“We can start by asking him! Not directly of course, but we can give him the old Bloom sisters inquisition, Subtly of course!”
“Right, subtle, that’s what we are,” I laughed.
“Okay, maybe not so much, but we can make this work. I wonder where he’s staying? Is there a way we can run into him…”
“We can make a couple of calls, I’m sure Nedra knows how to reach him.”
“Ugh, her.”
“I know, but it’s the quickest way. We don’t have to tolerate her for long.”
“Okay,” she smiled, “you do it.”
“Fine, I’ll call her,” I said snapping my phone open and scrolling through my contact list until I got to her. I dialed and put the phone on speaker.
She answered on the third ring, “Hi Ivy, what can I do for you?”
“Hi Nedra, I was just wondering if you could help me out. I was wondering if you knew anything about where Amos’s brother Eli was staying while he was in town?”
“Eli? Sure, I know how to reach him, may I ask why? I mean I don’t usually give out client information without a very good reason.”
I raised my eyes to meet my sister and mouthed the word help. We hadn’t come up with a plausible reason for wanting to talk to Eli.
“Um, yeah, we, well, we wanted to express our condolences.”
“That’s what funerals are for,” she said sharply.
“Right, but we also wanted to talk to him about the property.”
“That’s what realtors are for, and I’m his. I can answer any questions for you,” she snapped.
My sister grabbed a pen and scribbled something on a napkin, I crossed my eyes and stuck my tongue out at her, but I didn’t have any other ideas so I used hers.
“Well the truth is, I saw him this afternoon in town, and, well, I wondered, you know… if he’d like to have dinner,” I said, and held my breath.
To my surprise Nedra laughed, “Oh, honey, he’s just awful and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. This town’s such a small pond I can see why you’d want to try to catch any old thing that swims on through though,” she laughed at her own joke.
“Right, well he just seemed interesting, and I didn’t mean to go on a date. Definitely not a date. I meant just to have a meal with. I’m here by myself most of the time and he’s had a terrible week, and it just seemed like it would be a nice gesture.”
“Indeed it would,” I could hear her bracelets jangling in the background, “and he is single, I know you’re wondering.”
“I wasn’t, but thanks,” I stuck my tongue out at Gigi a second time for good measure.
“He’s staying at Mrs. Oldenham’s B&B, out on old Skunk Road, past the church, do you know where I mean?”
“Yes, well, I wasn’t going to go to the door anyway, I just wanted to make sure he was in town. I’ll call over there.”
“Okay, ta-ta then, good luck!”
I’ll need all the luck I can get I muttered as I hung up.
Chapter 13
Mrs. Oldenham had no such desire to protect Eli, or any of her other residents it seemed.
“Yes, he’s here. Up in the old parlor room, do you know which one I mean?”
“Yes, I think so, but I’m not coming over there, I just wondered…”
“And that nice Camille, who’s brother does the acting in P-town in the summer is coming next week…”
“That’s nice but…”
“Oh, and you know the lady whose brother runs the marina, what’s her name again, oh she’s been here a dozen times too, it’s on the tip of my tongue…”
I finally got her to focus and ask Eli to the phone. Which was as weird an experience as I had worried it would be.
“Hi, Eli? My name is Ivy Bloom, I run Bloom’s Books out near Queens Landing, past the surf shop.”
Silence.
“And I was wondering, well I know you’re here alone and there’s a good diner out on Old Route 6A just past the traffic circle, and I thought you might be interested in some company for dinner?” My words tumbled over themselves, and I held my breath waiting to hear what he’d say. I mean, I probably would have said no. No, definitely, I would definitely have said no.
“Sure,” he said, to my everlasting shock. “That would be nice, I can meet you there around 5:30.”
“Um, yeah, sure, that’d be great,” I said, trying not to sound as flabbergasted as I was.
