Powdered Peril

by Jessica Beck

  “Indulge us all and tell us anyway,” Grace said.

  “Let’s see. We have to start with his brother, Bryan. Those two were not fans of each other, no doubt about it. There’s his business partner, Henry Linx, or was it Lincoln? I don’t know, it was something like that. They were having a battle of their own, let me tell you. Henry accused Peter of stealing from him, and the last time I saw them together, Henry was ready to put Peter’s head through a wall. The thing is, after Henry left, Peter was laughing about taking advantage of him. He said if the man was too dense or weak to spot a bad deal, it wasn’t up to Peter to protect him.”

  Grace looked puzzled, and I was sure I knew why without even asking. She hadn’t seen this side of Peter at all. He must have been on his best behavior with her, but clearly he didn’t care that much about protecting Leah from his true self. “Anyone else?”

  “That’s all I know about, but the one you should really ask is Rose White. She’s constantly nosing around in Peter’s business. If anybody knew his enemies, it would be her.”

  “His landlady?” Grace asked. “Really?”

  If she hadn’t said something, I would have done it myself. I had never heard of the woman before.

  “Trust me, she always wanted to be more than that with Peter. You had to have seen the way she looked at him,” Leah said to Grace.

  “We only met once,” Grace admitted. “Peter said that he was a very private person, and that he didn’t want to rush things between us by bringing me to his apartment.”

  “He never had that problem with me,” Leah admitted, and then realized how it must have sounded. “Listen, I’m sorry. That was out of line.”

  “Leah, watch your step,” Ida said sharply.

  “Hey, I apologized, didn’t I?” she asked.

  “Is there anything else you can think of that might help? When was the last time you saw Peter, Leah?” I asked.

  “It was yesterday at lunch, if you can believe that. Just think. Twenty-four hours ago, he was still alive,” she said. Was that a tear coming unbidden down her cheek? Could it be possible that the girl honestly missed him, even after all of the things she’d discovered about him lately? The heart is a strange thing, and no one knew that better than I did.

  Leah continued, “I’m sorry to say that we had a huge fight, and now I’ll never be able to make things right with him.” She looked at Grace and asked, “Were you two on good terms the last time you saw him?”

  “Not particularly. I broke up with him yesterday afternoon, and then I slapped him and threw him out of my house last night.”

  Leah frowned. “It’s too bad.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “Peter died without knowing that anyone loved him,” Leah said so softly that I almost didn’t hear her. “No one should have to die like that.”

  Ida stood, and we all followed suit. She hugged her niece, and then said, “I’m proud of you, Leah. I know all of that couldn’t have been easy for you.”

  “It was the right thing to do, telling the truth,” Leah said. She looked at Grace, took a step forward, and started to hug my friend. Grace caught onto what she had planned instantly and stepped away from her embrace. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s just a little too soon for that.”

  Ida tugged on Leah’s arm and pulled her back. “We understand. We’re finished here. My niece and I need to spend a little time getting reacquainted.”

  “You’re not coming back to April Springs?” I asked, curious about why she’d stay in exile after our conversation.

  “Uncle Burt doesn’t want me back at the hardware store, so maybe I’ll stay here a while and see what pans out in Montview.”

  “I’m sure I can find you a job nearby,” Ida said. “You could always stay with me.”

  From Leah’s expression, it was clear that she hadn’t counted on being put to work again, especially so soon. “Thanks, that would be great,” she said, if a little halfheartedly.

  We left them there to sort out their problems. As Grace and I got back into her car, she drove half a mile down the road, and then pulled over unexpectedly.

  “Is something wrong? Did you forget something?” I asked.

  Instead of answering, Grace turned to me, and then buried her head in my shoulder, sobbing and trying to speak through her tears. “Suzanne, how could I have been so blind? I didn’t even recognize the man she was just talking about.”

