Nailed: An Alex Harris Mystery (The Alex Harris Mysteries Book 8) Read online

  I hit my hand on the table. “What the heck hell, John? Are you going to arrest him or at least take him into the station and intimidate the hell out of him?”

  John laughed. “No. I don’t know what the man is up to, but I’m certain he didn’t kill Victor Sanjari.”

  I felt like making a snide comment about how John had no problem hauling my sister into the station in front of everyone, but we were getting along and I was tired of arguing about it. Besides, like Meme said, John was the one for me even if he did do stupid things now and then.

  “I talked to some people from the lab today,” John continued, “they said that they found some blue fibers on the floor of the house where Victor was killed. It was just rough wood planks and these fibers got stuck to it. Alpaca.”

  “Alpaca? What does that mean?”

  “That’s what the fibers were made of. I have no idea how long they’ve been there, but it couldn’t be that long. The house is just going up. There aren’t even any walls yet, just the frame. It’s all open.”

  “Maybe they blew there.”

  “Off of a wandering blue alpaca?” John asked with a smile.

  I poked him with my fork. “Or maybe they came from the owner of the house walking around and looking at things,” I suggested.

  John divided the rest of the spare ribs between the two of us and put some Asian noodles on my plate. “Could be. I’ll have Jim go out tomorrow and talk to the construction crew and see if it rings a bell with anyone. So, tell me what you’ve been up to. With your sister involved in a roundabout way, I know you’re probably waist deep into your own investigation.”

  “You think you know me so well.”

  “I do. And that’s just one of the many, many reasons why you love me so much,” my husband said and then took a big bite out of a rib.

  So I told John about my conversation with Mary McCarthy and Elizabeth Applegate, and about my visit to the Hachmeister home earlier in the day. And I told him about Suzette Cumberland and how she thought Gary and Victor were on the outs. And then I told him all about Gary and Victor’s dubious past and what they had been up to. And I told him about Maddi finding the diary and Jenna’s affair with Brian Jankowski. I concluded with Ruth and Delilah Sanjari and how upset they were at Victor and the way he left them nothing. What I didn’t tell him was that tomorrow morning Shirley and I were going to go have a talk with Kate Cavanaugh, and hopefully we would find out something about Michael’s whereabouts.

  John helped me clean up after dinner, saying very little else about the case, and then we caught up on a couple of shows we like while we munched on cool watermelon and sipped herbal tea. About ten o’clock I was ready for bed and tonight I let John sleep back in our room.

  Chapter 48

  I hadn’t seen my grandmother in a couple of days so I decided to go and have breakfast with her, but first stopped off at the bakery on Main Street and picked up some Danish full of almond paste, one of my favorites.

  “I haven’t had their stuff in a long time. I forgot how good their Danish are,” Meme said, while we sat in her living room enjoying breakfast with one of her best friends, Theresa.

  I licked icing from my fingers and grinned. “Well, enjoy because I don’t even want to know how many calories are in this. It’ll be another year before we have it again. What are you two up to so early in the morning?”

  “Cards,” Theresa said. “Too humid to sleep, so I came over here. We were just about to start a game when you got here, but eating this Danish is a better idea.”

  Where my grandmother was short and round, Theresa Calendrella was tall and thin as a reed. I’ll bet she could eat almond Danish all day, every day and never gain an ounce.

  “Any news about Michael?” Meme asked. My grandmother was as easy going as it gets, but she hates seeing her granddaughters in any kind of stress.

  “John took him out for a coffee yesterday and Michael assured him that he had nothing at all to do with Victor Sanjari’s death.”

  “I know that, kiddo. Michael couldn’t hurt a fly. But what about him and Sam?”

  I could see the worried look on Meme’s face. I really wanted to tell her about Kate Cavanaugh, but that would only upset her more.

  “Michael told John that he couldn’t talk about anything, but John told me that Michael didn’t seem worried or upset. Maybe it really is just business stuff like he told Sam.” I could tell Meme wasn’t buying any of it.

