by Diane Weiner
When they got to the gas station, they got out of the car and walked into the dilapidated Mini-Mart. Lynette pulled her scarf closer around her neck. When they went inside, Lynette noticed that the white tile floor was filthy and the donuts under the glass case looked as if they’d been there since the days of the dinosaurs. She walked over to the cashier and showed him Javier’s picture.
“Do you remember seeing this man around Christmas Day?” asked Lynette.
“I wasn’t working on Christmas,” said the cashier. “Let me get my manager. He’s always here.”
Soon a young man wearing blue Dockers and a white button down shirt came out from behind the glass. “Can I help you?”
“I’m from the Westbrook Police Department.” Lynette showed him Javier’s picture. “Do you remember seeing this man recently?”
The manager looked at the picture. “I do. I only remember because he was the only one who stopped in all night. It was Christmas night. He got gas and a few snacks.”
“Did he happen to say where he was headed? Think hard. Could you tell whether or not he’d been drinking?”
“Well, I didn’t get into a conversation with him,” said the manager. “He seemed to be in a hurry. He seemed perfectly sober to me though.”
“Thanks,” said Lynette. “We appreciate the info.” Although this was not official business, Lynette was still wearing her uniform. She couldn’t help it if people assumed they had to talk to her, right?
“Okay, Mom. If we keep going on this road we’ll get to the address we have for Dr. Manning. Are you game?”
“You bet,” said Susan. Lynette could hear the excitement in her voice.
They got back on the windy mountain road. By now it was getting dark.
“It’s kind of hard to see, even with my brights on,”
“I can drive, Mom.”
“No, it’s okay. Maybe on the way home I’ll take you up on that though.”
Evergreens lined both sides of the road which was punctuated with ‘deer crossing’ and ‘fallen rock zone’ signs. After driving another hour, the road forked. They could continue going straight, or turn right onto a one lane dirt road.
“This reminds me of the poem by Robert Frost. Which way should I go?” asked Susan.
“According to the address we have, we should go straight,” replied Lynette.
The road narrowed significantly and the sound of rocks crunching as they continued reminded Lynette that they were pretty much in the middle of nowhere. She never should have dragged her mother out here, she thought. They continued up a mountain for what seemed like an eternity. Finally there was a sign.
“Can you see what that says?” asked Susan.
Lynette’s body relaxed as she read the sign. It was not at all what she expected. The rustic wooden sign was painted in yellow letters. It read, Shady Oaks Alcoholic Rehab Center.
Chapter 22
“Oh my,” said Susan. This isn’t what I expected. “Let’s go in.”
“Okay, Mom,” said Lynette, “But remember, this is not official police business. We’ll just get a feel for the place and find out if Javier here. Let’s park in the visitor’s lot.”
There were only a few cars in the parking lot. They went inside and Lynette checked the sign on the interior wall which listed doctors and their office numbers.
“Look, there’s our Dr. Manning; his office is on the third floor,” said Lynette. They approached the front desk.
“Excuse me; I’m with the Westbrook Police Department. I was wondering if we could speak with Dr. Manning?” asked Lynette.
The friendly brunette at the desk answered, “I’m sorry, but he’s gone home for the evening. Office hours are long over and he already made his rounds.”
“Well,” said Lynette, “Can you check and see if there’s a patient here by the name of Javier Rogers:” She knew this violated all the privacy laws but she was hoping that her uniform would be her trump card. It was.
“Yes, he’s here. He’s in room 410.”
“Thanks. May we still visit?” asked Lynette.
“Yes, visiting hours end in twenty minutes. Please sign here and here are your visitor badges. The elevator is around the corner.”
“Thank you. You’ve been very helpful,” said Lynette.
Lynette and Susan rode the elevator to the 4th floor where they found Javier’s room. He was wearing a flannel bathrobe and watching TV.
“Good evening, Mr. Rogers. I’m Lynette Sanders and this is my mom Susan Wiles. We’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“I was Carolina’s music teacher and worked for Vicky. Carolina has been so worried about you. We told her we’d try to make sure you were safe.”
