Small Town Murder: Midwest Cozy Mystery Series

by Dianne Harman

  He smiled sheepishly and said, “Sorry about that, Hanson. My children are out in my car, waiting for me, and I’m in a hurry.”

  “It’s a hot day,” Mr. Hanson said, furrowing his brow.

  “Oh, my Lord, you think the car might be too hot for them?” Reiss asked. “God, no! The car is running with the AC on. Lila’s reading a book, and Thomas is playing with his tablet, as usual.” He laughed, but there was a slight threatening edge to it. “What kind of father do you think I am, Hanson?”

  Mr. Hanson laughed uneasily, then folded his hands one over the other. “What can I do for you today, Mr. Talbot?”

  “Please, call me Reiss. Well, I wanted to know how we’re getting along with uncovering Jay’s assets. It’s been really despicable the way she’s hidden away all her money from me, her husband. Isn’t that terrible? And after all the nasty untrue things she’s said about me. It’s really a wonder I’m being so civil and patient.” He put on the best ‘good guy’ smile he could muster and said, “I just don’t want the kids to get hurt because of her actions.”

  Mr. Hanson nodded. “Well, you have enough assets of your own. If you want to make the divorce go quickly, you can just make an out-of-court settlement with her that you’ll keep your assets and she’ll keep hers, wherever she’s tucked them away.”

  Reiss laughed tightly. “Oh no, I don’t think so.” The truth was, Reiss didn’t have as much money as he let on. Most of it had gone into the huge house they’d bought together (along with his secret apartment). The rest he spent on gadgets, especially fitness ones, like top of the line treadmills and weightlifting equipment, meals out, and weekends away with a long string of mistresses.

  He’d given Jay just a tiny sliver of a budget to take care of everything else. Not enough that she could ever save enough to get away from him and start a life on her own. Why should he? It was his money. He’s the one who went out and earned it every day. What did she do apart from raise the children, take care of the home, shop, cook, clean, and all that other routine kind of stuff? That wasn’t valuable work. Any woman could do it, he reasoned.

  Occasionally Jay had come to him and told him it wasn’t enough money. She needed more for soccer gear for the kids, or to buy a birthday present for her sister. “When you work, you can get these luxuries,” he’d always said. But when she’d told him she was going to start looking for jobs, he’d said there was no way a wife of his would be doing that. Who would take care of everything at home?

  He thought he had everything under control. But what he didn’t know was that Jay was doing something so subversive it threatened his whole universe. She was getting up early every morning and writing. Writing about him, and them, and all the times he’d cheated and how he was tearing her heart apart. Now she was on TV with Oprah, and probably had millions stashed in a secret bank account. Money that was rightfully his, he thought. After all, he was the one who’d been keeping her all these years.

  “I think it only makes sense that we discover how much money she has hidden away,” Reiss said. “Since I’m going to go for full custody of the children, we need to work out how much alimony and child support is appropriate for her to pay me. I’m going to give up my job and look after the children full time. They deserve the best, and I can give it to them, she can’t.”

  Reiss had no intention of doing such a thing. He’d just hire a nanny of course. Preferably a hot one who would flirt, or more, with him. But he wouldn’t reveal that to anyone until the court had handed over full custody to him. “With her busy touring schedule, her lifestyle will be too chaotic for children. It’s better I keep them at home in a wholesome and stable environment.”

  That would just kill Jay, he thought. It would be wonderful.

  “Okay, well, if you insist,” Mr. Hanson said. “It will drag things out, though. What are you planning to do about the house?”

  “I’m currently living in my condo in town,” Reiss said. “I’ve had it for a long time, anyway. For… entertaining. It has enough space for the kids to stay with me. I plan to keep both the house and the apartment.”

  Mr. Hanson raised his eyebrows. “And what about Jay?”

  “What about her? I earned the money to buy both of the properties. I’m sure she has enough money to purchase her own house now,” Reiss said smoothly. “After what she’s put our family through, that’s the least she can do.”

