Smoked (The Alex Harris Mystery Series) (21 page)

 “You said you met Maria standing in line at a pharmacy.”

“Yeah. That’s why we decided to name our line
Farmaceuticals
. Farm fresh ingredients for our sauces, dressings and some of the cosmetics and we met at the pharmacy. She really liked it.”

“Do you remember what she was picking up at the pharmacy, by any chance?”

“You’re kidding, right? I don’t even remember what
I
was getting.”

“Were you aware of her various allergies?”

“Sure. She made sure both Nadine and I knew. She didn’t want me to get her to taste test something if it had anything in it that could make her sick.”

“And did you do that a lot, bring in stuff for her to taste test?’

Ryan sighed. “I was just getting around to that. I had some samples I was going to bring in next week.”

It didn’t seem to me like things were progressing very well. Sure, they had all these boxes, but from the looks of it they all contained the same thing. I fingered a plastic bag on the counter. Inside looked to be some sort of shoes made out of hemp or some sort of fabric. Across the small room I spied what looked like handbags. “What is all of this stuff?”

“All vegan certified products. We want everything to be one-hundred percent organic. I’ll start selling these things soon and hopefully I’ll have the other stuff by time my show goes live in January.”

As far as I could tell all they had to sell were shoes and handbags. Once again I wondered how they had ever thought they could make a living out of this.

“Ryan, why do you think someone killed Maria?”

Ryan stopped moving the stuff on the counter. “Honestly, I have no idea. At first I thought maybe she offended the wrong person with the blogs. We argued about that but I think she finally saw the light and realized she couldn’t go around saying crap about people if we wanted to have a business. The more I think about it the only person it could be is Sergei. And isn’t it always the husband?”

“Sometimes. But why Sergei?”

“Because he cheated on her all the time and she knew about it.”

I thought about this for a moment. “Wouldn’t that be a motive for Maria to kill Sergei?”

“Maybe he met someone he really cared about and he wanted out. Despite his ways, Maria loved him so I can’t image she’d be inclined to give him a divorce.”

But Sergei wasn’t in love. He made it quite clear to me Nena Connick was just another in a long line. And I believed him. And I also believed he really loved Maria and she him. I was getting off track. I came here to find out what creepy Ryan Reynolds was up to.

“So help me out here, Ryan. Why exactly do you think the Vegan View is special enough to succeed? I mean, there are lots of sites where one can buy vegan products. And if I understand correctly, Maria was a life-long non-vegan. Had she actually embraced this life style so quickly?”

Ryan leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. “It was hard for her at the beginning but we saw the potential to have an all encompassing site. Products, blog, TV spot, radio interviews. And the blog wasn’t just about attacking businesses. Maria planned on writing informative articles, having online seminars. A lot of it was just in the planning stage.”

“My take on things is that Maria started the whole vegan thing as a lark. Ellery told me her mother got excited over stuff and then after about a year her enthusiasm waned. I’m getting the idea you were the driving force behind this entire project. That you needed someone with money, intelligence. You met Maria by chance, you started talking about veganism, slowly reeling her in. Then she quits a very good job, chucks it all in, for this.” I looked around the room and made it clear I didn’t see anything impressive at all. I picked up one of the plastic bags. “I mean, really, some hemp products, some vegan food stuff that anyone can pick up at the local grocery store. Come one. What’s really going on here?”

I was well aware I pretty much just accused a potential murderer of bilking a woman out of her life savings and that the two of us were alone.

“I’m busy. And you’re insulting me. I think it’s time you left and don’t come back.”

I shrugged. “Fine.” I made my way through the boxes and saw a bunch of empty ones stacked against a wall. “I have a friend who’s moving. I’ll just take a few of these if you don’t mind.”

“Fine. Whatever. I’m not talking to you anymore. You’re not even the police.”

He had me there but a certain detective with full credentials was going to be getting an ear full tonight because Ryan Reynolds was up to something and like with everything else about this case so far, I had no idea what it was.

