Murder in Calistoga: A Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery

by Dianne Harman

  They all shook their heads from side to side indicating no, they were fine with Roger and Liz being present when their statements were taken. The chief looked at Judy and said, “Mrs. Rasmussen, let’s begin with you. Which room would you like us to use?”

  “The dining room would probably be the best. Naturally there’s a large table in there, and you can spread out papers if you need to.” The four of them walked into the dining and sat down at the table.

  “All right, Mrs. Rasmussen, would you tell me exactly what happened from the time Renee Simmons and her group came to the hotel and spa until you discovered the body?”

  “Yes. They arrived about two this afternoon. They drove here in Renee’s limousine, and after her driver had brought their luggage inside, he left and from what I overheard he and Renee saying, he went to visit his sister down in St. Helena. Renee told him she’d call him about a half an hour before they would be ready to go out to dinner this evening.”

  “When the guests were all inside the hotel, what happened?”

  “Renee introduced me to everyone, because even though Renee and I’ve been friends for many years, I’d never met any of the others. After that, I gave each of them a key to their room. Nikki, the woman who died, said she wanted to go directly to the sauna before she unpacked. She said she wanted to let the steam help her get rid of the stress she’d been under recently. Renee told her she’d join her, but she wanted to unpack first. The others said they wanted to unpack as well, and they went upstairs to their rooms.”

  “Did Nikki Evans go to the sauna?”

  “Yes. I pointed the building out to her, and the last time I saw her alive she was walking down the path towards it.”

  “Did she change clothes before she left?”

  “No,” Judy said. “I told her we keep towels and robes in the women’s locker room, and she could help herself. She said she’d unpack and change clothes when she returned from the sauna.”

  “Did you accompany her to the sauna?”

  “No, as I said, I pointed it out to her, and she walked there alone. I went back to my office and did some paperwork. The next thing I knew Renee was knocking on the office door. She said there was a heavy metal bar inserted through both handles of the doors to the sauna, and she didn’t know if she should take it out. She couldn’t figure out why someone would put it there. Renee and I walked over to the sauna.” Judy stopped and took a sip of water from the glass sitting on the table in front of her.

  “Take your time, Mrs. Rasmussen. I’m sure this is not easy for you.”

  Judy looked at him and said, “No, this is horrible. I’ve never been involved in anything like this. Anyway, when we got to the sauna I saw that Renee had been right. Some type of a metal bar had been attached to the door handles preventing the doors from being opened from the inside. I was able to remove the metal bar, and then I opened the sauna doors, but we couldn’t go in for a few moments because it was so hot in the sauna.

  “When I decided to have a sauna and jacuzzi here at the spa, I did a lot of research on them. I knew they could be dangerous for certain people. One of the things I read said that people with various skin diseases, high blood pressure, and other health issues should not be in temperatures over ninety degrees Fahrenheit. I thought that was a good rule of thumb.”

  “Since you just opened your hotel and spa, had you tested the temperature controls beforehand, and when did you turn the heat on in anticipation of the guests coming for this weekend?”

  “The company that installed them had a series of checks they did on the sauna as well as the jacuzzi, one of them being to check the temperature levels multiple times to ensure that the temperature controls worked properly and were safe. They did that for several days. Turning it off, bringing it back up, turning it off, again and again. I had turned the sauna control to 90 degrees this morning. I felt that would give it plenty of time to get to the proper temperature. I have no idea how it got so hot in there.”

  “I can tell you, Mrs. Rasmussen. As you know, the controls are on the outside of the building, and one of my men noticed that it had been set to 140 degrees. That temperature is high enough that it would easily result in death for almost anyone who stayed in the sauna for more than just a few minutes. Do you have any idea who could have tampered with the temperature controls?”

  Roger interrupted their conversation and said, “Judy, that calls for your opinion, and you don’t have to answer that.” He looked at the chief and said, “Sorry, but most of my background has been in criminal defense, and I think that’s a question better addressed at another time.”

  “No, Roger, I’d like to answer it,” Judy said. “Chief Oliphant, I don’t have any idea why it would have been turned that high or who could have possibly done it. Absolutely none.”

  “All right. When you did walk into the sauna what did you find?”

  “I opened the doors with Renee next to me, and when we walked in, we saw Nikki Evans. She was nude laying on the upper level of the benches in the sauna near the door.”

  “Did you or Mrs. Simmons touch anything?”

  “No, we were both in shock. I did touch the doors to open them, but that’s it.”

  “What did you do then, Mrs. Rasmussen?”

  “I think we both stood there for a moment in shock. We knew there was nothing we could do to help poor Nikki, since it was obvious she was dead. I remember pulling Renee’s arm and telling her we needed to call the police. We returned to the hotel, went to my office, and I called the police. You were here in just a few minutes. The paramedics were called by one of your policemen. When they determined that Nikki was in fact dead, the paramedics called the coroner and after he examined her, he took her body to the morgue.”

  “Yes, that’s standard operating procedure. Had the other guests come downstairs by the time you returned to the hotel?”

