A Killer Cake

by Jessica Beck

  “Do you have a second?” she asked me as I helped Ellen wait on the first of our customers. We had a handful of regulars who never missed having breakfast with us, and one of the things they said they liked best about us was our prompt and friendly service.

  “If you can give me five minutes, I can manage it, but right now I’m jammed,” I said.

  Loretta nodded, and then she pointed to a booth off to one side. “When you get a chance, I’ll be over there.”

  “Can I get you something while you’re waiting?” I asked.

  “Coffee; black, and lots of it.”

  “Rough night?” I asked.

  “You don’t know the half of it,” she said.

  I had a hunch that I did, but I wasn’t about to spoil the surprise if she was here because of something else entirely. After I helped Ellen with the crowd of customers we had, I walked over to Loretta. “Are you sure that I can’t get you something to eat? It might make you feel better.”

  “After what I heard last night, I doubt that,” she said.

  “I don’t know. My mom makes a pretty mean Denver omelet.”

  “You make your mother work in the kitchen at this hour of the day?” Loretta asked, a little unbelieving.

  “That’s nothing. My husband takes over when she goes home. When we say that this is a family business, we mean that everyone pitches in, even our mascot moose.”

  As I said the last part, I gestured to my hand-carved moose, but Loretta didn’t even look in his direction.

  “Whatever,” she said. “My dear, sweet half-brother dropped a bombshell on me last night. He gets half of everything according to the latest will, and I don’t get a dime.”

  “You don’t say,” I said, trying to hide the fact that I already knew. “Who gets the other half, if it’s not you?”

  “Some trollop that worked for him,” Loretta said with clear distaste. “If they think that they’re going to get away with this, they are sadly mistaken. I was up all night talking to Steve. He told me that I should just let it go, can you believe that? Just because my father and I never had a relationship is no reason that I shouldn’t be one of his heirs, you know?”

  “Well, I’ve never been in your position,” I said as tactfully as I could. “I’m not quite sure how I would react if I were.”

  “Trust me, you’d want the money,” Loretta said. “Do you know any good lawyers around here?”

  “I might know one,” I said. “Why do you ask?”

  “I need someone on my side in this mess. I hear there’s a woman named Rebecca Davis in town. Is she any good?”

  “She’s the best,” I said. “Are you sure there’s no other way than litigation to work something out?”

  “Hey, I never started this. I was willing to settle for something reasonable, but Asher just laughed when I suggested it. Now I want it all.”

  “But he has the will in his favor, isn’t that right?”

  “Who cares? Clearly our father wrote that before he knew that he had a daughter, too.”

  Maybe Roy did, and then again, maybe he didn’t, but it wasn’t my place to tell her that. Besides, how could I say a word now, since I hadn’t disclosed it earlier? For now, I was going to have to go with the strategy I’d adopted of feigning ignorance. “Rebecca is an excellent attorney, but I should tell you up front, my recommendation isn’t unbiased. We’ve been best friends forever.”

  “Can I trust your opinion about her skills?” she asked.

  “I think you can, but how can you take my word for it that I’m telling you the truth?”

  She just shrugged. “I need to trust somebody in this ugly business. Why shouldn’t it be you? Where can I find this Rebecca woman?”

  I glanced at the clock. “If I know her, she’s still in bed. She doesn’t open her office until ten.”

  “I’ll get her up before that,” Loretta said.

  “She’s not going to open her office up early just for you,” I said. I was pretty safe in saying that, since my friend enjoyed her sleep more than just about anything else.

  “When she finds out how much money she stands to gain if we win, she’ll wake up, you can trust me on that. Is she in the book?”

  I nodded. “She sure is; it’s listed under R. Davis. Good luck.”

  “I don’t need luck,” Loretta said as she slid a dollar down beside her mug. “I have the truth on my side.”

  She might have thought so, but I had the feeling that even with Rebecca’s vast legal skills, it was still going to be a lost cause.

  Then again, I’d been wrong before.

  Chapter 14

  “Are you ready to roll, Victoria?” Moose asked as he came into the diner around eight, rubbing his hands together, just as he’d promised.

  Martha kissed me on the cheek as he added, “I want to catch Loretta before she has the chance to duck out on us.”

  “I’m sorry, but it turns out that you’re too late for that,” I said. “She came by here a little after six this morning.”

  “Why didn’t you call me?” he asked petulantly.

  “Well, first of all, I wasn’t about to wake you up, and second of all, there was no time. She was in and out during our first push of customers, and when I finally had a chance to chat with her, she left before we could get into anything significant.”

  “Did you tell her about Roy’s will?”

  “I didn’t have to,” I said. “Evidently Asher called her last night. She’s going to fight him in court for a share of the inheritance, and she’s trying to hire Rebecca to represent her.”

  “She could do worse,” Moose said.

  “That’s what I told her. I’m sorry, but there was just no time to bring you in on it.”

  “That’s fine,” he said. “Did I come by for nothing, then?”

  “No, I think we should go have a chat with Kelly right now.”

