by R A Wallace
Megan looked around the store as though she were surprised to see the clothes. “Uh, no. Sorry. I was just wondering if I could ask you a few questions?”
Guilt immediately swamped Giselle when she realized how relieved she was that Megan wasn’t shopping. Determined now to find something for Megan that would suit both her personality and her lifestyle, she looked around her shop with a critical eye.
“Sure, I can do that. We can talk while we look for something new to add to your wardrobe,” Giselle said with more confidence than she felt. She pulled out a silky top from the office wear section. Glancing over at Megan, she discarded the idea and put it back on the rack.
Megan frowned at the silk top and watched Giselle look around the room again. “I understand that you were at the engagement party?”
Giselle stopped and looked at Megan. “Yes. I still can’t believe it. Do you know if the police are any closer to finding the killer?”
“I’m sure they are,” Megan prevaricated. “I understand that you arrived around the time that Caitlyn and Susan did?”
Giselle nodded as she strode off toward another rack of clothes. “We got there at the same time but then we split up. We were all talking to different people and then I wanted to get something to eat. I had skipped lunch, figuring I would just eat there and I was pretty hungry by then. Just my luck, too.”
Megan followed Giselle across the shop. “Luck?”
Giselle held up a sundress with a blue floral pattern on it in front of Megan and stared at them both intently. It was a simple dress with clean lines and no extraneous ornamentation. “Yes, just as I stepped up to get my food at the new catering truck, the one guy left. That left only one guy trying to handle everything and I ended up having to wait.”
“Which guy left?” Megan asked. She thought back to what Caitlyn had told her about the new hires. “One was older, and one was younger.”
“The older one left. The young guy did a really good job. He was just swamped at that point though, you know? I felt bad for him, actually.” Giselle handed the sundress to Megan.
Megan looked down at the price with surprise. She realized it had been on the rack with the seasonal sales. It was marked down eighty-five percent from the original price. “I’ll take it.”
***
Erica answered on the second ring. “Megan, hey. Cy’s alibi checked out. We think he’s clear.”
“What about the caterers? What did you learn about them?” Megan asked. She heard Erica mumbling to herself as she rustled through some papers.
“Tyler Jankowicz, age twenty-nine. He has a background working with food trucks and has spent a lot of time since an early age travelling around and working at county fairs, that sort of thing. Sounds like it runs in his family. His parents did the same thing.”
Megan nodded to herself. “That’s the younger guy. What about the other one?”
Megan heard more muttering and paper shuffling. “Alvin Drexler, age fifty-eight, from Kentucky. Didn’t have the same background with food that Tyler did but has some.”
“Giselle says he left the food truck just before the murder,” Megan said.
“Yeah, that’s what she told us too. We checked with Alvin. He claims he had to take a restroom break,” Erica said. It sounded like she was holding the phone away from her head as she shuffled through more papers.
“Pretty convenient,” Megan murmured. “What makes you think he was from Kentucky?”
Erica’s voice got louder as she brought the phone closer. “Why do you ask?”
“Jennifer thinks he was from Ohio.” Megan listened to more muttering as Erica found the notes from the interview.
“No, he claimed Kentucky.” Erica’s voice was loud and clear now. “Why did Jennifer think Ohio?”
“She said that she kept Alvin company when Jim was interviewing Tyler. Based on several comments Alvin made about his work history in general, Jennifer said the laws match up with Ohio,” Megan explained.
“You think he was lying about where he was from?” Erica asked.
Megan could hear Erica calling to Jerry. “I think so, yes. He also focused a lot of his attentions on Janice as soon as he got to town. From what Janice told me, he often asked about Jill and Blake. Then he stopped paying attention to her right after the death. Blake Vargo said that he was from Ohio and that his wife had passed away there. Alvin told Tia in Olde Tomes that he had lost his wife. It’s all just too much coincidence. I think Alvin had the means to kill Blake Vargo. He was missing from the catering truck at the time of the death. You need to track him down and figure out if he had the motive.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The evening was cool, no doubt thanks to the rain they’d gotten earlier in the day. Janice finished cleaning the kitchen after she sent Jill off to get some rest. Neither woman had much of an appetite, so it didn’t take long to complete the cleaning.
Janice found her sister in the living room. Jill was sitting on the sofa, a pillow gathered in her arms. Jill looked up and gave a half smile to Janice as she took a seat in another chair.
“Are you okay?” Janice asked gently.
Jill shrugged. “You were right, you know.”
Janice wasn’t certain what Jill meant. “About what?”
“Blake. I think I knew there was something wrong, and I just didn’t want to face it. I was an idiot,” Jill said, looking down at her hands folded on top of the pillow.
“Yes, you were,” Janice agreed amiably.
Jill looked up in surprise at her sister and realized that Janice was kidding. It had been so long since the two of them had been this comfortable with each other. Jill tossed the pillow at her.
“He couldn’t even be bothered to buy the gift I picked out from Vintage Teaberry,” Jill said.
“What was it?” Janice asked.
