by Parnell Hall
If she couldn’t hold herself together any better than this, it would be up to Chief Harper to solve the crime.
Chapter
40
The young man looked upset. He also looked familiar. Of course, everyone in Bakerhaven looked familiar. It was a small town. Even so, Chief Harper had trouble keeping them straight. The man looked like an O’Reilly or a Coopersmith, but the chief was damned if he knew which.
“What’s the trouble?” Harper said.
The young man shifted from foot to foot. “You can tell, can’t you? Boy. I was never good at hiding anything. Take it from Lilly. Sorry, I’m nervous. I’m Luke Haas, Lilly Clemson’s boyfriend. Lilly called me last night, all upset. She’s a witness and she wasn’t very good. Becky got her rattled on the stand. That’s Becky Baldwin, Cora Felton’s attorney—”
“I know all about it,” Harper said. “Go on.”
“The man she was testifying for…” He grimaced. “That sounds like she was for him. She’s not. The guy making all the trouble. Melvin something or other. He wasn’t happy with the way she testified. He came to her room last night and told her so. Scared her silly. He didn’t mean to. Quite the opposite. All oily and smiley and persuasive. Made her flesh crawl. Anyway, she was scared.”
“So she called you.”
“Yeah. I tried to get her to go to the police, but she wouldn’t do it. And she told me not to say anything. She’d be mad if she knew I was here. If there’s any way you can keep me out of it, I’d appreciate it.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Isn’t there a law about intimidating a witness?”
“Yes, there is. Who’s making that allegation?”
“What?”
“You said keep you out of it. So you’re not making the complaint. And the witness isn’t making the complaint.”
“What about the police?”
“It’s not like it’s a criminal proceeding. This is a civil suit. A squabble about money.”
The young man started to protest.
Harper put up his hand. “Yes, you’re still not allowed to intimidate a witness. And, yes, it’s a crime. But unless someone is making that allegation…”
“Like who?”
Harper hesitated. The obvious “who” was the defendant in the action. But the thought of telling Cora Felton her ex-husband was making trouble was more than he could deal with. “Okay, I’ll talk to her. See if she wants to make a complaint.”
“You’re going to talk to Lilly?”
“Sure.”
“Then she’ll know I told.”
Harper sighed. As if it weren’t bad enough having an unsolved murder. “Where does she live?”
“She rents a room. From the Hunters. Paul and Sally. You know them?”
Harper probably knew them on sight. He ignored the question, said, “She has a room in the house?”
“Over the garage, actually. She has her own separate entrance.”
“But the garage is near the house?”
“Yes.”
“And there’s neighbors? People who could have seen this man go in?”
“You mean people who could have reported an intruder?”
“Best I can do for you.” Harper picked up the phone, called the First National Bank.
“You’ll be discreet?”
“I’m the sole of tact,” Harper said dryly. “Hello? Who’s this?… Oh, hi, Ben. Chief Harper here. Listen, could I speak to Lilly Clemson?… She’s not?” He glanced at his watch. “What time does she usually get in?… Is she often late?… I see. Thanks, Ben.”
Harper hung up the phone, got to his feet.
“She’s not there?”
“No.”
“Call her room. I got the number.”
Harper called, got no answer.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. But I don’t like it. Let’s take a run over there.”
“My car’s out front.”
“Fine. I’ll take mine. You lead the way.”
Harper fell in behind Luke Haas, who’d been parked down the block, and drove out to Lilly Clemson’s.
He had half a mind to call Cora Felton. One of the witnesses who testified at her hearing was dead. Now the other one was missing. It didn’t necessarily mean foul play, but even so it was an ominous coincidence. The only thing that stopped him from calling was the fact that Lilly Clemson was a witness in her case. As long as the alimony dispute was pending, Harper didn’t want to do anything that might taint the results.
Haas pulled into the driveway of a two-story frame house on the outskirts of town. A separate garage, painted white with green trim to match the house, had a wooden stairway up the side to a platform in front of a doorway in a dormer. It was rather ugly architecturally, but it did create a garretlike artist’s residence above the garage.
Harper climbed the stairs with the boyfriend hot on his heels.
There was no doorbell.
Harper pounded on the door.
There was no answer.
“Damn. We’ll have to break in.”
The boyfriend looked embarrassed. “Um…”
“What?”
“I have a key.”
“Why didn’t you say so? Open the door.”
Haas unlocked the door.
Harper pushed it open and stepped inside.
Lilly Clemson lay in the middle of the floor. Her eyes were open and staring. Her throat had been slit. A straight razor lay in the pool of blood that had seeped from the wound.
Luke Haas took one look and gagged.
“Get out!” Harper grabbed the young man, spun him toward the door. “Throw up outside!”
Harper thrust the young man out the door, turned back toward the body.
Sighed.
He wished like hell he’d trusted his instincts and called Cora Felton.
There was a KenKen on the body.
Chapter
41
By the time Cora got there, there were two police cars, the medical examiner, an EMT unit, and the Channel 8 van.
Rick Reed pounced as soon as she got out of her car. “I’m talking with Cora Felton, the Puzzle Lady, who has just arrived at the scene of the crime. What can you tell us, Miss Felton? Did the police call you in?”
