by Lyndsey Cole
Cranky glared before heading into Annie’s office.
From behind, Annie could see Martha’s shoulders were trembling. They both walked into the hall to pull themselves together away from Cranky’s eyes.
“Is Camilla coming in today?” Annie asked Martha.
“I told her I would call when the coast is clear.” She nodded her head toward Annie’s office.
“Great. Go get some coffee if you want. I’ll stay here until she’s done.”
Annie returned to the gallery and leaned on her office door. Cranky was opening every drawer, cabinet and box. Fortunately, the office was fairly spartan so it wasn’t going to take long to sort through. She wondered why she had originally been so upset since there weren’t many hiding spots.
Cranky straightened up and gave Annie a fake smile. “I received an anonymous tip this morning that something is hidden in your gallery. I plan on searching until I find it.”
“Anonymous? That sounds more like someone with a grudge than with any real information,” Annie said, trying to sound nonchalant even as her stomach twisted into a knot.
Cranky brushed past Annie and walked slowly around the perimeter of the gallery. She ran her hands along Martha’s quilts hanging on the walls before moving to the pottery. Three of Jake’s bowls were arranged on a pedestal and their wide open form couldn’t hide anything. He had one unusual, asymmetrically shaped vase with two small openings for a single bud or dainty orchid stem standing alone on a pedestal.
Cranky studied the beautiful vase before carefully picking it up and giving it a shake. Something rattled inside.
Annie’s heart skipped a beat before pounding in her chest. She crossed her fingers hoping that Jake had left a small piece of clay inside.
Cranky crouched down and tipped the vase over. The tip of something shiny slid out of the opening. Carefully pulling on the object, Cranky held a diamond necklace in her hand. The sparkle matched her smile. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? I guess that anonymous caller did have some real information.”
Cranky straightened, placing the vase back on the pedestal and examining the necklace. “Any idea how this got inside the pottery?”
Annie scratched her forehead. “I’ve never seen it before.” She didn’t like the look on Cranky’s face; too self-satisfied. The queasiness in her stomach threatened to force her to make a run for the ladies room. Who was behind this?
“Thanks for your cooperation, Ms. Fisher. By the way, where’s your employee, Camilla Rockwell?”
“I don’t know. She isn’t scheduled to come in until later.”
Cranky stared at Annie before leaving the gallery.
Martha returned a half minute after the detective left. “I was peeking through the café window, waiting for her to leave. All clear?”
“Yes and no,” Annie replied.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Annie fished her cell phone from her bag. “I have to call Camilla before Detective Crank finds her.”
Martha grabbed Annie’s arm. “Why is she going after Camilla?”
“Great. Straight to voicemail,” Annie said as she snapped her phone shut and focused on Martha. “Cranky found a diamond necklace in one of Jake’s pots. And I don’t think it belongs to him. I want to warn Camilla. Any idea where she might be?”
“No, but I know where she lives. I’ll take you.”
Annie stopped Martha. “You need to stay here in case she shows up. Give me the address and I’ll find her.”
Martha scribbled Camilla’s address on the back of one of the gallery business cards and handed it to Annie. “Jason is still in the café. Maybe he can go with you.”
“Good idea,” Annie said over her shoulder as she left.
In her haste, Annie bumped into Jason as he walked out of the Black Cat Café. He juggled a wrapped sandwich and caught it but the strawberry smoothie wasn’t so lucky. With a splat, the thick pink drink spread over the floor.
“Darn. That looks too good to waste.”
Jason threw napkins on top to soak up the mess. “Go get another one and I’ll finish cleaning this,” Jason offered. “Get me one, too.”
Annie was sipping on her new smoothie just as Jason threw away the soiled napkins.
“Shall we try this again?” He leaned toward Annie, kissed her cheek and swapped the sandwich he held for the second smoothie. “I thought you might need some nourishment so you don’t faint again today. How are you holding up?”
