“Any idea what that was?”
“None,” she answered. “I assumed she wanted to sell us something else, her being a salesperson and all.” Libby took another drink and said, “You mentioned two blood types. Do you know if the second one is Pilar’s?”
“It’s assumed to be hers, but all the evidence hasn’t been processed yet. CSU pulled some hairs from a brush to test for a match. DNA could take a while. We send our samples to the FDLE lab. Since this is a homicide, we’re hoping we’ll get it back sooner rather than later.”
He looked back to his notebook. “What exactly is your relationship with Pilar?”
“We covered this last night.”
“Humor me.”
“She’s the sales rep who sold us the upgrade to our wireless internet and also the networked computers in the café. We also bought a fancy, computerized cash register. Over the course of the project, we became friends.”
“Miss Marshall, I would like our tech guys to take a look at your computer equipment.”
“Why? Are you suspecting something tied to computer crimes because of the way they ransacked Pilar’s office?”
“Other than to acknowledge the trashed office and vandalized computers, I can’t discuss anything more at this time.”
“But,” Libby continued where he left off, “you have probable cause to justify checking out the hard drives on my computers at the café?”
“That’s right.”
“You’ll need a warrant,” she said.
“Of course.”
Kat appeared and set Seiler’s cheeseburger and fries on the table in front of him. “Thanks,” he said, without looking up.
“When do you think you’ll serve the warrant?” Libby asked, after Kat returned to the bar.
“Hopefully, I’ll have it when I get back to the station, so maybe they’ll be able to serve it later this afternoon. They’ll make a forensic copy of the hard drives and then review them back at the lab.” He took a big bite of his juicy cheeseburger, reminding Libby she hadn’t eaten much since leaving the empty margarita glass on the bar at The Jetty the night before. She wished she had ordered a burger.
Watching him eat, she took another drink of her tea. As she set the glass on the table, she said, “We bought one of those programs that restores the hard drive back to its original state with every reboot. If anyone downloads anything, it gets erased. It helps cut down on viruses and keeps garbage off the machine.”
“Then it should be a quick scan.” He turned his plate towards her. “Have some fries.”
He looked at his notes as she took a French fry. “Back to the boyfriend, do you know how long they’ve been dating, where he works, how she met him?”
“No, not really. Though recently, Pilar did mention to me that she was seeing someone.”
“Do you know the nature of their relationship?
“The nature of their relationship?” Libby leaned towards him. “He was in her bedroom. It’s not hard to figure out the nature of their relationship.”
He looked up at her, and she straightened back in her chair. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You know, my dad used to give me that same tough-guy detective look.”
“Did she say anything about how they got along?” He asked, ignoring her comment.
“You don’t actually think Pilar killed him, do you?” She took another fry. “That would be virtually impossible, you know. She’s maybe five-foot-two, and I’m guessing here, that he was at least five-foot-six. She would have had to stand on a chair to slit his throat.” She popped the fry into her mouth.
The corners of his mouth moved into a slight smile. “Right now, everyone is a person of interest. She could have been in on the murder and then took off with the murderer.”
His gaze bored into Libby. She met his eyes without so much as a blink.
“Anything else about the boyfriend I should know?” He asked.
“She went to a concert once with my cousin, David. She left with someone else. I assumed it was her boyfriend.”
“It’s rude, don’t you think, to go out with one guy and then leave with someone else. I wouldn’t like it.”
“It wasn’t a date. She just caught a ride to the concert with David.”
“Where can I find your cousin? I’d like to talk to him.”
“He lives on Longboat Key. I can give you the address, but he’ll be at the café later along with most of the people in town who know Pilar. David teaches musical theater, and his summer camp kids are previewing songs from Grease. It’s Open Mic Night at the café.”
“Just in case I don’t catch up with him, can you please write down his address and phone number?” He flipped the page of his pocket notebook and slid it across the table towards her.
“Sure.” She took his pen, her fingers barely brushing his, and began to write David’s contact information in the notebook.
He wiped his mouth with his napkin and laid it on the table beside his plate. Pushing the plate aside, he crossed his forearms on the table as he watched her write. “I talked to your old boss.”
“Oh,” she said as she placed the pen on top of the notebook and pushed it back across the table. “So, how is Tommy?” She took a long drink of tea.
“He told me to tell you that your old job is still available any time you’re ready to come back.”
“That’s not likely to happen,” she said, as she placed her glass back on the table.
“He said you were one of the best investigators in his office. Said you got it from your dad.”
“Tommy is a good guy and a great boss.” She smiled as she picked up her glass again. “Except he always had this strange fondness for sports metaphors.”
“Why didn’t you tell me last night about your work in the prosecutor’s office back in Ohio?”
“Why? Would you have taken me a little more seriously?”
“Okay.” He shook his head and looked towards the bar. “I guess I deserved that. But, yes, maybe.”
“I didn’t think it was relevant. I figured if you did your job, you’d find out for yourself. What else did Tommy tell you?”
“He told me your dad was a detective. That he was killed on the job about five years ago.”
“I come from a long line of public servants. There’s plenty of teachers, police officers, firefighters and bartenders in my family.”
