“How awful!” I would check the Herald archives on the computer to see if the string of burglaries included the Johnsons. “Do the police have any leads?”
“No.” Jean sighed. “I have taken to going to garage sales. I find the most charming things, for a fraction of the price.”
“I love what you’ve done with the living room. It’s charming.”
By the time we left their house, it was too late to continue the hunt.
“We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to call the others.” Audie sensed my urgency. He shared it, in fact. “I can phone. I can’t spend all my time finding a replacement for Magda.” A wistful note entered his voice.
“It will all work out. It has to.” I agreed to his suggestion. If I called from the store, a customer might overhear and spread the gossip across town.
We arranged to go over the investigation in addition to plans for the play at the theater on Tuesday night. “We might as well kill two birds with one stone.” My unfortunate choice of words struck me, and I winced. Audie grinned.
“It’s a plan. I’ll ask Dina to join us. Ask her to compile a list of the robbery victims.”
I must have gaped at him.
“We might as well.” He kissed my mouth closed. “If we don’t invite her, she’ll barge in uninvited. Making it official takes away half her fun.”
~
The following day, I dressed in an outfit reminiscent of Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep. If only my hair were as sleek and lovely as Bacall’s, I might even feel like a femme fatale. Instead, I tucked it into a loose bun and added a hat with a black veil over my forehead. That would have to do. The day sped by. I finished the window displays with an enlarged picture of a letter my grandfather wrote to my grandmother during the war. I read aloud one of my favorite lines, “Be sure to keep Old Glory in our window. I’ll be home soon.”
After I closed the doors and changed the sign to Closed, I thought longingly of a home-cooked meal including all four food groups. Instead, leftover barbecue would have to do. I picked up a ready-made salad from the store and headed to the theater. One of these days, I would cook again. After we nabbed the murderer.
I wasn’t the only one thinking of fruits and vegetables. Dina brought pineapple, and Audie added carrots and celery. He rustled up cheddar cheese from the fridge, and we had a feast.
Before we began our discussions, we heard someone walking around the theater. I stifled a groan. Had Dina invited someone, like Peppi, to join us? I didn’t really want to make it a foursome.
“We’re in here!” Dina’s voice rang out. I wanted to kick my sister under the table.
“There you are!” Peppi’s red head poked around the corner of the door, and she came in. “I wondered if you had decided anything about the play yet.”
“Actually, I—”
“That’s not why we’re here.” Dina cut Audie off in mid-sentence. “Come on in. We’re having a council of war.”
“About the murders!” Peppi didn’t wait for a second invitation. She moved a stack of scripts off a chair and pulled it close to the desk. “I have to show you something.”
Audie threw a look my way, shrugged, and handed Peppi an empty plate. “Ooh! Fresh fruit and veggies!” She served herself a healthy portion.
I looked at the two cub reporters. “Before we start, you both have to promise that our theories won’t appear in tomorrow’s paper.”
“Without proof we can’t report anything.” Dina grinned, the bright spots dotting her cheeks the same color as her hair. “Brainstorming isn’t news.”
“Not a hint.” Audie said it this time. His deep masculine voice carried more authority than mine.
“Scout’s honor.”
I checked to make sure Dina wasn’t crossing her fingers behind her back. She wasn’t.
Peppi nodded vigorous assent. “I just want to get to the bottom of this. I got an e-mail from that Jerry Burton fellow today. I confess I’m a little scared.”
Jerry Burton, not Elsie Holland. “Did he threaten you?”
“Not exactly. ‘Expect further communication.’” She made quotation marks with her fingers. “But I don’t like it.”
Audie cleared his throat. “None of us do. I spent the morning checking into Spencer’s clients.” He opened his date book and ran down a list of names. “Altogether, I spoke with about a dozen people. And they all said the same thing.”
19
From: Jerry Burton ([email protected])
Date: Monday, April 28, 9:33 PM
To: Cord Grace ([email protected])
Subject: Alibi?
