Murder By Duplicity

by B. T. Lord

  “Hey, Lars. How’s it going?” she asked as she came up to the counter. He held a large finger up, paused the TV, then turned to her.

  “This is one of my favorite episodes. It’s from season one and it’s where Stone--”

  “I’m here to ask you some questions about George Peabody.”

  Lars’ eyes widened. He immediately turned the TV off and turned his full attention to Cammie. She saw how excited he was to actually be part of a police investigation and hoped he’d answer her questions honestly, without embellishment.

  “Specifically, I need to know about the mistake George made on your tax return that had you owing money to the IRS.”

  “Oh yeah, that.”

  “How much did you owe?”

  “About $5,000.”

  “What was your reaction when you found out what he’d done?”

  “Well, of course I was pretty upset. I’ve never had any problems with the IRS and I sure as hell didn’t want to start having them now. In fact, I was so sore at him, I thought about suing him. That is, after I spread the word around about what a lousy CPA he was. Would have been real easy, what with me running the post office and everybody stopping in here to grab their mail or some groceries.”

  “Did you?”

  He shook his massive head. “Nope. Didn’t need to in the end.”

  “Why?”

  “Because George paid me back.”

  “When did he give you the money?”

  “It was the day after the election. He came in and left two packages – one for Lucy Perez who used to own the bakery up the street and one for me. He made me promise I wouldn’t give the package to Lucy after he’d left Twin Ponds. As for my package, he said he was moving to Bangor in two weeks and asked me not to open it until after he’d gone.” Lars winked at her. “Of course I didn’t. By that time, I wasn’t exactly trusting George much. I waited until he left the Emporium before opening it. To say I was flabbergasted doesn’t even begin to describe my feelings. I sure never expected him to make it up to me. But he did. It kinda gave me back my faith in humanity.”

  “Was that the last time you saw George?”

  “I saw him around town, but that was the last time we spoke.”

  “He didn’t leave you an address where he could be reached?”

  “No. Just told me the election proved to him that it was time for him to start fresh somewhere else.”

  “You didn’t wonder why he didn’t take Margo?”

  “Rumor was she was shacking up with the mayor, so it made perfect sense to me why he’d want to vamoose out of Twin Ponds.”

  “How did he seem to you the last time you saw him?”

  “Happy. As if he knew he was doing the right thing and couldn’t wait to get started.”

  “You’ve been very helpful, Lars. Thank you.”

  She turned to leave when he asked, “So do you have any persons of interest yet? Besides Bill of course.”

  Cammie paused. The Emporium came in a close second to Zee’s as gossip central. She was curious to hear what was being said on this side of the street.

  “What are you hearing about Bill?”

  “That he’s probably guilty. He had the perfect motive, you know. George tried his best to destroy Bill’s reputation. He tried to convince people that Bill was using town funds for his personal use. I think the worst was when he started spreading rumors that Bill was using his family money to construct a brothel out on Eagle Road.”

  Cammie frowned. “Eagle Road, Eagle Road…” she murmured, trying to bring the name to mind.

  “That’s where Bill built the Masonic Lodge.”

  Cammie guffawed. “And George was trying to convince people that was going to be a brothel?”

  Lars shrugged. “You know how people are. They’ll do anything to get what they want.”

  “And George wanted to be mayor.”

  “Big time.”

  “Do you think people believed that rumor about the brothel?”

  “Nah. But I think many folks were ready for a change. The brothel story was just an excuse to jump on George’s bandwagon.”

  “Lars, do you remember any talk about George’s dislike of minorities, specifically Native Americans?”

  “Yeah. George didn’t like anyone who wasn’t white.”

  “And people were still ready to vote him in?” she asked, already guessing at the answer.

  “We didn’t know about it. He kept that part of himself under wraps. It wasn’t until after he left town that the stories started to come out. How he’d tried to cheat some of the Natives out of their land, stuff like that.”

  “Do you remember which Natives these were?”

  “Not really. There were no specific names. Then of course you’ve got Bill and Margo regularly climbing the Mount Everest of love.”

  She glanced at him. “You’ve been talking to Rick again?”

  He shook his head. “Heard it in a movie.”

  “What are people saying about their trysts?” Lars gave her a perplexed look. She rolled her eyes. “About their climbs up the Mount Everest of love?”

  “It’s no secret they’ve been together for years. In fact, a bunch of people think they were together even before the election, which is why Margo wouldn’t stop working on those committees with Bill. What better way to get rid of your rival, both in the political and love arena, than to murder him and dump his body in the woods?”

  “But George was leaving anyway,” Cammie said. “Why kill him?”

  “Why not? There was already bad blood between them.” He pointed to the TV. “This is a classic case of what they call a crime of passion. George and Bill probably had it out and George lost. Or maybe it was premeditated. Either way, Bill wasn’t about to let George get away with almost ruining his reputation.”

  “Well, it’s still an ongoing investigation. But if you hear anything you think I should know, call me immediately.”

  “Will do, sheriff.”

