Love is Murder

by Kate Bell

  “Hey, Alec, Allie,” George Feeney said when we entered the station. “You here to see Sam?”

  “We are,” Alec confirmed.

  “Go on back. He’s available,” George said.

  “Thanks, George. I think I owe you some cookies,” I said, following Alec down the hall.

  “Sounds good to me,” George called after me. “I like chocolate chip.” I liked George. He was mellow and low key. I didn’t mind going out of my way to bake him and the other officers some cookies every now and then.

  High maintenance people like Sam Bailey irked me though and didn’t exactly put me in the mood to bake them cookies. No cookies for Sam.

  Alec knocked on Sam’s door, and opened it when Sam called out.

  “Sam,” Alec said, nodding.

  I followed close on his heels. “Hi, Sam, how are you this gray day? The weather sure has turned cold this afternoon, hasn’t it?”

  Alec shot me a look and I smiled back at him. Maybe I did need to calm down a little. My head was starting to spin from the sugar and caffeine.

  Sam sighed. “I’m just fine, Allie. Just fine,” he said, without sounding it. He turned to Alec. “What can I do for you, Alec?”

  “I was just checking in to see how the investigation into Spencer Cranston’s death was coming. I emailed you a brief account of my conversation with his wife. I’m assuming you got it?” he asked, taking a seat in front of Sam’s desk.

  I sat in the chair next to him. Sam hadn’t replied to Alec’s email and that kind of thing got on Alec’s nerves. He liked knowing the information had been received and I knew he wanted to know if there were any questions.

  “I did get it,” Sam said, picking up a file folder on his desk. “As always, I appreciate your help on the investigation. We don’t know much yet, but we’re assuming Cranston was strangled using a nylon cord. The cord was found in the backseat of the vehicle the victim was found in. We haven’t gotten the medical examiner’s report back, of course. But it seems like a garrote is something someone with some skill would use, not an amateur.”

  Alec nodded. “I would think if someone had no experience with a garrote, they might screw it up. That’s interesting.”

  “Wow. A garrote?” I said, sitting back in my chair. “That sounds so nefarious. Like, do we have international spies in town? Is there a convention?” I giggled at my own joke.

  Alec slowly turned toward me and gave me a hard look. I smiled back. Apparently I was the only one that thought it was funny. I decided I had better try and keep my mouth shut.

  “Why is she here?” Sam asked, looking at Alec.

  “Hey, I’m right here. Don’t talk about me like I’m not,” I said.

  “Why don’t we focus on the investigation?” Alec asked, ignoring me.

  Sam’s jaw twitched. “Do we have any more information on Spencer Cranston? You said he and his wife moved to Sandy Harbor six months ago. Where did they live before that?”

  “Florida,” Alec answered. “There really wasn’t much that his wife said that struck me as suspicious, but she seemed unhappy in the marriage. When I asked his wife for more information on why she thought her husband was having an affair with Jenna Maples, she said she found information on his hard drive. When I first spoke with her over the phone about taking this job, it sounded to me like she had more evidence that he was cheating, but when pressed, she didn’t really seem to have much. Also, the laptop she said she had found information about Jenna Maples on is missing. She said she doesn’t know where it went.”

  “Did you find out anything from speaking to Jenna Maples?” Sam asked.

  Alec shook his head. “She saw his vehicle across the street and knew we had found someone killed in it, but she didn’t seem bothered by it. I thought she would have shown some emotion if she had been having an affair with him.”

  “And have you checked out Spencer Cranston’s place of employment?”

  “We’re going over there next,” I said, and then glanced at Alec. I hoped that was where we were going. Alec hadn’t mentioned it, but it seemed like the thing to do.

  Alec gave me a look and then turned back to Sam. “We had planned on going there next. I called and spoke with the facility manager, a Bart Hicks. He’s agreed to see us and discuss Cranston,” Alec said.

  “We?” Sam asked. “Why we?”

  “Did you dust the car for prints?” I interrupted.

  Sam stared at me for a few seconds before answering.

  “Do you really think we wouldn’t do that?” he asked slowly. “I’ve been at this job long enough to know to do that.”

  “Oh, okay,” I said. I could feel Alec looking at me, but I didn’t turn in his direction. I made a mental note to never again eat that much sugar and drink that much caffeine all at once.

  “The Medical Examiner is conducting an autopsy today. I’m wondering if there’re drugs or alcohol in his system. I can’t imagine how someone would sneak up behind him in the car and get a cord around his neck without him knowing they were in the car with him,” Sam said.

  “Unless he knew the murderer was there,” Alec pointed out. “Maybe the killer was a passenger in his car.”

  Sam nodded. “That’s a possibility. Well, I’ve got an appointment in five minutes. Again, I appreciate your help,” Sam said, dismissing us.

  “No problem,” Alec said, standing up. “I’ll be in touch.”

  “Bye, Sam,” I called as we left his office. We said goodbye to George and headed to Alec’s car.

  “Allie, I can’t have you acting like that,” Alec said when we got into his car. “I’m leaving you behind next time.”

  “I’m sorry, Alec. I don’t know what’s come over me,” I said. “Do you really think he knew the killer was in the car with him?”

