Boldly Basil Murder

by Patti Benning

  “Does he think you’ll be able to get the memories back?”

  “It’s a possibility, he even said it was likely, but he couldn’t give me a timeline on it.” She frowned. “I’m not sure I’d want to get the memories back anyway.”

  “Do you remember what the plan was for that day? Was anyone else supposed to be on the boat with you?”

  “I got a chance to look through my phone, and it helped to jog some memories. We were going to take a couple of friends; Steven and Daphne, and Tony and Lisa.” She shrugged. “I’m friends with both of the women. We’ve all known each other for a while.”

  Russell frowned. “All the evidence we have indicates that there were only four people on the boat that day, yourself included. It’s possible there may have been one more person aiding the attacker, but that’s it.”

  “I know. I already talked to the women who were supposed to go on the phone. They both told me that they and their husbands cancelled. One of them had to go out-of-town to visit a sick family member, and the other was having relationship issues. I don’t remember Colin telling me that they weren’t coming, but that’s normal for him.”

  “We’ll have to verify that with them, but that might help us. If either of them have alibis that don’t hold up…” He shook his head. “Anyway, can you think of anything else?”

  Susie shook her head. “I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.”

  “That’s okay, Ms. Callahan. No one will blame you, you’re doing your best. Maybe you can help me with something else. Do you know if anyone might have wanted to harm you, your brother, or Mr. Ford?”

  She frowned. “I don’t think so. I mean, I’ve had a few nasty reviews on my restaurant, but only a couple over the past five years. None of them have ever been serious enough to worry about. And my brother, he is one of the nicest guys I know. He traveled a lot, and he had a lot of friends. He was a good person. I’m not sure why anyone would want to hurt him. Colin, though…” She hesitated. “He was a bit of a playboy. Never settling down, seeing women – sometimes married women – and dumping them within the week… I’m not saying he was a bad person, because he wasn’t, not really. He was kind at heart, always ready to help out anyone who needed it, but I do think that he made a lot of people angry at him.”

  Russell pulled out a small notebook and flipped it open. “Do you know the names of any of the people he might have recently been in a relationship with?”

  “I’m not sure exactly. You’ll have to ask my b—” She broke off, her eyes filling with tears. “I guess you can’t ask Blake, can you? Sorry, I don’t know. I was never as close to him as my brother was.”

  “Do you know anyone else who might have that information?” Russell asked her gently.

  “One of his other friends,” Susie said with a shrug. “Sorry. Like I said, he and I were never close enough to share stuff like that. I know this isn’t very helpful.”

  “It’s all right, Ms. Callahan. I don’t think I have anything else to ask. I do have to warn you that you might be a target. Whoever did this is still out there, and if they think you have information on them, they might come after you. We are going to keep an officer posted outside your door at all times until your recovery is complete. After that, we will bring you to the station and discuss some options with you. Right now, you’re the only survivor of an attempted triple homicide. Keeping you safe is our main priority.”

  “Is that why no one has been able to come visit me? The police said they weren’t letting anyone through. Can you tell them to let my friends through?”

  “I’m sorry,” Russell said. “I really don’t think that is the safest option. We have no idea who might be behind this. Right now, we’re going to limit it to official visits only, unless you have family who wants to visit. If you do want them to be let in, they’ll have to talk to myself or one of the other detectives on the case first. For now, you’re just going to have to hang tight and focus on getting better. I’ll leave my card. My personal number is on the back. If you remember anything – anything at all – about what happened, don’t hesitate to contact me. Any time of the day or night. This case is my priority right now. Nothing, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is too small for you to contact me about, okay?”

  Susie took the card that he offered her. “Okay. I promise to call if I remember anything.”

  “Thank you. We’ll let you get some rest now. I know this is going to be hard for you, Ms. Callahan, but you should try to focus on getting better. Let me worry about everything else. It’s my job, after all.”

  He moved toward the door, but Ellie held back. “I’ll give you my number as well,” she said to the other woman. “If you want to talk about something other than what happened, or if you do want to talk about what happened on the boat, feel free to give me a call. I know we don’t really know each other, but I want to help.”

  “Thank you,” Susie said. “I’ll probably take you up on that. Are you allowed to visit without a police escort?”

  Ellie grinned. “Probably. Somehow I doubt I’m a suspect. I am married to the sheriff, after all.”

  “And you saved my life. It would be a bit silly of you to do that, just to try to kill me later.”

  The two women shared a smile, then Ellie bid the other woman farewell and joined her husband in the hallway.

  Chapter Nine

  After visiting Susie in the hospital, Ellie was even more eager to help out however she could at the fundraiser. She liked Susie, at least, she liked what she had gotten to know about her, and she understood how such a serious injury could affect the other woman’s life.

