The Valentine Mystery

by Kathi Daley

  After we finished eating, Bree and Coby left together and Tony and I went back to his house. I had work tomorrow, so I needed to keep my eye on the clock and get home at a decent hour. I probably should have taken the Jeep with me when we went back to my cabin earlier, but I was focused on the mystery and didn’t think about all the extra trips I’d be taking between Tony’s home and mine.

  When we arrived at Tony’s there was a black Suburban with tinted windows in the driveway.

  “It looks like you have company.”

  Tony frowned. “It does seem to be the case.”

  Tony pulled up to his regular parking space and turned off the engine. “Wait here.”

  I wanted to argue, but the look on his face left no room for argument. I cracked the window so I could hear what was going on.

  “Are you Antonio Marconi?” the driver of the vehicle, who had gotten out of the Suburban and was wearing a black suit with a white shirt, asked.

  “That depends. Who are you?”

  Another man wearing an identical black suit emerged from the SUV. Suddenly, I had the sensation of being an extra in a mobster movie.

  “I understand you’ve been looking for this woman.” The man who had been seated in the back of the Suburban said as he handed Tony a photo. “Have you found her?”

  “Who are you exactly?” Tony asked.

  “I’m a representative of Danko Milovich, Maria’s husband. I’m going to ask you again: have you found her?”

  “No, I haven’t. Until this moment, I didn’t even know her name was Maria.” Tony paused, then looked the man in the eye. “If you’re a representative of this woman’s husband, shouldn’t you know where she is?”

  “It would seem.” I gasped as the man reached into his pocket. I thought he’d been going for a gun, but all he came back with was a business card. “This is my number. I want you to call me immediately if you locate Maria. It’s imperative I speak to her before anyone else does.”

  I didn’t hear Tony’s reply if he offered one. It looked as if he just watched the man as he got back in the SUV, and the vehicle drove away. I got out of the truck and joined Tony. “Who was that?”

  “He claims to be a representative of Danko Milovich, Maria’s husband.”

  “And who’s Maria?”

  “It seems that’s Daisy’s real name.” Tony looked at the card in his hand.

  I frowned. “Why does the name Danko Milovich sound so familiar?”

  “He’s the man I told you about, who owns businesses all over the world, including Nowak Enterprises, the company Armand Kowalski worked for.”

  “So the man Daisy was married to, the man who’s most likely Coby’s birth father, and the man Daisy was running from is the same one who owns the company the man who was in the accident with Coby worked for.”

  “Exactly.”

  I felt chills run down my spine. “I think this just got a whole lot more complicated.”

  Chapter 10

  Monday, February 12

  I decided to begin my route that morning at Grandma Hattie’s Bakeshop. I wanted to see how she was doing with Bruiser. She’d taken him for a trial adoption on impulse, and I knew he could be a difficult dog for any owner, especially one who didn’t have a lot of experience. When I arrived at the bakeshop, Bruiser was laying quietly on a heated dog bed behind the counter. He glanced up at me when I approached but quickly lowered his head and went back to sleep.

  “It looks like Bruiser has settled in just fine.” I set a pile of mail on the counter. Tilly sat down next to my feet and waited patiently for Hattie to give her a treat, as she always did.

  “Bruiser and I are getting along just fine with one exception.”

  I glanced at the dog, who seemed to be more relaxed than I’d ever seen him. “Oh, and what’s that?”

  “He hates Hap.”

  I couldn’t help but frown. “Really? More so than anyone else?”

  “Apparently. I took Bruiser home on Saturday evening and everything was going great. Then Hap came over on Sunday for our regular weekly dinner, and Bruiser immediately started barking and growling at him. Hap offered Bruiser his hand to show he wasn’t a threat and Bruiser snapped at him. I ended up closing Bruiser in my bedroom so Hap and I could enjoy our meal. I’d pretty much decided the arrangement wasn’t going to work out after all, but then Hap left and my next-door neighbor stopped by, and Bruiser was a complete angel.”

