Skeleton Key

by Jeff LaFerney

  Chapter 14

  As soon as Mortonson had left his office and headed down the stairs, Clay and Luke turned down the hall into Erika’s office. Luke closed the door. “Any observations you’d like to share?” he asked Clay.

  “Well, I don’t know if you could tell, but he’s lying.”

  “I’m a trained officer of the law, Clay. Course I could tell he was lying. But his story sounded legit, so you tell me. What was he lying about?”

  “First of all, he was concerned that the interview was going to be trouble for him. But that wasn’t what he lied about. When Marshall went to look for Adrian, he found his body lying on the floor of the train, looking like he was passed out. When you asked him about what happened to Adrian when he and the engineer bailed from the train, he said—well, he thought— that he ‘more than likely killed him.’ And when you asked him if he had any idea who might have buried Adrian, he said no, but he thought yes. Something happened on that train the night of the wreck, Luke.”

  “It looks that way. But every great detective knows that if there’s a crime, there’s a means, a motive, and opportunity. We need to keep digging if we want to find any of those things out. Maybe your ghost will be of help.”

  “If he’s still around and feeling helpful.” Clay walked over to the picture that was hanging on Erika’s wall. He studied it for a minute. He could see the sadness in Logan’s eyes, even in the picture. Erika was smiling her same infectious smile, while Adrian’s smile was clearly forced—the dimple on his right cheek only barely discernible. The orange-colored caboose was in the background. It was odd seeing the caboose sitting all alone because each time Clay had seen it in person, it was sitting next to the wrecked Amtrak train engine. The picture seemed sort of spooky. Maybe Clay just thought it was spooky because he was trying to communicate with the ghost of the man in the picture.

  “Well, Adrian, is there any message you’d like to communicate to me?” Clay didn’t really know how to talk to a ghost. He figured asking it a straight-on question might work, but there was no response. He paused and waited several seconds before speaking to Luke. “Nothing. He didn’t say a thing.”

  “Have you ever watched that show, Ghost Whisperer, Clay?”

  “Actually, no, I haven’t. What’s it about?”

  “Jennifer Love Hewitt’s this girl from a town in New York, I think. She can see and communicate with the dead. I was wondering if you ever saw Adrian when he supposedly talked to you?”

  “No, but I’m certain he talked to me. It wasn’t something that ‘supposedly’ happened.”

  “I’m being as open-minded as I can be, Clay. Anyway, the ghosts reach out to her for help relaying messages or completing tasks that are meant to put their spirits to rest. It’s like they died with unfinished business and they aren’t allowed to find peace or cross over into the afterlife until their tasks are completed. Maybe Adrian has some unfinished business or needs to find peace somehow before he’s allowed to move on. Or maybe he’s found it now that his body has been uncovered.”

  “Can’t move on until my one good deed is accomplished.”

  The hair on Clay’s arms stood on end. Adrian wasn’t gone yet. He refocused his attention to the picture and said, “Adrian, you just said you have one good deed to accomplish. Maybe that deed is to find out what happened to you. Could you possibly help us figure that out?”

  “Skeleton key,” is what Clay heard.

  “Did you say, ‘skeleton key’?” Clay asked.

  “Yes. Skeleton key.”

  Clay could feel the room getting a little chilly, once again. He could see that Adrian was not going to be completely cooperative. He had no idea what ‘skeleton key’ meant, but it was a start. Luke, who was observing patiently, asked, “How did you die, Adrian?”

  “A heart attack,” he replied.

  “He said, ‘a heart attack,’ Luke, but that doesn’t sound like any funny business to me. I don’t understand.” Clay continued to gaze at the picture. “Why are you talking to me? What do you want?”

  “Ease the pain,” Clay heard.

  “So a skeleton key will help us figure out who buried you, you died of a heart attack, and you’re hoping we can ease your pain.” He continued to look at the picture on the wall. “Is that what you’re telling me?”

  In an eerie whisper, the voice responded, “Ease the pain.”

