Double Scoop of Murder, page 8
"And you have the memory card that was in the camera before you swapped it for the new one?" No matter how good you were at something, or how often you did it, there was always room for error.
Kirk nodded.
"Did you have a backup of the footage?"
Storm, who seemed to do most of the speaking for the group, shook his head. "We weren't planning to use the footage, didn't think it would be appropriate, so we didn't back it up, upload it, or stream it live. That was the only copy, and now it's gone."
A knock at the door had me looking away from them.
Francine waved, reminding me the memory card wasn't the only thing missing.
CHAPTER TEN
With Storm's group at one table happily chowing down on ice cream sandwiches, since the missing memory card seemed less urgent than the missing elderly man, I sat across from Francine at a small table in the back corner, where she was nursing an herbal tea. "I'm sorry things are a little chaotic in here."
Her brows drew together, and she looked around as if she hadn't noticed. And if her current state was any indication, she probably hadn't. Once I'd led her to the back corner, she'd simply sat and waited for me to return with her tea. I'd also grabbed my cell phone in case an immediate call to the police was warranted, whether she wanted them involved or not.
"Can you tell me what happened with Ike?"
She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply then sighed and slumped in the chair. "After the police came and he answered all of their questions, he got really despondent. I'm sure you can imagine there's not a lot of space to even get out of your own way when living in a van, so the withdrawal was more figurative than literal, but he just sat on the day bed in the back, staring out into space. He didn't say a word at first. Not even when I got a little indignant that you threw us under the bus that way."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to implicate you or Ike in any way, but when the detective questioned me, I had to be honest." At least I was now firm on that point. However bad I might feel, I'd done the right thing.
"I know you did. Now." She offered an apologetic smile. "But I'm sure you can understand, at the time, I was on quite a roll."
I simply nodded. If I got caught up arguing the point, which seemed irrelevant since she was sitting there talking to me now, we'd never get past it to the part where Ike had gone missing.
"Usually, if I'm upset about something, he either rails along with me or takes the other track and becomes the voice of reason." She stirred a spoonful of sugar into her tea.
"He didn't do either?"
She shook her head, sipped her tea, and then set the mug on the table and wrapped her hands around it as if for warmth. "Then, about an hour later, he came to me. Upset. He apologized for not taking better care of me. I told him I didn't want anyone to take care of me, I just wanted a partner, someone to ride along with me through life, for the good and the bad. And I wouldn't want to share that journey with anyone but him."
A brief moment of envy flickered, and then I quickly tamped it down. This woman was living in a van, driving around the country, unable to put down roots anywhere, but all that mattered to her was being with the man she'd chosen. I hoped to find that level of love and commitment one day. But with whom? Would either Jake or Luca be enough to fill my life with happiness? Maybe.
"He always joked that I was his co-pilot, and then I'd counter with he'd gotten it wrong—he was mine." She smiled sadly at the memory then seemed to dismiss it as she sat up straighter. "Anyway…when he left, he said he was going to find the treasure because I deserved so much more than what we have. But I'm happy with what we have. I love our new life together. I lived long enough pinned to a routine, a fixed schedule day after day—breakfast at six, kids off to school, me off to work, had to be done on time to rush home and meet the bus, chauffeur the kids here, there, and everywhere for one activity or another, then dinner on the table, homework, baths, bedtime. Then, the next day, start the same exact steps all over again. Don't get me wrong. I loved every minute of that life. But now I'm ready to move on, ready for some spontaneity and excitement."
Tears tracked down her cheeks, and she rubbed them away with the heels of her hands.
Giving her a moment to collect herself, I got up and went to the counter for a pile of napkins.
Gwen stood rubbing the same stubborn stain I'd been going at since I'd returned whenever I just wanted a moment to check out what was going on. Both of us knew full well that stain wasn't going anywhere. "Is everything okay?"
