beside me. Matt sat in my grandfather’s old recliner.

“You know, we should probably call the police if someone deliberately tripped you down the stairs,” he said.

“Yeah.” I thought for a minute. “Who in town walks with a cane? Or maybe a limp?”

“Other than you?” Matt asked.

“I use crutches, thank you very much.”

Matt chuckled. “A lot of people use a cane. Half of this street uses a cane.” Matt studied my face. “This is getting dangerous, Franny. Don’t you think it’s a little suspicious that as soon as you leave the police station after telling the cops about this Karl guy, you get tripped down the stairs?” Realization dawned across Matt’s face. “Wait, does Karl walk with a cane?”

I hadn’t told Matt yet about my meeting with Mike. He didn’t know that Karl was
not
the man who had killed his father.

“Um, no,” I said.

“Franny?” I could hear in Matt’s voice that he knew I wasn’t telling him something.

“Karl’s not the one who killed your dad. Mike already talked to him, and he was at the doctor’s in Boston during the murder. I don’t know who did it, but apparently someone thinks I do, and they’re trying to stop me.”

Matt stared at me for a minute, then he stood and walked across the room. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.

“Matty? Who are you calling? Matty?”

He didn’t answer, but whoever he was calling did. “Hi, it’s Matt Cardosi. How’re you doing today?... good, good. Look, the reason I’m calling—somebody tripped Franny at the stairs in the park today and she messed up her knee pretty good. I don’t know if this is related to what happened to my dad, but we need to file a police report either way… yeah… yeah… okay… yeah… okay, see you in a few minutes… thanks, Mike. Bye.” Matt turned around and looked at me. “Franny, I know you feel strongly about finding whoever killed my dad, and obviously I do too, but not at the expense of your life! You could’ve broken your neck falling down those stairs! Mike’ll be here in a few minutes to take a report. Will you just take a step back and let the police handle this?”

“Matty, whoever it was pushed me down the stairs! He may not have been trying to kill me, but he was trying to hurt me. Even if I am a terrible detective, I can’t just sit here and accept it.”

“I’m not saying let it go—I’m saying let the police do their jobs. You don’t need to be the one who solves this.”

Yes, I do.
No matter what Matt said, someone had come after me. I couldn’t just take that lying down. Well, figuratively anyway. For at least the next few days, I would be taking pretty much everything lying down since I couldn’t put any weight on my leg. But I couldn’t tell Matt that. Not right now anyway. Not until he’d calmed down a little.

“Okay,” I said with a small smile. “I’ll lay off. But if someone tries to come after me again, you better believe I’m taking them down!”

“Just smack ‘em with your crutches.” He gestured at Latte. “Or sic your vicious dog on him.”

I looked at Latte on the floor next to the couch. He had fallen asleep and rolled over with his paws in the air. Vicious dog indeed.

I
spent
most of the next few days on the couch. As the doctor had predicted, the day after my fall was worse than the day I actually got hurt. My knee was swollen and painful, and it hurt even worse when I so much as tried to get up to go to the bathroom. Keeping it elevated really did make a difference.

Matt took a few days off work to help me out and take care of Latte. I slowly gave up on trying to pay for the food that he either bought or brought over to cook. It was just too hard with my leg. Once I got back on my feet and was able to sneak over to restaurant cashiers, I’d start trying again.

Matt and I put together some Found Dog posters, and Matt drove us around town to hang them up. I got more and more used to having Latte around, and I hated to think about someone calling to say he belonged to them. I considered putting the wrong phone number on the signs but figured Matt would catch me. It was probably a good thing that I couldn’t really get around too well, because otherwise I would have been seriously tempted to sneak around town and tear down all the signs.

Sammy held down the fort at the café. It would be a few weeks before I was really able to work normally. I called her every day to check on things, but she seemed to be doing well on her own. She mobilized our battery of part-timers to work the middle of the day and came in herself for open and close. I was glad my mother had trained her so well.

Still, I was itching to get back to my investigation. Every time Matt took me out, I kept my eyes peeled for men with canes. Whenever I saw someone, I’d make a note on my phone about who it was or what they looked like. I tried to pay particular attention to shoes and canes, since that was what I saw the day I fell, but it was hard to see those things when we were driving by. What I’d seen as I tried to catch my balance hadn’t been that detailed anyway—just heavy black shoes and a brown wood cane with a black rubber bottom. Not exactly a unique or unusual combination. When Matt asked what I kept doing on my phone, I told him it was ideas for the café. I felt bad about lying to him, but I knew he’d have thoughts on the matter if I told him the truth. I didn’t think he really believed me anyway.

My biggest problem was that I had so many names and descriptions of possible murder/tripping suspects and no way to narrow the list down. The only way I could think of to home in on the culprit was to figure out who had a connection to Mr. Cardosi. To do that, I needed Matt. But Matt didn’t want me pursuing the investigation anymore. I had to figure out a way to get him to support my sleuthing. I probably spent as much time thinking about that as I did actually thinking about the case.

