Mistaken Identity Crisis: Death On The Cable Car (Braxton Campus Mysteries Book 4)

by James J Cudney

  I committed to letting Emma attend the inauguration ceremony but planned to drop her off at Woodland Warriors Day Camp later that morning. Lara Bouvier agreed to meet for lunch to discuss the jewelry thefts as long as I promised a quote for her television segment covering Nana D's first day in office. A little quid pro quo never hurt anyone if it focused on sharing information to solve a crime, at least I kept assuring myself that while worrying about what kinds of questions Lara might throw at me.

  “Where is she? I can't see her,” Emma said as she jumped up and down to get a better view of the coverage. We stood on the sidewalk at the front of the crowd listening to the first speaker, but no one would see Nana D until she stepped through the black curtain and up to the platform. Being five-foot-tall had both advantages and disadvantages, and she kept herself well-hidden until it was her turn to speak.

  “Nana D's campaign manager is almost done,” I explained, lifting Emma on my shoulders. “She's backstage rehearsing her speech and waiting for a memorable introduction.”

  Based on the final agenda for her first day in office, Nana D was on a mission to prove she was the best woman for the job. The morning would kick off with a press conference to highlight and thank previous town leaders for their service, followed by a thirty-minute inauguration ceremony where my grandmother would unveil her three-month vision. She'd coordinated an outdoor street fair and lunch where she'd meet and greet all the local business owners, visit the town's homeless shelter, and hold a question-and-answer session for the general population to suggest ideas her office should consider as priority tasks. In lieu of a formal cocktail party—Nana D wasn't a fan of fancy affairs—she invited the local choirs from religious organizations and schools to entertain the crowd over a picnic dinner in Wellington Park. Paddington Enterprises was funding both meals, ensuring no town resources were used to pay for her opening day. To close out the evening, Nana D scheduled her first official meeting with the new town board members for nine o'clock, assuring all citizens that her team wasn't afraid of working late hours to better help Wharton County.

  When the outgoing mayor and Nana D's campaign manager finished speaking, and Nana D sauntered to the podium, Emma was the first to squeal and initiate a flurry of applauses. “She looks beautiful!” Emma shouted and bounced jovially on my shoulders. Nana D had dressed for the occasion in a vintage black pantsuit and open-collared strawberry-colored silk blouse. Her long red hair was elegantly braided and wrapped in a small cone shape on the top of her head, covered in black netting, and topped with a magenta-colored rose. She'd even worn her new pink horn-rimmed glasses, and her very presence reminded me of a younger version of a supreme court justice I greatly admired.

  “Good morning, Wharton County,” Nana D projected into a pumped audience who were thrilled about the potential changes new blood would bring to their cherished towns. “It is officially time to take my oath, and I can think of no one I'd rather see standing beside me than this beloved group of people.”

  After Judge Grey swore Nana D into office, she thanked her predecessor and offered to share the spotlight with him for the day. Former Mayor Grosvalet declined, citing a need to let the future begin today. Nana D began her speech, covering a few minutes of her background and credentials, a glance at what it took to get her voted into office, and what she promised to deliver in ninety days.

  “I am not the type of leader you've had in the last decade. You chose me because you wanted change. And change is what you're going to get….” Nana D gracefully shined a spotlight on the corruption and laziness she'd watched happening all around the county but quickly introduced a focus on eliminating any form of bribery during her term in office. She reminded everyone there would be conflict, but unlike it'd been in the past, it'd now be resolved for the benefit of all citizens.

  The horde around us was wild with hope and admiration at my grandmother's stories of the past, as was I until Nana D specifically called me out in the crowd when she talked about the future. “Kellan is the next generation of leadership this county needs, and I plan to work closely with him to ensure folks like him come back home to make Wharton County the top county in Pennsylvania.”

  I noticed my parents and Eleanor huddled at the back of the animated crowd. Why wasn't Gabriel with them? I wanted to know what'd happened when Gabriel spoke with Connor, but of course, he'd gone into hiding again. When the major activities ended, Emma and I headed to the parking lot. Noticing Nana D approaching.

