Sprinkled in Malice

by Catherine Bruns

  Josie knew how much I loved and envied her those beautiful kids. She reached over to pat my hand. "Hey, it's going to happen for you guys too, Sal. Don't give up hope."

  I said nothing as we watched the truck pull into the driveway of a small gray ranch home with a stone façade. Erica got out carrying a black, leather bag in one hand and a manila envelope in the other. She fumbled with the key to the door for a minute. I noted the address on the mailbox—3244 Burbank Street. Did Erica have any money of her own, or had she been relying on Trevor to pay her alimony? Was she grieving her ex or secretly glad to be rid of him?

  Josie pulled her van over to the side of the road and turned to look at me. "What do you think, partner?"

  I eased myself out of the van. "Well, she might shut the door in our faces, but it's not the first time that's happened to us, right?"

  The driveway was slippery and covered with a slick coating of flakes from the earlier morning's light snowfall. Spring was officially here, according to the calendar anyway. Some days I wondered why I'd ever moved back from Florida. It was a big state, and I could have managed to stay away from my ex-husband. Then again, if I hadn't come back to Colwestern, I might never have found Mike again.

  A dog barked from inside the house as we got ready to knock. A curtain on the inside of the door moved slightly to one side. The woman peeked out at us and then opened the door a crack. "Yes?"

  "Hi, are you Erica Parks?"

  Her brow wrinkled with suspicion. "Are you a reporter?"

  I shook my head. "My name is Sally Donovan, and this is my friend Josie Sullivan. Your husband, Trevor—"

  "Ex-husband," she corrected me.

  "Sorry about that," I said. "Your ex-husband worked for my husband, Mike, at Donovan Construction."

  She blew out a sigh and held the door wide open. "Oh. I think I know what this is about. Would you like to come in for a minute?"

  Surprised at her cordialness, Josie and I stepped inside. A small living room was directly in front of us, with a baby gate separating it from the kitchen. On the other side of the gate, a white poodle looked over at us and started to yip yap. He jumped around in circles while barking, trying to leap over the obstacle but not even coming close. He bared his teeth at us and tried to look fierce, but it was almost comical.

  "Donny!" Erica clapped her hands together. "Go to sleep!" The dog obediently trotted back over to his bed on the floor and climbed into it, his beady eyes still fixed on us.

  I glanced around. It was a cute house, similar in size to mine. A narrow stairway led to what I assumed were bedrooms on the second floor. Everything was immaculate.

  Erica pointed to a brown couch decorated with white flowers. "Please sit down."

  Still in our coats, we accepted the invitation while Erica took a seat in a recliner across from us and rubbed her eyes wearily. "It's been a long day. Trevor's service was this afternoon." She glanced up at us then as her face dawned with recognition. "Did the funeral home give you my address?"

  "No. Mike mentioned where you lived once. Trevor must have told him." I was surely going to hell for all these lies.

  She looked surprised. "Really? I wasn't aware that Trevor still talked about me. He stopped speaking to me altogether when he moved out. If he owed your husband money, I can't help you. I just got a job as a secretary for a local office supply company and am only renting this place."

  "I'm sensing a pattern here," Josie mused. "Money is the first thing everyone thinks of when Trevor's name pops up in conversation."

  Erica frowned. "What do you mean, everyone? Who else have you talked to? I don't even know what you're doing here."

  As much as I loved Josie, sometimes I wished she had a little more tact. "Erica, I'm not sure if you know all the details about the robbery, but my husband was with Trevor when he was killed. In fact, he was shot himself. We found out that Trevor was stealing money from my husband's business account the last few months. Thousands of dollars."

  She sucked in a deep breath. "Oh, no. I was afraid he might do that again."

  Josie and I exchanged glances. "Again?" I asked. "Trevor's done this before?"

  A muscle worked at Erica's jaw as she stared down at the floor. "He took money from his sister a few years back. She told me all about it. He stole from my father too. There are probably others. Your husband wasn't the first."

  "He probably wouldn't have been the last either," Josie said grimly. "Did you move here to get back together with him?"

