Matrimony & Mayhem: A Made in Savannah Cozy Mystery (Made in Savannah Mystery Series Book 11)

by Hope Callaghan

  “Are you all right?” Mercedes rushed forward to help her mother.

  “I’m fine, but Elvira might not be after I get my hands on her. I’m going to wring her neck.” Carlita scowled at the gaping hole. “Now I know what she was doing with a shovel.”

  “Why would Elvira dig a hole in our yard?”

  “Remember the story Pete told us about some of these older Savannah area properties, and how it’s not uncommon to find valuables hidden or even buried in the backyards?”

  “Yeah,” Mercedes nodded. “It was during the Civil War era. The city fell into ruin, and the majority of area treasures went missing when the property owners fled or abandoned their properties.”

  “I’m certain that’s why Elvira was gung ho on buying her building. She found the antiques upstairs, and she’s probably convinced there are even more valuables buried around here.” Carlita brushed off her knees and glared at her former tenant’s building.

  “What are you going to do?”

  Carlita lifted a finger. “Do you hear that?”

  “Hear what?” Mercedes asked.

  “Listen.” A faint beeping noise echoed from the vicinity of the shrubs that separated her property from Elvira’s property.

  Carlita marched around the corner and nearly collided with Elvira, clad in denim capris and wearing a wide brimmed hat. She stood in the middle of her yard, holding a metal detector.

  “What are you doing?”

  She barely gave Carlita a glance. “Looking for buried treasure.”

  “Yeah, well you’re digging up private property. There’s a hole in my yard, right in front of my parking lot. I nearly broke my neck.”

  “My detector went off. I needed to check it out.”

  “That’s my property.”

  “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I was going to fill it in.”

  Carlita spied a shovel propped up against the side of the building. “I want it filled in immediately, before one of my tenants or an animal gets hurt, and I get sued.”

  “I could see where it might create a hazard. Not that I blame you. You have enough problems.” Elvira hummed as she hovered the detector over a patch of loose gravel. “How’s your investigation going?”

  “Someone placed an anonymous call to the police department’s crime hotline. They told the authorities I not only murdered Megan Burelli, but also one of my servers.”

  “Burelli died? I didn’t know that.” Elvira turned the detector off, giving Carlita her full attention. “Did you tell the authorities we caught a man on camera leaving an unmarked box on your step?”

  “Yes, and I was able to positively identify him as one of my new restaurant employees, Blake Tanner or Duane Sorensen, I’m not sure which is his real name.”

  “You need to do a better job of screening your employees,” Elvira said. “You should consider using my company for background checks. EC Investigative Services has both the tools and experience to ensure you get topnotch workers, not thugs and criminals.”

  “Ugh.” Carlita clenched her fists, her fingernails digging into the palm of her hands. “I did not hire thugs. In fact, my manager, who came highly recommended and vetted, screened each and every employee before hiring them.”

  “He didn’t do such a hot job either.” Elvira resumed her metal detecting. “How are you doing on hooking me up with your hottie new tenant, Sam?”

  “I haven’t worked on it yet. I’ve been a little busy. I’ll talk to Sam later today or tomorrow if I’m not sitting in a jail cell.”

  “Don’t be so dramatic.”

  “I’m not being dramatic.” Carlita’s voice lowered, and the urge to throttle Elvira was growing by the minute. “I have some serious problems. I have a dead wedding guest and a dead restaurant worker with a second employee on the run.”

  The metal detector beeped loudly. Elvira balanced the detector in one hand and reached for her shovel.

  “Hold this.” She thrust the detector in Mercedes’ hand and began shoveling dirt.

  Clink. “I hit something.” Elvira dropped the shovel and dug with her hands.

  “You’re crazy.”

  “You won’t think so when I find a mess of gold coins or something historic and valuable.” Elvira dumped the dirt off to the side and continued digging. “I could be sitting on a gold mine…literally.”

