Stratagem

by Robin Caroll

  “Hurry up, Grayson,” Pam hollered from the other side of the door.

  She always did have uncanny timing.

  “Excuse me. It’s my assistant,” Grayson told Monique as he went to the front door and swung it open.

  Arms filled with boxes, Pam marched inside. “I got two pizzas and cheese sticks and breadsticks too because I didn’t know how long we’d be working.” She froze as she walked into the kitchen and spied Monique.

  Grayson took the boxes from her and set them on the stovetop. “Pam Huron, this is Anna Belle’s mother, Monique Fredericks. Monique, this is my assistant and friend, Pam Huron. Pam’s been helping me try to piece together what happened.”

  Pam wiped her hands on her jeans before extending one. “It’s nice to meet you, and I’m sorry for your loss.”

  Monique shook her hand and nodded, but her gaze remained fixed on Pam’s hair. It usually did get the most attention.

  After a moment passed, Monique withdrew her hand. “Thank you. Nice to meet you too.”

  Pam nodded at the suitcase on the island. “What’s this?” she asked Grayson.

  “It’s Anna Belle’s. Someone left it at the hotel for Monique.”

  “Who?”

  “We don’t know,” Monique answered. “It was just left for me. Grayson’s kind enough to open it with me.”

  “Oh.” Pam looked from Monique to Grayson. “Um, do you want me to leave?”

  Grayson shook his head. “Of course not.” He realized that the choice wasn’t just his. He looked at Monique. “Unless you’d prefer…”

  “No. I’m fine.” Monique nodded at the suitcase. “Let’s go ahead and see what else is in there.”

  He unzipped the case and flipped the lid back.

  Monique gasped while Pam let out a low whistle. Grayson could only stare, speechless.

  “What in mercy’s name is going on? What is that, and why are these things in Anna Belle’s suitcase?” Monique asked.

  FIFTEEN

  “Thursday morning, what was the plan?” Brandon asked Tim Dubois.

  “The caterer showed up at seven thirty and set up the buffet in the dining room, and gave us the takeout boxes for the game people. They took the boxes to the game room, set up the buffet, then left in under fifteen minutes. Everyone from Deets was supposed to be there at eight sharp.” Tim shook his head. “I have to tell you, Game’s On You had the timing down pat. When you look at the overview, with all the moving parts, well, it’s nothing short of pretty amazing how they planned it all.”

  Danielle didn’t look impressed. “You let the caterer in, I assume?”

  Tim nodded. “Colton had told me to meet them at the back door right at seven thirty. They were there waiting.”

  “What about Emmi? Where was she? With you?” Brandon asked.

  “She was finishing getting her makeup on.” He grinned at Brandon as if they shared some inside joke. “You know how women are in taking forever to get ready.”

  No, he didn’t know. “So what time did she join you in the dining room?”

  “About five minutes or so before eight, I guess.” Tim said. “Everyone else got there right after her.”

  “What was everyone’s moods?” Danielle asked. “How did they seem?”

  “Well, Franklin had dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn’t gotten much sleep. He probably thought snakes were coming to get him.” Tim snickered.

  “What about the others?” Danielle pressed.

  “Hugh looked like he always does. It’s hard to tell about him one way or another. He’s pretty even stephen all the time. It’s part of what makes him a good account rep. He doesn’t get flustered if a client doesn’t like a pitch. He’s quick on his feet.”

  “Like getting the snake out of Franklin’s bed?” Brandon offered.

  “Right. Like that.”

  “What about Anna Belle?” Danielle asked.

  “She looked beautiful as usual but seemed a little jumpy. I remember she kept looking out the window, and then I remembered that the game people were supposed to appear outside her room the day before in a Mardi Gras mask to scare her. They planned for her to catch glimpses of that in the hall and outside in the yard, looking up to her window.”

  “Why?” Danielle asked.

