Chapter 20
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Later that afternoon Doreen had worked up her notes and was now struggling against the temptation to contact the man she really did not want to talk to.
Yet she also knew Randol Biscott could be a viable source of information.
Plus, part of her just wanted him to be the guilty party.
As she sat here, arguing with herself, going back and forth on the common sense of going against Mack’s warning, Mack phoned her.
“I’m going down to the restaurant right now, and, yes, you can come along if you want.”
“Woo-hoo!” she exclaimed, jumping for joy.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he quipped, laughing into the phone.
“Absolutely,” she replied, with a happy tone.
“Okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Okay, I’m getting ready.” She quickly grabbed her coat and bundled up the animals. When Mack pulled into her driveway, she stepped outside with everybody in tow.
He looked at her and groaned. “Obviously I didn’t make myself clear.”
“No, you didn’t,” she stated, “so I took advantage and assumed that, when we go sleuthing, we all go sleuthing.”
“I don’t know how the captain will feel about that.”
She laughed. “The captain would expect exactly this.”
He tilted his head and then chuckled softly. “He probably would.”
“And it’s not as if it’s a working restaurant right now anyway. It’s a crime scene that forensics has already processed too,” she pointed out. “So nobody can get upset about the animals being there.”
“Maybe not,” he conceded, “but you do know how to push it.”
“That’s true. I do,” she admitted.
With everybody piled into the cab of his truck, Mack barreled down toward the Rocking Horse Pub.
She suggested, “We could always pick up something for dinner too.” When he glanced at her, she shrugged. “We’re almost never in downtown Kelowna, and I don’t really know why.”
“Most of the time we’re eating at home, and lately I just haven’t had time to go anywhere.”
“I understand, and that’s another reason I keep bringing up Vancouver. We can actually take time off for a holiday of sorts.”
“I’m not against it,” he replied. “I’m looking forward to it. We haven’t traveled together outside of Kelowna, have we?”
“Vernon,” she murmured.
“I would consider that local though,” he noted, with a laugh.
She grinned and nodded. “It just seems as if it’s a different world.”
“Sure, but it’s the same for West Kelowna, and you don’t go over there much either.”
“I know. It’s weird, almost like a different planet.”
“Hardly,” he said in exasperation, looking at her.
“Okay, maybe not a different planet but a different city.”
He just sighed. When they got up to the restaurant area, he pulled down a side street and then into an alleyway, as he parked in the back.
“Oh, even better,” she muttered. “I wanted to check out the loading bay area.” When they got out, she looked around and asked, “So, is the parking here for the restaurant?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Just wondering how somebody would get down here,” she replied. “Did they drive up? Did anybody see anything illegal? Are there any cameras or anything like that?”
“No cameras along the alleyway,” he said. “At one point there were but not any longer. When this whole street was revitalized, with food joints all over the place, some of that went by the wayside.”
“Which doesn’t seem to be an improvement, if you think about it.”
“Some of it was an improvement because the security went inside. These were outdated outdoor security cameras that were mostly broken,” he explained. “So it went to more modern technology, and that is controlled from inside the building.”
“I don’t know if this restaurant had anything like that.”
“I don’t know, but I did speak to a couple restaurant owners in this area. Most of them would love to have something like that again but haven’t been able to afford it.”
She nodded. “COVID really did a number on the restaurants, and they’re still having a tough time. … We already know a lot of them had to close their doors.”
He nodded. “I did hear about that, but I didn’t realize it was quite so bad.”
“I really think we’re supposed to help support the local community,” she noted, “which means we should probably do something on a more local level and maybe pick up dinner on the way home.”
He looked at her and asked, “Did you eat today?”
She frowned at him. “Of course I did.”
He shook his head. “There’s no of course about it. Did you actually eat today?”
“Yes, I ate today,” she stated. Then in a small voice confessed, “I had some chocolate croissants down at Nan’s.” His eyes widened. “And, no, I didn’t bring any home for you either.”
He just shook his head. “Did you eat any real food today?”
“That is real food,” she cried out.
“Only if you had an omelet, or bacon and eggs, or at least eggs on toast beforehand.”
“I didn’t get a chance,” she wailed. “Everybody’s had me on the run all day.”