  “I give up.” Carlita threw her hands in the air. “Don’t forget to fill in my hole and for the record, you do not have my permission to dig any more holes on my property.”

  “You’ll be changing your tune as soon as I find something.” Elvira stopped digging and peered into the sizable hole. “I see something shiny.”

  She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a trowel. “I knew there was something buried around here.” Elvira dug in a circle, widening the hole.

  She tossed the trowel off to the side, stuck her hand in the hole and pulled out a silver coin.

  “Check it out. It’s a silver coin.” She handed it to Carlita.

  “I’ll be darned. You did find a coin.”

  “Of course I did.”

  Carlita and Mercedes watched as Elvira unearthed three more silver coins before eyeing them suspiciously. “This is my property. I don’t want you messing around over here.”

  “Like you were messing around on my property?”

  “We’ve already been over this. I’ll fill in the hole.” Elvira held out her hand. “Coin please.”

  Carlita handed it to her. “I’ll get back with you as soon as I have a chance to talk to Sam.” She, along with Mercedes and Rambo, started to walk away.

  “Hey, Carlita.”

  Carlita paused.

  “It sounds like Burelli’s poisoning was an inside job. I would take a closer look at your employees.”

  “I’m meeting with my restaurant manager later this afternoon. Maybe he can shed some light on the restaurant employee found dead and the other one who is MIA.”

  “Yep.” Elvira nodded. “Let me know if you need any help.”

  Carlita nodded toward the hole. “Good luck with your treasure hunt.”

  “Thanks.”

  Carlita and Mercedes tiptoed across the grassy strip, keeping an eye out for more holes. They circled the block and then slowly made their way back upstairs.

  “I better grab a bite to eat before I head next door to meet Dominic.”

  “Elvira was right. Dominic might be able to give you a little more feedback on the employees,” Mercedes said. “I wonder if the authorities will want to talk to him and the restaurant employees. I’m surprised they didn’t ask to see our employee applications.”

  “My guess is they will after they’re done with me.” Carlita headed to the kitchen to warm up some leftover soup and fix a sandwich.

  Rambo followed her, watching her every move.

  “Beggar,” she patted his head. “You can have one small slice of roast beef. Grayvie, too.”

  “I’m gonna head to my room,” Mercedes said. “Before I forget, we got a couple of promising applications for tenants. I ditched a few I didn’t think were good matches and emailed the others to you.”

  “Great. I’ll look at them while I eat.” Carlita fed each of her pets a treat before piling roast beef on a slice of bread. She smeared a thick layer of mayonnaise on a second slice before adding lettuce and tomato. She carried the soup and sandwich to her desk and settled in.

  After a quick check of the bank accounts, she opened her email and found Mercedes’ message and an attachment with the tenant applications.

  She decided both looked promising and sent a reply to Mercedes, telling her both sounded like good fits, but the decision was ultimately up to her daughter.

  Carlita polished off the homemade minestrone and roast beef on seeded rye before carrying her dirty dishes to the kitchen. There was just enough time to freshen up and head next door to meet Dominic.

  “Hey, Mercedes.” Carlita rapped lightly on her daughter’s door and jumped back,
waiting for it to fly open. She wasn’t disappointed.

  “Hey, Ma. I got your message. You want me to go ahead and meet with the potential tenants?”

  “Yes. The ball is in your court now, Mercedes. I trust your judgment.”

  “Thanks.” Mercedes grinned, the dimple in her cheek deepening. “You heading over to chat with Dominic?”

  “Yes. I better get going, or I’m going to be late. You wanna go with me?”

  “Nah. I want to get a little writing in and then head down to check on Tony.”

  “Which reminds me. I think we should join the others for dinner later. I figured we could head to Russo’s restaurant. Now that I’m a member of the restaurant group, I think we should try to support each other’s businesses.”

  She thanked her daughter for taking care of weeding through the prospective tenants and then wandered down the steps. Carlita passed the parking lot and caught a glimpse of Elvira, still digging holes on her property.

