David looked deflated. “I can’t dispute that.”
“Like I said, I have nothing to hide. Now, are we done here?” Cindy asked.
David held his pointer finger up. “Actually, on the topic of you having nothing to hide, I have a few more questions for you.”
I could hear the impatience in her voice as she replied, “About what?”
“Did you know anything about the secret society that Gregory was a member of?” David asked.
Cindy squinted. “Do you think someone in the society might have killed him?”
“So you know about the secret society, then?” David asked.
“I know that there is one, but not a whole lot else,” Cindy replied.
“We’ll take anything,” David said. “What do you know exactly?”
“Just that Gregory was part of a secret group. He never admitted it to me, but I knew it was true,” Cindy replied.
“How could you be so sure?” David asked.
“Like I told you before. A wife has an instinct about certain things.”
“Was it just an instinct, or did you have more than that?”
Cindy took a deep breath. “A couple of times a month he would go out and wouldn’t tell me where he was headed. One night, I decided to follow him. He drove over to the old banquet hall on Treasure Cove Lane. I saw him get out of his car and file into the hall behind a group of men who were all wearing suits.”
“And?” David asked.
“And, that’s all I can tell you. After all of the men had filed in, I drove up to the front of the building to get a closer look. Unfortunately, the front door was locked and the windows were all blocked out,” Cindy said.
“When he got home, did you ask him about where he had been that night?” I said.
Cindy nodded.
“And? What did he say?” I asked.
“That it was just a mixer group for local business leaders,” Cindy said.
“You didn’t believe him, though?” I asked.
Cindy scoffed. “Not at all. But when I pressed him about it, he became really stern with me. Gregory told me it was none of my business. Then he warned me not to talk about it again.”
“Was that the last time you brought it up?” I asked.
Cindy nodded.
David switched gears. “Mrs. Morton, have you ever heard of something called dextramaltin?”
“No. What is it?” she asked.
“It’s an illegal compound that your husband was giving to some of his patients,” David said.
“I’m afraid that I don’t know anything about that.”
I scratched my chin. “Did your husband ever perform hypnosis on you?”
Cindy shook her head. “No.”
“Why not?” I said.
“He never asked, and I had no interest in being hypnotized,” Cindy replied.
“Because?” I asked.
“I don’t like the idea of someone having access to my mind,” Cindy replied.
“Even your husband?” I asked.
“Especially my husband.”
“Just a couple more questions, Mrs. Morton,” David said. “Do you have any idea why all of his patients were men?”
“I asked him that once,” Cindy replied.
“And what did he tell you?” David asked.
“That he understood how the male mind worked. That a man’s mind was easier to mold,” Cindy replied.
“Did he say anything about the female mind?” I asked.
“Just that it was a mystery to him,” Cindy replied. “I don’t disagree with that. As far as I’m concerned, he didn’t know the first thing about women.”
I bit the corner of my lip. “Interesting.”
“I’m not trying to be rude, but I have answered a lot of questions. Are we done now?” Cindy said.
David nodded. “Yes, we are.”
“Good,” Cindy said.
Chapter Eight
After finishing up with Cindy, David and I headed over to Kayla Green’s floral shop on Tulip Drive.
“I have to say, it’s pretty refreshing to be able to cross a name off of the suspect list,” David remarked.
I replied without looking up from my smartphone. “Yeah. It’s a shame that all of our suspect interviews aren’t that easy.”
David glanced over at me and noticed that my eyes were glued to my phone. “What are you looking at?”
“Scott O’Connor’s social media profile,” I said.
David furrowed his brow. “But we’re headed to talk to Kayla Green. Shouldn’t you be looking at her profile instead?”
“I already did that,” I said. “When I went through her friend list, guess who turned up?”
David’s eyes lit up. “Scott.”
I nodded. “Exactly.”
“Have you found anything useful on Scott’s profile page?”
“As a matter of fact, I have.”
“I’m all ears,” David said.
“By the look of some of the photos that are posted on Scott’s page, it seems that at one point Scott and Kayla were more than just friends.”
David’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute. Scott and Kayla are together?”
I corrected him. “Were together.”
“How do you know they aren’t together now?”
“It’s just a hunch, but the most recent photo of them together was posted a month ago on Scott’s page. Meanwhile, I went a year back on Kayla’s page and didn’t find any romantic photos of them whatsoever.”
“So what are you thinking? That Kayla broke up with Scott to be with Gregory and deleted all of the photos of her and Scott together?” David asked.
I nodded. “Meanwhile, Scott left up all the photos of him and Kayla because he is still hung up on her.”
David stared out into the distance. “It’s not a half-bad theory.”
“It’s certainly one worth exploring,” I said.
***
As David and I arrived at Kayla’s shop, there were no customers inside to speak of. That was fine by me. I preferred to question suspects privately. Especially this one. The fact that she owned a flower shop made a few additional questions come to my mind.
