Vanilla Vices Read online

  “Thanks. That’s helpful. Is there anything else?”

  “I’d keep my eye on Benny and William if I were you. Something’s going on there. I don’t know if they were competing for the same item or what, but it wouldn’t surprise me if one of them killed Dan to get whatever they were after.”

  “Do you have any idea what they both might have been so interested in?”

  “No. I’m just basing it on the way they’ve both been acting lately at Aunt Teeks.”

  “You seem to have been spending a lot of time out there yourself lately,” I suggested.

  “I’m nearly ready for my next project, and condos where the junk shop is currently located would make perfect sense. Dan had a view he didn’t take advantage of, and a desirable location to boot. For what I was willing to pay him, he wouldn’t have had any trouble relocating his business to a less valuable piece of land and make a pretty piece of change in the process. I was going to throw in some land I already own to seal the deal, but he died before we could make it happen. I was this close, and I knew it,” he said, holding his index finger half an inch from his thumb. “If I don’t get his property, and soon, I’m going to have to move on to my next choice. Suzanne, my business is like a shark. If I don’t keep moving, I die.”

  “I heard that might just be a myth,” I said.

  “Whether it is or not, it fits my situation. It doesn’t matter whether my crew is working or they are idle, I have to pay them either way. I’d rather pay them for actually working.”

  “I’ll let you know as soon as I can,” I said.

  “Good. I’ll give you a call when I get back into town this evening,” he said as he headed for his truck. “Don’t worry, you’ll have my best and final offer by five, just like I promised.”

  “Or I could call you earlier if I’m ready before then,” I said.

  “Either way.”

  After he was gone, I thought about what he’d just told me. The fight fed into Belinda’s possible guilt, and the supposed paperweight cast shadows toward William and Benny. That left Frost himself looking remarkably clean, though there was something about the developer that I just didn’t trust.

  I needed to see Belinda again, and I knew that I couldn’t take Grace with me. I wasn’t all that eager to call and tell her that, but what choice did I have? I knew that Belinda wouldn’t speak with me if anyone else was with me. She’d already made that perfectly clear. The truth of the matter was that I wasn’t even sure she’d speak with me if I were alone.

  “Hey, Grace, it’s Suzanne.”

  “Hi, Suzanne. I was just about to call you.”

  “Well, I saved you a dime, then.”

  She laughed at the reference. “I can’t remember the last time I used a pay phone to call anyone, but I’m pretty sure that when I did, it was more than a dime.”

  “It’s just an expression I picked up from my momma. What’s up?”

  “I need a few hours this morning before we get started,” she said. “I’m having trouble with one of my people, and she needs a good scare to shake them up.”

  “Is it the same one you threatened to visit yesterday?” I asked her.

  “It is. I want to see if she took my warning to heart or if I’m going to have to make an example of her. Can you do without me for a few hours?”

  “I’ll try to manage,” I said, relieved that I wouldn’t have to turn Grace away.

  “Hang on a second,” she said suspiciously. “That was a little too easy. What are you up to, young lady?”

  I should have realized that she knew me better than that. It would make it easier for both of us if I just came clean about what I’d learned so far today. “Frost just came by and made me another offer. When I wouldn’t budge, he dished some dirt on Belinda Carson and managed to cast a few doubts toward William and Benny while he was at it.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Evidently the day before Dan was murdered, Belinda threatened him. She said in no uncertain terms that if he told anyone about their relationship, it was the last thing he would do.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty incriminating. How did the builder happen to come upon the information? Did he say?”

  “He eavesdropped on their conversation,” I said.

  “That’s how I like to get my information. Are you going to go talk to her?”

  “I thought I would, but she won’t even see me if I’m not alone.”

  “So you were calling to ditch me, but I ditched you before you had the chance. Nice.”

  “I was going to tell you everything when it was over,” I protested.

  “I’m not fussing, I’m congratulating you. Just be careful, okay? I hate the thought of you going up all by yourself against someone who might be a murderer. Can Jake go with you as backup and sit in the car?”

  “He could if he hadn’t decided to go into work today.”

  “I thought he was off?” Grace asked.

  “He was, but with us tied up with the investigation, he decided to go on in after all.”

  “The man’s a workaholic,” she said.

  “So is his wife,” I answered.

  “You won’t catch me being dedicated to my job like that.”

  “Really? I thought you were off today, too.”

  “This isn’t work. I take a nice little drive by myself, either catch one of my people goofing off or not, and then I drive back home. It’s almost a crime to take a paycheck for doing it.”

  “But you’re not about to refuse that, are you?”

  She laughed heartily before she answered. “You know me better than that. What did Frost say about Benny and William?”

  “He said they were arguing over a paperweight, if you can believe that. What could it have been worth?”

  “It baffles me what some people consider valuable,” Grace said. “Let me know when you finish up with Belinda, would you?”

