by Paul Regnier
Brooke parked the car near the front door and turned back to us. “Okay, sit tight. I’ll need some time to question them.”
“Wait.” My mind spun through a list of possible reasons to escape the back of the car. “Um, I have to go to the bathroom.”
A crinkle line of annoyance formed between Brooke’s eyes. “Can you hold it?”
“Nope.” I nudged Kenny’s leg. “Nature calls.”
“Yeah, me too,” Kenny piped up. “Kind of an emergency. Hopefully their bathroom has a fan.”
Brooke’s nose crinkled.
Bandit barked. Now that you mention it, I need to go too. But that tree over there will do.
Brooke grunted. “Fine. Just go straight to the bathroom, then right back to the car, okay?”
“You got it.” I smiled.
We all got out of the squad car. Bandit headed straight for a nearby maple tree to relieve himself. He trotted back, sniffing the air.
So many great smells around here. He panted happily. Do I have to go inside? I want to explore. There’s a chicken pen by the barn. I really want to bark at them for some reason.
Okay. I gave him a studied look. But don’t bite them. Don’t bite anything.
No promises. Bandit scampered away, his tail wagging.
“Where’s he going?” Brooke asked.
“He’s been cooped up for a while,” I said. “He just needs to stretch his legs a bit.”
Brooke shrugged and headed for the front door, but Ellie opened it before she even had a chance to knock. “Hi.” She scanned our faces, her eyes slightly narrowed. “What are you guys doing here?”
“I need to ask you a few questions about the robbery,” Brooke said. “Can we talk inside?”
“Of course,” Ellie said.
“Oh, and I apologize.” Brooke motioned to Kenny and me. “But would it be possible for them to use your bathroom?”
“Sure.” She pointed inside the house. “Down the hall and to the right.”
“Thanks, Ellie.” Kenny smiled. “Sorry to barge in like this. Great to see you again.”
She gave a tight smile and nodded.
“Are your sister and uncle here?” Brooke asked.
“Uncle Jacob’s in his workshop.” Ellie motioned toward the barn. “And Vicki should be back soon. She just went to pick up some groceries.”
“Would you mind calling Jacob over?” Brooke asked.
“Sure.” Ellie pulled out her cell phone and tapped at the screen. “He should have his phone on him ... Jacob? Officer Brooke Casey is here. Can you come to the house?” She paused for a moment. “I’m not sure. She wants to ask us some more questions ... Okay, bye.”
Brooke walked into the living room with Ellie, and I went down the hall with Kenny. Luck was on our side, and the bathroom was within earshot of the living room.
“You first,” I whispered to Kenny and pointed at the bathroom. “I need to listen.”
“Fine with me,” he said. “I actually have to go now.”
“Don’t come out until I knock. I need an excuse to be out here during the interviews.”
“I can’t stay in there that long. They’ll think I have problems.”
“It’ll just be like five or ten minutes.”
“No way. That’s major IBS territory. Ellie will be grossed out. She’s not gonna date a guy that camps out in her bathroom.”
“Dude, this could be the difference in finding the killer. What if she gets blamed and she’s innocent? What’s more important? Saving her from prison or dating her?”
Kenny clenched his jaw. “I hate you.” He went into the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.
A minute later, Uncle Jacob came in and sat down with Brooke and Ellie. The bathroom hallway wasn’t visible from the living room, but it granted me the coveted “fly on the wall” scenario I’d hoped for.
I heard them exchange a few pleasantries, and just as Brooke started in with her questions, Vicki walked through the door with groceries. She set them in the kitchen and joined the others in the living room. Brooke quickly brought her up to speed on why she was there, and soon they were all seated and the interview began.
“Can each of you tell me where you were at 12:30 this afternoon?” asked Brooke.
“Well, I was here,” Ellie said. “Making turkey sandwiches.”
Suddenly I really wanted a turkey sandwich.
“I was in my shop,” Jacob said. “What’s this all about?”
