questions. He’s looking for a motive that’s more close to home.”
I looked over to where Danvers was conversing with the ME. “Does he know that you’re telling me all this? I doubt that he’d approve of your sharing spy stories.”
Land sighed. “Again, not spy stories, and yeah, he knows. I called him after you called me and told him that I was going to tell you everything. He objected a little, but I think only because his job demands that he keep civilians out of the way.”
“Like you?” I asked with a smirk.
“It’s not quite the same. I’m a consultant on this project, so I’m not exactly civilian, but I’m not exactly police either.” He looked at me with a stony face that didn’t tell me anything beyond the words he’d said. So he was actually in a semi-official position with the police. The situation had to be dire if they were hiring outsiders to help with a case.
“So besides the fact that you’ll be at work tomorrow, what else should I know about this?”
“I’m sure you’re going to stick your nose into the Sam angle and learn about where she got the food truck. So I figure those are covered. I’ll keep my eyes open to anything going on with this other business too. Then we can compare notes. I’m honestly thinking that you’re going to come up with more answers than I will on this case. I can’t imagine that Danvers is going to share much with me beyond this point since my services are no longer needed here.”
I nodded. Danvers could ask a lot of the people around him, but he played his cards close to his chest. I wasn’t sure if this was because he didn’t trust anyone or because he didn’t want anyone else to get any credit for his work. In either case, he could be quite closemouthed at times. I had no doubt that Land was right about the lack of information coming from the police.
Carter was still looking ill, so I called him over to tell Land about the pineapple salsa. He perked up, talking about the ingredients and the taste. Land made a few suggestions about possible spices to add to the condiment for Carter’s next attempt at it. They chatted merrily away about other possible new condiments, and I was glad to see that Carter had been distracted by the work.
Land was right about one thing. I knew that I could handle some things right away. I finally ushered Carter away from Land, and we headed back to the truck. I got in, took the money to the bank, and headed back to the secured lot. I had wanted to make sure that I got the deposit in for the day since I was running late. I made a mental note to check on Janelle’s cash on hand. I wondered if it had been taken or if it had still been in the truck. It could eliminate robbery as a motive if the killer had left it there.
After I got home, I called my mother. I had to work delicately, since I didn’t want her to get too excited about a future for Sam and me. I just needed contact information so that I could ask him about his relationship with Janelle.
My mother answered almost immediately. I made small talk for a few moments, if you count telling her about a murder as a conversation icebreaker. My mother dances between wanting to know all the details and telling me to be careful.
In the end, I didn’t even have to bring the subject up. “Have you heard from Sam yet?” my mother asked me.
“I don’t see how that’s possible, since he doesn’t have my phone number,” I answered, knowing where this was going. I was doing my own dance between being annoyed and wanting the information.
“He called the following day and asked for your number. That’s odd. He seemed so anxious to talk to you.” If my calculations were correct, my mother was talking about the day after when I’d seen Sam talking to Janelle. I now wondered if he’d seen me as I had noticed him. That might account for him wanting to talk to me now. However, the odd thing was that he hadn’t followed through on this. I had a strange