Murder in the Middle: A Susan Wiles Schoolhouse Mystery

by Diane Weiner

  “What do you mean?” said Susan.

  “You know about men acting like bastards. Remember, he hurt your daughter. He left her.”

  “You mean Caleb Bartolo? Did he do something to you?”

  “Not him this time. It was that other son of a bitch. Rusty.”

  “Rusty Sumter?”

  “Yeah. He pretended he was my boyfriend. They lie. All of them. The devil lives in their souls.”

  “So tell me what happened?”

  “The creep broke up with me. Said he didn’t think things were working out. Dumped me just like Caleb did.”

  “Men. They don’t know a good thing if it bites them on the nose. It’s his loss.”

  “He’s going to pay for this. This time I’m getting even.” She turned to Jackson. “You have to arrest him. He’s a thief, a two-bit crook.”

  Jackson scooted closer. “What are you talking about? Did you see him steal something?”

  “I sure saw him breaking and entering. That’s what they call it, isn’t it? When someone gets in through a window and sneaks around someone’s house? When someone fools around on a computer that doesn’t belong to him?”

  “Are you saying you saw Rusty do that?” asked Jackson.

  “Sure did. And more than once. Satan controls him.” She clasped her hands and prayed, “Hail Mary, full of grace….”

  “Whose house did he break into?” said Jackson.

  “Caleb’s. Ha. He didn’t know I was there. I thought he was sneaking around on me with another girl so I followed him. Wasn’t gonna be played for a fool. Not again.”

  “You followed him to Caleb Bartolo’s house?”

  “Yep. He took something out of the back of the truck. Looked like a crowbar. I watched him stick it in the window and jimmy it open. Then I snuck myself over to peek in. He was typing something on Caleb’s laptop.”

  “Did you see what he was writing?”

  “Too far away.”

  Jackson leaned in. “Did he take anything?”

  “Nope. Just typed on the computer. Went back out the window and I followed him back to his house.”

  “And then?”

  “Then I went back home and went to bed. After I wrote in my diary.”

  Susan chimed in. “You said he did that more than once?”

  “Yep. Two more times that I saw. The last one was the night Caleb was murdered. We had dinner, then he said he had to go home and do something for his Dad. I followed him again, to make sure the bastard wasn’t lying.”

  “Did you see him leave the house? Was Caleb inside? Did you see Rusty kill him?”

  “Wish I could say yes, but Caleb wasn’t home. His car wasn’t out front or nothing.”

  “Did you see anything else?”

  “Nope. The light was on in the main house and the farmer’s car was parked in the driveway. Nothing else.”

  “You did great, Lindsay,” said Susan. She gave her a hug. “You know you’re better off without him. You deserve much better.”

  Lindsay again turned to Jackson. “You’re gonna arrest him, right? You can tell him I turned him in. Put him in jail so he won’t hurt no one else.”

  “Thank you, Lindsay. We’ll get right on it. Are you feeling better now?”

  “Yes. Better.”

  As they walked out, Jackson told Lindsay’s mother to call Lindsay’s doctor. Mrs. Bateman assured him that she would. Susan and Jackson got back into the car.

  “Well, that seals it. Looks like Rusty is the one who killed Caleb,” said Susan.

  “Oh, no. We can’t jump to that conclusion. Lindsay saw him at Caleb’s the night of the murder, but she said Caleb wasn’t home. I’m sure she would’ve been happy to tell us if she saw Rusty kill him.”

  “What was he doing on Caleb’s computer?”

  “We have it in the evidence room. Didn’t find anything odd, other than the threats he e-mailed to Sophie.”

  “Rusty’s father said his son was great with computers. Is it possible that he used Caleb’s computer to write those threats himself?”

  “Why would he do that? We were going on the assumption that Rusty and Sophie were still seeing each other. They were on the same team.”

  “Yes,” said Susan. “On the same team. Exactly.”

