She had displayed no hint of animosity toward me and even seemed to find our discussion helpful. Of course, that was no guarantee that she wasn’t hiding resentment or other more negative feelings. Dorothy had apparently seethed long before she finally blew her stack at Mallory in that scene Linda had witnessed. Had she held similar angry feelings toward me and I missed them?
As I now knew, Doug had hidden plenty from me. Had he been pretending when he groused about Mallory, referred to her as “Worm-hearted,” or commiserated with me about having to answer directly to her?
When had he and Mallory started their affair? I had to hand it to him, and to Mallory, too, for being able to conceal their personal relationship. Try as I might, I could not recall a single instance where I had observed a hint of impropriety in their relationship—no flirting, furtive glances, or whispered confidences before or after a meeting.
I stewed all the way to work, still distracted when I arrived on my floor of the Marvelous Marley World administrative building that houses my office. I greeted Carol, accepted the coffee she offered and made my way down the hall to my corner office. Carol’s updates barely registered.
When I sat down at my desk, I took in a few words she had uttered to me in my inattentiveness. “...package on your desk, Georgie, along with your other mail.” I couldn’t remember how that sentence had started, but there it sat.
I hoped it wasn't another gift from Buddy Bear, aka Dale, aka Kyle. The large manila envelope had no postmark, so it had not gone through the postal system. It was taped in a sloppy manner, as though someone had been in a hurry when sealing it.
Should I open it or call Jack? I’d feel silly if he showed up at my office to watch me empty an envelope that contained fabric swatches or mock-ups of invitations for an event in the planning stages. I cut the top open and slid the contents out onto my desk.
What I found was an assortment of printed sheets from the Food and Beverage Division accounts, with specific items highlighted. Whoever sent them had attached invoices and receipts, too. It didn’t take me more than five minutes to see what I was supposed to see. These were the kind of reports Dorothy and I had reviewed for years. Had she sent them to me?
As I made my way through the stack of reports and attachments, the discrepancies were obvious—double-counted items, phony-looking invoices, and charges for items that were way out of line with what I would have expected to see. Tens of thousands of dollars out of line!
If I had spotted any one of those problems, I would have insisted on a meeting with my superior, or taken them to the head honcho in Food and Beverage Management—the late Mallory Marley-Marston. Had Dorothy done that? Is that what had sparked the confrontation that Linda had witnessed? I picked up the business card Jack had left on my desk, punched in the numbers, and got his voice mail.
“Jack, I need to show you something. Can you...” I didn’t get a chance to finish that sentence. A woman's hand reached out, pushed the button down on my phone, and ended my call.
“No need to tell your detective friend anything.” Megan Donnelly stood there, pointing a gun at me. “You were clever to make a play for him. Fast too. At your age, it never occurred to me that you’d have that angle to work.” The woman was wild-eyed and jumpy. Her hand that held the gun shook, with a twitchy finger on the trigger.
“You’re still a winner, aren’t you, with that million-dollar smile, perfect haircut, great figure, and a pricey wardrobe to show it off? That scarf should have been enough to land you in a jail cell instead of leaving you out and about to poke your nose into business that’s not yours. I told Doug you’d be trouble. He was so sure he could keep you out of it by moving you to PR. Things were going fine, too, until that duo of freaks, Dorothy and Mallory went at it.”
“What are you talking about, Megan?” Much of what she said was clear, although incredible. If I could only keep her talking, maybe I could come up with a plan to end this. Senior management and our staff all have panic buttons installed on our desks, but what if stampeding guards triggered a shooting spree? How could I get that gun out of her hands?
She must have caught me looking at that weapon.
“Stand up!” I did as she demanded.
“I don’t have time to explain it to you,” Megan said. “You’re coming with me, now. No trouble! If you don’t walk out of here wearing a gorgeous smile, people are going to die. Not just you, but Carol and a few others before I run out of bullets, or security stops me. What have I got to lose? Unless I can get you where we can stage our ‘remorseful killer takes her own life’ scene, this investigation won’t end. I can’t believe they found the murder weapon in your garbage, and you’re still at your desk! That idiot Kyle is bound to start spilling his guts soon unless this ends today.”
