Justice in Mystic Grove

by S F Bose

  Sam nodded. “I understand.”

  Tommy relaxed and leaned back. He looked across the table at Sam. “Is it true they found Steve at his cabin?”

  “It’s true,” Sam replied.

  “Do you have any suspects?”

  “We’re still investigating. Did you ever go to the cabin?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah, I went fishing there a couple of times with Steve and Paulie. There are some nice trout streams in the area. The cabin’s is in the middle of the woods and very private.”

  “About Steven Meagher—,” Sam began.

  Tommy interrupted him. “Look before we get into this any further, I want to be clear. I’m happy to answer any of your questions but I don’t have any information. Like I said, Steve was a closed book and his murder shocked me. But I don’t know anything.”

  “We’re talking to everyone we can about Meagher. It’s to help us develop a picture of him and figure out what happened. Anything you can tell us about him, however small, could help us,” I said. Tommy stared at me and then nodded.

  “Okay,” he replied. “But you’re going to be disappointed.”

  “When’s the last time you saw Meagher?” Sam asked.

  “I saw him at Paulie’s house, about a month ago.”

  Sam wrote something in his notes. “What did you do that day?”

  Tommy shrugged. “Nothing special. We hung out and drank beer. We played some pool and Paulie grilled burgers. I remember we talked sports as usual.”

  “Can you describe Meagher’s mood?” Sam asked.

  Tommy looked surprised. “His mood? He seemed good. I don’t remember any arguments or anything.”

  “He didn’t seem angry or worried?” Sam asked.

  “No, if anything he was upbeat.”

  “Tommy, do you have any idea who might have killed Meagher?” Sam asked.

  “No. Not a clue. But Steve could piss people off so I’m sure he had enemies,” Tommy replied. “I just never thought anyone would kill him.”

  “How did he piss people off?” I asked.

  Tommy shook his head. “I hate to talk badly about someone who’s dead. But Steve could be… a bully. I’ve seen him verbally attack people when we were out at a game or at a restaurant. For the past year, he bullied Paulie more frequently. It wasn’t physical. He just berated him for not being married. I remember the first couple of times Steve pulled that, Paulie looked surprised. He got angry a few times, which is unusual for Paulie. After a while, he just shook it off other or made a joke of it. That usually shut Steve up.”

  “Did Meagher ever try to bully you?’ Sam asked.

  “Verbally? Yeah, he did. Steve tried to ridicule my currency trading and said it didn’t qualify as a real job. I’m sure I made more in three months than he made in a year. But I just told him that just because he didn’t understand currency trading, it didn’t mean it wasn’t a real profession. He didn’t like that.”

  Sam nodded. “Did his bullying of you start this past year as well?”

  Tommy paused and considered the question. “Actually, it did.”

  “And you don’t know why the bullying of you and Paulie seemed to increase in the past year?” Sam asked.

  Tommy shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  “How did you deal with it?” Sam asked.

  Tommy shrugged. “I cut back on hanging out with them. I like Paulie a lot, which made it hard to stop going over to his place. Before that last visit a month ago, I hadn’t seen either one of them for almost two months. That was because of Steve. So my point is maybe Steve bullied the wrong person and that person killed him.”

  I nodded. “We’ve heard that about Meagher from other people.”

  Sam flipped to a new page in his notebook. “Okay did Steven Meagher gamble?”

  “Oh yeah he loved playing poker,” Tommy replied. “He played at the casinos and in private games. I never saw him play, but Paulie said he was very good. Steve bragged that he made a lot of money gambling.”

  “Did he ever mention having any problems with anyone at the games?” Sam asked.

  “No, not that I remember. You think someone killed Steve over gambling?” Tommy asked.

  Sam twirled his pen as he looked at Tommy. “We’re not sure yet. We’re looking at all the angles and trying to figure out motives. Did Meagher ever talk about the taxes he had to pay for his gambling winnings?”

  Tommy shook his head. “Never.”