  Mr. Hanson shook his head. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that. The house and the condominium are marital assets. The general division, especially after a long marriage like yours, is fifty-fifty.”

  Reiss leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, with one ankle on his other knee, and laughed. “Oh, but you’re going to take care of it. You’re going to take care of it wonderfully. I just know you are. People who take care of things wonderfully are very well compensated.”

  Mr. Hanson smiled conspiratorially. “I’m sure I can work out something for you.”

  “I’m sure, too,” Reiss said. “I just wanted to stop by today to pay you a visit to remind you that uncovering Jay’s assets is super important to me, and I want you to focus on that.” He handed Hanson a business card and said, “I know you have my number already, but I want you to keep this business card on your person. Call me every day. Every single day, I want an update.”

  “Fine,” Mr. Hanson said. “You do know if I do that, it’s chargeable billing time, right?”

  A wide smile spread across Reiss’ face. “Anything for the children, Hanson. Anything for the children.”

  With that Reiss stood up and strode out of the lawyer’s office, winking at Gemma as he left, and made his way to the parking lot. It hadn’t been a lie – Lila and Thomas were waiting in his huge black Mercedes.

  “Hi dad,” Thomas said excitedly. He was still a boisterous ball of energy. Lila had been one, but she’d learned to tone it down around her father, because he got very annoyed when she acted in such a manner. He didn’t seem to mind it so much with Thomas, though. Perhaps it was because he was a boy.

  “Hi, Tommy, my man,” Reiss said.

  “Can we go bowling?” Thomas said. “These kids on YouTube are going bowling. I wanna’ go!”

  “Of course,” Reiss said. “Another time.” He backed the Mercedes out of the parking lot and drove toward the nanny’s home. Julia was a single woman, not very attractive, with a large condominium inherited from her parents and nothing much to do in it. She offered nanny services where the kids could stay at her place. Reiss had decided to get very much in Julia’s good graces, because he’d definitely be needing her services in the future, perhaps every day.

  “Where are we going, dad?” Lila asked, her voice timid as a mouse.

  Reiss smiled and tapped the side of his nose. “Aha, but that’s my secret!”

  Thomas suddenly became super excited. “To the zoo?!” he called out. “Or a soccer game?! Or… or… Dubai?! Dad, where?”

  Reiss laughed. “My funny little buddy. No, you’ll have to wait and see.”

  He drove them to the condominium building where Julia lived and pulled up outside. He heard Lila sigh.

  “What?” he said roughly.

  “Nothing, dad,” Lila said quickly.

  “Out you go, then.” Reiss smiled at them both. “Isn’t this a great surprise? You’ll have a wonderful time at Julia’s! You know how to get up there, don’t you?”

  Lila nodded, then looked down at her shoes. “Yes.”

  Reiss smiled. “Great. See you later,” he said as he drove off. He couldn’t wait to get back to his condo and the woman who was waiting there for him.

  CHAPTER 3

  “And for our next act, please give a warm welcome to… Kallie Jason!”

  Monique Hall stood at the side of the darkened theater, the corridor where everyone came in, and smiled as Kallie Jason took the stage. She just hoped Kallie was good enough at singing that their plan would run smoothly enough without arousing too much suspicion.

  S
he looked over at the judging panel and felt the tiniest twinge of nerves. Would Lyle, the head judge, still be amenable? He had so far, but the bright lights of this large theater were so different from the intimate Caradoc Room, where the previous rounds of the talent competition had been held.

  As soon as Monique had heard a few nice notes, and the crowd had started clapping and cheering here and there as Kallie continued to sing, she left the theater through the heavy double doors at the back and stepped into the lobby. Next, she grabbed a cup of coffee from the machine and headed to her office. She had a ton of paperwork that needed to be processed before the upcoming writers conference.

  Monique Hall didn’t think she was doing anything wrong with Kallie Jason. It was just a little balancing out. The theater owner paid Monique so poorly, she could hardly be blamed for augmenting her salary whenever she could. Who had ever heard of a theater manager, such as herself, being paid such a measly salary?

