by Cindy Bell
“The important thing is that you are safe.” Mary slipped her hand into hers. “Now, let’s just hope that this will lead to the truth.” As they sat down at Kirk’s desk together, they updated one another about the information that they’d discovered.
“So you think Jessica might be the killer?” Suzie tipped her head from side to side. “That makes sense to me, but I’m not ready to rule out Sophia just yet. She is so emotional over all of this, but I can’t help wonder if that’s just a front to hide her guilt, or maybe even remorse.”
“Maybe. What was the car ride like with her?”
“She cried a lot. Begged me to believe that she had nothing to do with Amelia’s death. Then she would get very quiet. I had the doors locked, but a couple of times I saw her grab the handle of the car door as if she might decide to jump out, but she didn’t.”
“That must have been so frightening.”
“It wasn’t easy. And weren’t you supposed to stay in the car while following Monroe?” Suzie gazed at her friend with a hint of a smile on her lips. “I guess neither of us follow directions well.”
“I guess not.” Mary squeezed her hand. “But maybe we should try a little harder.”
Chapter 13
When Jason emerged from the interrogation room, Suzie spotted him right away. She felt an urge to run over to him, but fought it. She knew he was probably still a little bothered about how she’d managed to get Sophia there. Instead she lingered beside Kirk’s desk, and gave Mary’s foot a light nudge.
Mary glanced up just as Jason began to walk over.
“Ladies.” Jason folded his arms across his chest as he studied the two of them. “Why am I not surprised that you’re still here?”
“I just thought you might want to share with us your thoughts about Sophia.” Suzie offered him a warm smile.
“I have a few thoughts I’d like to share about you two being tangled up in my investigation.” Jason sighed and unfurled his arms. “But there’s not much point to that, now is there?”
“No.” Suzie patted his shoulder. “Isn’t it great to have a little extra back-up?”
“Great to have to worry about two people I care about very much getting themselves into serious trouble?” Jason shook his head. “No, there’s nothing great about that.”
Suzie and Mary exchanged a glance, then Suzie looked back at her cousin.
“Jason, we’re both here, and we’re okay. What did Sophia have to say? What do you think of her story?” Suzie took a step closer to him.
“I think she doesn’t have an alibi, and she has plenty of motive.” Jason scratched his fingertips back through his hair. “She claims to be heartbroken, but it could just be an act.”
“She did turn herself in, though.” Suzie narrowed her eyes. “That has to count for something, doesn’t it?”
“Maybe.” Jason pursed his lips. “Or maybe she realized that you’d discovered her, and decided her best option to make herself look good was to turn herself in.”
“It’s possible.” Suzie nodded slowly. “She certainly hasn’t been able to prove her innocence and she had plenty of time to do so.”
“Right now, I’m still stuck at a dead end.” Jason shook his head. “Do me a favor and keep yourself safe, all right?”
“I’ll do my best.” Suzie smiled. “We’re just going to head back to the house, right Mary?”
“Right.” Mary nodded. “No worries, Jason.”
“No worries.” Jason looked between both of them, then rolled his eyes. “Somehow I doubt that.”
As Jason walked off Suzie linked her arm with Mary’s.
“Time to figure out exactly how Sophia is involved in all of this.”
“I’ll meet you at the house.” Mary winked at her, then headed for the door.
Suzie glanced back over her shoulder as Jason disappeared back into the interrogation room. A little research couldn’t hurt anything, could it?
* * *
On the drive home, Suzie went over in her mind everything that Sophia confessed about her relationship with her cousin. So, they had a falling out. Was it possible that Sophia really was trying to mend fences with her cousin? There certainly didn’t seem to be any evidence of that. In fact, if she felt the need to skulk around outside of Dune House instead of going to the door and knocking that indicated to her that she knew she would not be welcomed. However, whoever killed Amelia had been allowed into not only Dune House, but Amelia’s own room. Perhaps she had decided to give Sophia a chance? Would that have been enough reason for Amelia to let her in?
Suzie pulled into the parking lot of Dune House and sat behind the wheel for a few minutes. She couldn’t figure out a single reason why Amelia might have let Monroe in. Unless, he had something over her, that might compel her to open the door. She still didn’t know exactly what the company was up to that caused such controversy.
When Suzie stepped into the house, she found that Mary was already there with a small lunch for them.
“I’m starving, are you hungry?”
“Yes.” Suzie sighed as she slumped down in a chair. “And exhausted.”
“I bet. It must have been so scary when you realized that she was right behind you. Oh Suzie, it makes me scared just thinking about it.” Mary sat down across from her.
“I know, it was a stupid move on my part. I never should have been that reckless. But in the end, it didn’t lead to anything dangerous. Unfortunately, it also didn’t lead to any beneficial information.” Suzie rubbed her hands together, then picked up the sandwich that Mary prepared for her. “Thank you for this.”
“You’re welcome. I don’t think that it’s led to nothing, though. Now we know that the cousins once had a close relationship. That might have been enough reason for Amelia to open the door for Sophia. There also might be enough motive for Sophia to have attacked her.”
