by Kristi Rose
Laura looked shocked. “I didn’t take this money.”
I smiled kindly. “I know. Josh did. He was scamming the school and taking money from every pot he could get his hands in.” I pointed to Levi. “He was having the students bill their parents’ credit cards for items they weren’t buying. The money was going into his account set up by this woman.” I touched Jenna’s picture.
I tapped my fingers on the calendar pages. “I couldn’t crack this code. I couldn’t see how it worked with the cons Josh was running. But I think the emojis are to indicate which women Josh was sleeping with. Computer is Jenna. Swim is Carlie, and Laura, you’re the book. When I cross-referenced Josh’s deposits from Pay it Forward For The Kids, they coordinate with the dollar signs Josh had on his calendar.” I looked at Leo. “Do we know when he had appointments with Boomer?”
Leo stood and hustled out of the interview. We sat in silence, Levi looking at the calendars.
Less than a minute later, Leo returned, a sheet of paper in his hands. “I’ll read the dates of his appointments and you check them against the calendar.” He called out dates, but only a quarter lined up with Josh’s calendar.
I shook my head. “They don’t match. The appointments are spaced out and not in any pattern. I have a cigarette showing up every four days.”
Laura sat up straighter in her chair. “Josh’s nicotine replacement therapy was every four days. He was supposed to change his patch to keep from getting a rash, he still got them anyway. The journal was to reassess by looking through the previous four days of entries.”
I asked, “He journaled?” I glanced at Leo. “Did we find a journal?”
Leo shook his head. “I went through the inventory list, and there were no notebooks or journals on the list.” He held up a hand before I could say anything. Though my expression likely gave away what I’d been thinking.
He said, “I’ll go through his office and home again. Not you.”
I sighed in frustration and returned my attention to the calendars. “Who or what are tennis and unicorn? I don’t want to assume football is that, football.”
Levi pointed to the camera icon. “You forgot one. Camera.”
I grimaced. “I think that’s for me. Carlie said he had a habit of ditching women who were getting too attached or he no longer needed. Carlie said she would occasionally take extra nicotine patches from Boomer’s office, but Boomer noticed they were missing so she stopped. That’s when she said Josh started making moves on me. And he tried to fit me into his Thursday schedule.” The thought alone made me want to throw up in my mouth.
Laura slapped an angry hand on the table. “What was I? His beard?”
Levi chuckled. “You’re not using that word right, mom.”
She glared at him.
I held up a hand to stop further spats. “I get what you’re asking, Laura. And yes, I’m sorry to say that I do think you were a cloak of sorts for him. You continued to make him look upstanding.”
She gave a wry smile. “I bet he got a kick out of dating the poor, lonely widow.”
My next remark was cruel but had to be said, “Who he also used to scam more money out of.”
Lockett leaned back and crossed one ankle over the other. “Crafty son of a gun, this Josh was. Money laundering, embezzlement, and having relations with several women who likely knew about each other but didn’t care. A sociopath to be sure.” He shook his head in wonder.
“I wasn’t okay with the other woman. Women.” Laura said with bite.
Lockett said, “You were the exception to the rule, and that’s why he stayed with you. By being with you, should any rumors about his philandering circulate, people would come back to you and shake them off. ‘Surely, Laura Danner wouldn’t tolerate that nonsense’.”
To soften the blow, Leo said, “It speaks to your good standing in this community and the fondness people have for you.”
Laura wiped a tear from her eye.
Levi grunted and dropped his head onto the table. “I’m sorry I ruined that, Mom.”
I said, “And tell me again how it was you killed Josh?”
Levi looked up at me over his arm. “I already told the cops this, and the lawyer.” He jerked his head in Lockett’s direction.
“But you haven’t told me.”
He groaned and crossed his eyes.
Seeing his response was the positive affirmation that Leo’s gut was right. This kid didn’t kill Josh. He thought about it. But who doesn’t envision fantasize about life without the person who makes them insanely angry? Yeah, murder fantasies weren’t good, but I was sure that’s not what happened here. More like a poor decision with everlasting consequences by an impulsive teen. Either way, counseling was in order.
