Murdered in Argentina: A Jack Trout Cozy Mystery

by Dianne Harman

  “WrapAround Graphics. If it moves, we can cover it with an advertisement. How may I direct your call?” the voice on the other end asked.

  “I’d like to speak with Colin Scott. Please tell him I have some information about Moving Graphics that I think will interest him.”

  “Just one moment,” the receptionist said. “I’ll see if he’s in.”

  After several moments a deep male voice came on the line. “This is Colin Scott. Who am I speaking with?”

  “Mr. Scott, you don’t know me. My name is Carola Trout. I’m calling from Argentina. A competitor of yours, Ray Martin, was murdered at a fishing lodge here last night.”

  “Miss Trout…”

  “Please, call me Carola.”

  “All right, Carola,” he said in a deep voice, clearly startled. “You’ve caught me completely by surprise. That’s terrible news! I know Ray was getting ready to take a group from his company fishing in Argentina. What happened?”

  Carola filled him in on the details and said, “If you can spare me a few minutes of your time, I’d like to ask you some questions.”

  “Of course, but let me start by saying I didn’t do it, and none of my people did it. Ray and I were worthy opponents. Actually, we often had drinks at industry conferences we attended. Sure, we went after the same customers, and sometimes I got them, and sometimes he got them, but we were friends, actually pretty close friends. I can’t think of anyone who would want Ray dead. What’s going to happen to the company?”

  “I don’t know. His wife is getting in touch with their lawyer right now. Other than that, I can’t tell you anything. I spent some time researching your company, and I didn’t see anything that raises a red flag with me. What I would ask of you, particularly since you and Ray were friends, is what you can tell me about some of the people who worked for Ray.”

  “Sure, I’m happy to help if I can. You realize this is going to be really big news in our industry. Ray was kind of like an idol to most of us. He was a hard-nosed businessman, but he’s mentored a lot of people in our industry. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say anything bad about him, and he may be the only one in this industry I can say that about. He’s really going to be missed. How’s his wife doing?”

  “Better than I would have thought,” Carola said.

  “Gotta be hard for her. Ray always talked about how much money she spent. Often said he’d have to work until he was a hundred, just to keep her in the style to which she’d become accustomed. Funny thing was, he always smiled when he said it. I always got the feeling he really cared for her. Please convey my condolences.”

  “I will. What can you tell me about Mitch Graham?”

  “I heard Ray say on a number of occasions he was the heir apparent to Moving Graphics, but that the king wasn’t dead yet. In other words, it seemed like Mitch was pushing Ray a bit to retire. Never heard anything negative about him other than Ray would have preferred for him to be a little less vocal in his desire to take Ray’s place.”

  “Do you think he was capable of murdering Ray, so he could become president? He seems to have a lot to gain from Ray’s death,” Carola said.

  “I’ve known Mitch for a long time, and I can’t see him as a murderer. He’s a family man, pretty much devoted to his wife and kids. He may have wanted to be president, and I know stranger things have happened, but I just don’t see him as a murderer.”

  “All right. What about Brad Dixon?”

  “Interesting you should mention him. I talked to Ray a couple of days before he left for Argentina. He’d had lunch with Brad earlier that day and was really frustrated, because all Brad wanted to talk about was Ray’s antique fishing equipment. Although I never saw it and I don’t fish, I know Ray was pretty proud of it. He did tell me he thought Brad was a little overly interested in it. I guess Brad told him that not many people knew that he, Brad, collected fishing gear, but he’d never seen anything like the items Ray had in his collection. I don’t know what that has to do with the company or Ray’s death, just thought I’d mention it.”

  Glad you did, Carola thought. Might have everything to do with his murder.

  “I really appreciate your time, Colin. Can you tell me anything about a woman named Janelle Byers?”

  He was quiet for several moments and then in a guarded voice he said, “Why do you ask?”

  “Well, evidently she was Ray’s Chief Financial Officer, and she’s here on the trip.”

