Death Before Diamonds (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 10) (9 page)

CHAPTER
18

Java & Juice was empty when I
arrived around four that afternoon. A thirtysomething woman named Tessa was
behind the counter juggling oranges and looking bored. She’d joined the staff
at the popular beverage shop a few months earlier, and it always brightened my
day when she was working.

“Hi, Katie!” she said, quickly
depositing the fruit on the counter. “How are you?”

“Thirsty!”

“You want the usual?” she asked.
“Or are you feeling lucky?”

I put my purse on the counter.
“What do you have in mind?”

“I came up with a new recipe,” she
said proudly. “It’s the Yippee Ki-yay Cayenne! It’s got baby spinach, apple
juice, roasted beet root, raspberries, banana, chili powder, cayenne pepper and
just a whisper of Carolina Reaper.”

I smiled. “Is the last ingredient
animal, vegetable or mineral?”

“You crack me up!” Tessa said. “The
Carolina Reaper is one of the world’s hottest peppers.”

“Okay, in that case, I’ll take a
blueberry and kale, please. Hold the Reaper, both Carolina and Grim.”

She laughed again and started on my
order. While she gathered the ingredients, I asked if she’d worked the previous
day.

“I’m here all this week from noon until closing,” she said.

“Did you happen to see the blue car
getting towed?” I asked. “It was parked right out front.”

She poured almond milk and ice
cubes into the blender. Then she added the blueberries, kale and some honey.

“You mean Rex’s car?”

Bingo
, I thought.
One
step closer
.

“Yes, actually. It sounds like you
talked to Rex Greer?”

She nodded. “He came in and asked
if it was possible to call a cab in Crescent Creek,” she explained. “And then
he told me all about his missing brother. I felt sorry for the guy, so I let
him use the phone behind the counter.”

“That’s sweet.”

“He reminded me of an old
boyfriend,” she said. “I’m a pushover for sad sacks and cute men.”

I smiled, but didn’t comment on her
self-assessment. I didn’t know Tessa all that well, so I wanted to be prudent.

“How’d you meet Rex?” she asked.

“He came to Sky High,” I said. “Looking
for his brother.”

“I hope he finds him really soon,”
she confessed. “It hurts my heart when anyone I talk to is feeling blue.”

She whirred the blender for two or
three minutes, poured the finished drink into a plastic cup and slapped a lid
on the top.

“Here you go,” she said, sliding
the finished product and a paper-wrapped straw across the counter. “Can I get
you anything else?”

“No, thank you.” I pulled a twenty
out of my pocket and handed it to her. “But do you mind telling me what Rex
talked about?”

“Bitsy Curlew,” she said, ringing
up my purchase. “Do you know her? She teaches yoga over at the Community
Center.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know the
name,” I said. “And yoga’s not really my thing.”

Tessa smiled. “Mine either. I’d
rather eat pretzels than try to become one.” She laughed at full volume,
holding her mouth open long enough for me to count three silver-colored
fillings. “Anyway, Rex said that he was Bitsy’s cousin from somewhere back
east.”

“Like Philadelphia?”

Tessa shrugged. “Got me, Katie. It
was fairly busy when he was here, so I missed about half of what he was saying.”

“But he definitely asked you about
Bitsy?”

She smiled. “He told me that he’d
lost her number and address,” she said. “I guess he wanted to really surprise
her, so I told him where she lived on Edgewood Road.”

It struck me as odd that she would
share someone’s home address with a stranger, but Tessa was reading my mind.

“He had her picture,” she said. “On
his phone.”

“A picture of Bitsy?”

“That’s right. It was the two of
them and Rex’s brother with a bunch of other people at a picnic. He started to
tell me more about the other people in the picture, but that was about the time
that Leroy Bosch and his three sons came through the door.”

I watched as the radiant smile on
her face went flat.

“How bad was it?” I asked.

“Don’t get me wrong, okay?” Tessa lowered
her voice. “I love kids. But I swear those three boys have tiny horns on their
heads and pitchforks under their beds. They’re just mean, Katie. And Leroy
hasn’t got a clue about how to handle them.”

“Did they upset any of your
customers?”

She nodded. “Sally from the mayor’s
office was in with her husband. One of the Bosch monsters started to…” She
stopped and her cheeks turned crimson. “Sorry! I meant to say that one of the
Bosch boys started rocking on his chair. He was leaning and twirling on just
the two back legs. You can probably guess what happened next.”

“He fell over?”

“Right onto Sally’s table,” Tessa
said. “And her beet smoothie splashed all over her brand-new dress.” She shook
her head, frowning at the memory. “Care to guess the color?”

“Of her dress?”

Tessa giggled. “No! The beet
smoothie, silly! Of course, I mean the dress!”

“White?”

“Yep!”

