Stay Sharpe Box Set

by Lisa B. Thomas

  Marcie pursed her lips and nodded.

  Deena smiled and tilted her head like Hurley when he wanted a treat. “Before I leave, I just have one more favor to ask.”

  Marcie rolled her eyes and plopped down behind her desk. “Okay. What is it now?”

  Chapter 11

  Just when you feel like you know almost everyone in a small town, you turn the corner and stumble upon a pocket of people you’ve never seen or heard of before. That’s what happened to Deena when she got to Freddy’s Tire Town. Marcie was “kind enough” to give Deena the name of Kitty Cooper’s workplace, and Deena headed straight there from the bank.

  Gary was one hundred percent in charge of car maintenance, so Freddy’s was like a foreign country to Deena. She found it stuck between the furniture store and one of several used car dealerships. Five garage bays were all occupied with vehicles and guys busy with roaring tools and lots of grease. Actually, one of those guys might have been a girl, but Deena couldn’t tell for sure.

  She went inside and was surprised to see a line of people waiting at the front register. Who knew so many people suffered with flat tires on any given day? The place smelled thickly of rubber, which should have been no surprise to Deena. She made a mental note to thank Gary for the thankless job of keeping her car gassed and running.

  Kitty was one of two people helping customers behind the counter. Deena got in line. When it was finally her turn to be waited on, another customer was already standing behind her. This was definitely not the ideal situation in which to question Edwin’s granddaughter.

  “Can I help you?” A slight hint of recognition came across Kitty’s face as she looked up at Deena.

  Keeping her voice low, Deena said, “I need to talk to you about last Thursday when you took your grandfather to the bank and got in his safe deposit box.” She hoped that extra nugget of detail would get the girl’s attention.

  It seemed to do the trick. “Let me show you what we have in stock.” Kitty walked out from around the counter. She led Deena to one of the walls of wheels. Her hands were dark and smudged with tire residue. Pointing at the display, she spoke out of the side of her mouth. “How did you find out?”

  “Does that matter?”

  “It does to me.” She walked a few steps down the wall. “Can’t we do this later?”

  “No, I have a deadline.”

  Kitty seemed confused but kept up her tire-selling ruse. She let out a deep breath. “I needed money. I got three hundred, gave Granddad seventy-five, and kept the rest.”

  Deena stepped forward and bent down toward one of the tires as though she were inspecting it. She thought about giving it a kick but didn’t want to get her shoe dirty. “What about the safe deposit box?”

  “I took out my grandmother’s ring so I could hock it. You heard Granddad say everything was going to me eventually. I thought I would get it now instead of waiting.”

  Deena couldn’t help but make a face at that. “Why didn’t you just ask him? I’m sure he would have given you the money if he thought you really needed it.”

  Kitty shook her head slightly. “Because I borrowed money last month for my boyfriend. Granddad doesn’t like him.” She turned and headed back to the counter.

  Deena followed although she wanted to ask more questions.

  “Just let us know if you decide to replace your tires,” Kitty said. She picked up a store business card and jotted down a phone number on the back. “Give us a call if you have any more questions.”

  “Thanks.” Not wanting to get Kitty in trouble, Deena took the card and walked out of the store. She thought about the conversation at Edwin’s where Kitty had reminded her grandfather of the boyfriend’s name. It didn’t come to her. On a hunch, she decided to check out the mechanics.

  The first man was definitely too old to be the boyfriend. She walked further down the line. The second one was too young. The third one looked just right. The name on the shirt was Jerrod.

  “Hey, Jerrod. I have a question about Kitty. You’re her boyfriend, right?”

  Jerrod held up a whopper of a wrench and pointed to the guy in the next bay over. “No. That’s Clay,” he said and went back to work.

  Clay was on his cell phone when she walked up, and from the icy stare, she had a feeling he was talking to Kitty. She was undoubtedly telling him about Deena’s visit.

  She waited for him to hang up. He turned his back to her, then put the phone down on the rolling toolbox.