  She choked back a laugh. "Hardly. After Trevor moved out, I discovered that he took several pieces of my jewelry. These were items that my parents gave me over the years, and Trevor knew that they were valuable. Of course, when I confronted him, he denied taking them. What am I, an idiot? He probably hocked them or gave them to that bimbo he shacked up with. So how could I make his life miserable? I decided to move near him." Her mouth quivered into a small smile. "Tina can't stand the sight of me."

  And vice versa. "What happens to the money in his bank account? Does it go to you?"

  She looked at me like I had two heads. "What money? Trevor never had a dollar to his name. We had to declare bankruptcy a couple of years ago. Tina told his brother, Curtis, at the service today that there's less than five hundred dollars in his bank account. Oh dear, what's little miss tramp going to do now? Find some other guy to steal away from his wife?"

  Tina had said they'd met in a bar one evening after Trevor moved here. Someone was obviously lying, but who? "Wait a second. Trevor left you for Tina?"

  Her lips clenched together. "Yes. Do you know how that makes me feel? After eight years of marriage, that's how he treats me—the little regard he had for our marriage. It's obvious he never cared about me."

  "But I thought he didn't meet Tina until you guys were separated," Josie remarked.

  "Is that what she told you?" Erica's voice rose. "Well, it's a lie. He came out here to visit his sister last summer and met Tina in a bar one night. He got drunk and slept with her. The next day he called and told me he wanted a divorce."

  Was she telling the truth? I honestly couldn't tell. "Someone mentioned that you and Trevor's brother were an item. Was that to get back at him?"

  She stared at me in disbelief. "I don't know what all of this has to do with your husband's business."

  "Is there a chance that Curtis could have been in on Trevor's embezzlement scheme?"

  Erica looked stunned. "Doubtful. They didn't like each other, so it seems crazy to believe that they'd be working together."

  "Not as crazy as you might think," Josie put in.

  Erica bit her lower lip. "In answer to your earlier question, no. I wasn't fooling around with Curtis. We never got along. Then again, he's never gotten along with anyone except Morgan. You want to know what I believe is going on?"

  "Yes," Josie and I both said in unison.

  "I think that Tina was carrying on with Curtis behind Trevor's back."

  If she was correct, maybe Tina and Curtis had been in on it together to kill Trevor. Curtis could have been one of the gunmen and this David Webb character the other. But why would they want him dead? He must have cut somebody out of their share of the so-called business. It was the only thing that made sense. "Did Trevor ever mention a man named David Webb?"

  She shook her head. "Trevor didn't have many friends. I always thought it was a shame that he and Curtis never got along. My own family back in Virginia is a tight-knit bunch. Nothing like the Parks' family tree. Curtis caused a huge scene at our wedding. He got drunk and tried to grope one of my bridesmaids. I can't stand the sight of him, and it wouldn't surprise me if…" She trailed off and then stood. "Look, if you'll excuse me, I have things to do."

  This was the sign that we'd overstayed our welcome. Josie and I both rose to our feet. I was leaving here with no answers, and it frustrated me. Either Tina or Erica was lying to me. And where did Curtis and Morgan fit in? "Thanks for your time. Oh, did you and Tina speak at the service today?"

/>   Erica's nostrils flared. "No. I avoided her like the plague. She and her girlfriend left before I did. I wanted to talk to the owner and make sure he knew that Tina was to get the bill for Trevor's service. He was busy talking to some weird old guy who had books about death. I kept waiting for the nutcase to leave since this was a private matter." She rolled her eyes. "Some people get so turned on by death, you know? I don't get it. The guy was definitely a fruitcake."

  Josie coughed and stared down at the floor. Heat burned my cheeks. Dad strikes again. I should have said something in my father's defense, but what was there to say? He was weird.

  "Can you give me the name of Trevor's former employer in Virginia?" I took out a pad of Post-it notes and a pen from my purse. "Why did he leave their employment?"

  She shrugged. "After he hooked up with Tina, he called his boss and said he wasn't coming back. That's the way he was about everything—irresponsible."

