Murder Wears a Veil

by Maddie Cochere

  I left it to Glenn to make conversation and entertain the man. I knew I was being rude, but I wasn’t the one who invited the detective to eat with us. They were deep into the complexities of being a detective versus being a police officer when I interrupted and asked, “Why hasn’t Natalie been buried yet? It’s been over a week since she was murdered. How long does a body last anyway?”

  The detective stared at me for a few moments as if weighing his thoughts before answering. “Her parents have a copy of her will. As per her wishes, she’s already been cremated. With family and dignitaries coming from all over the world, the funeral won’t be held until next week.”

  “How do you know the copy of the will they have is the most recent?” I asked.

  “It’s dated May of last year, and her father said both of his daughters always give copies of their current wills to him.”

  “Do you know who her beneficiaries are?” Glenn asked.

  “I’ve seen the will. It’s pretty simple. Her share of the Ping fortune reverts to the Ping estate. The rest of her assets are to be divided amongst her parents and Naomi. There was one bank account designated for charity.”

  Hmmm. May of last year. I would have to check my board downstairs to be sure, but I was pretty sure Pete said he met Natalie in June. She most certainly could have made a new will after they were married.

  “I’d bet money the will her father has isn’t her most recent,” I said.

  “Why do you say that?” Glenn asked.

  “She probably had it changed after she met Pete.”

  The detective looked at me as if I were stupid. “Very rarely does someone change their will to accommodate someone they’re dating, and they certainly wouldn’t change it if they were getting married. They’d wait until after.”

  Glenn provided a response for me. “But Natalie and Pete were married.”

  Now the detective looked at Glenn as if he were stupid. “I’m starting to get worried,” he said. “I came here for some answers, but you two don’t seem to know anything. Pete and Natalie didn’t get married. Her parents called the wedding off.”

  I was appalled by his attitude. He was a guest in our home, and he wasn’t going to treat us as if we didn’t have a brain between us. I pushed my plate away and looked at Glenn. I didn’t attempt to hide my irritation when I said, “I’m going downstairs. Bring him down when the two of you are finished eating.” I grabbed my glass and the bottle of Chianti and went downstairs to fume.

  I had consumed one glass of wine and was working on another when Glenn and Detective Hale made their way downstairs and over to my murder room space.

  I motioned for both of them to sit on the loveseat. I could see the detective attempting to take in all the information on the whiteboard. The puzzled look on his face let me know most of it was confusing to him.

  I glanced at the board. I hadn’t had time to update the information since returning from Chicago. I’d have to wing that part when I got to it.

  “Let’s start at the beginning,” I said and pointed to the upper left corner of the board. “Wednesday, May 6, the day Pete Sinclair accused me of stealing his coins. Which I didn’t, by the way. He totally tried to set me up.” For good measure, I added under my breath, “Dirtbag.”

  “No charges were formally filed against you, so there’s no reason to worry about it any longer,” the detective said.

  “You’re wrong. It does matter. It ties in with everything somehow. He was casting suspicion on me and trying to make it look like I had been in the house. He knew something happened there.”

  “That’s too farfetched for me,” the detective said. “What do you have that I can actually use to solve this murder?”

  “You know I stayed behind at the cliff after everyone else went to the van. What you don’t know is that I saw someone wearing a bridal gown come out through the sliding glass doors at the back of the house. They dragged a body in a tuxedo down the yard to the edge of the cliff and pushed it over.”

  I couldn’t help wondering if Detective Hale was related to Sergeant Rorski, because his reaction was identical to the one I would have expected from the sergeant.

  “What?” he screeched, jumping to his feet. “You were a witness to the murder of Natalie Ping and didn’t say anything?” His face was red and getting redder by the second. “There was a crime scene, and now, thanks to you, it’s been completely compromised. We had torrential rain over the weekend. There’s no way any evidence survived.” He ran one hand through his hair in a gesture of frustration. “I ought to arrest you right now, and haul your-”

  Glenn intervened. “Wait a minute. Calm down and sit down. Let Jo tell you what she knows, and then you can decide what to do."

  He sighed heavily and sat down.

  I continued with my story. “I didn’t know it was Natalie at the time. I didn’t know anything. When you and Pete Sinclair showed up at the hotel, and he accused me of robbing him, I went with my instincts and kept my mouth shut. You have to remember, I was on my honeymoon, Lucille had just died, and we were being evicted from our hotel. The last thing I needed was to get involved in a murder investigation.”

  There was no way I was telling him Sergeant Rorski told me to keep my mouth shut. I had a feeling the sergeant and Officer Winnie could be charged with being accessories to obstructing justice - or something like that.

  I began to go through the information and items I had on the whiteboard. I didn’t get very far when I said. “Pete and Natalie were married in a Chicago courthouse last month. Natalie suspected her parents might try to stop the wedding, so they had a civil ceremony performed before the big event in Hawaii.”

  The detective’s mouth hung slack. He seemed at a loss for words but finally asked, “How do you know this?”

  “Pete told us when we went to offer him help to find Natalie,” Glenn said. “Didn’t you question him?”

