A Christmas to Die For_Mrs. A 1

by Kristine Frost

  “I hope you didn’t break any speed laws,” Lepley said, smiling slightly. “I’d hate to have to arrest you.”

  She took several deep breaths trying to calm her racing heart. “Inspector, you are a smart mouth,” she said seriously as she put her hand to her chest. “I may have a heart attack, but other than that I--” She bent over and began putting on her socks and shoes.

  The police car hurtled through the crowded city streets, swerving around corners, the tires squealing and the siren screaming.

  She was flung across the seat to land against Inspector Lepley. He pushed her back into her seat and said, “Fasten your seat belt first and then put on your shoes.”

  She glared at him. “Good idea.”

  Twenty minutes later they turned into the airport. Skirting the commercial field, the driver turned in at the area reserved for private planes and helicopters. As soon as they came to stop, Lepley and Duncan pushed open the doors. Duncan helped Mrs. Arbuthnot, who had only managed to get one shoe on, out of the low-slung car. When they got to the helicopter, Duncan showed her where to step so she could get into the helicopter easily. As he helped her up, he noticed another man sitting behind the pilot.

  Lepley isn’t going to be happy to see him, Duncan thought. He turned and said quietly to Lepley. “Our illustrious assistant director is in the helicopter.”

  Lepley’s annoyance didn’t show as he said, “I was hoping that he would have more important cases to deal with so we could get on with this one without his help.”

  “You’re dreaming. He’s too big a micromanager to let us work on a case without telling us every move to make.” Duncan said grimly.

  “Maybe, Mrs. Arbuthnot will distract him. If so, she’ll be worth the extra hassle.” Lepley countered.

  As Lepley climbed into the helicopter, he said, “Executive Assistant Director Carlson, I’d like you to meet Mrs. Ruth Arbuthnot. She’s the grandmother of Antonia Nelson. She’s the one I told you about on the phone.”

  “Inspector Lepley told me that you want to help with the investigation. However, I don’t think it’s advisable. You are a civilian and don’t belong with trained investigators.”

  Mrs. Arbuthnot glance raked him from the top of his immaculately styled grey hair to the tips of his highly polished black shoes. In her sweetest voice, she said, “I am responsible for those three girls. Mary is safe, hopefully, but my granddaughter and her best friend aren’t. I would rather swim a river filled with piranha than face my daughter with that news.

  “Besides, if you think you have problems with me, wait until Judith Lathrop hears about this. I don’t know if you know her, but she is one of the Lathrop’s of Boston and Cape Cod and she is very politically connected—I think her father is the assistant Secretary of State and her husband is the United States Senator from Massachusetts. If you won’t let me help, then I’ll call her and ask her to use her influence with your director. I would think that her influence and mine combined would be a very unpleasant combination for you.” She kept her voice sweet and quiet, but the threat was unmistakable.

  Carlson had gone very red in the face as she was speaking. Duncan looked at Lepley who barely shook his head.

  Carlson said, “Are you threatening me, ma’am?”

  “No, I’m not threatening. That’s extortion. My late husband was a criminal attorney so I have a slight understanding of the law. I am merely stating what I am going to do if I am excluded from the investigation.”

  Carlson swallowed, thought for a moment then said, “All right. I’ll let you be involved until I clear it with Director Stevens. He has the final say on any situation.”

  He turned to look at Lepley. “You will have to control her. I will hold you responsible if she botches the investigation which she could well do. I assume you will keep me in the loop if I go back to headquarters. There are several new cases that need my attention.”

  “We’ll be there in five minutes,” the pilot said, as he turned on his radio headset and called the Visitor’s Center at Carlsbad Caverns.

  When he finished speaking he said, “I’m going to let you off at the edge of the parking lot away from the cars, the people and the power lines. Superintendent Connelly will meet you at the Information Desk in the Visitor’s Center.”

  As soon as they had touched down, Lepley slid the door open, jumped out, then turned to help Mrs. Arbuthnot who nimbly jumped down. “Thank you,” she said with a grin. “That was some ride.”

