Murder Faux Paws, page 10
Back on the street, I looked at Nick. “Well, that was interesting. I came here with one set of questions in mind, and now I have a whole new one. It would appear both Jarvis and Ruby lied to me. Apparently, the two of them are closer than they let on.”
“Merow,” said Nick. His black tail swished to and fro.
“Not only did they lie, but it would seem Ruby got mad enough to threaten Jarvis. She visited me at Hot Bread shortly before he was hit, too.” I tapped my car key against my chin. “And let’s not forget that skinny man I saw following Jarvis. How, if at all, does he figure into the picture? We really need to talk to Ruby and get some answers.”
Nick walked up to my SUV and reared up, placing both paws on the door. I, however, wasn’t quite ready to start out yet.
“He showed her something that made her think it might get them both killed. Let’s say for a moment it wasn’t that list—what else could it be? That photo, maybe? But I can’t believe that grainy picture could possibly be a clue to anything, unless . . . maybe he had the entire photo in his possession. But if so, then what happened to the rest of it?” I looked down at Nick. “Maybe we should give Ollie a call. He might have some ideas. What do you think?”
Nick’s answer was to turn around and start trotting down the wide driveway just to the left of the apartment building.
“Nick! Where are you going? Come back here.” Nick’s trot turned into a canter, and I hesitated only briefly before hurrying after him. The driveway sloped and led into a wide parking area with numbered spaces. I saw a vast assortment of cars—there was a pale blue BMW, a beat-up Nissan Sentra, two SUVs and a truck. Nick streaked past all of them and headed straight toward a bank of bushes over by a stone wall.
“This better be good,” I muttered. As I drew nearer, I could see that there was another parking space partially obscured by the thick growth of foliage. My eyes widened as I saw the car parked there was a light yellow Miata convertible. I heard my heart start to pound in my chest as I walked around to the front. Nick squatted there, sniffing at several dark red stains that marred its chrome fender. I bent over to take a closer look.
“Sure looks like blood to me,” I murmured. I glanced at the cat. “What do you think?”
He placed his paw almost proudly on the tip of the fender. “Rohr.”
I set my lips in a straight line. “I’m sure the Cruz forensics team will be able to ascertain if it is, and if the type matches Jarvis’s. The first order of business is to find out who owns this car.”
I reached into my tote and pulled out a pad and pen, then walked around to the back to jot down the license plate number. I’d just finished writing it when I heard a startled gasp behind me. I whirled around and found myself staring right at Ruby Scott.
“Nora,” she said. “What are you doing here? And why are you writing down my license plate number?”
“Your plate number? This is your car?”
She nodded. “Yes.” She pushed a hand through her blonde curls and gestured impatiently at the car. “It wouldn’t start this morning, and I didn’t have time to call a mechanic. I figured I’d leave it here until tomorrow. Say, why are you looking at me like that?”
“Sorry.” I swiped my hand through my auburn curls. “I guess there’s just no other way to say this. Jarvis is dead.”
“What!”
Her eyes went very wide and her face paled. She swayed a bit and I thought for a moment she was going to faint, but she squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. She put one hand on the trunk of the car. “I’m sorry. Did I hear you right? Jarvis is dead?”
I nodded. “He was run over a few hours ago. A witness said it was a light-colored convertible.”
She stared at me blankly, and then barked out a nervous laugh. “Oh, my God . . . you don’t think . . .”
“I’m not sure what to think. There appears to be blood on your front fender.”
She swayed again. “Th-that’s impossible. The car wouldn’t start. How could it have been involved in a hit-and-run?”
“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?”
She gave me a cautious look, then moved around to the front of the car. Nick was still squatted there, but he rose and moved off to one side as Ruby bent over to inspect the fender. She stared at it for several minutes, then reached into the tote slung over her shoulder and pulled out a set of keys. She jerked open the door, slid in behind the wheel and jammed the key into the ignition.
A second later we both heard the sound of the engine as it roared to life.
