He turned and looked back at the photographs and then said, “Mrs. Reynolds, I did not murder Kimberly Laughlin. I never left this office that morning as my clerk can tell you. I was in here from 5:00 a.m. until the man you were with, I believe his name is Jesse Ramos, came and told me that Kimberly had been murdered. But I’ve done a lot of thinking about this, and I think Lizzie may be the murderer,” he said as he swiveled back around to face her.
“And what makes you say that, Mr. Ambrose?”
He took a deep breath and began. “When I first bought the truck stop, Lizzie, the woman known as the Lot Lizard, came to me and told me that if I would allow her to continue, as she phrased it, ‘providing relaxation for the truckers at her home,’ she would give me fifty percent of what she earned doing that.
“I have three teenage children, all of whom intend to go to college, so money is always a concern of mine. I was able to buy this truck stop with an inheritance, but I spent most of the money, so money is always on my mind. I know the next few years are going to be rough, and that’s why I agreed to accept the extra money. It was a business arrangement, pure and simple.”
“I know a lot of people who don’t even think prostitution is a crime,” Kelly said. “Their term for it is pretty much the same as what you just called your agreement with Lizzie. It’s a business arrangement between two consenting adults.”
“That’s how I’ve justified it,” he said.
“Has that changed?” Kelly asked.
“No, but here’s what I’m getting at. I don’t think I’ve seen Lizzie more than a couple of times since I had my initial meeting with her. There’s a suggestion box just inside the front doors and each week she puts an envelope in there with my cut of her business.
“Here’s what you need to know. When she came here last week and told me about Kimberly, Snacks, and the bookmaking business, she suggested that we become partners and that I should fire Kimberly. She told me that with Kimberly gone, her trucker business would be back to normal money-wise, and the bookmaking operation would be gravy for both of us. She said she didn’t have the money for it and told me she was sure I could front it. She said once Kimberly was gone, we’d be in business and on our way to becoming wealthy.”
“How did you respond?”
“I told her I’d think about it and get back to her.”
“And did you?”
“Yes. Here’s what happened. I told you earlier that I have three teen-agers. Two girls and a boy. The boy is seventeen and has been working on becoming an Eagle Scout for years. Last Saturday he was inducted into the Eagle Scout Court of Honor.”
“You must be very proud of him.”
“I am. As I sat there thinking what a wonderful young man he is, my wife leaned over and whispered, ‘I’m so happy he had you for a role model. This may be the happiest day of my life.’ Mrs. Reynolds, in that moment I knew I could never do what Lizzie had asked, and I decided that it was probably time to tell Lizzie that she could no longer troll my truck lot looking for business.”
“Yes, I can understand why you’d feel like that after what your wife said.”
“Mrs. Reynolds, I want to be the man my wife and children think I am, not a man who’s engaged in prostitution and illegal gambling. Simple as that. I told Lizzie I’d decided to keep Kimberly on and close down the bookmaking operation. I told her I planned on having a conversation with Kimberly after work the following day.”
“Let me guess. You never got the chance because Kimberly was murdered the morning you were going to do it.”
“Yes, that’s what happened.” Kelly and Mac exchanged a long look at each other for several moments and then he said, “When I heard she’d been murdered, I was certain Lizzie had done it, but I had no proof. If I’d told the deputy sheriff who took my statement about it, I’d have to tell him about the prostitution and the illegal gambling that were taking place at the truck stop.”
“Yes, I see what you’re saying. Actually, Mr. Ambrose, it seems like you’re as much a victim here as Kimberly, and the reason that you’re a victim stems from her. I’m glad you have a solid alibi.”
“So am I. It’s ironic you’d come here this morning, because in the middle of the night I decided I couldn’t live the rest of my life thinking that I might know who murdered Kimberly and not do something about it. I knew I’d have to tell the deputy about the gambling and prostitution, but I was going to throw myself on his mercy, telling him I’d only recently become aware of the gambling and Kimberly’s prostitution. As to Lizzie’s prostitution, I think he might have chosen to overlook my involvement in that, because if it wasn’t Lizzie, it would be some other woman.”
