Ladies Lunch Club Murders

by David Bishop

  “Damn straight. From what I knew anyways. My last months with him, that midweek whatever became a regular event. His detail would get scratched. I’d drop him in town. He’d find his own way back. The next morning, I’d pick ‘im up at his home and everything was jake.”

  “And you never knew what all that was about?”

  “No way, man. He was the governor. When he said, ‘Beat it, Morg. See ya in the morning,’ I’d skedaddle ‘til the morning.”

  “Anything else unusual, whatever?”

  “Nah. Nothing really. I was the driver. When he wanted me there, I was there. When he didn’t want me there, I’d be gone. I never saw him with no hookers or gangbangers. He never had me take him to after-hours joints or cock fights, or anything raunchy. … Hey, man, I gotta get back inside. My relief needs a break before we start climbing the lunch hump.”

  Jack shook Morg’s hand and offered him a hundred.

  “Mr. Dunn said not to put the touch on you.”

  “And you didn’t. I offered it.” Jack extended his arm, the money still in his hand. Morg took it. “Oh, before you leave, a quick minute.” Jack opened his phone. “I got a few pictures in here. Ladies. They’re all easy on your eyes. I’d like you to tell me if any are familiar and, if they are, why.”

  Morg moved closer.

  Jack started running through the pictures.

  “That one. She’s the receptionist-like person in the governor’s office. She’s easy to remember. She had a thing for dangly earrings. Always wore ‘em every time I saw her anyways.”

  “Okay. Good. How about this one?”

  “I don’t know her.” A moment later, Morg said the same thing, “Nope. Never seen her.” He repeated it again when Jack showed him the next picture.

  Morg was being honest. Jack had shown him pictures of Nora Burke, whom Morg had never met. Then Mary Lou, the receptionist in McCall Investigations back in DC. The same thing happened when he showed Morg a picture of Lola, a flight attendant Jack sometimes dated. Morg was eager to get inside.

  Jack showed him one last picture.

  Morg did a double take and leaned closer to Jack’s phone. “That one.” He pointed at the little screen. “Yeah.” His voice went up. “Yeah.” His voice went down. “Oh, yeah. I don’t forget the gals with big boobs.” He made a breathy whistle. “She’s definitely got ‘em.” He crossed his arms. “She was the agent who headed up the governor’s security detail. The one who would give the agents directly guarding the governor the night off when I was to take him into town.” Morg took a step away from Jack. “Thanks for the C-note.” He waved the hundred dollar bill and then stuffed it in his pocket. “I gotta get inside, man.”

  Jack gave him a card with the number to his cellphone. “Anytime. This is important.” Jack gripped Morg’s shoulder. “Important. Okay?”

  Morg nodded, turned and walked toward the backdoor into his diner. On the way he ran his fingers across the hood of General Lee.

  Mysterious nights away. Private security?

  30

  Jack dialed the number for Governor Lennox’s private cellphone. “Governor, we need to talk. Right away. Today.”

  “What’s this about, McCall? I’ve got a ballbuster day lined up. There’s not enough room to squeeze in a fart. Tomorrow maybe, the next day’s more likely.”

  “You told me finding your sister’s killer was a high priority. At that time, I told you I’d need to be able to reach you. Our investigation can’t move forward until we talk. You gave this the highest priority. Respectfully, sir, I’m in my car on the way to Tallahassee. Give me a time.”

  “What’s so urgent that you can’t continue without talking with me?”

  “This isn’t on-the-phone stuff. As I said, I’m on my way.”

  “All right, McCall. Come ahead. You may have to cool your heels for a while in my lobby. I’ll cancel my lunch appointment and my first afternoon meeting. It’s with the leadership of the State House. Damn. Those prima donnas will be pissed. This better be important.”

  “Hey. You made it high priority. Lower it and I’ll turn around and head back, lay around the hotel pool for a couple days and see you the day after tomorrow. Your call.”

  “Shit. … I already said, ‘come ahead’.” For punctuation, the governor ended the call.