  The ghost didn’t say another word. Clay and Luke both asked questions, but Adrian had said all he was going to say. None of his words made much sense, but they were clues. Hopefully, somewhere along the way, the words would help them figure out what happened.

  ***

  Marshall Mortonson stepped out of Sagelink Credit Union with his legitimate account books in hand. The credit union was a consistent supporter of the Durand Depot and an active sponsor of the Durand Railroad Days. Marshall had met with the bank manager. He had been informed that they were unwilling to finance him to buy out Erika Payne if she decided to sell her fifty percent ownership of the business now that she was officially the beneficiary of Adrian’s estate. An appraisal nearly a year earlier had established that the business in its entirety was worth nearly five million dollars. Marshall then collected a check as a donation toward the upcoming “Christmas in the Diamond District: Festival of Trees” holiday event that had begun the last week of November. Then he made his weekly Friday deposits and returned to his car to secret away the accurate books and to pick up the doctored ones. The cold of early December was upon them, so Marshall buttoned up his coat and departed down the street toward Nickel and Sons Attorneys.

  He stepped into the offices, a few minutes early for his appointment, and found his attorney, Toni Nickel, refilling a cup of coffee in her mug. “Hey, Morty. Come on right in. How’re you doing?”

  “When’re you gonna change that sign outside?” Marshall asked. “Don’t you think that when clients come calling that they’ll notice that Oscar Nickel’s ‘sons’ are female? Just ’cause your names are Toni and Andi Nickel doesn’t mean that people aren’t gonna notice you have breasts.”

  “Have you ever seen an attorney’s office called ‘Blank and Daughters,’ Morty? How ’bout you, Andi,” she called into her sister’s office. “You ever hear of an attorney’s office with the word daughter in it?”

  “Nope,” Andi called back to her sister.

  “We were thinking of changing the name, though, Morty.” She raised her voice so her sister could hear. “How about ‘Daddy/Daughters, Attorneys at Law’? Or ‘Nickel and Double Nickels’?”

  “I like ‘Nickel and Dames,’” Andi called from her office.

  “Okay, okay. Forget I asked. Mind if I have a seat, or do you want to bust my chops some more? Have you looked over my contracts?”

  Toni laughed. “Yeah, I’ve looked them over. What do you want to know?”

  “I just want to know what’s about to happen to my business now that Adrian’s body has been found. How’s it gonna affect me?”

  “Well, the coroner has issued a death certificate, so he’s officially deceased. That means that fifty-percent of the business legally belongs to his heir, Erika Payne. Morty, you still hold all decision-making power in the company. You brought your books, right?” Marshall nodded assent, knowing he had only brought the “cooked” books that provided the falsified numbers. “I may want to look them over. From what you’ve told me, Erika’s been a paid employee of the company for the last six plus years and a recipient of capital gains revenue in lieu of her husband’s absence. But since her husband has been dead the past seven years, she will probably be entitled to fifty percent of all earnings for those years, minus what she’s already received. Plus, the contract wording indicates that if she wants to sell her half of the business, you have to buy her out, or you’ll have to agree to sell.”

  “That’s true. I just left the credit union where we talked about that. I’d need to get a current appraisal, but I can tell you that buying her out will be troublesome. Actu
ally, it’s probably impossible.”

  “So you’d have to sell. What are you hoping for, Morty?”

  “I don’t want to sell and give up my business, that’s for sure. I just want you to look through my books, and figure out what a payout for the last seven years would entail. What I’m saying is that I’d like to figure out an agreement with Erika that’s as quick and painless as possible. I’m sure I can manage to obtain that size of a personal loan, but—let me say this delicately—I’d be uncomfortable with other people looking through my books. And, Toni, if she wants to sell, I’m gonna have to get that appraisal, and, again, she’ll probably want a look at the financial records. I don’t think I can afford her looking into these books. And I mean that literally as well as figuratively.”

  ***

  Clay and Luke decided to stop by Erika’s house to see how she was doing and to ask her some questions as well. Stacy had already left so the house was nearly silent. Erika smiled a big smile at Clay but resisted the urge to give him a hug. She did make eye contact and thought, “Can you hear me?” Clay nodded his head yes. “I wish I could hug you.” Clay smiled back at her and mouthed the words “Me too.”

