I passed by a small office and then pause at next. From the sign over the door, the break room was the next doorway. The sign on this door said, Conference Room. I pushed open the door and stood dumbstruck. A man sprawled face down on an oriental rug, stained crimson with blood. From the thinning hair and large size, I thought I’d found the man I’d handed a check to yesterday.

  Matty Goldstein wasn’t going to be telling his employees anything about the sale. He was dead.

  “Are you sure the building sale was completed?” The detective in a bad suit asked me for the third time. I sat in the employee break room, drinking coffee and going over the events that had led me to purchase the store for the last hour.

  “I handed him a check. We signed the documents. The title company was filing all the paperwork. The sale was complete.” I glanced over to where Nic sat, working on his phone. He’d cancelled his appointments for the day and now was waiting for me.

  Bubba stood in the corner, hands behind his back, watching the door.

  “Okay, we’ll be in touch. The coroner has taken the body to the morgue and the crime scene guys have finished their work.” The detective, Boone Charles, closed his notebook and handed me a card. “I’ve written down the items we took out of the conference room on the back. It’s your receipt, although I don’t think you’re going to want that rug back.”

  “So you’re done here? We can clean up and open?” I took the card and dropped it into my tote. I didn’t want to sound insensitive, but on the other hand, I’d begun to look at the company’s books while we waited for the police to finish. We needed sales to keep going.

  “Not today you’re not.” Nic stood by my side and handed the detective his own card. “Thank you for being so quick on this, Detective Charles. If you need to talk to my sister, she’ll be staying at my house tonight.”

  The man stood and shook Nic’s hand. Then he looked down at me. “Sorry that your first day back turned into such a disaster.”

  “It’s not my first day back, I’ve been here for a few weeks. I’m staying at the Monteleone.” I felt like I was babbling. Looking at my brother, I could see the concern in his eyes. “But I guess not tonight.”

  Boone stepped toward the door. “It’s still a shame.”

  After we were alone, Nic turned me toward him. Bubba stood outside the door. “Are you sure you’re, okay? You found a dead body.”

  “Maybe in shock a little. Man, this is not how I planned to spend the day. I was going to pull up the inventory list and go through it all, making notes on where and what condition everything was in.” I followed him out to the hallway, pausing at the elevator. “Hey, can we at least look for his records? These sales records I found in the business manager’s office are making me a little nervous. According to this, the store hasn’t had a sale over two hundred dollars in over a month.”

  Nic glanced at his watch. “Of course. I’ve had your car taken to the compound. Annamae’s making dinner for us. Bubba, stay on this floor and watch the front door, please.”

  Which was code that I didn’t have much time. Nic had learned the art of speaking without being direct from our father. It drove me crazy. Say what you mean and mean what you say. That had been Mom’s motto for years.

  Fifteen minutes later, we’d gone through the office without finding much of anything. Nic pointed to an empty cord. “Maybe the police took his electronics.”

  I sighed and gave up. “I guess so. I’ll look closer tomorrow when I come in.”

  Passing by the second office, I paused. I had a strong feeling I needed to open the door. Reason number four hundred and five that I shouldn’t have come home. My own psychic powers were coming back after I’d been able to ignore their existence for years. I saw Nic felt the same draw to the room. I put my hand on the knob. “Might as well check it out.”

  A Queen Anne desk set in the middle of the room. A laptop was on the top, looking out of place. As I crossed the room, I also saw an envelope with my name scrawled on the front. I opened it and read the enclosed letter. “It’s from Matty. He loaded all the records on the laptop for me and says he’ll be out of the larger office by the end of the week.”

  “He was off on his estimation by a few days.” Nic picked up the laptop and tucked it under his arm. “Let’s take this back to the house. Maybe you won’t have to come in for a few days while we get cleaners in here.”

  “I don’t need taken care of, big brother.” From the look I got, I didn’t think he believed me.

