Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset

by Dee Bridgnorth

  Ellie snorted. “I would rather fight the crowd at a show than go back to Saint Louis for the holidays.”

  “Do you visit often?” Adam asked casually.

  It was strange that Ellie didn’t feel that old and immediate sense of not wanting to talk about it. “My parents and my brother are still there,” she admitted. “But I don’t get on with them much. My brother is a hairdresser. You might imagine that my joining the FBI and then becoming a private investigator was a bit of a shock. It was like my parents had been the victim of child swapping or something. Their daughter was a tomboy and their son wound up being gay. It was hard for Dad to deal with. He’s not a friendly, happy kind of person anyway.”

  “So, your brother lives there in Saint Louis?” Adam had been up there of course. It was a large city with fairly strong jazz roots. “It’s a nice enough city.”

  “I suppose so. If you like big cities with angry residents, lots of racial tension, and probably more crime in a day than Branson sees the whole year.” Ellie made a face. “I liked the FBI. I liked working in the field. But I was never going to go anywhere and I got a bit tired of the heavy work.”

  “Heavy work?” Adam looked interested. Honestly interested, like he wanted to know more about her. And surprise, surprise, Ellie felt the urge to tell him.

  She nodded her head and thought about some of the cases she’d worked even in the few short years she’d been in the field. “Heavy stuff. I would have paid good money to have a case involving a stalker or even a murder where the motive seems hazy, but it’s plain enough that it was a spur of the moment crime of passion.”

  “Meaning that you were dealing with cases that involved some real sickos?” Adam gave a sage nod. “I felt the same way about the Los Angeles music scene. The way people behaved, like their problems were bigger than anywhere else… I got tired of it. Here we have problems. We have Kari Jos who think they’re better than they are. We have petty crime and some drug-related issues. But it’s not like the cities. I don’t care what the residents say when they complain about the rising number of drug-related crimes or the fact that they’re afraid they need to start locking their doors.”

  Ellie nodded. “And now there are big mamas storming out of restaurants crying like big babies. So, do you care to tell me how that happened?”

  “Nice segue,” Adam told her with amusement. “And no, I don’t mind telling you what happened. I was just trying to let the nice relaxed moment linger.”

  “Which I really do appreciate,” Ellie said quickly. “A lot. But I’m curious. Her mother has been jumping on and off my suspect list. What do you have to say about it?”

  Adam pursed his lips and pushed his plate toward the edge of the table where Ruby could more easily pick it up. “It’s interesting because, until this incident in the restaurant, I would have agreed with you. I might have even thought Rhiannon was somehow responsible for the DJ’s murder. Like she had gotten upset because the kid promised them more than he should have.”

  “But?” Ellie prodded. “What changed your mind?”

  “Rhiannon did. She’s not smart enough to pull this off, Ellie.” Adam looked thoughtful. He picked up a spoon and tapped it on the table. Then he reached into his bag and pulled out one of the letters and smoothed it down so that they could both see it.

  “The language isn’t particularly highfaluting,” Ellie pointed out. “I think Rhiannon could have come up with something like ‘You broke my heart and now I’m going to break you.’ Don’t you think?”

  Adam looked thoughtful. “I’m not arguing that. But I do think there’s more to it. More that we’re missing. Kari Jo is a player. She comes from a pretty low socio economic status position in the community. Rhiannon isn’t going to even think of protecting herself by not using her own handwriting. She would just disguise her writing. Use blocks or something. This whole cutting stuff out of a magazine…”

  Adam trailed off. For a moment Ellie thought he was going to change his mind. But he reached into his bag instead. He drew out one of the Branson travel and show guides and opened it on the table. He flipped through a few pages without saying a word. Ellie was starting to get more than a little curious by the time Adam turned the guide around and showed it to her.

  “Look at the letters in the headline.” There was a certain eagerness in his tone that felt sort of off somehow. “Look at them and then look at the letter!”

  Ellie stared at the two-page color spread on Kari Jo Mounds. The beautiful young country star had been photographed near the front doors of the Ozark Star Theater. There was a bale of hay and some country props, and she was holding her guitar like a prop too.

