by Jessica Beck
“Well, that was a waste,” Moose said as he closed the locker back.
“How could we know that, though?” I asked. Then, something caught my eye. “Moose, Duke said that number four was empty, too, right?”
“That’s right,” Moose said.
The only problem was that there was a lock on the storage area, just like the ones on the other, occupied units. I tugged on the lock on a whim, and to my surprise, it came open in my hand. “What’s this mean, do you suppose?”
“I’m guessing that Duke never got around to cleaning this one out, either.”
“Maybe,” I said, and then I pulled the lock all of the way off and opened the door. The first thing I found was the ledger book for 1959 from our records department, and the second was the sign-in book that we’d looked for in vain.
Chapter 11
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Moose said as I reached for the book.
“Why not? We’re the ones who found it, fair and square.”
“Go ahead then if you’re determined to do it, but think about how Sheriff Croft is going to feel when he finds out that we uncovered a pair of clues when he hadn’t had any luck at all.”
“Do you think it’s better to grab these quietly, or should we call him up just to rub his nose in it?” I asked.
“We’re not rubbing his nose into anything. Call him, Victoria, and let him make the decision. After all, that’s why he makes the big bucks, right?”
I dialed the sheriff’s number, hoping that it would go to voice mail so I wouldn’t have to deal with him directly, but it was just my luck; he picked up on the second ring. “Sheriff, Moose and I just found something that you’re going to want to see.”
“What’s that?” he asked, the interest evident in his voice.
“We just finished searching Howard Lance’s place,” I said.
Before I could give him any more details, he said, “I doubt that. We went through the place pretty thoroughly ourselves.”
“How about the storage locker?” I asked, trying my very best not to sound smug as I said it. The last thing I wanted to do was make the sheriff angry.
“What storage locker? Duke didn’t say a word about there even being one.”
“He told us that he tried to tell you both, but you and the other sheriff wouldn’t listen to him.”
There was a long silence, and then the sheriff said, “It was Harley’s investigation. He just let me tag along during the search as a favor. I thought it would be a good idea to hear what Duke had to say, but Harley’s like that sometimes. He was bent on digging on his own. What did you find?”
“Actually, there was nothing in his unit,” I said.
“Then why the dramatic lead-up to all of this, Victoria?”
“Well, on our way out, we noticed that one of the other locks was loose, so naturally we checked it out.”
I could hear the impatience growing in his voice. “Are you going to tell me what you found, or do I have to beg for the information?”
“No, sir,” I said. “Evidently Howard stashed some things in the empty locker, knowing that no tenant lived there. We discovered the missing registry for 1959, and also the sign-in log for the records room.”
“Was there anything else there?” he asked. I now had his full attention, there was no doubt about that.
“Moose thought it might be more prudent if we called you first and got your permission to search before we dug any deeper,” I said as I stuck my tongue out at my grandfather.
My grandfather chuckled softly, but didn’t make a return expression of any kind.
“Do you have gloves?” the sheriff asked me.
“I’ve got some gardening gloves at home, but I never use them.”
“I meant with you,” Sheriff Croft said.
“Gloves,” I said softly to my grandfather as I put my hand over the phone.
Moose looked around and came across an old pair on a workbench outside of the cage. “Tell him I just found some,” my grandfather said.
I was about to when the sheriff said, “I heard him. Does your cell phone take pictures that you can send?”
“It does,” I answered.
“Take a shot of the locker before Moose does another thing, and then send it to me.”
That was pretty clever of him, and it was something I hadn’t thought to do. “I won’t be able to talk while I’m doing it. Give me a call after you’ve seen the photograph.”
“I will, but remember, don’t touch a thing.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” I said, and then I got a little satisfaction hanging up on the man.
I took a couple of shots of the open locker until I had one I was satisfied with, and then texted it to the sheriff.
“What do we do now?” Moose asked.
“We wait for his answer.”
Two minutes later, my phone rang.
“Did they turn out okay?” I asked after seeing that it was the sheriff calling me back.
“Perfect. Now, have Moose take out each book and set it aside. If there’s an empty box around there, that would be perfect, but a blanket or towel would do, too.”
“How about both?” I asked as I spotted an old sheet in one corner of the room, sitting inside an empty box.
“Perfect,” he said. “Have Moose move the books, and then send me another photo of the locker.”
I’d been holding the phone out so that my grandfather could hear as well, and he did as he was instructed.
I told Sheriff Croft, “Consider it done. You’ll get the shot in a second.”
As we waited for the sheriff to call me back, I looked at Moose and said, “This is overkill, isn’t it? We’ve already established that the books were in the locker.”
“Just let him do his job, Victoria,” Moose said. “He’s probably putting his tail on the line even letting us do this, so I’m willing to cooperate in just about any way that he wants us to.”