“He also mentioned that you were shot, and your husband went to jail…Mrs. Cassinelli.” He looked her straight in the eye.
She gazed back, noticing the golden glints in his brown eyes. Then looking away, she said, “Ex-husband. I haven’t been her – Mrs. Cassinelli – for a long time.”
“Right. Ex-husband,” he said and looked away. “Is that why you moved to Florida?”
“Doesn’t everyone move here for some big reason?” She studied the dark paneling on the wall and at Kat behind the bar talking to the lone man. “People are either running away from something or running to something.” She looked across the table and asked, “Why are you here?”
“I was born here.”
“A rarity in these parts,” she said. She looked towards the front entrance. The bright afternoon sun shone through the open door, offering an escape route from the darkened cave she suddenly found herself in.
“That’s what I hear.” His brown eyes held her hazel ones for a moment until he refocused on his notebook. “I see you’ve had quite a few names, Miss Marshall. I have you listed as Mary Elizabeth Cassinelli, your married name. When you worked for the prosecutor’s office, and in law school, your name was Mary Elizabeth O’Brien, which I assume is your maiden name. But here you are in Florida as Libby Marshall. Why is that?”
“You’ve done your homework.”
“I Googled you.”
Libby sighed. “Marshall is my grandmother’s maiden name on my father’s side. She always called me Libby. When I came here, I wanted to start a new life and, for personal reasons, I didn’t want my old life to have too easy a time finding me.�
�� She shook her head and leaned towards him. “I’d appreciate it if you don’t broadcast this information. Except for my aunt, my cousin and Mimi, people in town don’t know about my past.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Thank you, Detective,” she said leaning back. “Is that all?” At first, their banter was lively, and she enjoyed it, but the change in his questioning had made her uneasy. She didn’t want to delve any further into her past. It was irrelevant to this case.
“For now,” he said, closing his notebook. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
She leaned back in her chair. “Aren’t you already asking me personal questions?”
He smiled. “I mean not related to the case.”
This was the first time she’d seen his natural smile. All the others had seemed somewhat forced. A very nice smile, for a cop.
“All right.”
“Your old boss didn’t go into much detail about what happened to you, and I can understand that after a bad experience and a divorce, you’d want to start a new life in a different place. But why open a café? Why not take the Florida bar and practice law? That’s what you’ve trained for, practicing law.”
Libby smiled. “My mother would agree with you. She wonders why we spent all that money on law school for me to pour coffee in a café. But that’s a story that requires more time than we have today and something much stronger than iced tea.”
“Well, we are in a bar.”
“Detective, you’re on duty, and I need to get back to the café.” She leaned towards him and met his gaze. “You’ll still need a warrant for those computer files.”
“I had no doubt, Miss Marshall. No doubts at all.”
Chapter 6
Tuesday Night
Open Mic Night
“I think Detective Seiler likes you,” Mimi whispered to Libby.
As they were making iced lattes behind the counter, the Mariposa Café Open Mic Night was just getting started in the courtyard. Most of their customers had wandered outside to watch local high school students perform a selection of songs from the musical Grease. The girls wore crinoline skirts or rolled up pedal pushers, and the guys were in jeans and white T-shirts. Friends of the performers dressed for the occasion in similar attire, inspired by the musical.
Inside, there were two men dressed in khaki shorts and polo shirts seated side-by-side at a computer at the café counter and a middle-aged couple enjoying cheesecake and coffee near the door that led into the courtyard.
“I think he likes me for my involvement in this case, plus he wanted to talk to David,” Libby answered. “Did he talk to you, too?”
“Yes. He asked about Pilar, the last time I saw her, did we get along with her. Stuff like that. Libby, he’s really cute.” Mimi winked at her with that “know what I mean” look.
“I don’t go out with cops. It’s my rule,” Libby said as she placed the lattes on a tray.
“Rules are made to be broken.”
“What time did they serve the warrant for the computer scans?” Libby asked, changing the subject.
“They got here about two-thirty, and plugged a flash drive thingy into each computer. When they finished with that, they left. I put the paperwork on your desk.”
“I’m sure Detective Seiler arranged for them to serve the warrant while I wasn’t here. That was about the time he was informing me that he was in the process of getting a warrant.”
“That’s a bit sneaky.”
“Mimi, he’s a cop,” she whispered over the counter as she lifted the tray of drinks.
“There’s Julia,” Mimi said as Julia Gordon breezed in the front door like a 1940’s movie star making an entrance to a premiere. “How nice, she brought Mr. Mendelson. He’s such a sweet old guy.”
David’s mother, Julia, was Libby’s mother’s sister. Mr. Mendelson was her elderly neighbor who enjoyed coming to the café, especially when there was going to be music.
“I’d better deliver these,” Libby said nodding to Julia and Mr. Mendelson. Passing the two men at the computer counter, she asked, “Can I get you anything?”
“No, thanks.” The younger man at the computer keyboard quickly clicked on the ‘x’ in the upper right corner, closing the displayed screen. “Just checking e-mail.”
