A VENEER OF MURDER (Mrs. Fix It Mysteries Book 3) (7 page)

“I have to finish staging Jessica’s house for sale.”

“Staging?”

“Make the house look its best to get the right price, though I have a feeling I know who is going to buy it.”

He looked down at her with eyes the color of steel. “Who?”

“Kendall Stuart wants it because it is the biggest house in Rock Ridge.”

“Figures.”

Kate laughed. “I guess you’ve dealt with her then?”

“She has a reputation already. Celia mentioned her once when we were at lunch.”

“You had lunch with Celia?”

“Jealous?”

“No.”

“It was a lunch that a local business provided for the police department. We invited some of the staff of the other departments because there was so much food.”

“Makes sense, and yes I talked to Celia about Kendall. She isn’t making any friends, but she’d offered me a lot of work on her house.”

“You taking the jobs?”

“I have to, Scott. It’s money coming in the door.”

Chapter Five

Kate arrived at Jessica’s house after the dedication. She knew that Jessica was fully moved out and probably on her way out of town for a few days with Dean. How sweet they had looked at the ceremony.

Kate dug into her purse for the key to the front door. She knew she’d put it in there for safekeeping. She hadn’t taken it out. Now she couldn’t find it.

“Darn.”

Carly’s van was parked across the street. The fire chief’s truck was farther down the road. Kids laughed at the house next door. It was a pleasant valley Sunday like The Monkees had sung about, except this was Rock Ridge and it wasn’t Sunday.

Jessica had given her the code to the garage just in case. Kate used it. The garage door opened. Jessica had left the alarm system off, thankfully. Kate didn’t need to explain to the cops why she was here. She had Jessica’s permission. The real estate agent knew it also.

Kate entered the house and heard what she thought was the front door closing. She raced around to see if someone was there. She probably shouldn’t have. What if the person had a weapon? Scott would have been pissed at her.

No one was at the front door. When Kate opened it she didn’t see anyone around. Then she was spooked. She’d heard a door slam. No windows were open, so it wasn’t the breeze.

Kate hurried out the front door. Standing by her truck, she called 911. A patrol car arrived minutes later. Scott was only a few minutes behind it.

“You didn’t have to come. You have officers to do this routine stuff,” she said.

He looked her over, concern etched into his face. “It isn’t routine when it’s you.”

The officer returned a few minutes later. “I don’t see any sign of forced entry.”

“They must have been in the house when I arrived,” Kate said.

“Let’s go in and look. Maybe you can tell if something’s been disturbed,” Scott said.

Scott led her back into Jessica’s house. Right now she wanted to be anywhere but here. Hearing that door slam had spooked her, but she had a job to do. She could keep the front door open.

They walked around with her. When she entered what had been Dudley’s office, things had clearly been disturbed. “Someone’s been in here.”

“You sure?” Scott said.

“Yes. I had things in order, but the knickknacks are knocked over and the drawers to the empty filing cabinet are opened a little.”

“How do you notice that?” Scott said.

“It’s those little touches that make the house sell, but they are subtle. It’s part of my job to notice these things.”

Scott shrugged. He turned to the cop. “Ask the neighbors if they noticed anything.” The cop left. “I’m not optimistic, but I’ll file a report.”

“Thanks, Scott.”

“You going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” she lied.

At least she didn’t have that much to do. Other than clean the office.

After Scott left, she noticed a piece of paper on the floor. It was a receipt for Bean There coffee shop. The time stamp was for this morning.

“Jessica didn’t go out for coffee.”

Kate doubted that Jessica had been here at all today. She’d been busy with the ribbon cutting then leaving for her trip. This was a clue, but did it have anything to do with Meghan’s murder?

Should Kate just let this go? No. She couldn’t. There had been someone in here and she knew it.

She tucked the receipt into her pocket. She’d talk to the owner of the coffee place this afternoon. The woman might remember who was in the place at that time. With the office neat again, Kate worked on the rest of the house. It took her another hour before she was satisfied with it.