  Lepley took Mrs. Arbuthnot’s arm and ducking low got her away from the helicopter. When they were far enough away from the helicopter to hear each other, Lepley said, “Thank you for defusing Mr. Carlson. However, if Director Stevens says that you are off the investigation, I won’t be able to let you continue to work with us. Do you understand that?”

  “I do, but really Inspector Lepley, do you think Director Stevens is going to throw me off your team, if you say you want me and if Judith says she wants me. Everyone thinks I have pull, but that woman could get aboard the space shuttle without a space suit if she wanted to.”

  Duncan shook his head as they began walking toward the visitor’s center. “This is highly irregular. We both could lose our jobs.”

  “I don’t want that. Maybe, I should call Max and leave you out of my investigation.”

  Chapter 11

  Carlsbad Caverns

  Lepley frowned at her last statement. “Mrs. Arbuthnot—please understand you can’t do your own investigation. Please leave it to the FBI. We do have some experience with these kinds of crimes.”

  He added, “You are a consultant. You know the victims and you are very observant. I want you to stay a little behind us, out of the limelight and observe the people we talk to. Let me know if anything odd strikes you.” He looked at her closely. “Are you okay with that?”

  She smiled slightly, “I am more than okay with that. I am very grateful that you are willing to work with me. I’ll make sure that neither of you lose your job over this.”

  They had reached the Visitor’s Center. Duncan stepped forward and opened the heavy glass doors for them. Then he walked up to the information desk as Lepley led the way toward a map of the Caverns.

  The ranger standing at the desk spoke into the phone. Superintendent Connelly hurried out of his office. He was wearing a dark green uniform that fit a little too tightly, showing a large gut. Duncan quickly introduced Inspector Lepley and Mrs. Arbuthnot. Connelly turned to her. “Mrs. Arbuthnot, I’m sorry that this had to happen to your granddaughter.”

  “Please call me Ruth. I don’t see how you could have done anything about what happened,” she replied, “Unless you instigated the attack and somehow, I don’t think that’s likely.”

  Connelly turned to Lepley. “Sir, I have the girl’s purses in my office. I wasn’t sure who would have jurisdiction, so I kept them rather than turning them over to the local police.” He smiled slightly, “I also refused to release any information to the police on either incident. I felt like it would be better to keep things as quiet as possible.”

  He looked at his watch. “The park closes in two hours so if you want to talk to any of the people who were on duty, we’d better go now.”

  Lepley smiled grimly. “Everyone will have to stay until we’re able to talk to them. I know that makes for a long day, but we need to get their information while it is still fresh in their minds.

  While they had been talking Superintendent Connelly had been escorting them toward the doors leading down into the Cavern.

  Ruth said, “I appreciate that Superintendent Connelly hasn’t told the press anything. If the press were to find out about Mary’s father’s history, we’d have both Washington and the British Embassy interfering in this case.”

  “We don’t need that,” Inspector Duncan said. “It’s going to be a media circus because the murder was at a National Park.”

  Lepley looked thoughtful. “I think that we’ll need to issue some kind of statement to the press. B
ut we won’t say any more than we have to.” He looked at Mrs. Arbuthnot. “We will not release any names pending notification of next of kin.”

  “Thank you, Inspector.” Mrs. Arbuthnot looked at Connelly. “How many of your rangers are men?”

  “Do you mean total or the ones that worked today?”

  “The ones that worked today.”

  “There are about 20 that worked today. This was a slow day. Why?”

  “The three girls that were kidnapped came through the Caverns at least twice and probably three times. Antonia and Allison are taking an advanced geology class in England on caving systems. According to Antonia, Carlsbad is an unusual system in that the limestone wasn’t dissolved by water. It was dissolved by an acid. The girls are doing a presentation on Carlsbad for their final project. `

  “Day before yesterday, they came through and did a general survey. Yesterday, they were looking for specific things, but don’t ask me what they were. Today, they were finishing up on the project. I think they saw or heard something today that triggered the kidnapping. Mary couldn’t tell us much about what happened this morning so we’re kind of guessing. I know that you will laugh at me, but I think that men notice pretty girls more than women notice pretty girls.

