by Maria Geraci
Just as I thought. It’s all a big bunch of hooey. “Got it.”
Aurelia tsks. “I’d already pegged you as a non-believer, but I didn’t know you were also a cynic.”
Oops. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound skeptical.”
“It’s all right. Anthony and I are used to it. Who’s in charge of this séance?”
“The Sunshine Ghost Society, so Madame Gloria will be the, um, human medium.”
“I see.”
It’s not hard to figure out what Aurelia thinks of that. “I know you’re not crazy about Phoebe Van Cleave, but the rest of the group isn’t so bad.”
“Whose spirit will they be talking to?”
“Hopefully, Abby Delgado’s.”
“You know, Lucy, Anthony and I were an integral part of the séances that Susan used to host. Since this is the first séance that Cornelius will be doing without Susan, perhaps we should be there too. For moral support.”
“Sure. Why not? Except…. I have to tell you, we’re using a building without permission.”
“Oh dear.”
I tell her about the conditions Gloria put down for the séance.
“She’s correct. The spirit does tend to linger in places where he or she was last alive.”
“So I’ve been told. I’m really hoping that we can get to the bottom of why Abby’s brother stole Cornelius.” Among other things.
“I take it the brother didn’t confess?”
“Hardly. And since Deborah doesn’t want to press charges, there’s nothing the Whispering Bay police can do about it.”
“Nothing?”
“Well, I did manage to get the brother’s fingerprints without him knowing it.” I can’t help but brag. “They matched a set of prints on the doorknob to the rec center where his sister was found. Travis Fontaine, that’s the police officer in charge of Abby’s case, is bringing him in for questioning. They might not be able to get him for dognapping, but there’s a possibility they could charge him for trespassing, which is better than nothing.”
“How clever you are,” she muses.
“Thanks, not that it will do much good. Even though I think he had something to do with his sister’s death, he has an alibi.”
“The police checked it out?”
“Yep. Derrick was at home in Mexico Beach playing cards till two in the morning. It’s an hour away, so even if he left right at two, he couldn’t have gotten to Whispering Bay till three a.m. earliest, which puts it a little too far off from the time Abby died.”
“Mexico Beach? Anthony and I have been there. It’s an adorable little town.”
“Yeah, well, he lives in the not so adorable part. Almost in the boonies, really.”
“To the east?” she asks.
I still as Aurelia’s words sink in.
Holy wow. Why didn’t I think of this before?
Mexico Beach sits directly on the line between the eastern and central time zones. I’m pretty sure that Derrick’s house lies in what the north Florida natives refer to as “fast time” or Eastern Standard Time. Whispering Bay, on the other hand, sits in “slow time” or Central Standard Time. Which means that two in the morning at Derrick’s place was one in the morning in Whispering Bay, giving him plenty of time to get to the rec center during the time period that the coroner placed her death.
I need to get this information to Travis ASAP.
The Whispering Bay Police Department is located on the gulf right next to the city municipal building. Since there isn’t a sign on the door that explicitly says no dogs allowed, I bring Paco inside. “Better to ask forgiveness than permission.” Paco wags his tail like he agrees.
Cindy, the receptionist, looks up from her computer screen. She and Rusty have been dating for about a year now. She’s another good customer of mine, although she hasn’t been to The Bistro in over a week, which can only mean that she’s dieting again. Her favorite muffin is cranberry raisin. Maybe I can come up with a low-fat version.
“Hey, Cindy. Is there any way I can see Travis Fontaine? It’s kind of an emergency.”
She shakes her head. “You too, Lucy?”
“What do you mean?”
“Just that every single woman under the age of thirty-five has come by in the last week on some pretext or another to see Travis.”
A part of me finds this amusing. Another part finds it…irritating. “I guess there’s no accounting for taste.”
Paco whimpers, drawing attention to himself.
“Oh! I didn’t see your dog.” Cindy leans over her desk and pats him on the head. “When did you get him? What’s his name?”
“I’m watching him temporarily. His name is Paco.”
“Hey little guy,” Cindy croons.
He makes a big show of wagging his tail and looking utterly adorable like he’s trying to win her over, only I’m pretty sure he’s already done that.
“I could just die, you’re so cute!” Cindy reaches into the top drawer of her desk and pulls out a granola bar. “Is it okay if I give him a piece?”
Paco barks as if to say yes, please!
“Sure, why not?”
She ends up giving him the entire granola bar, and even though I fed him just a couple of hours ago, he gobbles it down like he’s starving,
“So, Cindy, Travis told me that he was bringing Derrick Delgado in for questioning. Do you know how that went? Is it still going on?”
And more importantly, is Derrick in handcuffs yet?
“Well, I’m not supposed to say, since it’s official police business and all.”
Paco nudges me with his nose like he’s urging me to try another tactic. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that he understood what we were saying. “Did you know that I was the one who found Abby Delgado?”
“Rusty told me. Bless your heart. That must have been awful! Did you have to do CPR?”
“No, but it was still traumatic,” I say playing it up.
