Dead Velvet Cake

by James, Emily

  I had to calm down and figure out what to do with this stupid rock first of all. Throwing it away seemed short-sighted. The inspector might not have recognized it for what it was, but it also might not be the only one hidden within my truck. Whoever had done this couldn’t possibly have thought a single piece—that could accidentally be knocked out of my truck or swept away—would be good enough. Likely there was more that I hadn’t located.

  I couldn’t be sure that I would find it all. If Detective Strobel managed to get enough evidence together for a warrant, he might find a piece I’d missed.

  Dan had found a solution when someone reported that I was living in my truck. He’d made sure that I got a place to live before the inspector showed up.

  I dialed his cell phone number. He answered on the third ring.

  “Holmes,” he said, making it clear he hadn’t looked at the screen before he answered.

  “Someone planted antimony in my truck.”

  I kept my voice low even though no one was around to hear me. Who knew how loud his phone was. I didn’t want anyone on his end to accidentally overhear. Having anyone at the police station find out would be the worst possible outcome.

  There was a pause on Dan’s end, almost as if I’d caught him off guard, and he needed to gather his thoughts before he responded. “Without touching anything, does it look like there’s signs of a break-in?”

  Without touching anything? I’d been touching it for hours, maybe even days, without realizing that something had been planted. I climbed out of my truck and checked all the doors and windows anyway. Everything looked normal. No obvious new scratches.

  That wasn’t good for me. “There’s nothing that I can see. I don’t even know when this happened. I’m not living in my truck anymore, so it’s sitting unattended for hours.”

  I managed to keep my voice calm, even though everything inside me felt like it was pitching and turning. This case left me feeling out of control in a way I hadn’t in a long time. I couldn’t live in my truck anymore, which meant I wasn’t ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Someone had clearly gotten in. That person wasn’t Jarrod, but it could have been him.

  I wasn’t safe here. I’d tried to tell Dan that, but he hadn’t listened.

  “Isabel?” Dan asked, as if he’d said something and I hadn’t replied. “Are you still there?”

  “I’m still here.”

  “I need you to come down to the station, okay?” His voice was unnaturally calm.

  My heart beat so hard in my chest that it hurt. I’d explained to him about Jarrod. He knew Jarrod worked for the FBI. Surely he realized I couldn’t walk into the police station with evidence that made me look guilty of a crime. They’d want my name. They’d want my fingerprints. They might even want my DNA.

  This if what you get for trusting someone, Fear said.

  I’d promised myself I wouldn’t listen to Fear anymore. Too much of what he said had been drilled into me by Jarrod. I wanted Jarrod to have less control over my life, not more.

  And yet, this time Fear might be right.

  Why would Dan want me to come down to the station unless he now thought I was lying and might have been the one to kill Anthony Rigman? Nothing less could justify the danger I’d place myself in by coming.

  I should have known what I had with Dan and Janie was too good to be true and couldn’t last.

  “Isabel?” Dan said again.

  I’d have to leave Lakeshore. I couldn’t take the antimony down to the police station. That’s not what I’d been looking for when I called him.

  But I couldn’t tip him off to what I was planning.

  “I need to close up, but I’ll be there in about an hour.”

  “I’ll meet you out front.”

  I knew if I’d said anything more than an hour, he’d have gotten suspicious. That meant I had about an hour and fifteen minutes to grab my stuff from Claire’s house and get outside the city limits, heading for the Michigan border.

  20

  Thankfully, Claire’s car wasn’t in the driveway when I turned down her street. I’d expected to have to sneak past her, but she must be out at another job interview or grocery shopping. I’d contributed to this week’s grocery bill. My chest tightened again at the thought that I wouldn’t get to enjoy whatever she bought. Which was stupid. I was losing so much more in leaving. Not getting to eat a home-cooked meal anymore should be a small thing.

  I jogged up the stairs. The less time I wasted, the better head start I’d have.

