Upstaged by Murder

by Grace Topping

  That quickly got Nita focused on something else. “I wish Detective Spangler had let us join the surveillance team.”

  “You might think that now, but imagine how cold it’ll be out there tonight.”

  While Nita worried about Mrs. Webster’s house, I wondered again who could have wanted Beth dead. “If Chris didn’t do it,” I said, staring into my nearly empty cup, “and it wasn’t a random killing, which was always a possibility, who in the production company could have killed her—and why? What had pushed that person to resort to murder? Sister Madeleine once said to look for the person who became desperate. Who in the production company had become desperate enough to kill Beth? And over what?”

  “Don’t forget the competitors,” Nita said. “One of them could have become desperate.”

  “Desperate enough to win they’d kill a production assistant? Highly unlikely, unless one of them knew Beth in the past.”

  “There’s Guido,” Nita said, getting up to leave. “Off to rehearsals. Keep me posted if you hear about anything going on at Mrs. Webster’s place.”

  As she walked away, Nita turned. “Sorry. I just remembered something I meant to tell you. My cousin Leo, the reporter, said Beth Crawford called him last week.”

  “She did? Probably trying to generate publicity for the competition. Thanks. I’ll give Leo a call. It may not be anything, but it wouldn’t hurt to check it out. Any lead can help.”

  I closed my eyes and rested my head on the seatback, enjoying the warmth of the fire. It felt good to relax and enjoy a quiet moment.

  As soon as Nita left, I called Leo, hoping he’d take the call on a Sunday afternoon when the Steelers were playing. I was relieved when he answered.

  “Hey, paisano. Trying to help your new brother?”

  His words startled me. “How did you hear that?”

  “The family telegraph.”

  “I should have known. Someday we should test how long it takes for news to filter through the whole family.” I swallowed the rest of my now-cold hot chocolate. It still tasted good. “Nita said Beth Crawford called you. Can you tell me why?”

  “Yeah, but it was the strangest thing. She called the paper the day before she was murdered. Said she wanted to meet with a reporter and promised a good story. The editor figured it was going to be about the competition.”

  “Was it?”

  “I don’t know. We were to meet, but she never showed up. The next day I heard she’d had been murdered. With her boyfriend, sorry, your brother, being arrested right after that, I figured it was a domestic dispute that got out of hand. Nothing to do with her story. But I told the reporter who’s covering her murder to see if he could find a connection.”

  “Has he?”

  “Not so far.”

  Chapter 28

  If you plan to take plants from your garden when you move, remove them to pots before showing your property. If you leave them in the ground, the homebuyers will expect them to convey with the property.

  The rest of the evening, I wondered what, if anything, was happening at Mrs. Webster’s house. Aunt Kit, who waited up with me in case we got word, decided to turn in, saying she was tired of watching me pace the floor. Inky followed her into her bedroom.

  Getting bored with waiting, I decided to see what I could learn online that might help point to someone other than Chris as Beth’s killer. I switched on my laptop and started with a search of the other competitors, Gloria, Zoe, and Brendan. Nothing of interest there.

  More information was available about Olivia Yeager and Simon Tate. Olivia had been in TV production for years but seemed to always be an assistant to someone or another but never the lead producer. She had also worked with Simon for a number of years but always in the background. It was no surprise a search on Simon brought up numerous photos of him with his arms draped around different women.

  Next, I searched on the names listed in Beth’s journal. I discovered they’d all been production assistants with Simon’s company. Their employment dates matched the dates Beth had recorded next to each name. Why would Beth have been interested in the assistants who had preceded her?

  One search result surprised and saddened me. For one of the assistants, Kristin Watson, the search returned a death notice. Listed among her surviving family members was half-sister Beth Crawford. The notice said Kristin died suddenly.

  Drowsiness finally overcame me, and I crawled into bed. I’d just fallen into a sound sleep when my cell phone jolted me awake.

  “Laura, this is Alex Spangler. Sorry to call you this late, but I knew you were anxious to get word if anything happened. We caught two guys coming out of Mrs. Webster’s house—with both pieces of jewelry. Looks like your hunch and the plan Mrs. Webster and Nita cooked up worked.”

  “That’s a relief.” For more than one reason. Now we wouldn’t have to worry about Mrs. Webster’s safety, and Detective Spangler wouldn’t view us as a group of idiots with harebrained schemes that didn’t work.

  “Thank you for letting me know. If you haven’t already notified them, I’ll send Nita, Mrs. Webster, and Tyrone a text. If awake, they’ll see the message. If not, they’ll learn about it in the morning.”

  “That would be great. Thanks. Goodnight, Laura. ”

  “Goodnight, Alex, and thank you.”

  Yes! I felt like jumping on my bed like a child.

  I had no sooner sent Nita a text than she called me.

  “It worked,” she squealed. “For a while this evening, I’d begun to worry.”

  I sat up in bed and switched on my bedside light. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am. Now I can focus on helping Chris.”

  “What can I do to help? Since we found the people robbing local homes, we’re on a roll. We might as well solve Chris’s case too.”

