Evil Under the Moon (Moon Mystery Series Book 5)

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Evil Under the Moon (Moon Mystery Series Book 5) Page 11

by Helen Haught Fanick


  I looked around the room. “You don’t suppose he has our office bugged, do you?”

  “Heavens! I hope not. Maybe I need to invest in a bug detector. Maybe that’s why someone was in here, since we can’t see that they disturbed anything. I don’t really think it’s necessary, though. Probably would be a waste of money.”

  “Let’s go see Jordan. We can tell her someone was in our office, too, in addition to filling her in on our recent activities.”

  We found a woman, a courthouse employee whose name I couldn’t remember, working at a filing cabinet in Jordan’s office. “She went home early,” she said. “She wasn’t feeling well today.”

  We thanked her and walked back to the car. “I’m going to get a bug detector,” Andrea said. “I only said it would be a waste of money on the remote chance that our office actually is bugged. I think it’s something that’ll come in handy, since we don’t know what the country club crowd is capable of.”

  This cloak and dagger stuff was getting more fascinating all the time. A few years ago I never dreamed that someday I’d be involved with bugged rooms and murder. “You know what I think? If we find the room is bugged, we should leave the bug there and use it to mislead whoever’s doing the bugging.”

  “That’ll be a definite possibility. Actually, it’ll be more than a possibility. It’ll be a probability.”

  “Where could you buy a bug detector?”

  “I can find lots of them online, I’m sure. I’ll order something this evening.”

  This was such an exciting turn of events, I wasn’t sure I could contain my impatience. I’d concentrate on the upcoming wedding and put thoughts of detecting bugs out of my mind for now.

  CHAPTER TEN

  I looked through my closet and came up with the dress I thought would be most appropriate for an outdoor spring wedding. The fabric had a white background with a green and yellow flower print. I hadn’t worn it in ages, so I tossed it in the washer. While that was going, I looked on my calendar to see what phase of the moon was coming up, and just as I thought, the moon was going to be almost full on the evening of the wedding. It would be coming up behind us as we faced the ceremony and the river. It would be an auspicious date for a marriage, the time of the waxing moon.

  I just hoped the two of them would be compatible. Tony was gregarious and personable; I had liked him immediately upon meeting him. Ruth, on the other hand, was withdrawn. Actually, she was downright unfriendly. I hoped for the best for them, but I wondered if this was going to work. This was something that was out of my control, so I couldn’t worry about it.

  I finished touching up the dress with the iron when it was dry. Andrea would be picking me up shortly, so I got dressed and finished putting on my makeup. She pulled into my driveway right on time, and we left for Martindale.

  The weather had turned warm and spring-like, so I was looking forward to an evening event on the river. “How many people do you think will be there?”

  “I don’t know,” Andrea said. “I’m not sure what a small wedding consists of. Maybe twenty or thirty?”

  “That would be my guess—which raises the question again, why were we invited? We don’t know them that well.”

  “Maybe they appreciate the fact that we’re trying to find Lea’s killer. When we first talked to Tony, he seemed to have been fond of her.”

  We continued to speculate about the wedding till we reached the parking lot of the park on the river. A few cars were there already, and we could see the amphitheater ahead where a dozen or so people sat. We saw no one we knew, so we sat down in the third row, center, and admired the sunset over the river.

  More folks kept straggling in, and then to our surprise the former sheriff arrived with Chester Hubbard and Stuart Kerr. “What the heck is he doing here?” I whispered.

  “No clue.”

  Then even more to our surprise, Stanley left his buddies and headed for us. He sat down beside me. “You ladies are looking lovely this evening.”

  “Thank you,” I said. Andrea smiled and nodded.

  “I’ve been wondering how the investigation’s going into Lea Logan’s murder.”

  Not an appropriate time to be discussing murder. I was hoping Andrea would answer him, and she did. “It’s going very slowly. We’re discovering that with a cold case, it takes time to reconstruct events, locate witnesses, etcetera. We’ll get there eventually, however.”

