A Tank Full of Trouble: A Citrus Beach Mystery (Citrus Beach Mysteries Book 5)

by Victoria LK Williams

  She didn’t want to think about it anymore today, but her mind kept going back, as if pulling her in to see something she might have missed. With a sigh she gave in, and reaching into the drawer next to her pulled out a pad of paper and pencil. Megan was great with lists, they helped her organize her thoughts and put things into perspective. Maybe making a list of what she remembered would help her figure out what her mind was trying to show her.

  Megan started with the first impression she had when walking into Joe's house and worked her way from the front door, through the main hallway, to his office. She wrote in detail about each thing that had been out of place. She made stars next to the items she thought the intruders paid more attention. When she wrote her impressions of the terrace area she hesitated, remembering the sight of the dried blood on the bricks. A little shudder ran across her back, but she forced herself to go forward and continue writing. When she finished she looked over her notes, but was disappointed when nothing screamed at her as being out of the ordinary or a case-breaking clue.

  She yawned as she read the list one more time, then decided that she was accomplishing nothing tonight. The best thing would be to get a good night’s sleep and look at everything fresh in the morning. With a call to Barney, she pushed herself out of the chair, then she walked over to the kitchen door and opened it for him to walk out one last time before she closed the house up the evening. She knew he wouldn't wander far, thanks to the invisible fence installed around the house’s immediate yard. Megan wandered up to her bedroom to get ready for bed. After a quick shower she decided she was in no mood to deal with her hair, so she braided the long red waves into a thick rope down her back. When she finished, she made a quick trip back to the kitchen to call Barney in for the night, locked up, and she was ready for bed.

  ***

  Tuesday morning, the sun was shining and there was no sign of the rain from last night. Megan pushed the blankets to her feet as she got up and said good morning to Barney before heading down to the kitchen for her first morning cup of coffee. The day had arrived in full glory, and there was plenty of work ahead. Not only for her business, but also to go over that nagging list she made the night before. She needed to figure out what she was missing.

  As usual Megan made it to the office before anyone else and could deal with the notes that Janice left on her desk. By the time she finished, the first of her staff arrived. Megan smiled to herself when she noticed that the first one to arrive was not Janice, but instead was Zoe. The young woman was determined to impress her boss and her mentor. She needed to prove that they had not made a mistake in hiring her. Megan tried to reassure her over and over they were happy to have her on staff, but the young woman had so many strikes against her in the past that she was still unsure of herself. Megan was sure under Janice's guidance, Zoe would blossom into her full potential. Janice was like the house mother to the staff at Citrus Beach Concierge, even though she was younger than Megan. She had a nurturing personality, was organized to a fault, and had decided that Zoe was her pet project.

  "Good morning, Megan. Did you have a nice weekend?" The young woman was not aware of what had taken place yesterday. She was still new to town, and wouldn't have known the close ties Megan shared with her subcontractors and their families.

  "Palm Beach was wonderful. And of course Mrs. Purdy and I went over some fantastic new items for some of our clients. I have a list ready for you to arrange for the shipping. How was your weekend, Zoe?"

  "I had a blast this weekend. I taught myself how to paddle-board. Finally, I mastered it, but I think I spent more time in the water than on the board in the process," she answered with a laugh.

  Before Megan could say anything the door open and in walked Janice, who immediately asked how Lewis and Alice were doing. Megan told her what she knew and seeing the puzzled look on Zoe's face, filled her in on the details of yesterday. The younger woman was mortified something so awful could happen and offered to help in any way she could.

  "Well, first thing on the schedule is to take care of business here. Then, you and I will go over to the dealership and take a look at things. Janice, I will keep Zoe over there with me, going to the files and cleaning up the mess left behind. I hope that won’t put a crimp in your plans for her today."

  "No, no, that's fine. I can work around what needs to be done. I take it you're working with the sheriff on this, again?"

  "It’s not as though we have much choice with Joe being out of town, I need to assist until he gets back. And unfortunately, with him out hunting it’s hard to get hold of him. We sent out a message up to the lodge, but if he's out in the wilderness there's no way he’ll get it. And even when he gets the message, it will take him bit of time to get here. So yes, I am working with Sheriff Green. Before you say anything, I will be extremely careful, and so will the rest of us. Zoe, I want you to listen to what the sheriff has to say and not get involved anymore the necessary."

  The younger woman nodded her head in agreement. Although she liked the sheriff and had helped him out in the past, she felt no desire to get involved in anything dangerous. She was enjoying her new life in Citrus Beach too much to rock the boat.

  The three women got down to business, getting ready for the rest of Megan’s staff to arrive. Assignments were handed out as they arrived and soon the phones began to ring. It was another busy day at Citrus Beach Concierge, and for the moment, they were caught up in the day’s business.

  The next hour flew by. Then, just as quickly as it started, the office was empty again, all the staff out on jobs, leaving the three women looking at each other. Janice wiped the imaginary sweat from her brow with a laugh, it was a morning routine she loved, but it could be hectic.

