Ladle to the Grave (A Soup Lover's Mystery Book 4)

by Connie Archer

  “You’re right. I’m nobody to lecture anybody. I’m sort of scared myself. But I guess we all hope and pray for the best when we make these decisions. And hope it turns out all right.”

  “Well, I’m thrilled you and Sage have taken that step. You’re my two favorite people in the world, along with Jack and Elias.” Lucky tied the cord around the hatbox and placed it on top of the bureau. “You up for a glass of wine?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Finish getting dressed and I’ll get some cheese and crackers ready.”

  Lucky went to the kitchen and prepared a tray with a variety of crackers and two different cheeses. She carried the tray with a chilled bottle of wine and two glasses down the hallway into the living room and placed it on the coffee table.

  Sophie followed a moment later. She spotted the cardboard box next to the table and peered inside. “Are these the photos you mentioned? The ones your mom took?”

  “Yes.” Lucky was glad she had brought the photo of the two of them to the pharmacy to have it sent away and copied. She didn’t want to give away her surprise bridesmaid’s gift. “Have a look,” she said as she uncorked the wine and poured two glasses. “The ones in the large envelope are the photos of the Warners. I want you to see them. Tell me what strikes you.”

  Sophie glanced at her quickly. “Is this a test?”

  “Sort of.”

  Sophie popped a piece of cheese into her mouth and took a sip of wine. She laid the envelope on her lap and shook the enlargements out. Leaning back on the sofa cushions, she slowly reviewed each one. She reached over to the coffee table and moved the tray to the side, laying the photos out in a long line.

  “What do you think?”

  “I think . . .” Sophie heaved a sigh. “I don’t know what to say. They just look like photos that didn’t turn out.”

  “Sophie, it would be very difficult to take so many unusable photos. You can see there was movement as the shutter clicked, see the blurriness here and here,” Lucky said, pointing to two different photos. “I know what my mom used to do. She’d pick out a table or two and ask the people to look up and smile. She was never rude or intrusive. So I’m sure that’s what she did here. She wouldn’t just snap a candid shot, so they must have ignored her or deliberately looked away just in time.”

  “How long have the Warners lived here?” Sophie asked.

  “I’m not sure. Just guessing, I’d say five or six years. I remember them from trips home. I don’t think they ever lived in town. I can’t be sure, but I think they bought a house a few miles away. Remember the small farmhouse out on the main road, before you get to the turnoff to Bournmouth?”

  “A yellow house, set back a bit?”

  “That’s it. The owner had been a farmer and he couldn’t work anymore so he started selling off the land. And I think the Warners bought it from him before he died. Or maybe they bought it from his kids after he died. The man’s children weren’t going to farm the land and they had already moved away to the city. I remember somebody talking about the owner years ago.”

  “Where did the Warners come from?”

  Lucky shook her head and shrugged. “I have no idea. I think Leonard might have done some kind of handyman work, or he might have been retired by then. And they were raising Mike, their grandson.”

  “Where were Mike’s parents?”

  “They were gone. I assumed they were both dead. If I recall, there was a lot of sympathy toward the Warners. Their son had died or been killed, maybe in an accident or something, and his wife, the boy’s mother, had died of some illness. But that’s all I know. No one really knew any more details about their past.”

  “So Mike must be about what now? Ten? Older?”

  “Maybe. Look at these pictures. He’s a little kid here, looks like about five years old? So he must be ten or eleven by now. There’s not one photo where you can actually see the little boy’s face. You can see his arm, or a piece of him, but he’s blocked in every single photo, either by his grandfather reaching across the table for something or standing right in front of him. And you can tell these were taken on different days; the clothing is different. They’re only wearing the same outfits in two of these pictures.”

  “I noticed that too.”

  “My mother must have been determined to get their picture. She had to be suspicious of something. Suspicious of who they were, maybe, or do you think it could have been something criminal? Or did she think they were fugitives of some sort?”

