No Happily Every After (Mia and Roman Psychic Suspense #4)

Chapter Sixteen

Mia opened her cupped hands and set the small vial on the table in front of her. She grinned at Roman, a big, smug, I’ve-got-all-the-answers smile that lit her entire face.

“The suspense is killing me,” he grumbled.

“Okay. Hold your horses,” she said before taking a bite from her wrap and chewing slowly. Her eyes never left his and were filled with mischief.

Even though he was desperate for the info and knew she enjoyed dragging out the telling of it just to torture him, he couldn’t help feeling a quick spurt of lust curl in his belly. She was so stunning and vital with all that copper hair curling around her delicate face. Her skin was slightly flushed from the heat and gave her a rosy glow.

A small dab of ranch dressing had transferred to the corner of her mouth, and he became transfixed by her lips. Mia must have sensed the stain for her tongue darted out and licked it away while the emotion in her eyes changed from fun and games to dark heat. Her hand came to her throat and her finger slid up and down the small white column of her neck.

He shook his head and groaned. “What you do to me, babes.”

“Do you want to know what I saw from the vial, or do you want sexy times? Can’t have both. I have to draw the line somewhere.”

“Okay. Fine. Be that way. I guess I want the info. But only because I’m confident I can talk you into sexy times later.”

“Can you though? I’m not so sure.” Her smile was wicked, and her fingers came to the button of her blouse. She opened it along with the next one then spread the fabric to reveal the top of her black lacy bra. “Look at what you’re turning down. Wow, Private Investigator Mancini, you truly are dedicated to your work.”

He pushed up the sleeve of his T-shirt and flexed his substantial bicep. “I know you’re secretly drooling right now. I’m pretty sure I can throw a few shapes later tonight and get you out of that fine underwear of yours.”

She reached across the table, causing the front of her blouse to dip lower, and traced a finger along the cut of his muscle. “That’s not fair. You know the arm porn gets me every time. Okay. We’ll probably have sex later. Maybe.”

His hand closed over hers and he smiled hugely. “I know we will. Now sit your pretty little butt back down and tell me about the peanut oil.”

She huffed out a breath and leaned back in her chair then buttoned the blouse to the top again and pulled the fabric tightly together at the base of her neck. He couldn’t help chuckling.

“Okay. Fine. I caught a flash of Eliza in a car. She had the brown vial in her hand. It was brand new because she’d just pulled it out of a sealed plastic bag. It came in a three-pack. And balanced on the console was a slim glass container of peanut oil. The label said ‘Whitney’s Essentials.’ I’d say not a big-name brand. It looked more cottage industry to me.”

Roman’s hand slapped the table. “Damn, woman, you’re brilliant.”

“Yeah. I kind of am,” she said, before taking another bite from her wrap.

He pulled his plate closer and dug into his own dinner, eating in large bites and chewing quickly. When he was done, he pushed back from the table. “Hope you don’t mind, but I want to jump on this right away.”

She flicked her hand at him. “Go. Investigate. I’m happy to finish my food in peace. Let me know if you find anything.”

It was only a few minutes later when Roman came bursting back out onto the deck. “You were right. Whitney’s Essentials is a small outfit right in Nashville. Whitney Gable started it two years ago. She sells stuff online and has also managed to get a few stores to carry her stock. Two of those places are fairly close to the Wentworth family home. They’re both closed now but I’ll check them out tomorrow.”

“That’s great. I’m so happy for you.”

“For us, you mean. It’s your case, too. Especially after this.”

“Should I come tomorrow?”

He hesitated. “What’s your schedule like?”

“I’d say it’s probably the usual. I’m sure I can squeeze you in.”

***

It was close to ten o’clock the next morning when Roman and Mia walked into Nature’s Bounty located one block north of the main shopping strip on Market Street in Walkerton. This was their second stop, having already struck out at Keeping It Clean when the owner told them she’d only been stocking Whitney’s Essentials for the past three months. Well after the window of time when Eliza would have made her purchase.

Inside Nature’s Bounty, a girl with her long blonde hair gathered back in a ponytail stood behind the counter reading a paperback. She was slightly plump and wore round, pink-framed glasses. Mia judged her to be late teens. The girl had looked up briefly when the bell above the door rang but hadn’t said anything. Instead, simply nodded and went back to her book.

