Read Between the Tines (27 page)

Happy finally to have this woman's name, I jotted Cara Long on my pad. "Any idea why Nathan would lie about this?"

"Oh, I don't think he was lying per se, he just likes to create controversy. He's kind of a male drama queen." She rolled her eyes.

I erased the picture forming in my head as fast as it appeared.

"He was right about one thing, though.
Gary
did have to take a lower position for a while when he moved here, but he wanted to make a clean start with Karen."

Or did he want to get Karen as far away from Cara as possible? "Do you know if
Gary
ever told Karen about this affair?"

"I'm not certain, but I don't think he did. He didn't seem proud of the relationship with Cara."

"Could Cara have wanted to get back at
Gary
? Maybe kill him?"

"Hmm, that's a good question." She cut her eyes toward the ceiling and pondered before looking at me again. "I know she got married about a year ago."

Married or not, she could still want him dead, and I needed to pursue this lead even if it was another dead end. I pointed at Irene's hands. "I'll take that now."

"Oh, right," she said and gave me the paper.

"I don't really have any other questions for you. I'm sure I'll come up with some once I've had a chance to think this over." I stood. "Mind if I call you if I do?"

"Fine." She rose, hugging the folder tighter as if she thought I might wrestle it from her at the last minute. "You'll let me know if you figure anything out?"

"I will." I pulled my business card from a holder on my desk "And you can call me if you think of anything else." I handed her the card, walked her to the front door and let her out before securing the deadbolt.

I hurried back to the office to spend some time planning tomorrow's work session at the Buzzy house and organizing the supplies I'd need. And I'd have to find a helper to load that concrete if I was to finish the project in a reasonable time frame. Or maybe I should say if I wanted to finish the project and still have enough time to do a little snooping.

I returned to my office and dialed Lisa on my speakerphone. "Are you working for Mitch tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yeah, why?"

I spun the knob on the safe and cranked it open. "I need help hauling concrete at the Buzzys' house."

"Oh, but doesn't that sound like fun." She snorted. "Hey, wait. The Buzzys. Did Karen change her mind?"

As I shoved the bank bag into the small safe, I told her about Karen leaving for
Portland
.

"She probably shouldn't be making such major decisions so soon, but I can see her point in not wanting to stay somewhere that causes her discomfort."

I swiveled back to my desk and spotted the list of names. "Speaking of discomfort, I found out the names of three of the men who harassed Daisy at Pacific." I rattled off the names.

"Don't know a one of them. Used to be I knew everyone around here, but people come and go at the factory."

Drat, I'd hoped she would know them. "I'm trying to decide how to proceed. I really don't have a clue how to find out if they killed
Gary
without coming right out and asking them."

"Then don't do anything. It'd be one thing if they were locals and you knew them, but these guys could really be dangerous. I think you should turn the information over to Mitch."

"Mitch! No way."

"Yes, way." I heard a loud crash in the background. "Look, I gotta go. You come see Mitch in the morning, or I'll sic him on you." She didn't give me a chance to argue before disconnecting.

I couldn't give in that easily, and she'd follow through on her threat and tell Mitch in the morning. I had twelve hours before that happened. How was I going to find out anything about these guys? I needed a source who knew everyone.

Uma! I looked at the clock. 6:30. She usually started late and took appointments until seven for her clients who worked. I jumped to my feet, grabbed my cell along with the list of names and ran out of the building. If I hurried, I would catch her at the shop. Maybe she would fill in the missing pieces, and I'd finally know the identity of
Gary
's killer.

Uma, aqua blue eye shadow slashed across her lids in bold strokes obviously intended to match her brightly striped top, chatted with a young male customer at the cash register. Well, chatted was a kind description for the outrageous flirting she engaged in.

A quick nod was the only greeting I received, so I sat in a chair and waited for her to finish. The man, Lance or as Uma kept calling him, La-a-ance, appeared to be in his early twenties and looked decidedly uncomfortable. He repeatedly ran his hand over his freshly shorn head while inching toward the door. I was certain he would, if given the chance, drop to the ground, affect a runner's pose at the starting block and beat the starting bullet out of the door.

Uma finally seemed to give up and said see you later. Lance rushed past me and didn’t take the time look at me.

"Isn't he the cutest?" Uma charged after him and watched him climb onto his motorcycle. "I've been trying to get a date with him for the longest time, but he just doesn't seem to pick up on my hints."

Hints? Uma had rolled out a treasure map with a big X marking her as available for a date. I wouldn't touch this topic with a ten foot, no, make that a hundred foot pole. The best option would be to ignore Lance and go straight to one of my reasons for being here.

"I was hoping you would tell me when Olivia Jacobs was scheduled to see you again."

Her penciled in brows rose toward the dyed hair. "What business is it of yours?"

"Did you know her husband abuses her?"

Uma's jaw dropped and she gawked at me as if I had two heads. I explained my meeting at the hospital and turned to show her my bruise.

"I never would have imagined." She collapsed onto a chair. "She seemed like she had it all. Money, clothes, a man who worshipped her. Man, you just never know, do you?"

"I want to help her get away from him. To do that I need to talk to her."

"She has an appointment at nine thirty to have her hair done for the funeral." Uma's tone had lost all of her usual zest. Probably because her idol had just fallen off her pedestal.

I would change the subject and move on so she could lament the loss in private. I clicked to the picture and held out my cell. "Do you know these guys?"

At the word guys, her sour mood fell away and her eyes sparkled like the Hope Diamond. Or at least like she had the Hope Diamond in her sight. She jerked the phone from my hand and studied it. "No, definitely not. Trust me, if I'd met the cutie in the middle, I'd remember."