  “I did, but he didn’t volunteer any information, and after Natalie’s body was found, he clammed up and lawyered up.”

  “Did you search his timeshare?” I asked.

  “The timeshare isn’t his. It belongs to the Ping family and is handled by a rental agency. A couple of my men went through the place, but it looked like only Pete was staying there, and his belongings were sparse. There wasn’t anything to see.”

  “Did they find a wedding dress?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “No dress.”

  I continued telling my tale, including that I went with a friend to Chicago to try to track Pete down and get some answers. The detective didn’t attempt to mask his surprise when I told him about seeing Naomi and Pete together in a club for crossdressers.”

  “It’s pretty obvious,” Glenn said. “Pete murdered his wife, because he realized he made a mistake and preferred Naomi.”

  The detective pulled a small notebook from his back pocket. He flipped through the pages. “What time did you see the body in the tuxedo go over the cliff?”

  It would have been about twenty-five or thirty minutes before I called Sergeant Rorski. “I’ll tell you in a couple of minutes,” I said and dashed upstairs to grab my cell phone. After scrolling through the calls, I found the first one to the sergeant. The time was ten forty-three.

  I went back downstairs and said, “It would have been about ten fifteen.”

  He frowned and double-checked his notes. “Pete Sinclair did not kill Natalie Ping.”

  “How do you know?” Glenn asked.

  “Because he has a rock solid alibi for that time.”

  “Where was he?” I asked.

  “He was at Natalie’s parent’s house, arguing with them.”

  I felt the air go out of my lungs. I didn’t really believe Pete killed his wife, but knowing that would be the likely outcome of the investigation, I had been prepared to accept that he had. Now I didn’t know what to think. I was clueless as to who would have killed Natalie, and why they were both dressed in wedding attire.

  Detective Hal
e stood from the loveseat. He pulled out his phone and motioned to Glenn that he wanted to take pictures of the whiteboard. “May I?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Glenn said with no enthusiasm. “Knock yourself out.”

  When the detective finished, we went upstairs to see him out.

  “This is a lot of information to process,” he said as he stood at the front door. “Jo, I’m not bringing any charges against you at this time. I’ll book a flight to Chicago and try to follow up with Pete. If Naomi’s still there, I’ll talk with her, too.”

  “Will you let us know if you find out anything?” Glenn asked.

  “Not a chance,” he said. “No offense, but I want you two as far away from this as possible. I’ll take it from here.”

  He turned to leave, and I remembered the envelope on the coffee table. “What about the subpoena?” I asked.

  “What subpoena? I didn’t bring a subpoena with me.”

  “The one on the coffee table,” I said.

  Glenn retrieved the envelope and brought it to me. “I forgot about this. It was on the front door when Adam showed up. It has your name on it, so I brought it in and put it on the table. I assumed it was a note about Nancy’s shower tomorrow.”

  I opened the envelope and pulled out a single sheet of folded paper. The note had been computer printed in a large, childish font. I read it aloud. “Stay out of things that are of no business to you or you’ll be sorry.”

  On one hand, I could only assume the threat had to do with Natalie’s murder. On the other hand, it was a ridiculous note.

  “Or you’ll be sorry,” I repeated dryly. “What kind of a lame threat is that?”

  “There’s nothing lame about it,” Detective Hale said. “It’s possible Natalie Ping’s killer left the note for you.”

  “That means he’s here in Buxley right now,” Glenn said with alarm.

  I wasn’t worried. “It’s just a warning, and since you’re taking over, I’m happy to stay out of things that are of no business to you,” I read from the paper.

  “You better,” the detective said. “I’ve seen seemingly simple threats turn violent in a hurry. I’ll go by the police station before I leave town to bring the local chief up to speed on what’s going on. Go about your business as usual, but keep an eye on your surroundings. If you spot anything unusual, give him a call.”

  “Ha!” I said loudly. “That would be Sergeant Rorski. Isn’t there someone else I could call?”

  Detective Adam Hale apparently had enough of our hospitality and walked out the door, saying as he went, “I don’t care who you call. Just don’t call me.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Who knew the poo diaper game would be such a big hit? Amidst all the loud ewws and laughter, it was obvious everyone enjoyed this game more than the other games. Mama couldn’t resist and leaned across Aunt Bee to say smugly to me, “Told you so.”

  I refused to give her the satisfaction of saying she was right and ignored her.

  Nancy’s bridal shower had been perfect so far. Everyone arrived on time, and when Mama announced the first order of business would be to eat, there wasn’t a shy person in the bunch. There were some large women on the Baranski side of the family, and they sure could put the food away. I thought I used to eat a lot in one sitting, but this group was truly a marvel to watch. The good news was that they raved about the food and thought Mama’s cake was to die for.

  With the food decimated, Pepper and Kelly took charge of the entertainment. Everyone seemed to enjoy the bingo and trivia games. They were more excited when making bridal veils out of tissue paper. Rose and Sandy worked together to create a veil, and you would have thought they had each won an Oscar with how they carried on when their veil was chosen as the winner. But the enjoyment over those stupid diapers brought the most life to the room.