  She stepped inside the restaurant and discovered Dominic had already arrived and was rifling through the filing cabinet.

  “Hey, Dominic.”

  “Hello, Carlita. What happened to the employee applications that were in the filing cabinet?”

  “I took them out the other day. They’re in my home office.”

  “I…need the applications.” Dominic shut the cabinet door. “Two of the new workers quit on Saturday, during the wedding reception.”

  “That’s the first I’ve heard of anyone quitting.” Carlita wondered if Dominic was talking about Monica Clay and the person she knew as Duane Sorensen/Blake Tanner.

  “What with the guest keeling over, I figured you had your hands full, and I didn’t want to add to your troubles. I was thinking I could take a second look at the applicants we didn’t hire.”

  “I’ll bring the folders back over later.”

  “I need them now.”

  Carlita lifted a brow, taken aback by the tone of his voice. “I’ll bring them over later,” she repeated. “If you recall, we hired a few extra workers in case someone quit.”

  “That was our original plan. I’m having second thoughts. I think we’re stretching our staff too thin.”

  The warning bells went off in Carlita’s head. Dominic knew about Monica Clay’s death.

  “You heard the body of one of the servers, Monica Clay, was found out behind the bus station,” Carlita said quietly. “Is she one of the workers who quit?” The pieces were beginning to fall in place.

  “Yes. I got a buddy who works downtown. He said Clay’s strangled body was found behind the bus station and her friend, one of our other employees, Duane Sorensen, is missing.”

  “I heard the same.” Carlita didn’t mention the anonymous tip to the crime hotline, implicating her. “I also believe Duane Sorensen’s real name is Blake Tanner.”

  An unreadable expression crossed Dominic’s face. “He wasn’t Duane Sorensen?”

  “No. He was lying. Not only that, his cell phone has been disconnected, as was Monica Clay’s.”

  “We need to do a better job of screening the applicants,” Dominic said. “Or hire people with better references.”

  “You sound like Elvira,” Carlita muttered.

  “Elvira?”

  “Never mind.”

  “So you gonna go get the applications?”

  “No.” Carlita’s mind whirled. How much did Dominic know? Should she trust him? She slowly shook her head. “I think it’s best if we wait to see how our first couple of days pan out. We might not need to hire more people.”

  “But I need those applications,” Dominic insisted.

  Carlita ignored his comment and changed the subject. “Overall, I think the guests enjoyed the wedding food, and the servers did a great job of handling the crowds. You spent most of your time in the kitchen. Did the kitchen staff complain about being overwhelmed?”

  “A little.” Dominic mentioned a problem with the walk-in cooler’s temperature and appeared to relax as they discussed the service and the food.

  They went over the work schedule for the following week, and the more Carlita thought about it, the more she was convinced they needed to stick with the employees already hired and trained.

  Her cell phone chimed, and Carlita glanced at the screen. She pressed the dismiss button. “I think that about covers everything. Thank you for coming in. I’ll walk you out.”

  Dominic followed Carlita to the front. He joined her on the sidewalk. “You sure you don’t wanna bring a couple more people on board?”

  “Positive.” Carlita nodded firmly. “I think we’ll have a better idea if or what we need after our first couple of days.”

  “You’re the boss. I’ll see you on Thursday for the all-employee meeting.” Dominic waved good-bye and then crossed the street to the trolley pick up.

  Carlita locked the front door before retracing her steps and making her way to the kitchen. She flipped the lights off and exited through the back door.

  Back home, Carlita slipped the restaurant keys on the hook near the door and kicked off her shoes.

  Mercedes popped out of her room. “Well? How did it go?”

  “It was an odd meeting.” Carlita sank down on the sofa. “Dominic seemed irritated when he found out I took the applications. He already knew about Monica’s death and Duane Sorensen’s MIA status. I was going to ask him for his thoughts on the employees, if anyone acted suspiciously, but he was acting so weird, I decided not to.”

  “Savannah is a small town.” Mercedes flopped down on the chair. “I’m not surprised he heard about the death and the missing employee. Plus, he knew them.”