I leaned an elbow on the counter and glanced over my shoulder at Francine, who was staring out the front window, no doubt watching some scene from her past unfold instead of the empty street. "I'm not sure. She's really wrecked that Ike said he was going off to find the treasure, mostly because he's doing it for the wrong reasons."
"Aww." Gwen frowned, gave up on the stain now that she no longer had any reason to eavesdrop, and tossed the rag into a bus bin. "I feel bad for her."
"Yeah, me too. But at least if he's gone in search of the treasure on his own, he'll most likely return safely once he figures things out."
"Or finds what he's looking for," Eli chimed in from beside Gwen. "Plus, we can kill two birds with one stone."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we were going to hunt for the next clue anyway, and if Ike figured it out like we did—"
"Maybe," I pointed out, because Eli tended to forget that part.
"Right, maybe. So, we'll say, if Ike thinks along the same lines as we did, he should be showing up in some of the same places we were going to search anyway."
"Huh. I hadn't thought of that." But at least now I had a place to start. All I had to do was get Francine to tell me what they'd figured out about the clue. With a renewed sense of determination, I returned to the table, set the pile of napkins in front of her. "You okay?"
She took a napkin and crumpled it in her hand but nodded.
"Okay, I need you to tell me where you guys were at on solving the first clue."
She firmed her lips into a tight, thin line.
"Francine, I'm not trying to steal the treasure from you." Though, clearly, I should have thought this plan out better. What if she told me where they were going to look, it was the same place we'd already decided on, and then we found the treasure? She might think I betrayed her for the money. Okay, that was easily solved. There would be plenty of money to go around, if anyone ever found the treasure, which I was beginning to doubt. We'd just have to cut Francine and Ike in, along with Uncle Jimmie and Harry. "My friends and I were headed out to search for a clue anyway, so we're going to look for Ike, but it would be helpful if I knew what he might be thinking or where he might go to look."
She caught her lower lip between her teeth and chewed, eyeing me suspiciously. "Okay, fine, but if you find the treasure where I'm telling you he might have gone to look, you have to give Ike a share. And I will say, just so you know, I've already driven past there twice and didn't see him or any sign he'd been there."
I reached across the table and gripped her hands. "If we find the treasure or a clue where you tell us to look, we'll work out a fair cut for both you and Ike."
She turned her hand over in mine. "I can live with that. Honestly, I don't even care about the treasure. I just want Ike to get his sense of self-worth back."
"I can certainly understand that." And I did believe her. It didn't seem as if the money mattered to her one bit as long as she and her husband ended up back on even footing. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. "I'll call you the instant we find anything. What's your cell phone number?"
She rattled it off, and I keyed it into my contacts.
"Don't worry, Francine. We'll do everything we can to find him. I promise." I didn't bother adding that if we didn't find him by the time we were ready to return, I was calling Jake and letting him know we might need a Silver Alert. "Where do you think he'd go?"
"Well, we got to the football field first, as you know, and it seemed everyone after us congregated around that same side we'd already dug up. Maybe because we'd already dug there, or maybe because whoever came after us buried Preston there, but either way, Ike was convinced the next clue is on that field, so he thought maybe it was the side by the other goal post that, as of the last time I drove past on my way here, still hadn't been dug up yet." She held up a finger. "But, for the record, I still think it's too easy. I think the clue is somewhere else. This is a multi-billion-dollar treasure hunt, not a child's backyard party game."
"For what it's worth, I agree with you. But we'll still go by and check the field."
"Thank you." She nodded and resumed staring out the window while sipping her lukewarm tea.
Since I didn't know what else I could do to help Francine, I thanked Uncle Jimmie and Harry for standing in then promised Team Storm we'd keep an eye out for the memory card in our travels. I did not tell them where we were headed. And I barely felt bad sneaking out the back door with Gwen, Meghan and Eli before they finished eating so they couldn't follow us. When we reached Gwen's Jeep, I lingered for one awkward moment by the front, waiting to see if Meghan was going to get in the back seat with Eli, which she did, turning him a beautiful shade of purplish-red.
