Pulling the Trooth

by Robert P. Wills

  “Thanks.” She handed the card back. “Have a nice day, you and your murders.”

  Summer leaned forward. “There actually was one over at the convention center!” She whispered.

  “It wasn’t me. I’ve been here all day.”

  “That’s good to hear.” Summer slid the card into one of the inner pockets of her satchel and zipped it up as she walked out. She looked to the right toward the cab then caught a movement out of the corner of her eye in the other direction.

  Bill was jogging across the street toward her.

  “Oh no.” She looked again at the cab. Maxine was sitting in the front seat having a conversation with Benny. She took a step toward the cab.

  “Summer!”

  She took another step.

  “Stop!” Bill shouted. “Hold on a sec.”

  Summer steeled herself as she turned.

  Bill skidded to a stop in front of her.

  “Hey pal,” Benny said as he stepped out of the cab. “Hey!” He called again.

  Bill ignored him and continued to look at Summer. “I just want you to know...”

  “HEY!” Benny barked.

  “Listen,” Bill turned to look at him. “We’re talking...” His voice trailed off as he looked at the very large gun.

  Benny raised a pistol- a pearl handled Colt .45. “No, I’m talking.” He pointed it at Bill. “You’re listening.”

  Bill gawked at the pistol. “You can’t do that!”

  “Yeah?” Benny laughed. “Welcome to Arizona pal; open carry is a way of life and Stand Your Ground has been on the law books since the 1800’s.” He stepped around the back of the cab. “In case you don’t know...” He waggled the gun but kept it trained on him. “This is a Colt .45, affectionately called ‘The Peace Maker’.” He raised it up to eye level, aiming at Bill. “The good news is you won’t feel hitting the pavement because you’ll already be dead before it knocks you on your ass.”

  Bill raised his hands. “Easy, old man. I just wanted to tell her something.” He pointed at Summer with one of his fingers while still holding them above his head.

  “Then say it.”

  “I realized how it sounded back in there, but I wouldn’t kill anyone. I swear! I mean... I’m angry at him, sure, but I’d never kill anyone. I don’t want you to think of me that way.”

  “Okay, Bill,” Summer said. “Okay. Thanks.” She nodded at him. “Maybe you should go back across the street.”

  Bill looked at Benny again. “I’m leaving old...”

  “Don’t you say it.”

  “Sir,” Bill finished.

  “Ahh,” Benny scrunched up his face. “That’s just as bad.” He gestured across the street with his pistol. “You’ve said your piece, now get going, pal.”

  The man looked from Summer to Bill then back to Summer. “I swear to you I’m not a murderer!” With that, he turned and jogged across the street- right into the path of a car. It screeched its tires and honked at him as he jumped back, hands on its hood. After making sure the rest of the way was clear, he ran to the hotel.

  “That boy has got issues.”

  Summer looked at Benny. “That’s a nice looking hand cannon you’ve got there.” She smirked as she walked to the cab. “Didn’t they have the twelve inch barrel in stock?”

  “Ten inches is as long as it can be and still let me get it out the window easily.” Benny got into his cab and stuck the pistol in the seam between the two front seats. Only the very end of the butt stuck out. “But I think it still manages to get the point across.”

  Summer slid into the back seat. “Oh, he got the point all right. I thought your son took away your guns.”

  “I’m better now. Being a cabbie turned me around,” Benny said matter-of-factly.

  “What did he say to you?” Maxine asked.

  “He said he wasn’t a murderer.” Summer leaned forward, hooking her elbows over the back of the seat so her head was between the pair.

  “He sure sounded like one back in his room.”

  “In my experience, wanting to do something and willing to do something are sometimes very different things,” Benny pointed out. “Back to the convention center?” He reached for the meter.

  “I suppose so,” Summer said. “We can talk to Brian again and Stephanie too.”

  “And Terrance,” Maxine said. “Wow, we have a lot of suspects and only until tomorrow before the conference ends.”