“Did Leroy offer to pay for the dry
cleaning?”

“I couldn’t tell you,” Tessa
answered. “In the pandemonium that followed, I lost track of him. By the time
things were calmer, Leroy and the boys were long gone.”

“He’s actually a really nice guy,”
I said. “I’m sure he’ll do the right thing.”

Tessa frowned. “It’s too late,
Katie. Those boys don’t have a clue about how to behave in public. Although, with
some unruly children, you actually
can
turn things around if you give
them enough love and gentle authority.”

“You’ve got a point,” I said,
smiling. “It worked with me.”

“Oh, shoot! I can’t believe you
ever misbehaved once in your life.”

I thought of a few sordid childhood
tales, but decided to share them another day. I needed to make at least one or
two more stops before I headed back to Sky High and time was slipping away.

“Did you try that smoothie yet?”
Tessa asked.

“No, but I will.” I sampled the
drink. “It’s delicious, as always!”

“Thanks,” she said. “It’s been so
dead in here all afternoon. The total opposite of yesterday.”

“Ah, that’s right. Speaking of
yesterday, you said that Rex told you he was Bitsy’s cousin?”

“Yep. I think he said they were
second cousins on her father’s side.”

“Hmmm. You learn something new
every day, don’t you?”

“Absolutely,” she said. “For
example, because it’s extra spicy, our new Yippee Ki-yay Cayenne is good for
you in so many ways. It benefits your circulatory and digestive systems. It
helps prevent migraines, relieves joint pain and has anti-inflammatory
properties that are super great for certain problem areas.” She lightly touched
below her eyes. “Like the puffiness that so many of us suffer from? One Yippee Ki-yay
Cayenne every week will keep your eyes looking dewy and fresh.”

“Well, it sounds like a miracle
elixir,” I said. “But I’ll stick to my blueberry-kale combo. And if I do have
those awful puffy eye days, I’ve got my own secret remedy.”

Tessa smiled. “Preparation H?”

“No,” I said. “Sunglasses.”

CHAPTER
19

The main office for Crescent Creek
Cab Company had moved recently into a small storefront on Rio Grande Street. The
change in location coincided with new ownership, a fresh fleet of bright yellow
Dodge minivans and a new company motto:
From A to B with Quadruple C!

“I don’t get it,” Blanche Speltzer
had quipped when she heard the slogan. “Are they driving you around town or
trying to teach you the alphabet?”

I’d explained the rationale behind
the rhyming catchphrase a few times before she demanded that we change the
subject and never again discuss the sale of the longtime taxi company. Blanche
remembered the first day that the late Duckie Ralston had opened the doors of
his taxi enterprise more than sixty years earlier, and she couldn’t stand the
thought of someone else taking over.

I was thinking about Blanche’s
friend and her sassy sense of humor when I walked into the front office at the
taxi service shortly after leaving Java & Juice.

“Good afternoon,” said the man
behind the counter. “Aren’t you Kate Reed?”

He was movie star handsome, with a
chiseled jaw, wavy black hair and bright blue eyes.

I smiled. “Yes,” I said. “How did
you know?”

“Lucky guess?” His laugh filled the
small space. “Actually, one of the drivers was talking about your place
earlier. I guess he’s seriously addicted to the pies and scones that you make.
He showed me the website, so I just saw your picture a couple of hours ago.”

“Small world, huh?”

He nodded. “Getting smaller every
day.”

“Are you Kirby Scott?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I’m Ken,” he told
me. “Kirby’s brother.”

“Oh, so it’s a family affair?”

“Not really,” he said with a dazzling
smile. “I’m in town for a couple of days to see my big brother’s new business venture.
Kirby ran out to get office supplies.”

The two-way radio on a credenza
behind his chair crackled with a deep voice. I could only make out a couple of
words, but I recognized the person on the other end. It was Stretch Gusenberg,
a tall, lanky man who drove a taxi by day and played banjo at night with the
house band at Ruby’s T-Bone Ranch, a steak restaurant on the east side of
Crescent Creek.

“Do you need to get that?” I asked
the man with the luminous smile.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m just
minding the store so Mona could go down the street for a bite to eat. I bet they’ll
call back if it’s important.”

“Is that Mona Burke?”

“Yeah, I think that’s her last
name.”

“I didn’t know that she was working
here,” I said. “I guess she finally decided to get something to supplement her income
from Mary Kay.”

“Who’s that?” Ken asked.

“Mary Kay?”

He smiled, giving me another
glimpse of his flawless teeth.

“Mona’s been selling Mary Kay
cosmetics for the past few years,” I said. “The last time we talked, she was
thinking about changing careers or getting a second job.”

“Is this a step up or down?” he
asked, raising his eyebrows.

