Her faith in me was touching.
Also nerve-wracking.
What if I was wrong? Sure, I’d be embarrassed. Worse, I’d disappoint Clara.
And Hensen…?
He’d have my liver for garters.
So why gather everybody together to witness my potential humiliation?
Because the audience was crucial. Especially since this was going to be one of those interactive events where the audience’s participation would make or break the play.
* * * *
A different Foster Utton from the one we’d seen Tuesday in his closet-sized office, strode into the Haines Tavern Jolly Roger store, almost hitting the slow automatic doors.
His suit matched Birchall’s, his hair had been styled, his posture was straighter, his confidence higher. I suspected the king-making hand of Ms. DesJames.
Or was this the real Foster Utton?
“You’re out of uniform,” he scolded Myghavnn as she walked past.
“No, I’m not.”
“You’re supposed to wear black slacks. Those are tights. Cheap tights.”
“Not according to the label from the store where I bought them. According to that, they’re dress pants.”
“You’ve been cheated. Return them and get your money back.”
“Can’t. They’re from the Jolly Roger superstore in Stringer and the policy — your policy — is no returns after ten days or without the price tag attached.”
She snapped her gum and walked off ahead of him.
Inside the suit, under the haircut, he deflated halfway back to Tuesday’s Foster Utton.
Clara stepped forward and gently guided him to the gathering in the back room.
No, not through the doors from produce, but the next set of doors over.
Several people already waited there on a horseshoe of folding chairs, courtesy of Jacqueline.
Courtesy might be misleading. That was one of the fibs. We’d told her if she didn’t cooperate we’d tell Deputy Hensen everything we knew about Ward Ebersole.
We’d already told him a fair amount. Not quite everything. Our fibs with Hensen were fibs of omission.
Then we told Ward Ebersole that if he didn’t come to this meeting, deputies were going to arrest Jacqueline.
We also fibbed to Gundy Vance, Karen Zalesk, and Kurt Verker.
We invited Phyllis, Aggie, Petey, the three red vests, and Judy Vance, saying we might need information from them and they’d find out what happened. Sure hoped that wasn’t a fib.
Clara and I stood at the open end of the horseshoe.
The doors opened to our last guest. “Oh, hell.” Isaac had arrived. “This isn’t a job, is it?”
Yup, if we didn’t pull this off, we’d have a bunch of irked people.
Including a murderer.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
“You’ve all heard of means, motive, and opportunity—”
“Nah,” Josh said.
I gave him a sharp look, but needn’t have bothered. He met Phyllis Ezzard’s gaze and clamped his mouth closed.
“The means in this case started with Birchall being immobilized by his allergic reaction to sesame — first by the snack he took from the tray without a warning labeling on it—”
Karen Zalesk made a sound.
“—then reinforced with a pre-packaged sesame snack when Birchall couldn’t defend himself.”
“That’s why you and the deputies were interested in those snack packages,” Belinda muttered.
Her mention of deputies sifted a new dusting of solemnity over the gathering.
“The cameras for the snack aisle were disabled, which also covered the route to the back room doors by dairy, then across the back room to Birchall, weakened and on the floor. The sesame might have killed him on its own, but the murderer didn’t wait to see. It was easy to dispose of Birchall at that point. Anyone could do it. Also, anyone could have disabled the cameras easily and quickly. Looking at means eliminates no one.”
I looked around the group, then drew in a breath.
“Next, there’s a big gap in everyone’s alibis called opportunity. Anyone who was in the store had time — the short amount of time needed — to go to the office, click off the appropriate cameras, grab the sesame snack, come into this back room, walk to where Birchall was—” I gestured in that direction. “—kill him, then return to wherever their alibi resumes. And those who weren’t known to be in the store had even more time.”
“What about the ones right on the spot,” Karen asked. “Three of them, weren’t there?”
“Yes. Jacqueline Yancik, the assistant store manager. Foster Utton, now CEO of Jolly Roger. And Ward Ebersole here. Not all of you might know him by name yet.”
“Sheila and I kept calling you the guy in jeans. It’s nice to have your name.”
He did not return Clara’s friendly smile.
“Who is he?” Karen asked.
Ward stared them all down. “I’m a butcher, formerly employed by the Jolly Roger chain.”
Belinda popped up, excited by discovery. “Jacqueline’s boyfriend. The famous boyfriend. And he was one of the ones right outside the doors where Birchall got murdered.”
“He didn’t do anything. There wasn’t time—”
I interrupted Jacqueline. “There was plenty time for each of you when you were out in the store and if two of you were gone at the same time, the one left…”
“Jacqueline and I were both gone for a while,” Ward said.
“That’s not what you said yesterday.”
Before Ward could respond, Foster spluttered into speech.
“You’re saying— You’re saying, I—?”
“We’re saying you had means and opportunity,” I said, “without Ward Ebersole lying about your being alone by the doors yesterday.”
Ward didn’t rise to that challenge.
I continued, “That leaves motive. That’s what separates out people who had means and opportunity, but not motive—” I gestured toward the red vests and other witnesses. “—from the rest of you. But first, let’s address something else.”