“I’ve been better. Come on, I’ll fill you in on the way to Camilla’s house.”
Jason drove while Annie gobbled the sandwich and in between bites filled Jason in on what happened.
“Detective Crank found a diamond necklace in one of Jake’s pots?” Jason said, turning his head away from the road to stare at Annie.
She nodded and stuffed the last bite into her mouth. “That was delicious. I didn’t even know I was hungry until I smelled the food.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and handed Jason the directions to Camilla’s house.
“And why are we trying to find Camilla?”
“I want to find out if she knows anything about the necklace before Cranky locks her up and throws away the keys. Someone put it in that pot.”
“Oops. Here’s the turn we want, Lake Shore Drive. Hold on to your drink.” Jason slammed on the brakes. He took a sharp right turn onto a bumpy dirt road. “By the way, I called the art school on Camilla’s résumé and they have no record of her ever attending.”
“Are you kidding? That must be a mistake. She knows so much about art.”
Jason slowed down to check the cottage numbers. “Here we are.” He pulled into the driveway next to an old Honda. “Nice place she has. How much do you pay her?”
“Not enough to afford this lake house.”
Annie jumped out of Jason’s car and walked to the door. She knocked and peeked in the window. It was quiet. The cottage looked deserted. Where could she be? With Katherine?
Jason took Annie’s arm and pulled her to the lake side of the cottage.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
She followed him up a couple of steps onto a screened-in porch.
Jason tried the doorknob and the door swung open. He looked at Annie and grinned. “Just a hunch. Let’s take a look inside.”
Annie tiptoed behind Jason, afraid to even breathe. Breaking into someone’s house wasn’t something she did on a regular basis. Or an irregular basis, for that matter.
As if he could read her thoughts he said, “It isn’t breaking in when the door was left open.”
They checked each room in the small, tidy downstairs. Deserted.
Jason rested his hand on the dining room table, studying the view through the big glass windows. “I can see my house from here.” He pointed across the lake at a forty five degree angle. “And over there is the Holland’s house. Convenient to get there by boat.”
When Jason turned to see what Annie was doing she handed him a photograph. “I found this on the floor and here’s her phone. No wonder she didn’t answer.”
Jason looked at the photograph. “A diamond necklace?”
“It’s the same one Detective Crank found in the pot in my gallery. Read the back.”
“Return it or you’ll be next,” Jason read. He held out his hand for Annie. “Let’s get out of here.”
Jason stuck the photo in the back pocket of his jeans and led the way onto the porch.
“Fancy meeting you,” growled Detective Crank. “What are you doing here, Ms. Fisher?”
Sunglasses hid Christy’s eyes but Annie couldn’t mistake the scowl on her face as she stood on the porch.
Annie put her hands on her hips. “No one appears to be home.” She didn’t have to answer the question. Who did Ms. Christy Crank think she was anyway? Well, besides the new and extremely annoying detective in town who seemed to have something against Annie.
Christy slammed her hand on the side of t
he house and pointed her finger at Annie. “I hope I don’t find out that she was here and you warned her to disappear.” Cranky turned around and stomped off the porch. They heard the sound of tires crunching and spinning in the dirt as her car left.
Jason hurried Annie back to his car. “We have to find Camilla.”
Chapter 11
“Where are we going?” Annie asked.
“Back to the gallery. Maybe she thinks she can hide out there.”
“Hide out? More like get the stolen necklace that she hid in Jake’s pot back before she skedaddles out of town.”
Jason inched higher and higher over the speed limit. “Don’t jump to conclusions. Someone else could have put it in there to make Camilla look guilty.” Sirens and blue flashing lights pulled up behind Jason. “Not my lucky day. Looks like your ex was hiding at the old fairgrounds waiting for speeders.”
“You’re a sweet talker. See if you can get out of this one,” Annie said as a challenge.
“Okay. But you won’t like my method.”