Kayla stood behind the counter as David and I approached her. The bleached-blond-haired thirty-five-year-old had a thin body, a short skirt, and was a lanky six feet tall.
David, being a no-nonsense type of detective, typically wanted to start every interaction with a murder suspect by flashing his police badge. In this instance, I felt it was important not to divulge our identities quite yet.
Instead, I thought it would be better to just act like genuine customers.
“Can I help you?” Kayla asked.
I ran my tongue over my teeth. “I hope so. I seem to have something in my teeth. Do you happen to have any toothpicks?”
Kayla reached into a drawer that was behind the counter. She pulled out a toothpick dispenser, opened it up, and handed me one.
“Here you go,” she replied.
As I glanced at the toothpick, it was hard not to be discouraged by the fact that it was light brown. Even more, when I looked at the dispenser, I didn’t see any sign of a red toothpick anywhere.
“Are these the only toothpicks you have?” I asked.
“Is there something wrong with that one?” Kayla asked.
I shook my head. “No. Thanks for this.” I stuck the toothpick in my mouth and wiggled it around a little, pretending to remove a small piece of food from between my teeth.
“Is there anything else I can help you two with?” Kayla asked. “Something flower-related, maybe?”
“As a matter of fact, I happen to be looking for a Jimbaya plant. Do you have any here?” I asked.
Kayla tensed up. “No.”
“Are you out of stock?” I replied.
Kayla shook her head. “We don’t carry them.”
“Do you know anyone else in town who might?”
“No.”
�
�Why not?”
“Because they are illegal,” Kayla said. She narrowed her eyes. “What do you want with a Jimbaya plant, anyway?”
David pulled out his police badge. “Since you know about Jimbaya plants, I’m sure that you’re also aware that the compound dextramaltin is derived from them.”
“I don’t like where this is going—”
“And I don’t like the fact that your boyfriend was giving pills of concentrated dextramaltin to his patients, but it doesn’t make it any less true,” David said.
Kayla scrunched her nose. “Boyfriend? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Ms. Green, I’m not in the mood for games. We know that Gregory Morton was cheating on his wife with you,” David said.
“I don’t know where you got that from—” Kayla started saying.
“Cindy Morton just told us.”
A fire came to Kayla’s eyes. “Did she call the police on me? Because the last time I checked, who I sleep with is not a police matter.”
“Normally, I’d agree,” David replied.
Kayla threw her arms out. “Why are you here hassling me, then?”
“Because Gregory Morton was murdered last night,” David said.
Kayla put her hand over her mouth as her eyes widened. She fell silent for a moment.
“You didn’t know?” David asked.
Kayla shook her head. “No. I can’t believe it.”
“When was the last time you talked to him?” David asked.
“Yesterday afternoon. He called me to cancel our date,” Kayla replied.
“Were you having relationship problems?” David said.
“No. He just told me that he had to work late,” Kayla replied.
“So where were you last night?” I asked.
Kayla ignored my question and gritted her teeth. “I’ll bet Cindy did this. She’s had it out for Gregory ever since she found out about our relationship.”
“Can you blame her? You stole her husband,” I said.
“I didn’t steal her husband. I just gave him the things that she didn’t,” Kayla replied.
“You really cared about him, huh?” David asked.
“More than Cindy did,” Kayla replied. “I’m telling you, if you’re looking for someone who wanted Gregory dead, you have to look no further than her.”
“We already talked to Cindy. She didn’t do it,” David said.
“How do you know that?” Kayla asked.
“She has an alibi for the time of the murder. The question is, can the same be said for you?” David replied.
Kayla’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. “Wait a minute. You don’t really think I could have done this, do you?”
“Where were you last night between seven and eight o’clock?” David asked.
“I was at home,” Kayla replied.
“Alone?” David asked.
Kayla nodded. “Unfortunately.”
“I’ll say,” David replied. “That means you have no one to corroborate your alibi.”
“I meant that it’s unfortunate because if Gregory hadn’t canceled our date, maybe he’d still be alive right now,” Kayla replied.
“That’s one way of looking at it,” I said.
“What other way is there to look at it?” she asked.
“If Gregory had taken you out, maybe you would have both been murdered,” I replied. “That is, if you’re not the killer.”
Kayla’s voice volume shot up a few decibels. “I didn’t kill him.”
“So you say. Unfortunately, you can’t prove it,” I replied.
Kayla pointed at the front door of her shop. “I’m done talking to you. Please leave.”
“Not so fast. We have a few more questions for you,” David replied.
Kayla shot David a glare.
David stared her down. “You can either answer my questions here or I can haul you into the station. It’s your choice.”
Kayla groaned. “Fine. What are the questions?”
“Had Gregory been staying with you since his wife kicked him out of the house?” David asked.
Kayla shook her head.
“Do you know where he had been staying?” David asked.