  “That’s interesting. I’ve not met her but I’ve heard some things about her husband-to-be,” Colin said.

  “Would you mind sharing them with me?”

  “A friend of mine is an attorney who put a large sum of money in her fiancé’s firm. Her husband-to-be, Andrew White, is involved in the wealth management business. His clients are all high wealth individuals. They turn their liquid assets over to him and, for a fee, he invests for them. Recently my friend became semi-retired and decided he wanted to manage the funds himself. He told Andrew he wanted to take his money out of Andrew’s investment company. That was several weeks ago and so far, my friend hasn’t received his requested funds from Andrew. He’s become very suspicious and is about ready to report him to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

  “Plus, there was a little scandal regarding Janelle several years ago. There were rumors she’d embezzled some funds from a company she was working for, but by the time the authorities were called in, no funds were missing. She quit the company a short time later. Ray and I talked about it when he was considering hiring her. Even though Ray’s wife is beautiful, he was still a sucker for a good-looking woman. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never known Ray to be a player, but I think the reason Ms. Byers got the job was partly because of her looks. Think Ray turned a blind eye to the rumors. I always thought he’d made a mistake when he did that. I certainly wouldn’t have hired her.”

  Hmmm, a husband-to-be with money troubles coupled with the conversation I overheard last night at dinner between Ray and Janelle is certainly worth exploring.

  “Carola, is there anything else you need from me? I’m late for a meeting that I really need to get to, since I’m in charge of it.”

  “No, you’ve been more than helpful. If you think of anything else, would you call me? Here’s my number,” she said giving it to him.

  “Has Ray’s death been made public?” Colin asked. “I’ve heard nothing about it, but there are a couple of people who I think should be told before it becomes hot fodder for the rumor mill.”

  “I’m sure people are finding out by now. I think I can safely say that it would be fine to tell whoever you think needs to know.”

  “Thank you. One more thing, why are you involved in trying to find out who murdered Ray?”

  “There are two reasons. My husband is one of the best known fly fishing guides in the United States. He also oversees a number of fly fishing trips throughout the world. This situation could damage his reputation, and he’s worked too hard to get to where he is for that to happen. Secondly, Ray’s wife asked me to help her find the murderer. Again, thanks for your time.”

  CHAPTER 22

  When Carola ended her phone call to Colin Scott, she stood up and stretched, willing the fatigue from the previous sleepless night to leave. She walked down to the kitchen, hoping to find some tea.

  “Ahh, Pilar, I’m sorry to trouble you, but as you can imagine, I didn’t sleep well last night, and I was hoping I could get a cup of tea.”

  “Not a problem. You know I always keep the kettle on. There’s a bowl next to it with several different kinds of tea in it. Help yourself. I was wondering if I should prepare a plate of food for dinner and take it up to Senora Martin. I doubt she’ll want to come down for dinner tonight.”

  “How thoughtful of you, Pilar. I’ll take it up to her, and I’m sure you’re right. She’s doing well, but I think she’s still somewhat in shock. Even though Jack gave her a sedative last night, I don’t think she slept very
well. Thanks for the tea. I’d love to stay and talk, but I have a few things I need to do in my room.”

  Carola walked back upstairs and sat for a few moments looking out at the lake while she sipped her tea. She was curious about Andrew White and decided to see what she could find out about him on the Internet. She typed in his name.

  Forty-five minutes later she finished her search, glad that Colin had given her his name. She sat for several moments, absorbing what she’d found out. While she was thinking about what she should do with the information she’d found, she heard a light knock on the door. Carola walked over to it and asked, “Who is it?” thinking that she’d never done that before when she’d stayed at the lodge. She’d always opened the door immediately. She knew she was probably spooked because of Ray’s murder.

  “It’s me, Lisa.”

  Carola opened the door, “Come in. By the way, I talked to Pilar a little while ago, and she suggested you take dinner in your room this evening. She didn’t think you’d want to mingle with everyone at dinner tonight.”

