A Killer Column mbtn-2

by Casey Mayes

  The men came back to our table, and from the sparse amount of food on his plate, Zach had barely touched the buffet. Was it possible he was actually slowing down? My husband put his plate down, and then said, “I’m not feeling one hundred percent. Do you two mind if we do this another time?”

  The enthusiasm of their agreement was almost obscene.

  I wasn’t ready to go, but apparently my husband was.

  After we were out in the lobby, I asked him, “Are you really sick?”

  “Sick of them,” he said.

  “I wasn’t finished with Kelsey.”

  “Wait until you hear what I just learned. You’ll be thanking me in a second.”

  “I doubt it, but go ahead and try.”

  “Brady was supposed to meet Kelsey after she served Derrick his meal, but she never showed up.”

  “Don’t look so smug,” I said. “Kelsey just told me the exact same thing about him.”

  Zach frowned. “So, instead of giving each other an alibi, they’ve found a way to divide the suspicion between them.”

  “It’s not a stupid tactic,” I said. “Who would a jury believe? If they could build up enough doubt about the other’s innocence, it could sway a pair of verdicts.”

  Zach shook his head. “Why wouldn’t they just say they were together, if that’s the case? It’s a lot easier than casting suspicion on someone else.”

  I shrugged. “I know; you’re absolutely right. It doesn’t make sense, at least not if they’re trying to cover for each other.”

  “So you’re saying that either one of them could have done it,” Zach said.

  “It makes sense that way,” I said as we moved to a corner of the lobby. “One of them is telling the truth, and the other is clearly lying.”

  “Not necessarily. What if they both showed up for their little tryst, but got the location wrong?”

  “So, we’re no further along than we were before,” I said.

  “I wouldn’t say that. We know for sure now that either one of them could have done it.”

  “But we don’t know which,” I said.

  “There’s always that,” Zach agreed. “Where does that leave us?”

  “Two steps forward, and one back.” I started thinking about what we’d learned, and how we could use it to our advantage. If the police were focusing on Mindi and Cary, we couldn’t do anything about that. It wouldn’t bother me one bit if they solved the case before we did. We weren’t in a race, unless I considered it a competition to free me from suspicion.

  But what if they were wrong?

  Zach and I could have the best chance of learning what had really happened to Derrick Duncan.

  I took my husband’s hand. “It’s time we stirred the pot a little, don’t you think?”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “We need to let them know we found the planner, and that we’ve got a copy of it.”

  Zach looked at me oddly. “What good is that going to do?”

  “Stay with me,” I said. “What if we claim there was something tucked away in it, an entry that pertains to the day he was murdered?”

  “So, we use ourselves as bait,” Zach said.

  “Exactly.” I frowned, and then added, “I’m not comfortable using Jenny’s place, though. She’s been through enough lately.”

  Zach grinned at me. “We can always get a room here ourselves. As a matter of fact, why keep all of the fun to Brady and Kelsey? I think we should tell Cary and Mindi the same thing. That way we’re covering all of our remaining suspects.”

  “Somehow I don’t think Shawn Murphy is going to approve,” I said.

  “He’ll get over it pretty quickly if we hand him the killer. How should we do this?”

  I headed back toward the dining room. “I think a breathless announcement is the best, don’t you?”

  He grabbed my arm before I could make it two steps to the door. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

  “What’s that?”

  He grinned. “We need a pair of rooms to lure the killer to first.”

  “Why two?”

  “If we get them with a connecting door, we can leave it unlocked and see who takes the bait.”

  “That’s brilliant,” I said.

  “I’m just trying to figure out how to keep us safe.”

  “You don’t have to apologize for that. I appreciate it,” I said with a smile. “Sorry. Sometimes I get carried away when I’m excited.”

  “Don’t apologize. That’s one of the things I love best about you. Let’s get the rooms, and then I’ll go upstairs and set things up. After that, I’ll call Cary Duncan.”

  “How are you going to let Mindi know?”

