“And also that Jason asked Mark to change the code so she wouldn’t be able to get in again.”
“We cruise by Mayor Frost’s house regularly, but . . . in any case, thanks for being there when we weren’t.”
“Sure. So are you about done working for the day?”
“Yeah, on my way home.”
“I was about to have some tortilla chips and salsa, if you want to join me.”
He patted his stomach. “I’m good. We had a pizza delivered to the office when we were going over the case.”
“Still no suspects?”
“I wouldn’t say that. It’s an active investigation and we’re waiting on some answers so we know what avenues to pursue next. Oh, and Camryn? I know Mark’s been your friend for a long time, but don’t be afraid to call me if you need to.”
“You mean because I called Mark instead of you about Frosty’s sister?”
“Yeah, that and other things like that.”
But Mark wasn’t as intense as Clint was, and was less likely to lecture me. However, I was not about to argue, because he’d issued an invitation of sorts. “Okay.”
“Good night.”
“Good night.” We both reached for the door knob, and as he bent over the side of his face touched the side of mine, and I innately responded by moving my hand to his arm and turning so we were face-to-face. “What is it about you?” he whispered against my lips before he covered them with his own.
He pulled me in tightly, and as our kiss intensified, my body responded with the most wonderful sensations possible. When he finally eased himself away from me, I wasn’t sure if my legs would support me, so I leaned against the wall. “Sweet dreams,” he said as he opened the door then left my house, and me all by my lonesome. I pulled back the blinds a crack and watched him walk to his car. Clint, that kiss was the stuff sweet dreams were made of.
18
I’d lost my appetite. For food, that is, and settled in on the couch with the warm quilt covering me from the waist down. My notebook and pen were lying on the coffee table. I picked them up and as I thought about all the people I’d talked to about Frosty, and my impressions of them, I stabbed the pen into the pad over and over, trying to gather those thoughts together enough to write something down.
My cell phone rang, reminding me I’d left it on my dresser. It rang three times then it quit. It hadn’t gone to voicemail that fast. I found my phone and saw it was Nicoline who had called. I selected her number and tried her back, but she didn’t answer. She may have dialed me in error and hung up when she realized it. Still, an uneasy feeling settled over me. I dropped the phone into my robe pocket and then grabbed my laptop computer from the spare bedroom/office on the way back to the couch.
I sat it on the coffee table, and when the Internet was up and running, I typed Loretta Proctor’s name into a search engine. A second later I had access to over 5,000 records plus some photos of her. She was listed as the Chief Executive Officer of Proctor Fabrications, a well-known manufacturer of quality clothing. Little bells started ringing in my head. Frosty had been the Chief Financial Officer of a manufacturing company. Was it at Proctor’s? Had something happened between his sister and him at work, something that was at the heart of their disagreement and had led to their separation? Jason had implied as much. Add to that the personal insult of having a valuable pendant willed to her brother instead of her, as Loretta had expected.
It was a touchy subject, and not one I could talk to Jason Frost about until things had calmed down in his life. But it made me all the more curious about why Loretta Proctor had gone into her brother’s house. What was she was looking for, and had she found it?
Loretta had offered Jason a place to stay at her house. Maybe so she could, as Erin had said the other day, keep her friends close and her foes closer? Anne hadn’t said boo about her mother, probably not unusual knowing how close she was to her uncle. Stuck in the middle of a family battle was never a good place to be.
I didn’t want to get caught up reading more about Loretta Proctor’s business life, so I closed out of the Internet and shut off the computer. I picked up the pen and notebook again and wrote, “Loretta Proctor, CEO of Proctor Fabrications, likely the same company Frosty had been the CFO of. A clothing manufacturing company.” What a coincidence—or not—that the mayor was working on bringing a children’s clothing factory to a ninety acre parcel just outside of the Brooks Landing city limits. If the township property was first annexed into the city, that is.
Frosty had been involved with that deal. He’d represented the company when he visited the Murphys and told them what the company was willing to pay for their land. He should have disclosed that publicly, and recused himself from voting on the issue. What would the company’s attorney have to say about the whole deal if he was put on the witness stand and had to tell all he knew?
Was it possible Loretta was involved in the deal and she and her brother secretly got along better than their families believed they did? I jotted that down then crossed it out because it didn’t make sense. There would be no reason to hide that from those obviously hurt by their discord. Especially after Frosty’s death.
I set the notebook aside then reached over into the penny bowl and picked up a small handful. I held them a moment then spread my fingers and let them fall through them, back into the bowl. “When Frosty’s killer is locked up for what he did, I’ll figure out a worthy organization to give all of you to.” I shook my head. It’s not bad enough that I’m talking to the lights in Curio Finds and calling them Molly, but now I’m talking to pennies besides.
I made sure the doors were locked and headed to bed for a good night’s rest. And aside from dreams of my ceramic penny bowl sitting on Curio Finds checkout counter filled with diamonds instead of pennies and Loretta Proctor walking around my shop like a robot, wearing her mother’s diamond pendant, and carrying the scary snow globe her brother had purchased, I had an otherwise restful night.
