by Gilian Baker
I’d known her Sheryl Buchanan all my life . She was always cheerful and handled difficult situations with grace, which was absolutely vital in her job. But she could be tough too, when she needed to be. I’d seen her handle drunks and miscreants off all sorts with no problem, even though she was all of five foot two. The only trouble was, Sheryl was the town gossip. This was not a good thing, especially considering she knew everything that was going on in the area since she was the sheriff’s dispatcher and all-around girl Friday.
Sheryl and I chatted about this and that until Ross came into the room behind her, holding his coffee mug. He beeped the door so I could enter the office area behind the security measures. We sauntered to his office, and we both sat down—he behind his huge masculine desk and me in a standard waiting-room chair on the other side.
“Oh, can I get you some coffee? It won’t be as good as yours, but it’s what I am used to.”
I declined, just wanting to get this over with. The way my stomach felt, I d idn’t need to add anymore acid to it. I took a deep breath and told him about my visit to Phyllis and what she’d told me. He listened, taking a few notes on a yellow legal pad. At least I hoped he was writing down important points and not making a list of all the things he would charge me with because they were adding up. When I got to the part about going into Connie’s house, he stopped me.
“You did what?”
“We were only curious and since no one had thought to take the key from her, and she’d been given the key by the owner of the home . , W w e thought it wouldn’t do any harm. There’s not even any police tape up anymore.” I looked down at the cracked linoleum floor when I saw the look on his face.
“That doesn’t mean we won’t need to go back in there! What were you thinking? Your little look-see could be considered tampering with evidence!”
“But I promise you, Ross, you will want to know what we discovered! I think it could be a break in the case!”
He grunted across the desk. I’d been married long enough to know what that meant—fast talking was going to be necessary to get out of trouble.
After I’d wiggled the key to Connie’s townhouse out of my jeans pocket and slide it across the desk towards him. “And I got her key back. How did you guys overlook that, anyway Shouldn’t you guys have taken that since you knew she had it ? That seems like negligence to preserve the scene since you say you might need to go back in there. ”
He scowled in my direction and opened his mouth to say something. I thought it better to cut him off at the pass—I didn’t think I wanted to hear what he would say.
“Never mind. But now you know the scene is secure since I brought you in the key,” I gave him a demure smile. He didn’t look impressed with my thoughtfulness. Best to keep the conversation moving so I could show him how I’d helped him out.
“When you went through her house, didn’t you notice all the expensive furniture, food, clothes, well, everything in there? There’s no way she could pay for all of that on a secretary’s salary. Does she have family money?”
I had his attention now. “How do you know everything was expensive? Doug noted in the report that everything was good quality and super neat, but I figured living alone, you don’t mess stuff up like you would if you had a family.”
“Trust me, what I saw was not just ‘good quality’ purchased at some run-of-the-mill store. But there’s more!”
He eyed me, squinting so I could see the lines around his eyes pucker from across the desk. Not a good sign. I moved on to keep him interested in what I’d found, instead of considering what he should do with me.
“When I looked in her walk-in closet, I noticed two sets of clothes, each very different from one another. One side was every-day office formal wear. Nothing expensive or out of character for what a woman with her job would wear to work every day. The tags were from your average store. But on the other side of the closet, she had expensive clothes, even though most of them were casual.”
He looked at me and shrugged. I guess I was going to have to lay it all out for him.
“You’d think she ’d would spend more money on her work clothes than she would on ones the same amount or less on clothes she ran around in or lounged in at home as she would her work wardrobe , . Maybe even spend a little more on work clothes, not the other way around . And the tags in the clothes on the right side of the closet were from very fine shops . It seems odd.”
“So what are you thinking? We already knew she was a strange bird. How does this help the investigation?”
Good question. I hope d I had a good answer.
“Ross, we’re talking about everything in the house being expensive. Like way out of her price range. Even if we put your salary and hers together it wouldn’t allow spending like that. Where is she getting her money? Have you checked into her financial situation?”
He screwed up his face, “’Course we have, Jade.” He softened his tone and then said, “She has a modest savings and checking account balance. A 401K through her employer, no credit card balances, no loans—her townhouse was paid off. Once we finally got ahold of her brother, he told us that she got a small inheritance stipend each month.” After a beat, his face drooped, and he rubbed his hand over it. “Okay, I’ll admit something seems dodgy. I’ll look into it further.”
“Good. I don’t know why, but this feels significant. I don’t have any proof, but I feel like it’s important to finding her real killer, Ross. Call it woman’s intuition if you want.”
I saw him look away and think I saw him roll his eyes. When he turned back he didn’t look too angry, which was good news for me, because I hadn’t even gotten to the big breach of the law.
“Okay, I’ll go back and check it out. Anything else you need to tell me? “He put his hands flat on the desk in front of him, and then looked at me with one eyebrow cocked.
I took a deep breath. and reached into the bag I’d brought the ledgers and journal in and pulled them out.
I looked over at him. His eyes were wide when he saw what I was holding. “Now hear me out, Ross. I did what I thought was best.”