“We have new information on the case,” Brooke said. “The investigation is ongoing, and I’ll fill you in as soon as the details are clear. For now, I just need to know your whereabouts earlier today. Vicki?”
“I was shopping,” Vicki said. “Getting groceries.”
“Yeah.” Ellie spoke like she was backing up Vicki’s statement. “We were out of a few things.”
“Can anyone confirm that?” Brooke asked.
“Well, I was at the mercantile. I guess the cashier might remember me. I didn’t see anyone I knew.”
“Do you have a receipt?” Brooke asked.
“I think so.”
There was a crinkling of papers, and metal jingling, like she was fishing through her purse.
“I can’t find it,” Vicki said. “I might have left it in the car.”
“Okay. If you find it, let me know,” Brooke said. “Jacob, when did you go to the workshop, and how long were you there?”
“I don’t know,” Jacob said. “Around eleven, I guess. I’ve been working there until now. Carpentry takes time.”
“And did you stop back inside the house during that time? Did you see Ellie during those hours?”
“No. I’ve got a fridge out there. No need to go back and forth. I’m sure Ellie was here at the house though.”
“Did you see her in the house?”
“Well, no, but I would imagine she was. You didn’t go anywhere, did you Ellie?”
“No,” Ellie said. “I was here the whole time.”
“Okay,” Brooke said. “Ellie, did you see Jacob during that time?”
“No,” she said.
“I see,” Brooke said. “Now, I understand there’s an insurance policy your grandmother Agnes gave you for the star garnets. Eighty thousand dollars. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Ellie spoke with a hint of hesitation. “That’s right.”
“And in the event of theft, the policy would be split between the three of you, correct?”
“Um, actually just me and Vicki,” Ellie said.
“Hold on,” Vicki broke in. “Are we part of the investigation now?”
“I’m just gathering information.” Brooke kept her voice even and calm. “The more information I have, the better I’ll be able to do my job.”
“I understand,” Vicki continued. “But I thought you were looking for a thief. Now you’re questioning us about our insurance policy? It sounds like you’re investigating us now.”
“Bear with me. We have to look at every angle of this. I just have a couple more questions. When was the last time each of you was in contact with Jimmy Bosko?”
“Jimmy?” Ellie gave a nervous laugh. “Wait, did Luke say something? He said some crazy stuff about him this morning.”
I cringed at the sound of my name. Judging from the way Ellie spoke, this was probably the last time I’d be welcome in her home.
“What’s Jimmy got to do with this?” Vicki asked.
“We’ve confirmed that Jimmy was dressed as a clown at the auction last night,” Brooke said.
“That’s crazy,” Ellie said. “Why would he do that?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out. Now, I’d rather not pore through phone records so if you could just tell me, have any of you spoken to him recently?”
“No,” Vicki said. “He wouldn’t call me. He knows I don’t care for the way he treated Ellie. He stopped by my office a couple months ago. Tried to get me to invest in some pyramid scheme. I made it clear I never wante
d to see him again. That’s the last contact I’ve had with him.”
“Okay,” Brooke said. “Jacob? Ellie?”
“He called me every so often,” Jacob said. “We used to play cards together. Got along okay. Tried to distance myself after their split. Didn’t want to make things uncomfortable for Ellie.”
There was a moment of silence.
“I talk to him once in a while.” Ellie sounded as if she were ashamed. “It’s not like I want to get back together. We just talk sometimes on the phone.”
“Ellie,” Vicki spoke with a hint of scolding.
“I’m sorry,” Ellie said. “I just ... he understands me. So, sometimes we talk. But that’s it.”
“Have you met with him lately?”
Ellie sighed. “A week ago. Just for coffee.”
“Ellie!” Vicki’s disapproval was more emphatic this time.
“It was just coffee,” Ellie said.
“How about either of you?” Brooke asked. “Have you met with him in person recently?”
“No,” Jacob said.
“Absolutely not,” Vicki said.
“Thank you. I’d like to take a look at the workshop, if you don’t mind,” Brooke said.