  “Clay, I wanted to see if I could ask you a few questions about Edwin Cooper.”

  “I can’t talk while I’m working. Get out of here or you’ll get me fired.”

  Just then his cell phone rang. The name that came up on the screen was Leslie Babcock.

  That was all Deena needed to know.

  DEENA MADE IT BACK to Gary’s office in time for pizza. She sat in a chair between him and her brother, Russell. The pizza was still hot.

  “Thanks again for coming to help.” She held up her hands, which were obviously in need of a manicure. “I didn’t want to chip a nail.”

  “I was glad to get out of the house,” Russell said, wearing one of his signature Tommy Bahama shirts and cargo shorts. He was older than Deena and always ready to help out. “Cliff will be here in a while. Now that he’s hitched, the little woman likes him home for lunch.”

  “That’s sweet,” Deena said. “Gary used to show up occasionally at the school and bring me lunch. Now, he could care less if I’m even around.” She offered up a sly grin.

  “Huh,” Gary huffed. “Now that’s the pot calling the kettle black.”

  “What do you mean? I call you to have lunch with me sometimes.”

  Gary shook his head. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  Russell intervened. “I saw your story about the dead guy from the café. Have they figured out who he is yet?”

  “Not that I know of, but I have a lead.”

  “Cool. Who is he?” Russell folded a slice of pizza in half like a sandwich and took a bite.

  “He’s a homeless guy who had been hanging out at the Pine Tree Motel. His name may or may not be Rocky. I still don’t know how he got my neighbor’s ID and bank slip.”

  She told Gary and Russell about her visit to the bank and the tire store and what Kitty had done. “Sounds like Edwin just forgot about going with her to the bank last week.”

  Gary’s forehead wrinkled. Worry lines were a recent addition to his now sixty-year-old face. “Are you planning on telling Edwin what Kitty did? I don’t like the idea of her taking advantage of her grandfather’s possible senility.”

  Russell turned to Gary. “Seriously? For a couple of hundred bucks? I’d stay out of it, especially now that she knows you guys know. Who among us never swiped a few bucks from grandma’s purse?”

  Gary and Deena both raised their hands.

  Deena chuckled. “You were always the sneaky one. But I know what you mean. I don’t want to come between Edwin and the only family member he still likes.”

  “Sounds like case closed,” Gary said.

  Deena shot him a look. “What do you mean?”

  “You figured out who the homeless guy is.” He wiped his mouth on a napkin. “You now know who took Edwin’s ID and bank statement. What’s there left to know?”

  She held up her hands. “Well, how did those items end up with Rocky B., for one.”

  Russell wadded up his napkin and shot it toward the wastepaper basket in the corner of the room.

  “Nice shot,” Gary said.

  “Thanks.” Then Russell looked back at Deena. “Maybe that stuff fell out of the car or Kitty dropped it outside the bank. Sounds like this Rocky guy would be the kind to pick them up and pocket them. He may have just died before getting to use them for something nefarious.”

  Deena hadn’t considered that.

  “What I don’t get,” Russell continued, “is how the bank let his granddaughter into his safe deposit box. Estelle and I have some importa
nt papers and her father’s coin collection in one, and I don’t like to think they’d let just anyone with a key get stuff out of it.”

  “I know the answer to that one.” Deena pointed to her temple. “You may have gotten the mechanical talent, but I got the brains.”

  “That’s never been disputed,” Russell said.

  “Anyway, I think Kitty and her boyfriend, Clay, know the new girl at the bank and had prearranged to go there when they knew Marcie would be at lunch. I doubt she’ll ever do it again though.”

  Russell rubbed his chin, which had obviously not been shaved that morning. “What’s the girl’s name who works at the bank?”

  “Leslie Babcock.”

  “Leslie,” he repeated. “Gary, you go to Freddy’s for tires, I assume. Wasn’t there a girl who worked there named Leslie?”

  “I think so, now that you mention it.” He smiled. “There you go. Another piece of the puzzle is in place. Leslie used to work at Freddy’s with Kitty and her boyfriend.”

