by Lois Lavrisa
“So?” I asked.
“We still could go over to Scarlett’s store before it closes. Maybe she’ll buy the chandelier. It kind of smells like smoke, but I’m sure that could be washed off.”
I realized we were only a few blocks away. “I hope you make a small fortune from it.”
“Wouldn’t that be great?” Annie Mae grinned.
“Are you thinking that Lucy really killed herself?” I asked.
“No. Maybe. I don’t know. Let’s say that she found Susie’s lipstick and was so heartbroken and distraught that she wrote the note with Susie’s lipstick as a way to get back at Bert.”
“I don’t know. Although that’s possible, it’s hard for me to process. Mostly because she was fine when we saw her before she died. It still doesn’t make sense to me.” I took a left on Victory, passing the historic mansions lining both sides of the street. Branches from huge oak trees formed a canopy over the road. A few minutes later, I turned onto Habersham Street.
“It’s hard for me to accept, too. But I think we’re going to have to. Bert and Susie have alibis. Ina is also out as a suspect. The poor thing can barely hear, let alone commit murder. No one else had a motive.” Annie Mae applied lipstick while looking in the passenger-side visor’s mirror.
Driving down Habersham Street, I passed a variety of one- and two-story houses in Ardsley Park. “Our first official unofficial case is closed unsolved.”
“There is still your dad’s case.”
“Yeah.” I turned into the parking lot next to Blue Belle. “But I don’t think we are any closer to solving that, either.”
“Maybe when Micky calls, he’ll have some information for you that may help.”
“Fingers crossed.” I parked and shut off the engine.
Annie Mae pulled hand sanitizer from her purse. She squirted some on her hands and then handed me the bottle. “Maybe this can help make me smell like lemons rather than burnt wood chips.”
“Good idea. I doubt it will help much, but it’s worth a try.” I put a dab in my palm and rubbed it onto my hands. “Let’s see how much your antique dumpster find is worth.”
“I have a good feeling about it.” Annie Mae unbuckled and got her chandelier.
I was disappointed that I had been wrong about Lucy being killed and me avenging her death. Maybe I had been wrong all along.
Perhaps it was suicide. That thought saddened me. I wished I’d known how desperate she must have felt. Maybe I could have prevented her death. Maybe I could have talked to her or gotten her help so that she didn’t think death was her only option.
I sighed as I got out of my SUV. The air hung heavy with the remnants of the sticky, hot day. It smelled earthy from the rain earlier. Streetlights were on. Children giggled and chased each other near a group waiting outside an ice cream shop.
The sound of the chandelier clanging announced Annie Mae at my side.
“I’m thinking this is worth at least a thousand dollars. Do you think she’ll throw in a candle, too?” Annie Mae asked.
“Sure. Why not?” I smiled. I did enjoy spending the day with Annie Mae. I’d had a day out with no children. Maybe it wasn’t a total loss.
My phone rang; an unfamiliar number showed up.
“Hi, is this Catherine?” A shaky male voice was on the other end of the connection.
I held my hand up to Annie Mae as a signal to wait. We moved under a store awning. “This is Catherine.”
“I’m Micky. I was a friend of your dad. I’m sorry about what happened to him.”
“Me too. Thank you for calling me, Mr. Zwick. We stopped over earlier, and you were resting. Are you feeling any better?”
Annie Mae gave me a thumbs-up; apparently she heard that I was on the phone with Micky Zwick.
“Yes. Not as spunky as I was before, but I am doing just fine. Really, I feel pretty great.”
“Good.”
“Now what can I do for you? Karen said you had to ask me some questions? And please, call me Micky.”
“Yes. I won’t take up too much of your time. But I just wanted to know about the business you were in with my dad and a few others. It had something to do with junkyards and rebuilding cars?”
A long silence. Had I gotten disconnected? Glancing at my phone, I saw the call was still active.
“Mr. Zwick? Micky?” I asked.