  “If you’re going to try and solve this,” Benny said as he pulled out. “You really should also chat with the detective on the case to see what they have.” He shrugged. “Hell, they might already have the perp in custody.”

  “That’s true,” Summer frowned. “I didn’t think about that. Okay, first the detective, then the potential murderers.”

  Benny held up a finger. “Unless the detective did it and it’s all a set up.”

  “Oh! I didn’t think of that.” Maxine said.

  “Or...” Benny said as he pointed his finger back and forth between the two women. “YOU two did it!” He looked left then right at the passing cars, waiting for a gap big enough to pull into traffic. “Couple of good-looking psychopaths.”

  “You’re not helping, Benny.” Summer sat back as the cab pulled into traffic to gather her thoughts and decide how she was going to question the others, leaving Maxine and Benny to chat.

  “At least we’re good looking psychopaths.” Maxine said. “Thanks for that.”

  “Sure thing. Just remember I said that when you’re looking for your next kill. Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  Summer looked out the window, working on her line of questioning when she met the detective as the pair continued their banter in the front seat.

  EIGHTEEN

  “See you two later,” Benny said as he started to pull away. “Make sure you give me a call if you need anything.”

  Summer patted her satchel where she had his card. “You got it, Benny. Thanks.”

  Summer and Maxine watched as Benny drove off, squealing his tires, then they stood there for a moment longer.

  “So you’ve worked out what you’re going to ask the detective?”

  Summer nodded at Maxine. “Yeah, let’s go see if we can find him. Or her.”

  The pair walked into the convention center- To their surprise, Quincy was not at the entrance. Or anywhere else near there either.

  “Huh. Wonder where Quincy got off to.” Summer pointed toward the bathroom. “It’s still taped off; let’s go check it out.”

  “I’m interested in seeing the inside.”

  “You’ve never seen the inside of a men’s room?” Summer smiled at her friend.

  “Oh sure, plenty of times.” Maxine shrugged. “There’s never a line for the men’s room so I’ll just go in if I need to.”

  “That’s true; why don’t they ever get lines? Annoying.” Summer pointed at the two policemen at the entrance to the bathroom. “Guess the convention security is off the case. You’ll have to ask Stephan about that at dinner tonight.”

  “Oh! I had forgotten. Okay.” Maxine said as they approached the two officers.

  “This is an active investigation, ladies,” one of them said.

  “Yeah, the ladies’ room is over there,” the other pointed across the room.

  “We were hoping to talk to the detective in charge.” Summer gestured at her press pass.

  The officer looked at her press pass, then continued to look at her cleavage. “Nice.”

  “I hope you’re saying it’s nice I’m a reporter.” Summer said with a smirk.

  “Yeah, that’s it.” The officer said. He slapped his partner’s shoulder. “Get Thorndyke.”

  The other nodded and ducked into the bathroom.

  “Thorndyke?” Summer guffawed. “What’s his first name; Alistair?” She picked up an English accent. “What say you, my good lady? Wot, wot?”

  Maxine laughed. “I’m well and good, Alistair.” She curtsied. “More well than good,
I should say,” she said in her own English accent.

  The policeman came back out of the bathroom, followed closely by a very fat man.

  “Ahh, Detective Thorndyke,” Summer said. “Pleasure to meet you, governor.”

  Thorndyke looked Summer up and down. Then did the same to Maxine. “I thought you said there were two reporters out here, Simmons.”

  Officer Simmons pointed at Summer and Maxine. “Right there, Sir.”

  “I never would have guessed.” He said. He did indeed have a British accent. “So what is it you...” He looked around the open area, boredom seemed to creep onto his face. “Want.”

  “We’re from the Tucson Herald Opinion, Detective Thorndyke, covering the convention.” Summer said. “We’d like to know what you’ve found. Did you get any prints off the murder weapon? A thought occurred to her. “Say...”

  The detective yawned wide. He didn’t even try to cover his mouth.

  “... did you check Doctor Anderson’s phone? Who was the last person to call him? Because that should be...”

  The detective started picking at his nails.

