by J A Whiting
Angie asked, “When Leon was in the garage working, did you ever go in to talk to him?”
Matthew’s eyebrows shot up. “Nope. Leon wasn’t a talker. Once, I saw him in the garage and I went over to say hello, but the door was locked and when he heard me trying to open it, he shook his head, made a mean face and waved me away. He wasn’t a friendly guy.”
Courtney leaned forward and used a conspiratorial tone when she asked, “Did you ever look in the garage’s windows to see what was in there?”
Matthew, looking surprised, sat up straight and opened his mouth to speak, but then shut it. After a few seconds, he gave a shrug. “Yeah, I did. I wondered what was so precious in there that the building had to be locked up all the time and only Leon could go in.” Matthew scowled. “Now I know.”
“Was the red Pontiac in there when you looked?” Angie asked.
“Yeah. It was covered with a cloth, but I could see the red paint along the bottom of it. I didn’t know it was a Pontiac though.” Matthew looked over at the chief. “How come me and Donnalee didn’t smell the body when we were out in the yard?”
Chief Martin shifted in his seat. “We believe the body had been in the garage for about a year before you moved in. There wouldn’t have been an odor by the time you moved into the ranch.”
Matthew’s facial muscles tensed. “Leon was clever wasn’t he? Rents the place to me so I was sort of like a property manager. If the house was empty, someone might get the idea to break in, but if people are around the place, it’d be less likely anyone would try that. I was doin’ Leon a service, wasn’t I? Sort of guarding the property for him.” Matthew snorted. “Guarding Leon’s dead body and not even getting paid for it.”
“Did you ever see anyone else go in the garage with Leon?” Chief Martin asked.
Matthew shook his head vigorously. “Never. No one went in there with Leon.”
Angie said, “It’s pretty clear that Leon knew there was a body in that car. He couldn’t be in that garage and not know.”
“It would be impossible for him not to know.” Matthew folded his arms over his chest. “Was he the killer? Or was he doing someone a favor by keeping it in there?”
“That’s a pretty big favor,” Courtney said.
“Maybe he got a pretty big payoff,” Matthew huffed.
Something about what Matthew said sent a sensation of unease along Angie’s skin, but she didn’t know what part of his comments had caused the anxiety. Payoff? Favor? Killer? All of it?
Chief Martin’s phone buzzed and he excused himself to answer it. “Hold on a minute,” he said into the phone. The chief looked at Matthew. “I apologize, but I need to take this call. I think we’re all finished here. Thanks for coming in Mr. Harding. If there’s anything else, I’ll give you a call. If you think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to contact me.” The chief nodded at the sisters, got up and left the room.
“Thanks for talking to us.” Angie smiled.
“Sorry I wasn’t any help.” Matthew stood up.
“Everything we learn is a help,” Courtney told the man. “We appreciate it.”
The three of them shook hands and started for the door when Matthew stopped. “You know, someone else did come by while we lived there. Not very often and I never saw the person. It was kind of strange.”
Angie and Courtney locked eyes with Matthew.
“Donnalee saw her.”
“Her?” Angie asked.
Matthew nodded. “Yeah, a woman. Maybe every four months or so the woman would come by. Always during the week, never the weekends. I was at work when she’d show up. Donnalee works out of the house. She does bookkeeping, works from home for some small businesses. Anyway, she’d see this woman drive up to the other side of the ranch. The woman would go into the apartment, stay for about fifteen minutes, then leave. Donnalee didn’t like it. A couple of times, she put her ear to the wall that separated our places to see if she could hear what the woman was doing in there.”
“Did she hear anything?” Courtney looked intrigued.
“Not much.” Matthew shrugged. “Footsteps, some thuds, nothing dramatic.”
“Then she’d drive away?” Angie asked.
“Yeah. I never saw her. I was always at work.”
“Did this woman ever go into the garage?” Angie’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t think so.”
“Did you ever tell Leon about this?” Angie asked.