“It will be good to get out of here,” he hissed at me, and I realized that the invitation to dinner wasn’t nearly as appealing as the chance to ditch Mrs. Oldenham for the evening. Whatever, I was in!
I arrived a few minutes early so we wouldn’t have to wait for a table. It was already awkward and he wasn’t even there yet. I made a mental note to clobber Gigi for getting me into this. She hadn’t come with me, dinner at home with her husband and daughter had suddenly become more appealing.
Viola showed me to a table in the back and I sat down to wait. I didn’t have long, Eli drove up just as soon as my water was poured.
“Thanks for rescuing me,” he said as he sat down. “That old lady sure can talk.”
Mrs. Oldenham was nice enough, just sort of lonesome and chatty. Certainly nothing to be worked up about.
“Yes, well, she’s been alone a long time, she doesn’t mean anything by it. I wanted to tell you I’m sorry for your loss.”
“No loss to me, Amos was a nutter far as I’m concerned. What’s good here?”
I was at a loss for what to say about his feelings on Amos so I concentrated on the menu instead. “They have great chowder, the clam basket is always good, anything seafood is a specialty.”
“How about burgers, they got burgers?” he said, flipping the menu over and not stopping to read anything.
“Yep, they have burgers, fries, milkshakes, anything you could want,” I said, this guy was exactly as advertised by Nedra. Nice of her to let me know ahead, but I wish she had been wrong.
Viola appeared at the table and pulled out a pencil to take our order. She was short and sturdy, and worked as the waitress, co-owner and chief cook and bottle washer.
“What can I get for you?” she smiled at him, even though he was totally undeserving.
“Burger, well done, no onions, fries, vanilla shake,” he answered without looking at her. Pet peeve of mine, people who won’t look at service workers. Cashiers, wait staff, people who work counters, have eyes, it says a lot about a person if they take other people for granted.
At least I hadn’t been lying about one thing, this was definitely not a date.
“So, I take it you and your brother were not close?”
“Nope, not even a little. Not even when we were kids. He was always weird, tried to get my basketball team to join his cult when we were teenagers,” he shook his head at the thought.
“Wow, he was in a cult when he was a teenager?”
“No, he had a cult. In high school. They used to meet in our basement, I think he might have convinced them he was some kind of messiah. Weirdo.”
“He seems to have had an interesting group of women at the compound here.”
“Yeah, he sure did, band of misfits I call ‘em. Pregnant chicks, drug addled chicks, crazy chicks who thought he was god, he had a little bit of everything in that place.”
“I guess he did, I didn’t realize that until a day or so ago.”
“Oh, yeah. That guy loved money, and being the boss. He managed to make a life where he got both those things.” Eli shook his head.
“I didn’t really know him very well at all, I mean no one here did. I’m sorry he was killed though, I mean we think he was killed.”
“Dunno,” Eli shook his head, “maybe he got a bee sting or something and was allergic?”
“Was he allergic?”
“Not that I know of,” Eli admitted. “Who knows though, like I said, we weren’t close.”
“Right. So, tell me about yourself, where are you from?”
�
��I live near Boston, just outside the city. It’s where we grew up. He always wanted to live right on the ocean. It was his one love I think, never had much time for people, except when he could use them for something or get them to worship them. Loved the water though. Be kind of a shame to sell that compound, what a great spot.”
“It is, it’s a beautiful location. You certainly got the sign up fast!”
He leaned over to whisper “It wasn’t even my idea! That realtor? Nedra? She called me up almost as soon as I had been notified. Said she had a deal in her pocket and she just needed me to sign a few things, said she’d put up the sign to look good, but that she had a solid buyer. How ‘bout that?”
My ears pricked up at this, a buyer for the compound, already? I wondered who, and if I should add them to my mental list of possible killers. A list that seemed to be expanding by the day.
“Do you happen to know who she is selling it to?”
