Custom-Made Murder (A Chocolate Centered Cozy Mystery Book 8) Read online

  “You don’t?” Charlotte’s smile brightened.

  “No. I’ve crossed paths with him a few times, and he was never anything but polite to me. Dean spoke very highly of him.” He frowned. “It’s still hard to believe that he’s gone.”

  “You were one of the last people to see him. I’m sure he was happy that he could supply the things you needed for the play.” Ally studied him. “Did he seem happy to you that day?”

  “Sure.” He shrugged. “I mean, I didn’t notice anything strange. He did ask me not to mention who I switched my order to when I canceled my order with Silvio. I guess there had been some issues between them, and he didn’t think it would be a good idea to stir things up.”

  “Interesting.” Ally nodded. “So you canceled the order after you picked the items up from Dean?”

  “Yes, actually, about an hour later. I got caught up in things and almost forgot.”

  “Who took the call when you canceled?” Ally held his gaze.

  “Uh.” He thought a moment, then nodded. “It was Silvio. I apologized, and asked if the items were already on their way to be delivered. He said no, that Troy was out on a delivery and he would let him know when he returned.”

  “How did Silvio sound?” Charlotte crossed her arms. “Was he upset about the canceled order?”

  “If he was, he didn’t let me hear it. In fact, he didn’t sound surprised at all. It was almost as if he was expecting the call.”

  “Since so many people were going to Dean?” Ally pursed her lips. “He must have expected that you would switch, too.”

  “Maybe. But it wasn’t quite like that. It really seemed like he already knew. He didn’t argue with me, and he didn’t even ask me who I’d switched my order to. Which seemed a little odd to me, as I had an entire excuse prepared as to why I couldn’t tell him. Anyway, I guess there isn’t anything we can do to change things now.”

  “What about Troy?” Charlotte tilted her head to the side. “Do you know him well?”

  “Not too well. But what I do know of him, tells me he’s a great guy.”

  “Why is that?” Ally smiled. “Sorry, I’m just curious because we might be getting some jewelry from him.”

  “I understand. Actually, Troy helped me out one day, when he could have given me a very hard time instead. That made a very big impression on me.”

  “Now I’m really curious.” Ally grinned. “That sounds like a great story.”

  “It’s not something I’m proud of, unfortunately.” He grimaced. “About a year ago, I discovered that there was an easy and quick way to get from Broughdon to Blue River. It involved trespassing on Troy’s farm. At the time, I didn’t think it was a big deal, what harm could it do? Then one rainy day, I didn’t think about it, and drove right down the road on his property. It was very muddy and my car just sank right in. Troy was nice enough to tow me out. Not long after that they put a gate up though. I’m guessing they didn’t want random people stranded on their farm.” He shrugged and glanced over at Ally. “Never trust a dirt road.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” She smiled. “It was nice of Troy to help you out.”

  “Like I said, he seems like a stand-up guy. Thanks again for these chocolates.”

  “You’re welcome, and thank you for giving us a little information about some people we might do business with.”

  “No problem. I hope that you’ll get the chance to come see the play.”

  “I wouldn’t miss it.”

  “Me neither.” Charlotte offered a wide smile. “It had me on the edge of my seat, I can’t wait to see what happens.”

  As Chris walked away, Ally looked over at her grandmother.

  “It looks like we might have figured out how Troy could get from Blue River to Broughdon in less time.”

  “It’s possible yes. But Chris also sang their praises.”

  “That’s true, but remember how muddy the delivery van was?” Ally frowned.

  “I do. But keep in mind that if these roads go through his farm, then he likely uses them all of the time. The van could have been muddy for several days before the murder took place.”

  “Yes, you’re right.”

  “I say we take a drive and time it out though, what do you think?”

  “On Troy’s property?” Ally hesitated. “Like Chris said, Troy and his family probably don’t enjoy random people showing up on their property.”

  “I’ll tell you what. We’ll go by there, and if the gate is closed, we’ll just keep driving. If it’s open, we can check it out.”

  “Fair enough.” Ally nodded.

  Chapter 13

  Charlotte and Ally settled in the car. Ally searched on the phone for the address of Troy’s property and then found it on a map. She waited until the map was up and then handed the phone to her grandmother.

  “Interesting, Jen’s shop is only shortly after the turn off to the farm.”

  “So Troy could have easily gotten to the shop and back with enough time to commit the murder.”

  “Maybe, let’s drive it and find out.” Charlotte pointed through the windshield at the road ahead of them. “Go left.”

  Ally drove in the direction her grandmother instructed.

  “We need to get a good idea of how long it would take Troy to make those deliveries if he used those back roads. If it cuts enough time off it opens him up as a suspect, along with Silvio.”

  “Do you think they could have worked together?” Charlotte glanced up from the map on her phone. “Maybe to protect their business?”

  “It seems like a huge step to me to murder someone over competition, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be the first time.”

  “At that next light, I think we go right and then down about three miles.”

