Snow Cold Case_A Mystic Snow Globe Romantic Mystery

by M. Z. Andrews

  33

  Johanna glanced down at her phone as they approached the apartment building on the Lower East Side but was disappointed to see that there was still no response from Mitch.

  After speaking to Roz, the secretary at the Four Seasons Realty office, and getting the address, Johanna had thrown Esmerelda into an oversized canvas tote and slung her over her shoulder, and the group of them had headed out. On the way, she’d called Mitch, but he hadn’t answered, so she’d left him a somewhat cryptic voicemail asking him to meet her right away, and then she’d texted him the address where she wanted him to meet her.

  Now, as they stood in front of the building, Johanna didn’t know what to do. She hadn’t gotten a response from Mitch, and she couldn’t help but wonder if her odd behavior that morning had made him change his mind about her. She wrung her mittened hands and stared up at the tall apartment building, wondering if she should go in without him.

  “Did he text back?” asked Whitley, staring over her shoulder.

  “Nope.” Johanna looked at her phone again and sighed. “He’s probably mad because I rushed off this morning. He probably decided I’m too weird to bother with.”

  Esmerelda poked her head out of the bag. “It’s what I’d think.”

  “Oh, Es. Hardly,” said Whitley, swatting at Johanna’s arm. “He really likes you, Hanna. There’s no way he’s thinking that. He probably just got busy and didn’t see his phone. Maybe you should call him again.”

  Johanna nodded and dialed Mitch’s number. It rang and rang and then went to voicemail once again. Her heart dropped.

  “Hey, Mitch. Once again, I’m really sorry about this morning. I hope you’re not angry with me. Listen, I think I know who killed Felicia. I’m here, at the address I texted you. I really hope you’re on your way, though. If I don’t hear back from you soon, I’m going to go in. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. I have a plan!” She hung up the phone and gave Whitley a tight smile.

  “What’s your plan?” asked Whitley, lifting a brow.

  Johanna reached in her bag and pulled out a little recording device that she often used when interviewing people for research for her books. “I’m going to record our conversation. You know, so I have something to give to the cops.”

  “That’s your plan?” asked Esmerelda with a little laugh. “What’s your plan if he pulls out a gun and decides to shoot us?”

  Johanna bit on her lip. “That’s why I brought Rocky. He won’t let anyone hurt me.”

  “You really think Rocky could save you from a bullet?”

  Johanna patted the top of his head. “Are you kidding? Rocky’s ferocious when he wants to be. Aren’t you, bud?”

  Rocky seemed to give a sloppy grin as she patted his head.

  “Oh yeah, he looks like a raging beast.”

  “I think we’ll be fine,” said Johanna. “I’ll tell him that lots of people know I’m there. He’s not going to kill me if he knows that. Are we ready? I don’t think Mitch is coming.”

  Whitley nibbled on her fingernails. “I’m nervous.”

  “Oh, come on, girls!” said Johanna breathlessly. “You two came into my life and forced me to help you solve this mystery! We’ve almost got it solved and now you’re going to wimp out?”

  Whitley looked up at the tall building and then at Rocky. “Alright. If you really think Rocky will protect you, I’m ready.”

  “He will, don’t worry. Let’s go?”

  Whitley gave her a little nod.

  Together the group of them made their way to the fifth floor. Johanna knocked on the door to apartment 516 and then quickly turned her voice recorder on. Then she waited, holding her breath. Every fiber of her body trembled. She wanted to throw up, she was so nervous. She had no idea what she was going to say or what he would say. She held Rocky’s leash close by her side and patted him, praying that he’d take care of her.

  The door swung open and a lanky grey-haired man stood in front of her.

  “Dean Klatworthy?”

  “Yes?” said the man, adjusting his glasses.

  “Dean, my name is Johanna Hughes. I am a writer, and I’m writing a book about the death of Felicia Marshall. I was told she was a coworker of yours at one time, and I was hoping maybe you’d allow me to ask you a few questions.”

  The man looked surprised to hear Felicia’s name.

  “Who is it, sweetheart?” asked a woman’s voice from inside the apartment.

  He glanced back into the apartment. “It’s a writer. She’s writing a book about Felicia Marshall.”

