Traci Tyne Hilton - Mitzi Neuhaus 03 - Buyer's Remorse

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  Sin had discolored her life but God never gave up. If he could do good work with damaged materials, so could she. She rinsed her scrubber again. She sat up and stretched her back with her hands on her knees. She took a deep breath. If this mess was a threat then she was on the right track. That was a good thing.

  Mitzy woke up the next morning with the need to rebel. She had a long day of being taken care of ahead of her. She already hated it. She had coffee and toast with Carmella when her future sister-in-law came in to work at 6:30.

  Carmella was dressed to the nines. She even wore a suit jacket and had her hair done in an up-do.

  “How did the bridesmaid’s slumber party go?” Mitzy asked.

  “Well enough, I think. Did the noise keep you up?”

  “Not at all. I didn’t hear a peep.”

  “Good. I put them upstairs in those little rooms. I think it worked well. But they brought a karaoke machine with them and set a lot of empty bottles outside the door this morning. I’m expecting to hear complaints.”

  Mitzy swallowed the last of her coffee. “I’ve got to run to my parents’ house and water the plants. Everything is drying out over there. It won’t take but twenty minutes.”

  “Are you going right now?” Carmella asked.

  “Yes, the sooner the better. Then I think I need to settle in, either here or at Alonzo’s workplace, or maybe both if I get bored. I have to say this isn’t the most exciting way to spend a leave of absence.” Mitzy took her mug to the sink and rinsed it. She brushed the toast crumbs off her clothes and checked her watch. “I suppose I could have slept in, but I just couldn’t make myself.” She set the coffee mug on the counter next to the sink.

  “Explain this to me,” Carmella said, “How can you have a leave of absence if you are your own boss?”

  Mitzy smiled, “I guess you could just call it a vacation, or you could say that I have stopped working. You could also call it stress-related medical leave.”

  Carmella laughed, “You could call it that. You need it. But it seems like this leave is just as stressful as work was.”

  “You’ve got that right.”

  “Well if you get bored feel free to come back tonight to help set up for the rehearsal dinner. They are bringing caterers in but we’re providing set up.”

  “I can’t wait until we’ve got our own kitchen running,” Mitzy said.

  “I can. Do you know how much a good kitchen crew costs?”

  “There is that. Oh well. Continental breakfast works until then. I might as well come right back and help with that.”

  “Just make sure you come back alive. Alonzo will kill me if you get yourself murdered this morning.”

  “I won’t.” Mitzy gave Carmella a quick hug. In fact, staying alive was Mitzy’s top priority.

  Mitzy had that sense of being followed as she walked the rooms of her parents’ house. She told herself it was just the cats, but when she turned to look for them, the cats were nowhere to be seen.

  The day was damp and cold, but not bad for December. In the mudroom, she refilled the cats’ auto-feeder and their pan of water. She had to run outside and water the plants in the greenhouse as well. She let herself out the back door and trudged across the frosty deck. She stepped gingerly onto the grass so that the heel of her boot wouldn’t sink, but the ground was hard with frost, so her shoes were safe. The night must have gotten colder than she had realized. She made a mental note to adjust the heat in the greenhouse.

  The greenhouse was toasty warm and a little moist, the way a well-tended greenhouse should be. Mitzy stopped in the doorway. She hadn’t been taking care of the greenhouse. Why was it so warm?

  Mitzy let go of the door handle, and it swung shut behind her. She expected to find shards of her platter behind every plant. But at this point, the person trying to scare her must have run out of them. Mitzy filled the watering can at the pump sink and began to water the plants.

  She passed the thermostat and saw it set for 80. That seemed high, but at the same time the heater needed to compensate for the cloud cover. There would be very little heat from the sun this month. Mitzy stared at the gauge. She hadn’t set it for 80. She was sure that her mom had left it at 72, just a tad higher than the heat in the house. Her heart was beating so hard it felt like it was going to come out of her throat. She began a careful search of the greenhouse to calm herself down.