  Carlita frowned. “No, he didn’t know them.”

  “Yes, he did,” Mercedes said.

  “He told me he didn’t know them. We both agreed we needed to do a better job of screening our employees.”

  “He’s lying.” Mercedes marched to her mother’s desk. She returned with the employee file folders. “Check it out.”

  She sifted through the applications and handed one to her mother. “This is Monica Clay’s application.”

  Carlita’s eyes narrowed as she tried to read the small print. “What am I looking for?”

  “It’s on the other side.”

  “Okay.” Carlita flipped the application over. She shook her head. “I give up.”

  “Down there.” Mercedes pointed to the bottom of the application. “Look right above the signature.”

  “I don’t…” Carlita sucked in a breath. “What in the world?”

  Chapter 24

  “Monica Clay listed Dominic as a reference. He said he didn’t know her. Why did he lie?” Carlita asked.

  “That’s not all.” Mercedes pulled out another application and handed it to her mother. “Duane Sorensen also listed Dominic as a reference.”

  Carlita stared at the application in disbelief. “No wonder he was desperate to get his hands on the applications.”

  She tossed the application on top of the folder and stood. “I want to ask him to his face why he lied to me. I bet we can still catch him. He was at the trolley stop across the street a few minutes ago.”

  She flung the front door open and marched down the steps.

  “No!” Mercedes ran after her mother. “You don’t want to confront him.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because there’s a reason he lied to you. Maybe he was behind Megan Burelli’s poisoning. Think about it. If he was involved and you confront him, he’s going to lie or worse.”

  “He’ll come after us,” Carlita whispered.

  “What if Louie hired him?”

  “Then we’re all in danger.”

  “Right.”

  “If we don’t confront him, how do we find out if he’s involved?”

  “We set a trap,” Mercedes said. “If Dominic is involved, we know he’s desperate to get his hands on the applications. He must know or at least suspect Monica and Duane used him as a reference.”
r />   “So how do we set a trap?”

  “Dominic has a key to the restaurant,” Mercedes said.

  “Yes, and now I’m wondering how I’m gonna get it back from him.”

  “You’re not. This is perfect.” Mercedes told her mother they needed to make copies of the applications and then put the originals back in the restaurant’s filing cabinet. “You call Dominic and tell him you changed your mind. After talking to me, you decided to hire a few more people, and you put the applications back inside the restaurant.”

  “So he’ll come after them,” Carlita said.

  “Yep, and we’re going to let him take the applications. Ten bucks says he’s going to alter the applications and take his name off as a reference.”

  “So what? It’s not illegal. Troubling? Yes. Illegal? No.”

  “True, but if he’s working with someone else, don’t you think he’ll go for the applications and then take them to his accomplice to get rid of them?” Mercedes asked. “We have a 50/50 chance of someone else being involved.”

  “And it won’t hurt to see what he does once he gets his hands on the applications,” Carlita said. “Dominic uses the trolley to get around and guess who’s working today?”

  “Reese,” Carlita and Mercedes said in unison.

  “Let’s get this sting underway.”

  While Mercedes made copies of the applications, Carlita texted Reese and asked her to call as soon as possible. Thankfully, Reese called a short time later.

  Carlita briefly explained what happened, how she thought her restaurant manager was somehow involved in Megan Burelli and Monica Clay’s deaths, maybe even Duane Sorensen’s disappearance.

  “Oh, I know Dominic. He was just on the trolley. He got off near the City Market. Nice guy. Kind of a braggart, but entertaining.”

  “We’re setting up a sting. If our hunch is right, he’ll come back down here to grab the applications. Once he does, we need to follow him, to find out where he goes.”

  “He typically gets off on the other side of Walton Square. It always struck me as odd why he wouldn’t walk a few blocks, but hey, who am I to question strange behavior?”

  “Would you do me a huge favor and send me a text if he gets back on the trolley?” Carlita asked.