Steve Demaree - Dekker 09 - Murder on a Blind Date

by Steve Demaree

  "Well, I've got an opinion on all three of those without discussing them. I think the first two are likely, while Emily isn't."

  "So, you think that Emily French was only being cautious when we stopped by, and not doing what her victims failed to do by keeping a latch on their doors?"

  "Well, it would be ironic if she, who looks innocent, is actually guilty, while Charles Hacker, who tried to get in her duplex is actually innocent. One thing is for sure. Both Hacker and Marge Shockley have tempers. I'm not sure if the murderer is a temperamental person or not."

  "Me, either, Lou, which brings us to something very important. Whoever murdered these people had a reason for doing so. Can you think of any reason what caused someone to unravel like this?"

  "I've got no idea. I think if we knew that we might know which one is murdering people."

  "Okay, let's change topics. Who could have convinced each of the victims to open his or her door?"

  "Well, as we know, some people will open their door to anyone, even after dark, not realizing that whoever is there could be dangerous."

  "I think most people are more cautious after dark. And I believe some of these people were murdered after dark. But then others were murdered during the day."

  "So, whom would someone open the door to?"

  "Well, cops, if they had on a uniform."

  "Yeah, and someone delivering a pizza."

  "Lou, I don't think all of the murdered victims had ordered pizza just before getting murdered."

  "No, but maybe they opened the door when someone said they were trying to find such and such a house. Most people like to be helpful."

  "But what if they started to open the door and whoever it was didn't have a pizza box?"

  "Maybe he or she had an empty pizza box with a syringe just underneath."

  "So, other than cops or someone they knew, we have no idea who they would have opened the door to, and I doubt if all the victims knew their attacker."

  "I think I can agree with that."

  We were doing a lot of agreeing, but it wasn't getting us anywhere.

  35

  Lou and I sat around mulling things over. By the time I realized what time it was it was after 5:00.

  "Look, we're not getting anywhere. Why don't I take you home, and if you want to go over things there, fine? Otherwise, we can put off thinking about this until tomorrow."

  Lou sat up, bent over, and put on his shoes, then headed to where he had tossed his coat. I matched him shoe for shoe, and went to the coat rack where I hung my coat when I got home. Neither of us talked much or sang to the music as I took Lou home. He got out like a defeated man, the way most of us usually do when we're unable to identify a dangerous criminal.

  I'd been home only a few minutes when the phone rang. It was Lou.

  "You mean you've already figured it out?"

  "A lot worse than that, Cy. I received another message."

  "That's especially bad on a Thursday. I think it's safe to say that Mr., Mrs., or Miss Eluded the Police has struck again. What's the message?"

  "The name rings a bell. The name rings a bell."

  "I heard you the first time, Lou."

  "No, this time the message was repeated."

  "Do you think that means that we're looking for two people?"

  There was silence on the other end of the phone. That silence meant the same as when Lou gave me a look when he was with me in person. Many times he has claimed that he only receives the clues. He doesn't know what they mean.

  I broke the silence.

  "Well, if it is two people, I think the most likely suspects are the Comstocks. And the clue was repeated. They are the only suspects with the same last name. I just can't see them doing something that will eventually hurt their business. I mean I can see someone like this if they feel they have to do this in order to hide a worse crime, but I can't think of a worse crime than killing a bunch of people."

  "And I can't imagine that all of these people would know whatever secret the Comstocks might have."

  I thanked Lou for letting me know, then went to my other phone to call Eve Sanchez.

  "Eve. This is Cy. I know this will be difficult for you to understand, but I think someone else has been or will be murdered today."

  "Me, too. We just received the call a few minutes ago. I'm on my way there now."

  I asked her who it was, and wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or not when the name she told me was someone I had not yet heard of.

  "Cy, did this feeling you had that someone had been murdered today come from the fact that today is Thursday and all of the murders have happened on a Thursday, or something else?"

  "Something else."

  "Well, I'm almost to the scene now and need to get busy. I'll call you as soon as I can and get your take on this."

  I told her that was fine and we ended the call.

  Another murder. Another human life snuffed out just because we hadn't been able to figure out who was responsible. As I sat there contemplating whether or not to delve again into the case or forget about it for the night the phone rang again.

  "Cy. Sam."

  "I hope you have something for me."

  "A little, but very little. I can eliminate one of your suspects. Patty Moran was indeed on a cruise and nowhere near Lexington when her boyfriend was murdered. If you think the same person has murdered all of these people then you can mark her off your list and hope that no one gets her."

  I told Sam about the most recent murder, gave him the victim's name, and asked him if he was familiar with her.

  "Not until a few minutes ago. She and her date were the latest to send back a green card."

  "When did she send it back?"

  "Hers arrived in yesterday's mail."

  "Yesterday? Wednesday? And she's already been murdered. What was the guy's name?"

  Sam told me. I told him to tell me if he came up with more about any of the victims, and then hung up. I contemplated whether or not to call Eve with the information. I decided to call when I realized that the call might save another life.

  "Sanchez."

