Criminal Crumbs

by Jessica Beck

  “That is so weird,” Dina said. “I’m not happy with this game of hide-and-seek he’s playing with us.”

  “I’m still not sure that it involves all of us,” Celia said, speaking up for the first time in a while.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have a hunch that he’s just interested in the person who tried to kill him last night, don’t you think?”

  “You’ve probably got a point, but then again, I’ve never had that kind of experience before myself, so it’s hard to say.”

  I found it difficult to believe that no one had threatened Dina before, especially given the fact that it was highly likely that Nicole hadn’t been the only client she’d bankrupted. “You’re lucky, then. I’ve even had people come after me in the past.”

  For some reason, Dina found that amusing. “What could you have possibly done to someone to make them angry enough to want to kill you?”

  I answered her with dead sincerity. “The truth of the matter is that I’ve backed more than one murderer into a corner in the past, and let me assure you, there’s no more dangerous man or beast.”

  “But you make donuts for a living, right?” Dina asked me skeptically.

  “And great ones at that,” Grace said, rising to my defense. “But what she’s really known for are her amateur sleuthing skills.”

  “I suppose that makes you her sidekick,” Dina said disparagingly.

  “Grace is my partner,” I said proudly. “She’s not anybody’s sidekick. I wouldn’t have been able to do most of what I’ve accomplished if it hadn’t been for her.”

  “Thank you,” Grace told me.

  “You’re most welcome. It’s true, you know.”

  “I hate to interrupt your mutual admiration society,” Dina said, “but I’m cold and hungry. Let’s go in, shall we?”

  “I just have one question before we rejoin the others,” I said as I placed a hand lightly on her shoulder, keeping her from going in.

  “What’s that?”

  “Why did you really run away earlier?”

  Dina stopped, turned, and gave me a critical glance. “I told you when I left. I went to see if Hank was still there.”

  “But we never saw you on our search,” Celia interrupted, getting into the swing of the investigation. “If that were true, we should have bumped into you somewhere on the trail below.”

  “I glanced over the hill, but I couldn’t see him, and unlike you three, I must have missed the other trail. I didn’t want to go back inside, though, not the way everyone else was acting, so I decided that what I really needed was a little time alone.”

  “So that’s why you got lost in the maze?” I asked her.

  “I didn’t do it intentionally,” Dina protested. “I probably should have studied the map before I went in, but I thought, how hard could it be? After all, I’d done it once before.”

  “These things aren’t always easier the second time you go through them,” I said.

  “No kidding. Is that all, or do you have more questions for me?”

  It was a legitimate inquiry, but I wasn’t sure how to ask the most pressing question in my mind.

  Once again, Grace took care of that for me.

  “If you wouldn’t mind sharing with the rest of us, were you the one who tried to push Nicole over the edge of the cliff?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped.

  I didn’t let go of her shoulder, though. “That’s not really an answer, is it?”

  “I don’t have to reply to such insane questions,” Dina said as she broke free of my grip.

  “Maybe not,” Celia said, “but if you didn’t do it, you should be more than happy about freely admitting your lack of involvement in what happened.”

  “Is that what you all want from me, a declaration of my innocence?” she asked, nearly at the point of tears. I hadn’t realized how stressed she was until I could see the hopelessness in her gaze. “Fine. I didn’t try to push Nicole over the edge, nor did I shove Hank by mistake. There, are you satisfied?”

  “Until new information comes to light, it will do,” Grace said.

  “Don’t hold your breath, because it’s not going to, at least not as far as I’m concerned. Now, if you all will excuse me, I’m going to warm myself up by the fire and wait for dinner.”

  Before we three followed Dina inside, I turned to Grace and Celia. “What do you think? Was she telling the truth, or was she lying to us?”

  “I wish I knew,” Celia said. “The problem is that she probably lies to people all the time about their investments. It’s like anything else. If she’s gotten enough practice, she’s bound to be good at it by now.”

  I nodded, and then I turned to Grace, who said, “Celia makes a good point. Honestly, I just don’t know.”

  “Then we keep our eyes and ears open until we can learn more,” I said.

  “Are you two trying to solve Hank’s murder?” Celia asked us both hopefully.

  I didn’t have the heart to tell her that we were working on something else entirely, but then again, maybe we weren’t. Hank’s murder and the attempt on Nicole’s life were two pieces of the same puzzle. Discovering one identity should lead us directly to the other. “We are,” I said.

  Grace raised an eyebrow at my statement, but she nodded all the same.

  Celia seemed satisfied with our responses. “If there’s anything I can do, all you have to do is ask, and if it’s within my power to grant, I will.”

  “Thank you,” I told her, and the three of us walked into the lodge, hopefully ready for whatever the rest of the night had in store for us.

  Chapter 19

  “What are you making us for dinner?” Georgia asked me as I walked into the lodge.

  “When did I become the designated chef around here?” I asked. “I thought Janelle was cooking tonight.”

  “You’re the only professional cook around here. Do you really trust her abilities in the kitchen? Why wouldn’t you feed us?” Dina asked.

