Sara felt her stance falter slightly and corrected it. “Why didn’t that get pointed out to us before?”
Sean guided her arms down and Melissa let out a deep breath once the gun was lowered. Sara put it away.
“If it’s not her, who is it, Sean?”
“It needs to be someone who has access to the flavoring lab.”
“That is all done in the quality control department and that leaves about a handful of people.” Melissa shrugged. “Hey, I want to be helpful. You thought I was a killer? I don’t even like to kill flies. I shoo them away hoping they’ll leave me alone.”
“Give us some names, Melissa,” Sean said.
“Myself, the owner, his wife, his two kids…” Melissa snapped her fingers. “And Wanda from human resources.”
Sean’s hands went to the desk and he stretched out. “Crap.”
“What is it, darling?”
“Darling?” Melissa parroted Sara.
Sara had a feeling why he was reaching for support to remain upright. “You told her who we are. That’s why you’re not fired. You didn’t mention we were after Melissa, did you?”
“No, don’t be crazy.”
Sara took a few staggered breaths. “We’ve got to get her, Sean. That is if she hasn’t left for the day.”
“I assume you’re talking about Wanda? You mentioned getting fired so that would have to be her. Anyway, I just passed her on the way up. She was getting off the elevator when I was getting on.”
Sara stared at Sean. “Wanda works on the main level.”
“She added more poison to the flavoring mix.”
The quality control department was on the fourth floor.
Sean and Sara bounded out from behind the desk and came face to face with Melissa.
“You’re going to fix that safe, right? It’s Tasty Beans’ property.”
“It’s not really broken, but I tell you what, I’ll buy a new one. State of the art. One that can’t be opened with a well-placed smack and twist of the lever.”
Melissa’s eyes widened.
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Chapter 48
ON THE MOVE
JIMMY HATED THE FACT THAT he was left to babysit Smelly Luke while Sean and Sara got the real killer. Another couple hours of sitting beside the man and making out waybills would be hard time to put in.
“You.”
He recognized the voice and swiveled his chair to see Casey Park standing behind him.
“You are a friend of Gwen’s.”
Jimmy glanced at Luke, then back to Casey. “I am. Why?”
“She didn’t show up after dinner. She just left me hanging. Do you have any idea where I can find her? Her husband seems to be missing too.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t—”
The overweight human resources lady stepped out from behind Casey.
“His name’s not Gavin Rossdale. It’s Jimmy Voigt.”
Jimmy’s heart fell to the pit of his stomach, he was sure of it.
Luke jumped to his feet, his finger pointed at Jimmy. “I knew you were a fraud. You’re fired!”
“Suits me. I was going to quit anyhow.”
“What is going on?” Casey’s brow was hitched with confusion.
“Security is going to see the bunch of them out,” the woman answered.
“I don’t even think Gwen’s in the building, is she?” Casey asked.
“She is. You don’t seem to appreciate the fact that I have eyes everywhere. I am everywhere.”
That’s how she had caught Sean trying to get into quality control the first time. She must have been away from the security cameras when Sean returned and picked the lock. As his mind chewed on the fact, the revelation came to him at hurtling speed. The human resources lady was the killer. It was true, he didn’t yet know if she had access to cyanide or her motivation. But with her position, it would make sense that she had authorization to enter every department.
The time to keep quiet was past. “It’s you.” Jimmy stood. “You’re the killer.”
“What is he talking—Wanda?” This was from Casey.
Wanda, the not-so-sweet human resources lady, could really move for a big woman. Apparently no one should be fooled by a person’s size and how that factored in to their agility. She was already at the other end of the shipping dock.
Jimmy tried to keep up, but the last couple mornings of eating a buffet breakfast weren’t working in his favor. And if that wasn’t enough, his phone was ringing.
“IT’S POSSIBLE WANDA’S STILL IN the building, Sean.”
They took the stairs down instead of waiting for the elevator. Sean was on his cell, trying to reach Jimmy. “He’s not answering.”
“I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
“Me either.”
They reached the lobby and set out into a full run toward the HR office. The door was locked, but it wouldn’t stop Sean from picking it. Sara tossed her wig on the floor.
“Here, take a pin.”
“Don’t mind if I do.”
He worked the lock while Sara called Adam. “Adam, we need a complete background on Wanda—you don’t know her last name, Sean?”
He shook his head.
“She works in human resources. I’ll hold. Get me everything you can. Criminal background and any potential accessibility to cyanide.”