  “You can’t blame yourself. He fooled everyone,” I said as I stroked her hair. I was proud of how long she’d held out, but this was good, too. Grace needed to get this out of her system, and I knew it was the only way she’d ever manage to move past her time with Peter.

  “He didn’t fool you, though, did he?” she asked through her tears. “You knew he was rotten from the start, didn’t you?”

  I could have lied to her again right then, and maybe I should have, but we’d been friends for too long for me to do that comfortably, and she’d already called me out for lying twice before. Besides, she’d been deceived enough lately, and I wasn’t about to add any more deception if I could help it. “I admit that I wasn’t a big fan of the man, but I had no idea just how wrong he was for you.”

  “I don’t know how I’m ever going to be able to trust a man again,” Grace said as she pulled away and dried her eyes.

  “Once upon a time, I felt the same way about Max, remember?” I asked softly. “That’s okay for a while, but it’s not a good way to live the rest of your life. If I hadn’t been open to new possibilities, I never would have found Jake.”

  “You got lucky there,” she said as she blew her nose.

  “I’m not denying it,” I replied. “But you’ll get your own run of good luck yourself, I can feel it in my heart.”

  “I don’t know if that’s true or not, and honestly, right now, I don’t care.” She glanced in her vanity mirror and said, “Look at me. I’m a mess.”

  I had to laugh. “Funny, you’re still more put together than I am,” I said.

  She laughed a little, an encouraging sign. “Let’s just say that we’re both pretty and move on. I’m ready to tackle our next suspect, if you have the time.”

  I studied my friend with concern. “Are you sure you’re up to that? Maybe we should just take the rest of the night off. By the time we get back to town, it’s going to be too late to do much of anything.”

  “If you’re game, I think we should try to tackle one more suspect today. Truth be told, I’d like to get the taste of what we just heard out of my head.”

  “Don’t worry about me; I’ve got lots of time,” I said. If the worst thing that happened today was that I missed out on a little sleep, it would be a very good day indeed. “What did you have in mind?”

  “I’d love to talk to Rose White after what Leah just told us,” Grace said. “Besides, Peter’s apartment is on our way back home, so we don’t even have to take a detour.”

  “Then let’s go have a chat with her,” I said.

  As Grace drove to the outskirts of Union Square, we chatted quite a bit, but Peter’s name never came up again. It was almost as though she were trying to forget what we were doing, if only for a few moments, and if that was her plan, I was game as well. This was tough on her, and if there was anything I could do to make it any easier, I would.

  * * *

  Grace pulled up in front of a very nice apartment complex with over forty units in the three buildings. I’d never seen it myself, so I was glad that she knew where to go. The buildings were all made of red brick and black wrought iron, and I had no trouble seeing Peter Morgan living there. We walked up to the manager’s apartment, clearly marked by a sign on the walk and on her door, and rang the bell.

  It was time to see if we could get some answers out of the woman.

  “May I help you?” a pleasant-looking woman in her early forties asked as she answered the door. She was wearing a nice summer dress and sandals, and her makeup was nicely applied, if
a little subdued. From what Leah had said, I’d been expecting some kind of vamp or siren. Instead, she looked as though she’d just come from shopping at the grocery store or a meeting at the PTA.

  “Hello, Ms. White. I’m not sure if you remember me,” Grace said as she stepped forward, extending her hand. “I’m Grace Gauge and this is my friend Suzanne Hart. I was a friend of Peter Morgan’s.”

  “Of course,” she said, sympathy flooding her face. “And please call me Rose. You must be heartbroken. Would you like to come in?”

  “That would be nice,” I volunteered. It would be much easier to get her to talk to us in her apartment, rather than out on the sidewalk.

  We walked in, and Rose offered, “I was just about to have a cup of tea. Would you care for some?”

  “That would be nice,” I said, “but please don’t go to any trouble for us.”

  “Nonsense,” she said with a smile. “It’s just hot water and a bit of loose tea, after all. Make yourselves comfortable. I’ll be right back.”

