‘I didn’t kill Ryan,’ she said sweetly. ‘The police have cleared me. What about you two?’ She heard her order called. Perfect timing. She sauntered away to collect her shakes, a little Ariana Grande bounce to her step. Behind her, the door opened and closed. She hoped the useless pair had been frightened away.
‘Small world,’ Detective Ahola commented.
‘I’m afraid so. Ryan got around. He’ll be hard to forget.’
His gaze raked her face. ‘Who do you think killed him?’
‘I don’t know. Can’t you figure out who hit him?’ she countered. ‘I thought you could tell the killer’s size, and what hand they used, all that kind of stuff, from the injury?’
The detective scratched his cheek. ‘We don’t know where he was standing. There’s no obvious mark on the stairs, no blood spatter.’
‘And you don’t know where the murderer stood either,’ Mandy mused. ‘I guess whoever it was got away while I was coming to the door to see what had happened.’
He nodded. ‘And after your neighbor Mrs Bhatt had driven away.’
‘What about my neighbor behind me? The lower level is blocked by bushes, but they have a partial second story.’
‘They weren’t home.’
Mandy set her drinks on a railing and pushed her straw into her shake. She took a slurp, hoping the sugar bomb would hit her bloodstream fast and boost her intellect. Alas, sugar failed her in the way caffeine never did. ‘I should have gotten a latte,’ she mused.
The detective lifted a brow and gestured her to a booth in an empty corner. ‘But then I wouldn’t have been able to pick up a burger.’
She perched on the edge of the seat. ‘We shouldn’t eat together.’
He leaned over her. ‘Not the best idea, not right now. Unfortunately.’
Was he flirting with her? Suddenly unsure of the situation, she tucked Vellum’s straw into her pocket so she wouldn’t lose it. ‘I wish I could help you. I want it to be Dylan or Alexis. I wouldn’t mind if it was my next-door neighbor, except for wondering who would take her kids if she gets arrested.’
He ran his tongue over his upper lip. ‘I don’t want wishes, I want a killer.’
‘I don’t have an answer,’ Mandy said, watching his mouth. ‘But it’s motive, means and opportunity, right?’
He squinted at her. ‘The hammer belonged to your cousin. His fingerprints were on it, and his toolbox was open on the floor in the closet of his bedroom.’
‘I didn’t recognize it.’ Mandy hoped she wasn’t blushing.
‘Who is this Reese person?’
‘How do you know that name?’
‘Sticky note?’
‘Oh, right,’ she said eagerly. ‘She’s a nurse at the USea office building. Kind of a friend. Also does vlogging like me. She lives down the street.’
‘Do you have any concerns about her?’
‘Ryan wasn’t her type. She’s serious about only dating within her religious faith.’
‘We’ll fingerprint her because of the sticky note,’ the detective said. ‘Who does have a motive, in your opinion?’
‘That’s the problem, right?’ Mandy took another suck of her sweet chocolate shake. ‘This is a guy who was dating my co-worker and cheating on her with my neighbor, but that was a few months back. Then he started a relationship with Dylan and Alexis. He was about to get fired at work. He was lying to me about drug use. No relationship with his family other than me. No bank account, but also no outstanding debt. He paid his rent.’
The detective nodded. ‘He was written up for being drunk on the job. Not because he had personal conflicts.’
‘Right. I missed all the sex stuff.’ She shook her head. ‘I’ve been too wrapped up in my own drama to notice other people’s.’
His lips tilted in a sympathetic almost smile. ‘What is your gut telling you? Oblivious or not, you were Ryan Meadows’ best friend.’
She stared at the table for a moment before meeting his gaze. ‘I can’t believe Jasmine was involved. Is there anyone you’ve run across with a white cat? I found cat hairs on his chair and I can’t imagine why. They must have rubbed off on it recently. Reese is the only person who has a cat like that.’
‘There weren’t any on the body or the hammer.’
She slurped on her shake again. At this rate there wouldn’t be any left to enjoy with her bath. She tightened her jaw to suppress a yawn. ‘Probably not relevant then. How did he hook up with Dylan and Alexis? Was he cheating on them?’
