by Cindy Bell
“That I can live with.” Brenda nodded.
“I still can’t get the fact that Adam was going to add burgers to his menu out of my mind though,” Joyce said as she stared at her hamburger.
“You still think that might have something to do with Adam’s murder.”
“I think it is a possibility. Pete might be on our side about Green Street because he is obsessed with protecting his business.”
“You think that maybe he is so obsessed that he killed Adam to protect his own business?” Brenda’s eyes widened.
“Yes, exactly.”
“Okay, so we have three prime suspects.”
“Well, four really, don’t forget Vince.”
“Okay, Pete, Pierce, Cooper, and Vince. It doesn’t really narrow it down much, does it?”
“No, it doesn’t. But four it is. And I’ll tell Detective Crackle about all of them.” Joyce nodded.
After their meal, Brenda drove home. She was still a little wound up from the failed protest and wondered if Charlie would be upset that he’d sent reporters to witness the debacle. She stopped by to pick up Sophie from school and decided to take her for an ice cream as a treat. Before they left for the ice cream shop, she texted Charlie to let him know she had Sophie and what they planned to do. He responded swiftly.
Sounds good. Bring me some Rocky Road.
Brenda smiled at his request. It was one of his favorite flavors of ice cream, but it also meant he'd hit a block on one of his stories. He always used ice cream to try to get out of a rut. She ordered for all of them, then drove home so that they could eat it together. While Sophie managed to get ice cream on both her cheeks and chin, Brenda explained what happened at the protest.
“Well, Pierce is a bald-faced liar, that's for sure. You're right for thinking he's up to something. I looked into his financial records, the ones that I could access, and they are outrageous. I don’t think there's any way that he doesn't have some kind of illegal funding flowing in. His house alone is worth far more than his salary could ever support.”
“Interesting. But no clues as to where the money might be coming from?”
“Not just yet.” He frowned. “I would suspect though that he gets some kickbacks from those who are accepting bribes from the truck owners and maybe even the truck owners themselves. I imagine that isn't the only pot he's got his hand in.”
“He could be doing it all over. Not just on Green Street.” She sighed. “Maybe he's just too big to take down.”
“No way, sweetie. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. You just have to find the crack and smash it.”
“What if there isn't one?” Brenda asked with frustration.
“Oh, trust me, all of the big players have one.”
“That doesn’t mean they are murderers.”
“True.” Charlie nodded. “I also looked into some of the truck owners and employees. The only one that raised a red flag was Pete.”
“Really?”
“Yes, there is nothing recent, but he has a long list of arrests, many for violent crimes.”
“That’s interesting.”
“What’s more interesting is that one of those arrests, the most recent one, was for assaulting one of the food truck owners that is now no longer on Green Street. They had a fight. I can’t see what it was over, but it got pretty messy.”
“Wow. It certainly moves him up the suspect list. Joyce and I were discussing him before. If he was violent and overprotective of his business, that could be a lethal combination.”
“It could be. I will keep looking.”
“You're so good to me, Charlie.”
“Just keep that in mind, always.” He caught her hand and brought the back of it to his lips. “Anything for you.”
Her heart warmed in reaction to his words, but the heavy weight of uncertainty still kept the smile from her lips.
“I love you, too, Charlie.”
“Great, then you’ll forgive me, because I do need to get some work done.”
“Go on.” She pointed to his office. “One of us has to be successful.”
“Don’t give up hope.” Charlie disappeared into his office.
Brenda decided to spend some time thinking of new recipes for the donut truck. It always relaxed her to think about baking, and she needed a break from trying to work out who the murderer was.
A couple of hours later, just as Brenda started to prepare dinner, Charlie stepped back out of his office. She glanced over at him, and the lack of color in his face told her that something terrible had happened.
“Charlie, what is it?”
“I just heard from a colleague. There’s been another murder.”
“What? What do you mean?” Brenda dropped the spoon she held onto the floor. “Not Joyce?”
“No, not Joyce.” He stepped closer to her and lowered his voice. “Pete.”
“Pete?” She stared at him with disbelief.
“He was found dead near the dumpster, and it’s clearly a murder. He was shot.”
“Oh no, that’s awful! I just don’t understand this.” Brenda shook her head.
“I don’t either.” He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m not so sure you should go back to work until all of this settles down.”
“Let me talk to Joyce about it. All right?” She leaned back and looked into his eyes.
“Yes, all right.” He frowned. “I’ll finish up dinner. Use my office so Sophie won’t interrupt you.”
“Thanks.” She stepped into the office then closed the door behind her. She selected Joyce’s name from her list of contacts. A second later, her friend picked up the phone.
“No, I haven’t managed to see Detective Crackle yet.” Joyce spoke up before Brenda could say a word.
“Joyce, you’re not going to believe this.”
“What is it, Brenda? You sound upset. What’s going on?”
“They just found Pete. Dead!”
“Pete?” Joyce gasped. “How?”
“Shot, near the dumpster. I only know because one of Charlie’s co-workers called him to let him know. He was found sometime this evening. That’s all I know.”