“I don’t have the name yet, but she said she’d have it all to me in a day or two. She wanted to wait a bit to make it seem more legit, like she hadn’t had the buyer ready all along,” he shrugged. “Makes no difference to me, as long as I get my money out of the deal. The economy isn’t what it used to be, be good to have a little nest egg, if you know what I mean,” he winked. Ewwww.
“Yep, always good. What do you do back in Boston?”
“Little of this, little of that, mostly sales, whatever needs to be sold I sell it,” he grinned through a bite of burger.
“Do you have any ideas about who might have wanted him gone? I hesitated to say the word dead, but this guy sure didn’t seem like a heartbroken grieving brother.
“Seems like the list could be a mile long, eh? Families of the girls, boyfriends who found out he’d sold their babies…”
“Sold their babies?”
“Yeah, most of the girls he got gave the kids up, and he sold them. Well took money for expenses, but same difference.”
“Wait, so he charged money for the pregnant women to go there, then he got expenses from the adoptive parents?”
“Yeah, pretty much, slick deal, right?”
“I guess,” I shook my head, add me to the list of suspects, I wanted this guy dead now.
Eli gulped down the last of his burger and noisily sucked on the straw from his shake. “Thanks for dinner, it was nice to meet you,” he said. Then got up and left. Not so much as an offer to pay for the meal. I shook my head as I paid the bill. People.
As I headed to the car my cell phone rang, the display told me it was my sister.
“Hey Gigi, just on my way out from dinner, I was going to call you.”
“Fire, the compound is on fire!” she said breathlessly into the phone.
“What?”
“You heard me, the compound is on fire, meet me out front of my house, I know you’re going to lookie-loo, and I’m going with you.”
Chapter 14
“I just don’t know,” I said to Gigi as we stood downwind and watched the flames lick at the compound. The fire department was keeping us at a safe distance, the women who were living in the compound were huddled in little groups along the road, some crying, others watching wide-eyed as the flames towered over the structure.
“Well, we get our view back,” said Gigi as she leaned against my car.
“Right? It could have been worse. I’m glad they think everyone is accounted for, but this is a lot of people to clothe and house for, well, who knows how long? They were going to need to go someplace new anyway, but until the killer is caught it would have been convenient to have everyone in one spot.”
“I know, it’s a complication, that’s for sure. C’mon, there’s no more to see here, let’s go home, I’m beat.”
“Come in for a few,” I said, “I’ll feed you some croissants, and we can chat about my dinner with that creepy little toad Eli.”
“Creepy little toad, eh? Liked him did you?”
“Very funny!”
Once we were back at my place, I dragged out the bag of croissants and took one for myself.
“Didn’t you just eat?” Gigi teased.
“His table manners made me lose my appetite,” I said as I pulled apart the flaky layers of the croissant and nibbled at them. I stood up to get the butter.
“These don’t need butter,” she waggled her finger at me, sash watched me walk to the fridge.
“Everything is better with butter,” I said as I got it out and nuked it for a few seconds. It was probably nerves but all I wanted was carbs and sweet Irish butter. As it melted on my tongue I perked up again.
“So Eli was a jerk?”
“Yeah, he just talked the whole time, and shoveled his food in like he’d never been fed before, then left me with the check. I mean I was going to pay it anyway, but he didn’t even pretend.”
“That’s rude.”
“I thought so. Doesn’t make him a killer though. But…” I pulled more croissant apart and let it dissolve on my tongue, “we didn’t talk about work really but he doesn’t seem to give off a ‘real job’ vibe, and he did say the money would come in handy. I mean, if you want motive, money is a good one.”
“The best,” Gigi agreed.
“But now the compound is a heap of smoldering ashes. I wonder if the property will be worth more with the stupid building and walls gone?”
“Most likely, the value is in the dirt, and whoever would have bought it would have had to tear the place down. Saved them the trouble.”
“Right? I mean, now it’s a prime lot on the water.”
“So, who benefits?”
“Um,” I swallowed, waving around what was left of my croissant, “the whole town?”