“Yes, I think you’re probably right, but you do know that I’m going to have to tell him about our conversation, and I’m sure he’s going to want to talk to you.”
“Yes, and I’m ready for that.”
“I’ll call him when I get back to Cedar Bay. I don’t think there’s any urgency at the moment. The thing that bothers me is that no witnesses have come forward. Right now there is nothing concrete that would indicate Lizzie is the murderer. Can you think of anything?”
“No. I don’t know if you’ve been to the restaurant cashier’s desk this morning, but after you left two days ago, I prepared a reward flyer indicating that I’d pay $1,000 to anyone who had information that could lead to the arrest of Kimberly’s murderer, and I put a stack of the flyers next to the register.
“If you look at the register in the store out in front, you’ll see them. Some truckers who come here don’t eat, but most of them come in the store to get something or other. I put my phone number on there as well as where my office is. So far no one has called me or come to see me.”
“Mr. Ambrose, thank you for what you’ve told me. As I said, I’ll talk to the deputy who took your statement. He’s handling this case. Quite frankly, I have no idea where to go from here. Hopefully, he’ll have some ideas.”
They both stood up, and he walked her to the door. “I hope you find who did this horrible thing. She may not have been the most honest person around, but she didn’t deserve to be murdered,” Mac said as they shook hands.
“I agree. If you hear anything, please call me, and tell your son congratulations on his becoming an Eagle Scout.”
“Thanks, I will.”
CHAPTER 24
Kelly drove back to Cedar Bay with a heavy heart. It seemed like Kimberly wasn’t the only victim. She admired Mac for deciding not to be involved in Lizzie’s prostitution business, even though he certainly could have used the money for upcoming college expenses. People being people, she was pretty sure a lot of them would not have made that decision.
I just hope it turns out all right for him, she thought.
An hour later she turned into her driveway and saw three dogs patiently waiting for her to return while they looked out the office window. She wasn’t sure dogs could smile, but if they could, she was pretty sure that’s what her dogs were doing.
A few moments later they were beside themselves with joy when she walked into the house. “Okay guys, I’m home. All’s right with the world. How’s your other master doing?” she asked as she walked down the hall to check on Mike.
She looked in the bedroom and saw that he was sleeping. He must have sensed she was there, because he opened his eyes and said, “Good morning, or is it afternoon?”
“It’s late morning. How are you feeling?”
“Much better. I’m just kind of out of gas, but my fever’s gone and my body has stopped hurting. I think I’ll be fine by tomorrow. Matter-of-fact I’m hungry, so that’s a good sign, don’t you think?”
“That’s the best news I’ve had in the last few days. Are you hungry for anything in particular?”
“Yes, but it’s probably going to depend on what you have planned for the next few hours. Don’t ask me why, and before you ask, I’m not pregnant, but I’m craving two things you make. First is a Salisbury steak with mushro
om sauce and the second is cheesecake. Any chance we could have those for dinner? And I would take a bowl of chicken noodle soup now. I can come in the kitchen and eat in there. I need to start moving around, so I can get some of my strength back.”
“Yes, to all three. I do think you should continue with lots of liquids. I’ll get a fresh pitcher of water for you. Early lunch will be ready in about fifteen minutes. I’ll make sourdough toast for you to dunk in the soup.”
Fifteen minutes later, Mike slowly walked into the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen table. Kelly served him his soup and toast and said, “Well, for the first time in several days, you have some natural color in your cheeks. That’s encouraging.”
A few minutes later she said, “How does it taste?”
“Like manna from heaven,” he answered.
“Would you like another bowl of soup and more toast, considering you ate it all?”
“I’d like more, but that’s probably not smart. I don’t want to overtax my stomach.”
