Chapter 21
“Did you confirm Elvira is around?” Pete walked quickly to keep up with his wife’s fast pace.
“She’s in her office. I texted her right before we left. Dernice was on her way back from a job, so if Elvira agrees to help, Dernice will be on hand to help sort out who is who.”
Pete slowed, casting his wife a side glance. “How much?”
“How much what?”
“How much are you willing to pay Elvira for her to hack into the hospital’s surveillance system?”
“I don’t want to overbid. I offered her five hundred bucks, and she turned it down.”
“Maybe go up to seven hundred.”
“Seven sounds high, but at this point, it might be worth it.”
“Let’s assume she agrees to help. Using the hospital’s surveillance, you narrow down the list of people who visited Sonny at the hospital and also attended the engagement party. Then what?”
“I wish I knew. Surely, the hospital has determined Sonny’s cause of death by now.”
“Maybe Elvira has a way to track down the records.”
“Which could easily double her price,” Carlita said. “I was thinking it might be less risky and expensive to ask Dernice to contact Sonny’s brother, Rocky, who is also part of the riding group, and ask him if he knows who visited.”
“You’ll get your information,” Pete said.
“I wish I felt as confident.”
“Like I said, I have a little something up my sleeve. You offer money. If your cold hard cash offer doesn’t seal the deal, we move onto Plan B.”
The couple reached Elvira’s office. At first glance, it looked as if they were closed. “Elvira’s lights are off.”
“Check the door.”
Carlita twisted the knob. “It’s unlocked.”
Stepping inside, they found the sisters seated at their desks, with only a small lamp turned on.
Elvira’s parrot Snitch was the first to notice them. “Get the guns! The cops are here,” she squawked.
“Hello, Snitch,” Carlita greeted her. “You’re perky and peppy this evening.”
“She just pigged out on a bell pepper.” Elvira leaned back in her chair and folded her hands. “Why did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Mess with my alley camera. It’s pointing in the wrong direction.”
Carlita quickly corrected her. “It’s now pointing in the right direction…away from my back door.”
“I can’t keep an eye on who is coming and going.”
“Precisely.”
“How am I supposed to monitor tenant activities if my camera is angled wrong?” Elvira whined.
“Elvira Cobb.” Carlita arched her eyebrow. “Monitoring my tenants’ activities is an invasion of privacy. How would you like someone spying on you 24/7?”
“It’s not 24/7 and I don’t consider it spying. More like ensuring the neighborhood stays safe.”
“Call it what you will. I don’t want you treating them like they’re some sort of criminals.”
“Luigi isn’t exactly choir boy material.”
“He also isn’t a troublemaker. Neither is Mercedes, Cool Bones or Autumn.”
“What about Bubba?”
“I’m still trying to figure out what it is you don’t like about a man you don’t know.”
“He’s giving me a bad vibe, not to mention he looks vaguely familiar, like I should know him, or at least recognize him.” Elvira shrugged. “I’ll eventually figure it out. So, did you get the lab results back?”
“I did.” Carlita filled them in. “Someone put rat poison in the fettuccine. Thank God no one else ate it.”
“Yvonne and Sonny were bad enough.” Elvira spun around in her chair. “Hey, Dernice. Are you and Rocky, Sonny’s brother, still on good terms?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“You need to offer our condolences and find out the cause of death.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” Carlita glanced at Pete. “However, it’s imperative we figure out who visited Sonny prior to his death.”
“I know where you’re going with this.” Elvira stubbornly shook her head. “No can do.”
“I have the list of guests from the party. Dernice and Luigi can confirm who was on the motorcycle ride when Creed had his accident. The missing piece of the puzzle is Sonny’s hospital visitors.”
“And then what?” Elvira asked. “Kidnap the suspect and coerce a confession?”
“Don’t be silly.”
“I’m being practical. No one in their right mind will confess.”
Dernice hesitantly lifted her hand. “I might have a smidgen of bad news.”
“Please don’t tell me Yvonne hired an attorney,” Carlita groaned.
“No, but close. The cops tracked me down and asked me a bunch of questions about the party and.”
“And what?” Pete prompted.
“Seemed interested in Carlita and Ravello’s,” Dernice blurted out. “I didn’t want to say anything, but thought you should know.”