The smell of the sod we'd never gotten to use hit me in the chest like a brick. "That needs to go."
We climbed back out and unloaded the pieces onto the narrow patch of beat-up lawn between the sidewalk and the street. Who knew? Maybe it would catch and grow into a lush strip of grass.
When I climbed back into the front passenger seat, I twisted to face everyone. "Can we swing by the high school first and see if Ike is there digging up the field?"
"Sure." Gwen started the Jeep, shifted into reverse, and looked over her shoulder. "Then where to?"
I buckled my seat belt and switched to looking in the rearview mirror to talk to Gwen and Eli as Gwen pulled out of the lot. "Where do you guys want to search first? The mansion grounds or the dock where the registration was held?"
"Let's take a vote." Eli sprang up and down on the seat. "Who wants to try the dock first?"
My hand shot up. When I realized no one else's had, I tried to sway them. The last thing I needed was to have to explain my way out of a trespassing charge just when Jake and I were getting along so well. "Why try to sneak onto the mansion grounds when we can check the public land first and not end up getting in trouble if we get caught?"
"I can see where you're coming from." Eli met my gaze in the mirror, cheeks still flaming. "But if Maxwell wanted his sons to earn their inheritance instead of having it handed to them, but still wanted to be sure they were the ones to find it in the end, what better way to accomplish that than to hide the second clue on the mansion grounds? The property Maxwell supposedly hadn't left in years."
Gwen's and Meghan's hands shot up quicker than gossip at a church picnic.
"Traitors," I huffed under my breath, loud enough for them to hear.
When we reached the high school, I had a moment of relief when I saw someone digging a hole on the opposite side of the field from where we'd found Preston Sanders. That hope was quickly dashed when a second person appeared beside the first and wrapped her arms around him from behind.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
It took me a moment to process the fact that it wasn't Ike Turner in some redhead's embrace and then to be thankful Francine wouldn't be crushed. Curiosity came on the heels of the realization the Turner marriage was still intact—at least, it would be if we could find Ike. "Do you know who they are?"
Eli scooted up to the edge of the back seat to peer through the front windshield between Gwen and me. "I've never seen him before."
"Great." Meghan crowded her cheek against Eli's so she could see. "Just what we need. More competition."
Apparently unable to deal with Meghan in such close proximity, Eli shoved the back door open and stumbled out of the Jeep, drawing the attention of the two treasure hunters turning up the football field.
The woman stepped back, and the guy started digging faster.
Since Eli was already out of the car, I climbed out too.
"You want to walk over and say hello, even though it's not Ike Turner?" Eli stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and strove for his best nonchalant look. He failed miserably.
As much as I'd have loved to tease him, and probably would have if we were alone, I passed up the opportunity, knowing it would embarrass him in front of Meghan. "We may as well. Just because Ike's not here now doesn't mean he wasn't earlier. Maybe they saw him."
I rounded the Jeep to the driver's side, where Gwen had opened the window, and Meghan leaned past her to look out. "You guys want to come or wait here?"
Gwen frowned at the woman across the field, who was openly staring at them while her companion frantically dug. "Why don't we wait here? You might get more out of them if we don't all go traipsing over there."
"Plus," Meghan added with a smirk, "we'll be able to call the police if he whacks you with that shovel."
"Okay. Good choice. I'll be right back." As I crossed the field with Eli bopping along beside me, I searched for any sign of Ike. Nothing. The bleachers were empty. No one stood on the sidelines. When my gaze fell on the police tape surrounding the spot where Preston had been buried, a shiver tore through me, and I quickly looked away.
The guy on the field kept flinging shovels full of dirt out of the way even as we approached, the muscles in his arms and back visibly flexing through his white T-shirt with each heft. When we reached him, we stood our ground and just waited until he finally stopped digging, pulled a rag from the back pocket of his tan chinos, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Can I help you?"