  “...a really good lead for the...” Summer narrowed her eyes at the man. “police. Are you even listening to me?”

  “Unfortunately.” Thorndyke said.

  Summer put her hands on her hips. “So we’d like a statement.” She reached into her satchel and pulled out her digital recorder. “Statement from Detective Thorndyke regarding the murder of Doctor Scott Anderson.” She held it out to the man.

  “If you insist.” Thorndyke leaned forward like he was going to speak into it then snatched it from her hand.

  “Hey!”

  “I. Hate. Reporters.” Thorndyke said into the recorder. “They meddle in affairs they shouldn’t. They warp statements to satisfy their bloodthirsty readers. The truth is the farthest thing from their minds. They blabber private details of a crime, compromising investigations.” He said as he stared at Summer’s eyes. “And I shan’t waste another moment of my time with a couple of trollops.” He dropped the digital recorder and walked back into the bathroom without another word.

  Officer Simmons snapped his fingers. “Oh, I should warn you that Detective Thorndyke doesn’t like the press.” He smiled. “He’s been burned by them one too many times.”

  “You don’t say,” Summer bent down and picked up her recorder. She thumbed it off.

  “You want to interview me?” Simmons said. He pointed between himself and his partner. “We love the press. Don’t we Jerry?”

  “Huh?” Jerry startled. “Oh yeah. Love them.” He smiled. “Hey, we should discuss the details of the case...”

  “Over drinks,” Simmons finished.

  “Oh. Sure.” Jerry said. “Compare notes and stuff.”

  “Do you have any details concerning suspects or motive?” Summer held up her recorder, ready to turn it on.

  “Nope. But we’d be glad to buy the first couple of rounds for you ladies.” Simmons smiled. “Right, partner?”

  “I guess.” Jerry said. “Wait, you mean over dinner?”

  Simmons gave him a double take. “Burgers. Yeah, burgers and beers.” He looked at Maxine.

  Maxine raised an eyebrow. “How’s a girl going to refuse an offer like that?” She said feeding Summer the straight line.

  “Like this.” Summer snapped her fingers in front of Simmons’ face then walked off.

  “Well, that about does it.” Maxine smiled at the two men. “If we need anything else, we’ll let you know.” She snapped her fingers and went after Summer. When she caught her, she elbowed her. “They were kind cute you sure you don’t want to do drinks and burgers with them?”

  “Maybe once we solve this murder,” Summer said. “Oooh! We’re going to show that stinking detective!” She picked up a British accent again. “Meddlers with bloodthirsty readers, blabbing details... Huh!”

  Maxine smiled. “He did use ‘shan’t’. That’s kind of endearing, right?”

  “And trollops.” Summer seethed. “It will be endearing alright when I solve this murder before he does.” Summer pointed at Maxine. “Remember what Bill said to me in the parking lot?”

  “He said he wasn’t the murderer.” She pointed back. “But he is.”

  “He knew about the murder already. How did he find out?”

  “Because he did it!” Maxine raised her hand above her head, finger pointed at the ceiling. “Because he’s the mur-der-er.”

  “Let’s go talk to Brian again. Find out who punched him. Then see why Stephanie was upset with him. And maybe find out who else was upset with Scott.”

  “Besides Bill. He seemed pretty upset. Losing the love of his life.” Maxine observed.

  “But Brian and Stephanie are broken up too. So the two of them should be angry. Remember how upset she was back stage?”

  “She said that all those men deserved to get it,” Maxine said. “Do you think she’s angry at all men or just the ones in that room?”

  “There’s only one way to find out; we need to find them before that annoying detective.” Summer frowned. “Where the hell should we look first?”

  “Oh!” Maxine smiled. “Stephanie is in the conference room! She’s listening to a franchise pitch there.”

  “Who’s giving that?” Summer started toward the conference room.

  Maxine caught up with her. “Doctor Brushwood and... well, it was going to be Doctor Anderson too, but...”

  “Nice. We can hit up Stephanie and Terrance at the same time.”