My phone rang again. The sheriff said that he was satisfied with the shots, and then he instructed, “Have Moose pull the rest of the contents out, one at a time, and tell me what you find as he does it.”
We did as we were told, but we’d just found the sum total of everything of interest in that locker, at least as far as Howard Lance was concerned.
“The rest of it’s a wash,” I told the sheriff as I surveyed the contents we’d pulled out one at a time. In that locker, the things we’d checked hadn’t taken up a great deal of room, but spread out on the floor, we barely had room to walk. There were old tools there, a stack of ancient magazines, a collection of paints and brushes that had seen better days, a few loose leaf notebooks that appeared to be empty, and an old drop cloth that was stained with a variety of spilled paints over the years.
“Now, take a photo of everything and send it to me,” he instructed, “and then find another box and bring it all back with you. You two did good calling me, Victoria. Thank you.”
“It’s Moose you should be thanking,” I said. “He’s the one who thought to do it.”
“Well then, tell him that I appreciate it. I expect you both to come straight back to Jasper Fork right now so I can examine the contents myself.”
“We’re on our way,” I assured the sheriff as Moose put the last of it in another box he’d scrounged up in one corner. It was clear from the presence of so many cartons that Duke was prepared for folks to move in and out on him, if the abundance of empty boxes was any indication.
“What did he have to say before you hung up?” Moose asked.
“He wants it all in his office as quickly as we can get it to him,” I said.
“I don’t blame him a bit. I doubt any of it will do him any good, though. Grab the box with the books, will you? I’ll get the rest.”
“Okay,” I said. “Why do you think it’s useless?” I asked as we left the building.
“It’s nice to confirm that Howard took the books, but we already knew that he was scamming all
of us. As for the rest of it, I doubt any of it was anything but camouflage.”
“I hate not making more progress,” I said as we stowed the boxes in the bed of his truck and headed back home.
“How were we supposed to know that we’d just hit another dead end before we came here looking for clues?” Moose asked.
“I’m just getting a little frustrated by our lack of progress,” I admitted.
“I know exactly how you feel, but we’ll just have to take it in stride and keep digging,” my grandfather answered.
“Any idea where we should look next?” I asked.
“No, but we’ve got a long ride home to think about it.”
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to come with anything new along the way. We’d get back to the diner in time to close up for the night, and I had no idea what the next day would bring, but I hoped that it was one step closer to finding the killer.
Chapter 12
Greg and I had finished closing the diner, and we were back home not ten minutes when there was a knock at the front door.
“Are you expecting anybody?” Greg asked me as he went to answer it.
“No, how about you?”
“Not so much, and unless it’s someone with a great big check with our names on it, I’m sending them away. After what’s been happening lately, I just want to hang around here and relax.”
Greg came back thirty seconds later with a puzzled expression on his face. “Victoria, it’s for you.”
“You didn’t invite them in?” I asked my husband, normally a very polite man.
“I tried, but she wouldn’t leave the porch.”
“So you left someone standing out there alone in the dark? At least turn the porch light on.”
“Just go talk to her, okay?”
I looked at my husband and frowned. “At least tell me who it is so I’m not going out there blind.”
“It’s Francie Humphries.”
I stopped before I got to the door. “Greg, she’s on my list of suspects. There is no way I’m going out there.”
“Sorry, I didn’t even think of that. Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.”
I had second thoughts about having Greg do my dirty work. What if she did something to him, and I’d been the one to send him out there? “That’s okay. I’ll talk to her.”
“No, you’re right. This is crazy. If she wants to talk to you, she can do it out in the open in broad daylight.”
I couldn’t stop him from going outside, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to follow him.
“Where is she?” I asked as I looked around our porch and yard.
“She was here a second ago,” Greg said, and then louder, he called out, “Francie? We’re right here. It’s okay. Come on out.”
There was no reply.
“What do we do now?” Greg asked.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to go out searching the streets looking for her. If she wants to talk to me, she can call, or better yet, come by the diner when we’re open. Come on back inside; it’s freezing out here.”
Greg followed me back in, rubbing his hands together. “The temperature’s really falling. How about a fire?”
“That sounds wonderful.”
He got out the matches as he said, “Coming right up. I love having a stack of kindling waiting for us.” As Greg lit the fire, our home phone rang.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Why wouldn’t you come out?” Francie asked plaintively.
“Why did you take off all of a sudden like that?” I countered.
“A car drove by, and I was afraid that it was someone out looking for me.”
“Francie, why are you acting so paranoid?” I asked, even though what I should have asked was why she was being even more paranoid than was usual for her. “Do you know something that we don’t?”
She paused, and then said, “Honestly? I’m not sure.”
“What does that mean?” I asked. There was a hitch in Francie’s breathing as she spoke, and I wondered if she was having some kind of panic attack.
