Freezer I'll Shoot (A Vintage Kitchen Mystery)

by Hamilton, Victoria

  “Have you seen Ruby or Garnet in the last while?” Jaymie asked.

  “Haven’t seen Ruby all evening, and Garnet . . . Well, he was here; then he was out of sight. I assumed he was working in the office, but maybe he’s gone home.”

  “Do they do that often?”

  “What, leave me to lock up? Sure. Usually they tell me, but not always. I check the offices and all around the place before I lock up.”

  Jaymie took a deep breath. “There’s been an accident. Ruby fell into the river. They’re taking her to Wolverhampton General to check her out, and Garnet went with her. He just wanted you to know so you could take care of things.”

  “Oh, no!” the woman said with a gasp. Her lipstick-stained mouth formed an O; then she asked, “Is she okay?”

  “I sure hope so,” Jaymie said.

  “I’m shocked!” she said, one hand on her bosom. “Will Garnet be here for opening tomorrow?”

  “I don’t know. Can you be here to open, just in case?”

  “Sure. What’s really going on, Jaymie?” the woman said, searching Jaymie’s eyes. She swiped a hank of her frizzy blond hair out of her eyes. “I mean, first Urban gets himself killed, and now this. Do you think the murderer tried to kill Ruby, too?”

  It wasn’t anything Jaymie hadn’t already thought of. Will at the dock came back to her. Could he have been involved? Why would he have killed Urban, and tried to kill Ruby? But it was possible, she supposed; she needed to think about that some more. She could see by the look in the older woman’s eyes that she had taken too long to answer. “I don’t know, Marg. I really don’t. As far as I know it was just an accident. Please don’t say anything else to anyone!”

  “I wouldn’t. I’ve been friends with Garnet and Ruby for seven years.”

  “That’s as long as they’ve been here, right?”

  “Yeah. I met them when they came to stay at the Queensville Inn when they were researching business opportunities here. Then they bought and started renovating the Ice House, and asked me if I wanted a job as assistant manager.”

  “But Garnet tried to buy into the marina first, right, before they settled on the Ice House restaurant?”

  “Yeah. Fancy you knowing that! I thought that was a well-kept secret.”

  “Well, he’s been trying to buy it again, since Urban died. He wasn’t too pleased when Evelyn, on Will Lindsay’s advice, turned him down.”

  Marg’s eyebrows rose, but she just shook her head, looking puzzled.

  “Where did they live before Heartbreak Island? Ruby and Garnet, I mean.”

  “Uh, Florida, right? I think so, anyway.”

  “You don’t know for sure? Haven’t they ever had family staying, or gone to visit friends?”

  Marg frowned. “Jaymie, I don’t poke my nose into their business.” She shifted and looked back toward the restaurant. “I gotta go. The rest of the staff is done tallying tips and sharing out, and I have to make sure everything is ready for morning if I’m going to open.”

  Jaymie headed back around to the Redmond cottage in a thoughtful frame of mind. She let herself in the front door, and put Hoppy down, expecting that the Yorkie-Poo would head to the kitchen, where he knew Ruby kept the treats in a jar by the back door. She wanted to make sure all the doors were locked. On the island, people were lax. They often left their back doors unlocked for convenience during the daytime, but folks usually locked up at bedtime. Garnet and Ruby had gotten into the habit of leaving theirs unlocked while Jaymie was there, though, for when she needed their toilet.

  She did a circle check of windows and doors; the back door was, indeed, unlocked. She made sure the basement sump pump was off—if it rained, she’d make sure it was turned back on—the coffeepot was unplugged, and she was done. But where was Hoppy? Not in the kitchen, that she could see. “Darn you, little dog, where are you? Hoppy! Where are you, fella?”

  No bark, no skitter of claws on hardwood, nothing. “Where are you?” She moved through the dim cottage, back to the bathroom, then Garnet’s messy room, then Ruby’s pristine bedroom. Hoppy was up on Ruby’s bed, paws on the side table, sniffing at an envelope that was propped against a digital clock. In printed block letters it read “Garnet.”