“You don’t expect to get away with this, do you?” Clearly the woman was not all there if she thought my death would bring her troubles to an end.
Megan ignored the question. My hands brushed against the papers on my desk.
“I’ve been searching for those, by the way.” She gestured with the gun toward the papers I had reassembled into a pile.
“Shove them back in the envelope and give them to me.”
I did as she requested, straightening the papers a bit before sliding them back into the envelope.
“Hurry up, will you?”
“Sure,” I replied. When I looked up again, I noticed motion in the hallway outside my door. It was over in a split second. No sounds, either, but I glimpsed a pants leg worn by someone who was plastered flat against the wall.
I dropped my eyes, picked up the envelope, and thrust it abruptly toward Megan’s outstretched hand. Megan startled at the sudden motion.
As she reached for the envelope, I drew it back a bit, so she had to lean in toward me, putting her at an awkward angle. At the same time, I picked up my still-steaming coffee and threw it at her hand that held the gun. The hot coffee slopped all over her as the mug hit her forearm. She yelped and dropped the gun.
I lobbed more missiles at her, using items on my desk. Megan shrieked as a heavy paperweight hit home. A stream of four-letter words followed, as she dropped to the floor and tried to retrieve that gun. Jack, a uniformed officer, and two members of our corporate security team stormed into the room.
“Don’t make me shoot you, Ms. Donnelly. Leave that gun right where it is.” Jack winked at me. “Nice going, Georgie. You handled yourself like a pro.”
I plopped down into my chair before my legs gave way. I didn’t feel like a pro, but I wasn’t going to get into a tussle with Jack about paying me a compliment. Not now, maybe not ever again.
10 Gang of Thieves
A week later, Jack came to my house for dinner. Megan was on a suicide watch and was no longer talking. They had put a lot of the pieces together based on Megan’s initial interview, as well as statements from Doug Addams, Kyle Kinkaid, and Dorothy Sayers. Doug, Megan, and Mallory were a gang of thieves.
Fortunately for me, before that awful confrontation in my office, police had found a partial print belonging to Kyle on the murder weapon. He squealed on Megan and the police sprang into action. When officers spotted her, and called in her location, Jack guessed she was going after me. He, his officers, and Marvelous Marley World security guards were in that hallway moments after she slipped into my office. The whole episode that began on Valentine’s Day was mind-boggling.
“I know it’s hard to believe. That’s because you’re not the scheming type. These three cooked up quite a little racket to scam old Max Marley. It’s still not clear if Mallory needed the money, or if she just liked the idea of putting one over on dear old Dad.”
“That poor man. He’s got to be devastated to find out she did such a thing after all his kindness toward her. It must be hard for him to believe.”
“I don’t get her, either. Doug’s easier to understand. His roving eye had him in trouble with his wife even before he took up with Mallory. He was in way over his head wit
h financial difficulties, and a divorce was going to make that worse.”
“Okay, so that just leaves Megan. What is her problem?”
“Megan was after more than money. For her it was about love, too. I wouldn’t call what went on between her and your philandering boss love, but she did. Megan had oversight for park finances, so she played a crucial role in bilking the company by making up fake invoices to nonexistent suppliers and playing other tricks like that. The kind of thing you spotted right away when you went through the records Dorothy had delivered to your office. It’s no wonder Doug wanted you out of there and helped you move to PR.”
“Dorothy spotted the problems, too,” I said.
“She did. Not right away, though. Dorothy was comparing this year’s reports to last, when she discovered the accounting problems and dug out those invoices and receipts. She went to Megan, first, not realizing Megan was part of the problem. Megan blew her off, so Dorothy went to Mallory next. Mallory did more than blow her off. She started launching those nasty, personal attacks on Dorothy."
