Trunk Show Murder (A Seagrove Cozy Mystery Book 2) (4 page)

When she pulled up in front of her shop, Sadie noticed there was a light on inside the bakery. She let Mr. Bradshaw out of the car – safely leashed - and pressed her nose against the window. There was someone inside. She pushed the door and it wasn’t locked so she stepped inside.

The display case was as empty as the last time she had seen it, just after she had helped to clean the shop. It was quiet, except for the occasional clink from the back room. Sadie decided she’d better make her presence known.

“Hello?” she called.

“Hello?” a male voice called back.

“I’m your neighbor,” she said. “I saw a light and thought I’d better check in.”

He appeared in the door to the back room, the light behind silhouetting him. “I’m the new owner,” he said. “Who are you, again?”

“Sadie Barnett,” She stuck out her hand. “I own the shop next door. Timeless Treasures. And this is Mister Bradshaw, my canine companion. He doesn’t know he’s a D-O-G.”

He took her hand and held it for a moment. It was a good grip, she thought, firm and confident without being overwhelming. Or painful. There was nothing worse than a painful handshake.

“John Baker,” he said and his eyes dared her to comment. “Nice to meet you, and you too Mister Bradshaw. Did Roger let pets in this store?”

“Not pets, per se,” she said. “But Mister Bradshaw and I would stop by in the morning before opening. We’d drink our morning coffee together and normally he’d have a special treat for Mister Bradshaw. Not that we expect the same of you.”

He walked around the counter and knelt putting his hand out for Mister Bradshaw to sniff. Mister Bradshaw licked John’s hand while his tail wagged a mile a minute. Then he forgot all dignity and flopped over on his back to allow John Baker to rub his tummy. Sadie took this as a good sign.

“When will you open?” Sadie asked.

“The day after tomorrow,” he said. “At least that was the plan. The violence that occurred out there on the street is making me wonder if I made a mistake. Maybe this isn’t the right town for me.”

“Seagrove is a good town,” Sadie said. “It has a very low crime rate, although I have to admit these two murders have come as a pretty big shock to all of us.”

“And what about this big development they are talking about outside of town?” He asked. “Do you think that’s going to shut down Main Street?”

“I doubt it,” she said. “Main Street will still be this closest shopping of the college and to the ocean. I don’t think people are necessarily going to want to drive twenty minutes inland just to get coffee and a scone. Do you?”

She leaned her elbows on the pastry case. He was quite a good looking man and she wondered if he’d be willing to open a little early every day the way Roger had. She’d wait until she knew him more before she started asking for favors.

“Well I didn’t think so when I signed the lease, but earlier today Ryan Pallone stopped by. He was trying to sell me on the idea of moving into his shopping center. But he said he was going to be up on the bluff, not twenty minutes out of town. What do you know about it?”

“What I know is that he wants to develop the bluff but that is very unpopular with the people in this town. We will be electing a new mayor soon, and one of the key issues, if not the key issue, will be protecting that land. The office park and shopping center outside of town is the one that people are currently worried about taking business from Main Street. But I don’t see that as being a problem.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “And I’ll be sure to come out and vote. The unspoiled surroundings was one of the reasons I moved here. I didn’t want to settle in a tourist town.”

“We do get tourists,” Sadie said, “because this is a great place to come visit, but we’re not a tourist trap. And I don’t think we’re interested in becoming one.”

“I guess we’ll see,” John said. “I’d better be getting back to work if I want to be able to open the day after tomorrow.”

“Don’t let me keep you,” she said. “I look forward to having a bakery next door again. I had to buy my own coffee maker, but buying pastries from the grocery store isn’t quite the same thing.”

“I look forward to seeing you and Mr. Bradshaw,” he said.

Sadie and Mr. B. headed next-door to think about Marjorie’s murder and if Hall had anything to do with it. They also did some inventory, but mostly she spent the day wondering who would murder the mayor.

Chapter Four

The next morning, Sadie and Mister Bradshaw headed out to the college to see if they could catch Britt before classes started. Sadie had weaseled Britt’s class schedule from her when they talked last time, so she knew if she waited on the quad she was pretty likely to catch her.

Sure enough, Sadie hadn’t been there for more than five minutes, when Britt came hurrying by. She had her head down and Sadie had to call her name three or four times before she heard Sadie. Her eyes were swollen from crying Sadie almost felt bad for facilitating Britt’s breakdown. But in her heart she knew that it was for the best.

“Do you have a minute to sit with me,” Sadie asked.

“I guess I have a minute,” Britt said. “Professor Ives is threatening to fail me if I’m late to class one more time. My mother had words with him. Actually she had words with the Dean, who was supposed to have words with him, but I’m not sure.”