  “It was part of the game.” Tim looked like he was tired of explaining complex ideas to small children. “Anna Belle had been stalked in college, during Mardi Gras, by a guy in a mask. So the game duplicated that to scare her and knock her off her game. Like with Franklin and snakes.”

  Brandon wasn’t sure he could reconcile his friend and former consult Grayson with this game creator who seemed to play on people’s worst fears. Especially when he considered what Franklin, Hugh, and Georgia had told them in their interviews.

  “Anyway, Anna Belle acted a little jumpy, but she was in it to win, just like she always was. Anna Belle was all about succeeding.”

  That point had been hammered home well, many times over, during the course of the initial investigation.

  “And Georgia?” Danielle prompted.

  Tim nodded. “Yeah, Georgia seemed more irritated at Anna Belle than jumpy or anything. Probably from Anna Belle not helping her the day before. But the game hadn’t focused on Georgia’s fears yet. She got a voodoo doll on her bed later that day.”

  Put there by Hugh. Brandon nodded. “So you ate breakfast as a group?”

  “Yeah. It was a little tense, but Colton had warned us about that. Anyway, at nine we’d all finished eating, so I told them to go to their rooms to get their next task delivered to them, just as Colton had said.”

  “And they did?” Brandon was still more than a little shocked that grown adults would just blindly do as told, ignoring their common sense, which had to be screaming at them not to.

  Tim nodded. “They were behind their closed doors in less than ten minutes.”

  “What about you and Emmi?” Danielle asked.

  “We let the caterer’s crew in to remove all the stuff from the buffet, then checked in with Colton.”

  “Oh?” Brandon raised his brows.

  “Yeah. He said everything was going exactly as planned, so we could go set up the videos in the two rooms for the team PR campaign creations. So we did. Colton came by after nine thirty and told us we needed to go to our room while the teams got in place.”

  “You went to your room for how long?” Danielle asked.

  “About thirty or so minutes, I guess. I don’t really know. Colton knocked on our door and told me that the teams were working on their campaigns, and that we could do what we wanted for an hour or so until the caterers came back with lunch.”

  “This campaign…” Brandon remembered what Hugh and Franklin had said. “Was it real or created?”

  Tim’s face turned red. “I’m not at liberty to discuss that with you.”

  “You realize we’re New Orleans detectives conducting a murder investigation that occurred during an event you planned, right?” No mistaking Danielle’s mood.

  “I do, but for reasons I’m sure you understand, I can neither deny nor confirm if the circumstances around the campaign were accurate or made up.”

  Wasn’t hard for Brandon to read between the lines on that one. Tim’s lack of denial or even the possibility of such meant it was real. “What happened next?”

  “Well, the caterers showed up with lunch and set up in the dining room, as was the norm.”

  “What catering company?” Brandon didn’t have that information. Someone on the crew might’ve seen or heard something.

  “Lagniappe Eats.” Tim smiled. “I highly recommend them. Great food. Fast service.”

  Brandon made a note in his notebook and circled it. “When the time was up for the teams to have completed their campaigns, what happened then?”

  “Everyone came into the dining room to eat. I took each team into the library separately to hear their pitch. I gave each team ten minutes.”

  “While you listene
d to pitches in the library, the other team and Emmi stayed in the dining room?” Danielle asked.

  “Yes, that’s right.” Tim nodded. “Once I’d heard both pitches and lunch was concluded, I sent the teams back to their respective rooms.”

  “What time was this?” Danielle asked.

  “They all left about one. Emmi went on up to our room behind them while I let the crew from the caterers back in to clean up, then I went up as well since I needed to make some calls.”

  Or call a certain politician and give him some pitches that would offset the upcoming scandal he was sure to face. “About what time was that? That you went upstairs to your room?” Brandon asked.

  “One fifteen or so.”

  Brandon nodded, writing down the timeline, which seemed to get more and more complicated. All the moving parts of the game—well, he had to respect what Grayson did, even if he didn’t understand it. “What was next on the schedule?”

  “The four would be put in teams again, this time Anna Belle and Hugh against Georgia and Franklin. They would have to figure out the clues to find the key in a room to open the door in under two and a half hours.”