  Her stomach lurched. She shouldn’t look, but . . . if there was something here that could help answer the questions that plagued them, it was important to find it out. She reached out, took the envelope and saw that it was not sealed. She opened it with trembling hands. The note was written in a generous, looping hand that Jaymie recognized as Ruby’s. She read the letter, then wished she hadn’t.

  Garnet

  I tried to make it all work. I was hoping everything would be all right, but it’s not turning out that way. I’m scared and unhappy and tired of it all, and I’m taking the easy way out. I hope you won’t be too hurt, and I’ll see you again, I know. I love you.

  R.

  Gently, Jaymie put the letter back in the envelope and propped it where it had been. Aching with a deep sadness, she grabbed Hoppy and took him back to her cottage, then picked up the phone. This was not how she wanted things to turn out, but how else to construe it but as a confession and suicide note?

  In her purse she had a card with Zack’s cell number on it. She phoned him directly, and got his voice mail. “Zack, I know by now you’re probably at the hospital, but there’s something at the Redmonds’ that I think you need to see. Call me.”

  So, did Ruby kill Urban alone, or did she and Garnet conspire? It was likely the two of them. There had to be more to it than just the confrontation and trouble over the sail controversy. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered, where had the Redmonds come from? What was their story? They had arrived in Queensville as if out of nowhere, had the wherewithal to buy their cottage and what would become the Ice House with no mortgage, it was rumored, and had never seemed to want for anything. Where did anyone get that kind of cash?

  She tried to sleep, but tossed and turned all night. As dawn broke, she called Valetta.

  “M-yeah?”

  “I woke you up, didn’t I. Sorry, Valetta, but I needed to talk to someone.”

  “What’s up, kiddo? Hey, I saw the ambulance go down to the dock last night. That means someone from the island needed it. What gives?”

  “Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” She sketched out what had happened the night before, then said, “You’re coming out here today, right?”

  “I can leave in ten minutes.”

  “Okay. See you in a few.”

  Overnight, shock had been replaced by anger. The Redmonds were hiding something dire from those who had befriended them over the years, people who had trusted them in their homes and been nothing but open. Zack phoned just a couple of minutes after she and Valetta hung up. She told him what she had found when she went over to close up for Garnet.

  “So he didn’t know the note was there, if he sent you over to lock up,” he mused. “Unless . . .” He stopped himself, and went silent.

  “He couldn’t have known it was there, or it would have been opened, but it’s sitting on her night stand, envelope closed, with his name on the outside. I saw her leaving the restaurant while I was having dinner there with Daniel. I wonder if she left it there before or after that? She could easily have stopped there, before heading down to the marina.”

  “I need to see it,” he said, “but I have to ask Garnet’s permission, or get a warrant. I’m still in Wolverhampton at the hospital.”

  “Zack, I really think there’s something hinky about the Redmonds.” He was silent. It occurred to her that he knew much that she didn’t know, and of course, with the power and resources of the police department behind him, he was likely ten steps ahead of her. “You know something, and you’re not going to tell me.”

  “So sorry not to be able to share info with my fellow
peace officer,” he said, “but it’s privileged information.”

  She got the sarcasm. He was telling her to butt out. “How is Ruby doing?”

  “She’s still unconscious. Gotta go,” he said. “Thanks for the call, Jaymie. I do appreciate it.”

  “Right.”

  She had coffee waiting for Valetta, who settled on one of the farm chairs at the kitchenette table and opened the box of Tansy’s Tarts she had brought with her. “Breakfast,” she said, and took one, biting into it with gusto. Runny, sugary goodness dripped down her chin and she grabbed a napkin.

  “So, what’s going on with the Redmonds?” she asked.

  “I wish I knew.” Jaymie looked out the back door toward the Redmonds’ place. “You know,” she said slowly, with heavy emphasis, “I’m not quite sure I locked up securely last night, like Garnet asked.”

