Measured Mayhem

by Jessica Beck

  “Where could I possibly go?” she asked, the resignation heavy in her voice.

  “What have you heard about me?” I asked Tom as I sat down in the chair across the desk from his. He’d gone to law school at Duke, which was pretty impressive in and of itself. Was it possible that good old Chunky Tommy was more than he appeared to be?

  “The donutmaking sleuth? Plenty,” he said as he sat behind his desk.

  “I’m hardly called that,” I said.

  “Suzanne, the Internet is full of an amazing amount of information, and disinformation as well, truth be told, but I know enough from what I’ve read to understand that you’re not new to murder investigations.”

  “I’ve been involved in a case or two in the past,” I allowed. I wasn’t about to admit how many murders I’d helped solve.

  “Is there any chance you’ll stay out of this one and let the police handle it?”

  “Not much of a chance, no,” I admitted.

  He sat back in his chair and let out a puff of air. “I suspected as much.”

  “What are you doing searching my name online for, anyway?” I asked him.

  “I heard a few rumors about you, so I decided to investigate,” he admitted. “The law enforcement and legal communities are both full of more gossip than all of the beauty shops in the world.”

  “She didn’t do it, Tom,” I told him, wanting to get the subject off me.

  “I don’t think she’s capable of it either, but the women were battling; that is undisputed. The late Mrs. Marbury was there to have the locks changed in Autumn’s home! Of course it looks bad.”

  “I didn’t say she wouldn’t kill her, I meant that she couldn’t,” I explained.

  “Go on.”

  “I touched the victim’s neck when I checked for a pulse,” I admitted. “She was cold to the touch. I think you’re going to find that the coroner’s report states unequivocally that she’d been dead at least an hour before we got there.”

  “I doubt they’ll be that specific,” he told me.

  “Maybe not, but she certainly hadn’t been killed in the last fifteen minutes,” I stated. “You can bet your last paycheck on that.”

  “Is that how long she was in the house alone, Suzanne?” he asked me gravely.

  “About that,” I said.

  “I need a more precise estimate than that,” he said.

  “I could tell you that it was thirteen minutes and seven seconds, but if I did, I’d be lying.”

  “Fifteen minutes it is. Could it have been ten? Or perhaps twenty?”

  “No. I spoke with Jake for around three minutes, and then I waited another ten before I went in.”

  “That’s thirteen by my count,” he observed.

  “Math always was your specialty. You’ve been there, Tom. It’s a big house. It took me two minutes to find her.”

  “So fifteen seems about right,” he explained. “Suzanne, Autumn has been mysterious about what’s been going on in her life lately. Do you know why she moved out of her home?”

  “I’m not sure it’s my place to tell you that,” I said after a momentary pause.

  “I need to know if I’m going to protect her!” he demanded. “Besides, everything you tell me is in confidence.”

  “Bring her in and let me ask her for her permission,” I insisted.

  He didn’t appear to be happy about me dictating terms to him, but there really wasn’t much he could do about it. “Fine,” he said as he picked up his phone. “Send her in.”

  Autumn came in and took the chair beside me.

  I said, “He wants to know what’s been going on with you, but I wouldn’t tell him until I had your okay.”

  “Is it significant?” she asked me and not Tom.

  “I think so,” I said.

  “Okay,” she answered and then settled back into her chair.

  “Would you like to step outside again?” Tom asked her with deference.

  “No, I’ll stay.”

  “Very well,” Tom replied. “Go on,” he instructed me.

  In as succinct a manner as possible, I told him everything, from the voices at night to the gargoyle falling to the fence railing failing, Adam’s reappearance, and Cecile’s sudden coldness toward her. Tom took it all in, and I glanced over at Autumn a time or two and saw that she was staring blankly at her hands, clasping them, parting them, and then clasping them again as I spoke.