Sean turned the handle. They were in. He pointed to the purse hanging on the coat tree in the corner. “She’s still in the building.”
“We have to hurry.”
“Jimmy can handle himself. I know he can.” He rummaged through the desk, searching for a compartment or safe that she might keep the cyanide in.
“So, you are certain he can take care of himself, but still wonder about me sometimes?”
He stopped moving and turned to her. “I love you, Sara.”
“I know, and you’d die if anything happened to me.”
“I would.”
“Trust me that I’d never let anything happen as far as I could control.”
“I’m sorry.”
She nodded.
He had a weakness when it came to letting go of certain inclinations—jealousy and possession—he didn’t really like that last word. He wasn’t so much possessive as protective. Yes, that was a better definition. Still, she was right. He had every reason to trust her. “We’re good?”
“Of course, darling.” She hustled about the room and stood next to the coat tree. “Melissa said that she ran into Wanda exiting the elevator. She had already delivered the poison. We’re likely only going to find an empty bottle or container.”
“Unless she dumped it along the way.”
“And risk us finding it? No way.”
Sara took Wanda’s purse off the hook and, in two seconds of rooting through it, came out with an empty bottle, save a drop or three inside.
“Apparently, Wanda didn’t think things through. How much do you want to bet this tests positive for cyanide?” Sara asked.
“I’d wager everything I have, but we don’t have time to confirm it right now.”
“You’re right. What should we do with the bottle? Take it with us?”
“I’ll hide it and secure it in the janitor closet.”
“She’d think of there, wouldn’t she?”
“Why would she? We’re going to leave her purse right here, and it appears untouched. Besides, she’s not going to get the chance to go snooping for it. Let’s go see if Jimmy needs our help.”
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Chapter 49
IMPROVISING
JIMMY WOULDN’T CLAIM IT WAS his best idea ever, but he had to give himself some credit. He hopped onto the forklift and was happy to find the keys in the ignition. How hard could it be to drive?
He got behind the
wheel, and to the right of it were four levers. What each one did, he had no idea. He put it in forward gear, just like one would in a car, and hit the gas.
Luke and Casey were screaming out about not wrecking the machine, but he ignored them. There was a killer to catch.
Wanda was a good distance ahead of him and took the time to turn around to gauge her pursuer’s distance. She cried out when she saw the forklift steaming after her. When she faced forward again, she lost her footing, her ankle twisted, and down she went—crumpled like an unmanned marionette—onto an empty pallet.
He slowed his speed and started playing with the levers. What he was thinking was probably borderline insane.
He pulled the one closest to the wheel and the forks lifted. He pushed it forward and it lowered. Easy peasy.
Wanda must have figured out what he was going to do and she tucked herself into a ball, as best she could. She was a big woman. Her smartest course of action would have been to try to get up again, but she seemed winded from her little run.
Jimmy slowed the machine even further and lined up the forks with the holes in the pallet. Then he pulled back on the lever.
Wanda was screaming and, despite the separation growing between them, Jimmy would have sworn she got louder the higher she was lifted.
“Jimmy!” Sara rounded the row of storage shelving and halted immediately.
Sean nearly ran into her.
Both of them started laughing.
Jimmy watched his friends put up their hands in surrender and spotted the flashing red-and-blue lights on the wall ahead of him. Someone had called the cops. This would be a fun one to explain, but at least his job with Tasty Beans had come to an end. And, of course, they’d caught a killer.
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Chapter 50
CHAMPAGNE AND BRAINSTORMING
THE COPS DIDN’T REALLY WANT to hear about their private investigator licenses and how a case from Albany brought them to Virginia and to Tasty Beans specifically. It had taken them a few hours to explain everything.
The contents of the bottle found in Wanda’s purse tested positive for cyanide, and Adam’s research of her online social profiles showed she had a love for photography and developed her own prints. Chemicals used in the process contain cyanide. A search of her residence confirmed that she had such a substance on her property.
More beans at the factory tested positive for the poison, including a few batches that Sara had worked on. She assured the police officer she had no intention of letting any ship. Based on their track record and reputation, he believed her. She was happy he was forgiving, as she wouldn’t have been if any of it had slipped through.
Now on their jet, Sean requested they all be brought glasses of Cristal.
“Champagne? Are you flaking out on me, Sean?” Jimmy leaned back into one of the cabin’s leather chairs.
“It’s time to celebrate.”
The stewardess returned carrying a silver tray holding three flutes of bubbly. She handed each of them a flute and then returned to the cockpit.
“What about Adam and Helen? They helped with this case too,” Sara said.
