Ash Road had its charms, and my temporary home was even winning over Ellie. We walked inside the Magnolia and Willow, and Becca’s face lit up. You’d have thought that Ellie and I were old friends coming home.
“Welcome!” Becca boomed as she stood up from the desk. “You must be Ellie Kazamakis. Come in. Any friend of Lara’s is a friend of mine,” she said and pushed the guest book to the edge of the desk. “Sign in, and I’ll show you to your room. I’ve got you right next to Lara.”
“Okay,” Ellie said as she signed the guest book. “Let’s do this.”
That night Ellie and I ordered a pizza from the tavern. After we picked it up, we sat in my room and ate it while watching a movie on cable. During the slow parts, I filled her in on the last week. There wasn’t much to say.
When Ellie found out that Brody and I had kissed, she demanded that I call him and arrange for us all to meet for a drink.
I thought this was a terrible idea but Ellie had that look in her eyes that let me know that she would not relent. The plan was to introduce her to Brody the next day, but at least the bar would be somewhat neutral territory.
My agency had told me that the mayor had scoffed at the idea of bringing Ellie onto the case. He’d become irate when they said that he was obliged to pay for her services under the contract he’d signed. It was my professional call to bring in another researcher, and I’m sure he probably hated me at that point.
I still had no idea if Brody and Gordon were in on the scheme together, or if there was even a conspiracy, but a get-together at the tavern would allow me to gauge his reaction to Ellie’s presence in a relaxed environment.
“Fine. I’ll text him but look at the time. He’s probably in bed. We do have work tomorrow,” I said.
“Living in this town is making you dull,” she said.
I ignored her and took out my phone. I debated for a couple of minutes about what to say. It could be awkward to text him about meeting me at a bar after our kiss.
I’ve brought in a specialist to assist me with the case. She’s in town now and wants you to meet us at the bar for a drink.
Putting the invitation on Ellie made it easier to ask. Still, I felt my stomach clench. Why was I so nervous?
Sure. Be there in ten.
That had been easier than I anticipated but I had no idea how he would act at the tavern. I suddenly wished I’d talked to him at some time during the previous few days.
“He said he’ll meet us in ten minutes.” I noticed that Ellie was looking at me expectantly.
“You’re not going wearing that. Did you bring anything a little sexier with you?” she asked.
I didn’t answer, but I did glare at her.
“Come on, Lara. This guy could be a creep, but what if he’s not?” Ellie asked.
“You want me to wear sexy clothes and flirt with Brody just in case he’s not a criminal?”
“I don’t know. Is he hot?” She asked and walked to the closet.
“He is, but he’s also potentially a criminal,” I said.
“I think that makes him even more attractive,” Ellie said with a wink as she whirled around with a red cocktail dress in her hands. It had flowers embroidered on the bodice and tiny spaghetti straps.
“I’m not wearing that to meet Brody, Ellie. I brought it by accident.”
Fifteen minutes later, Ellie and I walked into the Corner Tavern. I was wearing the dress because Ellie had said she wouldn’t take the case unless I did.
Brody was alone at a table next to the bar’s only window. He was nursing a beer and staring at the table. He must have been deep in thought because his head didn’t lift from its position when we walked in.
“He’s over there,” I said and pointed toward the table where Brody sat.
“Wow,” was all Ellie said.
This was the first time I’d seen Brody dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. The fabric of the shirt was stretched tight across his back in a way that showed off his sculpted muscles.
Brody’s broad shoulders strained the limits of the shirt, and it was evident that he took care of himself. Since there wasn’t a gym in Ash Road, I imagined he had one in his mansion.
He flexed a little as he took a drink of his beer, and I swear that I whimpered a little. A sharp pain radiated through my ribs as Ellie elbowed me in the side.
“Play it cool, Tyler,” she said. “Remember he could be a criminal.”
“I think that you were right about that making him even hotter,” I squeaked out.
Before she could respond, Brody turned around and waved us over. I literally couldn’t move when I remembered the way his lips felt pressed against mine. It was like Brody’s arms were wrapped tightly around me again, and I couldn’t budge.
Thankfully, Ellie took me by the hand and led me to the table. We sat down and she signaled for the bartender. I caught Jimbo rolling his eyes at her.
“This isn’t a big-city bar,” Brody teased. “I’ll grab you ladies a drink. What would you like?”
“It’s not like he’s busy,” Ellie huffed.
“Still. Let me go get it,” Brody said. “By the way, I’m Brody O’Malley. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He extended his hand to Ellie and I immediately felt horrible for not introducing them. I was so wrapped up in obsessing over what Brody would say to me that I had lost my manners.
“Ellie Kazamakis, and I’ll have a gin and tonic. If you think this place can handle that,” she said with a smirk.
“It’s a small town, not a third world country,” Brody fired back. “Lara, what can I get for you?”
“I’d like a rum and Diet Coke, please,” I said.
Brody smiled. “Coming right up, ladies.”