Micky cleared his throat. “Yes. I’m still here. Catherine, that was a long time ago. We were friends and tried to go into business together. Let’s just say that, in the end, we decided it was best to dissolve the company and each go our own way.”
“Did something happen to cause it to dissolve?” I asked.
“As I said, we all went our own way. We were all still friends; it’s just that we knew the partnership would not work out.” Micky’s voice softened.
“Oh.” I paused. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but three of your former business partners have died in the past two months. I don’t know if there is any connection or not. I just had a hunch that maybe it had to do with something that happened when you were all working on the car business.”
Silence.
“No. No connection that I know of. They were all good men. And it broke my heart to hear that they passed.” Micky coughed.
“Okay. Well, I just thought that maybe there may have been a grudge or something that would cause someone to go after your group members.”
“Listen, Catherine. We were all like brothers. None of us would ever do anything to hurt the other one.” Micky cleared his throat. “If there is anything else you need, you can call me back. Listen, it’s almost time for me to take my medicine.”
“I’ll let you go, then. Thank you for your time.”
“Oh, Catherine, your dad was a good man. I need you to know that,” Micky added.
Of course I knew that. Why did he feel he had to make a point to mention it? “Yes, I know. I miss him terribly.”
“Well, then. Have a good day.” Micky clicked off.
“So? What happened? I only heard your side of the conversation.” Annie Mae and I continued along the sidewalk to Blue Belle.
“To sum it up—looks like a dead end. Micky doesn’t think there are any connections with the deaths of his business partners, including my dad. He said they were all like brothers.”
“Sorry, kiddo.”
“There must be something else I’m missing,” I said. “I wish I had gotten some sort of clue or something from Micky that would lead me to who shot my dad. Anything at all.”
“At least you were able to talk to him.”
“True.”
“Is that Cowboy going into the store?” Annie Mae pointed as Cowboy entered Blue Belle.
“That’s right. Scarlett asked him to come back at closing. I remember overhearing that he was picking up something from her.” I opened the door and let Annie Mae walk in first. The bells let out a faint jingle. No one turned to look at us.
Upon entering, I saw Cowboy and Scarlett talking near the register. Scarlett’s back was to us. I doubted she saw us.
Zachary approached. “Hi. Nice to see you again.”
“Hi, Zachary.” I shook his hand. “Do you know how long your aunt will be?”
“I’m not sure. She’s with a client right now. I know he’s important because she said that she cannot be disturbed, no matter what.” Zachary scratched his neck. “And I don’t want to make her mad.”
“Oh?” Annie Mae’s voice rose.
“She may be little, but she has a temper.” Zachary looked down at his green gym shoes.
“I don’t want to disturb her, either, but I’ve got this great chandelier that I think she’ll love.” Annie Mae held it up.
“It does look vintage,” I added.
“And expensive, too,” Annie Mae added. “This looks like something she could sell and make a whole lot of money.”
“Maybe if I put it in the backroom, I can have her look at it when she has a chance,” Zachary said.<
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The bells on the door jingled. A couple pushing a stroller walked in.
“I have to help them.” Zachary motioned to the customers.
“I could just put it back there myself,” Annie Mae said.
“Only if that’s okay with you?” I asked Zachary.
Zachary waved a hand. “Sure. Go ahead.”
Annie Mae and I made our way to the back of the store.
Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Cowboy and Scarlett shaking hands. Seeing them together made me remember parts of their conversation this morning. An unsettling feeling rumbled inside me. “You know, something about Scarlett doesn’t feel right.”
“There’s a lot not right. She’s gotten a ton of surgical work done. I call that well preserved. And trying to sell candles for a hundred bucks? Give me a break. That’s not right.” Annie Mae jiggled her chandelier.
“I was thinking about Scarlett and Cowboy’s earlier conversation.”
“Cowboy. Oh, baby, I think he’s kind of cute. Tall and hunky.”
“What about Tadcu?”
“He’s a cutie, too. But I’ve got to keep my options open now that I’m out there dating again.” Annie Mae circled her hand.