  Once I was finished, Tom nodded and began scribbling things on his notepad. After staring at it for a few moments, he turned to his computer and began typing at a furious rate. Soon enough, the outer door opened, and Lila came in carrying two sheets of paper. “Here you are, sir,” she said. As she did, I caught a glimpse of her watching her boss with guarded affection. Were the two of them an item, or was it just that Lila wanted them to be? I’d have to ask Tom about it later, but now was clearly not the time.

  “Read these over and sign them if they meet with your approval,” he said as he handed us each a sheet. Mine said neatly and concisely what I’d told Tom about my own experience at the house and my observations, particularly the murder victim’s apparent cold body temperature. It said nothing of why I was in town, or Autumn’s earlier experiences. In short, it told only what needed to be told and left the rest out. I could certainly live with that. I signed and dated mine, and after a moment’s hesitation, I watched as Autumn did the same.

  “Very good,” he said as he took them from us and rang for Lila again. “Two copies of each, please.”

  “Of course, sir,” she said.

  After she was gone, I raised an eyebrow in Tom’s direction, the most subtle inquiry I could make, but if he saw it, he pretended not to notice.

  “What’s next?” Autumn asked.

  “I’m afraid we need to deliver these to Chief Seaborne,” he said. “There will be some questions, but I’ll be there. Don’t answer anything, not even your full name, without looking at me first.” He turned to me and added, “That goes for you, too.”

  “Am I really a suspect?” I asked him.

  “No, and if you do as I tell you, you won’t be,” he answered.

  It was a lot to promise, but I decided not to argue the point.

  Lila came back in with the copies, and Tom put them into his briefcase. “The police chief’s office is not that far. Let’s walk over together, shall we?”

  “Why not?” I asked as I stood. Autumn continued to sit there, apparently lost in her own thoughts. “Hey, are you coming?” I asked as I gently nudged her shoulder.

  “Sorry, I zoned out for a second,” she admitted as she stood.

  “Try not to do that when you’re being interviewed by the police chief,” Tom said.

  “I’m fine,” she said, but there was a deadness in her voice that I didn’t like. This wasn’t the time to give up; it was the time to dig in and fight.

  I just hoped that Autumn had the heart for it.

  Chapter 13

  “WHY DON’T WE START with these statements?” Tom asked as he handed both papers to the chief of police.

  “Are you trying to tell me how to do my job, Counselor?” she asked him archly from across her desk. She’d been on a telephone call when we’d gotten to the station, and the three of us had been asked to wait in the reception area. Whether it was a mind game or she was on legitimate police business I did not know, but I welcomed the time to reflect on what had happened that afternoon. Jake had a high opinion of Chief Seaborne, and I wasn’t about to discount that, but I had my doubts. She seemed a little too deliberate for my taste, as though she’d made up her mind about us already.

  Now we were in her office, and she took the papers Tom had brought with us without even glancing at them. “It might save us all some time,” he said.

  “There’s certainly a shortage of that at the moment,” Chief Seaborne said as she scanned the documents. First she turned to me. “Mrs. Bishop, or Ms. Hart, or whatever you’d like to call yourself, how about waiting out in
the reception area for a few minutes?”

  “Is that necessary?” I asked her. I gestured to my statement. “I’d be happy to elaborate on that if you’d like me to.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll talk,” she said, “but first I want to speak with Mrs. Marbury.”

  I looked at Tom, who nodded. Autumn didn’t seem nearly so sure, but I couldn’t do anything about that. “I’ll be outside if you need me,” I told her.

  “Okay,” she said shakily. I wanted to stay with her, but I knew that alienating the chief of police even further wouldn’t do any of us any good.

  I didn’t go far, though. Instead of taking my old seat, I leaned against the wall next to the door I’d just come through. I’d been hoping to hear something from the other side, but unfortunately the place had been built a hundred years ago, and it was as solid as a castle.

  Three minutes after I’d been exiled, there was a ruckus from the hallway that led to the front desk. I peeked around the door and saw that Jeff and Adam were there making a huge scene, yelling for the chief and even brushing off the family ally, Officer Craig Pickens.

