“Thank you. It is exciting! How are things going with you?” Is he divorced yet?
“I’m sorry, Kay, I need to go. I’ll be in touch. Give my regards to Phil.”
As soon as I hung up with Thom, I called Deirdre and Elizabeth and asked them if they wanted to go walking and end up over at Sweet Marissa’s Patisserie. I told them that I had wonderful news. Right after I said that, I instantly thought about poor Neelam and Dinesh.
We had always met at the end of my driveway. For the past two years we took the same path most days, speed-walking three blocks to the college grounds then cutting behind the Agriculture building and out into the open space of the campus. We’d continue through the park to the Vermilion Pathway, walking along the beautiful Sudbury River that flowed through town, and ending in the downtown area before returning home. This would be one of our first daily walks this spring. Our walks would continue until the snow fell in the winter. We always enjoyed our time together, talking and laughing and discussing what was going on in our lives. Before Elizabeth’s marriage to John, it was usually about her romantic dates. Deirdre and I joked that we lived vicariously through her.
I met Deirdre and Elizabeth at the end of the driveway. “So,” Deirdre asked, “they caught the arsonist?”
“That’s not it, Deirdre. Look how Kay is glowing,” Elizabeth said, as we started walking.
“You look so happy. What are you glowing about?” Deirdre asked.
Elizabeth laughed. “Deirdre, that’s a bit private, isn’t it?” She then also gave me an expectant look.
I smiled large. “I’m going to be a grandmother!”
“How wonderful! Andrew?” Elizabeth asked.
“Of course, it’s Andrew and Rose. And it’s so exciting!”
Deirdre reached for my hand. “I’m so happy for you.” A few moments later, she added, “We should have a baby shower.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Definitely, we should.”
“I’ll give them a book on Feng Shui considerations for the nursery.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Of course you will.”
“They’ll want the baby to feel comfortable and be healthy and happy, right? They need to know about crib placement.”
“We’ll have to go shopping,” Elizabeth said. “The baby will need a complete layette. It’s not every day we’re having a baby.”
As we walked along, I smiled, thinking about Deirdre and Elizabeth’s reactions.
“Andrew and Rose will be thrilled to know how excited the baby’s ‘two aunts’ are.”
When we entered the downtown area and I caught a glimpse of the patisserie, I thought about how Marissa’s was always my “go to” for celebrations. Of course, Marissa’s was also my “go to” when trying to solve crimes. Face it, the patisserie was my “go to” for everything.
When we stepped inside, the bell above the door tinkled and immediately the aroma of fresh baked goods overwhelmed me. I had missed Sweet Marissa’s Patisserie when we were on the ship. Marissa was with another customer. She looked up and smiled. We went to the furthest dining room and sat at our usual spot.
Our conversation continued about Andy and Rose’s baby when Marissa brought over tea and pastries, saying, “Welcome back, ladies. I took the liberty, knowing what you all would be ordering anyway.” She placed everything on the coffee table. “I hear congratulations are in order, Kay.”
“Thank you so much, Marissa. I guess we were a bit over exuberant. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am.”
“Oh, I can see it. And it is indeed wonderful news.”
“We’re all thrilled about the baby,” Elizabeth added.
“I missed all of you while you were gone, and worried that you might be going through pastry withdrawal.”
“Marissa, we missed you also and missed being here,” I said. “Your pastries are far superior to the ones on the cruise, hands down.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Although we still ate enough of those.”
Deirdre helped herself to a pastry. “We wanted to conduct a thorough test and yours definitely were tops.”
Marissa smiled. “Thank you. I’m happy to hear that.”
Marissa went over to a young couple who were seated at a table by the window to take their orders.
Deirdre took a bite of her lemon curd tart with a dollop of toasted meringue. “I don’t know how Marissa does it.”
“Does what?” I asked. “Her outstanding pastry creations?”
“No. Well, sure, but she knows what kind of pastries each of us desires and what our favorite teas are.”
