Murder in the Arboretum (Cold Creek Book 2)

by Christa Nardi

  “What? Huh? Where is he?”

  “I’m not feeling well, and, my phone wasn’t working. He needed to get some work done and took my phone to get it fixed.” I shook my head. I was used to talking to teens. I’d done it for years as my job. Madison was obviously different and I was out of my realm.

  “So are you his girlfriend?”

  “Yes, I would say so. How are you doing, Madison?” As much as I wanted to ask her if she was okay with that, I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know that answer.

  “I’m okay. I wanted to ask my dad about something is all. He told me about you, you know.”

  “Yes, he told me. He talks about you a lot. He’s very proud of you.”

  “I gotta go. Can you ask him to call me, please?”

  “I’ll do that for sure. It was nice talking to you, Madison.”

  She disconnected. I exhaled and marveled at how long one short, but very awkward phone call seemed. Charlie pawed at my hand and I shifted my attention to her and then nodded off again.

  I woke to the smell of food cooking and coffee. The realization of how stiff I was set in as I stood and made my way to the kitchen, Brett’s cell in hand. I stood in the doorway and watched him cook for about a minute, before he turned and flashed me a big smile.

  “I slept a long time. How are you doing?” He moved toward me and gave me a tender kiss before returning to the stove.

  “Good. Your new phone is over there. They were able to salvage the memory card, but you’ll need to check. It’s showing you missed a few calls, but I didn’t mess with it.”

  I appreciated his not checking the phone, but that made me feel guilty for having answered his. I felt sheepish as I handed him his phone. “Yours rang while I was dozing off and I answered it. Brett, you need to call Madison back. Sorry, I just answered on autopilot.”

  He smiled, gave me a squeeze and teased, “Good thing it wasn’t my other girlfriend.” After a short pause, he sensed my discomfort and added, “Don’t worry about it, Sher. Sit down, and dinner will be ready in a few.”

  He called Madison and I listened to his end of the conversation. He raised his eyebrows at one point and answered, “Yeah, she is a bit under the weather, so I was helping her out.” Mostly though, it was the usual sounds of acknowledgment and the “Love you Maddie” at the end.

  He put dinner on the table. He had fixed pork chops, corn, applesauce, and sweet potatoes. My dish was mostly the vegetables, including the potatoes. Neither of us was too sure how well I could chew the pork chop. In small bites, it wasn’t too bad but not worth the work.

  As we ate, he told me about Madison’s call. A school function conflicted with his next weekend with her and she wanted to switch it around. That meant three weeks before he’d see her, but then he would see her two weekends in a row. He said she seemed a little curious about me, but didn’t really have much else to say. This was going to take a bit of work on all our parts.

  I asked Brett if he had learned anything more while I was zonked out. He’d initiated a complete background check on Garrett as well as on Investment Surge. The company and Garrett had history going back five years to the mid-west, Chicago, in particular. Garrett’s record was generally clean, though there were charges that he had failed to pay child support at one point.

  My face must have shown my surprise at that. Brett explained that Garrett was the father of four. He had been in default for about 3 months and then suddenly he had paid his ex-wife her due and hadn’t missed a payment since. There was no other source of income and the timing was consistent with what Garrett had described as a loan. What wasn’t clear is how he was maintaining the payments.

  As for Investment Surge, there had been minor complaints filed against the company for possible scams, but no charges had stuck. The contract wording and fine print clearly indicated the risks the individual making the investing was taking and absolved the company of any responsibility. Hard sell tactics with a safety net for the company. Because of potential issues, especially with minors at the College, Brett’s supervisor had put him back on the case officially. Most of the students entered at age 18, but some were still 17. The State Police were now taking a closer look at the company and potential links to other colleges, and to designer drugs and cocaine.

