A Toast to Murder

by Allyson K. Abbott

  Then again, it hadn’t seemed so unreasonable to the people who were directly involved with that killing, the people who had motive.

  Cora said, “Nick wasn’t working the night Lewis was killed, so short of asking him for an alibi, we have no way of knowing if he has one. Same thing with Tyrese. They were both off duty that evening, and I haven’t been able to dig up anything that indicates where either of them might have been at the time Lewis was killed.”

  “So both names have to stay on the list of possibilities, along with Linda,” I said, and both Cora and Mal nodded. “And Jimmy,” Cora added.

  I shot Mal a look.

  “You mean Duncan’s partner Jimmy?” he said.

  I nodded, biting my lower lip, waiting for his reaction. I could tell his wheels were turning, and Cora filled him in on what we knew and why we had him on the list.

  “Wow,” Mal said. “Does Duncan know any of this?”

  “He does now,” I said.

  Mal narrowed his eyes at me, a knowing expression on his face. “Let me guess. Does that have something to do with the spat you two had the other night?”

  “It might have played a small role,” I admitted with some chagrin. I sighed and gave Cora a foreboding look. “Do you have more?”

  “I do,” she said “This next one is something I came upon accidentally. Carter and I were alone in the Capone Club room earlier today for about ten minutes. We were both working on our laptops, and then Carter got a phone call from Holly on his cell. It became obvious early into it that Holly was upset about something—I don’t know what—and Carter was trying to keep his end of the conversation neutral. He finally gave up, got up, and stepped out of the room into the hallway.”

  Cora paused, bit her lip, and gave us a sheepish look. “I got up to stretch a little, and in doing so I was able to see what was on Carter’s laptop. He was writing a reply to an email from his book agent. The agent had written something to the effect that Carter’s book proposal was good, but it needed something more, something to give it a bigger bite, more sensationalism for a wider audience. Carter’s reply said that he was working on a unique approach to his stories, something that would be groundbreaking, challenging, evil, and twisted. And he mentioned that he hopes to get your permission to include you and what you do in his books, minimizing any police involvement.”

  I gave her a look of skepticism and disbelief. “Do you really think Carter would go so far as to kill people simply to get a good book deal?”

  Mal scoffed. “People have been known to do worse things for lesser goals. Don’t ever underestimate how low people can go.”

  I wasn’t convinced, but I wasn’t ready to cast Carter aside either. “Okay then,” I said with resignation. “Carter’s name stays on the list.” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “So we haven’t ruled out any of the Capone Club members at this point?”

  Cora shook her head. “But I have ruled out most of your employees,” she said. “I haven’t been able to verify the whereabouts of your new cook, Rich Ziegler, or your new bouncer, Teddy Bear, but Jon provided me with a verifiable alibi.”

  I looked aghast. “You actually asked him for one?” I said with a wince.

  “Not exactly,” Cora said. “I made up an excuse to borrow his cell phone for a few minutes. He has a smartphone, and fortunately, the GPS was activated on it. I was able to scan through the history after I hooked it up to my laptop and see that he wasn’t anywhere near the area where Lewis was killed during the critical time.”

  Mal let out a low whistle and shook his head, smiling. “I wish we could get away with stuff like that on the police force,” he said. “It certainly would make some of our investigations a lot easier.”

  “I thought you could look at phone records and GPS stuff,” I said.

  “Oh, we can,” Mal said. “But only after jumping through a gazillion hoops and making sure we have our asses covered legally. And if we can’t come up with a justifiable reason to invade someone’s privacy that way, we don’t get to look. Sadly, ruling people out is not a justifiable reason.”

  “What about Curtis Donovan?” I asked Cora. “He’s on my list.”

  “Oh, I ruled him out. He does a drag show one or two nights during the week at a place over on Second Street. He was the top bill that particular night.”

  “Well, at least we managed to eliminate two people,” I said, staring woefully at my list.

  There was a moment of silence as we all contemplated the complexity of our situation.

  Cora said, “It’s a pretty lengthy list.”

  “And it’s not done yet,” I said. “After today, I feel like we need to add Courtney’s name. She has a strong motive, though I can’t speak to her physical strength. And she certainly has a motive for excluding Duncan in the letter’s instructions. She and Suzanne have likely crossed paths in the past, so maybe the two of them are working together.”

  Cora nodded and typed the name into her list while I penciled it onto mine.

  As I set my pencil down, I stared at the list. “We have to start working our way through these names to see if we can eliminate any more of them.”

  “Why don’t you just ask all of them if they did it?” Mal said. “Do that lie detector thing you do.”

  I considered what he said. “It’s not a bad idea, but it seems a little aggressive. A little too in-your-face. I don’t want to burn bridges with anyone in the club—or any of my employees, for that matter—if it turns out they’re innocent. Though if they are innocent, they may ask me to test them.” I paused, gave it a little more thought, and then shook my head. “We don’t even know for sure that anyone in the club or anyone in my employ is involved.”

  “Should we look for more connections between these names and Suzanne Collier?” Cora asked.

