“We’re going to be working on the sign in the front yard. Go ahead, and I’ll meet you there.”
“Sure thing.” He ambled off.
When Rick was out of earshot, I asked, “How did it go? Did you find out anything?”
“Quite a bit. The sign won’t take us long. I’ll drive him back to his car and then join you and the Sentinels.”
“Okay. I’ll let them know.”
Daniel left to fix the sign, and I went into the building.
The rest of the group was already there, and Helen had put out drinks as well as dishes for the surprise pie I was about to serve. I noticed a plate of brownies.
“Mary, are these the same kind as the ones you made the other day?” Rudy asked.
She nodded enthusiastically. “They were so tasty. You all seemed to enjoy them so much, I decided to make them again.”
“Good choice. They were delicious,” I said, and looked around for Mary’s extended family, Princess the Chihuahua.
“Where’s your four-legged kid?”
“My sister’s visiting, so I left Princess there so she could play with her dog. She likes bossing him around.”
I placed a brownie on a plate and put it on the table near where I planned to sit. They were still warm, and the delicious sweet smell of chocolate filled the air.
Mary turned to Rudy and Ivan. “Oh,” she said breathlessly, “you found your family. How exciting! I can’t wait to hear. Thanks for letting us know yesterday after your visit to the police station.”
It was clear the communication lines between the group’s members were still operating at top speed.
“Yes. What a wonderful event,” the Professor said.
“I want to hear, too,” Gertie said, “but I feel getting the murder solved takes precedent.”
They all nodded.
“I have something to add to the refreshments,” I said. “Why don’t you take a few minutes to chat while I get it.”
They didn’t need a second suggestion. The group began pelting the brothers with questions while I retrieved the pie and a server. When I walked in the room, the group looked up and became silent. They knew about my legendary lack of cooking skills and my plans to take lessons from Scott.
I put the pie down next to the plates. “In case you’re wondering, I made it. It’s safe to eat because Scott was there every step of the way.”
“I’m sure it’s marvelous, my dear,” the Professor said.
I cut everyone a slice and passed out the pieces, along with forks and napkins.
The Professor was the first to comment. “Delicious, Kelly.”
Ivan’s plate was already clean. “Yah. Good.”
“So, this is your second lesson with Scott.” Mary put down her fork. Her big grin made her dimples pop into view. “Do you have another one planned?”
I knew all five of them would dearly love to see me in a relationship with Scott. They adored him and, though they’d never said anything directly, there’d been enough hints and suggestions for me to know matchmaking was on their minds.
“No more lessons on the calendar at the moment. I need to recover from this one, and be sure I’ve gotten all the flour out of my hair and off my clothes.”
They laughed, and then Gertie said, “Time to get down to business.”
“We now know,” the Professor said, “there was no blood on the knife. That changes the scenario completely.”
Rudy had picked up the pen to update the charts and became the recorder. He crossed out blood? on the dagger chart and added fake blood. Under that, he put owned by half brother Timur.
“I learned from Clay, Timur’s nephew, that there was about a week during which the knife could’ve been taken,” I said. “He told me, to the best of his knowledge, no one but family, including his sister and her son and daughter, and two longtime, trusted employees, had been in the house over that period of time.”
Rudy added the information. “The house is a replica of the one in Russia. It’s enormous, and there are many ways in and out of it, some of them secret. I know about them because I used some of them. It’s possible someone could get in unseen.”
“I agree with you,” I said. “My tour with Clay wasn’t extensive, but it was enough for me to think the same thing.”
“If someone stole the dagger to make money with it, why did it end up on the boat?” Gertie asked.
We all shook our heads.
“Maybe someone was on the boat with it, got frightened off, and left it behind,” Mary suggested.
“I don’t think so,” the Professor said, “It would be easy to grab the dagger and run.”
This time we all nodded.
“Let’s suppose for a moment it’s symbolic,” the Professor said. “It was stolen by someone not interested in the money they could make selling it. Where does that take us?”
“Could it be some implied threat to Rudy or Ivan?” Gertie asked. “The dagger was out of its sheath and had what appeared to be blood on it.”
“I was thinking along those same lines,” I said.
Rudy added it to the chart.
I frowned. “The family was the most likely to have access to it. And maybe the message they wanted to send was more important than its worth. They said they didn’t know Rudy and Ivan’s whereabouts, but we don’t know if that’s true.”
“We found out today our mother married the prince,” Rudy said. “That makes Ivan a stepbrother to Timur and Verushka. Perhaps there’s an inheritance issue involved.”
“Clay, the sister, and her family—any of them could’ve taken the knife to the boat. Verushka and Timur could have hired someone to drive them, maybe even one of their trusted employees,” I added.
Rudy had been writing their names on the dagger chart. Now he added threat with a question mark.
“It’s an odd case, for sure,” Mary said.
We all agreed with her.
“Since there’s no explicit threat at this time, I suggest we move on to Alexander Koskov’s murder,” the Professor said.
Gertie nodded. “Mary and I had an interesting conversation with Harvey Goldstein’s mother. His business has been struggling since Alexander opened his shop. She hopes with him gone, her son can get his life back on course again.”