‘Good questions. I also find very interesting those things he felt were important enough to lie to you about. Drug use. Where did his paycheck go?’
‘Right,’ Mandy said. ‘Where? Meanwhile, I really need someone to take over his rent payments.’
‘I really like the space and location,’ he said. ‘Count me in as soon as we close the case.’
‘Good incentive.’ Mandy clasped her hands together. It was a good thing she didn’t want to date right now. A man with a steady job and a well-kept appearance was also perfection as a tenant. ‘Will your significant other be on the tenant agreement?’
He lifted his brows. ‘Just me. My ex-girlfriend moved to Austin over the holidays. Now I’ve sold our house and I need to move.’
Mandy nodded soberly. ‘Let me tell you the details about the property, like what the deposit would be.’
In preparation for a family dinner across the street the next evening, Mandy was in the bathroom testing a new lipstick her mother had given her for Christmas. She heard the mudroom doorbell ring and quickly pressed her lips together to smooth out the brown-red color.
‘Friend or foe?’ she asked, opening the inner door.
Reese, her hair tucked into the hood of a violet parka, held up a tote bag. ‘Friend. Are you going to let me in? It’s pouring out here.’
‘Hold on.’ Mandy unlocked the screen door and held it open so Reese could get past. ‘What are you doing out in this horrible weather?’
‘I was halfway down the block before the rain hit. You know how it goes at this time of year.’ Reese pushed back her hood. Water streamed off the water-resistant fabric. She fisted her hands. ‘My fingers are frozen.’
‘I’ll help you.’ Mandy tugged at the resistant zipper of Reese’s soaked coat. Finally, it engaged, and she pulled it down.
‘I feel like a toddler,’ Reese joked, dropping the tote to the floor.
‘Can this go in the dryer?’
‘On low, I think. Does this mean you’re going to show me your basement?’
‘You want the murder tour?’
‘Yes! Especially since you sent the police after me.’ Reese adjusted the cowl neck of her lemon-yellow sweater.
‘It’s not my fault that Ryan had your sticky note.’ Mandy considered the nurse’s innocent expression. Maybe if they went down to the basement together, Reese would give herself away with some sort of observation that only the killer could know. Or maybe Reese would try to kill Mandy, too. Or recover some kind of cache?
Her head spun. She leaned back against the counter in the mudroom and casually slid a pair of scissors into the back pocket of her jeans. Thus armed, she said, ‘Lead the way.’
Reese frowned at her. ‘Do our houses have the same layout? I don’t know where your dryer is.’
‘You knew it was in the basement.’
Reese blinked. ‘Everybody’s dryer is in the basement. And I remember you complaining about coming downstairs with the laundry, and Ryan would come out of his bedroom in his shorts and hand you his clothes to throw into your load.’
Mandy shuddered. ‘He did do that, didn’t he? And to think Kit heard me complain about it and still got involved with him.’
Reese’s eyes sparkled. ‘Do tell.’
With a sigh, Mandy gave up trying to lead Reese into a confession and took her down the stairs. She turned on the landing to see if Reese’s eyes went anywhere interesting.
‘It’s creepy,’ Reese said, walking right past
the little cabinet where the hammer had been hidden. ‘Did he fall down this flight or the bottom stairs?’
‘He landed where I’m standing.’
‘What did you think at first?’
‘That he slipped on my journal.’
Reese experimentally slid the sole of one boot across the steps. ‘You could slip down these and break your neck. I can see why you thought that. Have you thought about carpeting the stairs?’
‘I should have done it before Cory left.’
‘Back when you had the money.’ Reese sighed. ‘It can’t be easy to keep up this place on minimum wage.’
‘USea doesn’t pay that badly,’ Mandy said defensively. ‘But yeah, that’s why I need the journaling business.’ Refusing to look at the landing, she walked down the last few steps and went into the laundry room, careful to keep the coat to the side so she didn’t slick up the floor in front of her feet.
‘You should mop up the water,’ Reese said.
‘You should.’ Mandy grabbed a mop from the hook in the laundry room and thrust it in Reese’s direction.