“Why don’t we walk and talk,” Sadie said. “That way we can finish up outside your classroom and you won’t be late.” She got up and gathered Mister Bradshaw’s leash.

“It’s this way,” said Britt, and led the way across the quad.

“I went to see Hall yesterday,” Sadie said. “He was pretty dang disagreeable. Which I expected.”

“Yeah I would expect that too,” Britt said. “He could be pretty nasty when he wanted.”

“Well he wanted,” Sadie said. “But I think you can stop worrying about him. I don’t think he killed your mother, and he promised to stay away from you. If he doesn’t, and you see him at all, I want you to come straight to me. Or you could call me, that would be okay too.”

“That seems like a lot of trouble for you,” Britt said.

“Nah, no trouble. In fact, you’re doing me a favor because I don’t often get to be unpleasant to people on purpose. It’s kind of fun. It’s the one time it’s acceptable to be a bully when the person you are bullying is a bully.”

“He really said he would never see me again?” Britt asked. “For a man who was professing his undying love for me just two days ago that’s pretty shitty.”

“It is shitty,” Sadie agreed. “But just be thankful you are out from under that pretty shitty boy. I won’t call him a man, he may be old enough, but his balls haven’t dropped.”

Britt had just taken a sip of coffee which she spit all over the sidewalk. “Did you just say that his balls hadn’t dropped?” She asked. “That’s priceless. I’m going to steal it from you.”

“Be my guest,” Sadie said. “I’m sure I stole it from someone else.”

Britt came to a stop outside the classroom. “This is me,” she said. She took a look inside. “I’m early. Professor Ives hasn’t shown up yet.”

“Good. Way to keep him on his toes,” Sadie said.

“And what are you doing here?” Chief Woodstone spoke from behind Sadie, making her jump.

“Talking to Britt,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

“Funnily enough, the same thing. Only I’m here on official business, and not just meddling like other people I could name,” Chief Woodstone said.

“Class is just about to start, Chief Woodstone,” Britt said. “And I can’t miss. If you want, I can come down to the police station when I’m done.”

“That would be fine,” Chief Woodstone said. “Sadie, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Sure Chief, what’s up?”

“Over here, please.” He took Sadie’s arm and led her away from the building. Out of earshot of Britt.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” He asked. “Have you forgotten there is a murderer on the loose?”

“What I’m doing is being someone Britt can turn to. She’s got no one if you haven’t noticed. If she had she wouldn’t be hanging around with immature dick headed college students,” Sadie said hotly. “Someone needs to stick by her.”

“Why does that someone have to be you?” He asked.

“You show me someone else is willing and I’ll back off,” she said. “But until that time I’m not deserting this girl. If her mother hadn’t been so high-handed with her, she wouldn’t have ended up with Lawrence Hall to begin with. May she rest in peace.”

“Sadie Barnett, you are not this goddamn town’s mother. If you get hurt because you refuse to keep your nose out I’m going to be seriously pissed off.” Chief Woodstone turned and walked away.

“You are already seriously pissed off,” Sadie called after him. “You don’t need me to get hurt.”

Chief Woodstone turned around and took a couple steps back towards her. “You think this is seriously pissed off. You ain’t seen nothing. You will know when you’ve seen me pissed off.” He turned and stormed off.

Sadie was tempted to yell something about having a stick up his butt but thought better of it. He was in such a mood he’d probably arrest her for police harassment. She went back to where Britt was waiting.

Justin Ives stepped around the corner and approached the women. He looked sheepish when he saw Sadie.

“Ms. Barnett,” he nodded his head to Sadie. “Ms. Rumstocking, I see you were on time for a change. Excellent.”

“What brings you to the college, Ms. Barnett?” He asked. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“Not at all, Professor Ives,” Sadie said. “I was just walking Britt to class so she wouldn’t be late. We had some things to discuss. I’ll see you later Britt,” she said and she and Mister Bradshaw walked away. She had the distinct impression that Justin Ives was watching her go, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of turning around to see. Sadie was just that good.

On the way back to Main Street, Sadie pulled into the town hall parking lot. She and Mister Bradshaw made their way up the wide stone steps through the doors into the marble hallway. Then they moved on into the glass-fronted town clerk’s office, pausing only to say hello to the police officer standing guard near the entrance.

The woman behind the counter frowned at Mister Bradshaw, but he wagged his tail and sat politely next to Sadie so she let him be.

“I need to do some research,” Sadie told the girl. “On building the developments that have been proposed but haven’t passed through City Council. No, that’s not quite right, I want to see developments that have come up before City Council, but they have turned it down.”

“Come this way,” the woman said, and led Sadie and Mister Bradshaw down a corridor and into a room full of file cabinets, and a table covered with three ring binders.