She drove to Carnegie Real Estate to drop off the key that she didn’t have. The agent was Justina Anastasi, a million dollar seller. She had blond hair and sharp blue eyes.

“You’re done?” she asked.

“Yes, but I can’t find the key to Jessica’s place. I know I had it. I used the code to get in through the garage.”

“Jessica actually dropped off a key before she left town today. She didn’t want you to have to worry about it.”

“Oh. Good.”

“We appreciate your business. Let me cut you a check,” Justina said.

Kate waited in the office that sat at one end of Main Street. Across the street was Grayson’s Hardware. Two doors down from that sat a pub that Kate sometimes ate dinner at. The house was lonely without the boys.

They wouldn’t be back until Thanksgiving.

Justina came back with an envelope. She handed it to Kate. “We have a few more properties for you.”

“You have a list and when you need them ready by?”

Justina laughed. “I put them in order of priority. The list is with the check.”

Kate’s heart leapt. More work. This was even more fun than fixing things. “Cool. Do you want them done this week?”

“If you can.”

“I have to do an estimate and send it off today. If the person accepts, I’ll be busy, but I could probably do one a day.”

She looked at the list before she left. “Kendall Stuart’s house?”

“You know her?”

“I’m fixing some items in her house. A long list actually. When I’m done I can stage it. Did she agree to this?”

“Sort of. The place isn’t in great shape in terms of decorating.”

Kate grimaced. She’d been catty enough this week where it concerned Kendall. She didn’t want to say anything more. “She should paint over all of those colored rooms.”

“If you can convince her of that, great. If not, we’re going to get her to clear out some of her tchotchkes. Then you can to the staging. That’s why it is last on the list.”

“I see. You have to get around her.”

“Right.”

Kate nodded then left. She puzzled over Kendall. The woman was suddenly in her life in several ways. Was it a coincidence? Kate shook her head. She had no reason to suspect Kendall of anything. She was letting her dislike of the woman cloud her judgement. She had to stop that.

Kate decided that she had to talk to Clem and see if Meghan had any enemies. Who would want the woman dead?

Kate should probably do some research on Meghan. Something in her past might have caught up with her. Kate’s past was not interesting or radical. She had no idea how other people had led such amazing lives. Kate’s seemed so boring compared to everyone else’s.

Yet Kate couldn’t help but think that someone had killed Meghan and left the paper on her when he or she did it. Was the killer trying to give her a personal message? Had the killer known she would be there?

Kate couldn’t remember telling anyone but Scott that she was going to see Meghan. The more she thought about it, the more her brain hurt. She should give it a rest.

***

Clara Jenkins was wiping down tables when Kate entered Bean There. She’d opened the café just two years ago, and since it was the only place in town to get coffee, she’d been doing well. A year ago she began to feature pastries made by a local baker. Just a month ago, she began to make breakfast sandwiches. Kate came here once a week to get breakfast and most days to get one of her five cups of coffee she drank each day.

If a doctor ever told her that she had to give up coffee, Kate had no idea what she would do. The elixir got her through her sometimes long days. She might skip lunch, but she never missed having coffee.

The place had an eclectic vibe with mismatched furniture and array of tables and couches. It had a cozy feeling. Kate would love to be able to hang out here, but she had no time.

“Hey, Clara,” Kate said.

“Sorry about Meghan.”

They’d met here for coffee on more than one occasion, so the town knew that Kate and Meghan had been friends.

“Thanks.”

“I have a new flavor of scone from the baker. Orange cinnamon. You want to try one?”

Kate’s mouth watered. While she was here, she might as well. “Sure.”

“I’ll get it.”

Before she came back, Larry walked in.

“Hey, Larry,” Kate said.

Larry smiled at her. “Kate, that new sawzall blade is in. I haven’t had a chance to e-mail you yet.”

“Now you don’t have to.”

“Did you get that big estimate out?”

“I’m doing it this afternoon when I’m done with my jobs. I’m not looking forward to working for her.”

She didn’t want to mention Kendall by name in case someone else was listening. Not that Kendall had made any friends in the town as far as Kate knew. Still, it was better for business not to be gossiping about her clients. At least she could do it discreetly with Larry in his store. The coffee shop was a much more public place.

