Murder of a Creped Suzette

by Denise Swanson

  “Interesting,” Skye said, starting to get a glimmer of an idea.

  “I gotta go.” Rod glanced at his watch again. “It’s my mom’s birthday and I’m taking her to lunch.”

  “Okay. Thanks for talking to me.”

  Skye got her lunch to go at McDonald’s, added a combo for Wally, then drove to the police station. The reporters hadn’t come back, but the PD was full of activity, so she used her key to let herself in through the garage entrance. As she walked down the narrow corridor, she saw Flint James in the interrogation-coffee room.

  Wally was standing in the room’s open doorway, and Skye heard him say to Flint, “I’ll be back when your attorney gets here.”

  “What’s going on?” Skye asked once Wally had closed and locked the door.

  “The DNA results came in an hour ago. The semen the ME found in Suzette belonged to Flint James.”

  “Why did he agree to be swabbed if he was guilty?” Skye answered herself: “Either he didn’t think we could recover enough evidence because she was crushed, or he had consensual sex with her and didn’t kill her.”

  “Those are both good ideas, and I’d be asking James about them if he hadn’t lawyered up as soon as we arrested him.”

  “Shoot!”

  “I just spoke with the Nashville police and asked them to see if they can find a witness who saw James entering or leaving Suzette’s apartment there.”

  “So you’re free for a while?” Skye brightened. “That means you have time for lunch, right?” She held out the McDonald’s bag.

  “Yep.” Wally took her hand. “Let’s go up to my office. I could use a break.”

  Before they reached the stairs, shouting erupted from the front of the station. A nanosecond later, Thea, the daytime dispatcher, yelled, “Chief, you’d best get in here—fast !”

  Wally rushed toward the reception area with Skye on his heels. As they reached the lobby, they found Rex and Kallista Taylor standing nose to nose. Kallista had her hands on her hips and Rex’s face was so red, Skye worried he was about to have a stroke.

  “I told you to wait in the car!” Rex bellowed at his wife. “I’ll handle this.”

  “All you care about is your precious theater!” Kallista screeched. “Flint’s being framed and all you’re worried about is the media impact.”

  “Woman, I don’t know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful at the same time.”

  “ ’Cause God made me beautiful so you’d be attracted to me. And He made me stupid so I’d be attracted to you.”

  “Folks, let’s all calm down.” Wally stepped between the arguing couple. “We’ll go up to my office and discuss this quietly.”

  “This has nothing to do with her.” Rex pointed to his wife. “I don’t know why she insisted on coming.”

  “We’ll get everything figured out, Mr. Taylor.” Skye took Rex’s elbow and fluttered her lashes while gently pulling him after her. “Just come with me.”

  Wally followed suit and offered Kallista his arm. “Right this way, Mrs. Taylor.”

  Once they were all seated in Wally’s office, Rex said, “I demand to know why in the hell you arrested Flint James.”

  “His semen was found in Ms. Neal’s body.” Wally folded his hands on the desktop.

  “That’s not possible,” Rex stated. “Your lab made some sort of mistake. It must have mixed up Flint’s sample with one of the boys in the band.”

  Skye, sitting slightly behind and to the side of the couple, saw Kallista stiffen and turn pale. Aha! Skye replayed the conversation she had overheard between Kallista and Flint James Thursday night. Kallista had said she had thrown her husband off the scent of their affair by letting him think she was messing around with one of the musicians.

  As Wally reassured Rex that the DNA samples had not been mixed up, Skye’s mind raced. She needed to talk to Wally while Rex, Kallista, and Flint were all in the police station. But how could she get him alone without raising anyone’s suspicions?

  She eased the legal pad from her tote and wrote in large letters: TALK/HALLWAY!!! When Wally glanced her way, she held up the tablet. He nodded slightly and she stuffed it back into her bag.

  Wally waited for a lull, then made a show of looking at his watch. “Sorry, folks. Ms. Denison and I have to take a conference call. Please excuse us. It won’t take more than five minutes.”

