Smoked (The Alex Harris Mystery Series) Read online

  “How do you do, young lady. Your grandmother cheats.” With that Walter passed me and I took a quick look at the object of so much affection. I turned and gave Meme a thumbs up. Walter Hofstader did have a nice butt. It had to be pushing eighty-five but it was still a nice butt.

  I said good-bye to the rest of the gang and entered my grandmother’s small living room. Theresa Calendrella, Meme’s best friend, was still there, sitting on the sofa sipping a cup of coffee.

  “Hey, Alex. Meme’s boiling up some spaghetti and I brought over a bunch of meatballs. Hope you’re hungry.”

  “I am and I knew you two would have something good.” I went into the kitchen and made a cup of tea and then helped Meme drain the spaghetti and mix in the sauce I knew had been slowly simmering all day. It smelled heavenly and the meatballs were large and filled with chunks of garlic.

  “Before we eat, I gotta show you something, honey,” Meme said.

  I followed her into the living room. “Okay, what do you want to show me?”

  My grandmother sat on her chair and pulled up her dress sticking her leg out. She turned her left foot a bit to give me a better view.

  I bent down and there on the side of her leg was what looked like five tiny balls, each with a letter in the middle spelling out bingo in an orangy color and now a bit faded

  “I was Sloth’s first customer. What do you think?”

  “Is it permanent?” I asked, somewhat horrified to think my grandmother had a tattoo. What next? Would she be zipping around town on the back of his motorcycle?

  “Nah. He did it with henna. That’s why it’s fading. Only lasts about five days at the most.

  I told Meme and Theresa about my order with Sloth.

  “When you put one on and show John, I want to be in the room,” Meme cackled.

  A few minutes later we sat down to dinner. “So that’s Walter. He does have a nice butt.”

  “And he knows it,” Theresa said with a huff. “Give me Fred any day.”

  “How come you’re not home with John having dinner? You two got into it, didn’t you? I saw how he was looking at us at the party.”

  Nothing got by my grandmother. “Yes, he’s mad all right but probably more with himself. The police dragged their feet on this one and now they have to scramble to catch up.” I told them how I saw John as I was leaving George Shruder’s place.

  “You think he killed his sister ‘cuz she was going to kick him out of the house?” Theresa asked.

  I shook my head and wiped a bit of sauce from my chin. “Well, he does love his home and from the emails, his sister didn’t seem to care what happened to him. And he does have access to poison ivy.”

  Meme waved her hand. “The whole state has poison ivy. That’s nothing. Is there anything else in those emails? How about some actual threats?”

  I reached for another meatball. “No, nothing like that. Just a lot of talk about the house.”

  “So you think he did it, then, Alex?”

  “Theresa, I just don’t know. It could be anybody. People don’t even have to have an alibi for the time of her death. It’s baffling. I’ve talked to some victims of her blog and one couple lost everything. They have to start all over again.” I thought about this for a moment. Had they lost everything? They still had their home, their kids were still in school, and they got their jobs back. Other than pride and the loss of a chunk of money, the Corliss’ were still okay. So was Julie Vang. She just changed her menu and kept on going.

  “What are you thinking about, honey? I can see the wheels spinning.”

  “Meme, why would George kill his sister?”

  “So he wouldn’t have to move. You said he loves the house.”

  “Yes, but he lived there rent free. Now he’s going to have to pay upkeep, and property taxes and most likely estate taxes. It’s going to cost him a fortune to keep that house.”

  Meme thought this over while she smeared some butter on a piece of crusty bread. “But you said he inherited money. He can use that to pay the taxes.”

  “I guess. Seems easier to just move. Maria was mean,” I said suddenly. “I only met her a few times and she seemed really nice, friendly, always a smile. But from talking to people she had a real mean streak. And the way she was going after her husband and the meat industry. Why? It’s all been said before.”

  “Because she was hurt,” Meme said. “Her husband was cheating and it hurt.”