  Adam spotted me before I could duck back behind the doorway and started straight for me, with Jeff in tow.

  “Where is she, Suzanne?” Adam asked me fiercely.

  “Who exactly is the ‘she’ you’re referring to?” I asked as coyly as I could.

  “You know I’m talking about Autumn,” he snapped. “I want to look the woman who killed our mother in the eye and spit in her face.”

  “She didn’t kill Cecile, Adam,” I said as calmly as I could. I looked at Jeff, who appeared to be just as angry as his brother, though not quite as vocal. “Surely you don’t believe it, Jeff. She’s your wife, for goodness’ sake.”

  “She’s not acting like it though, is she?” he asked. “You can’t keep protecting her, Suzanne. She’s going to have to face us sooner or later.”

  Adam blew past me and started pounding on the police chief’s door. “Get her out here, Seaborne!”

  The police chief’s door opened, but it wasn’t Autumn, or even Tom, who came out. Instead, Chief Seaborne walked out and got within an inch of Adam’s face. “You gentlemen are disturbing the peace. I’m trying to make allowances given the fact that your mother just died, but don’t push me.”

  “She didn’t just die,” Adam snarled at her fiercely. “She was murdered.”

  “My staff and I are investigating the case,” she said. “You need to leave.”

  “Where exactly are we supposed to go? We can’t go back to Jeff’s house,” Adam said, his voice cracking. It was the first show of loss he’d displayed since barging into the police station. “I suppose we could go to our mother’s place.”

  “Then I’ll find you there,” she said.

  “Not until we see his wife first,” Adam said adamantly.

  Chief Seaborne seemed to take that in for a moment before responding. “Is that what you want, Jeff?”

  “I need to see her, even if she killed my mother,” Jeff said coldly.

  “She didn’t do it!” I said loudly. “I already told you that.”

  “We’re not going to listen to anything you have to say,” Adam said as he turned to me dismissively. “Bring her out here, Chief,” he demanded yet again.

  “I’ve said my piece. Now go,” the chief said.

  Adam wasn’t about to move, though. It was a stalemate, but I never would have believed how it was resolved. I could hear Tom protesting from the other room, but in a moment, Autumn appeared in the doorway. “Suzanne told you the truth. I’m so sorry, but Cecile was dead when we got there.”

  “We don’t believe you,” Adam said. “You two have been fighting like cats and dogs ever since I came back to town! You killed her! Admit it!”

  Autumn’s gaze shifted to her estranged husband. “Jeff, you believe me, don’t you?”

  After a long pause, he said brokenly, “Right now I don’t know what to believe.”

  The words nearly knocked Autumn off her feet. “I didn’t do it, Jeff,” she repeated so softly that I could barely hear her. “You’ve got to believe me.”

  “You’re a killer, so it’s not hard to believe that you’re a liar, too,” Adam said as he started to lunge for Autumn.

  Chief Seaborne must have been ready for it, because she deflected him so quickly and effortlessly that I almost doubted what I’d seen. One moment Adam was lunging at my friend, and the next instant he was on the floor. The chief reached down to help him up, but he brushed her hand away and stood on his own.

  “This isn’t over,” Adam said acidly as he pointed a finger in Autumn’s face. “You’re not going to get away with it.”

  “Go to your mother’s home, gentlemen,” the chief said.

  All Autumn could do in response was look at her husband soundlessly. Clearly she was in shock over his refusal to state that he believed her innocent of murder. On the face of it, it wasn’t nearly as vicious as his brother’s attack, but I knew that it hurt her much more deeply.

  “Come on, guys. Let’s go,” Officer Pickens said as he approached them. “I’ll give you a lift.”

  “We can drive ourselves,” Adam protested.

  “Then I’ll just follow you to make sure you get there safely,” he said with a nod of approval from his boss.

  I moved over to Autumn. She looked at me, clearly in anguish over what had just happened. “He doesn’t believe me.”

