Steaks and Suspects

by Gretchen Allen

  “You too,” he replied quietly.

  “So, how do you two know each other?” Joss asked, sliding in the booth next to Rachel.

  “Don’t mind her. She’s a little nosy, but she’s dating my brother,” Rachel said, looking at Joss. “We just met recently. He’s going to be doing some work in my basement.”

  “I see. I’m glad you were able to find someone so quickly. Have you made all your decisions on what you’d like to have done?” Joss asked, wondering how exactly Rachel had chosen Christopher of all people to do the work. Or, if Christopher had found her.

  “That’s why we’re here, Joss; to talk about the work. This is a business meeting, not a date.”

  Christopher suddenly shot his arm out, knocking over a cup of water all over Rachel.

  “Oh no! I’m so sorry, let me get you some napkins.” He quickly unrolled his silverware, handing her a napkin.

  “I think I’m going to need more than that.” Rachel stood. “I’ll be right back.”

  Joss watched as an embarrassed Rachel walked across the diner and into the restroom to attempt to dry off.

  “Listen,” Christopher began. “I don’t know why you are pretending you don’t know me, or why you seem to care so much about why Rachel and I are here, but I think you should get back to work and mind your own business.”

  Joss, realizing the similarity between what Christopher had just said and the note she’d received the night before, didn’t back down.

  “Is that what you think? Rachel may not be my biggest fan, but as she said, I’m dating her brother and that means I care about what happens to her. I don’t know who you are, or if anything you say is the truth, but if I find out that you hurt her, you won’t ever hear the end of it from me.”

  “That’s exactly it. You don’t know anything about me,” Christopher retorted, looking behind Joss.

  “Are you seriously giving him a hard time right now? What is the matter with you?” Rachel scoffed. “Christopher just lost his mother. He’s new in town just like I was not that long ago. He’s looking for work, and I just happen to need some work done. When I came across his ad online, I gave him a call and here we are. There is literally no harm in any of those things. Now, if you don’t mind, Joss. It’s time for you to go.”

  “Of course.” Joss smirked, glaring at Christopher. She still didn’t trust him, and she wouldn’t let it go no matter what Rachel seemed to think.

  Leaving the table, Joss walked straight into Richie, Luke’s best friend, and Dina’s new boyfriend.

  “Sorry,” Joss said, putting her arm out to balance herself.

  Richie went into the kitchen, followed by Joss, finally ready to order her lunch.

  “You know that guy?” Richie asked.

  “What guy?”

  “The one you were just talking to.” He nodded toward the booth where Christopher and Rachel sat.

  “Something like that,” Joss answered.

  “He just came into some serious money,” Richie said, whistling.

  “Oh?” Joss tilted her head. “How do you know that?”

  “I was at a storage unit sale a couple of weekends back, and he was at the Ross’ unit.”

  “Okayyyy?” Joss wasn’t following.

  “The Ross woman just died. She did pretty well for herself. She’s well known in the antique circle. She’s got money. Or rather, she did. That’s her son, isn’t it?”

  “I suppose it is.” Joss nodded.

  She was finally able to find a missing piece. Isa is dead, and her son stood to inherit her money. If Isa really was murdered, that was a pretty solid motive. No wonder Christopher had been acting so strangely. What if he’d caught on to the fact that Joss was looking into the murder?

  Joss thought back to the night Christopher had come into the diner. He’d lost his wallet. Joss snickered at the irony since she’d said that same thing to Arnold while looking for Lilly, but recalled that he’d paid with a personal check. If she was able to find the check and match it to the writing on the note she’d found on her car, she just might be able to prove Christopher was the one to leave it.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Why did you stop?” Joss asked, out of breath.

  “Honestly? You looked pathetic. You were all but dragging your leg toward the end. I felt bad for you.”

  Joss felt dumb but was actually thankful her hurt ankle at that moment. After having felt so close to figuring out the truth about Isa, Joss decided to take one last shot at talking to Arnold. She thought that if she could convince him that she was as worried about his daughter as he was, that he’d be willing to talk. She went to Arnold’s, hoping to find him there, but instead found Lilly, who, of course, took off when she saw Joss.

  “Why did you run?” Joss asked, still breathing heavily.

  “I don’t know,” Lilly answered, looking guilty.

  “Wait. Were you stealing from your dad?” Joss asked, plopping her body on the grass in Arnold’s backyard.

  “Who are you?” Lilly asked, crossing her arms.

  Joss explained to Lilly who she was. “So, were you stealing?”

  “Yeah,” Lilly admitted with a sigh. She sat down next to Joss.

  “Were you going to steal from Rachel, too?”

  “I did steal from her,” Lilly said, looking down.

  “The letters?”

  Lilly nodded.

  “Why? What’s the sense in wasting your life lying, cheating, and stealing?