  After dinner, I took the laptop to my room. The good news was I had clothes still in the closet that fit and my desk was stocked with office supplies. It was almost like I’d never left. As the laptop booted up, I grabbed a notebook from my desk.

  As Matty had promised, the records were all loaded including a list of the current employees and the records I’d found in the office downstairs. There were also lists of purchases and sales for the last twenty years. Matty had been losing money for a while now. A fact I’d known, but even I hadn’t suspected the extent of the red ink. I started making lists of things I needed to follow up on.

  A knock came at the door and Annamae stepped inside with a tray. The smell of hot cocoa made me smile.

  “I figured you’d be still up working. I made a pot of cocoa and a pot of coffee for you. I made beignets this morning. I was hoping you’d stop by soon.” Annamae sat the tray on the desk, then brushed a strand of hair out of my face. “It’s good to have you back.”

  “I’m happy to be here, but I may have made a big mistake buying this antique store.” I waved a hand by the computer. “I’m not sure the guy ever made a profit.”

  “Your brother told me you bought Goldstein’s Antiques.” Annamae sat down on the bed. She rubbed her fingers. The arthritis she’d fought for years appeared to be winning from the look of her hands. “I attend the same church as Matty’s ex-wife. She’s always bragging about how much money she gets from him. How successful the store is and even what a complete fool, Matty is. If I had a husband that was giving me the type of money she claims to be getting, I’d be praising the man instead of talking bad about him. But Charlotte Goldstein is all about what’s in it for her. I’m surprised she even attends services, but of course, church is the best place to get the newest gossip.”

  I nodded to the laptop. “She is wrong about the store. It’s not doing well. Maybe Matty had some money set aside in his personal account, but if she was getting a large amount of alimony, it wasn’t coming from the store. I wonder if he left her in the will?”

  Annamae laughed. “It would serve her right to be left out after all the bad things she said about the man. I’m sure she’s already called her attorney to see what’s coming her way.”

  Speaking of the Goldstein’s reminded me of my aunt. “Annamae, did Aunt Franny ever come visit Grandma Andrews? I mean after the fight?”

  The spat between Grandma and Aunt Franny had happened just before my high school graduation. Aunt Franny had sent a card with a check and apologized for not attending the ceremony, claiming to be out of town. But then I’d seen her going into Neiman Marcus the day after. I’d been downtown with my friends, spending some of the cash we’d gotten for graduation and talking about where we were going to school. Most of the girls I’d hung with had gone east to school. I was the only one to go west to Seattle. Even with my choice of colleges, I’d been the outsider.

  Annamae shook her head. “Sadly, no. I even called one day to make sure your Aunt Franny knew her mama wasn’t doing well. She thanked me, but never came by. I’m sure your grandmother would have loved to see her.”

  I wasn’t so sure of that. And my aunt must have known that what she did couldn’t be fixed, at least not with a death bed visit.

  “Well, I better get the kitchen cleaned up and head off to bed.” Annamae lived in a small house on the property. “I’ve got a show coming up tonight I like to watch. You just leave the tray in the kitchen and I’ll deal with it in the morning.”

  “Good night and thank you for this.” I stood and gave her a hug. The woman was more than just our cook. She’d been there for me after mom had passed and had listened for hours as I talked about the mean kids at school and my plans to go as far away as possible as soon as I could drive. Now, I was back.

  “You’re most welcome. And I’m so glad that you’re back home. You’ll find your place here. You don’t worry one minute about it.” She patted my face and then left the room.

  I went back to the laptop. Before I went through more records, I wrote down Charlotte Goldstein’s name. If she hadn’t known she wasn’t in the will, would she have killed the golden goose? But maybe she was in the will, which even gave her more motive since I’d just made Matty Goldstein a wealthy man.

  I mixed the coffee and cocoa half and half into a cup and went back to researching.