  “If I’m right, I won’t have to. I’m guessing they’re still together, so we should find something out soon.”

  AFTER WE GOT THE CONNECTING ROOMS, 1421 AND 1423, it was time to set our trap.

  I rushed into the restaurant alone, and was relieved to see that Kelsey and Brady were still there.

  “I’m glad I caught you,” I said as I joined them, not even having to pretend that I was out of breath.

  “What is it? Is something wrong?” Kelsey asked.

  “No, exactly the opposite. Zach and I found a copy of Derrick’s planner among the telephone books that were in his suitcases.”

  “It couldn’t be the one I had. Do you think there was a duplicate somewhere all along?” Kelsey asked me.

  “It wouldn’t surprise me. We’re going to start going through it now in our room.”

  “You’re staying here as well?” Brady asked.

  I nodded, glad for the opportunity. “We’re in one-four-two-one. Zach thinks there’s something written in the planner that’s going to blow the lid off things. Sorry I can’t stay, but I’ve got to go.”

  I took off before they could ask any more questions and took the elevator upstairs.

  I knocked lightly on 1423, and then said, “Zach, it’s me.”

  He opened the door and let me in. After I was safely inside, I asked, “What do we do now?”

  “The other door’s unlocked, and I got some papers from downstairs and shoved them into a folder. It won’t fool anyone if they actually look at it, but from across the room, they’ll be fine. I moved the desk so we could see it from this door without being seen.”

  “You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”

  Zach frowned. “I’m still not positive this is going to work. We may have a long morning ahead of us.”

  “It’s the best idea we’ve had so far,” I said.

  We pulled the desk chairs to the door, and took up our positions. I started to talk in a whisper a few times, but Zach kept shaking his head and shushing me, so I quit trying to talk to him. I thought about tackling another puzzle as we waited, but I knew I’d be too distracted to do it.

  I knew cops staked places out all of the time, but I didn’t know how they managed it without going completely insane with boredom.

  SOMEHOW, I MANAGED TO NOD OFF, BUT I WAS JERKED sharply awake when I heard the fire alarm sound.

  “I thought that could happen,” Zach said. “Somebody’s trying to get us out of here.”

  “They’re doing more than that,” I said as I smelled the air. “That’s smoke. Zach,” I added, my voice rising, “they’re trying to burn us out!”

  Zach looked in the other room instead of exiting like I wanted him to. The smoke was stronger in there, and I wondered if the hallway was on fire. “What are you doing? We need to leave.”

  “Don’t worry. We’re going to be fine,” he said. He moved past me to the door where we’d been watching, and took my hand. “Come on, Savannah.”

  “I’m hurrying,” I said, not sure how happy I was about running toward a fire, instead of away from it.

  Zach pulled the door open, and as he did, the smoke got stronger and the smell of something burning intensified.

  I was expecting to see a hallway engulfed in flames, and
was preparing myself to stop, drop, and roll, just like I’d been taught as a child.

  Instead, I saw a small guest trash can leaning against the door to the other room, with paper or something smoldering inside of it.

  Zach grabbed a fire extinguisher and had the fire out by the time Hotel Security got up there.

  “What happened here?” the lead man asked as he surveyed the damage. The name tag on his gold jacket said, “Greg.”

  “It looks like somebody’s idea of a prank went too far,” Zach said.

  I stared at my husband with open disbelief. I was about to say something when he shook his head sharply, so against my better judgment, I kept my mouth shut.

  “We’ve been vandalized a few times this week already,” the lead man said. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.” He examined the scorched door, and then said, “It’s just on the surface. Jason, go get the fans and the maintenance crew. I’m going to reset the alarm.”

  After his partner left, Greg turned to Zach and said, “That was quick thinking on your part.”

  “Just trying to lend a hand,” Zach said. “Are we done here?”

  Greg shrugged. “Did you see anything or anyone up here?”

  “Not a soul,” Zach said. “We were in our room.”