  "I know you're busy, but I have some information. The Comstocks just received the victim's green card yesterday. I know who she dated. You might send someone to his place and maybe prevent another murder."

  "We just arrived at the same conclusion. We called him, but he didn't answer his phone. Someone's on the way to his place. I've got to go now, but later I want to know how you knew all of this."

  "I'll be here. Call no matter how late it is."

  I hung up the phone and wondered if today's clue, "The name rings a bell," repeated, meant that there were two murders, instead of two murderers.

  There was nothing to do, and it was suppertime, so I shuffled off to the kitchen to fix myself some dinner. I heated some store-bought meatballs and grilled something I would never have expected to eat a year earlier, asparagus. But I had grown to like it. It wasn't ready to compete with bacon or chocolate, but it had moved off my unmentionables list.

  Supper didn't take me long to fix, and I received no more interrupting phone calls on either my house or cell phone. I tried to enjoy my food, but it was hard, knowing that there must be something we were overlooking.

  Eve didn't call back, and I spent the rest of the night lying in my recliner, not in a mood to do anything. Reading was out, and I wasn't in the mood to watch a movie or laugh with one of my classic comedy TV shows, although that was probably what I needed.

  I must have been tired, because I fell asleep in the recliner. I dreamed of being chased by Eve Sanchez, Sarah Jane Fulkerson, and four women named Jennifer. When I realized who was chasing me I slowed my pace. Just as all of them caught up to me and were messing up my hair and whispering sweet nothings in my ear my phone rang. It was one of the women in my dream.

  "Cy, sorry I'm so late, but we didn't get to Bob Blankenberger's house on time."

  "Who was murdered first, and do you have any idea of
the time?"

  "We don't know for sure, but we suspect that whoever is responsible murdered Sally Caruthers first. It doesn't matter. We didn't get to either of them on time. We're trying to decide whether or not to shut down the dating service until we find out who's responsible for this."

  "Well, if things go the way they have been going, at least we have another week to solve these murders."

  "That's a small consolation, Cy. That's all I have. I'm going home to get some sleep. You do the same. Maybe we'll be able to look at this with a refreshed mind in the morning and see something we haven't seen before."

  "I hope so. Goodnight."

  "Oh, I'll call you in the morning and you can tell me how you knew they had been murdered. I'm too tired to care now."

  I wondered how she would take an explanation that Lou receives messages from God. Would she put me on her suspect list? Or consider me a likely candidate for the loony bin?"

  I didn't bother to call Lou. He was probably asleep. I would let him know the next day about the second murder. The next day was Friday. I planned to sleep late, then get up and try a new approach. I would go over each of the messages God had given Lou and see if I could make any sense out of them. So far I had only been able to figure out what one of them meant.

  36

  I didn't get to sleep as long as I wanted. I woke the next morning to the ringtone on my cell phone. It was the second time Eve's phone call woke me.

  "Cy, were you up?"

  "I am now."

  "Sorry, but I need to know how you knew that there had been more murders."

  "What would you think if I told you that God told us?"

  "I'd think you need to be a little more serious."

  "But it's true. At least I think it is. See, Lou and I worked homicide for over thirty years. Early in those thirty years Lou started getting thoughts that many times helped us solve our cases. He only received these thoughts when we were working on a case. I started calling them Lou's messages from God. In reality, I can't see anywhere else they could come from. And like I said, these clues helped us solve our cases. Well, late yesterday afternoon, Lou received another one. I remembered that it was Thursday, and figured that there had been another murder, so I called you right away. Too bad Lou didn't get the message prior to the murders. Maybe you could have been there to capture whoever it is before they committed any more murders."

  "And what was this clue?"

  "The name rings a bell. The name rings a bell. I'm not sure, but this might be the first time Lou's message has been repeated."

  "And have you figured out yet what it means?"

  "No, I was going to work on that today, see how it fits in with the others."

  "Others? Are you saying he's gotten other messages since you started working with us? How many others?"

  "Five or six altogether."

  "Well, see what you can come up with. I'm ready to see what my house looks like again, and I won't be able to do that until we've solved this thing."

  We said goodbye and I looked at my watch. It was 9:10. Well at least she didn't call real early. I wasn't about to go back to bed, so I headed off to take care of everything I needed to get out of the way so I could give all of my attention to going over those clues.

  +++

  I figured I could think better in my recliner. I had written down all of the clues, so I could lean back and try to tie them together and use them to find a murderer.

  I looked at the first clue. "Floyd Kramer." That was the one clue I understood. One of Floyd Kramer's tunes was Last Date. Each of the murder victims were on their last date before they were murdered. That tied all of them together and all of them to the dating service. But it didn't tell me who's responsible. It was time to move on to the second clue. "Winter Wonderland and Summer in the City." Both are songs. Contrasts. One talks about a time when it is cold. The other tells us about a time when it is really hot. Was the clue telling me that the murderer is a person of contrasts? If so, who could that be? The only contrasting person I could think of was Lucy Marlowe. She was mousy on our "date" and belligerent when I confronted her at her home. I would keep her in mind, and see if she fit in with any of the other clues.

