* * *
* * *
AFTER SOME WRANGLING, I convinced the three Piper siblings that the “meeting” Elena wanted to have should take place at Camilla’s house, where we had used our roundtable of great minds to work through problems more complex than this one.
They agreed, reluctantly, and I made some calls. First to Adam, with an apology and a brief summation of what had happened; then to Doug, to suggest he might want to be present for the meeting; then to Camilla, to explain why I wanted to bring Elena Castellan to her house.
I knew Carl was already installed in his safe house, and Belinda was working, so it would just be the police for now.
We drove to Camilla’s place, where the four of us were greeted at the door by two protective German shepherds and a scowling Adam. I held up a hand, a nonverbal encouragement to hear us out.
Adam backed away from the door, and I encouraged the three visitors to enter. Both of Elena’s brothers had to duck to get through the doorway. Elena looked around her with a dazed expression. I doubted she had planned my abduction; Joe must have texted her from the convenience store when he saw me enter. The fact that they had seized me suggested a certain desperation, and now they found themselves here, unexpectedly, following Elena’s instincts.
Camilla strolled down the hallway, and all three of them looked slightly shamefaced at the sight of her. Camilla did not have the look of a conspirator; rather, she looked like someone’s friendly, attractive aunt. She seemed to sense the ambivalence of everyone in the room. “Why don’t we come back into the sunroom? I’ve got a space heater in there, and Rhonda whipped up some hot chocolate and cobbler. We can clear the air while you get warm.”
Doug and Cliff arrived just then and came stomping up the front porch stairs to join us in the foyer. They were in uniform, and Elena pointed at Cliff. “You,” she said. “You were at the vet.” Her eyes went to the shepherds. “With one of those dogs, I’m guessing.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cliff said. He stuck out his hand. “I’m Cliff Blake.”
She shook her head; she still looked both uncertain and suspicious. “I must be an idiot. I know who you are—you’re the long-lost brother of Sam West. I saw your picture in the paper.”
“True, that’s me. And I did go to the vet with Rochester there. The truth is, I have a crush on the veterinarian. I asked her out, and she said yes. We’re having dinner tomorrow.”
Elena was no fool. “That’s not the only reason you were there.”
Doug stepped forward. “No, Mrs. Castellan, it’s not. He wanted to get a read on you. We all did. Because our information suggested that you might have something to do with the disappearance of your husband.”
“Your information?” she said, her voice scornful. “I’m sorry, but I’m still not sure I trust you, or your source of information. For all I know, you could be on someone’s payroll.”
Doug found this interesting; he cocked his head slightly as he considered her words. “Who do you think would be paying us? And for what, exactly?”
Joe Piper put his hands on his hips. “Listen, we know that people at Plasti-Source have connections in this town. I know it, for sure. We just don’t know how deep those connections go. So we’re not going to trust any cop who comes to Elena’s door, or any amateur detective who follows her”—he paused to look pointedly at me—“or anyone else who comes sniffing around.”
I leaned in. “Is that why you lied to the boy applying for a job? You told him Luis cheated on you.”
Elena stiffened. “His question seemed a little fishy, didn’t it? Saying he really wanted to meet Luis for old times’ sake? Suddenly all these strangers saying they want to see Luis. Even Carl—he showed up at my door asking where Luis was—how could I know who sent him?”
Doug and Cliff exchanged a glance; their police antennae had picked something up. “Wait a minute,” Doug said. “Why are you so worried about people looking for Luis? You should be looking for him, too.”
Something clicked then, and my pulse rate increased. “I know why you’re not,” I said. “You had Camilla’s book in your coffee shop. For the Love of Jane. You read it, didn’t you?”
Elena spun toward me, surprised. Then she allowed a little smile. “Aren’t you smart.”
Camilla came closer. “You read that book? I see. Oh my goodness!” Her eyes were bright. “Carl will be so pleased.”