I went back to my office because I didn’t know who else to question. I had exhausted everything I had. Someone was lying, but without alibis I couldn’t figure anything out. This PI stuff was harder than it looked. People get mad at the police when things don’t get sorted out but it’s a lot harder than anyone realizes. Maybe I should just stick to running my own business.

I hauled in the empty boxes I had pilfered from the Vegan View and put them in the kitchen for Millie to take home. It was wonderful to see how excited she was about moving in with Reuben. They made a great team. I was incredibly lucky. I had a successful business, a wonderful, tolerant husband, and my office mates were all stable, intelligent women in happy relationships which made our work environment drama free. I had a loving family and a grandmother who brightened my life and a niece and nephew who kept me laughing. Yes, I was certainly blessed. So why was I feeling so blah?

Of course, the answer was the murder. I felt I was letting Ellery and Mr. Kravec down. I had gotten nowhere fast. Though somewhere very deep in my mind, I knew there was something lurking that would tie everything together. But what?

I was deep in thought, sitting at my desk facing the window and the autumn panorama outside when I felt a presence.

“Am I catching you at a bad time?”

“John. Not at all.” I got up and walked around the desk and gave him a hug and a kiss. “What brings you here?” I asked as we sat down in the two chairs in front of my desk.

“Nothing. I just had a quick sandwich and need to get back to work but I missed you. And I’ll probably be working all weekend.”

“Ah, the curse of being married to a policeman. So, anything new with your investigation because mine is stalled completely?”

My husband had great hair and eyes and the most fantastic smile but he looked tired. I had a feeling things weren’t going too well for him either.

“I do have one bit of new information and it cements the theory this was premeditated.” I leaned forward, eager to hear what he had. “The auto injectors weren’t emptied. They were training devices.”

“Training devices?”

“The company also makes empty injectors so new users can practice. That’s why my guys initially thought they were emptied. There never was any drug in them to begin with.”

“So someone replaced Mrs. Kravec’s pens with these training things.” I thought this over for a moment. “Maybe it was Mrs. Kravec’s training device? Maybe she had one as well and she just kept it in the kitchen for some reason.”

John shook his head. “There were two of them. She wouldn’t need two. And besides, she’d been using the stuff most of her life. She knew how to use the pens. The cases in the drawer, the things that held the pens, the lot number matches her prescription. The training ones had lot numbers on them but they were peeled off.”

“Oh my. So what now?”

“So now I put in a lot of hours until I figure things out or something breaks in the case. I’m sorry about the weekend.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m having dinner with Mary-Beth tonight and a bunch of us are going to
Body Expressions
tomorrow.”

John smiled and raised an eye brow. “Don’t tell me where you put it this time. Let me find it.”

John and I locked eyes and I had a brief image of his searching for my tattoo and then his cell phone buzzed and he pulled it out and read the text.

“Jesus.”

“What?” I leaned forward and put my hand on his leg. “What happened?”

“Nena Connick. She’s dead.”

After stopping off at home and changing into my skinny jeans and a bulky sweater and a scarf I’d just finished making, I found myself driving along the coast road connecting Indian Cove and Pirates Cove. The turnpike would have been faster but any chance I got to be by the water, I took. How did people who lived in the middle of the country cope? I could handle a Great Lake, but not having access to a large body of water was a deal breaker for me. Indian Cove had been my home since I was born and hopefully, I would live here for the rest of my life.

I continued my drive, occasionally spying a light somewhere out on the water close to the marina. It was a cold night but not even the coming of winter could keep some people off the ocean.

I pulled into the parking lot of a small but crowded restaurant Mary-Beth had chosen. I hadn’t seen her since the murder in my home and I was looking forward to catching up.

“There you are,” Mary-Beth said as I slid into a booth by the window. We had a great view of the marina and the gently bobbing boats. “You look great and I bet you made that scarf.”

I pulled off my latest creation in various shades of grays and browns. “I have yarn left over. I’ll make you one.”

A waiter came over and handed us menus and placed a basket of bread on the table with some softened butter. We both fell silent while we perused the menus.

Once our orders were placed Mary-Beth leaned forward and put her arms on the table. “What the hell, Alex. How are you possibly mixed up in another murder?”

