Northwest Cozy Mysteries #1 Read online

  Jake’s face was grim. “Hide your face,” he said as they pulled onto the street. DeeDee just had time to notice the squad cars lining the curb, and the crowd of what she assumed were reporters and photographers outside the gates, before she covered her face with both hands. Flashbulbs popped as they drove away.

  “It hasn’t been confirmed that Lisa was murdered,” Jake said, as they drove towards DeeDee’s house, “but in my opinion, people don’t suddenly drop dead without a good reason. There’s more to this than meets the eye. I can tell the police think so, too.”

  “Really?” DeeDee’s eyes widened. “You don’t think they’ll suspect me, do you?”

  Jake looked across at DeeDee and tried to hide a smile. “Is there something you’re not telling me DeeDee? Should I be worried that you’ll kill me in my sleep?”

  “This is not a joking matter,” DeeDee said, staring out the window. Jake spoke again. “Do you think Lisa was really that well liked? It’s been my experience that someone as successful as she was probably made a few enemies along the way. What was your impression of her from when you worked at the museum?”

  “Well, I didn’t see her that often,” DeeDee said, tipping her head to the side as she tried to remember the few times she’d met Lisa. “I was very much on the outer edge of the art world, so I didn’t really know her well. Lisa had her own gallery, but she did come to the Seattle Art Museum to see Marlene from time to time, usually with Bernard Metz.”

  “Who’s Bernard Metz? Did he work with Lisa?” Jake asked.

  DeeDee gasped. “Oh no, Lisa didn’t like Bernard at all, but sometimes as owners of the two most acclaimed art galleries in Seattle, they had to go to the museum for one thing or another. I heard that Bernard had a thing for Lisa. He was there tonight at the dinner as well.”

  “Interesting,” Jake said, pulling into her driveway. He stopped the car and turned towards her. “So, this Bernard guy, why didn’t Lisa like him?”

  “I think it was something to do with an artist who specializes in art glass. Both of them wanted to exhibit his work in their galleries,” DeeDee said, “His name is Dale Chihuly. Lisa was able to get him to show his works at The Pioneer Art Gallery instead of at Bernard’s gallery. I understand his place, The Undercover Art Gallery, hasn’t been doing that well ever since she was able to get Chihuly. From what I heard, Bernard even offered to go into business with Lisa, but she refused.”

  Jake rubbed his chin. “Do you think Bernard had it in for Lisa?”

  “Well, maybe,” DeeDee said. “You see, Bernard also wanted to date her, but she wasn’t interested. I gather Bernard Metz does not like taking no for an answer. Anyway, since Lisa was seeing Shane Conklin, I imagine he’d be a suspect as well if it turns out Lisa was murdered.”

  “I know Shane from a while back. He’s a good guy. I believe he was very much in love with her. He told me once he was going to propose to her. I’d really be surprised if he had anything to do with it, but it’s been my experience you never know,” Jake said.

  “Maybe I should go to Lisa’s gallery, and see what I can find out,” DeeDee said. “I need this to be cleared up, so Deelish doesn’t get any bad publicity. If I could find out something that would help, it would be worth the time and effort of making the ferry trip over to Seattle.”

  “I hate to tell you this, but I’m predicting that you may be in the news tomorrow,” Jake said as he smiled and took her hand. “Expect the Bainbridge Island Review to be looking for a scoop. They’ll probably want to interview you. This is the most exciting thing to have happened to a Bainbridge Island resident since the mayor got caught skinny dipping in the Sound with one of the city council members.”

  DeeDee groaned. “Oh no, and I didn’t even get paid by Marlene. She was supposed to pay me this afternoon, but we got busy, and I never got around to asking her. Some businesswoman I am. This is really a disaster. Jake, I have to do whatever I can to clear my name.”

  “I agree, and I’d help you if I could, but I’ve got a couple of big cases I’m working on right now,” Jake said. “Tell you what, let’s go inside, and I’ll run through a few ideas I have. We can make a list of who was at the party, and try and come up with a possible list of suspects, just in case she was murdered. Maybe someone will be on the list who had it in for Lisa.”

  “That could be anyone,” DeeDee said. “It’s dog-eat-dog in the Seattle art world. Who knows what lengths people would go to for their fifteen minutes of fame?”