  Lilly laid back in the grass, covering her eyes with her arms. “I lie, and I steal, but I don’t cheat. You don’t get to put that on me.”

  “Okay. I’m sorry. Why did you take the letters, and why were you even in Rachel’s house? I know you lied about living in her neighbor’s house.”

  “I didn’t live there. I lived in Rachel’s house growing up, but somehow I feel like you already knew that. I didn’t intend on lying about it, it just worked out that way, and then when I saw Rachel and her brother needed help, it was like I walked right into the perfect opportunity.”

  “So, you were planning on stealing from her?”

  “Yeah, I was. She has some good stuff, too. I probably would have done it when I went back the second time, but that’s when she told me about the letters. I knew they were between my Dad and his mistress. The minute I heard the name Isa, I knew. He’d dated her when I was younger. He must have hidden the letters in the basement and somehow left them there when we moved out. It makes sense because he never let us go down there. He always said it wasn’t safe, but really, he was just keeping secrets.”

  “That’s why you got upset when I called you a cheater.” Joss pieced it together.

  “I thought that my dad was with Isa when my parents were split up when I was younger, but after I saw those letters, I knew that it wasn’t just during that time. He’d been seeing her for a long time, even when they were married. I confronted him about it, and he told me the truth. I guess she had an accident or something and died, which obviously is sad, but if you ask me, it’s a good thing. My poor mother.” Lilly groaned. “This whole time, they’ve been separated and my dad was trying to get back together with my mom. Then I find out he’d been seeing Isa even when they were married. I just had to protect my mom. I couldn’t let her get back with him knowing that he’d cheated on her.”

  Joss didn’t think it was her place to tell Lilly that her mom was also seeing someone, and it also wasn’t the time. Lilly was clearly upset and didn’t need to add anything else to her plate.

  “You took the letters so you could show your mom that your dad was with someone else in the past. You didn’t want her to go back with him now because of that?” Joss asked, trying to clarify.

  “Exactly. That’s not fair to her. Even if it was a long time ago.”

  Joss understood where she was coming from, but Lilly was a grown woman, it wasn’t her job to protect her parents. From what Mrs. Krispin had told her, she’d been right. It was a lot of family dr
ama. There was one thing that didn’t make any sense. If Isa was, in fact, killed, it happened before the letters were found. Lilly wouldn’t have known anything about them, and neither would Sabrina. They both may have had motive because of the letters, but since the timing was off, it just didn’t fit. Christopher killing his mother was making more sense by the minute. Joss figured it was as good of a time as any to finally take everything she had learned to the police, letting them decide if there were enough facts or evidence pointing toward Isa’s death being murder.

  “I’m sorry I chased you,” Joss said, feeling bad for the woman.

  “You were right to. If you hadn’t, I would have stolen from my own father… again. I was so mad at him. I didn’t even care at the time. I told myself that I hated him and that his mistress got what she deserved. If I was my mother, I’d have killed her myself. I’m so glad she’s out of town, right now. She couldn’t bear all of this.”

  “She’s out of town?” Joss asked.

  “Yeah, why?” Lilly sat up.

  “No reason,” Joss said, getting to her feet.

  Joss remembered seeing a car pull out of Sabrina’s house the night she fell asleep and found the note.

  “Do you have a car?” Joss asked.

  “No. I don’t drive.” Lilly shook her head.

  “What kind of car does your mom have?”

  “A gold sedan. Why does that matter? What else do you know?” Lilly pressed.

  “Unfortunately, nothing,” Joss lied.

  The car that was in the driveway that night was not a gold sedan. That means someone else was at the house. Someone Joss wasn’t expecting.

  “Do you want any help to your car?” Lilly asked.

  “I’m good. Hey, take care of yourself. I think you should sit down and talk to your parents when you can. Tell them how you feel and get everything out in the open.”

  “Thanks,” Lilly said, turning red and walking off in the opposite direction.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “What are you doing back here?” Peter pulled his glasses off.

  “I’m looking to book a vacation,” Joss answered.

  “Is that right?” Peter replied, looking unconvinced. “Well, I don’t have any time right now. How about you talk to Carla?

  Joss perked up. Carla. That was the same name Arnold had used when he mentioned one of the people that Lilly had gotten caught up with.

  “I’d love to talk to Carla.”

  “Sure. She’ll be back from lunch in five minutes. Wait there.” Peter pointed to the desk where the woman she’d spoken to before sat. She thought it was the secretary, but apparently, she’d been wrong.

  Carla was the one to tell her about Peter and Sabrina dating. Carla drove a red hatchback. The same one that was seen leaving Sabrina’s house the night Joss was there. A strange coincidence. From what Arnold had said, Lilly and Carla had been in trouble together, so if Carla was at Sabrina’s house while she was out of town, was it possible she’d been stealing or was it something even more sinister?

  Moments later, Carla entered through the backdoor of the travel agency. She stopped, looking at Joss sitting by her desk.

