Charlotte Murder, page 7
“C'mon, Dizzy girl,” Ashley said. “We need some leads to solve this murder, and we need to find them quickly so that we can get out of here. Be quiet, now—no barking or whining, no chasing squirrels or other night life, got it?”
Dizzy huffed out what seemed like agreement and began tugging on the leash, pulling Ashley down the path.
The cheap lock on the trailer door was no challenge, and Ashley was soon inside. She made a fast circuit of the open living area, but there was nothing that seemed relevant to the investigation, so she walked down the hallway. Stopping in the small home office first, there was nothing to find. The drawers of the desk were completely empty, and there wasn't anything of interest on the desktop. The only other furniture in the room was a beat-up chair—no computer and no file cabinet. Ashley moved on down the hall.
In the bedroom, Ashley caught herself tiptoeing lightly as if she was going to wake someone up. Everything looked normal, other than the bedclothes and pillow being tossed aside from when the funeral home workers removed Barney's body. Ashley had picked up a clothes hanger as she entered the room, and she used it to turn the pillow on the double bed over.
“What do you think, Dizzy?” Ashley asked. “Does anything there look odd? I think there's been a little saliva on the pillow, but that could just mean that Barney drooled in his sleep. There's no blood as far as I can see, and I don't think anything else that might have been left behind would be visible without lab equipment. I think we've struck out here.”
Dizzy gave a tiny bark and pulled Ashley back toward the front door. “Okay, girl,” Ashley laughed. “I'm coming, I'm coming. Let's see what we find in his truck.”
Fortunately for her snooping plans, Ashley found the driver's side door unlocked. “Wow!” she exclaimed. “Barney may not have taken the best care of the trucks on his sales lot, but this one is immaculate. I don't think I've seen a vehicle this clean unless it was brand-new and still at the dealership. I'll bet Barney treated his truck like it was his child. I don't know if that means it will be easier or harder to find a clue here, Diz.”
Ashley opened the glove compartment, but there was nothing in there except the owner's manual and a folded Texas map. The storage space in the console between the two bucket seats yielded her nothing—there wasn't even dust inside. There was nothing under the passenger seat or behind the seats either. She flipped both visors down, but Barney hadn’t stuffed anything up there.
Discouraged, Ashley said, “This isn't looking good, girl. The only place left to look is under the driver's seat, and I'm not holding my breath that there will be anything there.” She stepped back out of the truck and bent down to look under the seat.
“Hmm... I think I see something under here.” Ashley mused. Reaching her hand under the seat and fishing around, she finally made contact with some slick papers. She pulled them out and found that they were professionally prepared brochures.
“Dizzy,” Ashley said, “these are all about alternative cancer treatments. Look, here's one about acupuncture for chemotherapy-induced nausea and for pain, and this one is about using aromatherapy for nausea, stress, and anxiety in cancer patients. There are several from the Mayo Clinic about special diets for cancer patients and—oh, my stars and garters! Dizzy, this one is all about using coffee enemas!”
As Ashley flipped through the informational flyers, she thought about what they might mean. “Barney obviously cleaned his truck out regularly, so these must be pretty new. No one has mentioned anything about Barney having cancer or even about him being sick in any way, but there must be a reason for these brochures being in his truck. Maybe this really is a clue.”
Knowing that they would be useless as evidence if the deputies didn't find them in the same place she did, Ashley tucked the pamphlets back under the seat. “Come on, Dizzy,” she called the dog, who was sniffing around the front tire. “Let's go home.
On her way back to the cottage, Ashley considered calling Patty to talk about what she'd found, but she finally decided that it could wait for morning. She wanted to think about what the presence of the brochures might mean and what they should do about them.
“Look, Diz,” Ashley said, pulling into the driveway. “Smoke Daddy Lee is here. I wonder if Patty's with him?”
“Hey, Smoke Daddy,” Ashley greeted the barbecue king as she unclipped Dizzy's leash. “How are you? Are you here alone?”
