I tried to think of what had happened. Given how quickly cyanide, which I was taking for granted since Land had suggested it, works, he’d only had a few minutes before the poison started to shut down Rachford’s body.
With a terrible realization, I said, “Me.” Brianna Preston had introduced me to Rachford just moments before his death. Her introduction had brought the focus on tome and away from him. That would be all the time it would have taken for someone to drop in a few crystals of cyanide into the drink. My stomach flipped as I realized that I might have been the mechanism for a murder.
“That’s one possibility that I’d thought of,” Land said. “But not the most likely one. The conspirators had to have a plan in advance. They couldn’t just take the chance of winging it. Since you only signed up to attend at the very last minute, it’s unlikely that you were going to be used for the means of murder. They couldn’t have known that you’d want to meet him or that you had something to discuss with him.”
I took a deep breath. I really didn’t want to be that intimately involved in that case. I’d suspected Brianna Preston of another crime a few years ago, and I didn’t want that to be her only impression of me— a woman who thought she killed people.
“So what now?” I asked. I was stymied at this point, still thinking that I might have been a catalyst in a man’s death. I felt worn out and defeated at the moment. I was sure that it was only the stress of the evening, but I wanted to go home.
Land put an arm around me, sensing the turmoil I felt inside. “First, I’m going to get you to believe that you’re not the cause of death on Rachford’s death certificate. Then we’re going to find Victoria Albrecht and Brianna Preston and ask some questions.”
Land scanned the room, and his eyes stopped on Detective Danvers, who was busy with some of the crime scene techs. True to Land’s prediction, the men were carting out crates of bottles, which I assumed were champagne.
We decided to start with Brianna. She was standing with a small group of people by the windows. They were fairly far away from the place where Rachford had gone down. I wondered if she had sought to distance herself from that location as well.
We approached the circle of people and waited patiently outside its circumference. Finally, Brianna turned to me and smiled. “Everyone, this is Maeve … Mendoza. Sorry, I wanted to say your maiden name for a second. She’s a friend of the family, and she helped solve my brother’s murder a few years ago.”
It was quite an introduction, and the words made an impact on the people. All of them turned to look at me. She had very blithely told the truth. Her brother had been Carter’s father, a dissolute man who’d left Carter’s family with nothing. Solving the crime had given Carter some money, along with the task of raising his siblings now that his mother had passed away. Brianna ignored all of the details about the murder investigation and its results.
We got some quick introductions to the group, who looked disappointed that I wasn’t going to tell all about the previous investigation. One of them looked at his watch and said, “I’m going to ask the police when we can go home.”
Another section of the circle went in search of drinks, which I found rather brave, given the circumstances of the murder. I would be drinking water that I poured myself after this juncture.
Finally, the group died down, and we were able to ask Brianna a few questions. She made the task easy by saying, “I can tell that you’re dying to ask me things. What do you want to know?”
“I wanted to know more about the people who were standing around Rachford when he was poisoned,” I said, not wasting any time. I was concerned that if Detective Danvers saw us talking to anyone, he would want to know what we were after.
She raised her eyebrows. “You don’t beat around the bush. Let’s see. You and I were there. Then the two men directly to Rachford’s right were Edward Howard and Noel Winston. On the other side of them was Francis Gage. Those are the only ones I can remember. There were waiters and such around, but I don’t know their names. Sorry. The strain has done nothing to help my memory.”
It felt like she was holding something back, but now was not the time to push her on the subject. I would try to visit her later when the milieu wasn’t quite so official.
“I suppose it’s too much to ask if you saw someone put something in Rachford’s glass?” I asked. I knew it was a long shot, but I’d learned the hard way that some people only volunteered information when it was explicitly asked.
She smiled. “No, but then again, I wasn’t looking for something like that. Tom had a habit of carrying his glass waist high, which meant that he was forever slopping his drinks on people. I was more concerned about getting champagne out of my dress than someone putting something in his drink.”
I nodded. While Brianna hadn’t become an eyewitness, she had provided a piece of information. The person who did this had not needed to stretch or reach to put poison in the glass. They’d only needed to walk by casually to get close to the victim.
She didn’t have much else to say, and she blended off into the group of people, trying to assuage their fears with the situation. Brianna was gone before I could thank her.
I looked around the room. The cash bars had been deserted. The appetizers were down to the crumbs. Apparently most of the wait staff had been coopted to either help sort and move the crates of champagne or to answer questions. I still wanted to find Victoria Albrecht, but I had no idea what she looked like.
Detective Danvers walked out of the kitchen area and headed towards us. I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not.
“We’ve confiscated most of the champagne and the bottles. We’ll have it tested to see if the champagne was poisoned or whether the cyanide was just in Rachford’s glass.”
“I’m betting it’s the glass,” Land said. “The chances of an entire bottle being tampered with are small. The wait staff would have noticed if the cork was out or if the bottle had been opened. I would think that it would have spilled if the bottle was open.”
