“What about his uncle?” I said, hoping to get him thinking along another line. “What did you find out about him?”
“Actually, quite a bit.” He pulled out the microfiche again. “There have been a couple of times in the last few years that the paper has done a write up on him. It seems he’s famous for one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“The homing pigeons. Strange to say, he’s like the biggest expert on carrier pigeons in this part of the country. You might even say he’s a pigeon guru of sorts.”
I stared at him blankly. “Who knew?”
“It’s a big deal to some. He’s got a whole herd of them out at his place.”
“Herd?” I questioned his use of the word. Somehow, it didn’t sound right. “Don’t you mean flock?”
He gave me a cock-eyed grin. “Listen, when you have a whole ranch just for pigeons, I’ll bet you call them a herd.” He sobered. “But something happened about fifteen years ago. It seems there was a competitive war between a number of pigeon trainers and Norm Littleton got caught up in it. At one point, someone broke into his place and let all his pigeons go. Every one of them. Most of them were killed pretty quickly and he only got a few back. Had to start all over again.”
“Who did it?”
“It was blamed on a trainer down near the central valley but they didn’t get a conviction.”
“So that guy might still be on the loose.”
“Hard to tell. How would you know?”
I grimaced and went on. “Whatever. Was Richie involved in the training of pigeons?”
“That I did not find. I suppose we’ll know more once we interview his uncle.”
I made a face, twisting my mouth to the side. “And I suppose we can’t do that until later. We have to respect his period of grief and all that.”
Max sat down on the corner of the desk looking like he was ready to get serious. “Okay, what exactly have we got?”
Chapter 9
“If it is true that he was killed with the van, and that seems to be a fact, we’re down to whoever had access to the van’s key. That list mainly includes employees of the Shady Tree. Right?”
“Right.” He frowned. “It’s a stick shift, you know. That ought to eliminate a few people from the get-go.
“Oh.” It might even eliminate me. “Sure.”
“I don’t think we even have a suspect other than the Shady Tree people. Do we?”
“How about Karl Ledger?”
He shook his head. “No motive.”
I made a face. “So we’re still stuck on the Jiggs sisters, aren’t we? How about we find that witness and see if we can drag something else out of him. Like a sudden memory of two ladies dashing down the street…”
“Give it up, Mimi. There’s no way. Think hard. Think of somebody else.”
I thought hard. Nothing popped into my head. Then I remembered something. “Okay, I talked to Karl at the funeral. He told me a tale about a young lady named Patsy Perdue. She was Richie’s girlfriend in Texas, but he tried to dump her.”
“’Tried?’”
“Yeah. He split the scene and headed back to his hometown—right here in LeFay. After a couple of weeks, she showed up here as well. She didn’t want to be dumped, I guess. She was trying to get back with him. And from what Karl said, she was being clingy and Richie was resisting fiercely.” I shrugged. “So far she is the only person we know of who was arguably mad at Richie. Right?”
Max was frowning. “Patsy Perdue?” he said slowly. “Wait a minute, that name sounds familiar.” He flipped through a pad of yellow paper. “Here you go. I made a list of the employees at Shady Tree, since it stands to reason that whoever drove that van had to get the keys somehow, and it seems working at the Shady Tree would give you the most access. Patsy Perdue. New hire about two weeks ago. Waitress.”
That got me excited. “Ah hah!”
“Maybe.” He squinted at the name again, then looked up at me with bright eyes. “Let’s go on over and find out.”
I stared at him. “Us going into the Shady Tree?” I said. “Do you think they’ll let us in when the cops aren’t there to shield us?”
“No problem.” He looked at his watch. “The two sisters clock off at eight at the latest. They have staff close up for them at eleven.” He grabbed his jacket. “Let’s go. I’d like to get a look at their system for storing and handing out their van keys. Most places are pretty lax until something happens.”
“Well, something definitely happened.”
“Yes. And that’s what we want to explore.”
I felt unaccountably nervous walking into the Shady Tree, as though the Jiggs ladies were hidden somewhere inside, waiting to jump out at me at any moment. The sullen girl hostessing didn’t seem to recognize us as anyone special and she showed us to a booth right away. Luckily, the waitress was someone I knew.
Beanie was a short blond with a quick smile. We’d gone to kindergarten through sixth grade together and her brother Todd swept up for me at the tea shop on occasion.
“Hey Beanie,” I said. “I’m longing for something sweet and sinful. What do you suggest?”
“The hot fudge sundae, of course,” she said. “We make it like the Bob’s Big Boy restaurants used to in the old days. Vanilla ice cream in one of those thick sundae glasses, hot fudge pouring out like lava, a pile of whipped cream and a cherry on top. Oh, and a sprinkle of diced nuts too.” She sighed longingly, clutching her order pad to her chest.
“Yes!” I said, my eyes lighting up. “I’ll have that.”
“If I had a break right now, I’d join you. Lucky girl.”
Max rolled his eyes. “I’ll have a cup of coffee,” he said in a curmudgeonly fashion. “Black.”
“You don’t know how to live, do you mister?” Beanie said as she tucked her order pad into the pocket of her apron and strolled toward the kitchen.