  “That’s a relief. I was wondering how I could get out of that. I’m doing okay, but I’m not ready to sit at a dinner table and make a lot of small talk. I’d probably put a damper on everyone’s enjoyment of the meal. Thanks.”

  “No problem,” Carola said. “I’ll bring it up just before she serves dinner to the guests.”

  “I found out a lot of things that I’d like to tell you. How did you do?” Lisa asked as she sat down in one of the chairs by the window that overlooked the lake.

  “I learned a lot of interesting information, but let’s start with what you found out,” Carola said, picking up a pen and a pad of paper from the table next to her.

  “Well,” Lisa began, “The first person I talked to was our lawyer, Sid Benson. I wanted to find out exactly what was in Ray’s trust and what he had planned on doing with Moving Graphics if something ever happened to him. Naturally, Sid was shocked to hear that Ray had been murdered. He’d been Ray’s attorney ever since Ray started Moving Graphics, and he’d seen the company grow from an idea Ray had to becoming the most successful company of its type in the United States.”

  “Are you the new owner of the company?” Carola asked.

  “I am. As I told you, I was pretty sure Ray had left everything to me, and he did, with no strings attached. His lawyer told me Ray had written a letter indicating what he’d like me to do with the company in the event of his death or if he became incapacitated. He suggested I name Mitch Graham as president of the company.

  “Even though Ray left the company to me, he didn’t feel I had the business acumen to take on the presidency of it, and he was absolutely right about that. He suggested I have Mitch pay me a yearly amount from the profits of the company, so I’d have a steady source of income. He wanted me to be the sole owner of the company but not run it, which I think was a smart thing for him to do. As long as I don’t have to do anything on a day-to-day basis, that sounds fine to me.”

  “When are you going to tell Mitch about this?” Carola asked.

  “I think when they return from fishing today. I’m concerned that what Ray used to call ‘bottom feeders’ will try to take some of the accounts away from Moving Graphics, and Mitch probably needs to get things started to prevent that.”

  “Sounds to me like you’re a little more business savvy than you let on,” Carola said smiling.

  “I very well might have learned a few things through osmosis,” Lisa said, grinning back at her. “Sid and I discussed having a Celebration of Ray’s Life at our home in San Francisco in two weeks. Over the years Ray and I have been big donors to a lot of non-profit organizations, so I imagine it will be well attended, and of course, everyone from Moving Graphics will be invited and will probably be there.

  “He suggested that I simply rest and take it easy for now and let his secretary make all the necessary arrangements for it. She and I talked for quite a while about who should do the catering, the flowers, renting chairs and tables, and all that stuff. She was going to start working on it as soon as we ended our conversation. When I get back I’ll finish up anything that needs to be done, but she seems to be very efficient. That’s a huge thing to have out of the way.”

  “I’m glad she’s taking that load off your shoulders. You have enough to do without that.”

  “Oh, one other thing,” Lisa said. ‘She was also going to contact a San Francisco mortuary she’d done business with in the past and have a hearse meet us at the plane when we land in San Francisco. I hadn’t even thought of that.”

  “Nor had I. Anything else?”

  “Yes. I had a long talk with Ray’s administrative assistant, Bea Lawrence. She’s devastated by his death. I asked her if she would be very honest with me about her opinion of the employees who had come on the trip with Ray. She was.”

  “I’m all ears. I’ve also found out some things about them. What did you find out?”

  She likes Mitch a lot. Bea said she knew he wanted to be president, but didn’t think that was the least bit unusual given that Ray told everyone Mitch was going to take his place someday. What was interesting was what she said about Brad.”

  “I’m curious, because I picked up a little information on him as well.”

  Lisa continued, “Bea said Ray rarely became angry, but when he returned from lunch with Brad last week he was uncharacteristically mad. He made several comments that if Brad cared more about Ray’s antique fishing equipment than he did about the advertising budget, maybe he should quit the company and just spend his time taking care of his fishing equipment collection. Bea thought that was very strange.”