Tyler walked up to Jason’s open window and Jason had his license and registration ready. “Glad to see you Tyler. We were just on our way to the police station to look for you.”
Tyler put his hand down. “Oh? Something so important you had to go twenty over the speed limit?”
Jason hung his head. “I’m truly sorry about that. Yes, we found something interesting in Camilla’s lake house. Shall I follow you to the station?”
Annie put her hand over her mouth to cover the shock of Jason’s words. Was he planning to show Tyler the photo of the diamond necklace? As soon as she had the thought, she realized it would help to make Camilla appear innocent.
“I’ll give you a pass this time, Jason, but this is a verbal warning to slow down.”
“Yes, of course. My fault.” Jason tucked his license back in his wallet and shoved the registration into the glove box.
Tyler pulled back out onto the road and Jason followed.
“Clever thinking, Mr. Hunter,” Annie said with admiration in her voice.
“Not really. I had already decided to stop at the police station before going to the gallery. This photo may just be the ticket to get your favorite detective to focus on someone other than Camilla.”
“Impressive idea. But how can you be so sure Camilla’s innocent?”
Jason followed Tyler into the police station parking lot. “I’m not convinced. It’s more an educated guess at this point.”
Tyler ushered them into his office. “Want some coffee?” he asked, indicating a Mr. Coffee half full on a shelf behind his desk. “I made it this morning.”
“None for me, but thanks for the offer,” Annie said while trying not to stick her tongue out at the thought of coffee that had been sitting around for more than half the day.
Jason shook his head. “No thanks.” He took the photo out of his back pocket before sitting down. “We found this in Camilla’s house.”
Tyler studied the picture of the diamond necklace and read the back before looking up. “Why didn’t you show this to Detective Crank?”
Annie shrugged. “She didn’t ask. She only wanted to know why we were in Camilla’s house.”
Jason put his hands on Tyler’s desk. “Detective Crank seems to have an agenda and we decided,” he glanced at Annie, “to share it with you and you can fill her in.”
Tyler looked from Jason to Annie as he tapped the photograph on his desk. “I’m not sure I believe your story but I’ll accept it for now. So this necklace? What do you know about it?”
Annie made a quick decision to level with Tyler. If she could get him on her side, maybe he could make Cranky back off, or at least be a little nicer. “It looks like the necklace Detective Crank found in one of Jake’s pots in my gallery. Someone thinks Camilla has it but I don’t think she’s the one who hid it there.”
“Go on.”
Annie crossed her legs and leaned forward. “Okay, here’s the thing. Jason discovered that there’s no information about Camilla before she worked at Gold N Silver for John Holland. Camilla Rockwell didn’t exist before then, or at least not with that name.”
Annie paused to let Tyler digest that information. His eyes opened wider so she was sure he hadn’t discovered that detail yet. “Camilla got fired from the jewelry store and moved here, where she would be sure to run into who else? The owners of the store that fired her. If she stole the jewelry, why on earth would she want to be anywhere near John Holland and Matt Austin?”
Jason put his hand on Annie’s thigh, and from the corner of her eye she could see him smiling at her.
“And, someone is blackmailing her.”
Annie’s skin crawled as she heard clapping coming from behind her. Her head swiveled around to see a scowling Detective Crank leaning in the doorway.
“Nice work you two. But where’s your proof of any of that?”
Tyler walked to the door. “Sorry, Detective Crank, I need some time alone with these people.” He gently pushed her away from the door and closed it before sitting down again.
“She does have a point but we can work on finding the evidence. We have the resources to find out who Camilla really is.”
Annie leaned back in her chair, relaxed.
“You might as well tell me the rest of your theory. Like, who killed John Holland?”
“I don’t know. The four likely suspects would be Camilla, Katherine, Matt or Flo. They all have something to gain and they were all at the Hollands’ party the night of the murder.”
Tyler thought out loud, “Katherine, will be an extremely wealthy widow. Matt Austin gets to run Gold N Silver by himself, and his wife Flo will benefit indirectly if Matt is the sole owner. What does Camilla have to gain?”
