by Kathi Daley
“So where does that leave us? You spoke to all seven men she dated as well as the person who was sending her threatening emails and we still have nothing.”
“I’m beginning to think perhaps Stella’s murder isn’t related to the dating site at all. I think we should go back to looking at the events that occurred on the last day of her life. The texts she received, as well as the places we know she spent time.”
I let out a long breath. “Okay. Where do we begin?”
“I think we need to go as far back in her day as we can to create a time map. I want to revisit her neighbors and the employees at the locations where she checked in. Stella was out and about on the night she died. Someone must have seen her. It’s even possible someone we’ve already spoken to was lying.”
“I want to help. Why don’t you come over? That way if we need Alex to do the computer thing she’ll be here to help.”
“Okay. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
******
When Salinger showed up we went back through everything we had and tried to map her last day. Between the texts and emails she sent me, her own phone records, and the check-ins from her phone to her social media accounts, we had a good outline of where she’d been.
“Okay, here’s what we have,” I began. “Stella received an email from DMG at noon. She texted me at twelve-nineteen, asking me to call her. I was out shopping with Ellie, so I didn’t notice the text or reply. At one o’clock on the dot she texted me again. This time she added that it was important I get back to her as soon as possible.”
I paused and took a breath, desperately trying to squelch my feelings of guilt. After a few beats I continued. “At one-thirteen, Stella checked in from Rosie’s. She must have gone over there right after texting me. At two-ten she left the first voice message on my phone, asking me if Zak could help her track the source of some emails she’d received. At that point I still hadn’t seen my messages. Then, at four-forty, she received another email from DMG. At four fifty-seven she called me again, sounding much more desperate. I must have been on my way to the hospital by then. I didn’t receive her messages until much later and even when I did, I didn’t reply because I was in the hospital and had my own problems. Still, looking back, I really should have made the effort to call her. If I had she might still be alive.”
“You don’t know that,” Salinger reminded me. “If the person who sent the emails didn’t kill her, discovering his identity might not have made a bit of difference.”
“Yeah, Zoe,” Alex added. “It’s not your fault.”
I appreciated them trying to make me feel better, but somehow it wasn’t working.
“So, what happened after she called you the second time?” Salinger asked.
“Stella checked in at Lucky’s at six twenty-two. The next time we have any evidence of her movements is when she checked in at the truck stop at ten-fifteen.”
“Wait,” Alex said. “According to Stella’s phone records, she had a text at nine fifty-eight.”
“That must be the ding the bartender at Lucky’s heard just before she left,” I commented. “Do we know who the phone the text came from is registered to?”
“Hang on.” Alex began typing. After a couple of minutes she said, “The phone is registered to David Gardner.”
I glanced at Salinger, who was frowning. David Gardner was the man I’d seen making the exchange at the truck stop. “Say Gardner’s a drug dealer, as I suspect. Could Stella have been at the bar waiting for the green light to meet up with him? Once she had her drugs she headed over to the liquor store, where she checked in at eleven twenty-two to pick up some booze to wash everything down.”
“It does seem a likely scenario, but it still doesn’t tell us who killed her,” Salinger pointed out.
I sat back in my chair and considered the situation. “It seems like we need to speak to everyone with whom she came into contact on the last day of her life. We know she went to Rosie’s. Maybe she met someone for lunch, and maybe that someone knows what Stella had on her mind. And then she went to Lucky’s. I spoke to the bartender, but you might be able to get more out of him. And then we need to have another chat with David Gardner and the clerk at the liquor store.”
“It sounds like a lot of running around,” Salinger said.
“Then I guess we’d better get started.” I looked at Alex. “I’ll be home in time to go with everyone to the parade. Let Ellie know what I’m doing and make sure Scooter and Tucker are ready on time.”
“Yeah, okay. But be careful.”
I smiled at Alex. “Don’t worry. Salinger won’t let anything happen to me.”
******
Salinger and I decided to start at Stella’s apartment. He’d managed to interview most of her neighbors, but he’d never caught up with the man who lived in the first apartment at the top of the stairs. It seemed that out of all the residents he would have been in the best position to see everyone who lived on the second floor coming and going. This time he answered the door when Salinger knocked.
“Yeah?” he barked. He was unshaven and wearing nothing more than a bathrobe. It looked as if we’d woken him up.
“I’m Sheriff Salinger and this is Zoe. We’re investigating the death of your neighbor, Stella Green, and would like to ask you a few questions.”
“I don’t know anything about her death. I worked the late shift that night. You can check with my employer.”
I spoke up. “Living where you do, we hoped you might have seen people walking past your apartment. We’re interested in people who might have visited Stella or been seen with her in the past few weeks of her life.”
“Stella didn’t have a lot of company. I guess there was a friend or two who would stop by, but I don’t know their names.”
“That’s totally understandable.” I smiled. “If it’s all right I just want to show you a few photos and you can tell me if any of the men look familiar.”
