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The Missing Dough(14)

By:Chris Cavender


“Could she have killed him?” I asked, suddenly very interested in the mystery woman.

Maddy frowned. “I suppose she could have, but why would she? She got three quarters of everything he owned. Why would she want to see him dead, too?”

“That’s a question we need to ask her, don’t you think? How do we find her?”

Maddy took out her telephone and tapped a few buttons. For all I knew, she was calling up missile launch codes, but after a few seconds, she said, “Her name is Vivian. She lives in Cow Spots, and she owns a dry cleaning business there.”

“Did she buy it with her divorce settlement?” I asked.

Maddy tapped a few more keys and then said, “Based on when she bought it, my guess is that she probably did.”

“Why a dry cleaner, of all things?” I asked.

“Who knows?” Maddy asked. “So, should we go talk to her before we tackle anyone else?”

“The second you told me that Grant had moved back home, I was hoping that we’d be able to figure out a way to check out Sharon’s place first,” I admitted.

“Done and done,” my sister said with a grin.

“Do you actually have a key?” I asked.

“No, but if things have stayed the same since I was a member of that family, I know where one’s hidden. Let’s go see what we can find.”

“Maddy, are you sure that you’re okay with opening the Slice today? If you want to shut it down until we figure out what really happened to Grant, I’m okay with it.”

“Last night you were willing to open up today at our normal time. What changed your mind, Eleanor?”

“I’m still willing to work our normal shift if that’s what you want to do, but I don’t want to force the decision on you if you think we’re killing our time to snoop. Are you honestly okay with us opening today?”

“Are you kidding? I’m counting on it,” she said. “We need to make things look like business as usual, you know? Besides, if we don’t find any clues on our own, some might just walk in and find us.”

“Okay, then we stick to our original plan,” I said as I hugged her. “I really am sorry about Grant.”

She pulled away and nodded. “Thanks. He was a lousy husband, and not that much better a person overall, but he deserved better than he got. I might be doing this a little because of him, but mostly I’m just trying to protect Bob.”

There was one last thing I needed to ask, just to clear the air between us completely. “Maddy, I don’t even want to bring this up, but we need to talk about this. Don’t get mad, but I have something I need to ask you.”

I could see her steel herself for my question. “Go ahead.”

“Have you considered the possibility that Bob circled back after we left the fair and killed Grant? If he felt as though the man was a threat to you, he might have acted to protect you from him.”

Maddy shrugged. “It crossed my mind for a second when I first heard the news, but I feel pretty secure in my belief that my fiancé didn’t do it.”

“I know you love him, but we have to keep open minds about this,” I said.

“It’s not that. I just realized that if Bob wanted to go after someone, he’d find a way to take them to court. I’m pretty sure that’s the way he’d punish them.”

“I don’t know. He was as mad as I’d ever seen him yesterday, Maddy.”

She paused a little longer before she answered. “He was defending me, Eleanor. I’m not saying the man is perfect, but he’s no killer.”

“Not even if he thought you were in real danger?”

She shrugged. “I wish I knew the answer to that, but we aren’t going to get anywhere if we start off believing that Bob killed Grant.”

“I see what you’re saying, but I just wanted to discuss the possibility so we can put it behind us. What are we going to do if we find direct evidence that Bob was the one who killed your ex-husband?”

“We’ll turn it over to Chief Hurley, just like we would for anyone else,” she said with infinite sadness in her voice. “I’d fight like the devil to get him off, but I won’t sweep it under the rug. Can you live with that?”

“I can if you can,” I said. I tried to think what I would do if I were in her shoes, with David, or even Joe, accused of murder. I couldn’t honestly answer the question, but I had a new level of respect for my sister. There was no doubt in my mind that she was telling the truth.

I just hoped and prayed that we’d never have to find out what she’d do if the evidence pointed to Bob.