  I collected my toiletries from the bathroom first, then threw my belongings back into my duffel bag. If I’d had a little more time, I’d have taken one last hot shower.

  I didn’t touch any of the clothes Claire bought me, even though I loved some of them. They had fit, and I’d been looking forward to wearing each item. Claire had bought those for me, and she didn’t ask for any repayment, even though I now knew that her finances were almost as tight as mine.

  Don’t think about it, I admonished myself. Don’t think about showers, or real meals, or Dan and Janie and Claire. You have no other choice.

  I turned away before the burning in my eyes could turn to tears.

  Claire stood in the doorway, a gardening trowel held out in front of her like a weapon. I dropped my bag and stepped back.

  Claire lowered the trowel. “What are you doing? I thought an intruder was in the house. That maybe your husband…”

  She’d come running up her with what was obviously the first thing she’d been able to lay her hands on to rescue me. And I was running away without even planning to say goodbye.

  Claire’s gaze drifted to my duffel bag. “What are you doing?” The suspicion in her voice was palpable.

  She lunged forward, grabbed my duffel bag, and darted back as if she thought I’d try to snatch it out of her hands. She unzipped it.

  Even if I’d tried to lie to her, she wasn’t going to believe it. It was obvious I’d been sneaking out of the house while she was away.

  The look she gave me was one I hadn’t seen on Claire’s face before. It reminded me of what I imagined she would have looked like had she come home to find I’d stolen something from her.

  “Where were you going?” she asked. “The investigation isn’t over, so don’t try to tell me you were just moving back into your truck.”

  Even with her admonishment, I thought about lying. I was good at lying to angry people and not being caught.

  The problem was I couldn’t think of a reasonable lie to tell. She’d already crossed off the one I’d planned to use as unbelievable.

  Instead, I told her about finding the antimony, calling Dan, and how he wanted me to turn myself in.

  A line of wrinkles appeared between Claire’s eyes. “Were those his exact words?”

  I wasn’t sure what she meant, so I shook my head and shrugged at the same time.

  She set the duffel bag and trowel aside and frowned. “When you told him you found antimony in your truck, what, exactly, did he say? Did he actually tell you to turn yourself in?”

  I frowned right back at her. “Dan’s too good a detective to say that directly. He’d know I’d run if he did.”

  Claire slowly shook her head. “What, exactly, did he say?” she repeated slowly as if I was being belligerent on purpose.

  Fine. I didn’t want to shove past her, so the sooner this conversation was over, the sooner I could leave. As it was, Claire was likely going to call Dan as soon as I did. I might not be able to make it out of Lakeshore before a police officer spotted me.

  “He asked me to bring the antimony down to the station. That’s not word for word, but it’s close.”

  I probably shouldn’t have added that last part, but Claire’s patronizing tone was getting under my skin. I wasn’t Janie.

  Her head shaking was emphatic now. “You assumed what he meant. Did you ask him if he suspected you now and wanted you to turn yourself in because it would go better for you with the district at
torney?”

  “Of course not. He—”

  “Then you can’t assume.” Her hands went to her hips in a stance that reminded me too much of how she’d looked the first time we’d met in person, when she was blasting me for not bringing supplies to decorate my cupcake display at her grandfather’s birthday party. “And you can’t keep running away. Friends don’t run away every time there’s a misunderstanding. They work things out.”

  A misunderstanding. Was that possible? I’d heard Dan’s words and tone of voice, but I’d been listening through the ears of someone who’d been betrayed by a man I loved and trusted. I’d married Jarrod expecting him to be one thing, and he’d showed himself to be another. And I’d still tried after that to fix things. For the longest time, I’d convinced myself that if I was different, he’d be better.

  Maybe I didn’t know how to have a healthy relationship or to give people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he’d broken something inside me that wouldn’t heal the way my broken bones and bruises had. Did I still have the chance to change that about myself?