  “Sounds to me like Brad was really fixated on Ray’s gear. I had a long conversation with Colin Scott, the president of WrapAround Graphics. Evidently he and Ray occasionally met for drinks when they were attending industry events. Anyway, they talked last week after Brad and Ray had their lunch meeting. He told me Ray was frustrated because all Brad wanted to talk about at lunch was Ray’s fishing equipment rather than the advertising budget.”

  “I don’t know, Carola. I find it hard to believe someone would want some old fishing gear bad enough to commit murder. What do you think?”

  “I honestly don’t know either, but I do think we should keep him up near the top of our list of possible suspects, particularly since the antique Winston split bamboo fly rod and Hardy Perfect reel are missing.

  “Excuse me, Lisa, that whining sound you hear is Cayo. It’s time for his dinner. I feed him about this time, so his dinner doesn’t interfere with our dinner. Give me a minute.” She opened a can of cat food and put it in a bowl. Within minutes the whining had turned into a purr.

  CHAPTER 23

  “Okay, Lisa, now that Cayo’s been fed, let’s continue. Did you find anything else out from Sid?”

  “Yes, it has to do with Ray’s antique fishing equipment. Evidently Ray had it insured for a lot of money, and Sid asked what I was going to do with it. I told him I had no idea, because it was missing. He feels that Ray’s murder might have something to do with the missing fishing equipment. Sid asked what the police were doing about the murder. When I told him nothing, he couldn’t believe it. He thought I should call some California politicians I know and have them look into it.

  “I told him it’s been my experience that politicians take forever to get things done in the United States, and I couldn’t even begin to imagine how long it would take for them to have any influence in a foreign country. I told him if I did that the murderer would be long gone before anyone got around to doing anything. I told him I was working with a private investigator, and that seemed to satisfy him.”

  “Lisa, I’m hardly a private investigator, but thanks for the compliment. Sid might be right. Ray’s death could be tied to his fishing equipment. Certainly Brad is at the top of that list when it comes to tying together Ray’s death and the missing fishing equipment. I also think we should add Pablo, the fishing guide, to that list. He has a
motive with his desperate need for money for his wife’s cancer treatment, but what bothers me is he’s so poor, he doesn’t even have a car.

  “How does someone without a car and of limited means sell valuable fishing equipment like Ray’s? He’d have to rely on someone to take him to a large city like Buenos Aires, and people there would no doubt find out he wasn’t the owner of the equipment. I doubt that anyone in San Martin would be interested in spending that kind of money for antique fishing equipment, even if Pablo could get it to town. I would think he would do best to try and sell the equipment at auction, but there’s a lot involved in getting something to auction, plus it might really raise some red flags when a very poor individual like Pablo brings in some priceless fishing gear and wants to auction it off. I’ll talk to him this afternoon, but I just can’t believe Pablo had anything to do with it.”

  “Yes, based on what you just said, it does seem unlikely.”

  “I found something else out from the owner of WrapAround Graphics that I think is very interesting. I asked him if he knew anything about some of the people we’ve talked about. When I mentioned Janelle Byers, he became very quiet.”

  “Why was that?” Lisa asked.

  “Evidently there was a bit of a scandal several years ago about an embezzlement taking place at the company where she was working at the time. Although there were hints she was involved, nothing could be proven and even if there had been money missing, by the time the investigators looked into it, there was no indication an embezzlement had ever taken place.”

  “That hardly ties her to Ray’s murder.”

  “I know,” Carola said, “just hear me out. There’s more. She’s engaged to be married to the owner of an investment company. Here’s what Colin told me he knew about the man whose name is Andrew White.” She told Lisa what he’d told her and concluded with, “There’s more. I just spent an hour on the Internet looking him up, and I found out plenty.”