by Nan Sampson
"So, given that we know that about you, I don't understand why you're so willing to leave this case in the hands of the cops."
So they'd come full circle. "Aha! So that's where this is going." The jalapeno poppers were still hot enough that the cream cheese inside was steaming. She bit it carefully in half then took a drink to cool down her mouth. "Why am I willing?" she said around the hot popper. "I'm not 'willing'. It's just that they're the professionals. And they've only had three days. I can't expect them to solve a murder in an afternoon."
"It's been almost seventy-two hours and they don't even have a suspect yet. This case is going colder faster than a glass of water at the North Pole. By tomorrow morning, they'll have other cases, new cases. Lacey's folder will drop to the bottom of their pile and because no one important is screaming for them to solve this particular case, in a month or maybe two, it'll get stuffed into someone's drawer. Six months from now, no one in that squad will even remember her name, much less the details of her death."
The strawberry shake was sweet and cold and full of nasty, high fructose corn syrup, stuff she usually didn't indulge in. The sugar went right to her head. That, she decided, had to be why Charlie was making so much sense. "So let's just take over all their cases, then."
"That's not what I'm saying. All I'm saying is that this one case is important to us while they’re clearly not going to make time for it. What would it hurt if we did a little poking around? Asked a few questions. Did a little digging."
"And the cops would let us do that."
"Well, they wouldn't be crazy about it, but then they're never crazy about it when someone hires a PI. It's a turf issue."
"So what's really going on here is that you're suggesting that I hire you. To find Lacey's killer." She ate a mushroom. "If this is some base appeal for cash or employment, you're barking up the wrong tree. You know I don't have any money."
"Join the club. I'm not asking you to pay me. Hire me for a dime. Hell, we can call this dinner my retainer. I just feel like this is important to do."
Ellie shook her head. "I don't get it. Why? You didn't even know her. I'm not even sure you ever met. Why is this so important to you?"
He sat back, ate another couple of mushrooms himself then wiped the grease and crumbs off his hands. He didn't speak for a moment, but he glanced into the kitchen, where the ravening horde had descended and the battle for the fast food spoils was raging. "It's important to me because it's important to Kate. I owe her, more than I can ever repay." He sat forward, kept his voice low. "It's not just the fact that she puts me up at a moment's notice, or that she slips me the odd twenty when Dan isn't looking. It's not even that she's the only one I know that actually really cares whether or not I wear my hat in the winter or whether I eat my vegetables. She's... real family to me – more than Dan will ever be. She's the sister I always wanted – maybe even the mom I never had. So if I can do this one thing for her, maybe, somehow, it'll begin to even the score. Karmically, if you will."
The power and depth of the emotions surprised her, but more surprising was the fact that he would confess them to her. Yet she completely understood. Kate inspired that kind of loyalty – Ellie felt it herself.
"Well, if you're going to work for me, we need to get one thing straight."
He shot her a worried look. "What's that?"
"You've just eaten the last mushroom. I had four, you had five. So you owe me one."
"Hah! That was my per diem bonus. I don't come cheap, you know." He glanced up as Kate wandered in. She was beaming.
"I see you two have made up."
Ellie looked innocently at Charlie. "I didn't know we were fighting, did you?"
He shook his head. "Best of mates, you and I."
With a shake of her head, Kate said, "Oh, stop it. So what’s that?” She pointed to the file folder that sat on the table between them.
Ellie moved the folder as Kate sat down with her plate of food. “Charlie brought us the paperwork we need to fill out in order to release Lacey’s...” Why was the word ‘body’ so hard to say? “Body to the funeral home. We just need to decide which...” She trailed off. She knew nothing about funeral homes outside of the one she’d used for her parents. And even then, Kate had helped her choose - she herself had been in no shape to pick what shoes to wear, much less what funeral home to use.
Understanding as always, Kate reached over and squeezed her hand. “We’ll use Freidrich-Jones - they’re lovely people and helped us with Dan’s Uncle last year.”