“We’ll just have to celebrate again once we get back. Any objections to that?”
“None here.” Sara laughed and raised her glass in a toast, clinking it first to Sean’s, then to Jimmy’s.
“I’ve also been giving some thought to what we should name the firm.”
“Really?” Impressive. He had helped take down a killer and he had a name suggestion for their business? She’d have to hear it before she got too excited. “What did you come up with?”
“McKinley Voigt Laverty Investigations.”
Sara pursed her lips. “I’m not sure. What do you think of that, Jimmy?”
“That is worth celebrating.”
Sara realized one person was missing off the name. “What about Helen? No Warner?”
“It’s kind of getting a little long then, isn’t it?”
“Sean.”
“Well, I could put her name in big lettering on the wall behind her desk.”
“That would be tacky.”
“What about on the door under the company name?” This was from Jimmy.
“I don’t know. I think she deserves a little more credit.”
“We could give her a raise.”
“She is great at compiling all the information on potential clients and sorting through everything.”
“She is.”
“Well?” She held eye contact with her husband.
“She’s new to us.”
She wouldn’t relent.
“Fine. McKinley Voigt Laverty Warner Investigations.”
She pressed the glass to her cheek. “You’re right. It does sound a little long.” She laughed.
The conversation lasted for the entire flight home. By the time they landed they still hadn’t decided.
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Chapter 51
IT’S ALL IN A NAME
SOPHIE HOGAN ENTERED THE CONFERENCE room of their PI agency, which, the next day, remained unnamed. They had called Sophie the day before to let her know that the person behind the poisoning had been caught. She had sobbed into the phone.
Today, she stood tall as she came toward them.
Sean and Sara were seated on one side of the table, with Jimmy across from them and Adam on one end. Sophie sat in the chair closest to the door.
“I can’t thank you enough.” Sophie pulled a checkbook out of her purse.
The door to the room opened and Helen took a seat beside Jimmy.
“We did this for you, for your mother, for all of Tasty Beans’ customers. But if it wasn’t for you sticking to your gut feeling about your mother’s death involving the coffee company, who knows how many others may have died,” Sean said.
A tear trickled down Sophie’s cheek, and she wiped it and nodded.
“That’s the problem in the world today, people don’t listen to their own voice. You did.” He had discussed the matter with Sara beforehand, and there would be no mention of Susan Gallacher.
“What was the woman like who did this to her?”
“She was bitter.” That was the brief summation.
What Wanda had said in her defense, if one wanted to term it like that, was that she deserved a big raise and was never given one. Paraphrasing her words, they were a million dollar company, growing larger every year, but when it was time for a wage increase they told her they wanted more for less. What they failed to realize or didn’t care about, was that she saw what other people received and hers was nowhere near that. So, she said that she gave them exactly what they had asked for, more for less. More in their flavoring oils and eventually they’d get less in sales.
Sophie tore her signed check out of the book and handed it to Sara. “Worth every penny.”
Sara passed the check to Helen, with a smile. “Helen will make sure the portions go to the charities noted on your application. Your mother would be proud of you.”
“Thanks again.” Sophie stood and let herself out.
Helen went to follow.
“Helen, after you see Sophie out, please come back,” Sean said.
“Sure.”
By the time she returned, Sean had pulled out a bottle of Cristal from under the table and popped the cork. Sara was walking back from a nearby cabinet with flute glasses.
“What’s this?”
“It’s time we give this firm a name,” he extended a flute to Helen, “and we thought it best to discuss it as the team we are.”
Helen’s eyes misted. About six months ago, Mia, her six-year-old daughter was undergoing chemo and Helen had been on the verge of losing everything due to the high hospital bills. Jimmy didn’t realize it, but Sean and Sara knew what he had done with the money they had given him.
&n
bsp; “Do you have any ideas, Helen?” Sara asked.
She beheld each one of them. “I might. Since we need to peer into people’s lives and spirit for motives, and we donate profits to charity, what about Pay It Forward Investigations?”
It hit Sean’s ears and drilled straight to his heart. The hours spent discussing it on the plane were wasted.
Adam was bobbing his head. “As an abbreviation, it could also be P.I. Firm. Its simplicity is brilliant.”
“Thank you.” Helen was beaming.
“What do you think, Sara?”
“I love it.”
“Let’s do it then. To Pay it Forward Investigations.”
-
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Preview of Skiing is Murder
They’re ready to hit the slopes when things go downhill…
Coffee is Murder Page 11