“Do you know who he was sloshing that night?”
“It might have been Victoria Albrecht,” he suggested. “She was looking divine, but she’s not really his type.”
I thought back to the comments by Gage about his wife; she had been vulnerable and unsure of herself. I knew that some men behaved this way, and I asked, “Did he go for the ones who didn’t have much in the way of self-esteem?”
“You’re thinking of Mrs. Gage, aren’t you?” he asked. “She was one of many, unfortunately. He liked to pick one off from the herd who looked scared or unsure. Then he’d wine them and dine them—and then find another. I was certain that they would catch up with him at some point. It was inevitable.”
“So you knew about her?” I asked. It was a pretty obvious question, but I wanted to know more about this.
“Of course. Everyone did,” he said with a touch of disappointment.
“Mr. Gage said that he didn’t know about it until his wife called Rachford’s cell phone and got the police,” I added, wondering what he would say to this. I felt like a child who was trying to live up to the expectations of an older, exacting relative.
“Well, he lied,” Howard said plainly. “He talked about it to me shortly before the crime took place.”
I took a deep breath. The fact that he’d lied about it made me worry. He could easily be the murderer, who was trying to cover his tracks in this manner.
“So what did you see that evening?” I asked him. “Did you see who made Rachford spill his drink?”
His eyes sparkled. “I didn’t tell the police this, but it was me. The man on the other side of me said something wicked about Victoria Albrecht’s outfit. I burst out laughing, threw up my hands, and hit his arm. Tom was very gracious about it. He just put the glass on the tray as it came by and picked up another one.”
I stared at him. “You didn’t tell the police this?” I asked with surprise.
“No, they didn’t ask. They wanted to know who could have put the poison in the glass. No one asked me about the spilling of the previous glass.”
“How much was left in that glass before you knocked his arm?” I was thinking of the chances that the cyanide had been in the previous glass of champagne. If Rachford had put down one glass and picked up another, the timing was such that the poison could have been served earlier.
“Just a few drops. None of it even got on me,” he said.
“So who was standing close enough to Rachford to drop something in his glass?” I asked, wanting to know what else he’d seen.
“The usual. Waiters, serving staff, people like that. I was there. Gage was there. Victoria Albrecht, Brianna. That was mostly it. I guess that you could have done it with sufficient distraction.”
I thought about how close I’d been to Rachford when he died. Why hadn’t I noticed what had happened? I was still thinking about this as Howard said his goodbyes.
Chapter 10
At home, I created the samples of the Craigslist formula and arranged to have the package picked up from the apartment. Andy was asleep, after a tummyful of the goat’s milk formula.
I had some time to think about the situation. While the killer’s identity made sense for the death of Barb Yungbluth, I couldn’t make sense of Rachford’s poisoning. It made me wonder if the two crimes were actually separate events. The means were different, and Barb’s killer had not attended the gala, which was as good an alibi as I could think of.
Was it possible that the killer had arranged with someone else to poison the drink? If so, that maneuver was dangerous. The killer would be forever at the mercy of the person who had done the poisoning. I wouldn’t trust two killers with the same secret. That was a sure trip to the morgue for one of them.
However, if Barb’s killer had not been involved in the poisoning at the gala, then I was back to square one with that case. I had plenty of motives and a roomful of potential poisoners, but I had yet to come up with any one person.
I debated telling Danvers who had killed Barb Yungbluth. My concern was that once he had one killer, he would tag that person for both crimes, regardless of access. We had all thought that one person was involved, so it wouldn’t be a stretch. The killer could be tried for Barb’s murder and the case could be closed on the other along with it.
I opted to keep the information to myself for the moment. I wanted to find out more about the gala, which I had set aside to look into the formula business. If the motive for the crime was there, then I needed to go back and look more at that crime.
I decided to start with Victoria Albrecht’s secretary, the one who had processed my RSVP and the one we’d met at the gala. I looked up the number for Victoria Albrecht and dialed, hoping that the secretary would answer.
It rang four times before someone answered. From the meek tone, I assumed that it was the same woman we’d met at the gala. “Hi, this is Maeve Mendoza,” I started, trying to sound friendly, though I had no idea of what I was going to use to get her to open up. As I remembered from the gala, she’d been quiet, mousy, and stand-offish.
“Yes, ma’am, what can I do for you?” she asked. I wasn’t thrilled at being called “ma’am,” but at the same time, it was the truth. I was likely older than her, married, and with children.
“I was wondering if we could talk at some time,” I said. “I wanted to make sure that my information is all up to date.”
“If you want, I can take it over the phone?” she asked.
I stumbled for a second, wondering about what to say. I needed a reason why this wasn’t a 30-second phone call.
“Well, I was wanting to know more about how the awards get decided,” I said. I thought that she likely dealt with a variety of egotistical managers and CEOs. She’d not get the wind up if I just pretended to be one of those people.
“Oh, well, I could see you in an hour,” she said quickly. “Would that be okay?”