  “Do you honestly think that she bothered coming into work after finding out how much she is going to inherit from her boss? I doubt that I would, given those circumstances.”

  “We both know that’s not true,” I said. “Your worth ethic wouldn’t let you skip out, not if you knew there were things that needed to be done.”

  “Maybe not, but how do we know that Kelly feels that way, too?”

  “There’s only one way to find out,” I said.

  “Let’s go, then.”

  “Thanks again for covering for me again,” I told my grandmother. “I’m trying not to make a habit of it.”

  “You’re doing something extremely important,” she answered.

  “So are you,” I said as I hugged her on the way out.

  Moose and I drove to Roy Thompson’s office, and I was beginning to have my doubts that we’d find Kelly there. That fear was reinforced when I realized that the only vehicle parked out front was one that I didn’t recognize. Moose and I walked in the door, and I saw a handsome man in his early forties dressed in a nice suit leaning over Kelly at her desk, studying a computer monitor. So, she was there after all.

  “Sorry. We didn’t mean to interrupt,” I said.

  “You’re not,” Kelly said as she automatically tried to scoot her chair away from the shadow of the man. It had the unfortunate consequence of striking him directly on the knee, though.

  “Careful,” he said with a hint of irritation in his voice before he turned to us. “May I ask what business you have here?”

  “We came by to see Kelly,” I said. I offered him my hand as I added, “You must be Paul Gray.”

  He took it, but frowned slightly as he did so. “How could you possibly know my name?”

  “Rebecca Davis is my best friend,” I said with a smile.

  His frown vanished in an instant, replaced with more than the hint of a smile. “Rebecca’s something, isn’t she?”

  I glanced at Kelly and saw that she was not at all pleased by Paul’s change of attitude. Was she interested in the man herself? “She is first class all the way,” I said.r />
  “You must be Victoria,” he said, and then he turned to Moose and offered his hand. “And I’m guessing that you’re the famous Charming Moose.”

  “I hope that at least some of the things you’ve heard about me are positive,” my grandfather said with a grin.

  “Some are,” Paul said, matching my grandfather’s grin with one of his own. I liked this man, and I was hopeful that something might work out between him and my best friend. “I’ll give you all a little time to chat. I need to make a phone call to my office anyway.”

  The attorney left the room and went into Roy’s space, and after he was safely behind closed doors, Kelly bit her lower lip. “I didn’t know that he was seeing Rebecca.”

  “They’re pretty new,” I said. How new, I wasn’t about to explain. “We understand that congratulations are in order.”

  “What? Oh, the money. I suppose so.”

  “Tell me that you’re not excited,” Moose said. “No matter how unfortunate the circumstances, you’re a very wealthy young woman now.”

  “That might all be a bit premature,” Kelly said, “but even if it were true, I’m not so sure I’m going to accept it. What was Mr. Thompson thinking, leaving me all of that money? And if I take it, what are people going to say?”

  “Do you mean this wasn’t just a reward for your years of loyal service?” I asked her.

  “That sounds so ridiculous I don’t even know how to respond to it. Do you know what my Christmas bonus was last year?”

  “I don’t have a clue,” I said.

  “He bought me a turkey. It wasn’t even cooked. What was I going to do with a turkey? I live alone, and I don’t eat meat anyway.”

  “What’s your point?” Moose asked.

  “If he cared that little about giving me something while he was still alive, why on earth would the man name me in his will?”

  “So, are you saying that you didn’t know this was coming?”

  “I didn’t have a clue. The first thing I thought when Paul told me about it was that he’d been drinking. Then I figured it was some kind of joke, but it’s finally starting to sink in. I’m not going to spend a penny until I know it’s mine, though.”

  So it was Paul, was it? I’d have to give Rebecca a heads-up about Kelly’s interest. “Have you heard about Loretta’s intentions to take the estate to court?”

  She nodded unhappily. “She made that point loud and clear when she came by the office this morning before Paul got here. I have half a mind just to give her my share and be done with it.”

  “What’s keeping you from doing exactly that?” Moose asked a little pointedly. Had his attitude about Kelly changed already?

  “If Mr. Thompson had wanted her to have it, he would have left it to her. As it is, I’m not about to go against a dead man’s wishes.”

  “But he was changing his will,” I said. “Maybe he was going to correct that omission.”

  “Not according to Paul. I suppose I could turn my share over to the charity Mr. Thompson named, but really, I have no one’s word but Paul’s that that was his intention. At this point, I don’t know what to do.”

  “I’m sure you’ll make the right decision,” I said before Moose could supply a comment of his own.

  Paul Gray came back in, and he clearly wasn’t very happy about the results of his telephone call. “I just got a call from Rebecca.”

  “Was she asking you out to lunch?” I asked.

  “That would have been preferable. As a matter of fact, she just informed me that she’s agreed to represent Loretta Jenkins.” Paul turned to Kelly and added, “I’m afraid that it’s not going to be as easy as we thought it would be.”

  “I’m in no hurry. Are you sure I still have a job?”

  Paul nodded. “I’m the executor of the estate, and I’ll need help here on this end. I see no reason not to continue your employment here at your present salary for the foreseeable future, but only if you’re interested.”