  When Lepley smiled, she added with a touch of defiance, “I don’t care what anyone says, that’s human nature.”

  Inspector Duncan nodded, “I have to agree with Mrs. A. I’m married and I notice pretty women. It irritates the crap out of my wife.”

  Superintendent Connelly said, “I’ve interviewed my men and I think I have a fairly concise idea of what happened.”

  “Really?” Lepley said skeptically. “I wouldn’t have thought it possible this early in a case.”

  Inspector Duncan raised his eyebrows, but kept silent.

  Mrs. A thought to herself, I really think Superintendent Connelly has just put his foot in it and Inspector Lepley isn’t too happy about it. In fact, it looks like Connelly could have messed up the case with his ‘interviews.’

  They continued down the Main Corridor. Superintendent Connelly was a few steps ahead of them and seemed to be sullenly silent. The tension in the air grew more noticeable. Finally, to break the intensely hostile silence, Ruth said, “Superintendent, do your rangers have specific stations or can they move about freely?”

  Connelly hesitated for a moment, then said, “They are stationed within certain areas. I try to have the rangers near the areas where most questions are asked or where there are fragile Helicities or dangerous areas. Not all areas in the caverns are fenced. In the more dangerous or more fragile areas, I’ve restricted access. Visitors can only go into those areas with a ranger as a guide.

  “You run your park in an extremely efficient manner,” she gushed. “I’m impressed with what I’ve seen so far, not only of the Caverns, but of your organization.”

  He visibly relaxed, saying, “We generally have at least one ranger stationed in the top half of the Main Corridor. There are a lot of questions about the formations and the path in quite steep. I like to have a ranger stationed near Iceberg Rock and we have a ranger stationed by the entrance to the King and Queens chambers. Those areas can be seen only on a ranger guided tour. My predecessors allowed the visitors to roam those chambers unsupervised and a lot of formations were damaged. This isn’t a self-renewing cavern like Mammoth Caves. Once a formation is damaged, it can’t be repaired.

  He looked at her shoes. “As I was reminded this morning, parents don’t watch their children as closely as they should and sometimes we have a little trouble with elderly people trying to make the stiff climb down the switchbacks.”

  Smiling at the comment, she said, “You don’t have to worry about me. I walk three or four miles daily, do power yoga and kick boxing. I’m in pretty good shape for my age.”

  Connelly continued. “People always ask questions about how the formations are formed and especially about Iceberg rock.”

  He paused. “This is the Baby Hippos formation.” He turned his flashlight on the formation. “It’s a very popular exhibit. It was right below here where the trail begins its steep zigzag that a ranger noticed two men followed by three girls. One of the girls was wearing a black blouse with lace edging.”

  Lepley looked skeptical. “Why would the ranger notice and remember the two men followed by the three girls out of the number of visitors that come through here each day.”

  “You’ll have to ask him. I’ve always found him truthful and he’s one of my more observant rangers.” Connelly motioned to a ranger who was standing on the path just below them talking to a small family.

  While they waited, Ruth looked around at the awe-inspiring formations. As she turned to look behind her, a man stepped back into the shadows.

  Stealthily she touched Inspector Duncan’s arm. “Can you see a man above and behind us?” She said softly. “I think he is following us. He always steps behind something when I look back.”

  He barely turned his head to look behind them, then he stooped to tie his shoe. Ruth saw him palm a tiny radio. He whispered into it, then stood up.

  “Good work. Our follower is now being followed. We should know who he is shortly.”

  The ranger finished the conversation he was having with several tourists then he excused himself and walked back to where the FBI group were waiting.

  Connelly said, “This is Dave Evans. I suggest you ask him your questions.”