The small store was empty of customers but full of product. The shelves practically bulged. Beautiful hand-made signs, done in calligraphy-style printing, were stuck to various sections of the shelves. They pointed customers to green cleaning products, vitamins, protein powders, natural makeup, and countless other items of the same vein. Mia found the cooking oils and immediately plucked up a small bottle of Whitney’s Essential peanut oil.

“Score. Let’s hope the timeline works in our favor,” she said.

They stepped up to the counter. The blonde girl wore a dark green apron embroidered with Nature’s Bounty across the top. Pinned above the embroidery was a white name tag with Jane printed in simple block letters. She slid a bookmark into place and set the paperback on the counter. Mia saw she’d been reading the latest Bree Taggert mystery.

“Will that be all today?” she asked.

“Actually, no. We need your help, Jane,” Roman said, leaning his elbow casually on the counter and smiling.

The girl flushed and glanced over her shoulder at a locked glass cabinet directly behind her. “Sure. Do you want one of the specialty items?”

“Not exactly. I was wondering if you could tell us about this peanut oil. How long has Nature’s Bounty sold it?”

“Oh … um … I don’t know. I’ve only been working here since the beginning of the summer.”

“Maybe you could check the computer? I’ll bet there’s some kind of inventory stock program and you could trace back all the orders for the peanut oil. We’re only interested in a few months around the beginning of last year,” Roman said, still smiling.

She swallowed once and eyed the computer as though it was an acquaintance she didn’t entirely trust. “I guess I could try.”

“That would be so great,” Mia said.

Jane tapped the spacebar on the keyboard and logged in. Mia noted it was simply her first name and the letter g tacked on at the end. Once the program came to life, Jane clicked away from the main POS screen and searched through several others.

“I’m not really sure where to go,” Jane said. “I don’t order stuff for Meena. I mostly just watch the store and do cash.”

“That’s okay. What happens if you notice someone buying the last item of oh, I don’t know … vanilla protein powder or something? Is there some way you’d track that?”

Jane’s face cleared. She pointed to the screen and shifted over, inviting Mia to inch around the counter. “Yeah. We’re supposed to click on this plus sign right here. See? Then I type in the name and a list should pop up so I can pick which one it is.”

“Perfect. How about you pretend this is the last bottle of peanut oil,” Mia said.

“Okay, but I’m not going to actually enter it because it’s not the last bottle.”

“But surely there’s a way to cancel out? I mean, what if you make a mistake on an actual entry?”

“Well, I’m supposed to do this cancel procedure. It’s all written down on my cheat sheet.” Jane reached behind the screen and pulled out a laminated sheet before frowning down at it. “It says here I go back in and hit last entry and click on the amend button.”

“There you go. Let’s give it a try.”

Under Mia’s watchful eye, Jane scanned the bar code of the bottle of peanut oil then went through the procedure of adding it to the out of inventory screen.

“That was easy. What happens if you click on this?” Mia pointed to an icon for the oil.

Jane followed her suggestion, and a new screen popped up showing a long list of amounts, costs, and dates for every order of Whitney’s Essentials peanut oil. Jane scrolled down and turned to Mia with a hopeful expression.

“Does this help?” she asked.

“Score. Nature’s Bounty was selling the oil in the months before Stephanie and Phillip died,” Mia said.

“What?” Jane’s head snapped up. “Someone died? Who are you guys?” She stared across the counter at Roman.

“We’re private investigators,” he said. “I don’t suppose we could get a printout for those orders?”

“I don’t think I’m supposed to do that. Not unless you have, like, a warrant or something.”

“We don’t have one of those. Not yet anyway,” Mia said. “How about I tell you about our current case? This really nice couple died not long ago. We’re pretty sure their daughter had something to do with it. Then, not too long after, the sister died too. It’s a heart-wrenching situation and we just want to make sure if this girl had something to do with it, she’s brought to justice. Proving she bought peanut oil would be a big break in the case. Or not proving it would potentially clear her name.”

Jane’s eyes pinged back and forth between Mia and Roman. “Wow. That sounds really tragic.”

