by Cat Chandler
“I was expecting you two. Maxie called and informed me that I’m to tell you everything I told the chief, and anything I forgot to tell him.”
Nicki grinned. “That was thorough of her.”
“Yes it was, wasn’t it? But I’d expect nothing less from a world-renown genealogist.” He pointed to a curtain in back of him. “Let’s go into my office and be more comfortable. I’ll hear the bell if someone comes in.”
He held the curtain aside for them, then let it fall back into place as he made a straight line over to a chair in front of a desk that was more of an antique writing desk than something that fit the sleek laptop sitting on its highly polished surface. Matt and Nicki sat together on the small sofa that took up one wall of the cozy room.
“So. What can I tell you? I was at home, and quite alone, the night of the murder. Which means I have absolutely no alibi. But then again, I had no reason to kill Eddie either. We were friends.”
“You also both collected stamps. What about the right-side-up sheet of the Jenny? Fifty thousand dollars is enough to kill someone for,” Matt pointed out.
Sam leaned back and touched his fingertips together in front of his chest. “Yes. There is that. But I had no idea where he hid his stamps. Or where he kept the key to his improvised wine cellar either. And, of course, there’s the biggest reason of all that I didn’t kill him.”
“What’s that, Sam?” Nicki asked.
Eddie’s longtime friend smiled at her. “I don’t have the sheet of stamps.” His smile grew wider. “But you’ll have to take my word for that. Or you’re free to tag along if the chief decides to search my home or shop.”
He glanced between the two people on the sofa staring back at him.
“Look. I wouldn’t kill for a stamp, or even a sheet of stamps. Much less kill a friend for them. Especially a friend who was as happy as Eddie was the last time I spoke with him. It’s a serious challenge to your karma to destroy any kind of happiness in the world.”
Nicki laid a hand on Matt’s knee as a signal for him to keep quiet. She wanted to let Sam talk. “When was that?”
“Two days before he was murdered.” Sam drew in a deep breath. “He was very excited about a trip he was planning on making the following week.” He looked at the floor. “Or rather he would have been making this week. He wouldn’t tell me anything about it except that it was his dream come true.” Sam stopped. His breathing became more ragged as he visibly tried to hold back his emotions. “If I had known he’d be gone two days later, I would have spent every minute camped out at that run-down diner of his.”
He lifted his gaze, eyes glittering with unshed tears. “He was so proud of that place. It didn’t take much to make Eddie happy. He’d already sold his house and his car, and a lot of his furnishings, and chosen to live in a simple apartment so he could walk to work. He never promised anyone anything he couldn’t give, and he never hurt anyone. He was careful with his money, but so are a lot of people. Why would someone hurt a man like that? He didn’t have any enemies. This should never have happened.”
“No one should be murdered, Sam,” Nicki said softly. “What were Eddie’s dreams?”
The shop owner took several breaths before he managed to pull himself together. “I don’t know. I thought it was the diner.” He looked over at her. “But my friend might know. He and Eddie had quite a conversation about that sheet of stamps, as well as a lot of other stuff according to Drew.” Sam shrugged. “Sometimes you’re more comfortable talking to a stranger than a friend.”
“Drew?”
“My friend who came out to visit.” He nodded at Matt. “The one I told you about, who Eddie invited to his wine cellar to show him the stamps?”
The editor nodded but kept his silence. Nicki smiled. Matt Dillon made a great sidekick.
“His name is Drew?”
Sam turned around and grabbed a pen. He did a quick scribble on a piece of paper before getting up from his chair and walking across the room. He handed the scrap of paper to Nicki. “This is his number. We admired those stamps through two bottles of wine, as I recall. Drew is a serious collector, and he expressed a keen interest in buying the stamps. But Eddie said he wouldn’t sell them to Drew, which was no surprise to either Ben or me.”
“Do you remember the exact date you all gathered in that basement?” Nicki asked.
“Two weeks to the day before Eddie was murdered. We always met on a Monday because it was one of the days that the diner closed early.”
