Murder is Secondary: A Susan Wiles Schoolhouse Mystery

by Diane Weiner

  “Do you remember our server’s name?”

  “Mary. It was Mary.”

  “And the cookies spell?”

  “Me. They spell Me. Wood U Mary Me. Would you marry me? Is that what you’re trying to say?” Jackson got down on his knees and pulled out the ring.

  “Theresa Rizzo, I love you so much and want to spend my life with you. Would you marry me?”

  Theresa jumped out of her seat and let out a shriek. “Yes. Yes, of course, I’ll marry you! Oh Jacky, I love you so much! This is the best night ever.” Jackson slipped the ring onto her finger. It was a perfect fit. Customers at nearby tables applauded and Mary came out with a bottle of champagne. Jackson felt like the luckiest man in the world.

  Chapter 50

  Susan was finishing her second cup of coffee when her phone rang. She was still trying to decide if what Amber’s mother had said at the gravestone counted as a confession when her phone rang.

  “Mom, it’s me.”

  “Hi, Lynette. Is everything okay?” Susan knew her daughter’s due date was quickly approaching and every time the phone rang, that’s where Susan’s mind went.

  “I’m fine. I wanted to call with some great news. Jackson proposed to Theresa last night.”

  “Oh, that is wonderful news. They make a great couple. I’m so happy for them.”

  “Me too. Hey, I also wanted to tell you that Jackson spoke to the valet and got a written statement that Phillip was there that night and that he’d left shortly after the ceremony began.”

  “I’m still waiting on the lab for the DNA analysis from the cigarette butts you found outside. Are you and Dad going to the bench dedication at the school this evening?”

  “We’ll be there. I think it was a wonderful idea that the school had a bench made and inscribed with Amber’s name.”

  “Let me get to work. We’ll talk later.”

  Susan hung up with Lynette and called both Jackson and Theresa to congratulate them. Then she thought about stopping by to see Dalia. Zach’s body should probably be released soon. She got dressed and headed to the Rocking Horse. When she got there, Dalia was in her room packing. She was still in her bathrobe.

  “So, it looks like you’ll finally be heading home,” said Susan.

  “Yes, the police said they’ll be releasing the body soon. I’ll go back to New Jersey and will work with Zach’s mother and sister to plan a funeral.”

  “Have you decided what you’re going to do now that Zach is gone? Will you stay in New Jersey?”

  “I’ll stay at least until the baby is born. After that, I’m not sure.” Dalia’s phone rang. “Excuse me a minute. I’ll take this in the bathroom.”

  Susan looked around the room. The lid on Dalia’s suitcase was shut, but not zipped. Susan couldn’t resist taking a peek. She let out a gasp when she saw what was inside.

  Chapter 51

  It was definitely feeling like November. Susan pulled her coat tighter. Mike put his arm around her. Judging by the crowd gathered around at the bench dedication, no one would have guessed how unpopular Amber had been. Students, faculty, friends, and family members came out in droves to honor Amber Bernstein. The school principal gave a short speech, followed by the Bernsteins thanking the school for their thoughtfulness. Several friends shared memories and many tears were shed. Jackson and Theresa were there. Susan was surprised, but pleased that Dalia and Phillip had come. Dalia had told her she wanted to pay her respects but Susan had doubted that she’d show up.

  “Julie, Joey, how are things going? Enjoying your freedom, Tank?” asked Susan. Tank had his arm around Julie. Julie had gone back to her natural light hair color and Susan thought that she was looking especially pretty these days.

  “I feel like a truck has been lifted off my chest. I can’t even tell you how much I’m appreciating my freedom,” said Tank. Susan saw him squeeze Julie’s waist.

  “I see your hand is no longer bandaged Joey,” said Susan.

  “Yep. It’s good as new. Just in time for volleyball season.” Most of the crowd had already dispersed when Jackson called a small group together in front of the school.

  “Julie, Joey, Mr. and Mrs. Bernstein, come over here for a few minutes. “Dalia, Phillip, don’t go just yet.”