  “No, I think they heard the sirens, and that’s when they came downstairs.”

  “Did you or Renee Simmons tell them what had happened to Nikki Evans?”

  “One of them, I don’t remember which one, noticed that Renee was shaking and pale. She asked what had happened. Renee told them what we’d discovered and that Nikki was dead. About that time the police and paramedics had entered the hotel lobby, and I told them that Nikki Evans’ body was in the building with the words ‘Jacuzzi and Sauna’ written on it.”

  “Is there anything else you can think of that might be relevant to her murder?”

  “Yes, there is one more thing that I think you should know. I told you when Renee and I went to the sauna, I found a heavy metal bar that was holding the doors to the sauna shut. Because of the requirement to provide handicapped access to the sauna, it has a double door type of entry with an exterior grab handle on each door. The double doors allow a person confined to a wheelchair to easily enter the sauna. The metal bar was wedged between the two outside door handles and effectively jammed the doors shut so they couldn’t be opened from inside the sauna. The metal bar was about eighteen inches long and appeared to be a piece of steel rebar, like the kind that’s used in construction projects.

  “Keep in mind, Chief, that the construction of my jacuzzi and sauna building was completed only two days before I was scheduled to open for business on the 28th, today. The contractor hasn’t hauled away some of the leftover scrap construction materials from the job site, which I’d earlier noticed included several small pieces of steel rebar. I can’t say for sure, but my guess is the steel rebar that was used to jam shut the doors to the sauna came from that leftover pile of construction materials.”

  “Thanks for that bit of information, Mrs. Rasmussen. I was wondering where that steel bar might have come from, and that explains it. We’ll be sure to check the piece of rebar that was jammed in the door handles for fingerprints. We might just get lucky and find a good set of prints.

  “By the way, I’m going to be treating the death of Nikki Evans as a homicide based on the fact that the doors to th
e sauna were effectively locked by jamming the steel rebar in the door handles and then turning up the temperature control to 140 degrees. The poor woman never had a chance to get out alive. I don’t have any more questions for you. Is there anything else you would like to add to your statement that might help us catch the murderer?”

  Judy was quiet for several moments and appeared to be in deep thought. Liz knew Judy very well. They’d traveled together and been very close friends for years. She knew Judy was holding something back from the police chief and made a mental note to ask her what it was when he was gone.

  “Chief, I’ve told you everything I know. This was a woman I met only a few minutes before she died. There’s simply nothing more I can add to what I’ve already told you.”

  “Okay, that wraps it up as far as any more questions I have for you. It’s Friday afternoon, and it may be difficult to get the sauna serviced over the weekend, but I strongly recommend you consider putting some sort of a lock on that temperature control box. It’s sort of like an accident waiting to happen, although I rather doubt any of your guests will want to go into the sauna this weekend.”

  Judy wryly laughed. “Let’s be honest. When word of Nikki’s death gets out, I may never have another guest at the hotel and spa. I not only feel terrible about Nikki dying, but I’m also concerned about the reputation of my hotel and spa. If the murderer isn’t found, and I mean soon, this weekend may be the last time I ever have any guests here at Serenity Hotel and Spa.”

  Liz stood up, walked over to Judy, and said, “Judy, we’ll find the murderer and your hotel and spa will be successful. We just need to get through the next few days. Don’t get discouraged.” She turned to Roger and said, “Why don’t you sit in on the rest of the statements by yourself? I think I’ll go up to our room and unpack, plus I need to get Winston situated. He’s probably tired of being tied up to the front porch railing, and I’d like to get started on trying to find the person responsible for Nikki’s death as soon as possible.”

  Chief Oliphant stood up, took a business card out of his wallet, and handed it to Liz. “Please call me in the morning. Hopefully, one of us will have found out something that will be relevant to the case. Thanks for your help.”

  “I’ll talk to you in the morning,” Liz said as she walked out the door and over to Judy’s assistant who handed her a room key. A short time later she was in their suite down the hall, unpacking and settling in for as long as she was needed.

  CHAPTER 10

  Liz had just finished unpacking when Roger walked into the room. “Well, how did the rest of the statements go?” she asked.

  “Pretty much as expected. Renee verified Judy’s account of the discovery of the body, and the other three women didn’t have anything to add. None of them had heard or seen anything. The sirens were the first indication to them that something must be wrong. Naturally, they’re in shock. They’ve been friends for a long, long time.”

  “Let’s sit down for a few minutes, Roger. I’d like to pick your brain. Since you have to leave day after tomorrow, I rather doubt the murderer will be found by then, and I’ll be the one doing whatever investigating is needed. Where do you think I should start?”

  “First of all, you need to have a heart to heart talk with Judy. Find out what, if anything, Renee told her about all of the women. One of them caused my antenna to go up, because she didn’t seem to be as distraught as the others. It may just be her personality, but at the time the chief was taking her statement, I thought it was odd.”

  “Which one of them was it? I only met them briefly, so they’re all kind of blending together in my mind.”