  While Cammie was across the street interviewing Lars, Rick pulled his chair over to Emmy’s desk.

  “I need your advice, Em.”

  Her heart soared. The trip out to the forest may have been a letdown, but the fact that he was asking for her advice made her feel there was still hope they could bring this friendship up another notch. She immediately turned away from her computer and gave him her full attention.

  “How do you get someone to do something they don’t want to do?”

  She almost snorted out loud. Considering she’d been wanting to get Rick to kiss her for three years, she considered herself the perfect person to answer such a question.

  “Like what?”

  “You have to promise me you won’t say anything. Not until I work this whole thing out.”

  “Of course you can trust me.”

  He slowly told her what the problem was. When he was done, she sat back in her chair.

  “You’re screwed,” she finally said.

  That evening, Doc, Cammie and Jace were just finishing up another of Doc’s fabulous meals – this time, parmesan crusted halibut with roasted baby potatoes and grilled asparagus. It was going to take another month before Cammie and Jace could move back to their renovated cabin. Part of her couldn’t wait for the two of them to begin a new life in a cabin they’d redesigned themselves. Surrounded by the forest and the pond she loved so much, she longed for the serene cocoon they’d create for themselves. However, there was another part that worried about Doc. She knew how much he’d miss them. Rather than be burdened by their presence, she saw how much he enjoyed preparing meals for them and leading their evening conversations. Although he would never admit it, he was lonely. She and Jace filled a void in his life, giving him that warm human companionship that was sorely lacking. Once this case was over, she promised herself to try and find him his very own Jace.

  “This afternoon, we received news that the dental records match those from the skull,” she explained, “so we now know, def
initively, that the bones belong to George Peabody. As for Steepman, we’re still awaiting the results of the fiber analysis found on the back of his lounge chair. The laptop didn’t yield anything useful. Just a slew of more porn sites that had even the most hardened men at the crime lab rinsing their eyes out with disinfecting eye drops. Other than that, there’s not much to go on. There are too many tire tracks on that road to pinpoint if one of them was used by the murderer. It hasn’t rained in a while so it’s impossible to pick up any shoe prints around the lounge chair.” She turned to Jace. “I’m sure you serviced his car. Do you remember off the top of your head if he put a lot of mileage on his Toyota?”

  “I can tell you he didn’t. The only reason I remember is that he’s one of the few townspeople who didn’t put more than 1000 miles a year on his car. I know because I always have to check the mileage when I do the car inspections.”

  “That’s not a lot of miles. I do that in about a week.”

  “He didn’t go anywhere. Probably just drove from his house to the Grocery Emporium and back. Not to mention the ladies he liked to visit at least once a month.”

  She shook her head. “Jeez, that’s depressing. No wonder he peeped into women’s windows. That was the only life he had. That, his porn and surfing the internet, looking for all that expensive stuff he bought.”

  “How did he buy that stuff anyway?” Jace asked. “Did he use a credit card? You can’t use cash over the internet.”

  “Emmy tracked down the credit card to probably the closest thing Steepman had to a friend. They used to be neighbors years ago and stayed in touch. Steepman set up a system where he told his friend what he wanted and the friend ordered it using his own credit card. When it came in, the two met at a designated spot to do the exchange. Steepman picked up his merchandise and his friend walked away with cash, plus a 10% bonus for his trouble.”

  “Wow. He was really being careful about not having the purchases traced back to him.”

  “He had to be. How could he explain the ability to afford all that pricey stuff? He certainly wasn’t legitimately earning the money to pay for it.”

  Jace frowned. “His friend didn’t think this was all a bit weird?”

  “According to his statement, Steepman’s odd behavior goes way back. He didn’t think what they were doing was illegal and he enjoyed the extra cash.”

  “What about anyone in town having access to the sux?” Doc asked.

  “We’ve got 650 people living in and around Twin Ponds, not to mention another 400 scattered throughout Clarke County,” Cammie explained. “With my small staff, it’s going to take forever to do background checks on everyone. I sent a request to Cary Medical in Houlton to see if they have any records of anyone from our county ever working at their facility who may have had access to the sux, but that came up empty.”

  Jace reached out and rested his hand on hers. “You’re like the Canadian Mounties, babe. You always get your man.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  Doc looked at her over the rim of his wineglass. “So where do you think Reginald was getting all that money?”

  “It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? He was blackmailing someone.”

  Before she could elaborate, Cammie’s cell phone rang. Seeing it was Rick, she picked up.

  “What’s up?”

  “I need you to come down to HQ.”

  His serious tone made her sit up. “What’s happened?”

  “I don’t have time to explain. Just trust me on this. Come on down right now.”

  “What was that about?” Doc asked when he saw the puzzled look on her face.

  “Rick asked me to get down to HQ right now, but didn’t explain why.”

  “He may be an irresponsible boyfriend, but he’s a good officer,” Doc replied. “I think you better get yourself down there ASAP.”

