“That’s just the server junk I bought,” Mitzy said. “Our server was having trouble so I decided I needed to set up my own system.”
Alonzo grunted. “Stone age.” He walked across the office and went into the men’s room. He came out immediately and went into the ladies’ room.
Mitzy could tell he was a man on a mission. But she could see nothing wrong in the office. She picked up the phone to check the message. Though she knew her voicemail message said she was on vacation her hand was shaking. She breathed a sigh of relief that there was nothing to hear. Alonzo went from the bathroom to the contract office.
Mitzy spun in her chair. She turned to her bookshelf. Something was off. She stood up and looked at it more closely, running her fingers down the spines of her books. She didn’t read them, but they looked nice in the office. It looked like they were all there. She turned around again. Maybe the shelf was fine. She turned back to it again. Something was missing.
Alonzo came back in from the private conference room, a shard of something in his hand. “What’s this?” he asked. He tossed the chunk to Mitzy.
“My platter,” she murmured. “I couldn’t put my finger on what was missing from the bookshelf. Where did you find this?” she asked.
“You’d better come back with me.” He grabbed her hand and led her into the back room.
She squeezed his hand, but it unnerved her. He didn’t do the touchy feeling thing for no reason. The platter was in pieces strewn across her meeting table. It was a big, obvious mess.
“How did Ben do this?” Mitzy asked.
“Okay. Ben was here. That’s good.”
“Yeah…I think he was here.”
“Why don’t you call him and ask if he was?”
“I can’t. I mean. No one is supposed to know he comes here.”
Alonzo rolled his eyes. “If Jenny doesn’t know he’s been doing work for you still, then she’s dumber than she looks.”
“You knew?”
“Um, yeah. You aren’t very quiet on the phone you know.”
“Well for now I need someone to do what he does and he’s already doing it. If I want him to keep doing it I need to not tell Jenny.”
“So you can’t call him and ask him how he broke your plate?”
“I guess not.” She picked up a shard of the ceramic platter. “I liked it because it was peaceful,” she said. “I guess I can buy another one from Tabby, but I would hate for her to know this one broke.”
Alonzo walked into the main part of the office and looked around. “What did he do when he was in here?” he asked.
Mitzy followed him back out, a piece of the platter in her hand. “I don’t know. Do you see any new equipment? He didn’t want to work with this old stuff so I said he could go get what he really needed. But I don’t see anything new.”
“I don’t either. Where were you keeping that platter?”
“It was on the bookshelf.”
“So how did Ben break it?” Alonzo asked.
“Maybe he bumped the shelf bringing in the new server?”
“Then where is the new server and why is the platter in the other room?” Alonzo walked back into the private office. He began to put pieces of the platter back together like a puzzle.
“Maybe he moved it and then dropped it on the table?”
“Why would he move it?”
“I don’t know,” Mitzy said. “I guess I do have to ask him. I will when he comes in again.” She rubbed the piece between her thumb and her finger. Then she kneeled down and looked at the carpet. “There aren’t any pieces on the floor.” She rubbed her fingers across the floor. “The ceramic dust gets on my fingers when I touch the broken edge of this shard, but there isn’t any dust on the carpet. Do you think Ben vacuumed?”
“Doesn’t sound like Ben,” Alonzo said. “There is plenty of dust on the table, but not all of the pieces.”
“I have one. Maybe some fell off the table.” Mitzy crawled into the smaller office, looking under all of the furniture as she went. “Ben would’ve called if he had broken something. Probably.”
“Maybe. Look here,” Alonzo said, indicating the center of the walnut conference table, “It’s scratched. I think that is where the plate landed.”
“But how?” Mitzy looked up and around her. Unless someone threw the plate at the table it really couldn’t have landed right in the middle. She stepped back to the door and then walked forward pretending to trip. She let the shard of platter fly from her hand toward the table. It landed near the edge and skidded across. “I know that’s not a whole platter, but it doesn’t look possible to break it there by accident.” She straightened herself out and tried one more time but with a book she pulled from the shelf. But again, the book just skidded across the tabletop. Ben might have tripped and dropped the platter on the table, but it didn’t look like it would have landed in the middle and left scratches. Mitzy turned to Alonzo, but he was on the phone. She puffed some hair out of her eye and listened in.