“You’ll have to ask her,” I said.
“I hope she’s happy no matter which way her answer goes.”

“No doubt,” he said with another
dazzling grin. “So? Was there something that I can help you with?”

“Actually, do you mind a quick
question?”

“Not at all,” he said. “And I’ll
take a slow one, too.”

I smiled at the quip and explained
that I wanted to know who drove Rex Greer to his destination the previous day.

“Got me,” Ken replied. “I could probably
look at the log.”

“Do you mind?”

He made a face. “It’s not like I’m
doing anything important. I’m just keeping the chair warm until Mona gets back.”

I grinned and watched as he spun
around to the credenza and grabbed a battered loose-leaf notebook.

“Wow, people still use paper?” I
said. “I would’ve thought it would all be computerized.”

“Oh, it is,” he said. “But my
brother doesn’t trust technology.”

“He’s not alone. I know plenty of
people who wish they could still have a rotary dial phone.”

“Yeah? That seems pretty extreme.”

“It’s a retro thing,” I said,
watching as he flipped through the notebook to the last page of entries.

“Remind me,” he said. “What are we
looking for again?”

“I’m trying to learn which driver
handled a particular fare yesterday afternoon,” I explained. “It was one
passenger, and I’d guess that it was around three or four o’clock.”

“Okay, cool. It looks like
yesterday was super slow. Most of these things are just about impossible to
read, but I can definitely make out the time.” He leaned closer and squinted. “And…here
we go! The customer called dispatch at ten before three. The driver picked them
up at a place called Java & Juice about five minutes later. And they went
to…” He paused, squinting at the hand-written entry for a few seconds. “I can’t
read the house number, but it looks like he went to…uh, maybe Edgewater Road?”

“Here in Crescent Creek?”

“Yeah. It looks like Edgewater Road.”

“Could it be Edge
wood
?” I
asked. “Edgewater Road doesn’t sound familiar.”

He held out the register of
scribbled information. From where I stood, the series of dots, dashes, arrows
and lines looked like a toddler’s handiwork.

“I’ll go with Edgewood,” I said, smiling
that it matched what I’d already learned from Tessa. “That sounds about right.”

“Works for me,” Ken said, studying
the taxi log again. “If you don’t mind my asking, why are you so interested in
where this guy went?”

“Super top secret,” I joked. “I can
only tell you that I’m trying to help him find someone.”

Ken closed the notebook and leaned
back in his chair. “Aren’t we all?”

I smiled, but didn’t comment.

“I mean, I was dating this really
amazing woman for six months, right? And I just knew she was the one, like,
marriage and babies and a white picket fence. But then she decided that I was too
self-centered because it took me twice as long to get ready in the morning than
her.”

“I’m sorry that it didn’t work
out,” I said, hoping for the right balance between compassion and courtesy.

“I’m not,” he said, beaming another
showy smile. “An hour after we broke up, I went to a casting call for a new
Burger King commercial. I got the gig, made enough to pay my rent for the month
and
met this amazing beauty named Lola.”

“Sounds like it was meant to be!”

“We’ll see,” he said. “She’s
driving up from Denver tonight to meet my brother and hang out here with me for
a couple of days.”

“That’s nice,” I said. “How long
have you and Lola been dating?”

He glanced at his watch. “Eighteen
hours, thirteen minutes and thirty-two seconds!”

I couldn’t stop the laugh before it
was out of my mouth. “Oh, wow! That
is
a really
new thing!”

He nodded proudly. “Yeah, but I’m
pretty sure she’s the one.”

I resisted the urge to laugh again.
Then I asked if he’d take another peek at the notebook to get the name of the
driver that chauffeured Rex to Edgewood Road.

“For sure,” he said, opening the
journal. “It was…um, this looks like it says Rory Thurber. Does that sound familiar?”

“Yes,” I said. “Rory has been
driving a taxi longer than I’ve been alive.”

“No kidding?” Ken asked in disbelief.
“Who could do the same job for twenty-three years?”

I felt my cheeks redden. “You think
I’m twenty-two?”

He nodded. “Isn’t that about right?”

“Well, that’s really sweet, but I
haven’t been twenty-two for a long time.”

A sly smile appeared between his
dimpled chin and perfect nose. “So, what’s the real number?” he asked. “Twenty-four?”

I laughed. “Add another six years
and you’ll be right on the money.”

His mouth dropped open. “Wow! You
still look awesome for someone that old!”

For a fleeting moment, I considered
dispensing a few words of sage advice about polite conversation with someone
you don’t know. But then I realized the time would be better spent trying to
uncover helpful clues about Rex’s assault and Theo’s whereabouts. I thanked Ken
for the information, checked the time and decided to take a chance that Rory
Thurber hadn’t changed his eating habits since the last time I saw him at Sky
High Pies.