He knew me well enough to know I wouldn’t do anything without a darn good reason, and he also knew I wanted to help Liz and her family out of this sticky situation. He gave me a slight nod that I took as a sign to continue.
“When I was looking in Connie’s bedside table, I found several these ledgers in a drawer. The strange thing about them is that they’re all written in some kind of code. I have no idea why someone living alone would feel the need to do that.” Seeing his hands ball up into fists, I rushed on.
I slid them across the desk to him as he continued to glare at me.
“I also discovered a false bottom in the bedside table under the ledgers, and since that’s something you only see in spy movies, I dug the panel out.” He’d been taking a big gulp of coffee, and I thought he was going to spew it all over the office when I continued. “And “Inside I found this. It’s a journal . and from J j ust flipping through it, it looks like it could clear up a few things, or at least explain Connie’s state of mind.”
“And so you felt it would be best to take them out of the house look through it ? Out of the house You remember that this woman is the of a murder victim, right ? W w ith the emphasis on victim . ? We’re supposed to be digging into the suspect ’ s ’ lives, not the victim’s. And when I say ‘us’ I mean the sheriff’s department. ”
“But don’t you see? You’ve got to get inside the head of someone crazy like that. She isn’t totally innocent here. I mean, she was stalking Liz and her family. What other crazy, illegal stuff has she been doing that would give other people a motive to kill her? Liz can’t be the only person she’s done this with to .” ! You told me yourself that she was under a psychiatrist’s care!”
“Hand it over, Jade.” I handed it to him from across the desk, Boy, could he look mean when he scowled . I kept my keeping my eyes downcast to avoid seeing his disappointment in me a
fter chancing a look at his face . It was like the one and only time I’d been sent to principal's office.
“ So I’m guessing you spent the evening curled up reading this. Jade, I know you love a good mystery, but for the love of Pete, this is a serious crime we are talking about, not some story between the pages of a tattered copy of Agatha Christie!”
“ I know that . ” “I did not!” I said indigently. Then I lowered my voice, remembering I had little room to play the innocent under the circumstances. “Ross, I thought hard about what to do about this. But ultimately, I figured I would save you the trip. I was going to have to tell you I’d found them...it all looks too important to not tell yo look u . I didn’t go in there to make trouble, you know that . But how could I not tell you about th o se things that your deputy overlooked? They could be vital to the investigation. All I want is to help find the real killer. ”
He blew out a sigh and flipped through the pages . “Okay, I’ll check into all of this. It’s not that I don’t appreciate your coming to me with all of this. It’s just that I don’t want the case jeopardized. I mean, there is such a thing as chain of custody!”
I looked from his exhausted eyes back down to the green and yellow swirled linoleum again. It was worn to almost white where many suspects, witnesses and visitors had scuffed their feet. I knew how they felt.
I stood up to leave. “Well, thanks for hearing me out, Ross. I’m sorry if I’ve ended up making your job harder. I grabbed an opportunity and didn’t want to keep it from you. I’ll see myself out.”
He cleared his throat. “Thanks, Jade. I’ll get back to you.”
I didn’t know if that meant he’d let me know if anything came of the evidence I’d brought in found or if he’d be ringing my doorbell with handcuffs in hand, but I decided not to push it. Nodding my head in response, I opened his office door and walked back towards reception.
As I walked, I felt fatigue replace the adrenaline I’d experienced while defending myself. I felt ashamed for what I’d done, but still saw none way around it. Phyllis and I hadn’t planned on finding anything. We’d just gotten carried away. I hoped I’d helped Liz and not just gotten her further in trouble.
Chapter Eight
Once I got home, I kept my head down and got work done. It was tough because my mind kept going back to the recovery of the journal , ledgers and the whole mess. But if I were to meet Magdalena today, I had to get some things off my plate first.
I added several tasks to the project management system Geena and I use so she’d have plenty of work to do. Next, I dug into research for a client. I even tweaked a few things on the blog I’d been meaning to get around to before it was time to leave for the Girls’ Security Crew office.
When my GPS got me to the strip mall, I realized I’d driven past it for years without paying attention to the businesses it housed. Too bad. I could’ve had this handled a long time ago. But the point was, I was making sure it was getting done now. With that, I pulled open the door and had a seat in the lobby.
The receptionist told me Magdalena would be with me in a minute. When she came out to get me, I grinned. She looked like an ’80s throw-back—short, fake whitish-blond hair with long bangs parted down the side that she kept pushing away from her eyes. She was tiny and wore a yellow pullover sweater cut with a huge V in the front. Underneath it she wore a ribbed turquoise tank top. Her jeans were tight and straight-legged and had holes at the knees I assumed had been there when she purchased them. On her feet she wore burgundy loafers with tassels and no socks. Was it possible I’d looked like that many moons ago? She looked And she looked young— like she’d just come from her last class at the high school to come to her part-time job . after her classes at the high school were over.