“Yeah. It’s a tough one,” Roman said, nodding and keeping a grim look on his face. “This job can be all kinds of hard. And I have to tell you, I’m not sleeping at night wondering if this young girl could be that evil.”

Jane stared at the screen and bit her lower lip while she puzzled over what to do. Mia quickly reached out with her senses, sending across a wave of sad energy. Making it heavy, like a blanket.

The girl’s fist clenched on the mouse and after several seconds, she clicked the print button. “I don’t see what harm can come from you knowing how much Whitney’s peanut oil we sold.”

“You are amazing. My hero,” Mia gushed.

Roman watched the girl’s face light up under Mia’s praise. “Say, what kind of records do you have on customers? Like, if we go back to that time frame I mentioned, could you tell which customer bought it?”

“Probably. But I’m not giving you customer data. That’s like—totally unethical.”

“Okay. Sure. How about this? What if I give you a single name and you just look that up? That way no other customer will be compromised,” Mia said.

“You mean the girl? The daughter of the dead couple?” Jane said, her pale blue eyes going wide behind her glasses.

“Exactly,” Roman said.

“If she did what we think she did, that makes her dangerous. She needs to be stopped before she hurts someone else. In fact, we’re worried she has her next victim all lined up, but we don’t have any proof to take to this person,” Mia said.

Jane’s hand slapped over her mouth comically. “That’s so crazy. So, you’re, like, trying to stop her from murdering again?”

Mia nodded enthusiastically and patted the girl’s shoulder. “Exactly. And if it turns out she’s a good person, we can back all the way off and leave them in peace. You know what, I think we’re asking too much of you. I’m sorry. We don’t want to put you in a bad position.”

“I really want to help. I’m just not sure ….” Jane looked around the store then back to Mia. “But if she does kill someone else and I could have stopped it? OMG, I’d feel so bad. What’s her name?”

“It’s Eliza Wentworth,” Roman said.

“I don’t see her under any transactions in January. If she paid cash, though, it wouldn’t show up here.” She flicked over to another screen. “There was one cash purchase on January fifteenth.”

“That was the day before the Wentworths’ accident,” Roman said.

“But we still can’t tie it to Eliza, can we?” Mia said.

“So, it doesn’t help you?” Jane asked.

“Sort of, but we need rock solid proof,” Roman said.

“Wait. I have an idea,” Jane said. “Some of the customers have a rewards card. Let me check if she does. Oh, yeah, look. She got Bounty Points on January the fifteenth for the peanut oil. She totally bought it. She’s a murderer.”

“Easy now. We don’t know that for sure. But it definitely helps the case. You should think about getting into this line of work,” Mia said.

Jane’s smile was huge and she all but vibrated behind the counter. “This was so fun. Could you maybe tell me what happens with this Eliza girl?”

“Sure. I’ll call you when I close the case,” Roman said, leaning his elbows on the counter and smiling back at her.

“I know I probably shouldn’t, but I’m going to print this out for you. You’ll need it for the file and to bring to the police, right?”

“Only if you’re sure. We don’t want you getting into trouble with your boss,” Mia said.

“I’m sure. People shouldn’t be able to go around killing their family and getting away with it.” She walked the few steps over and picked up the printed sheet before setting it on the counter then froze and stared at Mia. “What if she comes back in the store? Do you think she’ll hurt me? Should I call you?”

Mia sent out a wave of calming energy. “Roman can give you his card and you call any time. But I don’t think she’ll come back. It’s sort of like returning to the crime. Say, do you work on commission?”

“No. Not exactly. But at the end of every month Meena goes through my take for the days I worked solo. If the numbers look good, she said once my probation period is up, I could maybe get a raise. I’m saving for college.”

“You know, my fiancée loves girlie bath and body stuff,” Roman said. “Maybe you could help me pick something out.”

Jane skirted the counter and stepped out beside Mia. “We have several really nice lotions. Is there a particular scent your fiancée likes?” she said to Roman.

“Why don’t you show me what you have and I’ll see if anything strikes.” He turned to Mia. “And you stay right here. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

As they walked away Mia smiled to herself when she heard Jane whisper, “Is that lady your fiancée?”