  “I make donuts for a living. If you want them again, I’m your gal, but someone else needs to prepare a meal tonight.”

  “I said earlier that I’d be happy to make something,” Janelle insisted.

  “We don’t want anything you’d make for your kids,” Georgia complained.

  “I for one am willing to eat whatever you feel like making, Janelle,” I said.

  Grace nodded as well. “Go on, dazzle us, Janelle.”

  She looked uncomfortable with the sudden attention. “I wasn’t planning on making anything all that special. Let me see what I can come up with.”

  I was starting to feel guilty about not agreeing to cook, so I followed her into the kitchen. “Janelle, I can help out, if you’d like.”

  She smiled softly at me. “No, I don’t mind. Really. It might help take my mind off what’s been going on here this weekend.”

  “It’s been pretty spectacularly bad, hasn’t it?” I asked her sympathetically.

  “I just can’t believe that Hank is hiding out somewhere, waiting to pounce on one of us. He’s never been what you’d call a great guy, but I can’t imagine him lurking in the shadows watching us. I have to admit, I never pegged him as the hero type when he tried to save Nicole. Lying in wait is more his style, but it still gives me the creeps knowing that he’s out there somewhere. Or even in here.”

  I saw Janelle shiver at the thought of her former boss skulking in the shadows, and I knew that I could offer her a bit of comfort by telling her that Hank wouldn’t be able to do anything to anyone ever again, but we’d come up with our plan of keeping him alive in everyone else’s minds for a reason, and it was still valid as far as I was concerned. No, at least for the moment, I had to play along. “It didn’t hurt that he was trying to save someone he once loved,” I said.

  �
��I’m not sure that what he and Nicole ever had could have been called love,” Janelle said, again surprising me with her candor. Put her in a crowd of other people and she was mostly quiet unless she felt compelled to defend herself, but get her alone, and she was actually quite chatty.

  “Do tell,” I said as I took one of the stools and pulled it over near the workspace.

  “Give me one second,” she said.

  Janelle disappeared into the large pantry, and when she came back out, her hands were full. After she put everything down on the counter, she reached for a large pot and filled it from the tap. Once she was happy with the level of water, she set it on the largest burner and turned it to high. Taking another, smaller pot out, she put it on one of the supplemental burners and emptied two large cans of tomato sauce into it.

  “Are we having spaghetti?” I asked her.

  “What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?”

  “I adore it,” I said. “Your sauce might need a little something, though.” I could just imagine the howls if she tried serving noodles and tomato sauce to that crowd.

  “Oh, don’t worry. I’m just getting started.” Janelle grabbed a few green bell peppers she’d brought along, as well as a pair of onions and some carrots.

  “Carrots?” I asked her.

  “I do it with my kids all the time. It’s a good way of getting your vegetables, and they add a nice texture to the sauce.”

  I wasn’t about to disagree with her. After everything was peeled, chopped or diced, she added it to the sauce. Now it was time for her to doctor it with spices, and I was pleased to see that oregano was first on her list. I was about to suggest a dash or two of sugar to offset the acidity of the tomatoes when she did it on her own. Janelle appeared to be a pretty decent cook after all.

  With the sauce simmering and while we waited for the pasta water to come to a full boil, I reminded her, “You were saying earlier?”

  “What were we talking about again?” she asked.

  “Nicole and Hank’s love affair,” I said.

  Janelle frowned. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “You’re among friends here,” I said. “It might help if I knew something about their relationship. Nicole broke up with him recently, is that right?”

  Janelle glanced at the closed kitchen door before she’d answer. Lowering her voice anyway, she said, “Hank might have been infatuated with her, but I’m not so certain that Nicole returned those feelings. It always seemed to me that she endured his company, you know? Once she got the job she was after, she dropped him as though he were radioactive.”

  “How did he take it?”

  “He was furious! That’s why his final act of sacrificing himself surprised me so much.” I could tell that there was something else on Janelle’s mind, but she wasn’t ready to share it with me yet. I wasn’t sure how much time we had, though, as the pasta water started to boil. After she added a bit of sea salt and some olive oil to the water, in went enough pasta to feed an army. I knew we had somewhere around ten minutes before it would be ready, so I had to spur her on somehow.

  “What can you tell me about that faked report?” I asked her.

  “It was Georgia. It had to be, because I know that I didn’t make it. She really wanted that job, Suzanne, more than I ever did. Sure, the extra money would have been nice, and I would have been okay with the title, but I didn’t really want to be away from my kids more than I already am.”

  “But your rival doesn’t have anyone at home, does she?”

  Janelle shook her head. “She lives for her work, and if Nicole had actually been the one who’d gone over that cliff, I wouldn’t have hesitated believing that Georgia had been the one to supply the shove.”

  “You didn’t see anything actually happen, though, did you?”

  “No, I missed it all,” she said. “Still, if I were Nicole, I wouldn’t turn my back on Georgia even now.”

  “Do you think she’s still a threat, even after what happened to Hank?”