“Ben. Yeah, this is Alonzo. Listen, I didn’t want Mitzy to get you in trouble with your woman, but we gotta know what happened at the office today.” Alonzo kept shuffling the pieces of the platter while he listened to Ben. Then he spoke again, “Last night then? No. Okay. Thanks man. No. I believe you. But someone was in here. Yeah. I guess I’ll have to ask. Okay.” He hung up and shoved the phone in his pocket again. “Ben hasn’t been here since you showed him the server you bought.”
Mitzy dropped the shard of ceramic she had been holding. “Then who?”
“Does Sabrina still have a key? Does Joan?”
Mitzy shook her head. Alonzo’s face froze in a look of serious worry. Once more he left Mitzy in the smaller room. He walked the perimeter of her office checking the front window and the door.
Mitzy’s heart jumped to her throat. The keys. The locksmith hadn’t been here yet to change the locks.
“Alonzo, one more thing…my keys are missing.” Mitzy reached for his hand.
Alonzo gripped her hand in his and looked her in the eyes, “What do you mean missing?”
“It’s bad.” Mitzy worked his grip loose and laced her fingers through his. “Tina said she thinks that Lara lifted my keys at the open house. That’s how she got into my condo. But Alonzo, the keys weren’t on her when the cops searched her pockets.”
Alonzo exhaled.
Mitzy broke eye contact, and turned to the table. “Why would someone break my platter?”
“To intimidate you. Who have you talked to about the murder?”
“Just the guys at Neveah’s, Alice the designer, and Hector.”
Alonzo sucked in his breath. “Call the cops. We need to report this and we need to report that message on your mom’s answering machine.
They went to Mitzy’s parents’ house so they would have the message to play for the police.
Mitzy hated making the call. She and Alonzo were almost certain it was important and dangerous. But she didn’t want to look foolish. She wanted to have a stronger case for her theory before she called. But Alonzo thought it was enough, so she didn’t argue. She had the direct number for Detective McConnell, who was in charge of Lara’s case. He answered right away.
“Mitzy,” he said, “I’ve been asking around and I’ve heard that it is a good idea to take you seriously.”
Mitzy was taken aback by that. It threw her off of her preplanned report, “Well! I—Good!” she fumbled for her words. She had a lot of things to say for herself that didn’t need to be said now.
“What do you know?” he asked.
“You’re aware that Lara and I look a lot alike, right?”
“Yes. We’re aware of that.”
“Okay. Well I have wondered…”
“If you were the intended victim? I think you mentioned that once or twice.”
“Okay, sorry. I’m not trying to waste your time. It’s just I’ve been talking to some people, trying to figure out who Lara was. If I could learn of one re
ally good reason for someone to kill her I might not be so worried that the Mafia was still actively interested in me.”
“Yes?” the cop said. Mitzy thought she detected more than a hint of boredom in his voice.
“I’ve been house sitting for my parents and no one really knows I’m here, but I got this message on my answering machine today,” She hit play, skipped the first message and made sure the volume was up. Alonzo squeezed her shoulder.
The message didn’t play.
“I’m sorry, Mitzy? I didn’t catch that. There was a message on your answering machine?”
Mitzy stared at the machine. Alonzo took the phone from her, “This is Alonzo Miramontes. Let me explain. Mitzy came to the house today at 11:40. There was a message on the phone. The machine said the call came in at 11:30. It said, ‘you’re not wrong.’ Mitzy called me immediately and played it for me. Now it’s been deleted. I think someone has been in her home. I think the murderer is sending her a message.”
“Okay. I took the note. Sorry the message was gone. Just a couple of questions, she said it was her parents’ house. Could they have deleted the message?”