  I laughed. “If it were only that easy.”

  I filled Nita in on what I’d discovered online, especially about the production assistants and the death notice for Beth’s sister.

  “Saying someone died suddenly is frequently a polite way of saying death was caused by drug overdose or suicide,” Nita said.

  “I know. How tragic.”

  “So Beth’s sister had been a production assistant with Simon’s company. That’s strange. Why would Beth join the same company her sister had worked for?”

  “I wondered the same thing. Perhaps Kristin hadn’t told Beth how the company treated their assistants. I wonder if Simon and Olivia knew Beth and Kristin were related?”

  “Not unless Beth told them. As secretive as she sounded, I can’t imagine she’d tell anyone.”

  “I’ll have to ask Chris what he knows about Kristin.”

  “I have some time tomorrow morning. What would you like me to do?” Nita enjoyed playing detective.

  “How about calling the people on Beth’s list. See what you can discover, either about Beth or their experience working for the production company. There was a reason Beth gathered the names of the previous assistants and their phone numbers. Let’s find out why.”

  Chapter 29

  Update an old fireplace screen with a can of heat-resistant spray paint. Afterward, accessorize the fireplace with items that complement the new look.

  Competition Day Six

  The next morning, I prepared for another two days of the competition. The news Detective Spangler had delivered about the success of the sting operation left me feeling elated. It had also energized me to complete our room in the competition and get back to promoting my home staging business.

  Aunt Kit was already in the kitchen with the coffee going and breakfast on the table.

  She saw my look of surprise. “I figured with the week you’ve had, you could use a good start to your day.” She had set the table with mixed fruit, cottage cheese, and waffles—frozen toaster waffles, but who could quibble? Aunt Kit was becoming
quite the Martha Stewart.

  “Thank you. That was thoughtful of you.” I dropped Beth’s notebook on the table, took a seat, and pulled out my cell phone to photograph the contents.

  Aunt Kit pointed to the notebook. “Keeping a diary of all your adventures?”

  “No, it’s Beth Crawford’s journal, but it’s useless to me. She wrote it in some kind of code. I can’t make sense of it.”

  “Mind if I take a look?” Like me, Aunt Kit couldn’t resist a mystery or puzzle.

  “Help yourself.” I handed her the notebook and served myself a waffle, heaping cottage cheese and fruit on top.

  She leafed through the pages and then looked up. “It’s in Gregg shorthand.”

  “Shorthand?”

  “It was a method used by secretaries to record dictation. Before laptops, students and journalist used it to take notes. It was useful, but I’m not sure schools even teach it anymore.”

  “Looks like Greek to me.”

  “It’s not all that hard. The symbols represent letters of the alphabet and word sounds. Some of the symbols represent complete words called brief forms. You string them together, similar to writing in cursive.

  “Look here.” She pointed to the notebook. “See this circle, it represents the letter ‘a” and can also stand for the pronoun ‘I.’ The smaller circle is for the letter ‘e’ and also symbolizes the pronoun ‘he.’ Once you learn the alphabet and sounds, it’s not all that difficult. The brief forms speed up the ability to record words rapidly. In shorthand, I could write ‘I should have been’ faster than I could print ‘Kit.’”

  “Do you think you can decipher it?”

  “This looks like a pretty rudimentary version of shorthand. Leave the notebook with me, and I’ll try to figure out what Beth was keeping a record of.”

  “Aunt Kit, you are a jewel.” I hugged her. “What would I do without you?” Her face broke out in a wide grin, and I knew I’d pleased her.

  “But if people don’t use it, how would someone Beth’s age know it well enough to record notes in a journal?” I asked.

  “Maybe she and her friends found an old shorthand textbook and used it to devise a secret method for communicating among themselves. YouTube has old videos that teach it.”

  “If you can’t decipher it, we’ll never know what it says or what she had going on in her life—unless we contact her family.” I grimaced at the thought of doing that. “I wouldn’t want to call them unless it becomes necessary to help Chris. But if we can’t find another way of helping him, it may come to that.”

  Later, when I arrived at the warehouse, I entered through Josh’s shop and found him at his usual spot. I wanted to make sure he heard the results of the police surveillance and sting operation.

  “Hey, Josh. You’ll be pleased to know I got word last night that Mrs. Webster’s sting operation was successful.”

  Josh threw both arms in the air. “Yes! I’m so relieved it worked. I have to tell ya, I had my doubts.”

  “You and Detective Spangler. I’m still relieved he went along with it. They caught the two men who broke into the house—coming out with both pieces of jewelry. That implicates both aides. They’ll have to hold the necklaces as evidence, so you may not get them back for a while.”

  “That’s quite all right—a small investment in helpin’ to round up those crooks. Do you think they got everyone involved?”

  From his expression, it was clear he’d been more worried about his attacker trying again than I’d realized. With any luck, he’d be able to identify one of the men picked up as the man who sold him the stolen items.

  “If more people were involved, I’m sure Detective Spangler will start rounding them up, especially if he threatens to charge the two he caught with the deadly assault on you. They may start turning on each other to protect their hides.”

