“I think I’ve got it. We can set a trap and make the murderer come back. They still have the key to the shop, after all.”
Kiwi cocked his head at me.
And so, I began to explain exactly how we were going to catch the person who had broken into my shop and killed Brittany.
It was simple, really. At least, if everything went according to plan.
Chapter 20
What can travel faster than a speeding parrot?
What’s more relentless than Mom?
What’s more annoying than Patricia Bledsoe?
What’s as disruptive as Hazel Crane’s magic?
Yep. There’s only one thing. It was something I hated but, darn it, I was going to harness its power and use it for good for once.
And that thing was gossip.
Kiwi and I had been up late the night before plotting exactly how to set our trap. It had taken some thought and would need some preparation, but we figured it should work. If everything went according to plan.
Often in the mornings, I liked to drop by the Black Cat Café to get a coffee before opening up the shop for the day. I sometimes didn’t bother if I knew Nora was going to be working alone, but most days I would swing by.
With a gentle push, the door easily swung open on light hinges and I was greeted with the welcome aromas of freshly brewed coffee, freshly baked pies, and the various breakfast dishes that were being put together in the kitchen for those people who preferred to dine out in the mornings.
“Good morning, Aria,” said Priscilla when I stepped in through the door.
“Hi!” I said, with a wave of my hand and a grin on my face. Having a plan had cheered me up immensely, even if it hadn’t come to fruition yet.
Upon entering I went and sat at the counter as I normally did when I was alone. Occasionally I’d hide away in a booth, but usually, the counter would be where you could find me, sipping a hot black coffee before heading off to open up the shop. The thing about bridal shops is that our mornings are usually much quieter than afternoons. It’s something about the whole business—because weddings and wedding dresses are for such celebratory events, it feels wrong to be trying them on early in the morning. Most brides don’t want to visit until the early afternoon at the latest. If they have a particularly busy schedule or the wedding date is approaching a bit too quickly, they might agree to a morning fitting, but generally afternoons were when we did the real work.
“The usual?”
“Yep. The usual please,” I said with a smile.
The usual was a large black coffee. It was typically my only one of the day; in the shop I preferred to drink teas or herbal infusions—one cup of coffee a day was enough of the heavy stuff for me. If I had any more I’d get jittery, so I stuck to tea after I’d properly woken up.
I liked the stools in the Black Cat. They let you sit up high with your feet propped up on the tubular metal footrests. I could almost pretend I was tall when I sat on them, as my head was higher than when I was standing up normally.
I spun a little to the left, and then a little to the right, while I looked at my phone screen as if I was awaiting a phone call. I was awaiting a call, but it wasn’t going to be quite what it appeared.
I wanted to wait until there was a quiet moment. I didn’t want to put on my performance for no audience. I needed the queen of Sequoia Bay gossip herself—Priscilla—listening in all the while. She was an important part of my plan even though she didn’t know it.
After carrying a tray of food to one of the two occupied booths, Priscilla appeared back up behind the counter, taking a moment to lean against the countertop and have a breather. Perfect.
I pressed the button to dial and waited until it picked up.
“Good morning,” I said brightly into the phone.
“Ooh,” I said loudly. “Is that so!?”
With a surreptitious glance, I checked that the fish had taken the bait. Well, Priscilla anyway. Sure enough, her eyes and ears had perked up and she was now trying to listen in on my conversation. I didn’t want to make her work too hard so I made sure to speak at a good volume.
“So, what you’re telling me, Ace One Security, is that they were already active?”
With some nods and hmms, I pretended I was being filled in on some incredibly interesting information. What I was actually getting was Kiwi, talking to himself in the shop. It was him that had answered the phone when I dialed, and now he was blabbering on about what he’d watched on television the night before while I had been running through our plan a final dozen times.
“But I thought the cameras weren’t going to be activated until the day of the sale?”
With a few more nods and a thoughtful bite of my lower lip, I did my best to give the impression that I was incredibly intrigued by what I was hearing. Priscilla was doing the same, but she wasn’t acting.
“So the cameras were recording the night before? And there’s video of that whole night?”
A few more nods and hmms.
“That is incredible information. Unbelievable. Absolutely fantastic... No... No, I don’t know how to do that. You’ll have to send someone over.... yes, as soon as possible... Tomorrow? Well I suppose that will have to do! ... Yes, please send the technician over in the morning to retrieve the video footage, then I’ll be able to hand it right over to the police!”
I glanced up again and saw that Priscilla was practically salivating. This must have been the juiciest bit of gossip the Black Cat had seen in quite some time.
“And the tapes won’t have been overwritten? Twelve months of storage? That’s incredible! With color? And sound? Wow. Fantastic.”
While Kiwi finished telling me what Laura had worn for her second date with the third cheating boyfriend, I gave a few final serious nods.
“Right, I’ll be sure not to touch it. Don’t want to risk losing the video footage! I’ll look forward to seeing your technician tomorrow morning!” And a final nod. “No, thank you, I will see your man tomorrow morning. Goodbye!”
