by Lois Lavrisa
“I hate jumping to conclusions.” Although I felt like we were onto finding the killer. I scanned the area, looking for any wayward vehicles. I didn’t want Annie Mae to worry; I was fretting enough for both of us and then some. “That could’ve been a student driver. When Timmy and Teddy learned to drive, they spent more time curb hugging than staying on the street. I’m just saying.”
We walked down Park Street and then took a right on Barnard. Before long, we stood in front of a three-story brick colonial home.
“Whoa. It’s gorgeous.” Annie Mae climbed the red brick stairs.
“My dad looked at one like this a long time ago.”
“Did he want to move?” Annie Mae pushed the doorbell.
“No. He wanted to get some investment property and rent it out to college students, as extra income.”
I heard a click, then the rattle of a chain hitting against wood. The door opened to a lady of average height and build with short brown hair. She wore light green scrubs. “Good evening.”
“Hi. I’m Catherine Thomson, and this is Annie Mae Maple. Please excuse our appearance. We haven’t had a chance to change yet. I’m sorry we look so unkempt.”
“I’m Karen.” She shook our hands. “No need for apologies.”
“Are you a relative of Mr. Zwick?” Annie Mae asked.
“No. Although I’ve been working for the family for years, so I feel like a relative. So, what can I do for you ladies?”
“A long time ago, my father was a business partner with Micky Zwick.”
“Oh?” Karen squinted as she looked at us. “So you’re friends of his?”
“Sort of,” Annie Mae answered.
“It’s a long story.” I glanced around, trying to find the words to express what I wanted to say. “If at all possible, I would like to talk to him.”
Karen shook her head. “That’s impossible.”
“He’s dead?” Annie Mae asked.
My heart skipped.
“Oh, no. No. He just took his medication. It knocks him out.” Karen brushed a hair from her eyes.
“Is he ill?” Annie Mae asked.
“He has been suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The only thing we can do is ease his pain.” Karen guided us into the foyer.
“Lou Gehrig’s disease,” Annie Mae whispered to me as we entered the house.
I asked Annie Mae, “How did you know that?”
“In the play Thirty-Three Variations, the main character, Dr. Katherine Brandt, suffers from it.”
The house smelled of rubbing alcohol and wood cleaner. We stood in a foyer.
Karen closed the door behind us. “May I offer you anything to drink?”
Annie Mae shook her head.
“No, thanks,” I said. “I’m so sorry about Mr. Zwick.”
“He has a few more years left, at this rate. He’s in good spirits and seems to have accepted his condition.” Karen led us into a sitting room.
“Can I leave my name and number for him? He can call me when he gets up.” I dug in my purse.
“We have urgent business to speak of with him. We’re investigating,” Annie Mae said.
“Are you working with the police department?”
“No,” Annie Mae mumbled. “But we are good friends with someone in the department. Not that that is either here or there.”
“Let me get you my information.” I took a pen and tore the address part of my deposit slip from the back of my checkbook. I wrote my cell number and my maiden name on the back, along with my dad’s name. “Please have him call me when he can.”
“I’m not sure when that will be.” Karen took the paper from me and tucked it into her shirt pocket.
“It doesn’t matter when. Whenever he can call, it’ll be fine. Thank you.”
Annie Mae put her hands up. “We can let ourselves out. Thanks for your time.”
We walked outside and down the front steps onto the sidewalk.
Annie Mae trailed after me. “Thank goodness he’s still alive, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Unlike the other partners.”
“I know. Why did my dad and two of his other business partners all die in the past two months?”
“Although I’m only playing a detective, I can tell you that it’s beginning to feel like someone has it out for that business group your dad was once involved in. Not that I want you to worry or anything. But then again, Micky is still alive, and as far as we know, so is Peter.”
“Yes. At least for now.”
“It could be all one big coincidence, right?”
“Or like you just said, someone has it out for all of them.” A pain ran between my eyes. I could feel a strong headache coming on. “If that’s true, then who is he or she, and is he or she killing them?”
“And since we seem to be onto the killer, will we be next?”
Chapter 19
“Here’s the thing. Until I hear back from Micky, it’s all speculation.” We sat in my SUV with the air running. “The only thing we know for sure is that they all knew each other and were once business partners. All of their deaths were different.”
“If the deaths were similar, then it would link them to one killer,” Annie Mae agreed. “I guess you’re right. It’s only conjecture now. What do you want to do next? Since we have no idea when you’ll hear from Micky.”
“I don’t know.” I tapped my dashboard with my finger. “It seems unlikely that their deaths and Lucy’s death are connected. She had nothing to do with their business. Someone different killed her.”
My phone rang. After looking at the caller ID, I answered, “Hey, José. I’m putting you on speaker so Annie Mae can hear, too.”
“You gals staying out of trouble?” José asked.
“Of course we are staying out of trouble.” I rolled my eyes at Annie Mae.
But her response was, “We almost got hit by a car.”
“Did I hear Annie Mae say that a vehicle almost hit you?” José’s voice rose.
Annie Mae smiled. “Don’t worry. Cat saved me with her maternal instincts. She grabbed me and pulled me from getting hit just as the car ran up onto the curb directly at me.”
