Fish Fry and a Murder

by Kathleen Suzette

  “He had it in mind to be a pro-fisherman. Can you believe that? It never made sense to me. If you want to know the truth, Rob was always a little on the lazy side and I think it was just some fantasy he got stuck in his head. Then he took off. His wife said he did exactly that and there was no need to worry.”

  I wondered who was making withdrawals from his bank account if Rob had really been in the lake since Labor Day. “So he never called anyone at all? Not even his wife?” I asked.

  “She swears he didn’t. She asked my brother Kyle and me if we’d heard from him, but we never heard a word. I kind of just assumed Kyle might be lying about not knowing where Rob was, but I didn’t come out and accuse him of that.”

  “Why would you think that?” I asked. I picked up another box of bunny treats for something to do.

  He shrugged. “He and Rob had troubles sometimes. Our parents died in a car accident and left the majority of their estate to Rob. Kyle was bitter about it, not that I could blame him. I’m not really happy about it myself. Rob was the youngest and the money shouldn’t have been left to him. It never made sense to me.”

  “It would make me angry, too,” I said. “Did you ever ask your parents why they left the money to Rob? I’m assuming they made their will known before they passed, I guess. Or was it a surprise?”

  “Oh, no. We knew. I told them it was wrong. But my dad, he was something else. When he decided he was going to do something, he did it regardless of what other people thought about it.” He looked down at the floor, the toe of one boot poking the corner beneath the merchandise shelf beside him.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Stormy said.

  It did make me sad. Zack seemed like a nice guy and he was clearly hurting now, both because Rob was dead and because of the decision his parents had made about their inheritance. It would break my heart if my mother gave everything she owned to Stormy. There were a lot of emotions tied to things like that and I could see how it would stir up a lot of pain from the past if things hadn’t been good in the family.

  “Your parents gave all the money they had to Rob?” I asked to clarify. I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

  “No, they gave him about eighty percent.”

  “And the rest was split between you and your brother Kyle?” I asked.

  He nodded. “And my uncle Barron. Uncle Barron was my father’s only brother, and they gave him five thousand dollars.”

  I took this in. If the lion’s share had gone to Rob, then the person that would inherit the money at the time of Rob’s death was his wife Sarah, unless he had a will that stipulated something different. And Sarah had made no effort to report her husband as missing.

  “Who get’s the money when Rob dies?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I suppose his wife. But I’m not aware of any will Rob might have had made. Even if he did have one, I doubt he would leave it to anyone other than his wife.”

  I nodded. “He was young and a lot of young people don’t have wills drawn up.”

  “I’m pretty sure he didn’t have a will,” he said. The front door swung open, and he glanced in that direction. “Excuse me, ladies. I need to check on this customer. Let me know if I can help you with anything and I’ll be right back.”

  Stormy turned to me. “If there’s no will, then any property he owns will go to his next of kin. Next of kin is his wife.”

  “That’s the truth,” I said, watching Zack approach the customer that had come through the door.

  I was glad we had talked to Zack. It gave me some insight into the Zumbro family dynamic and it wasn’t a good one.

  Chapter Eight

  “Do we know for sure how long Rob Zumbro was in the lake?” I asked Cade.

  He hesitated, fork halfway to his mouth. “The medical examiner said it would be hard to tell exactly because the icy water preserved the body. But, there was some indication it had been a lot longer than just a few days.” He stuck the bite of macaroni salad into his mouth. Macaroni salad is as American as it gets and it would fit nicely into my cookbook.

  I thought this over. I had just filled him in on what I had found out from Zack. It seemed like Sarah was genuine in her shock that Rob was found in the lake, but some people were great actors. She had admitted that she and Rob had had money problems and had fought over how to spend the money left to Rob by his parents.

  “Was he dead when he went into the water?”

  “My dear Watson, I don’t know that yet. The results of the autopsy are not in yet,” he said and took another bite of the salad. “This is really good. You should cook professionally.”

  “Funny,” I said. “But you’re treating this as a homicide, right?” I picked up my fork and took a bite. “Mmm, this really is good, if I do say so myself.”

  “We are treating it as a homicide because of the head wound. The medical examiner is highly doubtful that it was an accidental drowning or that he slipped on the ice. The wound is at the top of his head and he would have had to do a back flip or somersault or something similar to hit it at that angle.”

  “I knew it. Someone wanted that inheritance money,” I said. “People are so greedy.” I shook my head and took another bite of the macaroni salad.

  He chuckled. “You knew it? You were the one that said the ice cracked and he hit his head and slipped beneath the water.”

  “Yeah, but I changed my mind two days ago. I just forgot to tell you.”

  He snickered, shaking his head. “You are something else. You don’t get the recognition that you deserve. You’re an ace sleuth.”

