Of Spice and Men

by Sarah Fox

  “It was an amicable breakup, and Chase is still protective of Noelle, his ex. The tabloids have printed a lot of crap about him and Noelle recently. Chase doesn’t care what they say about him, but it really gets to him when they spread lies about Noelle. He’s had several sleazy journalists following him around lately, and he told me he overheard Christine talking to Mr. Fabel, telling him she had a juicy story for him to cover. So when the guy showed up again, snapping photos, Chase lost it.”

  That explained the altercation, as well as the argument with Christine before her death. After what I’d learned from Nicola, I suspected that Christine’s killer was a woman, but I wasn’t willing to rule out a male murderer completely. From what Danny had said, however, it seemed like Chase could be bumped to the bottom of the suspect list, if not scratched off entirely.

  “Anyway,” Danny went on, “I hope Christine’s killer is caught soon.”

  “So do we,” I said before taking a sip of my chai latte.

  “I hear you were in the military with Ivan,” Lisa said to Danny before taking a drink of her own latte.

  “That’s right,” Danny confirmed. “Ivan’s a good man. I owe my life to him.”

  “Really?” I said, and I could tell Lisa was interested, too.

  “I got shot one time, and Ivan risked his life to get to me and carry me back to safety.”

  “Wow,” Lisa said, summing up my reaction as well.

  “He doesn’t talk much about himself,” I said, “so he’s still a bit of a mystery, even though I’ve worked with him for months now.”

  Danny grinned. “He doesn’t talk much about anything.”

  Lisa and I both smiled.

  “True,” I said.

  “But, like I said, he’s a good man.” Danny pulled a phone from his pocket and checked the time before tucking it away again. “Sorry, ladies, but I need to be on my way.” He pushed back his chair. “It was great talking to you both.”

  “You, too,” Lisa and I said.

  After Danny had left, Lisa leaned closer to me. “Wow,” she said for the second time in the past few minutes. “Ivan’s a hero.”

  “He really is,” I agreed. I nudged her arm. “Don’t forget your photo with Chase.”

  “Oh, right!” Lisa pulled out her phone and posted the picture to Instagram. “I’m glad it sounds like Chase isn’t the killer.”

  “I think we can consider him a weak suspect or not a suspect at all now,” I said.

  “Especially since there’s a good chance we’re looking for a woman.” Lisa glanced at the time displayed on her phone. “Darn. I need to run, too. My fridge is practically empty and I need to get some groceries before the store closes.”

  I drank down the last of my latte. “That’s all right. I’m ready to head home anyway.”

  We parted ways outside the coffee shop, Lisa heading south to the grocery store while I headed north to the beach, deciding to follow the shoreline home. As soon as I reached the sand, I spotted Leigh up ahead, standing with a woman who wore her dark hair in dozens of braids that reached all the way down her back. Closer to the water line, Leigh’s three daughters ran about, darting out of the way of incoming waves and shrieking with delight when the frothy ocean shot a spray of salty water at them.

  Cupping my hands around my mouth, I called out, “Hi, girls!”

  Leigh’s daughters turned and waved, calling back, “Hi, Marley!”

  Approaching Leigh and the other woman, I greeted them as well.

  “Marley, this is my friend Caroline,” Leigh said. “The one who’s been working as an extra.”

  “Nice to meet you, Caroline.”

  “You as well,” she returned. “I hear you’re an amateur sleuth.”

  “I’m not sure I’d go that far.”

  “I would,” Leigh said while keeping an eye on her daughters. “You investigate and uncover clues. That’s what amateur sleuths do.”

  “True,” I conceded. “Although some people might call me nosy.”

  “You like to help people,” Leigh said. “I see nothing wrong with that.”

  I was glad that was her view, though I doubted Sheriff Georgeson would share it.

  “What’s it been like working on the movie?” I asked Caroline.

  “It’s been fun. Some days are a bit boring, but overall it’s been great. It’s not something we get a chance to do very often around here.”

