Page 59 of Poison Apple Crisp
The fumes from someone’s offensive dinner waft this way, and my stomach does another hard roll. It’s becoming clear my time with this man is extremely limited.
“I’m sorry.” He winces as he seems to struggle to place me. “My mind was a bit of a mess that night. It was a trauma in the making.” He sheds an odd smile as he says it.
I fully understand that everyone grieves in their own way, that people shed inappropriate emotions at inconvenient moments, but this isn’t the first time I’ve caught him doing just that. He seemed a little aloof the night his fiancée bit the big one.
“I met you by the dessert table,” I tell him. “You were eating one of my apple crisps.”
His eyes widen a moment. “Oh—right. Those were delicious.” He gives a rather guilty looking shrug.
“And you let me know that Brenda was your fiancée.”
He blows out a breath. “Yes, she was.” He shakes his head before doing a double take at the table. “Hey, I think that’s the detective working on the case.”
Carlotta and I exchange a glance.
“That’s right,” Carlota bleats. “My Lot Lot here is dating him.”
I give a frenetic nod. “We’re celebrating the fact I’m having a baby. Our entire family is here. This is my mother.” I nod to Carlotta. I don’t bother explaining the fact I have two mothers, and in effect two baby daddies as well. I guess you can say I’m double trouble all the way around.
Martin expands his pained looking smile. “Well, hold onto the good times. You never know what could be waiting just around the corner.”
Carlotta leans in. “Don’t I know it. In fact, I bet Brenda was super excited to get hitched to you.”
Ginger lets out a sharp bark. “She used to pretend to marry her stuffed bears. She was a bit pushy at times. I was certain she’d chase away anyone who came near her. But look at this, she found someone willing to be pushed around, after all.”
Martin shakes his head as if he heard the ghostly pooch. “I don’t know. I’d like to think she was happy. Our wedding was supposed to take place in just two weeks. She had her dress and everything.”
“I’m really sorry. And I mean that,” I tack on that last bit because I’m sure not a lot of people mean what they say about the dead. “I mean, I didn’t know her that well, but it’s a sad situation all the way around.”
Martin takes a breath. “If you knew her, you most likely wouldn’t be that sorry. Brenda had a way of off-putting people.”
Ginger lets out a couple of quick yips. “Did anyone like the poor girl?”
“Good question.” Carlotta nods to Martin. “Did anyone like her?”
I swat Carlotta without hesitation.
“Please forgive my mother,” I say. It’s bad enough she answered Ginger out loud as if Martin were privy to her, let alone posed the question to him as well. But then again, if he thinks Carlotta isn’t all there upstairs, she could get away with saying just about anything.
He gives a tiny chuckle. “No, it’s fine. It’s not a big secret that Brenda wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. We seemed to manage okay, but we had our ups and downs, too.”
Ginger floats and lands directly on his head like a cute fuzzy little hat.
“Make him tell us who killed my Brenda. He knows something, Lottie. I can feel the tension pulsing through his skull.”
“Martin”—I lean in a notch—“why would anyone want to kill Brenda? Did she have enemies? Did she have anything in her possession that maybe the killer was trying to get ahold of?”
He squints over at me as if trying to transcribe my words.
“Are you talking about that book?”
Carlotta swoops in. “That book was stolen from my Lot Lot’s house. Right out of her living room. It was a brazen home invasion. We’re lucky she’s still with us.” She wraps an arm around me, and I’m certainly not feeling lucky to have Carlotta with me, not at this moment anyway. She’s botching up my entire investigation.
“Your house?” His brows hike. “I’m sorry about that.” He shakes his head. “Brenda had that book locked in a safe at her place. I guess she understood the value of it. I thought it was odd she kept it locked up, but after hearing about the break-in, I guess I’m glad she took the precaution. She mentioned there were people very interested in obtaining it. She really did believe it would garner more than a few bucks at that auction. She also mentioned something about the person she got it from would most likely be the highest bidder.”
“The person she got the book from?” I ask. “Martin, do you know who that was?” My goodness, he could unlock the entire case right now if he gives me the answer.
He gives a puzzled look out the window just past me.