“They’ve already questioned Arnie. I’m sure now that we’ve determined there was poison in the fettuccine, they’ll be back. They’re probably building their case against me as we speak.” Carlita jabbed her finger at Elvira. “Have the authorities contacted you?”
“No. At least not yet. Seeing how the party was for Luigi and Dernice, it makes sense the cops are working their way down the list. You have no motive for poisoning the guests,” Elvira said. “Unless you knew Sonny.”
“He was a city worker. We may have crossed paths at some point and I just don’t remember,” Carlita said.
“The bottom line is we’re getting cancellations for events at Ravello’s.
The health department popped in for a surprise inspection, and the lab found traces of poison in my food.
It’s only a matter of time before they shut me down. ”
“I would love to help. Seriously, I would, but I can’t take any heat right now. The thought of the cops showing up on my doorstep is giving me the heebie-jeebies. I gotta keep my nose C-L-E-A-N.”
“You’re still working on the super-secret project which may or may not be skirting the law?” Pete asked.
“Shh.” Elvira held a finger to her lips. “I would love to share details but can’t.”
Carlita’s shoulders slumped. “I guess begging won’t help. I’ll have to let some of my employees go, only weeks away from the holidays. Even if they don’t shut me down, all it will take is for nosy reporters to release another story.”
Dernice made a thumbs-down. “Business will tank, especially if they hear about the rat poison.”
Tears filled Carlita’s eyes as an overwhelming sense of impending doom stared her in the face. “We’re so close to narrowing down the list of who may have been behind Sonny’s death. You liked him, right?”
“Yeah, and I think he was digging me,” Elvira said. “Whenever we were together, you could almost see the sparks fly.”
“Unnatural combustion,” Pete whispered.
“Very funny,” Elvira snapped. “Joke all you want, but we had chemistry.”
“Wouldn’t you like to help me track down Sonny’s killer? If you cared for him, it’s the least you could do.”
“Again.”
Carlita interrupted. “I’ll give you six hundred dollars.”
“No.”
“Six fifty.”
“Sorry.”
“All right. Seven hundred dollars for maybe twenty minutes to half an hour of your time,” Carlita bargained.
“As much as I would love the extra money, I can’t take the risk of getting busted,” Elvira said.
“I guess I’ll have to figure out some other way to come up with a list of Sonny’s visitors.” She turned to go.
Pete stopped her. “I would like to throw in an additional incentive.”
“Such as?”
“You help Carlita with the hospital’s surveillance footage, and I’ll let you dig up a small section of the Parrot House Restaurant’s parking lot to search for pirate treasure.”
Elvira let out a loud whoop and sprang to her feet. “Are you serious?”
“I am.”
“Pete…no,” Carlita argued.
“How much of a section? Three by five? Eight by ten? Fifty by one hundred?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of eight feet by eight feet, over at the far end, near the garage.”
Carlita could see the wheels spinning. Elvira had been pestering her husband for weeks now, ever since discovering there was no treasure buried in the basement beneath his restaurant.
She immediately suggested continuing excavations into the parking lot, an area closer to the river, to which Pete had promptly and adamantly refused.
“You’re killing me here.” Elvira tapped her foot, muttering under her breath.
“I think it’s a generous offer,” Dernice said. “You’ve been itching to get over there and start turning the dirt. This is your chance.”
Tap, tap, tap.
She abruptly stopped. “What about the money?”
“I…”
“We’ll be right back.” Pete grasped Carlita’s arm and whisked her out of the building and onto the sidewalk. “I think Elvira is going to go for it.”
“Do you want her to start digging up the yard?” Carlita briefly closed her eyes. “You’ll be opening a can of worms.”
“I’m not thrilled with the idea, but getting the information is more important.”
Her eyes flew open. She gazed into the face of the man who had swept her off her feet, had married Carlita despite the skeletons in her closet and the trouble she always seemed to get sucked into.
For better or worse, Pirate Pete Taylor was the real deal, and she couldn’t love him any more than she did at that precise moment. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“If it brings you peace and a step closer to closure, I’ll let her dig up five hundred feet of property.” Pete winked at her. “But don’t tell Elvira that.”
“You’re serious about throwing out your parking lot as a bargaining chip?”
“I am.”
Carlita slid her hand into his. “Then let’s hammer out a deal Elvira can’t refuse.”