“I know what you mean. Rusty and I were at The Harbor House a couple of weeks ago to celebrate our one-year anniversary, and the man in the table next to us started to choke. It was horrible. His face turned red as a tomato. Rusty was a real hero,” she adds proudly.
“Did he have to do the Heimlich maneuver?”
“He was the one who dialed 911.”
“And they saved the guy?”
“Actually…no. By the time the paramedics got there, one of the waiters had done the Heimlich.” She shrugs like that part of the story is inconsequential.
I lean in closer to her desk. “Cindy, did you know that Officer Fontaine is planning to bring my brother in for questioning?”
She squirms in her chair. “Rusty mentioned something about that.”
“How did Officer Fontaine get put in charge of this case? I mean, doesn’t Rusty have seniority over him?”
“Yes, but Zeke thinks that Travis practically walks on water. Rusty has been with the department for twenty years. Then this hot shot swoops in and just because he’s from Dallas everyone thinks he knows so much more.”
“That’s so unfair.”
“Tell me about it.”
I sigh dramatically. “I bet if Rusty were in charge, we’d already know what happened to Abby.”
Even though there’s no one else in the room, she lowers her voice. “I guess it won’t hurt to tell you that Derrick Delgado is in the interrogation room as we speak.”
My heart speeds up. “Really?”
She nods. “Rusty and Travis are in there with him now. You should have seen him strut in here like he owned the place! I’ve worked here a long time, and I can always tell when someone’s guilty. It’s the eyes. His are shifty as hell.”
“Oh, believe me, I’ve had the displeasure of speaking to the man twice, and I totally agree.” If I could just get into that interrogation room somehow… “Cindy, Officer Fontaine mentioned that there was surveillance footage that showed both Abby and my brother Sebastian entering the rec center the night sh
e died.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve seen it.”
“You have?” I can barely contain my excitement. “Do you think it would be okay if I took a look at it? I mean, maybe I can pick up something that Officer Fontaine didn’t.” I made sure to add a snarky tone to my voice whenever I say Travis’s name.
“Golly, Lucy, I wish I could show it to you, but I don’t think Zeke would like that.”
“I understand. It’s just…Officer Fontaine hinted that he was going to use the tape to press charges against Sebastian. For trespassing into the rec center.”
Okay, so this isn’t exactly true, but it works because Cindy looks mortified. “Arrest Father McGuffin? I can’t believe it! He’s going too far now.”
“I agree. But what can we do?”
She thinks this over. “I don’t see how it would hurt for you to take a look at the footage.”
“Really? You’re a complete doll!”
Cindy pulls an empty chair up to her desk. I place Paco on my lap, and we both look on as she taps on her computer screen. “It should come up any minute.”
A series of black and white images appear. “See,” she says, pointing to the top of the screen, “here’s the date and time.” The date reads November 3 and the time is set at 11:55 pm. We watch for the next five minutes as nothing happens. Then there’s a shot of Abby walking along the side of the building. She stops at the door, jiggles the lock and walks in.
“So the door was already open,” I say to myself.
Cindy fast-forwards to twelve thirty, when Sebastian shows up. He stands in front of the door, and even though the camera angle doesn’t show his face clearly, I can tell by his body language that he’s hesitant to walk inside. But after a few seconds, he opens the door and enters the building.
Nothing else happens for the next few minutes or so. At precisely twelve thirty-five, Sebastian walks out the building through the same door.
“That’s all there is to see,” Cindy says.
Something here isn’t right. Only I’m not sure what it is.
“What about earlier? How far back has anyone looked?”
“I just told you. That’s all there is.”
I still. “You mean, that’s all the security footage that’s available? From any of the doors?”
Cindy nods. “The system was getting revamped, and the cameras weren’t fully operational until just a few days ago.”
I remember now that during the rec center celebration Gus said something along those lines.
“So there could be lots of people who came and went at some other time or through other doors, but they weren’t caught on camera?”
“Sure. I mean, yeah, who knows?”
Except the footage doesn’t show anyone else entering or leaving the building. Which means that Sebastian is the last person who saw Abby alive.
Ha! No wonder I thought Travis was lying to me. He purposely misled me about the security footage because he wanted me to get Sebastian to tell him what he and Abby were doing in the building. That sneaky little…
I begrudgingly have to admire his tactics.
“Can I see the footage one more time?”
We rewatch the film. This time I’m on super alert for any little thing. Only nothing stands out.
Paco nudges me with his nose.
“Not now, sweetie.”
He nudges harder.
“Paco, what do you—” I glance down at him. He looks back at me with those sweet brown eyes, and I swear he’s trying to tell me something. If I’ve learned anything over the past week, it’s that I should listen to this little dog. “Do you mind if we watch it again?”
Cindy shrugs. “Why not?” She sets the recording back. Five minutes later, we watch once more as Abby goes through the motion of trying the lock and walking through the door.
“Holy wow,” I mutter. “Can you freeze that?”
“What? Do you see something?” Cindy pushes the pause button.
I turn to look at her. “When I found Abby, Paco was with her.”
“Poor tyke. It must have been traumatic for him.”