  He turned to Evans and said, “This is Inspector Lepley, Inspector Duncan, and Mrs. Arbuthnot. Inspector Lepley is in charge of the murder investigation.”

  “Mr. Evans, Superintendent Connelly told us that you noticed two men following three girls early this morning. I was wondering how you happened to notice this group out of all the people that you saw this morning.

  Evens looked embarrassed. “I make a habit of memorizing faces. It’s a hobby of mine that keeps me sharp, but the reason I remember them particularly is that the two men were arguing violently. They nearly came to blows while I was watching them. I remember wondering what I should do if they started hitting each other. The one man….”

  “Describe them please,” Lepley said briskly.

  “The first man, who seemed to have more authority than the second man, was short. I would say he was about Mrs. Arbuthnot’s height or just a bit shorter.”

  Lepley looked at her. “How tall are you?”

  “Five feet, six inches.” She replied concisely.

  Lepley nodded for Evans to continue.

  Evans said, “He was wearing a funny, old fashioned hat like Indiana Jones wore in the movies.”

  “A fedora?” Mrs. Arbuthnot said.

  Evans nodded. “Right, a fedora. But this man didn’t wear it the way Indiana Jones wore his. His hat was pulled down hard on his head. It made his gray hair stick out all around the brim of the hat. The hair was really wild looking. But the thing I remember the most was his coat. It was a florescent green and black plaid. It was so bright that it almost glowed, even in these lights. I had to keep looking away from it.”

  “Can you describe the other man?” Duncan said.

  Evans nodded. “He was tall. I guess about six foot one or two. He was wearing jeans, a white shirt opened at the neck and was carrying a black or dark brown leather jacket slung over his shoulder. He didn’t seem to feel the cold because he had the sleeves of the shirt rolled up to the elbows. He looked like he was strong man.”

  Lepley looked at Duncan who said, “What about the girls. What were they wearing?”

  Evans opened his mouth, but Lepley held up his hand. Turning he said, “Mrs. A., do you know what the girls were wearing this morning?”

  “No. As I told you, they left day before yesterday and stayed two nights in White’s City. I know what they were wearing when they left and I think I know what they’d be wearing today. I was talking with them while they were packing. They were--”

  “Let the ranger tell you what he saw. I want to make sure t
hey were the same girls.

  He turned to Evans, “Go ahead.”

  “Well, one girl was wearing a black blouse with some white stuff at the neck and down the front. I remember because the white stuff glowed in the lights. She had blond hair and was a little bit shorter than the others. The tallest of the three had dark hair and was extremely pretty. She was wearing jeans with rivets down the sides and a white cowboy shirt with flowers on the shoulders. The other girl also had brown hair, but it wasn’t as dark as the tall girl’s hair. She was wearing a red and white, and, I think, black plaid blouse with a black turtleneck under it.”

  Duncan said, “That’s a remarkably detailed description for a chance encounter.”

  “Oh, that wasn’t the only time I saw them. They were all so pretty and friendly that I stopped to talk to them on my lunch break.”

  “You didn’t tell me that before,” Connelly snapped.

  “You didn’t ask about it so I didn’t attach any importance to it until just now.”

  Lepley said, “It certainly is important because it narrows down the inquiry.”

  “It does?” Ruth said.

  “Yes,” Duncan responded.

  Ruth looked over at Evans. “Did you see the two men anywhere around while you were talking to the girls at lunch?”

  “I didn’t see the second man, but the plaid coat man left about fifteen minutes before I saw the girls.”

  “Did the girls say anything about seeing a man hurt? They may have thought it was just a game or they might not have wanted to get involved.” Inspector Duncan said.

  “Inspector,” Ruth interrupted. “My granddaughter and her friends are extremely intelligent. They are also very caring young people. Had they seen anything of the sort they would have instantly notified the nearest ranger or investigated it for themselves.”

  Inspector Lepley said kindly, “That’s just what I’m afraid they did. That’s why they were kidnapped. Turning back to Evans, he continued, “How did the girls act? Did they say what they were going to do when you went back to work?”