Levi hid his face, and a soft sob came from between his arms.
“Levi?” his mother said, stroking his hair.
He sat up with a jerk, tears streaming down his face. “I didn’t want him to die. I wanted to make him really sick. I wanted to make him pay for using you and stealing from us. I went online and read about nicotine, and I knew with the way Josh smoked and wore those patches, he was one good nicotine exposure from vomiting his face off. That’s what I was going for.” He used his sleeve to wipe away his tears.
I encouraged him to continue. “So you…?”
“Added a dissolvable nicotine pesticide to some vape juice and left the vials for him to steal. He was taking my vials all the time, saying he was doing it for my own good, but I know it was because he was using them.”
“You’re vaping?” Laura fairly screamed. “Have I taught you nothing? Have you seen the news?”
“How many vials did you add nicotine to?” I asked.
Levi shrugged. “One or two?”
Lockett said, “Which was it? One or two. Think hard.”
Levi slipped his palm down his face and sucked in a ragged breath. He closed his eyes then said, “One. I had two set up to do, but I heard mom and Lanie come home, so I only got to one. I hid them in my shoe.”
“Do you know which vials?” I asked.
Levi shook his head.
I said, “Close your eyes and try to picture it again. Even colors could help.”
Levi did as I suggested. His eyes popped open. “I like only three flavors, tutti-fruity, marshmallow, and bubble gum. They have similar labels. But their safety seals are different colors. I dumped a lot of the juice out, added the extra nicotine, but made it look slightly used.”
I said, “You mean the vial didn’t look full.”
Levi nodded.
I asked. “What color safety seal did the spiked vial have?”
Levi stared over my shoulder in thought. “It was multicolor. That’s tutti-fruity.”
I looked first at Locket, then Leo. “And the seal was broken on that vial?”
Back to Levi. He nodded.
I pressed. “And you hid them in your shoe? What about the bucket behind the shop?”
“I started hiding the vials under the bucket after Josh began confiscating them. I used to hide them in my shoe because no one ever looked in my shoes.”
Laura mumbled, “He has the smelliest feet.”
Levi rested his forehead on his palm. “But Josh saw me put them in my shoes. One day, I went to get one, and they were all gone. I even tried switching flavors, but he still took them. That’s when I started hiding my vials behind the shop.”
Lockett held up a finger. “Just to be clear, you’re saying you poisoned only one vial and left that vial in your shoe. You’re saying we’ll find the correct vial because the seal is broken and the others are not because they are unused? And you’re saying the vial you spiked was tutti-fruity flavored?”
Levi nodded. “And I didn’t spike them.”
Lockett continued, “And this is why you’ve been adamant about saying you killed Josh. Because you added a toxin to the vape vial?”
Levi nodded again.
Lockett shook his head. “Dude, any reason
why you didn’t tell me this in any of our several conversations?”
Levi shrugged. “You didn’t ask in the same way she did.” He pointed to me.
Leo jumped up and dashed out the door. He returned in seconds and handed Lockett a sheet of paper and kept one for himself. He said, “Item one hundred and thirty-six taken from Levi’s bedroom is a vial of vape juice, seal broken. This item was found under your dresser in a tennis shoe.”
Leo flipped the page. “Item fourteen. Bubble gum flavored vial taken from Josh’s desk. Seal intact.”
Lockett flicked the paper and smiled. “If this vial found in your shoe proves to be the laced one, then we have our win. We can prove you didn’t kill Josh.”
With his hands, Levi covered his face and began to sob. Through his tears, he said, “I’m so glad I’m not a killer.”
31
Tuesday
Leo escorted me home. The hour was late, and his pretense was my safety. Chivalry wasn’t dead. But like me, Leo needed to review everything we’d learned today. This was how we processed. Lockett had canceled all plans since he went straight to work on proving Levi’s case.