  She lifted the plant pots and looked under them. Dirt that had dried out on top of the plants scattered on the pine shelves. She took a deep breath and slowed down. A whiskbroom hung next to the sink so Mitzy picked it up and cleaned the mess.

  Then she opened the cupboard and looked through it. There was nothing there either. By all accounts Mitzy knew she could calm down, but her heart wouldn’t get quiet. Could the heat setting on the thermostat be the next threatening message?

  A game of hot and cold maybe? Or would they have left the greenhouse freezing for that?

  Mitzy leaned back on the potting bench, her thumb hooked around the watering can handle. She chewed her lip and thought about the heat. “A watched pot never boils?” “A blister in the sun?” “Liar, liar, pants on fire?” “Death warmed over?”

  Death warmed over. She lifted the watering can and set it on the counter. She stood up, alert. The temperature was a warning to her. She needed to get out of here.

  The door to the green house slowly swung open.

  “Good morning!” A little round woman with white hair in curlers and a bright pink housecoat stepped inside the greenhouse. “I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said.

  Mitzy reached behind her and gripped the handle of the watering can.

  “Oh goodness! You don’t know me, do you? I’m Pearl. I live next door.”

  Mitzy nodded, and her face relaxed into a more natural smile. “Well hi,” she said. “Can I help you?”

  “I just wanted to check the plants. I noticed your car hasn’t been here in the last few days. I hope you don’t mind my coming over. We had that cold snap last night so I snuck over and turned up your heater in here. I’d hate for your mom to lose any of her plants. She sure loves it in here.” Pearl walked over to the wall of geraniums and sniffed. “Aren’t they a lovely sight in the winter?” she asked.

  Mitzy bit her tongue to suppress an almost hysterical urge to laugh. Death warmed over. She had let her imagination run to the ridiculous. The greenhouse was warm because she had a friendly neighbor.

  “Oh thank you so much. I hate that I had to leave the house unattended…”

  “I heard about the murder on Facebook.” Pearl said. “It was at your condo, and if you ask me, she looked just like you. I wouldn’t want to stay alone either. I saw you had a friend come over to feed the cats but I noticed he didn’t come out here to the greenhouse.”

  “Do you mean Alonzo? He’s come here with me, but I haven’t sent anyone else over.”

  “No, not that good looking man you’ve been here with. The other one, the younger skinny one. I’m sure you sent him because he let himself in with a key.”

  “Could it have been my brother?” Mitzy asked.

  “No, he was much younger than your brother, I’d say. And I don’t think Brett would ever wear a green plaid fedora.”

  “I have to agree, he’d never do that. But I’ll ask him if he sent anyone over. I certainly didn’t.”

  Pearl didn’t seem at all worried about the man in the plaid hat, but it was sending shivers of fear down Mitzy’s spine.

  “Well I’m going to head back home and warm up. Do you want me to pop in and water the plants tomorrow? I could see to the cats as well, if you’d rather.”

  “That would be lovely. But don’t bother with the cats, they’re set up with a nice auto feeding thingy.” Mitzy didn’t want Pearl in the house if that mystery man came back.

  “It wouldn’t be anything,” Pearl said. “Your mom and I exchanged keys years ago for emergencies.” Pearl opened the greenhouse door to let herself out. “Have
a good morning, sweetie,” she said with a smile.

  “Just a minute!” Mitzy called out. She stepped out of the warm greenhouse into the cold morning air, “One more thing.”

  Pearl stopped and turned again. “Brrr. Yes?” She patted her arms.

  “If someone comes back by, would you call me?” Mitzy took a business card out of her wallet and handed it to Pearl. “If you don’t mind. I would really appreciate it.”

  “Oh that’s no problem, my dear. I’m off to get my coffee now.” Pearl crossed the frosty lawn and let herself through a little gate into her own backyard. Mitzy watched until Pearl was safe in her own house.

  Such a sweet lady should not be coming over to the house while that maniac had her set of keys. Nothing would convince Mitzy that the man in the plaid fedora had been sent over by her brother.

  Now Mitzy had concrete evidence that someone had been sneaking around her parents’ house. She didn’t want to hang around or be alone.