I gave him a superior look. “She’s got you nailed, doesn’t she?”
“Hah.” He growled at me. “You two will die of hardening of the arteries while I’m still going strong. I wouldn’t gloat too soon.”
Oh, but it was so delicious! I hadn’t had one in years and I wondered why as I savored every wonderful mouthful on my tongue. This was what heaven was all about.
“Okay, you enjoy your ‘heart attack in a cup’ and I’ll do some investigating of the key situation in the office,” he murmured to me as he began to slide out of the booth. “I’m going to the restroom,” he said aloud. “Be back in a minute.”
I nodded, hardly listening, totally engrossed in ecstatic eating. Beanie stopped by the table to see what progress I was making.
“Here, have a bite,” I offered, but she shook her head and I remembered why I was there.
“Say, do you have a waitress here named Patsy Perdue?”
“Yes. She’s a new hire. Do you know her?”
“No, but I heard that the fellow who died here the other day was once important to her. What do you know about that?”
Beanie opened her mouth to say something, then seemed to see something behind me and shut it again, turning instantly red in the cheeks.
“If you want answers, why not go directly to the source?” a voice behind me said.
My head whipped around. It was Patsy Perdue in her waitress uniform. She looked defiant for some reason, her red hair so obviously dyed, her bright red lipstick a statement of sorts. I hadn’t noticed her before. This was a bit awkward, but not debilitating.
“Hey Patsy,” I said. “If you wouldn’t mind, I would like to ask you a few questions.”
She hesitated, then slipped into the booth across from me. Beanie disappeared.
“So, you and Richie were a couple until fairly recently?”
She nodded. “Yes, we were. Then he got this burr under his saddle—had to go back to the place where he was raised. I followed him out here, figuring he would get it out of his system and we might be able to get together again. But that didn�
�t have time to happen.” Her eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked up and I could see that her eyes were red from crying.
“Yeah, me too. I loved the guy. I…I can’t believe he’s gone.”
“Do you have any idea who might have…?”
“No.” She was shaking her head vehemently. “He was a good guy. There is no reason for this to happen.”
“No enemies?”
She shook her head again
“What about his uncle?”
She frowned slightly, staring at me. “What about him?”
“Did they get along?”
“How do I know? He wouldn’t even let me meet him.”
I guess that wasn’t surprising if he was trying to severe ties. Why take the chance of developing new ones?
“So I guess you never got to see those fancy pigeons, huh?”
She gave a short, scornful laugh. “No, but I heard plenty about them when we were together. Richie hated those birds. I guess they’d made his teenage years a nightmare or something.”
Interesting. We talked for a few more moments, then she slipped out and went back to work. I felt for her. Her grief seemed genuine to me—but I had to admit, I’d been wrong before.
Suddenly I saw a terrifying sight. Stacy Jiggs was marching into the restaurant, purple hair flying. She was headed straight for the office where Max was snooping around.
Oh no! She had to be stopped. But how? I could throw my body into her path, but I didn’t think that would slow her down a bit. I did the only thing I could do. I jumped up and called to her, right across the room, right over the heads of her customers.
“Stacy! Hold on. I have to talk to you.”
She jolted to a stop and stared at me, mouth open. “What are you doing here?” she said at last, glaring at me as though unable to believe her eyes.
I pushed my way between a couple of tables until I reached her.
“How dare you come in here like this?” she demanded through clenched teeth.
“I wanted to ask you a few questions,” I said. I’d given it my all but I hadn’t thought of anything else to use as an excuse. “About the murder. About your van.”
I could tell she thought I was incredibly gauche to talk about such things in front of her customers—and she was right. She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side, and I looked toward the office, praying silently that Max would finish up and come out before Stacy rushed in and found him there. If she did, she was sure to call the police.
For all I knew, he might be going through her desk. Ouch. That would really look bad. Why hadn’t we discussed this a bit more before jumping in like this?
“You dare to come in here and begin asking me questions?” she ground out near my ear.
“Yes, I do. There are things I need to know. For instance,…”
“No!” she hissed, and I snuck another look at the office. Why oh why didn’t he come out?
“You stop right there,” she went on, clutching at my arm with her claw-like fingers. “You’re not the police. You’re not the authorities. You’re not even a private detective. You’re nothing but a tea shop girl and you have no right to ask me anything. Now get out of my way.”
She said that last thing because I had somewhat turned the tables on her and was now boxing her into a corner.
“Well, on to another topic then,” I said, pushing back with a sideways block so that she couldn’t pass. “Maybe you would like to explain why you and your sister broke into my shop this morning.”
That one got her. She turned bright red.
“That didn’t happen,” she said quickly. “No, you see, we were walking along the street and a car with horrible brakes went by and the brake sound was like a herd of bats and it jolted us and we jumped and fell against the door to your tea shop. Yes, that was it. It was all a mistake. We didn’t mean to do it.”
“Maybe you’d like to tell that to the police,” I said with a wild sense of bravado. Meanwhile I was screaming silently, “Max! Come out of there!”
And then I thought, wait! I know a spell for this. Let’s see. How did it go again?