Elizabeth and I gave Deirdre an I-can’t-believe-you’re-saying-that look. We were only here all the time.
I could feel my brows pulling in, my smile wavering. “I almost feel guilty being so happy, when Neelam and Dinesh’s situation is so sad. I went to see Chief Kirk today.” I related our conversation and my conversation with Thom. “Kirk’s still trying to put the pieces together. He was pretty closed-mouth about the whole thing. I could see the determination in his face, but he should know that he can’t do it alone. He needs the community to help, perhaps even the FBI.”
“If there aren’t any witnesses I don’t know how anyone can find out,” Elizabeth said.
“Weren’t there any surveillance cameras in the area that might have picked something up?” Deirdre asked.
“If there were cameras, I’m sure Kirk would have looked at the tapes by now.”
Elizabeth cut into her pastry. “You hope.”
I told them about Phil’s idea of a fundraiser at The Starlite Friday evening.
“We’ll all do our part,” Deirdre said, “and think of other ways to raise money so they can rebuild the store. I’ve always done half of my shopping at Gupta’s.”
“And we can catch the criminals,” Elizabeth said. “Kay, you always come up with ideas. What do you think? How can we find out who these people are if you don’t know what they look like?”
I took a sip of my Scottish afternoon tea. “Think about it. The arsonist or arsonists want to feel in control. Obviously they need to feel important, and may have a warped sense of superiority. I’m hoping they start bragging about their dirty deed and someone hears them and contacts the police. But you’re right, we need to do something. I’m just not sure what. I’m at a loss.”
“I hope they brag, but we may never find out who they are.”
“Deirdre, that’s not like you being so negative. Can’t you do some kind of voodoo thing, to see something?” Elizabeth asked.
Ignoring Elizabeth’s comment, I responded, “You could be right, Deirdre, but I hope not. We need to look for pieces of the puzzle that might fit. I don’t know much about arson. I wonder how much Kirk knows, but that fire was definitely premeditated. They would have had to prepare the firebombs.”
“Kay, your house was firebombed last summer with a Molotov cocktail. They never found out who did that. Perhaps it is someone local,” Deirdre said, “and they struck again.”
“Remember Jerry Connor, who I would love to forget, probably made the firebomb. He’s behind bars now.”
Deirdre smiled. “Thanks to you, Kay.”
Last summer, during the Fourth of July fireworks, a member of our book club was murdered. Jerry Connor attempted to make the murder look like suicide because he thought his wife Marilyn had committed the crime.
“Unlike Neelam’s store, there wasn’t much damage done and I was home at the time to put the fire out. Remember my yew tree started on fire. It’s still not back to normal. Phil wanted to take the tree out, but I didn’t want to cut it down. The birds love that tree.”
“It might help to put up a big reward for information leading up to a conviction,” Deirdre said.
“We need to establish a fund?” Then Elizabeth added laughing, “But it might be hard to raise a lot of money since you’ve helped put most of the rich people in Sudbury Falls in prison.”
I smirked. “That’s a great idea. I’ll contribut
e a couple of hundred dollars.”
“So will I,” Elizabeth and Deirdre both said.
Marissa came over to our table. “How is everything, ladies?”
“Delicious as usual,” I said.
“I couldn’t help overhearing. I’ll put in two hundred dollars as well, and I’m sure many of the downtown merchants will also contribute to catch these criminals. The Guptas are well-liked and respected in the business community.”
“That makes eight hundred dollars already,” I said. “That’s a great start for a fund. A few hundred more and that amount might cause someone to come forward, a witness.”
“I’ll ask Pete,” Marissa said. “I bet he’d match what you come up with.”
Marissa was dating Pete Rudd who was the owner of the ginseng farms outside of town. Ginseng was the main cash crop in the region and the mainstay of Sudbury Falls’ economy. He had bought out the previous ginseng owners who had all gone to prison during the ginseng conspiracy.