  “Her name is Amber Ruiz. The chief asked all of them their address and contact information. She lives down in the Central Valley. Her husband’s a farmer down there. I was curious about that, because she didn’t seem to quite fit in. The others seem to be women of means, although I don’t know what Nikki’s financial situation was, but Amber seemed to lack their sophistication. There are certainly some big farms down in the Central Valley, but I didn’t have the feeling that she and her husband owned one of them. It may be nothing, but I guess I wonder how she got involved with the group.”

  “Since Renee was bringing her group here for a reunion, maybe she gave Judy a rundown about all of them that would explain how Amber got involved with them. I’ll check it out. What else do you think I should do? You’re the one with all the years of experience in dealing with crime.”

  “Yeah, but each case is different. I’d try to find out what I could about Nikki’s marital relationship or what was going on in her life that made her so stressed she wanted to visit the sauna before she even unpacked. Maybe she and her husband are having problems. It’s that old thing about who has the most to gain when someone is murdered. Oftentimes it’s the spouse. Maybe she’s very wealthy, and her husband wanted her dead, so he could get his hands on her money. Just throwing things out.”

  “Roger, what if this isn’t about Nikki? What if she was kind of collateral damage?”

  He was quiet for several moments while he stroked his chin, seemingly deep in thought. “I think you may be on to something, Liz. Are you thinking maybe this is about Judy and the hotel and spa or even Renee?”

  “I’m not really thinking anything. It just crossed my mind. I wonder if either Judy or Renee has any enemies? Maybe someone wanted Judy’s hotel and spa to fail for whatever reason, or maybe Renee has a skeleton in her closet. What do you think?”

  “I think it definitely should be explored. I’d find out who Judy’s competition is and if anyone was worried that if the Serenity Hotel and Spa was successful, it might affect their business. Maybe Renee’s ex-husband wanted to get back at her for something that happened in the past. It’s a longshot, but worth pursuing.”

  “Roger, I just thought of something else. Judy and I were talking on the phone one day, and she had to end the call because she had an incoming call. When she called me back, she wasn’t very happy. She told me about how a neighbor had been harassing her to let him buy her property. She said something about her assistant letting him inspect the hotel property, and that he wanted to meet with her. Judy told me she’d declined his offers to buy her property several times before, and figured he was going to make another one. I should probably follow up with her on that as well.”

  “Absolutely. In a case like this when there’s nothing solid to go on, you don’t want to overlook anything. By the way, we’re not going out to dinner tonight. Judy was sure no one would feel like having dinner in a restaurant, and she said she had all the ingredients for clam chowder, and she’d call us when dinner was ready.”

  “Sounds good. I don’t feel like going out for dinner either. I’m very happy to stay here, plus it will be easier for me to talk to Judy. I’m sure the others will probably want to make an early night of it, so I could offer to help her clean up after dinner. Maybe I can find something out then. Roger, do you know if the chief took Nikki’s clothes and purse with him?”

  “I’m sure he would have. That’s pretty standard operating procedure. He’ll be looking for names or business cards or anything that might shed some light on this case. Why?”

  “For the same reason he took them. There very well might be something in Nikki’s purse that could help solve the case. Since we don’t know a thing about her and by her own admission, she was stressed, maybe she was involved romantically with another man or something like that.”

  “That’s always a possibility. She probably had a cell phone in her purse, and I’m sure the police will see if there’s anything on it that might be relevant.”

  Just then the phone in the room rang, and Liz walked over and answered it. “We’ll be there in a minute, Judy,” she said. She turned to Roger and said, “Judy prepared some appetizers and she’s opened a bottle of wine. She thought it might take the edge off of everyone’s nerves. She’d like all of to meet in the living room.”

  “Sounds good to me. Let’s go.
I’m hungrier than I thought, and a glass of wine before dinner sounds wonderful. Ready?”

  “As soon as I put on some lipstick. I know this is going to sound weird to you since this is my best friend’s hotel, but I’m going to lock the door when we leave. Murders make me nervous.”

  “You’re singing to the choir, Liz. I couldn’t agree more.”

  CHAPTER 11

  Liz, Roger, and Winston walked into the living room and greeted Judy, Renee, and Renee’s friends.

  “Winston, come here,” Judy said, “With everything that’s happened today, I haven’t had a chance to say hello to you.” Winston walked over to where Judy was seated and put his paw on her lap. She patted him on the head and turned to the others in the room. “This dog is the most incredible dog I’ve ever known. I first met him when I was visiting Liz a day or so after Roger had given him to her. Unfortunately, a murder had taken place in one of the cottages at the Red Cedar Lodge and Spa which Liz owns, and Roger was concerned for Liz’s safety, so he gave her Winston to provide protection for Liz when she’s alone at the lodge.

  “I swear this dog understands everything that anyone says. He’s simply amazing. When Roger asked if I’d mind if he and Liz could bring Winston with them when they came this weekend, I didn’t even have to think about it. It was an automatic yes.”

  Roger poured all of them a glass of wine and said, “Maybe we shouldn’t have done that, Judy. If word gets out that this is a pet friendly hotel, you might be asking for trouble. Not all pets are going to be as well trained as Winston is.”