A Canary in the Canal Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #8 (Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery Series)

by Anna Celeste Burke

  “I’ve made a note that I’ll contact Max and pin him down about the mentor’s name. Since I’ve identified the guests affiliated with the Arts and Entertainment Division, including the studios, they ought to be able to track down anyone else helping her out.”

  “Or plotting against her,” Jack interrupted.

  “Good point. At the meeting where I met Melody the first time, Max said she was a member of several choral ensembles in the theme park. The supervisory staff who run those groups, might have more to say about any conflicts Melody had with others on the job. Those weren’t the only credits on her resume that Max mentioned. Maybe Ernie has a copy of what’s in her artist’s portfolio and resume. If not, at least some of the information must be on file in H.R.”

  “Whatever you can dig up will be helpful,” Jack said. “It’s too bad resumes don’t include information about current and past boyfriends.”

  “If her boyfriends included coworkers, a supervisor might know,” I commented trying to sound hopeful. “Even if a supervisor does know something about Melody’s personal life, you might have to push a little to get the information. No one wants to appear to be sniping at one of Max’s protégés.”

  “That’s a good point. Telling them how important it is to Max that we find her killer, might help get them to open up.”

  “If I can get the information quick enough, I’ll try to screen them for you and Doug. Max would gladly offer a reward for information leading to the arrest of her killer if that would be helpful.”

  “Let’s hope we don’t have to do that. The offer of a reward attracts scam artists and loonies. As it is, once the media ramps up, our hands will be full sorting bogus information from real leads. If we stall out or reach a dead end, we may have no choice but ask Max to post a reward.”

  Before either of us could say another word, Miles and Ella jumped up onto the back of the couch where we were working. A bugle-like call from Miles and sweet talk from Ella, who put her head on my shoulder, purring loudly, accompanied their arrival. In storm-trooper mode, Miles bounded onto my lap, and I dropped my pen.

  “Easy boy,” Jack said, grabbing him and giving him a hug. Miles squirmed as Jack held him like a baby.

  I leaned down to pick up the pen and grunted. A bolt of pain told me I’d been sitting too long.

  “What’s that?” Jack asked Miles.

  “Miles says you’ve done enough work for today.” He let Miles loose and leaned down and retrieved my pen. He took the pen and my notes and set them aside. “I know you want to upload your notes, along with your online guest list, and send the information to Doug, but you can do that at work tomorrow morning. Stay put. It’s time for treats!”

  Jack and the cats took off. I leaned back and put my feet up, which hurt until I maneuvered a pillow under my knees. My bandaged knees didn’t do enough to hide the damage from the ugly situation we were in. My curiosity surged as I grew more determined to get to the bottom of things.

  When was Melody murdered? The party hadn’t been over long before Max saw her getting into a limo heading to the hotel. If she was killed somewhere else, it couldn’t have been very far away for her to end up in the canal so soon after she’d left the party. I grabbed a brochure about the Venice District that I’d brought into the room with me earlier. I was studying a street map of the district so intently that I jumped when Jack spoke.

  “Give it a rest,” Jack said as he swapped a glass of wine for the brochure.

  “I’m curious about the area around the party house,” I said.

  “As a cat owner, you’re well-acquainted with what too much curiosity can do. You used up one of your lives Friday night or came darn close. Please don’t overdo it.”

  “With these legs as reminders? Not a chance!” I settled into the comfy couch and sipped my wine. Then an irresistible idea hit me. “Miles is right that it’s time for a break especially since we haven’t had dinner yet.”

  “That’s true. We had leftovers for lunch. Do you want me to call and order something to be delivered for dinner?”

  “How about we pick up dinner rather than have it delivered? I’m feeling cooped up, aren’t you?”

  “Georgie, what are you suggesting?” Jack asked with one eyebrow raised.