Ellie sighed in relief. “I have no idea what I’d do without you, Kate. What any of us would do.”
Kate beamed. “It’s just nice to be useful for a change.”
“What do you mean? You’re always useful.”
Kate gave a little shrug. “Anyway.” She unwrapped her hotdog. “Thank you, Charlie.”
“It was my pleasure.”
Kate took a bite of her dog, gave a little moan of pleasure then looked back at them. “I sense that wasn’t all the two of you were discussing. What’s up?”
How did she always know? Ellie glanced at Charlie. “I just hired Charlie to help us investigate Lacey’s death.”
Instead of the smile Ellie expected from Kate, she got a frown. “Charles Winthrop McCallum, I’m ashamed of you. Don’t you dare take a penny of Ellie’s money.”
Ellie waved her hands. “No, no, Kate, I didn’t actually pay him money.”
Charlie broke in at the same time. “Katie, I didn’t take any money. She hired me for the cost of half her dinner!”
Relaxing back in her chair, she nodded. “Well. That’s good then.”
Relief was written all over Charlie’s face, and Ellie pushed the strawberry shake towards him. “Here. Consider this payment in advance. Plus, you’re going to help me clean up again.”
Charlie arched his eyebrows. “You drive a hard bargain, Gooden.” He took the shake, slurped noisily. “But a deal’s a deal. Kate, why don’t we convene in the family room after the kids have gone upstairs. I have some other news I want to share with you.”
Ellie shared a look with Kate. “What news?”
He shook his head, with a glance towards the kids. “Not now.”
Kate nodded. “Okay, then, looks like another meeting of the After Hours club.” She pointed at her watch. “Living room, ten o’clock?”
Frustrated, but understanding Kate didn’t want the kids exposed to the details of Lacey’s death, Ellie climbed to her feet. “Ten o’clock it is. Meanwhile.” She pointed at Charlie. “You and I have a date in the kitchen.”
Charlie grinned. “Oo, a date. Be still my heart.”
She shut him down with a look.
Chapter 20
Ten o’clock was late, at least for Ellie, and she was feeling it. The kids were settled in their rooms, although none of them were asleep. Dan was still gone wherever it was he'd disappeared to, and Kate had lit another fire in the fireplace. Outside the snow was piling up, three inches so far, and no signs of letting up.
Ellie found herself on the couch with Charlie tonight, with Kate curled up in the old leather chair by the fireplace. Her friend was smiling happily as they convened. "This is kind of exciting, isn't it? I mean, it's a horrible thing to have to do, but still in all..."
Charlie had a notebook and a pen, a new file folder, and a laptop. First he handed Ellie a couple of pages covered in type, stapled together.
"What's this?"
"Standard agreement. In order for me to investigate, I need to have a client. So I'll need you to sign that."
She scanned the document suspiciously. She didn't like signing things, especially contracts. This one seemed fairly benign, but even so. "Do I have to?"
"Yes."
She took the pen from his hand and scribbled her signature at the bottom. She noticed that the payment terms had been spelled out in one of the appendixes – two meals, the first of which had already been paid for, the second to be paid for upon completion
of services rendered.
"It doesn't say here what kind of meal. I'm not treating you to an 'all you can stuff down your gullet' extravaganza at Maggiano's."
"I'm good with another veggie burger. But the next time, I get a whole one."
"Greedy bastard, aren't you?"
"Hey, a guy's gotta eat, you know."
Kate was smiling at them, causing Ellie to scowl. "Okay, so you called this meeting, what’s your news?"
He flipped open his notebook, went back a couple of pages. “You mentioned Lacey had said there had been a couple of other attempts on her life. I called in a favor from one the dispatchers I know, thinking maybe she might have reported those incidents.”
Kate beamed at her brother-in-law. “And you found something? Brilliant!”
Charlie grinned at her, then sobered. “There was indeed a gas leak in her condo. Neighbor across the hall smelled it, called the building manager, who unlocked the door, found Lacey out cold on her bed. Turns out the oven was on, but the pilot was blown out.” Charlie looked up, glanced at both of them. “It was a close thing. Another half an hour, maybe an hour and she’d have died.”