  “Did Hap hug you when he came over?” I asked.

  “Well, yes. That’s his usual way of greeting me.”

  “Did the neighbor hug you?”

  “No. She just came in and sat down at the kitchen table.”

  “Have people been coming and going all morning?” I asked. Hattie had already been open for more than two hours and she tended to get a lot of business first thing.

  “Yes. It’s been a busy morning. Why?”

  I glanced behind the counter. “Has Bruiser been laying there all morning?”

  “Yes, and he hasn’t made a peep. He really has been the prefect angel.”

  I motioned for Tilly to stay, then I walked around to the side of the counter where the opening to the area behind the counter was. “Walk over to me and give me a hug,” I instructed.

  Hattie did as I’d asked, and Bruiser immediately jumped up and started growling and barking. Tilly popped up, I was sure to come to my rescue, so I took a step back and Hattie returned to her place behind the counter. Bruiser sat firmly on Hattie’s foot, as if daring me to try to approach her again.

  “Bruiser is just protecting you. When Hap hugged you, he interpreted his movement as being aggressive. My advice is to have Hap over again, but this time tell him not to hug you or even touch you when Bruiser is in the room. Chances are, once Bruiser gets used to Hap, he’ll allow him to approach you. I have to warn you, it could take a while if he’s already decided Hap is the enemy.”

  Hattie leaned over and picked up Bruiser, who looked at me with distrust but seemed content to be in Hattie’s arms. “Okay, I’ll try that,” Hattie replied. “I really have grown fond of the little guy. I’d hate it if he couldn’t learn to like Hap.”

  I left Hattie’s and continued down the street. Most of the merchants were too busy to chat, so I was making good time today. The bookshop was closed, as it was every Sunday and Monday between New Year’s and the first of June, so I didn’t have to worry about Bree slowing me down. Tony had promised to do some digging into Danko Milovich, and I was anxious to hear what he’d found. If Daisy really was his wife, I wondered why she’d run away and how long she’d been missing. I sort of doubted this Milovich fellow had been looking for his wife for thirty-five years, which led me to believe she’d gone back to him after she’d had her child, and then for some reason had run away again.

  Of course, for all we knew, Daisy could have given birth to Coby before she even met Milovich. If that was the case, she would have been running away from a different man back then, and was running from Milovich now. At least I assumed she was running; the man hadn’t said as much. What he’d said was that Maria’s husband didn’t know where she was. Maybe Maria was the type to run when things got tough. For all I knew, she could have run away from dozens of men in her lifetime.

  When I arrived at Sisters’ Diner with the mail, the first thing I noticed was the smile on Mom’s face and the twinkle in her eye. She was busy, so she did little more than wave before scurrying off to take an order, but even her movement across the restaurant seemed to have a bounce to it.

  “Mom’s in a good mood today,” I said to Aunt Ruthie after Tilly and I entered the kitchen to say hi.

  “Romero Montenegro is in town.”

  “In town?” I asked, surprise evident in my voice.

  “He showed up on Saturday and plans to stay through next weekend. Your mom is over-the-top happy. Happier than I’ve seen her since she first met your father.”

  When I’d found out Mom had a pen pal halfway across the world, I w
asn’t concerned, but now that he was here, I realized I needed to find out more about the guy. “He isn’t staying with her, is he?”

  “No. He has a room at the Inn. At least for now.”

  At least for now? What did that mean?

  “How well do you know this man?” I asked Ruthie.

  “Not well at all. He stopped in last summer on his way through town. It was slow that day, so your mom had time on her hands and stopped by his table and struck up a conversation. She recommended some must-see sights along the route he was taking and he seemed grateful for the insights. When he returned home to Italy, he sent your mom a thank-you card and they continued to correspond. I think she was as surprised as anyone when he showed up this weekend, but she was also very happy to see him.”

  “Am I a horrible person to be uncomfortable with the whole thing?”