  “I promise. Happy hunting.”

  “You, too.”

  It was time for me to start investigating again. I pushed the last of the coals of the fire around until they were all evenly dispersed, grabbed my Jeep keys, and then I headed off to confront Belinda Carson.

  I just hoped that she’d be willing to see me.

  Chapter 17

  “What do you want?” Belinda Carson said when she saw that I was the one standing on her front porch ringing her doorbell.

  I’d had warmer greetings in my life, but to be fair, I’d had colder ones, too. “We need to talk, Belinda.”

  “Suzanne, I thought I made it perfectly clear yesterday. We are finished talking.”

  “That’s fine by me,” I said as she started to close the door. “But you might want to at least hear what I have to say before you shut that. I can either talk to you about it here and now, or I can go tell the state police investigator what I just learned. It’s your call; I don’t care either way.” That was a lie. I desperately wanted to get her spin on what Frost had overheard at Aunt Teeks, but I couldn’t let my eagerness show.

  “What do you think you know?” she asked me suspiciously.

  “It turns out that your relationship with Dan wasn’t anything like you tried to lead me to believe,” I said.

  “What have you heard?”

  “That you had a tremendous fight just before Dan was murdered, and you went so far as to threaten him if he dared expose your relationship.”

  “I told you before that I didn’t want anyone to know about us.”

  “Sure you did. What you failed to mention was the fact that you threatened him.”

  “I did nothing of the sort.”

  “Are you really going to try to stick to that story, even after someone overheard you screaming at Dan just before he was murdered?”

  “I knew that he hadn’t just driven up,” Belinda said, a
snarl coming to her lips that I’d never seen before. It was unbecoming to say the least. If I’d ever doubted Frost’s description of the argument, that suspicion was now gone. “So what? We had a fight. That’s what couples do.”

  “Jake and I disagree from time to time, but neither one of us ever threatens to kill the other one.”

  “I didn’t say that I was going to kill him, only that he’d regret telling anyone else. I meant that I was going to break up with him, not that I was going to murder the man!”

  “That’s not the way I heard it.”

  “Then go to the police. I’ll tell the inspector the same thing that I told you. Now go away, Suzanne. There’s one last thing I want from you, and then I sincerely hope that our paths never cross again.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I left a few personal items in Dan’s room that I’d like back. They are of no real intrinsic value, but I’d like them nonetheless. Will you allow me to do at least that much?”

  “Tell me what you’re after, and perhaps I can get it for you,” I suggested.

  “I’d rather do it myself, as a last tribute to my late love. Surely you understand the sentiment.”

  “I do, but it’s going to be difficult at the moment.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I don’t have access to Aunt Teeks at the moment.”

  “Whyever not? You are still the executrix, are you not?”

  It didn’t really surprise me that she used the correct title for my position with the estate. “I am, but the police have taken over the site again.”

  “When you regain access, though, you’ll allow me inside?”

  “I don’t see what it could hurt,” I said.

  “Very well. Please let me know as soon as it is available to you again. The quicker I can do this, the sooner I can allow myself to start healing.” With that, she closed the door solidly in my face. If it wasn’t a slam, it was the next best thing. Belinda had hit a nice tone with her indignation before. Could she have been telling the truth? One thing was certain: the woman had a temper, something I hadn’t seen up to that point.

  But had she been angry enough to kill Dan?

  I still couldn’t say, but I knew that I had to tell Inspector Black about what Frost had overheard. She was most likely going to spank me hard over it, but I really didn’t have any choice. If a murderer went free because I was too cowardly to mention what I’d uncovered, then I’d share some of that guilt as well, whether that made any sense or not.

  “Inspector, do you have a second?” I asked as I went by Jake’s office and found her working at his desk. Jake was out on patrol with one of his deputies, and the state police inspector had taken over his office completely. She was studying a photograph when I tapped on the door. It was a graphic shot of Dan, lying there on the floor where we’d seen the bloodstains in the cast iron room, and I wished that I hadn’t peeked at it. It did nothing to aid my investigation. In fact, it made me equal parts sick and sad that my friend had lost his life in such a violent way.

  Inspector Black flipped the file closed, so at least I didn’t have to stare at my friend’s dead body any more. “What is it you want?”

  “I have something that might be helpful to you,” I said.

  She stood, turned her back on me, and waited a moment before she spoke. “What are you doing, Suzanne? Do you want to go to jail? Is that it?”

  “I’d love to know what grounds you’d arrest me on,” I said, doing my best to keep the anger out of my voice. I’d learned that from watching Jake. When you used calm to combat anger, oftentimes it lowered the heat of the conversation.

  “I’ll find something. You’ve got to quit digging into this case! I can’t believe you’re still at it, even after I warned you.”

  “Inspector, I uncovered this information in the realm of doing my duty as executrix to Dan’s estate. A conversation was related to me that I thought you should know, but if I’m wrong about that, I apologize for taking up your time.”

