The Gift of Grift Page 10

  A few people shook their heads. Most just shifted uncomfortably in the silence.

  “If you’re making a claim, by all means. Otherwise, maybe we should be thinking about how to rebuild a young woman’s life rather than tear it down even further.”

  Ray looked around the room one last time. The silence seemed to speak for itself. He hoped that he hadn’t discouraged anyone from handling things in a way that they needed to. It was the unnecessary hardship he was trying to prevent.

  The meeting seemed to be over — or at least Ray’s part in it was. He folded up his chair and put it away on his way out of the room. He had barely reached the door before he heard the clatter of more metal chairs being put away.

  He wasn’t far when he spotted someone waiting on his porch. He tried not to get his hopes up it would be a customer. Twenty feet from the porch, he recognized her.

  Judy.

  “Hey!” a voice behind him called. “Isn’t that her?”

  Was that Clark’s voice? Ray glanced behind him. But Clark wasn’t the only one headed this direction. Four or five other people were walking this way, and not just because they were headed to work along Front Street. Kim Yeats, headed to the Mimosa Café down the block, watched warily from the other side of the street.

  Clark picked up his pace, and the other business owners with him followed suit. Ray hurried to reach his porch first. Judy craned her neck to look at the small crowd pursuing him. “Did I miss the party?”

  “Yes, but you’re about to get an engraved invitation. What are you doing here?”

  “I tried to return your call, but there was no answer.”

  Ray glanced at the porch roof, as if he could see what Katie was doing upstairs, if she was all right. Of course he couldn’t. He unlocked the shop door and opened it for Judy.

  Once she passed the threshold, however, Ray stopped short. He closed the door and locked it again. Through the glass, Judy shot him an alarmed look. “What are you doing?”

  “Handling a little situation.” Ray turned back to the approaching crowd. Clark was just reaching the porch stairs.

  “She needs to be held accountable for what she’s done,” he said, already arguing.

  “Of course she does. She’s an adult. But that doesn’t mean it’s your job to do it.”

  Clark started up the stairs, Dave Goulding at his back. “We’re going to need to talk to her.”

  Ray waved over his shoulder at Judy, trying to tell her to get to the kitchen. At least if they couldn’t see her, they might calm down. Maybe. “When we can do this with level heads, maybe.”

  Clark’s lips set in a threatening line.

  “Level heads and law enforcement,” Ray amended.

  “Who are you trying to help here? Your fellow citizens or this wandering grifter?”

  Ray glanced from Clark to Dave and then over their shoulders at the other business owners there. “I’m not trying to protect her from the consequences of her actions. I’m just saying it’s not your job to enforce the law.”

  Dave edged forward. “Well, can you talk to her, maybe? Seems you have her ear.”

  “And the rest of her,” Clark muttered. Both Ray and Dave snapped to look at him, and he cringed. “That came out wrong — I just meant she’s inside your shop.”

  Ray nodded slowly, hoping that was all he meant by the dig. The gossip in a small town could be deadly to a person’s reputation, even if obviously he would never pursue someone fifty years his junior. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Clark and Dave just stood there, as if they expected Ray to go in and talk to Judy and then produce the cash in the next three minutes. Ray shooed them away and stood in front of his shop door, arms folded, until they were well on their way back to the community center parking lot.

  Internally, he released a sigh of relief. He couldn’t stake his own reputation on helping Judy — clearly she didn’t deserve to be completely exonerated — but he couldn’t stand by and watch her be run out of town on a rail. Justice had to lay somewhere in the middle.

  He unlocked the door and stepped inside, not bothering to flip the sign to OPEN.

  “What was that about?” Judy practically pounced on him from his right. So she hadn’t retreated far.

  Ray invoked his most fatherly tone. “They’re not happy you took their money, Judy.”

  Her gaze instantly fell, an expression that almost looked sheepish creeping onto her face. Embarrassed she’d conned them, or just ashamed she hadn’t figured out why they were upset sooner? Ray couldn’t say.