  Ruthie shook her head. “It’s understandable you would feel protective toward your mother. I’m not sure I want to be around when Mike finds out she’s entertaining a stranger from another country.”

  Ruthie had a point. Mike was even more protective of our mother than I was. When Dad died, he’d taken over as head of the house, a role he took and continues to take very seriously.

  “Do you think we can trust this man?” I asked.

  Ruthie shrugged. “I don’t know him. I think I’ve said maybe five words to him in total. But your mom seems to trust that he’s exactly as he seems to be, and I have no reason to doubt her judgment.”

  Ruthie had a point, but it was beginning to look like Mom had married a man who’d fooled us all for almost twenty years. If she could be duped once, she could be duped again.

  Mom was still busy when I returned to the dining area, so I waved to her and went on my route. I’d spoken to her on the phone briefly on Saturday and she hadn’t said a thing about her Italian boy toy being in town then. I wasn’t sure if I should be irritated or worried about the situation.

  By the time I’d returned to my Jeep to trade out my empty mailbag for the second full one, I’d managed to work myself up quite a lot. I’d made good time that morning, so I took a minute to call Tony. If Mr. Montenegro was going to woo my mother, I was going to find out everything there was to know about him.

  “Hey, Tony,” I greeted him when he answered my call. “I need you to do me another favor.”

  “Is this regarding Daisy, or Maria, or whatever her real name is?”

  “Actually, no. I need you to do a background check on Romero Montenegro. He lives in Italy and is currently visiting White Eagle.”

  “Okay. Can I ask why??”

  “He’s dating my mother.”

  “And this upsets you?”

  “I won’t go so far as to say it upsets me; it makes me uncomfortable. Other than his name, I don’t know a thing about him.”

  Tony paused, then said, “Okay; I’ll see what I can find. I found some stuff about Maria Milovich, by the way. Do you want to come over here after work so we can go through everything?”

  “That sounds like a good plan. I’ll bring us some dinner.”

  I hung up the phone and continued with my route. It was a cold day with flurries in the air, but it didn’t appear we were in for any serious snow at least for the rest of the week. I loved living where there were four seasons and I enjoyed the snow most of the time, but I had to admit that by this point in the winter I was daydreaming about the longer, warmer days of summer. I managed to make really good time and was finished with my route by four-thirty. I tossed the empty bags into the back of the Jeep and headed to the post office to drop them off so they could be packed with the mail I’d deliver the next day. When I arrived, Queenie informed me there was a card for Mike that hadn’t made it in with the day’s mail. She wondered if I wanted to drop it off at his office then or if she should just put it in with tomorrow’s mail. I told her I’d take it and went in that direction.

  “Afternoon, Frank,” I greeted Mike’s partner as I entered the local branch of the sheriff’s office. “I have a card for Mike. Is he in his office?”

  “Last I checked, he was on the phone.”

  I headed down the hallway to find he was still on the phone. I waited in the hallway while he finished his order for twelve heart-shaped cookies with red frosting and white sprinkles before knocking on the door to let him know I was there. “I have a card for you.” I held it up in the air.

  “Just toss it on the desk. Is Tilly with you?”

  “She’s out front chatting with Frank. Aren’t you going to open your card?”

  “I will later.”

  Part of me wanted to tell Mike about Romero Montenegro, but another didn’t want to light any fires I couldn’t put out. I thought I’d wait to see what Tony had to say about the man before I said anything to Mike. Of course, it was possible someone else would say something to him before I had a chance to do it, but in the spirit of harmony between family members, that was a risk I was willing to take.

  I chatted with Mike for a few more minutes before going on my way back to the post office. By the time the mailbags were turned in and I’d chatted with Queenie, it was almost five. I decided to go home, change my clothes, pick up the kittens, and then go back into town to pick up Chinese food before driving up the mountain to Tony’s house. Everything would have worked out just as I planned if I hadn’t seen something on the side of the road after I’d turned off Main Street and onto the highway leading out to my cabin. I pulled over and got out to check it out.