I held the phone in front of me, beaming into it.
“Good news?” said Priscilla idly, as if she wasn’t desperate to know every last morsel I planned to dangle in front of her.
“Oh, I’ll say!” I took a big slurp of my coffee then placed the mug down on the counter and gave Priscilla a grin.
“What is it?” she asked, resting her arms on the countertop. She wouldn’t be going anywhere until she knew the whole story.
“You know the sample sale we were having?” I began, and nodded when Priscilla did the same. “Well, because Zola Cates is quite famous, and her dresses are all very valuable, my insurance company insisted that I have security cameras fitted in case there was a break-in.”
“Ooh,” said Priscilla. “And?”
“They put them in a day or two before Zola’s stuff had even arrived. I was under the impression that they were going to be coming back to ‘switch it all on,’ or whatever it is those technical types do, on the day of the sale.”
“Right.” Patricia nodded in understanding. I could see her picturing the whole thing in her mind, perhaps adding a flourish or two of her own. I’m sure when she retold it the technician who fitted it all would be a handsome young man with just the most fabulous eyes. That’s what Priscilla was like; if some gossip was good, she’d make it even better with a little sprinkling of her own imaginations and exaggerations on top. Which is just what I needed.
“But I was just on the phone with them, to tell them that we probably wouldn’t ever need to switch it all on, and do you know what they told me?”
“What did they tell you?” she said breathlessly.
“They said it was already recording! They said it began recording as soon as it was set up and plugged in, and they didn’t need to send anyone around again to start it. I thought you had to change the tapes every day and all that, but it turns out that isn’t how they work anymore.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Nope. Now it’s all digital, and the little box they installed can record months and months of video! And it was recording the whole time. It means there’ll be video of what happened to poor Carrie.”
“Then Zola won’t be able to claim it wasn’t her!” said Priscilla.
I frowned at her. She’d obviously heard Zola was about to be arrested from someone, though I couldn’t be sure who.
“Well, if it even is Zola.”
“Aren’t they about to arrest her? Is there anyone else it could be?”
I gave a little shrug. “Sure, there’s a lot of evidence, but I don’t make a judgment until ALL the evidence is in. I’ll make up my mind after I see this tape,” I said firmly.
Priscilla nodded her head slowly. “Everyone thinks it’s Zola. If it isn’t her, they’re going to be in for a shock!”
“I hope they are in for a shock,” I told her. “I could really do with that sample sale going ahead, but that won’t be possible unless her name is cleared. Hopefully this will do it.”
“This is all very exciting,” said Priscilla, standing up straight again and rubbing her hands together. “I don’t suppose you’ll bring the tape in here tomorrow, will you?”
I shook my head with a giggle. “I don’t think Jack—I mean, Detective Bowers would be very pleased if I did that, would he?” I could see the disappointment in Priscilla’s face already. “No, I’ll have to hand it right over to the police. And anyway, I don’t think I want to watch it.”
Priscilla nodded her head slowly in agreement, but I could tell the nod was a lie. “Right, watching a murder would be a bit... urgh. I suppose I’d turn away at the right moment.”
“I suppose you would, wouldn’t you?” I mused. “Still, I’d rather not see it at all. No, as soon as the technician is done, I’ll be calling the police first thing tomorrow.”
Priscilla nodded at me. I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw Priscilla again the following morning, but this time in my shop instead of hers. She’d love to be the first in Sequoia Bay to find out who really killed Carrie.
I took a giant gulp of what was left of my now lukewarm coffee, draining the last of the mug.
“Oh, could you do something for me?” I asked.
“What?” she answered almost too quickly. I could see the light in her eyes. I knew she was hoping that whatever I asked would allow her to be present when the non-existent video was retrieved.
“It might be best if we kept this to ourselves, for now. You know, until the police have the video.”
“Oh... yes,” said Priscilla. “I’m going to have to leave you to it now, dear, lots to do around here!” Priscilla had turned and hurried off into the kitchen almost before she’d finished speaking. Apparently, she wasn’t too keen on swearing herself to secrecy, not when she had a piece of gossip this juicy to herself. No, she’d want to be spreading it as far and wide as she could, as soon as she could.
Which was just perfect.
I left some money on the counter and sauntered out, feeling like James Bond. I was quite the actress when I put my mind to it, I thought to myself. Really quite good indeed.
When I got back to my shop, I unlocked the front door and walked inside. Kiwi was sitting on the counter, staring my way.
“Thanks for your help,” I said to him with a grin.
He gave me an angry squawk. No words. Just parrot noise.
“What?” I crossed the room over to the counter where I carefully placed the receiver back onto the base unit of the telephone. It seemed Kiwi could just about lift it off with his beak, but he couldn’t put it back properly.
“You weren’t listening to me!”
“Eh? What did you say?”
He took off into the air with a squawk and landed atop the bookcase so he could look down on me.
“On the phone! I was telling you about Laura!”
I giggled. “That was just acting! I couldn’t very well be talking to a security company about a reality show, could I?”
He fluffed his wings and puffed out his chest.