  “Go sit in the kitchen.” He pointed the way for her and then led her in, rounding the staircase to go check on Katie.

  She was watching Matlock. “Everything okay?” he asked.

  “It would be better if I had the phone.” Her words carried the slightest chill, and Ray remembered taking the handset from her last night. Purposefully putting it out of her reach. Sure, it needed to be charged, but he’d definitely had an ulterior motive.

  “Sorry about that.” He fetched the phone for her. “Anything else I can get you while I’m here?”

  “No, I’m fine. But will you bring some water up with lunch?”

  Ray checked his watch. “Half an hour okay?”

  She nodded, sliding the smallest smile in at the last second. Once again, Ray was relieved. Not only was Katie okay, but she wasn’t going to throw him in the doghouse for a week.

  Giving her the phone was clearly his final capitulation in last night’s argument, but he was pretty used to that. And honestly, he was a little curious about what she might turn up.

  Ray headed downstairs and opted to leave the shop closed and locked for now. He couldn’t risk someone coming in to interrupt this interview — especially not Clark or Dave or any of the other disgruntled business owners.

  Setting down at the table across from her felt too much like giving her the fifth degree from a police drama. Ray headed for the fridge. He found the greens in the produce drawer. They couldn’t be ready in time for lunch, but they could certainly start them to go with dinner tonight. He thrust the greens at Judy. “Wash.”

  She complied, rinsing them briefly under the water.

  “No.” Ray stopped the drain and turned the faucet on again. “You’ve got to get all the grit out.” He demonstrated and left her to wash while he rummaged in the freezer for a main course for lunch. It only took him a minute to find the leftover ham Lori had brought by after her last guests checked out. He tossed the frozen ham into a pan and turned on both the range and the oven. “So, missy,” Ray began, still shooting for that fatherly tone that struck a balance between reproach and familiarity. “I think you’ve got some explaining to do.”

  She patted the greens dry with a paper towel, then retreated to the table. “I’ve already told you everything.”

  “I didn’t mean explaining to me.”

  He glanced over his shoulder to see her tapping her index finger against the table, rapid and nervous. “The police?” she finally guessed.

  “Or at least make restitution.”

  “There’s no money left. Even that fleabag motel has bled me dry.”

  Ray chose not to comment on how inappropriate her epithet was to her metaphor, breaking up the frozen ham slices to lay flat in a single layer instead. “People are upset. It’s the right thing to do.”

  “Or you’ll call the police? Or have you already given me up?”

  “Have you still not talked to them?”

  Once again, silence was answer enough.

  Ray tried to soften his tone. “If you know anything about Brian’s murder, I think the police could use your help. They’ve even come after me.”

  “As a suspect?”

  Ray nodded, flipping the ham slices over. “And we both know I didn’t do it.”

  “I don’t know who did,” Judy said, her voice barely above a whisper. The weight of unsaid words filled her voice.

  Ray picked up the greens and showed her how to stri
p the leaves from the stems. Once she was working, he focused on the stove, hoping the quiet would force her to talk. The ham was sizzling, but Judy was silent. He slid the ham onto three plates and popped them in the oven to keep them warm while he microwaved a side. Once that was going, he tossed the greens into the same deep skillet along with enough water to cover them. “You don’t know who did it. But?” he said at last.

  “But . . . I’ve seen someone around town that I think might have done it. Could have done it.”

  Ray turned around slowly to watch her demeanor. He mentally kicked himself. He should have been watching her this whole time. How much information had he already missed? He folded his arms across his chest. “Time to tell me everything.”

  Judy drew in a breath and held it for so long he was worried she’d start turning purple. “It’s this woman that Brian told me he used to be . . . close to.”

  Ray’s heart sank. “How close?”

  “Very close.”

  “Romantically?”

  Judy’s eyes fixed on Ray’s knee-level, but she nodded. “It had been a long time.”