  Jack entered the governor’s lobby at eleven. He spent the first hour the way he spent the hours driving from Orlando to Tallahassee—shaping his questions and generally deciding the order in which he’d ask them.

  A little after twelve noon, the receptionist with the dangling earrings called to him. He approached. She pointed at the door he’d gone through the last time.

  “Office at the end of the hall, right?”

  She nodded. Her earrings bounced. He went through the door.

  “Hello, Jack. Your call was not expected. It threw a hand grenade into my schedule. Still, you were right. I made finding my sister’s killer a major priority, so that has to apply to me as well as to you. I took the liberty of ordering lunch. It should be here soon. While we wait, let’s get started. I’m curious as hell as to what could be so important that your investigation needed to pull to the side of the road until we talked.”

  “You, Lieutenant Ann Reynolds, the law firm of Walker and Greene, and even Sergeant CC Wilmer are threads running through the fabric of this case. I need help determining which threads have relevance. In the interest of expediency, let me tell you what I know and then you comment as you feel necessary. … No, first, let’s start with some background to be sure we’re prepared for what we talk about. That okay?”

  Governor Lennox crossed his arms. “You asked for this dance. You lead.”

  “Thank you. Your sister is dead. Her son, your nephew, is also dead. Mary Alice was likely murdered. Your nephew, Carter, was definitely murdered. Sergeant Wilmer was the lone investigator who went to your sister house. He initially judged her death an accident. The current thinking is your sister’s death was likely homicide.”

  “I told you that the first day in your office, up in DC.”

  “You first met Lieutenant Reynolds when Ann worked at Walker and Greene. She was an assistant to Walker, who was, at that time, your attorney. Rumors of inappropriate to criminal behavior by that firm caused you to drop them as your lawyers. Nothing has been proven against Walker and Greene and, to my knowledge, no charges against them are pending. Still, the firm remains tainted by rumors and innuendo. These stories, like herpes, have the potential of flaring up at any time. Needing to avoid being linked to any further problems at Walker and Greene, you severed your relationship with them as part of preparing your image for a possible run for the presidency.”

  Governor Lennox leaned back and tightened his lips.

  “During the time you were a client of that law firm, and while you were married, you began an illicit affair with Ann Reynolds, then in the employ of Walker and Greene. You didn’t sever your relationship with Ann when you terminated Walker and Greene as your attorneys. To this day, you and Ann continue that relationship.”

  “Stuff it, McCall. This is about my sister’s death, not about the women in my life.”

  “Come on, Governor. You know as well as I do, it’s all tangled up together. You can tell me to stuff it, but you can’t order a nosey press or your aggressive political opponents to stuff it. Deal with it now or choke on it later. Ann’s loyalty to you was behind your decision to finagle her assignment to help the local county sheriff’s office investigate the murders of the women who were, along with your sister, members of the retirement community’s ladies lunch club.”

  Governor Lennox began to say something, but Jack held up his hand.

  “Please Governor, let me lay it out before you comment.”

  Governor Lennox narrowed his eyes, but remained silent.

  “Thank you, sir. During the years you were a client of Walker and Greene, maybe even before you first met Ann Reynolds, you were aware that Sergeant CC Wilmer did some o
n-the-side, shall we say, work for Walker and Greene. The relationship between Sergeant Wilmer and Walker and Greene goes back many years and probably continues to this day.”

  I tossed CC in there on a guess. The governor’s lack of objection, confirms it.

  Jack went quiet and doffed his hand toward the governor.

  “And you tell me all this because?”

  “It’s related, one extent or another, to my pursuit of what you hired me to find out—what caused the death of your sister. And whether or not her death was a homicide. … I might add, my telling you these things that I’ve uncovered is fact-finding helpful to your political ambitions.”

  “How so?”

  “If I can find these things, Governor, so can your political opponents and an aggressive media. My efforts allow you to identify these problem areas and prepare for them.”

  “In the event I elect to seek the nomination of my party for the office of U.S. President.”