  As soon as they were out of the office and the door was shut, Wally said, “Rex Taylor is hiding something.”

  “Exactly,” Skye agreed. “And not just his charms.”

  “What’s up?” Wally walked her to the far end of the hall.

  Skye explained what Rod had told her, then reminded Wally of what Kallista had said to Flint about Rex’s temper and diverting her husband’s suspicions toward a member of the band. She concluded with, “So I wonder if somehow Rex is behind all of this. He still doesn’t have an alibi.”

  “Even though Taylor’s DNA wasn’t the one found inside Suzette, I agree something doesn’t smell right about James as the murderer. I suppose he could have been two-timing Kallista and killed Suzette to keep her quiet. Still, the whole thing feels wrong.” Wally shook his head. “But we don’t have anything on Taylor beyond a rumor of a bad temper and the fact that he flirts with women. Any ideas?”

  “Divide and conquer.” Skye leaned forward and said quietly, “Let me take Kallista and make sure she gets to talk to Flint. I think she knows more than she’s saying.”

  “Okay.” Wally nodded. “We might as well give it a try. But remember spousal privilege. She can’t tell you anything her husband said to her in confidence.”

  “But if she overheard something or saw something, that’s fair game, right?”

  “Right.” He walked back to his office and opened the door. “Mrs. Taylor, could I see you for a moment?”

  Once Kallista was in the hallway, Wally turned her over to Skye and then returned to Rex.

  Skye took the other woman’s arm and said in a sympathetic voice, “I thought you might want a chance to talk to Mr. James alone.”

  Kallista hesitated. Her expression held both suspicion and longing. Longing won, and she said, “Thank you. That would be wonderful.”

  “You’re very welcome.” Skye led her down the steps, unlocked the interrogation room door, and ushered the blonde inside. “I can only give you a few minutes.” Skye adjusted the blinds so that it appeared no one could see in through the interior window, then exited, leaving the door slightly ajar.

  Skye stepped to the side, angling her body so she could both peer through the opening in the blinds and hear through the door.

  Kallista wasted no time berating Flint. “How could you sleep with that skanky whore?”

  “I didn’t!” Flint protested, trying to embrace Kallista. “Think about it for a minute. We were together that afternoon from two o’clock to nearly four thirty.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Kallista giggled. “How could I have forgotten that? First we did it in the RV, then around three or so we went and got some food from Mickey D’s and brought it to your cabin at the motor court.”

  “Exactly.” Flint took Kallista in his arms. “Remember how cute you looked with the pickle slice bra and hamburger bun bikini?”

  Ew! Skye suppressed a groan.

  “So how come they said your baby makers were inside that slut?” Kallista demanded.

  “I have no idea.” Flint kissed her. “The only thing my love juice has been inside lately is a rubber.”

  An idea skittered through Skye’s mind, but she needed to think about it. Was what she was considering even possible ?

  “So you’ll tell the cops we were together?” Flint asked, nibbling Kallista’s neck.

  “I guess I have to.” Kallista hugged him.

  “Are you afraid of Rex?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Skye could see the calculating look on the woman’s face even though Flint couldn’t.

  “I’m sorry you won’t be able to ge
t as much of his money as we originally thought.” Flint wrinkled his brow.

  “Oh.” Kallista’s expression conveyed satisfaction. “I think I’ll do all right.”

  After another minute or so, Skye stepped back into the interrogation room. “Sorry, guys. We need to wrap this up.”

  While Skye escorted Kallista back to Wally’s office, she asked the other woman, “Did Flint flush the condom he used last Monday afternoon at the RV?”

  “You eavesdropped on us?” Kallista’s tone was outraged. “That’s not fair!”

  “I don’t enjoy intruding in your personal life,” Skye said, hoping to soothe the other woman’s indignation. She was used to teenagers who thought everything done to them was unfair. “But this is important. You want Flint to go free, don’t you?”

  “Yes, but when I say he was with me, that will do it.”

  “Not with the DNA evidence hanging over his head,” Skye reminded her. “So, about that condom?”

  Kallista was silent, a pout marring her beautiful face.

