Small Town Murder: Midwest Cozy Mystery Series

by Dianne Harman

  Kat kept repeating to herself, “I’ve got this, I’ve got this.” But it seemed the more she did so, the more worried she got.

  By the time she got to the address the GPS took her to, her hands were sweating, and her breathing was becoming shallow. “I can do this!” she told herself, then she looked in the rear-view mirror. There was a lot of fear in her eyes, but she told herself, “I will get through this. I can totally ace this. And I will, for Jay.”

  That gave her a little surge of energy, and she capitalized on it. She stepped out of the car with her head held high, got Rudy out of the back seat, and leashed him. She turned and looked at the building in front of her.

  It was located in an upscale neighborhood, which surprised her. She always had images of stalkers living in rundown houses. But what she was looking at was a block of shining apartments, with a communal swimming pool out in front, and expensive cars scattered throughout the parking lot. She looked down at her little scrap of paper to confirm the number ‘12’, then walked up to the security gate.

  “Hello, sir,” she said to the security guard sitting inside. “I’m a visitor. May I come through?”

  His eyes were glazed over with boredom. “Who have you come to see, and what number?”

  “Julian Perkins, apartment 12.”

  His eyes changed and he took a long look at her. “Huh? Really? Well, okay.”

  Kat took the words and actions of the security guard to mean Mr. Perkins didn’t get many visitors.

  “Um… do you have any communal areas? Like a café or something like that?”

  “No,” he said. “Just the pool and an outdoor seating area. There’s a vending machine in the hallway if you want a drink or snack.”

  “Okay. Thank you.” She paused. “Wait, do you allow dogs?”

  “Sure.”

  The security man buzzed the pedestrian gate open and Kat and Rudy walked through it. Signs were in place directing visitors to different apartment locations. Apartment 12 was on the right. Kat felt the security guard’s eyes burn into her back. He was clearly wondering who on earth she was and what business she had with Julian Perkins.

  She went up the stairs, and wondered what Julian Perkins did for a living. She guessed he was some kind of a computer whiz. But then she decided to check her assumptions and stereotypes. She wanted to meet him with no preconceived opinions or prejudices. In any case, whatever he was, he didn’t mind showing his affection for Jay and his personal address online.

  Kat walked along an open balcony with Rudy following along close behind her. She was very glad that’s how it was arranged, because she could still see the security guard. She knocked on the door of apartment 12.

  Julian rushed to answer it so fast, Kat almost wondered if he had been standing behind the door when she’d knocked. It startled her, but he looked just as startled to see her, and when he caught a glimpse of Rudy, he flinched back in alarm. He didn’t appear to be the threatening type, if anything, he seemed somewhat terrified, but Kat was wise enough to know that didn’t automatically make him a ‘good guy.’

  “Hi,” she said, smiling and holding her hand out for him to shake. “I’m Kat Denham. This is Rudy.”

  “Hello,” he said warily. “What… Who… Hello?”

  “I’m here to talk to you about Jay,” Kat said softly, then watched his reaction carefully.

  A deep sadness passed through his eyes for a moment, but then he became normal again. “What about her?”

  “I saw your video,” Kat said.

  “Who are you?” he asked

  “A friend of Jay’s who wants justice for her.”

  “You’ll never get that,” he said quickly. “Justice would have been Jay and I living together forever.”

  A horrible thought flashed through Kat’s mind, but she suppressed the shiver that came along with it. “Why don’t we go downstairs to the outdoor area and chat? Rudy’s much better outside, and I’m getting a little hungry. The security guy said there’s a couple of vending machines for snacks and drinks. Can I buy you something?”

  He looked totally and utterly bewildered. He apparently couldn’t believe that this woman, a total stranger, was at his door. “Um… sure.” When he came out onto the walkway, he looked around this way and that, like he was waiting for someone to jump out at him. He looked more like a frightened little mouse than a murderer.

