A Food and Wine Club Mystery Boxset Books 1 through 5

by Cat Chandler

  “Of course not,” Maxie immediately agreed. “I’d welcome the company. Maybe we could throw together a bite to eat while we wait for Nicki’s report.”

  Jenna silently nodded and dug her car keys out of her purse. Without a word, she handed them over to Nicki.

  The chief leaned over and patted Jenna’s shoulder. “It’ll be all right Jenna. After you give Danny your statement, you just go home and get some rest.” He turned and nodded at a very worried Nicki.

  “Let’s go, Sherlock.”

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Nicki stood just inside Eddie’s office, her hands on her hips as she slowly looked around. She and the chief had gingerly navigated the narrow hallway, carefully avoiding the blood smears that were trailing its length all the way to the entrance into the kitchen. Nicki hadn’t been able to control her wince at the smeared outline of footprints in the blood in several places.

  “Looks like one of those beach sandals,” the chief had commented over his shoulder.

  “Like Jenna wears. But she said that the hallway was dark when she went to Eddie’s office, so she couldn’t have known there was blood on the floor,” Nicki had countered.

  “Which makes sense. This looks like it was disturbed after it was pretty dry, which fits with Jenna’s story.” The chief’s head had been bent down as he’d studied the floor while he walked along.

  Now standing beside her and looking through the open office door, Chief Turnlow’s gaze swept across the room. “So what do you think, Sherlock?”

  Nicki took a step inside. Papers were scattered over the floor, and every desk drawer was open. So were the doors to all the cabinets on the wall over the desk. It almost looked as if someone had been searching for something. Almost. Nicki frowned.

  “Something bothering you?”

  She glanced over at the chief. He’d also come further into the room and had the same frown on his face that she did. “Probably the same thing that’s bothering you.” She pursed her lips. “It’s the neatest trash of a room that I’ve ever seen. Jenna’s desk is a bigger disaster than this.”

  Chief Turnlow crossed his arms and gave the floor a pointed look. “Seems like a mess to me.”

  For the first time since she’d answered the phone call from Jenna, Nicki laughed. “I doubt that, Chief.” She waved a hand at the cupboards. “The doors are open, but even from here I can see that the contents haven’t been disturbed.” She lowered her finger to the desk. “And I’d bet that’s true of the desk drawers as well, since I don’t see anything on the floor but papers. Not even the stapler and that hole punch ended up on the floor. They’re still on top of the desk.” Finally, she pointed at the floor. “And all those papers look like they were carefully dropped, rather than tossed around.” She finished by shifting her gaze to the file cabinet against the wall to their left. “And if someone was searching the office, they must have known whatever they were looking for wasn’t in the file cabinet. It doesn’t look as if it was touched at all.”

  “The safe wasn’t either.” At Nicki’s puzzled look, Chief Turnlow pointed to a closed door next to the desk. “It’s in there. It’s old, but still a solid piece of hardware. And there aren’t any marks to indicate someone tried to get into it. But I’ve called in a forensic team from Santa Rosa to dust it for prints.”

  Nicki’s brow furrowed in thought. Why would someone make it look as if the place had been searched? And not very convincingly at that.

  Danny stuck his head around the doorway. “One of the employees just showed up and wants to know what’s going on, Chief.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Roberta Horton. She’s the waitress and cashier here.”

  His boss nodded. “And Eddie’s girlfriend, according to Fran.”

  The young deputy grinned. “I’m not much for gossip, but Fran’s right. They’ve been dating ever since I can remember.”

  “Is that a fact?” Chief Turnlow looked over at Nicki. “Do you know Ms. Horton?”

  Nicki shook her head. “Only to say ‘hi’ whenever I’ve picked up a burger.” She shrugged. “Jenna might know her. She’s spent a lot more time at the diner than I have.”

  “So you were the last one to see my Eddie alive?”

  The loud accusation rang down the hallway.

  “Oh crap.” Danny disappeared as Nicki made a leap for the doorway.

  “Don’t step in that blood,” the chief barked out as Nicki did an awkward, but quick, hop-and-step back toward the main dining area where she’d left Jenna and Maxie.