  Two hours later, both pots were empty and I had a list of questions that didn’t make sense. Like for one, why had Sarah been being paid three times more in base salary than most of the other salesman, especially since her actual commissions were few and far between? Mark Bennett, the guy that had been less than friendly when we visited the shop, had a salary almost as large. No wonder Matty hadn’t been making money, he was paying out most of his profits in employee costs. Even the most senior designers in Seattle hadn’t been making half of what these people were. I needed to do some research on wages for the area before I decided to put out an ad for employees. If this was the normal rate, I’d have to totally revamp my business plan.

  I set the cup back on the tray and took it to the kitchen. Then I got ready for bed. Tomorrow would be soon enough to dig more into the dead man’s finances.

  6

  When I went into the dining room for breakfast the next morning, Nic was on his tablet. I poured coffee from the sideboard and grabbed a few slices of banana bread along with an actual banana. Annamae had remembered my favorite breakfast treat. I glanced around the room. “Hey, do we still subscribe to the paper?”

  “Annamae has it in the kitchen. I tried to just buy her a tablet, but she said a daily paper was just fine.” He studied me. “How much sleep did you get?”

  “Enough,” I lied. “I’m going into town and working at the store today. I’ll stay at the hotel tonight. Thanks for the hospitality.”

  “You should stay here.” But he didn’t argue further. Apparently, having Bubba and his friends watching over me eased Nic’s worry.

  When I got the paper from the kitchen, I went right to the employment ads in the back. From what I could tell, salaries here were in line with what I’d expect to pay in a big city. Cheaper than Seattle, but not what Matty had been shelling out. I folded the help wanted ads and put them into my tote. I finished my breakfast, then I asked Trenton to drive me back into town.

  This time the door to Goldstein’s Antiques was locked when I used the key. I’d told Sarah that I would call when I was ready to reopened the store. Shutting the door, I relocked it and saw the homeless man from the other day, standing across the street, watching. Waving, I left the front and made my way up the elevator to the third-floor office with the Queen Anne desk. I considered working in Matty’s bigger office, but it just felt weird, at least for now. First project, inventory. I printed off the list from Matty’s files and found a clipboard in the desk. Then I headed up to the top floor. Might as well work my way down.

  By noon I’d cleared only one floor. This project might take days. I stopped at the break room and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. A noise from the hallway startled me. Holding the water out like a weapon, I opened the door to my new office. Nic sat eating a sandwich and playing on his phone.

  I let the arm with the water bottle drop and took a deep breath. “How did you get in?”

  “You left the door open. I brought you a sandwich.” He nodded to the Styrofoam container on the desk. “Eat. I want to talk to you.”

  “I didn’t leave the door unlocked.” I glanced down the hallway and thought I’d heard laughter. “What’s going on here?”

  “I believe they’re teasing you.” Nic seemed to listen for an answer like the other side was just in the other room. “Apparently they unlocked it to let me inside.”

  “I think you’re the one teasing me.” I didn’t move from the doorway. “Are you sure you didn’t find an extra set of keys?”

  “Sleight of hand is a talent.” Nic smiled pulled a key ring out of his pocket and tossed it over to my desk. Then took another bite of his sandwich. “These are the keys I took from Sarah.”

  I went to the desk, put the keys inside my drawer, then opened my lunch. Ham and cheese, my favorite. And a small container of potato salad along with a bag of chips. I unwrapped the sandwich and started eating. I was hungrier than I’d thought. Once the sandwich was gone, I leaned back. “So what’s up? Why are you eating takeout with me and not in some fancy restaurant with some business partner?”

  “Maybe I wanted to eat lunch with you.” When I didn’t reply, he continued. “Okay, fine, I found out some things this morning. Did you know that Matty had been losing money on this place when you bought it? Dean might be able to get you out of the deal since Matty died before the three-day waiting period was over.”

  “I don’t want out of the deal. And yes, I knew. But from what I’ve seen, it’s solvable. The sales are here. His expenses were just too high.” I focused my attention on the potato salad.