  “It could also be something like an unhappy employee. Try not to worry DeeDee. Let’s see what we can come up with.” Jake lightly kissed DeeDee’s forehead, got out of the car, and opened her door. She knew Jake was trying to help her, but having a guest die at a dinner party she’d catered was about the worst thing that could have possibly happened to her new business. She was afraid she’d have to close the doors of Deelish before she even had a chance to make a go of it.

  CHAPTER 13

  That night DeeDee tossed and turned in bed all night long. Every time she closed her eyes, the image of Lisa Sanders standing in the back yard of Marlene’s house flashed through her mind. What if the police officer was right? What if she could have saved Lisa?

  The next morning things didn’t seem quite as bad as they had at 3:00 a.m. When DeeDee got up, later than usual, Balto was waiting by the door, ready for his walk.

  “Okay, Balto, I’m coming,” DeeDee muttered, grabbing a muffin. She poured some coffee into a travel mug to take with her. If nothing else, she figured it would help wake her up. She picked up her cell phone to check for messages. There were twelve missed calls and a voicemail from Hugh Lynn at the Bainbridge Island Review, requesting an interview with her. She turned the power off and opened the door for Balto.

  They made their way down the path to the beach and when they got there, DeeDee walked at a steady pace, sipping her coffee, as she watched Balto run to the edge of the waves and then run away again as soon as he got wet. The refreshing breeze, along with a strong dose of caffeine, helped her to focus on what she needed to do to clear her name.

  “We need to find out what happened to Lisa Sanders, Balto. That’s number one on our to-do list,” DeeDee said when Balto returned, ready to play fetch. She threw a stick down the beach. “Good fetch, boy,” DeeDee said when he returned, proudly carrying the stick in his mouth. She squatted down to his level and rubbed his chest. “If Lisa Sanders was in fact murdered, the sooner the mystery surrounding her death is solved the better it will be for me. We don’t want this to look bad for Deelish, do we, Balto?”

  He barked, and DeeDee threw the stick again. There was no way she could wait at home wondering how and why Lisa Sanders wound up dead next to Marlene Palmer’s patio. It was very simple. Her business would be in limbo until the death of Lisa Sanders was resolved, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything else until it was solved. She decided the best thing to do was to keep busy, and find out what she could. She decided to start with the list of people she and Jake had come up with the night before. When she returned home, she showered, dressed, and called Roz.

  “DeeDee, where in the devil have you been? I’ve been worried sick. I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all morning. Are you okay, what did the police say? I got your voicemail last night, but it wasn’t very complete.”

  “Slow down, Roz,” DeeDee said, giving her sister the short version of the dinner party events. “At the moment, we don’t know anything. The police are going to check the food to see if it could have been the cause of Lisa’s death, but there’s no reason to think it was.”

  “Try telling that to the papers,” Roz said. “I don’t know if you’ve seen them yet, but they’re saying that Lisa was poisoned. In other words, they’re saying she was murdered.”

  DeeDee sat down with a stunned look on her face and gripped the arm of the chair. Jake had warned her something like this might happen, but she wasn’t prepared for how panicked she felt. The other line on her p
hone buzzed.

  “Roz, let me get back to you. I’ve got another call I need to take,” DeeDee said, glancing at the caller ID.

  “Jake?” DeeDee’s voice was a high-pitched squeak. “Roz just told me that the papers say that Lisa was poisoned. What am I going to do?”

  “Calm down, DeeDee, I’ve read the articles,” Jake said. “This is exactly what I was afraid of. The papers need to write something, so they just made that up, but let’s look at the good news which is that neither Deelish nor your name was mentioned in the newspaper articles. The police won’t care, since it takes the heat off of them for now. Sit tight, and everything will be fine. Actually, she wasn’t poisoned. She was smothered to death, as the police chief and I suspected. I just got off the phone with the chief, who talked to the coroner after he did a preliminary exam. The coroner confirmed that death was caused by asphyxiation. By the way, Rob and I got your car, and it’s parked in front of your house.”

