Fish Fry and a Murder

by Kathleen Suzette

  Mom made a tsk–tsk sound of disapproval. “I know you know more than you’re letting on.”

  “Actually, I do have something you might be interested in,” I said. “I ran into an old boyfriend of yours. Well, I guess you might not call him a boyfriend since you only went out with him twice.”

  She looked at me expectantly. “Who?”

  “Barron Zumbro.”

  Her eyes went wide. “I would definitely not call him an old boyfriend. He’s not much more than an acquaintance.”

  “Why? What happened?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Nothing happened. I think it had only been a year or so after your father died, and I wasn’t ready to date yet.”

  “I think I know him,” Agatha said. “He was a big deal around here years ago, if it’s who I’m thinking of, anyway. I didn’t live here when he was the talk of the town, but I still heard all about him when I moved here in the eighties. I don’t hear so much about him lately though.”

  “He was an Olympic contender,” Mom supplied. “He was a nice guy. He was a little older than me, but I remember all the hoopla surrounding him when he went off to college, and then his downfall when he came back.” She shook her head. “It’s a shame things didn’t work out. Where did you see him?”

  “At the diner. He remembered me, but I didn’t realize I knew him until he reminded me. So the only reason you stopped seeing him was because you weren’t ready to date?”

  “Mostly. But, I felt like he might still be drinking. Something wasn’t right and I couldn’t put my finger on it. You girls were older, but I guess I was missing your father. I decided it wasn’t worth the risk.” She picked up her coffee and took a slug of it. “Perfect.”

  “Have you ever thought you’d remarry?” I asked her. It was something I hadn’t put much thought into. Dad had been gone for years and she had seemed content on her own. But maybe I was wrong in thinking she was happy.

  She shrugged. “If I could find someone as attractive as Cade, I’d consider it. There wasn’t anything wrong with Barron. Maybe I didn’t give him a fair chance. I might have been making an excuse, thinking he might be drinking, on account of still missing your father.”

  I leaned forward. “Barron’s the uncle of the guy we found in the lake,” I whispered.

  “Really? That’s a shame,” she said. “He’s probably struggling with that now. Poor thing.”

  I nodded and looked at the front door. Sarah Zumbro walked in and headed to the front counter.

  Agatha turned to see who I was looking at. Then she leaned in toward me. “Is that the widow of the fellow that drowned?”

  I nodded and watched Sarah. When she got her coffee, she turned around to look for a table. I smiled at her and she met my eyes and smiled back. She headed over to me.

  “Hi Sarah,” I said. “Would you like to sit with us?”

  “Hi Rainey, I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

  “I was just getting ready to get back to work,” Agatha said. “Why don’t you have a seat?” She stood up and picked up her tea. “I’ll talk to you ladies later.”

  I introduced Mom to Sarah and then Mom picked up her cup. “I should go too. I left the flower shop with my part-time help. She’s new and I don’t want to leave her alone long,” Mom said.

  “I guess I know how to clear a room,” Sarah said when they had left and laughed.

  I waved away the comment. “No, we try to get together several times a week. Sometimes it lasts a few minutes and other days it lasts a couple of hours.”

  “There’s nothing like hanging out with family and good friends,” she said with a sigh. “My family has gradually moved away from Sparrow over the years and I sure do miss them.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I can imagine it must be hard.”

  She nodded. “I’m toying with the idea of moving to Massachusetts where my parents and sister live. With Rob gone, I don’t see much reason to stay in Sparrow.”

  “I don’t blame you. It’s probably a good idea to move closer to your family.”

  She nodded without looking at me. After a moment of silence, she looked up at me. “I became a school teacher at the insistence of my grandmother. She just knew I would make a great teacher. My parents encouraged me to do whatever I wanted, but I loved my grandmother so much. It seemed she was so full of wisdom, but after I became a teacher, I realized that maybe she didn’t know everything. I hate teaching.”

  “That’s a shame. The older I get, the more I can appreciate how important it is to do something you love.”

  She nodded. “I’ve been thinking it over for a few years now. It may sound silly, and really, it is, but I have always wanted to own my own business.”

  “What’s silly about that?” I asked and took a sip of my coffee.

  She chuckled. “It’s the kind of business that I’ve been thinking about opening that might seem a little silly. A nail salon.”

  I’ll admit, it caught me by surprise. Going from being a teacher to owning a nail salon, was, well, different. “Well, if that’s what you feel would make you happy, then why not?”

  She shrugged. “I guess it’s hard seeing myself telling people I’m quitting a respectable job like teaching to do nails. But it’s not the nails I want to do so much as the artwork on the nails. I feel like I can do something unique.”

  She stuck her hand out so I could see her nails. They looked like they had been hand painted with intricate artwork of a snowy landscape. I had to admit, they were beautiful. “They really are pretty. You did them?”