“I’d bet it will be better than you think. She can tell her friends and you can expand your business. It isn’t as if you have an ideological problem with her. She isn’t a murderer or something like that. She’s just annoying.”

Leave it to Larry to put it in perspective for her. She sighed. “You’re right. My business is too young to pick and choose my clients. What brings you to the café?”

“Coffee of course.”

“You don’t get to sneak some from Carly’s coffee maker?”

“I can, but I figure we need some boundaries.”

God how sweet. Maybe he could teach Scott about boundaries. He seemed to want to push Kate’s all the time. She became exhausted fending him off. Okay, not all of the time, but some of the time.

Other times she liked his attention. “Good point.”

Clara came back out with two scones on a tray. “You want to try it, Larry? Orange cinnamon.”

“Sure.”

Larry took one. Kate took the other. She bit into it and it was heaven. “That’s really delicious.”

“Yum,” Larry said.

“I’ll pass that on to the baker. She’ll be happy,” Clara said. “Can I get you some coffee, Larry?”

“Yes, an espresso actually.”

“Going for the hard stuff?” Kate said.

“Once in a while I treat myself. I used to drink it more on overnight shifts for the fire company.”

“I don’t even drink that. I’d be afraid to.”

“But you drink several cups of coffee a day.”

“True.”

Larry left with his espresso and the rest of his scone. The last few customers filed out and then Kate felt as if she could talk more freely to Clara. She pulled out the receipt. “I can’t say where I found this.”

At this point, Kate didn’t even know if Jessica had been notified about the possible break-in at her home, so she didn’t feel she could reveal what had happened.

“Okay.” Clara looked at her oddly. “Go ahead.”

“I found this receipt and it’s from here. Based on the time stamp, do you know who was in here?”

Kate handed her the paper. Clara looked over it. “That was right before the dedication of the community center. A bunch of people were in here getting coffee. Seems that everyone needs a cup for every event. Not that I’m complaining.”

The young girl smiled. She had a tattoo of a flower that wound up her arm. The flower was just above her elbow and continued under her tank top. Kate could see the end of the stem stopped just before her shoulder. It probably meant something, but Kate had never asked about it. She didn’t know what the etiquette was. Not many people her age had tattoos. At least not that she knew of.

“Do you remember who was in here? I know that’s probably asking a lot.”

Clara tapped her chin. “Okay. Right before the ceremony, the mayor came in. Kendall Stuart, Clem Tully, and even Dean had stopped in. I hadn’t seen Dean at his usual time, but he came with Jessica. She didn’t order any coffee. He did.”

“She likes her own coffee,” Kate said. “She told me that once.”

“Yep. I was surprised to see her, as she hasn’t ever been in here. Made sense when she came with Dean.”

Clara greeted a few people walking by the store.

“Anyone else?”

Clara looked at the ceiling as if the answer were there. She was a cute girl. Some odd stripes of color in her hair. She wore mostly black, but that might be because she owned a coffee shop. This way, if the coffee spilled on her, no one could see it. “No. I had expected to see you.”

“I only decided at the last minute to attend the ceremony. I’d already had a few cups of coffee at that point.”

“It was a little nutty, so I may have missed someone,” Clara said.

Other than Kendall, why would any of those people want to be in Jessica’s house? She had no clue what the person was looking for. Even Kendall wouldn’t stoop to breaking and entering. Though whoever was there must have had a key.

“Well, thanks. I need to go talk to Scott.”

“No problem. If I remember anyone else, I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks, Clara. You’ve been a big help,” Kate said.

She drove her truck to the municipal complex. Scott was in a meeting, so Kate waited for him in his office. She could have snooped, but she chose not to. She might see a picture of something gruesome that she’d never be able to unsee. She wasn’t one for things like that. She didn’t even watch horror movies.

His desk was neater than she’d seen it in a while. Guess he was getting ahead of his paperwork. She had some of her own that she had to do, including her quarterly taxes.