  “I’m ready to help,” Skye said. “Are you ready to be smart?”

  “He didn’t flush it,” Kallista muttered. “The plumbing in the Airstream can’t take stuff like that. He usually just wraps them in toilet paper and tosses them in the trash.”

  “Does Rex know how to drive a steamroller?”

  “Uh-huh.” Kallista nodded. “He worked construction during the summers when he was in college.”

  “I wonder why the police didn’t find that out when they did the background check.”

  “He was paid off the books.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Skye stopped halfway up the stairs. “Wait. One more question. What do you have on your husband? Why will you still get money from him even after admitting your affair with Flint?”

  “That’s two questions.”

  “Look, I can help Flint or not.” Skye raised an eyebrow. “Your call.”

  “Fine.” Kallista tossed back her hair. “Last Monday afternoon, when I got back to the RV, I noticed the bathroom was a mess, with garbage from the wastebasket scattered all over the floor.”

  “And?”

  “And I was cleaning it up when Rex got home. He didn’t realize I was there because the bathroom door was shut nearly all the way, but I saw him change clothes from the skin out and bundle what he’d been wearing in a paper grocery sack—we like to recycle, so we don’t use the plastic ones.” Kallista twisted her glossy lips into a thoughtful frown. “Him putting his clothes in the bag seemed weird to me, so I followed him, and I saw him toss the sack into the Dumpster by the bandstand.”

  “Damn!” Skye swore. “I bet that trash was picked up already and the bag is long gone.”

  “Nope.” Kallista’s smile was triumphant. “I took it out after he left and hid it in the trunk of my car for safe keeping.”

  “That was smart.” Skye guessed that Kallista’s motive was leverage when she sued for divorce. The blonde probably figured she’d get more from Rex through blackmail than if she did the right thing and turned the evidence over to the police. And she’d made no secret of her hatred for Suzette, so she wouldn’t care if Suzette’s killer was ever brought to justice.

  “I only pretend to be dumb so guys will like me,” Kallista confided.

  Skye cringed at the idea that women still thought they had to hide their intelligence to be popular with men, but she didn’t comment. Instead she asked, “Did you look inside the bag?”

  “Yep. His clothes were covered in blood.”

  After requesting that the dispatcher keep an eye on Kallista, Skye asked Wally to step out of his office and filled him in on what Kallista had revealed.

  “Didn’t she realize she could be arrested if she withheld evidence in a murder investigation?” Wally fumed.

  “I don’t think it even occurred to her.” Skye shrugged. “Is Kallista in trouble?”

  “No.” Wally sighed. “If she testifies against Taylor, she won’t be charged.”

  “Anyway,” Skye said, “I think after Rex killed Suzette, but before he ran the steamroller over her, he went back to the RV, retrieved the used condom from the trash can, and somehow inserted the semen into Suzette.”

  “And he did that because he didn’t know it was Flint’s semen.” Understanding dawned in Wally’s eyes. “He would never have implicated his star attraction. He thought Kallista was sleeping with one of the musicians.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But why did he kill Suzette?” Wally asked.

  “My guess is she rejected him one too many times,” Skye answered. “And remember, Rod told me that Suzette was getting worried because Rex had started to say he loved her.”

  “Hmm.” Wally nodded. “I see.”

  “If there’s one thing I’ve learned,” Skye explained, “under everyone’s hard shell is someone who wants to be loved. Obviously, Kallista and Rex didn’t have that kind of marriage; maybe he thought he could have it with Suzette. And when she rejected not only his sexual advances, but also his love, he couldn’t stand it.”

  When Wally arrested Rex an hour later, he protested long and loud, but when the paper bag full of his bloody clothes was produced, he snapped his mouth shut so hard Skye thought she heard a tooth crack.

  After a moment, Rex said, “It was an accident.”

  Skye shot Wally a look. Where had they heard that before?

  “I was just trying to kiss her. She jerked away, tripped, and struck the back of her head on the corner of the desk. It must have hit just right, because by the time I got back with the first aid kit she was already dead.”