  “What’s this about?” asked Dalia. She looked around. She was twisting the fringes of her scarf around her fingers.

  “I have some important news to share,” said Jackson. He stood up tall and cleared his throat. “We have identified Zach’s killer.”

  There were audible gasps and stunned expressions. Jackson paused long enough to create additional suspense, then continued. He turned to Julie.

  “Julie Martin; I mean Kaitlyn Chichester, you had a strong motive for killing Zach, but an eyewitness has placed you inside the house while Zach was still alive on the patio. Luckily for you, the Martin family is not going to press charges against you for stealing their daughter’s identity.”

  “Thank God,” said Julie/Kaitlyn. “I did steal Julie’s identity, but of course, I didn’t kill Zach. I’m glad you know that now. And I’ll be sure to thank Julie’s parents.” Jackson moved on.

  “Dalia Chichester, you had similar reasons for wanting Zach dead but you also have been cleared by an eye witness,” said Jackson. He glanced at Theresa, thankful that she’d been able to help him with the case by placing Dalia inside the house while Zach was still alive on the patio.

  “If I had wanted Zach dead, I’d have killed him long ago,” said Dalia. “Besides, I could never murder the father of my baby.” She stopped twisting her scarf fringe and patted her barely visible baby bump. Phillip glared at her, clenching his fists. Next, Jackson turned to Joey.

  “Joey Martin. You received shocking news the night of the shower. News that put your mother in danger. Your temper caused you to punch the side of the Wiles’ house and badly injure your hand the night of the murder. This happened while you and your girlfriend were still hiding behind the tool shed.”

  “How did you…”

  “Carolina Rogers told us. Don’t worry. It turned out to be a good thing. With the severity of your injury, it would have been nearly impossible for you to push your father into the Jacuzzi and then throw in the boom box.”

  “Mr. Bernstein.” The crowd now turned to stare at him. “You probably had the strongest motive of all for murder. Zachary Chichester killed your only child. You admitted to being at the shower the night of the murder. Several witnesses saw someone lurking behind the patio. There were reports of a man’s voice being heard out on the patio. Cigarette butts were found outside the Wiles’ house and you’re a smoker.” Gasps came from the crowd. Jackson stood tall with his chest puffed out like a penguin. All eyes were on him as he continued.

  “Fortunately for you, the DNA on the cigarette butts was not yours. It matched someone else. Someone who stood to gain financially. Someone who needed Zach out of the way so he could be with the supposed mother of his child. Someone whose alibi was proven to be false.”

  “You mean it wasn’t you?” Mrs. Bernstein turned to her husband incredulously. “I thought you did it, Robert. After I made you go over to that woman’s house and...”

  “No, it wasn’t me, Rebecca,” he said, “but I wish it had been. I envy the person who crushed the life out of that monster.” He put his arms around his wife and placed his chin against the top of her head.

  “So do I,” whispered Rebecca Bernstein between sobs.

  “Who was it?” asked Bernstein, looking over at Jackson. The crowd looked around at each other. There was a silence. Jackson spoke slowly and deliberately. “It was Zach’s business partner. It was Phillip Bachman.” With a dramatic flair, Jackson pointed at Phillip.

  Someone gasped. Amongst the crowd, eyes opened wide and mouths gaped.

  “We determined that you had indeed been at the Chamber of Commerce awards ceremony the night of the murder, but we have a witness who gave a sworn deposition stating that he brought your car to you sho
rtly after the ceremony began. Should I go on? Here’s another thing. My partner discovered that you have been embezzling money from the company for years and sending it to an off-shore account.” There were more gasps from the crowd. Jackson was obviously enjoying the attention, taking his time revealing each new piece of evidence.

  “And the most incriminating evidence of all––the DNA found on the cigarette butts matched yours.” Jackson pointed his index finger at Phillip.

  “That still isn’t proof that I committed the murder.” Suddenly, Phillip bolted through the crowd, trying to escape.

  “Stop in the name of the law,” cried Jackson. Susan imagined Jackson practicing that line over and over again in his bathroom mirror. Susan had often thought that if Jackson hadn’t become a detective, he would have had a good shot at being an actor.