  “Jenna never saw him alive, so just take that finger out of our faces, Roberta Horton.” Maxie’s tone wasn’t as shrill as their accuser’s, but every bit as hard.

  Nicki raced into the dining room just as Roberta took a step away from the table, her glare fixed on a frozen Jenna. Danny reached Roberta first and planted himself in between her and the table, blocking the snarling woman’s view of the two women sitting there.

  “Calm down, Roberta. Eddie was already dead when Jenna got here.” He stepped to the side, matching Roberta’s movement when she craned her neck to see around him, effectively keeping the woman’s glare out of Jenna’s sight.

  Short and stocky, with brown hair pinned up into a messy bun on top of her head, Roberta stood rigid with her fists clenched by her side. “How do you know that? You have no way of knowing when that nerd got here.”

  “We know that because he was killed in one place and moved to another. Something Ms. Lindstrom wouldn’t have been able to do in the short time she was here before she called us.” Chief Turnlow pinned his stare on Roberta.

  She took a step backward but stuck her lip out. “You don’t know how long she was here. Did someone tell you when they saw her pull into the lot? She could have parked her car somewhere else, sneaked over here and killed Eddie, and then driven back looking innocent as you please.” She walked around Danny and narrowed her eyes on a silent Jenna. “Is that what happened? I’ll bet that’s what happened all right.”

  The chief cocked his head to one side. “If you don’t calm down, Ms. Horton, I’ll have to have Deputy Findley take you to the station and question you as a person of interest.”

  “Me?” Roberta screeched. “I wasn’t the one to find Eddie dead.”

  Chief Turnlow shrugged his broad shoulders. “But you were one of the last ones to see him alive, unless you’re going to tell me that yesterday was your day off?” He raised an eyebrow.

  Roberta scrunched up her slightly pudgy features, narrowing her eyes into small slits. “No, it wasn’t my day off, Chief Turnlow. But I left early because I had a date. So I wasn’t the last one who saw him alive.”

  Nicki kept her frigid stare on Roberta as she stepped up and put a protective hand on Jenna’s hunched shoulder.

  “Maxie,” she said, without taking her eyes off of Roberta. “Why don’t you and Jenna go on home. I’ll catch up with both of you in a bit.”

  “Go ahead and bring the car right up to the doorway out front, Mrs. Edwards,” the chief added. “I need to ask Ms. Lindstrom for her sandals.”

  When Roberta’s gaze shot to Jenna’s feet, Nicki quickly leaned over and whispered into her friend’s ear. “Give him your flip-flops and just get out of here. I’ll make sure Eddie’s girlfriend keeps her opinions to herself.”

  Without saying a word, Jenna nodded, stood up, and stepped out of her flip-flops. Maxie got to her feet as well and took Jenna’s arm before leading her away.

  “Come with me, dear. You can wait on the walkway while I get the car. There’s no sense in tramping across all that gravel in your bare feet.”

  Once they’d disappeared through the front door, Nicki pasted a frosty smile on her face and aimed it at Roberta.

  “Ms. Horton,” she began, borrowing from the chief’s habit of using a formal address to get someone’s full attention. Once Roberta had turned a hard brown-eyed gaze on her, Nicki continued. “It’s a serious matter to throw around those kinds of accusation
s without any proof. I’d hate to have to follow after you and correct that false assumption with everyone you happen to talk to.” Roberta opened her mouth, but Nicki continued before the belligerent waitress had a chance to say a word. “And Maxie wouldn’t enjoy having to do such a thing either, though I have no doubt she would. Of course, she just might recommend an attorney to take care of the matter. I know she has several of them.” Everyone in town knew how much weight Maxie’s influence carried, and under the circumstances, Nicki had no problem shamelessly using her landlady’s name. The kind of vicious gossip Roberta might start could do a lot of damage to Jenna, and to her business.

  “Those kinds of rumors tend to get around fast,” the chief agreed. “And it wouldn’t make me very happy to hear about them. They’d be just as bad as a couple of townspeople seeing a close friend, or maybe a love interest, walked into the police station for questioning.” He looked over at Roberta. “Can’t stop that kind of thing from spreading like wildfire.”

