Fat Cat Takes the Cake (7 page)

C
hase watched Tanner glide through some computer screens she had never seen before. They were not only unfamiliar, they were weird-looking. “What's that?” she asked.

“It's your code. It's what's behind your webpages. I think I need to tweak a couple of things.”

She wasn't sure how to state her question. “How are you at . . . getting into things?”

Tanner gave her a questioning glance. “What do you mean? What things?”

Chase sat on the edge of the desk and looked down at Tanner, who was occupying her desk chair. “Have you been following the murder of Ron North?”

He nodded with excitement. “The guy you found with your cat? That is totally . . . different.”

She thought he'd been about to say it was awesome. It totally was not awesome. Not to her and not to Julie.

“I mean, I heard on the web that he was strangled with a scarf. And it belongs to your friend Julie, right? That's not good.”

Chase agreed. “I need to convince the police that she didn't do it.”

“How do you know she didn't?”

Good question. Julie had disappeared right after Ron North left the reunion. She could have followed Ron to the parking lot, briefly. She could have gotten her scarf back. But Chase hadn't seen it again—until she encountered it wrapped around Ron's neck. She knew her best friend wasn't a killer. “Ron North had lots of enemies. He was an annoying person and might have been blackmailing people.”

“Whoa. That could get him dead.”

“Yes, it could.”

“So, who all was he blackmailing?”

When Chase didn't answer, he caught on. “You want to find out, right? You want me to hack into his, like, online stuff?”

“Would you know where to find things like that?”

“That's what you meant about getting into things. Private messages and stuff. I might. Give me a few minutes.”

Chase left him to it. The thought crossed her mind that he would probably be able to access everything on her computer. But there wasn't much there that she wanted to keep secret. She hoped he wouldn't hack into her bank account
and steal all of her cash. Somehow, she couldn't picture Tanner doing that.

Anna raised her eyebrows, questioning Chase as she passed through the kitchen.

“Later,” Chase mouthed.

“Is he still here?” Mallory asked when Chase returned to the front of the shop.

“He's doing some extra work for me.”

She was able to lose herself in dessert bar sales for two hours without thinking about Tanner and what he might be into. When he poked his head into the salesroom and beckoned her, she followed him to the office. He'd been there much longer than he'd thought he would.

“What did you find?” Not her own passwords, she hoped.

“All kinds of stuff.” He was zinging with excitement. “I haven't had this much fun since the release of
Call of the Aura Assassins
.” His fingers shook as they hovered over the keyboard for a moment, then steadied as they danced across it. A screen of exchanges came up. “Look at these e-mails.”

Chase bent to get a better angle on the screen. One set of messages was from “rnorth83,” the other from “bigbyrd.” She scanned them. The most interesting e-mails were near the bottom.

bigbyrd:
mona sez u followed her again 2day. this is your last warning.

rnorth83:
or what?

bigbyrd:
i go to the cops

rnorth83:
and i release my pictures. i no where you were last nite and it wasnt at home. was it.

“Bigbyrd must be Richard Byrd. It's kind of hard to read that stuff, isn't it? These almost look like text messages rather than e-mails.” Chase said.

Tanner blinked. “Why?”

“You don't have to stop and think about what that means?”

“I think it means that North was stalking Byrd's wife or girlfriend. Byrd wants him to stop, but North has some kind of pictures that Byrd doesn't want anyone to see.”

So no, the e-mail shorthand was not a puzzle to Tanner, Chase thought. “And North knows something about Byrd being somewhere that he shouldn't have been. I mean North
knew
that.”

“Right. He's not threatening anyone now, is he? Byrd, I mean.”

“They were threatening each other,” Chase said. “I wonder if this was a stalemate. I don't remember hearing about any incriminating photos of Dickie. What's the date of this exchange?”

Tanner scrolled up. “Two weeks ago.”

“Oh, recently. So this is fresh stuff. The police need to know about this.”

Tanner blanched and his fingers stilled. “No, you can't do that. You can't tell them I hacked in here.”

Chase nodded slowly. “Yes, I see that.” But she had the knowledge. She should be able to find another way to get the information to the police. After all, she had seen Byrd kissing that woman. Maybe North had pictures of those two.
And maybe Byrd spent some time with that woman when he was supposed to be somewhere else. Like at home. How would she go about ferreting out this stuff?

“Thanks, Tanner. This is a big help.”