  “Like an escape room.” Danielle knew from others’ interviews, but it was always the plan to get multiple witnesses to collaborate if possible.

  “Exactly like an escape room.” Tim smiled. “I don’t know all the details of the clues, but it had to have been pretty tough because Georgia and Franklin didn’t make it out in time.”

  “Do you know the basics of the clues?” Danielle asked.

  Tim stopped smiling and shook his head. “I don’t. I was told that some of their most personal information would have to be confessed in order to find the key, but I wasn’t privy to that information. You’d have to ask the game company.”

  “You said Georgia and Franklin didn’t make it out in time?” Brandon asked.

  “Right. Since they didn’t, one of the game people unlocked the door. Either way, the plan was always for us to be in the hall, whether they escaped or not, and direct everyone back to their rooms to prepare for dinner right at four thirty.”

  Interesting he used us instead of his name or Emmi’s. Was he supposed to have been in the hall? If so, and Emmi clearly was, then where was he? Brandon leaned forward in the chair. “So you told everyone to go to their rooms?”

  Tim’s face reddened. “Well, actually, Emmi did that.”

  “What were you doing?” Danielle asked.

  “I let the caterers in to set up for dinner.”

  Brandon let a pause fall. A second passed. Two. Tim remained silent but fidgeted in his chair. Brandon didn’t miss his signs of discomfort. “What time did the teams go into the escape rooms?”

  “The doors were locked at one thirty.”

  Brandon nodded. “And you said they had two and a half hours to get out, so that would run until four?”

  Tim nodded. “Except Anna Belle and Hugh got out five minutes early, but Emmi was already waiting in the hall to tell them to go to their rooms.”

  “You said that during those few moments, Emmi was in the hall and you were letting the caterers in,” Brandon started.

  “Right.” Tim nodded emphatically.

  Brandon flipped back through his notes. “You said you and Emmi went to your room for you to make calls and such, between one and one fifteenish?”

  “Yes, that’s correct.”

  “And what time did Emmi go wait in the hall outside the escape rooms?” Brandon caught Danielle’s gaze and let a volume pass between them without saying a word.

  “She had to be there at three forty-five per Colton’s instructions. Just in case they got out early, which Anna Belle and Hugh did.”

  “And at that time, you went to let the caterers in?” Danielle gave a slight tilt of her head, just enough to let Brandon know she understood where he was going.

  “Right.”

  “So what were you and Emmi doing for those two and a half hours, between one fifteen and three forty-five?” Brandon pierced Tim with his stare.

  “Well, um, like I said. I, uh, had some calls to make. I do run a business.”

  His hemming and hawing made him a caricature. “I had to call and update the board too. You know, with the status of what was happening. Frankly, I suspect they were a little anxious to see the outcome on the game. I was too, to be honest.”

  “Frankly … to be honest.” Brandon slid to the edge of his chair. “You were making business calls for two and a half hours?”

  Tim’s entire face was the color of the middle of a rare steak. “I don’t know. I don’t make a habit of logging my time on calls.”

  “It’s okay, Mr. Dubois, we can just get a copy of your cell phone records.” Danielle straightened her posture.

  “Um, and I … that’s right … I took a walk. To clear my head. Some of the business stuff was really intense and I needed to just relax a few minutes. Sorry, I forgot about that.”

  Right. Funny how the mention of cell phone records can prompt a memory of doing something instead of being on the phone. “So you made some business calls and took a … walk in those two and a half hours?” Brandon didn’t bother to push aside the sarcasm sneaking into his voice.

  “Yes.” The tips of Tim’s ears were bright red.

  “Did your wife go on this walk with you?” Danielle asked.

  “No. She was reading a book.”

  Reading. Going for a walk. Brandon didn’t think so.

  Danielle wasn’t buying it either. “Oh, I love to read. What book?”

  “I don’t know.” Tim’s Adam’s apple bobbed as if it were Halloween night. “Does it matter?”