  Mitzy went back to the inn and tried to make herself useful by putting out the continental breakfast for the guests. She was dying to get Alonzo alone and to talk about the man with the plaid hat. As soon as he had picked a Danish and a glass of orange juice she grabbed him by the elbow and led him back to her room. He stopped in front of the door and took her hand.

  “What’s the rush?” he asked. He pulled her in for a kiss, but she turned her cheek to him.

  “You’re cold.” Alonzo said. “Have you been out already?” He let them into his room but left the door open.

  Mitzy sat on the edge of his bed while he took his arm chair.

  “I went to my parents’ house. The cats and the plants needed tending to.”

  Alonzo furrowed his brow. “I wish you hadn’t gone alone.”

  Mitzy nodded, “I know. And I might have learned my lesson.” She relayed the news of the man who had been letting himself into the house.

  “Pearl said he was young and wearing a plaid hat? Could it be someone your brother Brett sent over for something? Or one of your mom’s students?”

  “No to the first because Brett is tied up in a case right now and Aerin doesn’t care about what happens at mom’s house. Possibly a student, but why? So far as mom is concerned, I’m still living there. The young man with the plaid hat has to be the one who is planting bits of broken plate everywhere. It may even be the person who left the call on my answering machine.” Mitzy picked at the fringe of the bedspread.

  “It doesn’t sound like a description of Hector, does it?” Alonzo leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling, his eyes narrowed.

  “No. I think she’d have said he was huge and covered in tattoos instead of young and in a hat if it had been Hector. If Hector is covering for Trish, he could have sent someone there. But why would that person wear a hat like that? He’d stand out like a sore thumb.”

  “Maybe he’s not bright. You’d have to be stupid to break into a house and plant a broken plate.” Alonzo looked at Mitzy again with a frown.

  “It wasn’t a break-in though. He has the keys.” Mitzy scrunched her mouth up in concentration.

  “That’s right.” Alonzo sat up and leaned forward. “We know whoever killed Lara took the keys away with them because they locked the dead bolt when they left.” Alonzo began tapping his foot; his eyes sparkled as though he was having a new idea. “Why would they want the door locked behind them?”

  “To slow down the discovery of the body?” Mitzy asked.

  “And to throw suspicion on people who were known to have a set of keys.” Alonzo chewed on his bottom lip. “That’s you and me. Maybe your parents.”

  “So the Mafia again…” Mitzy looked down at the bedspread. She had denuded one whole tassel with her nervous plucking.

  “Not necessarily. Maybe it was more general: throw suspicion on the homeowner.”

  “That still leaves the problem of the hat. Who wears a bright plaid hat when they are supposed to be sneaking around?” Mitzy tucked her hand under her thigh to protect the rest of the blanket.

  “And as we said before, that can only be a stupid person. Would Hector have given the keys to someone he couldn’t trust?” Alonzo took a bite of his Danish.

  “I don’t think so but you don’t have to be smart to be trusty.”

  “No, that’s true.” Alonzo swallowed his bite. “But boy, that hat. I’d almost say it was David from Neveah’s Wardrobe. He’s young and a flashy dresser.”

  “When I talked with David I thought he was trying to implicate Hector in the crime.” Mitzy began to twist a curl of hair around her finger, “Would David work both sides like that? Take money from Hector and try to get him arrested?”

  “It depends on how badly he needed the money,” Alonzo said. “He likes to live large. Maybe he thought he could make a little money off of Hector.”

  “But wouldn’t he be an accessory or something then?”

  “If David was the one to lead the cops to Hector’s arrest they might not charge him. Or he might get off with a light sentence.” Alonzo finished his Danish and wiped his fingers on his napkin.

  “That’s all only true if Trish killed Lara to get Hector for herself, instead of the Frog killing Lara thinking she was me.”

  “I didn’t get the impression that The Frog would work for Russians. He said he was Romanian and looked serious about it.”

