Candy Slain Murder Read online

  “Maybe cooking is in our genes,” Danna said.

  “Robbie, I need to get back for a seminar,” Marcus said, holding out his hand. “Thanks for not kicking me out.”

  “Hey, I’m glad to meet you.” I shook his strong, smooth hand. “I hope you’ll come back and eat here.”

  “He promised to,” Danna said.

  I watched as she walked him to the door. They exchanged a hug, and after Danna closed the door behind me, she stood rooted in place, shaking her head as if in wonder.

  “Hey, turn the sign to ‘Closed’ while you’re there,” I called to her. “It’s two-thirty.”

  She flipped over the sign in the window and locked the door, then nearly skipped back to me.

  “Robbie, can you even believe what just happened? I have a brother. I always wanted a big brother, and now I have one.”

  “That’s great. Can you come down off your cloud a little and scrub the grill? I turned it off and it should be cool enough.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, sure. Sorry.” She grabbed the scraper and started.

  “How did he find you, anyway?”

  “He read an article about finding birth families. He’d never felt like he needed to before, since he grew up happy and loved. When he finally asked his parents—his adoptive parents—they told him Mom’s name. It wasn’t like in the old days of closed adoptions and locked records. They knew about my mom all along, but had agreed after they adopted Marcus as a newborn not to tell him until he asked.”

  “And he asked.”

  “Yes. He’d done Ancestry, but neither Mom nor I have, and my grandmother hasn’t, either, so he couldn’t find us, and I don’t have any other siblings.” She paused in her cleaning and drew her light brows together. “That I know of. Man, I am so having a talk with my mother tonight.”

  “Do you wish she’d told you about him earlier?”

  “Of course! I could have had a brother years ago.”

  “Yeah.” I loaded detergent into the dishwasher and pushed the On button. “Unless she’d also agreed not to tell you until he looked for her.”

  “I guess. Whatever. I’m just glad I know about Marcus. And he’s only over in Bloomington! I can, like, see him all the time.”

  “I’m happy for you.”

  She smiled to herself as she worked. Her hand slowed. “So that’s who it was,” she murmured. “Robbie, one time when I was about eight I caught my mom looking at a picture. She was sitting on her bed and she had this really sad look on her face.”

  “You think it was a picture of Marcus?”

  “I bet it was. I went in and asked her who was in the photograph. I only caught a glimpse but it was definitely a little baby.”

  “What did she say?” I asked.

  “She stuffed it into her nightstand drawer, hugged me, and said she loved me.”

  “Which didn’t answer your question.”

  Danna resumed scrubbing. “Not at all. Next chance I got, I went and looked for it, but she’d hidden it somewhere else. I asked her again and she told me it didn’t matter.”

  “You’ll get the whole story tonight, I’m sure.” I also planned to google the heck out of this guy to make sure he was who he said he was. I wasn’t letting anybody hurt Danna.

  Chapter Three

  The wind was an angry banshee by seven that night. I sat in my small apartment at the back of the store and listened to it roar like the Wabash Cannonball through the big fir outside. The one antique window I hadn’t gotten around to replacing rattled something fierce, and the gale was a lewd Father Nature whistling through a crack in the door.

  Still, I was snug with my feet up on my couch, tuxedo cat Birdy rolled into a ball at my side. A half-completed crossword puzzle was on a clipboard on my knees and a half-empty glass of a hearty red wine sat on the end table next to my elbow. Abe couldn’t be with me because he had been called into work. Electrical wiremen were much in demand when branches were coming down onto wires all over the county.

  Something went thud outside my back door. I groaned, but laid down the puzzle and padded through the kitchen to the door. I switched on the porch light and peered through the glass. As I’d thought, it was my trash can, rolling toward the back of the property. Heck, let it roll. Today had been trash day, so it was empty. And it would either lodge against the barn or the tall trees. The heavy plastic barrel wasn’t going to escape. The store trash cans were in an enclosure at the side of the building, so they were safe, too.