  Brett explained that it was not likely the company itself was a drug ring, but rather that some of the personnel might have added that sideline. Background checks on all the upper and middle management were underway, starting with the people Justin reported to and the person Garrett said he worked his loan through. Garrett had identified this person as Maldovio Dunn. Dunn’s position was in the accounts receivable office, but some of his interactions with Garrett had included payables. Garrett didn’t know much else about the man, or at least not that he was willing to share. Hopefully, information on this Dunn person would start to answer some questions.

  The major question still unanswered, however, was why Justin was in the Arboretum. We kept coming back to that. As Brett and I continued to brainstorm, the names that kept coming up were Priscilla, Malloy, Jack, and Todd. For all four, there was no real link and their connection, if any, was at this point more tenuous than Brendon’s. Brendon seemed to be the key.

  At one point, I remembered something and jumped up and got the notes from the boxes. The envelope was still in my home office. I pulled out the one with the coke bottle.

  “Is it possible that this was a message about cocaine and not coke?”

  Brett smiled and shook his head. “It’s possible, but then it may just be a coke bottle.”

  Somewhat deflated by his response, I sat back down. Brett did the dishes and cleaned up after dinner. We fed Charlie and took her for a walk. I was still stiff and sore, so Charlie didn’t get the run she wanted. That would have to wait until another day.

  Brett and I curled up on the couch and watched television for a while. He was very careful and tender as he held me. There wasn’t much on the news. So little that we joked about how much and whom Mr. Whitfield had paid to keep his son’s arrest hush-hush.

  Chapter 24

  I improved slowly over the course of the weekend. Brett and I stayed close to home for the most part. We took Charlie for walks in the park and even ventured into the Arboretum. In between, Brett worked on his reports both for his other case and the Justin Blake murder and other related concerns. In turn, I worked on getting ready for the next week and the never-ending email. Mitch called to see if I needed anything and I assured him I was in good hands.

  Sunday afternoon Kim called. Marty had called her and wanted to meet to see if we had any suggestions for the start of the trial. With it back to an official State case, that was tricky. Brett and I discussed what I could and couldn’t share. We also decided that he wouldn’t participate in the meeting but would drop me off and pick me up.

  As we were about to leave, my phone rang. Caller ID indicated it was Terra, but in fact, it was her husband, Joe. He had done some digging on his own and had some information. Ended up, he also found that Brendon knew Justin Blake. At least one person also commented how odd it was to see Brendon fraternizing with a security guard. I thanked Joe and suggested he come over to Kim’s as well and share that information with Marty. I let Kim know to expect him.

  In my head, I expected the first thing I’d need to do was explain why Brett wasn’t participating. I anticipated that would be awkward. When I arrived though, my still bruised appearance was the subject of attention. I’d forgotten that neither Marty nor Joe had seen me. Kim and I kept assuring them that this was a much better look. The swelling in my face was down considerably, I could open both eyes, and I could talk with no problem. All the make up in the world wasn’t going to cover the rainbow on my face. The black, blue and soon to be green and yellow bruising wasn’t quite symmetrical, but higher on one side.

  Eventually, we got down to the discussion of the case. Marty wasn’t comfortable with Joe. Media is not usually a good partner for the defense.
Joe assured him that he had done this on his own, not for the paper. He wanted to make sure that Clive got a fair deal and didn’t think that was likely with the good ol’ boy political network. He honestly acknowledged that when it was all over, he planned to write a story, especially if Clive got railroaded. Marty still looked a bit leery but he nodded his agreement.

  As Joe shared his information, it was obvious that the district attorney hadn’t shared some of the recent developments. Hamilton Bergner was a very conservative District Attorney. Joe said he had a good record for convictions. Joe wasn’t aware of any problems with Bergner’s handling of cases in the past. Bergner had called this one a “slam dunk” though.

  I described to the three of them Brendon’s arrest and release to his father specific to the threats against me. I limited my comments to the arrest since that was technically public record. Depending on the interview Monday morning, he could be arraigned for that charge and others. We discussed the situation, Kim a bit surprised that he was involved at all. It seemed likely to Marty that Brendon might face an obstruction of justice charge as well. All in all, none of us really believed Brendon had killed Justin. We also were resigned to the fact that he would likely not get a severe reprimand. Wealth did have its privileges.