  Suddenly a woman stood in the doorway next to Dean. “Hello, I’m Elise Klatworthy.” She held a hand out to Johanna, but as she saw the stranger’s face, her smile faded in shock. She sucked in a breath. “You’re Hanna Hughes!”

  Whitley squeezed Johanna’s hand. “It’s like you’re famous, Hanna!”

  Johanna grinned and nodded. “Yes.”

  Her eyes widened. “Dean! This is Hanna Hughes!”

  Dean adjusted his glasses and narrowed his eyes at Johanna. “You’ve heard of her?”

  “Yes! She’s the author of the Clue Mystery series.” She looked at Johanna then. “I’ve got the whole series! Come in, come in!” She waved Johanna in, pulling Dean aside to give her room to walk.

  “Do you mind if Rocky comes in?” asked Johanna, feeling a lot more at ease to see that his wife was present. “His feet dried on the carpet on the way up here.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it for a second. We’ve got hardwood floors,” she said, leading them over to her comfortable living room. “So you’re writing a book about Felicia Marshall?”

  Johanna glanced up at Dean furtively, wanting to take in his expressions carefully so she could analyze them in her mind later. He seemed pensive and a tad uncomfortable. “Yes. Do the two of you remember her?”

  Elise nodded emphatically. “Of course we remember Felicia! What happened to her was horrible, just horrible!”

  Whitley frowned at Elise. “It’s going to be even more horrible for her when she finds out that her husband was the one who killed her!”

  Johanna swallowed and gave Elise a tight smile, trying to ignore Whitley. “Yes, it was very, very sad. They say she was mugged in the park, but I have reason to believe that that might not be the whole story.”

  Dean very clearly rubbed a hand across his brow, but he remained silent.

  “I knew there had to be more to the story!” said Elise. “What do you think happened?”

  Johanna knew she had to tread carefully. She couldn’t just admit her suspicions to the Klatworthys. She had to lay some careful groundwork and get him to incriminate himself on tape. “Well, I’ll get to that. First, Dean, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about Felicia?”

  Elise’s eyes flickered over to her husband expectantly.

  Dean blinked and took a long moment to consider the request. “Well. That was a long time ago. I don’t remember a whole lot.”

  “But you remember Felicia, don’t you?”

  Elise swatted at her husband. “Of course he remembers Felicia,” she said to Johanna. She turned to her husband. “What are you talking about, Dean? You remember it all like it was yesterday! You mention Felicia quite often.”

  That raised Johanna’s eyebrows. “Oh, is that so? Why’s that?”

  “Well, she was such a sweet girl. She worked so hard, and for her to be killed like that, on the day before her wedding, nonetheless, was just heartbreaking. For both of us!”

  I bet it was, thought Johanna, staring at Dean’s face. It seemed to get redder by the second. “Dean, how did you feel about Felicia?”

  Dean swallowed hard. “Oh, well, Felicia was a great woman. She was a very hard worker. She had the highest conversion rate in the office. Our clients loved her. She was personable and attentive. She followed through on everything she promised to do. She was really just great.”

  It turned Johanna’s stomach listening to Dean sing her praises, knowing how he�
��d been harassing her for months before her death and knowing what he’d done to her.

  “What a creep,” snapped Whitley, who was perched next to Johanna on the arm of a chair. “And to think his poor sweet wife didn’t know anything about how he was harassing her!”

  “Dean, can you think of anyone who didn’t like Felicia?”

  Dean’s eyes flitted around the room, unable to focus squarely on Johanna’s eyes. “Oh, umm. I think Janet Sandborn wasn’t a big fan,” he said quietly. “There was some competition there.”

  “I heard about that competition,” said Johanna. “Do you think it’s possible that Janet had anything to do with Felicia’s death?”

  Dean’s eyes widened, as did his wife’s.

  “You think Janet Sandborn had something to do with Felicia’s death?!” breathed Elise.

  Johanna waved a hand. “Oh, no. I didn’t say that at all. I was just asking if Dean thought she could have.”