  Kat smiled, beginning to feel sorry for him. “It’s just me. I promise.” She pointed to her car which was parked outside the security gate. “See my car over there?” She immediately regretted that, and had some strange visions of him grabbing her car keys and taking off, kidnapping her and Rudy in the process. She shook that out of her mind. How ridiculous. Get a grip, Kat, she thought. “Come on, then.”

  Kat got a snack bar while Julian opted for a chocolate candy bar. They both had a cappuccino.

  “All the best people drink cappuccinos,” Kat said to Julian with a smile.

  “Do they?” he asked, quite seriously. Then his face lit up with recognition. “Jay drank cappuccino sometimes. But she was watching her weight, so more often she went for an espresso, no cream, no sugar.”

  They sat down on some chairs next to the swimming pool.

  “It seems you had very strong feelings for Jay,” Kat said.

  “Have,” he corrected her. “When someone dies, the feelings don’t change. In fact, often they get stronger.”

  Kat thought she might as well cut to the chase. “I’m going to be straight with you, Julian. It doesn’t look good for you.” She glanced at the security guard, who was thankfully watching them. “Some people could interpret your actions as you being a stalker. And stalkers often harm their victims.”

  “Jay wasn’t my victim,” Julian said in a scandalized tone of voice. “She was the love of my life.”

  “I know, but other people might not see it that way. Especially when you say things about your past lives together and that you’re destined for each other. Sometimes people who say these things kill the person, and then, well… kill themselves, too.”

  Julian nodded somberly. “That’s because they want to be together in the afterlife.”

  Kat felt a jolt of adrenaline streak through her body. She felt frozen to the chair. “Right,” she said, barely able to find her voice. “So… is that what happened here?”

  “No,” he said, then shook his head. “It’s just the gods. The gods hate me. They make my life take bad turns all the time. This is just their latest. I think they want me to commit suicide.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. But I won’t. I’ll work with Jay’s memory and her spirit. I talk to her in the spirit world and she comes to visit me. So we are together at last.”

  Kat felt extremely jittery and was becoming frightened about what Julian might be capable of doing. This all sounded so, so wrong. “Does that mean you’re glad she died?”

  “Of course not. I would much rather have been with her in our real life. In the physical flesh. But at least this is a consolation.”

  “Right.” Kat couldn’t wait to get out of there. She wanted to find out more for the investigation, but wasn’t sure her stomach could take it. “Nice place you live here, Julian. What do you do for a living?”

  “I wrote a song in my teens for some kids at my university, and it became a big hit. I live off the royalties,” he said. “Now I make it my job to love Jay, and that won’t stop just because she’s dead.”

  “Do you have any idea who killed her?”

  “Probably Reiss Talbot.” Julian spat the words out. “He thought he owned her. But you cannot catch a butterfly with a net with big holes in it. He learned that the hard way. The whole world now knows he only has a net with big holes. So he had to kill her because of the shame that was heaped on him by Jay.”

  “Do you think so?” Kat asked. She was inclined to agree at that moment.

  “Absolutely,” Julian said. “I’d stake my life on it.”

  His fac
e was so set in hatred, Kat said, “Julian, you’re not going to go and do anything to him, are you?”

  “I’ve thought about it,” he said. “And I’ve thought about not doing it. I don’t know. I can’t promise anything.”

  “Please don’t,” Kat said. “We’ve had enough tragedy as it is.”

  “Reiss Talbot dying would be a boon for the human race,” Julian hissed.

  “Not to his children.”

  “If you say so. This conversation is starting to anger me now. Thank you for the cappuccino. Goodbye.” With that he stood up and walked back up the stairs.

  “Julian! Julian!” Kat called after him. She wanted to talk to him some more. Had he been there the night of the conference? Did he have any more information?

  But he just ignored her and went back to his apartment.

  Kat realized that the only thing she could do was turn around and go back home again. She shrugged at the security guard as she walked past him.

  “I wouldn’t bother coming again,” he said. “That guy is real weird.”

  Kat nodded. “He’s certainly different. Bye, then.”

