by R A Wallace
“Not that Gil was interested. I never even spoke to him actually.” Celine looked at the exit again.
“If you hurry, you might be able to catch up with him.”
***
“Look at that. All five of them were phenoms back in the day,” Erica said over Jerry’s shoulder.
“We should have caught that,” he muttered.
“It was nearly three decades ago,” Erica said. “But you’re right, we should have.”
“There aren’t as many articles about them back then as there would be now,” Jerry said.
“Yeah. It was before social media.” Erica stepped away from Jerry’s desk.
“The Internet was around, but the World Wide Web was just getting started back then.”
“Still,” she said.
“We should have caught it,” he agreed.
“What does it tell us now?” Erica leaned against her desk.
“There could still be competition among them,” Jerry said.
Erica nodded and moved over to the timeline they had created.
“We’re looking at Sebastien Lin, Wes Lowry, Jay Kerns, Avery Chapman, and Gil Ressler,” she muttered to herself.
“Two of the five have been victims.” Jerry crossed the room to stand next to her. “One refuses to have anything to do with golf.”
“That leaves two of the five,” Erica said. “That we know of. Maybe there were others from that same era that we should be looking at.”
Jerry was already moving back to his computer. “I’ll check.”
***
Megan ran into Avery as she was leaving the restaurant.
“You look like you’re on vacation,” Megan said with a smile.
“It’s pretty much all over but the awards dinner,” Avery agreed. “They’re down to the final players.”
“I guess it is just a matter of waiting for the sports writers to post the scores,” Megan said. “Unless you’re juggling double duty like Gil Ressler. I hear he’s been pretty impressive covering for the announcers. He seems to have a knack for both writing and television.”
“He seems to enjoy that,” Gil said with a nod as he continued into the restaurant.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Megan slowed her steps shortly after leaving the restaurant and watched as several police cars pulled into the parking lot. She continued walking toward the bungalows because it seemed as though others were doing the same thing.
“What’s going on?” she asked as she passed others moving more slowly in the same direction.
No one answered her. She continued walking until she reached a barricade of police officers. She could see Dena with an officer she didn’t recognize. It was obvious even from a distance that Dena was upset about something. It was impossible to hear what was being said. Megan waited as others continued joining them. The crowd around the bungalows grew.
Most of the activity appeared to be centered around the farthest bungalow. Megan tried to remember whose it was but she hadn’t been in that one. The door was open and technicians were moving in and out. Her first thought was that someone else had been hurt. Then she realized that there wasn’t an ambulance.
She turned to scan the parking lot near the bungalows. More police cars pulled in. This time, she recognized the officers that got out. She could tell from Erica’s face that something serious had happened. Erica and Jerry went directly to the bungalow at the end of the row and began speaking to Dena. Dena’s gestures became more dramatic as she continued to answer them.
Other officers approached the crowd of people around the bungalows and began directing them to move back. Megan complied with the others and continued waiting to learn what had happened. A shout from the parking lot caused her to turn again. In the distance, she could see Wes Lowry being led away by two police officers. He was wearing handcuffs. After helping him into the cruiser, the car pulled away.
“Have you heard anything?”
Megan turned toward the voice. It was Gil. Megan shook her head.
“I was near him when the police came to get him. They said something was found in his room,” Gil said.
“You didn’t hear what?” Megan saw Erica scan the crowd.
“No.”
Erica said something else to Dena. Dena nodded and remained where she was. Erica walked back toward her cruiser in the parking lot. Megan quickly moved to catch up with her.
“What’s going on?” she asked as she reached Erica.
“Dena found a towel under Wes Lowry’s mattress when she was cleaning.” Erica looked past Megan. Jerry was walking toward them.
“A towel?”
“It had blood on it,” Erica said. “Try to keep a lid on that until we learn more.”
Megan nodded.
“Ready.” Jerry said as he walked around the cruiser to the passenger side.
“We’re going to go talk to Wes. Let us know if you hear anything.” Erica opened the driver’s side door. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
***
Rhys noticed that Ava was quieter than usual but at least she finished her lunch.
“Something on your mind?” he asked as he cleared away their lunch debris from the desk in her office.
“I’ve been thinking more about what you said.” She watched him toss some things in the trash.
“I say all kinds of things,” he said with a grin and he leaned against the doorway of her office.
She smiled as she leaned back in her chair. “About college.”
“Ah. You’ve come to a decision?”
“I don’t want to do anything right away,” she said. “The spring semester is almost over.”
“Yeah. I can’t wait for summer.” He grinned.
She smiled again at his enthusiasm.
“We’re getting married this summer,” she said.
“That we are,” he agreed.
“That seems like enough to juggle for the summer with our jobs.”
“You’ll be moving into the house,” he added.
“That’s definitely going to be enough to juggle with our jobs,” Ava said.
“You don’t have that much to move,” Rhys said. “Do you?”