I nodded. “Clay told me he used to go to him but switched, like Rudy did.”
“Certainly a motive there,” the Professor said.
Mary picked up one of her brownies. “Why kill him on their boat?”
“Maybe he pretended to be Rudy and lured him there. It’s an out-of-the-way spot,” the Professor said.
“It would be easy enough for him to say he had some coins he wanted Alexander to look at and would rather not bring them all into his shop,” Gertie added.
“Wouldn’t he know it wasn’t Rudy’s voice?” Mary asked.
I thought for a moment. “Not necessarily. Rudy doesn’t usually have an accent. Harvey could’ve coughed and said he had a bad cold. If he was using a cell phone, the reception usually isn’t very good in Fort Peter.”
“What about his phone number being seen?” Gertie asked.
“There are ways to block your number,” the Professor said. “There’s also the pay phone at the market.”
Gertie sat up straight. “Okay. We have a motive and possibly how he got Alexander there. Next step?”
“Rudy, I have an idea,” I said. “I’d like you to let me take one of your gold coins to Goldstein’s shop to sell it…one he wouldn’t recognize as yours and isn’t one of your really valuable ones. I’m new to the area, so he doesn’t know me. It’ll give me a chance to meet him, and maybe I can get a reaction when he gives me a price and I tell him Alexander Koskov offered me more than that.”
“Excellent idea, Kelly, if Rudy is comfortable with it,” the Professor said.
Rudy nodded. “Yes. I am happy to do this. I know just the coin I can give you.”
Clay’s name was on Alexander’s chart from when he was the unknown coin seller on Koskov’s ledger. Rudy put relative next to Clay’s name.
Tom Brodsky’s name was underlined as a suspect. Rudy pointed to it. “Do we know anything more about him?”
Negative shakes all around.
“What does he do for a living?” I asked.
“He’s an accountant.” Gertie frowned. “He’s also a docent at Fort Nelsen and has his office there.”
“I’ll combine a trip to the gold shop and the fort to see what I can learn,” I volunteered.
“Professor, what did you find out from your friend who owns the building where Koskov had his shop?” Rudy asked.
“As I texted, he told me it was leased by a company in San Francisco called the Williams Corporation. Alexander was their employee. I located it on the Internet, but the site had very little information. It’s a real estate business, leasing and selling.”
“You texted us there were two types of surveillance cameras installed. Can you tell us more about them?” I asked.
“Yes. The police asked my friend about them. He’d given permission for their installation. One set was obvious and had notices of their existence. The others were hidden. Those seemed more aimed at watching Alexander.”
“Whoa! It sounds like his employers might not have trusted him,” Mary said.
“I agree it seems that way,” the Professor said. “My friend contacted the company on the lease, and they said they’d send someone up to clear the building. He was fine with that because the rent was paid in advance.”
“San Francisco and business.” I took out Vladimir’s card. “This says he’s president of Golden Enterprises, and it’s an investment company.”
The Professor wrote it down. “I’ll check it out and see if I can find any connection to the company on the lease.”
“The other person from the San Francisco area is Alena,” I said. “I don’t know what kind of business she’s in. I’ll check the information I have on the form she filled out to rent the conference room. Let’s put her on Alexander’s chart.”
Rudy had added the information provided by the Professor and now wrote Alena’s name.
“Honey,” Mary said, “if you’ll email that to me, I’ll do the research. You’ve already got a lot to do.”
“Deal,” I said.
I looked at the charts. There was only one name that showed up on both—Clay Johnson.
Had he stolen the knife? If so, why leave it on the boat?
Alexander had given him good prices for his gold. What reason would he have to kill him?
I felt like I was going down a dark tunnel with no bright light at the end.
Chapter 15
There was a knock on the door, it opened, and Daniel walked in. “Hi, everybody. I’ve got some news for you about Rick Stapleton.”
“Great, Daniel. Wonderful to have you join us,” the Professor said.
“Honey, help yourself to some brownies,” Mary chimed in.
“Don’t mind if I do. It’s been a long day, and chocolate and coffee will perk me up.”
Daniel put a couple of treats on a plate, poured himself a cup of the dark French roast we served, and sat next to Mary.
“What did you find out from Rick?” Gertie asked.
Daniel sipped his coffee. “I certainly had no trouble finding out why he was fired. He couldn’t tell me enough about what a pain Alexander was.”
Rudy started a new sheet of paper with Rick Stapleton’s name at the top. “Ready when you are, Daniel.”
“Apparently, Alexander had a short fuse and lost his temper on a regular basis. Rick had been the recipient on several occasions when he hadn’t put something back in exactly the right place.”
“What did Rick do at the store?” Mary asked.
“Waited on customers for the routine purchases. Rick dusted and straightened the place up. Alexander handled all the museum-quality pieces as well as the coins.”
Rudy made notes as Daniel talked.
“He unpacked shipments—but not all of them. Some Alexander did himself, after Rick had left for the day.”
The Professor’s eyebrows went up. “I wonder what was in the boxes he didn’t want Rick to see.”