  “Would he admit to being Russian if he was working for the Mafia as a hitman?” Mitzy sat back, resting on her elbows. She looked at the ceiling and considered The Frog. He was the only connection to the location and the weapon, but as far as she could tell he had no connection at all to Lara or herself. If he was the killer he had to be paid.

  “Would he use a brick from his own job site if he was a professional hitman?” Alonzo asked.

  “I wouldn’t. But if he was stupid enough to wear a plaid hat that anyone would notice, or if he was a part time hitman he might also use his own brick as a murder weapon. As far as I can tell the Mafia has more reasons to kill me than anyone has to kill Lara.”

  “You don’t need a lot of reasons to kill someone. Just one really good reason.”

  “So then we keep looking,” Mitzy said.

  “I think we need to. Trish might have killed Lara out of jealousy. But someone else may have had a more compelling reason to see her dead. I don’t think a Mafia killer stumbled on someone that looked like you on your patio and took a free chance to kill you. It’s just not logical.” Alonzo said.

  “I’m glad it’s not. But with the threats and the phone call I don’t think I’m any safer for the lack of logic.”

  “I agree. Are you coming to the office with me today or staying here?”

  “I’ll stay at the inn for now. But I’ll call you if I have a change of location.”

  “Good enough babe. I’ve got to go to work. Lock my room when you leave.” He kissed her by her ear, right under her jaw. “Delicious,” he whispered.

  The inn was swarming with staff and guests. Plenty of little jobs piled up during the day. Mitzy thought she could make it through the next eight hours without dying of boredom. But she didn’t want to lose any time on her investigation, so after Alonzo left for work she made a phone call.

  Mitzy decided to enlist the help of Alice McNinch again. She wanted to trap Hector or Trish into saying something incriminating. They’d be on their guard with her, but not with a friend of Lara’s. Whatever else motivated Hector, Mitzy still believed he had really loved Lara. She called Alice at home.

  “I’d love to help. I’ve been trying to think of something I could do all day. How do you think I could trick Hector?”

  “You were such a good friend of Lara. He’s bound to spill a little of his grief with you like he did at first with me. If you could lead the conversation…talk about it like it had been an accident, anything. I can’t promise but I bet you could lead him into admitting something he wasn’t planning on admitting.”

  “I’ll do my best Mitzy.”
<
br />   “Good luck.” Mitzy ended the call. She needed more than luck to sort this out. She needed a miracle.

  Alice waited until ten to leave on her mission. She had been wanting to do something to help Lara, but her nerve almost gave out as she drove to the Bloody Ink Tattoo Parlor. What could she say to lead the conversation? She had no idea.

  She stepped into the shop and was glad to see it was empty. She could see Hector in the back room sitting in front of his computer. She walked straight back to him. “Hey Hector. I haven’t seen you since Lara…”

  “Since someone butchered Lara?” He looked up from his work with red-rimmed eyes.

  “How are you holding up?”

  “I’ve got my good days and my bad days.” Hector moved his mouse back and forth. “We had a fight right before she died. Did I tell you that?” He pushed his mouse roughly so that it fell off the side of the desk. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself.”

  Alice nodded. She attempted to read his cues. He was taking his time talking. And while his eyes were red rimmed, she thought it looked like the result of a hangover rather than tears. “Have you been getting out?”

  “I don’t like to be alone right now.” Hector rolled his desk chair back so he was facing Alice. “Trish’s been staying with me. It helps.”

  Alice nodded. Trish wasn’t a secret anymore.

  “She’s different from Lara, you know? When Trish is around you can’t be down. She’s good medicine.”

  “I bet,” Alice said. Her heart hurt for Lara. Lara thought she was going to marry Hector, last time they talked. “It’s not been long, yeah?” Alice said, “But when you find someone who feels right…”

  “Yeah. That’s it. Trish feels right.” Hector stood up. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a picture. He looked at it for a moment and then passed it to Alice. She took the picture from him and looked at it. The picture was of Lara. She was at a beach somewhere in a bikini and huge sunglasses. “With Lara around I couldn’t ever get ahead, you know? She always wanted more. But Trish has always been good with whatever. It all works for her.”