Gazpacho Murder Read online

  Moira drove straight to the brewery, knowing that David would want to know about her stolen cell phone. As she pulled up the gravel driveway, her eyes were drawn to the farmhouse; her daughter’s home, which had been standing empty for the past few weeks. She had stopped by a couple of times to air the building out and keep the dust from settling, and always got an eerie feeling when she was inside, as if she was standing in a museum. She was overdue to stop in for a cleaning, but right now had more pressing matters on her mind.

  She found David in the office, where he was pouring over a stack of papers. He looked up when she came in and greeted her with a tired smile.

  “Hey,” he said. “It’s past seven already? I hadn’t realized that I’d been here for so long. How was work?”

  “I think my phone got stolen,” she said without preamble. She sat down across from him and proceeded to tell him about Evelyn’s visit. He frowned as she spoke, pushing the papers to the side and focusing his attention on her.

  “Did you check the security footage?” he asked when she was done.

  “I couldn’t, without my phone.”

  He opened his laptop and logged onto the website that stored the information from the security cameras. She pulled a chair around to sit next to him while they peered at the footage.

  “That’s her,” she said. She groaned when she saw what table the young woman and her brother sat at. It was one of the few that the security camera didn’t cover.

  “This is the girl that has the key to Martha’s house?” he asked. She nodded.

  “I don’t see why she would want my phone, but I can’t see who else could have taken it. I looked all over the kitchen, and I took everything out of my purse. My phone is definitely not there.”

  “If she had something to do with the robbery, I suppose it’s possible that she wanted to see if you were suspicious of her.”

  “How would she even know that we were there?” Moira asked. “I was in the car the entire time. No one saw me, and no one other than the police and Martha knew that I was with you.”

  “I don’t know,” her husband said with a sigh. “Maybe you should tell Detective Jefferson.”

  “He has enough on his plate without me complaining to him about a stolen cell phone.”

  “If it was taken by one of the suspects, then it is his concern,” David pointed out. “Here, you can use my phone to call him if you’d like. I should be done in about half an hour, and then we can go home together.”

  “Okay,” the deli owner said, reluctantly taking his cell phone. “I’m going to go into the house and do a little bit of cleaning. I’ll call him while I’m in there and let him know what happened. Come and find me when you’re done.”

  Inside the empty house, she sat at the kitchen table and dialed the detective’s number. She told him her suspicion that Evelyn had stolen her phone, and he promised to ask the young woman about it if they brought her in again. They had already brought her in for questioning once, but hadn’t had any reason to keep her in the station for longer than that.

  “Do you think she was involved?” the deli owner asked.

  “It’s very much a possibility. She could have given her boyfriend the key and told him when Martha was going to be out of town. Or, for all we know, he took it from her without her knowledge and made a copy of it. She does still have the original key, but that doesn’t tell us much. If she was involved with the burglary itself, she could have simply taken it with her when she left.”

  “Do you think that there’s a possibility that she might have been the second masked person that night?”

  “Well, let’s just say that we aren’t completely discounting her yet.”

  Moira frowned. It seemed hard to imagine the young eighteen-year-old woman involved in such a violent crime. Still, she knew the pool of suspects was relatively limited. The fact that Evelyn’s boyfriend had been involved definitely made it seem more likely that the girl herself had had a hand in it. There was still the question of why the young man had gotten shot. Had it been an accident? A lover’s quarrel? There were too many questions and not enough answers. The deli owner sighed and thanked the detective. She hung up, gazed at David’s phone for a moment, then picked it up and dialed another number. She wanted to talk to Martha. It was time to ask her some serious questions about Dominic.

  CHAPTER TEN

  * * *

  “Did Detective Jefferson have anything interesting to say?” David asked as they walked into their home together nearly an hour later.

  “He didn’t give away much information, but promised to keep an eye out for my phone if they brought Evelyn in for questioning again,” the deli owner said. “I suppose I’ll give it a few days, and my phone doesn’t turn up, I’ll have to buy a new one.”

  “Here, I’ll try calling it,” David said. Ignoring the dogs, who were as eager for attention as always, they sat on the couch together and he dialed her number. She was disappointed when he shook his head. “It went straight to voicemail. It’s either dead, or someone turned off.”

  “The battery could be dead,” she said. “It was already pretty low back when I had it at the deli.”

  “I can help you look for it at the deli tomorrow if you would like. It may have fallen behind something, and you just missed it in your hurry earlier.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “The phone itself isn’t even that important. I just wish we knew who the other burglar was. I’m going to be worried about Martha until he or she is caught. Whoever it is has a key to her house, for goodness sakes.”

  “Is she changing her locks?” David asked.