We trekked back to her office where she took my laptop and explained that she’d start with that, looking for malware and viruses that someone could have put on it remotely to make hacking into my accounts easier. I sat down in the chair across from her desk as she left to start the preliminary tests.
When she came back a minute later, we discussed my cyber-security concerns, including the situation with Liz, though I left out the murder.
She explained they’d run a risk assessment on all of my accounts—social media , shopping carts and the blog. I gave her the login information for my accounts and then signed the contract and waiver allowing her to access all of my accounts. When Magdalena went to check the program assessing my laptop, I wrote her a check for the retainer.
Back in her office, she told me only the usual things had come up so far on my laptop, but that she’d scrub it later to ensure it was free of anything suspicious. I could pick up my laptop in a couple of days though the full risk assessment would take a week or so. Driving back home I felt a sense of accomplishment having taken the necessary steps to protect my business.
***
As promised, my laptop was ready for pickup a few couple days later. of days On Monday morning, , so I drove into town to get it. I couldn’t wait to get back on it because my backup computer was so slow.
Magdalena was at the desk writing something on a sticky pad when I walked in. She smiled up and told me to hang on and she’d go get it.
“So it’s all scrubbed and ready to use. We found nothing other than the usual stuff on there, so you can relax about that. And so far, there’s been nothing unusual on any of your accounts. I’ve been adding more safety settings on everything after I checked it. But, so far, so good. I’ll give you a complete list of the security measures so you can change all the passcodes and stuff after we’re done.”
“Oh, that is such a relief. Thanks so much.”
She smiled. “Don’t thank me yet. I could still find something. But, we will take care of it for you if I do.”
After thanking her again, I left with my trusty laptop, glad I’d chosen that company to work with. Next I headed over to the post office and got the smallest P.O. Box available. Now I could get my physical address off all my accounts. I felt safer already.
While I was in town, I popped in on Ross to see what he’d learned. I had to work up my courage since the last time I’d been there I’d been in the hot seat, but I wanted to know what, if anything, he’d learned since then.
Sheryl was hard at work when I walked into the sheriff’s office. She let Ross know I was there and then buzzed me back per his instruction.
I strolled back to his office and tapped on the door.
“Come on in.” He didn’t look up from the form he was filling out.
“Hey, Ross. I was in town and thought I’d drop in to see what’s new in the investigation.”
He ran his huge paw of a hand over his face and blew out a big breath. “I wondered how long it would take for you to come in. May I ask why I should tell you anything about the investigation after the stunt you pulled?”
Yep. I was still on thin ice. “Oh, don’t be like that. You know I was only trying to help Liz.”
“I know. Sorry, this is just stretching me to my limits.”
“I’m sure it is.” I waited a beat before continuing. “So…”
“So, it looks like her brother is out of the frame. He has had nothing to do with his sister for 20 years or more. Plus he definitely doesn’t need her money—he’s swimming in dough. And his alibi checked out, as I thought it would. “ “This is serious stuff, Jade, and I have to watch what I say since you’re entangled in it now. I know I might ’ve shared stuff with you before, but this is different. This is murder. ” After a beat of indecision, he went on . “I will say the brother’s alibi checks out.”
“Oh.” I dropped into the visitor’s chair. Shoot! I’d hoped for a fast resolution, though I guess that would’ve been too easy. “What was his alibi?”
“He was at a medical conference where he was the keynote speaker. At the time of his sister’s death, he was at the head table at the banquet that kicked off the conference. We talked to the other members of the panel who all collaborate
that he was there for the duration of the meal. He’d been at the conference for two days already when Connie died. So, unless he hired someone, he’s off the hook.” His stony look told me that wasn’t something he would share.
I raised my eyebrows at him and got ready to speak. But he jumped ahead before I could. “And before you ask, I don’t know why he’d hire someone. They’d had nothing to do with each other for years. He let it be known that there was no love lost between the two of them. But he cleared up something I’ve been wondering about.”
“Oh, and what was that?”
“Why someone like the victim would be in long-term psychiatric care. After reading her journal, I can’t imagine she would believe she needed it. She was arrogant and egotistical. Those types don’t voluntarily stay in a psychiatrist’s care.” He looked at me while tapping his fingers on his desk. Stonewalled again.
I waited to give him a chance to continue, but when he didn’t, I did. “So… the journal has proved useful.” I smiled and waggled my eyebrows at him. “So what did the brother clear up?”
“I’ll only say he explained a possible reason his sister could ’ve had a bunch of expensive things “He explained that his parents had made it a condition of her inheritance that she remain in psychiatric care. If she didn’t, she stopped getting her monthly inheritance stipend. That also explains why she could afford all that expensive stuff in her house .” He shut his lips tight. Shoot! I couldn’t believe I was wrong about that. Something was off, even though I didn’t know what.
“Do you know what the legacy includes? I mean, how much is this monthly stipend?”
“He didn’t know the details since they had never been close. She didn’t confide in him at all, even when they were growing up, according to him. So I’m in the process of getting a warrant to learn the details of that. She did have regular large sums going into her account though. But, there were several, not just one per month, so I’m not sure what that means.”