Ruby’s face paled. “It can’t be. It wouldn’t start, I tell you. I’m not lying.”
I cocked my brow. “If you’re telling the truth, then someone deliberately sabotaged your car so they could use it to kill Jarvis, and frame you for his death.” I slid an arm around her shoulders, and I could feel her whole body shaking. “Tell me the truth, Ruby. Were you and Jarvis working together, trying to uncover what big case Whip was working on?”
Her lips thinned. “Honest, in the beginning I did think he was a pest, and at first I didn’t remember anything about any of Whip’s cases. I guess I was in shock, I blocked it out of my mind. But as the weeks wore on, I did start to remember a few things. Important things. I tried to get in touch with that Detective Anderson, but she didn’t seem to want to hear anything I wanted to say.”
“So you called the one person who did. Jarvis.”
“Yes.” She let out a small sigh and brushed a strand of blonde hair from her eyes. “Are you going to call the police? Tell them about my car?”
“Not much choice with that, I’m afraid. Your car is in all probability a murder weapon, and not calling them would be suppressing evidence. But that doesn’t mean I have to call them right away.” I took her arm. “I’d like to hear what you have to say first.” I felt a paw brush my leg. “And so would Nick. Maybe we can get to the bottom of all this.”
“You have no idea,” she murmured. She started to turn toward the building, but I laid my hand on her arm.
“Let’s go somewhere neutral. Hot Bread’s closed, and Lacey’s gone out. It’ll be just us.” I studied her pale face. “I can rustle us up something to eat while we talk.”
“That sounds good,” Ruby said and sighed. “Although you might not have much of an appetite after you hear what I have to say.”
We trudged back to my SUV, and I couldn’t suppress a small shudder. Just how bad was whatever Ruby had to tell me?
There was only one way to find out.
Twelve
An hour later we were sitting at the table in my kitchen at Hot Bread, chowing down on grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches and flavored coffee. I gave Nick a few bits of cheddar in his bowl along with some of his favorite yellowfin tuna. He hunkered in front of the bowl, happily slurping up his second dinner. After I refilled Ruby’s coffee for the third time, she looked straight at me.
“I wasn’t lying, you know, about wanting you to feel out Jarvis. Please believe me when I say I meant what I said earlier. Finding out the truth about Whip’s death isn’t worth risking your life over.”
I took a sip of my coffee, set the mug down and wrapped my fingers around it. “Did you and Jarvis get along otherwise?”
“No.” She shook her head emphatically. “We have never gotten along, but Jarvis has badgered me about Whip’s cases since the day he died. At first I didn’t want to hear anything. Hey, I was in mourning, ya know? Even though we never officially got engaged, I really loved the guy.”
“So what changed your mind about contacting Jarvis?”
She let out a long, slow breath. “I inherited all of Whip’s office stuff, which I immediately put into storage. A few weeks ago, I decided it was an expense I didn’t need. I decided to sell most of it and save on the rental. His desk and chair I figured I could sell for a couple hundred. The battered file cabinets I was gonna throw out, after I cleaned ’em out. But when I got down to Storage Plus, I found someone had gotten there ahead of me.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Jarvis?”
She nodded. “He’d forged some papers to say that he was the new owner. Needless to say, I raised a real ruckus, so much so that they let me in. The cabinets had been completely cleaned out. He took all Whip’s old files, and books. All that was left was the desk, the chair and the empty file cabinets. I was furious. I was determined to find him and give him a good piece of my mind, maybe even file a report with the police, and then I saw it.” She paused to take a long sip of her coffee. “It must have fallen out of one of the files, and Jarvis hadn’t noticed. It was lying half under the desk.”
“What was?”
“A piece of yellow paper, not more than six inches long. On it was a name: Melvin Landau.”
I frowned. “I’m a little rusty on my local politics, but isn’t he Councilman Harrison’s campaign manager?”