We were sitting in my living room one night as we’d gotten in the habit of doing—him in my grandfather’s chair, me on the couch with my leg propped up, Latte curled up on the floor next to me. It had been several days since my accident and several days since Matt and I had last discussed my investigation. It had also been several days since I’d heard anything from Mike about my assailant. I was beyond antsy.

As the TV show we were watching went to commercial, I heaved a big sigh. It seemed like an effective but subtle way to get Matt’s attention without seeming as though that was what I was trying to do.

He sat up in his chair. “Are you okay? Is your leg okay? Do you need anything?” He had been that concerned and considerate since I got hurt.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I sighed.

“Then what’s with the huffing and puffing?”

“It’s just kind of frustrating that it’s been almost a week and we haven’t heard anything from Mike yet about who pushed me down the stairs.”

“Investigations take time. Just think how I feel not knowing anything about who killed my dad.”

“I know, I know.”
If you’d just help me narrow down my suspects, maybe we wouldn’t have to wait for Mike.
But I couldn’t say that out loud. Instead I said, “I just keep seeing men with canes while we’re out, and I can’t help but think that one of them is the one who tripped me. Some of them I know, some of them I don’t, but one of them was perfectly willing to kill me and may very well have killed your dad. How am I supposed to go about my life knowing that he could be planning to try to kill me again?”

“You want to start your investigation again, don’t you?” I took a breath to answer him, but he barely paused before going on. “That’s what you’ve been doing on your phone, isn’t it? Taking notes about potential suspects?”

I nodded. Matt exhaled sharply but didn’t say anything. The show we were watching came back on, but neither of us really paid any attention.

After a few minutes, Matt spoke. “Who do you have in mind?”

My heart pounded. I couldn’t believe he was actually asking. This was such a good sign! “I only know a few of them.”

“Who are they? Tell me the ones you know, and we can figure out the ones you don’t know later.”

I took a deep breath. “The ones I know: Don Sampson, Jack Newman, Paul Hamilton, Pete D’Angelo, Steve Baker, and Bill Stanton.”

“How many do you have on your list that you don’t know?”

“It’s hard to say. If I didn’t recognize them from day to day, I might have written them down twice or even more.”

“Your best guess.”

I picked up my phone and opened up the notepad app. I scanned my list and counted the descriptions I had entered. “About five. Maybe seven.”

Matt nodded. He glanced out the window. “It’s getting late.”

My heart fell. I was sure he’d just been humoring me and was now going to make his escape.

“I don’t think a lot of cane-users will be out walking around at this time of night. How about tomorrow we go drive around for a while and see who we can see? I’ve been around more the past few years, plus I know a lot of people from the barbershop, so I’ll probably recognize some people you don’t know.” He took a deep breath. “Sound like a plan?”

I tried to hold back my smile, but I didn’t think I did a very good job. “Sounds like a plan.”

“And what’s your plan for once we have a complete list?”

“Then I need your help to figure out who had a connection to your dad.”

Matt nodded. “You had this planned, didn’t you? From the time you brought it up, your goal was to get me to help you figure out who else might be a suspect then narrow down the list based on who had a connection to my dad.”

“Not quite,” I said coyly.

“No?” he asked, a half smile creeping across his lips.

“I wanted your help with the connection to your dad. Helping me identify additional suspects is just a bonus.” I was still trying hard not to smile too much, but Matt laughed out loud. I hadn’t heard him laugh that loud or hard since I’d been back in town.

“Oh well, as long as you were only trying to use me a little bit!”

I giggled. “I wasn’t trying to use you at all! I was trying to help you, and I just needed your help to do it!” I knew my logic wasn’t quite sound, but we were both laughing so hard, I didn’t think it mattered. It felt really good to just be happy with him.

Our laughter woke Latte. He stood and nudged my hand with his nose, then turned to stare at the door. For some reason, even though Matt was always the one to take Latte out, the dog still always came to me. It was as if he knew he was
my
dog, even when he had a helper in his care.

“Oh, come on, boy.” Matt stood and patted his leg for Latte to follow him.

They went outside for a few minutes.

“Is there anything you need before I leave?” Matt asked when they came back in.

“No, I think I’m good,” I replied, glancing around. My crutches were within reach, all the dishes had been put away, and there was nothing on the floor for me to trip over when I hobbled to bed. Latte and I had been sleeping in my grandparents’ old bedroom so I didn’t have to deal with the stairs.

“Well then, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He looked kind of awkward standing in the doorway, but I wasn’t sure what to do or say to make him feel more comfortable.

I just nodded and smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He went to the door. “You’ll call if you need anything, right?”

He’d been staying at his dad’s house so that he’d be close if I needed anything during the night. I’d been wondering if he was seriously considering selling his place and moving in next door, but I hadn’t found the opportunity to ask yet, and I was a little afraid it would sound as if I was coming on to him. I liked the idea of him living so close by and didn’t want to scare him off.

“Yes, I’ll call,” I assured him.

He said good night and headed home before I headed to bed with Latte trailing behind me.