“It’s too complicated to discuss over the phone,” she said.
“Then come back here,” I said, making a snap decision. “I’ll let you in the house this time. I promise.”
“No, it’s not safe.”
That was a switch. Was it possible that she didn’t trust us? “We aren’t going to hurt you, Francie.”
“Sorry. I’ve got to go,” she said, and then she hung up on me.
“What was that all about?” Greg asked.
“I hate to ask, but can you kill that fire?”
My husband looked at the growing blaze, and then he frowned. “I guess I could. Is there a good reason to?”
“I think Francie might be in trouble. She could need our help.”
Greg nodded, got up and grabbed a pitcher of ice water we kept in the fridge. After judiciously pouring it on the growing flames, I grabbed a towel and mopped up a little water that had escaped the fireplace. “I’m sorry we can’t stay here and enjoy that.”
“We’ll do it soon,” he said. “Now, I know that you and Moose are investigating this together, but I’m free right now. Can I go with you instead of your grandfather?”
I made an executive decision on the spot, and hoped that my grandfather would understand. “I’d like that a lot,” I answered.
I didn’t think there’d been any hesitation in my voice, but Greg must have sensed some. “Call Moose and get his blessing. It’s the only way we’re going to ever hear the end of it.”
“You’re right,” I said and dialed my grandfather’s number.
“Moose, Francie Humphries came by the house, but she took off before she’d tell us anything. Greg and I are going to go try to track her down. Are you okay with that?”
“Are you sure that you don’t need me?” he asked.
“We can handle it,” I assured him.
“Then give me a call after you’ve talked to her.”
For some reason, that had just been too easy. “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I know you. There’s no way in the world that you’re okay with this, unless you know something that I don’t.”
“I don’t think Francie did it,” Moose admitted.
“What makes you so sure of that?”
Moose kept hesitating, and then finally, he said, “I happened to run into Pete Hampton on my way home from the diner.” Pete was the one who’d been holding the birthday party for his daughter, the one Francie had been working on in the back of Iced alone.
“We’ll talk about that particular odd coincidence in a second,” I said. “What did Pete have to say?”
“He came by the bakery early to pick up the cupcakes, but it was clear that Francie wasn’t done. Pete was afraid to go home, you know how his wife can be, so he stood outside and waited until they were finished.”
“But she was in the back, working alone,” I said.
“Yeah, but she must have left the door between the sales counter and the back open because Pete swears he saw her the entire time.”
“So, she couldn’t have killed Howard Lance,” I said.
“No way. She’s got a solid alibi, even if she doesn’t realize it yet.”
“And when exactly were you planning to tell me this, Moose? If I’d known that earlier, I wouldn’t have been so cautious about letting Francie inside my house, and she wouldn’t be out there right now feeling as though she were in serious danger before she could even tell me what was going on.”
There was a long pause, and then my grandfather said, “To tell you the truth, I was saving it for morning. I messed up, didn’t I, Victoria?”
He had indeed, but I wasn’t about to rub it in. “Don’t worry, Greg and I will find her.”
“I’m going to go out looking, too. After all, it’s kind of my fault that she might be in trouble right now. Should I come pick you two up, or should
we split up and look separately?”
There was real merit in dividing our forces, but I hated to think that Moose might be out there somewhere by himself. “Why don’t you call Dad and have him join you?”
“I don’t need your father to keep me company. I’m a grown man, remember?”
“Fine, have it your way, but if your pride keeps us from finding Francie in time, it’s going to be squarely on your shoulders, Moose.”
He took a deep breath, and then reluctantly said, “I’ll go get him.”
“Good, that’s settled. And Moose, one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“If you hear the slightest whisper about where Francie might be, you need to call me, and I mean immediately. Is that understood?”
“Yes, of course. I’m sorry, Victoria.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I said, “Just don’t do it again.”
Greg was smiling when I got off the phone.
“What is it?” I asked him.
“Nothing at all,” he said, stifling his grin. “Let’s go.”
Whatever it was, I decided to let it slide. “I’m ready. The only problem is that I don’t know where to look.”
Greg nodded as we walked out, and he locked the door behind us. I hated leaving our snug little nest for the chilly autumn air, but I didn’t feel as though we had any real choice.
As Greg started the car, he said, “I’ve got a thought, but I’m afraid that it doesn’t make any sense.”
“Go on. Tell me anyway.”
“Where do you think Francie feels safest in all of the world?”
“Do you think that she went home?”
Greg shook his head. “No, I’m talking about the bakery.”
“Isn’t that the first place someone would look for her if they really are after her?”
“Maybe, but would Francie realize that? What do we have to lose?”
“Not a thing in the world,” I said. “Given that logic, let’s check out her place first, since it’s on the way.”