Jason shifted in his chair. “Don’t forget. Someone is blackmailing Camilla. Maybe it was John Holland.”
Tyler nodded his head. “Interesting. Thanks for the information.” He stood up. “Annie?”
“Yeah?”
“Try to cooperate with Christy. She’s really not so bad. And,” he paused, “I hope you never call her Detective Cranky to her face.”
Annie’s lip twitched up into a smile. “For some reason she doesn’t like me. She’s not someone who makes you want to open up to her. And you pushing her out of your office to talk to us alone isn’t going to have her treating me all warm and fuzzy the next time she bumps into me.”
“That’s a non-answer if I ever heard one,” Tyler said as he opened the door for Annie and Jason.
Just as Annie predicted, Cranky glared at her on their way out of the police station.
Driving the few miles from the police station to the Black Cat Café was slow with all the tourists milling around town. Labor Day weekend was a big draw for all the summer folks to enjoy the last blast of summer on the lake and spend time looking through the unique shops or enjoying a meal.
“Hey, look over there.” Annie pointed to some people sitting on benches on the town green.
Jason swiveled his head to quickly look where Annie pointed. “What did you see?”
Annie’s head was still twisted backwards. “It looks like Flo is having a heated argument with a younger man.”
“We should focus on Camilla for now. I’ve been wondering why you’re so gung ho on helping her. I thought you didn’t like her too much.” Jason pulled into the Cove’s Corner parking lot and searched for a nonexistent parking spot. “You’ll have to jump out here. I have some work to do at home.”
Annie opened the door. “To answer your question, when I saw the fear on Camilla’s face, it was like a flashback for me to when I had to flee New York and return to Catfish Cove more than a year ago when my life was in danger for something I didn’t do. Her fear reminded me of that. It was genuine. It doesn’t prove she didn’t kill John Holland, but I have to figure out what’s going on.”
“I thought it was something like that. Be careful.”
Annie walked to the lake side of the
Cove’s Corner building and Roxy leaped all over her. She dug a dog treat from her pocket and Roxy immediately sat down. “Anything interesting happen around here?”
Roxy wagged her tail.
“Just what I thought.” Annie patted her head and walked onto the deck of the café. A long line snaked around from the ice cream window to the far side of the deck. All the tables were occupied with more people sitting on the grass between the deck and the lake.
Annie was relieved to see that Leona, Mia and Danny had everything under control and were winding down for the day except for the ice cream window where the two high school girls, Bree and Ashley, were enjoying flirting with the teenage boys. She poured herself a cup of coffee and added a big dollop of whipped cream. Sliding onto one of the counter stools, she waited for Danny to flip the sign to closed before asking how the day went.
Leona responded with a grin. “Great day. We’re almost sold out of everything in the pastry case so Mia and I are whipping up a new batch of goodies for tomorrow. What have you been up to? Jason left hours ago with a sandwich for you.”
“Did Martha get a chance to fill you in on Detective Crank’s discovery?”
Leona leaned on the counter and Mia slid in next to Annie. “We haven’t seen her since she got a coffee before you left. Something interesting?”
“Someone hid a diamond necklace in one of the pots in the gallery.” Annie licked some whipped cream off her upper lip. “Probably stolen.”
“Camilla?” Leona asked.
“I don’t think so. Jason uncovered some information about her and she seems to have changed her identity for some reason. I’m trying to find her before Detective Crank does. Have you seen her?”
Mia and Leona shook their heads.
“I saw her go flying across the lake in a little motor boat about an hour ago,” Danny said.
The three women turned and stared at him.
“Where was she headed?” Annie asked.
Danny pointed. “In the direction of John Holland’s house.”
Chapter 12
“She must have left her lake house just before Jason and I got there. Or maybe when she heard us knocking on the door she scooted out and left in her boat.”