  “But he always did. Ellery said she knew and she didn’t care as long as he came home.”

  “Oh, she cared. Believe me. My James loved me, I know he did, but he was a womanizer and I put up with it and thought the same thing. But it hurt. Still does.”

  I reached over and patted Meme’s hand. “So why all of a sudden does she decide to get revenge? Because she found out he was engaged to Nena Connick?”

  Meme huffed. “That one? No way was he engaged to her. Did she have a ring? No. She wanted to be engaged but he wasn’t interested in her. She was just a piece of fluff. He had a real smart lady for a wife and a smart daughter. If he was going to get engaged it was going to be to another classy, intelligent woman.”

  “So what are you saying?” I turned in my seat and looked at Meme.

  “I’m saying Maria was hell bent on getting revenge on Sergei. I bet you anything there’s another ‘other’ woman.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I needed to talk with Sergei. I needed to talk again with Nadine and Ryan. I needed to talk with a whole bunch of people but right now it looked like I was going to be talking to my husband.

  After dropping his things on the kitchen counter, John came and sat next to me at the kitchen table.

  “Are you hungry?” I asked. I brought home some leftover spaghetti and meatballs.”

  “Meme’s sauce and Theresa’s meatballs? Sure.”

  I got up and put everything into the microwave. When I heard the meatballs exploding, I figured the sauce was hot enough and set it in front of John.

  “Hmmm. This is great. Hits the spot,” John said as I continued to flip through the pages of my Yankee magazine. “What a great day,” he continued. “That George Shruder’s got a nice place, huh?”

  I slapped the magazine closed. “Fine. You saw me.” Of course he saw me. He’s a cop. That’s what he does, spies on people. “And may I remind you, I got there first.”

  My husband has a great smile. Lights up his entire face. I really love that smile. Right now I just wanted to reach over and smack the smile right off his grinning face.

  John shook his head. “Why do I even bother? You’re going to keep investigating this case, aren’t you, no matter what I say?” Luckily he didn’t seem too upset.

  “It’s my job. I was hired to find a killer and I never shirk my responsibilities.” I got up. “I’m going to watch a little TV before bed.” I started into the den but John pulled me into his lap and kissed me.

  “You taste like garlic.” I reached into his bowl and broke off a piece of meat ball and popped it into my mouth.

  John kissed me again. “You didn’t really want to watch TV, did you?”

  *****

  The next morning I thought I should at least stop by my office for a couple of hours and make a show of pretending to be a business owner before I headed off to my investigations.

  “Hey, how was the rest of your weekend?” Sam shouted as I passed her office.

  “Fine. It was good. John and I got into a fight, then we made up. Oh, by the way, you need to send a donation to the radio station.” I made my way into my office and turned on my computer.

  “A donation to the radio station,” Sam said as she plopped herself into a chair across from me.

  “I figured that would get your attention more than my having a fight with my husband.”

  Sam rolled her eyes. “Of course you two had a fight. You always have a fight when there’s a murder. Why are we giving a donation to the radio station?”

  I told Sam about my vis
it with Renee Blakely and then Millie came in to join us. With Downton Abbey season over our Monday morning chat sessions were spent trying to figure out what transpired the previous evening on whatever mystery Masterpiece was showing.

  “Don’t tell me anything about the show last night. I haven’t watched it yet,” I said before Millie could get a word in.

  “Oh, right,” Sam smirked. “You and John made up.” She turned her attention to Millie. “When’s the big move taking place?”

  But before Millie could answer we heard the front door open and she went to answer it and Sam returned to her office. I was able to get a couple of hours of work done and interview a new client. I was finally earning my keep and it felt good. Around ten-thirty Sam came back with two cups of tea.

  I cradled my cup between my hands and leaned back in my chair. “Have you recovered from Saturday?” I asked my sister.

  “I knew that damn thing would get loose sooner or later.” My sister sighed. “What’s up? You look kind of pensive.”

