“Detective, what are you doing here?” William asked.
“You remember me, then?” David asked.
William and David had crossed paths a few months before at the old banquet hall on Treasure Cove Lane. That evening, David and I had spotted a number of men in suits filing into the banquet hall for what looked like a secret meeting. After David pulled into the parking lot to get more information, William stonewalled him at the door. It appeared that William was prepared to give David just as difficult of a time in the warehouse.
William nodded. “I do remember you.”
“Good. Then you know that I mean business,” David said.
“Detective, I’m not quite sure what you’re doing here, but this is a private business, so I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” William replied.
“Mr. Bolton, you’re crazy if you think you’re going to get rid of me that easily. I am here on official police business. Now, you can answer our questions here, or you can answer them at the station. It’s your choice,” David said.
William took a deep breath. “What kind of questions are we talking about?”
I was generally happy to hang back and let David dive into the tough subject matter. This time, I felt that it was important to switch things up.
I decided to take the lead. “That’s an awful lot of boxes. What are you importing these days?”
“A little bit of this and a little bit of that,” William replied.
“And what are you exporting?” I asked.
“Is that what you came all the way here to ask me?” William said.
I shook my head. “No. I have all kinds of questions for you.”
William narrowed his eyes. “I’ll bet you do.”
I threw my arms out. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Melissa Wilcox told me about you. How nosy you are. How you refuse to mind your own business. How you have a way of looking for trouble,” William said.
“Did she also tell you that I have a knack for finding out the truth?” I asked.
William’s forehead wrinkled. “About what? I’m just trying to run a business here. Why don’t you let me get back to that?”
“We’d be happy to,” David said. “When we get answers to our questions.”
“I import and export a whole range of products, from tchotchkes to the occasional antique. There are too many items to list,” William replied.
“I’m sure you keep a list around here,” David said.
“Are you here to investigate my business? If so, I hope you have a search warrant,” William replied.
“Actually, we’re here about another matter,” David said.
“What sort of matter?” William asked.
“Murder,” David said.
“Who is the victim?” William asked.
“A friend of yours. Gregory Morton,” I said.
“First of all, we were not friends. I didn’t even know the man,” William replied.
I shook my head in disbelief. “William, who do you think you’re fooling?”
“Are you calling me a liar?” William asked.
“Are you honestly going to stand here and tell me that you didn’t know Gregory?” I said.
William stared me down. “What gave you the misguided idea that I knew him?”
“How about the fact that you are members of the same secret society?” I replied.
William scoffed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
David shot him a glare. “Mr. Bolton, I hate being lied to.”
“I have done no such thing,” William said.
“Yeah, you did,” David said. “A week and a half ago, I spotted both of your cars coming out of the old banquet hall on Treasure Cove Lane. The same banquet hall that you refused to let me inside a few months ago.”
“Are you still holding a grudge about that? I couldn’t let you in. You didn’t have an invitation,” William said.
“Not many men did. Those invitations seemed pretty hard to come by. So the fact that both you and Gregory Morton did have invitations makes it impossible for me to believe that you didn’t know each other,” David replied.
“Okay, so we both attended a few meetings. It doesn’t mean that we’re friends or anything. After all, there were a number of other attendees at those meetings,” William said.
David squinted. “What exactly was discussed at the meetings?”
“Just general business stuff. How to grow your brand. How to maximize profit. The usual kind of stuff,” William replied.
David stared William down. “Mr. Bolton, do I have to warn you that it’s a crime to lie to a police detective?”
“I’m not lying. We were a part of the same business society,” William said.
“Business society? Is that what you’re calling it?” David asked.
“That’s what it is.”
“That’s not what Tom Dillon said,” I replied. “When I asked him about your little group a few months ago, he told me it was just some business mixer.”
“Mixer. Society. It doesn’t really matter what you call it,” William said.
“I’m sorry, but I have never heard of a secret, invitation-only, black-tie business society,” David replied.
“Those are your words, not mine,” William said.
“I thought it didn’t matter what I called it,” David replied.
William exhaled. “There’s nothing wrong with a few businessmen getting together and sharing some tricks of the trade.”
“What’s the name of this group?” David asked.
William tensed up. “I don’t have to tell you that.”
“Because it’s secret?” David asked.
William shook his head. “No. Because it’s not relevant. You told me you were here to investigate a murder. I had nothing to do with Gregory’s death. End of story.”
David folded his arms. “We’ll be the judge of that.”
William’s forehead wrinkled. “Go ahead. Judge me all you want. It doesn’t change the fact that I had nothing to do with Gregory’s death.”
“That is yet to be determined,” David replied.