  I left Josh, relieved he was looking more like his former cheerful self.

  Arriving at the film set, I dropped my bag and prepared for work. Tyrone was loading books into the wall unit he had painted red. Last night, he’d been quite relieved to receive my text and had sent me a thumbs-up in response.

  “Great additions, Tyrone. Nothing gives a sense of comfort more than a selection of books to read on a cold winter day. Put one on the end table near the tartan blanket.”

  Tyrone wiped his hands on the back of his jeans. “Josh has quite a collection of books. Where did you find that sheepskin rug? Perfect for this room, but I think it would go better over there.” He pointed to the front of the fireplace.

  “Josh had it hanging on a wall downstairs. Try it where you think it goes best.”

  “He sure has made a bundle from this competition.”

  Loud voices from the next cubicle distracted us.

  “That’s Brendan and his assistant arguing again. They’ve been at it since I got here.” Tyrone grimaced. “Brendan has quite a temper.”

  Could Brendan have become angry with Beth for some reason and in a fit of temper strangled her? My search online hadn’t pointed to any trouble Brendan had gotten into. I would have to search more.

  If he wins and gets his own show,” Tyrone said, “I feel sorry for the production people who’ll be working with him. He is not the easiest person to get along with.”

  Coming from Tyrone, that was a damning statement. He got along with almost everyone. “It’s a lesson that you are going to come across all kinds of people in your career. Some you’ll be able to work with. Others will challenge you every step of the way. Best to learn how to deal with them now. That way, when you are designing stage sets on Broadway and you have a difficult producer, you’ll know how to handle it.”

  “I love your positive attitude that I’ll get there.”

  “I have no doubt you will.”

  Placing my hand over my mic and motioning to Tyrone to do the same, I whispered, “With that loud noise next door being so distracting, I’m going out for a few minutes. I called and made arrangements to see Chris at the jail and will be back shortly. Hopefully, he can give me some information I need.”

  Chapter 30

  With most potential buyers doing their initial home search online, ensure the photos of your home’s exterior and interior are of high quality.

  I jogged to the police station, which fortunately was only two streets away, and signed in quickly. When Chris came out, I was shocked at the toll being in jail was having on him. His face was drained of color and his grim expression a sure sign that he was giving up hope of ever being released. Would my acting chipper and encouraging help him or make things worse?

  After greeting each other, we lapsed into silence.

  Asking him how he was doing or how things were going wouldn’t be a right approach. What kind of response could he give other than a negative one? I decided not to go there. Might as well slide directly into the reason for my visit.

  “Sorry, Chris, this has to be quick. I need some information. What can you tell me about Beth’s sister, Kristin? Anything at all?”

  That seemed to surprise him. “Kristin?” He paused as though searching his memory. “There is so little I know about Beth’s family. She didn’t say much about them. I gather her sister had moved back home with some sort of mental overload. The job she’d held had been extremely stressful, and she’d burned out. There may have been some other reasons, but Beth wouldn’t talk about it. She got word her sister had died and flew home for her funeral. After she came back, she broke up with me, and shortly after that, took this job.”

  “Did she ever mention where her sister had worked?”

  “No. Why do you ask?”

  “I’m just trying to piece some things together—not sure if they’ll lead to anything.”

  “That’s good of you, Laura, all things considered.”

  I knew what he meant. “Sorry, I’ve got to get bac
k. If you think of anything, can you call me? “I gave him my number, hoping he could remember it since I couldn’t pass him one of my business cards because of the glass separating us.

  “Oh, one more thing. Do you know if Beth could write in shorthand?”

  “Shorthand? Sorry, I don’t know. If she could, I never saw her do it. Why?”

  “It’s something we are looking into. If it comes to anything, I’ll let you know.”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him how our father was handling everything, but I decided not to.

  When I walked into the lobby, I found Detective Spangler standing there. His appearance and look of fatigue a sure sign he hadn’t been home all night.

  “I saw you going in and waited here for you to come out. Can you spare a minute?”

  Glancing at the large clock hanging on the wall, I winced. “I need to get back soon, but a few more minutes shouldn’t matter.”

  “I wouldn’t hold you up if this weren’t important. We have the two guys we picked up last night in interrogation rooms. I would appreciate it if you could tell me whether you recognize either of them.”

  “Sure. But Josh is the one you should bring in to see them.”

  “We will, but in the meantime, come with me and take a look.” He led the way down several corridors until we got to the rooms.

  I’d seen enough TV police shows to know I would be looking at them through one-way glass. In the first room, I studied the man sitting at a table. He looked bored and defiant. I shook my head. “I don’t recognize him.”

  He led me to a second room, and I looked at the man sitting on the other side of the glass. There was something vaguely familiar about the man, but I couldn’t immediately place where I had seen him. I shook my head. “I’ve seen him before, but I’m not quite sure where.”

  “Take your time.”

  The man turned his head, and I got a better look at him. “Wait, that’s the nephew of a woman I did a consultation for. She had been asking me about places she could sell some of her antique furniture. He’d become quite upset with her. I can’t remember her name, but I could check my records to find out.”