by Judi Lynn
Alone, Jazzi turned south and drove farther to get to the store Franny’s mom worked at. Jerod and Ansel would wonder where she’d gotten to. There was a store in New Haven only ten minutes away, but she was curious about the kid Franny had told them about. Franny had mentioned that her mom would be working today, and Jazzi wanted to ask her a few questions.
Hilda’s store was a lot smaller than the superstore close to their house. Jazzi decided to do her shopping first, so it would be finished before she tracked her down. After buying ham and roast beef, she added a round of crusty bread from the bakery. For good measure, since she was taking longer than usual, she bought a chocolate cake, too. Dessert went a long way to tame the savage beasts, and both men liked chocolate.
Last but not least, she went to the produce aisle for lettuce and picked up red pepper relish on her way. They all liked it for a change of pace. Hilda was restocking boxes of mushrooms when Jazzi went to talk to her.
The minute Hilda saw her, she stopped working, staring at her in surprise. “I didn’t think you’d make it here this fast. Franny said she wouldn’t see you till Sunday.”
Jazzi blinked, confused. “I saw Franny last night.”
“She told me, and that reminded me that you work with a detective once in a while, don’t you?”
“Gaff? I don’t work with him, but I’m a tagalong once in a while.”
“Good.” Hilda motioned for Jazzi to follow her into a back room. “I want you to talk to Chad. I told him you knew a detective, and he’s worried about his friend.”
This was working out better than Jazzi had hoped. Hilda led her through a maze of pallets stacked with canned goods to a table and chairs in the center of the room. A young kid sat there, eating chicken nuggets and drinking a Coke. Hilda sat down opposite him and nodded toward Jazzi. “This is the woman I was telling you about, the one who works with a detective once in a while.”
Jazzi opened her mouth to correct her. She didn’t do police work, but decided it didn’t matter. She smiled. “Hi, I’m Jazzi.”
Chad narrowed his eyes. “Hilda thinks you might be able to help me.”
“What do you need?”
“I’m worried about my friend. He’s bummed that he’s still on probation when he didn’t do anything big. He’s mad at the cop who sent him to juvie. Mad enough to do something dumb.”
Hilda clasped her hands together on the tabletop. “Chad wants to make a deal with you.”
“With me?” What in the world could she help him with?
Chad squared his shoulders. “If I talk to you, tell you what I know, would Gaff get my buddy off probation? Cut him loose? It isn’t fair he’s in so much trouble. The guy at the bar wouldn’t leave his girlfriend alone.”
“He should have complained to the bartender,” Jazzi said.
“He lost his temper, okay? Anyway, he learned his lesson. It won’t happen again.”
Jazzi wasn’t so sure about that, but what would it hurt if she asked Gaff to help the friend out? “I’ll ask him, but that doesn’t mean he’ll agree.”
Chad looked thoughtful. “Tell him that the guy wanted to hire him and me to move parts. If Gaff can help us, I’ll tell him his name.”
“Have you got a phone number so I can have Gaff call you?”
The kid took her cell phone and punched it in.
She jammed her phone back into her jeans pocket. “I’ll call him when I get home. And good luck.”
Hilda led her back to her cart, and Jazzi thanked her before heading to checkout.
When she got to the fixer-upper, the guys came to see what had taken her so long. While they made sandwiches for lunch, she told them about Chad and the deal he offered Gaff. George came to beg when he smelled deli ham, and Ansel tossed him some small bites.
Jerod wolfed down a sandwich, then started to make another one. It was a nuisance bending over the coffee table to work. Once they finished the drywall and framing upstairs, Jazzi was ready to work on the ground floor again. She wanted the kitchen installed.
Jerod took a bite of his second sandwich before saying, “If I were Gaff, I’d make the deal. The kid’s buddy didn’t do anything I didn’t do when I was that age. Heck, I probably did more. It seems like a good trade-off to me.”
Ansel frowned. “Will it get Chad or his friend in trouble with the guy who’s trying to hire them?”