  Janelle shrugged. “Think about it. She hasn’t achieved her main goal yet, has she? We’re out here isolated in the middle of nowhere, cut off from the outside world. If she’s going to strike again, it has to be while we’re all here.”

  “Do you really think she’s that cold-blooded?”

  “I do,” Janelle said.

  “What about the others?” I asked.

  “Well, I’m pretty sure that Grace didn’t do it,” Janelle said earnestly.

  “I’ll vouch for her myself,” I said.

  “You two are really good friends, aren’t you?”

  “The best.”

  “I haven’t had that for a very long time. When Bryson left me, I lost touch with everyone but my two kids. I suppose they’re my best friends these days.” She sighed heavily and then added, “When they grow up and move away, I’ll be all alone.”

  Her sadness was a pervasive presence in the room, and I knew that I should try to comfort her, but how? I patted her shoulder and said, “There’s always time to make new friends, Janelle.”

  “Is that an offer? Would you be my friend, Suzanne?”

  What? Where had that come from? My life was pretty full as it was, but I didn’t have the heart to reject her. “Sure. Why not?”

  Janelle stunned me by hugging me, and then I realized that she was crying! Grace took that moment to come into the kitchen, but the second she saw what was going on, she ducked back out of the room.

  “Hey, are you okay?” I asked Janelle as I finally managed to pull away.

  “I’m sorry. I just get so emotional when I’m stressed out,” she apologized, wiping away the tears.

  “If we all didn’t feel at least a little bit stressed right now, we’d have serious problems,” I said.

  “Thanks, Suzanne.” Janelle turned her attention back to the pot, reached into the boiling water with a fork, and plucked out a few pieces of pasta. Chewing one, she said, “Another minute ought to do it. Do you mind setting the table?”

  “It’s the least I can do,” I said with a grin.

  “No, the least you could do is what everyone else is currently doing,” Janelle said with a smile. “Having you here is a real comfort to me.”

  “What can I say? It’s the buddy system at work,” I said as I set each place.

  “I like that. I haven’t had a buddy in a long time. It’s kind of nice.”

  “It is at that,” I said.

  Janelle found a colander and drained the pasta, then she put it back in the pot. Tasting her sauce with a spoon, she nodded and offered me a taste. I took it, and was surprised by how good it was. “That’s really nice.”

  “I know, right?” she asked with a smile. “You might as well let them know it’s time to eat.”

  I wasn’t sure that I’d gotten everything there was to know from Janelle, but it appeared that my time with her alone had run out, at least for the moment.

  There were no complaints about the food, but not many compliments either, and by the time we were finished, I made a point of congratulating the chef. “Janelle, that was delicious. You worked wonders.”

  “It was okay, but I wouldn’t give it five stars,” Georgia sniped.

  “Then you can show us how it’s done tomorrow night,” I said with a wicked grin.

  “Do you honestly think that we’ll still be here?” Celia asked worriedly. “Surely we’ll be rescued by then.”

  “We’re not exactly stranded on a desert island,” Dina said. “This place isn’t all that bad if you have to be stranded somewhere.”

  “We may as well be on an island,” Nicole said. “I’m with my sister. The sooner we get away from here, the better.”

  “I can’t blame you for feeling that way,” Georgia said.

  “What do you mean by that?” There was shrillness in Nicole�
�s voice that I hadn’t heard before. Clearly the strain was getting to her as well.

  Georgia was evidently taken aback by her reaction as well. “Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  Nicole wasn’t going to let it go, though. “Why don’t I believe you? You should just say what you’re really thinking.”

  “I just meant that it’s got to be hard on you, knowing that someone tried to kill you,” she answered meekly.

  “Not just someone,” Grace said. “Someone here at this very moment.”

  It quieted us all, and in the silence, I decided that it might be time to heighten the edginess even a little more. “I wonder where Hank is right now.”

  Celia frowned at me, but the others reacted more subtly.

  “Could he really be inside the lodge?” Dina asked. “I can’t imagine how we could have missed him.”

  “Are you kidding? This place is huge,” Georgia answered. “You could hide a cow in here and no one would be able to find it for days.”

  “I’m not sure if I’d go quite that far, unless he was a stuffed cow.” Her mention of a cow had made me think of Emily Hargraves and her three childhood stuffed animals, Cow, Spots, and Moose. I’d give just about anything to be back in April Springs at that moment to see what silly handmade outfits they were wearing instead of trapped on the mountain with a murderer.

  Georgia looked at me as though I’d lost my mind, but Grace smiled at the reference, and I knew that she’d gotten it, at least. “Still, if I’d been the one who’d tried to shove Nicole, I don’t think I’d be able to sleep tonight.”

  “Well, I didn’t do it, so I’ll sleep just fine,” Georgia replied.

  “I know that I didn’t do it, either,” Janelle said, “but that still doesn’t mean that I’ll be able to sleep a wink. Should we set up guard duty tonight so someone can watch out for us?”

  “That would be fine, except what if the guard we pick is the attempted murderer?” Dina asked.

  “We could always do it in pairs,” Celia offered.

  “I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Nicole said. “Celia, would you be my watch partner?”