Kiss 'N Tell

by Kathi Daley

  “I really doubt you’d even notice it,” Parker added.

  “Do you think the fact that he called this bar is significant?” Jemma asked.

  “It tells us that he was alive at eleven thirty-seven, and it gives us a clue as to what might have been going on. We know he didn’t die at the bar, but maybe he was looking for someone who works there, or perhaps he met up with someone there, and they moved to the house where he was killed.”

  “I think it would be worth our while to head over there and check it out,” Parker said.

  Jemma and I agreed and began putting the food away. We were just about to head out to the parking area when Parker got a call from Tegan, letting her know that the blond-haired woman she’d been in asking about earlier had just arrived and was sitting alone at the end of the bar. We had no idea how long she’d be there, so it was decided that Parker would head to the Rambling Rose to interview the woman, and Jemma and I would head to Cubby’s Place to see if we could find someone who remembered seeing Kyle the night he was murdered.”

  Chapter 13

  I supposed that two unarmed women heading out to a bar located on a dark backstreet outside of town to ask about a man who was recently murdered wasn’t the best idea, but that thought didn’t occur to either Jemma or me at the time. We weren’t planning to put ourselves into a dangerous situation, but as it turned out, that was exactly what we ended up doing.

  Jemma knew where she was going, and I had no clue, so she offered to drive, and I climbed into the passenger seat. Parker and Jemma had both indicated that Cubby’s Place was a real dive, but until we pulled up in front of the building, I hadn’t realized how much of a dive it actually was.

  “Wow. This place is worse than I imagined.”

  “It’s actually rougher looking on the outside than the inside,” Jemma assured me. “Not that the place is going to win any awards for its ambiance, but it’s okay.” She opened the driver’s side door and climbed out. I opened the passenger side door and followed. Savannah was home to its own share of shoddy bars, so it wasn’t like I’d never visited a dive bar before, but when I’d worked with my dad, he’d tended to shield me from the shadier establishments, so it wasn’t like I felt comfortable in this sort of place.

  Taking comfort in the fact that Jemma didn’t seem scared, I followed her inside. As she’d indicated, the interior of the bar was less scary-looking than the exterior. Groups sharing a pitcher occupied most of the small tables, and the bartender, who looked a lot like Booker, actually smiled at me when I slid onto an empty barstool.

  “What can I get ya?” the bartender asked.

  “Information,” Jemma said.

  He raised a brow.

  “We’re looking for anyone who might have seen this man.” I held up a photo of Kyle that we’d cropped from the group photo and then blew up to better define his features.

  “Doesn’t look like a regular,” the bartender said.

  “No,” I agreed. “He wouldn’t be. He just arrived in town this week. Do you recognize him?”

  “No. I’ve been here every night this week, and I’m sure I’ve never seen the guy. Now, can I get you a drink?”

  “No, thanks,” Jemma said, taking my elbow to indicate that it was time to go.

  I’d hoped to get more out of the guy behind the bar or maybe ask some of the patrons if they’d seen Kyle this week, but I could tell by the look on Jemma’s face that she felt it was time to go.

  “Well, that was a bust,” I said once we got outdoors.

  “No, it wasn’t. I was looking around while you were speaking to the bartender. There’s a hallway behind the bar that leads to a closed door. I watched as a woman walked in and headed down the hallway. She knocked on the door and was admitted.”

  “So maybe we should just go and knock on the door,” I said. It did seem that the number of cars in the lot greatly exceeded the number of patrons in the bar.

  “I don’t think that will work. There was a very large man standing outside the door. The woman who went in had to show him her hand before he allowed her to pass. There’s been talk that an illegal poker game is held here on a random schedule. It’s strictly an invitation-only thing.”

  “So, do you think Kyle somehow got himself invited?”

  “That would be my best guess at this point,” Jemma answered.

  She took my hand and walked me around to the back of the building. There was a single door that we quickly confirmed was locked.

