Down the Drain, page 9
Deke frowned but nodded. “Yeah. She always found a way to work a situation to her advantage. Yeah, I can believe that. The cold-hearted shrew.” He dropped his head into his hands. “Why did she have to go and die?”
“Look, I am sorry.” I followed Mika into the kitchen when we took a break and gave Deke a chance to collect himself.
“Nah, I get it,” they said. “You don’t know me, and Deke is your friend. Trust me, I understand.”
“Still, I should have asked you what your reaction was about.”
Mika’s mouth tipped up then they shrugged a shoulder. “I wouldn’t have told you. You’re right, we don’t know each other too well. I’d hoped that could change.”
I smiled despite the fact my chest hurt. “Guess that means you won’t be asking me to have dinner with you again.”
Their lips brushed my cheek. “Not for a while, at least.”
Jody peeked around the corner. “Everything all right in here?”
“It’s fine, Jody,” Mika said. “You don’t have to be my protector.”
“Why not? You played that role for me plenty when we were growing up.”
I glanced between them, not sure what to make of the exchange. I knew little of Jody’s past, other than ze didn’t have the same relationship with zir family as I did with mine. I’d wanted to know, but we didn’t know each other that well. I hated when people thought they could pry into my life just because they were curious. So, I’d kept my questions to myself.
Mika brushed a hand down Jody’s hair, a move both affectionate and somehow intimate. Not in a sexual way, I didn’t think, just two people who had known each other a long time. Like Cord and me. “It was the least I could do. I’d gotten enough teasing for living with my gay Native uncle and his Black husband, and the fact they could never pin me down for ‘what’ I was. I would not let somebody else go through that kind of stuff.”
“And this is why we’re still best friends after all these years,” Jody said.
Cord stuck her head into the kitchen. “Deke said he’s ready to continue. He has information on those names, but he doesn’t know if it will help.”
“The more we know, the faster we’ll figure this out.” When Mika didn’t move to join us, I asked, “Are you coming?”
“I can’t add much. I’m too new to town to know these people. I’ll see you tomorrow, Jo.”
Jody passed me to go to the living room without saying a word to me. Great, ze was still upset with me. I hadn’t meant to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I knew how much that didn’t matter. Mika seemed to accept my apology, though any chemistry between us had been neutralized. I’d have to make it up to Jody as well.
Considering I’d been questioned for arguing with someone who ended up dead, finding the actual killer before zir friend ended up in jail might be the best place to start.
“So,” I said when I came into the living room, “what do we know?”
“Not enough,” Deke admitted. “The paper did print a story when Kohner opened his restaurant. Ran a profile on him and a review of the restaurant. I don’t think either is important, since that wasn’t until he split from Mayra.”
“Wait,” I said. “This guy dated her, too?”
“Apparently,” he said. “It was huge news around here, too. That her ex was so audacious to open his restaurant so close to her hometown. I still think Mayra was behind those letters to the editor and calls to boycott, though her name wasn’t on any of them.”
“Why would they boycott a restaurant?” Cord asked.
“It was a bunch of nonsense. He was bringing in immigrants as workers. He had shady business practices. He would put the family-owned places out of business. None of which was true, by the way. A lot of his employees are immigrants, but most were here before him. He didn’t import them just to keep away ‘natural citizens’. None of the surrounding restaurants closed down. There was never evidence of dirty dealing. Some people refused to believe it.”
“Why would they think those things?” Cord asked.
“He was a foreigner. Came here from England when he was ten years old. His mother was Korean and British, and after his British father died, she remarried an American restaurateur. He brought them over here, and I believe, adopted Damon. He worked in kitchens most of his life. Like Duncan, he gives a lot of money to charities, mostly ones for children, particularly children of immigrants.”
“Why would he kill Mayra?” I asked. “Did he know she was behind the negative publicity for his restaurant?”
“Oh, he knew,” Deke said. “He’d dated her, so he had to know how she worked. In her circles, everyone remained adamant she’d broken up with him due to some scandal hanging over him. Which makes me believe he clued into her nastiness and dumped her. She’d never let that be the narrative people believed.”
“Would that be reason enough for him to kill her?”
Deke seemed to think about that. “That happened over five years ago. His restaurant’s been open nearly two. If he’d sought revenge on her, it would have happened before now. I believe he’s engaged to someone else now. I’ll have to look it up, but the paper ran the story in the society pages, so it’s a big deal thing. I’m not saying he didn’t kill her. I don’t really know him. I’m just saying, there had to have been another reason if he did.”
“Okay.” I took a moment as Cord scribbled as much as she could under Damon’s name. At this rate, we would need a bigger board. “And Claudia? Do you know much about her?”
“Not a lot,” Deke said. “The story we did was on the non-profit organization she works for, not the employees. We got some background information on them, but that’s it.”
“What do you know?”
“She went to Somerset college, just like Mayra, a few years behind, but they would have been there at around the same time. She moved here after graduation with a girlfriend. I don’t believe that relationship lasted. She grew up in the system, which is why she got involved with Skyreach. That’s all I got from the interview. Which happened more than a year ago.”