‘You could have at least offered me a cup of tea first,’ Reese complained.
‘Feel free to put the kettle on after you’ve done the mopping,’ Mandy said sweetly. Turning her back on Reese, she pulled a dry load of laundry from the dryer and put the coat inside. She set the dial to twenty minutes on low heat.
When she went back into the hall, she saw no sign of Reese, but she heard water running in the kitchen. Wincing, she realized she’d lost her shot at walking Reese through the basement and getting her to slip up. Had Reese outsmarted her or had she outsmarted herself?
THIRTEEN
Upstairs, Mandy found Reese sitting on a kitchen stool while Vellum poured boiling water into a tea pot.
‘You remember that we’re going to your grandmother’s for dinner, right?’ Mandy asked. ‘We have to go in half an hour.’
‘That’s OK. It’s Friday. I don’t need to do homework tonight.’
‘By the way, Reese,’ Mandy said. ‘I wanted to tell you that I’m no longer a person of interest. As a result, I don’t need to hire a lawyer and I definitely won’t need to sell my business.’
Reese’s full lips went into a pout. Mandy didn’t sense any anger in the woman, but she wasn’t sure why Reese was hanging around, either. ‘What was in that tote bag?’
‘Oh, right.’ Reese bounced off the stool and went to retrieve the bag, just as Mandy spotted the dripping mop in the corner.
She grabbed a kitchen towel and soaked up the puddle of water, then carried the mop into the bathroom and put it in the tub, half afraid that when she saw the water against the porcelain it would still show the rusty color of blood. But the crime scene cleanup people had been as thorough as advertised and the water ran clear when she squeezed out the mop.
In the kitchen, Vellum poured tea and took her cup into her bedroom.
Reese took her cup and blew into it, holding out her tote bag with her free hand.
Mandy opened it. She pulled out a few sheets of notebook paper with spread ideas, and a round canister of Scribbles That Matter brush pens. ‘What’s this?’
‘I thought we could have a matching theme for March,’ Reese said. ‘You see people doing that from time to time. Three different vloggers use the same idea in their own style and then cross-promote each other. We’d only have to find one more person.’
Mandy glanced over the spreads. ‘Why sunflowers? They don’t bloom until the end of summer?’
‘I thought they’d be cute.’
She put the sheets back into the tote. ‘You have to think more seasonally.’
‘That’s why I’m asking you now.’
Mandy handed her the tote. ‘I get it, but I’m close to two weeks ahead of you. I’ve already made my spreads for March and filmed them. It’s not a bad idea, just not for March.’
‘We could do the same thing for April,’ Reese said eagerly.
Mandy chuckled. ‘You just want a shot at my audience.’
‘Can you blame me? But I’ve done my research. Look.’ Reese held out her phone and showed Mandy an email she’d written back and forth with another video journalist. ‘She liked the idea, but I didn’t want to propose a theme until I talked to you.’
Mandy pulled out her own phone and checked the woman’s followers on her video channel, then took a quick glance at her social media. ‘You did your homework. This woman doesn’t have the followers I do, but she has more than you.’
‘Her work is cute,’ Reese said. ‘Did you see her flamingo month from last summer?’
Mandy flipped past. ‘Yeah, you’re right.’
‘How about a teddy bear picnic theme for April?’ Reese said eagerly. ‘I’ve been wanting to do that.’
‘Adorable but complicated,’ Mandy said. ‘I need something more universal for my stickers.’
‘What was your plan?’
‘Not was, is. I already filmed cherry blossoms for April. My backup plan was tulips. Obvious, and I haven’t done it before.’
Reese licked her full lips. ‘Yeah, let’s do tulips.’ Before Mandy could say another word, she typed into her phone and sent an email back to the other vlogger.
Mandy drank her tea with a sigh. She could do two sets of stickers and videos for April. It might earn her more money. ‘Anything else?’
Reese pointed at the canister. ‘I thought you could review those next, since you like cheap pens.’
‘They came out last year. It’s much too late to do a review or a swatch video.’
‘I never even opened them.’