  “Of course, sir. If you do. We don’t want this meeting to become a tacit announcement of that decision.”

  “Before I’ve made it, you mean?”

  “Yes. Before you’ve made it.”

  “Is there anything else you’d like to say about my political ambitions?”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you for the invitation to do so.”

  “Why the hell not. Everybody’s got an opinion. Let’s hear yours.”

  “Whether or not you run, I have no opinion, but I can say this and mean it: Being president requires honesty, personal integrity, and a desire to serve others. Running for president requires the exact opposite.”

  Trey Lennox stayed quiet. His eyes locked on Jack McCall. “You certainly trimmed the fat off that bull.”

  “Now, please, let’s put politics aside and return to my investigation. I’d like you to comment on the areas I’ve mentioned: the undertow about shady dealings by your former attorneys, Walker and Greene, your relationship with Lieutenant Reynolds, Sergeant Wilmer’s side work on matters being lawyered by Walker and Greene.”

  Governor Lennox pressed a button. After that he came out from behind his desk and walked to a table for four near the corner of his office. The windows looked down, in two directions, onto the streets of Tallahassee.

  Jack followed. The button must have summoned the delivery of their lunch. A fellow in a white jacket rolled in a cart and put their meals on that table.

  “I took the liberty of ordering clam chowder and a half sandwich of grilled cheese with tomato. It’s a favorite of mine and most people like it. There’s coffee, sodas, and bottles of water on the side table.”

  “Thank you, Governor. This is very nice.”

  The governor was wearing tan slacks and his place setting included a white cloth napkin. Jack had on black slacks and his silverware was wrapped in a black cloth napkin.

  “Well, Jack, the last time you were here I was a bit abrupt with frustration over your lack of results. This time I’ll begin by complimenting your thoroughness. Your recap was a solid overview of the players and the issues, although much of it is, in my opinion, irrelevant to the case. I suspect some of it you were beginning to formulate the last time, but you weren’t ready to state it in such an I-know manner as you have today.”

  “That’s correct. Please proceed with your comments regarding the elements about which I asked.”

  Lennox finished chewing the first bite of his sandwich, wincing a bit from the heat in the cheese. “Yes, on why I severed my use of Walker and Greene. After becoming governor, to my surprise, I was advised of the shadows that, deserved or not, fell over that firm. It was then I decided not to make further use of their services. As for Sergeant Wilmer, confirmed as well. Off the record, hearsay, Wilmer and Lieutenant Reynolds have, at times, functioned for Walker and Greene. Ann has told me she no longer does anything for that firm. I don’t know about Sergeant Wilmer. This isn’t intended to suggest the duties done by either of them were ever illegal. I have no knowledge on any of that.”

  A politician can’t stop being a politician.

  Jack put down his soup spoon, and took a drink of water. “And Lieutenant Ann Reynolds?”

  “Yes. The lieutenant and I spend some personal time together. There is no reason to deny it. I am a widower and Ann Reynolds is single.”

  “Then why do you two go about it so secretively?”

  “That’s more at Ann’s request than mine. Her concern is that if her coworkers at the FDLE, not to mention people at the various sheriff’s offices where she assists with investigations, were to learn she was the governor’s sweetheart, she believes she’d be treated differently. She’s concerned that her coworkers would feel that anything they said to her could find its way to my ears. You understand.”

  Jack fought off a smirk and turned it into a smile. “This way she can bring you feedback on those comments and the attitudes of the various county sheriffs. Given her years in British Intelligence, she’s trained and experienced in undercover work and being a double agent of sorts.”

  “Come on, Jack. We’re both men of the world. Affairs of the heart often have at least one sticky edge.”

  “In the event you do seek the nomination, what’re your plans for Ann?”

  “That has the feel of an illegal border crossing. Before I’ll answer it, I need you to explain its relevance to your investigation.”

  Jack swallowed the last corner of his sandwich. “It’s tangential at best. Leave it unanswered.”

  “And you see all this … stuff as related to my sister’s death?”