  "All right, let's get the two of you out of the office and on your way. I can handle things at this point and we all have cell phones if I need to get hold of you. Go on now before something else comes up that gets you involved, Megan." Janice all but shooed the two women out the door.

  Megan grabbed her purse and keys, calling to Barney who was sleeping under her desk. The dog was up in an instant ready to go, and they walked towards her company vehicle. Janice had assigned someone to pick it up from the dealership while she was away over the weekend. Megan was pleased to find that not only was the car picked up but it cleaned and detailed. The gas tank was full, ready for Megan's active day. When she made the comment about how nice the car looked, Zoe told her she was the one responsible for the cleaning job.

  "You did a great job. I can't tell you how nice it is to jump into a car that looks and smells clean. Thank you."

  Giving a wave to Janice, who was looking out the window, Megan pulled out from the office and headed towards Main Street and the dealership.

  Chapter 12

  Megan enjoyed the ride to Citrus Beach’s business district. Main Street ran parallel to the Citrus River, and most of the businesses were small, family-run enterprises or professional offices. The car dealership and a few of the larger stores could be found at the far end of the business district, to not distract from the quaint small town atmosphere the shop owners worked so hard to maintain. Other professional business occupied a few of the side streets. This was where Aiden’s private investigation office was, and as she drove past the street, Megan made a mental note to stop by when she finished at the dealership.

  Barney had sat patiently in the back seat, but as soon as Megan pulled into the parking lot, he barked his excitement at the two women up front. He wanted out to explore. Zoe laughed at the dog, as she clipped his leash on him, ready to lead him inside.

  “Zoe, would you mind walking him around to the back entrance? I don’t want him to be a distraction for the sales team, he tends to become the center of attention when he enters a room.”

  “Not a problem. But you know that once they know he’s here, someone will bring him onto the sales floor?”

  “You’re probably right, but let’s let that be their decision. I need to speak to the sales mana
ger. I’ll meet you back in Joe’s office.”

  Zoe gave a wave of acknowledgment and led a happy dog down the sidewalk to the back entrance, letting him stop and sniff the ground as he saw fit. Barney’s tail wagged as they walked, even faster when Zoe allowed him to veer off the sidewalk a few times. There were lots of exciting scents to capture his attention, and Zoe didn’t pay close attention until they were almost at the back entry. Suddenly Barney came to a complete stop and sniffed the ground in earnest. His keen sense of smell had found something out of the ordinary. As he narrowed down the source of the new scent, he went in to his hound dog stance, tail upright and front paw lifted and nose pointing out the source of the new scent. He pulled against the leash to get snap Zoe out of her daydream.

  “What did you find now, Barney?”

  Bending down for a closer look, Zoe found a cigar butt that appeared to be covered in something red. Since it was what Barney was so worked up about, she took a Kleenex out of her pocket and picked it up, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

  “You know this is gross, don’t you, Barney?” Not waiting for the dog to answer, even if he could, she carefully wrapped it up. Then she grabbed a large stone and put it in the exact location where she had found the butt. If the sheriff thought this might be important, she wanted to show him exactly where she had found it.

  Barney gave a sharp bark, either to give approval of her actions, or looking for approval for his hunting skills. Zoe gave him a scratch on the head and then tugged on the leash to get him moving inside. She didn’t need to prompt him, he was eager to find Megan and show off what he had found. Using his nose again, he led the way to where Megan was waiting in Joe’s office.

  As she had expected, Zoe found Megan already looking through the papers scattered around the office. The sheriff had arrived too, and was pulling on his chin, an odd habit he had when he felt frustrated, as he watched her. Zoe entered in time to hear the question Sheriff Green was tossing at Megan.

  “Are you going to be able to make heads or tails out of all of this without Joe?”

  Megan looked up as Zoe and Barney walked in and nodded her head as she answered.

  “With Zoe’s help, I think we can. Zoe has been working with Joe after hours and had a pretty good handle on his filing system.”

  “That’s right, Sheriff. And I’ve probably handled most of those files. Joe was so disorganized, and the person he had working for him before was not very consistent with the filing method, either. So between the two of us, we have refiled everything,” chimed in Zoe.

  Megan was moving a piece of paper off the floor and they could both see her make a face. Looking down at her fingers, she found that she had smeared a dollop of jelly.

  “I don’t remember Joe being such a sloppy eater. This looks like the filling from a jelly donut, yuck, it’s all over the paper.”

  “Joe doesn't eat in his office, he told me that himself."

  “Can’t be Joe, he hates donuts.”

  Both Zoe and the sheriff spoke at the same time, each to refute Megan’s idea that Joe Stevens had created the gooey mess she had found. The three looked at each other, the same question on the tip of their tongues, who left the jelly mess?

  The sheriff reached over to take the paper from Megan’s hand, hoping that the sloppy intruder might have left his fingerprint, as well as the sweet substance. He looked down at the paper and shook his head, disappointment showing. Any viable print was smudged to badly to be useful.