Kayla shrugged. “I have no clue. He never brought it up with me. Maybe he was sleeping in his office. Now is that all?”
“Not quite,” David said. “There are some things we would like to know about Scott O’Connor.”
“Do you think he could have done this?” Kayla asked.
“You tell us. You two used to date, didn’t you?” I asked.
Kayla nodded. “Yeah.”
“Did you break up with him or did he break up with you?” I asked.
“I left him,” Kayla replied.
“Before or after you started sleeping with Gregory Morton?” I asked.
“After,” she replied.
“Did Scott know that you left him to be with Gregory?” I asked.
“At first, no. But he found out,” Kayla replied.
“And how did he take it?” I asked.
“Not well,” Kayla replied.
“That’s what I figured,” I said.
“So there’s a chance that Scott did this, then?” Kayla asked.
“It’s possible. Speaking of, you never answered my question before. Do you think Scott is capable of murder?” I replied.
Kayla scratched her forehead. “I don’t know.” She became visibly dismayed. “Are we done now?”
“Just a few more quick questions,” David said. “Did you know about the secret society that Gregory was a member of?”
Kayla’s face went blank. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“That’s probably a good thing,” David replied. “Now let’s go back to the Jimbaya plants for a minute. Did Gregory ever ask you to get him one?”
“I already told you, those plants are illegal in this country,” Kayla replied.
David gave her a stern look. “That wasn’t my question.”
Kayla shook her head. “No. He didn’t.”
“We’re going to need to see your inventory and ordering records,” David said.
Kayla narrowed her eyes. “Those are private business records.”
“If I have to, I’ll get a search warrant for them. Then again, if you’re really innocent, you should have nothing to hide,” David said. “So, what’s it going to be?”
Chapter Nine
Despite her initial reluctance, Kayla ended up providing her business records to David. An hour later, after flipping through each page, David and I found no mention of any Jimbaya plants. That wasn’t to say that Kayla never procured one for Gregory. There was just no record of that occurring.
After hitting a dead end with Kayla, David and I chased down our next best lead. That led us to Scott O’Connor.
Scott rented a brick townhome in north Treasure Cove. In a strange geographic twist of fate, the route to Scott’s place happened to take us past the old Watterson estate. Or, more accurately, the lot where the Watterson estate used to stand. The city of Treasure Cove had bulldozed the house a few days ago to make way for the new city park they were creating there.
As David and I drove by the property, it was surreal to not see the estate there anymore. Even though it had been decrepit and abandoned, the estate was a familiar sight. So for it to be gone, just like that, took some getting used to.
“Pretty amazing not to see the Watterson estate there anymore, huh?” David asked.
I nodded. “It does make me wonder, when Treasure Cove is finally done changing, will I even recognize my hometown anymore?”
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t a very comforting answer.”
“There is one thing I know, though,” David said. “It’s impossible for punk teenagers to attempt a haunted house challenge when there’s no house there anymore.”
“That’s true. It doesn’t answer my question, though.”
“That’s be
cause I don’t have an answer,” David said.
I let out a sigh. “I guess time will tell.”
***
When David and I arrived at Scott O’Connor’s place, my focus shifted back to the case.
It took a few sets of knocks, but Scott finally answered his front door. Although, he looked perplexed to see David and me.
“What are you doing here?” Scott asked.
“We need to talk to you some more,” David said.
Scott’s forehead wrinkled. “Why?”
“Because you haven’t been entirely truthful with us,” David said.
“What are you talking about?”
“Scott, we know that you and Kayla Green used to date.”
Scott shrugged. “So?”
David groaned. “Are you really going to make us spell this out?”
“I guess so,” Scott replied. “So Kayla and I used to date. What does that have to do with anything?”
David let out a sigh. “Fine. We’ll do this the hard way. Not only do we know about your relationship with Kayla, but we also know that she broke up with you to be with Gregory.”
Scott shrugged. “So?”
David scoffed. “You must think we’re complete fools. Being dumped is hard enough. Seeing your girlfriend kick you to the curb to be with your boss had to be agonizing. Don’t pretend like that wasn’t a huge deal.”
Scott remained nonchalant. “A breakup is a breakup. It’s irrelevant who Kayla dated after me.”
David shook his head. “I don’t believe that for a minute. Besides, you didn’t just break up. She dumped you.”
“It doesn’t matter who broke up with who,” Scott replied.
“Who are you kidding? I know what it’s like to get dumped. It’s awful. And anyone who says otherwise is lying,” David said.
Scott yielded some ground. “Fine. At first, the breakup wasn’t easy. But I got over it.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Really? Then why are there still pictures of you and Kayla posted on your social media account?”
Panic came to Scott’s face. “I forgot they were even there.”
“Forgot?” I asked. “I find that hard to believe.”
“When was the last time you went through your social media history?” Scott asked.
Daley Buzz Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 47