  “Yes. CC investigated the probable murder scene and ruled her death accidental. From everything I can ascertain, CC is a most capable investigator, yet, by his own admission, he handled this scene shoddily, even negligently. Coincidence? Perhaps. Complicity in something else? Perhaps. Regardless of which, his less than stellar work was what led you to bring me in on this matter. By doing that, you implicitly called CC’s skill and objectivity into question. On this, I’m swimming in the channel you dug. Ann Reynolds was your choice to dispatch to the locale. Both those officers have a history of doing shady work for Walker and Greene, your old law firm.”

  “You already covered those points.”

  “All right, let’s move on to three new suspicious elements.” Jack touched the tip of his little finger with the index of his other hand. “Element one, Walker and Greene also represents a developer, local to that retirement community, who is trying to buy property on which a local movie theater operates. That movie theater was owned and operated by four ladies. One of those ladies was one of the murder victims.” His index finger moved to the tip of the ring finger on his other hand. “Element two, your sister was the bookkeeper and advisor to the ladies who owned that theater, and your sister also died under questionable circumstances. Was your sister’s death connected in some way to the developer’s efforts to wrestle that deal to the closing table? If so, that further ties Walker and Greene along the periphery of this case, and creates another innuendo about them possibly crossing the law line to help their clients.” Jack touched the end of his middle finger. “Element three, the murder of your nephew, Carter Phelps, following your sister’s death, moves you into the catbird seat to inherit your sister’s millions.”

  Governor Lennox stood violently. His chair tipped over backwards. “Are you inferring I was complicit in the death of my sister’s son?”

  “No, governor. Between you, your former shady law firm, and the two main investigators, Sergeant Wilmer and Lieutenant Reynolds, you had total control over the handling of the death of Mary Alice. Were you involved, it would have been monumentally stupid of you to bring me into the case. I seriously doubt you’re stupid about anything. And, if I may add, should you decide to run, and your sister’s death remains unsolved, you can expect some yellow journalist or political adversary to refresh this line of thought in a form that will be an inference. It’s in your interest to have this case cleared. Everything I’m doing is aimed at gett
ing that done.”

  “I’m not used to being spoken to in this … manner.”

  “I’m sure that’s true. I’m also sure that kind of kid-glove treatment of elected officials is part of what isolates people like you from their constituencies and fosters a sense of hubris within those officials. In my work I strive to be tactful, but not as much as I strive to speak the truth.”

  The governor stared out the window, then picked his chair up and sat in it. “I’m not moved to say thank you, but I see your point. I won’t bother to deny any complicity in the death of either my sister or my unmet nephew. At best, it’s a contemptible thought, but I accept you needing to put it on the table. So, where do we go from here?”

  “I get back to work and stay at it until I solve your sister’s death as either an accident or a homicide. And, if the latter, by whom.” Jack stood. “Thank you, Governor. I appreciate you making yourself available on such short notice.”

  The governor stood. They shook hands. Jack turned toward the door. Governor Lennox put his hand on Jack’s shoulder and walked with him.

  “Jack, may I ask about your ambitions? It’s a bit premature, of course, but I looked into your background and I’m wondering. Are you content being a par excellence private investigator or what might be your ambitions beyond that?”

  “Everyone is ambitious to one extent or another, Governor.”

  “Yes. I imagine so. We’ll need to give some thought to how we can further your ambitions to reward your loyalty. Oh, Jack, I’m counting on your discretion regarding my candid comments on Ann’s reasons for wanting our private lives to remain behind the curtain separating officeholders from public awareness.”

  God. Are all politicians the same?

  31

  Jack knocked on the aluminum frame of Norma Taylor’s front screen door. A mixture of sounds, coming from a television or radio, immediately ceased. A minute later, Norma Taylor was at the door.

  Her smile morphed into the kind of expression that usually backed up a question. Still, as she always had, she invited Jack and Ann Reynolds into her home. Norma walked ahead of the detectives and sat at the end of her flowered couch. Jack stepped close and glared down at her. His first words were delivered in a hard monotone.