“Don’t you need a warrant for that?” Vicki asked.
“Yes, if I need to search it. But with your permission, I’d just like to take a quick look around.”
“It’s fine with me,” Ellie said.
“What’s my workshop got to do with all this?” Jacob asked.
Something in the way Jacob answered made me think Brooke might be onto something. My mind buzzed with the possibility that Jimmy’s car might be stashed in the workshop and things were about to get really interesting.
“Probably nothing,” Brooke said. “But since I’m already here, I’d like to take a look around. Unless, for some reason, that presents a problem.”
“It’s fine.” Jacob answered a little too quickly. “I just don’t see the point.”
“I promise it won’t take long.” Brooke continued to maintain a calm, even tone of voice.
“Well, it’s a mess in there, but whatever,” Jacob said. “I’ll show you around.”
Chapter 11
Furniture creaked with the sounds of everyone getting to their feet. Footsteps headed for the front door. Someone came down the hallway toward me. I made a big show of slumping against the doorframe, looking bored. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ellie approaching.
I knocked on the bathroom door. “Hey, you almost done in there?”
“Is he okay?” Ellie frowned with concern as she approached.
“Yeah,” I said. “Probably just the kale juice.”
“Oh. Right.” Ellie knocked on the bathroom door. “Kenny, it’s okay. I went through the same thing during my juice cleanse. It’s perfectly natural. It’s just the body flushing out toxins.”
“No, it’s not like that,” Kenny spoke nervously through the door. “Nothing’s flushing out of anywhere. Everything’s fine in here. Just finishing up.”
“Okay,” Ellie said. “There’s air freshener under the sink. Maybe just spray it a few times in there. And could you turn on the fan before you leave? Thanks, Kenny.”
She turned her attention to me, her expression blank. “I need to make a call. Please see yourselves out.” She turned and headed back down the hall.
Clearly, she blamed me for the discovery that Jimmy had dressed as a clown, and I wasn’t her favorite person at the moment. Either her lingering feelings for her ex were at play, or maybe she had teamed up with him to steal the gems in the first place.
The bathroom door opened and Kenny stood there, glaring at me. “Well, there goes my chance with Ellie. Thanks a lot, pal.”
“Oh, come on. You still have a chance. She’ll forget all about this.”
“No, she won’t. You don’t forget about stuff like this. Girls want romantic run-ins like in Hallmark movies. Instead, my first visit to her house, and I head straight to the bathroom? In her mind, I was depositing nuclear waste in there. This is one of those ‘horrible guy I met’ stories that girls laugh at.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” Kenny raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think so. You earn nicknames for this kind of thing. Behind my back she’ll call me ‘Juice Cleanse Kenny’. Or ‘Diarrhea Boy’. Or something much worse.”
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a tad?”
“No. This is a total disaster.” He marched past me and headed for the front door.
A few minutes later we were all outside, in front of Brooke’s squad car. I whistled a few times for Bandit and he came running over from the direction of the chicken coop. As he walked up to me, I noticed a few feathers on his muzzle, and a smear of red.
“Oh, no.” I knelt down to examine his face. “You didn’t. Bandit, tell me you didn’t eat a live chicken.”
What? Come on, what do you think I am, a wolf?
“Whoa.” Kenny chuckled. “Way to go, Bandit.”
“He ate a chicken?” Brooke narrowed her eyes. “Aren’t you feeding him?”
Bandit let out a soft woof. Stop spreading rumors about me. I didn’t eat a chicken. I might have felt like it. I might have even chased a few of them, but I couldn’t catch them. They’re faster than they look.
Then what’s this red smear on your face? Looks like blood.
Jam. Bandit licked his chops. Raspberry. Someone left half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a hay bale out there. Finders keepers.
I leaned closer to him and sniffed. There was a distinct raspberry aroma. “Oh, it’s just jam.” I turned back to Brooke and Kenny. “Not blood. No dead chickens.”
“Good,” Brooke said.