“No. She’s house sitting while they are out of town.”
“They couldn’t do it remotely?”
Alonzo repeated the question to Mitzy. She shook her head no.
“No, it’s an old answering machine.”
“And you two are the only ones who heard it?”
“Yes.”
“Have either of you touched the machine since the message was deleted?”
“Yes, we both have.”
“Alright. Well. I’ve been given strict instructions to take Mitzy seriously, but I don’t know what to do about this one. The message is gone and your fingers have been all over the buttons. I’ve made a note. Call if it happens again.”
“Yes sir. There’s one more thing,” Alonzo said.
“I’m ready.”
Alonzo explained the story of the missing keys and the broken platter. The phone was silent for a moment.
“We’ll send someone over to dust for fingerprints,” The cop said, “Keep in touch. We want to know if anything else like this comes up.”
Alonzo ended the call and put his hand on Mitzy’s lower back. “They don’t think you are crazy, at least.”
“They don’t, but they could be wrong.” Mitzy offered a wry grin.
“Let’s finally feed those cats and get out of here.”
“That’s a good idea.” In addition to catnip and new toys Mitzy had brought an auto feeder. She filled it up and set a huge sheet cake tray of water out for them.
“Anything else?” Alonzo asked.
Mitzy shook her head. “No, they use that little cat door to get outside instead of a litter box. I think this will do them for the rest of the week.
“Poor cats,” Alonzo said, “Should I just take them home with me?”
“They’re fine. Let’s get out of here.”
Mitzy recycled all of the packaging and gave the cats one last quick snuggle. She and Alonzo piled into the car. Mitzy watched the house in her mirror as she drove away. An upstairs light switched on.
“Alonzo!” she cried.
He slammed on the brakes “What?!”
“That light!” she said, “I just saw it turn on.”
Alonzo craned his neck to see behind him. “No, I left that on in the bathroom, for the cats.”
“Then someone turned it off and then turned it back on. I just saw it.” Mitzy said, her voice rising. “The cops have been instructed to take me seriously. You should too.”
Alonzo turned the car around and pulled in to the driveway. “Fine. I’m turning around, but you are sticking close to me.”
They let themselves back into the house and went straight upstairs. Puddytat, the black cat, was sitting on the bathroom counter. His tail switched back and forth. He hopped down from the counter, purring, and rubbed his back on Mitzy’s legs. She watched him do a turn around the bathroom floor and then jump back on the counter. When he landed, he brushed up against the wall and switched the light off.
“It was the cat,” Alonzo said.
Mitzy sucked in a breath, “Puddytat turned it off, but could he turn it back on?”
“Should we sit here and watch?” Alonzo asked.
Mitzy pushed the cat off of the counter. “Let’s see if he turns it on when he gets back up.” But the cat walked out of the bathroom. Alonzo started moving things around on the bathroom counter. “I think it looks fine, Mitzy.” He picked up a hand towel and hung it back up. He picked something else up and turned it in his hand a few times before tossing it in the trash. “What was that?” Mitzy asked, looking into the garbage.
“I don’t know. Soap dish?”
Mitzy leaned over and looked in the trash basket. A piece of misty blue ceramic sat alone in the empty bin. “That’s no soap dish.”
Alonzo looked again.
“Shoot. How long has that been in here?”
“Who can tell?”
“I suggest we leave now. The light may or may not have been turned on by the cat, but you’re right. That’s no soap dish.”
Mitzy used a paper towel to collect the shard and put it in her pocket. She had a feeling she’d be needing it as evidence.
Alonzo brought Mitzy straight back to the inn. He took her into Carmella’s office behind the front desk. Carmella gave Mitzy a coffee and made her sit in the big desk chair.
“I don’t think this was truly necessary,” Mitzy said.
“First a threatening message then an office break in? What about ‘you’re in danger’ don’t you get?”
“I just mean that we didn’t have to rush straight here.”
“What did you want to do? Go see a movie?”
“Well no, of course not. It’s just…I don’t know. I don’t really want another early night.”
