Justice in Mystic Grove

by S F Bose

  When his phone rang, Sam grimaced. He took a gulp of tea and lifted the receiver. After a few seconds, I realized it was going to be a lengthy business call. I gave Sam a brief wave and took the shortcut to my office carrying my coffee and a chocolate donut for later. I carefully closed the door so Flip wouldn’t follow me.

  After rummaging through my bag for my notebook, I sat at the desk and dialed Matt Durand’s number. Please be in the office. When he answered on the second ring, I was happy.

  His deep voice hummed in my ear. “Chief Durand.”

  “Hi Matty, it’s Liz.”

  “Liz Bean, I just saw a message that you had called. How are you? How’s the family?” he asked. His voice lightened.

  “I’m good. Everyone in the family is good too. How are you? How’s your dad?”

  I heard him sigh. “Busier than I want to be, but that’s the job. Dad is great. He’s enjoying his early retirement.”

  “Tell him ‘hi’ from me when you see him. Is this a bad time to talk?”

  “No, not at all. What’s up?” he replied.

  I took a sip of coffee. “We’ve been retained by a client to investigate a man named Steven Meagher. He’s a deputy sheriff who works in Braden but lives in Mystic Grove. I wanted to touch base with you to see if you knew anything about him you could share.”

  There was a pause. “Matt, are you there?”

  “I’m here. Who’s your client, Liz?” Matt replied. He sounded serious again.

  “I can’t say, Matt. You know that.”

  “Why did your client want Meagher investigated?”

  I considered how much I could share. “Okay, I have two clients. They heard some accusations against Meagher that suggested he was involved in something illegal. When they tried to investigate on their own, Meagher aggressively warned them off. That’s when they decided to hire us.”

  Another long pause ensued. I felt a warning tingle on the back of my neck.

  “Matt, what’s going on?”

  “Liz, Steven Meagher is dead. They found him late last night at his cabin near Petersburg.”

  “Dead? Are you serious?” I asked.

  “Yeah, we got word yesterday that Meagher was missing. His wife reported that she couldn’t find him anywhere. The only place she hadn’t checked was their cabin. When I called the Crawford County Sheriff and explained the situation, he agreed to make a deputy available. Newmont got the cabin key from the wife and drove out to meet the deputy. They went to the cabin and found Meagher’s body inside. Newmont confirmed his identity.”

  “How did Meagher die?” I asked. “Wait a minute. Did Newmont know Meagher?” The initial shock had given away to confusion.

  Matt expelled a deep breath into the phone. “If I share with you, you’ll share with me?”

  “As much as I can,” I agreed.

  “Okay. Newmont said it looked like somebody had hit Meagher over the head with something. They found him on the floor in the living room. Newmont and Meagher both worked as deputy sheriffs at the same time, so he knew him. He also checked the victim’s wallet and driver’s license to confirm the identity.”

  “So it was murder?” I asked.

  “Most likely. It looks like a home invasion gone bad. The crime scene suggested someone entered and ransacked the cabin. Then Meagher showed up and the perp slugged him. Alternatively, maybe Meagher was at the cabin for a while and let the perp in. They argued, the bad guy killed Meagher, and then ransacked the cabin,” Matt replied and paused. “However, Newmont doubts it was a robbery.”

  “Did he say why?”

  “I don’t want to share that, Liz,” Matt replied.

  “Okay,” I agreed. “Did they locate the weapon used to kill Meagher?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Time of death?” I asked.

  “The coroner got there a little past 1:00 a.m. Based on body temperature and rigor, he’d only say Meagher had been dead for roughly twelve hours. We’ll get a more accurate range after the autopsy.”

  I took a deep breath. “So his wife reported him missing. Can you walk me through that part?”