  Chapter 50

  Susan noticed several voicemails from Mike but chose to ignore them. She sent a message to Theresa at school asking her to pick up the baby on her way home and bring her over. She had no car at the moment and figured Mike had to wait for Jason to leave the hospital in order to get a ride. That could take a while. Serves him right. She replayed the conversation she’d had with Lindsay––the one about men being bastards. She found herself agreeing. Agreeing with a crazy lady.

  Susan called her birth mother again. She didn’t expect anyone to pick up and was surprised to hear a woman’s voice on the other end of the line. She felt her throat get dry. Was this the moment she’d been playing over and over again in her mind?

  “Hello, my name is Susan Wiles.” She cleared her throat. “I got your number from the Georgia Babes Foundation. I….”

  “Georgia Babes? Who is this?”

  “I think I’m your daughter. I had a cheek swab done and the agency said they found a relative. They gave me your number.” She couldn’t summon up enough saliva in her mouth to swallow and felt herself choking.

  “Let me catch my breath. I registered with the same organization. Had a cheek swab too. Is your birthday March 10?”

  “Yes, it is.” There was silence on the other end of the line. Then a tentative voice spoke.

  “Susan.” There was a pause. “Your name is Susan?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “For 62 years I wondered what your name was.”

  “Then, you are my birth mother?”

  “Yes. I didn’t know where you were. That was part of the deal. I didn’t even know if you were still alive.”

  “Alive and kicking.”

  “And happy? Things turned out well?”

  “My parents were great. I suppose I should be thanking you.” Her hands were trembling.

  “Susan, I don’t want to do this over the phone. Where do you live?”

  “I’m in Westbrook, New York. It’s about 90 miles north of New York City.”

  “I’m down near Ft. Lauderdale. It’s hard for me to travel these days. Is there any chance of you flying down?”

  Susan didn’t hesitate. “I’ll be there as soon as I can arrange it. By the way, what is your name?”

  “I’m Audrey. Audrey Harrison. After all these years I’m going to meet my daughter.”

  Susan’s fingers were shaking as she ended the call. She sat down on the sofa next to Johann. Petting him helped her feel calm. She did it. She found her birth mother. She couldn’t wait to meet her and find the answer to all her questions. She couldn’t wait to tell Mike. Then she remembered she was mad at him. She wasn’t going to call him. She went over to her computer and started searching for flights to Ft. Lauderdale.

  When Mike got home, she gave him an icy greeting and simply stated that she would be leaving for Ft. Lauderdale the next day.

  “You talked to her? You found your birth mother?”

  “I don’t feel like talking about it with you. In fact, I don’t feel like talking to you at all.”

  “I’m still mad at you too. I can’t believe you did that to Lynette. And by the way, where’s the car?”

  “It’s being taken care of.”

  Chapter 51

  Susan turned off the alarm clock and peeked out her window. The ground was covered with snow and large flakes fell from the sky. Her flight was supposed to leave in a few hours. She turned on the local news and her heart dropped when she saw how bad the weather conditions were. Flights were being delayed or canceled by the dozens. She checked her flight, and indeed it was delayed by several hours. When she tried to call the airport shuttle service to change her reservation, no one even picked up.

&nbs
p; Mike hadn’t said a word to her since last night. He made himself breakfast and mumbled, “Have a good trip” as he slammed the front door. Susan knew he wasn’t daunted by driving in snowy weather. He simply took things slow and steady. As a matter of fact, he would have been her first choice as a ride to the airport, but not under the circumstances. Anyhow, she wouldn’t have wanted to sit next to him in silence the whole ride and she was too angry to speak to him. She preferred to avoid a heated argument. She had other things on her mind.

  Optimistically, she continued packing her carry-on suitcase as she watched the snow through her bedroom window. She even threw in a bathing suit. And a terry cloth cover-up. After all, women of a certain age shouldn’t be flaunting too much skin, now should they? A sunny Florida beach sounded very enticing right now. She dug out her sunglasses too.

  School closings and delays rolled along the bottom of the TV screen. Oh no. Her stomach dropped. ‘Breaking news’ announced the airport closure. After all this time, she was within hours of meeting her birth mother and now this. She felt sick. She wondered if Audrey would be as disappointed as she was about delaying their meeting. She sat on the bed for a few minutes, punched her pillow, and then called her.