I looked at my watch. I would have to take Andy with me, but that would be fine. I shouldn’t be gone long. I was hoping to get an in with Victoria to see what made her tick. I had a hunch that she knew more than she was saying. The woman likely possessed information on all the men who had attended the gala that night. I’d uncovered two of them without much trouble.
Since the seller of the formula had little to do with the gala, I was back to the drawing board on trying to find out more about who had been there.
I drove downtown, left the car on Elm Street near Dogs on the Roll, and headed down to the offices of the local small business group. The secretary was at her desk. I saw her nameplate, which read “Amanda Crowel.” I nodded at her, put Andy down next to the chair, and sat down as well. She was on the phone, and it took a few minutes for her to finally acknowledge my existence.
When she hung up, she said, “What can I do for you?” Her tone was not unpleasant, but it lacked any warmth or enthusiasm for her job.
“I was just curious about a few things about the gala,” I explained. I still hadn’t come up with a good reason to be here except my own curiosity.
She rolled her eyes. “You too?”
“I just had some questions about how Tom Rachford was selected for the recognition that evening.”
Her face was unreadable. “Why? Are you interested in being recognized?” Her words were said with no intonation, but the intent was anything other than pleasant.
I shrugged. “If I was, how would it come about?”
“Mr. Rachford had been a member for years. Bargain Baby was just the latest retail company that he’d owned. He’d been active here. He’d donated hours of his time and thousands of dollars of his own money,” she said with something approaching reverence. In a second, I had an answer.
Rachford had enjoyed picking up younger women with little or no self-esteem, and Victoria Albrecht’s secretary would fit that bill perfectly. She was mousy and shy, and I suspected that Amanda would have been ripe for the pickings by a CEO with charm and grace.
He had most
probably dumped her for Noel Winston’s wife—or perhaps one of the other string of women he’d maintained over the years.
How easy to nominate him as the honoree, when you practically ran the organization. Even now, on a weekday afternoon, Victoria was nowhere to be seen. She’d delegated all of the work to her assistant, who had felt unappreciated.
Then she had arranged the murder. What had Edward Howard said? He had discounted the help at the gala. He had mentioned the waiters, but couldn’t that title equally apply to Amanda Crowel? In the eyes of the small business owners, she was the help.
“You know,” she said quietly. Apparently my face had told the whole story. “You figured it out. I don’t know how, but you figured out that I killed Tom Rachford.”
“He dumped you,” I said. “He used you and dumped you.”
Her eyes started to water slightly, but in the next instant, she pulled a gun out of her desk. “This is for anyone who tries to break in, but it will work just as well for you.”
I looked to the door and to the space behind her desk, the hallway that likely led to Victoria’s office and possibly an exit. I wondered if I dared to try it.
She continued softly. “Make a run for it, and I’ll shoot the baby first. Then you. You’d get to know that your snooping got him killed. That seems like retribution to me.” She cocked the revolver in her hand. Her face had not changed at all. It was still implacable.
The words hit me like a gut punch. I’d endangered Andy with this case. I’d merrily taken him with me, and now he was in harm’s way because of my actions. I hadn’t known that Amanda was the killer when I’d stepped in the door. I’d only realized it when she spoke so lovingly of Rachford.
It was no comfort that I’d been right. There were actually two cases and two murderers in the game. Jose Castillo had sold my mother the formula at Government Square. His actions told me that he’d been responsible for killing Barb, the person who had known he was the phony formula’s supplier. His motive had been self-preservation, and had nothing to do with Rachford’s murder. The police had fallen into the idea that the crimes were related, so the thought of a secretary had not occurred to them.
The realization that the police were still light years behind me in this matter meant that I was alone now with the woman who had killer her former lover. A woman who had a revolver pointed at my child.
I was fresh out of ideas. The only chance I had was to stall, and that didn’t appear to be working well. Amanda went to the front door and flipped the sign to read “Closed.” She had her back turned for an instant, but not long enough for me to mount a counterattack.
Waving the pistol from me to Andy, she motioned us to the back of the office. I picked up the carrier and walked in front of her in such a manner as to shield my baby from the gun as much as I could.
“Take a right,” she indicated, and we walked into a well-appointed office that had to belong to Victoria. The decorating was overdone, with soft leather and brocades. It was not a place I’d want to do business.
“Turn around,” she commanded. I set Andy’s carrier on the floor behind me and then stood and turned.
“Now that I know who committed that other murder, I’ll give the police that information, and your death will occur in Victoria’s office, which will implicate her. When the dust clears, I might even get a promotion out of this,” she cackled.
The harsh laugh that she uttered made me think that she had crossed over the line into insanity. I wasn’t sure how she thought she was going to get away with this. The gunshots would be heard on either side of this building. It was a workday during normal operating hours. It was such a far cry from Tom Rachford’s meticulously planned poisoning.
“People will hear the shots. You’ll be caught immediately,” I said, trying to buy some time. Maybe if she tried to come up with a better plan, I’d be spared a few more minutes in which something could happen.
“I wipe the gun, run to the back door, throw it open, and give chase, like I’m after the man who did this to you,” she said. “What proof would there be?”
