I snatched up the notebook. I had completely forgotten about it. “That’s not mine. It’s Oscar Preston’s.”
Glenn frowned. “Then it’s evidence. You need to turn it over to Sergeant Rorski.”
I smiled. There was no way I was going to argue with Glenn over this. “It’s not evidence. It wasn’t at the murder scene. I found it in Oscar’s bedroom, and his mother gave it to me. I have her permission to see what I can find out about the names in the book.”
He took the notebook from my hands and flipped the pages. “It’s empty.”
“Near the back. One page. List of names. All men.”
He flipped again and found the list. “I don’t recognize any of these people. What did you find out about them?”
I grabbed the notebook, my coffee and zucchini bread and headed for the basement. “Nothing. I completely forgot I had it. I’ll be back to clean up my mess later.”
I opened my laptop and searched the names on the list from top to bottom. The last two names on the list didn’t come up at all. I used two of the programs Arnie and I use for background checks, but the two people remained a mystery.
There was nothing to tie the other people on the list together other than they appeared to be successful businessmen – two doctors, the owner of a construction company, an architect, a landscaper, and three restaurant owners. Two of the restaurant owners were in Columbus. The other people resided in Patterson.
I could only assume these were clients of Ellis Rich who had lost money. Would Oscar have been using information about these men to blackmail Ellis?
I hadn’t yet run any background checks on Oscar or looked into his financial records. I did that now but didn’t find any useful information. Oscar had been a salesperson for a men’s clothing company. He worked on base plus commission and made a nice living. He had a checking and savings account with First Bank of Patterson. Neither account showed any unusual deposits or activity.
The rest of the information was benign as well. The only blemish to his record was a parking ticket eight years ago.
I grabbed my current notebook and jotted down all the names from the list to include work and home addresses and phone numbers. If Pepper helped, we could get in touch with all the people this coming week and find out if they had invested with Ellis Rich. We could also ask if any of them knew the two people at the bottom of the list.
I tossed my napkin in the trash and took the notebook and coffee up to the kitchen where I found the contents of my bag had magically arranged themselves into several neat piles.
Scraps of paper with notes and telephone numbers on them had been secured with a clip. My box of new Two Sisters and a Journalist cards had been placed beside the papers with a sticky note attached to the top. The note held only a smiley face. I hadn’t planned to show them to Glenn, but the cat was out of the bag now.
I was horrified in a mortified kind of way by the amount of food I had accumulated. There were half a dozen breakfast bars, two small packages of donuts, which were now semi-crushed, three small packages of cookies, and a wide array of gums, Life Savers, and breath mints. I swept them all over into the do-not-return pile.
I picked up my favorite hairbrush. It had been missing for over a week. When did I put it in my bag? There were two more hairbrushes. One of them had seen better days. I took the smooshed donuts and the hairbrush and tossed them into the trash.
It only took a few minutes to sort the remaining items. Yes. No. Yes. No. No. No. No, etc., with the majority of the items being a resounding no.
When my bag was loaded again, it was lightweight and no longer felt like a weapon. It certainly wouldn’t cause a bloody nose or a concussion.
Glenn walked into the kitchen and pointed to the items on the table. “That was like a five and dime in there.”
I laughed, handing the bag to him. “No kidding. Feels better, doesn’t it?”
“It does. I don’t know how it wasn’t causing you to list to one side.”
I laughed and lightly punched his arm. “What do I do with all this junk I accumulated?”
He picked up a pack of mints and slipped it into his pocked. “Looks like most of it can go in the trash.”
I agreed, and other than my notebooks or anything work related, I tossed the items. The feeling was liberating.
“What do you want to do today?” Glenn asked. “We can watch the Cincinnati and Cleveland game, or we can hunker down and watch old movies. I think I saw a marathon of movies from the eighties was on today.”
I thought for a few moments before saying, “I’m not ready to hunker down for anything right now. I know you wanted me to stay home and rest, but would you mind if we went over to the flea market for a bit? I wouldn’t mind helping Mama with her sale.”
Glenn smiled. “You want to go help your mother?” He looked around the room as if searching for something. “What happened to Jo Wheeler and what have you done with her?”
“Oh, stop,” I said, laughing. “Maybe it’s the upcoming holiday season. I just feel better and happier now.”
The words were true, but they sounded odd coming out of my mouth after being so impatient and irritable the past few days.
Glenn looked serious. “Or maybe you’re realizing you cheated death, and it’s sinking in that you’re happy to be alive. That bomb may have been a life changing moment for you.”
I didn’t mean to sigh, but I did. “It wasn’t a life-changing moment for me, Glenn. It was a life-changing moment for Oscar Preston.”
He lowered his head. “I know. I was just saying the incident may have had more of an impact on you than you think.”
“That’s a natural assumption, but I told you what has bothered me most was when Pepper said I wasn’t very nice and insinuated I was heartless. I knew deep down she was right.”
“No she wasn’t. You have to stop thinking that.”