  Tank, who’d been standing next to Julie the whole time, took off after Phillip. It wasn’t long before Tank caught up to him and tackled him to the ground. Jackson caught up several minutes later and snapped the cuffs on Phillip.

  “Nice work,” said Jackson.

  “I haven’t run like that since my days as a linebacker for the Westbrook High Cougars,” replied Tank.

  Phillip wasn’t making Jackson’s job easy. He wriggled and pulled, trying to get out of the cuffs. He was shouting, “I’m not going down alone for this.” He pointed at Dalia. “She was the mastermind. She planned the whole thing. She made me do it.”

  “Shut your trap. You’re making things worse for yourself. If I were you, I wouldn’t say a word without your lawyer present,” said Jackson. He started leading him toward the cruiser.

  “Wait,” shouted Susan, stepping to the front of the group. Now all eyes were focused on her. “He’s right. There’s more to this story. Dalia did put him up to it.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” said Dalia. “Why would I do such a thing?” Once again, she twisted the scarf fringe around her fingers.

  Susan turned to her. “You were romantically involved with Phillip, or at least you were pretending to be. When you came to the shower, you said you were almost late because you had a last minute phone call. I was pretty sure that call was to Phillip. My guess is that you told him something to inflame the situation. Did you tell him Zach had found out about your affair, or maybe that Zach threatened you?”

  “That’s total fiction. I did no such thing,” insisted Dalia.

  “There’s no use denying it. My daughter looked up your phone records and we have confirmation that you called him. She also found that you were a co-signer on those off-shore accounts.”

  “That still proves nothing.”

  “Perhaps you called Phillip and told him Zach was going to reveal the truth about Julie that night. You told him not to let it happen because it would blow your plan to pieces. If Julie and Joey knew the truth, perhaps they’d try to claim the insurance money. Since Julie was still alive, perhaps your marriage to Zach would have been invalid, leaving you without a cent from him or the big house in Saddle River.”

  “I still would have had the money from the offshore accounts.”

  “Not if Phillip found out the truth.”

  “What truth?” said Dalia.

  “That you had planned to get him to do the dirty work all along. You had no intention of staying with Phillip once Zach was dead. You wanted him to get arrested.”

  “That’s absurd. I love Phillip. I would not have chosen to raise our baby all alone,” said Dalia.

  “That brings me to one last thing.” The entire group was staring at Susan. “You aren’t even pregnant. When you took that phone call in your hotel room that day, I peeked inside your suitcase and guess what I saw?”

  “Tell me,” said Dalia.

  “Birth control pills. You were faking the whole pregnancy, allowing both Phillip and Zach to think they were the father. You were playing both of them. And another thing. I found a one-way ticket to Rio de Janeiro. A single ticket.” She wagged her index finger at Dalia. “You had no intention of taking Phillip along with you.”

  “You bitch!” yelled Phillip.

  Jackson stepped forward. He put a pair of cuffs on Dalia and led the two of them to the police cruiser.

  Chapter 52

  “Can you believe all that went down last night?” said Mike. He and Susan were enjoying a leisurely breakfast.

  “That Dalia was quite the conniver. What a piece of work. I’m so glad that Julie, I mean Kaitlyn, and Joey are free from worry. I think things are heating up between Kaitlyn and Tank.”

  “It’s about time Tank found some happiness,” said Mike. “I have to admit I’m proud of you for putting together Dalia’s plan. Are you going over to Lynette’s today?”

  “Yes. I’m going to help her organize the baby clothes in the new dresser. Jason put together the changing table last week. The room is just about ready for our grandbaby.” Susan rubbed her hands together.

  “Well, have fun. I’ll see you at dinner.” Mike kissed Susan and went to work. Susan cleared the breakfast dishes and headed to Lynette’s.

  “You doing okay?” asked Susan when she arrived. Her daughter had dark circles under her eyes and was rubbing her lower back.

