Murder to Go (The Heights Bed and Breakfast Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) (5 page)

Stan
laughed and ran his hand along his baldhead. “I remember the first time you and
Karl came in for dinner. Karl was the first customer to give me suggestions on
my barbeque recipe.”

“He
was right though,” Carolyn teased.

“Still
use his recipe,” Stan laughed and waved a waitress over to the booth.

“Lucy,
I have a special plate for Carolyn in the back. Would you please bring it out
for me.”

“Certainly,”
The waitress answered, rushing back to the kitchen.

“Thanks,
Stan. I’m famished.”

Stan
eyed her. “I heard about Karl getting arrested for that murder up at The
Heights. It’s a rotten shame.”

“I
did want to talk to you about it,” Carolyn admitted. “I can’t say I’m disappointed
Porky Tenboom won’t write another nasty review of anyone who ties on an apron. I
have been trying to figure out who hated Porky enough to want to kill him. I
looked over his food blog and saw a lot of comments from people who wanted him
dead, but I know that they were just blowing off steam. Just like Karl.”

Stan
nodded. “I’ll admit that I was going to create a barbeque special in
celebration of his murder but thought better of it.”

Lucy
came back to the booth with a plate of brisket, coleslaw and a big slice of
cornbread. Carolyn was overwhelmed with the spicy smell of the barbeque.

“Thank
you, Lucy.” Carolyn beamed at the dish, the waitress smiled and walked away.
Carolyn cut into the brisket and took a bite. Her face broke out into a grin.
“Your brisket is my favorite and is this fresh baked cornbread?”

“I
put it in the oven as soon as I heard you checked in,” Stan explained as
Carolyn nibbled on the slice. “Porky has
given
me so many nasty reviews I’ve stopped reading them. I only wish I could get my
customers to stop reading them, too.”

“I
wish I could have stopped Karl from reading them,” Carolyn remarked. “His
comments on the review got him arrested for the murder.”

Stan’s
eyes flew open. “They did? That was a foolish thing to do. The first rule of
public relations is don’t respond when someone criticizes you. If Porky wants
to bash me, let him go ahead. They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
I should be honored to have him or anybody else review my restaurant.”

“That’s
a very sound policy, Stan,” Carolyn replied. “At least now Porky won’t be
reviewing anybody else, and you can be certain you’ll get a good review from
me.”

“I’ll
tell you the truth,” Stan went on. “I planned Porky’s murder in my mind a dozen
times, but I never had the guts to carry it out. Are you sure Karl didn’t kill
him?”

Carolyn
chuckled. “You know Karl. He would never change a recipe, not even to poison
someone. His food is the most important thing in the world to him. If he had
killed Porky, he would have found some other way to do it. He wouldn’t have put
poison in his sandwich.”

Stan
laughed out loud. “You’re right. Too bad the police don’t know Karl the way we
do.”

“My
son-in-law heard about this review telling everyone about a murderer cook at
The Heights,” Carolyn told him. “Someone is cashing in on the murder.”

“Do
you have any idea who wrote it?” Stan asked.

“It
was Phillip Sawyer,” Carolyn replied. “I didn’t think even he could do
something so low, but I guess I was wrong about him.”

“He
owns Sawyer B & B up the road, doesn’t he?” Stan asked.

Carolyn
nodded. “He even offered a ‘Karl’ discount to take in all our guests.”

Stan
whistled through his teeth. “That is seriously twisted.”

“I
know. I also suspect that Porky was staying at The Heights to review it.” Carolyn
remarked.

Stan’s
eyes popped open. “Are you sure? Wasn’t there a woman with him?”

Carolyn
shrugged. “Yes, there was, but that could have been a cover.”

“That’s
some cover,” Stan shot back. “His wife will be furious when the police tell him
he was killed along side another woman. If I was investigating this murder, I
would be looking at his wife as the main suspect, not Karl.”

“You’re
right,” Carolyn replied.

“The
Heights will receive the worst review of all time if Porky comes back from the
dead,” Stan joked.