  Deena smiled but couldn’t help wondering if there was still something missing. Leslie had said something about her old job being a place where she got dirty. Freddy’s Tire Town certainly matched that description. It would be easy enough for Kitty and Clay to ask her a favor and her granting it, knowing she could use the “I was trying to be a helpful bee” excuse.

  Russell stood up and stretched. “Back to work. I think we’ll have the rest of this knocked out in a couple of hours.”

  After he walked away, Gary started gathering up the trash. “I know you don’t want to stay and help. You probably need to talk to Dan or write your story or something.”

  Deena nodded. “You’re right. I do.” She leaned over and gave her husband a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for understanding. I’ll see you back at home later.”

  “Later,” he said.

  She got in the car and couldn’t stop thinking about what Gary had said. Was the case really closed? It seemed like such an innocuous ending to such a promising mystery. She wanted to know what Dan thought. Dang. She hadn’t returned his call. The newspaper office was just a few blocks away.

  As she pulled onto Webster, a blaring horn made her jump. She slammed down on the brakes just as a pickup truck barely missed hitting her front fender. She was pretty sure the driver gave her a not-so-courteous wave. She deserved it. She had been so wrapped up thinking about her story, she hadn’t noticed the truck.

  Taking a deep breath and looking both ways at least three times, she pulled out again, this time vowing to focus on the road and not her news story. If it was even still a worthwhile story to investigate.

  She felt like a deflating balloon.

  Chapter 12

  The post-lunch hum of the newspaper office was familiar to Deena from the short time she had worked from a desk in the newsroom. Soon the sound would swell to a buzz and then eventually be overtaken by the constant drumming of the press churning out the newspapers.

  Deena hadn’t quite gotten used to seeing Dan in Lloyd Pryor’s old office. Lloyd had moved upstairs with the executives, and she rarely saw him.

  Standing by the door listening to Dan argue with Glen, a copyeditor, over a questionable headline, Deena couldn’t help but smile at the hard work journalists do every day to keep the public informed. Glen left and Dan waved her in.

  “Whatcha got for me, cutie? Something big, I hope.”

  Deena slumped down into a chair. “It looks like the story’s at a dead end—no pun intended.”

  “How so?”

  Dan listened as she laid out the facts, all the while crossing his arms and swiveling back and forth in his chair. Finally he said, “Let’s go over your story questions and the answers.”

  Deena pulled out her notebook and flipped through the pages. “Okay, first question I had was who was the guy in the morgue and what happened to him. I now know he was Rocky B. and he had a heart attack.”

  “Is that all?” Dan rubbed his chin. “Seems to me something is missing. For instance, how did he get Cooper’s ID? Who picked him up from the park and where did he go? How did he end up at the café the morning he was found dead?”

  Deena stared back, feeling a bit uneasy. “I guess I could try to figure that out, but does anyone really care? I mean, the story was about Edwin Cooper trying to steal a body from the funeral home. That mystery is solved.”

  Dan cocked his head. “Is it?” He leaned on his desk. “Are you now fully satisfied you have all the facts and that all the loose ends are tied up? What about Cooper’s arrest? What will happen to him? And who were the people who picked up Rocky—if that is his name—at the park? And how did he get Cooper’s ID? For all we know, there could be a ring of identity thieves in town.”

  Deena listened and even made a few notes. “I guess I can talk to Guttman again and see if there is anything new on Rocky. Maybe Ian Davis too.”

  Dan shook his head. “I know you like covering the big mysterious murder cases, but you can’t stop just because a story doesn’t lead to where you think it should go. Unless, that is, you want me to turn it over to someone else.”

  Now Deena’s feathers were ruffled. She wasn’t a quitter and wasn’t about to start now. “No, I’m on it. I don’t have anything for today’s edition though, unless Guttman gives me something.”

  Dan looked at the large clock on the wall opposite his desk. “You’ve got less than two hours. See if you can get me at least four inches by three o’clock. I’m saving space in section B.”