“Oh, this is horrible. Poor Pete. This is crazy. Who is doing this?”
“Do you think the deaths are related?” Brenda asked.
“How can they not be? So close together. That can’t be a coincidence.”
“Maybe someone is out to get food truck owners? I don’t know, but Charlie is upset. He doesn’t want me to go back to work on the truck. I mean, I will of course, but…”
“I understand. I need to talk to Detective Crackle first thing tomorrow. Maybe he will be willing to put a patrol car on Green Street. I understand why Charlie is worried. Let’s just take it one step at a time. Hopefully this will be solved quickly.”
“All right, Joyce. Sorry to spring this on you, but I thought you’d want to know as soon as I did.”
“I do. Thanks.” Joyce grew silent for a moment, then spoke up again. “Pete was our only supporter after the protest. It may mean nothing, but it may mean everything, too. We do need to be careful.”
“I will be.”
“In the morning, I will speak to Detective Crackle.”
“Good, let me know if you need anything.” Brenda hung up the phone and stared into empty space for a moment. If Pete was dead, who might be next?
First thing in the morning, Joyce drove straight to the police station. She requested a meeting with Detective Crackle and was not deterred by the desk sergeant claiming he was not available.
“Please tell him it’s Joyce from the donut truck and that I want to speak with him.”
“All right, I’ll give it a shot.” One phone call later, she was escorted to a private room. As she sat alone, she tried to gather her thoughts, but she couldn’t get a clear read on who did this.
When the door swung open, she looked up to find Detective Crackle standing just outside the room.
“Jo
yce, I guess you heard?” He sat down across from her.
“Yes, I heard. Have you questioned Pierce about the murder yet?”
“Councilman Pierce?” He raised an eyebrow. “No.”
“Well, you should. Pete was the only one who supported our protest. And Melvin Cooper is taking bribes, and Pierce is trying to shut down Green Street, and…”
“Okay, take a breath, Joyce.” Detective Crackle leaned forward across the table. “We’ll get to all of that, I promise. Wherever there is credible evidence, the investigation is going to head in that direction.”
“So? Who is your main suspect?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Do you even have one?” She frowned. “I thought maybe it was Vince.”
“Really? Why?” He looked at her intently.
“He has a criminal history. He was trying to go into business with Adam. Maybe he wanted the whole business for himself. Or maybe he wanted to use it as a front for drug dealing.”
“I can see you have thought this through.” He leaned back in his chair. “We are investigating all avenues.”
“Thank you, Detective Crackle. We really want this solved so we can go back to work.”
“I understand. I’m investigating the situation. Right now I haven’t even been able to establish a connection between the two crimes. Now I know that it may be easy to assume that they are related, but really they are more different than they are similar. Adam was struck and killed, and Pete was shot. There’s a big difference between those types of murders. At this time, we still don’t have a solid motive for Adam’s murder, while Pete had quite a few enemies that we are sorting through right now.”
“Is there anything I can do to help? Anything that would speed this investigation along?”
“What I need from you is patience.” He met her eyes. “I need you to let me do my job so that we can find some answers.”
“I understand that, but we can’t wait much longer for answers. Not only are we afraid that we may be in danger, but if we keep losing revenue, I’m going to have to shut down the truck. I hope that you can see why I’m concerned.”
“Yes, I can. You’re not the only one that is concerned either. I’ve had lots of calls about these two murders. However, taking phone calls and these kinds of meetings pulls me away from the work that I need to do in order to crack the case. As long as I’m distracted, the criminal has extra time to get away. So, if you don’t mind?” He gestured towards the door.
“I don’t. I’m sorry for taking up your time.” She stood up and offered her hand across the desk.
“Joyce.” He took her hand in a firm shake, then stood up as well. “I would rather you let me handle the investigation.”
“Of course.” She nodded, but she still had no intention of not investigating the murder. “And by the way, I think that the murder weapon in Adam’s case was the lid of a hot dog bin.”
“I know that.” He narrowed his eyes. “How did you know that?”
“I have my ways.” She smiled.
He nodded as she stepped past him and out the door. Although the meeting hadn’t been as productive as Joyce had hoped, she was relieved to know that Detective Crackle was actively working on the case. She felt a sense of confidence in the detective’s ability to solve the murders, but there was still no harm in her helping him. After she left the police station, she placed a call to Brenda.
“How did it go?”
“It went okay. I told him who we thought might be the culprits. Hopefully he’ll look into it, but we can’t wait that long. I think that we need to look more closely at Pierce. I don’t know if the police will look at him closely enough because of his influence. We need to make a plan,” Joyce said. “Let’s meet at my place and we can figure things out.”
“Okay, I can be there in a half hour,” Brenda said enthusiastically.
“Perfect.”
Joyce hung up the phone, then drove back towards her house. Her heart raced in time with the panicked thoughts that flooded her mind. But one particular thought silenced the rest. She could not let someone get away with murder.
Chapter 12
When Joyce arrived at home, she checked to see if Pierce was in his office. One call to his secretary revealed that he was. She thought about setting up a meeting, but after their encounter, she guessed that he would have very little interest in that. A surprise attack was a better idea. When there was a knock at the door, she realized that Brenda had arrived.