  “Great.” Ally turned in the direction that her grandmother directed. As she turned on to the new road, she noticed that there were far fewer houses and buildings. The further down she drove, the more sparse it became. Flat land stretched out on either side, with no hint of houses in any direction. A small road opened out on to the main road. Several feet back from the turn was a metal gate.

  “That must be the new gate that Chris mentioned, and it’s closed.” Charlotte sighed.

  “But it might not be locked.” Ally glanced over at her.

  “That’s true.” Charlotte looked back at the gate. “I don’t see any lock.”

  “Let’s just check.”

  Ally crept the car up to the gate. Then she climbed out of the car. When she reached the gate she noticed a deep groove in the dirt road from the gate being swung back and forth. For the gate to be quite new, and the groove to be so deep, she was sure that it was used very often. When she tried the gate, it swung open easily. Once she was back in the car, she drove through the gate.

  “Mee-Maw, what if we get stuck?”

  “It hasn’t rained for a little while, so hopefully there won’t be too much mud left. Just take it slow, and we’ll keep a look out for any big dips.”

  Ally inched her way along the road. She couldn’t help but notice the beauty of their surroundings. The further along the road they drove the more trees cropped up around them, and soon she knew that it would be impossible to be spotted from the road. She slowed to a stop when she arrived at a fork in the road.

  “Which way?” She frowned.

  “I don’t know, the GPS stopped working. I guess there isn’t much service out here.”

  “It looks like that road is well used.” Ally pointed out the road that went to the right.

  “Let’s try it.” Charlotte nodded.

  Ally steered the car down the narrow road. The further along they got, the more bumpy the road grew. Even though there weren’t any big puddles, the dirt road was thick with mud and she wasn’t feeling confident that the car wouldn’t get stuck.

  “We’d better be ready to push.” She stepped on the gas a little more.

  “Don’t worry, I think we’ll make it, the road looks a bit drier up
there. Oh and look, the GPS came back on.” She held out her phone for Ally to see. “We’re only ten minutes away from the store now.”

  “Wow, that’s incredible. Cutting through the farm cut the travel time in at least half.”

  “This changes things. Troy could have easily doubled-back and taken over the store while Silvio committed the crime.”

  “Or he could have done it himself.” Ally tilted her head towards the highway as they turned on to it. “After all Troy is familiar with the roads on his family’s farm. He is also stronger than Silvio and more capable of committing the murder ”

  “That’s true.” Charlotte frowned. “But would he really have a motive?”

  “I’m not sure. We’ll have to look into it more. We know that Dean was poaching Silvio’s customers.”

  “But, Troy doesn’t own the business, would it really bother him that much to lose customers? He’s just an assistant manager.”

  “That’s true. Maybe there was something more going on between Troy and Dean that we don’t know about.” She pulled into the parking lot of the shop. It was still closed, with no sign of anyone else around. However as she parked, she noticed some movement through the front window. “Mee-Maw, someone is in there!”

  “Ally, get down. Whoever it is, we don’t want them to know that we spotted them.” Charlotte slouched down in her seat.

  “I’m going to go around the back and see if I can find out who is inside.” Ally already had her door open, and slid out on to the pavement.

  “Ally!” Charlotte hissed and tried to grab for her hand.

  “Don’t worry, Mee-Maw, I won’t let myself be seen.” She continued to creep across the parking lot, with her head low, and her eyes on the front window of the shop. If the person inside spotted her, he showed no sign of it.

  As she rounded the corner of the shop, her knees were relieved to feel the transition from pavement to soil. She picked her way carefully through the low grass until she reached the rear of the shop. When she peered around the back corner, she noticed that there was a car close to the back door. Although it wasn’t paved, and there were no parking spots there, someone had decided to use it as a parking lot. She didn’t recognize who the car belonged to, but it did look familiar to her.

  She crept up to the back of the car and pulled out her phone to take a picture of the license plate. As far as she knew there shouldn’t be anyone at the shop, and it was clear that whoever it was had gone to great lengths to hide their car. She saw the back door was propped open as she made her way around the car. As she moved she did her best to stay out of sight. When she reached the back door, she noticed a shadow as it moved past. She held her breath and wondered if she was about to get caught. There was no time to run for cover, so she froze, and waited to see if the man inside the building would discover her.

  “Look, I’m just trying to get whatever we can salvage. If that old man thought I was taking over his business, he was crazy. The sooner we can sell the place, the sooner we can get out of this town.” He paused.

  She realized that he must be speaking on the phone.

  “She’ll come around. If she doesn’t, oh well, at least we don’t have kids yet. The old man was so traditional that he passed the business down to me, not his daughter, so she has no ground to stand on.”

  Ally cringed as she overheard the terrible way that he spoke about Erica. It angered her to think that Dean left his business to a son-in-law who appeared to have no regard for his wife’s feelings. If Brad knew that Dean left the business to him, that might have motivated him to kill Dean. Maybe Brad had fallen on hard times, and he decided he could make things better by inheriting and selling the business. No matter what his plan, it wasn’t a positive one for Erica. She started to draw back from the door, but Brad suddenly swung it open. He was about to step out, when Ally heard a horn blare from the front of the shop. She knew it had to be her grandmother.