  The next clue Lou was given was "both live in the same neighborhood." Both of whom? No two of the people considered a part of this case, living or dead, lived in the same neighborhood as someone else. Lexington is a fairly large city. None of the people involved in any way live within walking distance of each other. It was time to move on again. I knew I would have to go over these clues a few times before something hit me, if something did hit me.

  I moved on to "Martha's husband." Well, Lucy Marlowe wasn't anyone's husband, and as far as I knew, none of the other suspects were married. I talked to Phil Pendleton and Charles Hacker. If either of them had a wife she was somewhere else. And Arthur Comstock's wife wasn't named Martha. No one I'd talked to was named Martha. And the only Martha I could think of who had a husband that was known to me was Martha Washington. None of the guys on my list were named George. And none of them reminded me of George Washington in any way. It had to be a different Martha. And anyway, I doubted if the murderer was married to some woman named Martha.

  Next on my list was "Doc Hollywood." I'd seen the movie, but it had been a while. I was trying to think of what takes place in that movie. I could remember a little, but not a lot. I had only seen it once. Or could it be that the clue is in the title, not the movie itself? None of our suspects was a doctor. None of them had any Hollywood connection, either. While someone out there is a good actor, whoever that person is doesn't act for a living. Could it mean that the murderer works in a hospital or a doctor's office, or some other place that deals with the medical profession? Three people associated with the case fall in this category, but I wasn't sure if that was what I was to gather from the clue.

  It didn't take me long to get to the last clue. "The name rings a bell. The name rings a bell." I didn't understand this clue, either. I assumed it meant that whoever did it should be familiar to me. Of course they should be familiar to me. I talked to all of them.

  I hadn't solved the case after the first time through the clues so I called Lou, told him what I was doing, and asked him to study the clues, too. Maybe one of us could come up with the idea that we needed. I told Lou I planned to eat lunch at home, but I might not answer the phone if I was deep in thought. I asked him not to call me unless it was really important. He told me he knew how important my naps are to me. Later, I would try to fix him up with either Bambi Fontaine or Lucy Marlowe, provided the two of them weren't in on the murders together.

  37

  I was disappointed when I had run through the six clues one time, looked at my watch and realized it wasn't lunchtime. I didn't expect that one time through them would give me what I wanted to know, but it didn't keep me from hoping so. I wondered what I should do next. I decided to get my mind off the case for a few minutes and call Jennifer. She vaguely remembered who I was, and I reminded her that I was through dating those other women, and I was doing the best I could to get to where I could give her my undivided attention again. I also promised her that I would take some time off before the weekend was over and take her out somewhere.

  It still wasn't lunchtime when I hung up from talking to her, so I walked around the house, looking for something to take my mind off of what I couldn't solve. I plopped down in a comfortable chair and leafed through the newspaper. There was the same negative news on the front page. I fumbled through that section, passed over the sports section, and came to the one thing in the newspaper that is worth reading everyday, the comics. I had decided a long time ago which comics aren't funny, which ones don't interest me, and which ones to read each day. That last group included a sampling of new and old. I missed some of the ones from my childhood, no longer around, but loved the ones that had begun before I was around, where someone was still cranking them out without a step down in quality. It was while I was reading those c
omics that I came up with a possible solution for one of my clues. There was another Martha, a Martha I spent time with a few times each week, and this Martha had a husband, George Wilson, Dennis the Menace's next-door neighbor. Good ole Mr. Wilson. Except that he was cranky. And old. Was this the Martha God meant? His name was George, just like the President. But he was old and had been old ever since the strip first came about back on March 12, 1951. Well, I wasn't around then, but I assume he was the same old man then. None of our suspects was an old man. None of them were named George. Maybe this wasn't the man married to a woman named Martha that I was looking for. But I wouldn't dismiss it until I found something better.

  I finished looking over the newspaper without coming up with another solution to any of my clues. I got up and paced. I went over to the window and looked out. Another cloudy day. Nothing out there to help me. So where should I turn next? Something made me head to my video collection. Well, Doc Hollywood was one of the clues. I didn't own that movie, but I had a couple of Michael J. Fox's movies. I shelved my movies alphabetically. I had over two hundred titles, not counting the seasons of TV shows I had. I found it easier if I shelved them in alphabetical order. I looked at the first one, The Addams Family. None of my suspects looked like Uncle Fester so I moved on. Next was Adventures in Babysitting. I'm probably the only man who enjoys watching that movie, but none of my suspects are teenagers, so I moved on to Air Force One. None of the victims I was concerned about was murdered on a plane, and none of my suspects look like Harrison Ford, now, or like he looked back when he was doing the Star Wars series.

  I felt that some movie on those shelves would be vital to me solving the murders, so I persisted, spending a few seconds on each movie. Taking time to do that made as much sense as anything else I could do, and so I persisted. I made it most of the way through my collection before the light in my head went on. I wondered how I could have been so stupid that I didn't consider this sooner. I now had a suspect. I felt that only one of four people had everything it took to be able to kill every one of the victims. But I had to see if this suspect fit with each of the clues.