  “Okay,” Matt replied. “Mrs. Meagher and a girlfriend spent most of yesterday in Chicago. When she returned home, she couldn’t reach Meagher on his cell phone and got worried. Her calls all went to voicemail. She checked their garage and his SUV was there, but an old cargo van he had bought recently was gone. So she called his office phone in Braden and reached the receptionist who said she hadn’t seen Meagher since he left for lunch. She added that he hadn’t called in, which wasn’t unusual. The receptionist did dispatch a call to Meagher while the wife was on the line, but didn’t get a reply. After that, his wife called Meagher’s brother who hadn’t seen or talked to him since last weekend.”

  Matt paused and I heard him drinking something before he continued.

  “Then the wife remembered that Meagher planned to move their boat from inside storage back to the marina next week. She called the storage place to see if he went there and the manager said he hadn’t been there. After that, she called the county sheriff’s office in Madison. They suggested she wait until morning and file a report.”

  “He was a sheriff’s deputy. Is there some reason they didn’t start looking for him right away?” I asked. I had started jotting notes down as Matt spoke.

  “My guess is they thought he’d show up by morning,” Matt replied. “They may have suspected he was out drinking or something. At any rate, that’s when Mrs. Meagher called our station and asked to talk to the police chief. I had stopped back to pick something up from my office and took the call. She was in a panic and felt something was seriously wrong. She maintained Meagher was always home for dinner by 5:00 p.m. If he planned to be out, he always alerted her in advance. She didn’t have any voicemail from him and no notes at home.”

  I had an idea. “Did Meagher know that his wife was coming home last night?”

  “She said he did,” replied Matt.

  “Okay. If he didn’t expect her home, I thought he might have gone out to the cabin with somebody else,” I said.

  “I did ask if he might be seeing someone on the side and time got away from him. The wife categorically denied it,” replied Matt.

  “That’s when she told you about the cabin?” I asked.

  “Right. She’d already eliminated many of the places he might have been. The cabin was her last idea, but she couldn’t understand why he would have gone out there without telling her. That’s when I decided to contact Crawford County Sheriff and send Newmont out there.”

  “So Newmont had a key that he got from the wife?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but it turned out they didn’t need the key. The cabin door was open when they got there.”

  “Unlocked or physically open?” I asked.

  “The door was ajar,” Matt replied.

  “Was Meagher’s cargo van there?”

  “Yes, parked in front. That’s all I have, Liz. So tell me about your clients. Any chance they did this?”

  I shook my head as I pictured Kerry and Mac. “No, I’d bet money they didn’t. In fact, one of them was out of town. It’s a sister and brother. Look, Matt, I have to talk to Sam about this. However, Meagher’s death ends our case. What I can do is encourage our clients to come over and talk to you this week. How would that be?”

  I sat through another silence. Then Matt replied, “Liz, you have two clients who may have knowledge that will help our investigation. You need to do more than encourage them to come in. Don’t make me jump through the legal hoops to compel you and Sam to give me their names.”

  “Okay I’ll tell our clients that Meagher is dead and may have been murdered. If they want more information, they need to talk to you. Also, their information might help the murder investigation. How’s that?” I asked.

  Matt thought for a few seconds. “That works for me.”

  By the way, who’s running the investigation?” I asked.

  “Detective Lou
Swanson in Madison. However, Swanson’s resources are slammed with other cases so he wants the Mystic Grove police to conduct a lot of the interviews. I assigned Newmont as the lead on our end. In fact, tell your two clients to come to the station and talk to Newmont.”

  “Will do,” I replied. I liked Newmont a lot.

  “Liz, aside from Sam, keep the information I gave you confidential,” Matt cautioned.

  “I will, but you know the Mystic Grove rumor mill will be working overtime on this,” I replied.

  “Don’t I know it. But as a professional courtesy I shared some details with you that the rumor mill won’t get for a few days.”

  “Professional courtesy? You wanted to get any information I had,” I replied and we both laughed.

  “Well I obviously drew the short straw there,” he replied and I could hear the laughter in his voice

  Matt and I chatted for a few more minutes and then hung up.

  Five minutes later, Grandma Addie called my cell phone with news about Steven Meagher’s death. She knew the police found him dead at his cabin, but not how he died. The Mystic Grove rumor mill didn’t have that detail…yet.