But before I could remember, she managed to push past me and turn toward the office at the same moment Max was coming out.
“You!” She flew at him like the witch she is and he looked startled.
“You have no right!” she was yelling, and I was covering my ears and waiting for disaster.
But I have to hand it to Max. He handled it like a trouper. He was calm, he was cool, he looked her right in the eye and said, “I’ll tell you exactly why I went into your office. We’re investigating a murder in which your van was the murder weapon and I’m checking the security of your control of the keys to your vehicles. As in, can any employee gain access easily?”
To my astonishment, she calmed right down and took him seriously. “No. In fact, there are only two keys to that van, one my sister carries with her at all times, the other, I have. No one else can use that vehicle without one of us knowing. Can’t happen. So you see, it couldn’t have been used in the murder. The police are wrong.”
Max blinked and said. “Alright then. Thank you for your time.”
And we scooted out of there. Oh, I did drop a ten on the table just to cover the order…and a tip.
Once outside, we huddled together in a little alcove in front of the coffee shop. There was a bench and a small fountain. We sat down and went over what we’d learned so far.
“The police are sure the van was what hit him,” Max said. “And the Jiggs sisters were not using it at the time.”
“Darn it all,” I muttered. “Hey you still haven’t told me….”
“You still haven’t given me my memory card,” he said.
I pouted, but I let it go. For now.
“So if the Jiggs have the only two keys and they have them on their very persons at all time….” I thought of something. “Wait. What if someone hot wired the van?”
He shook his head. “Not likely. There would be signs left behind. And fingerprints.”
“Oh.”
We sat and pondered. “Are we still going out to see Richie’s uncle?” I asked him. “It’s getting awfully late for visiting.”
“True. Maybe we ought to hold off until tomorrow.”
I sighed. “I’d kind of like to do all we can tonight.” I could have explained to him that every minute we don’t find the real murderer, there was a risk that my sister will do something crazy thinking she’s been targeted by demons. But I didn’t think he would understand.
That reminded me, I wanted to make a call to the house to find out how things were going. I punched up the code and Lucy answered. She told me Sybil had gone to bed and all was quiet on the Tanner homefront. Relieved, I told her I’d be home a little later.
Just as I was putting the phone away, the door to the restaurant opened and Beanie came out, dressed in her coat and looking like a waitress on her way home.
“Hey Beanie, need a ride?” Max asked her.
She shook her head. “My brother’s picking me up,” she said. “Thanks though.”
“Sure.”
“Listen Beanie,” I said. “Have you ever known an employee to drive the Shady Tree van?”
She shook her head. “Nope.” Then she stopped herself. “Wait a minute. Yes. In fact, I drove it once.”
“You did? What for?”
“Macy was busy on a business conference call and she asked me to take the van over to the Lafay Garage and Body Shop for some routine maintenance, a check up I think.”
“She did?” Max and I exchanged glances. “Say, did you leave the keys with the workers at the garage?”
She thought for a minute. “Yes, I did,” she said. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? How else can they work on it?” She blinked at us questioningly. “Why?”
“Oh, no reason.”
A car swooped in and she waved. “Here’s Todd. See you later.�
� She opened the car and slipped in. Her brother waved at us and sped away.
Max and I grabbed each other and let out the huge breath we’d both been holding, trying to contain ourselves.
“This could be it,” Max said. “I’ve changed my mind. I think we’re going to have to go out to the uncle’s place and see what we can find out. Right now.”
“Okay. But I want to stop by the tea shop on our way. Okay?”
Chapter 10
“Do you think we ought to call Sergeant Frisco and tell him?” I asked as we pulled up in front of the tea shop courtyard and gathered our things to go in.
“Not yet. Wait until we really have something.”
I wanted to run things by Kashmir and see if he had any wisdom to impart but I couldn’t do that in front of Max. Kashmir would clam up tighter than a drum. He refused to allow Max to become a part of our little circle.
Luckily Martin Tanner, Gary’s brother, owned the gaming store next door and as I was searching for something, anything, to use as an excuse to be alone with my kitty... I noticed the light was still on in Martin’s shop.
"Huh," I said, just to be saying something, "Looks like Martin’s back from HugeCon."
I didn't expect any response, much less the light I saw turn on in Max's face. He turned to me like a dog who'd heard it's master's voice.
"Martin went to Huge Con?" he said with very boyish excitement.
"Uh, yeah. You know what that is?" I said.
"It's one of the newer board game conventions on the West Coast. If I wasn't a one-man operation, I'd have gone myself."
"You play games?" I said, unable to keep incredulity from my tone.
"Well... not kid's games. Euro-style board games. And I like themed games, too," he said, looking at me like I was supposed to know what the heck he meant.
"So, is Huge Con really big?"
"Well, no. But it's ambitious."
"Hmm," I said, a wheel turning in my mind. "So I bet a lot of new stuff was showed off. He probably even got some stuff you could only get at a convention."
Max nodded, and then he made some subtle movements that looked... well, looked like a grown up version of a little kid who has to pee. Furtive moving back and forth, like he couldn't decide which way to move.
Confessions of a Teenage Slayer (Sister Witchcraft Book 2) Page 7