  Ray’s heart inched down further. Pammy couldn’t have done this, could she?

  “Did Brian see her?”

  Judy cringed. “They fought.”

  Hadn’t Judy already told Ray about this? Of course, she hadn’t said anything about Pam and Brian’s relationship then, and that did go toward a motive for Pam.

  He still couldn’t see little Pammy grabbing his buoys and beating Brian over the head with them for jilting her thirty-something years ago. But maybe he simply didn’t want to.

  “And you still haven’t told the police about this?”

  Judy shook her head.

  “Or the cons?”

  She looked up, her eyes wide. If only he hadn’t already seen her play the innocent role too many times. “I can’t do that —” she started.

  “Why not? Your diabetes?”

  She bit her lip, either doubling down on the cute routine or really caught in a lie. Maybe she was talented enough to make it both.

  Ray didn’t know, and right now he didn’t care. He moved the pan of greens off the heat, grabbed the kitchen phone and lifted the receiver. Instead of a dial tone, he heard voices.

  Of course Katie was on the line. “Ray?” she asked. “Is that you?”

  “Yes, I was going to call Chip.”

  “Oh,” said the voice on the other end. Doris. Naturally. Katie was already working on the case, too. “Police or personal?”

  Ray glanced back at Judy, as if she could hear the conversation. “Police business.”

  “I’ll send him right over.”

  “Thank you.” Ray replaced the receiver.

  “Uh, what, do you expect me to believe that was speed dial?” Judy scoffed. “I may be a millennial, but I do know how landlines work. You didn’t even push any buttons.”

  Ray smirked. “My wife was on the phone with dispatch already.”

  And then he remembered why he’d called Judy in the first place. “You wouldn’t happen to have called in a report yourself yesterday, would you?”

  She shot him a look of are-you-crazy? “I think we’ve already established I didn’t.”

  “No? Not even anonymously?”

  “Yeah, no.”

  For a split second, Ray wished he hadn’t seen through her cute façade. He had certainly liked her attitude better when she’d been trying to butter him up.

  Ray still didn’t think Judy had killed Brian — of course, he also thought Pammy was innocent, so maybe he didn’t know. But just in case, he realized he had a trump card, the best way to find out for sure. “So you didn’t know they had found the murder weapon?”

  Judy jerked back, and her eyebrows lifted half an inch. “No, nobody told me that.”

  Not the reaction he’d expect if she were guilty. If she’d done it, she would have been more worried about finding evidence that would surely implicate her. And if she’d done it and tried to frame Ray, she would have played it off better.

  “Hm.” Ray pulled the plates from the oven and slid a helping of microwaved green bean casserole onto each one. “Well, I’m going to have you stay here until Chip arrives so we can talk things over with him.”

  “Please, Mr. Watson. I didn’t hurt Brian.”

  “You did con me and several other people.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry, but I don’t have that money anymore.”

  Ray folded his arms. “You’re going to have to find some way to make it up to them. To our community.”

  He plopped one plate onto a tray, the next at the empty chair at the table and the third in front of Judy. “It’s time to talk to the police. For Brian’s sake, if nothing else.”

  Judy stared at the plate, swallowing hard. Finally, she nodded.

  Ray patted her on the shoulder. “Good girl. I’ll be back. You dig in.”

  He glanced at her one last time as he headed up the stairs to deliver Katie’s meal. Judy contemplated her plate, defeat in her shoulders. Ready to turn over a new leaf, Ray hoped.

  At least one good thing might come of this tragedy.

  Ray fully intended to drop off Katie’s tray and hightail it back downstairs to sit with Judy, but to his surprise, he found Katie awaiting him, an eager light in her eyes. And no phone in her hand.

  “Oh, did you finish talking to Doris?”

  “Yes, and I wanted to touch base with you.”

  “I’ve got Judy downstairs —”

  “I know,” Katie cut him off. She pointed to her table, and Ray set the tray down. “How did that happen?”