  I pulled my jar of M&M’s over to me and took out a large scoop, then pushed it over to Sam. “I need to find the other woman. I mean the other other woman.”

  Sam scrunched up her face. “Wait. What?”

  “Meme thinks Maria Kravec was writing the blog about the meat industry and a certain butcher shop because she found out Sergei was having an affair and this was her revenge.”

  “Sergei was always having an affair.”

  “Yes, but this one was serious. This one was keeping him away at night.”

  Sam popped a couple of candies into her mouth. “And why do you think it was someone other than the waitress?”

  “Nena Connick said she hadn’t seen Sergei in a couple of months, they talked, but hadn’t gotten together in a while. He told her he was busy. But when I talked to him he said he wasn’t going home much anymore at night. He said sometimes he slept at his shop. Where was he the other nights if not with Nena?”

  Sam shrugged. “Who else do you have on your list?” Sam asked.

  “Well, I need to talk with the assistant again. Maria fired her. Twice. That’s gotta piss someone off. Nadine, the assistant, also told me Maria was paying for everything so far and Ellery said her mother wanted to borrow money, plus Maria planned to sell the house right out from under her brother. As far as I can tell from the Web site, there aren’t any products in their product line yet. So what was she paying for? No one was getting a salary and the rent on the office space can’t be that much. Where’s all the money? I need to talk with both Ryan and Nadine. Frank Corliss is also on my list and I want to go over to the university and talk with Maria’s colleagues. Maybe they know something or at least can shed some light on the problems with Nadine.”

  Sam left and I finished up a couple of things. I really wanted to talk with Nadine again but before I did, I needed to do a bit more research. I looked out my office window. It was another beautiful autumn day; blue sky and crisp air. Just the way I like it. I grabbed my jacket and purse and decided to take a drive.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  It took me forty-five minutes to get to Middletown. I enjoy driving but I wasn’t sure I would want to do this drive twice a day. Having my own business in my own town was a true luxury and if I felt the need for a longer drive, John and I liked doing day trips on weekends, especially this time of year.

  The university where Maria Kravec was a professor had a good-sized campus and it took me a while to find the English department. Once I did, it took me a while longer to find a place to park. What the heck, it was a lovely day and I hadn’t been exercising as much as I usually do. The walk would do me good.

  Once inside the building I asked to speak with Deanna Moffet. Ellery told me Deanna and Maria had been friends and when Maria left to start up the Vegan View, Deanna took over some of her courses.

  “I was told you wanted to speak with me about Maria.” Deanna Moffet was a lot younger than Maria Kravec. Soft spoken, medium height and thin, she reminded me of the actress Diane Lane. She wore a black pencil skirt and low heels and a cream-colored silk blouse adorned with several strands of pearls around her neck. At her ears hung small earrings with a nautical motif. Simple but elegant.

  “Yes. I’m Alex Harris. I’m here on behalf of Ellery.”

  “Ellery? Not Mr. Kravec?”

  “No. Ellery asked me to look into her mother’s death.”

  “I see. Take a seat, please,” Deanna said, as we entered a small office with books shelves covering three of the walls. “May I offer you something? Coffee, tea?”

  I asked for tea and Deanna buzzed an assistant. “What is it I can help you with? Are you from the police? This is so sudden. Just horrible.”

  I explained to Deanna that I owned my own business but had helped the police with a few other murders in Indian Cove and Ellery thought I could help her father based on my previous experience. “When was the last time you saw Maria?” I asked.

  Deanna sat up straight and clasped her hands together on the top of her desk. “Not since she left in June. I’ve been so busy taking over some of her classes and she, well, I assumed she was busy working on her new business. I can’t believe she was murdered, and in her yard. She loved being outside and working, especially this time of year. She was a true New Englander as far as fall was concerned. Who would do such a thing?”