  “I sure am. Can’t wait to pop this little one out though. Great job on the case, Mom. I doubt we would have ever found out that Dalia was faking the pregnancy. I’m sure she thought Phillip would go to jail and she’d be scot-free––rich and living in Rio de Janiero.”

  “Well, justice was done. Now, maybe Julie, I mean Kaitlyn, and Tank can be happy. Maybe they’ll even get married one day. Speaking of which, have Jackson and Theresa set a date?”

  “Not yet. They’re thinking summer though. Theresa is free then and things tend to slow down at the station during the summer months.”

  “That’s wonderful. Let’s get to work on those baby clothes,” said Susan.

  “Mom. We’d better hurry. I think my water just broke.”

  Chapter 53

  “Oh, my gosh. Where’s your bag? Call Jason. Did you pack diapers?” Susan was speaking quickly and pacing around the room in circles.

  “Calm down, Mom. The contractions haven’t even…..ouch…I take that back. I’m pretty sure that was a contraction.”

  “Let’s go then,” said Susan. She looked around for Lynette’s bag. She was so excited that she dropped the car keys. She called Jason and Mike from the car and sped to the hospital. They whisked Lynette away to labor and delivery while Susan waited for the guys.

  “Where is she?” Jason came running through the hospital doors. His hair was damp with sweat. “Is she okay?”

  “They took her back. Tell the nurse at the counter and they’ll bring you to her. Good luck. Come out and tell us the minute that baby is here,” said Susan. The door had barely swung closed when Mike came in.

  “Susan, where is she?” asked Mike. He was breathing hard. Susan could tell that he’d run all the way from the parking lot.

  “She’s in the back with Jason. All we can do now is wait. I can’t stand it.”

  “Do you want some coffee or anything?”

  “I think the last thing I need right now is caffeine.” They waited for hours. Susan tried to distract herself, taking out her phone and opening her kindle app. She couldn’t focus on the story and kept rereading the same page. Mike tried to play a game on his phone. Susan kept hearing the sound that indicated he’d lost a round. Obviously his mind was also elsewhere too. After a while, Jason came out. They ran over to him.

  “She’s six centimeters dilated and the contractions are coming every few minutes. It won’t be too much longer,” said Jason. He went back to Lynette. More hours passed. Mike was pacing; Susan drank luke warm coffee. Jason came out a second time. Susan’s heart pounded. Was her grandbaby here now?

  “She’s nine centimeters. She’ll be pushing soon.” Jason looked sweaty and tired.

  “I can’t stand the waiting,” said Susan. She picked at her cuticles.

  “We do
n’t have much choice,” said Mike. “Did you call Evan and tell him?”

  “Yes, I did. He’s really excited and wants to be here so bad. Sometimes St. Louis just seems so far away.”

  “He’s coming home for Thanksgiving next week. He’ll meet his new niece or nephew soon enough. I can’t stand this waiting. Did you make a decision about finding your birth mom?” Susan knew this was his attempt to distract her from the anticipation.

  “I think I’m going to do it. Once Lynette recovers and things settle down a little, she’ll know the best way to go about it.” Jason came bursting through the door into the waiting room. He was smiling from ear to ear.” Susan and Mike immediately accosted him.

  “Well?” said Susan.

  “Is Lynette okay? Is the baby okay?”

  “They are both doing great. What a miracle I just witnessed!” Jason was grinning from ear to ear.

  “Well, is it a boy or a girl?” said Susan. Jason took a deep breath.

  “It’s a healthy eight pound……..

  THE END

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Diane Weiner is a mother of four and a veteran public school teacher with a broad range of teaching experience. She has previously published several music education articles as well as a doctoral dissertation but finds writing fiction to be much more fun. Her first cozy mystery was Murder Is Elementary. Westbrook, NY, the fictional setting of her Susan Wiles Schoolhouse mysteries, bears remarkable similarities to the small town in upstate New York where Diane grew up. She currently resides in South Florida with her husband of many years, their youngest daughter, two cats, and a bisch-a-poo. When not writing, Diane enjoys long distance running and spending time with her family.

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