“Wait a minute. You don’t actually think I’m a suspect, do you?” William asked.
“I never implied that you were,” David replied. “Although, you do seem awfully defensive for a supposedly innocent man.”
“What you call defensive, I call annoyed. You show up at my business completely unannounced in the middle of my workday and start firing questions at me. How am I supposed to react?” William asked.
“I’m not here to tell you how to behave,” David replied.
“That’s the thing. You say you’re here because you’re trying to find Gregory’s killer, but I had no connection to the victim other than a few meetings that we both happened to have attended,” William said.
“Gregory’s murder isn’t the only reason we’re here. There’s another issue at play,” I said.
“What issue is that?” William asked.
“We want to talk to you about dextramaltin,” I said.
A blank look came to William’s face. “I don’t know what that is.”
“It is a rare illegal compound derived from a plant that is only found in remote corners of Asia,” I said.
“I’ve never heard of the stuff,” William replied.
I gave him a critical stare. “Is that so?”
“Yes. That’s why I just told you. Don’t you listen?” William snapped.
“I’d watch your tone if I were you,” David said.
“Well, you’re not me,” William snapped.
“So you’re telling us that you run an import-export business and you’ve really never heard of dextramaltin?” I asked.
“Why should I have heard of it? I run an honest business,” William said.
“So if we were to search these boxes, we wouldn’t find a single speck of it here?” David asked.
William scrunched his nose. “You have lo
st me. What does dextramaltin have to do with Gregory’s murder?”
“Gregory was supplying his patients with dextramaltin pills. Since the compound is illegal in this country, he had to have someone import it for him—”
William cut David off. “Nice try, but you’re not going to pin this on me.”
“You never did answer our question,” I said.
“Which question?” William asked.
“If we searched these boxes—”
William interrupted me. “You wouldn’t find anything illegal in them. Like I said, I run an honest business here.”
“In that case, do you mind if we open up some of those boxes?” David asked.
“Do you have a search warrant?” William replied.
“If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about,” David said.
“I know my rights. You’re not searching anything without a warrant,” William replied.
“Why do you insist on doing things the hard way?” David asked.
“Like I said, I know my rights. And I know you don’t have grounds to get a warrant,” William said.
“A murder has occurred,” David replied.
“I’m not a suspect in that murder.”
“Says you.”
“Why don’t you go talk to a judge and see if they’ll give you a search warrant? My guess is that they’ll laugh you right out of the courthouse,” William said.
“I’m sorry. Are you a judge now?” David asked.
“No. But, like I said, I know my rights. And you don’t have nearly enough for a search warrant,” William replied.
“We’ll see about that,” David said.
“Why don’t you go do that? I don’t have all day to stand around and argue with you. I have a business to run,” William said.
This wasn’t the first time William had challenged David about the law. William had done the same thing the night he had denied David entrance into the banquet hall. It turned out that William was quite a savvy man. He seemed especially well-versed in legal procedures regarding search and seizure of evidence for a man who ran an import-export business.
I couldn’t help but speculate as to why he was so knowledgeable about that particular section of the law. My guess was so that he could bend the rules in his own favor.
The conversation was slipping away too quickly for me to bring up that topic. There was a much more pressing issue that needed to be discussed.
“William, there’s something else we need to know before we head out,” I said.
“Don’t you ever listen? I need to get back to work,” William replied.
“Don’t worry. This won’t take long,” I said. “Where were you last night between seven and eight o’clock?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but my wife and I were at a party,” William replied.
“If that’s true, then it should be pretty easy to verify,” I said.
David pulled out a pen and a pad of paper. “I’m going to need the names and numbers of some of these party attendees.”
William groaned. “Fine.”
William provided David and me with the names and numbers of five different people, each of whom verified his story. That put David and me in a tough spot. Despite the fact that William looked as suspicious as could be, he had an airtight alibi. That meant that David and I had no choice but to move on.
Chapter Fifteen
So much for thinking outside the box. My idea to question William had been original, but David and I ended up with the same kinds of results that we had encountered all day. Even worse than hitting a dead end with William was the fact that I was now fresh out of ideas. Not to mention energy.
I was completely exhausted. And hungry. That did not make for a good combination.
I let out a sigh as I walked back to David’s car.
“That just about sums up the whole day, doesn’t it?” David deadpanned.
I nodded. “It sure does. Although, a groan would probably be even more appropriate.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
“I’d prefer not to argue at all. There’s been enough of that today.”
“Yeah. It turns out these suspects haven’t exactly been the most forthcoming with us. Go figure,” David joked.
I chuckled. “Don’t get me wrong. It feels good to get some laughs in after everything we have been through today. But I can’t help but wonder where we go from here?”