  “I really am. You should pay me a part of your salary for all that I do for you. I also have a date with my sister tonight. Guess where we’re going to go?”

  “No. Just tell me. And I’m not giving you any money.”

  “A high school basketball game,” I said and stuck another forkful of the macaroni salad into my mouth. I had added tiny cubes of sharp cheddar cheese and finely chopped sweet pickles to it. My mom made something similar when I was a kid. She would probably want credit and royalties.

  “Sounds like fun,” he said. “I didn’t think you liked sports.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t. But my nephew Brent is playing. He’s a sports nut and Stormy thinks Kyle Zumbro will be there. His son is on the team.”

  He gave me a lopsided grin. “So this date isn’t just for fun. It’s business.”

  I nodded. “You got it. Aren’t you glad you asked me to ask around town and see what I could find out about the murder?”

  “I only asked you to do that one time,” he pointed out. “You’re just nosy by nature and you enjoy sticking that cute little nose into everyone’s business.”

  “You know what they say. Do what comes naturally to you. It’s like I’m gifted or something.”

  ***

  I scanned the crowd for a tall man that resembled Zack Zumbro. Zack had to be at least 6’5” and I figured his brother had to have inherited some of that height.

  Stormy leaned toward me as the basketball teams took to the court. “Are you looking for Kyle?”

  I nodded. “Do you see him?”

  “He’s over by the snack bar.” She pointed out a tall, dark haired man that was leaning against the wall.

  I nodded. “Let’s go,” I said. We got to our feet as the crowd erupted in a roar at the announcement of the names of the home-team players.

  As we approached Kyle, he smiled at Stormy, and then looked puzzled as he saw me walking behind her. I thought Kyle looked older than we were by a few years.

  “Hi, Kyle,” Stormy said when we got to him. “It’s a good turnout tonight.”

  “Hi, Stormy, it is a good turnout,” he said, and then looked to me. “How did I not know there were two of you?”

  She laughed and introduced me. “I keep her a secret. That way she can fill in for me for various mom duties and no one’s the wiser.”

  He grinned. “That’s a great idea. Makes me sorry that I’m not a twin.”


  “Kyle, I just wanted to say that I’m so sorry to hear about your brother, Rob,” Stormy said soberly.

  “I’m really sorry for your loss,” I added.

  His mouth made a hard line, and he gave a quick nod of his head. “I appreciate that. It’s a shock. I don’t know what we’ll do without him. He was the baby of the family.” He looked away when he had finished speaking.

  “Do they know what happened?” Stormy asked. “I saw Zack at the feed store and he said he died in the lake.”

  He nodded and turned back to us. “Yeah, but the police think someone killed him and put him in there.” He sighed angrily. “I still can’t process the fact that he’s gone. Rob was kind of immature, you know? But I guess that was because he was the baby. Our parents didn’t really expect a lot out of him. They spoiled him. I just don’t know who would do this to him. He was a good guy.”

  “Did Rob have any problems with anyone?” I asked as delicately as I could manage.

  “I don’t know. Not that I can think of. Well, I guess I might be able to think of someone.” He looked at me and then Stormy. “My uncle Barron sure was mad when my parents left Rob the lion’s share of their estate when they died.”

  “Why would he be mad?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine why Barron Zumbro would be angry with his brother leaving his money to his own kids. It didn’t make sense that one child got more than the others, but I couldn’t see how it would concern Barron.

  He shook his head. “I have no idea. It was a shock that they gave Rob most of the money. I mean, we knew about it before my parents died, but it never made sense to me. Sure, my parents favored Rob, but I never saw it coming. It’s disgusting, to tell you the truth. But Barron, he was livid when he found out. He didn’t know about it before they died. He found out about it at the reading of the will.”

  “Why would Barron think he should get part of their estate?” Stormy asked. “I can see where you and Zack thought you should get more of the inheritance, and you should have. You had every right to expect it.”

  “He said my dad had told him he would always take care of him. Honestly, it didn’t make sense to me and I never heard my dad promise anything like that. My dad left him five thousand dollars and I think that was more than enough. Uncle Barron has always been one of those people that don’t like to work much. My dad always said he never amounted to anything.”

  “Sometimes people think they’re entitled to more than they are,” I said thoughtfully. I had to agree with both Kyle and Zack. I would be hurt and angry at not getting an equal share of the estate, and I couldn’t imagine why Barron thought he should have gotten more money than he did.

  “That’s just how he is. He wanted Zack to give him a job at the feed store a few years ago. Uncle Barron told him he could be the manager and asked for a lot of money to do the job.” He chuckled. “My brother laughed at him. He runs the place himself.”

  I shook my head. Sometimes having a small family like mine was an advantage. We didn’t have any kooky relatives waiting in the wings, hoping for something that they weren’t entitled to.