“Once. Leon told me it was the housekeeper, she had a key, and not to pay her any mind. Really? What kind of housekeeper would only stay for fifteen minutes?”
Unease picked at Angie. “Was Leon ever there when the woman came by?”
“Never. Donnalee was sure of that. The whole thing seemed pretty weird.”
“Do you think Donnalee would mind talking to us?” Courtney questioned.
“She wouldn’t mind.” Matthew grinned. “She loves to talk.”
“We’ll tell Chief Martin what Donnalee saw. If he thinks it would be helpful to have Donnalee come in, then he’ll give you a call to arrange it.”
“Sounds good.” Matthew gave a nod and headed down the hallway. Halfway to the lobby, he turned around.
Angie and Courtney stood outside the conference room, talking, and noticed Matthew turn.
“I just remembered something else Donnalee said.”
A shiver ran down Angie’s back.
“Donnalee said when she had her ear to the wall, she could hear a noise that sounded like a zipper.”
“A zipper?” Courtney asked. “Like on a jacket?”
“Like on a sleeping bag Donnalee said.” Matthew gave a shrug and walked to the lobby.
Angie and Courtney waited to be sure Matthew had left the building before speaking.
“A zipper, huh?” Courtney looked at her sister. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“A woman came by every four months,” Angie said. “Only during the day.”
Courtney’s face was serious. “Only during the week, never on the weekends. I bet this woman thought no one would be around. I bet she thought Donnalee and Matthew would both be at work.”
“The woman went into Leon’s apartment.” Angie tapped her finger against her jaw. “Stayed for a few minutes and then left. When the woman was in the apartment, Donnalee could hear the sound of a zipper.”
“A heavy zipper.” Courtney’s eyebrow raised. “What the heck was that woman doing in there?”
18
Chief Martin and, his wife, Lucille came into the foyer carrying a platter of chopped vegetables and Ellie ushered them into the kitchen where the rest of the group had assembled. It was pizza and game night at the Victorian and the kitchen island was covered with individual pie pans with dough and tomato sauce already placed inside each one. Bowls and platters of toppings piled high with sliced sausage, pepperoni, chopped peppers and onions, garlic, mushrooms, and several different kinds of cheeses were spread over the far counter. A table had been set up in the dining room with fixings for a salad bar.
“So,” Angie smiled, “everyone, pick up a pizza pan and then move along the counter adding whatever toppings you’d like to your pizza. Take the pans to Tom or Mr. Finch and they’ll bake them for you.”
Tom and Finch, wearing blue aprons from the bake shop, stood next to double ovens ready to insert and remove the pizza pans.
“Then head into the dining room,” Courtney said. “There’s a salad bar set up in there.”
Josh and Rufus stood near the counter next to the refrigerator pouring beer, wine, sangria, and soft drinks into the glasses for the guests. The cats sat on top of the fridge observing the people mingling and chatting. Betty, Chief Martin, and Lucille picked up pans and stepped along the counter adding the toppings. The rest of the group followed behind and when everyone had their pizzas baked and placed on white plates, they headed for the dining room.
Settled around the table, friendly chatter ensued and eventually the talk t
urned to the murdered man found in the garage.
“Rachel has taken her father back to West Virginia for burial,” Ellie said.
“Elise, the sister of Leon Drapper who inherited his holdings, released Rachel from the lease except for the remaining weeks of May,” Angie told everyone. “Rachel gave us the key. We’re going to pack things up for her and ship it all back to West Virginia.”
“Poor young woman.” Finch cut a bite-sized piece from his pizza. “Imagine finding her father in the garage of the house she’d just rented. Incredible. What were the odds?”
Rufus finished the last of his pizza. “So this Leon guy, he must have been the killer?”
All eyes turned to the chief.
“That’s our initial assumption.” The chief dabbed his mouth with a napkin. “Of course, initial assumptions often prove to be incorrect.”
“Leon must have been involved somehow,” Tom said. “The man had to know there was a dead body in that car.”