  “Don’t be getting your shoes wet!” Leigh called out to her kids before turning her attention back to us. “It probably hasn’t been a completely normal moviemaking experience, what with the murder and other problems.”

  “That’s for sure,” Caroline said.

  I pushed my hands deep into the pockets of my jeans to protect them from the nippy wind blowing around us. “Have you seen anything unusual or suspicious?”

  Caroline thought about that for a moment. “Everyone’s been on edge, not knowing if the person next to them could be a killer, but other than that all I’ve noticed is a couple of crew members trying to keep their relationship a secret and not always doing a great job of it.”

  “Which crew members?” I asked with interest.

  “The gaffer, Del, and a young woman with bright turquoise hair. I’m not sure what her name is.”

  “That must be Nicola,” I said. “The two of them are involved?”

  “Definitely. I’ve seen them stealing kisses a couple of times when they thought no one could see them.”

  I considered that new piece of information. If Nicola and Del were romantically involved, why had Nicola appeared so alarmed when Del was heading our way earlier? Did she learn something recently to change her feelings for him? Did she suspect him of killing Christine?

  But if that were the case, why put me on the scent of the mystery woman Christine had sketched? Was she still trying to protect Del despite believing he might be a murderer?

  “What are you thinking, Marley?” Leigh asked.

  “That I still have far more questions than answers.” A fat raindrop hit me on the top of my head, and I looked up at the gray sky.

  The others must have felt the rain, too, because they did the same.

  “I’d better get the girls home before it pours,” Leigh said.

  Caroline zipped up her jacket as more raindrops fell. “I should be going, too.”

  We exchanged some parting words, and I waved to Leigh’s daughters again as she rounded them up. While everyone else headed toward town, I struck off along the shoreline, walking as briskly as I could through the soft sand, not wanting to get caught in a downpour.

  It seemed the sky was only teasing, however. By the time I reached my house, the short rain shower had stopped, although the wind was no less blustery. I considered the Nicola-and-Del angle some more as I held a purring Flapjack and looked out the window at the gray-blue ocean and the fast-moving clouds. My thoughts didn’t take me anywhere new, though, and I was glad for the distraction when Brett appeared on the back porch.

  I hugged him as soon as he had the door shut behind him. He smelled of fresh, cool air, and all I wanted to do right then was soak in his presence.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” I said, still holding on to him.

  He ran a hand over my hair. “Is anything wrong?”

  “No.” I finally stepped back enough so I could see his face. “I just really like it when you’re around.”

  The kiss that followed my words lasted even longer than our hug.

  “How did your day go?” Brett asked once we’d finally settled on the couch.

  I snuggled up to his side and tucked my legs under me. “Work was good. How about your day?”

  “Mine was good, too. Lots of storm cleanup, and I’m sure there will be more to come with another storm heading our way, but I don’t mind the work.” He put his arm around my shoulders. “Have you heard anything more about Max?”

  “Only that he was still unconscious.”

  “Hopefully he’s hanging in the
re.”

  I leaned against him. “I had some interesting conversations today.” I recounted them for Brett, wrapping up with Caroline’s revelation about Del and Nicola. “But when I was talking to Nicola, she looked really worried—maybe even scared—when she saw Del heading our way. That doesn’t fit with what Caroline witnessed, so what happened?”

  “Maybe they had a fight or broke up.”

  “Maybe.” I sounded as unconvinced as I felt.

  “You think it’s something worse?”

  “If Nicola knows or suspects that Del killed Christine, that would explain her reaction.”

  “But Del as the killer doesn’t fit with your theory that Christine was murdered because she recognized someone.”

  “True. And that theory makes the most sense considering what happened to Max.” I scrubbed a hand over my face and let out a sound of frustration. “How does it all fit together?”

  “Maybe it doesn’t. The thing with Nicola and Del could be unrelated to the murder.”

