Organized for Homicide (Organized Mysteries Book 2)

by Ritter Ames

  "But it's never going to be as good as Suze does. Everyone always talks about how great she draws and how great her handwriting is, and I—" Again she stopped, and Kate knelt down beside her and twisted Sam around.

  "Listen to me. You will always be able to do some things better than Suze, and she will always be able to do other things better than you. Just because you're twins, it doesn't mean you're exactly alike. Don't let anyone make you think you are. There's no shame in not being the best at something—for either of you. It just makes you try harder each time and show you can do a little better than you thought. All that's ever expected of you, Sam, is for you to do the best you can do. When you do your best you'll always be a winner in everyone's book."

  Sam nodded then glanced over her shoulder at the house. "Can I tell Suze I'm getting extra skate time with Daddy?"

  "We probably need to discuss this with Daddy first. But it's okay if you tell her you're going to spend more time skating." When Sam grinned a little too big, Kate added, "But don't tell her like you're bragging. I can talk to her about being kind of a know-it-all, but if you start bragging about new special privileges you'll be doing pretty much the same thing. You don't want that, right?"

  Sam bit her lower lip, and Kate knew she was making a tough decision. After several seconds, she told her mom, "No, I don't want her to feel like I did. I'll wait until you talk to Daddy."

  "Thanks, sweetie." Kate hugged her tough little girl. "Now, let's go and get your homework done and get you fed. You don't want to be late, or you'll get lousy seats behind whatever loud, big-hat-wearing person no one else wants to sit behind."

  Sam giggled. "Nope, don't want that." She turned and ran to the house, calling back over her shoulder, "Race ya!"

  "I concede. You win." Kate again rose to her feet, and brushed grass from her jeans. As she headed back for the house, she wondered what she might be getting her daughter into. Skating and lessons made her think of Sydney, even if it was speed skating versus figure skating. Which then left her concerned about the circumstances the teen was in at the moment. Kate had to wonder if whoever might be setting Sydney up as a fall guy for her mother's murder was doing so because of the teen's success on the ice. After all, she'd considered every angle that day, and nothing had led her to change her mind about the teen's innocence.

  "Maybe when Meg comes later we'll figure out a good plan," Kate spoke aloud, hoping the sound of her own voice saying the words would better make them seem possible. But she suddenly felt a little like Sam, as if someone else was operating here. Someone just too much smarter and better for the women or the state police to catch.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  For the Newsletter—Tame the Recharging Jungle

  Everything has a power cord these days, and there's nothing worse than searching fruitlessly to find the correct charger to finish that phone call or high scoring game. Instead, create your own charging station to fit the room. For a bedroom, drill a hole in the back of a nightstand, and put a power strip inside the cabinet, so the cord runs back through the hole to the outlet. Then, add the chargers on this power strip for all the gadgets you have to keep charged regularly. If you prefer to have your gizmos fuel up in the kitchen, use a shoebox covered with leftover wallpaper (to match the room) or ribbons or wrapping paper. Use this now coordinated box to store all the cords and chargers for the household electronics.

  * * *

  The girls finished writing their reports in record time, and Sam added an extra picture to show a bit more about why she liked the beginning reader on favorite dog breeds. Kate tried to let the girls read whatever they wanted, even books she thought might be above their reading levels. Doing so, she knew was the best way to help them grow into stronger readers. But had she noticed earlier what kind of books the girls picked, and especially since Suze's book was on the care and feeding of the family cat, Kate might have suggested alternatives.

  I so need to figure out what to do about this pet situation.

  Both of her twins, as well as the Berman kids, decided on junk food at the game over dinner cooked at home. Kate and Meg celebrated by whipping up nachos as Gil's car departed from the neighborhood. The women had plans to make, and nachos were the perfect food for eating and listing at the same time. As long as creamy cheese sauce didn't land on their paperwork.

  "I just wish we'd thought ahead and picked up margarita mix," Meg said.

