5 Murder at the High School Reunion

by Steve Demaree

  I thought about who this mystery woman was until Lou changed the subject to the Wii, a word I used to detest. He inquired about what exercises I’d done that morning, and how much weight I’d lost. I actually beamed when I told him I’d lost another four-tenths of a pound. Had the Wii or my new diet taken over my brain?

  +++

  It was only our second day on this case, so I had to tug hard on the wheel to keep Lightning from turning toward the Blue Moon after I picked up Lou.

  “According to Frank, Rose Ellen Calvert works at the library. They’ve been open for a few minutes. What say we drop by the library and pay her a visit?”

  “As you wish Ol’ Getting Skinny One.”

  “Remember not to say anything to anyone else.”

  “Oh, from what I heard, the guys downtown already know about it.”

  “They don’t know about my new eating regimen and my Wii Fit, do they?”

  “I don’t think so. I know I haven’t said anything.”

  +++

  We arrived at the library. I hoped they had some place where we could talk to Rose Ellen Calvert without everyone hearing what I had to say. Maybe some place in the library where I wouldn’t have to be quiet, and no one would know what we talked about. As it turned out, it didn’t matter. Miss Calvert was off that day, so I perused my notes and found her home address. She lived just around the corner from the library.

  I drove around the corner and parked. We could have walked from the library, but I prefer to get my exercise in the air-conditioned confines of my home. We pulled up in front of a modest brick home, got out of the car, looked at the house, and wondered if someone was looking back at us. I went up to the door and knocked. A few seconds later, a plain-looking woman answered the door. She was on the slender side, and on second glance, you could tell that she could have looked a lot better if she had done something with herself, like change her hairstyle and wear some make-up. But then who am I to tell people how they should look? Still, I couldn’t help but think that if she’d change her wardrobe, fix her hair differently, wore some makeup, and traded her ugly looking glasses for a pair or contacts, she might have been worth looking at, even if she still didn’t come up to Wonder Woman status.

  “Are you Miss Calvert, Miss Rose Ellen Calvert?”

  “That’s right, and you are…?”

  “I’m Lt. Dekker. This is Sgt. Murdock. We’re with the Hilldale Police Department.”

  “Are you collecting for the policeman’s ball or something?”

  I wanted to tell her I collect only for the Cy Dekker fund, but I refrained, and gave her a simple “no.”

  “Have I done something wrong, Lieutenant?”

  “I don’t know. Do you have a book overdue at the library?”

  “I happen to work at the library. I would never have an overdue book.”

  “I know that, about your working at the library, I mean. We stopped by there first and found out that this is your day off.”

  “But I still don’t understand why you want to see me.”

  “It’s about the high school reunion.”

  “Oh, I see. Does this have to do with Jimmy Conkwright and Betty Gail Spencer?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “Well, everyone knows that they’ve been missing since that night. Did you find them? Are they dead? I mean they left drunk. Were they in a wreck? Of course, if they were, it looks like someone would have found Jimmy’s car by now, unless they crashed into the river. Is that what happened?”

  “I’m afraid not, Miss Calvert. May we step in for a few minutes? I want to see what you can tell me about that night.”

  “Sure, I’m sorry. Where are my manners?”

  I wondered why the woman guessed that we were there about Conkwright and Mrs. Spencer, and why she guessed that Conkwright’s car had crashed into the river. It was possible that only one person knew where Conkwright’s car is. Could it be that that one person is Rose Ellen Calvert?

  Just inside the front door, past a small coat closet, was the living room. The librarian motioned for us to have a seat. I waited until she too had sat down before I questioned her anymore.

  “Miss Calvert, we’re trying to put together all that happened that night. I’d like for you to tell us everything that happened, beginning with when you arrived at the school.”

  “You act as if they were murdered. They weren’t murdered were they? Where did you find them, anyway?”

  “We’ll get to that in a moment. Now, just start at the beginning, as if you were giving a book report.”

  She smiled, nervously, and then began.