I watched him walk to the bar, and I couldn’t help but appreciate the way Brody’s derriere filled out his jeans.
“You’re staring at his butt,” Ellie said loudly enough for the entire bar to hear. For someone who was usually all business, she was enjoying the Brody thing way too much.
Brody didn’t turn around when she said it, but I swear I saw him stop for a split second. I thought I was going to die right then and there.
When he returned to the table, I downed half of my drink in one gulp. Fortunately, after that, we got down to business.
A half hour later, I’d gone over every record that I believed was missing. Ellie nodded her head and followed along as I relayed the information to both her and Brody. Both of them already knew what was going on, but this was the first time I had backup while confronting Brody.
He grew paler as the conversation went on and I noticed that he’d begun to fidget. After shifting in his chair and clearing his throat seven times, Brody excused himself to the restroom without answering any of my or Ellie’s questions.
“He really is evasive,” she said while he was gone.
“I know. It’s weird, and I can’t get a handle on how he is involved, but I’ve got a bad feeling about him and his father.”
“His dad is the mayor, right?”
“Yeah,” I said in defeat. I’d told Ellie everything about how Brody stood to gain the most from the Horowitz estate going to the town.
“You keep saying that you don’t know how he’s involved, but be honest with yourself, Lara. He’s the one who had access to all of the records you suspect are missing. If he’s involved, it’s because he’s directly sabotaged your research.”
“Do you think it was him?”
“I don’t know yet. It’s all highly suspicious, but I’m just not picking up the devious criminal vibe from him. Brody does seem nervous, but I don’t know if it’s because he’s guilty,” Ellie said. “You told me earlier that his father threw Brody under the bus when you went to talk to him about the case. Maybe there is something else up.”
“That could be.” I didn’t want to let myself get my hopes up that Brody was innocent. I also didn’t want to think about what nefarious things had gone on between him and his father to get to that point.
“I want to be wrong about this,” I said.
“Look, I haven’t actually seen the files yet, but we’ll get into it tomorrow. Unless you want to go start working on it now?” Ellie said, but I could tell she thought it wasn’t a good idea.
“No, it can hold until morning. It’s not like anyone’s life is hanging in the balance over this. It’s just money.”
“I don’t usually make a call this early, but I think the records have been tampered with. I’ll know for sure tomorrow, but don’t despair. I have my methods.”
Brody
The women had refused to let Brody walk them back to the inn. He’d pretended to leave five minutes before them after his offer was rebuffed, but in fact, he’d been hanging out behind the building waiting for them to exit.
It was quiet on the street, and he could hear their conversation as clear as if he stood next to them. Both of them suspected him of sabotaging the records. He felt his chest tighten at the thought of what that meant he had to do.
If that judge had just given the Horowitz estate to his father without making them call in outside help, Ash Road could have kept their secrets without bloodshed.
His hands were shaking and Brody found it hard to swallow because his mouth and throat felt like cotton. If he was going to be the type of man who got things done, he’d have to steel his nerves.
He stayed far enough behind them that Lara and Ellie didn’t know he was following them. He’d gotten better at this since the first couple of times Lara almost caught him tailing her.
The two of them slipped into the inn, and Brody waited on the sidewalk behind a large bush until he saw their room lights go on, and he knew he was ready.
Chapter Seven
Lara
Brody walked into the records hall the next morning wearing a confident smile. Something in his demeanor had shifted from the night before, and the enigma of his personality was starting to make me doubt my sanity.
Had I just imagined he was acting guilty?
Instead of working in separate offices, Brody set up a conference room so we could all tackle the case together. It was a strange move, in my opinion, given how much time he’d spent sequestered in his office until Ellie arrived.
Maybe she was the difference. I felt a pang of jealousy that immediately made me feel ashamed. I was not a middle-school kid whose little boyfriend had just decided that he liked my best friend better.
Still, I couldn’t blame him if he was attracted to Ellie. She was everything I wasn’t. Ellie was tall, blond, and brazen in a way that scared and intrigued men.
I watched his attentive side come out as he got her everything she needed to do her work. He practically hovered over her. Ugh. There was nothing to do at that point but get the case solved and get out of this town before I ended up hating myself.
It was time to split up. “I’m going to see if I can find anything about Frankie’s extended family while you guys try to figure out the size of the estate,” I said.
“How are you going to do that?” Brody asked, and I picked up on a flash of anxiety. Right back to where we started.
“She doesn’t have any living relatives that we know about but we all know she didn’t just materialize one day. Mrs. Horowitz had a family. She had a mother and father, and I have her deceased husband’s information. I’ll start with a computer database search on her known relatives and then head downstairs to the sealed archives to search the historical records based on what I find. Every life leaves a trail. I’ll find something,” I said and left the room before he could protest further.
I needed access to the sealed records in the basement, but what Brody didn’t know was that I didn’t need him to give it to me. The State Historical Society could also grant me access. They wouldn’t generally give me a pass to search the protected historical documents over an estate distribution case without a court order, but I’d been in this business long enough to have made friends.