  I got snug on the couch again. I frowned when sirens raced by out on the road. The rumble that accompanied one sounded like it had to be a fire engine. I hoped if it was a conflagration, they caught it quickly. This was wind without rain, and it had the potential to carry sparks far and wide.

  Sipping my wine, I pictured Danna at home grilling her mother about Marcus. Would the discussion go smoothly for her? Would Corrine welcome Marcus into their lives? Or would she want to keep him at a distance? Maybe he’d be a painful reminder of a past she had left behind. Of course, Danna could have her own relationship with her brother even without her mom. She’d sounded excited about that. Too, perhaps Marcus only wanted to meet Corrine but not get close to her. He had adoptive parents he probably loved, after all. Twisty situations with many threads could get smoothed and sorted out, or they could become even more tangled.

  I also had two half siblings, except they were younger than me. I hadn’t been given up for adoption, but my mom, now almost four years gone, had never told Roberto Fracasso she was pregnant. He’d been a visiting scholar here when they’d fallen in love and I was conceived. He’d gone back to Italy, and Mom had moved to Santa Barbara. After I’d found him almost two years ago through luck and digging, I’d gone to Pisa to meet him, his wife, and his two adult children, even a little nephew. Although my half sister hadn’t warmed up to me, I’d loved meeting everyone, Roberto most of all. My short hefty-hipped build was Mom’s, but my brown eyes, Mediterranean skin, and lush dark curly hair were a hundred percent my father’s. Gazing at his face was almost like looking in a mirror.

  My cell rang with my aunt Adele’s ringtone. I connected and greeted her.

  “Turn on the local news, Robbie,” she said in a rush. “Quick.”

  I grabbed the remote. The screen filled with footage of fire enveloping a two-story house. Gushes of water from the firefighters’ hoses formed arcs into the flames. One end of the house was not on fire but the roof gaped open. I glimpsed an REA cherry picker truck at the edge of the scene, REA being the county electrical cooperative and Abe’s employer.

  The camera cut to a reporter with her back to the fire. “In breaking news, the South Lick home of a local man caught on fire earlier this evening after a tree blew onto a live wire, sparking the blaze. No one was at home, but the firefighters had their hands full battling the flames so they didn’t spread. The fire chief told us they currently have the fire ninety percent contained and he’s confident the neighboring homes are safe. Teams from Monroe and Johnson Counties also responded to the call. Power is out in the neighborhood, but an REA spokesperson says they will repair the lines as soon as it is safe to do so. Back to you, Clint.” She signed off and the station returned to its usual programming.

  I hit the Off button. “Wow,” I said to Adele. “Do you know whose house it is?”

  “That’s William Geller’s. Doctor over to Columbus Regional. He’s lived in South Lick since God made dirt.”

  South Lick sat about halfway between Columbus Regional Hospital to the east and the Indiana University Hospital in Bloomington to the west. “It’s a good thing he wasn’t home,” I said.

  “Yep. Musta had to work late or something.”

  “Does he have a family?”

  “Nope. Wife upped and left him about a decade ago, and they never had any kids.”

  “That’s a blessing, anyway. And that the firefighters contained it despite this wind. Is it howling out at your farm, too?”

  “Like a pack of hu
ngry wolves.” She whistled. “But my sweetie Samuel and me, we’re cozy inside. And I took and trimmed my trees last fall so they aren’t anywhere’s near the wires or nothing.”

  “Good. I still have power. The fire must be on the other side of town.”

  “All righty, hon. You have a good night now. We’ll be in for lunch tomorrow, I reckon.”

  “Give my love to Samuel,” I said. “And to you.”

  “Will do. Love ya, sugar.”

  I shivered after I disconnected. That guy Geller was awfully lucky not to be in a house on fire. I’d never experienced a blaze like that, and wasn’t planning on it, either. I picked up the puzzle again.

  An hour and a half later, the puzzle was finished and so was the wine. I yawned wide. Five-thirty this morning was a long time ago, and my alarm would go off at the same time again tomorrow. With a breakfast restaurant that opened at seven, I had to be in the store working by six every day except Sundays, when we opened at eight, and Mondays, when we were closed. It was bedtime for this business owner. I swung my feet onto the floor when my phone rang again, but this time it was Abe.