  “So, what now?” I asked.

  Jemma pulled me behind a dumpster that had been placed near the door. “Let’s wait and see if someone comes out. If someone does, maybe we can get in before the door closes.”

  I really doubted Jemma’s plan would work, but miracle of miracles, we only had to wait in the cold for ten minutes before two women walked out, swinging the door wide open, which Jemma grabbed, and we were both able to slip through before it closed.

  The door opened into a dark hallway. I could hear talking in the room at the end of the hallway. Jemma and I slowly crept along the dark passage, hoping that if we could get the lay of the land, we could figure out a way to access the room and blend in. Of course, blending in, it seemed, was never an option. As we inched closer, I could see that the room was filled with men and women sitting at tables of five. I didn’t recognize anyone, but the truth of the matter was that I was new to Gooseberry Bay and didn’t know very many people.

  “What are the two of you doing in here?” A tall man who was built like the Hulk placed a hand on both Jemma and my shoulders.

  “Looking for the bathroom.” I tried.

  He just grunted and pulled us into a small room just off the main room where everyone was playing cards. “Look what I found skulking around in the back hallway,” he said to a man with sandy blond hair and a nice smile.

  The man frowned. “Can I help you?”

  “We were just looking for the bathroom and came in through the back door. I guess we got turned around,” I answered.

  His brows narrowed. He looked at Jemma. “Do I know you?”

  “No,” she answered. “I don’t think so.”

  He continued to stare at her. “I do know you. You were in a while back with that reporter who was nosing around hoping to find proof of our little game here.”

  Jemma didn’t answer.

  “Tie them up,” the man with the sandy blond hair directed the large man who’d found us.

  “And then what?” The man looked toward the room crowded with individuals playing what looked to be high stakes poker.

  “I don’t know. I need to think. Just tie them up for now.” With that, the man with the sandy blond hair turned and returned to the room where people were so involved in their games that it was unlikely they’d even noticed what was going on in the little room off the hallway.

  The large man tied both Jemma and me to chairs and then placed a thick piece of tape across our mouths. I hoped the man would simply let us go, but the longer we sat there, the less likely I felt that outcome was actually in our future. I hoped someone from the poker room would notice us and maybe intervene on our behalves, but after an hour of sitting in a dark room just off the cold hallway, I realized that no one had seen us. At least no one who cared.

  I had no idea what Jemma was thinking since we couldn’t communicate, but I supposed she was thinking the same thing I was, which was to wonder how in the heck we were going to get out of this. I supposed once the game was over, one of two things would happen. Either the men who tied us up would leave us to freeze to death during the overnight hours, or they’d kill us and then leave our bodies elsewhere so as not to tip the cops off to our having been here in the first place. That, I decided, was most likely what had happened to Kyle. The difference was that Parker knew where we were, and she’d eventually come and rescue us, unless, of course, we were already dead by that point.

  Luckily for us, the gang in the poker room seemed to be having a good time, and the games
went long. I figured the men who had us wouldn’t do anything until the poker players left, so as long as the games went on, we had time. Still, there would come a time when the games were called, and the participants were encouraged to go home. It was then that Jemma and I would have to do something smart if we were going to survive this night.

  “Hey, Stewy.” The bartender we’d spoken to earlier wandered into the room where I could sense that the games were wrapping up even though I couldn’t really see anything from the room where we were being held. “The cops are here looking for the two dames that were nosing around earlier.”

  “Did you tell them they left a long time ago?”

  “I did, but their car’s out front. They’re talking to the handful of patrons who are still here, but they’ll be heading down the hallway in a minute.”

  “Everyone out the back,” Stewy said.

  I listened as the poker players began to gather their cash in preparation for making a mad dash for the back door.

  “I’ll try to stall them,” the bartender said. “But you best get gone as well.”

  “I’m outta here,” Stewy said. “And thanks for the heads up.”

