Kelly stood for a moment trying to let what she was seeing with her eyes register with her brain. The natural light-filled home was simply magnificent with its big rooms, wide staircase, high ceilings, and floor-to-ceiling windows. The wide curving staircase in front of her reminded her of something out of Gone with the Wind.
She followed Celia into the drawing room which had textured walls covered in warm tan-colored grass cloth. At the far end of the room was a fireplace with a marble mantel flanked by tall windows with shutters. Everywhere she looked there was a feeling of gracious elegance.
Celia walked towards two wingback chairs upholstered in a tan and white plaid with yellow accents. In one of them sat a small grey-haired woman with a blanket covering her legs. Even though she’d become small with age and illness, when she smiled she appeared to be the young vibrant woman she once must have been. “Mrs. Reynolds, I’m Marcy Logan. Please, sit down,” she said, gesturing towards the other wingback chair. “I want to thank you for coming on such short notice. Celia will bring us some iced tea. It’s rather warm today, and I think that’s a much better choice than coffee, don’t you?”
“Yes, thank you. That sounds quite refreshing. I want you to know how sorry I am to meet you under these circumstances. No mother should outlive her child, and for a child to die in the manner that Julie did is a tragedy. If there is anything I can do to help, let me know, and please call me Kelly.”
“Kelly, I don’t know how much Stephanie told you about me. Let me give you a little background before I tell you why I asked you to come here. I have stage four pancreatic cancer. The doctors, and believe me, I’ve seen the best, give me only a few more months at best to live unless a miracle takes place. The chemotherapy, horrible as it is, has bought me a little time.
“As you can see from this house, I not only can afford the best doctors in the world, I can also afford the best people to find out who murdered my daughter. I could interview people for weeks to find the perfect one, but I’m not sure how many weeks I have left. That’s why I want to hire you to find the murderer. I will pay you well. Stephanie speaks very highly of you and told me you were helpful in solving a couple of murders. We need to get started immediately.” With that she sat back in her chair, seemingly exhausted by the vehemence of her speech.
“Mrs. Logan, I’m flattered you would want me to help you, but I must be honest with you. I’m not a professional private investigator. My husband is the sheriff in Beaver County, Oregon, and although I’ve helped him solve several murder cases, I’m sure a lot of it was due to luck. Fortunately, my husband inherited quite a bit of money from his aunt, so I wouldn’t take any money from you even if I did accept your offer.”
“Kelly, I’m not used to having anyone say no to me, and at this stage of my life, I’m certainly not going to settle for no. I liked you the minute I saw you, and I didn’t get to where I am by not trusting my instincts. Even though my husband was born into a Boston family that was wealthy and well-known, he founded and owned a large insurance company. While I never worked in his company, I was very involved in every aspect of it from my office here at home He often said I was the reason it was so successful. He was the type of person that wavered over difficult business decisions, but I didn’t. For whatever reason we were a great good cop, bad cop pair, or so I believe that’s the term used these days. Even if you won’t accept my money, we need to get started.”
“Mrs. Logan, I don’t recall saying yes.”
“You didn’t outwardly, but inside I think you did. Maybe you don’t need the money, but I’ll pay all of your costs. As I said, I don’t have any time to waste. The first thing you need to know is that I transferred ten million dollars into my daughter’s checking account last week. I gave it to her as a graduation present.’’
Kelly sat for a moment, somewhat stunned by this revelation and also very much aware that ten million dollars could provide a very large motive for why Julie Jensen was murdered.
CHAPTER 9
“Mrs. Logan, I’ve never heard of anyone being able to transfer that large of an amount with a wire transfer. I’m sure the manager of Julie’s bank must have put a hold on it. Actually, maybe there’s still a hold on it,” Kelly said.
“Under ordinary circumstances, that would be correct, but this was not an ordinary circumstance. My banker is a very good friend of mine, and he personally called the manager of Julie’s bank to let him know that the transfer was legitimate. Within minutes, the money was in Julie’s account with no hold placed on it. When the transaction had been completed, I called her and told her what I’d done, and please don’t call me Mrs. Logan. From now on you can call me Marcy.”
“All right, Marcy,” Kelly said. “A number of things come to mind, the first being, and trust me, I know next to nothing about tax laws, but isn’t there something about you having to pay a large amount of taxes on that transfer because it’s a gift? Wouldn’t you have saved a lot of tax money if you’d willed it to her instead? I’m sorry, but you said you don’t know how much time you have left, and if that’s true, why did you give it to her now and get stuck with having to pay a gift tax?”
“That’s a very good question, and I asked my attorney about it. Actually I would have had to pay taxes on anything over five million dollars whether it was a gift during my lifetime or whether she received that amount from my estate after I died.
“The reason I did it is I wanted to be alive when Julie received it. She was supposed to inherit almost everything else of mine when I die, including this house, but I wanted to be able to see her do something for herself. She’s worked so hard to get to where she is, and since she was in the process of dissolving her marriage, I hoped the ten million dollar gift would give her the financial freedom to do whatever she wanted, like maybe take a long trip. I wanted Julie to do something just for Julie.”