"That had to be awful for Dorothy."
"They meant it to be that way. Doug said he and Mallory thought they could force Dorothy out by making her life so miserable that she’d retire. She was about to hit you up for help when Mallory turned up dead. Dorothy freaked out, sent a copy of the documents to you, and got rid of everything else. I guess some of her threats directed at Mallory had become personal. As terrified as she was of becoming the next victim, Dorothy was also afraid of getting nailed as Mallory's killer. Dorothy’s lucky she’s not dead, considering how ruthless and unstable those three were."
"You're right about Dorothy's good luck. It sounds like they really underestimated her in many ways. Finding those accounting problems, threatening them, and refusing to resign despite all the abuse they were heaping on her must have put the three of them under increasing pressure. It's a little surprising they turned on each other instead of going after Dorothy."
"They were under pressure, all right. Megan, in particular, who was the weakest link in the chain of fools.”
I sighed, hearing Jack use those words about a chain of fools. How could three seemingly reasonable people have gone off the deep end—together? Had Mallory’s murder been more about "love-gone-wrong" than greed as some were claiming?
“The media has picked up on the idea that there was a classic love triangle behind all the Three-Musketeer comradery involved in their scam. Scamming each other too, I guess.”
“That’s about it. Doug and Mallory weren’t fooling each other. Those two cutthroats were made for each other. It was a different story for Megan who was wrapped up in this wackadoodle fairytale. She thought she and Doug were headed for wedded bliss as soon as he dumped the current Mrs. Addams. That’s before the picture surfaced of Doug and Mallory out on the town as a couple. She blamed Mallory, not her Prince Charming, for their deceit. When she’s not considering suicide, Megan slides back into this movie running in her head. In it, Mallory is more Wicked Witch of the West than Cruella, and Megan is convinced she did the world a favor by killing her.”
“I get it, but it’s not like a house dropped on her. She can't pretend it wasn't murder, can she?”
“Megan claims to be foggy about killing Mallory. According to Doug, it was Mallory's idea to meet in Arcadia Park, so it's not as though Megan lured her there. Mallory told Doug that Megan had found a way to skim more funds from the Snappy Treats outlets. Mallory wanted to see it for herself, so she set up the early morning meeting in a Snappy Treats kitchen. That’s where Megan got the knife she used, although she says she doesn't remember taking it. She does admit they argued, not just about the fact that Mallory called her new idea stupid, but they also fought over Doug.”
“Can you imagine the two of them fighting over him like that? That’s soap opera material!”
“Mallory’s whole life sounds like one big soap opera. A melodrama with a tragic ending. When Mallory stormed out in the middle of that argument, Megan followed her. She must have had that knife in hand, but Megan claims that’s where the movie in her head fades to black. The coroner has filled in some of the blanks. It’s not pretty, as you know.”
“Do I want to hear this?”
“I won’t go into all the gory details. That scrape Megan mentioned when she picked up Debbie Dinsmore didn’t come from bumping her head on the golf cart. They examined Megan after that free-for-all in your office, and found cuts and bruises all over her body from the fight with Mallory. It was a vicious attack. Megan’s still convinced that Doug is going to ride in on a big white horse and get her out of all the trouble she’s in.”
“That rescue fantasy never really grabbed me.” I paused, searching for words. “At least not after...well, uh, not after I left my twenties behind.”
Jack was staring at me with that penetrating, homicide investigator gaze of his. I could practically see the wheels turning in his head, wondering, no doubt, about what I had left out of that last sentence. It was too soon to talk about it, even though murder and mayhem had stirred up unpleasant memories. I adjusted my oversized sunglasses and got the conversation moving again, in a different direction.
“So, did Megan find that photo or did Dorothy give it to her?”