“What am I missing?” Doug asked, irritated.
I was still looking at Elena. “Luis is still alive, isn’t he? And you know where he is.”
19
In her fourth week of captivity, her “aunt” left to do some shopping, warning her to remain out of sight. Celia knew instinctively that the tide had turned, and hope surged within her.
—From Danger at Debenham Station, a work in progress
ELENA SHRUGGED, THEN nodded. “I thought I was being so clever, but I guess I shouldn’t have borrowed a plot written by someone who lives right here in town.”
“I’m so relieved,” Camilla said. “I was truly worried about that boy.”
“You and me both,” Elena said.
Doug and Cliff gaped at us, trying to follow our conversation. Camilla said, “Come to the back, everyone. We’ll all help to explain things to one another.”
We followed her, an obedient and unlikely gang, the dogs padding behind us. When we reached the sunroom, we found that the cats had joined us, too, and they all jumped up on the wide window ledges to observe the proceedings. Tommy snagged Geronimo and started petting him. Geronimo purred appreciatively.
Doug looked at his watch and accepted a cup of hot chocolate from Camilla. “I don’t even know where to start. Why does Camilla’s book have anything to do with this?”
I looked at Camilla, who nodded at me. “For the Love of Jane is about a woman whose husband disappears. Remember I told you about it, when we were driving to the cabin? For a long time, she fears he is dead, but eventually it’s discovered that he’s faked his own death in order to keep her safe. There are dangerous people after him, and he doesn’t want them to try to use his wife as leverage, so he arranges his death, which appears in all the newspapers, and she is safe. Of course, she learns all this eventually, and so she must hunt down the people who wanted him dead. And they have a romantic reunion at the end.”
Just then Sam walked in, and all three visitors stared at him with interest. “Hello,” he said. “What am I missing?”
I patted the seat next to me. “A whole lot. And I forgot to wake you from your nap because of it. Sam, this is Elena Castellan, and her brothers, Joe and Tom Piper.”
“Her brothers,” Sam said, his brows raised.
“Yes. I understand you thought Joe was my secret lover at Plasti-Source,” Elena said, looking at Sam, and then, amused, at her brother.
“Well, not just me,” Sam said. “So—what brings us all together?”
“Well, they, um—detained me earlier,” I said. The Pipers looked chagrined. “But they did it because they thought I was in some kind of Blue Lake conspiracy against them and against Luis.”
Doug held up a hand. “Let’s get back to this. You had read Camilla’s book, and you decided to use the plot to hide Luis. Why? Who did Luis have to hide from?”
“I don’t know,” Elena said.
“What?” Cliff stared at her, confused.
She looked at all of us in turn, then at her brothers.
Then she sighed and said, “Here it is. One night at Plasti-Source, someone tried to kill Luis. He doesn’t know who it was, or why they tried to do it. He got away, but obviously he didn’t go back to work. Then, just when he thought there might be some other explanation, or he might have misunderstood, they tried again. This time by attempting to run him down in the road. He came home really scared, and that’s when we decided this. I didn’t know who to trust. Those gu
ys who run Plasti-Source have powerful connections. Luis says Mr. Grange is even friends with the governor. So—we needed to buy time.”
“So you went out with the car and deserted it. I assume that’s Luis’s blood spattered on the windshield?”
She nodded. “He cut his hand, and I used my kitchen whisk to sort of flick it on the glass.”
“Very resourceful,” Camilla said.
Elena shifted in her chair and ran a finger down the smooth handle of her cup. “Then we got into my car, which held a bag for Luis, and we drove him to—an undisclosed location.”
“And you’re sure it’s safe?” Doug asked.
“I think so. I took away his phone and destroyed the SIM card, so no one can track him on that. I check on him now and then through an intermediary. I can’t go myself, because the other day Joe found a tracking device on my car.”
“Really,” Doug said, leaning in.