  Mal shook his head. “We have good reason to suspect Suzanne Collier, but let’s face it, we aren’t certain she’s involved either.”

  “Then we need a way to verify that Suzanne is behind this once and for all,” I said. “And I need a way to allow the people on that list to ask me to test them, question them about their guilt.”

  Mal narrowed his eyes at me. “Do you have something in mind?” he asked.

  “I do. I think it might be time to set a little trap.”

  I have to admit, I liked the mischievous look in his eyes.

  Chapter 17

  I shared my idea with Cora and Mal, and they both agreed it seemed not only doable but logical. We discussed it for the next ten minutes or so, ironing out the details and deciding how we would implement the plan.

  I glanced at my watch. “I’m supposed to meet with the club members at seven for the big announcement,” I said. “Why not do it tonight?”

  Cora and Mal looked at one another and then shrugged simultaneously. With the decision made, Mal and I discussed a trip to The Domes and decided we would go the following day, early enough to give us plenty of time to search and get back for Mal’s destruction crew to start work in the basement.

  For the next few hours, we all kept busy waiting for the big seven o’clock announcement. Cora did a little more research on The Domes and discovered that the open one had a huge poinsettia display. “I’m betting that’s the source of the pollen,” she said. “Unfortunately, the display is quite large and varied, so if I’m right, you have your work cut out for you.”

  Mal disappeared into the basement for a couple of hours to do some more planning and measuring, and to tear down some empty shelves that were on the wall he was going to remove. I worked on my year-end inventory. Several times, I checked my phone to see if I’d missed a call back from Duncan, but so far he hadn’t returned my call.

  Just before seven, Cora, Mal, and I regrouped in my office and went over the plan again. Then we headed upstairs.

  The Capone Club room was packed, and after a quick scan of faces, I determined that the only people missing were Dr. T and Clay. Extra chairs had been dragged in from the meeting r
oom across the hall, and once everyone was settled in, I addressed the room.

  “I appreciate all of you being here,” I began. “As you may have heard, I have an important announcement to make tonight, one that I perhaps should have made weeks ago. I’ve been second-guessing myself since this whole thing started.”

  I paused, examining the expressions on everyone’s faces. There was some confusion, some curiosity, some wariness, and even some hints of amusement, as if a few of the folks thought this might be another game or test case I was about to present.

  “A few weeks ago, I received a letter in the mail from an unknown person,” I went on. “This letter was a challenge to me, an expression of disbelief in my abilities, and a demand that I prove the same. Basically, it said that I needed to figure out certain clues in the letter, and if I failed to do so, someone near to me would pay the price. It was made clear that this price would be death. In other words, if I failed, someone would die.”

  I paused again, watching the reactions to this information. There were some gasps, some uncomfortable sniggering, and a lot of shifting around in the chairs.

  “I’m sure some of you are wondering if this letter was a joke. That was my initial impression; however, the letter included information to make it clear that it was not a joke at all. The letter made reference to the show Happy Days and mentioned something had been left for me to show how serious the letter writer was. That same night, Lewis Carmichael’s body was found on top of the ice in the river beneath the Fonz statue.”

  This garnered a much larger collection of gasps, and there were a few low murmurs as people started whispering back and forth.

  “I was able to solve the puzzle in that letter and others that followed. I was able to decipher clues that had been designed to test my synesthetic abilities. However, I incorrectly interpreted the clues in a recent letter, and by the time I figured out the real meaning, it was too late. You see, each of these letters also included a deadline. Shortly after that, Gary Gunderson was shot and killed by persons unknown.”

  Now the group was clearly restless and anxious. Glances were exchanged, profanities were uttered, and expressions had grown fearful.

  “There were other caveats included in these letters,” I went on. “I was forbidden to work with the police in any way as I tried to interpret the clues, and Duncan Albright was mentioned by name as someone I was not to utilize. It was made clear to me that any violation of these rules might result in the death of someone close to me. And I’m afraid that means all of you.”

  “We more or less guessed that whoever killed Gary was after you in some way,” Carter reminded me.

  “Yes, I remember. And I almost told all of you about the letter writer then. But I thought I could continue to buy some time and hoped I might be able to figure out who was behind it on my own.” I paused, noting that I had the rapt attention of everyone in the room at this point. “Some of you, probably most of you, have either seen or heard about the article in this morning’s paper that says I am not only going to work with the local police, but that I have been doing so for some time. This statement is an unfortunately timed one with some basis of truth to it. I was approached by the chief of police and the chief DA yesterday about working with them on a consulting basis. This request was made in part because they genuinely want to work with me and want my help with their investigative efforts in solving future crimes. But it was also made because they wanted to mitigate the damage caused by our solving of the Ben Middleton case.”

  “Are you going to do it?” Holly asked.