  “Susan, I’m so disappointed. I was looking forward to meeting you. I even took the day off. It’s hard to imagine a snow storm while sitting here with the air conditioning on. It didn’t even cross my mind that the flight might be canceled.”

  “I’ll call the airline later and reschedule. I’ll see you as soon as I can.”

  “Can’t wait. See you soon.”

  Took the day off? That sounded crazy. Was her mother still out in the workforce at her age? She wished she had at least asked her what she did for a living. So many questions…

  She called the hospital to check on Lynette’s condition and was told that she would probably be going home in a few days. Then, she got a call from Antonio.

  “Bonjourno, Susan. I had some new information to share with you. The school is closed today, but yesterday afternoon, Sophie came into my office very upset.”

  “Why? She’s home safe and sound, and her abductor is dead.”

  “Turns out she received another threat,”

  “A threat? But Caleb is dead.”

  “That’s why she’s upset. If she’s still getting threats, then someone else has it in for her. Or, she thinks Caleb may have had a partner.”

  “Did she say who she thought this partner was?”

  “She thinks it’s her old high school sweetheart––Rusty Sumter. Look, I hate to keep bothering you about this situation, but rumors are already flying. A threating letter was slipped under her office door. Some of her officemates heard her scream, then they told their friends about it…you know the rest.”

  Susan and Jackson suspected Rusty of tampering with Caleb’s computer to make it look as though Caleb was threatening Sophie. Lindsay Bateman placed him at Caleb’s house and swears she saw Rusty using Caleb’s laptop.

  “Okay, Antonio. I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Grazi. I knew I could count on you.”

  Susan called Jackson to tell him about this new development. He picked up on the first ring.

  “Susan, I just called Lynette. She’s doing much better and will be coming home soon.”

  “Is she still mad at me?”

  “Well…yes. But she’ll get over it. Give her time. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Jackson, I just spoke with Antonio Petrocelli over at Westbrook Middle. He says Sophie is still having problems. A threatening note was slipped under her office door.”

  “Yeah, I know all about it. Sophie Bartolo came into the station this morning. Braved the snow and everything. She accused Rusty Sumter of threatening her. Wants me to arrest him.”

  “Are you going to?”

  “I don’t have enough to arrest him, but I’ll bring him in for questioning. I’m not sure I believe Sophie.”

  “Why not?”

  “For one thing, the guy is a computer whiz. Why risk going over to the school to slip a letter to Sophie when all he had to do was send an e-mail? We know he can cover his tracks so I doubt he was worried about it being traced.”

  “Hmmm. And if he still had a thing for Sophie, why threaten her? He knew she was dating Mitch Coniglio,” said Susan.

  “I’ve got to go, someone just came in and I’m manning the office alone right now.”

  “We’ll talk soon.”

  Susan finished booking her flight. She’d go to Florida over the weekend. The fare was significantly cheaper then anyway. She tried calling Audrey back, but it went straight to voicemail. House is clean, don’t want to drive in this weather….She pulled a brand new cozy mystery off the shelf, and snuggled up on the couch with her cats to read.

  Chapter 52

  Susan kept her eyes closed and lay still when Mike’s alarm went off. They still weren’t speaking. She wondered if he’d make a full pot of coffee before he left, or use the Keurig to make a single cup. His taking Lynette’s side over the medical thing still made her blood boil. After he left for work, Susan got out of bed and tried to call Audrey to tell her about her new travel plans. Audrey’s phone went straight to voicemail. That’s strange. Why isn’t she picking up? I was hoping she’d have called me back when she got yesterday’s message.

  Susan was going to the high school to volunteer today, but made a stop along the way. She entered the police station and heard voices coming from Jackson’s office. She decided to wait a few minutes before making her presence known. Was Jackson talking to Rusty? She hid behind the door.

  “Mr. Sumter, some serious accusations have been made against you. Do you know a woman named Sophie Bartolo?” Rusty shrugged.