He got up and stretched. He'd been sitting for over two hours straight and even his young body must have felt stiff. “No problem. Let me know if you need anything else like this. It's fun stuff.”

“Can I get you something to drink? To eat?”

He glanced at the time in the corner of the computer monitor. “No, I better go. I'm late.”

After he left, she checked whether any pages were open that referenced material she would rather he didn't see. There didn't seem to be, but how easy would it be for Tanner to cover his tracks? He sure knew his way around a computer. Chase wondered if Mike Ramos had known about all of Tanner's talents when he recommended him.

She had a little session with Quincy, giving him his Kitty Patty and a Go Go Ball, then headed for the salesroom through the kitchen.

“Julie called,” Anna said. She was up to her elbows in powdered sugar, sprinkling it with flair over a new batch of Hula Bars. It must have been the wintry feel to the weather that was selling the pineapple-coconut concoctions like hotcakes. They tasted like summer. Anna had been baking them all morning to replenish the supply. “She's bringing lunch.”

“She's not working today?”

“She said something about having to be in the neighborhood. I'll bet that's her now.”

They both heard the back door open and Julie appeared a moment later, laden with Mexican takeout bags.

“Mmm,” Chase said, sniffing the tangy aroma of the flavored meat. “Tacos or burritos?”

“Some of each,” Julie said, depositing the bags on the center island counter. “I got some for Mallory, too. Inger's not working today, right? That's what Grandma said.” Julie sounded fine, but there was worry in her eyes. Her face was tight.

“She had a doctor's appointment this morning,” Chase said. “She's coming in later this afternoon.”

“Good,” Julie said. “I would have picked up something a bit more bland if I'd thought she would be here.”

“She's all done with morning sickness, but she still doesn't like to be around spicy food,” Anna said. “That's understandable.”

Chase remembered what a picky eater Inger had been when she'd stayed in her apartment after her parents kicked her out.

“Anna said you had to be in the area,” Chase said, picking up a soft taco and biting off the end. “Mm. Love these.” The cheese melted on her tongue, mitigating the spicy beef a tad.

“I'm going to visit Hilda Bjorn again about my pro bono case, right after we eat. It's been crazy at work.”

“Oh good,” Chase said. “I'd sure like to know what's going on with that. Is a pro bono case confidential?”

“Well, yes. But if I find anything criminal is going on, I'll turn it over to the DA's office.”

“Will you know that just from talking to her?” Anna asked.

“Maybe. Maybe not. But I can contact some of my former colleagues there and they can dig if I think they need to.”

“It has to be criminal, doesn't it?” Chase said, reaching for another taco. “Offering such a ridiculously low price?”

“They're taking advantage of an old woman.” Anna didn't consider herself old, of course.

“They're not the only ones,” Julie said. “You'd be amazed at how many seniors get swindled over the phone and the Internet.”

“My cousin,” Anna said, “gave out her credit card number and her bank account information to someone who called offering her life insurance. She never saw the insurance, or the five thousand dollars the crook took out of her bank account.”

“That's awful,” Julie said. “Did she tell someone?”

“Yes. She lives in Oregon and the authorities have all the information. I don't think they caught anyone, but the bank says they'll make good on the money. She has no idea how long that will take.”

Julie stuffed her burrito wrapper into the now empty bag and rinsed her fingers at the sink. “I'd better get going.”

“I wish I could come and hear what Ms. Bjorn says.” Chase was picking up the tidbits that had dropped from her tacos.

Julie gave her a stern look. “You know you can't do that.”

She did know. Julie had broken so many rules for her, though, that she sometimes lost sight of the boundaries. However, Chase thought she could probably find out the gist of their conversation from the horse's mouth—Hilda Bjorn. Or maybe even from Professor Fear. He was so good about
taking care of his neighbor. And, if the rumors were true, he would soon receive a similar offer on his house.

“See you later.” Julie smiled as she swept out the back door.

Chase gathered up the last of the debris. “I'll go get Mallory to eat her lunch.”

“Let me take a turn up front,” Anna said. “I haven't worked the floor today. I don't think there's any kitchen work that needs doing. I may make another batch later.”

“You don't need to practice for the Batter Battle?”

“Tonight I will. Bill is going to come here to talk about his suit for the wedding and I'll work on my technique.”