“Why, did they call you?” Cora said.
Rick Reed, who had been called by Dan Finley, was taken aback. He recovered quickly, said, “Does this mean there’s a puzzle involved?”
Cora smiled, pushed on past. She nodded to Sam Brogan, who was handling crowd control and riding herd on Luke Haas.
“Who’s he?” Cora said.
Sam popped his gum. “Boyfriend.”
Cora ducked under the crime scene ribbon and went up the stairs.
It was crowded in the little room. Barney Nathan was trying to examine the body without kneeling in the blood. The EMT team was at the top of the stairs, waiting to go in.
“What do you want, Chief?”
Harper glanced around. He had no place to pull her aside except for the tiny bathroom. He considered it, shuddered, motioned to her to hang on.
Barney rose from the corpse. “Pretty straightforward. Killer cut her throat. Doesn’t appear to be any contributing cause of death.”
“When did it happen?”
“Sometime last night.”
“Not this morning?” Cora said.
The doctor regarded her with a jaundiced eye. The Puzzle Lady’s assessments of his talents had not always been glowing. She might even have hinted at botching an autopsy or two.
“I wasn’t aware of your authority to ask questions.”
“Consider I’m asking,” Harper said.
“It was last night. It could have been the middle of the night, but not as recent as this morning. The blood’s coagulated. The body’s cooled. It’s been a while.”
“Was that so hard?” Cora said.
The doctor gave her a look and went out.
> The EMT unit came in, fetched the body.
“Okay, Chief. What was it you didn’t want to spill in front of them?”
Harper gave her the KenKen.
Cora looked disappointed. “Is that all?”
“Can you solve it?”
“Of course I can solve it. It’s not going to mean anything.”
“The other one did.”
“That was a little different.”
“How is it different?”
Cora wasn’t sure how to answer that. It was different in that she was lying about it, but that wasn’t what she wanted to tell him.
“In that case, there was a crossword puzzle involved. Was there one this time?”
“If so, I haven’t found it yet.”
“Thank goodness.”
Chief Harper looked at her. “Why do you say that?”
“Well, the case is confusing enough,” Cora said breezily. “So, you want me to take a look at the KenKen?”
“Yeah. I want you to solve it for me and tell me what it means.”
“I assume you already added up the numbers in it?”
“Yeah. They come to one eighty-two. Does that suggest anything to you?”
“Not at all.”
“I suppose we should check out any address with a one eighty-two in it. One eighty-two Oak Street. One eighty-two Main.”
“What in the world for?”
“Well, that’s how it worked with the other number puzzle. The KenKen gave you the street number. The crossword puzzle told us what street. In this case, the crossword puzzle is missing. We have to assume we have the street number, we just don’t know which street. Unless we have the crossword puzzle to narrow it down, we have to check out every address with a one eighty-two in it.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sakes.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Chief. In the last case, I checked it out, and what did I find? The murder weapon.” Cora pointed to the razor on the floor. “Isn’t that the murder weapon right there?”
“I would think so.”
“So a street address is meaningless. It has to be something else.”
“I don’t quite follow the logic.”
“Trust me, Chief. One eighty-two is not an address. For all we know, one eighty-two doesn’t mean anything. The answer could be in the solution to the KenKen.”
“How can that be? You told me all KenKens were the same.”
“They all add up to the same number. But the order of numbers is different. Let me solve the thing and see what we’ve got.”
“You can’t solve this one. We’ll have to make a copy.”
“Have Dan run it off.”
“Dan’s busy.”
“With what?”
“We have this murder. Pick it up at the station later.”
“You’re not going to give it to me?”
“Not the original.”
Cora shook her head in exasperation. “Gee, Chief, I’m sure glad you called me down here.”
Harper grinned. “A crime scene? You wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
Chapter
42
Melvin Crabtree walked up the front steps of the police station, cocky, arrogant, head high. From his attitude, he might have been about to receive a medal instead of be arrested for murder.
Rick Reed pushed through the crowd that had formed, stuck a microphone in his face. “Mr. Crabtree, Mr. Crabtree. Is it true you’re under arrest for the murder of Lilly Clemson?”
Lennie Fleckstein waved his arms and jumped up and down, as if trying to make up for his diminutive size with an excess of zeal. “No comment! No comment! My client is innocent of these outrageous charges! He is exercising his right to remain silent!”
“Like hell!” Melvin said, pushing his attorney out of the way. “I don’t need to remain silent. That’s what crooks do to avoid getting caught in a lie. I’m innocent, and the truth can’t hurt me.”
“Did you know Lilly Clemson?” Rick said.
“She was a witness in my divorce hearing.”
“Were you at her apartment?”
“At the time of the murder? Most certainly not.”
“Were you ever at her apartment?”
Fleckstein jumped back in. “Now you are asking questions that have nothing to do with the crime. This is why lawyers advise their clients to remain silent. And why clients have the good sense to follow that advice.”