Since Eli didn't say anything, I assumed I was going to be representing Team—wait, we didn't have a name yet, and nothing came to mind. "I'm sorry to bother you—"
"And yet, here you are." The guy jammed the shovel's tip into the ground and rested his hand on the handle. How he'd managed to keep his obviously manicured nails from getting so much as one speck of dirt beneath them was beyond me. His jet-black hair was soaked with sweat as he slicked it back out of his equally dark eyes, which grew more intense as they studied me.
The urge to turn around and walk away was strong, so much so I might even have given in to it, if not for an image of Francine sitting in the café, staring out the window, heartbroken. "Right, well, we won't keep you long. I wanted to know if you've seen an elderly gentleman anywhere around the high school or the field."
Thick, perfectly waxed brows drew together. "An elderly man?"
I held a hand up beside my head. "About yay high, skinny, bald with a long white mustache."
"Oh, hey, I remember him." The woman, who'd been quiet until that point, tapped her forehead with one long, hot-pink (not the best color with her pale complexion and scattering of reddish freckles) nail then snapped her fingers. "Oh, right. Remember, Niko? That nice elderly couple at the registration desk. They were in front of us in line, and when they realized who you were, they asked you to autograph their brochure."
Autograph? Who was this guy? And how would two people who lived in a van and traveled the country recognize him when I was fairly sure I'd never seen him before? Okay, that was it. I needed to do something to rectify the fact that everyone else seemed to know who these people were, and I had no clue. So far, I'd failed to recognize a supposedly famous YouTuber, an almost equally impressive fashion TikToker, and now this guy—whoever he might turn out to be.
I glanced at Eli, but his expression was bland, none of the starstruck excitement he'd shown when meeting Storm. Huh. Maybe he didn't know who he was either.
Niko smiled like he was surrounded by cameras, dark eyes twinkling, the rising sun reflecting off his perfectly straight white teeth. "Right. Yes. I do remember. They had Team Adventure on their matching shirts. Adorable."
"Yes." The woman held out her hand, shook mine and then Eli's, and shot her companion a warning glare. She lifted long, strawberry blonde waves off her neck, tied her hair in a knot, and wrapped it with a scrunchie from her wrist. I studied the look and found I liked it. I'd have to give it a try. Considering her hair was similar to mine, it might—
My thoughts skidded to a stop as I remembered Jake and Officer Marty talking about how Athena had seemed to be telling the truth about seeing me out at the field before Preston had been killed. Could they have mistaken this woman for me? We shared the same coloring, freckles, hair color and style, and were both…well, not exactly model thin. At night, maybe from a distance, I could see how someone who didn't know me could have made that mistake.
As soon as we left, I'd call Jake and ask him to come over. I promised myself I wouldn't interrogate them at all, not even to ask if they'd seen Preston before he was murdered. I almost choked on that but struggled to keep my expression neutral. Was I standing face-to-face with a killer or killers? Either way, I'd been still and quiet for long enough to have turned awkward. "Um. I'm sorry. My mind wandered for a moment. I'm Danika Delaney"—shoot, nothing like giving a murderer my name—"and this is my friend Eli."
"Please forgive Niko for being so rude." The woman smiled, transforming features I'd originally viewed as cold to friendly. "We get a lot of people following us around, and sometimes it gets, well…I don't want to say annoying, because we love our fans, we really do, but when people approach you everywhere you go, it can be…"
"Difficult," Niko finished for her and held out his own hand. "I'm sorry. I'm Niko Cappitani, and this is my assistant, Vanessa O'Neil. Did you say you were looking for the man from the registration?"
"Yes. His wife came into the café, upset that he'd gone out to look for the treasure, and now she can't find him."
Vanessa's expression turned quizzical, and she shook her head. "The café?"
"The Cookies and Cream Café on Main Street." Great. Now I'd not only told them my name but where to find me. Seemed I was batting a thousand so far. I yanked my foot out of my mouth and continued. "Anyway, he went off to search on his own, and Francine thought he was coming here, to dig right where you're digging now actually…"
