Thread and Dead--The Apron Shop Series

by Elizabeth Penney

  Another thing. The locked front door must mean the intruder had a key to the building. That narrowed the possibilities to another tenant or the seaweed project team. Or, I realized, someone who worked for the college, which now owned the building.

  But what if Jamaica was lying? What if there hadn’t been an intruder?

  Madison put her hands to the glass and peered inside. Stepping back, she shook her head at us then hurried back to the Jeep. “The place is locked up tight,” she said, climbing in. “And I didn’t see any signs of life in there. No lights except the one in the entranceway.”

  Grammie tapped her fingers on the wheel. “The person is probably long gone. Do you still want to wait for Jamaica?”

  I turned around and studied the street. No headlights were approaching from either direction. This was the perfect opportunity to evade possible trouble. But instead of telling Grammie to leave, I found myself saying, “Why don’t we circle the building? Maybe they’re around back.” I pressed the lock button. “Lock your doors, okay?”

  “Okay, oh paranoid one,” Madison muttered. But I heard the click that meant she had obeyed.

  Grammie backed up then drove slowly around the near side of the long building. The drive was wide on this end, probably to allow trucks to make deliveries or pick up goods at the loading docks at the rear of the mill. While we ambled along, I tried to remember exactly where the labs were.

  We skirted the loading area, a bulky shed-like structure protruding from the rear, and kept going. Now we were behind the wing where the labs were housed.

  Something moved and I spotted a hooded figure at one of the windows. The figure turned, putting up a hand against the bright lights shining in his face. But not before I recognized that head of curly blond hair.

  Theo.

  CHAPTER 23

  For a long moment, there was a standoff as Theo stared at us and we stared at him. Then he broke the deadlock and bolted, arms pumping. “I’m on it.” Madison tugged at her door, swore softly since it was locked, then managed to get out. She tore after him.

  “Call nine-one-one,” I told Grammie, unlocking my own door. Maybe Madison could run a lot faster than me and was in much better shape, but I wasn’t letting her deal with Theo alone. If not heavily muscled, he was still young and wiry. I slid out of the Jeep and followed the pair across the shadowy parking lot behind the old mill.

  The surface was broken and uneven, with stray chunks of tar to trip me, and I almost twisted my ankle a couple of times. Up ahead, a spotlight shone down from the corner of the building, and I saw Madison and Theo running into the illuminated area.

  With bounding leaps of her long legs, Madison caught up to Theo and grabbed his hood, jerking him backward. He stumbled, arms flailing, and Madison hooked a leg around his, a neat move that used his own body weight against him. He crashed to the ground with a shout.

  I put on speed, wanting to assist her as she attempted to pin him down. As I reached them, gasping for air, headlights came around the corner of the building. The spotlight shining down revealed Jamaica, at the wheel of her VW bug.

  She halted the car and jumped out, racing over to join us. After fighting to subdue the thrashing young man, she and I each took hold of a foot while Madison sat right on his chest and pinned his arms. “It’s no use,” Madison said. “You’re not going anywhere.” In the dim light, I saw the quick flash of a grin. “Ask my brother and cousins if you doubt me.” I recalled that her fighting skills had been honed in tussles with the unruly Morris clan.

  “It’s too late anyway, Theo,” I added. “We called the police.” At mention of the law, he tried to kick his sneakered foot up but I leaned even harder on his shin. “They’ll be here any second.”

  “Let me up,” he said, thrashing his head back and forth. “I wasn’t doing anything. Just going in to do some work after hours. Get a head start on tomorrow.”

  “So why did you run?” Madison asked reasonably. To my admiration, she didn’t even sound winded. “That looks very suspicious to me.”

  “Who wouldn’t?” he said. “I thought that old lady was going to run me over with her Jeep.”

  I grit my teeth. “That old lady is my grandmother, so watch your mouth. And don’t tell me you were afraid of her.” But he should have been afraid of us, obviously.

  “Why were you out here in back, anyway?” Madison asked. “That’s not the usual way in, I wouldn’t think.”

  “My key didn’t work,” he said, changing tactics. “So I was trying to get inside a different way.”