“Okay, but if Sophia did it, why would she take the typewriter and the manuscript with her? She had nothing to do with the company, right? So, why would she care about what Amelia had written.” Suzie sat back as she took another bite of her sandwich. “I think we need to find out more about what the big scandal was with the company. I mean, the manuscript was taken, so my guess would be that was the reason for the murder. Someone wanted to keep that book from being released.”
“And maybe Amelia was so protective of it that she wouldn’t even write on a computer. That tells me she didn’t want the information getting out before it was released. If it did there would be no reason to publish the book.”
“Yes, I agree. She hid out here, too. She knew she was in danger.”
“Clearly, those death threats that Kirk showed me were quite detailed. From what was included I would think that the author likely knew quite a bit about her.”
“We know the book is about the company, I think we need to learn a little bit more about this company.” Suzie nodded.
“Monroe certainly isn’t interested in telling the whole truth, and I’m sure that Jessica Cate didn’t have much to say either.” Mary frowned. “I wish I had the chance to speak to her myself.”
“I wish you had stayed in the car like I told you.” Suzie raised an eyebrow.
“This, from the person that ended up in the basement of an abandoned house with a possible killer?” Mary shook her head. “Nope, sorry, I’m not the one in trouble here.”
“All right, all right.” Suzie grinned. “Let me see what I can find out.”
After over an hour of searching Suzie managed to find some posts by an employee of Jessica Cate Public Relations. After a few searches she came across one that Jessica Cate’s name was listed in. It went on about how Jessica Cate and her employees had been ripping off their clients. It didn’t go into specifics, but it mentioned how the magazines were as much to blame as the publicists, and the truth had to be revealed.
“The owners and some employees of the company are involved in scamming the clients. Some employees have no idea what is going on. This
company needs to be investigated before it ruins more lives. Their clients need to be protected. Every single person who works there, and is aware of what is really happening there, should be held guilty for what they have done. They have broken their clients’ trust. They are criminals, hiding behind white collars, and so are we if we sit by and let this happen.” Suzie read part of the post to herself. It was only posted last week. Could it have been made by Amelia?
“Maybe Amelia was a whistleblower.” Suzie sat back in her chair just as Mary walked back through the door.
“A whistleblower?” Mary asked.
Suzie explained what she had found.
“Wow, those are some serious accusations. It sounds to me that whoever wrote that knows every detail about what happened at the company. If Amelia was making these accusations, had proof and was writing the book about it, that’s a pretty strong motive. It would have ruined the company’s reputation.” Mary scooted over to peer at the page. “Amelia didn’t write this. There’s the author’s name. I wonder if we can get a contact number?”
“It’s right here.” Suzie smiled as she pointed to a section of the page. “It’s worth a shot, right?” She shrugged as she dialed the number. To her surprise, the phone only rang once before it was answered.
“Hello, this is Nina Brambrose, how may I help you?”
“Hi Nina, my name is Suzie, I’m calling in regard to the information on a post you made about Jessica Cate Public Relations.”
“I’m sorry I’m not involved in that anymore.” Her voice wavered.
“You’re not? Why not?”
“I don’t really want to answer any questions. You shouldn’t either and stop asking them. You’re putting yourself at risk. I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”
“Wait, Nina, what do you mean I’m putting myself at risk? Do you think you’re in danger?”
“Listen, someone was murdered over this, okay? That’s all I can tell you. Please don’t call me again.”
Suzie pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at Mary.
“She hung up. But she sounded scared, very scared.”
“I think she heard about Amelia’s death and is afraid that she might be next?” Mary frowned, then leaned closer to Suzie. “What if she is next?”
“I don’t know.” Suzie sighed. “I don’t think she’s going to give us any more information, though. She did say her name was Nina Brambrose. I’ll see what I can find out about her.” She started to conduct another search, but her phone rang before she could. “Hello, Nina?”
“No, this is Jason. Are you okay, Suzie?”
“Yes, I’m fine, Jason, I’m sorry.” Suzie sat back in her chair. “How are you?”
“I’ve got some information I’d like to get your input on. Can you come down to the medical examiner’s office?”
“Sure.” Suzie looked across the table at Mary. “We can be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Great. I’ll see you then.”
“Jason has some information. Let me just get freshened up and we can head out.” Suzie stood up from the table and headed for the stairs. She’d been so nervous in that basement that she’d sweated quite a bit, and she wanted some fresh clothing for the visit to the medical examiner’s office. Her mind spun as she wondered what information Jason might have for her.
Mary began to clean up the lunch dishes when her cell phone rang. She smiled when she saw it was Wes calling.
“Hi Wes.”
“Hi Wes, is that it?”
“Um, hi darling?”
“I got a call from one of the local cops about the little adventure you went on today.”
“Oh.” Mary laughed. “Don’t worry about that, it all worked out fine. I did overhear an argument between Monroe and Jessica though, that made me think she’s up to something.”
“So, it’s true? You really followed Monroe? By yourself?”
“Yes, but that’s not the point. The point is Jessica sounded as if she might have something to feel guilty about—”
“Mary, that is way too risky. Why would you do something like that?”