  “Okay. Tommy, we have evidence that Meagher was blackmailing people. Did he ever talk about that?” Sam asked.

  “Blackmailing? Steve was blackmailing people? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Tommy replied. “Why would he do that? He had more than enough money.”

  “Blackmail isn’t always about the money,” Sam observed. “He never said anything?”

  Tommy looked stunned. “No, never. Steve talked a lot about following the rules. I would never guess that he’d do something like blackmail.”

  “Okay, Steven Meagher was killed on Wednesday May 6th. I have to ask this for the record. Where were you that day between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.?

  “I was with my cousin, Fred Grayden,” he replied. “We were at his house.”

  “You can remember that day clearly?” Sam asked.

  Tommy grimaced. “Yeah, I can. Paulie called me the Friday after the murder to tell me about Steve’s death. It was a real shock. I remember thinking that I was having a good time with Fred while somebody was killing Steve. It was surreal because I’d never known anyone personally who had been murdered.”

  “Fred Grayden is local?” I asked.

  “Yeah, he lives in Madison. He's an artist. He makes weird sculptures that he sells for thousands. We visited at his house most of the day, drinking and catching up. He took me to his studio, which is attached to the house. Later, he cooked an organic dinner for us.”

  “What time did you get there and when did you leave?” Sam asked.

  Tommy stared at Sam. “I got there around noon. I left Madison around 10:00 p.m. and drove back home.”

  Sam nodded. “Do you know Larissa Meagher?”

  Tommy smiled. “Oh sure. We used to go to their home for cookouts. Larissa was always very nice.”

  “How was their marriage?” Sam asked.

  “Larissa and Steve? Hard to say. They weren’t exactly a lovie dovie couple. They did argue, but it seemed like normal husband and wife stuff,” Tommy replied.

  “When was the last time you were at Steven Meagher’s house?” Sam asked.

  Tommy’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh man a long time. Probably last summer.”

  So Tommy hadn’t seen the ore recent improvement in Larissa and Steven Meaghers’s relationship that Paulie had mentioned.

  “Do you know anyone named Fontana?” Sam asked.

  Tommy shook his head. “Fontana? No.”

  “How about Mac Goodman?”

  Tommy’s eyes didn’t leave Sam’s face. “Never heard of him. Who are these people?”

  Sam tapped his pen on the table and ignored the question.

  “Tommy, did Meagher ever say anything about his wife having an affair?”

  Tommy gaped. “Larissa? No. Never. Like I said, Steve didn’t share a lot about his personal life.”

  “He never suggested she might be seeing someone else?” Sam asked.

  Tommy shook his head. “Not to me. Are you sure Larissa was having an affair?”

  “We’re just trying to find out what you might have heard, Tommy,” Sam replied.

  “Well that’s news to me. I can’t even imagine Steve telling Paulie about something like that,” Tommy replied.

  Sam watched him. “If Meagher found out Larissa was cheating on him, what would he have done?”

  Tommy folded his arms and tilted his head as he thought. “He probably would have beaten the crap out of the guy. And he might have left Larissa.”

  “Why do you think that?” I asked.

  “Steve looked for loyalty in p
eople,” Tommy replied. “He told us once about a deputy sheriff who was a friend of his. Steve confided something to the deputy. Then he found out that his so-called friend had shared everything with some other deputies. Steve cornered him in the locker room and told the deputy that he was dead to him. He never spoke to him or acknowledged him again.”

  “So if Larissa betrayed him…” I said.

  “I’m pretty sure Steve would have left her. He wasn’t a forgiving guy. He also wasn’t the type to go to marriage counseling,” Tommy replied.

  Sam nodded. “That’s a helpful insight.”

  Then Tommy’s eyes lit up. “Wait a minute. You asked about Dom Fontana. Is he the guy Larissa cheated with?”

  “We can’t share that, Tommy,” I replied and he looked disappointed.

  “Do you know if Meagher played around? Did he have affairs with other women?” Sam asked

  “Steve? I strongly doubt it. He wasn’t a player, for the same reason I mentioned. He believed in loyalty.”