Chase decided to catch up on paperwork in the office. The phone on the desk rang before she sat down. She didn't recognize the number. “Yes?”

“Hey, Eddie here. You free for lunch tomorrow?”

Her heart raced at the thought of Eddie Heath. She wished it wouldn't, but it did just the same. “Hi, Eddie. I'm not sure. I usually work here all day.”

“You wanna check?”

She didn't want to go to his health bar, she was sure about that. But she needed to talk to someone who knew these people. He knew the principal and Dickie Byrd, of course, and Ron North. But she hadn't found anyone who knew Langton Hail, the funny little guy who wore vests. Maybe she would have lunch with him and pick his brain. “I'll call you back in a couple of minutes.”

“I'll be waiting here.”

She wondered where “here” was. She checked on the kitchen. Mallory was wolfing down a burrito and said she would be ready to return to work in a couple of minutes.
When she poked her head through the doors into the salesroom, Anna was neatening the shelves.

“Not busy?” Chase asked.

“No, not since the six customers who were here when I came out.”

Chase returned to her office and sat in her chair, petted Quincy, and pondered whether she should have lunch again with the delectable Eddie Heath, who was a certifiable health nut and who was not Michael Ramos.

W
hen Bill came over to keep Anna company that evening after the shop closed, Chase stayed to watch Anna practice. She was becoming more and more invested in Anna winning the contest. For about half a minute she considered mentioning her lunch date tomorrow, but decided against that. She needed counsel from someone, but not from Anna when Bill was there. After all, they were getting very close to their wedding day. How could she bother them with relationship issues now? No, she couldn't.

“Chase,” Bill said to her as Anna clattered her measuring cups and spoons onto the counter. “What do you know about Julie and this murder business?”

Anna raised her head quickly, lines forming between her eyebrows.

“Not much. It looks like Ron was strangled with her scarf and the police won't let go of that. I know”—or was pretty sure—“that she never had her scarf again after he took it.” Chase opened the cupboard and got out the mixing bowls Anna would need.

“So,” Anna said, turning her back to the counter for a moment, “the victim had it. Ron North had the scarf and whoever killed him got it from—what, a pocket or something?”

“I saw him stuff it into his pocket,” Chase said. “His hip pocket.”

“It could have even fallen out,” Bill said, taking a seat on one of the stools. “Anyone could have picked it up.”

“Julie told me she went outside to meet Bart Fender.” Anna spoke slowly. “In the parking lot. He asked for legal advice.” Anna's voice dropped and cracked. “Ron North was there, too. But she's told the police she didn't see either one of them, that she wasn't in the parking lot. She's lying to the police.” Anna's fists were clenched, wrinkling her apron.

Chase could tell that Anna was getting more and more distraught by the discussion, so she started asking her questions about her baking procedure for the contest, and they quit talking about Julie.

•   •   •

Julie called later
that night, after Anna and Bill left. Chase was upstairs, thinking about getting ready for bed. She grabbed the phone, muting the sitcom she was watching.

“Well, can you tell me anything?” Chase asked, eager
for the details. “Have the police finally admitted you didn't do the crime?”

“Not that I know of.”

“They at least know you didn't have that scarf, right?”

“Right. But someone told them that I went out to the parking lot after Ron left. I went out there because Bart Fender wanted to ask me a legal question, one that I'm not qualified to handle. So I followed him out, but came right back in. I saw Ron there, so I suppose I could have gotten the scarf from him then.”

“But you didn't! Who on earth said that?”

“I don't think they would have told me if I'd asked. Maybe Bart.”

“Did you learn anything today that sheds light on the murder?”

“I think I did, actually. Not from Hilda Bjorn. Not yet. But I've been going through those copied pages you gave me, from Ron's notebook.”

“Have you figured out the code?”

“No, not the code. I decided to read the other stuff, his notes for stories he intended to write up.”

“It was awfully hard to read his writing,” Chase said.

“It was, but I've been working at it for the last hour or so. It looks like he was doing a story on the school board. He thought some money was being misspent. He interviewed the principal and did some background investigating on him. If I'm reading this right, he suspected that Mr. Snelson was misappropriating funds. It doesn't help that Ron's spelling is atrocious. Anyway, he also happened upon the fact that Mr. Snelson, along with a big-time developer, Langton Hail, had
petitioned the city for a zoning change. They planned to build a large apartment complex on Hilda Bjorn's block, Ron's notes say.”