The man shrugged, so I pulled up the profiles of the seven men we knew Stella had dated on my phone. I showed her neighbor each photo individually and he didn’t remember seeing any of them. It sort of made sense that if Stella was only looking for a one-night stand, she might have met the men wherever they were going rather than revealing where she lived.
“How about this one?” I showed him the photo of David Gardner.
“Yeah, I’ve seen him a time or two. I think he and Stella are friends.”
“And how about him?” I pulled up a photo I’d got off the internet of Donald Goldberg, the man who’d sent the emails.
“Nope, he doesn’t look familiar.”
“And him?” I showed him a photo of Docker.
“Yeah. He’s been here. Last time I saw him he was with his friend. Can’t say I remember either man’s name.”
“Did any of the other people in the building have a problem with Ms. Green?” Salinger asked.
“Not that I know of. She liked to keep to herself and usually didn’t make a lot of noise.”
“If you think of anything else call me.” Salinger handed him a card.
I turned to Salinger when we returned to the car and he was inserting the key in the ignition. “What do you think?”
“Seems he wants to be left alone and out of things, but I didn’t get the feeling he was holding anything back. We know the neighbor beneath Stella heard her arguing with someone on the night she died, but even she said it was unusual for Stella to have guests, that Stella went out a lot but rarely had people in. The only person I know of who visited her in the two weeks before her death was someone named David, who could have been her dealer, and a tall man with dark hair, both seen by the man we just spoke to and the neighbor at the other end of the walkway.”
“So, on to Rosie’s?” I asked.
“Seems like our best bet.”
By the time Salinger and I arrived there the first lunch guests had begun to arrive. We sat down in a booth in the back and asked to speak to the waitress who
’d served Stella the previous Friday. The hostess wasn’t sure who that was off hand, but she promised to ask around and get back to us. We both asked for glasses of water while we waited.
“I guess our timing wasn’t the best,” I said as the tables filled up. Not only was it lunchtime but it was a Friday, which was normally a busier day, and the last Friday before the Christmas weekend. Based on the fact that a lot of patrons held brightly wrapped packages, there were going to be a lot of office get-togethers going on that afternoon.
After about five minutes a waitress named Roni Westbrook approached our table. I knew her fairly well because she’d worked at Rosie’s back when it had been owned by Ellie’s mom and she’d worked there too.
“I hear you want to ask some questions about Stella Green,” Roni said.
“She checked in from here last Friday and we’re trying to retrace her steps for the day,” I explained.
“Do you remember seeing her?” Salinger asked the more direct question.
“She was here,” Roni said. “It was a busy day, so I can’t tell you the exact time, but I remember her being here with a friend.”
“Do you know the friend?” Salinger asked.
“Some guy named David. I don’t know him, though he looked sort of familiar. I think he might live in town, but he isn’t a regular at Rosie’s.”
“Did it seem like they were pals or was it more of a business lunch?” I asked.
“Strictly personal. If you ask me, from the hand-holding and intimate looks, they were sleeping together. Although, now that I think about it, there seemed to be something else going on. At least at first.”
“Can you elaborate?” Salinger asked.
“Stella got here first. She sat down at a table and ordered coffee. She seemed withdrawn and looked sort of,” Veronica paused, as if searching for the right word, “haunted. She had dark circles under her eyes and it looked like she’d lost a lot of weight since I’d seen her only a couple of weeks earlier. I even worried she might be sick, but then I realized she was probably just using again.”
“Using?” Salinger asked.
“Normally I wouldn’t rat out a friend, but because she’s dead and all I don’t suppose it could hurt. Stella has had an on-again, off-again love affair with amphetamines for years now. It seemed like she was doing better and had gotten her life together, but from the way she looked last Friday I’m not so sure that was true at all.”
“Did you speak with her when she was here?” I asked.
“No. Like I said, it was busy. She told me that her friend David was meeting her and to show him to the table when he arrived. When I checked back on her a little while later he was sitting with her and they were whispering. She had a serious look on her face and looked upset, but then he whispered something in her ear and she smiled. After that they were all lovey-dovey. Other than to take their order and bring them the check, I didn’t speak to them at all.”
“Did Ms. Green come in often?” Salinger asked.
Roni shrugged. “I guess it depends on how you define often; she usually came in once a week or so.” Veronica looked over her shoulder. “Listen, I need to get back to my tables. I wish I had more to offer. Suzie Quinn is off today, but she worked last Friday and I saw her stop by the table and chat with Stella and David for a few minutes. You can call her to see if she has anything to add.”
“I’ll need the phone number,” Salinger said.
“Sure, no problem. I’ll get it.”
Roni came back with the phone number and we went out to Salinger’s car. He called Suzie and learned David was not only a friend of Stella’s but her dealer. She confirmed David worked at the truck stop and, based on the description provided, the maintenance worker I’d seen outside.
“Back to the truck stop?” I asked.
“Yeah, although we don’t have any proof David sold drugs to Stella or anyone else. My gut says he isn’t going to talk unless we have a way to persuade him to do so.”
“Then what do we do?”