  “Just remember, if there’s anything I can do to assist you, all you have to do is let me know. We were all very fond of Lea.”

  Some of you were a little too fond, I was thinking. As a way of changing the subject and also due to pure nosiness, I asked, “Are you related to the bride or groom?”

  “No, no relation. They invited the board of directors of the club. That’s my connection to Tony and Ruth. Of course I consider them friends, too. They’re both fine people.”

  This didn’t satisfy my curiosity, but I couldn’t think of anything else to ask in order to find out why he was here, considering the strange scene with Ruth in the restaurant.

  We agreed that Ruth and Tony were fine people, and we assured him that we’d contact him if we could think of anything he could do to help us with the investigation. He excused himself and went back to his friends.

  “That was weird,” I whispered.

  “Truly weird,” Andrea said. “And we didn’t find out why on earth he would be here, considering Ruth’s apparent attitude toward him.”

  The seats were filling up now, and I decided there were at least fifty people present. I guessed that’s what Tony and Ruth considered a small wedding. Then I noticed that off to my right in the grass, a string quartet was tuning up. This must be the Martindale String Quartet that occasionally played at the Garden Room, the one that somehow left rosin residue that ended up on Lea’s laptop case. I had completely forgotten about that aspect of our case after learning that the quartet was made up of four middle-aged women. Not likely to be suspects, I figured. I wondered whether Andrea had forgotten also. Probably not. She doesn’t forget much.

  They began playing At Last, and wedding attendants gathered on the small stage. All were employees at the Garden Room, I assumed, since I recognized a couple of waiters and the busboy. Jack Bradley squeezed into our row and sat down beside Andrea just as Tony appeared on the stage.

  “Be sure to look at their rings when you get a chance,” Jack said. “I special-ordered them for him.”

  “Sounds exciting,” I said.

  The quartet started playing the wedding march, and Ruth appeared on the arm of a man I’d never seen. Her father, I assumed. The wedding proceeded without a hitch, and I could see the almost-full moon coming up behind us. A good omen for their marriage, for sure.

  After a lot of milling around and greeting people we knew, the crowd began to thin out. Everyone was heading to Tony’s house for the reception. Or I should say Tony and Ruth’s house. I assumed they’d live together in his house.

  “Why don’t we all go in my car?” Jack said. “We can park in my driveway and walk on over to Tony’s. That way we won’t add to the parking problems.”

  “That’s a good idea,” I said. I had ulterior motives, of course. I wanted to see Jack’s house, at least from the outside.

  He stopped in the driveway, and in spite of oncoming dusk, I could see that his house was very much like every other one in the area—white, two-story, frame, with a one-car attached garage. I was expecting something grand, since he was a jeweler and probably had quite a bit of money. Andrea frequently accuses me of assuming too much, and I suppose she’s right.

  Tony’s place was full by the time we got there. I could see from the living room that there was a patio out back, and several people were standing around out there with drinks in their hands, chatting. The string quartet had set up in a corner of the living room, and they were playing popular and semi-classical stuff, all romantic and appropriate for a wedding reception. A few people were dancing in a sma
ll space near the group.

  We wandered around, accepted drinks from one of the Garden Room waiters, and helped ourselves to snacks on a side table. I lost track of Andrea and Jack as I mingled, saying hello to everyone I knew and introducing myself to a few others. It was a delightful reception, and I was enjoying it, even though it didn’t appear it was going to be productive in furnishing information for our case.

  Then I noticed the quartet was taking a break and having a drink, so I drifted over to introduce myself and tell them how much I was enjoying their music. Fans surrounded them, but I waited my turn and finally was able to speak to them. That was when I did learn something interesting.

  I’d forgotten the names of three of the musicians within minutes, but when the cello player told me she was Faith Kerr, I had to stop and think for a minute. Then I said, “My sister and I met Stuart Kerr at the country club…”

  “He’s my husband. I hope he was behaving himself.”

  “Oh, very much so. Actually, we barely met. We were too busy eating Tony’s delicious food to give anyone much attention.”