“These are the minutes of the Town Council meeting,” she said. “The binders here,” she pointed at the table, “are the most recent. The binders in the filing cabinets go back ten years. Don’t try and refile anything that you pull out. We have an assistant to do that.” The implication was that any refiling by local townspeople would result in disaster.

“No problem,” Sadie said. “Thank you.”

Sadie slid all the binders to one end of the table and sorted them into order, most recent first. Mister Bradshaw jumped up on the chair next to hers and curled into a ball. He seemed to know that this was going to take a while.

Sadie pulled her reading glasses, a pad of paper and a pen from her purse and commenced reading. Thankfully, the minutes all had agendas attached so she could scan the agenda for the pertinent sections and didn’t have to read entire sessions of the City Council. After three hours scouring the minutes she had two names: Walter Perkins and Ryan Pallone.

Walter Perkins had wanted to erect a castle on the Seagrove Beach. No matter that it would hold showers, restrooms and changing rooms its main purpose would be renting out beach chairs and flotation devices including surfboards. As well as a snack bar. These were all clearly in violation of the town plan and eventually Walter Perkins had taken his castle elsewhere. If Sadie remembered correctly, it was being erected somewhere south near The Cape.

Ryan Pallone, on the other hand, had never given up. He’d made a presentation to the Town Council as soon as the last meeting. But Mayor Rumstocking had been clear, what he wanted to do would be a violation of the town plan and of the citizens of Seagrove. She’d said as much and it had been recorded in the minutes. She’d also stated that he should be happy he’d been able to find property outside of town to develop. Because if it had been up to her his office/shopping development would have never been built.

A chill shuddered through Sadie. If anyone had a motive to kill Marjorie Rumstocking it was Ryan Pallone.

Sadie sorted the binders chronologically and stacked them neatly on the end of the table. Then she gathered Mr. Bradshaw’s leash and they vacated the room. Sadie waved to the Chief’s officer as she left the building and they drove back to the shop. She parked in the back for the first time since she lost her neighbor, Roger. There was no longer a benefit to being in the front. Although, she did skip the first step where he had lain.

Betty was out front helping a customer when Sadie came in through the back. She dropped her purse on her desk and let Mr. Bradshaw off his leash. He immediately went sniffing for unwelcome critters. Sadie poked her head into the front of the shop, but Betty seemed to be handling the old geezer so Sadie left her to it. Sadie believed in the hands off method of managing employees, which was a little ironic considering how she liked to stick her nose in Chief Woodstone’s business. She smiled and examined her to do list. Time to pay some bills.

She opened her accounting software and loaded checks into her printer. She knew she should be paying all these bills electronically, but she just hadn’t got around to setting it up. Okay, Sadie, she said to herself, before this batch of checks runs out you will set up automatic electronic payments. And she put that on her to do list too.

Sadie had just finished signing checks when Chief Woodstone came in and sat in the old wooden chair across from her desk. She put a finger in the air and finished signing and stuffing the last check in its envelope. Then she shoved the stack in her purse to be mailed the next time she went out.

“What can I do for you, Chief?” she asked.

“I heard you were snooping around down at Town Hall today,” he said.

“I wasn’t snooping. I simply looked at the minutes of the town meetings for the last couple of years. They are very informative,” she said. “And every citizen’s right to read. You might even say every citizen’s responsibility to read.”

“And a very dangerous item to show too much interest in at the moment. Did you sign in?” he asked.

“No. The clerk didn’t ask me to sign in,” she said. “Was she supposed to?”

“Usually it’s required, but I asked them to “forget” until we wrap up this case. It would be too easy for the perp to see who has been looking into town business. If they think there is a threat there is no reason for them not to come after you. This is why I asked you to keep your nose out of it this morning, Sadie. I don’t want to have to witness your burial.”

“But I didn’t sign in. And the only person who saw me there, besides the clerk, was your officer. So there’s nothing to worry about,” Sadie said.

“Maybe there is nothing to worry about today, but next time you might not be so lucky, Sadie. Please, if you won’t stop snooping, will you at least run stuff by me? I could have had one of my officers do what you did today.” He reached across the desk and took her hand. “Can you do that for me?”

Sadie sighed. She liked how her hand felt in the chief’s, and she didn’t want to cause him trouble, but at the same time she was used to acting on her suspicions. Checking in was reasonable, but also not reasonable. She looked the chief in the eye. He wasn’t pleading so much as asking for cooperation.

“Okay, Chief,” she said and took a deep breath, “I’ll try and remember to check in with you before I check things out. But only because I know it’s your responsibility and not mine. And I trust you not to go all misogynistic on me.”

“It is not misogynistic to worry about someone getting hurt when they are doing something risky,” he said. “Especially when they might not understand the risk.”