Bertha brought the cup of tea for Julita, but Julita grimaced. “I’m really sorry, Bertha, but I don’t want it anymore. Do you have any water?”
“Sure,” Bertha said, looking a little stunned at the rapid change in Julita’s attitude and appearance.
Liz’s brain was already whirring with what needed to be done. “You mentioned two things that I want to look into. The smear campaign, and Joe Treadwell. You said there was bad blood between them.”
“Yes,” Julita said. “I don’t know the full details, but Joe used to be his mentor, and then they had a falling out. Treadwell is taking him to court over some deals they did together. Connor was rather secretive about the finer points of it, though, so I can’t give you much more information other than that. If I knew more, I’d tell you.”
Liz nodded. “And the smear campaign?”
“It was mostly a blog that was linked to popular real estate investing blogs.”
“Do you think it could have been started by Joe Treadwell, since Connor was no longer close with him?”
“Possibly,” Julita said. “I’d mentioned that to Connor, but he didn’t think it was Joe, although he didn’t give a reason why he felt that way.”
“Okay. What’s the blog address?”
“ConnorMoynahanIsAFraud.com.”
Liz sighed. “Straight and to the point.”
“Yes, it certainly is. Okay, I’m going to go back to my cottage and make the arrangements for Charlotte and Patsy to come here to the lodge. Connor and I drove, because he was beginning to develop an airplane phobia, but I expect they’ll fly.”
“Will the airlines let Charlotte fly so late in her pregnancy?”
“They have a private plane,” Julita explained. “I just have to put the pilot and the crew on standby.” She was definitely back to her business-like self.
“All right. I’ll take a look into the blog now,” Liz said. “I promise you I’ll do as much as I can to obtain justice for Connor.”
“Thank you so much,” Julita said. “You’re living proof there are good people in this world. Being in the real estate game for a few years, I’ve been around far too many people who care about one thing and one thing only – money. People come in a poor second.”
She paused. “Connor had spent too much time around them, too.” Her voice wavered, and her eyes welled up. “If only he’d been around kind people, people who really cared about him…” She paused as she cleared her throat and wiped her eyes briskly. “Well, anyway, we have things to do.”
Liz smiled in a supportive kind of way, hoping to give Julita some strength. “That we do.”
*****
“Do you know how to find out who the author of a blog is if they’re trying to hide their identity?” Liz asked Roger. She was hunched over her laptop at the dining table, while he was fixing sandwiches for both of them in the adjoining kitchen. Liz had told Gina not to come in for the day. “I’m clueless,” she said.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But you’ve worked with Sean at my law office in San Francisco. I’m sure he’d know, and he adores you because of all the advice you give him about his love life. Let me give him a call.”
While Roger was calling Sean, Liz delved deeper into the blog. There were numerous posts, around one hundred, and they’d been written over a period of the last few months. That worked out to about one a day. Some of them were long and detailed rants about Connor’s supposed tax evasions, while others were just one or two lines long.
In the posts, Connor was accused of infidelity, cheating on his taxes, stabbing people in the back in order to make deals, doing illegal deals, sleeping with underage girls, stealing from clients, fathering children with other women, adopting illegal business practices, buying his way out of jail, and conning people. If it was all true, he’d certainly been busy during his twenty-four years.
But while she was skimming through them, Liz noticed some inconsistencies. Dates weren’t matching up. He was accused of doing two different things on the same day at the same time, but on opposite sides of the country. It was obvious the blogger hadn’t gotten the facts entirely right. Or maybe all of the blogs had been made up and were totally fictitious.
A little later, Roger walked back into the room where Liz was sitting. He had to say, “Liz, Liz!” a couple times, because she was so immersed in the blog that she’d tuned him out.
“I’m sorry, Roger. I just got caught up in what I was doing. Okay, you have my attention. I’m listening.”