  She smiled and nodded. “It gets a little tricky doing something like that on my right hand.”

  She showed me her other hand and although it matched the left hand, I could see where it wasn’t as detailed. “You do lovely work. If you really want to do it, I say go for it. Forget what other people say.”

  She beamed at me. “Thanks. I needed to hear that,” she said. Then her face clouded over. “I wish Rob had been that supportive. I guess I told you we had some marital troubles. Nothing we wouldn’t have worked out, of course. But when I suggested it to him, he freaked out. He refused to give me the money to open a salon in Sparrow.”

  “Sometimes it’s hard for people to get behind another person’s dream,” I said. I could empathize with Rob. Quitting a teaching job to open something like a nail salon could be taking a big risk. I didn’t know how much money a nail salon would bring in, but it might be rough going, at least in the beginning.

  “I wish Rob was here. It would have been fun having him by my side as I start this new adventure even if he wasn’t completely on board.” She sighed. “Can I tell you something?”

  I nodded. “Sure.”

  “I’ve been thinking things over. I know I mentioned Zack and Rob had troubles, but the more I think about it, the more I really believe that Kyle may have had something to do with Rob’s death,” she said, leaning in and whispering. “He and Rob had a terrible fight one day. I thought I was going to have to call the police to get them to stop.”

  “What did they fight over?”

  “The inheritance money. Kyle thought it was wrong of Rob to keep all of what he was given even though that was what their parents wanted. I told Rob there was no way he should give his brothers any more than what was designated in the will.”

  “Money can make people do crazy things,” I said. “Did they only fight the one time?”

  “Oh no. Kyle called Rob over and over, insisting that giving him more money was the right thing to do. It drove Rob crazy. Finally, he began ignoring his calls, and that was when Kyle came over to the house. It was terrible. Kyle punched Rob. I told him to press charges, but he refused. I was so scared.”

  “Wow. That’s terrible,” I said. “I’d be scared, too.” I couldn’t imagine family fights that became physical.

  She nodded. “I’m so glad Kyle won’t be coming around anymore. With Rob gone, there’s no reason for him to. Having both Kyle and Zack living so close makes moving t
o Massachusetts more attractive.”

  I nodded. “Sarah, who is the beneficiary on Rob’s bank account?”

  “I am. He told me I was. I’m waiting on a copy of the death certificate so I can withdraw the money.”

  I nodded. I had been fairly sure she would be on the account, but if Rob had put one or both of his brothers on the account as beneficiaries, she might have a surprise in store. And if Kyle were angry enough for things to come to blows, he might have gotten even angrier and drowned Rob in the lake.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Look what I brought you, George,” I said to George Brewster. He was sitting at the front desk at the police station. I was dropping by to visit Cade and I knew I’d hear about it if I came empty-handed.

  George’s eyes got big. “Wow Rainey, those look so good!”

  I smiled. I loved to hear nice things about my baking and cooking. “Lemon poppy seed muffins,” I said. “I used real lemon juice and grated some of the lemon peel into them.” He probably wouldn’t appreciate the details of how I made them, but I knew he would appreciate how it made them taste.

  “I can smell the lemon from here,” he said and slipped a muffin out from beneath the plastic wrap.

  “Take another one. I’m taking the rest of these back to the break room and you might not see them again.”

  “Good idea. Those guys back there will eat them all up before I can get back there to get another one.” He took a second muffin and then took a bite of it. He made appreciative sounds while I headed back to Cade’s office. “Thanks, Rainey!”

  The door was open a few inches, so I knocked and then gently pushed it open. He looked up at me from the paperwork spread out on his desk. “Hey,” he said, and then his eyes caught sight of the plate of muffins I held. “Hey, are those for me?”

  “Maybe. But I think you can share. I made two dozen,” I said and brought them to him.

  “Come to Papa,” he said and took a muffin from the plate. “They smell great.” He took a bite and smiled big.

  “I drizzled a thin powered sugar icing on them. Makes them a little tastier,” I said and sat down on a visitor’s chair in front of his desk. “I’ll take the rest of those to the break room before I leave.”

  “Why? Leave them here. I’ll take care of them for you,” he said and took another bite.

  “I bet you will. What have you found out about the case?”

  “He was alive when he went into the water. There was water in his lungs,” he said.

  “Oh, that’s terrible. I hope he was unconscious. What about the phone?”

  “Yeah, it’s a funny thing about that phone. It didn’t belong to Rob,” he said. “These are really good.” He reached for a second muffin.

  “Who did it belong to?”

  He looked at me. “Kyle Zumbro.”

  I gasped. “Wait. Kyle’s phone was in the boat? Do you think they went fishing together and then Kyle knocked him in the head and pushed him into the water to drown?” I asked, piecing things together.

  “We’ll have to see what Kyle has to say about it. I think the tackle box belongs to Zack. It’s got more of his fingerprints on it than anyone else’s and his fishing license was in it.”