Did I imagine a stir of impatience emanating from behind the boxes strategically stacked on one side?
“That something is that after Rod Birchall was found, Ward Ebersole said he was going to stay with the body, but, instead, disappeared. What happened back there, Ward?”
“I closed of that part of the back room like I told Jacqueline I’d do, then I left.”
“We know. Why?”
“Didn’t want to get involved.”
“You mean you didn’t want to get Jacqueline even more involved than she already is. You hoped to deflect attention from her? Or did you hope authorities would think you were trying to deflect attention from her, setting up doubt about your guilt?”
“She’s not involved.”
“Yes, she is,” Kurt Verker intruded. “She has a better motive than anybody else.”
That got everyone’s attention.
“She’s been leaking advance information to Vance about our specials.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
“You’re fired,” Foster Utton said to Jacqueline.
No one paid him any attention. Ms. DesJames still had a steep climb to transform him … assuming he wasn’t on trial for murder.
Judy Vance gave her husband an I-told-you-it-was-a-bad-idea glare, but said nothing.
Ah. She’d known and hadn’t approved. That, not suspicion of an affair, explained her anger.
“I knew it, I knew it,” Belinda crowed.
“Well, well, well, you have more gumption than I thought,” Karen said to her brother.
“Shut up, Karen.”
“I will not shut—”
Jacqueline succeeded quieting Karen where Gundy had not. “I’m not sorry I did it. This chain’s been pulling dirty tricks on Shep’s Market and others like it for years, trying to drive them out of business, sometimes succeeding. I’d watched it happen in Indi
ana until an ethical manager took over. When I came here, I couldn’t watch it anymore without doing something. I believe in small stores.”
Kurt Verker sneered. “You took money for it. It’s not about belief.”
“Yes, I need the income.” Her effort not to look at Ward made her eyes twitch. “But I do believe.”
It was what I’d suspected, but something wasn’t quite right…
With everybody else turned toward Jacqueline, I kept watching Kurt.
Why would he attack Jacqueline this way? I still believe his MO was running away. Was this some version of running away? But if so, how? What could he be running away from by attacking her?
“Oh.” Got it. “You were the original leak.”
Kurt’s head snapped around to me so fast that his front-heavy body almost toppled out of the chair. Belinda steadied him with a hand on his arm, then withdrew it immediately.
“How do you—? What? What are you talking about? I have no idea what you mean.” Not only had he given himself away with the physical reaction and his first words, but his other words lacked conviction. “I don’t even know the man.”
“Yes, you do. You were in a program together to use unsold food to help the homeless,” Clara said. “It was in the newspaper. I read about it.”
Verker gawked.
Gundy cleared his throat. “Very good, Clara. That is how we met. And how it started.”
“Motive,” I said, “for Jacqueline Yancik, Gundy Vance, and Kurt Verker.”
“Not me, not me. She took money—”
Gundy cut across Verker’s protests. “You took money, too. You just didn’t hold up your end of the bargain well. More from incompetence, I believe, than any loyalty to Jolly Roger.”
Does a possum’s face turn red? Because his did. “You’re lashing out because you got caught, Vance.”
“If I’m caught, you’re caught, too. I have recordings of our conversations.”
“Th—that’s not legal.”
Gundy laughed. “Good luck pleading that to the Jolly Roger chain. They won’t care.”
“You’re fired,” Foster said to Verker.
That reminded me.
“Foster, did Birchall order changes in the labeling that give less information to those who might be allergic to ingredients?”
“Um…”
“Making the type small, changing the rules about what needs to be listed…”
“Um, yeah. He did.”
“Are you going to undo it?” demanded Karen.
“Me?”
“Yes, you, you weak-kneed—”
I talked over Karen. “And that’s the second motive for Gundy Vance, who was spotted near dairy section doors to the back room. The cameras on those doors were disabled. But motive…” I raised one finger. “First motive, the protection of his ongoing source of information on the specials, to keep Shep’s Market on the upswing.” Another finger. “Second, Birchall’s role in the labeling issues, which nearly cost the life of Gundy’s niece, Lorelei. Though that motive can be seen as stronger for the girl’s mother.”
Forestalling another eruption from Karen, I quickly continued.
“More motives. Foster Utton, as we know now, was the heir to the CEO job, so there’s one level of motive. Plus, Birchall planned to remove him from his position next week, so that made it urgent.”
“You’re—”
“You can’t fire me. I don’t work for Jolly Roger,” I said. “And then there’s Verker’s phone call.”
“I didn’t—”
“You did, too,” Belinda said harshly. “I heard the whole thing. I tried to ask how I could help you. I would have done anyth…”
This time I talked over to cover her vulnerability. Even possums can be an object of love.
“Jacqueline told us about Kurt Verker running out of his office after a phone call, saying he was taken ill. But she wasn’t there because she and Ward were in his truck in the parking lot, canoodling.”
“Canoe—what?” Myghavnn asked.
Phyllis Ezzard’s mouth twitched in appreciation.
“Verker ran off, hoping avoiding Birchall might save his job long enough for him to retire, as well as hiding his being the original leak.”