  “And maybe even pick up a franchise dental office.” Maxine said. “They seem to be it.”

  NINETEEN

  Summer and Maxine quietly slipped into the back of the conference room. Doctor Brushwood was standing on a table, addressing the audience.

  “And, with the buying power of the entire chain of offices working to your advantage, you will see higher profits while still matching the prices of individually owned practices.” He slapped his hands together. “There really is no downside, I tell you.”

  Stephanie raised her hand.

  Doctor Brushwood ignored her and continued to speak: “Plus, the initial costs of opening a new practice are subsidized by the corporation, reducing your initial investment to a more manageable level.” He panned his hand around the room. “Who wants to pay full price for a fully equipped dental practice? I sure don’t.”

  “Ah hem,” Stephanie said loudly.

  Doctor Brushwood turned and carefully stepped down from the table, using a chair for help. When he was down, he turned and looked at the group. “Please take the pamphlets and crunch the numbers yourselves.”

  Stephanie stood. “I have just one question.”

  Doctor Brushwood took a handful of pamphlets from a box and banged them on the table, straightening them. “I think that about does it.” He put the pamphlets on the far side of the table in three piles so they could be reached easily.

  “What’s your question?” A man seated at the end of Stephanie’s table said.

  “Thanks Donald,” She said. She gave him a short bow then turned to face Doctor Brushwood. He just stared at her. “Tell me, Terrance, if someone gets in your way, will you just kill them like you did Scott?”

  “Wow.” Maxine said. She leaned in close to Summer. “Now there’s an accusation. So Terrance Brushwood killed Anderson?”

  “Shh!” Summer said. She held out her recorder.

  “Why don’t you ask Brian,” Terrance snapped at her. “Seems to me he killed Scott because he messed up your extra-marital, decade-long affair! And maybe you helped.”

  Stephanie took a step towards him. “How dare you!”

  “Or maybe it was one of the other men you were sleeping with,” Terrance said. He walked around the table toward Stephanie. “With your morals, he’s probably not the only one.”

  “What?! You can’t say things like that! I should... I should...”

  “You should what? Stick a knife in my chest?”

 
“It’s the least you deserve!” Stephanie clenched her purse to her chest. “You pig!”

  “Whatever.” Terrance said as he approached her.

  “Don’t you dare touch me,” Stephanie shouted. She started to open her purse.

  Terrance kept walking right past her and continued toward the door. He winked at Summer as he left the room.

  “Wow,” Maxine said again. “Who do you want to talk to first?”

  Summer looked at the exiting Terrance, wondering what his wink meant, then to Stephanie. She decided she could catch up with the other dentist later. “Let’s talk to Stephanie first if she’ll let us.” Summer put her recorder in her top pocket. She weaved through the people who were trying to leave the conference room as quickly as possible. “I wonder what she carrying in that purse of hers? Let’s go see.”

  Maxine raised her camera and snapped a photo of the room before it emptied. “Right behind you.”

  “Stephanie,” Summer said as she approached the woman. She had sat back down and was crying. “Are you okay?”

  “No.” Stephanie looked up at Summer, “No. I’m not okay.”

  Summer pulled a chair over and sat beside her. “Terrance is a jerk.” She looked at Maxine. “Right?”

  “A jerk and a pig,” Maxine said as she also sat.

  “But why would he kill Scott?” Summer said. “That doesn’t make sense.” She gestured at the table with the pamphlets. “Were they competing?”

  Stephanie snorted. “Those two competing? That’s a laugh.”

  “What?”

  Stephanie put her hands on her knees. “They were working together. They were partners.” She pointed at the table again. “It was a big secret. The Coors brothers they used to call themselves.”

  “Coors? I don’t understand.” Summer looked at Maxine who only shrugged.

  “They wanted to be like Coors.”

  “Like the beer?”

  Stephanie exhaled. “Coors beer used to only be sold west of the Mississippi. It was a big deal that once you crossed the river, you could get Coors. People used to drive over the border just to get it.”

  “What does that have to do with dentistry?”