Calling in favors was my least favorite thing to do, but in this instance, I decided to suck it up. Grant Foster owed me, and he could upgrade my key card from the computer in his office. I wondered if Brody knew he wasn’t the sole gatekeeper to the records hall.
While I waited to see if Grant would update my archive access, I dug into a more intense database search. Once I could get down in the basement, I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of leads to track down.
A couple of hours later, my computer pinged to let me know that I had an email. I was ready to tear my hair out because all I had found was a possible distant cousin who had died without children twenty years ago.
I didn’t care. Grant had updated my card so that I could get into the vaults in the basement, and I intended to hammer my one little lead into the ground. Who knew what I would find if I could go even further back?
Before I took the elevator down to the underground level, I decided to stop in and see if Ellie and Brody had found anything about Frankie’s assets yet. I also needed to let Ellie know that she now had access to the historical records that had previously been off-limits to us.
Brody and Ellie were chatting and looking through a thick file folder when I walked into the room. “I’m going to the basement to follow up on my one single solitary lead,” I said and turned to leave the room.
“Wait, what?” Brody asked, and I stopped.
“The State Historical Office updated Ellie’s and my key cards so we can access all of Ash Road’s records,” I said matter-of-factly.
“You can’t go down there alone. It’s dangerous. If you accidentally get locked in the sealed archives, you could suffocate. Someone has to stand outside in case you need help,” he said and stood up.
“Fine. You can babysit me if you want, but I’m going in.”
Ellie winked and gave me a thumbs-up behind Brody’s back. I wasn’t sure what she meant.
Brody was brooding over me outside of the sealed room I was about to enter. I don’t know when he’d decided to go all alpha male on me, but I wasn’t about to let Brody O’Malley push any more of my buttons.
“Why are you doing this?” he fumed.
“Doing what? The job I was hired to do?”
“Going behind my back to get access to the historical records. What you’re looking for isn’t in there. If anyone tampered with Frankie’s records, they’re probably stuffed in a box in an empty office or next to a copy machine, hidden in plain sight.”
“How do you know that? Is it because that’s what you’d do?” I asked sarcastically. “So you’re saying I should go on a hunt for nondescript boxes lying around in obvious places?”
“It would be a better use of your time than trying to trace Frankie’s family back to the Civil War and then into modern times again,” he huffed.
“Don’t tell me how to do my job.”
“Fine. Go in there. I can give you oxygen for thirty minutes. I’ll wait here.”
“Fine,” I said and swiped my card over the panel. I won’t lie, I got a rush of smug satisfaction when the door opened.
Thirty minutes later, I returned to the hallway with nothing. The I told you so look on Brody’s face ate me alive.
“I’m going to the diner for lunch,” I said as the vault door slammed behind me.
“I’ll—” Brody started.
“You’re not invited,” I cut him off and rushed off.
Back upstairs I found Ellie at my computer furiously typing. “I’m onto something,” she said excitedly.
“I was going to go to lunch,” I said, “but I can stay.”
“No, go. This will take me about another hour and I’ll have something for you, but I need to stay in the zone.” She didn’t look up, but I didn’t immediately walk away. “Go. Get out of here, but bring me back a burger and shake.”
“Sure, I can meet you,” she said happily over the phone. “Will I finally get introduced to this new mystery friend that the town is buzzing over?”
“Ellie? Yeah, you guys will have to meet another time. Maybe tonight. She’s caught a break in the case and is working through lunch.”
“Oh, she found something about the Horowitz estate?” Sylvie chirped enthusiastically.
“Yeah. It’s great news, huh?”
“It is. Well, I’ll meet you at the diner in just a bit and we can celebrate.”
Al’s Diner was busier than normal so I had to wait about fifteen minutes for a table. I almost decided to get our food to go so I could get back to work, but then I reasoned that I had nothing better to do.
A table finally cleared out, and after a busboy cleaned it, I sat down and opened up my menu. I saw that the pot pie was on special and decided that would be a nice change of pace from a burger and fries.
Maureen, the waitress, came over to take my order. “What’ll it be?” she asked, and I could tell she was a bit frazzled from the rush.
“The pot pie and Diet Coke.”
“We sold out of those an hour ago but the cook put a new batch in the oven shortly after. There’ll be fresh ones if you can wait a few extra minutes,” she said. “It comes with a salad so I can bring that out to you with your drink.”
“I’m killing time anyway, Maureen. I’ll wait for the pie,” I said. “Ranch dressing on the salad. Extra cheese, if you please.”
“A woman after my own heart,” she said and left me to my waiting.
Ellie
Ellie had found a trail that gave her the answers that she and Lara had been looking for, and that meant she could wrap up the Horowitz case and get the heck out of Ash Road. She was ecstatic because she’d turned down a job in Tokyo because Lara was a friend. The discovery she’d just made would mean she could still take the job in Japan.
Magic & Mystery: A Cozy Mystery Sampler Page 31