  Claire’s shoulders became even stiffer, and for a second, she looked like she regretted setting the trowel down because she’d like to have it in her hand to wave at me. “This is exactly what I’ve been afraid of. You’re only thinking about yourself, and you can’t do that anymore. Other people’s hearts are involved now. Dan and Janie—”

  Her voice cracked, and she waved her hand in the air as if I should be able to fill in the rest.

  If I’d ever doubted that I mattered to Dan and Janie, I couldn’t now.

  My heart was involved too. Claire couldn’t possibly know what it felt like to consider leaving Lakeshore. To consider leaving them.

  But she was right. I hadn’t considered what leaving would do to them. I had only been thinking about myself, about my heart.

  She might also be right that I’d made an assumption about what Dan meant. Just like I’d assumed Eve was behind this based on sunglasses and her reluctance to blurt out her past.

  My chest felt like it’d collapsed in. I couldn’t take deep breathes. I’d face my fear and take the antimony to Dan at the station. I’d trust that he wouldn’t have asked me to come if he didn’t feel it was the right thing.

  But first I’d go talk to Eve before I told my theory to Dan. She deserved that much for the friendship she’d shown me. Instead of leaving Lakeshore, I’d use what was left of my hour before I had to meet Dan swinging by Rigman & Associates. If I hurried, I could catch her before they closed. That’s what a friend would do.

  21

  No one was in the reception of Rigman & Associates when I stepped into the door. The sign out front said they were supposed to be open until five o’clock, and it was only quarter to.

  It didn’t give me much time to work with, but I didn’t want to call Eve after work. Despite Claire’s lecture about giving friends a chance to explain themselves, I also didn’t want to be foolish. If Eve had killed Anthony and I sounded like I knew too much, I didn’t want hurting me to become a temptation. Approaching her at the office seemed like the safest option. Other people would be in the building.

  Mr. Green bustled into the reception area, his face still looking like he’d gotten a bad sunburn. He grinned at me. “Isabel. It’s so nice to see you again. Are you here about that quote or to visit Eve?” He waggled his eyebrows. “Remember, we’ll give you the employee discount if you switch to us.”

  I could use that employee discount. Every amount of money I saved helped me have a better cushion for lean times. But first I needed to see Eve. If I had time after that before I had to meet Dan—which wasn’t likely—I’d speak with Mr. Green about insurance. “Eve first.”

  He motioned me to follow him down the hallway. “You barely caught her. We’re the last two left.” We reached Eve’s office, and he nodded down the hall. “I’ll be one door down in case you change your mind about that quote.”

  I smiled at him in thanks. Knowing he was nearby settled my acrobatic stomach slightly. Not that Eve would have come to work today prepared to kill someone, but as Claire had pointed out to me, I had friends. I had people whose hearts would hurt if something happened to me. I had to protect myself for their sake, as well as for my own.

  That truth didn’t seem quite real yet. My brain bucked against it while my heart clutched it close. I had people who cared about me. I had people who thought I mattered.

  It was time for me to move past thinking I didn’t and couldn’t.

  That meant also exploring this friendship with Eve and asking for the truth.

  “Are you coming in?” Eve asked, her tone teasing.

  I poked my head around the corner and took a tentative step inside. “You might not want me to once I tell you why I’m here.”

  The color left her cheeks, and she tensed.

  I held up a hand in a wait gesture. “It’s not about the case. Not directly.” I took another step in. I had to commit to this. “I’m not good at trusting people, but I’ve started to think of you as a friend. Someone told me today that with friends you have to give them a chance to explain things that look bad rather than jumping to conclusions.”

  Spit it out, Isabel, I lectured myself. You’re only making this worse for both of you.

  Coming right out and asking her directly about something so personal, something that could prove she hadn’t been my friend at all, made me feel like I was choking on something and couldn’t free it from my throat.

  The corner of Eve’s eye twitched, and she closed her laptop. “You’re still wondering why the police suspect me. The thing in my past.”