  Sophie shrugged. “I have no idea. But it’s pretty hard to be fugitives with a five-year-old kid in tow, don’t you think?”

  “There’s something else.”

  “What?”

  Lucky described finding Leonard standing outside Jack’s house in the dark.

  “That’s unbelievable!” Sophie exclaimed.

  “I feel sorry for what happened. I really do. Even though I’m sure it wasn’t Jack’s fault. But last night . . . it was intimidation. I think he was hoping Jack would see him, not me. It’s like he’s trying to drive Jack around the bend, and last night . . . he almost succeeded.”

  “Poor Jack. I can’t imagine what that must be like. All alone in the house, and he must have been aware it was coming on. It must be like a migraine or a—I don’t know—like something happening to you that you can’t control. So frightening.” Sophie turned the photos in her hand over. “There are dates on the back.”

  “I know. All within the same month. But there’s an exclamation point on one of them—October tenth. Somehow that date must have been very significant.”

  “What do you think it means?”

  Lucky shook her head. “No idea. But it must mean something. Maybe there was something in the news on that date that sparked my mom’s interest?”

  “Hey, let’s boot up your computer. Let’s search that date. Maybe it is significant in some way. We would have been . . . what? Twenty-four, twenty-five then. I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t paying much attention to what went on in town.”

  “Me neither. I was a couple of years out of college and still living in Madison. I didn’t even make trips home that often.” Lucky walked across the room to the small desk where her computer sat. She clicked it on, and a few seconds later the screen came to life. She sat down in the desk chair. “Hey, why don’t you grab the stool that’s in the kitchen so we can do this together.”

  Sophie dashed to the kitchen and returned a moment later with a wooden stool. She moved closer to Lucky and watched as Lucky typed the date into her search engine. Immediately a link popped up offering popular stories of the Lincoln Falls Sentinel. Lucky clicked the mouse and scrolled through the highlights.

  “Here’s what we have: ‘Court Adds Case to Census Review,’ ‘Signs of Hope Seen in Diplomatic Deal’ . . .” She continued to read aloud the major international and national stories run by the newspaper.

  “Nothing criminal?”

  “Not that I can see. But that’s only Lincoln Falls. And stories of state or national interest come from wire services, don’t they? Maybe we should try farther afield. A larger city . . . maybe Boston or New York?”

  “Okay, give it a shot. Their archives might be better.” Sophie waited patiently while Lucky scrolled down the list of links. “Here we go . . . ‘Deputies Crack Alleged Theft Ring.’ ‘Man Killed Wife with Friend’s Help.’ Lovely!” Sophie commented. “Oh, look,” she said, pointing to the screen. ‘Police Bust Drug Ring.’ Maybe Leonard is a crook? Maybe Agnes was selling drugs?”

  Lucky shook her head. “Can’t really see that. But who knows? Truth is often stranger than fiction.” She finished scrolling down the links to the stories in the newspaper. “October tenth could mean anything. Maybe my mother wrote it down because she heard a news story on the radio. Maybe she made a note of it because it wasn’t in the local or national news.”
/>   “Let’s Google their names. Agnes Warner and Leonard Warner.”

  “Okay.” Lucky cleared the browser and began again with Leonard. “Well, here we go. There are fifteen profiles of men named Leonard Warner. Here’s another reference to a Leonard Warner, internist.”

  “Oh,” Sophie said. “Maybe he was a doctor and he was driven out of the medical profession for some crime?”

  Lucky smiled at her friend. “You have a very active imagination!”

  “Go down some more. There are images of Leonard Warner.”

  Lucky patiently clicked over each photo. “Any of these look like the Leonard we’ve seen?”

  Sophie shook her head. “Nope. Maybe it’s an alias.”

  “Well, they bought that house outside of town when they first arrived. It’s a little hard to do that with an alias these days.”

  “Not if they bought it from the owner and paid cash, and never applied for a bank loan.”

  “Good point. They maybe wouldn’t even have had to show identification if it was all done privately.”