  “Don’t play games with me, Mr. Sumter. We know you and Ms. Bartolo had a relationship. You’ve known each other since high school, correct?”

  “Yeah. So what? Hadn’t seen her in years. Why are you asking me questions if you already have the answer?”

  “Hold the attitude. And wipe that smirk off your face. Ms. Bartolo says you’ve been sending her threats.”

  “What? Why would I do that?”

  “Maybe you wanted her back. Maybe after you killed Caleb Bartolo and Sophie didn’t respond to your knight in shining armor act, you got angry and decided to put some pressure on.”

  “I ain’t talking no more.” Rusty got up to leave Jackson’s office. Jackson called after him. “You won’t be so smug when we arrest you.”

  Susan announced her arrival by blocking the office door. Rusty exhaled with audible annoyance.

  “Rusty, I wanted to thank you for your advice about the tub. Works great now. Lefty loosey, got to remember that for future reference.” Susan stretched her hands across the doorframe, blocking his exit.

  “Yeah, great. Now move so I can get out of here.” Jackson mouthed the words ‘good cop’ to her.

  Susan didn’t move. Instead, she addressed Jackson. “What did you say to upset this nice young man? You police are all alike. I heard you making threats about arresting him.”

  Jackson assumed the bad cop persona, like he’d done so many times with Lynette. “This guy is a stalker and worse than that, a murderer.”

  Rusty had scowl lines around his mouth. “I ain’t no stalker and I ain’t no murderer. What are you talking about? Let me out of here right now or I’m calling a lawyer.”

  “Officer, I’m sure this man is just responding to the tone you’ve set,” said Susan. She turned to Rusty. “You can’t let this man falsely accuse you. Make him tell you what evidence he has and you tell him why you’re innocent. I’m sure we can solve this without you paying a ridiculous fee for a lawyer. You know, I needed a lawyer last year and it wiped out my savings.”

  “Move,” said Rusty.

  “Officer, what evidence do you have against this man?”

  “We have a threatening letter which was slid under Sophie Bartolo’s door.”

  “I never se
t foot in that office,” said Rusty.

  “And who writes letters these days?” added Susan. “I’m sure you do all your corresponding on the computer, right?”

  “We have a witness who saw you breaking into Caleb Bartolo’s home on several occasions. You were there the night Mr. Bartolo was murdered,” said Jackson.

  “No f…ing way. You ain’t gonna pin a murder on me.” He tried to get around Susan but she stood solidly in his path.

  “You better not leave town anytime soon. And work on your bucket list while you’re still free because a jury is going to have you locked up for life. Maybe even getting the death penalty. How do you feel about needles, Mr. Sumter?”

  “I didn’t kill nobody.”

  “No, you didn’t kill someone. You killed two people. Sophie Bartolo says you killed her husband, Adam. Says you fed him some pills and pushed him off a cliff. We have your fingerprints all over a prescription bottle. Blood pressure medicine with your father’s name on it. You stole the pills and put them in Adam’s lemonade. Sophie Bartolo already signed a statement. We even have a witness who saw you do it. Arrest warrant’s being drafted as we speak.”

  “That bitch killed Adam, not me. And she killed Caleb Bartolo too.”

  Susan spoke up. “Maybe Sophie Bartolo is lying about this nice young man. He obviously didn’t do it or he wouldn’t be so upset.”

  “He did it. And Sophie Bartolo hired one of the best prosecutors in the state to take this case,” said Jackson. Susan was amazed at how good of an actor Jackson was. Rusty was buying this, hook, line, and sinker.

  “Officer, it sounds like a set up to me. Maybe Mr. Sumter here would like to tell his side of the story.” Susan put her hand on Rusty’s shoulder. Rusty jerked away.

  “Last chance,” said Jackson. “Come back into my office now, or you’ve got a few hours before we throw your ass in jail.”

  “Come on,” said Susan. “Death by the needle––I’ve read that’s really painful. Sometimes they mess up and it takes hours to die. Saw it on Dateline. This guy was foaming at the mouth and everything before he died.” She led Rusty back into the office. “Tell your side of the story.”