The bell from the front room let out its cheerful tinkle. Taking that as their cue of sorts, the three of them stood at once.
Nicki stepped up and gave Sam a hug. “Thank you for talking with us.” She smiled when Sam hugged her back.
“I hope you find whoever did this to my friend, so I’ll say thank you as well.” He stepped back and reached over to shake Matt’s hand. He wiggled his eyebrows up and down at the tall editor with the large glasses and barely controlled mop of dark hair. “She’s a keeper.”
Matt put a hand in the middle of Nicki’s back and gave her a gentle nudge. “Yes, she is.”
Once they were standing in the alleyway in front of the shop, Matt made a show of looking at his watch.
“Lunch? I think I was promised a stop at Mario’s.”
“So you were.” Nicki slipped her arm through his again and guided him back through the little alleyway lined with shops. “As a thank you for letting me do most of the talking in Sam’s shop, I’ll buy lunch.”
“I only did what a good Watson would do, and no, you aren’t.”
She glanced up at him. “Why not? This isn’t the 1950s, Matt. It’s perfectly acceptable for a woman friend to buy you lunch.”
“And I’m fine with that,” Matt countered. “But I’d rather you put the money into your car fund.”
Nicki sighed. When it came to her car, Matt was like a dog with a bone. He just wouldn’t let it go.
Mario’s was only a short ten-minute walk around to the opposite side of the square, and five minutes if you took the walk along the flower-lined path directly through the square. Knowing Matt, and his stomach, Nicki headed toward the path, passing by the town’s signature ten-foot-tall bronze statue of grapes as she spoke to Tyler, Alex’s fiancé, on her phone. Once she’d made the arrangements to meet him at the diner for the fire inspection, she put away her cell and smiled at Matt, who was busy taking in the entire square.
“This town really does have everything you need, doesn’t it?” Matt asked as they neared the end of the path. “A neighborly feel during the week, and the big-city bustle of tourists and festivals on the weekends, a coffee place, restaurants, plenty of places to taste wine, and of course the police department, all right here in one convenient location.” He grinned at her. “Not to mention the truly wonderful decorative art on public display.”
“Ha, ha, Mr. Dillon.” Nicki took a quick glance around the square. “Actually, this is a great place to live. And just because you maligned my little town, we’ll split the lunch bill.” She smiled up at him. “A compromise to keep your masculine ego intact.”
“My ego is just fine, thank you very much. It’s your car that I take issue with.”
“And here’s Mario’s,” Nicki announced in a loud, overly cheerful voice. She wished she knew what subject would distract Matt as easily as she could Rob. Maybe that’s the problem with Rob? Nicki blinked at the inner voice that had come into her head out of nowhere.
Blinking again, she shook the thought off. She absently nodded her thanks when Matt held open the door to the quaint Italian ristorante, with pictures of iconic scenes in Italy on every wall, and named after its owner.
This afternoon Mario was nowhere in sight, but his daughter Lisa was. She greeted Nicki politely and beamed at Matt before leading them to a table next to the front window. She took a few seconds longer than necessary to hand a menu to Matt, but Nicki was used to the hostess flirting with every man she’d ever brought to the restaurant. L
isa practically drooled every time Rob walked through the doors.
The young woman looked disappointed when Matt looked up with a faint smile and said a quick thank you before returning his attention to Nicki, who gave Lisa a sympathetic smile. It wasn’t easy to be so totally ignored by the opposite sex. She’d have to talk to the oblivious Matt about that.
“What did you think?”
Nicki yanked her attention away from inadvertently crushing a young woman’s self-esteem to focusing on Matt. “Think about what?”
“Sam. And his mysterious friend who saw the stamps just before they disappeared.”
“I don’t know.” She unfolded her napkin and smoothed it out over her lap. “I’ll definitely be calling him since I’m sure he’s already been forewarned about it. Otherwise Sam wouldn’t have given up his number so easily.”
“Okay. If that needs time to percolate with you, then how about we discuss Rob?”