“I’m thinking we need to set up a buy. David seemed like a low-level player. My impression is, he does a few deals here and there to make some extra spending money. If we can catch him in the act I think he’ll be easily persuaded to tell us what we need to know about Stella’s movements and his involvement in them on the night she died.”
“What if he killed her?” I asked.
“Why would he? As far as I can tell, he didn’t have a motive. He seems to have drugs to sell and Stella seemed to want to buy them. That’s a pretty symbiotic relationship to me.”
“You said earlier in the week that one of Stella’s neighbor’s saw her going on a date with someone named David. David also had lunch with her. I don’t know much at all about drug deals, but I don’t think dealers usually have lunch with their clients. And Roni did say it appeared they were sleeping together. Maybe David wasn’t just a dealer. Maybe he was a boyfriend and there was jealousy involved in whatever went down that night.”
Salinger slid his key in the ignition. “I guess you have a point. Let’s head out to the truck stop. If we’re lucky a good bluff might persuade David to tell us what he knows and we won’t need to get the county drug unit involved.”
Once again, Salinger instructed me to stay in the car when we arrived. Color me bored, although sitting on the sidelines of Salinger’s investigation was better than sitting at home doing nothing. Though I supposed if I’d chosen to stay home today rather than go sleuthing with Salinger, Ellie and Alex would have done something creative to keep me occupied. I hated being a burden on those I loved, but it seemed that was what I’d been lately. Or maybe I just had a case of the baby bump blues, which, as I’d found out over the past eight months, had a way of making everything seem worse than it really was.
I checked my emails and phone messages while I waited. Other than a text from my mom, confirming our plans for the Christmas parade, there wasn’t a lot going on in the phone and text department. Jeremy had left for his trip to visit Jessica’s family, but before doing so he’d sent me a long email explaining what was going on in the Zoo and elsewhere. He’d helped move the reindeer to the new location before he left and assured me the town had a good plan to monitor and care for the large animals. He updated me on both the domestic and wild residents at the Zoo, and assured me that he had the staffing worked out for the duration of his absence. He wished me happy holidays and cautioned me to slow down and enjoy it. I sent a return email thanking him and wishing him happy holidays as well. I was about to look for some music to listen to when I felt another sharp pain in my abdomen. I felt my breath stall and my muscles tighten as the pain increased. After a minute or so it dissipated. I was about to return to my quest for the perfect playlist for a murder investigation when I saw Salinger walking toward me.
“That was fast,” I said as he slipped into the car.
“That’s because I was able to convince David it was in his best interest to cooperate. After a bit of persuasion he admitted Stella had been using amphetamines again and she’d picked up some drugs on Friday night.”
“So, do we assume Stella came to the truck stop on the night she died to pick up the drugs she most likely requested while having lunch with David?”
“That matches what he said. Stella contacted her ‘dealer’ to put in an order earlier in the day. She received a text to meet him at the truck stop, where the exchange was to take place. Drugs in hand, she headed to the liquor store. David never admitted to being the dealer she hooked up with, but it seems obvious he was. He said he never saw her again after she left with the drugs that night.”
“Do you believe him?”
Salinger shrugged. “I don’t know. David’s statement was vague by design, but it seems to me if he killed her he wouldn’t have said anything at all. He admitted they went out sometimes and considered her to be a friend. Somehow, the way he said it rang true.”
I sat back in the seat and let out a long sigh. “What now?”
“I’m not sure. I feel like we have a good idea of what Stella did on the last day of her life, but we haven’t been able to place her with anyone at the very end of it. I think I’m going to go back to the office, look over my notes, and maybe make some calls. I have a feeling there’s something I’m missing. I’ll drop you back at home.”
I was about to argue about the going-home part when another contraction grabbed me.
“You okay?” Salinger asked.
“Fine. Just tired, I guess. I think I’ll take a nap before the parade.”
Chapter 10
Zak called to let me know his plane had landed on time and he was going to meet Pi, whose plane was due to touch down within the next thirty minutes; then both of them would drive home. I told him that we were going to the parade but planned to have dinner at home. If he got into town early enough he said he’d meet me in town; if not he’d see us when we got home. Having Zak home was doing a lot to improve my mood, which even I had to admit had been on the grumpy side lately.
The first thing our little group did upon arriving in town was to check out the reindeer display to make sure they were tucked in nice and comfy. There was already a large crowd gathered around the reindeer, who’d become the stars of Hometown Christmas, but they looked both comfortable and secure, so I set worry aside and focused on watching the parade with my family.
The town had done a good job recruiting residents to participate despite the flurries in the air. Everyone was wrapped up in heavy winter wear, but the combination of festive floats, colorful decorations, sleigh rides, and curbside vendors selling hot cocoa and sweet snacks gave the town the feel of a real Christmas village.
“Doggies,” Harper said when the Zoe’s Zoo float, which Tiffany and Jeremy had built and Tank and Gunnar were driving, slowly made its way along the parade route.
“You did such a great job,” Mom said as Dad picked Harper up to prevent her from running into the street to get a closer look at the animals on our float.