  She called Joanna the day after visiting Susie in the hospital, and was only marginally surprised when her friend told her that she wouldn’t be able to make it to the fundraiser.

  “I’ve just got so much to do, what with selling the hot dog shop,” she said. “When all of this is done and over with, I’ll have more time on my hands and less stress on my plate. Until then, I’m sorry, Ellie. I’ve just got too much going on.”

  “What about the food truck?”

  Her friend sighed. “I’ll still pay for my half, okay? And if you want to sell hot dogs too, I can give you a couple tips.” She gave a small chuckle. “Really, it’s hard to mess up a hot dog, but there are some tricks that I’ve picked up.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll probably just stick with pizza, it’s what I’m good at,” Ellie said. She paused, then sighed. “Really, Joanna, you take time to yourself if you need to. I’m not trying to pressure you into anything, just… are you sure everything’s okay? You know, if something’s wrong, you can tell me.”

  “I know,” Joanna said. “Don’t worry about it, Ellie. I’ve got things under control.”

  Saturday morning, Ellie woke up bright and early. She had gone shopping the evening before and had put together a little gift basket to be auctioned off at the fundraiser. There was a bottle of the best wine she could find, some fancy soaps, chocolates, and a few coupons for the pizzeria that she had printed out just for this purpose. Free pizzas, she figured, would guarantee at least some bids on the basket.

  Later that morning, she said her goodbyes to Russell, who had to go into the office for the day and wouldn’t be able to make it to the fundraiser, then headed into town where she stopped to pick up Shannon and Andrew. She helped her sister-in-law strap the child’s car seat into the back of the car. Shannon buckled Andrew in while Ellie got back into the driver’s seat.

  “Do you have everything?” Ellie asked, knowing that Shannon was doing a story on the fundraiser. She wasn’t sure what all her friend needed to do her work.

  “I’ve got all of my stuff,” Shannon said, patting the camera bag that was beside her. “I’m just going to take some pictures and talk to a few of the employees. After that, I’m going to enjoy myself.”

  They drove out to Benton Harbor together. Ellie had driven by the Italian place a couple of times, but she had never stopped. Maybe it was jus
t because she worked around pizza every day, but she rarely went out to eat for Italian food. That might have to change; the restaurant looked quite nice.

  It was busy, and she was glad to see that the fundraiser was looking like a success. The interior was small, but it was cozy, and just by looking around Ellie could see how much the other woman cared about the place. She smiled to herself as she ran a hand across one of the tables. In a way, it reminded her of the pizzeria.

  She dropped off the gift basket with one of the employees at the front, bought a few raffle tickets for herself and Shannon, then went to look for a table.

  They settled on a large table, which they ended up sharing with a few people they didn’t know. Andrew was strapped into a highchair and had a cup of water with a straw and a few breadsticks to munch on. Ellie picked up the menu, perusing it, and decided to go with the house made ravioli. All of the profits today would be going directly to help whatever bills Susie accrued during her recovery. The waitress who served them explained that all of the employees there today were volunteering their time, making it so that they were saving even more money, which would just benefit Susie in the long run.

  “This is so well organized,” Ellie said as the waitress brought their food over. “It’s obvious to me that all of her employees really care for her.”

  “She’s a great boss,” the waitress said. “I’ve only worked here about a year, but she is probably one of my favorite people. She really cares about this place, and she also cares about us. She’s just such a nice lady. We were all so horrified when we heard what happened. They won’t even let us go visit her. I just hope she knows that we’re thinking about her.”

  “I’m sure she does,” Ellie said. “She’ll be very touched once she finds out about all of this.”

  On the other side of the room, something crashed to the ground and there was the sound of glass breaking. Everyone turned to look at the commotion just as a young man rose to his feet, his fists clenched. Ellie thought that the man he was glaring at looked familiar. Where had she seen him before? As she watched, he swiped another plate off of the table and it crashed to the floor as well, shattering. His eyes were glued on the man across from him.

  “Shut your mouth if you know what’s good for you,” he said, his voice raised. “I’ve had just about enough of your stuff, Tony.”

  Ellie rose to her feet as the waitress hurried away from the table to try to calm down the man, who seemed to realize that he had just attracted a lot of attention. He turned to look around the room, frowning. “What? Mind your own business. This is a family matter.”

  “Steven, calm down,” the man said. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I thought you knew.”

  “There’s nothing to know,” the man, Steven, said loudly, turning back around to face Tony. “My wife wasn’t sleeping with him. Doreen wouldn’t do something like that.”

  “I wasn’t trying to start anything,” Tony said. “Let’s talk about this later.”

  “No, we’re going to talk about this now. You’re out of your mind.”

  “I thought you knew that she’d been spending time alone with him. All I said was I’m glad she wasn’t on the boat when it happened.”