Pushing the thick tapestry curtain aside, we entered the back hallway. All the while, tidbits of conversations spun in my head. “Did anything strike you as odd about what Scarlett said to us earlier?”
Furrowing her brows, Annie Mae said, “Come to think of it, didn’t she say something to the effect that Lucy had an accident? I mean, someone can slip and fall and accidentally kill themselves. But an accident with a butcher knife slitting a wrist? I don’t think so.”
“Right. I caught that as well. Although it may’ve just been a verbal slipup.”
“Right.” Annie Mae raised an eyebrow. “What else are you mulling over?”
“Now that we’re back here, I’m thinking about Lucy’s vase. Also, Cowboy had said to Scarlett how lucky she was she got something back.” I shook my head. “None of this makes any sense. Just seems like a few pieces that don’t fit.”
Annie Mae peered in boxes. “Yeah, and remember how insulted Scarlett seemed to be when I told her I was surprised she sold such an ugly vase in her store?”
“Yes, the one in Lucy’s house is rather run-of-the-mill, do-it-yourself pottery shop. But she’d shown me a picture of the room. I remember thinking it was a very pretty vase.” I bent over, looking into a box.
“Then you need glasses.”
“It’s not adding up.”
“You still have Lucy’s cell phone, right?”
“Yes.” I stood and looked at Annie Mae. “Why?”
“Following a hunch. We already looked at her texts and call log. I think we need to look at her pictures.” Annie Mae set her chandelier down on a table.
“Good idea.” I turned on Lucy’s cell phone and began to look through her pictures.
Jazz music played as muted sounds of conversations came from the other side of the curtain that separated the backroom where we stood from the showroom where Scarlett and Cowboy were. A strong scent of citrus hung in the air.
Annie Mae leaned over to see as I clicked though each picture on Lucy’s cell. There were lots of photos of her cat and other pictures of animals. Some dozen or so pictures of her backyard garden were interspersed with several shots of the interior of her house.
“Stop. That’s her sitting room.” Annie Mae pointed.
I found the vase in the picture and enlarged it.
Annie Mae and I locked eyes.
“That is not the vase that is in her house now, that’s for sure,” Annie Mae said.
“Right. And I saw it somewhere else.” A second later, I remembered. “The pattern along the top looks like the piece sticking out of a box back here.”
“Holy smokes. You’re right. What are you thinking?”
“Just that Lucy’s vase may have been switched.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.” I darted my eyes around, looking for the box I had seen earlier with the top of a blue-and-white porcelain item sticking out. I couldn’t find it. Scarlett’s office door was shut. I walked over and tried the door handle. Locked. I wondered if it was in there.
“I want to find out what Scarlett knew about the vase. Or if she knew someone who would have gone to Lucy’s house to steal it.”
“And switch it out.” Annie Mae stood next to me trying the door handle. “Why is her door locked?”
“I don’t know. But I wish I could figure out how to use my cell’s recording device. I wanted my boys to teach me, but they never had the time.”
“I know how to use mine.”
“Great. Turn it on just in case something is said that could be used as evidence.”
“Like?”
“I wish I knew. Let me call José.” I tapped my speed dial. My battery was charged just enough for a quick call. “I’m calling José to tell him what we’ve found so far and to have him meet us over here.”
“And do what?” Annie Mae leaned against a wall.
“I’m not sure. But I’m pretty sure the vase has something to do with Lucy’s death.”
José answered on the third ring. “Cat, what’s going on?”
I got him up to speed, then said, “It’s almost closing time. I think Annie Mae and I have to break into Scarlett’s office and find the vase.”
“Hell, no! Do not break in anywhere,” José said.
I covered the cell phone and turned to Annie Mae. “He thinks it’s a good idea.”
Annie Mae’s right eyebrow rose.
“I’ll have to arrest you,” José said. “Cat, are you still there?”
This time I had to go with my motherly instincts and not listen to logic. And my gut said to follow my hunch, even if that meant I had to betray my friend. But it was that important to find Lucy’s killer. “Bad connection. Have to go now. Thanks, José.” I ended the call.