They all got out of Mack’s truck, and Doreen kept a tight grip on the leashes on Mugs and Goliath. This alleyway was filled with broken glass and dumpsters full of rotting food. Doreen wondered if this had been a good idea to bring her animals here.
Mack had keys to the place and unlocked the back door. She frowned at that and asked, “Did they lock the restaurant when they were inside? Or did they not lock it as Jillian said and anybody could have walked in?”
“I don’t know, but it still doesn’t explain who would know they were there at that hour, other than Alice. Still, when working after closing time, the doors definitely should have been locked.”
As they walked into the restaurant, Doreen lifted her nose and sniffed. “We really should pick up some food on the way home.”
“That’s the third time you’ve mentioned food in the last five minutes. So we’ll definitely be picking up dinner,” he muttered, glancing at her.
“What if it was a burglary gone wrong?”
“Then why kill somebody?” He frowned, looked down at his notes, and stated, “Jillian couldn’t remember for sure but didn’t think they had locked the back door.”
Doreen sighed. “And, maybe in their minds, since she was with him, they had no need to lock the doors at all.”
“That’s often a misconception people tend to make.”
“I was also wondering if he wore a headset, listening to music or something,” she added. “He almost had to, right? If not, why wouldn’t he have heard somebody coming in? Or was it somebody he knew, and, when he turned his back to them, they killed him?”
He turned to face her. “Seems you already have a theory,” he noted cautiously.
“I do,” she conceded, “but I have to solve all three murders and untangle the mess before I can get answers for you.”
He stared at her. Then his expression cleared, and he asked, “All three?”
“Yes,” she declared, nodding at him. “They have to be connected.”
He just gave her a small headshake and proceeded to turn on all the big overhead lights.
As she walked into what should have been a gleaming commercial kitchen, she noted food still sitting on the counter, along with dirty dishes and a mess everywhere, including that left behind by the forensics unit.
Plus, a big cut-up watermelon was on one counter but now looked wilted and sad. Jillian really had been cutting up the watermelon …
Doreen sighed. “This really won’t be an easy clean-up for Jillian, even to hire it out.” She had to keep a tight rein on Mugs and Goliath even inside the restaurant. She feared they would eat some spoiled food here—or worse.
“Yet this is minor in comparison to some crime scenes. However, you’re right. It does need to be done before it becomes a food hazard.”
“Has anybody cleared it so the family can come in?”
“No, I don’t think so,” he muttered. “And not really an issue right now either.”
She turned around and asked, “Where’s the bathroom?”
“You need to use it?”
“No, but that’s where Jillian was struck.”
“Of course. Let’s go. We can review this location as to the first murder. Then we’ll have a look at it as to Alice’s murder.” He led the way around the corner, which was out of sight of the kitchen area.
Doreen nodded, thankful the animals followed her with no fuss.
“So, when Jillian exited the bathroom, the attacker had to be standing behind this door right here,” she pointed out.
“So he wouldn’t be seen, and he could come right up behind Jillian and knock her out,” she muttered. “That lends credence to her story.”
“Yes, … but, if she were the killer, she just preplanned that it would fit her story, which just means that she’s good at coming up with an explanation that we can’t argue with.”
She smiled at him. “I hear you, and I’m not saying she’s innocent.”
“Good because, until we have proof either way, nobody is innocent in my book.”
She held up her hand. “I know the drill.”
He snorted. “You may know the drill, but that doesn’t mean you listen to it or abide by it.”
She rolled her eyes, then headed back to the kitchen and continued their conversation. “The bigger issue is the fact that, if somebody came in through the rear kitchen door, and tried to attack Barry, he should have seen him.”
Mack turned, looked at the back door, then at the prep area. “Depends on which counter he was working on.”
“According to what we see here, in terms of the knives and the work in progress, it would be this one,” she stated, stepping up to it and looking around, the animals right beside her.
Mack stated, “But that also means that anybody coming in would have been seen.”
“So, either he knew the person or …”
“Or what?”
“Or he had no warning. Say, Barry was talking with the guy or whatever, then turned his back on him, unconcerned, then was stabbed from behind.”
“I don’t think he would have stepped back so quickly to his prep work, not that fast.”
“Or,” she began, then stopped and frowned.
“Or what now?” he asked her.