  Not wanting to waste time changing back into her uniform, Cammie showed up at HQ wearing what she’d changed into before sitting down to dinner with Doc and Jace - a pair of sky blue capris, sandals and a white tank top. Not knowing what to expect, she was surprised to see Rick sitting in her office. Next to him was a tall, lanky man, dressed in scuffed up jeans and a navy blue T-shirt that had the Red Sox logo on it.

  His hair was jet black like Rick’s though shorter, and his face carried the strong features of Native American ancestry. She saw right away he was anxious. He sat straight up in the chair with both his hands curled into rigid fists against his knees. Beneath the chair, one of his legs nervously twitched up and down.

  “Cam, this is my cousin, Jim Newton.”

  Rick came from a large, extended family, so she wasn’t surprised she hadn’t met this particular cousin before.

  “How are you, Jim?”

  He grunted in response.

  “I had you come down here because Jim has something to say about George Peabody. Go on, Jim. You can trust Cammie.”

  Jim looked as though he wished he were anywhere but there. He threw Rick an angry look, which the deputy ignored.

  Cammie pulled up her chair and sat opposite Jim. “There’s nothing to be nervous about, Jim. Just tell me what you know about George.”

  “I don’t want to get into trouble,” he mumbled.

  “I told you, you won’t get into trouble,” Rick assured him. “It was ten years ago. Just tell the sheriff what you told me.”

  Jim licked his lips several times. “I – um – I was out hunting,” he began.

  Cammie wondered if his nervousness stemmed from the fact that he was probably hunting out of season. Not wanting to interrupt him to see if her hunch was right, she remained silent as he continued his story.

  “I was on the lookout for moose. I’d heard the elders talking about this Grandfather Tree that was supposed to help with wishes if you brought it an offering. I hadn’t had any luck tracking anything, so I figured I had nothing to lose. I got to the tree, left a few cigarettes as a gift, and went over near the meadow to see if any moose showed up. Instead, I fell asleep. I probably would have slept there the whole night except that I heard a car door slam. The sound woke me up.”

  “Do you remember what time that was?”

  He nodded. “I couldn’t believe I’d fallen asleep and was worried over what the wife, then my fiancée, was going to say when I turned up late. Especially when I looked at my watch and saw it was 10 pm.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Like I said I heard a car door slam. My first thought was that it was the game warden who’d figured out what I was doing. I was about to hightail it out of there when I saw a man walk into the meadow where Rick says you found the skeleton. He caught my attention because he was wearing a suit and tie.”

  “Did you recognize him?”

  Jim nodded. “It was dark. But he lit up a cigarette. When he did I saw his face and knew it was George Peabody.”

  “What happened next?”

  Jim hesitated. Rick gave him a gentle nudge in the shoulder. “Go on, Jimmy. Tell her.”

  “My first thought was to get out of there. I didn’t need him causing me any problems. But I’d heard the stories around town about how much he hated Native Americans. Seeing as he was in the woods late at night, wearing a suit, I knew he was up to something. So I decided to stick around and see if I was right. A few moments later, I heard another car pull up.”

  “Could you see who it was?”

  “The person never got out of the car. George went over and spoke to whoever it was through the open car window.

  “Did you hear what was said?”

  “They were talking low. I couldn’t quite make out all the words. But I did hear the guy in the car say something like, ‘get out of town as soon as possible.’”

  “So it was definitely a male in the second vehicle?”

  “Yeah, that’s right.”

  “Can you recall the date this happened?”

  Jim’s brow furrowed as he tried to remember. “I think it was a few
days before Peabody left Twin Ponds.”

  “Can you be more specific?”

  “Naomi - that’s my wife – it was her birthday around that time. I’d wanted to surprise her with some moose steaks, so it must have been around April 14th or so.”

  Cammie felt a twinge in her gut that wouldn’t let go. Taking a chance, she leaned forward until she was almost nose to nose with Jim. “You know exactly who was in that car, don’t you?”

  “I said I’m not sure,” Jim stammered nervously.

  She refused to back down. “I think you do know. And you’re afraid to tell me.” Jim hung his head, refusing to meet her eyes. “Then tell me who you think it was.”

  “I won’t swear on it.”

  “Tell me anyway.”

  Jim took his time answering. “I don’t want any trouble,” he repeated.

  Rick placed his hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “Jimmy, you’ve been upset ever since the skeleton was identified as George Peabody. Now’s the time to get it off your chest once and for all.”

  Jim looked to the right and left. Then, knowing he’d never get out of that office unless he told them what he knew, he sighed. “I swear, I’m not entirely sure who it was. But I--I think it was Mayor Bill Barnes.”

  Cammie was not surprised. The mayor had been hiding something ever since the discovery of the skeleton and he would continue to do so until he was exposed. She sat back in the chair.

  “How long did they speak?”|

  “Not long at all. Five minutes tops. The mayor left, then Peabody got into his car and followed him out. I waited until I was sure they were gone before I took off.”

  “Thank you, Jim. I know how difficult this was for you.”

  “He’s the mayor. I don’t want or need any hassles.”