“I’m certain that’s why Elvira was gung ho on buying her building. She found the antiques upstairs, and she’s probably convinced there are even more valuables buried around here.” Carlita brushed off her knees and glared at her former tenant’s building.
“What are you going to do?”
Carlita lifted a finger. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Mercedes asked.
“Listen.” A faint beeping noise echoed from the vicinity of the shrubs that separated her property from Elvira’s property.
Carlita marched around the corner and nearly collided with Elvira, clad in denim capris and wearing a wide brimmed hat. She stood in the middle of her yard, holding a metal detector.
“What are you doing?”
She barely gave Carlita a glance. “Looking for buried treasure.”
“Yeah, well you’re digging up private property. There’s a hole in my yard, right in front of my parking lot. I nearly broke my neck.”
“My detector went off. I needed to check it out.”
“That’s my property.”
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I was going to fill it in.”
Carlita spied a shovel propped up against the side of the building. “I want it filled in immediately, before one of my tenants or an animal gets hurt, and I get sued.”
“I could see where it might create a hazard. Not that I blame you. You have enough problems.” Elvira hummed as she hovered the detector over a patch of loose gravel. “How’s your investigation going?”
“Someone placed an anonymous call to the police department’s crime hotline. They told the authorities I not only murdered Megan Burelli, but also one of my servers.”
“Burelli died? I didn’t know that.” Elvira turned the detector off, giving Carlita her full attention. “Did you tell the authorities we caught a man on camera leaving an unmarked box on your step?”
“Yes, and I was able to positively identify him as one of my new restaurant employees, Blake Tanner or Duane Sorensen, I’m not sure which is his real name.”
“You need to do a better job of screening your employees,” Elvira said. “You should consider using my company for background checks. EC Investigative Services has both the tools and experience to ensure you get topnotch workers, not thugs and criminals.”
“Ugh.” Carlita clenched her fists, her fingernails digging into the palm of her hands. “I did not hire thugs. In fact, my manager, who came highly recommended and vetted, screened each and every employee before hiring them.”
“He didn’t do such a hot job either.” Elvira resumed her metal detecting. “How are you doing on hooking me up with your hottie new tenant, Sam?”
“I haven’t worked on it yet. I’ve been a little busy. I’ll talk to Sam later today or tomorrow if I’m not sitting in a jail cell.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.”
“I’m not being dramatic.” Carlita’s voice lowered, and the urge to throttle Elvira was growing by the minute. “I have some serious problems. I have a dead wedding guest and a dead restaurant worker with a second employee on the run.”
The metal detector beeped loudly. Elvira balanced the detector in one hand and reached for her shovel.
“Hold this.” She thrust the detector in Mercedes’ hand and began shoveling dirt.
Clink. “I hit something.” Elvira dropped the shovel and dug with her hands.
“You’re crazy.”
“You won’t think so when I find a mess of gold coins or something historic and valuable.” Elvira dumped the dirt off to the side and continued digging. “I could be sitting on a gold mine…literally.”
“I give up.” Carlita threw her hands in the air. “Don’t forget to fill in my hole and for the record, you do not have my permission to dig any more holes on my property.”
“You’ll be changing your tune as soon as I find something.” Elvira stopped digging and peered into the sizable hole. “I see something shiny.”
She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a trowel. “I knew there was something buried around here.” Elvira dug in a circle, widening the hole.
She tossed the trowel off to the side, stuck her hand in the hole and pulled out a silver coin.
“Check it out. It’s a silver coin.” She handed it to Carlita.
“I’ll be darned. You did find a coin.”
“Of course I did.”
Carlita and Mercedes watched as Elvira unearthed three more silver coins before eyeing them suspiciously. “This is my property. I don’t want you messing around over here.”
“Like you were messing around on my property?”
“We’ve already been over this. I’ll fill in the hole.” Elvira held out her hand. “Coin please.”
Carlita handed it to her. “I’ll get back with you as soon as I have a chance to talk to Sam.” She, along with Mercedes and Rambo, started to walk away.
“Hey, Carlita.”
Carlita paused.
“It sounds like Burelli’s poisoning was an inside job. I would take a closer look at your employees.”
“I’m meeting with my restaurant manager later this afternoon. Maybe he can shed some light on the restaurant employee found dead and the other one who is MIA.”
“Yep.” Elvira nodded. “Let me know if you need any help.”
Carlita nodded toward the hole. “Good luck with your treasure hunt.”
“Thanks.”
Carlita and Mercedes tiptoed across the grassy strip, keeping an eye out for more holes. They circled the block and then slowly made their way back upstairs.
“I better grab a bite to eat before I head next door to meet Dominic.”
“Elvira was right. Dominic might be able to give you a little more feedback on the employees,” Mercedes said. “I wonder if the authorities will want to talk to him and the restaurant employees. I’m surprised they didn’t ask to see our employee applications.”
“My guess is they will after they’re done with me.” Carlita headed to the kitchen to warm up some leftover soup and fix a sandwich.
Rambo followed her, watching her every move.
“Beggar,” she patted