  Hopper spoke first. “Hi, Erika. How’re you doin’?”

  “Didn’t get much rest, but I’m okay. Logan’s been upset though. Would you like to come in? It’s awfully quiet around here.”

  “Thank you.” The men entered the house, took off their shoes to be polite, and each sat in a chair. Everything in the cozy home was brightly colored and neatly decorated. “We’ve started an investigation, but we haven’t got far,” Luke said. “We do have the coroner’s conclusion that the body was Adrian’s. I’m sorry, Erika.”

  “I was sure it would be. What else did you find out?”

  “Well, the coroner determined that the cause of death was most likely from the train wreck. There were lots of broken bones. But there is no way to know that for certain. After seven years, the body is completely skeletonized and there isn’t other forensic evidence to look at.”

  “But Adrian claims that he died from a heart attack,” Clay interjected. “He also said that a skeleton key would help us determine who buried him. Plus he wants to ease his pain.”

  “Does any of that make any sense to you?” Both men shook their heads no. “Can a ghost be in pain?” Erika asked.

  Hopper spoke up. “We assume he was talking about finding peace in his life or finding a way to put his spirit to rest, but we don’t know that for certain either. We talked with Morty, Erika, about what he remembered from the day of the train wreck. Do you mind if we ask you what you remember.” Clay deduced immediately that the chief didn’t want to tell what Marshall had said—at least not right away.

  “There’s not much for me to tell. Adrian went to a conference or convention or some such thing. I remember we fought because I wanted to go to spelunker training in Indiana. I suggested he take Logan with him, but he didn’t want anything to do with that. Logan wanted to go, though, because he wanted to ride on the train. Finally, somehow we convinced Morty to go too, so he could help keep an eye on Logan.”

  “Do you know why he didn’t want Logan there?” asked Clay.

  “Could have been lots of reasons. He was a very self-centered man. He didn’t want to be bothered by Logan, I suppose. It could have been that he had plans that he felt Logan would interfere with. It could have been simply that he didn’t like having him around. Maybe he was going to be legitimately busy and couldn’t keep an eye on him well enough.”

  “Maybe it was because he had plans with another woman,” Chief Hopper said.

  Erika was immediately embarrassed and Clay was a little angry by the insensitivity of the remark.

  “That was uncalled for, Luke,” Clay said.

  “It’s okay, Clay. It’s humiliating, but most likely true. I’d noticed things—evidence, comments, looks from other people. I figured he was cheating on me. I have to admit, that was one of my reasons why I wanted Logan to go with him—to keep him from cheating.”

  “I’m so sorry, Erika,” said Clay.

  “Please…don’t be. He was what he was. I just feel stupid that I didn’t do anything about it.”

  “So what else to you remember?” Hopper continued.

  “I went to a cave in Northern Indiana. It wasn’t too long of a drive. I was back home at about five thirty or six. The train doesn’t leave East Lansing until 8:20 and wasn’t scheduled to arrive until after nine, so I got some work done here at home.”

  “Can anyone verify that you were here?”

  “What are you getting at, Luke?” Clay asked, obviously offended.

  “I’m just asking questions, Clay. Remember you told me to detect. Well, I’m detecting to the best of my ability.” He turned back to Erika. “Someone buried your husband, Erika, and I think there’s more to the story than just a train wreck. I want to get to the bottom of it, so I’m just asking lots of questions, hoping things’ll sort themselves out. Is that okay with you, Clay?” he asked somewhat sarcastically.

  “It’s okay, Clay, but the answer is no, Luke. Unless I got a phone call or something, I don’t think there’s any way I can prove that I was home. But I was. At least until around nine o’clock when the emergency sirens went off and I heard the ambulances and fire trucks. I could see smoke over toward the Depot. I got in my car and drove to the train station and saw the wreck. Everything else is kind of a blur. I found Logan. His face was red and bruised. Morty was bloody all over, and Adrian was missing.”

  “Do you remember anything else that might have seemed unusual or important in some way?” Hopper asked.