“Come on in!” She stood up just as Brenda stepped inside.
“All right, what’s the plan? Break in and ransack the place?”
“Ha, nothing like that. Pierce is in his office, so I say we go down there. He might be willing to let us into his office to talk to him.”
“And if he does?” Brenda frowned.
“If he does, then we’ll have a chance to look around. In fact, what would be even better is if one of us is able to distract him so the other can be alone in the office.”
“How could we do that?”
“Well, we haven’t returned his suit jacket yet. I think that could be our way in,” Joyce suggested.
“Oh, good idea, that’s perfect. Do you still have it?” Brenda asked.
“Yes, I’ve been meaning to give it back but with everything that’s happened, I just didn’t get around to it.”
“Still, finding a way to distract him might be difficult.”
“You’re right, but it’s worth a try, and if we’re going to do this, we need to do it now. He might be leaving the office soon. Let me just grab the jacket.”
On the drive to Pierce’s office, Joyce came up with a plan to distract him.
“We’ll ask for coffee, and then one of us will spill that coffee on Pierce’s jacket. Then offer to clean it for him if he changes out of it, and offer him his freshly cleaned suit jacket. Hopefully, he’ll be polite enough to excuse himself to change. Just make sure you get some on his shirt, too. I’m sure he has a spare in his office that he’ll want to change into.”
“Me?” Brenda’s eyes widened. “I have to do the spilling?”
“Well, you do have a history of ruining suit jackets.” Joyce grinned.
“Very funny.” Brenda frowned. “What if he doesn’t change? Or they won’t give us coffee?”
“Then I guess we’ll just have to think of something else. But we’re here now, so let’s give it a shot.” Joyce grabbed the jacket and stepped out of the car. When they entered the office, the secretary looked up with surprise.
“There are no more appointments today.”
“Oh, this isn’t exactly an appointment, it’s more like an apology actually. I have the councilman’s jacket to return to him, and my business partner and I wanted to discuss the protest.”
“Oh, you two were responsible for that?” She clucked her tongue. “Let me see if he has time to speak with you.” She picked up the phone on her desk and spoke quietly for a few minutes. Then the door to her right swung open, and Pierce filled it.
“Ladies.” His jaw was set.
“Mr. Pierce, I know after yesterday that you probably don’t want to give us a minute of your time, but we would both really appreciate it if we could have a quick chat.”
“Is that my jacket?” He locked his eyes on the jacket she held.
“Yes, it is.” Joyce held it out. “I think you’ll find that it is perfectly cleaned.”
“Hm.” He lifted the plastic to look it over, then tilted his head towards the door of his office. “Come in.”
Joyce started towards the door, then paused and looked back at the secretary. “Is there any coffee? I don’t care if it’s old, Brenda and I will both take a cup, please. If you don’t mind?” She smiled inwardly at the fact that it was much easier to get away with being demanding now that she was a bit older.
“Uh, sure, I guess.” The secretary stood up and headed down the hall. Joyce studied the office as she stepped inside. It was spotless, with
everything neat and tidy. However, there was a stack of folders and papers in a tray on one side of the desk. She was sure if she could find something to prove that the councilman really was pushing to have the street rezoned, she could at least get the owners of the trucks behind her again.
“Please, sit.” Pierce pointed to two chairs in front of his desk. “My secretary said you are here to apologize?”
“Yes.” Joyce cleared her throat. “We should never have caused such chaos.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.” He straightened his tie and stared at them both. “I’m sure you’re aware that I could revoke your permit to sell on Green Street. Perhaps if I was the dishonest person that you seem to think I am, I would do that. But since I’m not, and you’re here to apologize, I will let this slide.”
“Thank you so much, sir. I can get a little over-eager about things. Brenda here, she tries to calm me down, but you know, I just get carried away.”
“You should listen to Brenda.” He locked eyes with her. “She seems to be the level-headed one.”
“Coffee.” The secretary brought them each a mug of coffee. Brenda was relieved when she felt that it wasn’t very hot.
“Thank you.” Pierce nodded. “You can go on your break.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“As I was saying, Joyce, next time, follow Brenda’s advice.”
“I do like to give people the benefit of the doubt, Mr. Pierce. But I still don’t understand why you would be involved in the fight to rezone the street at all, even if it is just for show and to keep people happy as you say.” Joyce locked her eyes to his.
“And that’s not for you to understand. I am in the position I am for a reason, and it’s not because I’m stupid. You’ll just have to trust that I’m working for everyone’s best interests. Now, if that’s all.” He stood up and held out his hand to Brenda. Brenda gritted her teeth. She knew it was now or never. Could she really fling a cup of coffee on the councilman? She stood up and took a step forward to reach the councilman’s hand. As she did, she felt her foot catch on something. It only took a second for her to realize that Joyce had tripped her. The coffee flung forward out of her cup as she grabbed onto the desk to steady herself. It splashed all over Pierce’s jacket and the white button-up shirt underneath.