  Monique knew the psychology of it all. As soon as she’d seen Kallie, she knew the girl would have done anything in the hopes of becoming a star. She came to the first audition with what looked like her entire extended family, for one thing. For another, she’d hogged the camera of the local news crew when they came around. Thirdly, she had this frenzied light in her eyes – half innocent and eager, half crazed, and seemingly willing to do anything to become a singing sensation. So Monique knew she was the perfect mark. She took the opportunity to introduce herself to the entire family when they came in for the second round of auditions.

  Then, on the pretence of some practical issue, she cornered Kallie on her own. Effortlessly, she said, “Well, I know some ways we could definitely have you in the final.”

  Kallie was all ears. When Monique named her price, Kallie said, “That’s steep, but it’s worth it. I’ll have to borrow some money from my sister and my boyfriend and bring it to you tomorrow. I’ve already borrowed so much from my parents to pay for the recording studio, that I know they’ll never lend me anything again.”

  Monique smiled. “See you tomorrow, Kallie.”

  Monique hadn’t planned what she’d do with the money. Her husband’s and her wages covered their mortgage payments on their lovely home, and also their car payments. So she thought of her little ‘kickback’ money as pocket money. Perhaps some nice shoes… or a designer handbag.

  She loved to look well-put together, and strode around the theater in her designer suits while wearing good quality gold jewelry. Her particular favorite was her Bulgari Serpenti gold watch. Okay, it was a fake, but a very good fake. The real deal would have cost $18,000, and that was just too much. A $2,000 fake more than sufficed.

  When Monique got to her office, she saw that her answering machine had a message. She pressed the button next to the flashing red light.

  “Hello there Monique, it’s Lennon Forbes. I trust you’re well.” Monique couldn’t stand Lennon’s relentless positivity and rolled her eyes. “I hope all the arrangements are coming along well for the writers conference. Please do let me know if we’re up to speed with everything, or if I have to give you any more information. Also, can you please let me know how many dressing rooms there are and their sizes? I want to allocate one to each of the speakers. Well, thanks a lot. Bye.”

  Monique rolled her eyes again as she tapped the button to delete the message. She hated working with amateur organizers. They always freaked out about all sorts of little details they remembered at random times, and constantly called for information and reassurance.

  Monique slipped the wad of cash Kallie had given her out of her pocket and counted it. Eight thousand, all present and correct. She’d told Kallie she would just take one thousand for herself and give Lyle seven thousand. That sounded feasible. After all, Lyle was a local celebrity and seemed to have a decent amount of money, so it would take quite a chunk to sway him.

  But what Kallie didn’t know, and Monique did, was that Lyle was flat broke. Sure, he’d had his five minutes of fame on American Idol with his country and western guitar twanging, but it was short lived. He’d then appeared on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

  It was a program where a bunch of B list stars were thrust together into the jungle in Australia and had to eat gross insects and animal body parts to win challenges. He made an awful fool of himself. There was a former glamor model on the show, now in her 60’s, with huge breast implants, lip fillers, and fake platinum blonde hair. He’d drooled all over her the whole time the show was on the air, despite having a wife and two young kids at home.

  Once he got voted out of the jungle, he was caught trying to cheat on his income taxes, then he’d caused an automobile accident, after he’d been driving while he was drunk, which injured a child. His wife, humiliated, left him, and got a few magazine deals. He was now reduced to judging talent shows and scraping together a few ‘local celebrity’ appearances here and there.

  He’d been hit with a mammoth tax bill and the IRS was hounding him for payment. Monique knew all this because her hobby was keeping up with celebrity gossip. She had subscriptions to all the Hollywood tabloids, and was signed up with all the “tell-all” websites, so that the latest news about all the minutiae of Hollywood and beyond ended up in her inbox the moment it broke.