  “Well, I arrived at the school just before 5:00. For a while I thought I would have to drive out there in the storm, but it quit raining at my house a little after 4:30. Evidently it quit at the school just before I got there. I saw all kinds of leaves and downed tree branches as I drove out. Luckily, there was nothing blocking the road. When I got there, the janitor was there. He let me in. A couple of people were coming to help me set up.

  “The festivities began with a tour of our old school. Someone suggested that we walk down the halls where we once walked, relive old memories, and go in some our of old classrooms, if that was allowed.”

  “And did you do that?”

  “We did. Only about half of the group showed up for that, but that was fine with me. Some of the guys started bragging about some of the things they did in high school, and some of the ex-cheerleaders started talking about what fun it was to be a cheerleader, and when we went into one of our old classrooms, someone said, ‘Let’s find our old seats,’ so we did. Some people remembered where they sat, others guessed. The guys sat down and slouched like they used to do, and one by one we started reliving memories, telling stories about each teacher or someone in the class. Most of the others liked doing that better than I did.

  “I excused myself at 6:30. The janitor was up there to keep an eye on things, and he said he would lock up. When I left, he was leaning against a wall halfway down the hall, so as not to disturb us. See, we were to begin with dinner at 7:00. The dinner was being catered, and I wanted to be downstairs when the caterer arrived. She arrived on time, and went about her job.”

  I made a note that the janitor had neglected to tell me anything about a caterer, but then he was upstairs when the caterer arrived.

  “Go on.”

  “Well, there’s not much to tell, early on. Nothing seemed out of sorts. Well, nothing until Jimmy Conkwright arrived. Jim Bob Gibbons went over to Jimmy, and I overheard him say, ‘No funny stuff tonight, Jimmy.’ Jimmy just nodded and smiled. I knew Jimmy had a reputation for drinking, so I looked him over good. I couldn’t see where he had a bottle of anything on him. At least not then.

  “Well, it wasn’t ten minutes before Jimmy started hitting on some of the women. It didn’t matter if their husbands were there, or not. A couple of times Jim Bob had to break up a fight, just before it was about to start.”

  “Can you remember who was about to fight with Conkwright?”

  “Once it was Billy Korlein. The other time it was George Justice. Both April Korlein and Sandy Justice used to be cheerleaders, back when we were in school. Jimmy went over and said something about them still looking good and asked them if they would do a cheer just for him. I remember Billy saying something about Jimmy hadn’t changed a bit.”

  “So, what happened next?”

  “Well, Jim Bob seemed to calm everyone down and directed Jimmy to a chair at a table on the other side of the room.”

  “Was that the end of Jimmy’s flirtations?”

  “Well, it was for a while. Then, Betty Gail Spencer came in. Everyone noticed that her husband wasn’t with her, especially Jimmy. He went over and rubbed up against her and she smiled. George walked over and asked her where Duck was. Duck is her husband. It’s a nickname. Anyway, she said Duck decided not to come. After dinner, Jimmy and Betty Gail left the cafeteria. I think they went to his car. Anyway, when they came back i
n, several minutes later, they both smelled of alcohol. Jim Bob said something else to Jimmy, but Jimmy just laughed.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “Well, shortly after the caterer packed up and left, someone whipped out a CD player and put some CDs on to play, ones popular when we were in high school. Jimmy got up and started dancing with Betty Gail. Lieutenant, he was dancing much too close. Billy Korlein said something about her being a married woman. This made Jimmy mad and he stumbled over and grabbed April Korlein and tried to get her to get up and dance with him. Well, the guys got together and shoved Jimmy out the door. A couple of minutes later, Betty Gail walked out looking for him.”

  “When you say out the door, do you mean the cafeteria door or the front door?”

  “Well, the cafeteria door for sure, but I think the front door, too.”

  “I’m sure Betty Gail Spencer noticed all this. How long after she went looking for him did they come back to the cafeteria?”