  After Grandma and I hung up, I stared at my notes. This was not the conclusion to the case that I had expected. I remembered the phrase “running out of time” that had repeated in my head when I was at the B&B. At the time, I wondered if researching what happened to the Meagher family back in 1995 was a waste of time. Instead, it was Steven Meagher who had been running out of time.

  Chapter 8

  Sam wasn’t surprised when I shared the news of Steven Meagher’s death. When I asked why, he replied,

  “He seemed like someone who would come to a violent end. I just didn’t expect it right after we started investigating him.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, it was the last thing I expected. Matt really wants to talk to Kerry and Mac.”

  Sam rubbed Flip’s head. “I can understand why. But neither one of them strikes me as a killer.”

  I closed my notebook and sat back. “I don’t think so, either.”

  “Okay, call Kerry and tell her we have some news about the case we’d like to discuss with her and her brother. Don’t tell her Meagher is dead. It will be interesting to see their reaction when you give them the news in person,” Sam said.

  “Would you like to sit in?”

  His eyes lit up. “Do you mind?”

  “Not at all. A second pair of eyes is always good.”

  “Okay, great. How many hours did you put in on the case?” he asked.

  “I checked before I came in with the news. I have three and one-quarter hours entered for case set-up and interviews. I included the interview with Sue Barlow. We received two background reports from Mitch and I had five more in the queue.”

  “Okay, type up a short report and itemize your time and any expenses. Include all of the profiles. I’m going to refund them any balance left on the retainer they paid.”

  “Sounds good. Kerry is probably still up north with her family. I’ll call her right now. I’m also going to call Sue Barlow and let her know about Meagher’s death.”

  “Sue and her family will be relieved,” Sam said.

  “They will,” I agreed. “It doesn’t bring her sister, niece, and nephew back. But I hope she feels some closure.”

  “I hope she does,” Sam replied. “You feel like lunch today? Farmhouse Café at noon?”

  “Sure,” I agreed. I had a sudden craving for a bacon cheeseburger.

  ***

  I decided to call Sue Barlow first. She was stunned at the news and asked me three times if Meagher was really dead. After it finally sank in, she said, “Good riddance!” When Sue asked how Meagher had died, I said I couldn’t tell her exactly, but that it hadn’t been a natural death.

  “All his bad karma finally caught up to him,” she replied. Sue thanked me for calling and we hung up.

  Then I called Kerry on her cell phone and explained that we needed to see her and Mac today.

  “I want to talk to you about something that’s come up in the case,” I said.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “I don’t want to talk about it on the phone. You were coming back to Mystic Grove today right?”

  “Yes, I’m leaving shortly. I’ll be back by 3:00 p.m.” she replied.

  “Why don’t we meet at 3:00 p.m. then? Can you coordinate with Mac?”

  “Oh sure. Liz, can’t you give me a hint?”

  “No, Kerry. I want to lay it out for you in person.”

  “Okay,” she replied, sounding disappointed. “See you later.”

  After I hung up the phone, I completed a short status report and itemized the time and expenses I spent on the case. I printed that off and gave it to Sam.

  Although I was off the case, it was difficult to stop thinking about the death of Steven Meagher.

  ***

  Abbie Quinn led Sam and me to a booth in the back of the Farmhouse Café’s smaller dining room. She placed menus on the table and asked if we needed time to decide what we wanted.

  “Not me. Bacon cheeseburger with everything, fries, and a diet Pepsi,” I replied.

  “Lettuce and tomato salad without dressing, two plain bagels with cream cheese, and water,” Sam said.

  Abbie wrote down the orders and picked up the menus. Then she leaned in and asked in a hushed tone,

  “Have you heard about Steven Meagher’s death?”

  I nodded. “Yes, this morning. Did you know him, Abbie?”

  “I did. He was a grumpy person. Most times, he came in to eat by himself. Other times he was with his wife. When he was with her, they almost always argued.”