  “Oh no, what happened to you?” I asked the medium-size black-and-white dog who appeared to have a broken leg. “Were you hit by a car?”

  The dog whined as I slowly approached, bent down, and reached out a hand to him. “I’m not going to hurt you,” I said as gently as possible. “I need to take you to see Doc Baker, so I’m going to have to lift you. Is that okay?”

  The dog looked spooked, and I was afraid he’d either bite me or even jump up despite his injury and try to get away.

  “I’m just going to put my hand on your head,” I said slowly, moving my hand in the dog’s direction. He began to growl, but he was also wagging his tail, and I wasn’t sure what he would do next. Once my hand was on his head, I slowly worked it down his body, still speaking softly to him. After a minute he stopped growling.

  “Okay, now I need to lift you. It might hurt, but I’ll try to be careful.”

  The dog thumped his tail against the snow twice but otherwise stayed perfectly still. I slowly lifted him into my arms, then started back to the Jeep. When I got there, I opened the tailgate. The dog in my arms began to squirm when he saw Tilly.

  “Get in front, Tilly,” I instructed.

  Tilly crawled through the opening between the driver’s and passenger seats, then made herself comfortable on the latter. I gently laid the injured dog on the floor in the cargo area, closed the tailgate, and headed around to the driver’s side door. I drove as quickly as I could safely. When I reached Brady’s the clinic was dark, so I went up to the front door and rang the bell. I could hear laughter coming from inside; I assumed both Brady and Lilly were home.

  “Tess, what are you doing here?” Brady asked. “Is Tilly okay?”

  “She’s fine. I found a dog on the side of the road. He appears to have a broken leg. I think he must have been hit by a car.”

  “Okay, let’s take a look.”

  Brady followed me out to the Jeep. I lifted the tailgate and Brady leaned inside. As I had, Brady spoke to the dog in a quiet, soothing tone of voice. After a moment he picked up the dog, and Tilly and I followed them into the clinic.

  “So?” I asked.

  “The leg is definitely broken. I think he has a couple of broken ribs as well. I’ll need to take some X-rays. He doesn’t have a collar. Have you ever seen him before?”

  “No, never.”

  Brady took out his stethoscope and listened to the dog’s heart and breathing. “I’m concerned there could be a small tear in the lung. I’ll know more
after the X-ray. You can either wait or leave him.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  Brady pushed the table the dog was lying on into the back room, where the X-ray machine and the surgical equipment were kept. I took the opportunity to call Tony to let him know I wasn’t going to make it with dinner after all. I wanted to hear what he had to say, so I told him I’d call him again when I got home.

  Several minutes later, Brady joined me where I was waiting. “I’ve given him some light sedation. Thankfully, the lungs are fine, but the leg will need to be set, and he does have a couple of cracked ribs. The leg is broken in several places, but I think it will be fine in the long run. I’ll keep the dog here for a few days until I’m sure there aren’t any hidden injuries. If you do manage to track down the owner, let me know. I’ll put a photo of him on my website as well.”

  “Thanks, Brady. The poor little guy. I feel so bad for him. Whoever hit him just left him there to die.”

  “He’s lucky you found him. He wouldn’t have made it through the night if you hadn’t.”

  “I’m always happy to do anything I can for any animal in need.”

  “That reminds me, I wanted to thank you again for helping out on Saturday. The adoption clinic was more successful than I even hoped.”

  “We had a lot of awesome volunteers and we managed to find a lot of dogs really good homes.”

  “We did have a lot of good volunteers, but I watched you and noticed you went above and beyond to make sure every dog found the perfect home. I’d like to take you to dinner to thank you.”

  I smiled. “That would be nice, but it really isn’t necessary.”

  “Nonsense. Lilly and I are having dinner tomorrow with an old school friend. How about Wednesday night?”

  “Wednesday is Valentine’s Day.”

  Brady clicked his fingers. “That’s right; I forgot. I’m sure you have plans with your special someone.”