  Less than two seconds later, I heard a pounding on the door leading from the bar to the poker room. The man named Stewy and his goon slipped out the back door just as the door connecting the hallway to the bar was broken down. Jemma and I both tried to scream, which wasn’t easy with the tape over our mouths, but luckily, someone found us only seconds after the other two men ran past us.

  “Are the two of you okay?” Deputy Todd asked after pulling the tape from our mouths.

  “Yeah,” we both said. “The men you’re after slipped out the back.”

  “Don’t worry. I had men back there. I’m sure everyone who was here tonight is in custody by now.”

  I let out an audible sigh of relief. “Parker?” I asked.

  “She’s waiting in her car out in the parking lot. You’re lucky she knew you were here and suspected that you were in danger when you didn’t answer her calls.”

  Deputy Todd was right. Jemma and I both owed Parker a huge debt of gratitude.

  Chapter 14

  Parker showed up at my cottage the following morning with croissants and coffee from one of my favorite coffee pubs on the boardwalk. I’d only just pulled my tired body out of bed and hadn’t even dressed yet, but I could see that Parker was all business, so I invited her in.

  “What’s up?” I asked, noticing that she looked as tired as I felt.

  “Deputy Todd wants to interview both you and Jemma this morning, and he sent me to fetch you.”

  “Does Jemma know this?” I yawned.

  “She does. I stopped by her place first. She’s going to get dressed and meet us here. I wanted to fill you both in on what I know before we head over to Deputy Todd’s office.”

  “Okay.” I looked at the dogs. “I’ll need to get dressed, and the dogs need to go out.”

  “I’ll take the dogs out while you get dressed.”

  I grabbed a coffee and headed to my bedroom after agreeing to Parker’s suggestion. As I washed up and pulled on some clothes, I wondered why Deputy Todd had sent Parker to fetch Jemma and me. Wouldn’t it have made more sense for him to simply call us and ask us to come in?

  By the time I returned to the living room, Parker and the dogs were back, and Jemma was sipping a cup of coffee.

  “So what’s up?” I asked, grabbing a croissant.

  “As you know, after I spoke to the blond-haired woman who was at the Rambling Rose last night, I called Deputy Todd and asked to meet with him about everything that had gone on this past week. After I explained what I knew, we both decided that the key to Kyle’s death probably involved the illegal poker game that everyone seemed to know existed, but no one had ever taken the initiative to do anything about until now. Todd called in some of his men so he’d have plenty of back up. He went in the front and sent men around to the back, so as the group from the poker room ran out the back door, they scooped them up and brought them in for interrogation.”

  “Did he arrest everyone who was at the game?” I asked.

  “No, he hasn’t arrested everyone, but he is holding everyone pending an interview. He needs to establish who was doing what last night when the two of you were tied up. He’s asking you to come in and identify as many people as you can, and he needs you to do this right away so he can cut those who didn’t seem to be involved loose.”

  “It was just the bartender, the man named Stewy, and the huge man who originally grabbed us who seemed to be involved with detaining us,” Jemma said.

  “Great. Then making identifications will be easy. If the two of you are ready, I’ll drive. You can drink your coffee on the way.”

  Once we got to the police station, things went quickly. Groups of individuals were escorted into the interrogation room, and then Jemma and I were escorted in separately to identify anyone we recognized who’d been involved in any capacity. The number of poker players I’d managed to remember, even though I’d only viewed the group from afar and hadn’t actually interacted with any of them, surprised me.

  Once Jemma and I had looked at everyone who’d been detained last night and identified as many as we could, we were allowed to leave.

  “So how many of them are going to be arrested?” I asked as we drove back toward the cottages.

  “The bartender, Stewy, and his thug for sure,” Parker said. “There are a few others who are currently on parole or probation for other crimes who will probably be detained as well.”

  “So I guess at this point, we know the bartender, Stewy, and the thug were all involved in the poker game and detaining us, but were they involved in Kyle’s murder?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to let Deputy Todd figure that out.”