  Roberta glared back at him. “Is that a threat, Chief Turnlow? Because it won’t work. Me and Eddie broke up a couple of weeks ago.”

  The chief looked surprised. “Threat?” He glanced over at Danny. “Did you hear a threat, Deputy Findley?”

  Danny shook his head. “Nope.”

  “I didn’t either.” Nicki smiled at Roberta.

  The waitress’s gaze slashed across the three of them before she shrugged. “Whatever. Since we aren’t going to be open today, I’m going home.”

  The chief continued to hold her in place with his stare. “Not so fast, Ms. Horton. Who else was at the diner yesterday?

  Roberta glanced over at Nicki, who simply smiled at her, and then back at the chief. “The usual staff. The assistant manager and cook, Jake Garces, and me. But I left early. That high school kid, Tammi, came in the afternoon just as I was leaving. And Eddie was there all day.” She paused for a long moment. “Oh yeah. And Gordon came in. At least for a few minutes anyway. Then there were the customers.” She shrugged again. “I don’t remember them all. I know those two stamp-collecting friends of his weren’t here, so that was kind of weird. They usually come in every day.” She frowned. “Maxie’s husband was here yesterday, too.”

  “Chief Edwards?” Nicki blinked at that news. Maxie hadn’t mentioned that myMason had been at the diner yesterday.

  “Well he’s not a chief anymore, is he?” Roberta’s lips pulled back in a sneer.

  “Do you remember what time Chief Edwards was here?” the current head of the police department calmly asked.

  “Sometime in the morning.” Roberta let out a loud snort. “He didn’t even order anything. Just went back to the office with Eddie. He probably came to see if he could get a payment on that loan. Eddie was a nice enough guy, but he was tight with his money. Didn’t like to spend a nickel unless he had to.”

  So the loan was common knowledge among the staff. Nicki pursed her lips and turned her back on Roberta. The nasty tone in the waitress’s voice was setting her nerves on edge, and Nicki didn’t want to give the woman the satisfaction of seeing how it was affecting her.

  When the sound of the front door opening and closing echoed through the dining room, Nicki glanced over her shoulder and smiled.

  “Oh great. Now the third one’s here. That figures.” Roberta heaved a big sigh and shot the chief a hard stare. “If you don’t need me anymore, I want to go home.” She pulled her mouth down at the corners. “This has been very upsetting for me.”

  “I can tell,” Nicki muttered, then rolled her eyes when the chief sent her a warning look.

  “That’s fine. We’ll be in touch.” He nodded at Danny. “Deputy, why don’t you walk Ms. Horton out to her car.”

  Roberta slid past the dark-haired woman who’d appeared near the doorway, a medical bag in her hand. As Danny followed the woman out, he smiled at the new arrival and tipped his head in greeting.

  “Hi, Alex. I mean Dr. Kolman.”

  Alex’s deep brown gaze followed the short woman and her escort out the door before switching back to Nicki. “What was that about?”

  Nicki grinned. “I don’t think she likes you, Jenna, or me very much. What are you doing here? Did Maxie call you?”

  Alex shook her head. Her sleek, dark-brown hair, cut short on one side and into a stylish and easy to maintain wedge on the other, gleamed in the sunshine coming in through the front windows. “No. The deputy called. Or rather he called the coroner’s office.” She did a quick look around. “Who’s dead, and why are you here?”

  “Eddie Parker’s dead, and I’m here because Jenna found his body.”

  “What?” Alex’s startled expression probably looked exactly the way Nicki’s had when she had picked-up Jenna’s call.

  Chief Turnlow loudly cleared his throat. “If the two of you are through?” He shook his head when both women turned to stare at him. “Why are you here instead of Dr. Tom? Have you given up practicing emergency medicine at the hospital?”

  Dr. Tom was the local nickname for the county coroner. He’d grown up in the valley and returned to take the coroner’s position in his hometown after he’d finished medical school.

  “Because he was in the middle of an autopsy and asked me to come. This part of forensic doctoring isn’t hard. I just need to do a quick check of the body, take a few notes and a body temperature, and arrange to have it transported.” She leaned toward Nicki and said in a loud stage whisper. “I’m still repaying Dr. Tom for that favor during the winemaker’s case.”