  The ladies laughed and agreed, and I told them I was very glad to have met them and exited to the patio. My dressy shoes were beginning to make my feet feel a bit uncomfortable, so I sat down in a lawn chair to rest them and finish my drink. I’d have to tell Andrea right away about meeting Faith Kerr. She undoubtedly used rosin on her bow, she was married to Stuart, he was giving money to Lea, and rosin had ended up on her laptop case where she kept the money. This final bit of information I’d just learned left me feeling that a circle had been completed.

  As Andrea always tells me, this doesn’t mean he killed her. This is just one more piece of the puzzle we’re putting together. Then I began to wonder whether Andrea already knew about this puzzle piece. She doesn’t always think to tell me everything she knows, and quite often, when I’m excited about giving her some information, she already knows it.

  I hadn’t been sitting there long when Andrea and Jack came looking for me. “Are you ready to go?” Andrea said.

  “I’m ready, and I’m eager to tell you something. When we get away from here, that is.”

  We walked back to Jack’s house. “Do you want to come in for coffee before I drive you back to your car? You can tell us whatever it is you’re eager to tell when we get inside.”

  “That would be nice,” Andrea said, so we went in.

  This was a bonus, getting to see the inside of his house. It was neat, sparsely furnished, and very clean. I wondered whether he had a cleaning lady.

  He had a Keurig just like Andrea’s, so coffee was ready in no time. He served some cookies with it that looked as if they probably came from a bakery. This was a notch up from Andrea’s usual fare, which came in a bag from the grocery store. We sat down at his kitchen table, and I told them all about meeting Faith Kerr. Andrea was surprised, and Jack knew they were a couple but didn’t know about the rosin on Lea’s laptop case. We hadn’t thought it was important enough to mention, considering the circumstances as we knew them at the time.

  We reminded Jack about Lea’s letter and Stuart Kerr’s card, the stuff we found in Ollie’s secret cache. “I’ve known Stuart for years,” he said. “I’m not particularly fond of him, but I can’t believe he’s guilty of murder…or any other crime, for that matter.”

  “We can’t be sure about anything at this point,” Andrea said. “It does seem obvious he was giving Lea money for some reason. I haven’t had a chance to show you the contents of her letter.”

  She pulled the photocopies from her purse, and Jack unfolded them and began to read. “This does make it pretty clear he was giving her money. I don’t think he was the most generous person I know, so now I’m wondering why he was doing it.”

  “We hope to figure it out by the time we figure out who murdered her,” Andrea said.

  We tried to forget about murder and concentrated on coffee and cookies, and comparing notes about the wedding and reception.

  #

  “Do you want to meet at Nell’s for breakfast?” Andrea sounded different, as if someone were in the room with her.

  I knew better than to ask if this were the case. “Sure. Fifteen minutes?”

  “Yes. See you there.”

  I had just gotten dressed, so I got my purse and keys and started down Summit Drive. We hadn’t had breakfast at Nell’s in quite a while, and I was looking forward to it. I parked, went inside, and walked straight on through to the patio. It would be pleasant to enjoy breakfast while listening to the murmur of the creek and the breeze in the sycamores on the bank. Besides, I had a feeling Andrea wanted to tell me something. The soothing nature sounds would help mask our conversation.

  The waitress came and brought coffee, and I asked her to bring an extra cup for Andrea. She had just returned with it when Andrea arrived. We both ordered pancakes without bothering to look at a menu.

  Andrea looked concerned, which was most unusual for her. “I found out last night that my house is bugged. I’m feeling paranoid about talking anywhere. It’s the strangest feeling I’ve ever had.”

  Now I was looking concerned. “Are you sure? Why didn’t you call me last night?”

  “I’m sure, if this expensive bug detector I bought is working right. And I didn’t call you because it was late. I was hesitant to call from the house, and I didn’t want to go out. I decided to wait till this morning.”

  “Is the whole house bugged? What did you find?”