  “What do you mean? You went over there to lock up but didn’t lock u—Oooh! I get it.” Valetta nodded. And took a slurp of coffee. “Well, you know, Jaymie,” she said, matching her friend’s emphatic tone, “I think we ought to go over there and make sure you locked up, and make sure no one got into the place in the meantime. It’ll mean checking through every room.”

  That was what Jaymie appreciated about Valetta; she never second-guessed her, and she was up for anything. They gulped down the rest of their coffee, washed butter tart residue off their hands and bolted out the back door, leaving a confused Hoppy whining and staring after them. Jaymie crossed the newly sodded valley between the two cottages, as Jaymie pointed out what had happened and how.

  She led the way to the Redmond patio and back door, keys in hand, and turned to Valetta. “Look, I know what we’re doing is wrong, and I don’t want to drag you into it. Still, I’d love you to have a look around, just to see if anything makes you wonder?”

  “I’m in already,” Valetta said, looking around anxiously. “Now hurry up and open! Garnet could come home at any time.”

  They entered and prowled, ending up in Ruby’s bedroom. Jaymie pointed out the letter on the side table. Valetta stopped and looked around, making a full circle. “Something is not right here,” she said finally. “I would bet my mortgage money and my life’s savings that Ruby Redmond never slept in this room.”

  Twenty

  “WHAT DO YOU mean?”

  “Just what I said. Look around. Dust on the side table, except where the letter has been placed. The bed is perfectly made up.”

  “Maybe she’s just ultra neat. C’mon, Valetta, just because we’re slobs who don’t make up our beds every morning doesn’t mean she is, too.”

  “Speak for yourself!” Valetta retorted, hands on her hips. “I make my bed every morning, and put the vintage chenille bedspread on, and the bed dolly my aunt made for me when I was twelve. But it never looks this neat, and there’s just . . . Don’t you feel it?” she said, turning around. “It feels . . . stagnant . . . unlived in.”

  Just then, the sound of the key in the front door lock made them both bolt from the room. It was too late to leave the cottage, so Jaymie led Valetta to the kitchen and flicked the sump pump switch. It choked and garbled as Garnet entered the room. She flicked it off.

  He looked exhausted, gray, almost, the lines on his face deeply grooved, his jowls sagging, his jawline blurred with gray whiskers. He stood and stared at them, blinking and frowning. “Jaymie, Valetta. What are you two doing here?”

  “Uh, Valetta came over to the island this morning to help me work on the cottage interior. It’s real dirty after the week of working on the leaching bed. I told her I was worried about how your, uh, sump pump sounded, and asked her to come over and have a listen.”

  He flicked the switch, and it grumbled to life again; then he switched it off. “It always sounds like that. There’s a nut loose in the housing.” He slumped down into a chair, his face in his hands.

  “How is Ruby?” Jaymie asked, crouching by him. “What happened? Has she said how she ended up in the river?”

  He shook his head, wetness seeping out from under his hands. “I don’t know. I just . . . I don’t know.”

  Jaymie hesitated; should she point him toward the suicide note? What did it mean? Why hadn’t Zack stopped him, or talked to him yet? Shouldn’t Garnet have a chance to figure out what was going on with his sister? She vacillated wildly between thinking he was a conscienceless murderer to believing he was an innocent party in the whole affair; there didn’t seem to be any middle ground.

  “Garnet, has Ruby been upset lately about anything?” Valetta asked, hovering over them.

  “We’ve all been upset over Urban’s murder.” He shot a look at Jaymie. “You, too, right? I mean, it’s awful that his body was right here, outside our back doors.” He wiped the wetness away from the pouchy bags under his eyes. “In the end, it didn’t really matter.”

  She watched his eyes. “What do you mean, it didn’t matter? What didn’t matter?”

  He shrugged and looked out the back window.