  But before they started planning, Kate filled Meg in on the news Valerie had spilled.

  Meg rubbed her chin, thoughtful. "So Erin said Collier called her. It can't be a coincidence she showed up. I wish we'd gotten a look at her or at least knew what time she arrived."

  "You and me both." Kate scraped excess queso on the side of the bowl, then slipped the chip into her mouth. Heaven. "The question, however, is where does that leave us? Could Erin have killed Lila, and if so, why?"

  "Maybe Erin snapped because her career veneer cracked?" Meg suggested. "She seemed pretty passionate the day we met her. Some of that passion could go a long way if mixed with adrenalin and anger.

  "Or did Collier plan to murder Erin, feeling his family wasn't going to be safe otherwise, but mistook his ex-wife for the real estate agent?" Kate asked.

  "Did the police find a text on Erin's phone?"

  "Valerie didn't say. I was hoping you could work your investigative magic on Gil."

  "He did tell me they pulled Collier in for questioning after they finished with Sydney. But he also heard the fingerprints on the knife were smeared, likely by a killer wearing gloves, and our DA doesn't charge unless the evidence is solid enough that he feels he can win. However, if I find out dear hubby already knew about what you just told me and is holding out," Meg said, shaking a chip for emphasis as she spoke, "Gil Berman will find he's received the last news scoop from this wife."

  "Hit him where it hurts. Below the gossip belt."

  "Damn straight, sister!"

  Kate laughed and flipped a page of paper around so Meg could read it. "Here's a list of everything we should have on hand to sell tomorrow."

  "Wow, there wasn't nearly this amount there today. I hope everyone comes through in the clutch. We didn't have a tenth of this when I left for my appointment."

  "No worries. People started bringing in baked goods about twenty minutes before I left. Most were moms, and I think they were making the library run on their way to pick up kids at school. Valerie had everything stacked and stowed in the room where the authors are going to speak tomorrow. There are these nice little two-tiered rolling shelves one of the local handymen made for the library several years ago. All the baked goods get loaded onto the carts—then two fit under each table. So we'll always have four in reserve nearby. We'll have to get in early to put everything in our new V-shaped area and hide as much as we can under the table cloths."

  "You said we'd use the van, too. Right?"

  Kate nodded, then pushed the queso and chips away. "I can't eat any more. And yes, we'll have the first parking spot that isn't marked as handicapped. We'll be able to stash anything else in the van until we have room to put more items up for sale. We have to have the big room empty of our stock before the first author gets there to set up her presentation."

  "Can anyone get into the room with the baked goods overnight? Forgive me for sounding paranoid, but I'm starting to get a sixth sense now about us having to cover each other's backs." Meg stacked the bowls and rose from her chair, preparing to take them to the sink.

  "You don't have to do that."

  Meg laughed. "Katie, your kitchen is spotless. Of course I'll bus the table. It's no big deal."

  "Okay, thanks." She shifted paper to get things back in order. "And I absolutely agree we need to keep an eye on everything. Valerie promised she was the only one with a key, other than the head librarian. She planned to stay until everything was delivered tonight—then she'd lock up and give the key to Tiffany in the morning. Tiff can then help us with the final set-up. Valerie said we'd pr
obably have more baked goods arrive tomorrow, too. We'll just place them as we can and run anything we can't fit out to the van for temporary storage."

  A rinse and a wipe of each bowl, and Meg had the dishes ready and loaded in the dishwasher. As she walked back to the table, she said, "The only thing about chips and queso is now I want ice cream."

  "I've been thinking about making a smoothie. Want a chocolate shake?" Kate rose and walked to the refrigerator, pulling yogurt, milk, and frozen strawberries out as she talked. "Yep, here in the back is enough fudge ripple to make a shake."

  "Too much trouble." Meg shook her head. "You'd have to wash out the blender in between. Just make me a smoothie like yours."

  "No, I'll use Mason jars, then I only have to rinse off the blades."

  "Huh?"