“Sean says that the owner of the web server, that’s the company that hosts the blog, rents the person the internet space for the blog. The problem is the Internet Service Providers are the only people who can give you the name of the person who wrote the blog. And the only way they will give it is with a search warrant issued by the court.”
Liz sighed. “So basically, there’s no way I can get it.”
He grimaced. “Pretty much.”
Liz pushed herself back and slouched in the chair. “I could call Seth, but I doubt that he’ll be of any assistance.”
“Hmm.” Roger paused. “What about Bob? As a County Supervisor, he’s got a lot of clout.”
“I did think about him, but I don’t want to bother him.”
“I think he’d want you to bother him on a case like this,” Roger said softly. “In fact, I want you to bother him, because I want him to know you’re on it, so if anything happens…”
“Nothing’s going to happen, Roger.”
“You don’t know that, Liz. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud of you for doing what you can to help, but I’d be much more comfortable if Bob knew what was going on.”
Liz was beginning to feel frustrated, but she pushed that reaction down, and decided to be grateful for the fact that Roger cared so much about her. “All right,” she said. “I’ll give him a call.”
Bob Salazar was a Dillon County Supervisor, a good friend of both Wes the coroner, and Roger. In fact, he’d been the best man in Liz and Roger’s wedding, and even though they didn’t see him all that often, he was a very important person in their lives. She had his personal number on her cell phone.
“Hi, Liz,” he said warmly as he answered her call.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you, Bob,” she said.
“No, not at all. I’ve been meaning to call Roger, anyway. We haven’t caught up for too long. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”
“You’re probably aware of a murder that occurred yesterday. The one where a body was found in a burning vehicle. Well, the victim was a guest of ours here at the lodge.”
“Oh, dear,” he said. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“His assistant has asked me to, well, snoop around a bit. There was a smear blog directed at the victim, and his assistant thinks it may be connected to his murder, which makes sense. The thing is, no one knows who the author of the blog is. From what I’ve learned, there has to be a court order before the Internet Service Provider will give out the IP address traced back to the person who wrote the blog. I could call Seth, but…”
“Seth Williams asked you to be the one to tell someone about the victim’s death, would I be right?”
“Yes, somewhat, but you know how he puts everything off that’s more serious than catching speeders, so I didn’t think there was any point in contacting him about this.”
Bob sighed. “Is Roger happy about you getting involved?”
“He told me he’s proud of me, but he’s worried. He said he’d feel more at ease if you knew I was digging around, although I’m not sure all the worry is necessary. We have armed security outside the lodge. Connor Moynahan’s assistant hired them, and they’re here.”
“Keep them there,” Bob Salazar said. “I can’t promise I can do anything on the ISP address, but give me the smear blog URL, and I’ll pass it onto our IT department here at the county offices.”
Liz did so.
“Okay Liz, I’ll take it from there. I know yo
u’ve had a lot of success in the past, but try not to put yourself in the line of danger.”
“I promise I won’t. Thanks, Bob.”
“I mean it, Liz. Take care of yourself and say hello to Roger for me.”
Liz knew Bob was well-meaning, but it was very frustrating. She was well aware he just cared about her, and wasn’t trying to be patronizing, but she couldn’t help but feel a bit belittled. Anyway, she was going to continue investigating.
Something Julita had said had really hit home with Liz. It was that Liz was proof there were good, selfless people in the world. Kind people who wanted to help.
And whatever might happen, Liz decided to hold onto that.
CHAPTER 12
Roger had to go to his office that afternoon to take care of some legal work, and Liz was secretly glad. Now she could investigate without his cloud of worry hanging over her head.
After he’d prepared lunch, Liz said, “Thank you for the sandwich, Roger. It was great.” He’d sliced the sandwiches in perfect triangles, their tuna and tomato and lettuce filling showing through. Chips and salad were on the side, and there was even a small brownie on each plate. Gina had brought them over for breakfast.