  “Doreen has never even been around him without me there,” Steven snapped back. “I would know if she was taking boat rides with Colin. She was well aware of his reputation.”

  “Look, man, I saw her with my own eyes heading out with him a couple of times. It sounds like your lady was lying to you. Trust me, I know the feeling. My wife slept with him too, remember?” Tony said. Ellie blinked, suddenly remembering where she had seen him before. At the marina, the day they had found the Sea Star.

  “You and your wife may have a terrible relationship, but me and mine have got a great one. You’re just trying to cause trouble because you’re disappointed that you weren’t able to get back at Colin before he died. Now that he’s gone, you’re never going to be able to get the vengeance you wanted.”

  “We are making a scene, Steven. We’re here to support Blake. And Susie. Just let it drop. We can argue about it later.”

  Steven just glared at the other man. “I’ll drop it, but only because I’m leaving. It sounds like I’ve got a wife to talk to. And you know what? I should never have come here in the first place. I’m glad Colin died. It’s a shame about Blake, but he shouldn’t have gotten caught up in Colin’s issues. We all knew he was never good for anything; he was just going to drink and party himself into an early grave. Whoever killed him, I don’t blame them. I hope they get away with it too.”

  With that, he turned and stormed out of the restaurant. There was silence in the restaurant until one of the waitresses spoke up.

  “Okay, the drama is over. Let’s get this fundraiser back on track, people.”

  They stayed for a short while longer, until Ellie got a call from Russell. She stood up to go outside and take it, and this seemed to be the cue for Shannon to start packing up.

  “Hey,” Ellie said as she pushed her way out of the small Italian restaurant. “We’re just getting done at the fundraiser.”

  “I hope it went well,” he said, sounding distracted. “Have you heard from Susie Callahan at all today?”

  “No?” she said, her confusion turning the word into a question. “Why?”

  He sighed. “She’s missing. Checked herself out about an hour ago, and no one knows where she went.”

  “Wasn’t an officer watching her door?”

  “He was, but he was posted there for her own safety. She wasn’t being held. There was nothing he could do, since she checked herself out under her own power.”

  “She didn’t just go home?”

  “No. She’s not answering her cell either. Please let me know if she contacts you. She could be in danger; we don’t know if she was coerced into leaving. If someone’s looking for her, we need to find her first.”

  Ellie promised that she would tell him if she heard from the other woman. They said their goodbyes, and she turned back toward the restaurant just as Shannon came out. It was late afternoon, but all three of them were tired as they left the restaurant. Andrew settled into his car seat for a nap right away.

  “Well, I’m glad we went,” Ellie said as she guided the car down the highway. “And that that argument didn’t stop everyone else from having a nice time.”

  “Me too,” Shannon said. “It sounds like Colin wasn’t exactly popular with a lot of people. Still, they shouldn’t have brought all of that up there. It wasn’t the right time or place for it.”

  “I guess everyone’s emotions are running high right now,” Ellie replied.

  “I’m sure things will calm down a bit once the killer has been caught,” her friend replied. “Do you think you and Russell could make it to dinner tomorrow night at our place? James has been talking about getting together with everyone again. I know Russell has been busy, but it might be nice if he could take an evening to relax.”

  “I’ll talk to him about it,” Ellie said. “That would be nice.

  The conversation stayed on lighter topics for the rest of the drive. Ellie dropped her sister-in-law and nephew off at their home, and headed toward her own house. Russell was still gone when she got there, and she let the dogs out before settling down in the living room with a cup of reheated coffee and a book that she had been meaning to finish. She’d only gotten through a few pages when she realized that she had forgotten something important. Russell would want to know about what happened at the fundraiser today. It sounded like Colin had been involved with at least one of his friend’s wives. Ellie knew that was definitely a motive for murder.

  She set the book down and dialed his number. It rang through to voicemail and she left him a quick message. “Hey, it’s me. Nothing urgent, I just overheard something interesting today and I thought you might want to hear about it. There’s a guy named Tony who was at the fundraiser today. His wife was sleeping with Colin Ford, and I remember him causing a scene at the mari
na the day of the murders. Give me a call back when you can. Love you. Bye.”

  She sat her phone back down and leaned back on the couch, picking up her book again. She only made it a few more pages before her phone buzzed. Assuming it was Russell, she just picked it up and answered it without checking the caller ID.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Please… I told you I’d…”

  “Hello?” Ellie said, frowning and pulling the phone away from her face. It was a woman’s voice, coming through muffled and staticky. The caller ID told her that it was Joanna calling. She put the phone back to her ear.

  “I don’t want to… Not ready to…”

  Ellie heard someone else speaking, a man’s voice, but quiet enough that she couldn’t make out the words. She wondered if her friend had accidentally dialed her number.