“José really said that it was okay to break in? Let me talk to him. I don’t think he’s a rogue cop.” Annie Mae pulled out her cell phone and tapped on it.
“Put that away.” I took Annie Mae’s phone and put it back in her purse. “Trust me. I know what I’m doing. We have to find the vase. I think it may be the key to something.”
“Got you. You think that the vase may be evidence.”
“Yes. At least I hope so. Let’s catch a killer.” The words stuck in my throat. I nervously twisted my dad’s ring on my thumb.
“How?”
I jiggled Scarlett’s office door handle. “First, we need to get in.”
“Do we have to break in?” Annie Mae folded her arms on her chest. “Are you sure José said it was okay even after the whole deputizing thing?”
I gave a weak nod. A little white lie should be okay if it helped solve Lucy’s death. “Any ideas on getting this door open?”
“In one of the plays I directed, we had to have an actor break into a locked door. So I did research on lock picking to make it look authentic. I might be able to get us in.”
Annie Mae pulled a credit card and paper clip from her purse. She straightened the paper clip into a long piece of metal. She slid the credit card down the crack in the door next to the lock as she used her other hand to poke the metal into the lock. “We’re in.”
We entered the office. Luckily, no one was there.
Three sealed boxes sat on the table.
Annie Mae shrugged. “Now what?”
Quickly glancing around, I pointed to the boxes on the table. “We need to open them.”
Annie Mae whispered, “What if we get caught? Sooner or later, someone is going to come back here. Zachary may wonder where we are. And what happens if Scarlett walks in?”
“If she sees us back here, we could just say we lost something earlier today when we were in her office.”
“And we can tell her that the door was open already.” Annie Mae gave a thumbs-up. “I’m getting good at this stealth invest
igating. Did you notice how I fibbed to Bert earlier, too, about the pictures on Lucy’s cell phone?”
I heard a man’s voice. I looked at my cell. It was seven fifty-five.
The man said, “Is it ready? I wired the first half of your money. The second half will arrive once I inspect it.”
I put a finger to my lips and turned to Annie Mae. She nodded. My head began to spin. “I’m getting scared now,” I whispered.
“I’m right with you. It’ll be okay.” Annie Mae grabbed my hand and gave it a firm, quick squeeze. “Let’s find that vase.”
On my key chain, I had a pocketknife. I slid the knife along the seam and opened the first box. It contained a windup alarm and a red teakettle.
“Hey, this is the clock I wanted to buy. They didn’t even call me first.” Annie Mae held it.
“Focus. We are losing time.” Opening the next box, I found an item padded in bubble wrap and newspaper. Pulling it out, I slowly took off the layers of padding, revealing a blue-and-white oriental porcelain vase.
“Whoa. Now that would’ve looked way better in Lucy’s house.” Annie Mae ran a finger over the vase. “Definitely old, but in pretty good shape.”
My heart pounded so hard I was afraid that it was audible three blocks away. I felt Annie Mae’s breath on my shoulder.
“I think this is Lucy’s vase.”
I set the vase on the table and pulled out Lucy’s phone.
Scrolling through the photos stored on her phone, I found the one of her sitting room with the vase. Enlarging the picture, I held it next to the vase on the table.
“You’re right.” Annie Mae's eyes widened. “How did it get from her sitting room to here?”
“And replaced in her house by the other one?”
Outside the office, voices sounded like they were getting closer.
“Ms. Scarlett, I have to say, that vase is one of a kind,” a deep male voice said.
“Yes.” A woman let out a half laugh. “I was lucky, and now you are. Let’s get your package, and you can be on your way.”
“Let’s find something right now to handcuff her.” Annie Mae looked around and picked up packing tape from a worktable. “This will work.”
“We can’t do that. We still don’t know what happened.” I took the tape from Annie Mae and set it back on the table. “Although I think we need a serious talk with Scarlett. Is your recorder on?”