Melvin laughed. “My attorney means well, but he is a little over his head. I did not hire him to battle this ridiculous charge. He is here merely to reduce my alimony payments. If I didn’t have a lawyer, I wouldn’t have hired a lawyer, because I don’t need a lawyer. I’m going to have a little chat with the police now, and see if I can point them in the right direction, because they are obviously clueless.”
Smiling and waving, Melvin went in the front door.
Cora watched him go. She was well hidden in the midst of the crowd, so as not to be spotted by Rick Reed. Ordinarily, she would have been all too happy to make a statement, but if Sherry saw her defending Melvin on TV, she would never hear the end of it.
Not that Melvin needed defending. The idea that he’d killed someone was absurd. In the first place, it was not in his nature. In the second place, it was not in his interest. There was not a chance in hell Melvin had done it, and there was no reason to jump to his defense.
Even so, Cora found herself clenching and unclenching her fists.
In the front of the crowd, obviously equally frustrated, was Bambi, looking particularly doe-eyed and helpless. If she wasn’t careful, Rick Reed would pounce on her. Cora wondered if Rick knew who she was. He was an investigative reporter, you’d think that would mean he’d investigate.
As soon as Cora had the thought, the reporter’s attention seemed to focus on the bimbo. Of course it could just be because she was young and pretty. Cora grimaced. It really wasn’t fair, the whole age advantage thing. Even a mindless twerp like Bambi got such a running start.
Before he reached her, Bambi took a step back into the crowd, leaving Rick with no one to aim his microphone at but Iris Cooper. The selectman was always a good interview, but not what Rick had in mind.
Cora wasn’t interested in what her friend had to say. She was interested in finding Chief Harper and asking him politely why he had neglected to mention he was arresting her ex-husband. That small tidbit of information must have slipped his mind.
Cora didn’t see the chief, but she spotted a face in the crowd. The current Mrs. Crabtree, she of the clandestine surveillance and perfidious intentions. There she stood, watching her husband hauled off to jail with ill-concealed delight. Cora could empathize with the woman. When she was married to Melvin, there were times she’d felt exactly the same way.
Becky Baldwin fought her way through the crowd, grabbed Cora by the arm. “How the hell did this happen?”
“I have no idea. I was on my way to the police station to pick up a copy of the KenKen, and all hell broke loose.”
“What KenKen?”
Cora filled Becky in on her trip to the crime scene.
“Harper was there?”
“Yeah.”
“He didn’t tell you he was going to arrest Melvin?”
“No, and it’s going to cost him.”
“Maybe he didn’t know at the time.”
“Unless he stumbled on a note in the victim’s pocket saying, ‘Why don’t you arrest Melvin?’ he knew at the time.”
“I see.”
“Becky, you’ve got to defend him.”
“What! Are you kidding me?”
“His lawyer’s a moron. He can’t handle this.”
“I can’t either. I’m your lawyer. Conflict of interest, remember?”
“I don’t think it applies. I mean, I’m not suspected of the murder.”
“You should be. Every witness who testifies against you gets whacked.”
“No one believes that. You
should be Melvin’s lawyer.”
“Why? Why do you want me to?”
“Because I don’t know the facts. I’m groping around in the dark. Melvin’s been arrested, and I don’t know why. If you’re his lawyer, you can find out. I need the facts to solve this case.”
“Like hell,” Becky said.
“Excuse me?”
“As if you couldn’t get the facts. Chief Harper’s going to be so eager to make it up to you, he’ll tell you anything you want. You just want me to protect the guy.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Oh, yeah? When there wasn’t the slightest chance Melvin was involved, you didn’t want me anywhere near him. Now he’s in trouble you don’t give it a second thought.” Becky put up her hand. “Not that I don’t need the work, but I don’t really want to get a reputation for stealing other lawyers’ clients. If you don’t mind, I’m sitting this one out.”
Before Cora could protest, Becky slipped away in the crowd.
Cora saw Dan Finley coming toward her.
“Dan, what’s going on?”
“Got the puzzle for you.” He handed her the KenKen.
“Yeah, yeah,” Cora said impatiently. “Why did you arrest Melvin?”
“Chief Harper told me to.” When Cora started to fly mad, he put up his hands. “Hey, not my fault.”
“What do you have on him?”
“You know I can’t tell you that.”
“Oh, come on. You know Chief Harper will tell me.”
“The chief can tell you anything he wants. Because the chief won’t get mad at the chief for telling.”
“So I won’t tell him you told me. Come on, Dan. It’s me, Cora. What’s the scoop?”
“Oh, hell.” Dan glanced around to make sure no one was listening, and filled her in on the boyfriend’s account of Melvin’s visit to Lilly Clemson.
“So, the chief held out on me,” Cora said.
“Yeah, but you can’t accuse him of it until you hear it from someone else.”
“Where is the chief?”
“Probably still out at the crime scene.”
“You going out there?”
Dan shook his head. “No, and neither are you. I gotta run the murder weapon down to the lab. You gotta be a good girl and stay out of trouble.” He smiled, headed for his car.
Cora fumed. That was the problem with a small-town police force. With Dan on the way to the lab, Chief Harper at the crime scene, and Sam Brogan on crowd control, there was no one left to bother.