“So the two of them were in it together? Snelson and Hail?”

“Apparently they planned to buy every house on the block.”

“For almost nothing?”

“That's about it. Ron's notes say ‘less than half their value'— his words.”

Chase needed to get over there and ask Ms. Bjorn's next-door neighbor, Professor Fear, if he had gotten an offer from one of them. “So the short guy, Langton Hail, is on the school board
and
is a developer?”

“Appears that way.”

“I wonder if Mr. Snelson is really going to quit his job as principal.”

“He's been there forever,” Julie said. “I'm sure sorry I took on the pro bono, though. The news is starting to report things about the apartment complex. No names yet, but that there are definitely shady dealings. The people at work are giving me dirty looks, like I'm part of that.”

“That's not fair. Can you tell them that you're not involved in the land deal?”

“I've tried. Some of them don't believe me. I'm new there and they don't know me. There's been some innuendo in a newspaper column. I never read it, but one of our secretaries mentioned that to me. And this is without Ron North writing about it. I'll be glad to get all of this over with.”

After the call ended, Chase studied her pages of Ron's notebook, reconsidering the coded sections. Principal and developer, doing dirty deeds. Eminently blackmailable.

There—she had it! PRINCE was the principal, so PHOTO was the developer. These were the two who both had amounts by their names. Rather large amounts, in fact. They must have been paying Ron not to print the real estate story. A real estate scam and embezzlement from two prominent school board members. Wow. Was the J there because he was planning to try to blackmail Julie, too?

Ron hadn't gotten any money from BIRD, but Chase would bet that was Dickie Byrd, and that it would only have been a matter of time before he had been forced to hand some cash over to Ron. Julie had seen Snelson hand something to Ron at the reunion, but Hail hadn't paid that night. Sure enough, there was one more entry for Snelson than for Hail. So was he blackmailing Snelson also for the school board funds and not Hail? Did Snelson have twice the motive to murder Ron?

She had figured out the parts in blue ink. She nuzzled Quincy's head with her nose. “I did it, Quince.” Except for the J that was lightly penciled into the blackmail section.

It was too late to call Julie back. She turned her attention to the pink entries. What she thought of as the Stalking Section. She was pretty sure that M was Monique and J was Julie. But there was also a D. Whoever that was.

The next morning, Anna was dragging. “Too many late nights for me,” she said to Chase as they put out the dessert bars for the day. “I'll be so glad when the Batter Battle is over.”

“You will be.” Chase gave her a smile. “Because you're going to win it.”

Anna sighed. “I sure hope I can at least hold my own
against that nasty Grace Pilsen. I'd like to know what her entry is.”

“What good would that do you?”

“Then I'd know if I need to be concerned about losing or not.”

“I suppose.” Chase was doubtful that would be any help. And it didn't matter, since there was no way to find out what Grace's recipe was.

She waited until midmorning to ask Anna if she thought it would be okay to take lunch out. Her hope was that they would be too busy and she'd have to call Eddie and cancel. No such luck. For once, the doldrums hit the salesroom and stayed all morning.

“Go ahead,” Anna said. “I baked some extra last night since I was here, so I can help with sales if they pick up. Are you doing something exciting? Seeing Mike?”

“No, meeting a high school friend.”

“It's that Eddie person again, isn't it? The man who doesn't like our products.”

“Well, yes. I think he might have some information that would help Julie.”

Anna gave her a sideways glance. “That would be good.” She suspected there was something more, Chase was sure. That woman had Chase's number, and good instincts.

Chase was able to steer Eddie to a lunch place that was a step up from fast food, but definitely not vegan. She told him she didn't have enough time to go to his own health bar. He was disappointed.

“You know how it is when you own your own business,”
she said. “I can't be away for too long in the middle of the day.”

“What days are you closed?”

Uh-oh. She'd laid a trap for herself. “We close on Mondays and Tuesdays, usually.”

“I'll have to pick you up one of those days, then, and take you to the Health from the Heath Bar. You'll love it.”

Chase gave him what she hoped was an enigmatic smile. That was better than sticking her finger in her mouth with her tongue out.

“We can walk to this place today.” Chase headed up the street to the Meet N Eat, which was only a few blocks away.

“It's pretty cold out. You sure you don't want me to drive there?”