  I sat back, taking this in. “Wow. Maybe the two of them invited Rob on a fishing trip to do away with him. It would have been easier to kill him with both of them there. They were both practically cut out of their parents’ will and they’re both bitter about it.”

  “Could be. That’s where I’m headed today. I need to talk to them and see what their story is,” he said as he polished off another muffin.

  “You better go easy on those. The other guys are going to be mad at you if you eat them all,” I said. “And I want to go with you to talk to the Zumbro brothers.”

  “Finders keepers. I don’t care if they do get mad. My girlfriend made them so that makes them mine. And no, you can’t go.”

  “Good. We’d better get moving, I don’t have all day.”

  ***

  It took a little convincing to get Cade to agree to allow me to go with him, but I have a way with words. I told him he’d never get another muffin as long as he lived if he didn’t let me come along.

  We dropped by Kyle’s house first. There was a big rig truck parked in the wide driveway. The house was on a large lot and there was ample room on either side for the truck to be parked at his house. Kyle was standing beside the cab of the truck and looked up as we pulled into the driveway. Cade parked in front of the truck.

  He smiled. “Hey, Rainey, Detective,” he said when we got out of the car.

  “Hi Kyle,” I said, and came around the side of Cade’s car.

  “Good morning, Kyle,” Cade said and glanced at the truck. “No work today?”

  “Actually, I was just getting ready to leave. I got a call from dispatch and I’ve got a load of sand to pick up and deliver on the other side of Boise. What can I help you with?”

  “I had a question for you,” Cade said, and he pulled the cell phone he had found in Rob’s boat out of his coat pocket.

  Kyle’s eyes got big. The phone was in a plastic evidence bag. “What’s that?”

  “Your phone,” Cade answered.

  He looked at Cade. “What do you mean, my phone?”

  “It was found in Rob’s rowboat. We charged it and called the phone service provider and they said it was registered to you. Didn’t you notice that your phone was missing?”

  Kyle stared at the phone, then he broke into an uneasy smile. “So that’s where it went. I lost it last fall. Rob and I went fishing the weekend before he disappeared and I guess I must have left it behind. Crazy. I never even thought about it being on the rowboat.”

  Cade gazed at him, a look of uncertainty on his face. “And you didn’t ask Rob or his wife if they had seen it? What did you think happened to it?”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t know where I lost it. I had gone for a hike in the hills before dawn and then went fishing later that morning with Rob. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized my phone was gone. I checked the pockets of my windbreaker, but it wasn’t there.” He nervously shrugged again. “I really thought I lost it out on the hike. It’s a cheap phone, I only paid about thirty dollars for it, so I bought another one and transferred the service.”

  “It really never occurred to you that you might have left it on the boat?” Cade asked.

  “No. I don’t know why, but it didn’t.” He shrugged again, his eyes on the phone. Kyle was going to give himself whiplash if he kept the shrugging up.

  “Kyle, you had a lot of resentment toward your brother concerning the inheritance money,” Cade said. “I think it would be good if we went downtown to talk a little more in depth about that.”

  “Whoa,” Kyle said, putting both hands up, palms facing Cade. “I didn’t do anything to my brother. Sure, I was mad that my parents left him most of the money, but I didn’t kill him. Wouldn’t you be resentful if most of your parents’ money went to one of your siblings?”

  “Kyle, how much money did Rob inherit from your parents?” I asked him. Everyone talked about the money, but it had never been mentioned exactly how much money it was.

  “About three hundred thousand. It’s a lot of money, but it’s not worth killing over. Besides, if you want to talk to someone, you might talk to Zack. He wanted to get a lawyer and sue Rob for the money.”

  “A lawyer? Did he hire one?” Cade asked, sounding skeptical.

  “He wanted me to pay for half of it, but I didn’t have the money. I drive a truck for a living. It’s not like it pays peanuts, but I’ve got a mortgage and three kids. I don’t have extra money sitting around. Besides, our parents left the money to Rob. They were in their right minds when they wrote up the will. On what grounds could we sue? I felt like any money spent on a lawyer would be like throwing it away.”

  He had a point. I didn’t know if a judge would allow a lawsuit or not. Didn’t people have a right to leave their money to
whoever they wanted if they were capable of making the decision?

  Cade nodded, thinking this over. “But just because Zack wanted to sue Rob, doesn’t mean he’d kill him over it,” he pointed out.

  “No, but you don’t know how mad Zack was. The truth is, when Rob went missing, we thought Sarah had done something to him. I told him we should go to the police, but he wanted to wait and see if Sarah would do something to give herself away. She never did. Then he wanted to wait and see if Rob would come back. We had both began to think that maybe he really did go on an extended fishing trip, but when that never happened, I had to wonder why Zack was okay with continuing to wait. Made me wonder if he had a reason to keep the police out of it.”