“Let’s go around and ask some of the merchants after we finish up here,” Elizabeth said.
“I’ll make signs to put up in Planetary Herbals today and I’ll give one to you, Marissa, and to the other merchants,” Deirdre said.
I smiled, taking the last sip of my tea. “It takes a village. Let’s finish up here and get moving on this. I can’t think of anything else we can do to help at the moment.”
Chapter Seventeen
Thursday, April 7
THE THREE OF us left early to speed-walk that morning. Elizabeth had to work today, and Deirdre wanted to get to her shop by nine o’clock. When we walked through the downtown area, we were happy to see all of the signs that were up regarding the reward and the benefit at The Starlite tomorrow evening. We had gone to the various stores yesterday afternoon and, with Pete Rudd’s matching contribution, we had raised $5,000 for a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators. It wasn’t a fortune, but a nice sum to hopefully entice someone to come forward with information. We debated whether or not to turn the reward money over to the police to hold for us or to put the money in the bank. For now I would keep it in my checking account at the bank. Even the bank had contributed to the fund when I mentioned the reward to the bank president late yesterday afternoon.
After getting home from walking, I was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee when the phone rang. It was Neelam.
“I’m going over to the store this morning. I thought you might be interested to come with me and see the place for yourself.”
“Do you think it is safe to go into the store?”
“Yes. The insurance adjuster came yesterday and spent an hour looking over everything. We still have no idea what the insurance coverage will be.”
“Sure, I can meet you there.”
“How about in fifteen minutes?”
I looked at my watch. My shower would have to wait. “Okay, sounds good. I’ll be there.”
“I just want to warn you, the place is quite a mess. We had to wait for the adjuster before we could clean up or throw anything away.”
As soon as we ended the conversation, I finished my coffee, grabbed my jacket, and hustled down the street towards the downtown.
Neelam was just getting out of her car when I arrived. When we entered through the front door, a heavy smell of smoke and dampness immediately hit me. The first thing I saw was the floor by the boarded-up windows. Shattered glass was peppered everywhere. Glass crunched beneath my shoes when I took a few steps. The walls were stained black from the smoke. I looked over in the direction of where their beautiful spices had been displayed. A mixture of charred wood and splotches of bright colors were sprawled over the floor. The design was actually pretty. Of course I didn’t dare mention that to Neelam whose eyes were tearing up.
“Oh, Neelam. This is devastating,” I said, shaking my head.
“I know. It feels like there’s been a death in our family.”
I continued to look around me. The produce section was destroyed with burned and rotted vegetable matter laying on the floor and in half-burned bins. Some of the food remained on the shelves in the back. What boxes that weren’t wrecked from their sprinkler system and the fire department, were damaged by smoke.
“We’re having dumpsters delivered later today. Everything will have to go.”
I nodded. “It doesn’t look like anything can be salvaged. What a mess.”
“Thank goodness the building doesn’t have any structural damage. Luckily someone saw the smoke and called the fire department right away. We were told the trucks arrived within ten minutes of the call.”
“How lucky someone saw the smoke, especially at that hour. Does the fire department know who called?”
Neelam shook her head. “If we decide to stay, it will be a lot of work. We’ll have to scrub everything down and paint the place to get rid of the smoke smell.”
I put my arm around her shoulders. “I’m happy to hear you’re considering staying. I would think the insurance should cover some of that.”
“Dinesh doesn’t know if it’s worth it. He still doesn’t know if we should even stay.” She hesitated, her eyes downcast, then continued. “He said, what if it happened again?”
“The police,” I hesitated, “or someone, will find out who did this. I know they will.”
It would probably be the “someone” who solved this. After all, this was Kirk I was talking about. I wasn’t sure he ever solved anything, at least anything that I knew of. Perhaps everything had always been placed in his lap.
“And Phil said Dinesh is playing tomorrow night for the benefit, so he must be thinking about staying on.”