  “Well, you love those burgers from Shimmy Shack on Venice Beach. Let’s go through the drive-thru and get takeout. Before that, since you’re now a member of the investigative team, why don’t we take a look around the crime scene that’s not a crime scene? Shouldn’t you do your homework before bandleader-Doug holds band practice in the morning?”

  “Max got to him with the bandleader thing, didn’t he?”

  “Yep. He’s going to have to grow a tougher hide since I can’t always keep Max away from him,” I replied.

  “He knows that. Didn’t you see the way his eyes darted when he told us he was going to interview Max?”

  “No, I was too busy trying not to see anything. I believe you.”

  “If you mean we ought to snoop around inside the mini-mansion, I already know more about that place than anyone else on the team. You heard Doug say they had a look around and didn’t find a thing inside or on the grounds.”

  “Then let’s case the neighborhood, okay? It was dark when I found the body. I didn’t have more than a peek at the surroundings before I was rolling around on the ground to avoid a stampede. Do you know which house the burglar robbed? Honestly, if we’re going to ask lots of people lots of questions about where they were that night, the more we know about the surrounding area, the better off we’ll be.”

  “Your curiosity is insatiable. Then, again, so is my appetite for burgers. Let’s go.”

  *****

  The closer we got to Venice, the more anxious I became. My curiosity was running high, but my pain tolerance was at an all-time low. Jack had to hunt for a place to park. That was fine since I wanted to get a better idea of where the party house was located along the canal.

  We’d gone around the block once when Jack slowed down. Then he pointed out an older home that had the look of a bungalow but was much larger than the homes originally built along the canal. I counted three houses between it and the party house.

  “That’s the house that was burgled,” Jack said. “Not that the owners will be out anything once Burton’s convicted.”

  “When he hit me, he didn’t have anything in his hands. You said he had stolen goods on him when the police arrested him.”

  “He was wearing a backpack containing a jewelry box, watches, a stamp collection, and a few small, valuable collectibles,” Jack replied.

  “Hmm, a selective thief. Maybe he was smarter than he appeared to be,” I said. “He wasn’t carrying anything heavy, which must be one reason he was able to recover and keep moving after I kicked him. What if Melody spotted the burglar, tried to cut herself in for a share of the loot; he said no, she called the police, and he killed her.”

  “That’s imaginative,” Jack responded. “If she’d told the limo driver to pull over and let her out, that would make more sense. That couldn’t have happened because Ernie saw her in the hotel lobby. I suppose someone could have been waiting for her at the hotel and she left again after hanging out the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign. Why come back here?”

  “I hear you. That would have taken time too. Time which Melody would also have needed to walk three doors down and get herself mixed up with a burglar. I don’t see when anyone had the time to drug her, beat her up, and throw her dead body into the canal. I’d sure love to see that timeline once you and Doug work it out.”

  “I’ll fill you in, Miss Marple.”

  “Miss Marple, huh? After getting knocked silly and bouncing back, V.I. Warshawski’s more like it.” I held up both arms, striking a bodybuilder muscle pose.

  “Okay, V.I. Do you want to park and have a look around on foot?”

  “You know I do. There’s public access parking by the bridge, isn’t there?”

  “Yes,” Jack said as
he slowly crept toward the party house. I examined each yard, looking for a way Melody or someone after her could have moved around that night. One of the fences wasn’t very high. Another had a side gate that was open. Jack agreed when I suggested an uninvited guest could have gained access to the party by going through a neighbor’s backyard, if the gate had been unlocked or open that night.

  “Geez, Jack! They didn’t have to do that if the back gate was left unlocked all evening for party guests. The gate opened for me when I went to retrieve the scarf. All the killer had to do was arrive by boat or on foot and lie in wait for Melody.”

  “That’s possible, but it doesn’t explain how you found her body so soon after she’d left in a limo for the hotel,” he responded. “Let’s park and see how easy it is to get around.”

  He was about to step on the accelerator when someone banged on the roof of the car. I managed not to shriek, but my heart raced. I gasped when Frederick’s face suddenly appeared in my passenger side window. He motioned for me to roll it down.