“I’m sure it was a student driver. Kids, huh?” I raised an eyebrow at Annie Mae.
“What about all the business partners getting killed?” Annie Mae said into the phone.
“What?” José asked.
I told José what I knew about my dad’s defunct business and the men involved. “However, there are no leads to who may be killing them off. And I wasn’t able to talk to Micky and don’t know where Peter is.”
“Maybe Peter is the killer of Cat’s dad and the other business partners,” Annie Mae offered. “He’s not going to bother with Micky because of his condition.”
“I’m not sure what you have amounts to anything,” José said. “Might be happenstance.”
“But there may be something there; you have to admit that.” Annie Mae nodded her head at me.
“Maybe,” I replied.
José sighed. “Listen, forensics gave me the results of the lipstick analysis.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Annie Mae said.
José continued. “Look likes the lipstick you gave me is a color match with Lucy’s note and with the message left on your window.”
Annie Mae held her palm up and high-fived my palm.
“I knew it.” My heart lightened. We were finally making progress. “What do we do now?”
“Arrest her, that’s what you do. Right, José?” Annie Mae shook her finger at the phone. “You throw her sorry little butt in the slammer.”
“No. That’s not how it works,” José said. “I’m in the area now. I’ll see if Susie will be cooperative if I stop over and ask her some questions.”
“Can we go with?” I asked.
“I don’t think she wants to see us after what happened at the store,” Annie Mae warned.
José’s voice lowered. “I’m af
raid to ask. What happened at what store?”
“I used some acting skills and fell to the ground in Susie’s store to get her attention,” Anne Mae admitted. “And then she found out that I really didn’t fall. Do you believe she actually accused me of pulling a scam? Of course, we were not conning her, just investigating. Long story short, we sort of had to run out of the store since she wanted to call the police.”
José took a deep breath. “Let me handle talking to Susie. Whatever it is you all are doing is half-assed, and I’m surprised you haven’t gotten into more trouble.”
I winced. “Actually, Bert’s going to put a restraining order on us if we don’t leave him alone.”
“Yeah, do you believe that jerk?” Annie Mae said.
I shook my head as I looked at Annie Mae.
“Can’t you just arrest Susie?” she addressed the phone. “Why do you have to talk to her? She killed Lucy. You have proof now.”
“We only have proof that there is a match with the lipstick and the messages. Not that it was her lipstick,” José pointed out.
“So, what do you want us to do?” I asked José.
“Stop. Go home. Let professionals handle this.”
Annie Mae said, “But, José, had it not been for Cat and me doing all that we did, you wouldn’t know what you know now.”
“Yes. I have to admit, even as haphazardly as you two have been going about whatever detective work you’ve done, you did find a connection. But it has yet to be seen if that connection amounts to solving a crime.”
“But it just may,” I said.
“Do you think we’ll get a medal of honor or anything?” Annie Mae asked. “That’ll look great next to all the acting awards I have.”
José chuckled.
Annie Mae huffed. “I think you should deputize us.”
A fire truck zoomed by, muffling José’s answer.
Annie Mae shrugged her shoulders at me as she pointed to the phone.
Then we heard José say, “Gotta go, ladies.”
He clicked off.
“I think he said yes?” Annie Mae said. “He deputized us, right?”
I shrugged.
“Let’s just assume that he did.”
“What do we do now?” I asked Annie Mae as I pulled out of the parking lot. “Maybe José is right about it all meaning nothing. Should we just give up?”
“This is not over until the fat lady sings, and I haven’t sung a note yet. I say we question Susie. We’re hot on her trail. We need to strike while the iron is hot.”
“How many more clichés can you fit in one sentence?” I laughed.
“Let’s make like a tree and leave. To Susie’s.”
Chapter 20
Knocking on Susie’s door, I ran through questions I could ask her. Only one question needed answering. Had she killed Lucy?
Annie Mae banged on the door again. “Does it smell like onions out here?”
I looked around and recognized a plant. “I think you smell those—Chinese chives.”
“This whole situation stinks, if you ask me,” Annie Mae said. “Adultery, murder.”
The door opened. Susie stood there in the same pink dress she’d had on earlier. A cell phone was in one of her hands. “Not you two. I’m going to call the police.”
“You don’t have to. We’ve been deputized. So we are the police.” Annie Mae pointed to her chest.
I caught my breath. Had Annie Mae really just said that? I smiled weakly as Susie looked at me.
“And we’re here to find out if you killed Lucy.” Annie Mae moved toward the door.
Susie stood in the entranceway, neither coming onto the stoop nor retreating inside. “You two are freaking nuts. The police need to take you away. I’m calling them now.”
Before she made the call, I had to know. “Where were you when Lucy was killed?”
“None of your damned business.” Susie folded her arms and jutted her jaw.
“Oh, but it is our business now that we are representatives of the Savannah Police Department.” Annie Mae nodded.
Susie raised an eyebrow. “I’m still not buying that. Matter of fact, I’m calling the police just to confirm it.”
“Oh, no. You don’t have to do that.” Annie Mae waved her hand.