The police will be asking you about the whereabouts of your cousin Gene Mallory on the night of his mother’s murder.
Before you’re tempted to lie, consider what happened to Magda Grace Mallory in the safety of her own home.
Expect further communication from me on the subject.
Tuesday, April 29
“What’d they say?” Dina asked the obvious question.
“They all ‘lost’ some valuables during the time Spencer worked for them.”
“Those names sound familiar.” Dina dug out her steno pad. “I compiled a list from the newspaper articles, like you asked me to. The Johnsons were robbed, well, we already knew that. We also reported about robberies at the Dentons, the Foxes ….” She ran down a page of names.
Dina’s list duplicated Audie’s.
“So we can assume that Spencer was a thief!” Peppi opened wide her forest-green eyes. At that moment she looked as young and eager as Dina. “Do you think he came into your store to steal something?”
“Magda’s pearls.” She and Dina spoke at the same time.
“I expect they’re worth a lot,” Dina said.
My mind flashed involuntarily to the image of the pearls flung around Magda’s body.
“There has to be a connection between the two murders!” Unpleasant memories of Magda’s body didn’t seem to disturb Peppi’s enthusiasm.
“It does seem obvious. But what is that connection?” I looked to Audie. “What about the other thing the Johnsons told us? Did everyone agree about that, too?”
Audie grimaced. “I couldn’t work it into a couple of the conversations. But yes, most of them have gone to Lauren Packer for legal advice at some time or other.”
That tidbit silenced the two girls for about thirty seconds. Dina recovered first. “Lauren? You think he’s the connection? Could he be the murderer?”
“He’s a connection. That doesn’t mean he’s the murderer.” Although the circumstances made him look suspicious. “I do believe he was Spencer’s accomplice.”
“Several people mentioned they had their valuables appraised at the same time Packer drew up their will. He knew the most expensive pieces in each home, things that they had insured.”
“I can see that.” Peppi nodded. “Maybe he thought it wasn’t really stealing. They’d get their money back.”
“How shortsighted. ‘No man is rich enough to buy back his past.’ You can’t buy back memories.” Audie studied Dina’s list as if the names would change. “We’ve heard that Packer and Spencer went to college together. That might give us a better idea about their connection.”
“I know how to do that,” Peppi jumped in. “GGCC has a good interlibrary system with other colleges. I can find out if they went to college together.”
“And I’ll check the high school.” Dina didn’t want to be left out of the fun.
“Good ideas. And meanwhile, who else is a possibility?”
“For the. . .murders, do you mean?” Peppi paled slightly. Maybe she realized this was no parlor game.
“We know who benefits from Magda’s death, at least what she settled in her will. Gene, of course. Although he won’t be getting as much as he expected, with the trust fund and all.”
I could have kissed her for avoiding the obvious. As theater director, Audie was connected to both Spencer and Magda; and because of the trus
t fund, he had a considerable motive.
My relief was premature.
Dina widened her eyes. “Oh, my, they might suspect Audie! We absolutely have to solve the murder!”
A dark red suffused Audie’s face, as dark as a birthmark, even darker than a bad sunburn. “I’m more worried about the fact Spencer was murdered in Cici’s store.”
He’s worried about me! His concern touched me deeply. I hastened to reassure him.
“I’ve thought about that a lot. The murderer has nothing against me. It has something to do with those pearls. . .and the pearls just happened to be at my store.”
“That would eliminate Gene as a suspect.” Dina bit into some pineapple, looking thoughtful as she chewed. “He could have taken the pearls at any time before Magda gave them away.”
“Unless he wanted to divert suspicion from himself.” Peppi speared a cucumber. “Except why would he care about pearls? Why are they so important? Aside from the money?”