Neelam smiled and rubbed the back of her neck, kicking a piece of wood out of her way as we headed to the rear of the store. “I hope you’re right, Kay.”
I followed. The food counter where Neelam had served up mouth-watering dishes was still there, but discolored like everything else.
“If you didn’t stay, where would you go?”
“I don’t know. Dinesh had mentioned about moving to St. Paul. There’s more diversity there.”
She was right. “Neelam, you must stay. You’re like family. And besides, who will give me cooking lessons?”
Neelam laughed and reached her arms out to me. “Oh, Kay, you always manage to make me laugh.”
We hugged. “Phil and I will help you and Dinesh as much as we can and I know others in the community will pitch in as well. We’ll make it work for you.”
Tears rolled down Neelam’s cheeks. “You are so kind.”
I looked around the store. It was a complete disaster. “Nonsense. You would do the same for us. When the dumpsters arrive today, let me know and we’ll start getting rid of all of this stuff. We can tear the guys away from practicing for a while. All of them can come to help.”
* * * *
Late afternoon when Phil came home from school, he and I, Deirdre and Mike, Janey and Loren went over to Gupta’s New Delhi to help with the cleanup. I had also managed to get a hold of ten other neighbors and friends who volunteered to help. We met Elizabeth and John at the store. I did a double take when I saw Elizabeth talking to Neelam. All of us were dressed in work clothes other than Elizabeth who turned up in what she probably wore to the library today, her “green envy” pants suit. I had no idea why she called it that, but I had heard her refer to the outfit previously using those words.
“Elizabeth, don’t you own any work clothes?”
She looked indignant. “What? Do you want me to wear overalls?”
She could have worn jeans. I suppose at least she wasn’t in white or spike heels for the job.
Elizabeth went out to her car and came back in the building without her suit jacket on.
We all put on gloves and got to work. Three huge dumpsters were in the alley in the back, and in a couple of hours we were able to empty all of the spoiled food into the dumpsters. Then the men and Janey got to work tearing t
he burned wooden bins from the produce area. Neelam had brought along brooms and mops and we swept up the glass, the spices, and other debris from the floor.
When we were sweeping, I noticed a green curved piece of glass that looked like it might have been from a bottle that I hadn’t noticed this morning. It had the letters LE on it. I was careful not to touch it.
I called Neelam over. “Does this glass look familiar? Do you recognize this from something that you sold in the store?”
“No.”
Phil stopped what he had been doing and came over as well and looked. “That looks like part of a bottle of craft beer that is served at The Starlight. IMPERIAL ALE.”
“Really? This could be important. Neelam, could you please give me a plastic bag I could put this in? I’m going to take it to Chief Kirk after we’re done here. There might be some fingerprints they can lift from the glass.”
Neelam handed me a plastic bag from a box of bags she had brought along.
“Thanks. I think there’s a good chance that this is part of the bottle that was used for the firebomb.” I was surprised Kirk didn’t notice it. The rest of the bottle must have shattered upon impact. There had been glass all over the floor in the front of the store.
“Good thinking, Kay,” Elizabeth said, brushing soot off her pants.
I carefully put my hand inside of a bag and picked the glass up. Then I put it into a second bag that Neelam held open for me.
We were all making fast work of the cleanup. By the time we were ready to leave, about four hours after we started, Gupta’s New Delhi was an empty shell of a building. It still had the burned odor. That would get tackled another time. Everyone looked around. We had accomplished a lot.
“I think we’re all done here. I can’t believe we were able to do this in such a short amount of a time,” Neelam said. “I thought this would take us days. Thank you so much everyone.”
“With a couple of coats of paint and new shelves, the store will look like new,” I said.
“When you’re ready to choose colors remember, Kay and I did the painting at Planetary Herbals. You’ll want to choose colors that will bring you good fortune. I can help you with that.”
Paradise Can Be Murder Page 17