  She got in her car with Rudy and drove away.

  CHAPTER 15

  “There are no cameras in the dressing rooms, unfortunately,” Monique said. “If there were, Kat, it would be an open and shut investigation. Of course, people don’t generally look favorably on other people seeing them in their underwear, even if those people are security people, so that’s why there aren’t any security cameras.”

  “I understand,” Kat said. She was sitting in Monique’s office, which was stuffed with a bunch of well-curated items. Monique certainly had style, what with her sleek mahogany desk, mahogany chair with dark green leather padding, and a dark green old-time desk lamp. Beautiful paintings hung on the walls. Even the filing cabinets were beautiful, antique wooden pieces. But how did she afford all this stuff? Kat wondered.

  Although small, the office looked like something out of a multimillionaire’s home, or an old English country mansion. On the salary of a theater manager, how could it be done? That wasn’t even to mention Monique’s jewelry. In addition to her Serpenti watch, she was wearing a huge diamond ring on her finger today that Kat guessed cost as much as a house. Kat wondered if her husband was very rich and loved to treat her.

  “We do have surveillance in the lobby, though. And at the door leading to the dressing rooms.”

  That made Kat sit up straight. “Can I have a look at that?”

  Monique hesitated. “Lennon mentioned you’re doing some investigating into Jay’s death, but you’re not an official investigator.”

  “Yes, that’s correct.”

  Monique leaned back in her chair. “I’m not sure I should really show you anything. I like you, Kat, don’t get me wrong. But you’re just another member of the public. You don’t really have authorization to see the footage.”

  Kat nodded. “I understand what you’re saying. Do you think you’d get in trouble with people higher up?”

  Monique laughed. “There’s no one higher up. Well, there’s the owner, of course, but he doesn’t mind about little things like that. Anyway, he’d never find out. There are no cameras in here, I can assure you of that.”

  “Right.” Kat paused. “So what’s the issue, then?”

  Monique laughed again. “Would you like a drink?” She wheeled her chair back a little and opened a small cabinet containing various types of liquor. “There’s champagne, Baileys, all kinds of sweet liqueurs. I can’t lie, Kat, I have somewhat of a sweet tooth.”

  Kat noticed Monique had changed the direction of their conversation and she wondered why. But she did like a Baileys, too, so she obliged.

  Monique clinked their glasses together. “To justice,” she said.

  “To justice.” Kat took a sip of her drink and watched Monique carefully. There is something not quite straight about this woman, she thought. She decided to try a different approach. She took her phone out of her bag and went onto YouTube. “Let me show you something, Monique.”

  “Sure.”

  Kat tapped onto the Julian Perkins video, then turned the phone to face Monique. “Have you ever seen this guy? Was he there, the night of the writing conference?”

  “Yes,” Monique said. “He was at the entrance to the stage door. He gave me a letter to give to Jay.” She paused to listen to what he was saying, which was declaring his undying love with yet another metaphor. “Jeez,” she said. “I thought he might have been some crazy stalker. He had asked to be let in the back, into the dressing rooms.”

  Kat’s heart hammered. “Did you let him?”

  “No, even though he offered quite a substantial amount of money,” Monique said. Kat thought she looked as if she regretted it. “I thought maybe he might be crazy and try to kill her. I was trying to make sure she was safe. Obviously, I didn’t do a very good job.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up about it,” Kat said. “It’s not like you even knew there was a threat to her life. … Right?”

  “I had no idea,” Monique said. “If I had, I would have done things very differently.”

  Kat thought for a moment. “Do you think it was possible that Julian Perkins got in, even though you didn’t let him in? Maybe someone else let him in by accident, or he lied to someone to get in?”

  “It’s possible.”

  “It would show up on the footage.”

  “Yes, it would.” Monique’s body language shut down. “But there would be hours and hours to comb through. No one has the time for that, unfortunately.”

  “I could stay here and do it.” Kat found Monique’s attitude aggravating. No one has the time? Surely, she must understand this could solve the case!