  He wasn’t going to say anything more. This was a Garnet Jaymie had never seen, a gaunt, gray man with watery, worried eyes. Ruby was afraid her brother had committed the crime, but surely she wouldn’t think that if the argument over the sail was all there was to it. Maybe, since Ruby had shared her fears with Jaymie, she and Garnet had talked and he had told her the truth, that he did kill Urban Dobrinskie. That could be what weighed on her so badly that she felt she had to do away with herself. Jaymie considered it; if she knew her sister, Becca, had committed murder, how would she feel? She’d be horrified, and yet she’d feel the need to protect her sister, but she wouldn’t be suicidal. Was the conflict just too great for his sister to bear? “How is Ruby?” she asked again.

  He sighed. “She’s still unconscious,” he said, repeating what Zack had said, “but the doctors say she’s going to be okay. They’re hoping she comes out of it later today.”

  “Have you talked to Zack Christian?”

  “I did last night, but I missed him this morning; I guess he was there at the hospital all night, but I was in with Ruby and asked not to be disturbed. He left a message on my cell phone, but I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I’m just back to get some clothes and night things for Ruby; then I’m headed back to the hospital. I’ll talk to the detective then.”

  “Do you need some help with that? Getting things together for Ruby?” Valetta asked, exchanging a significant glance with Jaymie. “You might not know what a woman would need.”

  Jaymie watched Garnet’s face; he considered it, but then his gaze shuttered and he shook his head. “No, thank you, Valetta. The nurses made me a list,” he said, pulling a scrawled piece of ripped paper from his pants pocket. “I’ll be okay. I can buy any . . . any personal item she needs in Wolverhampton. No need upsetting her bedroom.”

  Interesting response. “It wouldn’t be any trouble, Garnet,” Jaymie said.

  “It’s okay. Look, I’m going to shower, shave, and put on some fresh clothes, then gather my sister’s stuff,” he said, standing, his expression set in grim lines. “You two run along and get down to what you have to do. Ruby will be fine. It was just an accident. Fell off the dock, or something.”

  There were no excuses left to hang around. They couldn’t delay any longer, and the women left. Both were silent for a few minutes, as they descended the slope. On the way up to the Leighton cottage, Jaymie said, “He didn’t want us looking through her stuff.”

  “No, he did not,” Valetta said. “Why?”

  “He was afraid of what we would find, and it was not the suicide note, because he hasn’t seen that yet.”

  “That we know of, anyway.”

  “If he had seen it, he wouldn’t have left it where it was. But what if he sees it and gets rid of it?” Jaymie fretted. “I’ve already told Zack about it, and he’s going to get a warrant now, and ask about the note, and Garnet will kn
ow I found it, opened it and read it.” She shrugged as they entered the back door, to Hoppy’s explosive joy. “Oh, well. Can’t do anything about that now!”

  She quickly called Zack to let him know where Garnet was, but got his voice mail, so she left a message. It was all a dark blot in her mind, but she really couldn’t change it now that she had done what she had done. She and Valetta spent the next few hours deep cleaning, then broke for lunch just as the phone rang. It was the company moving her new patio furniture; they were at the dock and wanted to bring it up to Rose Tree Cottage.

  “Perfect,” Jaymie said.

  Valetta made sandwiches as Jaymie directed the men, who hauled a dolly cart with her new/vintage furniture to the house, and carried it back, piece by piece. There was the white-painted metal table with wrought iron hairpin legs and iron roses, and a set of six wrought iron chairs, missing the chair pads. She’d have to make or buy something before anyone could use them. There were some extra chairs and small side tables, and the antique-looking double glider chair; it was a reproduction, but she was fine with that.

  It was a start.

  Jaymie made a quick call to Cynthia Turbridge and gave her some ideas for the Cottage Shoppe kitchen; then she and Valetta ate in the shaded copse, after hauling a few cushions out to pad the wrought iron seats. Jaymie had a clipboard with her, and was making a list of things that had to be done before the families descended on the cottage for the dinner. But she just couldn’t stop thinking about Ruby’s mysterious plunge into the St. Clair. She tapped her pencil on the clipboard.

  “I keep thinking about what you said, Valetta, that Ruby’s room was unused. What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Valetta didn’t say anything else, and Jaymie looked over at her. Her forehead was wrinkled, and she stared up at the Redmond cottage.