The larger, muscular man beside him nodded and smiled, the hard look in his eyes in direct contrast to the smile on his face.
“Let us know if you need anything.” Libby glanced back at the computer screen, having noticed they’d had the Explorer window open, but wasn’t sure what to make of that fact and didn’t have time to figure it out because she had other customers to tend to. “The music is starting in the courtyard, but we’ll be in and out in case you want something.”
“We’ll stay in here,” said the younger, thinner man. “It’s much cooler.”
She glanced back at the men before stepping out the courtyard door. They’d better not be looking at porn.
“Darling, you’ve got such a good crowd tonight,” Julia said, while Mr. Mendelson smiled and nodded.
“I’m so happy you both decided to come,” Libby said as they followed her out the door. “Sit at the reserved table down front. I put a water mister over there, so hopefully, you all won’t be too hot. I think the sea breeze is starting to kick in.”
After pointing them in the right direction, she delivered the iced lattes to Taryn and Joe Bellingham, friends who lived in the neighborhood.
“Any news on Pilar?” Taryn asked. “I heard you had to identify a body today. How awful!”
“It wasn’t her. Still no news,” Libby said, moving to the next table.
A light sea breeze cooled off the heat of the day, resulting in a pleasant evening of music in the courtyard. Jeremy, a local guitarist, began his ten-minute opening set of mellow ballads as Libby stood by the fountain and surveyed the audience.
Since August is the off-season in Florida, the people gathered in the small courtyard were mostly locals. She saw Rachel, who did Tarot Card readings for fifteen dollars each on Saturday evenings. She was sitting at a table with Seham, the massage therapist who worked at the Mariposa Inn Spa. There were a few people Libby didn’t recognize, so she assumed they were tourists from the Mariposa Inn which was directly across the street from the café.
Libby looked across Mariposa Boulevard towards the inn. The three-story, concrete building was the gold of desert sand with a red tile roof and two red-domed spires in the center of the complex. The hotel reminded her of a cross between an ocean-side hacienda and an old Spanish mission. She loved this view of the hotel with its gold and burgundy awnings flapping in the soft evening breeze.
As she stood at the edge of the courtyard admiring the view, she saw two men walking up the tiled steps to the hotel’s Veranda Bar. Realizing they looked like the two men who had just been using her computers, she turned towards the café. There was no one sitting at the computers, and Louisa was collecting the cups the men had left on the counter. Glancing back towards the Inn, she thought she saw the two men enter the Veranda Bar and then pass out of sight.
“Aunt Libby.” She turned to see Mimi’s husband Paul and their two children slide into reserved seats near the stage. Six-year-old Lydia was smiling and waving, and eight-year-old Kevin had a soft drink and a cookie. The kids loved Open Mic Nights, and Libby always made sure there was a reserved table for the family. Libby waved and blew Lydia a kiss as they joined Julia and Mr. Mendelson at the table down front.
Ida Sullivan sat at the table next to them, and Zsa Zsa was taking a drink from one of the café’s doggie dishes. Knowing that many locals stopped by the café while walking their dogs, Libby made sure there were always plenty of filled-up water dishes for their canine customers.
Detective Seiler was seated at the furthest table closest to the sidewalk and next to the building, giving him a full view of the inside of the café as well as the courtyard.
The four old guys from “The Company” sat at th
e table next to him.
Seiler smiled at Libby and gave a little two-fingered salute. She returned a small smile and nod.
The Company had their heads together. And Libby was sure they were plotting their next move.
“Looks like a pretty good turn out tonight.” Her cousin David was suddenly at her side. “Even the County Sheriff’s office is represented.”
“So you’ve met Detective Seiler?”
“Yes, we spoke while I was setting up.”
“And?”
“He asked about the time I gave Pilar a ride to St. Pete for that concert.”
“I told him about that. Did you meet Pilar’s boyfriend that night? I couldn’t remember for sure.”
“Just in passing. The guy looked Asian, but he had an American first name like Rick or Randy. Something like that. The detective showed me a picture, and it probably was the guy, but I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure.”
“I hope they figure out what happened to Pilar soon. The longer she’s missing, the chance of finding her alive significantly decreases.”
“You’re letting the cop show through there,” David said, nodding towards Seiler. “Here he comes.”
“Shit,” Libby whispered. Louder, acting as if Seiler didn’t affect her the least bit, she said, “David, what songs are your students doing tonight?”
“We’re going to start off with ‘Summer Lovin’ and then — ”
“Good evening,” Seiler said.
“Good evening, Detective Seiler,” Libby said turning towards him.
He was dressed casually in khaki pants and a tropical print shirt. He smiled, revealing the beginnings of crow’s feet in the corners of his dark eyes. Libby noticed the absence of a gun on his hip, and there was no badge on his belt. She wondered where he’d concealed his gun, maybe under his shirt or in an ankle holster. She resisted looking at his feet.
“I’m sure you guys hear this all time, but, except for Miss Marshall’s red hair, you two look enough alike to be brother and sister.” Seiler looked from Libby to David and back again.
“We’ve heard that our whole lives,” David said.
Murder in Mariposa Beach Page 4