  Dean looked uncomfortable. “It would really shock me if she did. Janet’s a tough cookie, but she has a couple of kids and a big mortgage. I truly don’t think she would risk prison just to kill her competitor. As far as I’m aware, that was their only beef. I mean, I think they got along otherwise.”

  “Who else was in the office when Felicia worked there?”

  “Umm, at that time? I think it was just Felicia, Janet Sandborn, Tim Shaw, and myself. We were shorthanded for a while there. We didn’t even have a secretary. She’d walked out a few weeks before Felicia was killed.”

  “Why’d she walk out?” asked Johanna. She’d never heard that before.

  Dean sighed and tilted his head to the side. “I don’t know. She may have mentioned something about having a conflict with a coworker.”

  Johanna narrowed her eyes at Dean. She wondered if he’d been making sexual advances towards the secretary too and scared her off! “Oh, really? That’s interesting. What was the secretary’s name?”

  He cleared his throat. “Umm, you know, I don’t remember for sure. It’s been so long.”

  “Amy. Her name was Amy,” said his wife, giving him the stink-eye.

  “Who did Amy not get along with in the office? Janet?”

  Dean shook his head like that sounded crazy. “Janet? Oh, no. Janet pretty much got along with everyone, except Felicia.”

  “Did Felicia not get along with Amy?”

  “No, Felicia and Amy got along just fine.”

  Johanna felt like she had his feet to the fire now. She could almost see little beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Johanna tipped her head sideways. “If Amy didn’t quit because of Felicia or Janet, it had to be because of either you or Tim Shaw, but you said she was having problems with a coworker, and Tim’s the boss. So does that mean she left because of you?”

  “Oh, go Hanna!” said Whitley as she stared at Dean’s face.

  Elise sucked in her breath. She leaned forward almost immediately, before Dean could even say anything. “Oh no! You’ve got it all wrong! Dean was Amy’s boss. Tim was her coworker!”

  Johanna made a face. “No, Tim’s the boss.”

  Dean nodded. “Well, he’s the boss now. I was the boss when Felicia worked there.”

  Whitley gasped. “Hanna!”

  The flesh on her arms and legs suddenly pebbled as a tingle shot through her body. She had the wrong guy! It was Tim! Johanna gave an almost unnoticeable nod for Whitley, but she had to roll with it until she got to the truth. “You were the boss back then?”

  Dean moved his head from side to side, cracking his neck. “Yeah. I had some health issues and retired not long after Felicia was killed. That October, Tim took over my position and they hired a guy named Jimmy to take Tim’s place.”

  Johanna’s mind flashed back in time. She remembered seeing the picture of Tim in the office when he’d gotten the promotion. She couldn’t believe she’d missed the sign! “Was Felicia up for the same job?” asked Johanna.

  Dean nodded. “Yeah, Tim and Felicia were both after the managing broker position, which was my old job.”

  Elise looked at her husband with surprise then. “Dean, are you saying that Amy left because of Tim?”

  Dean frowned slightly. “I don’t know. She might have mentioned something about him creating a hostile work environment.”

  Elise swiveled so she could look at her husband more closely. “You never told me that.”

  He shrugged. “She quit before I had a chance to look into it.”

  Johanna’s stomach turned. “Dean, were there ever any issues between Felicia and Tim?”

  Dean looked at his wife nervously. “I mean, she was an attractive woman.”

  Elise frowned at her husband. Johanna could tell that had gotten her dander up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You know. I mean, I think maybe Tim was interested in her.”

  “Romantically?” gasped Elise.

  He nodded. “Yeah, she mentioned he’d asked her out a few times and didn’t seem particularly keen in taking no for an answer.”

  “But she was engaged!”

  “Yeah, but she was only with that guy for a few months. She’d worked with Tim for a lot longer than that.”

  “So Felicia told you that Tim wasn’t taking no for an answer?” asked Johanna, suddenly feeling the need to get out of there.

  Dean seemed to shrink in his seat. “She mentioned it.”

  Elise looked at her husband. “Dean Klatworthy! Did Felicia Marshall complain to you about Tim Shaw?”

  “I mean, she mentioned he’d come on to her…”

  “And did you have a talk with Tim about it?”