  DeeDee wished she was as certain as Jake seemed to be about what he considered to be good news, namely that neither she nor Deelish was mentioned by name in the newspaper articles. She put Balto in the back yard, took her purse and keys, and drove to the ferry. An hour later, she walked into the Pioneer Square Art Gallery in downtown Seattle.

  There was a somber mood in the gallery, the staff speaking among themselves in hushed tones. DeeDee walked around, viewing the latest exhibits, pausing now and then in an attempt to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. Just when she was thinking that this was getting her precisely nowhere, DeeDee spotted Toni Roswell, Lisa’s personal assistant, directing one of the workers who was hanging a new piece of artwork on a wall.

  “Toni?” DeeDee said as she approached her. Toni looked up, and smiled in recognition. “I’m so sorry about Lisa,” DeeDee began, “I saw her last night, and I can’t believe she’s gone.”

  Toni’s face crumpled. “Over to the right,” she directed the man who was holding the painting to be hung.

  “Is that a Mark Tobey?” DeeDee asked.

  Toni nodded. “It just arrived today. Lisa got it on loan from the Guggenheim. Did you say you saw her last night? Were you at the party?”

  “Yes,” DeeDee said, careful not to mention that she was the caterer. She waited until the man hanging the painting had finished, then spoke in a hushed tone. “Toni, I know you’re really upset right now, but can you think of anyone who might want Lisa dead?”

  Toni shook her head. “No,” she answered. “Not that I can think of.” She gazed into the distance, then turned back to DeeDee. “Wait a minute, there’s Bernard Metz. He was always trying to buy this place from Lisa, but she’d refused to sell to him. I remember one time when he came here Lisa had to call security.”

  “Really, did he ever threaten her?” DeeDee asked.

  Toni shook her head. “I don’t think it was anything like that. I always thought he just had a crush on her that had gotten out of hand. At one point the floral deliveries were arriving daily, but Lisa soon put a stop to those as well. I was in her office one day when she was talking on the phone to him, and she told him in no uncertain terms that she was not interested in seeing him socially. Oh yes, and one other thing…”

  “Hmm?” DeeDee leaned in to hear what Toni had to say. This was all very useful insider information.

  “She said if he ever accused her again of getting Dale Chihuly’s art glass pieces by dishonest means, she would sue him for slander. Lisa was very angry about that.”

  “I wonder what she meant,” DeeDee said, hoping to get more insight into the feud between Lisa and Bernard.

  “I have no idea,” Toni shrugged. “Oh, and then there was that crazy artist Matt something or other.” Toni was on a roll.

  “Hmm,” DeeDee said. She wanted to encourage Toni to open up as much as possible. “Who was he?”

  “He was married to Lisa’s sister at one time. Her pregnant sister died in a tragic car accident. He wanted Lisa to put his works on consignment here at the gallery. They’re totally wrong for this type of a cutting-edge gallery, but he wouldn’t listen.”

  “What do you mean, totally wrong?” DeeDee asked.

  “He paints in a different genre,” Toni explained. “He does impressionist seascapes of the San Juan Islands and boats, that sort of thing.” Toni sucked in her cheeks. “They’re nice to hang in your living room, but his work really doesn’t make it in our league.”

  “Do you know his name?” DeeDee pressed Toni.

  Toni looked away from DeeDee, and stared at the entrance of the gallery. DeeDee turned around, and recognized the police officer who had interviewed her at Marlene’s house walking through the front door of the gallery. DeeDee turned her head away, flicking her hair forward to partially cover her face.

  “Is there another door out of here?” DeeDee asked Toni.

  Toni took DeeDee by the arm and led her to the back door of the gallery.

  “You have five seconds to tell me what’s going on,” Toni said, “before the cops get here. Why are you asking me all this stuff anyway? I thought you only saw Lisa last night.”

  “I did,” DeeDee said, burying her face in her hands. “I’m sorry Toni, this is a disaster for me, I’m trying to…” A tear trickled down DeeDee’s cheek.

  Toni steered DeeDee to some steps. They both sat down, and DeeDee wiped her face with the back of her hand, and looked over at a stony-faced Toni.