  “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” she said.

  Paul turned back to us and said, “If you don’t mind, we’ve got a great deal of work to do here, and I don’t have much time. Unfortunately, I have a full caseload back in Charlotte, so I’m going to have to squeeze every minute of my time here if this is going to work.”

  “We understand,” I said, though Moose didn’t look all that pleased about being ushered out of the office.

  Once we were outside, I said, “You were pretty tough on Kelly in there. What happened to change your mind about her?”

  “I finally realized that I was letting my emotions rule my behavior. You’re right, Victoria. Kelly went from an innocent bystander to a prime witness in my eyes when I found out how much she was inheriting from Roy’s estate.”

  “Then you don’t buy her claim that she didn’t know about the will beforehand?”

  He shook his head. “Roy depended on her; that much is clear. How hard would it be for her to find out what he’d done in his will?”

  “I’m still not convinced,” I said.

  “Hang on a second. You were the one who kept insisting that she was a suspect.”

  “I still think she might have done it,” I admitted, “but I have no problem believing that it’s possible that Roy kept this from her. I think our other suspects should still be in the running as well. After all, Asher and Sylvia had every reason to believe that he would inherit the bulk of the estate, and Mayor Mullins and James Manchester had their own reasons to want to see the man dead, too.”

  “Okay, I can see that. This case is driving me crazy.”

  “Me, too. Let’s go back to the diner. At least the world makes sense there.”

  “I wonder about that, but it’s better than hanging around here.”

  We never made it to the diner, though.

  A police car pulled us over before we could get there.

  As I saw the flashing lights, I asked my grandfather, “What did you just do?”

  “Nothing,” he said in protest. “I was driving the speed limit, and everything about this truck is up to code.”

  “Well, clearly you did something,” I said as he pulled off into a parking spot.

  The police car followed us in, and as I saw the officer get out, I said, “Great. Sheriff Croft is about to add a little insult to injury.”

  As the sheriff approached the truck, Moose hung his head out the window. “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I’ll fight it in court to prove it.”

  The sheriff smiled. “Take it easy, Moose. I just needed to get your attention. We need to have a little chat.”

  Moose was still aggravated; I could see it in his posture. Before he could say something we’d all regret, I said softly, “Take it easy. This could be good for us if we don’t blow it.”

  He eased up a little, and by the time the sheriff was at the truck window, my grandfather had managed to calm himself down. “What’s up?”

  “Why don’t we chat at the diner? I could use some coffee.”

  “That sounds great. We’ll see you there,” I said.

  “Why didn’t he just wait until we got there ourselves?” Moose asked me as he pulled away. “Did he have to pull me over like that on Main Street?”

  “He didn’t have to, but then again, he had no idea we were heading back to The Charming Moose,” I said. “What’s going on? Do you have any idea?”

  “Not a clue,” Moose said. “I guess we’re going to find out pretty soon, though.”

  We parked at the diner, and the police cruiser did as well. I was happy to see that it was a decent distance away. As we all walked in together, Martha started to say something, but Moose just waved to her, and she stayed away. We captured a booth, and Ellen came over after I nodded in her direction.

  “What can I get you?” she asked.

  “Three coffees,” I said.

  “Is that it?”

  “For now,” I said. After the cups were turned over and filled, Ellen stepped back to wait on h
er other customers, but I noticed that she never got very far away from us.

  “What’s going on, Sheriff?” I asked.

  “You tell me. I saw you leaving Roy Thompson’s office, and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind sharing what happened there.”

  I put a hand lightly on Moose’s arm, and he got the hint that I wanted to tell this myself. “We’d be delighted. After we bring you up to date, would you mind sharing a little with us as well? We’re not asking for anything confidential. Right, Moose?”

  “Right,” was all that my grandfather said, and I was proud of him for letting me take the lead.

  “Sounds good,” the sheriff said as he took a sip of his coffee.

  “Okay, here goes. Roy Thompson was about to change his will to give everything he had to charity, cutting out everyone in his life. He never had the chance to follow through, though. Someone killed him before he could make any changes.”

  The sheriff looked surprised to learn what we’d found out so quickly, but he didn’t comment; he just nodded as he took another sip of coffee. “ What exactly did the original will say?” he asked after a moment’s thought.

  “It splits everything down the middle, fifty-fifty, between Asher and Kelly Raven.”

  Sheriff Croft nearly spit his coffee out when I said the secretary’s name. “You’re kidding me.”

  “No, we heard it from the attorney handling the will himself. There’s a twist, though.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Loretta Jenkins is contesting the will. Rebecca’s acting as her attorney, so this isn’t going to be resolved anytime soon.”

  “Maybe that’s for the best,” the sheriff said as he took another sip. Was that a grin hiding behind his mug?

  “You don’t look all that unhappy about the situation,” I said. “Or is that just my imagination?”

  “Well, we could all use more time, am I right?” he replied.

  “We’ve only been able to eliminate two suspects so far, the only ex-convict in the bunch and our barber.”