Cash Call, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 5

by William Manchee

  Chapter 24

  Laura Bell

  The next morning, I stopped by Laura Bell's apartment. She was my best suspect. She had a motive and had shown a propensity for violence in the past. I prayed she didn't have an alibi. Her house was located in a lower middle class neighborhood in Balch Springs. I climbed the stairs to the second floor, found apartment number 221 and rang the doorbell. After a minute, the door opened and a pretty dishwater blond, about twenty-five years of age, greeted me with a warm smile. I introduced myself and told her why I was there. She invited me in.

   I entered the room and looked around. The apartment was immaculate, which surprised me a little. A little girl was playing in the corner with a Fisher Price gas station. She looked up at me curiously.

   "Would you like some coffee?" Laura asked.

   "Sure, I could use a cup."

   Laura went into the kitchen and returned shortly with a Texas A&M mug full of coffee and then sat down.

   "Did you go to Texas A&M?" I asked.

   "No, one of my brothers did. I wanted to go, but Luther and I got married instead."

   "When did you hear about Luther's murder?"

   "It was on the news in San Antonio. Friday, I think."

   "You were in San Antonio when the murder took place?"

   "Yes, that's where I'm from. My family is still there."

   A shroud of disappointment fell over me. She has an alibi, damn it. "How long had you been down there?"

   "About ten days."

   "Ten days?"

   "Yeah. . . . One of my sisters got married."

   "Oh. Was it a big wedding?"

   "Pretty big. There were about three hundred and fifty guests. We've got a big family and the groom was from San Antonio, too."

   "When was it?"

   "Saturday night. I stayed down there since there wasn't really much I could do up here. I didn't see any reason to miss the wedding. Luther's parents were arranging the funeral so there wasn't really anything for me to do anyway. We flew back Monday afternoon and went straight to the funeral home. We didn't get back here until late last night."

   "Where were you Wednesday evening?"

   "At the rehearsal dinner. The groom's parents had a dinner for everyone at the Marriott Hotel on the Riverwalk. It was so romantic. I hope my sister's marriage works out better than mine did."

   "So, what happened to you and Luther?"

   "He had a lot of great ideas, but he could never put anything together right. He wasn't good with the follow-through, you know. First he wanted to be a minister, then he sold cars, then it was the stock market, commodities, and finally life insurance. He never was very good at anything, and he always blamed someone else for his problems. I just got tired of his empty promises."

   "So, you decided to divorce him?"

   Laura took a deep breath and replied, "Yes, we weren't getting anywhere. He blamed a lot of his failures on me. One day I woke up and realized it was never going to work. I'd be living in a dingy little apartment like this for the rest of my life, if I stayed with Luther."

   What about for better or for worse? I didn't say it but Laura Bell apparently could read my mind.

   "Well actually that wasn't the reason I left him. It was the broken promises, lies, deception, and adultery."

   "He cheated on you?"

   "Huh," Laura laughed. "He'd come home late at night smelling of perfume. His favorite line was: 'Oh, well I was sitting next to some broad who had taken a bath in her perfume.' Can you believe I'm supposed to swallow that shit?! The kicker though was when I found the bite mark on his shoulder. I hadn't had sex with him in weeks, so I knew I hadn't left the mark. It was the proof I needed. There was no doubt in my mind when I saw that bite that he had been unfaithful."

   "What about your child?"

   "Betsy and I do just fine. Someday I'll get her a nice father, someone who can love her and take care of her the way a father should."

   "Are you dating anyone now?"

   I wanted to take that question back. It was none of my business but Laura Bell didn't bat an eye.

   "No. I haven't found anyone I really like yet. But I will, just give me time."

   "All right. Well, I'm sorry I had to bother you."

   "No bother, I enjoyed talking to you. Good luck with the investigation."

   "Oh, one more thing. How are you going to get by without Luther's child support?"

   Laura shrugged. "I don't know, I was going to ask his parents if they might help out. They really love little Betsy. They're good people. You know Luther's father is a preacher, right?"