  I supposed that unless someone confessed, it was going to be hard to pinpoint exactly what happened. “I never did ask you how your interview went with the blond at the Rambling Rose last night,” I said to Parker as we drove toward the peninsula. “Once Todd stormed in, everything happened really fast.”

  “The blond, whose name is Lila, admitted that she spent a lot of time at bars. Lila told me that she liked men and since she preferred a variety, she made the rounds and did tend to pick up several different guys a week, but she denied robbing or killing any of them. She gave me the names of a few men she’d been with recently, and I was able to confirm that sex really was all she was after. I asked her if she’d noticed that Kyle had a wallet full of money on the night he was murdered. She admitted that she did notice and that he seemed to hold his wallet open longer than was warranted, she assumed to impress the girl he was talking to. Lila claimed not to know what happened to the man after he left the bar but did admit to seeing him earlier in the week. I asked her when and where she’d seen him, and she informed me that she’d seen him at Cubby’s Place on the night we’d already determined he’d come into town. She also told me that he’d actually caught her eye that night, but he’d headed into the back before she could approach him. When she saw him the night he was murdered, she decided to try again and sat down next to him, not realizing that he’d already connected with the woman sitting on the other side of him. She confirmed that they left together, but once he left, she moved onto someone else.”

  “So Kyle comes into town a day early to participate in an illegal poker game at Cubby’s Place,” I said. “He obviously won since he had a wallet full of cash, although, given the fact that Kyle ended up dead, it seems as if he might have cheated. Kevin did say that Kyle knew how to count cards, and in most circles, counting cards is considered cheating.”

  “Yeah,” Parker agreed. “I doubt the guys who run the game would appreciate someone coming in and cleaning out the room. It seems dumb of him to go back if he got out of there with the money in the first place.”

  “Yes,” I agreed. “But maybe Kyle was desperate. Maybe he needed the money so badly that he wa
s willing to take a chance. Perhaps someone, probably Stewy’s goon, recognized him as the player who cheated and decided to take care of him.”

  Parker nodded. “That’s the basic theory at this point. Deputy Todd is hoping to find a few patrons who might have been at the game on the first evening Kyle played and the evening of the night he was murdered to fill in some blanks. Once he has enough, he’ll try to get one of the main players to turn on the others. I guess the whole thing is in his hands at this point.”

  I hoped it worked out the way Parker and Deputy Todd suspected it would. It would be nice to have this mystery behind us.

  “So what do you think happened to Kyle’s wallet?” Jemma asked.

  Parker shrugged. “If this Kyle kid had been flashing the money around, you know he must have gained the attention of more than one person. I suspect someone lifted the wallet. Unless we’re wrong about the Cubby’s connection and the stolen wallet really is somehow tied to Kyle’s death, we may never know what happened to it.”

  “Did they ever find his car?” I asked.

  Parker nodded. “It was parked in the lot behind Cubby’s Place. A lot of folks park there, so the fact that the car hadn’t moved in a week hadn’t caught anyone’s attention.”

  “So I guess that suggests that he did end up at Cubby’s after he called there, and given the fact that his car was still there, it seems to suggest that he didn’t leave of his own free will,” I said.

  “That’s how it looks to me,” Parker agreed. “I have to wonder, however, how the vacant house where the body was found plays into this whole thing.”

  “That is an odd fact that doesn’t seem to fit,” I agreed.

  Once we returned to the peninsula, Parker went back to work, and Jemma went home to shower and clean up. According to what Jemma had told me yesterday, Val was supposed to be leaving early this morning. In fact, I was willing to bet she was already gone. I hoped that was true for Jemma’s sake. Given the small amount of exposure I’d had to the woman, I really couldn’t see why Josie was friends with such a self-centered and obnoxious individual. Of course, I didn’t know the whole story, so making an assumption at this point was premature.