  Jamaica hooted. “It didn’t work because I changed the locks. After someone messed with my seaweed crop.” Her voice rose, pain and betrayal clear. “Was that you, Theo? How could you? You know how hard I worked to get those spores to sprout. You were right there, working beside me.” Angry tears flooded her eyes.

  The teaching assistant fell silent. Then he said in a low, almost pleading voice, “Please let me up. I promise I won’t run. But there’s a huge rock sticking into my spine.”

  “All right. But you better stay put or I’ll tackle you again.” Madison got off his chest, and we released his ankles. Theo rolled over and scrambled to his feet after grabbing Madison’s hand for leverage. I didn’t see a rock but maybe I missed it in the near dark.

  Another set of headlights swooped around the corner as the Blueberry Cove police SUV came into view, Anton at the wheel. Rhonda Davis was with him this time. The SUV pulled up a short distance away and the officers climbed out, leaving the engine running. Their headlights helped illuminate the scene.

  Across the lot, the driver door of the Jeep squeaked open, followed by the bouncing beam of a cell phone flashlight. Grammie was coming over to join us.

  “What’s going on?” Anton asked, his tone deceptively casual. His keen gaze took us all in. Grammie must have told the dispatcher the nature of the call, but he probably wanted to hear it in our own words.

  Theo started to blather protests of innocence, but Jamaica said in a stern voice, “Stow it, Theo.” Surprisingly, he subsided. Jamaica explained how she’d seen someone trying to get into her lab earlier, unauthorized. “I changed the locks and installed cameras after an earlier incident involving my tanks,” she said. “Lukas—Dr. de Wilde—urged me to report it, but I haven’t had the time.”

  “We’ll get to that in a minute,” Anton said. Standing at his side, Rhonda was taking notes. “You saw someone trying to get in tonight. Did you recognize the person?”

  “No,” Jamaica admitted. “The camera isn’t that great plus the angle was wrong. All I saw was someone in a hooded windbreaker.”

  Theo’s eyes lit up. “Ha,” he said. “Maybe it wasn’t me.” He spun on his heel, ready to walk off.

  “Not so fast, young man,” Grammie said. “We saw you trying to open that window.”

  “Plus you admitted to us that you tried to get in with your key, and when that didn’t work, you tried another way,” Madison said. “To get a head start on work, right?” she said with a sarcastic edge.

  Theo’s shoulders went down at the realization he wasn’t off the hook. He glared at us from under a tangle of curls, his bottom lip thrust out.

  Jamaica inhaled a deep breath. “I thought about calling nine-one-one when I saw the video, but I wanted to check out what was going on first. I let Madison and Iris know, in hopes they could get here faster than me.”

  “Where were you?” I asked. Last I’d known, Sophie had dropped her off at her apartment downtown, only blocks from here.

  “I was out at the Sunrise Resort,” she said. “After I got home earlier, I was too restless to go to bed. So I headed out there to listen to music.” The resort was north of town, about five miles up Route One. She was right, our house was much closer to the mill, and so was Shorehaven, although Jamaica didn’t know we’d gone to see Eleanor. The tension I’d been holding eased, as did the suspicions I’d been harboring about Jamaica. For now, at least.

  Anton was listening i
ntently, his eyes darting from face to face. “Who got here first then?” He never jumped to conclusions, I noticed. I should follow his example.

  “We did,” I said. “We didn’t see anyone in the front of the building so we came around here to check. And then we saw Theo, standing at the lab’s back window and trying to open it.” I pointed to the Jeep, still parked where Grammie had left it. “When he saw us,” I continued, “he ran off. Madison chased him and took him down. I helped stop him from getting away, and then Jamaica showed up.”

  “Took him down?” Brief amusement curled Anton’s lips. He glanced at Madison, who shrugged, then at Jamaica. “Did Mr. Nesbitt have permission to enter your lab tonight?”

  Jamaica folded her arms. “No, he did not. If I’d wanted him to have access, I would have given him a new key.”

  “But you didn’t tell me that,” Theo sputtered. “I’ve gone in before, with my old key.” I hated to admit it, but he had a point.

  “Yeah,” Jamaica said, “after I gave you an assignment.” Her eyes drilled into him. “Do you have one from me right now?”