“The victim, Maria Kravec, was a neighbor.”

Mary-Beth shook her head of dark, Dorthy Hamil-cut hair. The gold ball earrings she always wore caught the light of the small candle on the table. “You need to move.”

I shrugged. “It won’t help. I went to Europe for my honeymoon and look what happened. Three-thousand miles and an ocean away and I still spent most of my time trying to solve a murder.”

Our appetizers arrived—Manhattan clam chowder for me and New England style for Mary-Beth. I savored the chunks of clams and pieces of celery and carrots while letting the aroma of the thyme-laden broth warm me. I broke off a chunk of crusty bread and dunked it in the soup. “And Mrs. Kravec isn’t the worst of it,” I said.

Mary-Beth wiped a bit of soup from the corner of her mouth. “What does that mean?”

“It means there’s another body. The girlfriend.”

“Mrs. Kravec had a girlfriend?”

I laughed. “No. The husband had a lot of them. This was the most recent. And now she’s dead.”

“Murdered?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. John got a text a couple of hours ago when he stopped by my office. He had to run off. I don’t have any details.”

Our waiter brought out plates of fish and chips and a bottle of malt vinegar. I finished my soup and pushed the bowl away. The fish was delicious, plump pieces cooked to perfection and the frites, as I now called French fries after my trip to Europe, were just as good.

“Well, obviously it’s connected. What’s that look for? Alex, is there more?”

“Okay. Here’s the deal,” I began. “I didn’t tell John, but in my defense he ran out before I could say anything.”

“Say what?” Mary-Beth was losing patience with me.

“The daughter. Ellery, Mrs. Kravec’s lovely daughter, stopped by this morning. She’s had a couple of run ins with her father’s current love and she told me that if Nena Connick, that’s the girlfriend,” I added for Mary-Beth’s benefit, “didn’t stop bothering her father, she, Ellery, would have to do something about it. And I’ve already pulled her hands from Nena’s throat once before.”

“Is that how she died? Was she strangled?”

I swallowed my piece of fish, which I had sprinkled with the vinegar, and began to cough. I reached for my iced tea and took a sip. “Sorry. I guess I can’t talk and eat at the same time. But to answer your questions, I don’t know how she died. I don’t think John did either when he sprinted out of my office.”

“Do you think the daughter did it?”

I thought about this for a moment. “I don’t know. You should see her. Beautiful. Successful. Intelligent. But the way she latched onto the woman last week when Nena turned up at the house was scary. And she did tell me that if Nena didn’t stop pursuing her father, she would not be responsible for her actions and now Nena is dead.”

“Well, hang on a minute. Maybe she just died. Was she sick? Maybe it was a car accident.”

“I don’t think so, Mary-Beth. Wouldn’t that be too much of a coincidence?”

Mary-Beth ate her last frite and moved the plate aside. “Who else is on your list of suspects. I know you have one,” she said with a smile.

I filled her in on the background about the case and told her about the blogs. “So at first I thought the Corliss family, mainly Frank Corliss, was a good contender for the murder, but he’s a reasonable man and I think he figured out his business was in trouble with or without the blog. There was another restaurant owner, Julie Vang, but I wrote her off at the beginning. She changed her menu and seems to be doing okay.” I wondered if I had written her off too soon, but felt certain she wasn’t involved and the police had also spoken with her and nothing seemed to come from their inquiries either.

“You mentioned a brother?” Mary-Beth said.

The waiter came and took our dessert order for their decadent chocolate house cake.

“The brother. Right. Tall, bird-like. Plays the violin and likes working in the garden, where I might add, he has poison ivy.”

“I have poison ivy,” Mary-Beth said.

“You’re not being helpful. He also lived in a house which Maria was hell-bent on selling and he was hell-bent on keeping.” I told her about Ryan and Nadine and the student, Jeff Metz, whom Maria had failed and who died in a car accident. And then I remembered the other guy. “Maria sent a weird email to some guy named Bob Spangler. She said she had information for him or something like that. I can’t remember. I went to see him and he had no idea who she was and what possible information she could have for him.