  “Does she actually play the guitar?” Ellie wondered suddenly.

  Adam snorted. “No. I tried to get her to go to lessons, but she quit. She hates the reality of playing the guitar. She’d taught herself some minor chords and she’ll pretend to play along while she sings, but she’s just hitting one chord every ten measures or more. It’s literally just a prop.”

  And then Ellie saw what he meant about the letters. “They’re the same,” Ellie whispered. “The letters in the guide were cut out and used to make the letter sent to Kari Jo. Wow. That’s rather poetic. And the meaning was totally missed!”

  “Which makes me think this letter sender is not Rhiannon,” Adam said enthusiastically. “Rhiannon would not have been going for a deeper meaning. Her whole purpose would have been to create fear and to make a splash. To drive her daughter back to her side I suppose.”

  “That seems likely.” Ellie could not help but think Adam was a very good investigator. He saw things she was missing and it stung. “And if you look at the letters and try to take away a deeper meaning, you then realize you’re looking for a real lover. Someone who was actually hurt by Kari Jo’s casual games.”

  Adam sat back in his seat. “That’s not a guy thing.”

  “What?” Now Ellie was thoroughly confused. “What do you mean?”

  “The deeper meaning thing. Think about it.” Adam was talking fast as though he had a dozen or more thoughts trying to come out of his mouth at the same time. “That’s not how a man like DJ Aston Ryan behaves. That boy was a stereotypical guy. Isn’t that one of the biggest gripes that most women have about the average guy? They’re looking for the man who sees the deeper meaning. He wants to talk and take long walks by the beach.”

  “Hey now,” Ellie chided, “don’t go all stereotypical on me. But yes, I see where you’re going with this. It’s pretty clear that Aston Ryan didn’t send the letters and I’m going to have to say that Rhiannon Mounds might be an unmitigated disaster, but she’s not a stalker or a murderer.”

  “Right.” Adam was getting excited. “Did you get a chance to look at the list I gave you of men who have purchased more than one ticket to the show in the last month?”

  “Yes I did.” Ellie reached for the thick manila folder she’d brought with her. “Your Westin Bainbridge guy might actually pay off. I think it’s time to try to find a non-invasive way to pay him a visit.”

  “I’ve got it!” Adam bounced in his seat with such enthusiasm that Ellie would have felt bad to burst his bubble in an effort to suggest they do some stalking of their own before they knocked on his door. Adam leaned forward and put his hands on top of the letters. “So, I think the way to get into his house is to claim he’s won some sort of prize for being Kari Jo Mounds’ biggest fan. He’s seen the show once a week. We should reward that kind of loyalty!”

  Ellie pressed her lips together and thought for a moment. “We can’t say it quite like that though.”

  “What do you mean?” He actually looked deflated, as if he’d been excited about playing prize patrol and banging on the guy’s door.

  “Well, the show isn’t just a Kari Jo Mounds show,” Ellie pointed out. “There is still a possibility that one of these six creeps, and yes all six of them have certain traits that make them red flaggers, but they could be creeping on the Garth Brook
s Tribute or Ron Skaggs. It is possible.”

  Adam looked utterly taken aback. “Oh my God, I hadn’t even considered that. What if we are looking for more than one sicko? Sheesh! What is wrong with people these days?”

  “But that’s what we can find out.” Now Ellie was getting excited. “Your prize patrol idea is perfect! We can show up with three T-shirts, right? And then we see what gets them all hot and bothered. And maybe we don’t get the reaction we thought we would, but at least we’ll get information.”

  Adam started to laugh. Within minutes they were both chuckling together as though they’d just heard the best joke ever. Ruby stopped by the table to pick up their plates with a big grin on her face and a look that made Ellie think Ruby was getting just a little tired of the drama.

  “And how was everything today?” Ruby asked brightly. “Don’t forget to fill out your comment card to tell us how we did. And I hope you aren’t laughing at the cooking?”