  "Do you have contact information for his previous boss?" I had a hunch that she'd say she didn't have a number or couldn't find it.

  Erica surprised me when she rose from her chair, went to the kitchen, and leaned over the baby gate. Donny watched her expectantly from his round, plush bed on the floor. She lifted her purse from the counter and grabbed her phone, scrolling through a list of contacts. "Roberts Construction. Alden Roberts is the owner." She rattled off a phone number and then looked at me strangely. "I received a voice mail earlier from an Officer Jenkins who said he wanted to come by and talk to me. Is he going to ask me the same questions as you? Do you think that Alden might have been one of the guys at the mini-mart who killed Trevor?"

  Her question startled me. I hadn't been thinking about a former employer as Trevor's killer, but had to admit it was possible. Perhaps Trevor had stolen from Alden before he'd taken off and the man had wanted revenge. What if I'd been mistaken and the gunmen weren't even in on the larceny charges? There was a good chance I might be going in the wrong direction. I'd have to ask Brian to check this guy out.

  Erica's phone pinged with a text, and she mouthed a quick sorry to us as she hastily typed out a reply. My mind was jumbled with all that I'd learned. Curtis had hated his brother. Morgan, who professed to have loved Trevor, was also a victim of his. A possible disgruntled former boss, two gunmen, and a pregnant fiancée rounded out the bunch, along with an ex-wife scorned. Where did I go from here?

  Erica put her phone down and walked us to the front door. "It was nice meeting you both." She jotted down a number on an index card and handed it to me. "Here's my cell. If I can do anything else to help you catch Trevor's killer, please give me a call." She smiled at me. "I saw your husband having lunch with Trevor about a month ago. I was never formally introduced to him, but he looked like a nice guy. Very attractive too." Her face reddened suddenly. "Sorry, perhaps I shouldn't have said that."

  "It's all right." Women were always attracted to Mike—this was nothing new. I'd gotten used to the sly winks and smiles as women checked him out, even if he was holding hands with me out in public. Sure, it was annoying, but we were secure enough in our relationship that I'd learned long ago not to let it bother me.

  "How's he feeling?" Erica asked.

  I placed the card in my purse. "Better, thanks. He'll be going home from the hospital tomorrow morning."

  Her lower lip trembled. "I'm sorry for what's happened, but you have to know that your husband is the lucky one here." She stared over at Donny, who'd resumed barking, as if knowing his owner was in distress. "I did love Trevor once, but he destroyed it. Tina wasn't the first woman he cheated on me with. Despite all the pain, though, I'm still sorry he's dead and keep thinking about all the good times we shared. Does that seem strange to you?"

  "Not at all." I hadn't realized it before, but Erica and I shared a common bond—a cheating ex-husband who'd been murdered. "I was married to a cheater once. He was killed too, so I understand exactly what you're going through."

  Her eyes widened. "Really? What are the chances? How did you get through it?"

  I didn't want to get into the whole scenario and tell her how Mike had been accused of Colin's murder and then left town, insisting that I was better off without him if he ended up going to prison. Despite that, our love for each other had seen us through. "With Mike's support. I hope you have someone you can turn to at this awful time."

  A tear trickled down Erica's left cheek, and she nodded. "I do. I recently started dating another man, and he's been wonderful to me. It might be the real thing." She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. "Hey, sometimes true love doesn't always happen the first time around, you know what I mean?"

  I smiled and laid a hand on her arm. "That's what second chances are for. Another opportunity to get things right."

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I spent another restless night in Mike's room while he seemed to sleep enough for the both of us. He'd said very little to me when I'd returned. Johnny had been with him and in the process of telling some jokes. It was obvious my husband was tired and in pain. The nurse had given Mike something to help him sleep, and he'd drifted off soon afterwards.

