The Root of All Trouble (26 page)

"
Dinner at least," I offered.

Reluctantly, he nodded and toddled away. I made a mental note to check on him later.

Perry helped Maria out of the car. "Have you heard from Kevin at all today?" he asked me.

"
Not a thing." I headed for the front steps.

Maria carefully navigated the stairs.
"He's mad at her because he thinks she has a thing for the coroner guy."

Perry said,
"Do tell!"

"
Nothing to tell." There was a package sitting on my welcome mat. "Do
you
have something to tell?"

"
Oh no, that's not from me," he said. "I learned that lesson."

I bent down, cursing the pain and pressure in my head, and straightened back up.
"The tag has your name on it."

He took the box out of my hands and shook it.
"Impossible."

"
Open it," Maria said.

Perry tore open the wrapping and removed a small velvet box from inside a larger gift box. The hinges creaked slightly when he pulled back the top.
"I don't understand," he said.

"
What is it?" Maria leaned in, trying to see the gift.

I glanced at Perry.
"Come on, you're behind this."

He shoved the box into my hands.
"I'm not. I swear I'm not. I don't get it. Who'd send me these?"

In my hands were the cufflinks he
'd admired the other day at The Gem Shop.

"
You really didn't send them to yourself?" I asked.

"
Nina, I'm telling you, no. I learned my lesson. This is a little creepy, isn't it?"

"
Why don't we call Saul?" I said.

A quick phone call later, we were still stumped. Saul had cited store policy about revealing his customers
' names and hung up.

Maria looked at me.
"This is strange."

"
Definitely a little creepy," I said.

Perry eyed the cufflinks.
"Do you think I can keep them? I can tell Mario he gave them to me—he won't remember."

I snatched the box back.
"No!"

"
I knew you were going to say that." He marched upstairs to take a shower.

As I watched Gracie sniff around outside, I shifted the box from hand to hand.

"What are you going to do with them?" Maria asked.

"
I think I need to pay Saul a visit." I brought Gracie back inside, rubbed her head, and set her on her favorite spot under the couch. "Do you want to come along?"

"
Actually, I'm a little tired. I think I'll rest a bit."

I eyed her.
"Is
Small-Town Crown
coming on TV soon?"

"
At two!"

I smiled, but her staying here posed a problem. I couldn
't go alone because I wasn't yet cleared to drive. "I'll see if Ana will go."

"
Can you bring me home a shake? Since you're going out? A chocolate one?"

As I walked out the door, I figured a lot of things about Maria were about to
undergo a drastic change. And some things would forever stay the same.

Chapter Twenty-four

I
'd just stepped outside when Kevin pulled his SUV behind Maria's Mercedes.

"
I thought you were supposed to be resting," he said.

"
I've rested. Now I have a quick errand to run."

"
You're not driving..."

"
I was going to get Ana to take me." Across the street, she was passing out water bottles to Kit's scary-looking friends. I noticed Jean-Claude was hard at work, stacking shrubs into a wheelbarrow. I hadn't spoken with him since the day at the park. I hoped he was okay—there was a lot going on in his life. I saw that several neighbors had joined in the cause to fix up the house as well, and also hoped Mario and Perry realized how welcomed they were here.

"
She appears to be busy. I'll take you."

"
You don't even know where I'm going."

His gaze settled on me.
"Doesn't matter."

Warmth slid down my spine.
"Okay."

He held my hand as I settled into the passenger seat, and I wondered at the shift in his behavior. He
'd gone from being surly to being...flirty?

"
Where to?" he asked, already backing out.

"
The Gem Shop."

"
The Gem Shop?"

"
Perry received an anonymous gift today that has him a little freaked out. It came from the store."

"
Another secret admirer present?"

"
I guess, but this time the admirer really is secret." I told him how Perry had sent all the other presents to himself. And now he was over the moon because Mario couldn't remember their big fight.

Kevin laughed. It had been a while since I
'd heard the sound, and I suddenly remembered how much I liked it.

How much I liked him.

I looked out the window as we drove past house after house. "How'd Delphine's hearing go?" It had been postponed until today when the news about the accident reached the courtroom yesterday.

"
Not well for her."

"
But—"

"
I know what you're going to say, Nina, but if it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, then it's a duck. She had means and motive and the evidence is stacked against her."

I folded my arms.
"Sometimes a duck is a loon."

He smiled.
"Same family, right?"

I wasn
't sure, so I kept my mouth shut.

"
Look," he said, "I talked to Honey and checked hers and Jean-Claude's alibis. They're airtight."

"
Did she admit to being the accident victim's sister?"

"
Yes. She confessed to marrying Joey to ruin him. To make his life miserable, to take all his money, to turn evidence she discovered against him cheating homeowners over to police. She says she'd never kill him because she'd wanted him to live as long as possible in misery. Delphine wasn't kidding when she told us that Honey didn't like her husband. She didn't just not like him—she hated him. She gets the last laugh about it, too."