“She was right. Sometimes I’m not very nice, and the problem is I’m not very nice to my family. I love my family. I want to try harder to be kind and patient with them. I want to stop treating Pepper like a little sister to be bossed around instead of my older sister to be respected. And I want to be able to laugh at Mama like the rest of you do instead of being irritated by her or embarrassed by her. I know I’m not heartless, but I could be nicer. I want to go to the Emporium and help Mama today like we promised.”
He kissed me before saying, “That’s a good attitude and a good idea. Let me get the zucchini bread in the freezer, and I’ll be ready to go.
A half hour later, we walked into Estelle’s Emporium of Wonders. As it was every Sunday, the place was crazy busy.
We took a walk around the main floor to browse the merchandise. There were plenty of antiques, and loads of flea market items, but the building was bursting at the seams with holiday goods. A pine scent filled the air, and Mama had Christmas music playing over her newly installed intercom system. Her raspy smoker’s voice came over the system.
“It’s a fine day here at Estelle’s Emporium of Wonders. For the next hour, all merchandise in the booths marked with red and green streamers will be fifty percent off. And don’t forget about my upcoming comedic debut Friday night at The Broken Nine Iron in Patterson. Here’s a bacon poem to give you an idea of what’s to come:
Slice it, smoke it, fry it up quick.
Make sure it’s done, or it might make you sick.
Splattering grease burn, it looks like a freckle.
An apron protects you, especially your schmekel.
Stop by the snack bar and let me know what you think. Thank you very much. I’ll be here all day.”
Glenn burst into laughter. Laughter and groans could be heard from all directions, but even the people shaking their heads had smiles on their faces.
I didn’t actually laugh, but I, too, couldn’t help smiling. In this moment, I had no doubt Mama would be a hit Friday night.
We walked past the booth Roger still maintained. He and Keith were dressed in t
heir matching seventies garb again today. A small group of people had gathered round to watch them play Rock’Em Sock’Em Robots. Keith promptly knocked Rogers head off. A few of the onlookers clapped, but they were all laughing.
“That’s six in a row, sucka!” Keith crowed.
“There’s something wrong with my robot,” Roger whined. “Let’s trade sides.”
“No way. The blue guy is mine. He has my features.”
“Bull,” Roger said. “They both look alike.”
Glenn began laughing again and pulled my arm to move down the aisle. “Come on. Let’s get a cup of coffee and see what Estelle wants us to do.”
Behind us, we heard the robots at it again. A few seconds later, Roger yelled, “Hey, you break it, you bought it.”
Glenn continued to laugh. Normally, I would have rolled my eyes, but this morning, I enjoyed the antics at Roger’s booth.
I was surprised to see Arnie at the snack bar. I had no idea he was spending so much time here. He and Mama were smiling and looking at a paper together. When Mama looked up and saw Glenn and I approaching, she slipped the paper under the counter.
I took the stool adjacent to Arnie. Glenn opted to stand.
“What are you two up to?” I asked.
Mama grabbed one of two pots of coffee behind her and dashed off to refill coffee cups for customers at the other end of the counter.
Arnie had a bit of a twinkle in his eye. “We were just going over some of your mother’s comedy routine.” He let out a chuckle. “Damn, she’s one funny broad.”
Pepper’s daughter Kelly slipped behind the counter and began tying an apron around her waist. “That funny broad is my grandmama, and I can’t wait to see her in action.” She placed two cups on the counter and poured coffee for Glenn and me.
“You just better hope she doesn’t target you and Keith for her material,” Glenn said.
Kelly laughed. “Mom already took care of it. She said because we’re minors, we’re off limits, and we don’t have to worry.” She gave me a sympathetic look before laughing again. “You might be in the crosshairs, Aunt Jo.”
I felt my newfound desire to be gracious to Mama begin to erode.
Arnie gave Kelly a look I didn’t understand. It was as though he wanted her to be quiet. “She won’t be in the crosshairs,” he said. “Estelle’s working on a bacon routine.”
Mama was back. “Bacon’s funny. Everyone laughs at bacon jokes. Kevin Bacon is the luckiest man alive. He was named after the delicacy.”
Kelly screwed her face up. “Bacon isn’t a delicacy. It’s a slab of gross fat. I don’t know how you guys eat it.”
Glenn and Arnie looked horrified.
“Sacrilege,” Arnie said.
“You don’t have to eat it,” I said, “but you better learn to cook it, because chances are your husband will love it.”
“Oh, yeah,” Mama said. “If you have an argument with your husband, start frying some bacon. He’ll be in the kitchen within minutes, drooling and telling you you’re the sexiest woman alive. It’s easy to convince him then that you were right, and the argument will be over.”
I looked at Glenn. “Would that really work if we had an argument?”
He winked at Kelly before saying to me, “Probably.”
Mama reached under the counter for a notebook. She added the words sexy and drooling under a page headed with the word bacon.
“Estelle, what do you want Jo and me to do?” Glenn asked.
“We’re falling behind in the shipping department. Pepper’s up there packing boxes. You can give her a hand,” she said pointing to me. To Glenn, she said, “Why don’t you ask Roger if he wants a hand fiddling with the thermostats for the furnaces. We can’t keep the second floor warm, and the vendors up there are starting to complain.”