  “I heard Rob was missing for a while before his death,” Stormy said.

  “Yeah, he thought he could make a living from fishing. Can you imagine that? That guy was an idiot sometimes. I mean, how many people in this world actually make their living from fishing? I’m not even talking about people on commercial fishing boats. I’m talking about people that go out and fish for themselves. It’s a hobby at best.”

  “It does seem like it would be kind of hard to make a living at it,” I agreed. “I bet you were worried when he left.”

  “Not at first. After a month or so, I told Kyle we should have the police look into it, but he thought his wife Sarah was lying to us about not hearing from him. He thought Rob had to be checking in with Sarah. Even I thought it was weird that he wouldn’t do that. It wasn’t in keeping with his nature.”

  “He’d never done anything like that before?” I asked.

  “Nope. I knew he and Sarah fought a lot, but I still didn’t think he’d leave without getting in touch with her from time to time. Just disappear and not tell anyone where he was going? It didn’t sound right to me.”

  “I don’t think there are many people that would do that when they have families that care about them,” Stormy agreed.

  A sad look came across his face. “That’s the truth right there. He did have a family that cared about him. We might not have been as close as the Waltons, and we do have our problems, but we would never just walk off and leave without letting someone know where we were. I really regret not reporting him missing to the police when he first disappeared.”

  I thought he was being genuine, but it still didn’t make sense he nor the rest of his family hadn’t been more concerned about Rob’s disappearance long before his body was found in the lake.

  Chapter Nine

  “Hey Rainey, where’s our food?” Sam asked from his place by the grill. He had burgers on the grill and when the fat dripped down into the fire, the flame shot up from the bottom of the grill. He leaned back to keep from getting burned.

  “Why, Sam Stevens, your food is right there on the grill in front of you. Careful you don’t burn the burgers,” I said, picking up a plate of deep-fried fish and crispy fries for my customer at table one.

  He chuckled. “You know what I’m talking about. It’s been weeks since you made us something from your cookbook. I thought you needed our input. I’m a little hurt and disappointed.”

  “I do need your input, Sam. I’ve just been busy. I’ll work on something for you.” I headed out to the floor to serve my customer. I had been testing out my recipes for my cookbook on my co-workers and the customers. Sam was right. It had been a while since I had brought something in. I’d have to remedy that. “Here we are.” I set the plate in front of Arnold Singer, one of Sparrow’s friendliest mailmen.

  “Thanks, Rainey. This sure looks good,” he said, looking over the plate of food.

  “It is good. Sam gets a shipment of freshly caught fish twice a week,” I said and headed over to the front counter. Luanne had the rest of the tables and I had the front counter and table one. “Hi there,” I said to the man that had just arrived and sat down at the front counter. “Do you know what you’d like yet, or would you like to look the menu over?”

  He looked up at me and squinted his eyes. “Don’t I know you?”

  He was an older man with black hair that was graying around the temples. He did look familiar, but I couldn’t place him. “I don’t know, do you?”

  “What’s your name?” he asked, tilting his head in thought.

  “Rainey Daye. What’s yours?” I asked.

  He chuckled. “That’s it. I’d never forget a name like that. You and your sister were the cutest little girls. Of course, you were grown when I actually knew you, but I remember seeing the two of you when you were still in pigtails. Your mother loved to show the two of you off. Barron Zumbro.” He stuck his hand out for me to shake.

  My eyes widened, and not just because I knew some of his story. I didn’t remember him and I wasn’t sure why he would know who I was. And then it hit me. My father had passed away when I was nineteen and a year later, my mother had tried dating, at the urging of her own mother.

  “You dated my mother, right?” I shook his hand and laid a menu down in front of him.

  He chuckled. “I did. Your mother and I went out exactly two times, but then she decided I wasn’t worth the trouble.”

  “Nonsense! If I remember right, she said you were a very nice man. She just wasn’t ready to date after losing my father,” I assured him. I could hardly believe I had forgotten that my mother had gone out with him. I hadn’t put the name to the face, and if he hadn’t remembered me, I might never have realized he was the man my mother had gone out with seventeen years ago.

  “How is your mother?” he asked. “I see her around town once in a while, but I think it’s been a least
two years since I last ran into her.”

  “She’s doing just fine. Still running the flower shop. You should stop in and say hello to her,” I suggested.

  He nodded. “You’re right. It’s not like I couldn’t have done that. I haven’t been in here in several years, either. I guess I just don’t get around much. I really should stop in and see your mother,” he said and then tilted his head again. “She still single?”

  I chuckled. “As a matter of fact, she is.” Barron was probably in his mid-sixties and was handsome. He looked like he was still in good shape and I wondered if he swam much these days.

  He nodded. “I don’t mean to sound impudent, but your mother was always a fine looking woman. She passed that on to her daughters.”