“I have no clue.” Mrs. Lambert’s strange reaction to the necklace raced through my mind again. Why are you wearing my pearls? I really needed to go back to see her. I sighed. “I know that Gene is lazy, and I can’t say I’m crazy about him, but I never thought of him as a violent person.”
“The police are going to suspect Suzanne.” Audie’s face had returned to its normal color. “I hope I don’t sound sexist, but pearls suggest a woman to me. It’s the kind of thing a woman might care about. Now that they know Suzanne is one of Magda’s beneficiaries—”
Dina continued. “But since she is Magda’s daughter—”
“Exactly.”
“I think we’ve done everything we can for tonight.” I emphasized the point by closing up the containers of fruit and vegetables and throwing away the empty barbecue box. “Girls, you’re checking out the connection between Lauren Packer and Vic Spencer. And Audie, why don’t you talk to Suzanne about her inheritance?”
“I already have.” This time, pale pink waved across Audie’s face. He always had a soft spot for his leading actress. “She says Magda wanted her to start a business in Grace Gulch and settle down. They discussed a loan, but Magda made a permanent bequest in her will ‘just in case.’ Suzanne had no reason to kill Magda. She wanted her mother, alive and well.”
“But the police might not see it that way. I wonder if she has an alibi.” I thought about what to do next. “I’ll ask Cord about Gene. See if Gene has told him anything or if he knows if he has an alibi for either murder.” Not that I knew the exact times of death. First I would check with Frances Waller. She might, just might, tell me the status of the case.
~
Peppi called me as soon as I opened the store the next morning. The reporter, hot on the trail of a story, couldn’t wait any longer. “I’ve learned something very interesting.”
“Oh?” I hoped she wouldn’t decide to publish any tidbits she discovered on her own.
“Vic Spencer and Lauren Packer attended law school together! At least until Spencer dropped out. And guess what else?”
I let my silence speak for itself.
“I dug a little deeper to learn why Spencer dropped out. I checked the newspaper morgue and found a short paragraph. He was arrested for burglary just before he left school. He spent some time in prison.”
“That clinches our theory, then. He must have been the burglar.”
“And Lauren was his accomplice.” Peppi sounded gleeful.
“It makes a good working theory. But that doesn’t make him a murderer. Did he have a history of violence?”
“Not that I found.” The admission pained Peppi.
I made Peppi repeat her promise not to publish any of our research. After we said good-bye, I called Frances.
“Grace Gulch Police Department. Officer Waller speaking.”
“Frances, I’ve learned something that you need to know, if you don’t already.”
“What is that?” I could picture Frances’s brown eyes narrow in interest.
I told her what we had learned about the connection between Vic Spencer and Lauren Packer, what we knew and what we guessed. “And he benefits from Magda’s death, too, in a way. She might have learned about his double life. Also, he gets more of a say in what happens at the theater.”
“Which brings us back to Audie.” I felt Frances’s sigh down the telephone wire. “I’m sorry, Cici. We know about the connection between Spencer and Packer, but the chief thinks we have more important fish to fry.”
“But—”
“My advice is, don’t push it.” Frances’s voice sharpened. “If he has to focus on someone else, he’ll take a closer look at your fiancé.”
That silenced me for a few seconds. Surely they wouldn’t arrest anyone without definite proof. But they might ignore important evidence while they chased red herrings. And did Reiner consider Audie a serious suspect?
We said good-bye. My insides twisted and turned like a coiled snake. My conversation had done more harm than good. I would wait a while and give my nerves a chance to settle down before I tackled Cord on the subject of his cousin.
Things had not been the same between us since my engagement to Audie. I guess I should have expected it. Our easy friendship had disappeared, and we hadn’t found a new footing. Maybe now that Cord was interested in Frances things would get easier.
Tension or no, I had to speak with Cord to see if I could uncover any secrets about Gene. Secrets abounded in this affair. Magda kept at least one secret hidden, a whopping big one, about the child she gave birth to out of wedlock. Of course that was Suzanne’s secret, too, once she tracked down her birth mother. Spencer led a double life, janitor and robber, all rolled into one. That applied to Lauren Packer, as well, respectable lawyer by day and secret burglar’s accomplice by night.