  “I hope so. I should have thought to ask when I talked to her earlier today. Dominic has been staying with her, which I suppose makes her feel safer.”

  “You still don’t like him very much, do you?” David said.

  “I don’t,” she admitted. “I guess maybe I just don’t see him as being a good match for her. If I was a better friend, I would just be happy that she found someone who she enjoys being with.”

  “She doesn’t suspect him at all?” her husband asked. “He does have a key to her place too, doesn’t he?”

  “That’s what I asked about earlier today. She said that the police questioned him, and he was able to prove that he was out of town the night of the murder. He had a hotel room in Traverse City, and they confirmed it with the hotel itself. He’s been out of town each of the time’s that this has happened, so as much as I would like to say it’s him, I just don’t see how it could be.” She gave a dry laugh. “I guess it’s a little bit silly of me to be upset that the suspect isn’t who I want it to be.”

  “It is hard to imagine Evelyn as the second burglar. I know things happened quite quickly, but I could have sworn that the person in the ski mask who punched me was built quite a bit differently than an eighteen-year-old girl. Of course, that could just be my pride talking.”

  Moira grinned. “You’d be embarrassed to admit that you got punched in the face by an eighteen-year-old woman?”

  “Just a little,” he said with a smile. “But that’s enough of all this talk. We can go over this a hundred times and still not get anywhere. I think the dogs would appreciate it if some of our attention was spent on them, instead of on the burglary.”

  “You’re right. I’m going to drive myself crazy thinking about this. I think I’m going to take a walk.”

  “I’ll join you,” he said, rising from the sofa. “What’s your plan for tomorrow? You don’t work until the afternoon, correct?”

  “I was going to go and visit Reggie,” Moira said. “He’ll want an update on Candice and Eli, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen him. After that, I’m not sure what I’ll do. I may see if Martha wants to get lunch with me somewhere. Oh, that reminds me, are you free for dinner Saturday night? Martha and Dominic wanted to go on a double date with us at the Redwood Grill.”

  “That should be fine,” David said. “I’m glad she’s back to doing normal thing
s. It’s better than living in fear all the time.”

  Moira agreed, and resolved to spend less time dwelling on the burglary. If her friend was able to resume her normal life, then there was no reason that she couldn’t do the same. She would just have to trust in the police, and that the burglar would be caught eventually… before he could do any more harm.

  The next morning, she woke up bright and early to give herself enough time to stop at the café and pick up a couple of croissants before going to visit Reggie, who resided in the assisted living home in Lake Marion. While the food there was tasty enough, it wasn’t anything special, and he always enjoyed having a treat from the outside world when someone came to visit.

  She felt bad for the older man. He had been just days away from moving into the farmhouse with Candice and Eli when his grandson had been injured. While the assisted living home was a decent place to live, it couldn’t compare to living with family. It would be weeks, or even months, before he would have the same chance again.

  At the assisted living home, she found the elderly man in the communal area. He waved cheerfully to her as she bustled over, setting the croissants and decaf coffee in front of him before taking a seat on the couch nearby.

  “It looks like you’re doing well,” she said.

  “Well enough,” he said. “At least I have the use of both of my legs. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that youth doesn’t necessarily mean good health. How is my grandson doing?”

  “He’s getting better slowly but surely,” Moira said. “My offer still stands, if you’d like a ride down to visit him.”

  “Perhaps,” he said. “Long trips aren’t exactly comfortable for me these days. I’ve been talking to him on the phone, and that will have to be good enough for now.”

  After her visit with Reggie, Moira left feeling a little bit better. She enjoyed spending time with older man, and always appreciated his insights. She wished that her own parents were still alive; it would be nice to have someone to turn to. Candice had her, and David had Karissa, but she didn’t have any family to find solace in herself. She had hardly spoken with her brother since her parent’s deaths. He had called her on her wedding day to congratulate her, but that was it.

  I have David, she told herself. I know I’ll always be able to count on him.

  She pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards town, knowing that she would be unable to resist driving past the ruins of Candice’s store. It was still a shock whenever she saw them.

  She had just pulled onto Main Street when she saw a familiar form walking along the sidewalk. It was Evelyn Bridges; prime suspect in the attempted burglary of Martha’s house and subsequent shooting.

  Without taking the time to think about it, Moira pulled her vehicle into the nearest parking lot and shut off the engine. This was a chance that she couldn’t miss to watch Evelyn without the young woman knowing about it. If she could catch her doing something illegal – anything – then the police would have a reason to bring her in. Moira wanted her phone back, and she wanted to be able to rest easy at night knowing that Martha was safe.