“I took it off,” Joe said. “But then I realized that might have put Elena in danger, too. It tells someone we’re on to them, I guess. I just hated the idea of them keeping tabs on her. We thought it might be you, actually.”
Doug shook his head. “We don’t do that, Mr. Piper.”
Now Elena pushed her cup away, put her palms on the table, and leaned forward. “Yeah, well, someone did, and they want Luis bad; I just don’t know why, and I don’t know who. He said there’s been no sign of anyone where he is, so that’s good, but I’ve been really paranoid. How did I know that you weren’t going to turn him in to some rich Plasti-Source guy when you came asking all your questions?” She turned to me. “And how did I know that you weren’t, I don’t know, the girlfriend of the murderer? Everyone who asked where he was, I had to be suspicious.”
“That makes sense,” Cliff said, nodding. “I think you did the right thing. Except when you held Lena against her will.”
“I’m sorry,” Elena said. She looked sorry, too, pale and sad. Some of her defenses were falling, and emotion was creeping in. “When Joe saw you in the store, he thought you followed him there. Followed us. And he just got mad. We were tired of not knowing.”
Camilla said, “Dear, I’m going to have to insist that you have some hot chocolate. You look a little done in, and a bit of sugar can help.”
Elena politely lifted the cup in front of her and took a sip. “Thank you,” she said. “That’s good.”
“Tell me more about the attempted murder,” Doug said. He had his phone out and was typing in some information.
Joe Piper spoke up. “Luis doesn’t know why he has a target on his back. But I’ve known for a while that things were weird at work. There would be secret meetings, mostly run by Phil Enderby.”
“What do you mean, secret?” Cliff asked.
“I mean, normally I’m part of all the administrative meetings, but I would find out that Phil had been talking with people in his office. I’d say, ‘Did I miss a meeting?’ And he would get all weird and say no, he was just talking with some inspectors or something.”
“And who was usually in these meetings?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t always see. Sometimes it was guys from the plant, and other times it was guys from Crandall Construction. They’re out of Chicago, so they’re not always around. They’re—kind of rough-looking guys.”
“And what about Edward Grange?”
“He was at some of the most recent meetings. He’s been away because his wife died. But now he’s back; I’m not sure if he knows what’s going on. If Phil is up to something, he might be working alone.”
Doug rapped the table. “Back to the attempted murder.”
Joe nodded. “Yeah. Well, one evening Luis was working late. There had been some kind of computer glitch and people couldn’t access the Internet or something. Luis is the head IT guy, so they told him to stay until it was resolved. He was in a basically empty plant, running back and forth between the server room and the executive offices. He said he was in this long hallway leading up to the offices of the top brass. There are smaller offices along the way, with glass panels in the doors so you can look in and see people working. Luis was moving along, and he tripped over the carpet runner. There’s this plastic runner on the carpet, and it had bunched up somehow, and he tripped, and it saved his life. He heard glass shatter, and he looked up, and there was this fresh bullet hole in the window above him, right where his head had been.”
Camilla gasped, her gaze riveted on Joe.
“Well, he whipped his head around and saw no one at all. But he knew it was a bullet, and he knew it was meant for him. He kept running, past the executive offices and to the south stairwell. He said it felt like he took those stairs about four at a time. He got to his car, shaking and trembling and fumbling for his keys. The whole time he was expecting another bullet. He sped home and told it all to Elena, and then they called me.”
Doug speared him with a glance. “And you don’t have any idea who could have done it? Do you have any sort of grudge against Luis Castellan, Mr. Piper?”
To my surprise, Joe didn’t get angry. “Number one, Luis is my friend. I got him the job there, although we kept our relationship secret so people didn’t cry nepotism. Number two, I was home in bed with my wife when Elena called to tell me what happened. You can ask Beth. We were—occupied for a few hours before we fell asleep.”