  Monique also knew exactly how much he was being paid for the talent show, because she was managing a lot of the event’s paperwork, and it wasn’t much. So she knew that he’d likely jump at the chance for an easy two thousand, just to ensure that Kallie got through to the final audition. Monique herself pocketed six thousand. That would allow for a nice girls’ vacation for her and her daughter, Meaghan.

  But she wasn’t through yet. Monique knew a good opportunity when she saw one, and she wasn’t about to let Kallie go without shaking her pockets thoroughly. Later that night, she began to put her plan into action.

  Kallie got through to the final, of course. Lyle played his part well. Monique actually thought that Kallie would have probably gotten through, anyway.

  It seemed Kallie, her head boosted up by the euphoria of her success, thought the same.

  Monique pulled Kallie and her boyfriend aside after the show, and invited them to join her for a drink in her private office. She had a little balcony outside, and she walked them through her office to get out onto it. It didn’t overlook much, just the parking lot, the highway behind it, and the supermarket behind that. Thankfully there were some trees in between to break up the gray concrete tarmac monotony.

  Monique had expensive tastes and there was always something to celebrate at a theater, so she kept bottles of champagne with gold flakes in her office. She always had one chilled in the mini fridge, too. This was just the occasion for it. She got out three champagne glasses and poured them as they sat around the table on the balcony.

  “Congratulations,” she said, flashing Kallie a toothy grin.

  “Thank you,” Kallie gushed.

  “She was fantastic, wasn’t she?” Kallie’s boyfriend said, smiling at her proudly. “Like a real little Celine Dion up there!”

  “Celine Dion?” Kallie frowned. “More like Katy Perry or Shakira, thank you very much.”

  Monique quickly assessed Kallie’s values. “Yes, you looked wonderful. Well, you’re a very pretty girl.”

  Kallie beamed. “Thank you.”

  “So… all the best for the final!” Monique raised her glass to clink it against theirs.

  “She’ll win, I’m sure of it,” Kallie’s boyfriend said.

  Monique smiled coyly. “Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, sir. Sorry, your name is…”

  “Benjamin,” he said.

  “Benjamin,” Monique said softly. “Remember that Kallie had some… assistance… to get to this point.”

  “Yes, but I think it was a waste of money,” Benjamin said, staring Monique down. “She would have gotten through to the final anyway.”

  “Ha!” Monique said. “You think so? Look, I see everything behind the scenes. If y
ou think this thing is about talent, you’re totally naïve. This is all rigged. The only way you can ensure anything is by paying your way.”

  Benjamin and Kallie looked at each other nervously.

  “Is that… is that really true?” Kallie asked.

  Monique nodded.

  Kallie’s face clouded with anger. “We should expose them! This is supposed to be all about talent! We should go to the press and expose the corruption!”

  Monique laughed. “Sweetie, no one will believe you. You’ll be painted as a crazy girl who didn’t win and got jealous. Look, don’t think about justice or what’s right or wrong. You don’t have time to, if you want to be a star. All you have time to think about is your career, and whether you win or not.”

  Kallie sipped at her champagne. “I suppose you’re right.”

  “Of course I am,” Monique said softly. “I’ve been in this business for a long time, honey. Way too long. I know it like the back of my hand. Now, I’ll tell you straight, Rebecca Moses is tipped for the win.” That was an outright lie. Monique had no idea what the judging process was, or if it was really rigged or not. “If you want to swing everything in your favor, it is going to take a lot.”

  Kallie bit her lip. “We’re not rich, Monique.”

  “Darn straight,” Benjamin said. “That was a lot of money we gave you just to get into the final.”

  “I know, I know,” Monique said, looking pained on their behalf. “It really sucks. It’s just that that’s the way things are. I don’t make the rules. That’s just the way the industry is. But think about it. When Kallie wins, she’ll get a load of press coverage, and everyone will want to know about her. She’ll be the new ‘it’ girl, and everyone will want to sign her to their record label. Record deals are at least $200,000, usually much more. And you get paid all that money right away.”

  She watched the greed creep into their eyes and smiles creep up into their lips. It was working. Of course it was.