FOOD TRUCK MYSTERIES: The Complete Series (14 Books)

by Chloe Kendrick

  Aaron wanted his turn, and I stepped away so that he could hug Carter. I couldn’t hear all that they were saying, so I sat down and waited for the reunion to subside. I truly hoped that Aaron was savvy enough not to mention the murder at this time or place, but I’d have to see about that. He could be pretty blunt at times.

  Their hug broke off finally, and Aaron continued to hold Carter’s hand. “What can we do for you?” he asked.

  “Nothing right now. The funeral will be in four days, so there’s time to get everything together. The kids will continue to stay with me. I’ll be taking custody. It was in the will, and I’m the next of kin, so I shouldn’t have any trouble with that. They’re up with my mom now and my aunt. They’ll be back down soon. They’ll be glad to see you.” He seemed to want to fill the void of silence in the area by chattering, and he talked until someone else added a few words.

  “What about your dad or other relatives?” I asked. “Should I try to contact them to let them know?”

  Carter’s face flushed. “No, not my father. He hasn’t been in my life for years, and not the kids’ lives, either. I’d be afraid that he’d try to muck things up—ask for money, try to take the kids, something like that. He’s not good for much else these days.” His tone was as harsh as his words. Given what I’d heard about Milton Preston, that was probably a good assessment of his character. I wondered when Carter had seen his father last. However, now did not seem like the time to ask.

  “Do you have a list of people to notify? I’ll try to take care of that and the flowers, if that works for you?” I said, wanting to change the topic. Carter definitely knew about his father and what he was like. So an argument with any of the Preston family might have been in order.

  “I’ll get you a list tomorrow. Thanks so much.” He gave me a weak smile, and I gave one back. This was the hard part about being involved with other people. When they felt pain, you did, too.

  Though I was close to my parents, I made a plan to visit them later this week and give them each a hug. They knew that I loved them, but it was definitely time to remind them.

  “I’m a bit surprised that you called me,” Aaron started. I cringed inside, thinking about this discussion at this time, but apparently it was going to happen. “You said that we were done.”

  “I’m not done with you,” he said as they continued to hold hands. “My mom tonight—before she passed—told me that I should marry you, and that I was being an idiot. I think she was right.”

  “Then you’ll marry me?” Aaron said with a certain amount of shock in his voice. A tear welled up in his eye and slowly ran down his cheek.

  Carter nodded his head. “Yeah, though I don’t know who will talk me into doing the right thing now that she’s gone.” I had a few reservations about a relationship where other people convinced you to get married. It seemed like a volatile start to the marriage. I’d known immediately when Land asked me—and even before that—I would say yes. I couldn’t imagine answering any other way.

  Aaron tried to keep the grin off of his face, but he was having a hard time acting somber. It was a nice touch to have something good come from tragedy. “I will. Maeve will, for sure. She won’t let you do the wrong thing.”

  I cleared my throat, not sure if I should be doing this now or not, but it needed to be done both for the children and to clear up this murder case. “Carter, the first thing on my list is to tell you that you need to tell your father about all this. It’s best to iron the custody out now, rather than it be a big deal later on down the road.”

  Carter sighed, like he felt all the weight of the three children on his shoulders now. “Fine, if you think it’s best. I don’t know how to get ahold of him, though. I haven’t seen him since I was ten, and from what I gather, even his family doesn’t know how to get in touch with him.”

  Aaron nodded. “Who is his family? We can invite them to the visitation, at least. That should show that we tried to contact your dad and work out the issues.”

  Even though I knew the answer to the question, Aaron apparently did not. Carter had kept this secret well-hidden all this time. “It’s the Preston family,” he said finally. “The people who run the art gallery. The guy who was killed the other night. That’s my father’s family.”

  “Have you talked to them lately?” Aaron asked. Given his concern and worry about the kids, I had escaped having to look like a creep for trying to learn this information.

  Carter took a deep breath. “Yeah, I have. The other day, I talked to my uncle, the one who was running for office and disappeared.”

  Aaron looked at me, and then looked at Carter again. I wondered if he was preparing to hear that Carter had killed Hamilton in the park, in which case, Carter would have to marry both of us.

  “He was okay when you talked to him? What did you two talk about?” Aaron finally asked.

  Carter sighed again; the grief was obvious in his breaths. “I asked if he’d seen my dad recently. He said no, he hadn’t, but that he’d look into the matter. I thanked him and left.”

  “That was it? He didn’t offer to help or anything?” Aaron said. Perhaps Hamilton valued his cash more than the election if he was willing to let family members go hungry.

  “I didn’t ask him for any money. I don’t want their money. I wanted to tell my dad that my mom was dying. That was it. I thought maybe he’d want to show up to pay his respects. That uncle couldn’t have cared less. He thanked me and left.”

  Carter’s façade began to break at this point, and the tears started. My heart broke for him, but I also felt panic well up inside of me. Carter’s story of the amicable parting did not coincide with the conversation I’d seen or what Aaron had shared with me.

  I’d heard enough for one evening. I told Carter to keep in touch, let me know how I could help, and then I left.