“It’s pretty suspicious.” Josh poured some wine into Ellie’s glass. “If Leon didn’t kill Milton Marsten, why would he ever agree to hide the man’s body?”
Angie and the chief exchanged a glance.
“Money?” Tom offered. “A threat?”
“Both reasonable ideas.” Chief Martin added a bit of salt to his second pizza of the night. “Leon is a suspect. He may be the murderer, or he may not be. Nevertheless, he did hide a body, that’s for certain.”
“It’s such a difficult case,” Jenna said looking over to the chief. “Marsten is dead, his wife has passed away, Leon Drapper is dead. How can this be solved when so many of the players are no longer alive?”
Chief Martin let out a sigh. “It won’t be easy.”
Angie asked, “Is there any information on John Smith-Higgins, the man who called Marsten and asked for his help?”
The chief swallowed his bite of pizza. “Smith-Higgins owned a mansion on Marion Island, but barely used it. His home-bases were in New York and Los Angeles. He and Mr. Marsten grew up together and after high school went their separate ways.”
“Is Smith-Higgins around?” Courtney asked. “Can you talk to him?”
The chief shook his head. “Mr. Smith-Higgins is wanted for running a pyramid scheme. He and his associates bilked people for about one billion dollars.”
“What?” Betty almost toppled from her chair. “Where is he?”
Josh said, “He took off. He left the country. Where he went is anyone’s guess.”
“So,” Mr. Finch remarked, “Mr. Smith-Higgins has been crossed off the list of people to interview. What about his wife? Is she still around?”
“She’s in Boston, but will be arriving in Sweet Cove any day now. Mrs. Smith-Higgins has plenty to say about her husband. She wants to talk to me in person.” The chief looked from Angie to Courtney and they both knew he wanted them to sit in on the meeting.
“They never got divorced then?” Jenna looked pensive. “Smith-Higgins called Marsten about his desire to divorce his wife? Obviously Marsten didn’t handle the divorce. She’s still married to Smith-Higgins, isn’t she?”
“So it seems.” The chief gave a shrug. “We’ll know more after we talk to her. Smith-Higgins left the country shortly after Marsten went missing.”
“Coincidence?” Josh asked.
“That’s not what I’d put my money on,” the chief said. “He must have known that his pyramid scheme had been found out so he high-tailed it. How Marsten fits into this is unknown.”
Rufus asked, “You really think Smith-Higgins had something to do with Marsten getting killed?”
“From what I’ve heard, Smith-Higgins is a ruthless man,” Chief Martin said. “Smith-Higgins called Marsten and requested he come up to Marion Island, maybe to assist him with a divorce or possibly for some other reason. Smith-Higgins may not have wanted to use anyone from his inner circle since they would know the wife so he reached out to his old friend.”
“Then Marsten went missing,” Tom said.
“And ended up dead,” Jack added.
Angie looked across the table. “What could have happened to make Smith-Higgins kill his childhood friend? Marsten had only been in the area for a couple of days. What could have turned Smith-Higgins against him so quickly?”
“It might not be Smith-Higgins who killed the man.” Rufus took a swallow of his beer. “It could have been a random person who kidnapped Marsten and killed him.”
“I don’t think so,” Josh said. “If it was a random person then Marsten wouldn’t have ended up in Leon’s garage.”
“Then Leon must have done it.” Courtney bit into her pizza slice and a long string of cheese stretched between her mouth and her hand. “Maybe he ran into Marsten somewhere and then who knows what happened … except that Marsten got killed.”
“Do you think Leon tried to rob him?” Jenna asked. “Maybe Marsten fought back and then Leon killed him.”
“Why on earth did he not bury the man?” Betty had a sour look on her face. “Just leave him in a car in the garage? Leon must need his head examined. He must be disturbed.”
“You mean, was … was disturbed,” Courtney reminded Betty. “Past tense.”
Betty waved her hand in the air. “Whatever.” She turned to Angie. “Did you ask Leon’s sister if something was wrong with her brother? Was he disturbed?”
