by Liz Turner
“You just clearly don’t understand the best use of your family’s money!”
“According to you,” David snarled. “But either way, my money is my money, and I will use it however I want. If that means I want to have a nice funeral for my daughter, then so be it.”
Veronica could almost hear the growl emit from Anthony’s throat. “David, if you insist on going about it this way, I will have no choice but to tell your father how you are just throwing your money away needlessly.”
“There’s nothing needless about wanting to honor your daughter.” Everyone in the bar turned to see Martin standing in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face. “Don’t bother telling me what happened. I heard everything, Anthony.”
“Martin, if you heard everything then you know how much your son throws your money away on frivolous things,” Anthony debated.
“I see nothing ‘frivolous’ about wanting to do something nice for your daughter, who just died,” Martin returned. “But you wouldn’t know, having no family of your own.”
Anthony laughed. “I’ve never needed my family. Yours is enough for me.”
“So you acted like a friend to me because of my family? Or because of our money?” Martin asked. Anthony’s jaw dropped, but he didn’t respond. “I thought so. You treat the Buckner family money more like it belongs to you than to us.”
“Martin you know that’s not the case,” Anthony argued back. “I’ve always been invested in your family and your business. I’m insulted you would think it was all about the money.”
Martin brought out a stack of papers, which Veronica hadn’t noticed he was carrying. He stomped over to Anthony and slammed the stack onto the closest table with a loud smack. Everyone in the room jumped.
That’s a lot of paper, Veronica thought.
“Do you know what all this is, Anthony?” Martin asked, his tone dark.
Anthony stared at the papers but didn’t read them. “No. What is it?”
“I noticed the funds in our business accounts at all our banks were not matching the ledgers I have been keeping for decades,” the Buckner patriarch described. “I had Janet look into it a little since she has a much better eye for detail than I do. She said that a total of five hundred thousand dollars was removed from the accounts over the course of a year. When I learned this, I hired a private investigator to look into where this money was going. These papers are the reports from that investigator, as well as various bankers and auditors. Do you know what they found?”
“I’m not sure I follow, Martin,” Anthony responded. “What does this have to do with me?”
“The accounts the money had been transferred to were all closed accounts, and they had only been open for a few days at most,” Martin continued. “But all the accounts had the same identity attached to them. Even if the name was different, the Social Security Number and other information matched. All the accounts, at one point or another, belonged to you, Anthony Cugno.”
“You honestly think I’ve been stealing from you?” Anthony asked, placing a hand over his heart. “You can’t be serious.”
“It hasn’t just been the past year either,” the patriarch resumed. “I had the investigators look further back, and you’ve been embezzling money from our business accounts for years. You’ve been taking away money from the hospitals and the patients who could use that funding. Now I understand why I couldn’t pay to build that new children’s hospital. You took the money out without me realizing it.”
“Martin, you’re upset about Amber,” Anthony said, trying to change the subject. “You’re not thinking clearly.”
“Sounds to me like he’s thinking clearly for the first time in a long time,” David added.
“My son’s right,” Martin confessed. “I’ve been a fool for thinking you were genuinely my friend. But no longer.”
“What do you mean, Mister Buckner?” Veronica asked.
“I invited Anthony on this vacation so it could be the last one he enjoyed before I fired him from my company, and then sued for financial fraud and embezzlement,” Martin explained. “I was going to reveal this to you last night. I gave Amber a letter after she talked to me about her plans to become a singer. I asked her to give it to you so you would come to my rooms and we could talk about it.”
“I never saw Amber last night,” Anthony insisted. “I swear it had nothing to do with me!”
“That doesn’t matter now,” Martin snarled. “We’re having this conversation now. Anthony Cugno, you are fired. You will remove your belongings from your room here within the next hour, or I will have it thrown out. You will be hearing from my lawyers about the suit. Until then, leave my family alone. We have enough to grieve right now.”
Anthony stood by and lowered his hand away from his black eye. He gave Martin the best glare he could and frowned with his nostrils flaring. He let out a loud huff through his nose and stomped out of the room. Veronica could only presume he was heading to his hotel room to pack. Anthony would probably be on his way by the end of the day.
Veronica turned to look at Martin, who had since moved to his son. David had relaxed enough that the security guards released their grip on him, and he gave his father a sad glance.
“David, I think you’ve had enough to drink for today,” Martin advised. “How about you go sleep it off. I’ll take care of everything for Amber.”
The brokenhearted father nodded and headed for the door. Martin returned to the table where his documents were piled, grabbing them before heading out for himself. As the older man was passing by, a thought occurred to Veronica.
“Mister Buckner?” He stopped and looked at her. “You mentioned something about a letter to Anthony?”
“Yes. I gave it to Amber and asked her to deliver it to him in the fitness center,” he replied. “It was to ask him to come to my room to talk about the money issues.”
“Did the letter say that?”
“More diplomatically, but yes it did.”
“Do you still have the letter?”