  She made it to the sidewalk in time to see the young woman turn the corner. She had to jog to catch up, which caught a couple of strange looks from the other pedestrians, but she ignored them. Her desire to find out what the young woman was doing was made stronger by her annoyance at her missing phone. She could hardly believe that Evelyn had had the gall to steal it practically from under her nose.

  Once Evelyn was in her line of sight again, she slowed down and hung back, hoping that the younger woman wouldn’t look around – and if she did, that she wouldn’t recognize the deli owner at a glance. She seemed to be walking with a purpose, and Moira was rewarded when she stopped to pull open the door to a pawn shop a few moments later. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to go in without drawing attention to herself, so instead she loitered outside the window, watching as the young woman walked up to the counter and placed something gold in front of the man who ran the shop. Moira remembered Martha’s missing bracelet, and knew that she had the evidence that she needed to go to the police at last.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  * * *

  “Moira, thank you so much.”

  “You don’t have the bracelet back yet,” the deli owner pointed out. “I didn’t do anything except for call the police.”

  “Yes, but I will get it back when the investigation closes. It means a lot to me; it was my sister’s favorite bracelet, and I don’t know I would have done if it had been gone forever.”

  Moira, uncomfortable with her friend’s praise, didn’t know how to respond. She hadn’t really done much, other than follow a gut instinct and make a phone call. True, Evelyn was now in jail, but somehow it didn’t feel satisfying to see the young woman put behind bars. She had been caught red-handed trying to sell a stolen bracelet, but the police still had yet to recover the stolen phone. So far, Evelyn hadn’t confessed to anything, but since the bracelet was linked to a crime scene that was tied to a murder, they weren’t taking any chances with her.

  She was saved from having to answer by the hostess, who indicated that their table was ready. Moira fell back so she could walk side-by-side with David as they wound their way through the busy restaurant. Saturday evenings at the Redwood Grill were always packed, but Moira had never had to wait more than a few minutes for a table – one of the benefits of being close friends with the restaurant’s owner. She couldn’t say that she was looking forward to their double date, but at least she no longer had to wonder whether or not Dominic had been involved with stealing from Martha.

  “Here are your menus. The waitress will be with you shortly to take your drink orders.”

  Moira thanked the hostess and took a seat. David sat next to her, brushing his hand against hers and giving her a reassuring smile. Across from them sat Dominic and Martha. Dominic had his phone on the table next to him and kept glancing at as if he was waiting for a call. It reminded Moira that she still needed to replace her own phone. It had been strangely freeing the past few days not to be constantly connected to it, but she knew that she would need another one eventually.

  “What do you think you’re going to get?” Martha asked, gazing at the menu. “Everything is always so good here. It makes it hard to choose.”

  “I usually try to get something new each time,” the deli owner said. “I don’t think I’ve had the turkey burger before. I might go with that.”

  “I’m getting a good old-fashioned burger made out of beef,” David said. “The steak is tempting too, but I almost always get one. I’m in the mood for something different.”

  “I’m getting the blackened tuna,” Dominic said. “I had it last time we came here on a date, and it was pretty good.”

  Eventually, Martha decided to go with the salmon over wild rice in a cream sauce. Each of their choices sounded good to Moira. She wondered if Julian was the chef on staff that day. She remembered Denise’s odd behavior whenever they mentioned him, and thought that she might want to have a talk with her friend next time they were together. Was there something going on between the chef and the restaurant owner?

  Their wine came, and Moira poured herself a glass, enjoying the feeling of being free from responsibility for the evening. It was nice to be out with David and Martha, and even in a way, Dominic. At least she was getting the chance to know him better. It seemed that, like it or not, he was going to be a part of her friend’s – and thus her – life for a while yet.

  Denise was the one who brought their food out a short while later. “It looks perfect, as always,” Moira said.

  “I would say thank you, but I can’t take the credit. Julian is the mastermind behind all of this. How has everything been so far?”

  “We never have any complaints while eating here, you know that,” she told her friend. “How are you doing? Do you have time to join us?”

  “No, unfortunately I don’t. A large party of sixteen has a reservation in about half an h
our, and I have to make sure everything is running smoothly in the kitchen. I just keep telling myself that being busy is a good thing. There is always time to relax later.”

  They had barely gotten the chance to taste their entrées when Martha’s phone rang. Moira watched as she dug her phone out of her purse. Apologizing, the other woman rose to answer it, walking away from the table for privacy. She came back a couple of minutes later with a frown creasing her brows.

  “Sorry, I just got called into work. My boss is about to launch this new advertising campaign, and apparently I need to be there. Can one of you stop by and let Diamond out later this evening and give her dinner? Normally I’d have Evelyn do it but… well, obviously I need to find a new dog walker. I should be back late tonight.”