  “Right. Why would the seller care? He’s getting what he wants for his house. He wouldn’t wonder if he was selling it to a criminal, for heaven’s sake.” Sophie sighed. “Let’s try Agnes and Leonard Warner together.”

  “Okay.” Lucky typed the names quickly and waited. “Hey, look at this.”

  “What?”

  Lucky stared at the screen. “It’s some kind of cemetery search. I never knew there was such a thing.” She turned to Sophie. “We found an Agnes and Leonard Warner. They’re both buried in Michigan if you can believe that. And they’d be over a hundred years old if they were still alive.” Lucky shook her head. “This is getting us nowhere. They could really be Agnes and Leonard Warner and completely legitimate people. We’re chasing our tails.”

  “I thought you wanted to do this for Jack,” Sophie said.

  “I do. I’ve just been so worried about him. And I really believe he did not make a mistake, but this is haunting him.”

  Sophie nodded in sympathy. “Let’s try just Agnes.”

  “Okay,” Lucky agreed. They sat silently in front of the computer screen as Lucky exhausted all the links that promised information on that name. Finally she sat back in her chair and heaved a sigh. “Nothing. Nothing that looks promising, anyway.”

  “Well, it was worth a try,” Sophie replied, standing and carrying her stool back to the kitchen. “I better get home. Sage will be wondering what happened to me.”

  “He’s not coming over?”

  “No, but I promised to call him when I was ready to leave, and he’ll meet me halfway.”

  “He’s really worried about you, isn’t he?”

  “Too much so,” Sophie answered, clicking open her phone. It rang immediately. Sophie stared at the caller ID.

  “What’s wrong?” Lucky asked.

  Sophie shook her head. “Not a number I recognize.” She hit the button. “Hello?” she said.

  Lucky listened to one half of the conversation.

  “Yes. What’s wrong?” Sophie held up a finger to get Lucky’s attention. “I’m at my friend’s apartment. Do you want to come here?” Sophie listened a moment and then said, “Okay. Let me write this down.” She grabbed a pen and a pad of paper from the desk and made a quick note. Then she hung up.

  “What’s up? Was that Sage?”

  Sophie shook her head. “It was Brenda. Remember her? We met her at the Resort.”

  Lucky nodded.

  “She wants to talk to me. She says there are things I need to know before I come back to work.”

  “She didn’t want to come here?”

  “She says she’s afraid. She thinks she might be followed.”

  “Whaaat?” Lucky asked. “By whom?”

  Sophie looked troubled. “She wouldn’t say. She sounds very wound up and said it was important.”

  “She gave you her address?”

  Sophie nodded.

  “Well, let’s go see her. If something weird’s going on, you shouldn’t go alone.”

  “Okay. I’ll call Sage on the way, let him know where we’re going.”

  Chapter 30

  LUCKY DROVE, FOLLOWING Sophie’s instructions. Brenda rented a cabin with two other roommates near Ridgeline. Her roommates were both out of town and she was alone in the house. Sophie called Sage to tell him where they were headed. Following the one-sided conversation, Lucky was sure Sage was advising her to pick him up on the way if she was insistent on visiting a friend so late in the evening. Sophie reassured him that all would be fine and she would call him on their way home.

  When they arrived at the address and pulled into the drive, the front door light came on. Brenda was waiting for them. They climbed out silently and approached the front door. It swung open immediately.

  Brenda looked relieved. “Thank you for coming up here. And I’m sorry to be such a ninny, but I’m really nervous.”

  “What’s going on?” Sophie asked.

  “Come into the kitchen and I’ll explain.” They followed Brenda through a small living room filled with two overstuffed sofas and several small tables. “This place came furnished,” Brenda explained over her shoulder. “It’s a nice little house, but I’m always nervous when I’m alone here. Have a seat,” she said, indicating two stools at the counter. “Would you like a coffee . . . beer, anything?” she asked.