Carolyn
laughed out loud. “An undead Porky sounds like a nightmare. Thanks for the
support, Stan. You’re a brick. You always were a good friend to me and Karl.”

“Somebody’s
gotta be,” Stan replied. “This town would fall apart at the seams if I wasn’t
holding it all together.”

Carolyn
smiled as she finished her brisket.

“You
know what, I might have another suspect for you to check out. It’s a restaurant
owner in town.”

“Who?”
Carolyn asked.

“Her
name is Beatrice Hurley,” Stan told her. “She owns the Foxtrot Cafe just over
the hill on the other side of town.”

“I
heard about that place,” Carolyn replied. “Beatrice received some very good
reviews on the Grey Fox Gazette site.”

“She
did but Porky gave her a terrible review,” Stan informed her. “Beatrice wrote
back and made a bunch of threats—much worse than the ones Karl made. I’m
surprised the police didn’t pick up on it.”

“Probably
because the victims didn’t eat poisonous sandwiches out of Beatrice’s
lunchboxes,” Carolyn remarked. “I’m surprised you still read Porky’s blog,
Stan. You just told me you stopped reading it.”

“I avoid
reading what he writes about my restaurant,” Stan explained. “But ever since he
reviewed me, I can’t help but read his opinions of everybody else. Sometimes I
just skip right to the comments. They make me laugh every time. Porky knows how
to angry the most kind hearted people. It does make me feel better that he
trashes all the other good restaurants in the area, not just mine. I consider
myself in good company.”

Carolyn
chuckled. “That’s one way of looking at it. I appreciate the tip, though. I’ll
wander over to the Foxtrot Cafe and find out where Beatrice was that morning.”

“You
could pretend to review her restaurant,” Stan suggested.

“Good
idea,” Carolyn replied. “You’re making me think I need to start writing reviews
like Porky’s and give everybody rotten reviews to draw traffic to my blog. Come
to think of it, I haven’t reviewed your place in awhile.”

Stan stood
up and grinned. “Just remember I know where you sleep.”

She
gave Stan another hug, and he went back to the kitchen. Carolyn turned back to
her computer. Men like Stan gave her hope.

Carolyn
caught sight of a bright red flash, and Kat Coeur d’Alene strode up to her
table. “I’m sorry to interrupt.”

“You’re
not interrupting anything,” Carolyn replied. “Have a seat, Kat. How are you
doing?”

Kat
threw herself into the booth. “I just came by to say I’m really sorry for
leaving The Heights the way I did. I was just so freaked out when I found those
people dead. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“I
understand,” Carolyn replied. “I think most everybody did the same thing. It’s
not so good for Sarah and David right now, but things will settle down once
Karl gets cleared of the murder.”

“I
hope so,” Kat exclaimed.

“You
could come back to The Heights,” Carolyn suggested. “You could show the rest of
the guests that this has been overblown. I’m sure Sarah and David would really
appreciate it.”

“I
can’t come back now,” Kat explained. “After I left The Heights, I ended up at
Stan’s Motel, he gave me a discount if I would perform in his bar. I’m here for
the rest of the week. I’m on in a few minutes. I just stopped by to talk to you
first.”

Carolyn
smiled. “Thanks, Kat. You are very sweet.”

Kat
glanced toward the door. “I have to go get ready for my act. By the way, as
soon as Karl is back at The Heights. Let me know. Stan is a great cook but
Karl’s breakfast is amazing.”

Carolyn
laughed. “I have been telling Stan the same thing for years.”

“I’m
here to see Karl Jacobson,” Carolyn told the guard at the police station.

“You’ll
need to hand over all your personal affects,” he replied. “And we’ll need to
search you.”

“Search
me?” Carolyn cried. “What for?”

“We
have to make sure you aren’t smuggling anything to the prisoners,” he told her.

Carolyn
flushed—but why? She had nothing to be ashamed of. “I just want to visit my
husband. I would never smuggle anything into a jail.”

The
guard shrugged.
 