  “The man’s up to something and I guess we’re just going to have to wait to find out what it is. He’s always had a stubborn streak and you can’t drag anything out of him.”

  This was certainly true. My sister had, on more than one occasion, tried to weasel details out of Michael about a birthday surprise or Christmas gift, but the man wouldn’t give an inch. But whatever my brother-in-law was up to now, he seemed to be doing it with Kate Cavanaugh and that’s what had me so worried.

  My grandmother sliced another thin piece of the Danish for the three of us and then looked at me over the rim of her glasses. “John’s not looking too hard at Sam and Michael for this murder, so are you still working on the case?”

  I gave Meme a smirk. “What do you think?”

  “Yeah, I figured you’d hang in there, kiddo. So tell me who your suspects are. We need something to take our minds off this heat. Supposed to rain tonight and then cool down a bit. I sure hope those weather people know what they’re talking about.”

  I kicked off my shoes and pulled one leg up and tucked it under me. “I talked to a few interesting people over the weekend.”

  “Suspects?” Theresa asked.

  I thought about this for a moment. “Yes. I think all of them are viable suspects for Victor’s murder. Not sure about the attack on Gary Hachmeister, though.” I told them how Gary has been attacked at his office on Saturday night and then continued with my suspects. “Elizabeth Applegate is this young woman who told me that she had been dating Victor. He had to be at least fifteen years older than she is, probably closer to twenty. She claims he wanted her to move in with him once he got rid of his mother, but then he never showed up for their dinner date on the night he was killed.”

  “Well, that’s because he was dead, Alex,” Theresa said.

  I laughed. “I know. What I meant was, if he was supposed to be meeting Elizabeth then why was he out at a construction site instead?”

  “Maybe he forgot something and stopped by to pick it up.” Meme got up and walked into the kitchen and came back with the tea pot. She poured us all more tea and then I continued.

  “His dinner was in New Haven and the construction site was in Pirate’s Cove, in the opposite direction. Couldn’t he have waited until the next day? I’m thinking he was lured to the site for some reason. Maybe someone made an appointment to meet him there.”

  “Maybe it was with the person he’s in cahoots with over those workers,” Meme suggested.

  “Could be, but why meet there? It wasn’t like they owned that house. Why not meet at their own place of business or home? There’s also another woman, Mary McCarthy, who might have had something going on with Victor, or at least wanted something to go on. She told me that she asked him over to dinner the night he was killed, but he said that he had other plans. So what I’m thinking is that she suspected him of having another woman in his life. He heads over to the site because he forgot something, and maybe she followed him. They had words and she fills him full of nails.” I took a sip of my tea and a small bite of the Danish before I continued. “Plus, she’s the one who told the police that Sam and Victor had an argument. Made it sound more threatening than it was.”

  Theresa got up and walked to a small tabletop fan Meme keeps in the living room, and turned it on. “If she’s the one who killed Mr. Sanjari, then she would certainly want to throw suspicion on someone else. Looks like she picked Sam.”

  “Well, thank God that didn’t work. I also met someone yesterday. At first I didn’t think much of her as a suspec
t, but the more I think about it, I like her for it.” I told Meme and Theresa about Gail Hachmeister.

  Meme nodded her head when I was done. “Yeah, I can see it. She had no problem checking her husband out before they got married. I’ll bet she’s been keeping tabs on him ever since. She finds out what Gary and Victor are up to and doesn’t want her husband to be led around by this guy anymore, and she sees how the business is suffering because of the shoddy work being done, so she kills Victor to get him off her husband’s back.”

  “And what about her husband?” I asked. “Would she also be the person who attacked Gary in the dark hall?”