  “This a surprise,” I said, trying not to sound terrified.

  “I could say the same thing. I tried to wave you down the first time you drove past. Do you two have time to come inside? I’d like to show you something.”

  “Why not?” Jack said, looking at me as he spoke.

  “We were just going to park and walk along the canal for a few minutes,” I added.

  “There’s room in the driveway. You can pull in and park there. It won’t take long for you to check out what I’ve found—or think I’ve found. Then you can go through the back yard to take your walk.”

  “Thanks, Frederick,” I responded. He stepped away as Jack drove forward and maneuvered the car to make a wide turn into the driveway. By the time we’d done that, Frederick was standing on a small porch at the side door, waiting to let us in. I expected to step into the kitchen, but, instead, we entered through a small narrow mudroom. It was nearly empty except for a tall pair of boots sitting in a large sink. A rod and reel leaned against a towel that hung on a large sink.

  A second door opened and led us into the kitchen. I understood why Ann had been concerned about hauling food up a ramp or the steps, through this narrow room, to reach the kitchen. It was tricky opening the door into the kitchen until you’d closed the door leading from outside into the mudroom.

  “Follow me to the elevator, please,” Frederick said as he kept moving through the kitchen. Once we were in the elevator and it began to move down to the basement, he spoke again. “I don’t know why I didn’t notice this until after the police were here the other day. Maybe, I’m making a big deal out of nothing.”

  “I can’t imagine you’d do such a thing,” Jack responded as the slow elevator sank toward the basement. “You strike me as a man with experience noticing things that matter.” Jack met Frederick’s eyes in a silent standoff.

  “That’s why homeowners pay me to look after their homes in their absence,” Frederick replied without volunteering more details. The elevator door slid open. I had a hunch where we were going.

  “Down here is where Ann and the catering staff stored the extra food and Champagne they brought for the party,” I told Jack.

  “Normally, the wine cellar, and the adjacent cold storage area, is locked,” Frederick said. “I unlocked it and left it open during the party so Ann and her helpers could get to the Champagne and food quickly. When I locked up later that night, everything seemed fine.”

  He unlocked and opened the door for us. A whoosh of cool air rushed out as we stepped inside. I noticed a faint odor that hadn’t been in the room when Ann and I checked it out Friday night.

  “It wasn’t until the police investigators mentioned that someone had recently cleaned up in here that I wondered what they meant and took a closer look.”

  “I do smell a hint of a cleaning product, don’t you?” Jack and Frederick both stared at me.

  “Now that you mention it, maybe,” Jack replied. “You’re a super-smeller after all your years working as a chef.”

  “I may have caught a whiff when I let the police in here to look around. Since then, it’s been aired out enough that I don’t smell a thing,” Frederick added. “I’ve heard of super-tasters, but not super-smellers.”

  “She’s one of those too,” Jack added as he leaned down to examine the floor. “What is it you found?”

  “Not here, but farther back. Hang on, it’s going to get dark.” The lights went out, and Frederick turned on a UV light. Suddenly the floor lit up in fluorescent swirls. Dark spots showed up at the outer edge of the bright area near the far wall.

  “Please, don’t tell me that’s blood,” I said when I began to consider why Frederick thought it mattered.

  “Not the glowing streaks,” Jack said. “Blood doesn’t glow unless you spray luminal or apply another chemical to it. Urine does, but so do many cleaning products. Someone cleaned up in here recently for you to detect the odor. Now, those black spots could be blood spatter.”

  “Look at this,” Frederick added. A few tiny dark spots suddenly appeared on items stored on the shelves. “This is a UV light we use to make sure pets or people haven’t left surprises behind after a big party like this or visits from relatives. It’s not what you’d call a forensic-quality device, though, which is why I wanted your input before I reported this to the police. They were already in here once, so I don’t want it to seem like I’m questioning the way they did their jobs.”