“Carolina, mi hija. I love her so much. That’s why I came here. I was such a poor example for her. I lost my job, I drank too much, and my relationship with her mother was falling apart. I am going to turn my life around for my daughter. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get sober. I’ve started working through the twelve steps. Then I’ll go back, find a job, and be a father to her.” Lynette noticed a tear on his cheek.
“I have to ask,” said Lynette. “Did you have anything to do with your wife’s death?”
“No, of course not; I didn’t kill her.”
“We have a receipt showing you were near the school the night she was killed,” said Lynette. “And we know you’d just been served divorce papers. Oh, and then there was the restraining order…”
“Yes, you are right. I did go to the school that night. I was furious. I waited in her office until intermission. When she came in, I screamed at her. Then I begged her to give it another try. She laughed at me. Called me a first class loser. She said she wished she’d never met me.”
“And then…”
“Then I lost my temper and punched her right in the face. I know that was wrong but I just exploded.”
“Why didn’t you call for help then?” asked Lynette.
“Oh, her face was red but that didn’t stop her from humiliating me some more and threatening to call the cops. Besides, I was violating the restraining order. I just left. Ran away like a coward.”
“And you’re saying she was alive when you left?” asked Lynette.
“Of course, she was. It would have taken more than a punch from me to defeat her,” said Javier.
“Thank you for talking to us,” said Lynnette. “Good luck with your recovery.”
“Bye,” said Susan. “I’m so happy that I can tell Carolina that you are safe and getting help. She will be thrilled. She loves you very much.”
“Tell her I love her too and hope I can see her soon.”
When they were back in the car, Susan asked, “Do you believe him? Do you still think he killed Vicky?”
“I don’t know, but I got the sense he was telling us the truth. And it always bothered me––the amount of bruising she had doesn’t seem like enough to have killed her. I still need the medical examiner’s report. It’s taking ridiculously long since the ME took a little Christmas break himself.”
“I’m thinking it could still be one of those cryptic contacts on the secret cell phone we found. Maybe we should look into those?” said Susan.
“Again, Mom, I know how to do my job. And it’s not we. Jackson and I will explore all possibilities.”
Susan called Carolina from the car to tell her what they’d learned while Lynette drove them back home. By now Jason would be home and he could pick her up at her mom’s house.
Chapter 23
By the next morning, the medical examiner was back at work. By mid afternoon he had confirmed that the blows to Vicky’s face were not forceful enough to have been lethal.
“Jackson, look at this report,” said Lynette. She handed him the manila file.
“Well, Javier was telling the truth. The blows she suffered weren’t hard enough to kill Vicky. And look at this. Vicky was in perfect health––except for being dead. The report rules out heart attack or stroke.
And there were no signs of an aneurysm. Look at this though.” Lynette flipped over the page and pointed to a section of the report.
“Well, this changes the game. Not only was she murdered, but it had to have been premeditated,” said Jackson.
Just then an elderly woman with wire-rimmed glasses came through the door.
“Excuse me, officers, but I need to file a police report. I just had my purse snatched while I was pushing my grocery cart to the car. I should have accepted that young boy’s offer to help me out with the groceries but even though it’s against store policy, I always feel guilty not tipping the baggers when they help you to your car.” The woman looked stressed. Her hair was mussed and there was sweat on her brow despite the cold temperature.
“I’ll help you out with that,” offered Jackson. Lynette hated paperwork but Jackson almost seemed to enjoy it. Plus, he made far fewer errors.
The new information gleaned between last night and today changes the course of this investigation dramatically, thought Lynette. Her phone vibrated. It was Jason.
“Hey, Hon, come on down so we can get to the repair shop.”
“I’ll be right out.” She straightened the top of her desk and grabbed her purse and jacket. She was hoping this wasn’t going to be an overly expensive repair. The mechanic had given them quite a price range as an estimate. Of course, he wouldn’t know until he dismantled half the car what the exact problem was. How did that always seem to be the scenario? Didn’t they hook up cars to a computer these days to diagnose these things?
Lynette got into Jason’s car and they drove to the repair shop. She could find it blindfolded by now considering how many times they’d brought her car in.