  “And which one was that?” Greg asked. Maybe he wasn’t as slow as he appeared.

  “That one,” Zach said as he pointed to the one beside the room we’d been staking out.

  “And that one,” I added.

  Zach looked angry, but there was nothing he could do about it. If Murphy got involved, he’d find out we rented both rooms, and I didn’t want to have to explain that.

  “Two people, two rooms?” Greg asked. “Are you two married?”

  “We are, but he snores,” I said. Greg looked at Zach for confirmation, who sheepishly admitted, “Can’t help myself.”

  “They have those strips I use,” Greg said. “So, whose room is this one?”

  Before I could claim it, Zach said, “It’s mine. I can’t imagine who might have done it. We just checked in an hour ago, and nobody knows we’re staying here.”

  Well, at least half of that was true. We had just checked in, but I knew four people who were well aware of our presence.

  “Fine. We’ll be glad to find you two more rooms on another floor,” Greg said.

  “If it’s all the same to you, I don’t think we’ll be staying here tonight.”

  Greg nodded. “I understand completely. Don’t worry about a bill. I’ll talk to the manager as soon as we get this taken care of.”

  I was about to head for the elevator when Greg asked, “Aren’t you going to need help with your luggage?”

  Zach smiled. “We’re traveling light. We can get it ourselves, but thanks for asking.”

  We went back into the room, and Zach said, “I need to get that folder.”

  “But there’s nothing but junk in it,” I said.

  “We know that, but whoever tried to smoke us out doesn’t. I want them to see us leaving the hotel with it tucked under my arm.”

  “How’d you get so sneaky?”

  “Fighting bad guys all day will do that to you,” he said.

  He collected the folder, and I asked, “What about luggage?”

  “We’re going to have to explain that on the fly.”

  Fortunately, Greg and Jason were setting up the fans, while a crew was starting on the door. They had power sanders out, and I suspected it would be as good as new in no time. We were able to slip onto the elevator, and I let a lungful of air out as the doors closed.

  “That was close,” I said.

  “Come on, we could have handled it.”

  As the elevator descended, I asked, “Why would someone try such a cheesy trick to get us out of our room?”

  Zach frowned. “I have a feeling we weren’t meant to get out that easily. I should have gone straight to the hallway when we first heard the alarm. Going out through the other room might have cost us the chance to find out who set that fire.”

  “Do you think they were trying to hurt us?”

  He shook his head. “Actually, I’m pretty sure they wanted us dead. If we’d opened that room door when we first smelled smoke, something very bad could have happened to us, and I don’t mean getting a burn.”

  “Then I’m glad you thought to get two rooms. It appears that we’ve managed to push someone beyond their limits.”

  Zach nodded as the elevator opened on the ground floor. “Let’s just hope we can push them again. Do you have any ideas?”

  “Maybe one,” I said.

  “That’s more than I’ve got. I’m listening.”

  Chapter 23

  “IT’S TOO RISKY,” ZACH SAID AFTER I TOLD HIM MY PLAN. WE were sitting in the parking garage discussing it away from anyone who might want to listen in.

  “We’ve just lost our best chance to find out who killed Derrick,” I said. “Do we really have that much choice?”

  “We could always sit back and let Murphy solve it,” Zach said. “After all, that’s what he’s getting paid to do.”

  “I can’t just wait for someone to burn Jenny’s house down. Isn’t that next? Somebody’s willing to commit murder to shut us up.”

  Zach shook his head. “That fire was meant to be a distraction, nothing more. Once we got to the door, the real fun was going to start.”

  “Who knows what would have happened if you hadn’t been smart enough to get a connecting room?”

  Zach frowned, and I could tell that I was starting to wear him down. It was time to step it up. “You’ll be right there in case anything happens. I’ll be perfectly safe.”

  “Savannah, as much as I’d like to, I can’t protect you from everything,” he said.

  “I know that,” I said softly. “I have to do this. You see that, don’t you?”