Angie frowned at Betty’s comment and decided not to share what Elise had told her about Leon having lower cognitive skills.
“What did Leon die from?” Ellie asked.
The question made something ping along Angie’s spine. “Heart attack? Is that what his sister said?”
“I don’t remember hearing the cause of death.” Courtney took the last bite of her pizza slice.
“Oh, wait.” Angie sat up. “It was the guy who was hired to clean out the garage. He mentioned to me that Leon had a heart attack.”
“Enough of all this,” Jenna stood up. “I’m going to clear the table and bring out dessert. Then we can play games. I don’t want to hear any more chatter about this crime. Only fun for the rest of the night.”
“Good idea,” the chief agreed.
Everyone got up to help Jenna clear the plates away and Rufus began to set out dessert plates and forks. “I bet Leon did it,” he whispered to Mr. Finch who was laying napkins at each place setting.
“What makes you think so?” Finch questioned.
“Seems likely. I bet Leon ran across Marsten, got the idea to rob the man. Marsten resisted and ended up getting killed. Leon didn’t know what to do with the body so he hid it in his garage. He didn’t want to get caught burying a body so he left the corpse right where it was.”
“It’s a good theory.” Finch nodded.
“But?”
“But, incorrect.”
“Why do you say that?” Rufus cocked his head.
“Just a feeling I have.”
Angie walked in with a pot of cream and a bowl of sugar and set them on the table.
Rufus asked Finch, “Do you have a feeling about who did do it?”
“Not yet.” Finch smiled. “Are you ready for the card game?”
“I’m always ready.” Rufus put some swagger into his step and did a little trash talking. “Do your best, Mr. Finch … but, accept the fact that it won’t be enough to beat me.”
Angie shook her head at the silly bravado.
“Perhaps a wager on the outcome?” Finch looked over the tops of his glasses.
Rufus looked interested. “What are the terms?”
“If you win again, you get a large box of the candy of your choice from the shop.”
Rufus rubbed his chin. “Intriguing. And if you win?”
“If I win, I would like you to do some legal work for me, pro bono, of course.”
“The rewards are unbalanced,” Rufus pointed out.
“That is because my winning would be a bigger upset, thus the higher payout.”
“You’re clever, Mr.
Finch. I’m not sure I like the terms.”
“Not confidant enough in your ability?” Finch kidded as he adjusted his glasses.
“I’ll think about it.” Rufus headed to the kitchen to find Courtney.
Finch turned to Angie with twinkling eyes and whispered, “I don’t need any legal work done. I’m just trying to psych him out before the game.”
Angie chuckled. “I didn’t realize that playing cards was such a cutthroat activity.”
“Oh, but it is.” Finch glanced down the hall. “Where is Miss Betty?”
“She’s in the kitchen trying to convince Josh to buy a parcel of land down near Coveside.” Angie put spoons beside each plate.
Ellie carried in a tray of mini cupcakes and put it in the middle of the dining table. “Why do we always have to be interrupted?” she muttered.
As Angie and Finch gave each other a look of concern thinking Ellie was having another one of her premonitions, the doorbell rang … and Angie’s heart skipped a beat.
19
Angie opened the door to see a stocky man in his early sixties with a good head of gray hair and broad shoulders standing on the porch. When Angie appeared in front of him, the man removed his baseball cap.
“Sorry to bother.” The man had a scruff of whiskers on his cheeks and was wearing jeans and a work shirt with the sleeves rolled up. “I’m Cole Perry.”
For a few seconds, Angie couldn’t place the name, but then she remembered that the man hired to clean out Leon’s garage had mentioned Cole. “Oh, you knew Leon Drapper.” She stepped back. “Come in.”
When Cole entered the foyer and saw everyone in the dining room enjoying dessert, he said, “You’re having a party. I can come back another time.”
“No, no, don’t worry,” Angie said, gesturing to the living room on the left side of the foyer. “We can sit in here where it’s quiet.”