“That you were here with me alone. You’ll go to jail,” I reminded her. “You don’t want that.”
Her gaze faltered for a moment, but then she leveled the gun at me. “I’ll take my chances,” she said, starting to aim.
I squeezed my eyes closed, still standing between her and Andy. I was going to protect him until the last moment. I didn’t see the police break through the back door or enter the hallway. Danvers was the first down the hall with a semi-automatic weapon that he fired twice. Amanda Crowel dropped to the floor nearly as fast as her former lover had.
I turned my head so I didn’t have to look at the wounds.
“How did you find me?” I asked Danvers, looking back and seeing Land standing in the hallway as well.
“I put a tracking device in Andy’s carrier,” Land said plainly. “I knew I could tell you not to get involved and you wouldn’t listen, but I could keep an eye on you while you did.”
“What the hell was going on in here?” Danvers asked.
I told them the entire story from start to finish. Danvers started taking notes about halfway through the story. He had to stop a few times to answer questions about the shooting and to hand over the weapon while an investigation was conducted.
“Interesting,” Danvers said at the end of the story. “We just got a call that Castillo’s body was found at another warehouse. He was shot twice through the head.”
He studied my face, but I had nothing to give him. We both suspected that Johnny Baird had been involved somehow, but I couldn’t provide any proof. Baird would have an alibi, but the phony formula ring would end. I wondered if the move had been made to remove someone who had stepped into their territory, or if six months from now, Capital City would see another such operation run more efficiently by the mob. I wouldn’t get involved in that operation; dealing with organized crime was more dangerous than I had thought.
Epilogue
I helped Sabine with her veil, which was white lace so fine that I worried about ripping it. “My grandmother picked this out for me,” she said. “It’s going to get in the way today.”
I nodded. For all her beauty, Sabine preferred a more casual look, unless she wanted to be noticed. For some reason today, she didn’t want to be the center of attention. She kept professing a desire to be done with the entire event.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked again. My wedding day had been the happiest day of my life, next to giving birth to Andy, and while it was a cliché, it was also the truth.
“Of course,” she snapped. “It’s just that it’s not exactly the way I expected things to go, you know?”
Sabine had known early on in the planning that her parents would not be able to attend. For a family that put so much emphasis on relationships, it was a blow to her. Her remaining sister, the one who lived in Basque, had been walked down the aisle by her father while their mother looked on. Sabine had received a box of photos from that event.
“I know, but focus on the good here,” I said, trying to cheer her up. “You’re getting married.”
She smiled. “I know. The dress was a dead giveaway.”
“That’s better. You look gorgeous, by the way.”
She looked in the mirror. “I know that too,” she said with no hint of modesty. “This dress really was the one for me.”
I looked again at the dress, which had a long train and a form-fitting waist that showed off her figure. Sabine had known exactly what she was doing when she bought this dress. Every eye would be on her today.
For my part, I was glad that I wouldn’t be noticed. Sabine had been kind enough not to go with peach, orange, or red, given my flaming red hair, but the teal dress she had selected made me look plump around the middle. Or perhaps that was my own over-active imagination.
I smoothed down the front again and tried to control my hair.
My only regret for the day was tha
t Andy wouldn’t be the ring bearer. Sabine had wanted him to come down the aisle in a wagon, pulled by some girl cousin, but Land’s grandmother had nixed the idea. The only thing she requested in the entire wedding process was that she sit with Andy on her lap during the ceremony. The simple request was hard to deny.
I hadn’t seen any sign of Land or Jax Danvers yet. Land would be stepping in today to give the bride away. What everyone had not told me about this wedding was that Land had expressed no interest in the double duty of giving away the bride and acting as best man. He had opted for what he considered to be the most important role of the two. Danvers could ask another to be his best man, but Sabine only had one close male relative to walk her down the aisle.
I hated that I’d been wrong about the situation, but I was glad that it had all worked out. I had a few concerns that with marriage. Sabine would start a family and I’d need to find another employee who I could trust.
Land took that moment to enter the room. He was drop-dead gorgeous with his fitted tux and white shirt again his dusky skin tones. My heart did a little flip at the sight of him. He grinned at me, and I went over to meet him at the door.
He kissed me long enough that Sabine said, “Get a room,” and went back to her make-up.
“Ready?” Land asked. He checked his watch. I knew that he was a stickler for punctuality, but his sister had missed that gene. She was fine with being 20 minutes or 200 minutes late, if she felt it behooved her.
Even through the closed door, I could hear the changes in the wedding music that told me that she needed to get moving.
Since I was the only bridesmaid, I started things off with my entrance. I opened the door and motioned for them to follow.
I had a moment of panic when I got to the door and saw all of our friends and family sitting in the rows leading to the altar. I took a deep breath and began my slow steps down the aisle. Andy was curled up on his great-grandmother’s shoulder and she beamed at me. I was nervous about her look. She looked like she knew something— that slight Mendoza smirk when they were two steps ahead of you.
FOOD TRUCK MYSTERIES: The Complete Series (14 Books) Page 168