  Nancy was now wearing the winning veil on her head and had taken a seat at the front of the room. Many of the guests had gone to use the restroom, so she waited to open gifts until everyone returned. She was beaming, and I was happy everything was going so well for her.

  Jackie had claimed a seat at our table, but I hadn’t had an opportunity to talk with her. I wanted to ask her thoughts about the note on my door yesterday, but she had been working the room like the social butterfly she was. She had introduced herself to all of Nancy’s friends and relatives and had spent most of the last hour chatting on the other side of the room. She appeared to have taken a special liking to Jazz, the woman who had caught Clay’s attention. I admired her ability to socialize.

  I, on the other hand, was distracted. I had spent over an hour staring at my whiteboard last night, trying to figure out who could have murdered Natalie and why. With Pete ruled out, I didn’t know where to look or who to suspect. Addie and I hadn’t had enough time in Chicago to find out if she had any enemies. The women in Pete’s office had made it clear Natalie wasn’t well liked. Pete said as much when he told Glenn and me that other women were jealous of her. That meant any number of people could have wanted to harm her, but would any of them have wanted to kill her? And would they have gone to Hawaii to do it?

  My eyes had continually reverted to the newspaper clipping of Natalie with her parents and her sister. There was still the possibility that the security men who whisked Natalie away from the timeshare had something to do with her death. They could have delivered her safely home only to come back later and abduct her - possibly for a ransom - but then something went wrong and they killed her. But why the wedding clothes, and why throw Natalie over a cliff? Nothing made sense, and I couldn’t shake the feeling Natalie’s family knew more than Detective Hale was getting from them.

  I had even gone so far as to try to reach Natalie’s sister, Naomi, as well as her parents last night, but every telephone number I could find for any of them went to an answering service or was no longer in service. I felt if I could talk to someone in the family, I might find out something that would help determine who killed Natalie.

  Glenn came downstairs at midnight and insisted I stop investigating the murder. I knew he was worried about the note. “It might not have seemed like much of a threat to you,” he said, “but sometimes it’s wise to heed the simple requests before they escalate into something more dangerous.”

  Pepper came back from the restroom and took her seat beside me. “I talked to Buck,” she said.

  “He’s your husband. I would assume you would talk to him.”

  She smiled and nudged me with her shoulder. “I talked to him about sending the kids to school next year.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “What’d he say?”

  “He said it was about damn time.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “Really? He used those words?”

  “I know. It surprised me, too. He said he’s noticed how the kids are giving me a hard time more now than ever, and he’s been wanting me to stop schooling them, but he was afraid to bring the subject up for fear of hurting my feelings.”

  I nodded my head. “Good. I think they’ll both do well at school, and you’ll love having some time to yourself again.”

  She looked wistful. “Probably. But I really did love teaching them.”

  I slipped my arm around her shoulders and gave her a sideways hug. “I know you did. And you did a great job, but I think you’re making a wise decision. They’ll be happier and so will you.”

  “But what will I do with myself? It’s been so long since I’ve had my days to myself, I have no idea how I’ll fill them.”

  “You could get a job. If you don’t want to work full-time, you could be a substitute teacher.”

  “Maybe, but do you think I could work with you? Not at Baranski and Wheeler Investigations but at Two Sisters and a Journalist. We had a good thing going, and we shouldn’t let it get away from us. I could take the calls, and we could work smaller cases you and Arnie don’t want to take on through your business. We did a good job with Pickles Bunwich, so I’m sure w
e could get a referral from Ethel.”

  I hadn’t had an opportunity to tell Pepper how badly that case went, and I wasn’t in the mood to fill her in now. “We’ll see,” I said. “Let’s talk about it again as we get closer to the kids going to school. If we do resurrect Two Sisters and a Journalist, we’ll have to check with Jackie to see if she still wants in.”

  Pepper let out a little squeal and clapped her hands a couple of times. “I was hoping you’d say that. I have ideas for new business cards and letterhead, and I’ll convert our schoolroom into the head office.”

  “That’s your living room. Don’t you think Buck would like to have his living room back?”

  “Nah. He’s happy in the basement. Says it’s like having his own personal man cave down there. The kids are always in their rooms, so the living room would be perfect.”

  I honestly didn’t see this happening, but she was so excited and happy, I didn’t have the heart to dampen her enthusiasm.

  Rose and Sandy asked everyone to sit down and began handing out the gifts to Nancy. The first gift was from Addie and contained a set of dishes with a colorful fiesta pattern. Nancy was delighted and called out, “Thank you, Aunt Addie.”

  Addie wasn’t in the room. “She’s probably in the restroom,” I said to Pepper. “Speaking of which, I should have gone when everyone else did. I’ll be right back.”

  The restroom was right around the corner from the meeting room and appeared to be empty when I walked in.

  “Addie?” I called out. “Are you in here?”

  There was no response. Knowing her, she had probably met a sexy businessman in the lobby and took off with him – to the Caribbean. I would never see her again. I thought about the scenario for a moment and decided I was fine with that.

  Just before I entered the stall, Kelly came into the restroom. She had all the veils other than the one Nancy was wearing piled on her head and covering her face. I latched the stall door and called out with a chuckle, “What are you doing with all those veils?”