  “I offered to have a talk with Tim about it, but she told me to wait. She didn’t want to appear weak or make things any more uncomfortable between them,” said Dean. “She said she’d come to me if anything else happened.”

  “Dean! You were her boss! You should have spoken to Tim about it anyway. If both Felicia and Amy were having problems with him, that’s a hostile work environment for sure!”

  Johanna glanced furtively towards the door.

  “Yeah, we need to go. We got the wrong guy,” said Whitley, standing up and heading for the door. Rocky glanced over at her and barked.

  Johanna patted his head. “Oh, gosh. It looks like Rocky needs to go outside.” She smiled nervously. “Nature calls. Listen, I think I got everything I needed for my book.” She stood up.

  Dean looked up at her curiously. “That was it?”

  “Mm-hmm.” Johanna nodded. While she wanted to rip Dean apart for not doing anything about Felicia’s problems, that wasn’t her job. Her job was to put a murderer behind bars, and that was what she needed to do. “Thank you both. I’ll just see myself out.”

  Despite her offer to walk herself out, Elise followed her to the door. “I feel horrible that my husband didn’t help Felicia if she was having problems with Tim. I didn’t even realize it was happening. I certainly would have made him help her if I had known.”

  “I know. Thank you for your time, Elise.” Johanna shook her hand. “I really appreciate your help.”

  “Anytime.” She was just about to shut the door when she stopped and peered out at Johanna in the hallway. “Oh, say, when will Felicia’s story be out in paperback? I’d love to read it.”

  Johanna smiled. “I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to be able to write it. This case has hit really close to home. I’ll send you a copy if it gets written. Thanks for your help. Merry Christmas.”

  “Merry Christmas, Ms. Hughes.”

  As Johanna and her crew headed back down the hallway, she pulled out her phone and began texting again.

  “Who are you texting?” asked Whitley, looking over her shoulder.

  “Mitch. I’m telling him there’s been a change of plans. He needs to meet us over at the Four Seasons Realty office immediately. And this time, I hope he shows up.”

  34

  Johanna pushed open the glass doors at the Four Seasons Realty office.
“Hello, Roz, is Mr. Shaw in?”

  The secretary, glanced up from her computer and smiled at Johanna. “Oh, hello, Ms. Hughes. Yes, Mr. Shaw is in. Do you have an appointment?”

  Johanna shook her head. “No, I don’t, actually. Would it still be possible to see him?”

  “Umm, let me just check his calendar.” Roz clicked through a few screens on her computer.

  “While you’re checking his calendar, would you mind if my cat and dog come inside? I know your sign says no pets, but it’s really cold out there.” Johanna pointed through the glass to Rocky and Esmerelda who stood next to Whitley on the sidewalk.

  Roz winced. “Oooh, I’m so sorry, Ms. Hughes. I’m not supposed to allow pets in.”

  Johanna swished her lips off to the side. She’d assumed they would be allowed in since Tim had allowed Rocky in a few days ago. “They’re really well behaved. Tim let Rocky in, just the other day in fact.”

  Roz nodded conspiringly. “Yeah, Janet had a fit about that. She’s got allergies and said that the dog made her sneeze for the rest of the day. Mr. Shaw said we needed to enforce the policy after that. I’m really sorry.”

  Johanna sighed and debated her options. Was it a good idea to go in without Rocky or Mitch present? She knew deep down in her heart that it wasn’t, but where was Mitch?

  Roz pointed at her computer screen. “It looks like Tim’s free. I’ll just give him a buzz real quick and let him know you’re here. Hang on.” Roz picked up the receiver and called Tim’s office before Johanna could change her mind. “Mr. Shaw, Johanna Hughes is here to see you again.” She paused for a moment. “No. Mm-hmm, she’s alone. Okay, thank you.” She hung up the phone and looked at Johanna brightly. “He said you can go back.”

  Johanna’s heart had already begun beating wildly in her chest. She looked out at Rocky and wondered if she could actually confront Tim without him. She gnawed on her bottom lip. Tim wouldn’t dare do anything to her at the office, would he? After all, then everyone would know what he’d done. They were in a public building. She was safe. She could do this. She gave Roz a tight grin.