“He sure is. Once I heard that name, the floodgates just opened.” She tapped at her temple. “It was right around the end of October. I remember Whip getting all excited over a meeting. “This is the big time, babe,” he said. “If this turns out to be anything, why, maybe soon I’ll be able to write my own ticket.” He didn’t tell me where he was going, but I’d seen him jot down Landau’s name in his little notebook. Anyway, when he came back he was in even better spirits than when he left. “Ruby,” he said to me, “file this away for future reference. Councilman Harrison’s CM asked me to look into some funds that are disappearing. If I can get to the bottom of this, why, imagine the referrals we’ll get! Business might finally pick up enough to plan a future.” She paused to brush a tear out of the corner of her eye.
“So Landau asked Whip to look into someone on the staff embezzling money from a campaign account?” At Ruby’s nod I asked, “Was Councilman Harrison aware of it?”
“I’m not sure. Anyway, Whip set out to investigate. He was on it for, oh, about a week I guess, and then one night I was working late, doing his monthly bills, when he burst into the office. I could tell right away from his face something was up. He grabbed me by both shoulders and he said, “Ruby, this case is turning out to be way, way bigger than I first thought. I don’t have all the facts yet, but when I do, it’s going to be huge! A career-maker. Remember that trip you always wanted to take? We might get there yet.” She leaned back in the chair. “Hawaii. I always wanted to go to Hawaii, but to do it right you need at least eight grand. Whip made it sound like once he’d cracked this, money would be no object.”
I tented my fingers beneath my chin. “For Jarvis to be so anxious to get the FBI involved, there has to be more to this than a case of embezzlement.”
“Jarvis threw the words national security around. And Whip did mumble something that sounded like that once in his sleep.”
“Interesting. Just how did Whip make the leap from embezzlement to national security? That’s a big jump.”
“I don’t know, but I went to Jarvis after I found that paper with Landau’s name on it, and then that’s when he showed me what he’d found tucked in one of Whip’s law books. Two names were on it: Mike Langerlaan and Tara Pistenberger.
I frowned. “If I’m not mistaken, Langerlaan is Harrison’s chief of staff. I don’t know who Tara Pistenberger is, but I’m sure I can look her up online. Jarvis was investigating them?”
“Yep. Yesterday morning he came to me and said he finally had a real good lead, but there was something he still needed to verify, and was I certain I couldn’t remember anything else? I told him that I didn’t know anything, and I guess we got a little loud. I told him he’d better be careful and watch his back, or else he was likely to find a knife in it. I didn’t want either of us to end up like Whip.”
“I can understand why you said that, but your landlord overheard you. He said it sounded to him as if you were threatening Jarvis.”
She gawked at me. “Me? Threaten Jarvis? That would be the day. We were just arguing, like usual.”
“I overheard you and Jarvis that night in the classroom, Ruby, and to tell you the truth, it sounded to me as if you were threatening him then, too. You told him not to make you do something you would both regret.”
“Oh, for pity’s sake.” She threw up both hands. “I meant reporting his little B&E to the police, that’s all. You surely can’t think I killed him?”
“No, but we can’t discount the fact that someone used your car to kill Jarvis. You never hid the fact you were mistrustful of him. Add in the shouted threat and it could put you at the top of the murder suspect list.” I rose, picked up my cup and plate and carried them to the sink. “The police, no doubt, will be investigating every light-colored convertible in the area, so we might not have much time. First order of business: we’ve got to figure out just what Jarvis was working on.”
Her lips screwed into a pout. “I know Jarvis always used to keep a lot of notes on stuff he was working on in his office, though. We could start there.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s late. We’ll have to scope it out tomorrow.”
“Fine. Can you give me a lift back to my apartment?”
“I think it’s best if you don’t go back there tonight. There’s a futon in my den.”
She offered me a thin smile. “Wouldn’t that be considered harboring a fugitive?”
I smiled back. “Yes, but technically you’re not a fugitive yet. At best you’re a person of interest.”