  “I suppose so, but not knowing is driving me nuts. How can I figure out who killed Christine and attacked Max when my questions always outnumber my answers?”

  “Hey.” Brett kissed the top of my head. “I know you want to solve this thing, to help everyone involved, but try not to stress yourself out. If you talk to Nicola, she might explain what was going on with Del.”

  “She might,” I agreed. “That’s probably the best thing to try. I’ll see if she’ll talk to me tomorrow.”

  “And for now, try to relax, okay?”

  I rested my head against his shoulder. “Sounds good to me.”

  Chapter 25

  I walked through town to The Flip Side the next morning, giving up my usual stroll along the beach in the hope of encountering Nicola on my way to work. I didn’t see her or anyone else from the movie, however. The trailers were still in place, but all was quiet, the only other person out and about an elderly man walking his Yorkshire terrier. Maybe filming was happening in another location, or maybe the cast and crew had a day off, but either way it seemed it wasn’t in the cards for me to speak with Nicola that morning.

  When Leigh and Sienna arrived at the pancake house an hour later, I asked them if they’d seen any movie-related activity in town, but they hadn’t. I tried not to let that disappoint me too much. The cast and crew would be in town for several more days before moving to another location on the peninsula, so I’d likely have a chance to ask my questions at some point, if not quite as soon as I wished.

  With both Leigh and Sienna working that day, I was able to spend a good deal of time in the office, looking after the business side of things. It was shortly before noon when a knock on the open door distracted me.

  “Marley?” Sienna poked her head into the office. “There’s a guy asking to see you. Jamal Harris?”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  “Oh,” she said as I got up from the desk, “Logan asked me to thank you for convincing him to go home. I think he was relieved to be found.”

  “I’m glad I was able to help,” I said as I followed her down the hall. “So are you two friends again?”

  “Yes. I’m not interested in getting back together with him, but I’m good with being friends.” When we reached the front of the house, Sienna nodded at Jamal. “Is he with the movie crew?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  Sienna hurried over to a recently vacated table and began gathering up the dirty dishes while I crossed the room to the table where Jamal sat on his own.

  “Hi. I heard you wanted to talk to me,” I said as I sat down across from him.

  He was in the midst of chewing a mouthful of churro waffles, so it took a second or two for him to respond.

  “I remembered something,” he said once he’d swallowed.

  “About Christine’s Internet search?” I guessed, trying to keep my hopes from shooting too high.

  Jamal nodded. “A headline. ‘Not Model Behavior.’ I think it was above a picture of models on a runway.”

  “Female models?”

  He shrugged. “Or both male and female. I only caught a glimpse of the photo and it wasn’t very big.”

  “But you’re sure about the headline?”

  “Definitely. I don’t know why I didn’t remember it before. The memory popped into my head in the middle of the night. You know how that happens sometimes?”

  “I do,” I said, although I might have sounded vague. My thoughts were far more focused on what he’d said earlier. “Not model behavior,” I said, echoing the headline. “So maybe whoever Christine recognized was a model who got involved in criminal activity.”

  “Could be,” Jamal agreed.

  “And she’d been working on a drawing of an unknown woman before she died, and that could be why her sketchbook was burned. But if it was a woman Christine recognized, why was she looking at a man’s mug shot online?”

  “Beats me.”

  “Could there have been other mug shots on the page that you didn’t see?”

  “Sure, it’s possible.”

  The Flip Side’s front door opened, and a crowd of half a dozen new customers bustled in out of the wind, heralding the start of the lunch rush.

  Jamal pointed at his waffles with his fork. “The food here is really good. Especially these waffles.”

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying them.” I eyed the front door as two more newcomers came into the pancake house. I pushed back my chair. “Thanks, Jamal. I’ll see where this new clue leads.”

  “Let me know if you figure out who killed Christine?” he requested.

  “Of course. Maybe we should exchange phone numbers.”