Elena nodded. “It wasn’t Joe. I know when my brothers are lying, and he’s not lying. I told Luis not to go back to work for a while, but he was still running little errands in town. After the second time, though, when someone tried to run Luis down in the dark, we tried to pinpoint—what did he know?”
“He knew something,” I said. “He said as much to the guys at Blue Lake Games.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s where he was when the car tried to hit him. That’s the night we decided he had to disappear.” She looked at Camilla, then back at me. “What did he say?”
Camilla said, “He mentioned Uriah Heep. A Dickens character who pretended to be helpful and subservient but was cheating and stealing money. Did he mention any suspicions to you about his workplace?”
Elena bit her lip. “He knew that there was something going on. The Anemone guys were there all the time, but then there was this whole other construction group.”
“Crandall,” Sam said.
The Pipers nodded, and Doug said, “The question is, why the need for two construction companies. Perhaps a secret pipeline project?”
Joe’s face held some bitterness. “I’m plant manager,” he said. “And I have no idea what we’re doing with Crandall Construction. Although . . .” He squinted, thinking.
“What?” Cliff prompted.
“I did hear someone saying something once in the hall, outside my office. Just a quick something, I didn’t catch much, and then later I couldn’t pin Phil down about it.”
“As much as you can recall, please,” Doug said, his hands poised over his phone.
He shrugged. “Just something about how we didn’t need a new pipeline, we just needed to repair the one we found.”
“The one you found?” Doug and Cliff exchanged a glance. “I don’t know of any pipelines in Blue Lake, aside from basic water pipes. Could they have been talking about the Stafford plant?”
“I guess. But Blue Lake is the site of our construction.”
Camilla spooned into her cobbler. “Why is the construction halted?”
Joe sighed. “We have to jump through some hoops for the EPA inspector. The company has had issues in the past—chemicals from the plant getting into the local water supply in small amounts. We paid a fine, fixed the problem, or so Ed tells us. I didn’t work at the Chicago plant. I was hired on in Stafford. Anyway, locals have done their research and they’re demanding safe water, which is fair. But Ed and Phil have been pressuring me and Gino to get EPA approval so we can move on with construction
.”
“That’s Gino Perucci?” Doug asked.
Joe sniffed and looked at his brother. “Yeah. You guys are really on top of this, aren’t you?”
“Only because of Carl,” I said. I was looking at Tommy. “Do you work at the plant, too?”
He smiled and said, “Nope. I manage a Walmart in Blueville. I’m just here for familial support.” It was the first thing he had said all day. His voice had a pleasant twang, almost like an accent, but it was really just his sardonic tone.
“I need to think about this for a minute, and I’m going to eat cobbler while I do,” Doug said, digging with a fork into the bowl in front of him. It was blueberry cobbler, still warm, with a dot of whipped cream on top.
Encouraged, the Piper men started to eat theirs, too, and Tommy moaned. “This is good, man. I didn’t have lunch today.”
“Oh my goodness. We have all sorts of things to feed you,” Camilla said. “Adam, do you—?”
“I’m on it,” he said, and he left the room. When he returned a few minutes later, bearing a tray full of sandwiches and little bowls of Rhonda’s potato salad, everyone had finished the cobbler.
“They say you should eat dessert first, which we have done,” I joked.
Adam put food in front of everyone like an adept waiter. “You’re amazing,” Cliff said.
Camilla watched him fondly. “Adam worked as a waiter all through college. He never lost the skills. That’s when he decided he might want to own a restaurant one day.”
Elena perked up. “Oh—you run Wheat Grass, don’t you? It’s really good. Luis and I eat there on every anniversary. We have one coming up.” Her dark eyes grew sad again.
Doug tapped on the table, staring at his sandwich. Then he looked at Elena. “There’s no way around this. I’m going to have to talk to Luis. We need to know what he knows, and we need to ask enough questions that he might come up with a fact, an idea, that he didn’t have before.”
Death with a Dark Red Rose Page 18