  “Yes, sir.” Deena grabbed her purse and stood up.

  “And kiddo, don’t let me down on this one. I need you hungry.”

  “You got it,” she said and turned to leave. Too bad her gut didn’t match her words.

  IAN DAVIS’S LAW OFFICE was located between the Tribune building and the police department. She figured it would be just as fast to stop in as to try to get Ian on the phone. She pulled up in front of the renovated Victorian house that served as Ian’s office and went inside.

  Paulette greeted her with a big smile. “Ms. Sharpe, it’s good to see you back here again. Are you here to get your old job back? Mr. Davis’s last investigator quit already. Wasn’t enough excitement for him.”

  Deena could relate but shook her head. “No, I’m here on newspaper business. Is he in?”

  “Yes, ma’am, but he’s on the phone.” She pointed to a red button lit up on the console. “Want some coffee?”

  “That sounds great,” Deena said and slipped off her jacket. She took a seat in one of the chairs in the reception area and noticed Paulette still at her desk just staring at her with a big grin.

  “What?” Deena asked.

  “Remember how you told me you could get your own coffee the last time you were here? I remembered.” She gleamed with pride.

  “Um, last time I was an employee here, not a visitor.”

  “Oh,” Paulette said and jumped up. She looked down at her desk. “He’s off the phone. Do you want me to see if he can talk to you now?”

  Deena got up. “I think I’d rather surprise him.”

  “Okay,” Paulette said. “I’ll bring you the coffee.”

  Ian was scribbling away on a legal pad when she stuck her head in the office.

  “Hey, boss. You busy?”

  He looked up but didn’t smile. “Oh. Hey. Yes, I’m busy.”

  “Just as I thought,” she said. “Busy turning the wheels of justice. Speaking of wheels, did you hear what Edwin Cooper’s granddaughter did?”

  Without looking up from his paper, Ian snorted. “That’s a non sequitur.”

  “Not if you know that Kitty Cooper works at Freddy’s Tire Town.”

  Ian put down his pen and leaned back in his chair. “Five minutes. Seriously, that’s all the time I have.”

  Deena cut to the chase. “Kitty took her grandfather to the bank and had him wait in the car. She had arranged for a friend who works at the bank to let her withdraw money and take something valuable from his safe
deposit box without his knowledge. Then she kept some of the money.” She watched Ian’s face as she got out her own notepad and pen. “Care to make a statement, counselor?”

  “That’s despicable.” He raised his hand to stop her when he saw her write it down. “Off the record.”

  “That’s not all. He doesn’t remember going to the bank. It seems that might help the case for him.”

  “How? It has nothing to do with his taking a gun to the funeral home and threatening Jeffrey Mortimer.”

  Deena raised an eyebrow. “But it does have to do with his state of mind. It shows he is clearly not thinking straight. Maybe even senile. You always told me that state of mind plays an important part in any defense.”

  “True.” Ian picked up his pen, then turned to a fresh page of the legal pad. “How do you know all this?”

  “The girl at the bank, Leslie Babcock, told me, and Kitty herself confirmed it.”

  Ian wrote some notes. “Anything else?”

  “Not really. I’m still trying to figure out how Edwin’s license and bank statement ended up in the John Doe’s pocket. Have you heard anything about it?”

  “Nothing, but then again, Cooper’s case isn’t the most pressing.” He looked at his watch. “Your five minutes are up. Thanks for dropping by. I think this information might help Cooper’s case.”

  “Whoa. I need something, anything, for a follow-up story. What about the lawsuits. Is Edwin still threatening to go forward with those?”

  “He hasn’t mentioned them again.” Ian rubbed his chin. “How about this. You can say that Mr. Cooper regrets his actions and is willing to work with the authorities to see that the unidentified man gets a proper burial.”

  Deena wrote it down. “Did he say that?”

  “Just say that I said it on his behalf.”

  “Okay, but I may have to square it with him first. Edwin doesn’t like surprises showing up in the newspaper.”

  Ian nodded. “You got that right.”