  “Neither of them came back. As soon as Betty Gail walked out after Jimmy, George Justice got on his cell phone and called Duck, told him what was going on. Then, Jim Bob, Billy, and George went out looking for Jimmy and Betty Gail.”

  “How long after Justice called Spencer did the guys leave the cafeteria?”

  “Well, I’d say that George was on the phone with Duck at least five minutes, and maybe they waited another five minutes to see if Betty Gail came back, before they huddled together and decided to see if they could find her.”

  “When the guys went looking for them, do you know if they were together, or did they split up?”

  “All of them were gone a few minutes. I’m not sure how long. I don’t think they came back at the same time. No, I know they didn’t. After they all came back in someone mumbled something about Betty Gail nursing Jimmy’s wounds and that the two of them had gone into hiding somewhere. Anyway, they waited for Duck to get there.”

  “And did Betty Gail Spencer’s husband show up?”

  “He did, and there was some other guy there, too. I think it was our old janitor, Mr. Spickard. It had been years since I’ve seen Mr. Spickard, so I’m not sure it was him, but it looked something like him.”

  “Was Mr. Spickard the janitor when you went to school here?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, tell me about what happened before Mr. Spencer showed up?”

  “Well, a couple of times George’s phone rang. I think it was Duck, but I’m not sure. Anyway, after it rang the second time, George went over and stood by the door. A couple of minutes later, Duck came in. The entrance to the cafeteria is almost directly in line with the front door, and not more than twenty feet away, so it was easy for George to see Duck and vice versa.

  “Anyway, Duck asked if George knew where they went, and George said no. Duck said he didn’t see them out in the parking lot. They were about to go look for them again, with Duck along, when the janitor and the man I think is Mr. Spickard came out of the men’s restroom, talking and laughing, and patting each other on the back. They came over when they saw everyone standing out in the hall, near the cafeteria. They tried to calm us down a little, and then went into the janitor’s office together. A while later, after the guys came back one at a time from looking for the missing couple, the janitor and Mr. Spickard came to check on us. When they saw things were relatively calm, they walked off down the hall together. I think this was after Duck walked out in a huff. I could tell he was upset, and rightly so.”

  “Anything else happen?”

  “Nothing out of line. A little at a time, people starting leaving. Most left a little after midnight, but a few of us were still here when things ended at 1:00. We carried things out, the janitor walked out as I did, and he followed me out of the parking lot.”

  “Did you notice if there were any cars left when you walked out?”

  “I did, because I was curious as to whether Jimmy and Betty Gail had left, and if they left in one car or two.”

  “And what did you see?”

  “Evidently they left in separate cars, because there were no cars in the lot.”

  “And did you pass any cars on the way back to town?”

  “Not on the road the school is on, and not at all until I got most of the way to town.”

  “Miss Calvert, you mentioned that Jimmy had a reputation of drinking. Do you remember any instances of drinking or bad behavior on his part when you were in school?”

  “Lots. If it wasn’t for his dad, Jimmy would have been expelled, and maybe put in jail. The last straw was when he was out driving drunk with some girl in the car, and Jimmy rounded a corner too fast and hit a tree. The girl was killed instantly. At least, she was dead when the ambulance arrived. Jimmy had stumbled off somewhere, but everyone knew that it was his car, because he drove the only red Corvette in town. Someone said there was a red Corvette in the parking lot at the reunion, and since none of us have one, we figured it had to be Jimmy’s car.”

  “Do you know the name of the girl who was killed?”

  “Miriam Van Meter. I didn’t know her well. She was only a freshman when I was a senior. I think that was part of the reason Jimmy hit on her. That and the fact that she did whatever it took to be liked. She didn’t talk much about herself, and I think a lot of what she said was a lie. She claimed to live with Mrs. Edwards, said she was her niece. Lola Cartwright told me that she didn’t know if she was Mrs. Edwards’ niece or not, but she’d been to Mrs. Edwards house and never saw Miriam there. All I know is that she was one of those kids who came to school by rowboat, and she always managed to try to be the last kid leaving school, so no one could tell where she was headed. She was strange. By the way, Mrs. Edwards’ house was nowhere near the river, but then I guess Miriam never thought about that. While Miriam arrived by rowboat most of the time, I lived close enough to ride my bicycle, that’s how I got to school unless the weather was bad. There wasn’t a lot of traffic on that road in those days, so it wasn’t dangerous riding a bike to school. Of course, there still isn’t very much traffic on that road.”