  “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” the chief said.

  Nicki’s mouth formed into an “O” as Danny came back through the door.

  “Want me to start calling the other staff members so they can come in for an interview, Chief?”

  “That’s a good idea.” Chief Turnlow nodded at Alex. “I’m going to take Dr. Kolman to have a look at the body.”

  Nicki waited silently, finally smiling when Alex and Chief Turnlow headed for the kitchen. Since the chief didn’t say she couldn’t come along, Nicki fell into step behind Alex. She heard her friend mutter, “really?” and sigh when it became obvious that the chief was headed for the freezer in the back of the kitchen.

  They all stopped just outside the door and Alex peeked inside. “Well, at least he’s not in the rear of this icebox. I didn’t bring my coat.”

  “Whoever dragged him in there didn’t bother to go any further than he had to.” Chief Turnlow shrugged out of his leather jacket. He handed it to Alex. “Here. This should work for a while, at least.”

  Alex took it but sent him a worried glance. “If you intend to come in with me, what are you going to wear?”

  The big bear of a man smiled at the much more petite Alex. “I’ll be okay. Just make it quick, Doc.” He shook his head when Nicki took a step forward. “Not you, Sherlock. You stay out here. I don’t need the doc distracted by having to treat you for frostbite. And don’t worry. I’m sure your friend will talk her way through this loudly enough for you to hear.”

  “If you insist, Chief,” Alex said with a perfectly straight face as she zipped up the very large borrowed jacket and stepped into the freezer.

  The cold air slapped at Nicki, so she used the heavy door as a shield and peered around its edge, watching as the chief and her friend squatted on opposite sides of the body. Nicki did a quick scan of the interior. It wasn’t a huge space. About nine feet by twelve feet, if she had to hazard a guess, and both sides were lined with shelves. Boxes of food, labeled with their contents, filled most of them. A gold jacket sporting red trim on the cuffs and neckline, was laid neatly on top of a box on the middle shelf closest to where Eddie lay. But aside from that, Nicki didn’t see anything else unusual in the freezer. Well besides a dead body, of course.

  “Okay,” Alex began. “I don’t see any marks or contusions other than the bump on the victim’s head.”

  “Do you think that’s what killed him?” Chief Turnlow asked.

 
Alex snorted. “I have no idea. Dr. Tom will have to determine that. But it was either the blow on the head, freezing, or from asphyxiation.”

  “Smothered?” Nicki called out. “You see something that makes you think he was smothered?”

  “No,” Alex said, raising her voice even louder. “From lack of oxygen due to the dry ice in here. Between that letting off carbon dioxide, and just his own breathing, the victim may have run out of air.”

  Nicki grimaced. Not a pleasant way to die. But then neither was freezing to death.

  She stretched her neck out further. “Does it look like he tried to get out?”

  “If you two are finished?” the chief cut in. “Keep quiet, Nicki, or I’ll have Danny escort you out as well.”

  For several minutes there was nothing but the sound of Alex tapping away on her iPad. Nicki wondered how long the device would work in the cold as she listened for any more information Alex might throw out her way.

  “All right,” the doctor finally said. “I’ve got everything entered. The ambulance guys should be here any minute to take him back to the morgue.”

  The chief made a humming sound of agreement. “That’s fine. But let’s go through his pockets first. There’re evidence bags in my jacket pocket.”

  Nicki watched as Alex set her iPad aside and pulled out a handful of bags from the large side pocket in the leather jacket. “You mean these?” At the chief’s nod, the doctor held one of the bags open. “I’ll hold these, and you can go through his pockets.”

  The chief didn’t answer. Since he’d already pulled on a pair of protective gloves, he reached across the body and into the pants pocket on the far side.

  “Nothing there.” He repeated the process on the pocket nearest to him. There was a jingling noise as he pulled out a small set of keys and dropped them into the bag Alex was holding.

  She leaned in to take a closer look. “Okay. We have two keys on a round ring, and they’re both labeled. One says, ‘front door’ and the other says, ‘office door’.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.” The chief’s bone-dry tone said he knew exactly what Alex was up to.