Jill shrugged. “Just a vase. The pattern reminded me a little of Grandma Judy’s china set.”
“Well, if it wasn’t exactly the same pattern, maybe he just didn’t want to get you an imitation,” Janice said. Jill made a face at her.
“Seriously,” Jill said. “I should have known a younger man wouldn’t be interested in me. He was handsome though, you have to admit that.”
Janice wrinkled her nose. “You’ve done better.”
Jill looked away and sighed, the temporary levitation of her mood gone. “That was a long time ago.”
“I still don’t understand why you’re so stubborn about this. He lives in the same town. He’s never married either. It must mean something,” Janice said in exasperation.
“I’ve told you before, we had an argument.” Jill sighed again.
“About what?” Janice asked, her voice raising with her exasperation.
Jill turned back and opened her mouth. Then she quickly closed it and got a thoughtful look on her face.
Janice let out a loud huff of breath. “You don’t even remember now, do you?”
Jill furrowed her forehead in thought. “Well, it was a long time ago.”
Janice was about to make another retort when the doorbell rang. Shaking her head as she rose, she went to answer it.
“Cy!” Janice said, her face lighting up with happiness. “Come in! Jill, look who’s here. It’s Cy!”
Jill looked up at the man she had loved in her youth. He stood there, awkwardly, holding a large box. Remembering her manners, she invited him to sit. He did, placing the box on the coffee table in front of him.
Cy looked at both women as he perched on the edge of the chair. “I wanted to bring you something.”
Janice looked from Jill to Cy and shook her head in disgust. “You two need to stop behaving like idiots and have a conversation. I’m leaving you alone now. When I come back into this room, I will expect you two to have kissed and made up.”
Jill’s face flushed as she watched Janice leave the room. She turned an apologetic look toward Cy.
“She’s right you know,” Cy said.
***
When Janice returned to the living room, she found Cy and Jill cuddled together on the sofa.
“Well, this looks better,” Janice said hopefully.
Jill barked out a laugh, then wiped away at some stray tears.
“Do I have your permission to marry your sister?” Cy asked.
Janice sat across from them and brushed away a few of her own tears. “It’s about time.”
Her eyes fell on the box Cy had brought.
He saw her gaze and disengaged his arm from behind Jill.
“I forgot about this,” Cy said as he opened the box. He carefully lifted out the coffee pot and set it on the table.
Both women gasped when they saw it.
“Our grandmother’s coffee pot,” Jill said in awe. “Where did you get it?”
Cy shrugged. “I have nearly all the other pieces to the set in my truck. I’ve been buying them as I found them over the years.”
“The whole set?” Janice asked in a hushed voice. “Really? How? We sold it to help with the financing of our shop. That was twenty-five years ago.”
“We’ve regretted it ever since,” Jill said. “We were so close to our grandmother.”
“We hated to do it, but we needed the money,” Janice added. “Jill was so upset about it, we ended up keeping one of the coffee cups, just to remember her.”
Both women looked at Cy in surprise when he started to laugh.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Erica’s eyes grew wide with delight when the oversized platter of shredded chicken nachos was placed in front of her. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” She looked around the large table with her friends gathered around her and grinned. “What are the rest of you going to eat?”
She laughed along with them as she offloaded some of the nachos onto a small plate in front of her and pushed the platter so that others could reach it.
Brad served his own nachos, then passed the platter to Justin. “I hope the twins like Mexican,” Brad joked to Erica.
Justin lifted the platter easily and set it in front of Lauren. “We need to do this more often,” he said to his wife.
“It is nice to have dinner out with grown-ups every now and then,” Lauren agreed as she put some of the nachos on their plates before Justin passed the tray across the table.
Another platter had been placed at the other end of the table. Megan and Dan were serving themselves before passing the plate along to Caitlyn.
Doug had taken the time from his duties to sit with Caitlyn and the others. “Jim and I decided to hire more staff at the restaurant so that we can both have a little free time. We both decided that we’re missing out on too much.”
“Really?” Caitlyn said as she served herself. “That’s awesome,” she said quietly as she leaned toward him. Doug smiled as he pushed the platter of nachos over to Jax.
Jax looked at Trina to see if she wanted any. At her nod, he used his fork to move some onto their two plates, then passed the tray to Jerry.
Jerry served both himself and Madison, then pushed the plate to Susan and Ross.
“Thank you, Jerry. This looks amazing,” Susan said.
“I hear that Jill and Cy were married,” Lauren said with a smile. “Janice told me when I dropped off my baked goods this morning.”
“Wow, that was fast,” Erica said.
Lauren nodded. “Janice said that after all these years, Cy wasn’t willing to wait any longer and take any chances that something would happen.”
“How is Janice taking it?” Susan asked.
“She’s thrilled. They haven’t yet decided what to do with both properties, but it sounds like the three of them may end up living together at one of them.”
“So, whatever happened with the Blake Vargo murder?” Ross asked.
