Merry Masquerade in Savannah: A Made in Savannah Cozy Mystery (Made in Savannah Cozy Mysteries Serie Hope Callaghan (best sales books of all time TXT) 📖

They enjoyed a quiet rest of the morning and Carlita was getting ready to close her book when she heard a noise coming from the hall.  She turned to see Tori standing in the doorway.  “May I come in?”

“Yes. Of course.” Carlita motioned her into the room.  “Mrs. O’Brien told us earlier you had a breakfast meeting.  I’m guessing it was with Mimi Dykstra?”

“Yes. Such a sad situation.” Tori settled into the chair next to the desk.  “Their marriage is on the rocks, thanks in part to Ava Torrez.  As we suspected, Rick and Ava had a brief fling.  When Mimi found out, she fired Ava on the spot, while Rick was out of town on a business trip.”

“How terrible.”

“It gets worse. When Rick returned from his trip, he flew into a rage when he found out his wife had fired Ava and promptly called her, offering to give her the job back and a pay raise to boot.”

“I thought I heard voices and Ava’s name.” Mercedes stuck her head inside the room.  “You met with Mrs. Dykstra?”

“Yes.” Tori briefly recapped what she’d already told Carlita and then picked up where she’d left off.  “Mimi and Rick got into a huge argument and Mimi gave him an ultimatum…Ava or her.  Well, he really had no choice.  If Mimi divorced Rick, their dirty laundry would be aired all over the local news and he is a prominent commercial real estate investor.”

“Ava was bribing him,” Mercedes guessed.

“That’s what I asked Mimi point-blank, but she was very evasive with her reply.” Tori straightened her back, a twinkle in her eye.  “You ladies would be very proud of me.  I cut to the chase and asked her if she thought Rick met with Ava during my party.”

“You did?”

“Yes. She said there was a brief time where he excused himself to use the restroom. I believe she may have been suspicious because she said he was gone approximately twenty-six minutes.”

“So it may have been Rick Dykstra,” Mercedes said.

“Mimi suspects as much.  She admitted since Ava was out of the house, things were much calmer and the atmosphere greatly improved.”

“Did you thank her for pawning the woman off on you?” Carlita asked.

“I did, and she said she thought Ava would straighten up. After all, I don’t have a husband for her to chase after,” Tori said.

“But you do have male employees,” Mercedes pointed out.

“Mimi apologized profusely for recommending Ava and for not warning me, but stopped short of offering to talk to the investigators again, which leads me back to Ava possibly dangling something over Rick, or even Mimi’s head.”  Tori glanced at her watch.  “The good news is it appears we’ve managed to make some headway in our investigation. I also have some other news to share with you.”

Chapter 20

“What kind of news?” Carlita asked.

“Detective Wilson and a Detective Jackson will be arriving promptly at 12:30 for a meeting.  They also want to have another look around and are bringing a search warrant.”

Carlita and Mercedes’ eyes met.  “Zachary.”

“You know the second detective?” Tori asked.

“Yes. We met Detective Jackson several months ago, during one of the investigations.”

“I think it might have been a murder investigation,” Mercedes added.

“Or maybe it was when our place was vandalized, or during the pawnshop robbery.”  Carlita sighed.  “I think we’ve covered all of the bases. He and Mercedes have gone out on a date or two.”

“Dating a police officer?” Tori lifted a brow.

“It’s nothing serious,” Mercedes mumbled.  “We’re just friends.”

“It’s certainly none of my business,” Tori said. “We need to search Ava’s room again, and I think we should do it before the detectives arrive.”

Tori glanced at her watch.  “I’ll stop by the kitchen to ask Mrs. O’Brien to hold off on serving lunch.  This will work out perfectly.  Lucien and Byron are in Savannah returning some rental items from the party.  Patrick and Iris have the afternoon off and plan to take in a movie.  Jenny is gone and Mrs. O’Brien is working in the kitchen.  The entire employee wing will be empty.”

“Like a gift from above,” Mercedes said.

The women waited for Tori in the courtyard where she joined them a short time later.  They made their way to the back of the house, to the employee entrance and climbed the stairs.

Tori led them to Ava’s room and unlocked the door.  “We’ve no time to waste.”

Carlita stepped inside first.  “Mercedes, you check out the kitchenette, including the trash containers.  I’ll head to the bathroom.”

“Where would you like me to search?” Tori asked.

“You can take the bedroom area if you want.”

Tori gave Carlita a nod and the women split up to search the small efficiency.  Mercedes finished first and stood in the bathroom doorway watching her mother.  “This place is clean as a whistle.”

“So is the bedroom,” Tori said.

Carlita finished sifting through the bathroom trash and set the can on the floor next to the toilet. “Something isn’t adding up. I’m missing something.” She opened the door leading to the adjoining bedroom.

Tori and Mercedes trailed behind.

“You said this room was vacant.”

“Yes,” Tori confirmed.

“It was Mrs. O’Brien’s room and she asked to be moved. She didn’t want to share a bathroom with Ava.”

“Right again.  Mrs. O’Brien complained that Ava was messy.”

“She said the same thing to Mercedes and me, that Ava was messy and lazy and didn’t like to pick up after herself,” Carlita mused.  “But her room is almost spotless.”

Mercedes snapped her fingers.  “Maybe it was clean because she never stayed here…maybe she was staying in someone else’s room.”

“With Patrick?” Tori asked.

“Or Chad Olsen,” Mercedes guessed.  “I doubt she was messing around with Lucien or