  Rose entered the small kitchenette, and I looked around the living room. The woman kept the place immaculate, something I’d never been able to manage, whether living with Max, or Momma. There was a nice display of photos arranged neatly on a table by the window, and I studied them in turn, searching for Peter, or some sign that any of what Leah had told us was true. Surely if the woman had the kind of obsession for Peter that Leah had talked about, there could easily be some evidence of it. I didn’t find any shots of Peter, but there was someone featured in one of the frames that I couldn’t believe. I was about to remark on it to Grace when Rose came back into the room carrying a tray with an elegant ceramic teapot and a lovely set of cups and saucers.

  “Here we go,” she said as she put the tray down on a different side table. “I took the liberty of including a few cookies as well.”

  They looked delicious, and clearly homemade. “Did you bake these yourself?”

  Rose laughed lightly. “I wish I could admit that I had, but Mrs. Myerson in unit 14 is a fabulous baker, and she considers it her sacred duty to keep me from losing the last four pounds on my diet.”

  “Trust me, you don’t have to tell me about temptation. I run a donut shop.” I’d gotten the reference in on purpose to see how she would react, but there was no change of her expression when I’d said it.

  “You must have more willpower than I do,” she said. “How would you like your tea?”

  “Two sugars, please,” I said.

  “That sounds good to me, too,” Grace said.

  After the tea had been sampled and the cookies tasted, Rose said, “It really was quite a shock around here when we learned about Peter. The police left here a few hours ago, and I spoke to a man named Chief Martin. He seemed nice enough.”

  I kept my comments about our police chief to myself as Rose added, “I suppose I’ll have to go through Peter’s things and pack them for his brother now that the apartment’s been released by the authorities. I admit that it’s not a service I usually perform, but he’s paying me to do it and I can’t afford to turn down the money.”

  “Has Bryan even been here yet?” Grace asked.

  “No, but when he called to hire me just a few minutes before the police left, he told me to have everything packed by six P.M. tonight. I’m doing my best to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he was rather abrupt with me. Honestly, I’ll be hard-pressed to have it done in time.”

  “We can help,” I blurted out. Helping Rose sounded as though it would give us the only chance we’d have to dig for clues through the things the police hadn’t confiscated, and I hoped that Grace wouldn’t mind me volunteering for such an intimate task.

  “Thank you for your generous offer, but I could never ask that of you,” Rose said, dismissing the idea as quickly as I had presented it. While she was still being pleasant, there was no doubt in my mind that her refusal had been full of steel.

  “Please?” Grace asked in a pitiful voice. “It might help me to come to terms with what happened to my love. There’s a key chain that I gave Peter that holds a special fondness in my heart. I’m sure Bryan wouldn’t mind if I took it. It’s just a trinket, but it would mean the world to me.”

  “I’m not sure,” Rose said, her voice clearly wavering.

  “It’s really important,” Grace pleaded. “If you think it would help smooth things over, I can call Bryan myself.”

  Rose couldn’t refuse her; I could see it in her eyes. “Are you certain that it won’t be too painful for you?”

  “I may shed a few tears, but it’s the right thing to do,” Grace said.

  “And I might just cry a little along with you,” Rose answered. “Peter and I were friends, not just acquaintances. We shared more than cups of tea and stories from our past, I can tell you that. I’ll miss him.”

  I could see that she was telling the truth. It was clear that Rose had been fond of Peter, but I had to wonder about Leah’s interpretation of the relationship. Was it possible that Leah had seen it through her own eyes, where no relationship she had with a man could be simply a friendship?

  “Then we should get started right now if we’re going to meet Bryan’s deadline,” I said as I put my teacup down.

  “I have to admit, it will be much nicer having company doing such a painful task,” Rose said.

  As we left the apartment and headed upstairs, I said, “It must be tough being in charge of everything around here all by yourself.”

  “There are times it’s trying, but in the end, I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” she said. “I get to know so many nice people; it’s almost like we’re all family here.”