  “Eleven o'clock tomorrow morning. My new office, please,” she mandated while sidling up and hugging me.

  “You were amazing today, but what's this meeting about?” I asked, trepidation in my voice.

  “Sheriff Montague will provide a report to me about the Quint Crawford murder investigation. You need to be there.” She kissed Emma's forehead and tightened the clip in her hair.

  “I'm not sure that's a good idea. I have lots to do, and that won't make April happy to see—”

  “You may not be on my staff,” she interrupted with a wave of the hand, “but I pay you with enough desserts and a rent-free cottage. You don't have a way out of it unless you'd rather me not bake anymore… besides, you'll just casually show up to see how my second day is going, and surprise, the sheriff happens to be there.” Nana D gave a severe and shifty glance that said she wasn't joking.

  “Doesn't this contradict what you said about bribery an hour ago?”

  “Emma, your daddy is a sour grape. I'm promoting you as my new assistant mayor. I expect you to convince him to show up tomorrow,” Nana D directed at my daughter as she traipsed away. “Kellan, this wasn't a suggestion. Be a good grandson and do what the mayor tells you to do, brilliant one.”

  I fought the urge to kick the curb, especially when Emma turned to me and said with a finger pointing in my direction, “Yeah, brilliant one. Mayor Nana D gave you an order. I'd do what she says, or she'll put you in jail.” I relinquished, dropped Emma at camp, and met Lara for lunch. It had to be an improvement to my day thus far.

  Lara and I huddled up in a corner booth at the Pick-Me-Up Diner. Though somewhere in her mid to late forties, the buxom brunette, also one of the most intelligent people I'd ever met, could easily pass as her daughter's sister. Born to French parents, she'd grown up in the United States and had once been a fashion model before getting entangled with the Grey family.

  “An historic day,” Lara said, activating a recording device and opening a screen on her tablet to take notes. “Seraphina Danby, first female mayor. Paul Dodd, youngest town councilman. We should be proud of our families.”

  “Oh, that's right. I forgot, Paul is engaged to your daughter, Imogene. She must be busy planning their wedding and deciding what her position should be as Braxton's First Lady.” I laughed at the thought of Braxton having someone in that role. Marcus Stanton had conveniently flaunted his single lifestyle after his wife had passed away several years ago.

  “Yes to the wedding. Doubtful to being in the public eye. Imogene is very shy. She must have gotten that particular personality trait from my ex-husband.” When Lara laughed, a wrinkle-free face lit up the diner. She was a beautiful and cultured woman, and I could see why she'd garnered WCLN's lead investigative reporter and co-anchor position on the evening local news.

  “I have enjoyed working with Imogene in class. She mentioned taking this course to better understand your job. It must feel great to have a daughter following in your footsteps.”

  Lara threw a hand up in the air. “Oh, I love her to pieces, but we are vastly different women and have very dissimilar taste in men. I'm just glad she finally accepted Paul's marriage proposal. Hopefully now that Quint Crawford is dead, she will kick the habit of trying to fix the men she dates.”

  I'd only met Lara a handful of times, but she was much more open than I'd expected. “I am aware Imogene and Quint dated years ago. Wasn't that over in college when he left town?”

  “Yes, but she pined for him the whole time. She and Paul have
been more off-and-on-again than a Hollywood power couple's rocky marriage. My daughter finally said yes to Paul this spring when she moved back home from France. A week later, she's having lunch with Quint and telling me how much she'd missed him.” Lara waved over a waitress to order food.

  I waited until the server walked away, then put forth, “Do you think something was going on between your daughter and Quint again?” I couldn't decide how it had fit in with what Emma had overheard at Woodland Warriors regarding someone yelling at Helena about a cheater.

  “I'm not one to gossip, and that's not why we're here, is it? Let's stick to the key points today,” Lara said, changing the topic to my grandmother. We spent the next thirty minutes discussing Nana D's plans over lunch.

  When our plates were cleared and coffee ordered, I resumed the conversation. “You were going to tell me everything you knew about the jewelry thefts, right?”