  Meme and Theresa exchanged glances. “Kiddo, she’s no dummy. She obviously knows her husband well. You said she suspects him of trying to get something going with a woman at their country club. Maybe she had enough of him. Their business is in a slump, he and his childhood friend were up to no good again. I’m thinking killing Victor first was her way of turning the investigation around. Everyone’s looking for reasons why Victor Sanjari was killed when maybe all along Mrs. Hachmeister just wanted to kill her husband. If she had succeeded the other night, the police would think it was connected to Victor instead of the other way around.”

  “If that’s true, then she failed on Saturday night to get rid of her husband.” I suddenly felt a chill and it wasn’t from the fan.

  My grandmother looked at me and shook her head. “That Gary Hachmeister might just want to hire himself a bodyguard.”

  Chapter 49

  I left my grandmother’s house and headed over to my office. I wanted to get a couple of things done before Shirley picked me up at ten. Millie had the day off and Sam and Marla were in Sam’s office going over client reports. I went into my office and answered several emails and returned a couple of calls. Then I spent some time on our company newsletter that we send out to all our clients and temps. By the time Shirley came by, Sam and Marla were still in the office behind closed doors, and that was good. I didn’t want to have to lie to my sister about what Shirley and I were up to.

  We took Shirley’s small SUV, and being in a newer car than mine made me give a nanosecond of thought to trading in my Honda, but what can I say? I love my car and it still gets me to where I’m going, but Shirley’s car was nice and roomy, and with four doors, it would be a lot easier for me to take my grandmother and her friends around. And it was a Honda.

  “You look like you’re in a good mood today,” I said. “Not that you’re not always in a nice mood, but you seem, well, perky.” I gave Shirley the once-over while she drove. “Does this glow have anything to do with Tom?”

  Shirley blushed slightly. “We had dinner last night. Gosh, Alex, I really like him. He’s a nice guy. What am I going to do? And I’m not glowing.”

  “Well, I suggest you keep having dinner with him. Glowing agrees with you.”

  “How did you know John was the one? I mean before you decided to dump him, which I hope you decided not to do.”

  I rested my head against the seat and glanced out the window. “I remember. He ate the blue ones and didn’t think it odd at all.”

  “He ate the blue ones? What the heck does that mean? Have I been out of the dating scene so long that I don’t know what eating the blue ones means? And if it’s something kinky then I’m done with dating for good.”

  I turned back to Shirley and laughed. “Relax. It was shortly after I met John and we were waiting for something, I don’t remember what. Anyway, I took out a bag of M&M’s and I started to pass him all the blue ones across the desk. He ate them without complaint. I think that’s when I knew he was the one. Those blue ones are just wrong on so many levels, and if he could eat my castoffs, I figured he was the guy for me.”

  “Hmm. That’s interesting. Last night we had a wonderful meal, but my salad came with a few kidney beans. I hate those things. I pushed them to the side of my plate and he just casually took them one at a time. Kind of like we’d been together for so long and it was like a rhythm between us.” Shirley hit her hand on the steering wheel. “What the hell am I saying? I don’t want a man in my life, taking up all my time, telling me what to do.”

  I thought about Jenna Sanjari’s life with Victor. “It doesn’t have to be like that. John knows better than to treat me like a possession. Besides, it sounds like Tom has a pretty full life with his own business, and he knows you have the same with yours. Think of it more as a blending than a hostile takeover. Do you want to get married again?”

  “Who knows? If you asked me a couple months ago my answer would have been a resounding no!”

  “And now?” I asked.

  “Now, I’m still not sure I’d like to be married, but then I see you and John and some of my other friends, and I have to admit it’s nice having someone take me out. He’s fun and we discuss our jobs and laugh a lot. But marriage? I’m not so sure about that.”

  “If he makes you laugh a lot, I say he’s a keeper. If you want the true test, introduce him to Meme. If she gives you the thumbs up then you’ll know for sure.”

  “There it is,” Shirley said, nodding to a fashionable glass-fronted office housed in an old home.

  I hadn’t even realized we exited the turnpike.

  “What’s it called? Traverseamo? What does that mean? I didn’t notice the name on the brochures I gave you,” I said.

