Death Before Diamonds (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 10) (11 page)

CHAPTER
22

The candy apple red front door at Polly
Ladd’s house was so glossy that I could see my reflection as I rang the bell.

“You look gorgeous,” I whispered to
my blurry twin. “Although it might be time to trim your bangs and—”

“Can I help you?” someone said
behind me.

I spun quickly around, hoping that
my mumbled praise hadn’t been overheard. A tall, lean woman with platinum
blonde hair tucked under a wide-brimmed straw hat was standing nearby. She was
wearing khaki shorts, a short-sleeved denim shirt and dark green gloves. A basket
filled with gardening tools dangled from one hand. I guessed she was in her
early forties, with long, slender legs and porcelain skin. Half of her face was
obscured by a pair of Jackie O sunglasses and her lips were tinted with pale
peach gloss. Since I’d never met Polly Ladd, I didn’t want to bungle our first
exchange if the shapely gardening enthusiast was someone else.  

“I’m looking for Polly,” I said.

She offered a slight smile and lazy
nod, but didn’t say anything.

“My name is Kate Reed,” I
continued. “I wanted to ask you a few questions about a young man who may have
stopped by looking for information about a missing relative.”

Her smile became a deep frown,
growing from cool and aloof to frozen tundra in the blink of an eye.

“Did you say Kate?” she asked
finally.

I nodded. “Kate Reed,” I said with
a sunny smile. “From Sky High Pies.”

“The place in that cute Victorian?”

“Yes, that’s right. My grandmother
opened it more than forty—”

“I don’t mean to be rude, Miss
Reed.” Her interruption was as sharp and precise as a surgeon’s scalpel. “But
I’m on a schedule. What did you say this was about?”

“Of course, I’ll be brief,” I
promised. “Did a man named Rex Greer come to see you yesterday?”

She waited exactly two seconds
before telling me that she didn’t know anyone by that name.

“Oh, that’s odd…” I looked over at
Bitsy Curlew’s house. “Someone told me that he’d been by to see you.”

Polly Ladd took off her sunglasses
and smiled again, showcasing teeth as white and lustrous as refined pearls.

“Well, as usual, Bitsy was wrong,”
she said with another razor-sharp edge to her voice. “I’ve never even heard the
name.”

“Okay, so…” I stammered, feeling
the heat from her intense gaze. “I guess…she was mistaken.”

Polly sighed and shifted the basket
from one hand to the other.

“Do you mind if I ask one more
question?” I smiled again. “Did you buy fuchsia leggings from Simply Chic recently?”

Instead of answering, Polly
laughed. It was a deep, hoarse sound, like someone who smokes cigars, drinks
whiskey and gambles in the backroom of a roadside bar most nights until the wee
hours of the morning.

“Are we playing Twenty Questions?”
she said. “Or is this some kind of hidden camera show?” She bobbled her head from
left to right. “If that’s the case, your crew is doing a
very
good job
of hiding!”

I hadn’t expected the sudden change
in her demeanor. While she was icy and unapproachable at first, the unfriendly
façade had just crumbled to reveal a luminous smile and sunny giggle.

“Come now, Miss Reed,” Polly said.
“Don’t look so glum! I was just giving you a hard time.”

“Oh…” I hesitated, trying to decide
if I should make my exit or keep going. “That’s a relief,” I said eventually.
“You really had me wondering there for a second or two.”

“I know!” she said eagerly. “And
I’m sorry. But I work with some pretty stuffy customers. It’s fun to let loose
and be silly every now and then!”

The conversion of her personality
included a cheerful cordiality in her voice and a much more relaxed stance. Her
shoulders seemed softer and less rigid, her grip had loosened on the basket and
the tension around her mouth had vanished.

“Now then,” she said. “What did you
want to know about the leggings?”

I sighed and took a breath.

“Well, it’s a long story,” I began,
“but someone told me about the great Wunder Under Pants at Simply Chic. And my
sister’s favorite color is fuchsia, so I wanted to buy a pair for her. But
they’d only stocked two pairs in that shade and I heard that you bought them
both.”

She smiled. “I did. But they were a
gift for someone else.”

“Oh, so—”

“Couldn’t Pearl just place another
order for you?” she asked.

“Yes, of course. But I sort of wanted
to get a little glimpse because my sister is very picky about her fuchsia
wardrobe.”

Polly’s smile fell a bit. “I wish I
could help you.”

“Oh, that’s fine,” I said. “And you
actually did. I hadn’t thought about the special order idea. Maybe I’ll stop by
Pearl’s on the way home and make those arrangements.”