“Umm... doing great, Ashley,” Smoke Daddy stammered as he furtively slipped something into the backpack on the floor by his feet. “Yeah, it's just me. You know, just visiting... a little guy time.” He made a show of looking at his watch. “Whew, it's getting late, isn't it? I'd better get going—lots to do tomorrow, so I'd best be getting on home. Bye, Ashley! See you later, Ryan.” He grabbed the backpack and left in a hurry.
“What was that all about?” Ashley asked, looking after their departing guest. “He was sure in a rush all of a sudden. Did I say something to scare him away?” She snickered a little, but Smoke Daddy's reaction to her arrival raised all kinds of red flags, just like Ryan's recent behavior had done. Those two were definitely keeping secrets, and she was determined to discover them.
“Nothing,” Ryan said in wide-eyed innocence that didn't fool Ashley one bit. “He just dropped by to hang out for a while. I guess he lost track of time and wanted to get home before it got too late.”
“Ryan, it's not even 8:30 yet,” Ashley said. “I don't know what the two of you are up to, but don't treat me like I'm too dumb to pour sand out of a boot with the instructions on the heel. If you don't want to tell me, don't tell me, but don't pull that 'lost track of time' nonsense.” She raised her hand to stop him when he tried to reply.
“No,” Ashley said, “I really don't want to hear it. Watch your ballgame. I'm going to use my tablet to look up some recipes for the events I have coming up.” She turned away and went to the bedroom, picking up her tablet from the coffee table on the way.
“C'mon, Ash,” Ryan said. “Don't do that. “
“No,” Ashley repeated without looking back. Closing the bedroom door behind her effectively ended their conversation. After crawling up on the bed and leaning against the headboard, the tears of frustration finally flowed down her cheeks. What's going on? she wondered. Am I losing him? What should I do? Ashley surfed favorite recipe sites but soon realized that nothing had registered in her conscious mind, so she shut the tablet down, turned out the lights, and snuggled down in the bed with her back to the door. Feeling the mattress compression when Ryan finally retired, she pretended to be asleep. Even though her heart was hurting, Ashley didn't know how to make things right and softly cried herself to sleep.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Well, good morning, sunshine,” Patty greeted Ashley the next morning. “I guess the fact that you're here now means that you didn't get caught snooping around last night!”
“Ha, ha,” Ashley grinned. “No, I didn't get caught, threatened, arrested, or attacked. I'm not sure that what I found means much, but, at least I found it without anyone else knowing.”
“So, what did you learn?” Patty asked. She poured Ashley a cup of Texas Pecan coffee and pushed it across the prep table toward her friend. “Here—you look like you need this!”
“Thanks,” Ashley said, “I do. I didn't sleep very well, but we can talk about that in a minute. First, about last night.” She took a sip of her coffee and sighed appreciatively. “Oh, man, that's good! Anyway, I didn't find anything in the trailer. Either the killer was careful and lucky, or the deputies have already found anything useful in there. I did check out Barney's personal truck, and I found something interesting. It may not be relevant at all, but it did seem intriguing.” She took another big sip of her coffee.
“The truck was totally clean. I was about to give up and go home when I checked under the driver's seat. Patty, there must have been 10 or more pamphlets, all about different alternative cancer treatments. I found a couple about special diets from the Mayo Clinic, and there were others about attitudes and aromatherapy, and then there were some that were just strange and crazy.”
“Cancer treatments?” Patty asked. “Who has cancer? No one has mentioned anything about that. Why do you think he had those? And what would they have to do with his death?”
“I don't know,” Ashley admitted. “I guess that's something we could check on, but I had to leave them in the truck.”
“Whatever for?” Patty said. “If you'd brought them with you, we could maybe trace where they came from. I still don't see how they would cause someone to kill the man, but it wouldn't hurt to know if they were for him or if he was collecting them for someone else.”
“Yeah, I thought about that, but they needed to be in the truck this morning for the deputies to find, just in case they do hold some kind of clue to the case. We'll just have to figure out another way to find out how they fit into whatever is going on.” Ashley stepped over to the coffee pot to refill her mug.