Nicki gave her head a slight shake. She couldn’t have heard him correctly. “Did you say Rob?” When he nodded, she frowned. “I don’t suppose you know another one besides my boyfriend?”
Matt folded his hands in front of him and started tapping his thumbs together. “Nope. He’s it.” Matt met her wary look with a steady calm in his gaze. “Why doesn’t he ever make an appearance whenever you’re involved with murder?”
She laughed. “He did. He was there when we both discovered Catherine’s body a few months ago. Remember?”
“I remember that he left you standing on her porch to find your own way home, and then got out of town as fast as he could.” Matt’s jawline hardened. “Not very boyfriend-like behavior.”
Wondering what Matt would consider as “boyfriend-like behavior”, Nicki gave him a puzzled look. “That’s not exactly fair, Matt. I told him to go home. And he has a hectic schedule which I don’t think I should interrupt every time I run across a little problem.”
“Murder isn’t a ‘little problem’, Nicki.”
“Murders in Soldoff also aren’t Rob’s problem,” she pointed out patiently. “And I’m aware of how busy you are too. I don’t like interrupting your schedule either.”
Matt leaned back in his chair. His hand wrapped around the empty water glass next to the silverware. “You aren’t an interruption, Nicki, and that’s my point. It shouldn’t be an interruption to your boyfriend either.”
“Rob and I understand each other, and our relationship, very well.” Nicki put a sharp firmness into her voice and hoped that Matt would get the message that this topic was closed.
He adjusted his glasses but kept his gaze on her. “Well, I wish you’d explain it to me.”
Nicki sighed. “Rob has always been honest with me, and I’ve always been the same with him. That’s really all I’m going to say on the subject, Matt.”
“Fine.” Matt clamped his mouth shut as Joe, the friendly waiter who’d served them the last time he and Nicki had been in Mario’s, stopped by the table.
He smiled at Nicki. “So, second time here with this guy, and you’re already bickering.” He shifted his smile to Matt. “Are you two a thing now?”
“Define ‘thing’,” Matt muttered before settling on a non-committal shrug.
“Seems to be a lot of new couples in town,” Joe went on cheerfully. He poured water into their glasses before setting the crystal pitcher on the table and taking out his iPad. “The Marleys have separated, and he’s already stepping out with a woman who lives over in Sonoma. And then Roberta and Gordon came in last week. And Lisa might be interested in that young deputy. Maxie was in having lunch with him and made a big point of introducing him to Lisa. What’s his name? Bobby?”
“Danny,” Nicki supplied. “You said Roberta was in here with Gordon? Would that be Gordon Twill?” When Joe nodded, she and Matt exchanged a quick look
“Do you remember what day that was?” Matt asked.
“More like early evening, although Gordon was late getting here. Roberta sat by herself for over half an hour. When he finally got here, I heard him making excuses about his car. But it didn’t seem to matter much to Roberta. They stayed right here at this table until we closed at nine. And I won’t ever forget the day. It was the same day Eddie Parker was killed. I heard about it the next afternoon when I came in for my shift. So it was a week ago, on Monday. I think Mario’s is the only sit-down restaurant in town that’s open on a Monday. Unless there’s a festival going on, of course.” He winked at Nicki. “No one wants to miss out on those tourist tips.”
“What time were they here?” Nicki asked.
Joe frowned. “Early. But then we close earlier on Mondays than our usual eleven p.m. time. I’m sure Roberta got here about six thirty or so, and Gordon showed up maybe thirty or forty minutes later.” He raised his iPad. “So, what can I get for you?”
Once the friendly waiter had retreated with their order, and Matt had done his usual head-shaking at Nicki’s choice of soup and a dinner salad over his steak sandwich, he leaned across the table and grinned at her. “I told you Gordon had a thing for Roberta.”
“Define ‘thing’,” Nicki said, echoing Matt’s question to their waiter.
“Not the same kind of ‘thing’ we have.”
Nicki rolled her eyes. “Forget about the ‘thing’ for a moment. Don’t you find it odd that the two of them, Eddie’s longtime bookkeeper and his longtime girlfriend, had a date on the night he was murdered?”