  Joe brought up the possible connection between Brendon and a security guard. There were lots of possible explanations for a student, any student, to be talking to security. Someone might have hit his car or he might have lost something. With Brendon, we all agreed, he wasn’t just making conversation.

  The person who told Joe about seeing Brendon with a security guard couldn’t identify the guard. That didn’t stop Kim from ranting about Malloy. She hadn’t told me before, but she’d had a few more run-ins with Malloy after the break-in of my office, and he was none too friendly. For a security guard, he did nothing to make Kim secure. The only description Joe had was that the guard was husky and old, but old was relative. Still, it could fit Malloy.

  Marty scratched his head and then put his head in his hands. “How can I build a good defense against supposition and assumption? As far as I know, Bergner has no hard evidence. He doesn’t have a murder weapon and there is nothing in Clive’s background to indicate he even knows how to shoot a gun!”

  After a pause, Marty added, “I did ask him that, if he knew how to shoot. He said no and I believe him.”

  “But isn’t that good? That they have no hard evidence?”

  In response to Kim’s question, he turned to her. “Yes, in most cases, but a jury is a fickle thing, and so are judges. With the political relations in this case, I’m not sure what the judge or the jury will do.” He sounded and looked defeated.

  Kim jumped up and argued, “Look, you have a number of character witnesses to testify as to the type of person Clive Johnson is. You have teachers, parents, college students, high school students …”

  Smiling, Marty put up his hand. “Yes, I know that and I have reasonable doubt. We still don’t know why Justin was in the Arboretum or how Clive would know when he’d be there to conveniently find him. And I have as much supposition and circumstantial evidence to implicate Brendon.” He shook his head.

  “The problem is I don’t want to play circumstantial evidence against circumstantial evidence. That won’t help when the system will find it easier to believe the circumstantial evidence against Clive, the black man and working stiff. I need some hard facts!”

  “Now you have the connection between Justin and Brendon. You have Brendon threatening Sheridan and then she got beat up. That’s more than you had a week ago. And you have through Garrett that something was going on with that company Justin worked for.” Kim continued to try to bolster Marty’s resolve.

  “Garrett? Garrett who?” Marty and Joe asked in unison. Kim’s hand flew to her mouth as she realized that neither of them knew about Garrett. I’d assumed she had shared at least part of our ordeal with Marty. Obviously, I was wrong.

  “Garrett is an investor-type and he got Justin a job with some company. He blames himself for Justin’s death. He thinks the job had something to do with it,” she explained. I noted she left out how she knew him or his erratic behavior the day before.

  I nodded and Marty just looked puzzled. Kim leaned toward him and reminded him that information and Brendon’s arrest had happened only within the past 24 hours. I wasn’t sure if she was defending herself or Bergner for not letting him know. After some more discussion about what else he might not be informed about, Marty pulled out his phone and recorded a message to file for full disclosure first thing Monday morning.

  Once we had discussed all we had to discuss, Joe took off. I got the feeling he wasn’t through with his investigating. I called Brett and we all agreed to go to the Grill for dinner. The one condition was that there could be no discussion of the murder case or related possible cases. That agreed, I rode with Kim to the Grill. Marty and Brett met us there in their own cars.

  At the Grill, Zoe was a bit dramatic in her reaction to my face. We explained the bruises were from a mugging and asked her to seat us away from staring faces if possible. As usual, Zoe was very accommodating and seated us in the back.

  I intentionally sat facing away from the front door to avoid being seen. No such luck. We were no sooner seated and Wayne came out from the men’s room behind our table. His eyes got very big and his mouth dropped as his hands went to his cheeks.

  “Oh my, Sheridan! What happened? I can open my office right now. Your jaw looks awful. You don’t want to not take proper care of your teeth and gums.”

  Brett rolled his eyes and Kim smirked, while Marty just watched.