“Speaking of something going on,” Ashley continued, “Ryan's strange behavior seems to be contagious. Smoke Daddy Lee was at the house when I got home, and he couldn't leave fast enough. He hemmed and hawed an excuse, and then he took off, moving faster than small town gossip.”
Patty laughed. “I love your Texas sayings! But why are you worrying over this so much? I'll admit, Lee has been extra sweet lately, which usually means a man has done something he's hoping you won't find out about, but I don't have any real reason to suspect anything's wrong. I truly do think you're letting your past ruin your present, chérie. You're projecting Serge's sins onto Ryan and finding trouble where there isn't any. Ryan loves you, but, even if he did lose interest in you—and he absolutely has not done so—he wouldn't sneak around and pretend everything was fine. He'd tell you, straight up, and let the both of you get on with your lives. He hasn't told you that, and he hasn't walked away because it isn't true. He loves you, and he's right where he wants to be—with you.”
“But he's had difficult clients before, and he's never acted like this,” Ashley protested.
“You've never been living together when Ryan was dealing with those difficult clients, though,” Patty said. “You don't really know how distracted he got when you weren't around. Maybe he could push it aside for the hours you were together, but now you're both there all the time, so you're seeing what only happened when he was alone in his apartment. Don't assume the worst hon, trust your man and your heart.”
Ashley looked thoughtful. “Do you think that's it? I guess it does make sense that he just didn't show how much the jerky clients really bothered him.”
“Of course,” Patty said. “Now, let that go, and let's get some cooking done. We need a truly, wickedly decadent dessert for that fundraiser dinner on Friday evening, and I need a knock-your-socks-off set of appetizers and sides to go with the ginger-honey ham. And, Ms. Baker extraordinaire, we need a ton of rolls to serve with the meal. Tell me what you're thinking for the dessert, and then let's get cracking!”
“What do you think about a charlotte dessert?” Ashley said. “Bethany said that they didn't want a chocolate dessert, but a charlotte with a rich cream filling would take care of the decadent part, and it always looks so impressive.”
“Were you thinking Charlotte Russe or Charlotte Royale?” Patty asked.
“I'm still wavering between them,” Ashley said. “In terms of taste, it won't matter since they're both cake, fruit sauce, and Bavarian cream. I wouldn't make it for a client with the buttered bread that is traditional, though. The Charlotte Royale, with the sponge cake Swiss roll slices is really pretty, but I think the Charlotte Russe, with ladyfingers around the edges, might impress people a little more.”
Patty looked thoughtful. “You know those are traditionally made with raspberries, but we have a Texas theme for the night. What if you used Texas dewberries instead? There may still be a couple of jars of the jelly we made last summer in the pantry, but there are tons of berries in the freezer if you need to make more jelly. Then you could top it with whipped cream and garnish each serving with a couple of whole berries. That would be easier than the gelatin-fruit topping, but it would still have the fruit flavoring.”
“I like that idea,” Ashley said. “And I think pretty much everybody around here likes dewberries. We certainly get enough orders for dewberry cobbler during the summer!”
“That's true,” Patty laughed. “And I think the Russe version would look best on the dessert table during dinner. Did you know that ladyfingers date back to the House of Savoy in the eleventh century? And that they are also called boudoir cookies?”
“I did because a certain stern taskmaster in Paris made sure I knew,” Ashley said with a wink. “I remember you saying that if I was going to focus on baking instead of cooking, the least I could do was to learn about the origins of the pastries and desserts. You also told me that the name charlotte comes from a corruption of the Old English word charlyt, which meant dish of custard, and that Charlotte Russe was invented by French chef Marie Antoine Careme, who named it for Russian Tsar Alexander I. See? I was paying attention to all those lectures you delivered!”
Patty gave Ashley a stern look, but she couldn't hold it long before starting to giggle along with her friend. “Okay, okay—I get the hint. No more history lessons today! Get busy on those ladyfingers now, young lady. You're going to need a lot of them to make charlotte desserts for 75 people. And don't forget the rolls!”