Using the keypad at my front door, I let us in and flung my backpack onto the floor by the foyer table, nearly knocking off the vase of fake flowers. A marble container used to sit there but…well, that’s a story for another day.
From the fridge, I took out two IPAs and offered him one. He accepted the bottle and, while in the kitchen, picked up a Sharpie. While taking a long swig, he went to the calendar pages I had taped to the wall. On the side where the space was white, he began to write.
“Carlie is swim, Jenna is computer, you are camera, Laura is book, and cigarettes are when he was supposed to review his nicotine replacement therapy, journal and address where he was struggling.”
“Something other than add another patch or have more smokes,” I said. “What do you think the odds are that Josh’s habit killed him? Could he have overdosed by his own actions?”
Leo shook his head. “I think someone shoved him over the edge. If Josh didn’t ingest Levi’s overdosed vial, then where did all the extra nicotine come from? Has to be more than those patches. Someone knew his vices and used it against him. Someone like the doctor or a lover.”
“Someone being tennis, pencil, coffee, football, or unicorn.”
“If any one of those is a person, then yeah.” Leo stepped back and stared at the calendar. “Who else do we know Josh… dated?”
I rolled the beer bottle between my hands. “I’m guessing his other afternoon delights were married. That’s why they’re such a secret. But openly dated? Not even at the Celebration of Life ceremony was that talked about.”
Accessing my laptop, I pulled up the information Dad and Toby had uncovered about Josh, and scrolled through it. I paused on a picture of Josh standing outside How Ya Bean with June, my mom, and Alice Andrews. The picture had been taken for Dad’s paper, and the article caption that went with it was “Josh Chapman named new principal of Village Garden School.” The photo was credited to one of Dad’s staff photographers and listed everyone in the picture.
I showed it to Leo. “Why do you think June is in this picture? Am I reaching here, or is that odd?”
Leo studied the image. “Everything is reaching until it pans out. You should ask her.” He paused. “Josh was there a lot, at How Ya Bean.”
I nodded. “The PTC meetings were held there.” I rolled my eyes. “How cliché is that? A bunch of hipster moms having their school meeting at a coffee shop.”
“Carlie aside, are any of those other moms sleeping with him?” His tone was hopeful.
“Possibly, sure. I’ve already thought of that. Mindy Cunningham also runs the book club, so she ran with Josh in two circles. But those women can be catty, and maybe Josh knew better than to create a catfight. What do you know about Danika Post?”
Leo shook his head. “She didn’t go to school with us. Moved here from the town over because she took the job at the school. She’s had some trouble with her car being vandalized and has been to the station because of that.”
“Recently vandalized?” Another reach? Maybe, but interesting. Do coincidences exist, or was this another clue?
He scratched his chin as he thought. “About a month or so. She kept sports gear in her car, and someone broke in and stole it.”
“Is that it?”
“Happened three times. Same type of gear.” He sat next to me.
“What was it?” My mind was pulsing with a variety of thoughts, trying to pull pieces together. I opened up my photo previewer on my laptop and scrolled through images I’d taken of Village Garden School and its patrons and staff.
“Rollerblades, yoga mat, and tennis racket and balls.”
I stopped scrolling. “Tennis?”
The expression on Leo’s face told me he knew where I was going with this. “Yeah, but also a yoga mat and rollerblades.”
I pointed to the calendar. “What if Danika is tennis? Look, tennis is on the schedule back when he started dating Laura, but it’s not on the schedule the week of his death.” I handed him my laptop and beer, then got up and went to the wall. “In fact, tennis stopped showing up on his calendar six weeks ago.”
Leo, who’d been clicking through my photos, stopped then slid everything onto the coffee table. He joined me at the calendar. “What was it replaced with?”
I ran my finger down the calendar, scanning Tuesdays when tennis had been scheduled. “Nothing specific. Two computers, one swim, coffee twice, and the unicorn twice.”
Leo tapped the unicorn emoji. “This doesn’t show up on a consistent pattern.”