“You’ll get ‘em next time, right Bandit?” Kenny said.
He barked. You know it.
Brooke grabbed a napkin from the front seat and handed it to me. “Can you clean him up before you get in the back?”
I nodded and got to work cleaning Bandit’s face. Soon we were back in Brooke’s car, heading away from the Greyson farm. As per Brooke’s promise, Kenny rode shotgun while Bandit and I were once again banished to the perpetrator cage in the back.
I leaned forward. “Find anything in the workshop?”
“Jimmy’s car wasn’t stashed back there, if that’s what you mean,” Brooke said.
“That definitely would’ve wrapped things up,” I said. “Nothing else that looked weird, huh?”
“Not really,” she said. “He has a gun safe almost as tall as me, and a serious obsession with woodworking. I’ve never seen so many tools. If he ever stops security guard work, he should go into custom furniture.”
“How’s his carpentry?” Kenny asked.
“Not bad,” she said. “He just finished a rocking chair I was tempted to buy for my grandma.”
“Well,” I said. “What do your instincts tell you about those three?”
She let out a slow breath. “Tough call. Somethings not right back there. I can’t put my finger on it, but someone’s not telling the truth.”
“I got that feeling too,” I said. “Vicki was pretty defensive. Plus, she runs a CPA firm but misplaces a receipt? I mean, come on. And when you hinted at checking phone records, suddenly Ellie and Jacob were still pretty chatty with Jimmy. Red flags everywhere.”
Brooke narrowed her eyes at me in the rear view mirror. “I thought you were using the bathroom, not listening in.”
“I was waiting for Kenny. I overheard a few things.”
“Right.”
“By the way,” I said. “When we overheard Jimmy talking on the phone this morning, he kept saying things like, ‘Don’t worry. They’re safe. They’re in a trick box with multiple locks.’”
“They?” Brooke said. “As in, the gemstones?”
“That would be my guess.”
“What else could it be?” Kenny asked.
“A trick box?” Brooke said. “Is that some magician thi
ng?”
“Yep.” Kenny said. “I looked it up online. Usually a gimmicky slide puzzle kind of thing. There’s more advanced ones though that are really tricky to open. Hence the name, trick box.”
“Hm.” She thought for a moment. “I should contact law enforcement in McCall. If those gems are in one of those trick boxes, maybe it’s stashed somewhere at his place.”
“Check his dressing room, too,” I said. “The Deer Bend Lodge. He had a dressing room in the lounge.”
She nodded. “Good thinking.”
“Tell me something, Brooke,” Kenny said. “And be honest. If a guy liked you, but the first time he went to your house he turned your bathroom into a sewage treatment plant, would he still have a chance?”
Brooke squinched up her nose. “Ew.”
Kenny glared back at me. “There. You see? Game over, man.”
“Kenny, we’re talking about a murder here. Can we put things in perspective?”
He sighed. “Fine. To be continued.”
“So,” I said. “The insurance policy splits between Ellie and Vicki. Jacob doesn’t get anything?”
“Yes,” Brooke said. “That’s what Ellie said.”
“That puts a bigger spotlight on the two sisters.”
“It’s not Ellie,” Kenny said.
“Dude,” I said. “Can you at least pretend to be objective?”
He laughed. “That’s hilarious coming from a journalist.”
“All things considered,” Brooke said. “With the insurance payout, and her recent contact with Jimmy, Ellie does rise to the top of the list of suspects. Sorry Kenny.”
Kenny frowned. “Innocent until proven guilty.”
I turned to Brooke. “What do you think? What’s next?”
“Well,” Brooke said. “By now there’s officers combing the area around the Turner cabin. Maybe they’ll find something. Other than that, I just have hunches. I need solid evidence.”
“We’ll help you find it,” I said.
Brooke caught my eye in the rear view mirror. “Oh, you will, huh?”
“That’s right.”
She smirked. “Well, I’m not saying this is a police sanctioned collaboration, but if you find anything helpful, call me.”