Danvers turned and looked at the latest crate being removed from the building. “I agree, but I have to be thorough. It would be my luck to make that assumption and then find out that some idiot had poisoned an entire crate.”
Land watched the crate go by as well, carried by two men. “It would seem rather pointless to poison an event like this. Most of the people here are small business owners. It’s not like they’re famous or incredibly wealthy.”
Danvers smiled and looked to me. “He’s talking about you here. Are you going to let him say that?”
I smiled. “He’s seen the checkbook. There’s no question that he knows we’re not rich.”
“I think that motive is going to be a big deal in this case. Either someone wanted the thrill of poisoning an unknown person, or they chose an awkward, but effective, way of doing away with Rachford.”
I was surprised. Usually Danvers kept me at arm’s length in an investigation, and here he was sharing information with me about the crime and the difficulties he would likely encounter in finding the murderer. His openness was unnerving, to say the least.
“I don’t suppose that you’ve heard any rumors about Rachford? Shady business practices or embezzlement or something that would get a person killed?”
Land shot a glance at me, and I knew the game was up. Danvers would pick up on that look and know something was going on. I assumed that it was Land’s way of telling me to come clean.
“Well, actually, we were here to talk to Rachford about his business practices.”
He ran a hand over his jaw. “Don’t tell me that this is about that baby food again? I thought that had ended with that Hilda lady. We’re back to that?”
I nodded. “It was his company that was selling the fraudulent formula.”
He took a deep breath. “Yeah, you’ll have to tell me this again. I honestly wasn’t paying attention when you called before about it. Honestly, I was only interested in the theft.”
> I explained how the canisters of Andy’s formula had been tampered with, the bottom removed, and then crimped back into place once the formula had been replaced with a cheaper brand of formula. “This wasn’t a simple theft by parents who wanted to feed their kids. This looks like it’s a big-time operation. I mean, they’ve purchased the equipment that’s needed to put the bottom back on the canister.”
Danvers looked pained, but he didn’t mock me, which was a nice change of pace. “Fine. I’ll look into this and get back to you. It’s certainly something that could be related to this, especially if it is a major theft ring.”
Before I could ask him any question, one of the waiters motioned for Danvers. He left to deal with the champagne, and I turned to look at Land. “Any thoughts on how to find Victoria Albrecht?” I asked.
A woman in a brightly colored sundress walked by, and Land turned on his smile. “Excuse me,” he said, using a rather thicker than needed accent. “Do you know who Victoria Albrecht is? I need to speak to her urgently.” He sounded sincere, vulnerable, and very sexy.
The woman returned his smile. She put a hand on his arm. “Of course, she’s the woman over there.”
She pointed at a woman in a short, black, form-fitting dress. Her dark hair was slicked back and wrapped into a bun at the back of her neck. Her dark eyes continued to scan the room. Her movements were serpentine. I wondered what she was interested in, besides the fact that the guest of honor had died just after the ceremony.
Land thanked the woman, but didn’t budge.
“Why aren’t we going to talk to her?” I asked, feeling immediately impatient.
“First, I think she saw the woman point her out to us. So she’s going to be suspicious. Secondly, I haven’t thought up a reason to go ask her how many people knew about the RSVPs for tonight.”
We didn’t have to move, because in a few minutes Victoria Albrecht had made her way to where we stood. About halfway across the room, she put on a phony smile that seemed entirely out of place at a crime scene.
“Hello,” she said as she grew closer. “How are you doing?”
Her comments were made directly to Land, ignoring me as much as you can ignore a redhead with a temper. I knew that Land wasn’t interested, but the tactic still annoyed me.
“Better than the guest of honor,” Land said. “Do you know when they’ll be letting us leave? We have a babysitter at home.”
The subtle reminder of his wife and family seemed to calm Victoria down somewhat. The smile dimmed, and she shot a glance in my direction, obviously giving Land’s wife a quick assessment.
“I’m not sure. You were talking to the police officer before. What did he say?”
I was immediately interested that she had been watching us and that she knew that Jax Danvers was a policeman. She had a keen awareness of what was going on around her in an emergency situation.
“He didn’t know. That’s why we wanted to ask you,” Land said. I liked the way that he didn’t play into her unstated questions by not talking about our relationship to Danvers.
“I’m sure they’ll let us know as soon as they’re done.”
I sensed that she was ready to leave, so I decided to chime in. “I can’t believe that I almost didn’t come tonight. I RSVP’d at the last minute.”
She gave me another phony smile. “I know. We always keep some spots open for the last-minute attendees.” Her voice dripped with annoyance.
“We?” I asked. I tried not to show my interest, even though this was the one question I had for the woman.
“I have a secretary to deal with numbers and seating and attendance. It’s easier that way. I spend more of my time with grants, membership dues, and the guests of honor.”
I was glad to recall that I was paid up on my membership dues, so that comment wasn’t directed at me. “Is she here tonight? I had a question about the emailed invite. It went to my spam folder, which is why I didn’t respond until the last moment. I found it there. I wanted to see if the email address is the same one each time, so that I can mark it as important.”