  ***

  Land had told me that he would take care of contacting Sabine, and apparently he had. She showed up at work at 6:15 wearing appropriate clothes for a food truck and looking ridiculously good. I felt oddly inadequate standing next to her, wondering if Land wanted or expected me to be as well put together. He’d never said anything, but he was far more likely to see me in jeans with my auburn hair pulled back than he was to see me dressed well.

  It gave me a small pleasure to tell Sabine that she had to put her hair up to be in the prep area, but she did it without complaining and got to work. I wasn’t sure if the cooking gene ran in the family, but in no time, Sabine had chopped the onions for today’s condiments and started grating the ginger. Just for today, I’d let her select her favorite condiments to serve at the truck. I thought it seemed like a nice touch, since I truly appreciated her jumping in to help.

  The morning went fast. I manned the coffee for the first hour or so until those few odd customers started ordering the hot dogs. I was always surprised by the thought of eating hot dogs at the crack of dawn, but there were several of the regulars who stopped by for an early morning snack. Sabine kept busy, making sure that we had sufficient condiments and hot dogs ready for the day.

  In was nearly 7:30 when I saw one of the homeless men about 100 yards from the food truck. I recognized him immediately as the man I’d seen earlier—the one with the nicely manicured nails. He must have realized that I recognized him as he started off at a quick trot in the other direction.

  I headed for the door, but by the time I’d hit the cement of Government Square, he was already gone. I couldn’t find any trace of him at all. I walked around for a few minutes, but none of the other regulars could tell me anything about the man. He was an infrequent visitor to the square. No one could even give me a name. I did get confirmation that he wasn’t residing in any of the area shelters. The infrequent appearances made me wonder what was up with the man. Why was he so secretive, and why did he only come around on rare occasions?

  “What was that all about?” Sabine asked when I returned to the truck. She apparently didn’t have the same taciturn nature
as her brother.

  I explained between customers that I’d seen the man twice now, and that I wondered if this well-manicured man was, in any way, related to Hamilton Preston, since both of them had been posing as homeless people.

  “Preston’s brother was homeless,” she said without explanation.

  I figured that the man must have been discussed at the gallery. “What exactly did the family say about him?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “It wasn’t something they discussed in front of the hired help like me. I overheard a few things. The father had hired someone to find the homeless brother. He’d been traced back to Capital City, but at that point the trail went dead.”

  For someone who hadn’t been allowed to listen in on the conversations, I thought she’d done fairly well. It was helpful to know that he was in town. That made Milton Preston a viable suspect in the murder of his brother.

  The rest of the morning went quickly. Danvers stopped by after lunch. I handed him a free coffee, pretending that I’d forgotten about their relationship. He thanked me, almost pleasantly, and then shifted to talk to Sabine.

  I acted like I was deeply involved in counting the money, but, of course, I eavesdropped on their conversation. They were making plans for the evening, and their cutesy lovey-dovey talk was nearly enough to make me sick.

  Land and I had never been much for the saccharine speech. I knew he loved me and vice versa, but we were more of an action-oriented couple. I was glad of it after hearing these two.

  I finished up the cash count and started on the cleaning, while Sabine still talked with Danvers. She mentioned my quick exit from the food truck earlier that day to search for a homeless man. Danvers shot several peeved glances in my direction, but he played nice, presumably for Sabine’s sake.

  “Why are you so interested in the homeless people in Capital City all of a sudden? Are you still holding on to the notion that Hamilton Preston was impersonating a homeless person when you saw him?” Danvers’s tone was no longer sweet.

  I explained to him that I had recently seen a homeless man with a manicure, and I had seen him again this morning. My thoughts suggested that perhaps the two events were related, and I wanted to talk to the man.

  Danvers rolled his eyes at me. “That’s it? The guy had nice nails and you wanted to ask him about that. You’ve really taken this to the ridiculous end.”

  I felt myself grow flushed. I felt demeaned by his words, especially in front of Sabine. “Do you have a better explanation for the matter? There’s a potential suspect in this case who is homeless. Have you found Hamilton’s brother yet?”

  “There’s absolutely no indication that Milton Preston was anywhere near the scene of the crime, or even in Capital City. The last his family heard from him, the guy was headed for New York. Not sure why, but that’s what the family said.” I did notice that Danvers had used the man’s name and was well-aware of the man’s existence, despite the family’s secrecy.

  I glanced at Sabine, who was keeping mum. I wasn’t sure why she wasn’t speaking up, but she began cleaning the grill with a fervor.

  “What’s that look for? Sabine, do you know something about this?” Danvers sounded hurt and almost betrayed. He certainly knew that Sabine worked at the Preston Gallery, so he had to suspect that she would learn details that might prove useful to the investigation.

  She sighed. “Yes, the family hired a private detective and found out that Milton Preston is back in Capital City. They don’t know where or if he’s even still here, but they hired someone to trace him down.” She shot a look that could have killed others, but I was used to the Mendoza death stare by now.