  “It would be a good idea, but unfortunately you’re not staff, like I said, so I can’t authorize that.”

  Kat breathed. “Even though no one would find out you showed me?”

  Monique smiled. “It’s about integrity, Kat. But then again…”

  Kat’s ears perked up.

  “Then again,” Monique continued, “if you made it worth my while, I could comb through all the footage and find out everyone who went in and out that night, and at what times.”

  “Deal,” Kat said instantly.

  “How much do you want to pay?”

  “Name your price.” Kat wasn’t all that impressed that Monique was asking for money, but she just thought, anything to get this done.

  “Ten thousand dollars.”

  “Ten thousand dollars?!” Kat exploded. “I was thinking more like a thousand.”

  Monique rolled her eyes. “Fine then. Two.”

  “One and a half,” Kat said with a stern look. “Final offer.”

  Monique stuck her hand out for a handshake, with a huge smile on her face. “Done.”

  *****

  That evening, Kat was extremely grateful for a break. Her daughter, Lacie, had brought her boyfriend Tyler over, and they, along with Blaine and her, were having a nice, quiet dinner together.

  Kat had made lasagne from a new recipe her friend Deborah had sent from Italy while Blaine had prepared a large Mediterranean salad. Lacie and Tyler had brought along a gorgeous store-bought tiramisu, along with some red wine. They were all enjoying themselves to the fullest.

  “How’s the world of animals, Tyler?” Blaine asked. Tyler was enrolled in vet school and worked part time for a local veterinarian, so Blaine’s question was quite appropriate.

  “Hectic at the moment,” Tyler said. “With the heat wave we had a couple of weeks ago, we have a few animals we’re treating for things caused by that.”

  “Oh,” Kat said. “I didn’t know heat waves affected animals that much.”

  “Most of them will be totally fine,” Tyler explained, “but some can have difficulty, particularly if they weren’t well to begin with. It can aggravate symptoms and make their systems weaker.”

  “You learn something new every day,” Kat said. “How’
s your job, Lacie?”

  Lacie’s face lit up. “I love it so much. There’s this little boy called Allen who has profound autism. He’s six years old. We’re working with him at the moment to implement strategies with his parents and his school. He’s in a special needs education unit at his school.

  “We’re trying to make things easier for him. He’s the cutest kid you’ve ever seen, trust me. And we’re really getting somewhere with him. Normally he just does echolalia, that’s repeating the things you say. You would say, ‘Hello, Allen,’ and he’d say, ‘Hello, Allen,’ right back.

  “But you know what happened the other day?” Her eyes were glittering with excitement and happiness. “I said to him, ‘Let’s go to the learning area.’ And then a few seconds later I asked him, ‘Allen, where are we going?’ and he said, ‘To the learning area!’”

  Lacie clapped her hands together, looking absolutely delighted. “Now, that would be a tiny accomplishment to most people, but for someone like Allen, it’s massive. That’s like… the first building block heading to a conversation. I’m so excited to keep working with him. I’m sure we can help him learn to communicate.”

  Kat was so proud of her daughter she could burst. The look of absolute fulfilment on Lacie’s face was something to behold.

  “You know what I found out when I was doing some research on autism? I was telling Tyler about this earlier,” Lacie continued. “There was this little boy who didn’t talk at all, and everyone thought he didn’t have the capacity to learn. But you know what happened? When he was a teen, they gave him a computer, and he just started writing everything that had happened.

  “Can you imagine!? Like he was writing, ‘They’ve been taking me to doctors for years to find out what’s wrong with me, thinking I was pretty much brain-dead, when all this time I’ve been understanding exactly what they’re saying.’ And eventually he wrote a whole book!”

  “Wow!” said Kat. “That is amazing.”

  Lacie nodded. “In light of that, we try not to make any assumptions. Just because someone doesn’t communicate the skills or knowledge they have, it doesn’t mean they don’t have them.”