“It’s our standard
procedure. No one can enter the visiting area with personal affects. Even gifts
have to be searched and approved by the Captain.”

Carolyn
tossed her keys and her purse onto the counter. “There. That’s all I have. Now
where do you want me to go for this search? I hope you have a woman to conduct
it.”

Carolyn
spun around when a hand descended on her shoulder. She found herself face to
face with Babs Gillespie. “I think we can skip the search this time.”

“Don’t
make any exceptions on my account,” Carolyn snapped at her.
“I can handle it. My husband’s in jail for murder, so
I better get used to this sort of thing.”

The
guard spoke up behind her. “I can’t make an exception, Detective. I could lose
my job.”

“I’ll
take responsibility for Mrs. Jacobson,” Babs replied. “Here. Give me your
sign-in sheet. I’ll put my signature next to Mrs. Jacobson’s name. If anything
goes wrong down there, they know it was my call.”

The
guard stepped away from the desk, and Carolyn turned away with Babs. “Thank
you, Detective. I wasn’t looking forward to that search.”

Babs
made a face. “No one does. But please, call me Babs. You and Karl have been
through enough, and all you want to do is talk. I think I can be pretty sure
you won’t sneak anything in. It’s just a routine precaution. We have to do this
whenever anyone visits a prisoner in the holding cells.”

“I
understand,” Carolyn replied. “I will be
glad to
see Karl.”

“I
ought to tell you,” Babs went on. “Karl is refusing bail. He says he would
rather stay in jail than spend one more day with his no-good son-in-law.”

Carolyn
cringed. “Sometimes Karl can be a little dramatic.”

“That’s
some husband you’ve got there,” Babs remarked.

Carolyn
smiled. “You’re not seeing him at his best. We are all adjusting to living
together. When you arrived last night we were in the middle of a family
argument. I guess he is still upset with David.
He's
usually a very charming and affable sort of guy.”

Babs
nodded. “I got that impression. After we booked him into the cells, he seemed
to cheer up a little bit. He started talking more and joking around with the
other inmates.”

Carolyn’s
eyes widened. “I can’t believe it. I thought he would fall apart in jail.”

“It
happens sometimes,” Babs replied. “People have wildly fluctuating emotions when
it comes to getting arrested, especially for a crime as serious as murder. They
can get very depressed about it, but once they actually get into jail, they
realize there is nothing for them to do but wait for the trial. The pressure is
off. I got the impression that’s what happened with Karl.”

Carolyn
nodded. “Thanks for telling me. I have been very worried about him.”

“I do
have to warn you,” Babs continued.
 
“When
you get into the visiting room, be ready for anything.”

Babs
led Carolyn into the holding area, and Carolyn sat down at the table in the
visiting room. A guard led Karl in through another door. Carolyn bit back the
urge to cry out in despair at the sight of him. He wore bright orange coveralls
in place of regular clothes. He sauntered over to her table. Dark bags shadowed
his eyes, and he slumped over when he walked. He collapsed into the seat
opposite her and stared at the floor.

“How
are you, darling?” Carolyn asked. “Have you heard from that lawyer I hired for
you yet?”

Karl
glared at her. “What are you doing here? Why can’t you leave me be.”

“Karl?”
Carolyn exclaimed. “I am trying to help get you out of here. I have been up all-night
trying to figure out who framed you for this murder.”

Karl
sat forward in his chair. “I’m not talking about that and you know it. You were
paying off Sarah behind my back. You have been lying to me these past few months,
and now I am just a big joke at home.”

“You’re
not a joke,” Carolyn shot back. “They both think your cooking is amazing. I kept
it a secret because I knew you would react this way. I never should have told
you in the first place, but I couldn’t let David accuse us of dragging the B
& B down, could I?”

“What
do you think I am—some kind of charity case?” he thundered. “I don’t need you
or anybody else paying my way. I have been working in a kitchen since I was
fifteen. I thought I was at least paying my way but now I realize I need to
find a temporary job somewhere else.”