  Danvers took a deep breath. “Great. I’m the last to know. I’ll put a couple of men on this see if they can pick up the trail. If Mr. Manicure is the brother, then that means he had opportunity to commit the crime, though I’m not sure what the motive would be.”

  “Do you know why he left?” I asked, thinking about the man’s problems with alcohol and addiction.

  “He stole money from the family firm to pay off some debts. He was engaged to some socialite, yet had a family on the side. When all that caught up to him, he left. Hasn’t been seen by the family since.”

  “He would be an embarrassment to his brother then,” I said out loud, thinking of possible motives. “That’s more a motive for him to be killed than for him to kill someone.”

  Danvers cleared his throat. “You do realize that this is an open police investigation, and you shouldn’t be sticking your nose into it?”

  I’d heard this lecture often enough, so I excused myself and went to visit Land, who had arrived in the second food truck. I thought that Danvers and Sabine might use the time to make up from her reluctance to share information about the Preston family with him.

  Land warmly greeted me at the door to the truck. After the evening and day that I’d had, I nuzzled into him and savored the moment. He must have sensed that I needed some support, and we stood there silently for several minutes.

  Finally, he broke it off and looked down at me. “You’re okay, right?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, just all this has taken a lot out of me. Last night was heartbreaking. Thanks.”

  He kissed me again and gave me a smile. “Always happy to help. What is Danvers doing over there?”

  “Wooing Sabine, or yelling at her for being involved. I’m never quite sure which with him.”

  Land smiled at my joke. “He has his hands full with this case. Usually the perps in a murder case are lower class or homeless. Now he has to tiptoe around one of the wealthiest families in Capital City while he’s working on a case that he doesn’t want to turn over to the Feds. It’s a fine line he’s walking.”

  “Does he think that the family is involved?” I asked, thinking again of Carter’s father and that situation.

  “That’s the impression I’m getting from him. He won’t come out and name a suspect, but Danvers isn’t all that hard to read. I would guess the homeless brother if I had to, based on what Danvers has told me.”

  I nodded. I took a deep breath. “Well, I had a revelation last night. I went through Carter’s application to find out about his father, for custody purposes. Guess who happens to be the male parent of Carter Smith?”

  “From the way you presented it, I’m guessing the brother. So what does that mean?”

  He pulled me close, and I forgot my thoughts for a few seconds. “I’m more concerned about Carter and the kids and the custody. The Preston family might want to get involved, and I’d rather not see Carter have any more loss. He’s had enough recently.”

  “So how are he and Aaron doing at the moment?” Land asked. I noticed that he was asking questions to get me away from talking about the murder.

  I couldn’t share everything I knew about that situation, since I doubted that Aaron wanted me to share what I’d learned last night. So I just gave Land the short version of events.

  He sighed. “I’m so glad that we’re not like that. It would drive me insane, but you better go back and check on Sabine. I worry about leaving her alone on her first day on the truck, but I’m more concerned that she’s there with Danvers.”

  I nodded and headed back after making plans. Land was going to get caught up on his rest and I was going to help Carter with the plans for the visitation. I also was going to give him the information I had on a lawyer friend, so that the process of settling the estate and custody could begin.

  Danvers was gone by the time I returned to Dogs on the Roll. I was glad about it. I wasn’t going to get any information from him about the murder, and apparently I was going to be forced to witness his courtship of Sabine, which I could do without.

  Sabine had scrubbed the place in my absence. I was impressed, despite Land’s worries about leaving her alone in the truck by herself. We parted ways, and she assured me that she would be back in the morning. I wondered what her hours were at the gallery, but they didn’t seem to be interfering with her shifts on
the food truck, so I didn’t complain.

  I called Carter when I got home and left all the information on voice mail. I’d just started making dinner, if you want to call a can of soup “dinner,” when he returned my call.

  “Maeve, thanks for the information. I called the lawyer, and you’re right. He wants to learn more about my father. I’m not sure what to tell him since I have no way of contacting him.”

  I took a deep breath. “If I were you, I’d contact the family then. They have a sister named Brianna, and I’ve talked to her. They may know where your father is.” I scrounged through my purse until I found the card with her number on it. I read it off to Carter. After a few more minutes of chatting, he hung up.

  Chapter 7

  The next morning broke beautifully. I was awake early and actually had time to stop for a cup of coffee on the way to pick up the truck. It was heaven not to be rushed, but, of course, not enough so to make me get up earlier than I had to.

  I pulled the truck into its normal place on Elm Street and began the prep work. I had about finished the coffee rituals when Sabine showed up. She looked beautiful, as always, and I was stunned by the fact that she was here early. Land had always called her lazy, and it didn’t match the woman who had been here early twice in a row. Granted, I’d only known her for a short time, but perhaps family doesn’t know you best.

  We continued getting ready for work in silence. She definitely was someone who kept her thoughts to herself, but she did share at times. Today apparently was not one of those times.

  We were almost prepped to open when we heard a loud crash from outside. I flipped open the window, having the foresight to lock the register almost simultaneously. I looked down to Government Square and saw two homeless men arguing loudly. It appeared that one of them had knocked over one of the trash bins, the large metallic framed cans on each corner of the square.