  Kate held up a finger. "Watch." She pulled two Mason jars from a top shelf, and added smoothie ingredients in one, and shake mixings in the other. A second later, she'd removed the bottom collar from her blender and screwed it onto the top of one of the jars, so the blades were inside. Then she flipped the jar over, and seated the collar back into its normal place on the blender. "I haven't found a blender yet whose blades collar didn't match up to the opening in a Mason jar." She hit the switch and soon had a rich and wonderful shake for Meg. She pointed to a round cylinder on the counter. "There are straws in there if you want to drink out of the jar. Or pour it into a glass. Your choice."

  "Ohmigod, Katie, I think this is the best idea you've ever shown me." Meg shook her head as she pushed a straw into the shake and took a sip. "Wonderful, and perfectly easy."

  A rinse of the blades and Kate was ready to give her smoothie a noisy zap. She grinned as the blender noise filled the room.

  "I've always done this rather than mess up the big blender when I'm doing one or more small mixtures," she explained after powering down the machine. "Not that it would have been a big deal to clean between the two drinks if I had mixed it in the blender. But this way I can save glasses too. And if I decide I can't finish it right now, the lid goes on the Mason jar, and it's ready for refrigerator storage."

  "And for another zap if you want to blend it again later," Meg added.

  "Also great if I want to mix anything up early, to be ready when the girls beg for a snack later." Kate moved back to the table. "Well, we have our treat now. Let's see if we can figure out a few more questions you can run by Gil. I'm worried about Sydney."

  Meg set her shake onto the table and dropped into her chair. "I can't believe he didn't say anything about Erin."

  "Maybe he didn't know. Valerie didn't tell me who her source is."

  "That's easy. She's buddies with several people who work in Erin's office. She probably picked up the scuttlebutt from one of them."

  Kate tapped the end of her pen against her lip. "Which means we don't know how reliable the information is. Not just because it's from Valerie, but someone may have added the info about the text to give Erin a reason for being there."

  "No." Meg tapped a nail on the tabletop. "Based on the scene we witnessed between Erin and Collier and Constable Banks yesterday, there wasn't a reason good enough for Erin to be there."

  "Except Valerie said Collier had been the one who texted Erin and asked her to come by the house."

  Meg gave three slow shakes of her head. "I don't believe that. He was too opposed to her being onsite."

  "But he did say he'd left Dara and Dustin to come home with their friends' family," Kate reminded. "He could have arranged everything so he would be alone with Erin."

  "You think he lured Erin there to kill her, then accidently killed Lila instead?"

  Kate shrugged. "I don't know what I think. I'm just throwing out supposition here. His coming back without the kids makes me wonder if Erin is actually telling the truth. But given we live in a small town, she may have seen him leave with the kids at the restaurant and decided to have a showdown with him if she could catch him alone."

  "Then why would she have come to the house when there were cops all over?"

  "Because she's nosy?"

  "Or maybe she killed Lila, ran away, then circled back and showed up pretending she got a text so she could look all innocent," Meg suggested.

  "You really don't like her, do you?" Kate asked, smiling.

  "No, I really don't. Go ahead and laugh at my suggestion. I know you want to," Meg said, letting her own contagious laughter fill the room.

  "Okay, okay." Kate held up a hand, then resumed scribbling on her list.

  1) Blaine Collier showed up without his kids. Could he have already come by earlier on foot to kill his ex-wife then drive up afterward?

  2) Did Erin get a text like Valerie said?

  3) When did Erin arrive on the scene?

  "I wish we knew when Erin arrived." Kate tapped her pen on the page. "Since we were in the house, we missed it. And we only have Valerie's word about her rumor. We need Gil to find out what he can tell us. If possible, it would be nice to know who told Valerie the story to begin with, so we can try to decide if it's coming from someone trying to help Erin, or someone who doesn't like her."

  "Like me," Meg added.