  “I just remember Morty saying that he thought that Adrian was in the engine car, but because they couldn’t locate him, maybe he had jumped. He even suggested that Adrian had exited the train before the wreck.”

  “What did Logan say? Morty said that Logan went to talk to Adrian just a few minutes before the wreck. Did Logan see him?”

  “Logan has never said anything about what happened that night.”

  “Could we talk to him right now?”

  “I think he’s asleep. This has been hard on him. Maybe today’s not a good time, Luke. Can you give him a little time?”

  “Sure, Erika. Thanks for the information. I’ve got some things to look into, but I’m sure I’ll eventually want to talk to Logan. Let’s go, Clay.”

  ***

  As soon as they were in Hopper’s car, Clay jumped all over him. “You’re treating her like a suspect! How could you seriously think that?”

  “Listen, Clay. Obviously you like her. Who doesn’t? But she is a suspect. Somebody buried that body. You claim Morty has an idea who buried Adrian. If it was Erika, Morty’d keep his mouth shut about that for sure. Maybe they were working together. Listen, I don’t think she did anything, Clay, but I’d be making a mistake if I didn’t at least keep an open mind about the possibility. That’s why I didn’t tell her what Morty was thinking yet. She had a good motive for him to disappear. He was cheating on her. She claimed he didn’t love Logan. She had the opportunity to bury him—at least she hasn’t been ruled out yet. Let me do some investigating, and something will turn up. It always does—at least on the TV shows it does.” He smiled.

  “Okay. You do your job, and I’ll do whatever I can to help you. What’s next?”

  “I guess I’ll look into the records of the train wreck and see if I can find anything unusual. I’ll check Erika’s phone records. Maybe someone did call her. I’m gonna have to find out for sure if she really was out of town that day. Maybe the reason she needed Logan to go with Adrian is because she had some diabolical plan.” Clay gave him an unhappy stare. “I know…I’m reaching for possibilities. We also need to figure out what Adrian meant by the skeleton key helping us discover who buried him. We need to talk to Logan eventually too. If Morty saw him lying on the floor, maybe Logan saw him too. Maybe you can get him to open up with your mind tricks.”

  “I wou
ldn’t do that unless Erika gave me permission. These powers I have are not toys to be played with. When I influence people, there are often consequences. I’ve learned that the hard way.”

  As they pulled back into the police station, Hopper said, “I’ll speak to the medical examiner again too. Maybe he can tell us something about the heart attack that Adrian claims he had…and I’m especially interested that Morty thinks he might have killed him. Could there have been a murder or attempted murder? Nothing much makes sense yet, does it?”

  “Nope, not yet. By the way, Tanner has a game tomorrow at Crisler Arena. I’ll be out of town most of the day.”

  “Give him my best wishes. I’ll call you when I have information. Thanks for your help, Clay.”

  Chapter 15

  Michigan’s men’s basketball team was playing a Saturday afternoon game against Clay’s alma mater, Eastern Michigan University, at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor. Clay was seated in the stands with Zander Frauss and his wife, Lydia. Though Clay was actually grateful, he pretended to be a little put out and said, “By the way, you two, thanks for setting me up. Here I was thinking I was doing Erika Payne and her son a favor and I find that you sent me so she could help me. Seems a little sneaky to me.”

  “That was completely Zander’s idea, Clay. I actually made first contact in the real hope that you could help them. That Logan Payne is troubled, and I can’t seem to find a way to help him. Maybe you can.”

  “I plead the fifth,” Zander said with a grin. “Anything I say can and will incriminate me. But now that you’ve met her, it’s my guess that you’re actually not too upset with me. How do you like her?”

  “I’d like to tell you that you’re wasting your time messin’ with my personal life, Doc, but actually, as hard as it is to admit it to you, I like her.” Then Clay proceeded to catch Zander and his wife up on the case. “Tanner made a bit of a connection with Logan, Lydia, but it’s going to be hard to get them together because of college and basketball. The police chief and I are hoping to find out what Logan saw on that train, but getting him to open up sounds like a difficult proposition.”