“Yeah, I noticed that. Maybe it’s a boon or something. A cash windfall. Like the magical unicorn of goodness.”
“Maybe,” he said, staring at the wall. “I think you might be right about Danika and tennis.”
I nodded in agreement. “I’ll go talk to her tomorrow. Besides, she lied to me about resigning, and I’d like to call her out on it.”
I plopped down on the couch, exhaustion hitting me hard. On my laptop screen was the picture I’d taken of June’s schedule at How Ya Bean. She’d been a stickler for it. On the top, the Tuesday space was a coffee cup and the initials PTC.
“Look.” I angled the screen toward him. “June put a coffee cup by the PTC meetings, and on Josh’s calendar, he has a coffee cup on Tuesdays. You think that’s the PTC meeting symbol?”
“Why not use a schoolhouse or a book or something?”
I laughed. “Because the brain associates how it wants to associate. Look at how Hue and I can have entire conversations using symbols. Maybe Josh put coffee to remind him to go to the coffee shop for the meeting. Maybe he got the idea from June and her coffee shop signs.”
Leo slid down next to me and yawned. “I think you’re on to something.”
“I’ll talk to June tomorrow, too.”
He nudged me with his shoulder. “You’re aware of what’s happening here, right?”
I paused and tried to reread the situation. Up until a second ago, I wasn’t aware of much other than fatigue weighing me down and stupid emojis that didn’t make sense. Was Leo getting a different vibe? I’m not the best for reading social cues, as inference can sometimes be misinterpreted.
He nudged me again and chuckled. I sat there, like a bump on a log, clueless.
Little butterflies did a stutter-flutter in my stomach. My entire past with Leo had been heavy with irritation, bordering on genuine dislike. Until the Carson thing. Something then changed the relationship between Leo and I, for the good. And I won’t lie. I found him sexy as all get out. More so every day. But this friendship was new and blooming, and I didn’t want to jack it up.
“Sam?”
Our first case was much like this one. Close to home.
Realization dawned. “Wait, are you talking about when I took pictures for Junior Greevy’s accident, which really was—”
“Yep. This c
ase is kinda like that. Our criminal here is likely someone we know. Just like it was back then.”
I groaned. For two reasons. One, why would I ever think Leo was hitting on me? Thankfully, I didn’t do something stupid like give him come-hither eyes. And two, I really hated it when bad guys were people I knew. Hated it so much I’d gotten out of the crime field and taken pics of babies dressed as bunnies for ten years.
He said, “You’re handling this one much better than the last time.”
I elbowed him, hard. “I had the flu. Who handles anything well when they have the flu? No one, that’s who.”
He tossed back his head and laughed.
“It’s not funny,” I said. “Someone we know and have spent time with likely killed Josh. And I was hoping it was Jenna because she’s not one of us.”
Leo instantly sobered, but his lips twitched slightly.
I narrowed my eyes in anticipation of what he was going to say. I knew him well enough to guess a good teasing was about to come.
And it did. “You should be well versed in the get-close-to-the-criminal lifestyle. You married one.”
I sprung to my feet and jerked my thumb to the door. “Get out.”
Leo grabbed my hand and tugged me down to the couch. “Aw, c’mon Sam. I’m just giving you a hard time. You knew nothing about Carson and his intentions. Just like you know nothing about Josh’s killer’s intentions. We aren’t superheroes. We can’t read minds. And bad people hide among the good ones. If you stay in the business, you always keep that in mind. You aren’t ever going to be free from the disappointment that evil is always so close.”
I softened. “But I wish that weren’t true. I hate to think I might have already talked to the killer and walked away none the wiser. I hate knowing they’re out there playing us for fools and letting a sixteen-year-old kid take the rap.”
Leo said, “I hate that this person will probably kill again to keep their secret.”
I nodded in agreement. “I think that’s the part that gets me the most. Anticipating another strike, hoping one doesn’t come while trying to do everything to prevent it. It’s like swinging at a ball, blind.”