  Alec shrugged and started the car. “That or like Sam said, he might have had drugs or alcohol in his system and didn’t hear the killer sneak up on him.”

  “What if he was asleep?” I suggested.

  “Could have been,” he said pulling out of the parking lot. “But why would he go to his lover’s house and then park out on the street and take a nap?”

  “Maybe his lover had another lover. Or a husband? We didn’t ask her that,” I said. The caffeine and sugar was making my head spin. Maybe Jenna was having an affair on her affair and maybe her other affair was watching her. Or maybe he knew about the affair and was just waiting for him to go to work.

  Whatever it was, we still had a lot of investigating to do and if I was going to get to help Alec, I needed to get my act together. But I was already dreaming of going back to Le Chemise and ordering more of those éclairs. I had never tried making them and I wondered if I could make them better. Lighter and creamier. I sighed. I really needed a nap.

  --9--

  “Are you going to be okay?” Alec asked as he paused at the front door to Stanton Industries.

  “What? Why wouldn’t I be okay?” I asked.

  “You were a little off in Sam’s office,” he pointed out. “I’d like you to behave yourself.”

  “I assure you, the caffeine has worn off,” I said, giving him my scout’s honor salute.

  “Great,” he said, rolling his eyes and opening the door for me.

  We walked in to the building and looked around. The center of the office held a couple dozen cubicles while the perimeter of the room had offices.

  “The important people must be the ones in offices,” I whispered.

  “You think?” he replied with a smirk.

  I gave him the evil eye. He could be such a smart aleck.

  “Hello, may I help you?” a young woman at a freestanding desk near the door asked us as we approached. She looked to be in her early twenties, with blond hair and dark, thick framed glasses. She looked nerdy smart. But that’s what I expected at a software development company.

  “Yes, I’m Alec Blanchard and this is Allie McSwain. I spoke with Bart Hicks earlier today and he said it would be fine if we d
ropped by this afternoon,” Alec said.

  “Certainly. Have a seat and he’ll be right with you,” she said.

  We sat in a nearby pair of cherrywood chairs with plush cream-colored cushions. The décor of the office was simple, yet distinguished. Landscape paintings hung along the walls not occupied by offices, with a couple of seat groupings in strategic places. The buzz of voices could be heard throughout the office, with snatches of conversations here and there. The place must have been set up so that conversations were muffled, even in the cubicles because it was hard to follow any one conversation.

  After a few minutes, a tall, thin man with blond hair and gold wire rimmed glasses approached. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and seemed painfully thin. “Alec Blanchard?” he asked, looking at Alec.

  “Yes,” Alec said, standing up. He shook hands with Bart and then introduced me. “This is Allie McSwain, my assistant.”

  “Come over to my office,” Bart said. We followed him along the line of cubicles. Each was filled with a nerdy smart looking person and I wondered if it was a requirement to work here. Alec had gotten a hold of a picture of Spencer Cranston while he was still alive and he looked less nerdy than the others here, but he was a nerd just the same.

  Bart’s office was in a corner of the building and was large, with picture windows on each side. His desk was perfectly neat and straight. A pen, pencil, hardback journal, and a glass of water sat in the exact middle of the desk. Bart motioned to the two chairs in front of his desk and Alec and I sat down.

  “What can I help you with?” Bart asked, sitting at the desk chair and folding his hands on the desk.

  “We needed to ask you about Spencer Cranston,” Alec began. “As you know, he was found murdered two days ago. Can you tell me what kind of employee he was?”

  “Spencer was a good employee,” Bart said, sitting up straighter. “He was working on the development of a new program and was always a key player in all group projects.”

  “How long had he been employed with Stanton Industries?” Alec asked, making notes in his notebook.

  “Let’s see, that would be just about a month shy of eight years,” Bart said, thinking for a moment.

  Bart had thin lips and when he finished saying something, he drew them out in a smile that looked slightly creepy. There was something about him that I didn’t like, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

  “You said he was a good employee,” I said. “And also that he’s a key player. It seems like a key player would be described as more than ‘good’.” I gave him a smile of my own.

  “Oh, I didn’t mean to demean him. He was indeed, an excellent employee. I relied on him to take charge of projects and he never let me down. Stanton Industries will be less of a company without him. All of my employees feel that way. They’ll miss him. Although,” he said, and paused a moment. “I will say, there were times that he let the company down. Times when he was asked to work overtime and he chose not to. That’s a little bit worrying to a manager, you know. I need people that are team players. People that will go the extra mile.”

  I tried to keep from curling my lip at him. I was willing to bet he demanded that his employees be team players without giving his team players anything in return.

  “What kind of software do you develop here?” Alec asked.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t divulge that kind of information. We develop propriety programs for the government,” Bart replied, smiling again.

  “Oh?” Alec said. “I wasn’t aware of that. What segment of the government would that be?” Alec wasn’t going to cave just because nerd here didn’t want to cooperate.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t divulge that information,” he repeated.

  “You said Spencer had a good relationship with other employees. Can we speak with them? We’d like to personally express our condolences,” I said.

  Bart lost his smile, so I gave him one of mine.