  He tapped the dashboard, and after a huge sigh, he said, “Go on. I’ll make the telephone calls as you drive.”

  AS I DROVE BACK TO PULLEN PARK, ZACH PHONED KELSEY Hatcher. I listened in on his side of the conversation as I drove, and hoped my plan to smoke out a killer worked. He’d really have to sell it, but I had faith in him.

  “Savannah asked me to call you to tell you that we’ve just about got this solved. There’s something in the planner that’s going to blow the lid off the case and help the police arrest the killer.”

  There was a pause, and he replied, “Detective Murphy is meeting Savannah in Pullen Park in an hour to get the planner. As a matter of fact, she’s already over there waiting for him.” Another pause, and he replied, “I can’t. I’ll be downtown with an old friend. We’ll be leaving soon, and I need to say good-bye before we go back to Asheville.” Another pause, and then Zach said, “That’s right, by the monument to The Andy Griffith Show, as a matter of fact. Gotta go,” he said quickly, and then hung up.

  “How’d I do?” he asked me.

  “You were wonderful.”

  “Brady was with her, I could hear him in the background asking questions, so that just leaves Cary and Mindi.”

  Zach called Cary and had much the same message, conveying the information we wanted them to believe was true. I pulled into the parking lot as he hung up.

  “Well,” he said, “we’ve set the trap.”

  “Let’s just hope someone gets caught in it this time.”

  AS WE LEFT OUR CAR, I WAS SURPRISED TO SEE THAT THE park was nearly empty. I’d been counting on having enough people around to add another layer of defense, but apparently that wasn’t going to happen.

  Zach and I would manage, though.

  We stepped over the embedded railroad tracks and back onto the herringbone laid pavers. As we neared the ticket office where they sold entries to the carousel, the kiddie boats, and the train, I saw that the booth was closed for the day. That explained the absence of cars in the parking lot. We came around the corner and onto the open expanse of grass encircled by the same brown pavers, with the statue we wanted
on the other end of the green. There was a grouping of heavy shrubs just behind the statue, and I could see that my plan just might work. Zach would be close enough to hear anything that was said, yet still be protected from sight.

  Now it was just a matter of waiting to see if anyone turned up.

  “Do you have the folder?” Zach asked.

  “It’s in my bag,” I answered.

  “You might want to get it out so everyone can see it,” he said.

  I did as he asked, and then tried to look everywhere at once. Zach caught me looking. “Relax. Nobody’s had time to get here yet. We can still call it off, you know.”

  “I’m fine. I promise.”

  Once I was settled in, Zach moved behind the cluster of bushes and vanished from my view. A moment later, he stepped back out. “This isn’t going to work.”

  “Why not?”

  “I can’t see you.” He looked around, and then pointed to another cluster of bushes nearby that partially shielded some kind of large green electrical box. “That might work.”

  He walked quickly to the spot, and a moment later, Zach asked, “Can you see me?”

  “No. If I hadn’t seen you go in there, I never would have known you were there.”

  “Good, that’s the way we need it.”

  “What do we do now?”

  “It’s the easy part; we wait.”

  THIRTY MINUTES LATER, I WAS BEGINNING TO DOUBT IF anyone was going to show up. I almost said something to my husband when I heard a telephone ringing in the bushes.

  “Sorry, I forgot to turn it off,” he said. I heard a few whispers, and he surprised me by coming out from his hiding place.

  “What’s going on?”

  “That was Murphy,” Zach said. “He’s ready to make an arrest.”

  I felt the air go out of my lungs. “Who did it?”

  “Cary killed him for the life insurance, and Mindi found out. She was blackmailing Cary, which explains her change in attitude. Evidently Cary refused to give her half the money, so Mindi came to Shawn with her story. He’s going to arrest Cary for murder, and he asked me if I wanted to come along for the arrest.”

  “Of course you do,” I said, seeing the gleam in my husband’s glance. “Go.”