“And rich Salisbury steak and cheesecake won’t?” Kelly asked with a twinkle in her eye.
“No, you see the steak is just a regular meal, and I’ll put the cheesecake in my dessert pocket,” he answered, returning the twinkle.
“Sheriff, I can tell you’re definitely feeling better. Go on back to bed and get some more sleep while I start filling your culinary requests. I also need to make a phone call.”
When Mike was back in bed and she’d checked to make sure he wasn’t running a fever, she called Josh to tell him about the morning’s events.
“Hi, Kelly, two questions. First, how is Mike feeling? Because I have a sinking sensation that I’m on the verge of getting the flu, and if I do have to take a couple of days off, I’d like to know when he’ll be back.”
“I’m sorry you’re not feeling well, but at least he’s definitely on the mend. He’s even requesting that I make a special dinner for him. Given that and no fever, I think it’s safe to say he’ll probably be back tomorrow.”
“That’s good, because there’s a good chance I won’t be here. I’m finishing up a couple of loose ends now. What did you find out this morning from Mac Ambrose?”
She told him about her conversation with Mac and his suspicion that Lizzie was the murderer. “Josh, here’s the problem as I see it, and I’m sure you’re well aware of it. There is not a shred of evidence that puts Lizzie at the scene when Kimberly was murdered. All I’ve been able to find out is a lot of hearsay about conversations Lizzie supposedly had with people, and as you well know, there’s absolutely nothing as far as hard evidence.”
“I agree, Kelly, and although we could bring her in for questioning and hope she confesses, that’s not realistic. We need some hard evidence.”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking, and I can’t come up with a way to get any. Probably the best thing to do is let it simmer until Mike returns to the station. I didn’t tell him about my meeting this morning. Figure he needed to conserve his strength to get well, rather than spend it on thinking of ways to get hard evidence. He can do that tomorrow. Anyway, I doubt if his thought processes are 100% right now.”
“I agree. I’ve got a couple more hours of work here and then I’m going to call it a day, actually probably a couple of days. If you come up with something and I don’t take the call, just leave a message. I’ll check my phone from time to time, but right now my bed sounds pretty good to me.”
“Do what you need to do, Josh, and go home as soon as you can. Having seen Mike with this flu, I don’t think there’s much you can do for it but ride it out.”
“Will do. Talk to you soon.”
CHAPTER 25
Kelly knew the cheesecake required some time in the refrigerator before it would be ready for serving so as soon as she ended the call with Josh, she started on it. It had quickly become one of her favorites, because it was crustless. She’d been serving it at the coffee shop to satisfied customers for years.
When it was in the refrigerator, she made the patties for the Salisbury steaks and prepped the sauce. It was a running joke between Mike and her that all she wanted for Christmas was a sous-chef, someone who would do all of the vegetable chopping for her. When she was at the coffee shop, she relied on Charlie to do it for her, but at home the tedious work fell to her.
Kelly had just finished chopping the mushrooms, onions, baby carrots, and fresh rosemary when her cell phone rang. As she was answering it, she glanced at the time and realized it was already early evening. She couldn’t believe where the time had gone.
“This is Kelly,” she said as she answered the phone. No name had appeared on her screen, so she had no way of knowing who was calling her.
“Kelly, this is Susie from the truck stop. I’m the one who talked to you this morning out in my truck with my dog, Flips.”
“Of course, Susie, what can I do for you?”
“I really don’t know how to tell you this, so I’ll just say it. I saw Lizzie go into the ladies restroom at the truck stop just before Kimberly was murdered.”
Kelly held the phone in her hand, stunned. “Susie, are you telling me that you saw Lizzie go in to the ladies restroom the morning of the murder?”