“Kind of, but who really benefits? Eli, obviously. Maybe some of the women who lived there? Now they can get away. Whoever sells it I guess, Nedra and whatever other agent can split the gains.”
I snapped my fingers, “OH! and Eli said she told him she had a pocket buyer for the property, that the sign would just be for show, but she had it all worked out already. So whoever wanted to buy it definitely benefits too.”
“Now that is interesting,” Gigi said, “already has a buyer? I wonder if that buyer wanted the lot cleared?”
“You’re not suggesting arson?”
“Actually I kind of am. It would be so convenient to have the place burnt to the ground before the sale. Especially if the buyer ordered a cleared lot.”
“You don’t think…you don’t think Nedra would set the place on fire?”
“No,” she sighed, “not really. She’s cut-throat but not that cut-throat, I don’t think. But it could be playing right into her hand, right? I mean, think about it.”
“Yeah, it could. I wonder who the buyer is? And how did she get ahold of Eli so fast? How did she know to call him?”
“It’s a puzzle,” Gigi said, dusting croissant crumbs off of her hands as she stood over the sink. “Well, it’s been a long day,” Gigi said, “I’m gonna head home, Jenn said she’d stop by and get me on her way.”
“A kid who can drive, good lord, how scary is that?”
“Pretty scary,” Gigi shrugged, “but also convenient. She’s had kind of a hard time since all this started. It’s good to see her getting out with her friends again. See you tomorrow,” Gigi hugged me, then waved as she headed down the stairs.
I pulled another croissant out of the bag and pulled at it thoughtfully as I wondered about the women who had been living at the compound. Was one of them a murderer? They would have had opportunity and maybe, well definitely, motive.
How about an arsonist? Was one of them an arsonist? That seemed like a stretch.
Unless someone was paying them? Did one of them have a reason to burn the place down, maybe even a reason to kill Amos and Ruth? He sure seemed mean, and creepy. I didn’t have a hard time imagining someone wanting him gone. I didn’t know her, but if she were complicit, maybe she was abusive herself?
I wiped the crumbs off the table
and decided to go to bed, one more mystery could wait the night.
Naturally, my phone rang then, because when can I ever go to bed on time?
According to the display, it was Drake.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked.
“Hey. I hope it’s not too late to be calling, but I have a favor to ask.”
“Sure, what do you need.”
“A bed.”
“What?”
“A bed, not for me though, for Daisy from the compound. We’re finding places for everyone to stay, and she asked if I thought you’d have room.”
“Is she sure, I mean both y’know…happened here.”
“That’s what I asked her, but she seems fine with it. She was more focused on the store and being around the books. I have a feeling that she’s been spending too much time with Father Amos’s home baked religious texts.”
“Well, yeah, sure. Okay, I have a small guest room she can sleep in.”
“Great. She promises to be quiet.”
“I can’t imagine her any other way.”
“We’ll be right up.”
“You’re here?”
“Yeah, I called you from the driveway. I knew you wouldn’t say no,” he laughed.
I looked out the window and sure enough he was waving at me from the front seat of his SUV.
“Well you know the way, see you in a minute,” I said and hung up.
Fortunately I kept the guest room spare and uncluttered. I hadn’t brought much with me from NY when I moved back, so my tradition of making my guest room my hoarder room, hadn’t been fulfilled here. Yet.
Still, I grabbed a cloth and quickly swiped away the dust from the table tops, and the top of the small TV I kept in there.
Fortunately it didn’t take long, because in what seemed like seconds they were at my door. Daisy, head down and looking at the floor, was behind Drake.
“Come in, Daisy how are you? How scary that must have been for you.”
“It was pretty scary Miss Bloom,” she was almost inaudible, “but we’re all okay, and that’s what matters.”
“True, that is all that matters. If you’re going to stay here, you’ll have to call me Ivy though, it’s my only rule, Are you hungry?”
Murder & Spice and Everything Nice Page 7