Someone—how many? Who?—appeared to know all the secrets and sent threatening e-mails. Had the threats provoked murder?
Even Audie had a secret. A secret surprise that he refused to tell me about.
Audie has a secret. For the first time, the truth struck me. Did Audie’s secret give the blackmailer power over him? A cold wind blew across my heart. No, it couldn’t. I refused to believe it could. Audie said he had a good surprise. And no blackmailer would care about a good secret, would he? Would she?
A steady flow of traffic kept me from calling Cord until lunchtime. I grabbed a container of carrot and celery sticks with a small bucket of ranch dressing and dialed the familiar number.
“Hello?” Cord sounded like he was speaking from the bottom of the river, carried there by the weight of the world.
Shame on you, I scolded myself. Magda was his aunt. Why hadn’t I called before now, to offer my condolences?
“It’s Cici.” I paused to swallow a last bite of carrot and close the lid. “I’m so sorry about Magda.”
“I still can’t believe it. And poor Gene. . .”
The questions I needed to ask Cord about his cousin stuck in my throat. How could I intrude on their grief? Still, it had to be done.
“How is Gene doing?” In spite of their recent disagreement, Magda had still been his mother—in fact, his only surviving parent.
I knew what that was like, since my own mother had died when I was in high school. Dad was a rock, a given in a world of uncertainty, as constant as the land he ranched. Now Gene had lost that anchor.
“He’s pretty broken up. I know he argued with Aunt Magda, but he was sure it was a temporary problem. He thought she’d change her mind. And lately he’s been trying harder at the ranch, at least until he broke his finger working out at the gym.”
“Was he working on Saturday afternoon?” There, I’d asked the question.
“What, when Magda died?” No flies on Cord’s back. He knew exactly why I asked. “As a matter of fact, yes. I sent him in to town to pick up some supplies at the feed store. He went straight there and back. I can promise you that.”
The Mallory Mansion was only a block off the straightest
route from the Circle G to the feed store. Gene could have strangled his mother and still returned to the ranch on time. I shuddered. Did I really think Gene capable of matricide?
Cord had continued talking. “—feel sorry for Gene. The cousin who had it all. Good looks, money, good education.” Cord’s parents had died in a car crash during his senior year of college. After graduation he took over the ranch operation without missing a beat. “And now look at him. I’ll help him any way I can. We’re family.”
In those words, I heard the pain and determination that must have marked Bob Grace, our town founder, back when he decided to make the 1891 land run. Did I want to battle the power of the Grace family to investigate any connection between Gene and his mother’s murder?
We said good-bye. I stuck out my chin. Last year I had taken on one of the Gaynors, the Grace’s rivals in our small world, while investigating the death of Penn Hardy. I would not back down from the Graces, either. No one would complain if Audie and I paid a condolence visit to the grief-stricken son, would they? I decided to stop by after prayer meeting.
Prayer meeting. I hoped the second premarital counseling session didn’t reveal any problems with the compatibility questionnaire.
At 5:30 sharp, Audie and I met in the church office. We held hands, Audie’s slender fingers trembling where they touched mine, showing he shared my anxiety. The pastor placed our questionnaires side by side and studied them for a long minute.
At last he drew his thick eyebrows together and looked at us.
“Your scores are most revealing.”
20
From: Elsie Holland ([email protected])
Date: Tuesday, April 29, 9:36 PM
To: Reverend Waldberg ([email protected])
Subject: Secrets?
As pastor of Word of Truth Fellowship, you are in a position to know confidential information about suspects in Magda Grace Mallory’s murder.
Are you hiding behind clergy privilege?
Expect further communication from me on the subject.
Darlene Franklin - Dressed for Death 02 - A String of Murders Page 14