  Megan and Zoe started to carefully lift each paper in the area of where Megan had discovered her first clue, hoping to find more. As they worked, Barney seemed to grow impatient and gave a sharp bark, tugging on the edge of Zoe’s sweatshirt. At first she brushed him aside, but when he barked the second time, Megan paid attention.

  “Zoe, he’s trying to get something from you. Do you have a treat for him in your pocket?”

  “Oh, darn! I forgot all about what he found outside.” Reaching into her pocket, she carefully pulled out the tissue and its contents. She held out her hand and waited for the sheriff to take it from her.

  “Barney found this outside the back door. It’s kinda nasty, Sheriff Green,” she warned him as he took it from her.

  The man carefully unwrapped the delicate bundle and looked down at the messy cigar butt. He studied it for a moment and then looked over at the jelly on the paper Megan had found. Indicating that she look it over too, the sheriff waited until he knew she recognize the consistency.

  “Ewww, is that the same jelly on the cigar?”

  The man laughed out loud, he had seen Megan rummage through hurricane debris, find a murder victim, and face down a killer, all with less disgust than she was showing for the cigar butt in his hand. She made a face at him for his laugh, all but sticking her tongue out like a sullen child. He held back any teasing comment he may have been ready to make and nodded yes to her question.

  “I’ll have it tested, but it sure looks like the same substance. Maybe we can find some usable DNA on it.” Pulling out an evidence bag from his kit, he carefully slid the cigar butt into the bag as he answered.

  Megan grimaced as she watched. There was something about the butt that turned her stomach. With a look over at Zoe, she noticed the younger woman watching her, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth. Acknowledging how silly she was being, Megan shrugged her discomfort off and tried to make light of the situation.

  “Well, at least we’ve learned a few things about the intruders. They are messy, must have a sweet tooth, and enjoy smoking cigars. That should narrow things down.”

  The sheriff gave a snort at her words, she made it sound all too easy. Before he could comment, his cell phone rang, and he excused himself to answer. The two girls waited for his return to get the okay to refile and go through the paperwork scattered throughout Joe's office. Megan hoped that between the two of them they might find something that would stand out and give them a clue as to what was being searched for. Within minutes the sheriff was walking back into the office, shaking his head and mumbling to himself.

  "Problem, Sheriff?" asked Megan, concerned at his look of frustration.

  "No, just a nuisance. With everything I've got going on, now I've got to contend with kids trying to break into cars. Don't know why they can't find something more constructive to do with their time.”

  "You sure it’s kids? Breaking into cars seems a little serious for the youth of this town."

  "Well, it sure sounds like kids, Megan. From the complaints they aren't very apt, not showing the skills of a professional car thief. Yeah, it sounds like kids. Listen, I got to go. You two go ahead, go through whatever you need to do in this office. We’ve dusted for prints and searched as far as we can go. Megan, if you find any more smeared jelly prints just put it aside for us to look over. I will stop back up at the hospital and check on Lewis before I head out to take care of these nuisance calls."

  Megan nodded her head to show she understood and asked him to give her regards to Alice. She promised that she would be up later in the day to check on the two of them. In the meantime, her efforts would be best spent trying to figure out why Lewis had been attacked.

  As soon as the sheriff left, the two women rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Sensing that there was no fun involved, Barney curled up in a corner to take a nap. They started by grabbing all the papers and brought them in one big pile in the center of Joe's desk. From there Megan let the younger woman take the lead to sort the papers and put them back in their appropriate files. As she worked, Zoe noticed a pattern. She said nothing at first, wanting to find out if her assumption was correct. When she was sure, she pointed out to Megan what she noticed.

  "I guess we should be thankful they were such messy eaters. The files that have the dirtiest smudges and traces of jelly correspond with Joe's files of new cars on the lot.”

  Megan looked at Zoe, hopeful that the clue would mean something, but was disappointed as Zoe continued.

  "But eve
n though these are the files seem to have the most amount of interest paid to them, all the paperwork is still here. So, it wasn't as if they were trying to steal the paperwork to get titles to the new cars. I just don't know what they were looking for.”

  Megan thought for a moment, trying to puzzle it out for herself. While she sat there thinking, Owen Bryer, one of the salesman poked his head to the office to find out if the girls needed anything.

  "We’re fine, but maybe you could answer a question for me. Were any keys missing from the sales floor, or any offices keys that would go to the cars either in the showroom her on the back lot."

  "No all the keys are accounted for. But they were all bunched together and it took a while to sort through them," the salesman answered her

  Megan stared at him for a moment as if he had said something important but she couldn't put her finger on. Then it was like a little light bulb went off at her head.

  "You said the keys were all messed up, was it all the keys?"

  The salesman thought for a moment before replying, and his answer confirmed something she had started to work out in the back of her head.

  "You know, now that you mention it, it was just the keys to the new cars that were delivered to the lot Saturday night."

  Megan jumped to her feet in excitement, causing Barney to wake up to find out what all the commotion was about.