“I don’t know about you, but I could really go for some food right now,” he said.
I squinted at him. “I meant, about the case.”
“Honestly, I can’t think straight unless I get some food in my stomach.”
“In that case, I know the perfect place to go.”
“Do you have sandwiches on the brain?”
I shook my head. “Actually, I had something else in mind.”
David furrowed his brow. “Really?”
“I know it’s hard to believe that I’d want to go anywhere else than Shannon’s sandwich shop.”
“I was actually going to say that it’s impossible to believe.”
“I hate passing up a delicious bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado sandwich, but I have a very good reason to do it,” I said.
“I’m all ears,” he replied.
“Unfortunately, Shannon’s sandwich shop isn’t anywhere near Treasure Cove Lane,” I said. “I know one restaurant that is, though.”
David’s eyes lit up. “Home Away From Home Cooking.”
I nodded.
***
There was one very specific reason that I wanted David to drive down Treasure Cove Lane. Doing so would allow David and me to pass by the old banquet hall where the secret society had been holding their meetings. My gut was telling me that it might be an advantageous time to head down that stretch of road.
Then again, my stomach was telling me that it needed food sooner rather than later, so it was possible that I was mistaking my hunger for a lead. Although, with Home Away From Home Cooking restaurant located not too far away from the banquet hall, David and I didn’t have to go out of our way to follow up on my hunch.
As David’s car drove past the banquet hall, I noticed that the parking lot was completely empty. There was no sign of any activity going on anywhere.
So much for my gut instinct.
I let out a sigh. “I guess it isn’t our lucky day.”
“Or night, for that matter,” David replied.
“That too.”
David gave me a sympathetic look. “It was worth a try.”
“I guess. Unfortunately, it wasn’t worth the drive,” I replied.
“Hey. We may be fresh out of leads, but we can still grab a delicious bite to eat,” David said.
“That’s not quite the consolation that you seem to think it is,” I replied.
“Tell that to my stomach. I am getting a fierce craving for barbecued chicken.”
Just as David’s stomach was growling, mine decided to start acting up on me.
I felt a terrible sinking feeling in my gut. As busy as my stomach was in crying out for food, it seemed to have no trouble tying itself into knots.
David immediately spotted the distressed look on my face. “Sabrina, are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” I replied.
David squinted. “Which means you’re not fine right now. Do you not want to go to Home Away From Home Cooking?”
“Look, I’m just feeling…” I had trouble finishing my sentence.
David picked up where I left off. “Conflicted?”
I exhaled. “Yeah.”
Normally, I didn’t have such strong feelings about restaurants. Home Away From Home Cooking wasn’t just any eatery. It used to be my favorite restaurant in town. David and I went in there every few weeks. But ever since the owner was killed, I hadn’t gone back in there to eat a meal.
As a matter of fact, I had barely wanted to set foot in the place during the entire murder
investigation to gather evidence and interview suspects. Even now that the killer was behind bars, I still had my reservations about going back there for dinner.
Sigh. What a difference a homicide made.
“Want to turn around?” David asked.
I gathered my thoughts, then I shook my head. “No. I need to do this.”
“Are you sure?”
I took a deep breath. “Yes.”
“All right. It’s your call,” David replied. “Home Away From Home Cooking it is.”
There was more to my decision than just satiating my appetite. Part of it didn’t have to do with food at all. I didn’t say yes just because of the food. It was also about taking a stand.
For months, it had felt like the ground was shaking beneath my feet. Seismic shifts were occurring in my hometown. And while it was undeniable that change was still afoot, I didn’t completely want to let go of the past.
After my friend had been murdered in the kitchen of Home Away From Home Cooking, it would have been easy to never go back to the restaurant again. To let my tainted memories win out. But what if everyone in town did that?
My friend would be remembered for the cruel way that she had died, not the hardworking way she had lived. Clarissa Anderson had poured her heart and soul into her restaurant. So despite the grim way that her life had come to an end, I wanted to honor her legacy.
There was more to it than that. Treasure Cove was my hometown. I was born here. I grew up here. This was where I chose to build my life. And I wanted to live, not walk around in fear.
***
As David and I approached the entrance to Home Away From Home Cooking from David’s car, a familiar face was exiting the restaurant. It was Kayla Green. She did not look happy to see us.
As a matter of fact, she groaned the minute she spotted us.
“Go figure. My horrible day isn’t over after all,” she said.
“I guess you’re not happy to see us,” David deadpanned.
Kayla narrowed her eyes. “Not even close.”
“Did you just eat alone?” David asked.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I just stopped in to grab a quick drink,” Kayla replied.
Daley Buzz Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 50