“Good luck,” she said, shifting the
basket again. “I’ve done that a few times. Pearl’s a genius when it comes to
helping us look marvelous!”

“She’s a miracle worker,” I said,
patting my thigh. “She introduced me to these stretch jeans that help keep
things a little tighter without cutting off your circulation.”

Polly stepped back and appraised my
legs.

“Those look amazing,” she said.

“Simply Chic carries them in about
ten different colors,” I told her. “I bought them all!”

“I’m the same way,” she admitted.
“If I find something that I like, I buy it in every shade under the sun.” She
paused and smiled. “You know, if you really want to find out about the leggings
in terms of fit, you could ask Bitsy over there. I gave them to her as a little
thank you for getting the mail in and taking care of my cats while I was away
for work.”

“That’s nice,” I said. “Good
neighbors are a blessing, especially if you travel fairly often.”

“You are so right,” Polly agreed.
“We may not agree about everything, but Bitsy, her mother and I keep an eye out
for one another.”

“Her mother lives in town?”

Polly smiled. “Not just in town,”
she said. “Mildred’s right over there on the other side of the street.”

We both turned to study the
bungalow with blue shutters on the far side of Edgewood Road.

“I don’t know what I’d do without
them,” Polly added. “I particularly appreciate the fact that they don’t mind
taking care of my pets, picking up the mail and watering the plants for days on
end when I travel.”

“Do you do that a lot?” I asked.

She laughed. “Only if I want to pay
the bills!”

“You work as a tour guide or
something,” I said. “Isn’t that right?”

“For an elite travel company out of
New York,” she said. “I accompany small groups of wealthy individuals when
they want to see what life is like outside of their Beverly Hills estates and Park
Avenue penthouses.”

“That sounds like a fun way to earn
a living,” I said.

Polly rolled her eyes. “I just got
back this morning after ten days in Europe with a bunch of spoiled, shrill
nincompoops. I’m sorry to carp about them, but I find it absolutely shocking
how little some people know about the world. One woman on this trip kept
insisting that Equestria is a real country.”

I smiled, not wanting to reveal my
own ignorance on the subject.

“But I finally convinced her,”
Polly continued. “We went into a pub, I got my iPad and pulled up the
My
Little Pony
website to show her that Equestria is part of a children’s
fantasy series and not the real world.” She shook her head and frowned. “I
mean, really! The woman is married to one of the most erudite corporate
executives in the country and she’s tricked by Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie.”

“It takes all kinds,” I said with a
shrug, guessing that the two names belonged to residents of Equestria.

Polly nodded. “You’ve got that
right,” she said. “A woman must do what a woman must do. I used to rely on men
when I was younger. But I’ve been on my own for going on ten years, and I must
say it’s a much more rewarding way to live.”

CHAPTER
23

As I walked back to my car, I
called Dina Kincaid. She sounded rushed and breathless when she finally
answered, offering a hurried apology and explaining that she was on her way to
a meeting.

“We can talk later,” I suggested. “It
sounds like you’re busy.”

Dina didn’t say anything in
response, but I could hear clattering footsteps and a few sharp words on her
end of the line. Then I listened as she delivered a blistering protest about
tardiness, a lack of courtesy and the erosion of simple workplace etiquette.

“I mean, how long does it take to
send a text?” she fumed.

“Who are you waiting on?” I said.

“It doesn’t matter.” She sighed
loudly. “I should know better by now. Some people are
never
on time.”

“If it’s any consolation,” I said
with a calm tone, “I feel your pain.”

She laughed. “Thanks, Katie. Bryce
Kleeman’s going to feel a very different kind of pain when he drags his tardy
butt into this conference room.”

I didn’t recognize the name, but I
wasn’t going to prolong her ire by asking any questions. Instead, I waited
until it sounded like she was seated before mentioning the reason for my call.

“Rex Greer?” Dina said. “What about
him?”

“I’ve been doing some checking
around town,” I explained. “To try and help find his brother.”

“I’m not surprised,” Dina said with
a faint laugh. “That’s what you do.”

“Which part?” I asked. “Snooping or
helping people?”

“Actually, a little of both, but I
think everyone in Crescent Creek is aware of that by now.”

“As Trent keeps reminding me,” I
said.

“And so?” Dina sounded calmer and
less out of breath. “What’s the latest?”

“When I stopped by the hospital to
see Rex last night, he was pretty loopy from the medication. But he told me a
few things that connected at least a couple of the dots.”

“Yeah?” Dina said. “Which ones?”