"
Why's that?"

"
Joey had an enormous life insurance policy taken out a month after they were married. She's the beneficiary."

"
Um, hello! Motive!"

"
Quack, quack, remember? Honey took a lie detector. Passed with flying colors. She's telling the truth."

This time.
"Well, we know Delphine couldn't have tampered with the water heater. Did you talk to Plum?"

He stared out the front window.
"She's absolutely devastated, Nina, and was barely coherent when we questioned her."

"
She could be a good actress."

"
My instincts say no."

I couldn
't argue with his instincts—they were pretty good. "Any leads on who Joey had been arguing with when Mario arrived?"

"
We went back to sweep the place for prints. There are a lot, so it's going to take a while."

"
What about the carbon monoxide leak? Were there any prints on the water heater?"

"
It had been wiped clean."

"
It feels like too much of a coincidence that the two cases are unconnected."

"
I agree," he said quietly. "But I've yet to find a link."

"
Delphine seems to be the link. Someone is out to get her. Kill her lover, frame her, kill her crew..."

He said nothing, which told me he was at least thinking along those lines himself.

Good.

I rubbed my temples as he pulled into the jewelry store
's parking lot. There was a truck parked there I recognized.

"
Well, I'll be," I said.

"
What?"

"
Look!"

Kevin smiled.
"Someone's going to be a happy girl."

I would have hopped out of Kevin
's car and run into the store, but my head was pounding. Instead, I walked slowly, albeit with a spring in my step. Kevin held open the door, but just before going inside his cell phone rang. He said, "I need to take this. I'll be right in."

I left him outside and fairly floated into the shop. I walked
up behind Kit and said, "Fancy seeing you here."

Kit frowned at me as he handed a credit card over to Saul.
"What're you doing here?"

I
grinned ear to ear. "What're
you
doing here? You're supposed to be in charge of casa chaos."

"
I took a break," Kit said.

Saul rang the sale and slid the credit card receipt across the counter to be signed.
"He's buying a lovely ring for his—" He cut himself off when Kit growled at him.

"
It's okay, Saul. I know what he's doing, and it's about time."

Kit groaned.
"Don't say a word, Nina. Don't breathe it, don't think it."

"
Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."

He took his bag.
"Good. Now really, what're you doing here? You're supposed to be resting."

What was with people today? I wasn
't an invalid. "Just a quick errand. " I took the cufflink box out of my pocket and slid it across the counter to Saul. "I need to know who sent these to Perry."

"
Sorry, Nina, I can't divulge that information."

"
Can't or won't?"

"
My hands are tied."

The door behind me opened, and I turned to find Kevin coming inside, a sad look on his face.

Kit shook his head and said, "I've got to go." He practically ran out the door.

Kevin smirked.
"He's in a rush."

"
He doesn't do well with mush and gush." I smiled as I watched Kit hop into his truck. He zoomed away. I turned back to Kevin and quickly caught him up on the situation I was facing. "Saul's hands are tied. He won't reveal who sent the cufflinks." I wiggled my eyebrows and jerked my chin toward Saul. I needed Kevin to pull rank.

The corner of his lip twitched, then he cleared his throat.
"Saul, these cufflinks are part of an ongoing investigation," Kevin bluffed. "We need that information."

Saul
's eyes widened. "I can't. It's against store policy."

Kevin shrugged.
"I could come back with a warrant. And the store might need to be closed down for a few days..."

A bead of sweat popped out of Saul
's forehead. "Okay, okay!" He rifled through a drawer and pulled out a receipt book. He frowned. "It was a cash order."

"
So, no name?"

"
I always take a name. It was—" he took out his glasses and squinted at the page, "Joe Smith."

It might have well been John Doe.

Kevin said, "Small guy, dark coloring, clean-cut, and a nervous kind of demeanor?"

Saul nodded vigorously.
"Yes, yes! That's him. He came in with Donatelli Cabrera two nights ago."

Mario. That sneaky little... I glanced at Kevin.
"How'd you know?"

"
Seemed like something he would do."

Saul wiped his forehead.
"He said something about the cufflinks being an expensive makeup gift, but Donatelli talked him into buying them to show the 'depth of his feelings'." He used air quotes and rolled his eyes.

I had a feeling that Saul was more about the moolah than the emotion of his business.

Bear Broward must have gotten through to Mario that day in the basement. Well, with a little push from Mr. Cabrera as well. I thought it hysterical that Mario turned the tables on Perry and sent the gift anonymously. Perry was going to be thrilled he could keep the cufflinks.

Then I recalled that Mario wasn
't going to remember sending them.

"
Thanks, Saul," I said, tucking the cufflinks back into my pocket. As Kevin and I walked outside, his face was still somber. "What was that call? Not Mario..."