“On it, Ms. LaFontaine,” Ashley said. “What do you think about using a French bread recipe for the rolls, adding a little ground jalapeno and garlic to some butter, and brushing the roll tops with the butter mixture? That would add that Texas touch to them.”
“Only if you make some extras so that we can taste test them first,” Patty said. “That sounds so good!”
The two women spent the rest of the afternoon preparing for the dinner, along with preparing appetizers and pastries for some smaller events scheduled for the next few days. They chatted about local gossip, upcoming festivals they could attend with the food truck, and a shopping trip at a large outlet mall in Houston that they had been planning for several weeks. Finally, they finished the day's food preparation and got ready to leave the kitchen.
“I found an address for Ozzie Eckles’ parents,” Patty said. “I catered a small dinner party for them shortly after I came to Seagrass, so I thought I'd drop by with a sampler plate of hors d'oeuvres. While I'm there, I can try to subtly verify Ozzie's alibi for the night Barney was killed.”
“Sneaky,” Ashley laughed. “You sure have changed your tune from when you were harping on me to leave the investigating to the police.”
“I'm not confronting a dangerous murderer,” Patty insisted. “I'm just having a conversation with some former customers. Good marketing dictates I remind previous clients that we're still here. If I happen to learn something useful, that's a bonus!”
“Whatever you have to tell yourself,” Ashley laughed. “I think I'll swing by the sales lot and see what the deputies might have turned up. If I find out anything important, I'll give you a call. Otherwise, I'll see you here in the morning.”
When Ashley pulled into the parking area at New Again, she could see that the investigators were just finishing up. She approached one and introduced herself, mentioning that she was one of the people who found the body. “Did y'all find anything to help advance the investigation?” she asked.
“Well, I'm not really supposed to talk to civilians about active cases,” the deputy said, “but I remember your name. I know you've helped Detective Luna with a couple of cases in the past—although all he does when your name is mentioned is growl.” The deputy winked at her. “And I know that Deputy Sanchez asked me to call you and your friend to tell you the cause of death, so I think I can tell you that we haven't found anything especially significant.”
“Did you look in Barney Smerna's personal truck?” Ashley said. “I... we found... there were some pamphlets under the driver's seat that were kind of interesting.”
“You mean the ones about cancer treatments,” the deputy asked. “Yeah, we found those, but I doubt they have anything to do with his death.”
“What about testing for DNA on the brochures or on the pillow in the bedroom?” Ashley asked.
“Look, Ms. Adams, let me tell you the honest truth,” the deputy said. “Mr. Smerna was an old guy, who was possibly sick, and he didn't have any family left. The sheriff's office has taken some really hard budget hits the last couple of years, and we can't afford to spend any of our limited funding on DNA testing that might or might not provide any clues. We'll keep following all the leads we find, but I can't imagine the detective worrying too much about those flyers. Now, if you'll excuse me, I do need to get some evidence bags back to the office. Have a nice evening, ma'am.” With that, he walked over, got into his patrol car, and pulled away from the lot.
“Old man with no family left,” Ashley snorted to herself in disgust. “Like that makes it okay for someone to kill him? Like being old means that you don't matter, and that you only deserve justice if you have family around to make a fuss about it? Detective Luna better watch out; if I see him, I'll for sure let him know what I think about that attitude.”
Looking around the area Ashley sighed. “Well, I guess that clinches it. Solving this case is going to be up to Patty and me since the police seem to be short on resources.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ashley watched, incensed, as the deputy left, then looked around, trying to figure out the next step in the investigation. A car pulled up beside her with an arm waving out the driver's side window.
“Hey!” Patty called out from her car. “I thought you might still be here.” She looked a little closer at Ashley's face. “Are you okay? You look like someone has irritated you, to put it mildly.”
“Yeah, I'll be fine in a minute,” Ashley answered. “The deputy who just left made me think that no one is concentrating on solving this case but the two of us. He didn't come out and say that they weren't working seriously on it, but he sort of implied that the case wasn’t a top priority because the victim was older, maybe sick, and alone. Even as annoying as Luna has been in the past, I've never heard him downplay a murder, so the attitude caught me off guard.”