“Well, he took a cab to Edgewood
Road,” I said. “I’d been wondering how he was getting around town without the
blue car and—”

“Which he stole from his alleged
friend,” Dina interjected. “Rex Greer isn’t the brightest guy, Katie. I did
some digging of my own. Not only did he skip a meeting with his parole officer in
Philadelphia
and
steal a car in Denver, he also used a stolen credit
card to pay for a motel in Chicago on his way here.”

“I’m not arguing the point about
his bad choices,” I said. “But Rex seems genuinely concerned for Theo’s safety.
I wanted to follow a couple of leads to see if I can help locate his brother before
Rex creates any more trouble for himself.”

“Point taken,” Dina said. “Did I
hear you say something about a cab?”

“Yes, Rex took a taxi to Edgewood
Road,” I said.

“And who was he going there to
see?” she asked.

“I’m still working on that,” I
answered. “But during our chat last night, Rex told me that he was attacked by
two women. Maybe one or both of them live on Edgewood Road.”

“Two
women
attacked him?”
Dina said. “Did he actually say the assailants were female?”

“Yes. Did he tell you something
different?”

“He said the people that assaulted
him had big, black bug eyes,” Dina replied. “And those are his words, not
mine.”

“Bug eyes?” I repeated. “Like maybe
someone wearing sunglasses?”

Dina scoffed. “Or maybe he was
loopy from the pain meds. At this point, we don’t have any eyewitnesses, no
physical evidence and our victim is a convicted car thief with an outstanding
warrant for violating his probation. Not exactly a lot to go on, wouldn’t you
agree?”

“What about security camera
footage?” I asked. “If Rex was accosted on the sidewalk in front of the post
office, wouldn’t there be video from at least a few cameras?”

“Nothing definitive yet,” Dina
said. “We’re still checking, but the best we’ve found so far is a silver or
gray car with vanity plates that was around the corner from the post office.”

“Did you search for the plates in
the DMV database?”

“We will,” she answered. “We’re
working a couple of other cases that are really close to breaking open, Katie.
I know that wouldn’t be much comfort to Rex Greer, but we’re a small
department.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “You don’t
have to apologize.”

“It’s just…well, it’s frustrating,”
Dina said. “Everybody with the CCPD works their tail off, but we still need to
fill a couple of key positions.”

“What’s the delay?” I asked.

“Qualified candidates,” she answered.
“It can be hard to attract really good applicants to such a small town.”

“Didn’t stop you,” I said. “Or Trent.”

She laughed. “No, but this is where
we grew up. I think that makes a huge difference.”

“Well, I hope some really great
people apply soon,” I said.

“Thanks. Everyone here is hoping
for the same.”

“Hey,” I said. “Just out of
curiosity. What was the vanity plate on the car you saw on the security
footage?”

“The lighting wasn’t the best,” she
answered, “so we only caught the last three letters on the plate. They were
O-G-A.”

The news sent a shock to my core.

“O-G-A?” I said. “As in yoga?”

Dina sighed. “Yes. Yoga. Or toga.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I was just
trying to confirm what you told me.”

“A couple of jokers around here
keep teasing that the license plate was about Yoda, the wrinkled Jedi guy from
Star
Trek
.”

I smiled. “I’m pretty sure Yoda was
in the
Star Wars
movies.”

“Okay, sure,” she said. “Like I
really care about yoga
or
Yoda at this point.”

“I hear you,” I agreed. “And I
think I actually might have something helpful for you.”

“Oh, yeah? Is it an ETA on when
Bryce is going to get here?”

“No,” I said. “It’s about the vanity
license plate. I saw one over here on Edgewood Road that might be a match.”

She didn’t reply for a few seconds.
Then she said, “Are you serious, Katie? Or are you pulling my leg?”

“Dead serious,” I said. “Polly Ladd
drives a silver BMW. And I’d say that she’s also a big fan of the downward dog
pose. Her license plate is L-U-V-Y-O-G-A.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I’m absolutely certain. Because
I’m still parked in front of her house, and I’m looking at it right now.”

“Wow!” Dina cheered. “If I’ve ever
doubted that some things happen by strange twists of fate, this moment would—”

She stopped as a loud voice
thundered on her end.

“Sorry to cut it short, Katie,” she
said, sounding both regretful and annoyed all over again. “But I have to go.
The habitually overdue Bryce Kleeman just arrived for our meeting.”

“No problem,” I said, suppressing a
snicker. “Go easy on him, detective. Maybe there’s a reasonable excuse that
explains why he was running late.”

“I don’t know about that,” Dina
said. “But he has a bag of donuts in his hand, so at least he came bearing
gifts.”