‘Then use them for a giveaway,’ Mandy suggested.
Reese nodded. ‘I guess I have to do something to increase engagement for March. I have no idea what I’m going to do now. I need to go.’
Mandy watched openmouthed as Reese disappeared into her mudroom. She heard the screen door hit the side of the house as she went outside. Mandy followed more slowly and locked up as Reese trudged across the yard, coatless, her head down against the elements.
Mandy shook her head, hoping Reese had her house key in the pocket of her sweater.
An hour later, Mandy sat shivering at her mother’s dinner table next to Vellum. She wished she’d worn a fleece-lined hoodie like Vellum, instead of an aging cashmere sweater with holes here and there. ‘Why is it so cold, Mom?’
‘I had to open the windows upstairs to dilute the new carpet smell,’ her mother said. ‘How is your job now, sweetheart? Any more problems with the till?’
‘Not for me, but more money was missing during someone else’s shift.’
Her mother tsked. ‘It’s time to find a better job. The less you make, the less respect you receive. That’s what my father always said.’
‘I remember,’ Mandy told her, ‘but job-hopping is bad, too. I’ll have been in this spot for a year in May. Maybe I’ll look around then.’
Her mother lifted her chin. ‘What does being a barista prepare you to do for your next step up?’
‘I have no idea.’
‘Our business is doing well,’ Vellum announced defensively. ‘Mom’s really smart. She just started a year ago next month. And we’re projected to make as much as her day job by summer.’
‘You’re still running short,’ her grandmother said. ‘I’m glad you are learning money management early, Vellum. School doesn’t prepare girls for the real world like it should.’
‘I still need a tenant to break even,’ Mandy agreed. ‘Unless Cory would pay his child support.’
‘One of my regrets is that I was never able to foster a truly positive relationship with the Moffats,’ her mother said. ‘But that woman is cold. I never could find a way to ally with her.’
‘Grandmother isn’t that nice to me, either,’ Vellum said.
Her grandma shuddered. ‘Who asks their grandchild to call them “Grandmother”? So formal.’
‘Better than Mrs Moffat,’ Mandy interjected. ‘Enough about
them. We just have to keep Vellum front and center so she’s in the will.’
‘Mom!’
Mandy shrugged. ‘It’s the only way we’re ever going to get your child support out of those people.’
‘Did you find a tenant?’ her mother asked. ‘I saw a truck arriving at your house yesterday.’
‘Jasmine took Ryan’s stuff, and no sooner than that, my prospective tenant showed up. It’s the homicide detective, Mom. He’s asked about the apartment once the investigation has closed.’
Her mother’s finely tweezed blond brows raised. ‘I like that. I’ll feel like my girls are safe with a man in the basement again.’
Vellum gave her a quizzical look. ‘We don’t need a man to feel safe.’
‘Amen.’ Mandy held up her wine glass.
Her mother looked at her with disfavor. ‘It’s not as if you are a black belt, sweetheart. Why is this man moving in? Is romance in the air?’
Mandy coughed as her wine went down the wrong pipe. ‘Nah. I’m dead inside and below the waist.’
‘Mom!’ Vellum shrieked.
‘It’s for the best,’ Mandy’s mother said calmly. ‘The police have a high divorce rate and, given the poor odds of success in a second marriage, he would not be a good option for the long term.’
Mandy had to laugh. She needed a tenant, not a boyfriend.
On Valentine’s Day, Mandy dressed in a black cocktail dress. She called for Vellum, then ran back into her bedroom and grabbed a tartan scarf Ryan had given her for Christmas. Vellum appeared from her bedroom, wearing a dark jacket and khaki skirt.
‘I don’t have funeral clothes,’ she fretted.
Mandy pulled on her coat and tucked the scarf under the lapels. ‘It’s close enough. You look nice.’
She let Vellum choose the music in the car for their half-hour drive north. Her mother had told them that Ryan would be cremated after the memorial service because his mother, who was Mandy’s father’s sister-in-law, wanted him buried with her when the time came. Mandy wondered where the ashes would be stored before then, but felt too queasy to ask.
Journaled to Death Page 15