“Neither, that was Kyle’s handiwork. That creep was doing his thing, ‘spying’ on you and several of the women around you. When he got an inkling that something was going on between Doug and Megan, he decided to hit Doug up for blackmail money. He didn’t have a bit of real evidence—just played the guy. Doug only made matters worse when he went straight to Mallory, with Kyle on his heels. Kyle did some more digging, found that photo on the Internet, and slid a copy under Mallory’s door.” I sucked in a breath of air.
“That has to be the one Linda found!”
“It must be. Kyle thought he could get on Megan’s good side by sharing what he had found and took a copy of that photo to her. That sleazy Romeo planned to move in on her while she was off-kilter. He even told her about his blackmail scheme and offered to split the money they could make. Smooth, huh? That money was chump change compared to Megan’s share of the take from the scam they were running. Kyle didn’t know that. Nor did he realize she’d go after Mallory. When Megan went off the deep end the next day, she called Kyle in hysterics. She threatened to implicate him in the murder and paid him to plant the phone and the knife to frame you.”
“I never saw Kyle put that phone in my coat pocket.”
“The jerk was smug about that. He did it while you bent down to pick up papers he had knocked to the floor.”
“That rat! He did shove things onto the floor when he slid that card and candy across my desk. How did Megan decide to pick me as the fall guy?”
“Megan admitted she never liked you. She made that clear while she had you pinned down in your office at gunpoint. Megan also admits to stealing your scarf, although that was done out of spite, not in anticipation of murdering Mallory and framing you. It was a small prize she took to get even with you and Mallory for fighting about it that day. After she killed Mallory, she ran and got your scarf and placed it at the scene.”
“That fade-to-black part of the movie in her head must have been over by then.”
“Who knows how much of her claims of intermittent memory loss are true? Megan's undergoing a psychiatric examination. She seems pretty out of it, but I'm no shrink.”
“Wow, I'm the one who was out of it! I knew Mallory was a problem, but I believed my relationships with my other colleagues were solid. I never dreamed I’d become a target.”
“Your relationships with others made you a target,” Jack said, “but also helped us crack this case. If Linda Grey and Dorothy Sayers hadn’t trusted you, they might not have come forward as soon as they did. That wouldn’t have put just you at risk, but others, too.”
“Maybe so. I’m still stunned that I missed so much! I saw Dorothy and Linda often, even after I left the Food and Beverage Division. Why did
n’t they tell me what was going on?”
“Linda explained a lot of that. I’m convinced Dorothy didn’t realize how much trouble she was in until it was too late. When Mallory was killed, she ran for it. Even then she trusted you with those documents she had delivered to you at your office.” I sat in silence, hoping his words would sink in, and some light would go on.
“Can I pour you more wine?” I finally said. Jack nodded and held out his glass for a refill. “I’m sorry, but I still don’t get what drives successful people like Mallory and Doug over the edge with their greed, or why Megan had it in for me.”
“What don’t you get? Even when you have a lot, there's always 'more.' And, why not you? Here we are sitting on this gorgeous patio of yours, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We’re drinking a fabulous bottle of wine that Doug would no longer have been able to afford once his wife took him to the cleaners—unless their scheme paid off. Greed isn't always an easy thing to manage. Mallory had a ton of money but begrudged the fact you owned that designer scarf.”
“Yes, I guess it’s not enough for some people to just have more. They want it all.”
“Exactly! As far as Megan’s concerned, you have more than your share. You look like Jackie O. A woman who got better-looking as she aged, I might add. Megan was open in her resentment about your good looks and the fact that you had used them to take advantage of me.” He smiled a wicked grin that I found irresistible.
“Oh, stop it. I wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing, although I’ll admit it might be fun to try. I doubt anyone could ever take advantage of a seasoned copper like you.” He shrugged a little.
"I suppose we’ve had enough talk of people taking advantage of each other, haven’t we?”
“Yes. It does sound like those three were stuck in a deadly race to the bitter end in their efforts to out-exploit each other and everyone around them, including me.”
Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery Box Set Page 8