I dug out the paper Irene had written their names on and traded it for my cell. "Here're their names. Recognize them?"

Her eyes devoured the names, as if seeing them would remind her that she did know them. "Again, no." Her head popped up, and she shoved the paper at me. "Oh, I know what you're hinting at. You think these guys have something to do with
Gary
's death."

"Maybe. I'm not sure."

She slowly bent down, slipped off a shoe and rubbed the ball of her foot. When she looked back at me, her face held the superior glint it had lost when I'd told her about Olivia. "I thought you were on top of things, Paige. Guess you didn't hear the big news if you think these guys are guilty."

"News? What news?"

"Mitch arrested some guy about an hour ago. They're pretty sure he was the one who broke into the Buzzy house and your apartment."

"Say, what?" I sat down hard. "Who?"

"Stan Carson."

"Stan Carson. I've never heard of him. You know anything about him?"

"Nope and Ed—my source wouldn't tell me any more than that."

So who was this Stan Carson? Was I barking up the wrong tree, here? Were the men staring at me from my cell not guilty? I was so sure one of the men who harassed Daisy had killed
Gary
. But Stan Carson's name wasn't on the list.

I shot to my feet. "I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Out the door like The Flash, I pointed my speeding body toward the police station. I dialed Lisa on the cell still clutched in my hands.

"Why didn't you tell me they arrested the person who broke into my apartment?"

Sigh. Another sigh. "We've been through this, Paige. I'm not going to share what I hear at the station. And even if I did want to tell you about it, I wouldn't because you'd just go running off and do something crazy."

How dare she? I would not run off and do something crazy. I slowed my pace to a brisk walk. "For your information, I'm on my way to tell Mitch what I know about the men who harassed Daisy."

She coughed. "Right, sure you are. C'mon, Paige. Fess up. You might actually tell Mitch what you know, but your real purpose for the visit is to get information out of him."

I was growing tired of her pegging me and pointing out my erratic behavior. "I'll talk to you later."

To her knowing laugher, I clicked off and zoomed into the police station. Officer Riley, sitting behind the desk, looked up with an annoyed expression taking over his face. He was a classic yucca to me. If you approach a yucca the wrong way, sharp needle like leaves would poke your flesh and yuccas are stingy flowerers, sending up one shoot a year. And that was only after the plant had been in the ground for a few years.

"What do you want?" he grumbled.

See, like I said. Pokey and stingy. "I need to talk to Mitch. I have information about the Buzzy murder."

He gave me a yeah-right look but punched the intercom button and spoke with Mitch. After a short conversation, he jerked his stiff neck to the rear. "He's in his office."

I didn't wait for him to finish but charged down the hallway, pulling the paper out as I went.

Mitch, worn and haggard looking, sat behind a pristine desk with a manila folder open before him. I rushed in.

He closed the folder. "Riley says you have information for me."

I slid the list of names across the desk and watched his face to see how he reacted.

He gave it a cursory glance then leaned back in his chair. "Figured you'd get to these guys eventually."

His haughty tone set my ire to firing, and I blurted out, "You gonna arrest them, too, since they were in cahoots with Stan Carson?"

My taunt worked. Mitch's eyebrow rose in the finest imitation of Spock that I'd ever seen. He stared at me as if he was carrying the whole Spock thing to the next level and planned to use the mind meld on me.

"Well?" I said to distract him before he could latch on and take control of my mind.

"Who told you about
Carson
?"

"I won't give up my source."

"I guess I didn't even need to ask." He worked his jaw and clenched and unclenched his fists. "You have your own little stoolie working here."

"Hah, shows what a good cop you are. It wasn't Lisa."

His face reddened, and I waited for the top of his head to open and a gush of steam to shoot out like you often see in cartoons.

I'd pushed too hard. I had to regroup. "I'm sorry, Mitch. I shouldn't have said that. You're a great cop. I'm just frustrated because you know something that might help me solve this murder, and you won't share."

He studied me and his face cleared then threw back his head and laughed, long and boisterously. "You should see your expression. Remember when I got that Super Soaker for my tenth birthday. You wanted one so bad and saved your allowance to buy one, but your mom said young ladies didn't play with guns and she wouldn't let you get one. Yeah, well, you've got that same look on your face now."

Oh and I felt that way. Here I was thirty-four, going on thirty-five, and I was acting like I had when we were ten. Worse yet was the fact that I recognized this and still wanted to knock that smug grin off his face. But that would get me nowhere. I'd tried force, now time to try honey. Slather it on thick and syrupy sweet.

I forced a laugh. "Never did buy one, even after all these years."

"Maybe you should have so you wouldn't be so tempted to play at being a cop now."

I curled my fingers but kept on smiling. "Hey, I found Bud's killer before you. Never know. I might catch this one first, too."

His eyes turned dark. "This one is different, Paige. Bud's murder was personal and my investigation says this case goes deeper than that. It has too many layers for a novice to be involved in." He gave me a hard stare. "This killer isn't playing around. I need you to butt out of this now, before you get hurt. Seriously hurt, like dead."

"So you know who the killer is?"

He shook his head. "Not yet, but we will. Soon. I have a few puzzle pieces to snap into place first. Until that happens I want you to lay low."

"Does it have something to do with Daisy's harassment?"

He grinned. "I won't answer that, Paige and you know it." His face took on a fond expression. "Promise me that you'll let this go, and let me do my job. I can't have another victim on my watch."