Chase paused and took in the clear, crisp sunshine, the dark blue sky, and the merest hint of a breeze. “It's a beautiful day. It would be healthier to walk.”

She had him there. Chase had to admit, though, that her cheeks were numb and her eyes watering by the time they reached their destination. Eddie was right. It was cold out.

The warmth of the Meet N Eat felt good; it wrapped around her as soon as she entered. Smells of sizzling beef hung in the air, making her realize that the walk had made her hungry.

As they went in, two men were going out, and one of them was Langton Hail.

After they were out the door, Eddie noticed Chase eyeing them. “Do you know who that was?” he asked. “He seems familiar.”

“He's the guy we saw at that vegan restaurant who was drunk. He was at the reunion. He's nobody important.”
Unless he's a murderer.
Eddie, she thought, obviously didn't know anything about the man.

Eddie waited until they were seated by the hostess before he began criticizing Chase's choice.

“What kind of a menu is this? Look at all this beef.”

“It's a hamburger restaurant,” Chase said. “They specialize in beef.”

“There are exactly five vegetables on here. And two are breaded and fried.”

“I always get lettuce and tomato on my cheeseburger.”

Eddie shuddered, but stopped complaining.

Chase studied the menu, thinking she might try something different than her usual cheeseburger with onion rings (presumably one of the unacceptable vegetables). Maybe she'd go with the Chicken Caesar Salad. That might appease Mr. Health Heath a bit.

He ordered the Chicken Caesar Salad, too, the only Caesar on the menu, but no chicken—and no dressing. Just Romaine lettuce, basically, Chase thought.

The hostess brushed by and seated a couple at the table next to them. Chase was horrified to see Mike Ramos. She turned her head aside quickly and tried to keep her face hidden. However, she had to know who he was with, so she snuck a peek. One look at the dark brown shoulder-length hair told Chase this was his cousin, Patrice Youngren. The young woman was a self-styled fortune-teller. She was also a habitual thief. She loved the thrill of lifting things and not getting caught. The trouble was, she often got caught. She
had managed, though, to filch a ring off Chase's finger once without Chase noticing until much later. Mike had gotten it back and Patrice had promised not to take anything from Chase again.

“Chase, hi,” Patrice said, spotting her and waving with a bright smile. “Good to see you.”

Mike, who had been seated with his back to Chase (so that Chase had thought she might get away without being noticed by him), whipped around, started to smile, and spied Eddie. The smile died before it was completely born.

This was too awkward. Mike would think it strange if she didn't introduce Eddie.

“Hi, Mike,” Chase said. “This is Eddie Heath. He owns a health bar here in Minneapolis.” Maybe he'd think this was a business lunch and they were discussing their prospective shops. Or maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing for him to be a bit jealous.

The guys and Patrice said hi and that seemed to be the end of it, except for Mike's deep scowl directed at Chase.

Eddie tried to make small talk while they waited for their food to arrive. “You know, funniest thing. I drive by the high school on my way to work and there was a car still there the morning after the reunion. I think we missed part of the party.”

“You think some people stayed there all night?”

“Probably too drunk to drive home. There was someone in the car, sleeping it off. Hard liquor is toxic to your body, you know.”

Chase didn't think a glass of liquor was exactly “toxic,” but she didn't feel like arguing with the guy.

He asked how the Bar None was doing. “Do people buy all those things made with sugar and flour?”

“The shop is going great guns,” Chase said. “My partner, Anna, is a little frantic with all she has going on right now.”

Eddie raised his eyebrows in question.

“First of all, she's getting married Christmas Eve.”

“My Health from the Heath Bar does a terrific reception buffet.” He paused. “But I suppose your place will supply the catering.”

Chase nodded. “She's also entered in the Minny Batter Battle. She'd like very much to win. A woman named Grace Pilsen is a rival of Anna's and has been taunting her unmercifully.”

“Who is she?”

“She owns a bakery called The Pilsener.”

Eddie guffawed. “Really? It's a bakery, not a bar?”

“Really. Anna would love to get hold of Grace's recipe so she would know what she has to beat.”

“That would probably help her out a lot, wouldn't it?”

“I think so. I'm not into stealing recipes, though, and neither is she.”

Their food arrived and Chase noticed, out of the corner of her eye, a rapt expression on Patrice's face. Mike's posture was stiff and unnatural. His face was buried in his menu. She could almost feel the frost emanating from him.