  “You know, we’re working on some pressing projects right now. I’m sure you’ll understand that we really can’t afford to take a break from that,” Bart said, placing his index fingers on the pencil and moving it two inches to the left, and then bringing it back to where it had been originally.

  “You do understand that we’re working with the police department right, Mr. Hicks?” Alec asked. “I’m certain Chief of Police Sam Bailey could take a few minutes out from his day to stop in and see how the interviews are progressing. I’m not sure how happy he’d be with that, of course. He’s a busy man.”

  Bart’s lips pressed together in a straight line. “I’m sure we don’t need to disturb him. I’ll get Spencer’s work partner, Marge Buttons. Hold on.”

  Bart stood up and walked quickly out of the office.

  “I don’t like him,” I whispered when I was sure he was out of earshot.

  “I’m not wild about him, either. There’s just something about him,” Alec said.

  Bart was back with a middle-aged woman that didn’t look nerdy at all. She must have been on the other side of the cubicles when I passed, or one of the offices. Marge, despite her nerdy sounding name, was dressed stylishly in a red suit and black spiked heels. She wore a matching diamond earring and bracelet set that looked expensive and her brunette hair was perfectly coifed with highlights in all the right places.

  “Good afternoon,” she said. Bart introduced us and we shook hands. He took his seat behind his desk, leaving Marge to stand.

  “We just wanted to have a word with you about Spencer Cranston,” Alec said, standing up. “Why don’t you take my seat?”

  “Oh, it’s such a terrible tragedy,” Marge said, sitting down next to me. “You just don’t expect something like that to happen to someone you know.”

  “That’s the truth,” I said. “You just don’t expect it.” I wondered if Marge was new to town, too. She didn’t look at all familiar.

  “Can we have some privacy?” Alec asked, looking at Bart.

  “Oh,” Bart said, the forced smile fading from his lips. “Of course.” He stood up, looking mildly put out and walked to the door. He looked over his shoulder before exiting the office. Alec closed the door behind him and took the seat he had vacated.

  “Thanks,” Marge said. “It’s hard to talk with him around. He hovers, you know.”

  “Really?” I asked. “Tell me, is Bart a good boss?” I wanted the scoop.

  “Oh, I didn’t mean anything by that,” she said quickly, and sat back in her chair. “I mean, he’s as good as bosses go, I guess. Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply anything else.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it,” I said. “We really just wanted to talk about Spencer.”

  “Can you tell me how Spencer was as a co-worker?” Alec asked, pen poised in mid-air.

  Marge shrugged her shoulders. “He was okay I guess. You know, just like anyone else around here.” She clasped her hands together in her lap and looked mildly uncomfortable.

  Marge knew something. I was sure of it.

  “Did he ever make you feel like he might be hiding something?” I asked.

  She looked from me to Alec and then back again. “Are you going to tell Bart what I tell you?”

  “No. This is confidential,” Alec assured her.

  “Spencer was sneaky. He’d pop up, out of nowhere and he seemed to know things about people. If I had a conversation with someone in private, he would know the details of the conversation. And I swear the person I had the conversation with never told him a thing. I never trusted him,” she said in a near whisper.

  “Do you know if he was having an affair?” Alec asked straight out.

  Her eyes got big. “I’m not aware of that. Was he?”

  Alec shrugged. “We’re still trying to find out more information at this point. Bart said he was a key employee and relied on for projects.”

  She nodded. “He was a key employee all right. The truth is, he had his nose, er, um, hand in every project that went on around here. It always felt like we
were being watched. I hated it. The truth is, I was looking for another job because of him. Something wasn’t right about him.”

  “Marge, have you lived in Sandy Harbor long?” I asked.

  “No,” she said. “None of us have. The company moved this office here to Maine about six months ago. We were told we could either relocate, or look for another job. I wish I had looked for another job, if you want to know the truth. Maine is fine, but this place has gotten down right weird since we made the move.”

  “Weird, how?” Alec asked.

  She looked over her shoulder at the closed door, then back at Alec. “I swear they follow us.”

  “Who?” Alec asked.

  “The company. Bart. Spencer. I don’t know. Maybe I’m being paranoid. Some days I feel like I’m going nuts and I’m making this all up. But I swear, I feel like I’m being followed when I leave this place at night.”

  I looked at Alec. Alec was staring at Marge, thinking.

  “Is there anything else you’d like to add?” Alec asked.

  “I don’t know. I think I’ve probably already said too much. I just think it’s time to find another job.”

  “What kind of software do you develop here?” I asked.

  She bit her lower lip. “If I discuss it, I’ll lose my job. And open myself up personally to be sued. But, let’s just say it might have something to do with security. I can’t say anything more. I really need to get back to my desk.”

  “I understand,” Alec said. “Thank you for your time, and please, if you can think of anything else, give me a call.” He handed her a business card.

  “Thanks Marge,” I said as she headed for the door.

  “You’re welcome,” she said and exited the office.

  I looked at Alec. “Wow.”

  He nodded. “Wow, indeed. I’d love to know what kind of software they’re developing.”

  “And following people? Why would they feel the need to do that?” I mused.

  Alec shrugged. “We have some digging to do.”