  It wasn’t hard for Charlotte to tell that the man inside the shop had headed to the back. Once a cloud moved over the sun there wasn’t such a glare on the front windows and she was able to make out his figure as he moved around inside. He didn’t seem to be trying to keep himself hidden. When she saw him walk into the back, her heart lurched in her chest. She was sure that wherever Ally was she was in danger of being caught. The only thing she could think to do was blare the horn in an attempt to distract the man from Ally. It seemed to work as a few seconds after the horn sounded he opened the front door of the shop.

  “What do you want?” He peered through the sun which had grown brighter since the cloud moved aside. “Who are you?”

  Charlotte wasn’t surprised to see it was Brad and she knew that the moment he discovered who she was he wouldn’t be pleased. He had lost his temper with her once already. What excuse could she give him for being at the closed shop? Reluctantly, she stepped out of the car.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, but I really need to get a look inside the shop.”

  “What could you possibly need to look at inside the shop?” He took a step forward, then he narrowed his eyes as he recognized her. “You again? I think this could be considered harassment.”

  “Please, you have to understand. I left a ring in the shop with Dean that he was supposed to re-size. I just need to get it back. I’ll sign whatever papers you want me to sign. I just need the ring back. It’s a family heirloom.”

  “I’m sure that’s what you want. If there was a ring in the shop that belonged to you then why didn’t I know about it? Why didn’t you say something before?” He crossed his arms.

  “I tried to, but you wouldn’t let me talk. You threw me out of your house, don’t you remember?”

  “Because you’re the girlfriend of the man that murdered my father-in-law.”

  “Allegedly.” She locked her eyes to his. “That hasn’t been proven.”

  “I think if he’s in handcuffs then there’s a pretty good chance that it’s true.”

  “You can believe what you want about him, but that doesn’t change the fact that Dean was in possession of something that belonged to me, and I would like it back. Now, I could go to the police about it, but I thought we could just have a friendly exchange. As I said, I’m willing to sign any paperwork that you need me to. Since it’s obvious you’re not planning on reopening the shop, then I need to get it now, before it disappears.”

  “I’m not sure what makes you think I’m not going to reopen the shop. My father-in-law left it to me.”

  “The boxes.” She tilted her head towards a stack of boxes that she could clearly see through the large front window. “If you were planning on keeping the store open, you wouldn’t be boxing everything up.”

  “I can do whatever I please with what is in the shop.” He shrugged. “Maybe instead of trying to get in the middle of other people’s business, you should ask yourself why you are so meddlesome. Is there something missing from your life that you have to create so much drama?”

  “I’ll thank you to watch your tone, young man. Have you no respect for your elders?”

  “I only respect those who have earned it.”

  “And had Dean earned your respect?”

  His jaw rippled as he studied her. “Of course. He was my wife’s father.”

  “Would he approve of you holding someone’s jewelry hostage?”

  “All right fine.” He sighed and stepped away from the door. “Come in, and make it quick. I have things to get done.”

  Charlotte stepped into the shop, and took a breath as she recognized that it was the last place that Dean was alive. She had actually never been inside the shop before, and found that it looked very similar to Silvio’s. Although, there were a few more display cases and stock, everything was positioned in a similar way. She wondered if Dean modeled his shop after Silvio’s.

  “All of the jewelry in the shop is in the display case. If your ring isn’t there, then I have no idea where it might be.” He walked over to a stack of boxes and bega
n to tape the top one shut.

  “Does Erica know that you’re packing up her father’s shop?”

  “My wife is beside herself with grief. She doesn’t need to be distracted from that by the mundane things that need to be done.”

  “I just thought she might want to continue to run the shop, in honor of her father.”

  “No.” He narrowed his eyes. “Is your ring there, or not?”

  “I’m looking.” Charlotte jumped when she heard a thump in the back of the shop.

  “What was that?” He dropped the tape gun on top of the box and turned to face Charlotte.

  Charlotte held her breath, as she was sure the sound must have been caused by Ally.

  Ally grabbed the can of paint she’d knocked over and set it upright again. As quiet as she’d tried to be, she still managed to walk into something. It was fairly easy to do as the storage room she’d slipped into was packed from floor to ceiling with junk. There was no organization to it, and though some of the items could be associated with the shop, many seemed to be personal in nature. Dean was a bit of a pack rat, it seemed. She froze as she waited to see if Brad would come to investigate the sound.

  Ally knew that her grandmother was in the shop, as she could hear her voice. She heard Brad exclaim about the sound. With only moments to spare before he would discover her, she had to find a place to hide. There was a pile of boxes pushed up against a shelf in the back of the storage room. She managed to squeeze behind the boxes and crouch down beneath the bottom shelf. With a deep breath she tried not to think about what might be under there with her, hidden in the dust and the cobwebs. Was that a spider crawling in her hair? She clenched her teeth and waited for the inevitable. How would he react when he found her there? She heard heavy footsteps approach the storage room.

  “Is there someone in there?” He stood at the entrance of the room. “Tell me now, before I get my gun.”

  Ally’s eyes widened. She held her breath.