“And the cops thought what?” Ellie asked, already knowing the answer.
“That Lacey must have nudged the knob for the oven, not enough to turn it on all the way, but enough to get the gas going, without realizing it. It was ruled an accident.”
“Charlie, that’s not possible.” Kate shook her head.
“Sorry, Kate, but it is. I’ve done it myself - bumped the knob to the burner without realizing it. The burner doesn’t light, but the gas is still flowing.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. She never used her stove, Charlie. She never cooked. If she made a meal, she used the microwave. But mostly, she would pick up food on her way home from work, or get dinner delivered.”
Ellie stared at Kate. Just how well had she known Lacey? How much time had she really been spending with her to know this?
Kate wouldn’t meet her eyes, and the frisson of tension between them crackled in the air.
Charlie glanced between the two of them then focused on Kate. “Doesn’t mean she couldn’t have bumped it, say, loading the dishwasher.”
Kate shook her head. “Lacey was incredibly, um, organized person, Charlie. She never would have left the kitchen without checking those knobs.”
“Oh, come on, Kate. How often do you check the knobs on your stove? And you’re uber-organized.”
“Yes but I’m not...”
Ellie said what Kate seemed unwilling to say, probably out of respect to the dead. “She was OCD Charlie. She had reams of checking behaviors, and she was absolutely paranoid about things like leaving a burner on. Kate is right, she wouldn’t have not noticed that the knob had been nudged.”
The downward turn of his mouth said that he didn’t quite buy it. “O-kay,” he drawled. “I’ll take your word for it.” He looked down at his notes again, flipped some pages. “There was a second police report as well. Seems she was nearly the victim of a pedestrian hit and run. She was waiting at a crosswalk and stumbled on the curb. If it hadn’t been for a quick-witted securities broker, she’d have sailed straight into the path of a taxi. Lacey raised a fuss, demanded a beat cop investigate because she swore someone pushed her, but no one saw anything to back that up. A couple of her co-workers were also on scene, that kooky red-haired guy who looks like Shaggy, her boss Lawson, and that Muriel woman, but they were apparently further behind and didn’t see much.”
Ellie felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “There’s something about that guy that bugs me.”
Clicking his pen, Charlie looked up. “Which guy?”
“Lawson. He’s... too slick. Creepy slick.”
Kate gave a chuckle. “You just object to him because he wears expensive shoes. You’ve always hated guys like that.”
“Because they’re generally pretentious, self-absorbed, dicks.”
Charlie grinned. “Remind me not to show you my collection of alligator skin loafers.”
Ellie gave him a glare. “He could have pushed her.”
Charlie shook his head. “According to witnesses, he wasn’t close enough.”
“Witnesses can be wrong.”
The man paused a beat, flicked his gaze up to her then back down at his notes. “There was a report filed, but no charges, and as far as I can tell, no additional follow-up. Not even from Lacey.”
Pulling her hair back and twisting it into a ponytail with a hair tie she pulled out of her pocket, Kate pursed her lips. “The Lacey I know would have followed up.”
Ellie agreed. “I agree. Is there nothing saying she called again?”
“Nope. Not a peep. And it would be in here if she had. Probably with some disparaging remarks about it too, if she’d been a pest.”
Ellie looked at Kate. “Maybe that was about the time she figured out what was going on. And who was responsible.”
Kate nodded. “And she knew that if she pushed it with the police, it would what... cause the person responsible to do something more dangerous? But... but that doesn’t make sense. If the person responsible were caught, then they’d be in jail. And Lacey would be safe.”
“Not necessarily,” Charlie said. “Just because Lacey knew doesn’t mean she had proof. And without proof, there would be no arrest. The bad guy would be tipped off, though and would be free to take other actions.”
“Sounds like the bad guy did anyway.” Ellie rubbed her face. “I still say she should have gone to the police.”
Kate put a comforting hand on her arm. “So. Now what, Charlie?”