   "Yeah, I heard that. . . . What about Luther's insurance?"

   "Insurance? Well, I don't know if he still had any. After he quit Mid-America Life I doubt if he kept up the payments. The premiums were pretty high and Luther was short on cash," Laura said. "If he did have any I suspect he changed the beneficiary to his parents, or maybe even Margie."

   "What if I told you he kept up all his insurance and you were still the beneficiary? Since your divorce was never finalized, the insurance proceeds will still go to you."

   Laura gave me a puzzled look, "Are you serious?"

   "Yes, you're the beneficiary of three policies with a face amount of $750,000."

   Laura put her hand up to her mouth and said, "Oh my God! I can't believe it. I just figured the insurance was history. This is the first promise Luther ever kept."

   "What do you mean?"

   "He always said if he died I wouldn't have to worry about money."

   "Huh. Well, don't spend the money yet, the insurance company won't pay the claim until the murderer is apprehended."

   "Oh really?"

   "Uh huh, they've got to be careful they don't want to give the money to the person who caused Luther's death. By law the murderer cannot collect on the policy."

   "They don't think I did it, do they?"

   "No. It's not up to them to make that determination. Insurance companies just don't take chances, particularly if it gives them a good excuse to hang onto their money."

   After talking to Laura, I called Detective Besch. I wanted to see if he had developed any evidence yet against my clients. I used my meeting with Laura Bell as an excuse to call him.

  "Laura seemed genuinely surprised when I told her she was still the beneficiary on Luther's insurance," I said.

   "Really? Maybe she was," Detective Besch replied.

   "I don't know, but she does appear to have a good alibi."

   "The wedding?"

   "Right. You've talked to her."

   "Another detective did. He told me about the alibi," Detective Besch said.

   "So what about Jim's alibi? Have you checked it out?"

   "Yes. It was very interesting. Jim was there Wednesday night, but I'm not sure how long. Some of the girls think he left around nine or so."

   "Really?" I said. "When I talked to them they were talking more like nine-thirty or ten. That wouldn't give him time to get to Luther's house before the murder took place."

   "Well, I understand your client laid a lot of cash on the dancers so I'm sure they would love to provide him an alibi. But that doesn't mean a jury will buy it."

   "I agree. I still have one more witness to interview. She is supposed to know Jim better than anyone and might be able to pin down the precise time of departure. I clocked it from the Sunset Strip to Luther's house and it took about thirty-seven minutes without traffic. So he would have had to leave the club before nine," I added.

   "More or less. The time of death is only an approximation."

   "Right. . . . What about the Rendezvous Club? Have you checked out Margie's alibi?"

   "Yes, there seems to be some question as to when the girls left and who they left with."

   "That's my reading too," I said. "Margie and Lucy said they left about ten, but the bartender remembers nine-thirty. Of course, that was after I gave him $20 t
o refresh his memory."

   "You can go broke paying for information, Stan."

   "Hell, I'm already there. . . . So, how long does it take to get from the Rendezvous Club to Luther's condo?"

   "Seventeen minutes," Detective Besch replied.

   "How sure are you about the time of death?"

   "The coroner's 9:30 p.m. estimate is based on a bacteria study."

   "Bacteria study?"

  "Yeah, the body decomposes at a certain rate depending on the temperature, humidity, et cetera. By examining the bacteria that have appeared and developed, they can interpolate the time of death."

   "Okay. So they might be off a few minutes?"

   "I would think the margin of error could be ten or fifteen minutes."

   "Well, I'll let you know if I dig up anything new."

   "Do that," Detective Besch said.

   I hung up feeling pretty good. It still didn't seem the police had come up with any evidence against my clients. That was good news. Then, just when I thought the Blaylock's fortunes had taken a turn for the better, Rob called.

   "Dad just tried to commit suicide! I don't know what to do."

   "I'm on my way," I said, and hung up the phone.