“Yeah, but don’t you see? According to the footage, Abby goes into the rec center, but she’s alone. The dog wasn’t with her. Which means Paco must have already been in the rec center when she got there.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Positive. Sebastian specifically told me when he saw Abby she had the dog with her.”
“So someone else brought the dog into the rec center?
“Yep. And I’d bet a dozen of my best apple walnut cream cheese muffins that it’s the same person who unlocked the door. If we can find out who had the key, then we’ll know…well, we’ll know something important, that’s for sure.”
“Golly.” She glances nervously off to the side. “And you think maybe it was the brother?”
“He has a pretty good motive for wanting to get rid of Abby. She left him everything. And he certainly likes to wave a gun around. Plus, Officer Fontaine told me Derrick’s been arrested before. For assault.”
Cindy shudders. “I get so worried when Rusty has to deal with these criminal types.”
Since Rusty is a cop, I’m not sure what to say here.
“Rusty and Travis have been interrogating Derrick for a while now, huh?”
She nods. “At least thirty minutes.”
“I sure would love to know what’s going on in there.”
Cindy doesn’t say anything.
“You know, on T.V. they always show those interrogations taking place in one room while another cop is in the next room looking through one of those two-way mirrors and listening in through a speaker.”
“Oh yeah, isn’t that cool?”
“The Whispering Bay police department wouldn’t happen to have one of those rooms, would they?”
“Nah. We’re not big enough for anything that fancy.”
“Oh.” I can’t hide my disappointment.
“But we have an intercom system.”
“Really?”
“Sure. That way if someone in the room needs something they just have to call out for it. And vice versa. If I need to speak to the cop in the room, then I just call in.”
“So, you could also use the intercom to listen in?”
Cindy’s cheeks go red. “Technically, I suppose I could do that.”
Technically, my butt. Cindy has listened in before. And not just once or twice either.
“Thirty minutes seems like a long time to be interrogating someone about a simple trespassing case, doesn’t it?” I let that sink in. “You know, I would never tell anyone if you accidentally hit the intercom button.”
She wets her bottom lip. “If we make any noise, then they’ll know we’re listening.”
“I promise, I’ll be quiet as a mouse.”
She smiles coyly. “Okay.” She hits a button next to her phone.
Derrick’s voice is the first one we hear. “So I took the dog. Sue me.”
Well, this at least is the truth.
At the sound of Derrick’s voice, Paco’s body goes tense. Using my eyes, I plead with him to stay silent. Luckily, he seems to understand.
“The dog was being abused,” Derrick continues. “Left out in the yard with no food or water. The way I see it, I was doing the mutt a favor. You said no one was pressin’ charges so draggin’ me down here today is total crap.”
“What about your fingerprints on the doorknob at the rec center?” Travis asks.
“Didn’t know it was a crime to touch a door.”
“It isn’t. But it is a crime to trespass into a city building after hours.”
“Look. I told you already. I took the dog because Abby asked me to. She gave me a couple of hundred bucks for my trouble, which I appreciated, you know? You try living on social security. But that was it. End of story. I probably touched the doorknob during that big…what was it? Celebration? Yeah, that’s when it must have happened.”
“You were at t
he opening day celebration?” Rusty asks.
“Sure. I promised Abby I’d meet her, but she never showed so I went home.”
This is such a big lie that I can hardly catch a breath.
“Okay,” says Travis.
“So I can go home now?”
“Yeah.”
The sound of chairs scraping against the floor makes Cindy snap off the intercom button. “I think they’re coming out now,” she whispers.
A minute later, Derrick Delgado emerges from the hallway, followed by Rusty and Travis. Paco goes wild barking. I scoop him up in my arms.
The look on Derrick’s face when he spots me is priceless. Like I’m some pesky wad of gum he’s tossed out the window that’s come back to hit him in the face. “What are you doing here?”
“This is a public building. I have every right to be here.”
Paco bares his teeth at Derrick.
“Keep that mongrel away from me. Or I’ll have animal control put him down.”
This is entirely the wrong thing to say to me.
“Funny how he seems not to like you. Oh, wait. I guess that since you dognapped him, he’s a little sensitive around you. Deborah Van Dyke might not have wanted to press charges before, but when I tell her that you’ve also been arrested for assault, she just might change her mind. She might consider it her civic duty to put you away.”
“Can’t you make her shut up?” Derrick says to Travis.
“Lucy,” Travis warns. “Leave it alone.”
“How many times are you going to let this guy get away with who knows what?” I ask. “He wasn’t at the rec center celebration, that’s for sure. Oh, and ask him about his alibi! He might have been playing cards till two in the morning, but it was two in the morning eastern time. Which means he had plenty of time to drive over here, get inside the building, and—”
“And what?” Derrick sneers. He turns to Travis. “Are you gonna let her talk to me like this? I’m a grieving brother, and this crazy lady is harassing me.”
“He’s right, Lucy. You need to cut it out.”
“But he was lying about how his fingerprints got on the doorknob! He was never at the rec center celebration. And if he’s lying about that, then he could be lying about everything else too.”