“Well, it’s not as bad as I thought,” said Jason. Lynette had waited in the car while Jason attended to the paperwork. “That car of yours has nine lives.”
“And I think we’re at least at number eight,” said Lynette. How nice would it be to trade in this heap for a nice new car––one that smelled like leather and had voice controls and Pandora. She got out, reclaimed her car, and drove to Coppola’s to meet her mom for dinner like she did nearly every Thursday night. Jason taught class on Thursday nights and Mike had a standing poker game with his buddies. Her mom was already seated when she arrived.
“But that’s nearly impossible,” said Susan, putting her spoon down in her minestrone. “Westbrook has been a peanut-free school for at least five years now. There’s no way there could have been peanuts in that cupcake.”
“That’s what the lab report said,” said Lynette. “I had them check it twice. And the medical examiner found evidence of swelling in her throat as well as hives under that suit she was wearing. Why wasn’t she wearing a medic alert bracelet? I didn’t know she was allergic to peanuts until I read it in the coroner’s report. She died from anaphylactic shock.”
Lynette gulped her beer. Why not drink since yet another month had gone by without conceiving? she thought. She and Jason had been trying to have a baby for well over a year now. She hoped her Mom wouldn’t ask about it since it just made her feel more anxious and upset.
“She said those medic alert bracelets clashed with her wardrobe.” said Susan. “You know what a meticulous dresser she was. Besides, everyone already knew. Remember I told you how Hayley baked those delicious mock peanut butter cookies for the holiday party? And come on, Westbrook has a reputation for being peanut-free. Sixty Minutes even did a feature on us.” Susan took a sip of her Diet Coke.
“I knew about the school, but even so, if Vicky was so allergic, shouldn’t she have carried an Epi-pen with her?” Lynette wiped her garlicky hands on her napkin.
“I’m sure she did. I heard her telling a parent whose child had the same allergy that she carried one in her purse, stashed one in her desk drawer, and had several in her house.” She dipped the tines of her fork into the salad dressing and stabbed a chunk of cucumber. “This is a calorie-saving trick I heard on The Doctors,” said Susan. Lynette ignored the comment.
“We didn’t find one anywhere in her office. And her purse was nowhere to be found.” Lynette took a bite of her Creamy Italian drenched salad. “Even stranger, the cupcake didn’t come from the bake sale. I questioned the moms who were running it the night of the concert. No one remembered funfetti cupcakes, only red velvet ones with red or green frosting. And certainly Vicky didn’t bring along a peanut-laden cupcake to have as a snack.”
The young waitress set their entrees on the table. For Lynette, fettuccini alfredo with a side of sausage. Susan ordered angel hair cappelini with a to-go box. For as long as Lynette could remember, her mom always asked for a to-go box at the beginning of a meal so that she could pack away half the calories before she started eating. Good thing I inherited Dad’s metabolism, thought Lynette. Having to keep track of every bite would drive me crazy.
“Are you saying it was deliberate?” asked Susan.
“It’s looking that way,” said Lynette. She could hear the enthusiasm in her mom’s voice. There was something a little sick about getting excited over a murder, she thought. Then again, she’d chosen to spend her own life solving murders. She supposed the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
“What about investigating the men Vicky had in the contacts list?” said Susan
“I already told you we’d look into it, but we don’t have much to go on. We’ll investigate all the avenues. Relax, Mom.”
Chapter 24
“Well, if you paid better attention to your son’s needs he wouldn’t need to curse at the teacher and attack his classmates. A fifth-grader biting another student? Get out of here. They should require a license to have children,” screamed Jody. She stood up from her desk.
“You’re going to hear from my lawyer. How dare you talk to me like this? My taxes pay your salary.” The irate father stormed out of Jody’s office. Jody took the opportunity to slam the door behind him. She took a deep breath and counted to ten. Antonio came running in.
“Are you okay? What happened with that parent?”
“Just another case of a parent turning a blind eye to his child’s issues. I’m fine. I do want him to be suspended for the week though. At least his teacher and classmates will get a break.”