  “Hey, handsome,” I said, smiling. “Are you working on those lines that caused the fire across town?”

  “Am I ever. We finished restoring power only a little while ago to the four square blocks that lost it.”

  “I saw the house on the news at about seven-thirty. Adele called me. At least nobody was home.”

  “Right. Nobody living, anyway.”

  What? “What do you mean?”

  Voices sounded through the phone. “I’ll be right there,” Abe said away from the phone. “Robbie,” he said to me. “They had to cut through the roof of the part that wasn’t burning to get to the fire.”

  “I saw that on TV.”

  “I have to get back to work, but I wanted to tell you what I saw. I was up in the bucket looking down into the attic. Several guys inside were staring at something on the floor. When they moved apart, you wouldn’t believe what I saw. I don’t know how it got there, but I saw a skeleton. A human skeleton.”

  I gasped. “Really?”

  “Yes. Hey, love you. I’ll be by in the morning.” He hung up.

  A human skeleton? My mouth drew down in horror. Wait. Adele had said the dude who owned the house was a doctor. Maybe it was simply an old demonstration skeleton made of some kind of material that wouldn’t melt. Abe wouldn’t be able to tell from up in the air. Because if that thing was real, in Ricky Ricardo’s words, somebody was going to have some ’splaining to do.

  Chapter Four

  Danna trudged through the front door right on time at six-thirty the next morning. I already had the coffee on and biscuits in the oven, and it was smelling delicious in here.

  “Good morning, Sunshine,” I called to her.

  She mumbled a greeting as she hung up her parka. She slipped an apron on over her knee-length flared black skirt and a yellow vintage bowling shirt and washed her hands.

  “Late night?” I asked.

  She only bobbed her head before clomping her Doc Martens into the cooler to bring out the condiment caddies for the tables. We always left the tables set the day before, with our blue cloth napkin silverware rolls, but we couldn’t leave things like sugar packets out in case of mice or ants. I would wait for her to raise the subject of talking about Marcus with Corrine.

  I cracked eggs into the dry whole wheat pancake mix I’d prepared yesterday, added buttermilk and oil, and switched on the mixer. We’d decided on a spinach–red pepper egg bake for a breakfast special, which I’d prepped several big pans of yesterday afternoon. I sprinkled grated cheddar over one and slid it into the preheated second oven. It would look Christmasy with the reds and greens.

  “Can you write the egg bake on the Specials board, please?” I asked my sleepy assistant, who’d finished with the caddies.

  “Okay.” She had a clear and artistic hand with the colored chalk, and she added a little flourish of green holly with red berries next to the name. She headed into the cooler, emerging with her arms full of bacon and sausage packages. As she laid a dozen links on the grill, Danna said, “Heard about the fire last night. News said they found a dead person in the attic.”

  I whipped my head in her direction. “It was a real skeleton?”

  “Yep. They don’t know whose.”

  “Wow. Abe was working there last night, and he saw it. The dude who owns the house is a doctor, so I was thinking maybe it was a teaching skeleton or something.” I shifted the pancake mix into a pitcher and washed the big bowl as I wondered who had died in his attic. Had Geller known? How could he not? I shuddered involuntarily. “I hope this isn’t another violent death. We don’t need any more of that in South Lick.”

  “Like, ever.” This morning Danna’s dreadlocks were in a fat braid down her back and she’d tied a blue scarf over them.

  Me, I threaded my messy ponytail through a blue store ball cap every day. Although I loved Danna’s style, at work I didn’t even try. I wore a long-sleeved store T-shirt with jeans in the winter, short-sleeved when it got warmer.

  “So, I talked with Mom last night.” Danna stashed the rest of the meat in the small fridge under the counter and started cracking eggs into the mixer bowl for scrambled and omelets. “She was pretty surprised Marcus had found me. She also apologized for not telling me.”

  At least that part of his story was true. “Good. Does she want to meet him?”