  She nodded. “Tell me why you care. I understand the journalistic need to find answers and seek the truth, but you left that life when you relocated from LA. I'm not entirely sure I understand why, but that's a story for a different day.” Lara was direct but fair, an approach most people liked about her.

  I took a moment to consider my answer. “Life is about balance. My daughter needed to be around her family, and I wasn't comfortable with some of the influences on the West Coast. In Braxton, I can teach her better values and provide a less stressful lifestyle.”

  “I assume you're referring to the Castiglianos?” she said, typing away on her tablet. “I'm not going to publicize any of this, so don't worry.”

  “Thanks. Yes, my in-laws are complex people. When I left the television show, I lost my analytical side. Teaching is fantastic and rewarding but cracking complex puzzles and holding people accountable for their actions is important to me.” I'd been trying to find someone who understood my passion for solving crimes. Lara seemed to identify with this inner desire.

  “You and I are a lot alike,” she responded with a smile. “Maybe we should work together more often. Tell me what you know about the jewelry thefts. I'll fill in the blanks on anything I can clear up about Quint's death. I know they're related somehow.”

  Could I trust her? I provided a few quick points of interest without revealing anything the sheriff wouldn't want me to disclose nor mentioning Gabriel's role. “As near as I can tell, Quint had something to do with stealing the jewelry. His mother and I had a lengthy conversation about it. Someone visited her yesterday, but Bertha can't remember much about the girl.”

  “Imogene has always been fond of Bertha. I suppose she might have gone to see her. I'll see if I can find out, but I doubt she had anything to do with the jewelry thefts or Quint's death. The rumors circulating around the station are that Quint was murdered. That electrical issue wasn't an accident.”

  I shrugged. “I wouldn't know for sure. You'd have to ask the sheriff or Connor Hawkins, the lead detective on the case.”

  “And your best friend. I can see it on your face. The rumors are true. You wouldn't make a good criminal, Kellan. You can't lie to save your life, but I like that about you,” Lara said, peeling the lid off a non-fat dairy creamer container and pouring it into her coffee. “I'll tell you what I've uncovered about the missing jewelry.”

  Lara explained everything that had happened at her house the previous week. Imogene admired a tiara her grandmother on the Grey side had given to her years ago. She wanted to incorporate it into her wedding ensemble and planned to bring it to the bridal salon for consideration. She'd been living at the Grey estate where she'd kept the family heirloom safely tucked away, but she'd planned to spend the night at Lara's place the night of Nana D's seventy-fifth birthday party. She'd also brought the tiara with her, so she could go directly to the wedding salon the next morning. Lara had been doing a news segment at Nana D's party, and Paul was at his house working on his plans as the new town councilman. A noise had woken Imogene while she was napping, and she thought it was her mother coming back home. When she got up to check, it was dusk, and she had trouble seeing from the glare of the setting sun. Someone knocked her over and tried to run out the door. She knew the layout of the room better than the thief, and when she was trying to escape, he tripped over her again. She struggled with him, scratched his arm, and he whacked her on the head with a bowl from a nearby table.

  “Who do you think it is?”

  Lara sat back and turned off the tape recorder, unwilling to say anything that might hurt her daughter while being recorded. “Imogene wouldn't inform the police, but she told me that very few people knew she'd kept the tiara that night. A couple of family members at the Grey estate, but they could've stolen it at any time in the past. She was afraid it was one of her friends.”

  “You think it was Quint, don't you?”

  “She'd had lunch with him that day, and he'd asked her to give him another chance. He wanted her to break up with Paul, but Imogene needed time to think about it. Paul made her feel safe and offered her a future without worrying about money or what people would think.”

  “Quint must have been angry. Could he have stolen the tiara to make her feel afraid, perhaps to sell it for money to support them? Does she have her own money from the Grey family?” Whoever confronted Helena at the camp must've been talking about Imogene cheating on Paul, at least it seemed the best explanation so far. Maybe Emma had gotten it backward. Was Krissy upset about Imogene and Quint hanging out? Perhaps she'd been interested in Quint herself just as she had been years ago.