“What about her? What about her?” he possum-squeaked, pointing at Jacqueline.
Ward half rose from his chair.
“Don’t be stupid,” I snapped at him. “We all know Jacqueline has motive — her role as the leak and you. And your motives were protecting her and rage at Birchall for being fired.”
He’d sat even before Hensen stepped out from behind the boxes, drawing gasps.
Hensen zeroed in on Clara and me, but clearly not from concern for our physical safety. “What are you two doing? So far you’ve accused everybody here.”
“Not everybody,” Clara said to his second sentence.
“Figuring it out,” I said to his first.
“I thought you called us all here because you already figured it out,” Gundy grumbled. “Or I wouldn’t have come.”
“Yes, you would have,” Clara said. “You were as curious as everybody else and as worried. Now all of you be quiet and let Sheila think this through.”
I heard all that, but most of my attention was elsewhere.
“Things that don’t fit,” I started.
“Like Petey saying he didn’t know Karen, but that’s not so,” Clara said encouragingly.
“Actually, Petey didn’t say he didn’t know Karen and Lorelei. He said it was the first time he’d seen them at the Roger. That could be true. And his telling us Isaac never went inside, when we know he did, because you and I saw him — that could have been a mistake because Petey was actually in the store himself. That explains why he didn’t see some people leaving, too.
“But set that aside for a moment.” I spoke quickly. I’d heard an indrawn breath as of someone preparing to speak, probably to dispute. Not yet. There was more to pile on to reach the tipping point. “Let’s go back to when Birchall arrived.
“Jacqueline said Petey called and told her the CEO was at the store as the limo arrived. Isaac and Foster said Petey was complaining about them parking — CEO or no CEO — the instant Isaac got out of the car.”
“That’s right, he did. Before I said who was in my car.”
Neither Clara nor I acknowledged the driver’s contribution as I asked the question, “How did Petey know it was the CEO?”
She pulled her bottom lip in and set her top teeth on it. “Recognized him? Newspaper or the internet or a corporate newsletter?”
“Why hide that? Plus, Petey said he’d never seen Rod Birchall before.”
“Kurt Verker told him as he ran out of the store?” Clara suggested.
“I didn’t know,” Verker said. “I keep telling you, I got sick and—”
I talked over the interruption no one believed. “Why would Verker hide it from everyone inside the store, make up an unlikely excuse about why he was leaving, then blab to Petey in the parking lot? They aren’t close friends or anything.”
“But then…”
I slowly nodded. “Exactly. Petey did recognize Rod Birchall as the CEO. Recognized him from one quick glance. But he chose to lie about it. Why?”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Clara’s timing was impeccable. “There’s no reason he shouldn’t recognize the company’s CEO, so the fact he lied about it must be significant.”
“Entirely significant. Think of why Petey moved back here — his daughter’s sad death. Of Petey showing photos of his grandkids against backdrops of mountains. Of Petey lying about recognizing the CEO, who’d been brought in from that bankrupt chain in—”
“Idaho. And that’s where Petey moved from.”
“And where his grandkids still are.”
“The chain Rod Birchall ran that went bankrupt, that was in Idaho, wasn’t it?”
“It was.”
“You think Petey and Birchall knew each other from there?�
�
“Or maybe only Petey knew of Birchall, while Birchall had no knowledge of Petey. Petey’s daughter, the mother of those grandchildren he’s so proud of, Donna told us about her sad downward spiral — losing her house, losing her kids, getting into drugs, and dying. And it all started with being let go from her job through no fault of her own. That’s what Donna said. Through no fault of her own. What if—?”
“His daughter managed a store in the chain Birchall ran there? Donna said Petey worked part-time with his daughter out West and what could be more natural than for him to look for the same kind of job here.”
I nodded at Clara. “And one day, in walks the man behind her losing her job, starting her downward spiral — Rod Birchall.”
“The man responsible for my girl losing everything, including her babies, and her life. He deserved to die,” Petey said quietly.
He stood and looked around.
“I did it. And I don’t want to get anybody else in trouble.”
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Hensen told Teague, who told us, that they confirmed when Petey went inside the Roger from a camera on the neighboring bank building.
“But he confessed,” Clara said. “Why do they want evidence when he already confessed?”
“In case he unconfesses, which happens, especially when lawyers get involved,” Teague said.
“Petey won’t,” Clara said.
“No, he won’t,” I agreed. “That’s part of Petey. Like his not wanting to get other people in trouble. Especially not for what he did. That was the one lever we had. Getting everybody together and having him see other people were in trouble, were suspected … I figured he wouldn’t let that happen.”
“A leap,” Teague said.
“A hope,” I countered. “There were things Petey didn’t tell us, but the only thing he told us that wasn’t true was that Isaac stayed by his limo the whole time and that was a mistake. Petey assumed Isaac was there.
“Petey never said he saw Gundy Vance going in the store, because Petey wasn’t there to see him go in after Karen called him. That’s why he missed Phyllis Ezzard and Aggie Hickmott leaving, too. And why he thought Isaac never left his spot.
Death on Covert Circle Page 22