Ruby leaned forward to clasp my hand. “You know, I never really got to know you in high school, and now I’m sorry I didn’t. You’re an okay chick.”
She gave me a wave and disappeared up the stairs. I stood for a few minutes, running my hand through my hair. Nick padded over and looked up at me.
“Yow,” he said.
“Yes, I know. It’s a sweet mess. But one thing I’m certain of, she didn’t kill Jarvis. It’s a good bet his death is tied to Whip’s. Whatever they uncovered is apparently making someone desperate enough to kill over.”
“Yow,” Nick said again.
I leaned over to rub his head. “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. I have no intention of ending up like either Whip or Jarvis.”
I went over to my laptop and called up the website for the town council. It didn’t take me long to identify the other two names. Tara Pistenberger was listed as Harrison’s personal assistant and special events coordinator. I jotted it down, resolving to investigate further in the morning. I’d just shut down the computer when a familiar sound reached my ears—Scrabble tiles being pushed across my floor.
I walked over to the far corner. Nick was hunched over some tiles. I knelt beside him. “What have you got there, buddy?” I gently pushed him out of the way. The Scrabble pouch was lying on its side. Four tiles were out in front of it. U, G, R, D. I picked them up, laid them down, and started moving them around. Gurd. Grud. Durg. I switched the U and the R.
Drug.
My cell phone chirped just then. I picked it up and saw Cruz PD on the display. I clicked it on and said cautiously, “Hello?”
“Hey, there.” Daniel’s voice came over the air loud and clear. “I know it’s late. Hope I didn’t wake you?”
“Not at all. I was just catching up on my reading for my next PI class, although if Phillips doesn’t show up, there might not be one. Jarvis was run down this afternoon.”
“I know,” he said. “I just got off the phone with Lee.”
That figured. “Yeah, so what did he have to say? Do they have any leads on the convertible that ran him down?”
“Nothing conclusive yet, but they’re working on it.” He cleared his throat. “I understand you were at the crime scene, asking questions.”
I caught the disapproval in his tone and winced. “The man was in my store not long before his accident. I can’t help but be curious.”
“I know I said it doesn’t do any good to tell you to steer clear, but in this instance I think you should, Nora.”
“Why? Because there’s some lunatic out there that likes to hit and run?”
“No, because it was Jarvis, and he poked his nose in lots of places he shouldn’t. You don’t know what sort of hornets’ nests he might have stirred up.”
“Would any of these hornets’ nests support the conviction that Jennings’s death was premeditated?”
He blew out a breath. “Well, we don’t know just what Jarvis might have been working on, do we? Or what enemies he might have made?”
“I know,” I said simply. “Jarvis told me he was very close to proving Whip’s death wasn’t a suicide.”
“He’s been saying that for months.”
“Yeah, but this time I think he meant it.”
“If that’s true, and I’m not saying it is, it’s all the more reason for you to steer clear.”
“He wanted my help in getting the FBI involved, Daniel. He said he had one more loose end to tie up. Someone got to him first.”
The irritation in his tone was plainly evident. “You know, you’re making this all sound like something out of a James Bond novel.”
“Am I?” I snapped. “Because that’s exactly what it does sound like.”
Daniel paused and then added, “I really need to talk to you, Nora, and not about Jarvis or Jennings.”
“Okay, fine. I’m all ears.”
There was a long pause, and then he cleared his throat. “It’s late, and I don’t want to rush. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”
He rang off and I hung up, feeling slightly uneasy. That didn’t last long, because a few seconds later the rear door burst open and my sister came bustling through, eyes bright and face flushed.
“Nors! Thank God you’re still up!”
I cocked my brow at her. “And where have you been all night?”
Her eyes narrowed and her posture straightened. “Excuse me, but I’m an adult. I can stay out all damn night if I want to, you know. You don’t have to watch out for me any longer.”
I bit my lip. “Sorry.”
“Oh, it’s okay. You just can’t help playing big sis, I get it. Anyway, I ran into Madge Kingston. Remember her from high school?”
