Murder Served Cold (6 page)

I woke up the next morning to the sound of a blender and the smell of french toast. Jade poured two glasses of a juice blend and we ate breakfast. I couldn’t pick out all the ingredients of the juice, but it was bright red and it was delicious.

“I’ve got to go in to Scoop today for a while. Are you going to be all right here?” Jade asked. She was wearing a nice, comfortable black outfit. Her dark hair swished past her cheeks as she leaned to grab a napkin. Jade reminded me of a ninja, as Corey had the night before, and I hid a smile.

I spread butter on my toast. “Did you talk to Corey last night?”

“No, he had to leave.” Jade smiled. “You want to meet us for lunch? Come by Scoop at noon and we’ll get sandwiches or something.”

“Are you sure I’m not interrupting anything?” I teased, watching her cheeks brighten in hue. Jade was the kind of person who was tough, in shape, and could take on the world. I loved that my best friend was a romantic at heart.

“Come with us,” she said.

We went to Scoop shortly after. I told her I’d follow her there and get to know the town before meeting her for lunch. I parked as I played over yesterday’s events in my head. Everything had happened so fast. I had come here to be distracted from my problems back home and a distraction was definitely what I’d found in Red Palm.
 

I walked past a telephone pole. A flyer stuck to it caught my eye — it was a picture of
me!
I ripped it off. The paper had a black and white screenshot of me holding Allen’s knife with the caption:
Ruby Flynn — the real stabber. Avoid at all costs.

What did they think I was going to do? Stab everyone I saw? I crumpled the flyer and tucked it into my pocket. I backtracked and swung by A Scoop of Sunshine, running into Kevin on my way.

“Hey,” he said, his hands in his jeans’ pockets, wearing an open, innocent expression.

I pulled out the flyer and smoothed it out. “Look at this.”

Kevin’s forehead wrinkled as he read it. He looked at me, horrorstruck. “That’s awful!”

“I’ve got to take these down before everyone in Red Palm sees them.” I figured there had to be more all over town.

“I’ll do it,” Kevin immediately offered. “I have no plans and I’d love to help.”

“Thanks,” I said warmly. “I appreciate that.”

He put on his aviator sunglasses, ready for the search, as I entered Scoop. “Jade!”

Jade popped her head out of the office. “Yeah?”

I thrust the flyer into her hands. “I have a problem. Where’s Taryn?”

Rebecca White overheard. “I saw her by the park overlooking the ocean this morning during my walk.” She bit her lip. “It looked like she was doing a craft project. I didn’t expect this would be the outcome.”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m going to have a word with her.”

Taryn was by herself on a park bench on a hill with the waves crashing fifty feet below her. She had a stack of flyers next to her and was stopping everyone who walked along the dirt path in front her and handing them out.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

Taryn peered at me from underneath her sunhat. She was wearing another floral shirt and I got the impression that she always dressed as though she had come straight from a garden party — not from actual gardening, since there was no dirt under her immaculate nails.

“I must spread the word. I have to speak the truth,” she said primly.

“Stop spreading lies!” I exclaimed.

Taryn dropped her innocent act. “Look, we know Allen didn’t do it, and you were seen with a knife. If you weren’t you, who would you think appears more guilty?”

“I am me, though. That logic won’t work on me.”

“You look guilty,” Taryn continued, not paying attention to my protest. “But Allen’s the one who was taken in. How is that fair?”

“How is it fair that you’re painting me as a stabber all over town?” I countered.

Taryn’s phone rang. “Yes? Is that so... All right. I’ll spread the word.” She pierced me with an uncertain gaze, wavering between relief and frustration. “Rodger Becker’s dead.”

My stomach clenched, as if I were the one who had been stabbed. “I can’t believe it...”

“Excuse me,” said Taryn. “My plans for the day have just changed.” Then she got up and left without another word.

It was about time for me to meet Jade, so I returned to Scoop, checking for Tim on my way in. He wasn’t there and I relaxed. I didn’t want to be in the difficult situation of knowing his father was dead and wondering if he knew yet.

I poked my head into the office. Jade glanced up from her desk. “Time already?”

I waited until we had met Corey and were eating sandwiches we had picked up from The Friendly Mart. We were sitting at a table near the bench Taryn had been sitting on.

“I’ve got big news,” I said. You can’t tell someone about a death on an empty stomach. A couple bites in was close enough. “Rodger Becker’s—”

“Dead,” Corey finished. “Just got word.”

Jade’s eyes widened. “I can’t believe it.”

I nodded. “That’s what I said.”

Jade held a hand to her face. “Poor Tim...”

“Were they close?” I asked after swallowing a bite of my ham and bacon sandwich.

“No, but still. That’s horrible!”

Corey had been quiet until now. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, which somehow made him more relatable than his previous uniforms. It took the mystery out of him and showed his down-to-earth personality. “It solves a lot of complaints. I can’t tell you how many people have called in about him.”

I was curious. “What kind of complaints?”

Corey shook his head. “His callous attitude cost him more times than I could count. If you own that many buildings in Red Palm, I would think you’d treat people better. He practically owned the town and he acted like it.”

“Who will his properties go to?” I questioned.

“His wife, I’m sure,” said Corey.

“I bet Ruben would be delighted to sell them for her if she wanted,” I said.