I made my way upstairs past the vendors to a large room at the back. Pepper was no longer dressed in hippie clothes and looked nice in a green flannel shirt and brown corduroy pants.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”
Pepper laughed. “That sounds ominous.”
She didn’t waste any time setting me to work printing shipping labels for the items she had already packaged. When I had that project caught up, I joined her in boxing items. I knew Mama had increased her online business, but I had no idea she was moving so much merchandise.
“Don’t forget,” Pepper said. “Most of the items are consignment items Mama only makes a percentage on.”
I frowned. “It seems a lot of work for not a lot of money.”
“Mama says she’s making enough money for now, especially since we’ve all been helping and she doesn’t have to pay us.”
Pepper took a stack of boxes over to a half-sized door in the wall. She opened the door, loaded the packages into the open space, and used a pulley system to send them downward.
“When did that thing get put in?” I asked.
“Isn’t it great? Mama got so tired of running up and down the stairs, she had this installed about a month ago. With no electricity involved, she said it was a cheap investment.”
She sent a text on her phone. A few minutes later we heard Keith yell up through the space, “Got ‘em.”
Pepper reached for the rope to pull the platform back up, but Keith had already begun working it from below. The platform arrived holding two large to-go cups of coffee and two paper plates with a slice of cherry pie on each.
“So much for watching my diet today,” I said.
“You’re not on a diet. I watched you eat a dozen hot wings two weeks ago, and you washed them down with two beers.”
“I’m not on a diet, but I am trying to watch sweets. They’re my downfall, and I know they pack on the pounds.”
“They do when you eat half a dozen donuts at a time,” she said. “You’ve schlepped enough boxes around this morning to warrant a piece of pie.”
We took the coffee and pie to a table near the stairs. Before we had the plastic wrap off the pie, Keith bounded up the stairs with two plastic forks and a handful of napkins.
“Sorry, forgot these,” he said. “And Grandmama said don’t send any more loads down unless the dumb waiter is filled to the top. She doesn’t want you wearing out the ropes.”
I rolled my eyes, but Pepper laughed. “You go tell your Grandmama those ropes aren’t going to wear out anytime soon, and if she wants my help, she can let me run things my way up here.”
Keith scowled. “No way. You go tell her yourself.” He bounded back down the stairs.
“Mama’s doing really well here, isn’t she,” I said taking a sip of hot coffee. It not only had a wonderful aroma, but it tasted as good as it smelled. Arnie was right. Mama made a mean cup of coffee. He usually drank and enjoyed coffee that was more like tar, but Mama must have won him over if he was coming here to drink hers.
“She is. People are driving from all around to see what’s for sale, but they want to meet Mama, too. Her reputation is spreading.”
I didn’t say anything, but I was proud of Mama and glad Glenn and I had come to help today.
Pepper and I practically inhaled the pie slices.
“Anything new with the Oscar Preston case?” Pepper asked.
“Not really, but do you remember the notebook with the names in it?” She nodded. “I looked everyone up and found information for all but two. They’re all professionals, and it’s likely they all lost money with Ellis Rich. I think we should talk to everyone on the list. Maybe one of them will have information that will help us or even maybe one of them will stand out as a suspect.”
“What if they didn’t have anything to do with Mr. Rich?” Pepper asked. “What if one of them killed Oscar for some other reason?”
I did my best not to look at her as if she were daft. “Why would they use Ellis Rich’s safe deposit box to kill him? And more importantly, how would they have gained access to the box to pull off the murder?”
She looked sheepish
. “Oh, yeah. Sorry. Stupid question.”
I smiled. “No it wasn’t. Sometimes you have to ask everything no matter how stupid it might sound. Sometimes it’s the ridiculous that points to the obvious.”
“Did that happen now?”
“No.”
We threw our forks and plates into a trash container.
“I don’t want to be here helping Mama all week if we have leads to chase down,” Pepper said. “Let’s get back to work and catch this mess up.”
The intercom crackled a bit before Mama came over the system.
“It’s a fine day here at Estelle’s Emporium of Wonders. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, be sure to stop by the snack bar and ask. It’s probably around here somewhere, and we’ll help you find it. Don’t forget my comedy debut is next Friday night at The Broken Nine Iron in Patterson. Be there or be square. Here’s a limerick to give you a taste of what’s to come.
There was an old man from Nantucket.
He burned his bacon and said…”
Chapter Thirteen
“Good morning. Baranksi and Wheeler Investigations. How may I direct your call?”
My mouth hung open. I was over an hour late to work, and the scene before me when I walked through the door wasn’t a pleasant surprise. In fact, my blood began to boil.
I marched into Arnie’s office and slammed the door behind me.
“What’s she doing out there?” I demanded.
“What? I thought you’d be happy I got someone in here to answer the phone.”
“Yes, but not her. I don’t want her here.” I felt bad when the words came out of my mouth, but it was how I felt. I couldn’t say why exactly, but it was as if she had intruded on what I had worked hard to build for myself.
“Sure you do. She’s already answering the phone like a pro, and she’s going to do more than Nancy did.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean more?”
Murder Breaks the Bank Page 13