“Of course that brings us to the question of who knew she’d received the money,” Kelly said. “From what the police chief said at the hotel, the transient had her jewelry and her wallet, but there was only about one hundred and fifty dollars in it. Doesn’t sound like she was murdered for her money.”
“No, I think you’re right, but that was what I thought when Stephanie first told me about the details of her murder.”
“So,” Kelly said, “in that case, I guess the next thing would be to try and figure out who would get that money if Julie died, assuming of course, they even knew she’d received such a generous gift from you.”
“Yes, that’s what I’ve been thinking as well. I suppose the obvious person to look to when there’s that kind of money involved is Julie’s brother, my son, Clint Logan. He and Julie weren’t close, so I rather doubt she’d tell him I’d given her the money, particularly knowing it would infuriate him.”
“What can you tell me about your son?”
Mrs. Logan clasped her hands together and twisted them tightly in front of her, clearly agitated. Celia walked over and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and said, “Marcy, you don’t have to do this. Maybe you should rest for a while and continue this discussion at some other time.”
“Celia, we both know I don’t have much time left. In my case, it’s got to be done now or never. I’m okay.” She continued to speak, “My son has not had a particularly happy life. He’s been divorced three times and has never had children. I never did feel any of his three wives were right for him, but he was dazzled by their looks. I think all of them just wanted the money they thought he had.” Celia poured Marcy a glass of water from a cut glass pitcher that reflected the sunlight streaming into the room, casting a rainbow prism of color on the far wall of the room.
“Did your son join your husband’s insurance company?” Kelly asked, trying to get a better sense of Julie’s brother.
“Yes, very briefly, but it was not a very good experience,” Marcy said as a shadow passed over her face. “Clint felt since he was the son of the owner he should be made vice-president when he joined the comp
any. My husband felt that title had to be earned and told Clint when he’d sold enough insurance, he’d promote him to the title of manager, and he would have. He was essentially saying Clint had to prove himself. It infuriated Clint, and he stormed out of my husband’s office and never returned. It almost broke my husband’s heart, but both he and Clint were stubborn.”
“Since he didn’t go into the family business, what type of business is he in?” Kelly asked.
Marcy looked down at her hands again and then up at Kelly. “At the moment he isn’t working,” she said quietly. She took a deep breath and added, “I’m supporting him.”
“I see,” Kelly said.
“Actually, it’s probably all my fault. He’s seven years younger than Julie, and they were never close. She excelled at everything she did, and it was so hard for me to see him living in her shadow and never measuring up to what she accomplished. I admit I spoiled him and shielded him, or at least that’s what my husband said. We had many arguments over the situation with Clint, but as a mother, I didn’t want to see him hurt. In retrospect, I wish I’d acted differently. It’s pretty sad when a man is thirty-nine years old, has never really held a job, has three failed marriages, and his mother supports him. I’m sure some people would say it’s pretty pathetic.”
“Being a parent is never easy,” Kelly said. “I have two children, so I understand what you’re saying. As for Clint, did you and he ever discuss what you intended to do with your wealth?”
“He saw an envelope on my desk from my lawyer last week and asked me if I’d decided what I was going to do with my estate. I told him I’d come to a decision, and he would be taken care of. I did not tell him I was giving the money to Julie.”
“Marcy, I’m sorry, but I have to ask this question. If Clint thought you were getting ready to do something with your money, and he was afraid he was going to get a much smaller amount than he’d been counting on, do you think he could be capable of murder?”
“No, absolutely not,” she said slapping her hand on the arm of her chair. “Clint is a lot of things, or not a lot of things, but however you want to look at it, he is not a murderer. That I’m certain of. The most I could ever see him do is tell his sister that he should be entitled to half of it, hope she’d agree with him, and give it to him.”
“All right, and I’m really not trying to make this painful for you, but as I told you, my husband is a sheriff, and over the years I’ve seen him look primarily at one thing when he’s trying to solve a murder. Who has the most to gain when someone is murdered? In this case it seems like your son would have a lot to gain. There’s also the thought that with Julie being deceased and no longer being an heir, he would be entitled to receive the full one hundred percent of your estate rather than fifty percent. I know that’s not a pretty thought, but if I’m going to help you, we need to be honest with each other.”
Marcy’s piercing blue eyes looked directly into Kelly’s and she said in a steely voice, “You must believe me when I tell you Clint had nothing to do with this. That subject is closed. I do think we need to look at Julie’s ex-husband or whatever you call a husband when the divorce hasn’t been finalized.”
“Please, tell me about him.”
“His name is Mark Jensen, and I think he had a very good motive for murdering Julie.”
CHAPTER 10
“Why do you think Julie’s husband, who wasn’t quite an ex at the time of her murder, had a good motive for killing her?” Kelly asked.
“His business is on the verge of bankruptcy,” Marcy said taking another sip of water from the glass Celia held for her.
“What kind of business is it? Tell me about him. How did they meet? What’s he like?”