“Ruben... Not Ruben
Grimes?
That guy’s a legend!” Corey’s mouth gaped open.

“That’s the one,” Jade said cheerfully as she checked her phone. “Hey, let’s check out the hospital. I bet we’d find out more there.”

“I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t get in,” I said.

“We don’t need to,” said Jade in a mysterious voice.

It turned out that we didn’t
need access to Rodger’s room to find out more. We simply had to walk into the parking lot where a large group had set up a tailgate. A painted banner with the words
Rodger’s Gone Forever!
hung across two trucks. The paint had dripped down the banner because they were in too much of a rush to hang it to let it dry.

We ran into Taryn and she surveyed the scene, pleased. “I had nothing to do with this, but I must say, it’s delightful. Better than I could have imagined. Excuse me, there’s Rita. Oh, Rita! Isn’t this wonderful?” She scampered over to a friend of hers.

“Hot dog?” a guy in a suit asked us. He was grilling on a full-sized barbecue. Stacks of buns and condiments were next to him. “I’ve been waiting for this day my whole life. Working life, that is.”

A couple of nurses who had just finished their shift came out of the hospital and half-heartedly attempted to break up the crowd. Ultimately, they ended up eating hot dogs with us and sharing stories.

“You know, he threatened to sue the hospital if he died,” Ellen, a nurse with curly blonde hair and a loud voice, said.

The other nurse, Orla, had a healthy appetite. She jingled her silver bracelet as she reached for the mustard. “It was an empty threat. He didn’t care about his family. He wanted compensation for his death, but what good is that when you’re dead? I’d rather take fond memories with me to the grave than a pile of cash.”

“I agree,” I said. I’d rather look back on my life and remember the good times than how much money I had made. What good was money if you didn’t share it with people you loved?

Movement near the hospital’s entrance caught my eye. Tim, his gaze on the ground, briskly walked out and to his car, then peeled away before anyone else noticed him.

I got a phone call from Ruben Grimes asking me to come to his office, so after Jade went back to work and Corey left to run errands before heading to work later that afternoon, I went to the office building with the brown lobby. I hadn’t given Ruben my number, but somehow I wasn’t surprised he had obtained it.

“Ruby,” Ruben greeted me, this time without a baseball bat. I settled into a chair across from his desk, where he was waiting. “I wanted to know what you’ve heard so far.”

“From the people rejoicing? There’s a lot of rejoicing,” I noted.

“Anyone upset? Confused?”

I shrugged. “Not that I noticed. Should there be people like that? From what I’ve heard, no one seemed to like Rodger.”

“No.” Ruben sighed. “Good riddance to him, for sure, but there is something weighing on my mind. I can’t get past how Colleen Byrd left yesterday. There is something there, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

“You’re a realtor,” I reminded him. “Not a private investigator. Why should you feel like you’re responsible for finding that out?”

He pressed his fingers together. “It’s fishy, and I don’t like fishy things. I like my privacy. If Colleen left under suspicious circumstances, then the police will be knocking on my door soon. I don’t want the general public to know where I am.”

“Can’t they look you up? You have to give out your address sometime,” I said.

“That’s too much trouble for most people. No one’s going to search me out unless they want to buy an expensive house in an excellent area. I know they’re serious if they find me. If my location were public knowledge, I’d get every person who thinks they can employ me knocking on my door. It’s too much trouble.” Ruben wiped his brow. “I don’t want to be turning people away every minute of the day.”

I frowned. “I don’t see that happening. Surely you’ll get more clients by letting people know you’re available? That’s a good business move. Hiding in here isn’t good business.”

“I’ll tell you what’s good business,” he growled. He paused before continuing. “I don’t mean to snap. The pressure is too much. Everyone will want perfection, and I can’t deliver perfection if I have too many clients.”

I gave up. I wasn’t here to convince him that by being in the phone book, he’d still be able to run a functioning business that catered to perfection. Especially because no one read the phone book anymore.

He slid me a piece of paper. “Here’s her address. Can you go see if she’s home? That’ll ease my mind. Pretend you’re a Girl Scout if she asks questions.”

I hid a smile. “I’m a little old to be a Girl Scout.”

He grunted in acknowledgment.

With one foot out the door, I asked him, “Why me?”

Ruben grinned. “You’re not from this town and you don’t have the money to access my services. I know I can trust you.”

Colleen Byrd’s house was similar to the other stuccoed houses on her cul-de-sac. Not large, but not tiny, either. Her green, run-down car was sitting in her driveway, letting me know I had the right house. I went around the back and doubled back when I noticed the missing gate. I checked the next-door neighbor’s side yard and it had a gate. I looked across the street. Same thing. Every house had a gate to the side yard except for Colleen’s.

I rubbed my thumb on the wall of the house, where a few holes were. Why had the gate been taken out? I shook my head and moved on. I went past a bed of dead daffodils and patchy brown grass.

The blinds were open on the kitchen window, where Colleen was washing dishes. I kept close to the wall, flattening my body in the hope that she wouldn’t see me. I ducked under the window and kept moving.

It turned out that someone else had the same plan.

Dominic Friendly scrambled out of the second window and nearly fainted when he saw me. He put a finger to his lips and we crept to the front yard.

“What are you doing?” I asked when we were standing on the opposite side of the street from Colleen’s house.

He fidgeted. “Nothing,” he said vaguely.