  I nodded. “I gave it a lot of thought and realized that what I do . . . what we do here in this group is rewarding for me. I like being able to put my synesthesia to work and do something good with it. And working against the police and the DA’s office only makes it more difficult. I intend to set down some rules and guidelines, and among those I’ve already mentioned to them is that I need to have the ability to continue to consult with all of you whenever I want. So, yes, I intend to go ahead with it. But I had no intention of revealing that until after this letter writer thing was resolved, for obvious reasons. The newspaper article’s claim that I’ve been working with the police all along is most likely going to upset the letter writer. And that’s why I decided it was time to tell all of you the truth.”

  “You think any of us could be a target,” Carter said.

  “I do.”

  Tyrese, who had been fidgeting in his chair more than anyone else, leaned forward, his expression a mix of anger and worry. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us about this sooner, Mack?” he said. “We could have been looking out for some clues and watching over the members of the group, to assure their safety.”

  “I felt I was assuring their safety by continuing to solve the clues,” I explained. “And to be honest, I thought we’d catch the guy.”

  “We?” Nick asked. He looked as annoyed as Tyrese did, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they were upset because they were behind it all.

  I nodded slowly, scanning the faces in the room. “Yes,” I said. “We. I have been working with Duncan Albright on this matter since day one.”

  This triggered another wave of murmurs through the room. Several people—Kevin, Sonja, and Tad—seemed angry. Greg, Stephen, and Tiny looked worried, and others, like Sam, Carter, Holly, and Alicia, appeared intrigued.

  “Obviously, we kept things under wraps and were careful to hide the fact that we were working together,” I went on, “but now that this article in the paper has come out, there’s no point in hiding it anymore.”

  “Do you have any idea who’s behind it?” Sam asked.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact we do,” I said. “But we don’t have any concrete proof. The person or persons behind this have been very careful not to leave any usable evidence.”

  “Persons?” Tyrese echoed. “Are you saying you think there’s more than one?”

  You could have heard a pin drop in the room after that question. Everyone’s eyes and ears were focused on me.

  “I think it’s almost a certainty that there is more than one person involved,” I said. “And that makes it doubly dangerous for all of you. I’m sorry you’re in this situation.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Alicia said. “Just because someone out there has a crazy fixation on you doesn’t make it your fault.”

  “Thanks,” I said, giving her a wan smile. “But I do feel responsible to a certain degree. I had the ability to tell all of you, to warn you earlier, and I didn’t. Perhaps that decision cost Gary his life. My biggest fear is that someone else in this group will be targeted, and if anyone else suffers because of this mess, I don’t think I can bear it.”

  “Forewarned is forearmed,” Carter said. “Now we all know. And we can be more careful.”

  “It sounds like this person has some serious psychological issues,” Sam said. “They’re playing a game of psychological warfare. I’d love to take a look at the letters to see if I can come up with a profile for you.”

  “I don’t have them,” I told him. “Duncan took all the letters except the most recent one to search for trace evidence.”

  “And did he find any?” Sam asked.

  Hopeful eyes looked to me, waiting for my answer. “Unfortunately, no,” I told them. Nearly everyone in the room visibly sagged.

  “Maybe we should shut down the Capone Club,” I suggested. “Having all of you coming here like this seems too much like shooting fish in a barrel.” I winced. “A bad analogy perhaps, but you get the drift.”

  I watched as the people in the room exchanged glances, murmured back and forth, and shifted some more in their seats.

  “Personally, I think there is something to be gained by keeping us together,” Holly said. “Not only can we keep tabs on one another that way, but as a group we may be able to help you figure this thing out, discover who’s behind it.”

  “I agree,” Carter said, and several others nodded.

  “It’s
up to each of you to decide,” I said. “I will do everything I can to mitigate the danger to any of you, but I can’t promise anything. You all need to be hypervigilant and wary of your surroundings at all times. Don’t take any unnecessary risks, and if you have even an iota of discomfort with a situation or person, I would suggest you seek help immediately. Try to stay in groups. Don’t go out anywhere alone. And if any of you decide to leave the group because of this, I’ll understand.”

  With that, we let the room take on a life of its own. I sat back and watched as people talked, debated, and decided how to handle things. There were a few questions to field, the most important one being whom we suspected.

  “I don’t want to answer that right now because we aren’t sure we’re right, and I don’t want to point a finger at someone and be wrong. Besides, I’m not convinced that the main person behind this is the one doing the killing. I think that’s the role of the second person, and we have no idea who that is.”

  Over the next few hours, the group moved around and eventually dissipated. During that time, either Cora, Mal, or myself managed to isolate the people on our list of suspects, pull them aside, and tell each of them the same thing: to be extra careful because we felt certain the second person involved was a member of the Capone Club. Each person was then sworn to secrecy and made to believe they were the only person who knew.

  I personally told Carter, Greg, Sonja, and Nick. Their reactions were vastly different.

  Nick was the first person I hit up. When I got up to leave the room shortly after finishing my shocking revelation, using the excuse that I needed to go check on how things were going downstairs at the bar, Nick followed me out of the room and caught up with me at the top of the stairs.

  “Mack,” he said, “hold up a minute.”

  I stopped and moved to the side so I wasn’t perched at the top of the stairway. I didn’t think anyone would try to push me down them with all these people around, but I also realized it was smart to be safe rather than sorry.