  She laughed. “She was kind of tentative on that, but yeah, she finally conceded she would. We’re going to ask him to dinner in a day or two. I texted him and he’s coming here for lunch today. I really want to get to know him better.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Uh, you know we’re going to be busy at lunch, Danna. Especially with news of human remains found in an attic.” My store had become the community watering hole and nothing could make me happier. When something newsworthy happened in town, people flocked here to learn and to share what they knew, which one had to be careful about, of course. Lots of gossip was unfounded and could be dangerous. “You probably won’t have much time to talk.”

  “I know. He wanted to eat here, and he has the afternoon off. We might hang out after I’m done with work.”

  At a knock on the door, I glanced at the clock. “It’s already seven. You ready?”

  She gave me two thumbs up, so I hurried over, unlocked the door, and turned the sign so it read CLOSED toward the inside. I pulled open the door to none other than Buck Bird, second in command of the South Lick police force. Behind him under the porch light was my beloved Abe O’Neill and a few other customers.

  “Good morning, Buck, Abe.” I smiled at them.

  “Mornin’, Robbie.” Buck pulled off his regulation hat. “It surely smells better than heaven in here.”

  “Come on in, everybody.” I stepped back to let the crowd in. “Sit anywhere you’d like.” Before I shut the door, I peered out to see what damage the wind had wreaked, but the sun wouldn’t be up for another forty-five minutes and I couldn’t see a thing.

  A circles-under-his-eyes Abe waited for me. “You look lovely, as always, darlin’.” He kissed my cheek.

  So did he, although “hunky” was more accurate. I laid my hand against his face. “You’re really tired, aren’t you? Did you work all night?”

  “Until about two. And we have a lot more to do today. What can I get to eat that’s fast?”

  “Everything’s ready and we have a yummy egg bake. I’ll bring you a plate right away.”

  Danna was already pouring coffee and taking orders, so I made a beeline to the kitchen area and hauled the bake out of the oven. A minute later I carried a plate full of the casserole, two biscuits, and three sausages to where Abe sat with Buck.

  “How come he rates?” Buck asked in a hungry, plaintive tone.

  Abe waggled his dark eyebrows. “I have a direct line to the chef, Buck. Thanks, sweetheart.” He dug into the bake.

  “Danna will take your
order, Buck. I have to get back to the grill.”

  “All righty, then. But come on back when you get a sec. We got us some news going on in town I think you might could be interested in.”

  “Will do.” News about a skeleton, or about its identity?

  Chapter Five

  It took me half an hour to get back to Buck. A steady stream of hungry would-be diners had filed in. At least Danna and I were a well-choreographed team, so we could handle it. Turner breezed in early even though he wasn’t due on shift until eight o’clock. I thanked him.

  “Sure. Want me to do the front?” The slender twenty-three-year-old slipped on an apron and washed his hands.

  “Perfect. Danna, can you take over cooking?” I asked.

  She straightened from loading the dishwasher. “You got it.”

  I told her which orders were already on and which were up next, then headed for Buck. Abe had eaten quickly and left, saying he’d see me at four with Sean to decorate the tree. Buck sat bent over his phone, stabbing at it with his index finger. His usual gargantuan breakfast was down the hatch, leaving only a smear of syrup on his pancakes plate and a dab of sausage gravy on the dish he’d wolfed biscuits and gravy from. His extra-long legs, also as usual, were stretched out nearly to Indy. I sank onto the chair opposite him.

  “I only have a minute, Buck. What’s up?” I lowered my voice. “Is it the skeleton?”

  “I’m not even gonna ask how you up and heared about that. But you’re right.” His accent was more Kentucky than Indiana, and he drawled the word “right” into almost three syllables. “Human remains in the attic. Sounds like the title of one of them Nancy Drew books. But in this case it’s a hundred percent real life.”

  “Do you have any idea whose it was? And did the owner of the house know about the skeleton?”

  “We’re still trying to determine the answers to both those questions. It’s a puzzle, I have to admit.”

  “What did the coroner say?” I thought back to the body I’d found right here in my store two years ago. The county coroner had been a man. What was his name? It came to me in a flash. “Does Coroner Mayers know how old the skeleton is? How could Doctor Geller not know about it?”