  Was this woman just a little too good to be true, or was I being cynical about her attitude? I honestly wasn’t sure, but I’d get Grace’s take on it later. While I might be the better investigator between the two of us, she was the better judge of character and sincerity. I wasn’t sure if working in sales had made her that way, or if she’d gone into sales because of it. Either way, I usually trusted her instincts.

  As Rose started to unlock Peter’s door, I heard Grace take in a deep breath. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently, hoping to give her some kind of reassurance.

  “My, they left it in quite a mess, didn’t they?” the manager said as she looked around the living room.

  I went to see what Rose was talking about, and saw that the apartment had been thoroughly wrecked. I’d seen searches the chief led before, and they had never looked like this.

  “Hang on a second,” I said. “I need to make a call before we go in.”

  As much as I hated admitting to the chief that I was investigating Peter’s murder, this was too important to pass up. I dialed his direct number, something I had because of his relationship with my mother, not as some kind of special favor to me.

  “Martin,” he said. “Make it quick. I’m about to go into a meeting.”

  “It’s Suzanne Hart,” I said. “You searched Peter Morgan’s apartment earlier, right?”

  There was no happiness in his voice as he answered. “Suzanne, I swear, if you’re meddling in another one of my murder investigations, I’ll lock you up.”

  “Do you really think Momma would stand for that?” I asked as sweetly as I could manage.

  I wasn’t the least bit surprised when he immediately backed down. “Make it quick. What do you want?”

  “Grace and I came by his place to get something of hers that Peter had. It’s all perfectly innocent,” I explained. “When the manager opened the door, we discovered that his apartment was a wreck. You’re usually neater than that when you search a place, aren’t you?”

  He hesitated for a moment, and then admitted, “When I left it, everything was as neat as a pin. How bad was the place tossed?”

  I looked around the room again and said, “If whoever did it didn’t find what they were looking for, it wasn’t for lack of trying.”

  He said, “Both rooms?”

  “I don
’t know. We haven’t been in the bedroom.”

  “Don’t go back there,” he shouted loud enough to hurt my ears. “I’ll get a patrol officer in town to check it out. Hang on a second.”

  I put my hand over the phone and told Rose softly, “Close the door.”

  She did as I asked, and as we moved away from Peter’s apartment, Chief Martin asked, “Are you there?”

  “We’re outside now,” I said.

  “Stay there. An officer named Trout will be right there. He searched the place with me earlier. Call me back after he’s gone.”

  I was about to agree when he hung up on me.

  “What happens now?” Rose asked. She didn’t seem on edge at all, as though this were a regular part of her duties.

  “We wait,” I said simply.

  It wasn’t long, though. Less than four minutes later, an officer arrived.

  “I’m Trout,” he said. “Chief Martin’s already apprised me of the situation.” He tried the door, but it had locked itself automatically. “Keys,” he commanded, and Rose opened the door for him before stepping back.

  Trout went in with his gun out, was gone maybe ninety seconds, and then came back and rejoined us. “It’s all clear. Nobody’s there.”

  “Thanks for checking,” I said.

  “That doesn’t mean they won’t be back,” he added. “Want me to stick around?”

  “No thanks, we’ll be fine on our own,” I said. There was no way I wanted a cop there watching us while Grace and I searched the place ourselves.

  “Fine then,” he said, and I swear he saluted us with two fingers to the brim of his hat before he drove off.

  Rose said, “My, that was certainly exciting.” She looked at me and added, “You must have a great deal of influence with the police. Is it because of the donut shop?”

  “I don’t follow,” I said, though I knew full well what she was implying. I hated the “cop and donut love” stereotype as much as the police did. Officers like Stephen Grant were always welcome in my place, and I was happy he wasn’t afraid of the stereotype.

  Rose looked at me a little oddly. “You know, it’s like the old joke that the safest place to be when there’s trouble is at a donut shop, because that’s where all of the cops hang out.”