“What would she have against Mayra?”
“I don’t know,” Deke said. “She didn’t come up in the interview. I was only supposed to get basic background on them, but we struck up a conversation about being bisexual in a small town. Mayra never came up. I wasn’t even aware Claudia had known Mayra.”
I glanced at the board. It was nearly full, but did we know anything at all?
Chapter Fourteen
Despite having two floors, the building I stood in front of late the next afternoon seemed small. The siding was dingy and looked like it had been nailed to the side of the house in a few spots.
Even if I learned nothing here, I could leave my card. I knew places to get deals on replacement siding. Three mailboxes stood outside. I glanced at the address I’d scribbled down. Nothing I’d found said this was an apartment, but maybe I was wrong. Cord would be upset with me for coming here on my own. And not just her. I couldn’t forget how worried Eli seemed.
Really, what would happen?
I just wanted to ask Claudia some questions. Not that I had any authority. It would be good to know what she told Morein before he used that against Deke.
Talking to a person wasn’t against the law. No one had been at the Skyreach offices when I drove past, so I’d done a quick search and found her address.
Quin wasn’t the only one who could use a computer. Or in this case, my phone.
I looked at the address again, but no, still no apartment number or anything else that said this was more than one residence. Hopefully, I hadn’t gotten bad information. It would be my luck if she didn’t live here.
Something else Eli could lecture me about. I could practically hear him.
Why would you just go to a stranger’s house, not even sure they were who you were looking for? You could have walked into a dangerous situation. If this person didn’t kill Mayra and Duncan, that’s not a guarantee they aren’t an ax murderer or something.
Was it bad I could already imagine what he would say? Never mind, I didn’t want to answer that question. I just wanted to get in there, talk to Claudia — if she even lived here — then leave. Figuring out who killed Mayra and Duncan was more important than worrying about yet another “stern talk” from my brother-in-law, as he would call it.
I wouldn’t know if she was there until I knocked, so I climbed out of the truck and went to the front door. If there were three apartments, how were they set up? One on the first floor and two on the second? Maybe one in the front and two in the back. That would be a lot of steps if each apartment was two floors. Which could mean a lot of maintenance work. I shook away the thought as the door opened. That was not why I was here right now.
“Can I help you?” The person standing there was a few years younger than me, maybe a little younger even than Deke. Their dark hair looked disheveled, like they’d been running their hands through it. I had to look down a bit to make eye contact, and very few people would consider me tall. Behind their glasses, their brown eyes seemed tired. Maybe that had to do with the shadows under them.
“I’m looking for Claudia Hansen. I got this address, but there aren’t any apartment numbers, so it could be wrong. Does she live here?”
They nodded but closed the door so just a gap remained, putting it between us. “I’m Claudia. Who are you, and what do you want?”
I had my business card and a spiel ready. “I’m Lou Carsley. I own...”
Her laughter interrupted me, and she opened the door once more. “Ah, the infamous Lou.”
“I, uh, don’t know what to think of that descriptor.”
Claudia laughed again. “Nothing bad, I promise. What do you want? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the building. When there is, I call the landlord. He never changed the address for this apartment, by the way, but the upper two are B and C.”
“Ah, that makes more sense, I guess.”
Claudia rolled her eyes. “It’s called being lazy, but he hasn’t raised the rent in the five years I’ve lived here, so I won’t complain.”
She opened the door and motioned me inside. “You might as well come in. It’s warm out there.”
I stepped into her house, right into the kitchen. “Want something to drink?” she asked me.
“No, I’m fine. I just... Claudia, did you know Mayra Starnes?”
She stiffened then turned to me, her face paler than when she opened the door. “I had a couple of the same college classes as her. I was a sophomore, and she was a senior.”
“Doesn’t seem like you two would have run into each other much then. Aren’t most college campuses pretty big?”
“I worked in the Student Learning Center and tried to work with her when she came for extra help. She wasn’t appreciative of my efforts, but I couldn’t just take the classes in her place.”
“Now, that doesn’t surprise me,” I said. “I don’t see how that would cause any lasting problems, though.”
Claudia glanced away and bit her lip before returning her gaze to me. “She threatened to file a complaint with my adviser when she caught me kissing my girlfriend before a session. Like I’d been hitting on her or something. I told my adviser, and she assigned a different tutor to Mayra. Which is the last time I willingly spoke to that woman.”
Claudia released a long breath. “I didn’t know this was her hometown. My girlfriend got a job here, so I moved with her. Then, I found the position with Skyreach. Even though that girlfriend left, I stayed here. It had nothing to do with Mayra. I’d have been happy to never see her again.” She paused. “But, I didn’t kill her.”
She would say that even if she had, wouldn’t she? I wasn’t sure whether to believe her. Was everything she said true? Was there any way to prove it? “The police have talked to you, though.”