Roger decided to take his lunch to his office and pick up something to drink at Gertie’s Diner, the next-door octogenarian who he rented his office from.
He gave Liz a kiss on the forehead. “Don’t do anything wild while I’m gone, okay?”
“I won’t. I promise,” she said.
“I know I’m probably nagging, but I worry about you. Just take care of yourself.”
She smiled, knowing she was lucky to have someone who worried about her safety. “I will. Don’t worry, Roger. Everything’s going to be fine.”
“I hope so.”
“Trust me.”
“I think I’ve heard that before.” He smiled at her, then headed out the door with his brown bag lunch.
*****
Liz was just getting ready to look at the internet and see what she could come up with when her cell phone rang. She looked at the monitor and saw that it was Gertie.
“Gertie, your ears must have been burning. Roger will be walking in the diner in a few minutes to get some iced tea to go with the sandwich he made at home. How are you?”
“My ears ain’t burnin’ sweetie, but bet yers’ are. You’ve been the talk of the diner this mornin’.”
“Whatever for?” Liz asked.
“Last two days been gettin’ a bunch of people doin’ the dance fer that Hamilton Hotel property. Ya’ know, the realtors, the money people, and all the wannabes. Yesterday the talk was all about this wunderkindergartner who was gonna’ buy the property…”
“Whoa, Gertie, think you mean wunderkind.”
“Yeah, same thing. Jes’ somebody who did something wunnerful’ when they was jes’ a pup, like the guy that burned up was doin’.”
“How did you hear about that, and what do I have to do with it?”
“Well, lady, he and his assistant were jes’ happenin’ to stay in yer’ cottages, first of all. Second of all, been hearin’ that yer’ the one who’s gonna’ find out who did the dirty to him.”
“Where did you hear that? Oh wait, let me guess. Bet it was from the mouth himself, our illustrious Chief of Police, none other than Seth Williams.”
“Yep, ya’ got that right. Lotsa’ rumors swirlin’ ‘round here, girl. Guess yer’ boy weren’t gonna’ be goin’ for no Eagle Scout award anytime soon.”
“What do you mean, Gertie?” Liz asked.
“Well, talk is the wunderkindergartner liked the ladies, and he liked them a lot. Also that he was a barracuda and nobody in his industry liked him. Heard that he stiffed his mentor, some guy by the name of Joe Treadwell. Everybody said he’s really a terrific person, but he’s really gone downhill since yer’ boy took it to him.”
“You certainly know more than I do. I’m just getting started on it, and as a matter of fact, when you called, I was getting ready to do a search on the internet for Joe Treadwell.”
“From what I been hearin’, ya’ won’t have to search very far. Word has it that he’s here in town. Several people said they spotted him. Couple even made nasty comments, like he was the one who was behind the smear blog about the boy wonder, and they were surprised he’d be anywhere near where the action is gonna’ take place.”
“Hmm, I have no idea, Gertie. Well, if he is here, that’s interesting. Maybe I can set up a meeting with him. You obviously know more than I do about everything concerning me and the lodge. Care to share anything else?”
“Nah. Ain’t got time. Jes’ had two busloads of customers pull into the parkin’ lot from that tour company that keeps the diner on its route. Gotta’ shake my booty. If’n’ I hear anythin’ else, I’ll call ya’. Oh yeah, one more thing. Some people are sayin’ it’s probably a real good thing wonder boy was murdered.
“Ya’ be careful girl you hear? Sounds like he ain’t gonna get the prize for Most Popular this year, and since yer’ tryin’ to find out who killed him, ya’ better look over yer’ shoulder now and agin’. Jes’ sayin’.”
“Thanks for the heads-up, Gertie. You know I always listen to you, but do me a favor. When you go to the front of the diner to greet the bus groups, walk carefully. Every time I think of you in 5” high stilettos, I shiver.”