  Lucky and Sophie both shook their heads negatively.” Okay,” Brenda said, taking a nervous breath. “I wanted to talk to you the other day at the Lodge, but when I saw Lurch hanging around in the hall watching us, I got nervous. He scares me.”

  “Has he ever threatened you?” Lucky asked.

  Brenda shook her head. “No. Not directly. When he’s around, there’s something about him that’s like . . . I guess an implied threat. You see, you might not be aware of this, working kinda independently as you do”—she addressed Sophie—“but we don’t get overtime pay, and we’re under pressure to work a lot of double shifts, especially when it’s the busy season. Under state law, retail and service places, like hotels or restaurants, are exempt from having to pay time and a half, even though under federal law that’s not the case.”

  “Really?” Sophie asked. She turned to Lucky. “Did you know that?”

  Lucky nodded. “It doesn’t affect us at the restaurant, but I was aware of it.”

  Brenda continued, “We’ve been lobbying the hotel to change that policy. The Resort’s owned by a big corporation and they can afford it. One of the guys in our little group—we’re keeping it small for now—is looking into forcing the issue under federal law, but something happened to him. I just found out today. One of the waiters. He lives closer to Lincoln Falls. He came home to find his house burning to the ground.”

  “That’s awful,” Sophie said.

  A chill ran up Lucky’s spine. “They suspect arson?”

  Brenda shook her head. “They’re claiming it’s a faulty propane heater. That something happened to it to cause the fire.”

  “Is Nate Edgerton looking into this?” Sophie asked.

  “I don’t think that’s within his jurisdiction,” Lucky offered.

  “Anyway, I’ve had the feeling of”—Brenda looked across the counter at them—“please don’t think I’m crazy, but I swear I keep feeling like somebody’s watching me. I keep looking over my shoulder like I’m gonna catch someone. That’s why I didn’t want to leave the house and then have to come back alone. I just feel safer staying inside. I wanted to give you a heads-up about all this weird stuff before you come back to work this summer.”

  “If what you suspect is true, who do you think is behind all this?” Lucky asked.

  “I haven’t got any proof, but I think it’s Lurch. I don’t know if he’s the only one or if he’s got guys working for him. Bu
t he gives me the creeps. I make sure I’m never in a place where I’m alone, or if I am, then I lock the door and make sure the security bolt is on if I’m working in a room.” Brenda’s forehead was creased in worry. “Anyway, that’s not the only reason I wanted to talk to you away from work.”

  Lucky and Sophie sat in silence while Brenda marshaled her thoughts. “I overheard them talking about you.”

  “Me?” Sophie asked. “Who was talking about me?”

  “I was clearing away cups and stuff from a conference room. You know that big one on the mezzanine level? The one they can partition into two separate rooms?”

  Sophie nodded.

  “One of the lawyers and Tom Reed were in the other room. I heard Lurch’s voice. It sounded like he was reporting to them about something. I couldn’t make out the words but my ears went up. Then I heard them say your name. They didn’t realize I was right next door, and that partition’s real thin so you can hear some of what’s being said in the next meeting room. So I just stayed still and listened.”

  “What did they say?” Sophie asked.

  “I couldn’t catch it all. Just words and phrases here and there. First it was that lawyer talking. I don’t know his name. The one who’s always really friendly and smiling. Then I heard Lurch talking and then either Reed or the other guy—I think it was Reed—said something like, ‘She’ll come around.’ And I think it was the lawyer who said, ‘And if she doesn’t?’ Then Reed laughed and said, ‘The less you know, the better. But you won’t have to worry about her.’”

  “You’re sure it was me they were talking about?”

  “Oh yeah, that’s what made me listen. I heard one of them say your name just before all that.”

  Lucky and Sophie exchanged a look.

  “It had to be you they were talking about. Why would they take an interest in you?”

  Sophie hesitated, then decided to confide in Brenda. “They want to buy several parcels of land that belonged to my mother. They want to extend a ski run and they need to buy me and my brother out.”