She’d worried about that, too. “Gaff should be able to work around that somehow. I know he’ll take that into consideration.” Jazzi opened the lid on the chocolate cake. Between the dessert and her news, the guys didn’t mind the extra time she’d taken.
When they finished their lunch, Jerod gave Jazzi a nod. “Call Gaff and see what he says. I want to know before I leave for the night.”
She’d picked up the phone to dial him when it rang in her hand. She glanced at the ID. “Gaff.”
“Good, I wanted to talk to you,” she said, answering it.
“What about?”
When she filled him in, he said, “I’ll see what I can do. If it ties into this case—and it might—I’d like a name. I have bad news. We found Ronnie’s car on a side road in the country. Someone called it in after it sat there so long. Ronnie’s body was in a ditch across the road from it. A bullet in his head. I have to go talk to his grandma now.”
She put a hand to her heart. It hurt. She could picture Ronnie’s grandma pulling her blanket even closer to shield herself from the news. Poor Gaff. She didn’t envy him his job. “Do you have the name of her friend?” she asked. “It was Pudding, wasn’t it? Could you get her there when you tell his grandma?”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll see what I can do. I can call her church and see if someone can give me some names.”
“It’s a stinky job, Gaff.”
“Comes with my line of work. Tell me the kid’s number again so I can call him when I get back to the station.”
“I don’t want to get him or his friend killed.” She felt bad enough that they’d talked to Ronnie and now he was dead.
“Whoever killed Ronnie expected us to question him. There has to be more to what happened. And I’ll be careful with the kids.”
“Let us know what happens?”
“Will do.” He disconnected, and Jazzi told the guys the news.
Jerod took a deep breath. “I keep telling my kids to choose their friends wisely. One rotten apple can spoil everything he touches.”
Ansel lowered his hand to stroke George’s head—a habit of his when he was upset. “Whoever’s involved in what’s happening doesn’t mind killing. I hate having two young guys in the middle of this investigation.”
Jazzi could hear the worry in his voice. She put her hand over his. “Look at it this way. If Chad’s friend hooks up with whoever’s trying to hire him, I think his chances of being dead are even higher.”
Ansel took a second to mull that over. “You could be right. Talking to Gaff’s probably a safer risk than moving stolen goods.”
Slightly more satisfied, they trotted upstairs to finish their work in the attic. By the end of the day, they were ready to wrap up and start on the kitchen tomorrow. First, they’d prime and paint. The three of them could finish that in one day. Then they’d install new floors. They couldn’t save or restore the old ones. And then they could install the appliances and cupboards. For the Victorian, they’d chosen white Shaker cupboards with black hardware and butcher block countertops. They’d give the kitchen a warm, homey feel.
They were cleaning up when Jazzi’s cell rang again.
“Gaff.” She put the phone on speaker.
“Ronnie was shot at close range. Looks like he drove out to meet someone he knew. His grandma told me that an old friend had called him, and Ronnie told him he didn’t want to work with him anymore. He meant to go clean. His grandma was proud of him. She heard him tell hi
s friend that he might know someone else who’d want the job.”
“Chad’s friend?” Jazzi asked.
“Yeah, when I talked to the kid, he said that it was Ronnie who’d called him. They worked as busboys together at a restaurant once.”
“So, you still don’t have the name of who called Ronnie. Do you have Ronnie’s cell phone?”
“The killer probably took it with him. We looked for it. The good news, Chad’s buddy’s out of probation and both of the guys should be safe. Ronnie never gave them his friend’s name. There’s no trail to follow.”
“But the killer took Ronnie’s phone. He could look them up.”
“He knows better than that. Once Ronnie’s murder hits the papers, he won’t risk the kids connecting him to it.”
That was good news, but it was a bummer Gaff hadn’t found another clue. Still, Jazzi was relieved the boys were out of the loop.
“If I hear anything else, I’ll pass it on.” As usual, the phone disconnected. When Gaff was busy working a case, the niceties disappeared.