It was a good thing, too, because with all that got packed into the next day I’d need every bit of energy possible.
• • • • • • • •
Emmy was behind Brew Ha-Ha’s counter when I got to work, and I realized how much I’d missed her. She was a little tired looking, but when she smiled, her face lit up. “Welcome back,” I said then went behind the counter and gave her a warm hug.
“I can’t tell you how good it is to be back.” She filled a mug with coffee.
I heard the coffee bean grinder going in the back room. Pinky was hard at work.
“When Pinky called me earlier she said you’re planning to put in four hours or so today?” I said.
“Yes, I’ll see how it goes. I know I’m not as young as I used to be, but it’s taking longer than I would’ve thought to get my strength back.”
“We hired another woman to help out, too, so don’t feel pressured to push yourself.”
“Pinky told me a little about her. Nicoline?”
“That’s right. She’ll be in at nine. She’s on the quiet side and a good worker. You saw her last week, the one you said was a ‘little slip of a thing.’”
“Oh, sure, I remember.”
“Come and I’ll show you how she’s dressed up the merchandise displays.”
Emmy followed me into Curio Finds and started winding her way around the shelves while I hung up my coat.
“What do you think of the window display?” I said.
“It looks very nice.”
The bell on Pinky’s shop door dinged so Emmy and I headed back in there and waited on the small group of women that had come in.
Nicoline had been prompt the last few days so by nine twenty when she hadn’t shown up for work or called to say she couldn’t make it, I wondered why. She had my cell number, and in fact had called it the night before. I phoned her, but it rang and rang without going to v
oicemail. What reason would she have for turning off that feature? A prepaid plan, perhaps, where voicemail would count against her minutes?
I tried her phone again late morning and hung up after eight rings. I decided it was about time I checked Nicoline’s references. I called the man she’d worked for in Boston and he said she had been a very good employee, and his children loved her. He didn’t mention having any reliability issues with her.
Emmy worked until noon. Her friend Lester had given her a ride to work and picked her up when she was ready to go home. “I feel bad leaving, especially since Nicoline isn’t here.”
“We’ll be fine. Erin is coming in after school, and my parents are willing to help whenever we need them.” I’d sent Erin a text message and she replied she was available. I put my parents on an imaginary “emergency only” list, like if things got crazy busy closer to Christmas and we were too overwhelmed to deliver good customer service, we’d bring them in.
• • • • • • • •
Pinky joined me in Curio Finds about two o’clock when there was a break in the action. I was dusting off a shelf. “Cami, you look so stressed.”
“I’m wondering if I should go check on Nicoline, see if she’s okay.”
“Erin will be here about three thirty.”
I nodded. “Nicoline was acting out of sorts yesterday. She might have been coming down with something and is sick in bed. But you’d think she’d have called.”
“You’d think.”
Jason Frost’s cousin Anne came into the shop while we were talking. Her face was drawn, and it was obvious she’d been crying. “Camryn, I feel just awful.”
Pinky apparently took that as her cue to leave and excused herself, no doubt hoping I’d tell her all about it later.
I pulled the extra stool closer to the one behind my checkout counter and we sat down. “Did Jason talk to you about last night?” I said.
Anne nodded, then fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. She pulled a tissue out of her coat pocket and wiped them away. “I can’t figure out what my mother was doing in my uncle’s house. But that’s not what’s got me so upset.” She wiped away more tears. “I was talking to my attorney yesterday, and he gave me more details about the city council meeting last week.”
It took me a split second to figure out who that was. Robert Harris. The attorney that had gone before the Brooks Landing mayor and council members with the Wonder Kids Clothes proposal. He’d told them the owners weren’t ready to be publicly named for a number of reasons. It all made sense now. “Your attorney is Robert Harris?”
Anne lifted her eyebrows. “Yes. After what happened to Uncle Lewis he waited to tell me. We talked for a while and then he advised me to watch the video of the meeting so I could get the full flavor of the discussion.” She sucked in a breath. “People were so angry.”
“Why was Mayor Frost keeping his relationship with you—as owner of the company—a secret? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”
“Technically, yes it is. When I first started looking for a good location, I didn’t even discuss it with Uncle Lewis, knowing he’d feel like he was caught in the middle and I didn’t want any special favors from him. Everything went through my attorney. Then after I told Uncle Lewis about it, he thought the Murphy property was ideal, and went to talk to them.
“He was planning to disclose his part if it looked like we were going to be able to pull the deal together. The reason he hadn’t said anything before that was to keep my mother out of it. If she’d gotten wind that I was starting my own company, she’d have figured out a way to move in and bump me out of the deal, then take over herself.”
“Why?”
Anne shook her head. “Loretta is not a nice person. When my grandfather died and left Lewis and Loretta the company, it was doing quite well. My mother’s the older one. First she incorporated and changed the name from Wonder Kids to Proctor Fabrication. Then she appointed herself as the CEO. She did whatever she had to to build a huge business. Loretta does not like competition from other companies. Or from her brother, either. Or from me. And I think it’s because I’ve been so close to Uncle Lewis.”