  “It’s okay Wayne. Thanks for the offer, but I’m okay.” I intentionally looked over to Marty as the person farthest away from Wayne and asked, “Marty, have you eaten here before?”

  Marty looked at me, then Wayne, then me again. “Uh, yeah, I’ve eaten here a couple of times with my nephew.” He looked at Wayne again, who just stood there.

  I followed his gaze and tried again. “Really, Wayne, everything is okay. Thanks for stopping to check on me.”

  About then, Zoe bustled over and with a few “Excuse me, excuse mes” managed to move Wayne away from the table and deliver our drinks. She prattled on for a few minutes, told us about the various specials, and then asked if we were ready to order. Sometime in there, Wayne left. She made a few jokes and confirmed that Wayne had left the restaurant with the usual, “Why doesn’t he get the hint?”

  The situation demanded that we, of course, fill in Marty on the story behind Wayne. When he volunteered the name of another dentist, I assured him I had a new one and an appointment on Monday. As I explained about how long it was taking for Wayne to get the message, Kim chimed in with her frustration with Garrett.

  Kim then had to explain how Garrett had looked for a match in Cold Creek to get closer to the investigation. Kim looked embarrassed. Marty only indicated he was surprised she didn’t have to turn away a lot of men. Kim beamed at that. Brett and I pointed out that at least Garrett wasn’t likely to show up every time she went out to eat or call to offer solace every time there was a storm or crisis.

  Dinner was fun and light, with much effort to avoid talking about the upcoming trial. I managed to eat a hamburger and some fries. I’d had so many milkshakes and smoothies, I passed on the ice cream for dessert. Everyone else had dessert and then Brett and I walked out to his car to go home.

  As Brett pulled out from the parking lot, he was almost cut off by a fire-engine red sports car. To avoid an accident, he drove his car into the small garden outside the Grill. I went in to let Zoe know while he checked on damage to his car and called it in. By the time I got back to the car, Brett had a puzzled look on his face, but then it changed to smug.

  “I got most of the license plate and gave it to Officer Matthews along with a description of the car. Who do you think in this town would own a Nissan 240Z classic sports car?”

  “No clue. Judging from your smu
g expression and description, I suspect that would be an expensive toy? Mr. Whitfield?”

  “You are correct on the expense, Sher. Can you tell me how a security guard at the College can swing that car?”

  I cocked my head, confused. Playing devil’s advocate, I offered several suggestions. “He inherited the car? He borrowed it from a friend?”

  From smug to a smile, he answered, “Could be. Could be it’s time to pay Mr. Malloy a visit. I’ll have to talk to Hirsch to set it up. I’m under orders to play nice with the locals. Hirsch is the only one I can deal with.”

  I remembered then the information Joe had shared. I told Brett that someone saw Brendon talking to a heavy set, older security guard. We both agreed that description could fit Malloy. Just one more reason to have a chat with him.

  Back home, my mother called with the usual updates on her health and my dad’s. She asked about my detective and again asked when she’d meet him. A few minutes later, the same thing with my sister. Nobody seemed to know what was happening with my brother Kevin. While I was on the phone with them, Brett retreated to the bedroom to chat with Madison. He also called the police station and left a message for Hirsch.

  Charlie demanded her walk, and then we watched some television. I asked Brett why he could only work with Hirsch and how the Chief felt about that. He was a bit vague but I got the feeling his supervisor had a chat with Standish and the Mayor in turn had a chat with Chief Pfeiffe. The bottom line was that Hirsch was the lead on the Justin Blake murder. I was beat and turned in early. Brett stayed up for a while to get some paperwork done and wait on Hirsch to call him back. I heard him come to bed a while later.

  Chapter 25

  At breakfast, we figured out the plan for the day. After much discussion, I gave in and agreed to let Brett drop me off at work. I wasn’t exactly feeling safe so it was not a hard sell. My dentist appointment was between my classes and he’d take me to Alta Vista for that as well.