Charlie took a breath, leaned forward. "Now, I want to go over everything we know, briefly. Then I want to talk about some possible next steps." Setting the notebook computer on his lap, he started the thing up.
Ellie groaned. "Haven't you heard all this enough?"
"Maybe, maybe not. This is for the record." Glancing down at the bright screen of the small computer, he fiddled with it for a moment. "Okay, I'm going to record our conversation, then transcribe it later. That way we have not only exactly what you said, but how you said it. I find that's often more helpful than the words themselves." He looked up at both of them. "Are you okay with that?"
Kate nodded. "Sure. Goodness, Charlie. So high tech."
Charlie focused on Ellie. "You okay with that?"
"Would it make a difference if I wasn't?"
"Yes. I can do it the old fashioned way, if you're more comfortable with that."
She shrugged. "No, this is fine. Just... weird."
"Believe me, it does help." Placing the computer on the coffee table, he lounged back, propping his feet on the table. "Okay. Ellie, let's go back to the day you got your phone call. But let's try something a little different. I want you to use your own witchy techniques on yourself. Close your eyes, take a few breaths, then try to put yourself back there, wherever you were when you took the call. Try to remember not just what Lacey said, but how she said it. See if you can recall where you thought she might have been when she called, if there were any noises around her. Anything at all that might add to what we already know."
"Don't you think I've tried that?"
"Yes. On your own. Now you'll have us to help guide you. Maybe we'll get nothing. But maybe we'll get something. It can't hurt to try, right?"
Kate leaned forward. "He's right, Ellie. We've got nothing to lose."
She couldn't argue with the logic. "Fine. Okay." She took a couple of cleansing breaths then closed her eyes. Grounding herself, she settled almost immediately into a light meditative state then cast her mind back to the day she'd gotten the call from Lacey. Had that really been less than a week ago? It seemed months.
What had she been doing when Lacey called? Opening the shop. Then she'd heard the phone ring, heard Lacey's voice, unmistakable even after all those years.
Charlie intruded on her recollection. "So how did you know it was her? How did she sound?"
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"She was her normal, imperious self. She did use her last name, though. I remember thinking it would be just like her to expect me to recognize her without it." She realized that had been a clue in itself to Lacey's state of mind - as if she’d been less sure of herself than she typically was.
"That's interesting. Shows a sense of vulnerability, maybe."
Ellie kept herself focused on the memory. She recited the conversation as best she could. "She was scared. Although that didn't stop her from being her blunt, dictatorial self. She always expected the world to ask 'how high' when she said jump. The idea that I wouldn't drive right down to Chicago didn't really occur to her. She knew I'd cave."
After finishing, she opened her eyes. She'd sucked as much out of the memory as she thought she was able.
Charlie was nodding. "So, she actually said, 'I may not have tomorrow.'? And, 'Someone's already tried to kill me twice, that I know of.'" He put his feet on the floor and leaned forward, steepling his long fingers. "Did she mention anything specific about the other attempts? Anything that we can add to what we already know?"
Ellie shook her head. "No. I would have remembered that. She did make it clear though that she thought the next attempt was imminent, though she didn’t say why."
Kate wrapped her sweater around her. "Well, it was, wasn't it? It happened the very next day."
Charlie now turned his intense attention on his sister-in-law. “You talked to her last Wednesday too, didn’t you?”
"Yes, but only briefly. She mainly wanted me to make sure Ellie was going to come. I told her I’d call her back after I’d talked to you.” Kate offered Ellie an apologetic smile. “By the time I reached you, and we finished talking, it was too late to call her back. So I tried to call her the next morning at work, but just got her voicemail. I left her a message and told her that Ellie would come to her office in the morning on Friday."
"Did you hear back from her?"
"No, but that wasn't unusual. Lacey would have gotten the message and just accepted that Ellie would follow through. That's how she was. People just sort of did what she wanted."
Ellie snorted. "I used to call her Alexandra the Great behind her back. You know, because she pledged Greek."