  “Okay, is there anything else you can think of that might help us find the killer?” asked Sam.

  Tommy shrugged and leaned forward, forearms on the table. “Not really.”

  “I just want to clarify your history with the system,” Sam said. “You did time for a felony?”

  Tommy made a face, took a deep breath, and blew it out. “That was almost ten years ago. I was young and stupid. I did some time and have followed the law ever since.”

  Sam nodded. “What happened?

  “I was at Paddy Flynn’s tavern in Madison, drinking at the bar. I chatted with a pretty woman sitting a few seats away from me,” Tommy replied. “A guy walked up and hit on her. He looked like a student. She told him she wasn’t interested, but he kept bothering her. So I stood and told him to shove off. He came over and tried to sucker punch me. We traded punches until I knocked him out. Turned out he was from a wealthy family and his lawyer beat my lawyer.”

  “Aggravated battery?” asked Sam.

  “Yeah they charged me with a substantial battery so it was a class I felony. I knocked out some of his teeth, broke his nose, bruised his ribs, and gave him a concussion. Despite that, I really expected to get a fine or something. I had a clean record, came from a good family, and was a college student. But it didn’t work out,”

  “You did your time at Sturtevant?” Sam asked.

  Tommy nodded. “Right. I stayed out of trouble and did my time. The day I walked out of jail, I swore I'd never go back again. I finished my degree at the university and got on with life.”

  I slid a sheet of paper and a pen over to Tommy. “We’ll need contact information for Fred Graydon.”

  Tommy checked his phone and wrote down the information. He slid the paper and pen back to me.

  “Can I have your cell phone number in case we need to follow up?” I asked.

  He gave me the number and I added it to my notes.

  Tommy sat back in his chair and looked at Sam. “So am I off your radar on this?”

  Sam nodded. “Yeah as long as your alibi holds up.”

  Tommy stood. “It will. We’re done here?”

  Sam and I stood and I turned off the voice recorder.

  “We’re done. Thanks for your cooperation,” Sam said.

  I handed Tommy one of my business cards. “If anything else occurs to you, just call me.”

  He looked at it and nodded. We walked him out to the front of the office. Flip stretched out on the couch and raised his head. Neville stopped working and looked at Tommy.

  Tommy ignored all of us. He left without petting the dog, shaking hands, or saying “goodbye.”

  “I don’t think we made a new friend,” I said. Sam and Neville both laughed.

  ***

  After the interview, I sat at my desk and phoned Newmont.

  “You solve the case yet?” he asked and I laughed.

  “No, have you?” I replied and he chuckled.

  “Newmont, did you verify Paulie Meagher’s alibi?” I asked.

  “Yeah, he was at an all-day training class in Madison,” Newmont replied.

  “Okay good, that’s what he told us. We interviewed him today,” I said. “He mentioned that Steven Meagher seemed to be thinking about leaving Mystic Grove for a warmer climate. Larissa said he never mentioned moving anywhere.”

  Newmont grunted. “Paulie never said a word about that to me. I’ll circle back to him.”

  “He also said that in the last couple of months, Steven and Larissa Meagher seemed to be getting along a lot better.”

  “Yeah, that part I do remember,” Newmont agreed. “However, I got the impression that Paulie Meagher looked up to his older brother. That may have colored his impressions of the marriage.”

  “That’s possible,” I agreed. “We also interviewed Tommy Vann.”

  “That’s a new name to me. Who is he?” Newmont asked.

  “Larissa wasn’t sure if she’d told you about him. She said Vann was one of her husband’s friends. However, he saw himself as more of an acquaintance of Steven Meagher. He was better friends with Paulie Meagher. But the three of them did hang around together on some weekends. One thing we learned is that Tommy Vann did three years at Racine Correctional for aggravated battery. He got into a bar fight when he was twenty-one and really did a number on the other guy, who was also twenty-one.”

  “You think he might be involved in the murder?” Newmont asked.