  “Will you turn the overhead light on again, please?” Jack asked. “Do you have a regular flashlight?”

  “I do, hang on a second while I get it.”

  “What is it?” I asked as Jack stared at items on the shelf.

  “If this is where Melody was killed, whoever did it couldn’t have had time to clean up very well. I can’t believe there’s not more blood spatter than there is. I want to peek at a place the killer probably didn’t have time to clean.”

  “Here,” Frederick said, handing me a flashlight to pass to Jack. “I should have locked this area once Ann and her staff had moved the last rack back upstairs. They probably had plenty of room in the kitchen by then, and I should have asked them to move the last few bottles of Champagne from the chiller. That was before the party was over. I called Ann, who says she and a staff member took the last bottles upstairs around ten-fifteen which was twenty or thirty minutes after I last checked this area. She didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary and claims all they did before they left was sweep up.”

  “This is a disgusting question, but could the killer have left fewer clues by covering her with a blanket or a plastic tarp if he brought Melody in here?” I asked. Jack had carefully knelt to avoid the spots on the floor we’d seen under the black light. He peered beneath the bottom shelves that sat one or two inches above the floor.

  “That’s what I wondered since there’s not blood everywhere. There’s a piece of plastic stuck on the corner of a shelf,” Frederick noted, pointing to one of the shelves. “It’s possible it was already there before last night, and I didn’t notice it.”

  “If I’m not mistaken, there’s part of a woman’s fingernail under there,” Jack said after switching off the flashlight. “There aren’t obvious streaks, pools, or splashes of blood under the shelves, but these look like tiny specks of blood on the edge of the bottom shelf here.”

  “The room is well-insulated. Is it soundproof?” I asked Frederick.

  “Until you open the door, yes,” Frederick replied.

  “I’m going to call Doug and get him to send the lab guys out here again. They may find more evidence if they go over this entire area,” Jack said. “Then Georgie and I will do our quick walk around of the area. We’ll rejoin you in case anyone has questions for us before we go home.”

  “I’ll wait out front in case the crime lab investigators get here before you return. Then I’ll bring them down here and stay nearby. I don’t want there to be any more damage in here if it can be avoided. They
can’t keep the door open long, or the temperature will drop too much.”

  “Good. We won’t be long,” Jack said after we rode up in the elevator to the first floor. Frederick let us out through the French doors and told us to knock when we wanted to get in.

  “What did Doug say?” I asked once Jack finished speaking to him.

  “If Melody was killed in the basement, how did the killer move her body from there to the canal?” Jack responded as he put his phone away.

  “He isn’t the least bit happy you may have a crime scene?”

  “This is a frustrating case,” Jack said as we walked outside. When we went around to the side of the house opposite from where we’d parked, there was a door leading from the basement. It was locked and sat at the bottom of a set of steps. “Dragging a body up these steps wouldn’t have been easy.”

  “No, but it was dark on this side of the house, so the killer might have gone unobserved,” I added, looking for drag marks in the grass. “What happened after that would have been trickier.”

  “If the killer got this far without being noticed, the trees would have blocked party-goers from seeing what went on after that.” Jack walked across the yard to get a better view from the far edge of the patio. “It seems far-fetched, but maybe.”

  “How did the body get caught in between the rowboat and the seawall almost directly behind the party house?” I asked when we’d walked back to where I’d found the body. “If she had been dumped a few yards nearer to the bridge, I wouldn’t have found her.”

  “Heading toward the bridge, the view is more open to party guests. The killer had to be under pressure to get rid of the body fast while remaining hidden, so couldn’t afford to be picky. Let’s walk a little more toward the burglarized house and see if we can spot any place where her body could have been dumped into the water.”

  The problem we soon faced was that there were too many places where that could have happened. The body could have been rolled off into the water anywhere—if you could do it without being spotted. We soon concluded, we’d done all we could until the crime lab finished their work and Jack and Doug made progress with the timeline.