“If they wanted to go out on a date, they were entitled to. Didn’t the murder board list Roberta and Eddie as having broken up? And if either one of them were worried about Eddie being upset for their date, then wouldn’t the best time to go out be when her boyfriend and his client were otherwise engaged? Like in meeting someone else at his diner.” Matt’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe it wasn’t a business meeting at all. Maybe Eddie was meeting another woman at a place where Roberta wouldn’t see them after hours, while she was doing the same with Gordon?”
“Maybe,” Nicki conceded. She hadn’t considered that the meeting might have been for something besides business.
“Besides,” Matt continued. “It sounds like they were sitting right here when Eddie was murdered. Alex did say that occurred around nine p.m.”
Nicki sighed and glanced out the window with its clear view of the police department, the square and all the shops surrounding it. Who knows how many of the town’s residents were taking a stroll that night and saw Gordon and Roberta through the big window?
Matt reached across the table and tapped a long lean finger against the back of her hand. “Hey. Stop obsessing about Gordon’s very limited social life. We still have to talk to Ben today, and Mason will be home tonight. That means a trip to see Chief Turnlow tomorrow.” He bit into his sandwich, then set it down and sighed.
“I never thought a steak smothered in peppers and onions wouldn’t taste as good as a grilled cheese with turkey.”
Chapter Sixty-Six
Nicki and Matt walked into the small shop right on the square, directly across from the police department. Glass cases lined both walls going down its full length, and wooden racks, holding dozens of pairs of earrings as well as necklaces and bracelets, were scattered across the tiled floor. More racks hung from the wall, and a large “earring tree” that was as tall as Nicki stood just inside the entrance.
When no one appeared after a chime had announced their presence, Nicki called out loud enough for her voice to carry into the back room. “Hello? Ben? It’s Nicki Connors and Matt Dillon.”
Matt walked over to the cash register on the end of one counter and picked up a sign left propped in the middle of a cleared-off spot next to it. He held it up for Nicki to see.
“It says he’ll be back in five minutes.” He looked around at the crowded space, with every inch taken up by various pieces of jewelry. “Do you think he makes this stuff himself?”
“He has a lot of very nice pieces.” Nicki picked up a pair of earrings with tiny red beads woven along a curve
d piece of silver.
“There’s just too much of it,” Matt observed. “Hey, where are you going?”
“Into the back, and stop shouting,” Nicki said. “Be a good Watson and keep a look out.” She walked through the curtain separating the main floor from the back room before Matt could get a word out.
The space was even more cluttered with stacks of boxes alongside a wide table. Small open bins of beads, crystals and other decorative items were lined up across the back of the table. Nicki gave it a quick glance. This must be where Ben makes his jewelry.
Turning toward the opposite wall, she stepped up to the desk and carefully scanned its top. The card immediately caught her eye. Stopping to listen for any sounds from the other side of the cloth, she smiled to herself at the silence. She could just imagine Matt, standing stiff as a board, waiting at the entrance of the shop.
Since all seemed well, she picked up the card and stared at the gold embossed logo of the most prestigious auction house in San Francisco. Not the kind of place Ben would be selling the jewelry he made with beads and wire. But maybe a valuable stamp? She froze when the chime sounded.
“Oh. Hello. I didn’t see you come in. I was just next door visiting with Wanda.” Ben’s voice floated through the closed curtain. “She owns the crystal and amulet shop.”
Nicki held her breath when there was a brief silence.
“Did you come alone? When Maxie called, I was told it would be Nicki paying me a visit.”
“Yes. That is… what I mean is that Nicki’s here too. She just had to step out for a moment.”
Nicki almost giggled at Matt stumbling along. So much for his talents at lying. She quietly opened the rear door, leading from the office to a narrow passageway in back of the shop. After easing the door shut, she raced along the tight opening, only slowing when she reached the sidewalk at the end of the block. Quickly covering the distance from the corner back to the front door of Ben’s establishment, she stopped just short of the window and drew in several slow breaths before casually strolling back through the front door.