  “I doubt it, but he has an alibi that I haven’t checked out. Vann said he spent the day of the murder with his cousin, Fred Graydon. He said he was there from 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.” I gave Graydon’s contact information to Newmont. I also gave him Tommy Vann’s cell phone number.

  “Thanks. I’ll talk to both of them and check out the alibi,” Newmont replied. “Hang on a second, I have something for you.”

  I heard Newmont shuffle some paper and then type on his computer.

  “Here we go. We searched the tree line by the cemetery near Black Earth. We found some 9mm shell casings in the woods. We also found bullets in several trees, most likely from your gun and Rose’s gun.”

  I groaned. “I don’t have to turn in my gun for ballistics testing, do I?”

  “No, they’re testing Rose’s gun against the bullets we found near where the shooter was. They found one bullet behind where you and Rose had been standing. It hit a tree.”

  I was surprised. “Really? There were at least three shots fired at us.”

  “It’s possible the other bullets went long and the searchers missed them. But at least we retrieved one slug to work with.”

  “That’s good,” I said. “You know, Rose and I were sitting ducks. Either the shooter was a terrible shot or he missed us on purpose.”

  “Don’t let your guard down,” Newmont replied.

  “I won’t,” I assured him. “So I have to ask. Is Mac Goodman still considered a suspect?”

  Newmont exhaled a huff of air. “Not by Detective Swanson or me. He’s still on Chief Durand’s list, though. I’ve found it’s better to not challenge the Chief on things like that. As we collect more evidence on other suspects, Mac Goodman will fall off the suspect list,” Newmont replied.

  We chatted for a few more minutes and hung up.

  I emailed Neville some notes about the Tommy Vann interview and then uploaded the audio file.

  After reviewing the two interviews we’d conducted, I had the feeling I was missing something, but didn’t know what it was.

  ***

  It was 6:00 p.m. before I packed up for the day. Before I left, I stopped at Sam’s office. Neville had left and Flip stretched out near Sam’s desk.

  I sat across from him and summarized my chat with Newmont.

  “I’m not surprised Paulie’s alibi checked out,” he said. “And it will be interesting to hear Newmont’s take on Tommy Vann after he talks to him.”

  “I agree. Oh, I forgot to tell you that I called Larissa earlier. She said Meagher never sai
d a word about moving anywhere. She thought it was a ludicrous idea.”

  Sam shrugged. “Maybe Meagher was just blue skying.”

  “Could be. Honestly, from all that we’ve heard, he’s the last person who’d move away from Mystic Grove.”

  We chatted for a little longer and then I called it a day and left.

  When I reached the parking lot and approached Lulu, my Mini Cooper, I saw something on the windshield. I slid a white envelope out from under the driver’s side wiper blade. The envelope was unsealed and inside was a single large bullet. The headstamp revealed it was a Federal .338 cartridge. It was almost three inches long and used in rifles.

  After scanning the area, I didn’t see anyone who looked suspicious. I returned upstairs and showed the envelope to Sam.

  “You could drop a bear with that,” he said, looking at the cartridge.

  “Someone’s trying to scare me, but why?” I asked, sitting on the nearest chair. Flip came over and I scratched his ears.

  Sam shook his head. “If it’s related to the case, why are they just trying to scare you off? Why not me too? We’re both talking to anyone who knew Meagher.”

  “I have no idea,” I replied.

  “Rose O’Ryan? They just released her,” he suggested.

  “No way, Sam. The shooter fired at both of us. And she would have no reason to leave that bullet on my car.”

  He thought for a minute. “Paulie Meagher maybe? He was upset. Or Tommy Vann?”

  “Paulie was upset with both of us. Why would he try to scare just me? And Tommy Vann was probably feeling good when he left our office. He had no reason to try to intimidate me either,” I said.

  “Yeah good points,” Sam replied. “Is there anything else going on in your life?”

  “Work is my life right now,” I replied drily. “No, I can’t think of anyone in my personal life who would shoot at me or leave a .338 cartridge on my car.”