  Ellie shook her head and beamed at Ruby. “Goodness no! And yes, I’ll happily fill out the comment card. You’ve been wonderful. My tea glass has always been full and the chicken was absolutely scrumptious. Thank you so much for your time today.”

  Adam’s eyebrows went up, but Ruby smiled so big she looked as though she might actually bust wide open. Ellie wasn’t entirely sure what was making her feel as though she was ready to burst into song at any moment. There was no reason for this ridiculousness. She and Adam were slowly crawling to the end of this situation and they were going to find their suspect and wrap it all up.

  Ruby bounced off, presumably to get their bill, and Ellie felt her cheeks starting to heat up as she realized Adam was staring at her with a smile on his face. It was a warm smile. The sort of smile that a man gives to a woman he finds attractive. Ellie wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that. She liked Adam—a lot—but relationships weren’t in her long term plan.

  “That was very nice of you,” Adam said after a moment or two of silence. “I think poor Ruby was a little scarred by Rhiannon’s outburst.”

  “I think the entire restaurant was scarred by that,” Ellie told him wryly. “Did she at least tell you anything useful? Other than making sure you’re positive she’s not our suspect?”

  Adam’s smile disappeared. “She told me our friend DJ Aston Ryan had convinced Kari Jo to sign a new contract with some new manager—identity unknown—and that it was going to include some kind of bonus for Rhiannon.”

  Ellie wasn’t exactly surprised by this, but she could tell Adam was upset about it, though he looked rather resigned. “I’m sorry. That must be a bit of a shock to hear, even though we’ve been finding bits and pieces of information that suggested something like that was going on.”

  “The thing is,” Adam mused, taking a long drink of his tea as though he wanted to buy time to think about his response, “Rhiannon seemed to be under the impression I was going to have to be responsible for paying the financial penalties if Kari Jo breaks her current contract with Harvey Lightman. She claims that was what the DJ told her.”

  Ellie’s first thought was the woman must be dumb as a box of rocks if the thought that was true. “I can’t imagine any business manager would leave himself open to that sort of repercussion when it involves the potential flightiness of a client.”

  “Exactly,” Adam muttered. “I would have been bankrupt years ago. Do you know how many times I’ve had clients go AWOL on me? It’s the nature of the beast.”

  Ellie felt the ghost of a smile on her lips as she thought about her own brother. “Creative types tend to be a bit unreliable compared to us practical sorts.”

  “I don’t like to make that sort of generalization, but you’re not necessarily wrong,” Adam agreed. He pulled a large bill out of his wallet and threw it down on the table. Then he picked up a comment card and handed it to Ellie. “You promised.”

  “I did promise,” Ellie sighed as she fished for a pen. “I suppose that will teach me to be happy and filled with goodwill.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  With a giant gift bag in hand, Adam shifted a little on the front doorstep of Westin Bainbridge’s condo. The unit was located in one of those complexes that catered to vacation rentals and timeshares as well as buildings dedicated to housing permanent residents of the area. It was a nice enough condo complex that included a tennis and basketball court, swimming pool, and shuffleboard along with a playground for any children that happened to be visiting. From where he was standing, Adam could see the clubhouse and the rental office. There was also a view of the lake in the background if you peeked just so through the trees. Adam had never really understood why people would pay a crazy lot of money just for a glimpse of some water, but that’s usually how it worked.

  Ellie stood between Adam and the front door. She had already rung the bell and now they were waiting. The information Ellie had been able to pull on Westin Bainbridge suggested he was an IT worker who telecommuted to a company out of state and chose to live here on purpose. He was five-foot-seven and his driver’s license photo was so incredibly bad that Adam no longer felt annoyed by the surprised look on his own driver’s license photo.

  “Here he comes,” Ellie whispered. “I hear footsteps.”

  The door swung open and Westin Bainbridge appeared behind the glass panel of the storm door with an owlish expression on his face. He wore a huge pair of glasses that seemed to magnify his eyeballs to an enormous size. His skin had an almost unnatural pallor to it. He reached for the door knob on the storm door and opened it in a very hesitant manner.