“Girl, don’t ya’ worry none ‘bout me. Been wearin’ shoes like this since my mama first lemme’ get a pair. Too ol’ now to change. Them strings in my legs have tightened. Couldn’t wear anything shorter if I had to, cuz’ those strings would snap. Call me when you find the killer,” Gertie said as she ended the call.
Liz sat for a moment, a vision of the loveable octogenarian tottering around the diner in her stilettos, blowing bubbles with her ever-present pink bubblegum, and a pencil stuck behind her ear, ready to write down the next customer’s order.
I don’t think I want to be exactly like her when I get to her age, but I sure hope I have the same enthusiasm for life that she has, Liz thought.
She went back to her laptop, one name going through her mind over and over, Joe Treadwell. It took only a couple of moments to find the website and the phone number of his company.
“Treadwell Holdings,” the man who answered the phone said. “How may I help you?”
“Hi there,” Liz said. She knew in order to get through to the Main Man, she’d have to sound businesslike and confident. She sat up tall at the table, her shoulders back, trying to feel confident. It must have worked, because it came through in her phone manner and tone. “My name’s Liz Lucas. I’m the owner of the Red Cedar Lodge and Spa. I need to speak with Joe Treadwell. I’d appreciate if you’d put me through to him.”
“Is he expecting your call?”
Liz paused. “It’s about an ongoing issue,” she said, which was somewhat the truth.
“Okay, ma’am. Just a moment, please. He’s out of town, so I’ll have to connect you to his cell.”
“Thank you.” I wonder if Gertie was right. Maybe he is here in Red Cedar.
The line was quiet for a moment, but before long, “Treadwell here,” was barked into her ear.
“Mr. Treadwell,” Liz said. “You don’t know me, but…”
“Who is this?”
“My name’s Liz Lucas. I own the Red Cedar Lodge and Spa.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Wait a moment,” she said. “It’s about Connor Moynahan.”
He was quiet and then he asked gruffly, “What about him?”
“Have you heard the news?”
“What news?”
“He’s dead,” Liz said.
“Yes, I know. I heard.”
“He was staying in one of the cottages at my lodge on the day he died. The authorities think he was murdered. Julita, his assistant, has asked me to take a look into things and try to find out who killed him. I was wondering if you could meet with me, so we could talk about him. I know your business is qu
ite a distance from Red Cedar, so by phone would probably be easier for you.”
“Actually, I’m here in Red Cedar,” he said. Why do I ever doubt Gertie? Liz wondered. She’s always right.
“I knew Connor was trying to conduct a deal in this area, and I wanted to confront him in person, since he’s been avoiding my calls for weeks. In fact, everyone in real estate knows he was here, however, I don’t want to meet up with you to talk about him. As a matter of fact, I don’t want to talk to anyone about him.”
It would be so easy to hang up the phone and end this uncomfortable call, but Liz wasn’t a quitter. “May I ask why that is?”
“No, you may not.”
It was not in Liz’s nature to pry where she was clearly not wanted, but in this instance, she knew she needed to. “Is it because you’re holding a grudge against him? I know the two of you had a falling out.”
“Do you think I’m the type of person who would hold a grudge against a dead man?” he snapped. “Much less, a man dead at such a young age? Do you take me for a monster?”
“No, but…”
“Just leave me alone,” he said, but he didn’t hang up the phone.
Liz heard a rhythm to his breathing and the intonation of his voice as he spoke, as if he was walking.
“I’m really sorry,” she said genuinely. “I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just, well, Julita wants to get some justice for him. Connor didn’t have an easy life.”
“Believe me, I’m well aware of that,” he said. “I think of it every single day.”
Liz decided to change her tactic. She took a deep breath. “Are you out walking?”
“What’s it to you?”
“I, well, I always find walking helps me. I have two dogs, a boxer and a St. Bernard. The St. Bernard is pretty lazy, but the boxer needs a lot of exercise. They’re free to roam on our property, but the boxer always likes it when I take him for a walk with me.”
Murdered by Success Page 8