“Wes, calm down. I was perfectly safe.”
“If you were perfectly safe then how were you able to hear what Jessica said? You had to have gotten out of the car.”
“Well yes, I did.” Mary frowned as she glanced over at Suzie as she came back down the stairs. “I’m fine, that’s the important thing. But I was wondering if you could answer a quick question for me. I know that you are busy.”
“I’m never too busy for you. But first you have to promise me that you’re not going to do anything as risky as that again.”
“It wasn’t risky, I was never in danger.” Mary’s mind flashed back to the moment that she felt a hand over her mouth, before she knew that it belonged to Jason. Yes, in that moment she was terrified. She pushed the memory away and cleared her throat. “I am fine.”
“And I am so grateful that you are. I admire how brave you are, you know that. Now, how can I help you?”
“If someone was writing threatening letters, but leaving them anonymous, would there be any way to trace where the letters had come from? Say, they were dropped in a public mailbox, instead of mailed from a home. How would you figure out who they came from?”
“All you have is the location of the mailbox. But that might be enough. Some post offices have cameras, and if the mailbox was not at a post office, but located on a street corner of some kind, then there may be cameras nearby. You’ll have an approximate date of when it was picked up, and that should give you a place to start. I hope that helps.”
“Yes, it does, so much. I didn’t even consider other cameras nearby. Thanks Wes.”
“Thank me by being more careful, okay?”
“I promise.” Mary’s heart warmed at the concern in his voice. The way he cared about her made her feel like the most valuable person in the world.
“What is your next step here?”
“We are meeting Jason, a perfectly safe meeting. He just wants some information from us.”
“Good, that means I can breathe easy for a little while.”
“Bye Wes.” Mary smiled as she hung up the phone.
“Did he give you a hard time?” Suzie headed for the door.
“Yes, and no. I can’t help but enjoy it when he worries about me. Is that wrong?” Mary picked up her purse and followed after her.
“No, I don’t think so. It’s nice to have someone that cares that much.” As they reached the porch, she glanced towards the water. “I know I worry about Paul like that, and I’m sure he worries about me, too. It’s nice to know that someone cares.”
“Yes, it is.” Mary smiled to herself as she followed Suzie to the car.
Chapter 14
“Wes is right you know.” Suzie started the car, then glanced over at her friend.
“Hmm?” Mary looked back at her.
“We both took big risks today. We do need to be more careful. Either one of us could have ended up in a lot more trouble than we did.” Suzie headed out of the parking lot.
“I’ll admit, I was scared when Jason grabbed me. I know why he did it, but it still made me realize how vulnerable I really was.” Mary adjusted her purse in her lap. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still a little spooked.”
“After hearing Nina’s voice on that phone call today, I am, too.” Suzie chewed on her bottom lip. “Monroe was ready to sue Amelia, she had been receiving death threats, and now someone who was attempting to expose the dodgy practices of the company is too frightened to even talk about it. I feel like we’re really missing the mark with this. The post I found online mentioned that the magazines working with the company are involved. Maybe that’s the key to this?”
“Maybe.” Mary pointed to an empty spot near the front door of the medical examiner’s office. There were several other cars in the parking lot. “It seems a little busy here today. I wonder why?”
“I’m not sure, but we’re about
to find out.”
As they headed inside, they found the waiting room was peppered with police officers.
“What’s going on?” Suzie looked at the receptionist behind the desk.
“High pressure to solve this case.” The receptionist raised an eyebrow. “Plus there was another body found within city limits, and they’re trying to figure out if it’s related.”
“Who is it?” Suzie’s eyes widened.
“I’m not sure if it’s been identified yet. A drowning victim.” The receptionist winced.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Mary sighed and pressed her hand to her chest. “So awful.”
“Yes, I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything more, but Dr. Rose and Jason are waiting for you in her office.” She pointed down the hall towards it. “Go ahead in.”
“Another body?” Suzie whispered to Mary as they walked down the hall. “Maybe Nina does have a reason to be scared?”
“Maybe.” Mary shivered, then knocked lightly on Dr. Rose’s office door.
“Come in.” Dr. Rose stood behind her desk. Jason stood next to her, his eyes locked on a file in front of him.
“Hi Summer, Jason.” Mary stepped in, followed by Suzie, who closed the door behind them.
“Hi Mary, Suzie, thanks for coming in. This case is really heating up.” Jason nodded.
“Do you think the other body that was found is related?” Suzie stepped closer.
“I can’t really talk about that. That’s not why I called you here.” Jason didn’t look up from the file.
“What did you find?” Suzie leaned against the desk and tried to catch a glimpse of the file open in front of him.
“An imprint on Amelia’s hand,” Jason explained.
“Imprint?” Mary settled in the chair in front of the desk.
“Yes, it’s like her hand was cut by something. We think maybe it was jewelry. Maybe she grabbed this object during the struggle.” Jason placed a picture on the table between them. “Sophia isn’t revealing much. You knew Amelia better than anyone else in town. You saw her every day. Did you ever see her wearing something that looked like this?”