  “It’s Italian and it means cross over. In the brochure it says that Kate went to Italy and fell in love with everything Italian. She likes to think that her room creations cross you over into a better place.”

  “That’s rather poetic. I like it and let me tell you, Sam’s sunroom makes you feel like you’re at a fancy resort or something, so I guess you can say you crossed over from your hum-drum existence to the fancier life.”

  Shirley found a parking space at the end of the block and pulled in. We got out of the car and were just about to traverseamo to the other side of the street when the door to Kate Cavanaugh’s business opened up and my brother-in-law stepped out.

  Chapter 50

  “Oh my God! Quick! Get over here.”

  “Alex, what are you doing?”

  “I’m crouching behind your car like an idiot so Michael won’t see me. Darn! I hope his car isn’t parked anywhere near.” I lifted my head and looked at the cars along the curb behind Shirley’s. Nothing looked like Michael’s. I relaxed a bit and peered around the back of the SUV.

  “Alex, maybe we should let him see us. That might shake him up a bit.”

  “I don’t know. It might get ugly and I don’t want to have to punch the guy right here on the street.” I peeked over the front of the car again. “Okay, it looks like he walked around the corner. Let’s give it a couple of minutes in case he drives around the block. What the heck is he doing here?” I asked.

  “What I want to know,” Shirley began as she rose from her crouched position and stretched her back, “is who’s tending to his patients if he’s cavorting with the lovely Ms. Cavanaugh?”

  “He has a young associate and a couple of dental hygienists. So what now?”

  “We’re here to speak with Ms. Cavanaugh so shall we traverseamo?”

  “Okay, but if I even get a hint that she’s having an affair with Michael you may have to pry my hands from her throat,” I said only half in jest.

  “Oh, this should be fun.”

  We waited a couple more minutes to make sure Michael wasn’t coming back and then walked into Traverseamo and stopped at a reception desk.

  “Good morning. How may I help you?” a man somewhere in his forties with a thick accent asked.

  “I’d like to speak with Ms. Cavanaugh about some work on my home,” Shirley said.

  “Do you have an appointment?”

  “No, I’m afraid I don’t. I recently visited a friend and she just had a sunroom completed by Traverseamo. I loved it and as I happened to be in New Haven this morning, I thought I’d stop by.”

  “Please come in. I love when someone admires my
work and takes the next step,” a voice said from behind us.

  Shirley and I turned around to see the lovely Kate in a pair of black pants and a cerulean blue silk top.

  “I’m Kate Cavanaugh. How may I help you? Silvio, could you bring us some mineral waters, please?” she said to the man behind the desk. “Why don’t you ladies come into my office?”

  We followed her into a tastefully decorated office. One wall was covered with photos of what I assumed were rooms she had designed, and every one of them was beautiful. If Shirley was serious about getting Kate to design a small room for her, I just hoped she wouldn’t be surprised by the price. Silvio brought in a tray with three bottles and three crystal glasses. He poured and handed Shirley and me each a glass. When he left, we sat down in two chairs upholstered in the same color as Kate’s blouse.

  “Did I hear you say you recently saw one of my designs?”

  “Yes, I’m a friend of Samantha Daniels. My name is Shirley Reynolds, by the way, and this is Alex Harris, Mrs. Daniels’ sister.”

  Kate Cavanaugh took in a quick breath of air and then put the smile back on her face and extended her hand first to Shirley and then to me. I tried John’s trick of counting to ten.

  “Yes, I’m very pleased with how Samantha’s room turned out, and I’m glad you liked it. Are you looking to do something similar for your home?”

  “I am. Just something small. I love my back yard and thought it would be nice to have a little sunroom where I could sit and admire all my flowers.”

  “I’m sure I can come up with something perfect. I’d like to meet with you at your home to see the space before we go any further. Once that’s done, I’ll get you three different designs and then we can go from there. Shall we set up an appointment? I’m afraid I’m booked up through August, but will something the first week in September work?”