  “Hi!” Joss stood. “You might remember me from the other day. I’m looking to book a trip. Peter said you could help me.”

  “Of course he did,” Carla muttered.

  “I’m sorry. What was that?” Joss asked.

  “Yeah. What was that?” Peter balked. “I think what Carla meant to say was that she’d be happy to help.”

  “Right. I apologize. I’m just swamped with work. I’ll be happy to help.” Carla continued to her desk, putting her purse under the desk. “So, where are you thinking of going?”

  Joss rattled off some random names of places. It really didn’t matter what she said since she wasn’t planning on going anywhere, anyway. She just wanted to go to the travel agency, verify the car that the woman, who she now knew as Carla, drove, and try to make her uncomfortable. If she was the one to leave that note for Joss, it had made her uncomfortable, so she deserved the same treatment. As Joss spoke, she began to notice some photos that hung on the wall. She got the sense that they were familiar to her for some reason but couldn’t place them.

  “The photos on the walls are beautiful. Are they of actual places?” she asked.

  “Yes.” Peter involved himself in their conversation. “They are all real places. I went there myself. If you aren’t sure where you’d like to travel, I can recommend them all.”

  “Would you like to help her?” Carla asked, looking even more annoyed than before.

  Joss let the two of them bicker back and forth while she pulled out her phone, recalling where she’d seen the photos before. When she’d been doing a social media search for Christopher and found all the photos of Isa and how fit she looked, she’d come across a profile with no personal information, the Johnny Smithwick claiming Isa’s death wasn’t accidental. The photos in his profile were a perfect match for the ones hanging on the wall that Peter just admitted to owning. Could Peter and Carla somehow be involved in the death of Isa? Carla didn’t seem to have any connection to Isa other than through Lilly. While Arnold had said they were troublemakers and thieves, that didn’t necessarily mean Carla would have killed Isa for her friend, especially since Lilly had no reason to be upset until after she found the letters. But, Peter, on the other hand, if he was seeing Sabrina, he could have known much more about their situation and killed Isa to protect Sabrina for some reason. Truthfully, nothing made sense, and Joss was close to giving up. With the letters being moot, and a single this was murder post on the Internet, Joss had to remind herself of something Kate had said. Don’t always believe what you read on the Internet.

  “Since the two of you can’t seem to decide who would rather have my business, I’m just going to leave,” Joss said, rising from the chair.

  “We didn’t mean…” Peter began.

  “It’s fine. Maybe another time.” Joss exited the building, on her way back to her car.

  She was giving up. Not everything had to be solved. Isa was dead; from an accident. There was no way, no matter how big of a creep he was, that Christopher would have killed his own mother, even for money. No one in their right mind would do something like that. Joss was done. She was going home to finally rest her ankle before she caused more damage.

  Joss drove home, feeling defeated. She’d essentially wasted her time and everyone else’s, even making people upset with her, just to go on a wild goose chase that led nowhere and solved nothing. Her phone buzzed, alerting her that she had a voicemail. Her phone must have rung while she was with Carla and Peter. Listening to the message using the Bluetooth option in her car, Joss heard Dina’s voice on the other end of the line. She called her back, just wanting to talk to someone. Unfortunately, she ended up pouring her heart out to Dina, every last detail.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “What did you do, and why is it here?” Joss asked, stunned.

  “I was trying to help,” Dina replied, her eyes darting between Joss and the huge bulletin board she’d set up on Luke’s desk.

  “What is it?” Joss asked, afraid she knew the answer.

  “It’s a murder board. I know you’re into that sort of thing, and since I accidentally hurt you and then gave you the wrong medication, I just thought that I could help you figure things out, especially after we talked yesterday. Ya know?” Dina winked.

  “Sooo. Do you want to see it?” Dina asked eagerly.

  “Why not?” Joss agreed. Even though she’d given up, she saw how much effort Dina had put into it, and couldn’t say no.

  “Great. So, even though the letters found at Rachel’s were found after Isa was, or was not,” Dina added, “murdered, they still prove that there was some animosity within the family. If you knew, at any point in your marriage that your spouse was being unfaithful, that’s a motive right there. Just because the letters were found after the fact doesn’t mean Sabrina didn’t already kno
w. Or Lilly either, for that matter. And if Lilly was telling the truth and her parents were planning on reuniting, I’d want the mistress, ex-mistress or not, out of the picture. Then, of course, there’s Christopher who could be playing the sad son who just wanted his mother’s money. Then we have Peter and Car…”

  “Joss, there’s someone named Carla here to see you,” Luke said, gesturing for Carla to enter the office.

  Dina dove for the desk, trying to cover her murder board.

  “Ummmm,” Carla said, obviously seeing the board. “So, I heard the tail end of that conversation before I walked in. Your boss tried coughing to cover it up, which was awkward. Oddly not as awkward as me seconds away from being accused of murder.”