  “Our friend Sarah’s salary?”

  “Among others.” I grabbed the notebook from my bag. “Do you know a Mark Bennett?”

  “No.” He glanced around the room. “If you’re going to keep this, and I put emphasis on the word, if, you’re going to need better security. Are there even cameras on this place?”

  “On my list to check out. Right now, I’m going through the inventory. There are several big-ticket items that should be on the top floor according to the inventory sheet. They aren’t there. I haven’t had time to look at the other floors, but I didn’t find anything additional from the list on the top floor. Once inventory is done, I’m going to have to reach out to Matty’s attorney and make sure the items aren’t in his house.” I finished the potato salad. It had a bit of a kick to it. I looked at the bag when I put the empty container back inside. I’d have to remember this place. “I think I’m going to be here for at least a week verifying the physical inventory list.”

  “I’ll ask Dean to call the attorney.” Nic stood and brushed crumbs off his expensive suit. Then he took off the jacket. He called a number on his phone. “Bubba, come on up. We’ve got a job.”

  “What are you doing?” I didn’t like where this was going.

  “Bubba and I are going to help you with your inventory. We might take a little hand holding, but you’ll never get done in time if you don’t have more hands.” He held up a finger. “Hold on a second, I’m calling Dean, He needs to reach out to Goldstein’s attorney to make sure nothing leaves that house until we’re done with our inventory. We don’t want some ex-wife taking off with the property he sold you. It will make things harder to get back.”

  I hadn’t thought of what would happen with Matty’s stuff now that he was dead, but Nic was right. I needed to get the inventory done fast, before items I now owned disappeared.

  Bubba came into the room. He had several crumbs on his jacket as well, so I assumed Nic had dropped off food with him before he came upstairs. Bubba followed my gaze, blushing as he brushed off the evidence. The reaction made me smile. Maybe there was a heart under all that brawn.

  He folded his hands in front of him and waited for Nic to get off the phone with Mr. Dean. When Nic hung up, Bubba asked, “What can I help with?”

  “Eddie? Do you want to tell us where to start and what to look for?” Nic threw away his lunch into the trash can by the door.

  His action reminded me that I also needed to think about janitorial services and changing the business accounts into my name for the electric and water and trash. With Matty dead, no one was here to cancel them on me, but I still needed to get it done. Having Nic and Bubba helping with inventory would give me the hour to get all that done. At least I didn’t need to make a video on how to use the copiers.

  I had to admit the truth though, I needed help.

  “Okay, here’s the plan.” I took out the sheets I’d been working on this morning. At least Matty had used a coding system and each piece had a sticker with a code that if you knew how to read it, listed off date acquired and if the piece was part of a set, the number of pieces in the set. “So on the sticker for this table, it should match this code here. 05011999-24-07-01. The date he got the piece, May 1, 1999. It’s a seven-piece set and the table is number one. So there should be six chairs to go with it. Like 05011999-24-07-02 He must have bought at least 24 items that day. Like this cabinet, it’s coded 05011999-22-00-00. So it wasn’t part of a set, but it was bought the same day.”

  The men looked at me like I had been explaining calculus or some other higher end math. I sighed and looked back at the list. “It doesn’t make any sense?”

  “All we have to do is look for and match the numbers. Then we can mark it off the list, right? And if it’s not there, we can highlight it.” Bubba repeated back his assignment. “One question, what if a piece is not on the list?”

  He got it. I smiled and handed him a clipboard showing him the blank paper I’d added to the bottom. “Then just write the code down on this, what floor and area you found it, and a general description of the item. Like table or wall hanging.”

  “Or really ugly figurine?” Nic added, reaching for a clipboard.

  Laughing, I nodded. “You can call it whatever you want, but please try to be specific. Nic, you’re on the fourth floor. Bubba, floor two. I’ll hit the first floor as soon as I make the calls to keep on the lights.”