  I started out the door, and was one step away from the hallway when she barked out, “Sit down.”

  It wasn’t a very nice invitation, but that didn’t matter to me. I did as I was told, but I didn’t say a single word until she addressed me. “Well, go on. I haven’t got all day.”

  “Jeffrey Frost told me something during our conversation about the possibility of me selling Aunt Teeks to him. The day of the murder, he overheard Belinda Carson threaten Dan. They were dating, but she wanted it to be a secret. When he pushed her about telling everyone about their relationship, she said that if he told anyone, it would be the last thing he would ever do.”

  “We already know about the relationship,” Inspector Black said. “And I’m certain that if I ask Ms. Carson about it, she’ll deny that it ever happened.”

  “Actually, I just left her. Far from denying it, she admitted to threatening Dan.”

  That got the inspector’s attention. “Are you saying that she told you that she threatened the man’s life on the day he was murdered?”

  “No, she claims she meant that she was going to break up with him, but I don’t believe her.”

  “What I want to know is why you were talking to her in the first place.” Inspector Black was really losing her cool, and I didn’t want to hang around for any punishment she might be tempted to dole out my way. “How does that have any bearing on handling the deceased’s estate?”

  “I can speak with whomever I please without having to justify it to you or anyone else,” I said properly. Then, without another word, comment, or plea for excusal, I stood and walked out of the office.

  I half expected her to call me back in, but I was more than a little relieved when she didn’t.

  Wow, I was making friends left and right. All four suspects were unhappy with me for varying reasons and in different amounts, and Grace and I were not much closer to solving the murder than we’d been when we’d first heard the news about what had happened to Dan. That didn’t even take into account the ill will I’d generated with the state police inspector.

  We needed a break in the case, and we needed it quickly.

  I knew that we needed something else, something solid, to solve this case.

  I just had no idea how we were going to get it.

  It turned out that I didn’t have that long to wait to get the answer I’d been hoping to get. I was leaving the police station when I heard someone calling my name. When I looked up, I saw Benny Flint walking quickly toward me, waving a sheet of paper in his hand.

  What was this about?

  I didn’t have a clue, but I had a hunch that I was about to find out.

  “I’ve been looking all over town for you, Suzanne.”

  “Well, I’ve been around,” I said. “What’s up?”

  “I want to show you something,” he said as he thrust a piece of paper into my hand.

  “What is it?” I asked as I studied it. There were seven items listed on it in a man’s strong handwriting: a letter opener with Elvis Presley’s bust on it, a snow globe of Mount Rushmore, a candy-cane-shaped pen, an old-fashioned iron like the one that had been used to kill Dan, a book on landmarks of North Carolina, a brass spittoon, and a small iron paperweight with three small musket balls mounted on a wooden base. “You know what? I just read this list, and I still don’t know what it means.”

  “Flip it over,” Benny said.

  It turned out to be a sales receipt from Aunt Teeks, and in what I assumed was Dan’s writing since it matched the list I’d just read, it said, “This is a receipt to Benny Flint for the items listed on back, for which he paid me a total of forty-seven dollars and twenty-four cents.” It was dated the day before the murder. “So?”

  “I never picked these things up,” Benny said. “I didn’t think there was any rush, so I was going to get them today, but Dan got
himself killed before I could do it. You can see, plain and simple, that these things belong to me, fair and square, and I aim to get them now.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said as I handed his receipt back to him. “But I can’t help you.”

  Benny scowled at having his request denied as he took the receipt. “But you can’t do that! I’ve got proof and everything!”

  “Benny, I’m sure that this is all genuine, but the problem is, I don’t have control of the shop. The state police have put their crime scene tape back on it, so I can’t get in.”

  “But you agree that this stuff belongs to me, right?”

  “Unless I hear otherwise from someone else, it’s fine by me. You’re just going to have to wait a bit to collect it all.”

  “I don’t like waiting around for something that belongs to me,” Benny said sullenly.

  “Does anyone enjoy that?” I asked him.

  “No, I guess not, but you need to promise me something. The second they let you back in, you call me and tell me I can come get my stuff.”

  “I don’t have a phone number for you, Benny.” In all honesty, I wasn’t even positive the man owned a phone.

  “Here. This is my brand-new number,” he said proudly as he gave me a written number printed on a torn piece of notebook paper. “You call me, day or night. Okay?”

  “Sure thing,” I said as I tucked it into my pocket. “While I’ve got you here, I need to ask you a few questions. Do you have a minute?”

  “I guess so,” he said. “What do you need?”

  “Take a look at these and tell me what you think,” I said.

  I showed him the angry note, and he frowned as he looked at it. “That’s bad, isn’t it?”

  “Well, it’s not good. Do you have any idea who wrote it?”

  “Not a clue. What else you got?”