“No, but it’s still going to be an adjustment,” Ava warned him. “Bella seems okay with it now, but things might get stressful when it’s actually happening.”
He thought about it. “A lot of changes.”
“Right.”
“How do you think she’d feel about a dog?” he asked. He watched her eyebrows go up. “It’s just an idea.”
She nodded slowly. “I’ll let the two of you figure that one out.”
“Okay. Back to college. What have you been thinking?” he asked.
“Maybe this fall?” She sounded uncertain.
“You’re thinking of taking some classes?”
“Maybe. Maybe one, anyway. I don’t want to set myself up for failure by taking on too much at once,” she said.
“Sounds like something Ross McMann would say.” Rhys straightened from the doorway.
“It’s exactly what he has said. It sounds like good advice.”
“It does indeed.” He crossed over and leaned down for a kiss. “I need to get going. Sounds like there’s a lot of activity down at the station. I want to see what’s going on.”
***
Julia waited in the hallway near Cole’s classroom. She saw him approaching with his friends, Brent and Emilio. They nodded to her when they reached the classroom but continued on in. Cole stopped.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“I just wanted to make sure that we’re still on for tonight,” she said.
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t we be?” He stepped away from the classroom as someone else slid past them.
“I don’t know. It sounds like there’s something going on out there,” Julia said. “I heard something at lunch.”
“Heard what?”
Julia knew the bell was going to ring soon and she needed to get t
o her class.
“I don’t know. I just know that a lot of police were out there. Someone sitting across from me knows someone whose mom works out there.”
“You didn’t hear what it was about?” he asked.
“No. I have to go. I’ll talk to you after school. I just wanted to make sure we’re still going to the ceremony tonight,” she said as she began walking away.
“Yeah. Unless it gets cancelled, plan on it,” he said before slipping into his classroom.
Bella followed Julia down the hallway but stopped when she heard her name being called. Mr. Jefferson stepped out of his room. She turned around to see him.
“Bella, I just wanted to thank you,” Gavin said.
Bella glanced at the clock hanging in the hallway.
“I won’t keep you. I got Maya’s homework and it looks a lot better. She’s all caught up. I figured you had something to do with it.”
Maya began walking backwards. “She did all the work. I just offered some guidance.”
“I know that. She missed some of them. If you’d done the work for her, they would all be correct.” He waved. “Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks.”
She smiled when she turned around and kept walking. The bell was going to ring for the next class soon.
***
Megan was on her way to her truck when she saw a car waiting to pick someone up. She recognized the driver. It was Maya’s father. She changed course and walked over to his car. The windows were already down.
“Waiting for Maya?” she asked.
“She said you dropped her off at the library. Thanks.”
“The closing ceremony is tonight. Are you planning to be there?” Megan asked.
Sebastien shrugged. “Maya is old enough to go on her own. Besides, her partner will be there.”
“I doubt it. I just watched the police take him in for questioning,” Megan said. “Maya mentioned that you don’t like to be involved with her golf activities.”
“Why are the police questioning Wes?” Sebastien asked.
“It has to do with the murder that happened here recently. There has also been an attempt on someone else’s life. Maya hasn’t mentioned any of this to you?” Megan found it hard to believe.
Sebastien looked guilty. “I’ve been pretty busy at work.”
“Then you probably don’t know that your daughter has been playing very well this week. You should be proud of her. She has a really good head on her shoulders. She’s going to go places, no matter what career she chooses.”
Sebastien looked away for a moment.
“I don’t know what happened to turn you away from golf. I do know that Maya is good at what she does and that she’s your daughter. She could use your guidance, especially if she stays with golf. You know the politics involved in the golf world better than most.”
“You don’t have to tell me how to raise my daughter,” he turned back to Megan.
“Dad.” Maya approached Megan. “We need to go. I have to change and get back here for the ceremony.”
“Did the police really take Wes away?” Sebastien asked her.
“That’s what I heard.” Maya walked around to the driver’s side and opened the door.
Megan stepped back from the car and leaned down to look at Maya.
“Have a good time tonight. You deserve to celebrate after your showing this week.” Megan glanced at Sebastien as she straightened.
He started to say something, then put the car in drive and pulled away.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Caitlyn pulled into the parking lot of the golf course. She knew from past experience that she was supposed to deliver the arrangements at the pavilion. This wasn’t the first event she had worked for them. She was navigating her way through when she saw Megan in the parking lot. Changing course, she stopped next to Megan’s truck and pushed the button to roll her window down.
“Hey stranger. What’s up?” Caitlyn asked as she looked around the parking lot. “Why are there so many police cars here?”
Megan explained what had happened without giving too many details.
“Are you any closer to solving your puzzle?” Caitlyn asked.
Megan thought of the bloody towel found under Wes Lowry’s mattress. She hadn’t expected that.