  “Yes?” Westin eyed the huge gift bag in Adam’s hands. “How can I help you?”

  “Westin Bainbridge?” Ellie said in a very good cop voice. They’d decided to make him sweat a little before telling him he was a winner in the hopes he would spill more information by being abruptly relieved to not be in trouble. “You are Westin Bainbridge, are you not?”

  “I am.” Westin’s hand began to shake on the storm door. “What’s wrong? Has something happened?”

  “Yes,” Ellie said gravely. “Something has definitely happened.”

  Adam stepped forward and waved the bag. “You’ve been chosen to receive the Ozark Star Theater’s most valuable customer award!”

  “Congratulations!” Ellie’s face opened into a beatific smile. “Mr. Bainbridge, you’ve won a prize for being one of the Star’s best repeat customers. Four visits in one month! That’s the sort of area appreciation we like to see!”

  “Area appreciation” was a fairly commonly used phrase in the Branson area. It referred to a whole host of discounts and special privileges afforded to local residents so they did not have to pay regular price for all of their tickets or shopping experiences.

  Adam could see Westin Bainbridge visibly relax when he heard it. He believed them, that was for sure. He pushed that storm door open and waved them eagerly into his home.

  “Come in!” Westin gushed. “You’re right! I adore the Ozark Star! Never has there been a better combination of acts in a single show here in Branson. It’s so much fun that I hope to go again this week!”

  “Well, you’re in luck!” Adam whipped out a pair of tickets. “I’ve got two tickets to the show tonight for you and a friend. We want to make sure you continue to enjoy the sounds of Garth Brooks, Kari Jo Mounds, and the comedy stylings of Ron Skaggs on our dime!”

  Ellie and Adam followed Westin into his modest condo. It was nice. It looked as though the guy lived with his mother. The furniture, decor, and pastel color scheme were typically found in rentals or inside the homes of elderly women living by themselves, minus a few doilies.

  “What a lovely home you have!” Ellie told him as she sat down. “Would you like to sit and take a peek at your prize?”

  “Oh, yes!” Westin clapped his hands like a little kid and plopped onto the couch.

  Adam handed over the gift sack, but he needn’t have bothered. Their winner was no longer feeling shy and reserved. Westin yanked t
hat big gift sack over to the floor in front of the sofa and began digging inside as though they’d promised buried treasure.

  Adam and Ellie had put the stuff in the bag in a particular order on purpose. The first thing he drew out was the Ron Skaggs T-shirt. Westin made the appropriate comment of thanks and set it aside. The second thing was the Garth Brooks Tribute T-shirt. The familiar black T-shirt with the red flames down the side was the most popular seller at the gift shop. There were a few appropriate noises of appreciation, but nothing that made Adam think their young suspect was a very huge fan of the tribute concert.

  “Oh, oh my!” Westin exclaimed in a low voice filled with excitement. “Oh, you’ve saved the best for last, haven’t you?”

  Adam glanced up at Ellie and saw her face was filled with expectation. There was no doubt she was thinking the same thing—this guy was about to go totally gaga for the Kari Jo Mounds stuff in the bag.

  “Oh, it’s so beautiful!” Westin’s voice burst out of his mouth as he pulled an autographed black and white photo of Kari Jo from the bag. He held it up and examined it. “Perfect. Don’t you think? I mean really, the girl is just beautiful. So symmetrical. And the colors! I love the way the black and white really emphasizes the silver and gold in her hair. Such beautiful hair. And a beautiful woman. I’ve just…” Westin looked up at Adam. “I’m sorry, I’m just so overcome!”

  “Of course.” Adam tried to be solicitous without being creepy. It wasn’t actually all that easy. “There’s more for you in there though. Keep digging.”

  “More?” Westin’s voice grew shaky and then he pulled a Kari Jo Mounts T-shirt out of the bag. “Oh!”

  The young man leaped to his feet and held the shirt to his chest as though he was caressing a lover. Adam felt his mouth pop open as Westin danced around his living room with the T-shirt.