  Lara shook her head. “Not a lot. It's all in a trust for when she turns forty. In the Grey family, you must prove your worth before Hiram will let a penny go to the next generation. He's a tyrant, and that's ultimately why my marriage to his son never worked out.”

  I sipped coffee and processed Lara's news. “Do you think Imogene told Paul that Quint asked her to get back together?”

  “Paul is focused on his new role in shaping the future of Wharton County. He's loved her for a decade, but Quint coming back made him nervous. I asked Imogene if she confessed to her fiancé what Quint had requested of her, but she wouldn't tell me. Ever since Quint died, she's been a shell of her former self. As much as I didn't want him with my daughter, I could see how much she loved Quint. He made her feel like a queen among women.” Lara's phone began to vibrate, and she took the call.

  While she spoke to her boss at the station, I paid the bill. Could Lara have been worried about Quint hurting her daughter and taken matters into her own hands?

  After she ended her call, she stood. “I need to go. My boss moved up a deadline, and I must interview someone today. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with what we spoke about.”

  “Lara, when did Imogene tell you that Quint asked her to break up with Paul?” If Lara had known before Quint died, it might give me cause to worry about her honesty.

  “Ha! If you're angling to find a way if I killed the loser, you can stop right there. I didn't like Quint Crawford, and I sure as heck didn't want the man anywhere near Imogene. But I have my limits. I would've hired someone to beat the crap out of him if I'd been able to prove he was the one who'd attacked her in my home. I'm not gonna call people like your in-laws to permanently whack him, though.” Lara leaned in to kiss my cheek, then smiled when she pulled away. “I leave that kinda stuff to your family, darling.”

  “You're a riot, Lara. Hold up, before you go,” I said, preparing to leave with her. “Since we both believe Quint was the current thief, and it looks like someone might have intentionally electrocuted or killed him, who's at the top of your list?”

  “I don't believe for a minute it was Paul. As I said, he's all about his life in politics now. Krissy Stanton has always been a thorn in my daughter's side, and her father was incredibly angry about Quint telling people he'd been stiffed by the Stantons for work he'd done. If I didn't have this other story, I'd be focusing on the Stantons and Nicky Endicott. Nicky only hired Quint because they were old friends, but I
mogene said they fought all the time about the construction business.”

  After Lara left, I made some notes on my phone while waiting for the hostess to check if Eleanor was available. Her office door had been closed, and I didn't want to interrupt if she was meeting with someone. The waitress returned to the front counter and said, “She had to pick up a few things at the supply store that didn't come in on time this week. Eleanor won't be back until later this afternoon.”

  “Got it, thanks. I saw the door shut and thought she was on the phone.”

  “No, Chef Manny is on a break. He's inside with his wife,” she noted and left to clear a table.

  Wife? Had Eleanor spoken with him about the conversation I'd overheard? She never updated me, but knowing my sister, she'd endlessly berated him. I was curious myself about what was going on and decided to poke my head in to say hello. Emma adored Chef Manny, and if he was leaving town, I wanted to know.

  “Who's there?” Manny said after I knocked on the door.

  “It's Kellan. Just wanted to say hello.”

  When the door opened, I did a double take at the person standing next to Manny. “Raquel?” What was one of my students doing with Eleanor's chef?

  Raquel stepped forward and draped her arm around Manny's waist. “Hi, Dr. Ayrwick. Have you met my husband, Manny Salvado?”

  I stood stunned for a moment, then realized my mouth had hung open a few too many seconds. “I never expected to see you two together. I'm sorry. Just a brief state of confusion.” He'd recently gotten married to someone from out of town. Raquel indicated she was new in town and waiting for her husband to figure out some things with his job. The conclusion made complete sense now. Except, was I about to lose a student and Eleanor a chef? “Congratulations to you both. I confess, Manny, I overheard you the other day talk about getting married and potentially moving to Las Vegas.” I inhaled deeply and leaned against the doorjamb when they backed into the office. Could I ask about their future plans?