  “The bug is in the study, in the light fixture near the computer, I think. I don’t know how sensitive it is or whether someone can hear us in other parts of the house. I don’t know that much about bugs. I need to do more research. I downloaded the manual, but I haven’t read the entire thing yet.”

  “I’m amazed,” I said. “I thought we were joking about the office being bugged, and now I’m wondering if it is, too—especially since someone was in there the other day, and we couldn’t find anything missing.”

  “I feel sure it is. We’ll go in and check it when we leave here. I never dreamed that my house would be bugged. I bought the detector to check the office, and I was just playing around with it when I discovered the bug in the house. Maybe this’ll teach me to lock my doors.”

  I looked up and saw Nell approaching.

  “Don’t say anything.” Andrea said these last words just before our friend reached our table.

  “Can I join my two favorite detectives?” She didn’t wait for an answer but sat down immediately. She had a cup of coffee that she set on the table.

  “Of course,” I said. “We just ordered your famous pancakes.”

  “We’re not so busy this morning, so I decided to join you with pancakes. The cook’s making them right now. How’s your latest case going?”

  “We’re not making a lot of headway. We’re discovering cold cases are tough—at least this one is.”

  “I’m sure you can solve it. There’s never been a colder case than the disappearance you figured out last year. How long had Cora Taylor been missing? Fifty or sixty years, if I remember correctly.”

  “We were lucky with that one,” Andrea said.

  “Lucky? You were good—you are good. You should open a detective agency and get paid for your work. You could call it The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency of Martindale.”

  I chuckled. So Nell had been reading Alexander McCall Smith. “I enjoy his mysteries, too, but I’m not sure we’re ready to open a detective agency. Something to think about, though.”

  The waitress, loaded down with plates of pancakes, arrived at our table. We dug in, and I tried to forget everything but the ambiance of the patio and the delicious breakfast. The idea that Andrea’s house was bugged was hard to ignore, however. I wondered if my house was bugged also. It was almost certain the office was. I struggled to put these thoughts aside while I finished my pancakes.

  We stayed on for a while, chatted with Nell, and had seconds of coffee. Finally I could stand the suspen
se no longer. “We’d better get going to Martindale. I’ll leave my car in your parking lot while we’re gone, Nell.”

  “That’s fine. There’s plenty of room. Thanks for coming for breakfast. It was fun.”

  “We’d better try to see Jordan while we’re in the courthouse,” I said when we were on our way. It’s been a while since we filled her in on what we’re doing.”

  “You’re right. We haven’t told her about finding Ollie Logan’s body.”

  “Are we going to tell her about the bug?”

  “I think we should. We’ll ask her not to say anything till we decide whether we want to leave them in place.”

  “Them?”

  “I’m sure there’s one in the office, too.”

  “We might be able to use them to our advantage if we leave them.”

  “We’ll see if Jordan has any advice.”

  We went to our office first. “Don’t say anything about the case,” Andrea said. “Talk about breakfast or something…the weather, maybe.”

  “This weather has given me spring fever,” I said as we walked in. “I don’t feel like doing anything other than digging in my garden.” This wasn’t entirely false. The garden always calls to me this time of year.

  “I know what you mean. I just want to be outside doing something.” She took the bug detector from its case and turned it on. A red light started blinking immediately. She nodded her head. “Here’s my shopping bag. I thought I’d left it here.”

  “What did you buy?”

  “A scarf and a couple of blouses. Shall we go?”

  “Yes, let’s do. I need to stop at the grocery store.”

  We closed the door and locked it. The red light was still blinking, but as we went up the stairs to the first floor, it stopped. “I’m going to leave this on and check Jordan’s office,” Andrea said.

  We saw her behind her desk and went on in. The detector wasn’t blinking, thank goodness. “Are you feeling okay today?” I asked.

  “Much better. Upset stomach yesterday. What’s going on?”

  Andrea took out her notebook. “I’ve started making a note about everything we need to tell you. I don’t want to forget anything.” She started with our trip to see Ollie Logan and ended with the news about Andrea’s house and our office being bugged.

 

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