  “Did you go to the funeral?”

  “Miriam’s? No, I didn’t really know her that well, even though we attended a small school. Most of the girls didn’t like her anyway, since she was always flirting with the boys.”

  “Back to the night of the reunion. Who left the cafeteria after the last time you saw Jimmy and Betty Gail?”

  “Well, the guys I mentioned. And if you include trips to the restroom when you want to know who left the cafeteria, I’d say most all of us. I know I had to go once after that. Some of the other ladies did, too.”

  “Miss Calvert did you or anyone else take anything out of the kitchen refrigerator or freezer at any time during the night?”

  “I know I didn’t. I don’t think anyone else did either. Why, is something missing?”

  “Not that I know of. I’m just curious. So, not even the caterer?”

  “The caterer was in and out, but as far as I know, neither she nor her helper went to the kitchen. There’s actually a door that leads from the kitchen to the cafeteria. I don’t think anyone used that door all night. Everyone was in and out the main door. Now that doesn’t mean that no one was in the kitchen. It could be that one of the guys was in there when they were looking for Jimmy and Betty Gail, but I don’t know that for sure.”

  “Miss Calvert, does the name Jennifer Garner mean anything to you?”

  “No. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t anyone who went to school with us. Being a small school, I remember most of their names. Besides, I worked in the school library back then, so I had to learn everyone’s name. Is this Garner person someone who lives around here?”

  “I don’t know. Her name just came up in conjunction with our investigation.”

  “Well, I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”

  “One more thing. Did anyone wear gloves that night?”

  “Of course not, Lieutenant. No one wears gloves in July.”

 
; I thanked her for her time, told her I’d be back if I thought of anything else. That last remark didn’t seem to please her, but she didn’t say anything.

  I did notice her looking at Lou from time to time. I wasn’t sure what that was all about. Maybe she thought he was cute. Maybe she wondered why he never opened his mouth. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. Whatever Rose Ellen Calvert thought of Lou, it had no bearing on our case.

  Chapter Ten

  Lou and I walked down the steps back to Lightning. We got in, sat down, and looked at each other.

  “Well, what do you think, Lou?”

  “It seems like a lot of people had the opportunity to lock them in the freezer, only someone would’ve had to have been brave to do so, with all those people in and out of the cafeteria. It would have been easier to kill them outside, unless someone else was outside.”

  “We’ll find out, but I bet some of those guys were outside looking for them. Besides, it’s much easier to shut a door on someone inside of a freezer than it is to chase two people down and conk them on the head, even if they are drunk.”

  “And from what you said Frank said no one was conked on the head. It doesn’t sound like whoever did this planned it out ahead of time. At least if they did, I doubt if anyone planned to lure Jimmy and/or Betty Gail to the freezer and lock them in. Nor can I see anyone leaving a trail of bread crumbs, or more likely, beer bottles.”

  “I’d say you’re right, Lou. But evidently whoever did it didn’t mind killing both of them, even if he or she had a grudge against only one of them.”

  “Unless that person didn’t realize that there were two people in the freezer.”

  “Oh, I’m sure whoever did it knew what he or she was doing.”

  +++

  Lou and I sat discussing the case for a few minutes. I looked at my watch to see what time it was. It was getting close to lunch time. I’d missed my midmorning snack again. At that rate I might turn out to be the skinniest cop on the force. Yeah, right!

  Since the next person on our list, Duck Spencer, lived way out in the country, I dropped Lou at his place, then ran home and fixed my lunch. I told Lou I’d pick him up at 1:30, and we’d go visit suspect number two.