“I don’t quite understand.”
“She’s always been envious of Lewis.” Another jealous woman in his life. “I guess she’s been difficult since birth and, sadly for her, my grandparents favored Lewis. I don’t think they did it on purpose, but knowing Loretta, I can see how it happened.”
I thought of how calmly Frosty had dealt with Stormin’ Gorman and realized that he’d likely learned good diversion skills at a very young age. Anne’s choice of Wonder Kids as her company’s name must have given him some measure of satisfaction, like the business his father had built was being resurrected. “It sounds like your family has gone through a lot.”
Anne shrugged. “I guess.” She turned to me with a pained expression, her eyebrows drawn together. “If my uncle’s death was in any way connected to the children’s clothing factory, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Anne, so far the police haven’t found anything that would support that it was.” Unless Loretta had gotten wind of it and fought with her brother over it. “When was the last time your mother and uncle talked? Any idea?”
“It’s been a while. Uncle Lewis got fed up with her and left the company about seven years ago. Grandmother passed away six years ago. She was living with Lewis, and my mother would visit her fairly often. I think Lewis usually arranged to be gone if he knew she was coming.” She stopped for a minute. “That’s probably when he gave her his garage door code. I haven’t always respected my mother, but going into his house without talking to Jason about it first is a new low for her as far as I’m concerned.”
We were about to find out just how low Loretta would go.
“Why do you think she invited Jason to stay with her after your uncle died?”
“She’s had a soft spot for Jason since he was born. He’s so much like Lewis. My mother couldn’t get past her jealousy of her brother. I think she loved his son instead.”
Complicated family dynamics. “Anne, the city council meets the first and third Tuesday of the month, so that’ll be a week from tonight. Are you and your attorney planning to go before the council and come clean about everything?”
“Yes, I already told him we need to do that. If my mother tries anything, we’ll have to deal with that. You know what they say—about how money talks. Well, Loretta has as much as it would take.”
I nodded. “I’m one of those optimists that even after all I’ve seen in my life and career, I’m still hopeful that the good guys win out in the end.”
Anne smiled. “Thanks. I’d like to think that, too.”
• • • • • • • •
When Erin got to the shops, I told her and Pinky I needed to check on Nicoline. I’d tried her phone again, and she still wasn’t answering. The worst scenarios kept coming to mind, including her lying unconscious in a snow bank somewhere, unable to answer.
“Do you want one of us to go with you?” Erin said.
“That’s okay, I think Pinky needs you more than I do. It’s been busy in here.”
Pinky nodded her head a bunch of times. “It was so good to have Emmy back for the morning, at least.”
“For sure, I’ll see you in a bit,” I said.
I walked to the hotel and greeted the young man behind the desk, the same one who’d been there last time. “Hi, just stopping by to see my friend.” And I am taking the elevator this time.
I wasn’t sure he recognized me, but he gave a slight nod of acknowledgement.
My heart started beating faster as the elevator climbed to the fourth floor. Would Nicoline be there, and was she okay? The doors opened on four, and I walked to her door and gave it a good rapping. I thought I heard someone move inside, but it was possible the sound had come from one of the othe
r apartments.
I knocked again. “Nicoline, it’s Camryn. I know you’re in there, and I want to be sure you’re all right. You haven’t answered my phone calls.”
The sound of someone walking was definitely coming from apartment 404. Then it was Nicoline’s voice on the other side of the door. “I am okay. Thank you for checking. Now you should go.” Thank God she was there, and not out in the cold somewhere. But she may have had a new injury she was trying to hide.
“Nicoline, please open up. When I see you with my own eyes, I’ll go.”
I prayed she trusted me enough to let me in. The door slowly opened and she peered around it at me, her eyes even larger, more haunted than usual. “See.”
“Please let me in, for just a minute.”
“I am expecting my uncle soon.”
“Only a minute.” I gave the door a gentle push and Nicoline stepped back and pulled it open. When I stepped inside, she closed the door and turned the deadbolt lock. It seemed unnecessary, but what did I know about her fears? The apartment was simply furnished and there were no real homey touches, except a handmade knitted afghan lying on an overstuffed chair.
“I am sorry I did not come to work today,” she said.
“Are you ill?”
“I cannot tell you why, but please know that I had a good reason. A very good reason. But, really, you must leave. If my uncle comes home and sees you he will know I lied to him about something.”
“Nicoline, I don’t understand. Please tell me what’s going on.”
“I cannot.”
The bell on the elevator gave a single ding, and Nicoline’s entire body went rigid. “You must leave. He must not see you,” she whispered. “Hurry, out this way.” She pulled me to the emergency exit door. The moment she opened the door, two things happened: a key turned the lock in the apartment door and I got a quick glance at a snow globe sitting on the kitchen counter about two feet away. It was the three bears approaching the man fishing in the river, namely Three Bears by River. What in the heck?
Frosty the Dead Man (A Snow Globe Shop Mystery) Page 20