  “I’m trying to clear my name. I was the caterer for the dinner party, Toni. It’s a new business for me, and Marlene was my first ever client. She could also be the last, unless I can find out who killed Lisa. I heard this morning that the coroner has issued a preliminary report saying that she was murdered. I recently got divorced, and this business was supposed to be a fresh start for me. If I lose it, I’m sunk.”

  Toni looked over at DeeDee, her arms folded. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t think you did it. I’d like to find out who killed her, too. No one here knows what’s going to happen to the gallery now that Lisa is gone. If someone like Bernard Metz takes over, we could all be fired tomorrow. I’ll do what I can to help you, because I think Lisa would want me too.”

  “Thanks, Toni.” They both heard heavy footsteps coming down the hallway that led to the back door. DeeDee jumped up.

  Toni whispered, “Matt Benson, that was the artist’s name. He’s sort of like nuts, you know, unhinged. His studio isn’t far from here. It’s over on the next block not far from Bernard Metz’s gallery, Undercover Art. I think there’s an art supplies store downstairs. That’s all I know. Oh, and DeeDee?”

  “Yes?” DeeDee’s hands were on the bar to open the back door.

  “Good luck.”

  CHAPTER 14

  DeeDee quickly walked down the alley behind the gallery and slipped unnoticed into the crowd of people walking on the sidewalk. Pioneer Square was always busy, and she was just another person going to work or shop in the city. She turned around a few times to make sure the police officer she’d seen in the gallery wasn’t behind her before she called Roz.

  “What is it now? Why do you sound like you’re out of breath?” Roz asked.

  “I’m escaping from the police, Roz,” DeeDee said, before she started to laugh at the absurdity of her behavior.

  “Leave the wisecracks to me,” Roz replied. “Who do you think you are, Columbo?”

  “Ha-ha. No, but I’m going to have to keep in contact with you all day. If anything happens to me, at least you’ll know where I am.”

  “Really? Now I am getting worried. I’d rather you were at home doing something like drinking tea.”

  “Listen to me Roz, this is important. Please write this down. I’m going to the Undercover Art Gallery, and then I’m going to try and find an artist named Matt Benson. I’ll call you later.”

  DeeDee thought about what she knew of Bernard Metz. Toni seemed to think he had more than a grudge against Lisa. He’d been pursuing Lisa romantically, and she’d turned him down, as well as h
aving him removed by security when he turned up at her gallery. She wondered if he’d threatened her. But one thing was really bothering DeeDee, the fact that Bernard had accused Lisa of acquiring Dale Chihuly’s work for her gallery in some underhanded fashion. It made DeeDee wonder if Lisa wasn’t quite a saint after all.

  Undercover Art had an urban, edgy feel, compared to the understated sophistication of the Pioneer Art Gallery from which she’d just come. DeeDee was struck by the eerie silence when she walked into the gallery. The place was deserted. Apart from a guard and an employee in the main exhibition room, she was the only other person there. If Bernard Metz was worried about the Pioneer Art Gallery stealing his business, he probably had a right to be.

  Speak of the devil, DeeDee thought when she noticed Bernard observing her from the mezzanine above. She knew Bernard from having seen him with Marlene at the Seattle Art Museum, but she had no reason to think he’d know her from Adam. DeeDee took her time looking at the exhibits, pausing at a glass art piece displayed in a tall column.

  “It’s a Karen LaMonte,” a voice beside her said. “Very striking, don’t you think?”

  DeeDee turned to face Bernard Metz, who had quietly come up next to her. The smell of his cologne caught in the back of her throat, and she covered her mouth with her hand when she felt like she might retch from the overpowering nauseous smell.

  “It is,” DeeDee said, “but I’m interested in buying a Dale Chihuly piece. Do you have any of his work?”

  “Not at the moment, but we expect to have some soon.” Bernard said smiling, revealing perfect white teeth.

  “Do you know when?” DeeDee asked. “I heard they have some in the Pioneer Art Gallery. That’s my next stop.”

  “Hmm, you don’t want to do that,” Bernard said, leaning in closer towards her. “As a matter of fact, I was talking to Dale just this morning. The owner of the Pioneer Gallery died suddenly, and Dale is going to pull his pieces from there. With the owner dead, the place is expected to close soon. We’re just finalizing the details, but Dale’s work should be available in my gallery within a matter of a few days.”