  Kate pointed her pen as a silent warning and couldn't help but smile. The laughter was too close to the surface for her to let it start again. "We need to see if we can find out exactly when Collier left the hamburger place, to determine if he could have come by, killed his ex-wife, then run off and reappeared later in his car."

  "But would he do something like that and let his daughter get suspected of the murder?" Meg asked. "Remember, whoever killed Lila used Sydney's knife to do so."

  "Good point. You saw where her workroom is located. It was close enough, but not right next door. Someone had to purposely go there for the knife, then go back and kill Lila on the balcony."

  "Unless the knife wasn't in the workroom."

  Kate considered the idea. When Sydney showed her the workroom, the teen had been very specific about wanting to pack everything herself, and nothing had been sitting handy on any of the work spaces. "No, I don't think anything like a knife would be left out anywhere. She's protective of her younger siblings, and her tools are important to her. I could tell by looking at them that they were expensive, and sharp."

  Meg took a last slurp of her drink and grinned at the noise. "Can you tell I liked the shake?" She pushed aside the jar and picked up her pen, letting it jiggle up and down in the air as she mused aloud, "So who knows about her fledgling business and knows where her stuff is kept in the house?"

  "Also, was the knife used to implicate Sydney? Or did the killer actually come to burgle the house, like everyone first assumed, and took the knife in a defensive move when Lila showed up unexpectedly?"

  "You know," Meg said. "If I can play devil's advocate for a moment, can we truly rule Sydney out as the killer? Girls get mad at their mothers all the time. Sometimes they snap."

  "But the one thing I got out of my conversation with Sydney is what a protective personality the girl has."

  "Recognized yourself in her. Huh?"

  "A little." Kate grinned. Meg knew enough about Kate's relationship with her own parents to know how she had to learn early on to be the responsible one in the family. She noticed that same dynamic between the Collier mother and older daughter. In fact, Kate had worried about the teen feeling too worried about everyone, as she also coordinated school activities for the younger children while her parents were so focused on their own corporate and environmental activities. "She's naturally protective. You saw how she stood in the self-protective stance when I introduced you both as we were surveying the bedrooms for the move. The protective way she felt about Lila was even more apparent when I saw them together the day I met with the all Colliers the first time."

  "You're sure you aren't doing any of that transference stuff about you and your own parents?"

  Kate bit her lip. "No. No, I'm sure about this. Besides, why would Sydney use a weapon that absolutely pointed to her
self? Had only her fingerprints on it?"

  "It was her tool. She was comfortable using it. She would know exactly how sharp it was. How hard to bear down to make a cut," Meg explained. "It could have already been in her hand if she was in her workroom working and her mother dropped by to tell her something Sydney didn't want to hear. They argue, going through the house as her mother goes to the upstairs master bedroom to get something she left behind. Sydney follows, shouting, the knife still in her hand. Her mother goes out to the balcony, says something to tip the scale for Sydney's anger. The girl slashes her mother's throat and tosses her over the railing. She's plenty strong enough. Does weight training for her skating."

  "But what could Lila have said to make Sydney so angry?"

  Meg frowned and pulled at her lower lip. "Do you remember what Lila said right before she left us on the balcony? Something about how she and Collier still needed to talk. I don't remember exactly, but it made me think they might be contemplating Sydney not staying here with her mother. Do you remember?"

  "A little." Kate shrugged. "I remember a thought along those lines going through my head at the time, but it didn't really stick. I don't recall exactly what she said."

  Kate had too much in her own past, she knew, to try to be completely unbiased here. What Meg said made sense, and her friend had every reason to assume Kate identified too much with Sydney because of her own upbringing. She appreciated her parents' concern for mankind and the environment, but it had been a difficult life growing up in the shadow of 'for the greater good.' She wondered if Sydney felt a similar emotional pain, especially if Lila and Collier really were thinking about sending their older daughter out West with the rest of the family because of a danger presented by Lila's career. Kate couldn't erase from her mind the nasty scratches she and Meg saw on the passenger door of Lila's car as she drove away. Was the vandalism part of the reason she was killed?