Rudy added boxes? to the chart.
“No telling,” Daniel said. “I asked Rick if he ever saw anything Alexander had unpacked, but he said no. Wasn’t his business, so he didn’t go looking. Rick’s pretty laid back and didn’t care to find out.”
“What caused the termination of his job?” the Professor asked.
“Alexander accused him of stealing and fired him.” Daniel chuckled. “Rick said he told him he couldn’t fire him because he quit.”
“Do you think he did steal something? Would he do something like that?” I asked.
Daniel shrugged. “Who knows? He’s not a close friend, so I can’t vouch for his integrity. The way he bounces from job to job, finances might be a problem for him.”
“Thanks, Daniel,” I said. “That’s helpful.”
He stood. “Glad to help…and thanks for the killer brownies. Allie’s probably home from school now, so I should get going. I told her I’d pick her up and take her to the Ridley House to help with the appetizers. She likes to do it, and I give her extra money in her allowance for pitching in.”
Mary went over to the brownies, wrapped several in a napkin, and handed them to Daniel. “Here. These are for you and Allie.”
“Thanks. She’ll love them.”
Daniel left, and we looked at our charts.
“Not a lot of new information, but some,” Mary said. “I think we should underline Rick Stapleton and consider him a suspect.”
We all nodded in agreement.
I stared at Vladimir’s name and thought about our conversation this morning. “Rudy, please put friend or acquaintance with a question mark next to Vladimir’s name.”
Rudy did as I requested.
I explained to the group, “When I saw Alexander at the committee meeting, he appeared to greet Vladimir as a close friend. When I talked to Vladimir this morning, he implied he didn’t know Alexander very well.”
The Professor twirled his pen. “Vladimir could be lying. The question then becomes why.”
“Or,” Mary chimed in, “Alexander could have thought they had a stronger relationship…or maybe he was hopeful it would happen.”
I nodded. “Vladimir strikes me as a powerful man. Someone who would be valuable to know. I’ll keep my eyes and ears open and see if I can learn more.”
“Rudy,” Gertie said, “I’d like you to add to our Next Steps chart.”
Rudy obliged by going to the paper. Under his name, he put coin to Kelly. He listed the visits I planned to make. Rudy added Mary and the Professor’s Internet research with the appropriate tasks.
“Put follow up with Mrs. Goldstein under my name,” Gertie said. “We have our organic gardening club gathering tomorrow. Maybe I can learn more.”
The Professor looked around the room. “Another meeting tomorrow?”
Everyone agreed, and decided one o’clock would work.
“As we’ve been doing, if anyone discovers something significant, get it out to the group. The sooner we put this together, the better,” Gertie said.
She banged the table with her gavel, declaring an official end to the meeting.
They packed up and left. I gathered the dishes and went to the kitchen. Tommy and Fred were curled up together in a beanbag chair. One of the hound’s long ears hung over the top of Tommy’s leg and the basset snored gently. Tommy was reading a paperback with a dog on the cover.
As I rinsed the dishes, I heard a car on the gravel
driveway. I glanced out the back window just as Deputy Stanton got out. The droopy face of Gus filled the open window in the back of the police vehicle. Stanton let him out, and they both climbed the back porch steps.
I opened the door. “Come on in.”
He entered, hat in hand. “Howdy, Ms. Jackson…that is, unless you and the Silver Sentinels have solved the crimes and I can call you Kelly again.”
I laughed. “We’re not there yet, but we’re working on it.”
I reached down and petted Gus on the top of his head and ran my hand down one of his silky ears. He gave me a bloodhound grin of thanks. Fred trotted over, and they touched noses. Gus and Fred began to tussle and bumped into Stanton’s leg.
Helen came from behind the kitchen divider. “Fred. Gus. Sit!”
Both dogs sat so fast they almost sat on each other.
“Good boys.” Helen opened a tin on the counter, pulled out two bone-shaped biscuits, and fed them to the dogs. “The wonder of what dog treats can do,” she said to us.
Vigorous tail-wagging ensued.
Tommy had put down his book and clambered onto one of the stools at the counter. “Hi, Deputy Stanton.”
“How’s it going, Tommy?”
“Fine. School was fun. We had a math contest, and I won.”
“Congratulations!” the deputy said. “I’m not surprised, knowing what a whiz you are with mathematics.”
Tommy grinned and picked up one of the cookies from the plate his mom had put in front of him.
“I was in the area and stopped by to see if you wanted to watch Gus practice tracking tomorrow after school.” Stanton said.
Tommy’s eyes widened. “Yes! Cool.” He looked at his mother. “Is that okay, Mom?”
She smiled at her son and tousled his blond hair. “Sure.”
“Is it still okay for Allie to come?” he asked.
“Of course.”
“Cool! I’ll go text her.” He ran to his backpack, next to where he’d been sitting, and took out his phone.
“I’d love to tag along,” I said. “I’ve never watched a training session for tracking before.”
“You’re more than welcome to join us. What about you, Helen?” Stanton asked.
Murder at the Marina Page 10