Martin paused. “No. Not since Amber left my rooms last night.”
“Mister Hoffstad?” Veronica turned her attention to the resort manager. “Has anyone found a letter like that anywhere? Particularly near the fitness center?”
“I’d have to ask my employees,” Sandro answered. “But to my knowledge, no.”
“Why do you ask?” Martin wondered aloud.
“I’ve got a theory,” Veronica announced. “Is it possible Amber read the letter?”
Martin’s eyes widened just a hair. “I guess that’s possible, but I don’t know why she would.”
“If only we could find that letter, and see if it had been opened or not,” Veronica deduced. “In any case, sorry to keep you, Mister Buckner.”
“It’s no trouble, Chef Koche.”
Martin left the bar while the rest of the employees worked to clean the place up. Other than Anthony’s black eye no one had been seriously injured, which was a blessing. Veronica left the room as well and decided to head for the fitness center as the plan had originally been.
Too bad my timing is now completely off, she thought, glancing at her watch. Oh well. I’m not climbing those stairs again just to get that right. I wonder if Sakura or Detective Bernard have learned anything?
Chapter 13
The fitness center was right next to the indoor and outdoor swimming pools. The only windows in the room were a few feet above eye level. The center was about the size of the lobby, with a large desk at the front. A pile of flyers advertising various other gyms the resort was in business with was on the desk next to the computer.
The gym itself was rather spacious, giving enough room for the numerous pieces of equipment to work properly without people knocking into each other. Close to the entrance were two sets of weights, varying in mass from five pounds to fifty each. A little way off from those were weight machines of several kinds, including ones that focused on both upper and
lower body strength. Three stair masters were positioned so the users could see out on the rest of the gym. A couple of treadmills and ellipticals stood at the far end, facing the wall, but on the wall were big-screen televisions. At the time, they were shut off since there wasn’t anyone working out.
Opposite all those was a small indoor basketball court, and Veronica couldn’t help but think it might be too small for most people who liked to play the sport. The small hallway leading to the restrooms was north of that. On the other side was a door heading to the indoor swimming pool. Veronica knew from looking at the pools earlier in the day there was a passage between the indoor and outdoor pools.
As Veronica approached the front desk of the gym, she spotted Sakura clicking away at the computer. She frowned as she typed, and Veronica had a feeling her search was unsuccessful.
“I don’t think you should do that,” Veronica warned her once she walked up to the desk. “You might get in trouble.”
“All that need a warrant nonsense?” she replied. “I’ll just say I’m helping out Detective Bernard. It’s not a lie.”
“Then you’d just get me in trouble,” Max’s voice called out, and Veronica turned to see him leaning against the far wall next to the weights. “We’re looking for evidence Amber Buckner was here at some point yesterday, not trying to incriminate one of the gym employees.”
“Okay, I get it. Sorry.” Sakura put everything back, presumably the way she found it and straightened up. “So. My timing was about five minutes. Two other people used the elevator with me, so I bet it wouldn’t take much time if the elevator went right down to the lobby from the top floor. What about you guys?”
“It took me twenty minutes,” Max informed them. “But I took my time to look through some things and to ask a few employees some questions. What about you, Veronica?”
“I hate to say it, but I have no idea.”
“What? Then what was the point of us doing this timing thing?” Sakura asked.
“Says the girl who got to take the elevator,” Veronica teased. “I’ve got a good reason. Listen to this.”
Veronica took several minutes to explain what she witnessed in the bar between Martin, David and Anthony, and how Martin learned Anthony had embezzled money from them. Sakura gasped when she heard Martin had essentially kicked Anthony out of the resort while Max just raised his eyebrows at the news. He then scratched his chin as he processed this information.
“Huh, that could be something,” he said. “Filing that information away for later. Did you two find anything related to Amber’s murder on your way here?”
“Other than the fight?” Veronica answered. “No.”
“Nothing at all,” Sakura responded. “Then again I took the shortest and most boring route. It’s not surprising I didn’t find anything.”
“That tells me any clues about the murder are probably here in the fitness center or the outside pool,” Detective Bernard concluded. “We should look around, see if we can find anything. Sakura, you take the basketball court and bathrooms. Veronica, you and I will check the work-out machines.”
Sakura headed for the court while Max and Veronica first took to the weights. They searched them up and down before moving to the weight machines, and Veronica noticed how the weights were pulled up and down using long, relatively thin cords between the handles and the weights themselves. She called Max over to look at them.
“Couldn’t someone strangle another person with these?” she suggested. “I mean, they’d have to cut the cords, but that could easily suffocate someone, couldn’t it?”
“It definitely could,” he answered. “But there would also have been ligature marks on her neck. The coroner didn’t see any during the autopsy.”
“Right. So she was suffocated with something that didn’t leave any external marks?”
“That’s the idea. I looked at some workout towels before, but they’re all clean.”
“I think the resort washes them every night. If one of them was used to kill Amber, it’s probably long gone by now.”