  “No, I was just curious.” Danielle tapped her pen against her knee.

  Tim made a point of glancing at his watch. “If we could wrap this up, I have an appointment in fifteen minutes.”

  Sure he did. Brandon nodded. “Where did you go on this little walk of yours?”

  Tim’s eyes narrowed. “I went into the backyard and just walked around. Look, I can tell you don’t believe me, but that’s where I was.”

  Brandon would neither deny nor confirm. He swallowed the snicker. “Your wife stayed in your room while you went on your walk? Reading?”

  “Yes.” Tim ground out the word from behind clenched teeth.

  “But Emmi was in the hall at three forty-five, and you were letting the caterers in?”

  “Yes.”

  “What happened next?” Danielle asked.

  “Emmi and I were talking with Colton in the kitchen, going over the plan for dinner, when Georgia started screaming. And I mean, screaming. Of course, we all ran up the stairs to see what was wrong.”

  “There was nothing planned to happen then, right? No snakes in beds or anything like that?” Danielle asked.

  Tim shook his head. “No. There was nothing scheduled until after dinner.”

  “You hear the screams and run up the stairs and what?” Brandon hovered his pen over his field notes.

  “Anna Belle was lying on the floor. Unconscious. I pushed Georgia, who was just standing there screaming, out of the way and felt for a pulse. I could barely feel one.” Tim’s hands trembled slightly. “I told Colton to call 911, and I started CPR.”

  “What was everybody else doing?” Danielle asked.

  Tim frowned. “I have no idea. I was concentrating on trying to save Anna Belle’s life.”

  Brandon nodded. “The paramedics came and took over CPR. What did you do?”

  “Everyone was there, all our employees and the game people. Our employees didn’t have a clue who the game people were. I think I told them they were with the house or something. I told everyone I was going to the hospital. Emmi and I left immediately.”

  Danielle softened her tone. “We understand Anna Belle never regained consciousness. What happened at the hospital?”

  “We sat in the waiting room. Colton came, I guess because he wanted to make sure his company had no liability. At least t
hat’s what our corporate attorney said.”

  So lawyers had already been called. Of course.

  Tim continued without prompting. “Hugh came a little bit later and sat with us. None of us really talked, except for mentioning how bad the coffee was.”

  Brandon remembered Hugh’s statement about Tim’s mumblings. “Someone overheard you saying it was all your fault. Can you tell me what you meant by that?”

  Tim’s face went slack. “I don’t recall saying that. Who told you I said that? Colton? He was probably trying to cover his own responsibility.”

  “So, you’re saying that someone was mistaken and you didn’t say that?” Brandon pried.

  “That’s what I’m saying.” Tim crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Okay, so the doctor came out and informed you that Anna Belle had passed. What happened then?” Danielle asked.

  “There was nothing left to do. Nothing left to say. Emmi and I left and went home. We were in shock of course.”

  “What did you do when you got home?” Brandon asked.

  “I called the board to tell them.” He shrugged. “I don’t remember everything exactly. Like I said, I was in shock.”

  Brandon nodded. “Emmi says she went and picked up yours and her belongings from the house and brought them home?”

  Tim nodded but was clearly distracted as grief marched over his expression.

  “Anything else?” Danielle asked.

  “Nothing until the police contacted me and started asking questions.” He stood. “I’m sorry, but I need to end this now. I have an appointment.” He moved toward his office door. “I’m sure you understand what a trying time this is for our company.”

  Just like that, they’d been dismissed. Brandon stood and winked at Danielle. They’d gotten enough. For now.

  “Thank you again for your time, Mr. Dubois.” Brandon shook his hand, holding the tight grip long enough to add, “I’m sure we’ll be in touch again real soon.”

  Maybe sooner than they all thought.

  Anna Belle

  Thursday 4:00 p.m.

  That should show them all. Not only had her and Franklin’s campaign rocked, but she and Hugh made it out of the escape room with time to spare.