Jerod glanced at them. “I guess that means everything’s wrapped up here tonight.”
Ansel nodded, but didn’t look happy. “I don’t like it that somehow Didi might be wrapped up in this. I’m glad it’s our Thursday night out. Maybe it’ll take my mind off this mess.”
Jerod shrugged into his coat. “That’s the good thing about kids. Once you walk inside your house, you don’t have time to think about anything else.”
They locked up and left. George stared at them on the drive home. The pug knew it was Thursday and they’d leave him tonight. He’d suffer and pout until they returned. This time, Ansel’s phone buzzed, and it was Walker.
“Didi heard about Ronnie.” His voice carried in the van, and Jazzi listened in. “She’s really upset. I don’t want to leave her alone. Can you guys come here tonight for supper? I’ll order in Chinese. Thane and Olivia are coming, too.”
Jazzi tried not to be disappointed. She was looking forward to meeting Olivia at a Mexican restaurant, having a margarita or two. She didn’t want to think about Gaff’s case. But she couldn’t shrug off Didi. She nodded and Ansel said, “We’ll be there.”
When he hung up, he didn’t look any happier about it than she did. Thursday night was for going out, leaving your cares behind you. That wasn’t going to happen this week. She called Olivia to share the news, and her sister said Thane and her would be at Walker’s, too.
“Tonight sounds like a real downer, though,” Olivia said.
Too true. But what could they do? They’d all show up to support Didi and Walker.
She and Ansel parked his van in the garage, then hurried through their evening routine—feeding the pets, showering, and changing clothes. They had to hustle to make it to Walker’s at six. Ansel pushed a little harder on the pickup’s gas pedal than usual.
Supper was a somber affair. Walker had ordered Chinese appetizers and four different entrees, but people only picked at their food. Even Ansel, who could usually eat regardless. Didi looked like a lit powder keg, ready to explode. River picked up on his mother’s mood and was more quiet than usual.
Walker finally nodded at him. “Why don’t you take your supper downstairs and eat while you watch TV?”
“I can do that?”
“Tonight.”
River didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed his plate and took off. Soon, the sound of a video game drifted up to them.
Walker relaxed a little. “Good, he can’t hear us.”
Didi immediately blurted, “Gil always protected Ronnie! Always. I think whoever killed Ronnie, killed Gil. And that means it had to be someone they were in prison with, and I want Gaff to find out who did it.”
Walker put his hand on her back and rubbed up and down to soothe her. He gave her a look of sympathy. “We all want this guy caught. He killed our friend, Donovan, and he didn’t have anything to do with the robberies. He just walked in when the guy was trashing his apartment.”
Didi relaxed a little under Walker’s touch. “I can’t figure out what he’s looking for. Gil and I lived in my house before Gil went to prison, but he never brought anything home.”
“Someone must think he did,” Walker said.
Thane sat up, glancing around the table. “That makes me remember. Donovan’s parents gave him the couch in his living room, the one that got slashed. I gave him a few things, but his mom wanted a new couch and talked Ray into letting him have their old one. Maybe the killer thinks Ray stashed something in it and sent it to Donovan’s place to keep it safe.”
Another connection. Jazzi would have to tell Gaff about the couch. “I thought all of the jobs Ronnie and his friends pulled were small time, not worth much.”
“Gil never came home with a big share,” Didi said. “Or at least, he never told me about it.” She frowned. “But maybe he wouldn’t.”
Jazzi mulled that over. “The only person who linked Donovan to the crimes is Ray. And Ray worked with Ronnie once. The last time I saw him, someone broke his fingers. Maybe Gaff should look into him more.”
Ansel nodded. “It makes me wonder why the killer didn’t hesitate to shoot Donovan and Ronnie, but didn’t shoot him.”
“Unless he thinks he needs Ray,” Thane said. “He’s the one with a truck, right?”
Walker’s hand paused on Didi’s back. “And he’d be the one who could move stuff that might make more money than sticking up a drugstore.”