  Theo’s answer was to duck his head and toe his sneaker into the cracked tar.

  “Mr. Nesbitt.” Anton’s voice was soft but somehow infused with authority, a compelling combination. I wished I could sound like that. “Why were you here?”

  The teaching assistant shivered, a series of emotions running over his face. Then the words poured out of him. “I was supposed to turn off the breakers to the lab.” He gestured toward the sky. “Make it look as if they flipped due to a spike from the storm. No one would find out until morning, when it would be too late.” He slid a glance at Jamaica. “And I put dirty water into your tanks, before. That’s what made the algae grow on the spores.”

  “You little—” Jamaica leaped forward, her hands outstretched. But before she could hit Theo, or maybe strangle him, Anton neatly inserted his larger bulk between the farmer and Theo. Frustrated, Jamaica yelled, “Why? Why would you do that?”

  Theo had a sick, sheepish expression on his face. “He paid me to. I needed the money so I could go to Europe and do that fellowship.”

  There were so many things wrong with this picture, I didn’t know where to begin. Talk about the complete and utter lack of intellectual integrity required to sabotage a Farming the Sea project. Not to mention that trying to ruin someone’s business was a criminal offense. Malicious mischief, once again. Had Theo sliced our cardboard boat?

  “And now you’ll be doing a fellowship at the men’s prison,” Madison said, standing with arms crossed. She looked as disgusted as I felt.

  “Who paid you, Theo?” Anton asked.

  Good point. I’d been so broadsided by his confession I hadn’t considered that aspect of it. Theo hadn’t done this of his own volition. He was working under someone’s direction. Someone who wanted Jamaica to fail.

  Theo swallowed visibly, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He glanced both ways as if afraid of being caught squealing. “It was Patrick,” he said, his voice croaking.

  Jamaica let out a screech of frustration and rage. “Seriously? It wasn’t enough that he stole my recipe, he’s trying to put me out of business?” Again she lurched toward Theo, who stepped back hastily. “How could you do this?”

  “Don’t let her get me,” Theo said, real fear in his voice, cowering behind Anton.

  Jamaica halted, eyes blazing, then pivoted on her heel and stalked away, muttering. Grammie hurried to her side. “Let’s take a walk, Jamaica.” The pair began to circle the parking lot, Grammie steering her out in a large circle to give her more territory to cover—and more time to calm down.

  Anton began reading Theo his rights, telling him that he was under arrest for various charges. I walked a short distance away with Madison. Jamaica and Grammie were still circling the parking lot, their voices drifting our way.

  “Wow,” I said. “I totally wasn’t expecting that. I thought we would find Patrick trying to get into Jamaica’s lab, not Theo.”

  Madison stared at the arrest underway with narrowed eyes. “Me too. What a fool Theo is for doing Patrick’s dirty work. He really blew it.”

  Rhonda was helping a handcuffed Theo get into the cruiser’s back seat. “I wonder what else Theo did for Patrick?” Even as I said the words, my heart jumped with a new and terrible idea. Had he pushed his colleague off a cliff for money? Maybe Hailey had caught onto Patrick’s plans to destroy Jamaica’s business.

  Madison’s mouth opened in horror. “Do you think Theo killed Hailey?” she whispered, her voice rising to a squeak.

  “I don’t know. He was up there. He had access to the jacket.” I raised my hands helplessly. “I’m not sure what to think.”

  “We need to talk to Anton.” She trotted across the lot, trying to intercept him before he drove away. Rhonda was already in the cruiser. She whistled and waved, drawing his attention.

  He turned and waited for us. “Is there something else?” he asked.

  “Come over here a second,” I said, indicating that he should move out of earshot of the SUV. When we were far enough away, I said, “You need to question Theo about Hailey.” When he started to stay something, I interrupted. “Again, I mean. I know he was questioned once—we were there, remember? But I wonder if she was killed because of what Patrick was up to. Maybe she found out. Or maybe Theo wanted to eliminate her from competition for the fellowship.” I paused to gulp in a breath, feeling as though I needed to hurry. I was sure Anton wanted to get back to the station to process Theo’s arrest. “I know it sounds farfetched but I never would have guessed he’d betray Jamaica this way, either.”