“Well, yeah. She called me last week. Before that reunion at that pompous school. I guess she went there. I didn’t answer her phone calls, and when it got to be too much, I blocked her number. That’s it. They must have seen it in her phone records, I guess. Like I told the pretty, young, puppy dog of a cop who questioned me, I was in the office and with clients all that day. The night Duncan Morrau died, I was... in a meeting. I never even met him. Why would I have wanted to kill him?” She turned away. “Now, if that’s all, can you go? I’ve had a tough day, and I don’t want to even think anymore.”
Before I could ask another question, and I had so many, my phone pinged. I’d have to see what the message was when I got out of here. “Thanks for talking to me, I’ll let myself out.”
Talking to her hadn’t answered my questions, only leaving me with more.
“I thought you weren’t going to call me for dinner again,” I said as Mika walked over to me.
“Jody told me you were planning to come out here. I’ve heard excellent reviews about the place. How could I pass up the chance?”
I shifted from one foot to the other. “I’m not sure what will come from this. Maybe nothing. I just want to feel him out.”
Mika waggled their eyebrows. “While you’re on a date with me? I thought you weren’t the open relationship type.”
A laugh burst out of me. “Have you been spending time with Cord? That sounds like something she’d say.”
“You think I couldn’t be this way on my own?”
I grinned and bumped my hip against theirs. “I don’t doubt it.”
I opened the door and followed Mika inside. A man straightened behind a podium, casting a glance over us. I couldn’t read anything in his brown eyes. I decided against jumping to conclusions on what he could be thinking. That had gotten me into trouble before. Like assuming Matthias was straight.
“Table for two?” he asked. “Or are you waiting for the rest of your party?”
Mika cocked their hip to one side, sending him a sultry smile. His expression didn’t change. “It’s just us,” they said, “unless somebody else wants to join.”
I held in a snort, but he didn’t react. He took two menus and said, “Follow me.”
I tipped my head closer to Mika and murmured, “You’re bad.”
They grinned at me. “Admit it. That’s why you like me.”
It just could be.
He gave us the menus then headed to the front of the restaurant. I opened the menu and stared before slapping it closed. “Quin was right about these prices.”
Mika peeked at their own menu, their eyes going wide. “Yikes. I guess this is the reason I haven’t come here yet. I guess I can order from the appetizer menu.” They glanced down and grimaced. “Maybe not.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “Business is doing well. I can afford at least one dinner for us here. I do owe you. For that whole thinking you could be a killer thing.” I didn’t think I’d be coming back. I hoped I’d have a chance to speak with Damon tonight. Otherwise, I wasn’t sure how to make it happen.
“Are you sure?”
“Yep,” I said.
“Okay, then. But, just so you know, you don’t owe me. I’ve already forgiven you.”
When the server came over, Mika ordered something I think had chicken in it. I looked back at the menu, almost panicking. I still hadn’t decided what to eat. They all had names I wasn’t even sure what they meant, but I picked one that didn’t appear too far out of my comfort zone and handed the menu over.
“So, what are you going to do?” Mika asked when the server left us. “I don’t imagine eating his food will give you too many answers, even if it’s as tasty as the reviews say.”
I hadn’t thought that far ahead. “I’m playing this by ear.”
“Jody said you’ve done this before.”
They didn’t mean getting dinner out. “It wasn’t quite the same. All I did was ask a few questions around town when I did jobs for people, mostly.”
“You are the one who solved the murder, though.”
I nodded and shrugged at the same time. I had done nothing except almost get myself killed. It was a wonder I’d been able to hold Josiah off until Matthias showed up and arrested him. Almost until he’d come after me with a wrench, my own wrench, I’d still thought the killer might be someone else.
“Pure stroke of luck,” I said.
“That’s not how Jody describes it. Ze thinks you narrowed down the suspects and came to the right conclusion faster than the police. That’s not always saying much. Especially since he turned out to be such a prominent citizen. It wouldn’t be the first time somebody got away with a crime because they’re rich.”
“Matthias isn’t like that.” I pursed my mouth, as if that could stop the automatic defense.
Mika arched an eyebrow. “You know him that well, do you?”
I shook my head, which didn’t wipe the grin off their face. “I’ve told you, it’s not like that. I keep telling everyone. They won’t believe me.”
“Maybe you’re the only one who can’t see you’re lying to yourself.”
“I’m not,” I insisted. “He’s not interested in me. I wish everyone would drop it.”
Mika held their hands up. “Consider it dropped.” The twitching of their lip made me doubt it would be a permanent ceasefire, but it was enough for now.
The waiter brought salads and bread, so we had something else to do. And I could get something out of this night.
By the time our main courses came, I still wasn’t sure what to do. How had I managed this before?
Oh, that’s right. I hadn’t. I’d fumbled around asking questions, almost getting my head bashed in for my troubles. I may have stopped the killer in the end, but I wasn’t sure if that was from my own actions or just a lucky break.
I couldn’t hope for that again.
I dug into the chunk of meat on my plate and put it in my mouth. The meat practically melted, and I was sure my eyes rolled back. “Oh my god,” I said. “This is so good.”
Mika snorted. “I could say something, but that one’s too easy.” Then, they moaned, apparently taking their own bite. “You’re right. I don’t think I can ever eat anything again. It would just come as a disappointment.”