“Enough money to kill over?” Ansel asked.
“That’s hard to believe.” Didi pressed her lips together, clearly frustrated. “But then, what do these guys consider big money? How much would it take for them to turn on each other?”
“Whoever killed Gil didn’t make any money off it at all,” Jazzi pointed out.
That made everyone sit back and think.
Olivia glanced around the table, studying their faces. “You guys keep thinking there might be a good reason this killer does what he does. But maybe he’s so violent, it doesn’t take much.”
Jazzi shivered and rubbed her hands up and down her arms to calm herself. That, unfortunately, struck her as very possible. From the expressions on her friends’ faces, they thought so, too.
Chapter 23
Thank the heavens it was Friday. All Jazzi wanted to do today was prime and paint the fixer-upper, then have a fun night. That is, if today’s weather didn’t drown them first. Rain had started in the early hours and never quit. The week had started crappy and meant to finish that way. They all must have been ready for a break because the ceilings and walls were done before they broke for lunch. They’d decided on white ceilings and wheat colored walls to add warmth to the rooms. Splattered with paint, they cracked the windows for ventilation, then carried their sandwiches and George upstairs to escape the fumes. Ansel and Jerod had worn baseball caps to keep the paint out of their hair, and Jazzi had pinned hers up and wrapped it in a large bandanna style scarf.
Ansel grinned at her. “You’d make a gorgeous peasant.”
She rolled her eyes. “You need to add horns on the side of your baseball cap to look like a Viking.”
“They didn’t really wear horns, you know.” He sounded smug. “Some movie director must have thought horns were more dramatic.”
“They should have worn them.” She took a bite of her panini. “They were dangerous enough.”
“Am I dangerous?” He lifted his lips in a half grin.
“Oh, yeah. Women should run from you.”
“You didn’t.”
She shrugged. “The devil you know…”
Jerod shook his head. “Enough with the cute talk. Eat up so we can get back to work.”
Her cousin wanted an early night. That said, they didn’t linger. After washing down two sandwiches with coffee, the guys were ready to go again. Jerod na
rrowed his eyes, studying the rooms, and nodded. “The place already looks better, but so far, nothing we’ve done has jazzed it up for curb appeal. We won’t get any early offers.”
They’d gotten spoiled. Houses were selling so fast lately, people had paid for flips before they’d finished them, but that was because they usually worked on the exteriors before the interiors. Impossible in winter weather.
“Let’s at least get the downstairs ready to show. The wooden floors should sell it.” They’d gotten the engineered maple planks on a closeout sale, and they were beautiful. They’d bought enough for the entire downstairs to match.
They trudged down the steps and pulled on their knee protectors. Jazzi couldn’t wait to see how the floor looked when it was finished. This was the part of every job that excited her, when they could see how everything pulled together. After the kitchen, they were going to move to the far wall in the living room to lay the floor perpendicular to the kitchen’s. That room spanned the entire front of the house. They had made it to the large arch to the dining room when someone knocked on the door.
They all waited for Gaff to push the door open and pop in, like he usually did. When that didn’t happen, Jerod called, “It’s open!”
A man they’d never seen before hesitantly stepped inside, leaving his umbrella on the front porch. “Hi, I live a couple blocks over, and my sister and her husband are moving back to River Bluffs. They’re looking for a place on the east side close to me and my family. They asked me to look around for something big enough for them. They have four kids. Mind if I take a look at this place?”
Jerod’s blue eyes flew wide in surprise. Talk about coincidence. None of them had seen this coming. He pushed to his feet. “Sure, we still have a lot to do, though.”
As Jerod started the tour, the man held up his cell phone. “Mind if I take pictures of every room to send to them?”
“No problem.”
The man strolled around the downstairs, capturing every space and the wooden floor. Then Jerod led him upstairs.
“We haven’t gutted the second floor yet.” Ansel reached for another section of flooring. “I hope the small rooms don’t scare his sister away.”