“Not really. I’ve turned up a lot of clues, but most of them were for puzzles that had nothing to do with Jay Kerns’s death or the incident with Gil Ressler.”
“I don’t have anything to help, sorry. I already told Jerry that Iva Kaptur stopped to order flowers when he said he did,” Caitlyn said.
“Yeah. He got into trouble with his wife,” Megan said more to herself.
“Flowers will go a long way to getting him out of that,” Caitlyn said. “I don’t envy you for having to be out here all week.”
“It wasn’t bad but some parts of it was like being in a soap opera.”
“Yeah, I’m not surprised. Mr. Kaptur said something like that too.” Caitlyn checked her rear-view mirror to make sure she wasn’t blocking anyone.
“What do you mean? What did Iva say?”
Caitlyn turned back to her and made a face as she tried to remember.
“It was something about the old phenoms. He didn’t say who they were. He just said that he was surprised to see so many of them together now.”
“Did he say why?” Megan asked.
“He said they hated each other.” Caitlyn saw a car behind her. “I have to go. Be safe.”
Megan climbed into her truck and started the engine. Before she backed out, she texted Erica. The drive to Dena’s didn’t take long. She parked in the front of her house and rang the bell. She could hear kids playing in the neighborhood. School was over for the week.
“Megan.” Dena looked around as though expecting to see the police behind her. “Come on in.”
“Erica told me about the bloody towel,” Megan explained as she followed Dena through the house.
“That’s a relief. She told me I wasn’t allowed to talk about it yet. Do you have any idea how hard that is?” Dena opened the sliding glass door in the kitchen and stepped out onto her deck.
“I do. I’ve been having the same problem. But since we both know, it’s okay if we talk about it together,” Megan reasoned. “What happened?”
Dena glanced at her kids. They were playing catch in the back yard.
“I’ve been shaking ever since it happened,” Dena said. She held her hands out to show Megan. They were visibly shaking.
“You found it under his mattress?” Megan asked.
Dena nodded as she wrapped her arms around herself.
“Do you normally clean under the mattresses?” Megan asked.
Dena started to laugh, then stopped. “No. I was changing the bedding. You know that Wes lives at the golf course, right?”
Megan hadn’t considered it. “He does?”
“I heard from someone else that his housing is part of his salary. He doesn’t really make much, but he gets meals and housing, so it kind of makes up for some of it.”
“And free cleaning services.” Megan thought about what Maya had said. She didn’t want to end up like the old phenoms.
“Yes. I clean the bungalow for him. He stays in the one all the way at the end of the row.”
Megan nodded to prompt her. “You were changing his bedding.”
“Yeah. I do it all the time.”
“Something was different this time?” Megan guessed.
“I could see part of the towel hanging out.”
“Could you see the blood at that point?”
Dena shook her head. “I would never have touched it if I did. We get special training on that. Everything has to be handled differently if there is blood involved.”
“You pulled the towel out because you knew it didn’t belong there?”
“I did. That’s when I knew something was wrong. I called my supervisor right away. They called the police. You know the rest.” Dena rubbed her arm
s.
Megan moved the puzzle pieces around in her head. They still didn’t fit.
“Earlier in the week, you said something to me. I wondered what you meant, but I didn’t get a chance to ask you again.” Megan watched one of the boys lob the ball high in the air.
“What’s that?”
The other boy had to shift around the yard but managed to catch the ball.
“You said something about all those funny things you hear about people staying in hotels are true,” Megan reminded.
“I’m sure you have similar problems at your bed and breakfast,” Dena said. “In my case, it was the towels.” Dena turned to Megan and her eyes widened.
“What?” Megan asked.
“One of the towels was missing earlier in the week just before I said that to you. I was short on my count.”
“Whose towel was it?”
“I don’t know his name. I just know which bungalow it’s in,” Dena said.
Megan texted the information to Erica as Dena described it. As soon as she left Dena’s house, she called to make sure Erica had gotten the message.
***
Cole looked around the pavilion then turned to Julia.
“There are some empty chairs over at that table. Let’s see if our names are on the cards,” he said in her ear. “Tucker’s headed that way too.”
Julia nodded and led the way across the room. She saw Maya sitting over at a table that also included some of the other players. She wondered why there were two empty seats, one on either side of Maya. She looked lonely.
“I can’t imagine sitting all by myself at an awards ceremony,” Julia said.
Cole turned to follow her gaze. His hand went out to reach for hers. When she felt the slight tug on her hand, Julia stopped and looked at him. He nodded toward Maya. Julia changed course and began walking again.
“Hey, Maya. I was right. That dress looks great on you,” Julia said.
“I didn’t know you were coming,” Maya said.
Julia pointed toward Cole. “He begged me.”
Cole laughed. Julia was happy to see that Maya did also. She pointed over to the table on the other side of the room.
“I know it isn’t with the other golfers, but we’re sitting over there. We can make room for you if you want to move,” Julia said.