“We just have to hope that’s not the case. Let’s keep searching.”
“Hey, guys? I found something.” Sakura walked up to the pair and handed them a heavy bit of paper. “It’s a letter and envelope. It was in the women’s bathroom trash.”
Max took the envelope from her and turned it over. It was a simple business envelope, and it had been opened. On the front was Anthony’s name, written in what Veronica had learned to recognize as Martin’s handwriting.
“This has got to be the letter Martin mentioned,” she declared. “The one he wanted Amber to give to Anthony.”
“And it’s open,” Max stated. “Meaning either Amber or Anthony had opened it before they threw it away.”
“I bet it was Amber. Anthony was so insistent he never saw the letter, both when we interviewed him and when he fought with Martin just a short while ago,” Veronica concluded. “You can’t fake that kind of reaction.”
“If that’s the case, Amber learned how Anthony was embezzling money from her grandfather before she died,” Max theorized.
“Do you think she tried to confront Anthony about it instead of just giving him the letter?” Sakura suggested. “That would explain why it was in the girls’ bathroom. She threw it away there before talking to him.”
Max bit his lip. “It would give Anthony a good motive for killing her if she confronted him and that makes more sense than Anthony having read the letter. Veronica, you said Anthony first learned Martin knew about the embezzlement during their fight?”
“I think so. It sure sounded like it. He probably never got the letter.”
“Which leaves it in Amber’s hands,” Max agreed.
“Do you think…Is it possible Amber was trying to do something to help her grandfather?” Veronica wondered out loud. “Martin was one of the few who supported her dreams to sing. Maybe she was trying to help him in return?”
“Sounds like the kind of person Amber was,” Sakura confirmed.
“Unfortunately, if your theory is correct, it may have led to her death instead.” Max put the letter in an evidence bag and put it away in his bag for later. “It’s a good theory, but it’s just speculation right now. We don’t have anything to prove Anthony killed her, or any indication of what the murder weapon was.”
“If there was a murder weapon,” Veronica proclaimed. “Could he have choked her with his bare hands? Anthony was certainly strong enough to do it, even at his age.”
“There would’ve been bruising on her neck seen at the autopsy,” Max recited.
“Oh right.” Veronica snapped her fingers in disappointment. “Guess we keep searching?”
The three went back to work, splitting up again to cover more ground. While Sakura headed for the treadmills and Max focused on the weight again, determined to make sure he didn’t miss anything. Veronica headed for the stair masters. She looked them up and down, and when she found nothing she turned her attention to the television screens.
Then she smelled it. Her nostrils flared as she sniffed the air, taking in the pungent stench of sweat and chewed food. She had to keep herself from gagging.
What in the world is that?!
She glanced around, trying to find the source of the smell with her eyes. Vision did not have the same effect as the sense of smell, however, and she didn’t see anything strange. Veronica continued to sniff the air, and she laughed a little to herself.
What am I, a bloodhound?
Despite her inner jokes, the scent was extreme enough that, slowly and carefully, she was able to follow the trail to a spot behind the big screen televisions. There was a small space between it and the wall behind it, just large enough to hide a small, fluffy, white object. That was exactly what Veronica found when she had searched long enough. She was barely able to reach in and grab it with her fingers.
There’s no way anyone would know that was there if they weren’t looking for it.
It was
a small, white towel, the same kind she had seen folded in piles on the gym’s table. They must be for the customers to use while they are working out. Veronica unfolded the towel, trying to see if anything other than sweat was inside.
She wasn’t disappointed. There wasn’t much, but she could see bits of food – lobster meat, butter, breadcrumbs, green onion and lemon juice. Veronica instantly recognized it as the components of the meal she had served the Buckners and Anthony the night before, except Janet, who didn’t eat meat.
There’s only one way these bits got on this towel! “Max! Sakura! Look at this!”
Detective Bernard reached her first, and she passed the towel over to him. Sakura glanced at the towel, not taking in the significance other than the fact that it had been used.
“What’s the big deal?” she asked.
“Look at this,” Veronica instructed. “Smell it. It’s the Lobster de Jonghe we prepared last night.”
“You can tell that from these partly chewed spots?” Max inquired with surprise.
“I’ve always had an eye for food,” she reasoned. “I found it behind the TV. Could this have been used to suffocate Amber?”
“It would certainly fit,” Max agreed as he pulled out another evidence bag. “It wouldn’t leave any marks on Amber if it was used to cover her mouth and nose for an extended period.”
“Is there any way you can prove it was the weapon used?” Veronica asked.
Max smiled at her. “Oh yeah. If there’s partly eaten food on here, there’s bound to be saliva or skin cells on it. I can have the forensic team check it for DNA, and see if it matches Amber’s.”
“Perfect!” Sakura declared. “And then you can see if there are any skin cells from the murderer too!”
“That’s right,” Max confirmed. “We should check around the pool next.”
“I agree,” Veronica responded. “I’ve got a feeling there isn’t anything else in here.”