“I’m on it,” said Antonio. Antonio had seamlessly taken over the role of principal. His faculty respected him and accepted his authority. The parents, for the most part, were relieved to see that the school was moving past the tragedy of Vicky’s murder.
“We’re having a little party at the house Saturday night to celebrate my promotion. I hope you can make it,” said Antonio.
“That sounds like fun,” said Jody. “I’ll be there. Can I bring anything?”
“No, Hayley has it covered but thanks.” Antonio strutted back to his office. A few minutes later, Theresa came in with her lunch.
“Hey, ready for lunch?” said Theresa.
“Sure, I could use a break.” Jody took a sandwich out of her mini fridge.
“I’m glad they canceled the faculty meeting. I’m exhausted and just want to get home early today,” said Theresa.
“I hear you. I’m pretty tired myself after dealing with that crazy parent.” Jody opened her desk drawer. “Here, have some chocolate.”
“Thanks. So, are you going to the party Saturday night?” Theresa ate the chocolate and then took a yogurt out of her lunch box. “I hear that house of theirs is really something. It’ll be worth going just to check it out.”
“Sure. I’ll pick you up on the way. A new principal is certainly a reason to celebrate.”
Chapter 25
Hayley had finally gotten the baby down for a nap. She dusted the living room furniture and took out the vacuum. There was a lot of work to do before Saturday. Next, she went into the study and dumped the wastebasket. There’s so much clutter in here, she thought. I wish Antonio could be a little more organized. She seldom came in here but with the party on the horizon she wanted the whole house to be in shape just in c
ase anyone wandered in here. She straightened up the papers on the desk, but was still dissatisfied. Let me see if I can stuff these in a drawer she thought. She opened the first drawer but it was too tightly packed. Then she opened the middle drawer. This one had potential. She pulled out the folders that were already in there. If she consolidated some of this junk maybe there would be room. She opened the first folder and threw away the papers that were obviously trash. She opened the second folder and began leafing through its contents. There were drawings that Tony had made, a birthday card she’d given him a few months ago, and…another card. This one didn’t look like something she’d have chosen. It had a cartoon of a busty waitress on the front carrying a tray with a stack of syrup covered pancakes. Inside it said, “Want some sugar?” It was written to boy toy and signed Love, Vicky. Just confirms what I already knew, thought Hayley. It’s okay though. He’s definitely going to pay for this.
Chapter 26
Susan used the funky scissors to cut around a photo taken last summer on their anniversary cruise. To some people, a cruise was as mundane as going out to dinner, but to her and Mike it was a big deal. They’d saved all year for it and Mike had secured his vacation time months in advance. It had been wonderful. They flew to Miami and cruised around the Bahamas for a whole week. Susan had never been on a cruise before. How unusual was that, to find a woman in her sixties who had never been on a cruise before? She was a little afraid of getting seasick but she never even had to use the acupressure bracelet or the ear patch she’d packed. Here was a photo of them with the trophy they won playing the on-board version of The Dating Game. She pasted it on a turquoise square of construction paper and then arranged it on a nautical-themed scrapbook page. Boy, this is tedious, she thought. She’d been working for hours and just now finished one page.
Her mind wandered back to Vicky’s murder. Hmmm, she thought. I still wonder about those contacts on Vicky’s secret cell phone. Maybe someone who worked at the Omni would remember seeing Vicky with someone. The Hilton wasn’t far from there either. She knew it was definitely a long shot. And what would I get from that? It’s possible, though not probable, that she could find out the identity of boy toy or macho man. Perhaps one of them had had a good reason for wanting to kill Vicky. Anyone could have come in and put that cupcake on her desk. Anyone who’d spent any time with her at all would have known about her severe peanut allergy. The school was open the night of the concert. Susan evaluated staying home and finishing another page of her scrapbook, against going into the city for a little investigating. She could get lunch there and do a little shopping. There wasn’t much traffic on a weekday and she’d be home before Mike got back from work. Okay, she’d talked herself into it. She fed Johann and Ludwig, then changed into a pair of black pants and a cashmere sweater. It felt nice to put on real clothes and do her makeup. Most days she lived in sweats and yoga pants.