  “What did they argue about?” I asked.

  Abbie narrowed her eyes. “A couple of times they argued about money, but I can’t remember the details. It was a strange thing to argue about because Meagher always carried a big roll of cash around. He didn’t seem to be lacking money. And Larissa is a successful realtor.”

  “Did Meagher have arguments with anyone else?” asked Sam.

  Abbie shook her head slowly. “Not in my place. Braden had him on as a contract sheriff. A lot of people hated him over there. I heard he argued with some of them all the time.”

  “Why did they hate him?” I asked.

  “Evidently, he was rude to people and hard to get along with,” Abbie replied. “Oh and he gave out too many traffic tickets. That didn’t win him any friends.”

  “That doesn’t sound like something that would get a man killed,” commented Sam, looking at the menu.

  Abbie looked around and dropped her voice even lower. “You didn’t hear this from me. Some people in both Braden and Mystic Grove were convinced Meagher was corrupt.”

  I lowered my voice too. “Corrupt how?”

  Abbie cocked an eyebrow and shook her head.

  “That’s the crazy part. Any time a person complained about him being corrupt, they clammed up if I asked for details. In my opinion, most people were afraid of him. Maybe he finally pushed someone too far?”

  Then the front door chimed. Abbie straightened up and hurried to the front of the Café.

  I looked at Sam. “It’s crazy, but I wish we were still on the case.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean,” he agreed. “Just when it gets interesting, we’re benched.”

  Chapter 9

  A little after 3:00 p.m., Kerry and Mac Goodman arrived. Flip ran to greet them, but only Kerry leaned over and petted him. When she straightened up, she was smiling.

  Kerry looked relaxed but Mac looked like he hadn’t slept all night. His eyes were bleary and he wore a wrinkled tee shirt and jeans. I greeted them and led the way to my office. Kerry perched on one guest chair and Mac dropped into the other.

  I knocked on the closed door between Sam’s office and my office and opened it.

  “Sam, Kerry and Mac are here,” I said

  “Be right there,” he called back.

  I sat in my c
hair and smiled at my clients. A minute later, Sam came in and greeted Kerry and Mac. He put one of his guest chairs on my side of the desk and sat down. Flip padded into the office and sat next to Kerry.

  “He likes you,” I said with a smile. Her face brightened as she rubbed Flip’s head.

  “Well I like him too,” Kerry replied and smiled at the happy dog.

  “Is this good news or bad news?” Mac asked, sounding wary.

  I clasped my hands on the desk and leaned forward. “I honestly don’t know. I spoke to Chief Matt Durand this morning. Do you know him?”

  “He’s the Mystic Grove police chief,” Kerry replied. Mac slouched in his chair and just stared at me.

  “Right. He told me that Steven Meagher was found dead late last night,” I said. Kerry’s eyes bugged out and Mac’s eyebrows shot up.

  “Can you say that again, please?” he asked, sitting up straight. He looked like he had just awakened.

  “Steven Meagher is dead. He was found late last night.”

  “Dead,” Kerry repeated. Her eyes looked glassy.

  Mac looked at Kerry. “Ding dong the witch is dead,” he said and smiled. A chill ran up my spine. Kerry just nodded and looked back at me. I stared at Mac.

  “How did he die?” Kerry asked.

  I took a deep breath. “I can’t give you a lot of details. This is now an open police investigation. I can tell you sheriff’s deputies found him dead in another county. Someone may have murdered him. The police won’t know for sure until they get the coroner’s report.”

  “Steven Meagher was murdered,” Kerry repeated and glanced at her brother.

  “Possibly. They’re not sure yet,” I replied.

  Mac leaned toward me. “Was his death painful?”

  “Mac,” Kerry said sharply.

  His head snapped to her. “What? He was a bad person, Kerry. He threatened us and I’d bet the little money I have that he slashed the tires on your car. He was a bad person and I hope he suffered.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sam shift in his chair. “Mac, did you have anything to do with Steven Meagher’s death?” he asked.