She looked at me with eyes that showed their scorn, as if to say that she had no time for the problems of little people. Victoria vaguely pointed to a corner of the room. From what I could see, the only person who could have put up with her was a youngish woman who was staring at her phone, typing furiously.
I took Land by the hand, excused myself, and started over toward her. “Hi. Victoria Albrecht said that you’re the person to talk to.”
The woman was nearly the opposite of Victoria Albrecht. She was dressed in a rather dowdy skirt with a white blouse that looked more like it belonged with a school uniform. The woman had glasses and a hairstyle that did nothing to highlight her youthful face.
She looked up from the screen, her eyes taking a moment to focus on me. “You must have a problem with the newsletter or an email then. That’s all I seem to be good for.” The glasses hid her eyes and what she was thinking.
I was surprised by the tart answer. I knew that feelings were running high with the death of a member of the group, but the answer was more than I expected.
“It’s a matter of email, yes,” I said, going into my spiel about the situation with the spam folder and the sender’s email address.
“Yes, that will be the same email address each time. Just add it to your trusted sender’s list, and it will be fine. Is there anything else?” The woman’s tone was perfunctory, and it was clear that she was done with us. She resumed her typing at that point.
I looked down and then at her again, showing my embarrassment at being a nuisance. The trick usually worked with others. “Well, I was wondering about the RSVP. It was so late. Did Victoria Albrecht see it? I didn’t want to get on her bad side.”
The girl looked around and apparently did not see her boss. “Yes, she saw it all right. It wasn’t a big deal. I mean, not like it was for the catering, but she said a few things. I’d just make sure to be on time next meeting.”
I flashed her a smile and said thanks. Land and I walked off without saying a word to each other. I wanted to be far from prying ears before we spoke.
“I know what you’re going to say, but there are a million reasons why she could have lied about that,” Land said as soon as we were alone.
“Name one,” I said to him, in a familiar challenge.
“She didn’t want you to know that she cared. She didn’t want you to think she did clerical work. She wanted to put you in your place for not responding until it was too late.”
I sighed. “Okay, enough. I got the point. So one—perhaps two—people saw my email. That means that one or both of them were involved in the thefts and then the killing.”
Land put a hand on my arm. “Wait a minute. You’re putting the cart before the horse here. You’re putting everything before the horse here. This murder could have nothing to do with the baby formula. The only evidence you had so far was that you saw a police officer at BabyRama, which led to you learning that people had been stealing formula, and you found one outlet for the formula. You don’t know how big this operation is or how many stores are involved. What if hundreds of stores are involved? Or maybe it’s available online. We don’t know yet.”
I sighed and felt the enthusiasm leech out of me. I would have to do an amazing amount of research and discovery, all with a baby in tow, to find out what was going on here. Perhaps it would be better to work with Danvers on this case, since he had the manpower to do the herculean tasks that Land had just mentioned.
“You don’t have to give up,” he said, sensing my mood. “You just need to slow it down and fit all the pieces together. You can’t complete this all in between naptimes.”
I nodded. “I think I’m beginning to realize that.”
Before Land could respond, we both saw Detective Danvers coming our way. The speed with which he traveled meant that he thought he’d solved it all.
“What is it?” Land asked, recognizing the same expressi
on and mannerisms. “What have you found?”
Chapter 4
“I don’t think this case has to do with baby formula,” he said, smiling. “I think it has to do with making babies.”
I wondered how long it had taken him to come up with that one. “So Rachford was having an affair?” I asked.
“No, his wife was. Mrs. Rachford was having an affair with Noel Winston.”
Danvers didn’t say anything else, so the words could sink in. Noel Winston was one of the men that Brianna Preston had identified by name as standing near Rachford when he was poisoned. If he was indeed sleeping with Rachford’s wife, then he certainly could have poisoned the dead man.
Perhaps Danvers was right. This was a clear motive and an age-old reason for killing someone. It shone, compared to my suspected baby formula racket.
“No comments?” Danvers asked finally.
Land spoke first to spare me the embarrassment. “You know as well as we do that Noel Winston was within the range needed to poison somebody. Now all you need is an autopsy and perhaps a way of finding out where he bought the stuff. That should be enough to arrest him.”
“So you can both go home with a clear conscience. No one was murdered because of baby formula tonight.”
Land cleared his throat. “That would make much more sense if Rachford had murdered Winston. He was the aggrieved party in this drama. What possible reason would the other man have for getting rid of the cuckold?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Danvers admitted. “But it’s just too much of a coincidence to think that an affair between the victim’s wife and the man standing next to him doesn’t have anything to do with the murder. It’s practically open-and-shut.”
“Do you think Winston wanted to marry Mrs. Rachford?” I asked, trying to make sense of the motive.
“He’s already married, so that’s unlikely. I guess he could get a divorce too, but there’s no way that they would kill both spouses. That would practically scream their names as the killers,” Danvers responded.
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