  “Why didn’t you call the police?” Wally asked.

  “A scandal like that would ruin me and the music theater.” Rex looked at Wally as if he were crazy. “Country music fans want wholesome entertainment.”

  “So steamrolling her body was better?” Skye blurted out.

  “I gambled they’d get over that faster than me killing my assistant while trying to fu—make love to her,” Rex explained. “And I figured the steamroller was the only way I could make sure that no trace of me on her body would be discovered.”

  “Why go to all the trouble with the semen?” Wally asked.

  “I figured it was a twofer.” Rex shrugged. “I’d seen the used rubbers in the garbage on other occasions, and I thought, what the heck, if there’s one there today, I can use the stuff inside to implicate my wife’s lover and point any interest away from me.” He glowered. “I didn’t realize my dumb bunny of a wife was getting it on with my star. I thought she was shacking up with some nobody from the band.”

  “That was your fatal mistake.” Skye stared Rex in the eye. “Never underestimate a woman.”

  EPILOGUE

  “I Hope You Dance”

  “Any idea why we’ve been summoned?” Wally asked as Skye turned her Bel Air into the crowded parking lot of an empty building near the Better Than New used-car lot and the Tales and Treats Bookstore.

  “Nope.” Skye shut off the motor. “Aunt Olive asked us to come and said she’d explain when we got here.” She gazed up and down the dark street, thinking how the town would have changed if Rex Taylor had had his way.

  It was a month since Rex had been arrested for the murder of Suzette Neal, and Scumble Riverites were still reeling from the news. Some of the citizens were happy that their community would remain as it was, but others mourned the loss of the music theater project and the revenue it would have generated.

  With Rex in jail awaiting trial, Kallista and the rest of the Country Roads staff had left the area without a backward glance. Other than the big FOR SALE sign on the Hutton dairy property, there were no indications that Rex or his crew had ever planned to turn Scumble River into the Branson of Illinois.

  Kallista had immediately begun divorce proceedings, and was back in Nashville building a mansion modeled after Tara. Rumor had it that her and Flint’s duet album was scheduled for release next summer.

  Wally broke int
o Skye’s thoughts. “It seems out of character for Olive to take this kind of initiative.” His expression was quizzical. “In my experience, directives come from Dante, not his wife.”

  “Mine, too.” Skye got out of the car. “Which is exactly why I said we’d be here. Something’s up.”

  “Then let’s go see what it is.” Wally tucked her hand into the crook of his arm.

  The door to the building was open, and Skye and Wally walked inside. The foyer was dark, but lights and conversation to their left beckoned them.

  “This is a little creepy,” Skye said, tugging on Wally’s sleeve. “Do you think Aunt Olive might still be afraid we’ll tell Dante about her affair? Is she setting a trap to get rid of us?”

  “Not with a room full of witnesses.”

  “Maybe the voices are recorded and the vehicles in the lot are from Hugo’s used-car dealership.”

  “I’ll protect you.” Wally steered Skye toward the brightness. “We made it out of Doozierville alive—I’m sure we can handle your sixty-three-year-old aunt.”

  “We barely made it out alive,” Skye reminded him. “And you weren’t the one who ended up painted as orange as an Oompa-Loompa.” She reluctantly allowed herself to be led forward.

  When they turned the corner, the area they entered was one big space with polished wood floors and mirrored walls. A long table holding plates of snacks and an assortment of drinks was set off to one side. Soft music came from a CD player, and people in groups of three or four stood around talking softly.

  Skye scanned the crowd, spotting her parents chatting with the Leofanti aunts and their spouses. Another cluster contained her Leofanti cousins and their families. A third group contained Trixie and Owen. Skye was relieved to see that the couple must have patched up their differences, because Owen had his arm around his wife’s waist and Trixie was smiling up at him with love shining from her eyes.

  Among the nonrelatives, two guests caught Skye’s eye—Simon and Jess from the Brown Bag. The men appeared deep in conversation, and Skye wondered what Suzette’s twin was discussing so earnestly with Simon.