“And I don’t want you to get your head smashed in.” Alonzo turned away from Mitzy and addressed his sister. “Carmella, you gotta take Mitzy home with you tonight.”
“What do you mean I gotta take Mitzy home with me? She’s staying here at the hotel. She’s safe. Surely you’re about ready to go home to your mom’s, aren’t you?”
Mitzy shook her head. She wanted to throttle Alonzo for walking into the inn and demanding that Carmella take her home. She was an owner of the inn and she was also Carmella’s landlord. She did not need Alonzo telling her where to sleep at night.
“Al, I’m fine. I don’t need to get in their way.”
“You won’t be in the way,” Alonzo said. “I don’t want you sleeping here by yourself.”
“She’d hardly be by herself. The night staff is here and the hotel is almost booked completely full.”
“Carmella, her office was vandalized and someone left threatening messages on the answering machine at her parents’ house. I want her at your house tonight with Diego there. It’s much safer than being here with this place full of strangers.”
“I will be fine here. There is no reason at all that I need to sleep next door. Carmella, don’t stress. I’ll stay here.”
“You could come. I’d hardly kick you out of your own house. But it’s a small place.”
“I know. You guys were really awesome to move there so you could be closer to the inn. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Your house is so much bigger.”
“Yeah, but it’s got a renter in it so we’re good. I don’t mind having the smaller place to take care of now that I’ve got the inn to run. Diego Jr. can just use the yard here. This property is bigger than ours. But really, wouldn’t you be more comfortable here at the inn?”
“I would. Thank you for understanding.”
“You girls are impossible. This isn’t about being comfortable, it’s about being alive.” Alonzo shoved the chair in front of him into the counter top. It skidded on the kitchen floor and stopped with a thud. “Did you hear a word I said Carmella? Vandals and threats. She can’t stay here
alone.”
“Quiet your voice down!” Carmella shouted at her brother. “Do you want all of the guests to check out? We want this massive wedding party to be perfect.”
At the same time Mitzy lit into Alonzo. “It’s my life to keep alive, Alonzo, and if you think for a minute you can tell me where to sleep at night you have another think coming!”
The kitchen door swung open and a young girl with a sweeper came in, head lowered. “There are guests at the desk, who, um, have some questions,” she mumbled.
“Could they hear us fighting?” Mitzy asked, her face gone red.
“Yes ma’am,” the little house cleaner said.
Carmella punched her brother on the arm. “Good going,” she hissed on the way to her desk.
“I’m not going to see you killed, do you hear me? You have a choice: stay at Carmella’s or stay with me.” He crossed his arms and stared at her, one eyebrow lifted.
“I’m going to my room.” Mitzy turned on her heel, marched out of the kitchen and climbed the stairs to her room.
The platter could have been broken by Sabrina, who might still have a key or by Joan who kept a spare key in her office or by Marge who knew the spare key was in Joan’s office.
One broken platter didn’t suddenly mean that Alonzo could dictate her every move. The mere idea of it made her bile rise. She was not a child. She slammed the door to her room shut behind her. She pulled down the blanket on her bed and fluffed the pillow. It was only 6:00 in the evening, much too early for bed. She hadn’t even had dinner yet. She dropped on her bed and stared at the ceiling. The pillow was kind of lumpy. She reached back to fluff it more and felt something hard and smooth. With a jagged edge. Her heart jumped to her throat as she pulled it out from under her pillow. It was a shard from the platter.
There was a quiet knock at the door.
Heart pounding, Mitzy walked to the door. She didn’t try to be silent. Whoever put that shard under her pillow knew she was there. She leaned against the door, her hand on the knob.
The quiet knocking came again, “Mitz?”
“Alonzo?” she asked.
“Yeah. Can I come in?”
Mitzy pulled the door open and grabbed Alonzo by the arm. She held the shard of platter up but didn’t say anything.
Traci Tyne Hilton - Mitzi Neuhaus 03 - Buyer's Remorse Page 8