  “It’s going to be okay,” I said as calmly as I could.

  She turned to look at me with dead eyes. “I don’t see how.”

  “Let’s get back to it,” the chief said once the men were both gone.

  At that moment, I was fairly certain that Autumn would have agreed to go skydiving without a parachute if someone had asked her. She meekly walked back into the room, and soon I was by myself again.

  But not for long.

  Four minutes later, the door opened again and Tom gestured to me as he said, “She’s ready for you now.”

  “You can’t leave Autumn out here by herself,” I told the attorney as I walked up to him. “I can handle the police chief on my own.”

  “Fortunately we won’t have to find out if that’s true or not,” Tom said. “She wants to speak with both of you.”

  “Is there anything else either one of you want to tell me?” the chief asked after we’d gone through what had happened four separate times. We’d been up front and honest with her about everything that had occurred within the confines of what Tom had allowed us to say, but I knew what she was doing. The police chief was trying to trip us up, but that was one of the advantages of telling the truth; it was a lot easier to remember than a web of lies.

  Chief Seaborne pushed the statements away from her across the desk as she turned to study us, each in turn. “Half the town wants me to arrest you right now,” she told Autumn.

  “Chief Seaborne, clearly you can’t do your job based on the will of the most vocal minority,” Tom said, starting to get worked up.

  “Relax, Counselor. I need some time to dig into this. Unless one of you cares to confess and make my life a great deal easier, I’m not ready to arrest anyone yet.” The stress she put on the last word was undeniable.

  “Does that mean that we’re free to go?” I asked her.

  “For the moment,” the chief said.

  As I started to stand, followed quickly by Autumn and Tom, she added, “Don’t leave town.”

  “Were you talking to me?” I asked.

  “I’m talking to both of you,” she said. “If either one of you try to run, I will hunt you down. That is a promise.”

  “We didn’t do it,” I said stiffly. “There’s no reason to run.”

  “Is there anything else, Chief?” Tom asked her officiously.

  “You need to hang around, Counselor. There are a few things I want to go over with you.”

  He turned to us. “Can you two make your way back home, Autumn?” he asked us.

 
; “I’ll have one of my people drive them,” she said.

  “That’s okay,” Autumn said stiffly. “We’ll walk.”

  We were a good two miles from her cottage, but if Autumn wanted to walk, then we were going to walk.

  “I don’t mind,” the chief insisted.

  “I do,” Autumn answered.

  Chief Seaborne studied her for a few seconds then waved her hand in the air, dismissing us.

  Before we knew it, we were both out on the sidewalk, making our way back to Autumn’s cottage in the woods on foot.

  I just hoped that no one was going to be there waiting for us.

  But that was why the police chief had sent one of her men to escort the brothers to their late mother’s home.

  I just hoped that at least for the moment, our trouble with them was over.

  Chapter 14

  AS WE STARTED THE LONG walk back to Autumn’s place, I decided that it was as good a time as any to get her mind off what had just happened in the police station. Besides, we were on a tight schedule if we were going to figure out who killed Cecile Marbury before the police scrutiny got so intense that we wouldn’t be free to move around and ask questions.

  “I still can’t believe it,” Autumn said before I could bring up the subject of our investigation.

  “I know. She was alive this morning, and now she’s not, all because someone wanted her dead,” I answered.

  Autumn shrugged. “Of course I mean that, too, but I was talking about Jeff. Did you see the way he looked at me? Suzanne, he thinks it’s possible that I killed his mother!”

  “To be fair, Adam was the only one who actually said that,” I replied.

  “Jeff didn’t deny it though, did he, or even stand up for me! Is this what my marriage has come to? I don’t see any way of us ever coming back from this.”

  I had a feeling that it was true, but I wasn’t about to pile on and make her feel even worse. “There’s one way you might be able to salvage your relationship, if that’s what you truly want.”

  “What could I possibly do to make that happen?”

  “We could figure out how to solve the murder ourselves before things get too far out of hand,” I told her.