“Yes. We’d just finished breakfast in the truck and rather than use our bathroom, I thought I’d use the one at the truck stop. I didn’t want to walk through the truck stop, so I entered through a back door that’s broken. I think the reason Mac doesn’t fix it is that he knows a few of us use that door, and since the truck stop is open 24/7, there’s always somebody there. Very few people know that the door’s broken.”
“Okay, Susie, tell me what happened.”
“Well, it was barely daylight when I went in the back door. I thought I saw someone go in that door ahead of me, but I couldn’t get a clear look. After I entered the building and turned the corner that leads to the ladies restroom, I saw Lizzie walk into it.
“I thought that was strange, because Lizzie lives across the highway and there’s no reason for her to use the restroom. The only ones who do are female truckers or trucker’s wives, and I pretty much know every one of them. In all the years Little Paul and I’ve been going to the truck stop, I’ve never seen Lizzie in the ladies restroom.
“I decided I didn’t want to have to talk to her, so I turned around and went back to our truck. We left the truck stop a few minutes after that, and I pretty much forgot about it. I spent most of yesterday doing some tax preparation paperwork, and when you and I were talking this morning, my mind was still kind of on that. Matter of fact, we’re on a run to Nebraska right now, and I’ve been enjoying the scenery.”
“If you’re on your way to Nebraska and you’re enjoying the scenery, what caused you to think about seeing Lizzie now?” Kelly asked.
“Little Paul. We were just talking about this and that, and he happened to mention that he’d picked up a flyer that was next to the cash register when he’d paid for our breakfast this morning. He told me he wished we knew something about Kimberly’s murder because a $1,000 reward was being offered.
“The words ‘I think I might know something about it’ popped out of my mouth and we’ve spent the last hour talking about it. You know how I told you how moral Paul is, well, he got real moral about this. He told me that even if a reward wasn’t being offered, I had to call you and tell you what I’d seen. Think he said it was my moral obligation.”
“That’s very honorable of him,” Kelly said.
“Yes, it is. I told you he has this moral compass in him. I mean, I get upset with him from time to time over his infatuations, but the truth is with his moral compass, he’d never do anything about it.
“Kelly, I’ve got to be honest with you. Yes, I was thinking about the paperwork I did yesterday, but the real reason I didn’t say anything is because I didn’t want to get involved. I’ve always believed in keeping a low profile, and by telling you this, I sure lose my low-profile status.”
“I really appreciate this
call, Susie. You know I’m going to have to tell the sheriff about what you saw. Whether or not that will be enough to cause him to arrest Lizzie for Kimberly’s murder, I don’t know, but again, I want to thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I don’t know if me telling you means I get that reward, but we could sure use it.”
“I don’t know either, but I would have to think that from what was on the flyer it should be yours. I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you.”
“No, it’s I who should thank you for having the courage to come forward with this.”
“Better thank Little Paul. It was his idea.”
“In that case, please thank Little Paul for me,” Kelly said as she ended the call.
CHAPTER 26
Kelly looked at the time on her phone. It was 4:45. She thought that Josh had probably left the station for the day, particularly since he wasn’t feeling well, but she thought she’d try him anyway. She knew he’d want to know what Susie had just told her.
“This is Josh Bennet. I’m sorry I’m unable to answer your call at the moment. If this is an emergency, please call 911. If this is a routine or personal matter, please leave your message, and I will get back to you as soon as possible,” the recorded answerphone message said.
“Josh, it’s Kelly. I just had a telephone conversation with Susie, Little Paul’s wife. Here’s what she had to say.”
She had to call back twice to complete the whole message because Josh’s answerphone kept cutting her off. When she’d finished, she said, “I have a feeling I need to go out to the truck stop. Maybe I can get some more information there. When you feel well enough, please call me.”
Kelly knew Mike would not be happy about her going to the truck stop this late in the day, and she knew he’d be even unhappier if he knew what Susie had just told her. She debated whether or not she should go, but finally the feeling was just too strong.
Murder at the Truck Stop: A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series Book 16) Page 10