The others at the table turned to hear Jerry’s answer. He passed a look at Erica first. “Alvin Drexler confessed, you know that much right?”
The others around the table nodded.
“Why did he do it?” Susan asked.
“He said that he was filled with grief after his wife died,” Erica said. She saw the confusion in the faces turned toward her.
“Thanks to Megan, we discovered that Blake Vargo was a con man. One of his victims was Alvin’s wife.” Erica heard the murmurs of sympathy around the table. “Mr. and Mrs. Drexler had hit a difficult point in their marriage. Although they did divorce, Alvin was absolutely convinced that they would work it out and get back together again. He was so convinced, he gave his wife everything in the divorce.”
“That was where Blake Vargo came in.” Jerry picked up the story. “He managed to get Mrs. Drexler to believe she was in love with Blake. So much in love, that she signed the property over to him once they were engaged.”
“He sold it, of course, and then left town immediately,” Erica added.
“Mrs. Drexler was so despondent when she realized what had happened, she ended up taking her own life.” Jerry shook his head sadly.
“Oh, that’s horrible,” Susan murmured.
“Alvin tracked Blake Vargo to Teaberry and the rest you know,” Erica said.
“Not really,” Lauren said. “What about Megan’s puzzle pieces?”
Erica nodded in agreement and held her hand palm up toward Megan, indicating that she should take over the story.
“The first clue was discovering that Blake had been studying the maps around Teaberry and the inheritance laws. Ross and Susan figured out that he’d been lying all this time about liking Jill’s energy drink. He didn’t want his picture taken at Tea and Thyme because he was afraid if it were published, one of his past victims might find him. And he was heard specifically asking about the deed to the Swindell property before the engagement party. After adding up everything, it seemed fairly obvious that he was after the property.”
“Why was he measuring it?” Jax asked with a glance at Trina.
Jerry shot Madison a smile. “He was trying to figure out options for the largest profit margin. He was in negotiations with a real estate agent that also specialized in gas and oil leases. There’s been some interest in our area because of the Marcellus Shale formation.”
“We finally did get in touch with the real estate agent that Seth saw Blake meeting with. It took a while to get the video image from the gas station clean enough so that we could pull the name from the side of the vehicle. He claimed that Blake said he had the rights to negotiate for the sale of the farm but that Blake also asked a few questions about selling Tea & Thyme. Apparently, he was looking into all of his options depending on what he could get his hands on.” Erica eyed the large platter of chicken nachos longingly. Brad chuckled and put some more on her plate.
“You think the Swindell farm has gas deposits beneath it?” Jax asked.
Jerry shrugged. “I have no idea. But Blake was willing to explore the possibility as he decided how to get the most money from what he was confident would be his next acquisition. He was measuring to see how he might possibly section the property up and maximize his return.”
“He might have been a good businessman if he had used his knowledge for good,” Ross murmured to Susan.
“What about the phone call he supposedly got just before he died?” Megan asked.
Erica wiped her hands on her napkin. “It was from a burner phone. Alvin said he called Blake and told him that he was an agent working with a large drilling company interested in the property who just happened to be in town looking at possible locations. He told Blake he’d meet him there down by the stream, away from the party, and talk with him about it.”
Lauren frowned. “Why didn’t you know about that right after Blake was killed?”
Jerry chuckled. With so many murder mysteries on television, everyone was an armchair detective. “Alvin was smart enough to take Blake’s phone when he killed him. We could tell from Blake’s phone records that a burner phone called him at a specific time.”
“But we didn’t know who it was for
sure until Alvin confessed and explained it all,” Erica finished.
“How did you know it was Alvin that murdered Blake Vargo?” Lauren asked her cousin.
“Well, there was his immediate interest in Janice, for one thing. He zeroed in on her as soon as he got to town but his main focus when he spoke with her was on Blake and Jill,” Megan explained.
She looked across the restaurant and saw Jennifer laughing at something Jim said.
“Jennifer gave me some good clues too. She was able to figure out that Alvin was actually from Ohio based on some comments he made,” Megan added. “She also saw him looking at the deeds in the courthouse.”
“So, there were a lot of people all over town who had the tiny pieces of your puzzle,” Ross said with admiration.
“I was just lucky to find enough of the pieces,” Megan nodded in agreement as a waiter moved in to refill everyone’s glasses.
Ross held his glass up and looked around the table. “Well done, Erica, Jerry, and Megan.”
Erica looked over at Megan. “You were somewhat helpful,” she said with a grin. “But you’re still a civilian so don’t let it go to your head. I don’t want you do anything to get hurt.”
“That makes two of us,” Dan said.
Megan’s Recipes
Apple Crisp
4 apples, pared, cored, and diced
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup soft butter
Coat pan with oil spray. Place apples in pan, add water and cinnamon. Mix sugar, flour, and butter until crumbly. Spread crumb mixture over apple mixture in 8 x 8 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes.
Apple Spice Half Cake for Two
CAKE:
6 tablespoons shortening plus 1 tablespoon water
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, well-beaten
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups diced apples