  “That’s what Ellery wants me to find out. You see, in cases like this, the police usually look at the husband first, but Ellery is positive her father didn’t kill her mother. She’s hoping I might be able to come up with some alternative suspects.”

  Deanna looked visibly shaken. “And you think someone here could be responsible?”

  The assistant came in and handed me a mug of tea and placed a bottle of water on Deanna’s desk.

  I shook my head. “No. What I was hoping to find out from you is some information on Nadine Davis.”

  Deanna leaned back in her seat and reached for the bottle of water. “I see.”

  “I’m not accusing her of anything, don’t misunderstand. I’m just curious as to why Maria fired her from her job here at the university and then why she took her back to work on the Vegan View.

  “Maria and Nadine had a mutually agreeable relationship. Maria liked to use people and Nadine liked to hang on to people who could help her.”

  “Then what went wrong?” I asked.

  Deanna unscrewed the top of the water bottle with her dainty hand and poured some into a glass on her desk. “Nadine, for all her strengths, had one flaw that just drove Maria crazy. Nadine is lazy. Maria detested lazy. Nadine also spent a lot of time on her cell phone and Facebook and Maria got tired of it. As soon as she could, Maria had her transferred.”

  “I heard something about a promotion.”

  “Yes, that’s correct. Nadine had applied for another job here, assistant manager of administrative support for the entire university. She counted on a great recommendation from Maria and the truth is, if Maria had come through Nadine would have gotten the position. But Maria refused to give her that. Mind you, she didn’t say anything bad about Nadine, she just refused to give her a stamp of approval. Plus, this is a university and people do love to gossip. Things get around.”

  “But then Maria gave her a job when she started up the blog.”

  Deanna’s face suddenly looked distressed. “Again, a mutually agreeable relationship. Maria got her Web site designed and maintained and the email system set up along with a lot of other social media marketing and Nadine thought she’d get a partnership when things took off. But of course that was never in the cards as far as Maria was concerned.”

  “But you haven’t talked to her in a while. Maybe she changed her mind about Nadine,” I suggested.

  “True. I haven’t spoken with Maria since she left. That’s what happens when people leave a job. Despite your best intentions, friendships just die away, but what I meant was that based on Maria’s past treatment of Nadine, I just couldn’t se
e Maria relinquishing any piece of her business to Nadine.”

  “Have you read Maria’s blogs? You looked annoyed when I mentioned it?” I asked.

  Deanna Moffet took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. “I thought it was mean spirited. Ruining people’s businesses, going after her own husband. It was cruel.”

  “Have you worked here long?”

  “About seven years.”

  “So you knew Maria fairly well?”

  “Yes, we were in the same department. I guess you can say we were friends at work but we didn’t hang out on a personal level except for a few department gatherings.”

  “Did she ever speak to you about anything bothering her? Problems she was having?”

  “Other than typical university gossip and Nadine driving her crazy, no, I’m sorry. Wait. You know, there was a student, a young man whom she failed. He was some hot shot athlete on the tennis team, I think, and because she failed him he missed an important match.”

  “When was this?”

  “A couple years back, actually. I think he’s probably graduated by now. Sorry, I guess that won’t help you. Do you mind if I change the subject for a moment?”

  “Certainly,” I said, intrigued by what was coming next.

  “As you know things haven’t been easy for graduating students to find work. I’m working with a colleague here on various career fairs but you gave me an idea talking about your business. Do you ever use college students to fill temporary jobs?”

  Deanna and I made an appointment to get together in a couple of days to go over the qualifications of some former students she was currently helping to locate work, specifically work in their chosen fields that might lead to permanent placement. Then I headed over to the main building in search of Nadine.

  They told me she had left already for lunch and a dentist appointment. I got in my car and headed back to Indian Cove. Nadine had lost a good chance at another job because Maria wouldn’t go to bat for her and then had done a lot of work for Maria’s new venture only to be turned away again. It sounded more and more like Nadine Davis had an ax to grind.