“You should! It was very important! You’ll just have to listen now instead.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. He glared back at me.
“Fine, tell me all about it. I can hear you better here anyway. Your voice doesn’t travel well on the phone.”
“Doesn’t it?” he said quizzically.
“Well I wasn’t listening, was I?” I answered with a grin.
After an outraged squawk, Kiwi settled down to tell me what I’d missed while I prepared stage two of our plan.
It was almost time to catch our murderer.
Chapter 21
I had the front door of the shop open and I was making a show of sweeping out invisible bits of dust.
“Time to close up for the day, Ki!” I shouted.
He responded with a happy caw, not speaking in case passersby heard him.
After I finished sweeping, I carried two bags of garbage out of the front door before walking around the back to put it in the dumpster. Usually I’d just go out the back, but today we were making a big show of closing up the shop.
“That’s it, we’re done!” I announced so loudly I was almost shouting, as I turned the sign in the window from OPEN to CLOSED. “No more shop until tomorrow!”
Was I laying it on a bit thick? Yeah, probably. But better than being overly subtle and no one noticing.
I turned off all the lights, and exited the shop out of the front door, locking it behind me. Next, I walked around the side of the building, opened the side door, and let Kiwi back inside.
"You know what you've got to do?" I asked him
"Yep!" He gave a happy squawk, excited to be part of a Very Important Secret Plan. And he was one of the key players. At least, that's what I told him.
I closed the door again, went back to the front of the building, made a show of checking that the front door was properly locked, and then walked down Main Street in the direction of the Black Cat Café—my destination for the time being.
Surprisingly few people in Sequoia Bay actually realized I lived above my shop. It's an older building, and people just assume it's zoned commercially and thus the upstairs is just a storeroom or perhaps some kind of office. Or more commonly, people didn't even think about it at all. For some strange reason, I wasn't the center of attention for everybody in town. Though these days it felt like I kind of was.
When I arrived at the Black Cat Café, I was pleased to see that it was Priscilla on duty today, and not Nora. It didn't really matter—either would do the job—but I felt more comfortable with Priscilla due to the fact she wasn't horrible. I'm simple like that.
"Hi, Aria," she greeted me. I don't usually come in after work; I'm more of a morning regular, but my afternoon visit wasn’t totally remarkable either.
When I do come in after work, it's for one thing and one thing only. And we both knew what it was. One of my few dirty little secrets. Actually, it isn't dirty, but it sounds more intriguing that way.
"All done for the day?" she asked as I sat myself down at the counter.
"Yep. That's it. The shop's all locked up for the night and I'm about to head on home."
"Well I hope your commute isn't too tough today," she said to me with a laugh. She knew where I lived and it was an occasional running joke that I was very lucky with the traffic, or that I hadn't had any problems getting to and from work. It wouldn't amuse many people, but it kept us mildly entertained and our relationship friendly.
"What have you got in the pie line today?"
"Just cherry."
"That's lucky," I said with a grin.
"And why's that?" asked Priscilla.
"Because cherry's exactly what I wanted. Could I get a slice to go? A big one if you've got it."
"For Kiwi?" she asked.
"You know it," I answered. That was another one of the little stories we told each other. When I got a giant piece of pie to take home, it was always 'for Kiwi,’ even though we
all knew that there was no way a parrot could eat more than a couple of mouthfuls of it. Still, it made us laugh.
"I heard you went out with Jack the other day," said Priscilla.
"Err," I answered with my usual aplomb.
"Mini-golf, right? Are you an item now, then?"
I shook my head. "No, no. Actually, we didn't even really play, because he had to leave for work." It was true, but I didn't bother to tell her that the reason he had to leave for work was because of what I told him while we were playing.
"You won then?"
I laughed. "Totally."
"Are you going to see him again?"
I shrugged my shoulders like I didn't care. "Who knows? I've got a lot on my plate these days, and so does he. It's probably not the right time for us."
BZZZZ.
I looked down at my phone and then quickly covered the screen with my hand, to stop Priscilla from seeing who was calling.
"Is that him?" she asked. "It's him!" she answered when she saw me cupping my hand to stop her peeking.
Remaining tight-lipped, I mouthed an ‘excuse me’ and stepped away from the counter to answer the call.
On the other end of the line was silence. Deathly silence.
"Hello?" I said quietly.
Nothing.
I pressed the phone hard up against my ear to try and force some noise out of it. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work. In the background though, I got the faint sense of something, or someone.
"So tiny!" came a whispered but angry voice. "Where are they?"
Who was it? Who was there?
"Pie's ready!"
I glanced over to Priscilla and wrapped in foil and placed in a plastic bag was my giant slice of pie, sitting on the counter and ready to go. I gave Priscilla a nod, and gave one last listen down the phone line.
"Intruder alert!" came a half-whispered, half-screeched voice. I knew who that was. Parrots struggle with whispering so I had no doubt he was about to be found out by whoever had used the key I'd given to Zola to break into my shop and try to steal the non-existent videotapes—or whatever they used these days.
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