  Ray explained as quickly as he could, from the DCBOA meeting to Judy showing up, to what she’d told him.

  He was prepared to turn around and get back to Judy, but the consternation on Katie’s face stopped him short.

  “Pammy?” Katie finally said. “Did she call Pam by name?”

  “She doesn’t know Pam.” Unless Ray had told Judy Pam’s name, and he didn’t think he had.

  “Wasn’t Judy the one who told you about Pam and Brian arguing?”

  Ray thought for a long minute. “Yes, that was Judy.”

  “But she didn’t mention that today?”

  He glanced back at the stairs down to the kitchen, though he couldn’t see the ground floor from there. “No.”

  “So, do you think she means Pammy?”

  Ray frowned. His one big contribution to the case so far was putting that together, and Katie didn’t believe him?

  On the other hand, no, he couldn’t say for certain that Judy meant Pam. “Who else could she mean?”

  Ray held out his hands in a wide-armed shrug. “That’s the only person I know of, Katie.”

  His wife took a deep breath and finally picked up her fork. Ray turned to finally get back to Judy — not to mention his own lunch — when Katie cleared her throat. He froze in the doorway. That was not an inconsequential gesture when it came to Katie. He waited for the other shoe to fall.

  “Is Pam out on bail?” she asked.

  “Not as far as I know.” He’d have to ask Chip when he arrived. “Is that important?”

  “Well, I was just thinking, if they found the buoys under the porch, how long do you think they were under there?”

  Ray turned back to her. The porch wasn’t that difficult to see under. The lattices had been off for a couple months while they waited to replace them in the off-season. The crawlspace underneath was not only visible, but easily accessible. If the buoys had been under there, someone would have noticed at least the day before.

  “If Pammy’s still in custody,” Katie finished at last, “who put the buoys under the porch?”

  This time, Ray came to a complete stop. “You talked to Doris, didn’t you.” It wasn’t even a question.

  “You know that I did.”

  “Did she say Pammy’s still in custody?”

  Katie nodded.

  Of course. Katie was always two steps ah
ead of him. But he’d try to avoid being sideswiped if possible. “What else did she say?”

  “We tried to figure out who the tipster could be.”

  Ray returned to his usual chair in Katie’s room. Hopefully Judy would be all right for another minute, and he could always microwave his meal. “Did you rule out Judy?”

  “I didn’t think it was her, and Doris wouldn’t have known.” Katie took a bite of her ham and then contemplated Ray again. “Why, did you think she did it?”

  “No. When I told her about the buoys being found, she didn’t look guilty enough to know about them or to have been trying to frame me.”

  “Well, that’s good. One account we might be able to trust her on.”

  Ray watched Katie eat a few bites of greens, waiting for the next clue. “So did Doris talk to the tipster herself?”

  “She did.”

  “And what did she know about the tipster?”

  Katie gave a wry smile. “At first she didn’t think she knew anything.”

  “But you pulled the information out of her.” Probably better than any officer on their police force could have done in an interrogation room.

  Her smile turned modest. “Well, we decided that she was a woman, obviously, not super young.”

  “Was her voice high?” That might have been the other thing that reminded Ray of Sandy Duncan with Judy — her voice had that same high quality of the actress’s.

  “Doris didn’t think so.”

  Ray nodded slowly. “Rule Judy out for sure then. Did Doris mention her accent?”

  “Said she didn’t sound as if she were from around here but didn’t seem to indicate anywhere else.”

  “What did we decide the odds were that the tipster was the one who put the buoys under the porch again?”

  “Probably pretty high. I think they must have been put there after dark last night, don’t you?”

  Ray nodded.

  “So, who’s out there trying to make you look guilty?” Katie murmured.

  “And who else might Judy have meant?”

  Katie agreed, mostly focused on her lunch. “Maybe you should ask her,” she suggested once she’d swallowed.