  We did so, and I left him to finish off his waffles. As soon as I’d donned a red apron, I helped out Leigh and Sienna with the wave of new diners. It wasn’t until closing time was approaching that things quieted down and I had a chance to chat with Leigh over by the cash register.

  “I Googled the entire cast and crew the other day, and didn’t find anything about a model who got in trouble with the law,” I said after I’d told her about Jamal’s latest information.

  “So what next?” Leigh asked.

  I thought about that for a second. “I’ll start with the headline and go from there. Maybe I can find a picture of the model it referred to.”

  I retreated to the office and got busy with my Internet search right away. First I typed in the headline Jamal had mentioned. My hopes skyrocketed as I saw that the first several results mentioned that exact headline in reference to a fashion model. Those same hopes sank back down when I realized that all of those results had to do with a recent incident involving a supermodel still active in the industry. Definitely not the person I was looking for.

  Determined not to give up, I scanned through the next page of results, but still found nothing that in any way resembled what Jamal had seen while Christine was using his laptop. A business-related phone call interrupted me then, and I had to put aside my search while I attended to other matters. By the time I was off the phone, I had to leave the office to close The Flip Side for the day.

  “Any luck so far?” Leigh asked when the last customers had gone.

  “Not yet, but I’m still working on it.”

  She and Sienna both wished me luck before leaving. As much as I itched to return to my search, I needed to get through my usual routine of cleaning the restaurant and getting everything ready for the next opening on Wednesday morning. I’d wiped down the last table and was about to move on to cleaning the floors when Brett tapped on one of the front windows.

  Smiling, I unlocked the door to let him in. “What brings you here?”

  “You,” he said, giving me a kiss. “I wanted to spend time with you, so I thought I’d stop by and see how things were going here.”

  “I’m just cleaning up. Then I have a few other things to sort out, but I should be able to leave in an hour or so, if you want to go somewhere after.”

  “Maybe we could take Bentley
for a walk on the beach before the weather gets worse? The storm’s already gathering strength and it’s supposed to hit full force by this evening.”

  “Sounds like a good idea. I’ll finish up here as quickly as I can.”

  “Tell me what to do, and I’ll help out.”

  I gave him instructions and we set to work. As we cleaned, I told him about the headline Jamal had remembered and my Internet search that had yet to turn up anything useful.

  “Want me to have a go at the search?” Brett offered once The Flip Side was spic-and-span.

  “Would you? That would be great. I only have a few more things to sort out.”

  “I’ll get right to it.”

  Brett disappeared into the office while I ventured into the kitchen to speak with Ivan and sort out some supply issues. When I joined Brett in the office, I stood next to where he sat in the desk chair and took a look at the computer screen, which had a list of search results on display.

  “Any luck?” I asked.

  “It’s not the most creative or unique headline, so it’s been used several times.”

  “Including for a recent incident,” I said.

  “And some older ones. It took a while, but I found a couple of possibilities. I’m still reading up about one of them.” He clicked on a link and a news article with the “Not Model Behavior” headline appeared on the screen.

  I pulled up a chair and sat down next to Brett. He angled the computer monitor my way so we could both read the screen at the same time.

  “Nonna Mariya was arrested in connection with the murder of her roommate,” Brett said, summing up the first paragraph. “Wait. This can’t be our killer.”

  I read the paragraph that had tipped him off. “She was convicted four years ago and would still be in jail today.”

  “So we can scratch that one.” Brett navigated back to the search results. “Here’s the other one.” He clicked on a second link. “Willa Stiles was suspected of committing a violent armed robbery with her boyfriend, Frankie Penz. The police think she was the getaway driver.”

  I scanned through the article. Then I summarized: “The robbery happened in New York City, where Stiles and Penz lived at the time. Someone was shot and killed during the robbery. Penz was arrested and convicted, but Stiles remained at large and apparently disappeared.” Excitement bubbled up inside of me. “This could be it. Was she ever found?”