  I watched him breathing for a long time, his chest rising and falling in a rhythmic pattern. The lines of worry had returned to his handsome face and bothered me to no end. Mike was upset that I hadn't told him about my findings, but there was more to it than that. He was worried about the future and the possibility of his business going under. I kept thinking about the bills that were piling up. I'd told Josie to go ahead and order a new fridge since I didn't have time or want to be bothered with it. Cripes. Less than three years old. It could only happen to me. Grandma Rosa once told me how she'd had the same fridge for over twenty-five years. How cheaply did they make appliances these days?

  I must have fallen asleep at some point because I was awakened when something touched my face. My eyes opened, and I stared up at Mike, standing over me in his hospital gown and gently stroking my hair.

  Blinking, I sat upright and yawned. "Is everything okay? Are you in pain? You shouldn't be out of bed, sweetheart."

  He cupped my cheek with his left hand and leaned down to kiss me softly on the lips. "Sal, I'm sorry. I wasn't angry with you yesterday, although it must have seemed that way. I could never be angry at you, baby. But I am angry at the world—at everything that's happening to us."

  Relief swept over me. "It's okay. You work so hard and didn't deserve to have this happen," I said sadly.

  "It's not just me. We're a team, remember? Whatever happens to one of us happens to the other one too." His voice grew soft." You know that I love you more than anything in this world."

  My eyes grew moist at his words. "Me too." I got up out of the chair and helped him back into bed. When he was settled against the pillow, he reached up with his good arm and drew me close, placing his mouth over mine. It was a long time before we came up for air.

  Mike smiled wickedly and patted the space next to him on the bed. "There's enough room in here for two. And you could lock the door."

  I shook my head and laughed. "Listen to you. You almost got killed a couple of days ago, and already you're thinking about romance." I pulled the sheet up around him. "You'll be home in a few hours, and we can be naughty then."

  "But just think," he teased. "How many opportunities do you get to play doctor in a real hospital?"

  Erica's words from the previous day came back to me. Yes, I did know how lucky I was. Things weren't looking wonderful, but we had each other, and that was all that mattered.

  "It's a tempting offer," I admitted. "But we'll have to play when we get home. And as soon as you're up to it, I'd like to still have that birthday dinner in your honor—well, a belated one, that is."

  He sighed. "I'm really not in the mood for a celebration, Sal."

  "It will do us both good," I said firmly. "We have a lot to celebrate. Things could have been so much worse. We'll get through this, sweetheart, and then things will be better than ever. You'll see."

&nb
sp; * * *

  We arrived home shortly before noon to find Grandma Rosa waiting at the front door. Despite Spike's advanced age, he started barking and danced around in a circle when we got inside the house.

  Mike laughed and stooped down to pet him. "The big guy missed us."

  "Johnny dropped him off a little while ago," Grandma Rosa said. "He played very nicely with Dante too. It is good that Gianna and Johnny have been training the little doggie."

  Johnny and Gianna had recently started taking Dante to puppy school. The last time they were at my parents for dinner, they'd mentioned how he was "tops in his class." Nicoletta, who had also been present, wondered out loud why they had time to take the dog to school but couldn't seem to set a wedding date yet. Johnny and Gianna had left shortly afterward.

  Once Mike was settled in our bed, I grabbed his prescription pain killers out of my purse and noticed that there was a voice mail on my phone. I retrieved it and found that Laura Pusatere had called. She was brisk and to the point. "I might have some information that can help. Call me at your convenience."

  Exhausted from the morning's activities, Mike had already started to drift off. He refused the pill and asked for a kiss instead. Afterward, I went into the spare bedroom where Grandma Rosa was staying to call Laura so that I wouldn't disturb him.

  She came on the line immediately. "I told Evan about your visit. He tried calling David, but the number's no longer in service."

  No surprise there. "Well, thanks for letting me know."

  "Hang on a minute," she said. "Evan mentioned that when he first went to see our house—without me—he asked David if he had any other homes for sale. David told him that he was starting construction at a home over on Fairlawn Avenue soon. He said it was still in the development phase then, but I'm guessing there must be something up by this time."

  I wrinkled my forehead at the name. This was the other home on the work order that I hadn't checked out yet—26 Fairlawn Avenue. "Is that in Colgate too?"