I stepped backward. “Really. Don’t bother.”
Susie dialed and then spoke into the phone. “I have two women at my house impersonating police officers.”
I began to saunter away, Annie Mae right behind me.
A moment later, a white Explorer, lights flashing and siren blaring, came to a halt in front of Susie’s house.
I froze in my tracks and held my breath. “That was quick.”
Annie Mae grabbed my hand. “Uh-oh.”
The siren stopped. Climbing out of the Explorer was José. His eyes were narrowed as he marched over to Annie Mae and me. “What in the hell are you two doing? You’ve committed a serious felony.”
“Didn’t you deputize us?” Annie Mae asked.
“I did no such thing.” José put his hands on his hips. “You’re lucky I was on my way over here anyway. Any other officer would not be so kind. Jeez. Now I have to figure out how to get you two out of this mess.”
Susie’s kitten heels clicked down the sidewalk and stopped right next to José. “Are you here to arrest these two idiots?”
“Ma’am, I’m responding to your call.” José smiled, showing his straight white teeth, which shone bright next to his olive skin.
“Oh, my, you are so tall and handsome.” Susie moved next to José. “And you smell so good, too.”
“I’m Sergeant José Rodriguez.” He stuck out his hand. “How may I assist you?”
Susie wrapped both of her hands around his. “My, oh, my. Even your hands are strong.” Susie glanced up and down José.
He cleared his throat. “Did you want me to take these two off your property?”
“Yes, get rid of them, but you can stay if you need to fill out a report or anything. I could get you something cool to drink.” Susie pulled her shoulders back and fidgeted with her hair.
“No, thank you,” José said.
“Anytime you happen to be in the neighborhood, you’re welcome to stop by and check on me. I’m single, and it doesn’t hurt to have police protection keeping an eye on me.” Susie sighed.
“Hey! You’re not single. You’re with Bert,” Annie Mae said.
“No. Not really. I mean, we’re not serious.” Susie blushed.
José stepped back, smiling. I knew that smirk. José had that cocky grin that meant he knew that he could get anything he wanted out of someone.
“So what do you want me to do about these two?” José leaned into Susie. “I’m sure they meant no harm.”
Susie flipped her hair from her eyes. “Maybe. But they were pestering me. Asking me all sorts of questions. They think I murdered someone. Can you imagine?”
“Really? You? I can’t conceive of such a thing.” José put on a half grin. “I bet you did nothing wrong.”
Annie Mae rolled her eyes at me. I think she knew what José was doing as well. I was going to keep quiet and see if he got what he wanted.
Susie smoothed her dress. “I didn’t. I was with someone at a hotel in North Carolina when Lucy died. So it would’ve been impossible.”
“I believe you.” José looked over at me and Annie Mae and then at Susie. “And I’m sure you have proof as well.”
“Of course I do. Plus, I won a karaoke contest that same night. They gave me a dated certificate and everything. Not that I have to answer to those two.” Susie pouted as she pointed at Annie Mae and me.
José had just extracted all the information from Susie that we had tried to get. Except a clue. I asked, “What about your lipstick?”
“What?” Susie asked.
“The ‘Back off Bert’ message on her windshield.” Annie Mae pointed at me. “With your lipstick. And Lucy’s suicide note had the same lipstick.”
“I only wrote the message on the glass,” Susie stammered. “I just wanted you to leave Bert alone. You were bugging him. But I don’t know anything about Lucy’s note. I mean, I lost a tube at Bert’s house. Maybe Lucy found it. I don’t know.”
José pulled out a pad from his shirt pocket. “So, you admit to vandalizing a car?”
“Oh, um. Yes. No. But…I…” Susie’s neck turned red as she fidgeted with her necklace.
“So I can write up a report on these two for impersonating an officer.” José motioned at Annie Mae and me as we stood side by side.
“Yes, yes. Do that.” Susie nodded as she looked at José.
“Wait. I’m not done.” José clicked his pen as he looked at Susie. “I can write up a report on you for vandalism.”
Annie Mae whispered to me, “Now she’s getting what’s coming to her.”
Susie fluttered her eyelashes at José. “Or why don’t we just call it even and forget about everything?”
“Or you can just write the report on her.” Annie Mae waved toward Susie.
“Humph.” Susie glared at Annie Mae.
José furrowed his eyebrows and gave Annie Mae and me a twisted smile. “Are you sure you want to do that after what you two have done?”
“On the other hand, forget all this ever happened,” I added.
“Trust me. I won’t forget all of it. There have been too many escapades recently.” José closed his notebook. “And I’m hoping this is a lesson for those involved to stop.”
Chapter 21
Annie Mae and I were back in my SUV. “I propose we call it a day. We found out a whole lot of nothing.”
“Today was a hoot, don’t you think? And I got a new plant and a chandelier. To me, it’s been a banner day.”
“But we didn’t solve anything.” I turned onto Whitaker Street. “I just wish we would have figured out more than a bunch of random things.”
“Pretty good for our first day as detectives.”
“And our last. I feel like we just squandered our whole day.”
“It’s never a waste when you spend time with a friend.” Annie Mae pulled out her cell. “It’s almost eight.”