“Mark owns a bed and breakfast in York, Maine. Someone told Julie about it several years ago, and she decided she needed to take a few days off from work and just relax. She spent a week at the bed and breakfast, and that’s how they met. It was before she started her doctoral program. She fell in love with him and a few months later they were married. His family has lived in Maine for one hundred and fifty years or more, and the bed and breakfast has been the primary source of income for the family for the past century or so.
“It consists of a main house and several cottages located on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic. There is also a very good restaurant on the premises. There are plenty of authentic antiques in the house and cottages, and they’ve been through a number of renovations as the guests demanded the latest modern accommodations. The last renovation occurred just after Julie started her doctoral program. Mark was supposed to recoup the money it cost for the upgrades within one season, and believe me, the seasons are short that far north. Anyway, there was a downturn in the economy and visits to bed and breakfasts in Maine weren’t a high priority when people were being laid off work, gas prices had gone through the roof, and the future for a lot of people was pretty uncertain. In fact, business became so bad Mark mentioned several times he might have to declare bankruptcy.”
“How did Julie deal with it? Was she ever involved in it?” Kelly asked.
“No, she’d worked her way up the corporate ladder to the position of vice-president of the health care company she’d been with for many years. She and Mark decided they would have an unconventional marriage, one in which he spent the summers in Maine, as well as a couple of months beforehand getting ready for the season, and a couple of months after the season had ended, taking care of winterizing everything. They spent some time together in Boston, but with Mark gone for so many months, Julie had a lot of spare time on her hands. She and Mark made a decision not to have children because of their living arrangement. That’s when she decided to get involved in the doctoral program.”
“I agree that a looming bankruptcy provides a motive for murder, but since they were getting divorced, he wouldn’t be entitled to any of her money. I’m assuming if she had a will she’d changed it, so that he wouldn’t get anything upon her death,” Kelly said.
“In an ideal world that would be true. Unfortunately, few of us live in an ideal world, and Julie certainly didn’t. The last time I talked to Julie, right after I told her about the ten million dollars, I asked her if she had changed her will. She told me she was going to do it as soon as she returned from Virginia. One of the things that causes me a great deal of concern is that Mark might still be in her will.”
“I can certainly understand your concern, but a couple of things come to mind. First of all, do you think he knew she hadn’t changed her will?”
“I have no idea,” Marcy said. “It was an amicable divorce, actually Mark didn’t want the divorce and told Julie he still loved her. She felt the marriage had become one in name only and that maybe she could find someone in Portland with whom she could have a meaningful relationship. At least I think that’s the term they’re using these days.”
“All right, so we really have no way of knowing whether or not he was in her will. Do you know the name of her attorney?”
“I don’t. Like so many children of wealthy parents, Julie wanted to have her own attorney. I know she had one in Portland, because she told me that although he was her attorney, he wasn’t licensed in Massachusetts, and a lawyer here in Boston was actually handling the divorce.”
“I think when I return to Oregon, I’ll go to her home and see if I can find her attorney’s business card or his name.”
“Since the divorce papers were filed here in Massachusetts, I would think you could find out the name of the attorney who’s taking care of it, and maybe he would tell you the name of her attorney in Portland.”
“Marcy, that’s an excellent idea. Now one last question about Mark.”
“Okay, but I can feel myself wearing down. There’s one more suspect I want to talk to you about, but what did you want to know about Mark?”
“Do you think there’s any way Mark would know about Julie receiving the ten million dollars from you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t see
her casually calling him up and telling him, I mean that’s not something people do, particularly to your soon to be ex-husband. She could have talked to him, and it might have slipped out, but I was under the impression she’d washed her hands of him, and they weren’t in contact. I could be wrong.”
“When I leave here, I’ll see if I can find out who was representing her in her divorce case here in Massachusetts. Now, I think you mentioned you have one more suspect in mind.”
“Yes, my granddaughter.”
“What?” Kelly exclaimed as she inadvertently stood up and stared at Marcy with a look of both surprise and disbelief on her face. “No one ever told me Julie had a daughter. Stephanie certainly never mentioned it.”
CHAPTER 11
“Marcy, are you sure you’re strong enough to continue with this?” Celia asked, a worried look on her face.
“Yes. If Kelly’s going to find out who murdered Julie, she has to know everything.” She turned to Kelly. “This is not a pretty story, but probably a common one. Julie was near the end of her senior year in high school when she became pregnant. She was smart enough to know that the father of the child would not be good husband material, and being Catholic, she was very opposed to abortion, so she went to Pennsylvania to stay with my sister during her pregnancy. She had a baby girl whose name is Megan Simmons. Actually, I’ll never forget the day she gave birth to her daughter. It was on October 20th. Anyway, she gave the baby up for adoption in Pennsylvania, and returned here to attend Harvard. Since Harvard’s only five miles away from our home here on Bunker Hill, she lived here.”
“How did your husband handle the news of her pregnancy?” Kelly asked.
Murder on the East Coast: A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Page 4