  I nodded because I couldn’t manage anything else. Not for the first time, I wished I had Nicole’s way with people. She would have found a less awkward means of doing this.

  Eve rubbed at her shoulder like she was seeking some sort of pressure point to sooth herself. “It’s because my mother-in-law has always been jealous of me. It’s reached vendetta levels now.”

  My brain ground over the words. Eve was married. Honestly, if I were her mother-in-law and I knew she was cheating on my child, I wouldn’t be thrilled with her either.

  But I was making an assumption again. Eve didn’t wear a wedding ring. “Widowed or divorced?”

  Eve swallowed once. Twice. “Widowed. My husband died under what the police called suspicious circumstances.” She made air quotes. “They eventually decided his death was an accident, but my monster-in-law could never accept it. Every couple of months she still goes to the police and asks them to re-open his case. She’s convinced I did something to him even though I had nothing to gain and everything to lose. I lost everything.”

  Her voice tripped over itself, and she looked away, blinking rapidly.

  No wonder she hadn’t wanted to tell me. She’d lost the man she loved. Someone who’d been part of her family hadn’t believed in her innocence. And that person continued to persecute her. To maintain her optimistic outlook on life, she couldn’t dwell on any of that.

  Eve forced her gaze back to my face. I could tell by how slowly she did it that it took effort. “Her accusations got worse after I started dating Anthony. She thought it was too fast. She didn’t know what it was like going to work every day and having him pressure me for a date. I didn’t want to date him at first. She and I never had the kind of relationship where I could have confided something like that in her.”

  Her words were rushing out now. I probably couldn’t have stopped them if I’d tried.

  “I think that’s half the reason, other than fear of getting fired, that I stayed with him even after I learned what a dick he was. The more she pushed, the more I wanted to push back.” She covered her face with her hands. “I should have told you when you asked the first time, but it’s humiliating.”

  The one who should have been humiliated was her mother-in-law.

  As soon as I thought it, it seemed like something I should say out loud. I’d held everything in for so long that my in
stinct was to keep it to myself, but a small nudging inside—God speaking to my spirit, my dad would have said—urged me to say it.

  “The one who should be humiliated is your mother-in-law. The way she treated you was wrong.”

  Eve nodded but the movement lacked conviction.

  I tensed, waiting for her to ask me in return why I was living in my truck. The silence stretched. Maybe she didn’t know after all. If she didn’t know, then that only confirmed that she hadn’t been the one to make the call to the police.

  But her brother did work in a place where he could have sourced the antimony for her. After all she’d been through, a brother seemed like the kind of person who would want to rescue her, whatever form that might take.

  I needed to see her reaction. “Someone planted antimony in my truck.”

  Eve blinked rapidly as if she was working to focus back on me rather than staying lost in her memories. “What’s antimony? Is it something that could hurt you?” Her eyes filled with tears, and she blinked so hard her eyelashes looked like butterflies trying to take flight. I hadn’t noticed until then that they were fake. “If someone tried to hurt you because we were looking into Anthony’s death, it’ll be my fault. We need to stop.”

  If I were more like Nicole, I’d go over to her now and hug her or rub her back. But I couldn’t convince my body to do it. Hugging and touching didn’t come as naturally to me as they seemed to come to others. I couldn’t even remember if I’d always been that way or if it was another consequence of how long I’d gone without kind touches.

  I gave myself a mental shake. None of that was important right now. What was important was I’d been wrong to doubt Eve and think she was behind everything that had been happening. She didn’t even understand the implications of the antimony. She’d jumped to the conclusion that someone tried to physically hurt me.

  “Antimony is what was used to poison Anthony. Someone put it in my truck to make it look like it was me.”

  “Oh,” Eve said, a touch of confusion in her voice. Then, with more understanding, “Ohhh.” She got to her feet and sat back down like she wasn’t sure what to do. “You know it wasn’t me, right? Because your earlier question and now this. I didn’t kill my husband or Anthony, and I wouldn’t try to frame a friend even if I had.”