  He was listening to me, I could tell by the expression on his normally stoic features. Encouraged, I went on. “And Patrick. He was at the cliffs that morning. I don’t know what he said about Lukas”—that earned a sharp glance of surprise—“but he has obviously been up to something, as we now know. Hailey was working with him closely to try and sell those energy bars. Which Jamaica invented, by the way. So maybe Patrick killed her.” I was kind of contradicting my earlier statement about Theo, but I really thought they should come down a little harder on Patrick. Especially now.

  Anton gave us a brusque nod. “Thanks for your thoughts, Iris. We are putting out a BOLO on Patrick Chance, by the way. He’s got a lot to answer for already.” BOLO stood for “be on the lookout.” He started to turn away, then paused. “Be careful, both of you, all right? Until we have Mr. Chance in custody, I don’t want you taking any foolish risks.”

  Like responding to news of a break-in without backup, maybe? “Point taken,” I said. I thought of a couple of other things I wanted to clear up. “Oh, just as a favor to us, can you ask Theo if he sliced up our boat? Or if he was the one lurking outside Ruffles and Bows the other night? Someone was.”

  Anton put his hands on his hips. “Is there anything else you haven’t told me?”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “It didn’t seem worth reporting at the time. I didn’t actually see anyone, but a garbage can was knocked over. An empty one. Why would an animal go after an empty can? And … I thought I heard something. But I honestly assumed it was just my mind playing tricks on me.”

  “Good point,” Anton said. “I’ll ask him.” His eyes lit. “By the way, I have good news. It looks like Eleanor is going to be okay. They’re keeping her for a couple of days to do tests, but she’s not in any immediate danger.”

  Madison and I let out huge sighs of relief. “Thanks for telling us that,” I said. “I’m going to sleep a whole lot better now.”

  “Me too,” Madison said. “I was really worried.”

  Anton motioned toward the cruiser. “I’d better get going. See you later.” He trotted toward the SUV.

  The cruiser had disappeared around the building by the time Jamaica and Grammie joined us again. “They’re putting out a BOLO for Patrick,” I told them. “And guess what, Grammie? Eleanor is okay. Still in the hospital but not in danger.”

&nbs
p; “Oh, I’m so relieved to hear that,” Grammie said. “Jamaica, when we went to see Eleanor tonight, we discovered she was quite ill. So she went to the hospital to be checked out.”

  “Good news on both counts, then. Eleanor is great. And I’m so glad they’re going after Patrick.” Jamaica wrapped her arms around her lean middle, glancing at her laboratory windows with a shiver. “Maybe this nightmare will soon be over. I’m so glad we put in that security system. Otherwise I would have lost my whole crop.”

  Grammie gave the farmer a hug. “Hang in there, Jamaica. We’re a phone call away if you need us.”

  “Thank you so much.” Jamaica’s eyes closed briefly as she returned the embrace. “I don’t know what would have happened tonight without your help.”

  Theo would have gotten away, that’s what. And probably returned another day to literally pull the plug on Jamaica’s seaweed. Maybe catching Theo would be the thread that unraveled the rest of this puzzling case. I could only hope.

  CHAPTER 24

  The aroma of frying bacon and sausage guided me through the festival grounds toward the pancake breakfast tent, where lines had formed. This was the last day of the festival, but judging by the throngs of people milling around, it was still going strong.

  No doubt the excellent weather all week had helped make the event a success. There hadn’t been a drop of rain until last night. And now the thunderstorms had blown away, leaving the sky over the glittering bay a deep, rich blue without a single cloud. I was thankful no storms were in the forecast for tonight, when the outdoor fashion show was being held. The stage and catwalk were already up in readiness, and workers were stringing lights and testing the sound system. Jake was helping with the lights, and so was Ian’s dad. I didn’t see Ian, though. He must be at the job site already.

  A familiar figure was right in the middle of the action, giving orders—Bella. I wasn’t surprised, since the fashion show was her baby. She considered it her mission to make sure we were all well dressed here in the hinterlands of Maine. Flannel shirts and clumsy rubber-soled boots hadn’t made the cut for the show, I was pretty sure, unless she found fashionable versions.