Murder to Go

by Brenda Donelan

  “Why do you think she puts up with him? I can’t imagine sticking with anyone who was sexually harassing women or even just being an incurable flirt,” Hector said looking her directly in the eye.

  “I don’t know. I can’t imagine it either. She’s very submissive. I’d guess she doesn’t feel very good about herself and is wowed by Dean Green’s power and bravado. I think it’s at least a second marriage for him. If they’re recently married, maybe she doesn’t know about his indiscretions.” Marlee said. Mrs. Green was an enigma. She did not have a presence on campus nor the Elmwood community. Gossip on campus had it that Mrs. Dean Green, as she was always referred to, stayed in their apartment near campus and only left when Dean Green accompanied her.

  The waitress, who they now knew was named Marge, came by their table and they both ordered another beer. “You two out on a date?” asked Marge. Marlee blushed and the detective just smiled and raised his eyebrows. Then they both laughed to relieve the tension.

  “We’ve got some other detectives looking into Green and his whereabouts, so we’ll find him sooner or later. Enough talk about the investigation. Why were you stomping around the motel parking lot this afternoon? You looked like you were ready to punch somebody.” Hector said with a concerned look.

  “I was ready to punch someone. Boyfriend problems. Or ex-boyfriend problems, I should say. You don’t want to hear the whole story.” Marlee shook her head, both in disgust at Vince Chipperton and Suzanne and also at herself.

  “Ex-boyfriend, huh? Can’t say that I’m sorry to hear that,” Hector said looking at Marlee as he took a long draw from his beer bottle.

  “Um, what?” Marlee was very good at reading people and she could swear Ramos was flirting with her, but she wasn’t sure.

  “Look, I’d like to take you out some time. On a real date. Not just drinking in a dumpy little bar.” Ramos paused, looking at Marlee as if trying to read her mind. If he could read her mind it would have been a bunch of muddled words not culminating in any complete thoughts.

  “I... uh… okay,” Marlee stammered and then laughed at her own bumbling approach to romance.

  “Alright then, it’s settled. We will go on an official date,” Ramos said reaching across the table and placing his hand atop Marlee’s.

  They drank and talked for a few hours when Marlee felt her face getting hotter and hotter. She wondered if someone turned on the furnace or if she was having a hot flash. Wait, I’m too young for hot flashes! Aren’t I?

  She fanned herself with a bar napkin and lifted her wavy hair off the back of her neck. “Is it getting hot in here?”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Hector said. “Let’s go outside for a bit.”

  They walked toward the front door, stopping at the bar to pay their tab. Hector insisted on taking care of the bill, so Marlee returned to the table and left a generous tip for the waitress. As she turned to leave the table, Marge approached her.

  “You’re one lucky gal, you know that?”

  “Yeppers,” Marlee said, smiling and walking toward the detective.

  Hector grabbed her hand and the two walked out of Chaser’s, enjoying the cool night air. They took their time walking back toward the motel. “So do you want to go to my room or yours?” he asked.

  “Uh…”

  “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I thought we could just sit and talk some more,” Hector said.

  “Let’s go to your room. The students all know where my room is,” Marlee said, knowing the rumors that would be flying among her charges if they saw their professor leaving the room of the handsome detective assigned to Roxie Harper’s death investigation. “But first, let me go to my room and grab my bottle of rum.”

  “This night is getting better and better,” Hector said with a flirtatious smile. He gave her his room number and Marlee hurried to her own room to retrieve her bottle of alcohol.

  The cell phone on the bed was ringing as Marlee entered her room. She jiggled the lock with impatience, hoping to answer the phone before the caller hung up.

  “Hello?” Marlee breathed as she grabbed the phone in the darkness of the room.

  “Marlee, it’s Vince.”

  She walked back to the front door and turned on the lights. “Uh huh?”

  “Look, I really need to talk to you,” Vince said in his usual, cool, matter-of-fact tone.

  “Guess what, Vince? I don’t need to talk to you. Suzanne filled me in on what was going on with you two while I’ve been gone. Go to hell!” Marlee hit the off button and threw the phone on the bed. She grabbed the bottle of rum nestled in the bottom of her suitcase and left the room.

  “Hey, Marlee,” Hector Ramos said when he opened his door. He took her hand and led her into his room.

  When the devil bares his soul, do you believe him?

  Chapter 14

  It was after 4:00 a.m. when Marlee awoke. The lights were off and she felt snug under the covers. Still, something was not quite right—and it was not just the beginning of the headache from excess alcohol consumption. A slight movement of the bedspread caused her to smile, as Pippa was rustling around on top the bed as she always did in the wee hours of the morning. But then Marlee realized she wasn’t home and the movement on the bed was not Pippa.

  Then it all came rushing back. The drinks, the flirting, and Detective Hector Ramos.

  Oh my god, this isn’t my room!

  Marlee gently pulled the bedspread and sheet back from her body and rose from the bed. Hector stirred next to her as he felt movement.

  “Where you going?” he asked in a sleepy voice.

  “Uh, I think I need to get back to my own room. I don’t want the students to see me walking out of here,” Marlee said. This was uncomfortable. She looked around the dark room, searching for her sandals.

  “We’re still going out on a proper date soon, right?” Hector asked.

  “This wasn’t what you mean by a proper date?” Marlee joked to cover her embarrassment.

  “It was most certainly a date, but there was nothing proper about it.” Hector laughed as he rolled over to face her. “I was thinking I could drive back up to Elmwood this weekend. You know, look for some more leads on Roxie’s case and maybe take a certain professor out for a meal.”

  “That sounds like a great idea,” Marlee was a bit uncomfortable right now, but was looking forward to seeing Hector again.

  The detective rose from the bed, and switched on the small table top lamp beside the bed. He was bare chested and wearing plaid boxers. Marlee was still looking for her sandals.

  “After you crawled in bed you took off your sandals and threw them toward the bathroom. Then you were asleep in about thirty seconds,” Hector said.

  “Oh. Well, I’m a little hazy on that part of the evening. The rum really kicked my ass.”

  “Yes it did,” said as he walked toward Marlee and embraced her in a giant bear hug. “Sure you don’t want to stick around for a bit?”

  “Well, yes I would, but I think I better be on my way.” She was tempted to stay in Hector’s room, but she had a headache and her mouth felt as if it were stuffed full of cotton balls due to the drinking and then sleeping. She extricated herself from the hug and smiled at him with his rumpled hair and sleepy eyes.

  “I’m calling you later,” Hector called out as Marlee exited the room.

  “You better,” she said over her shoulder, still smiling from the evening encounter and anticipating spending more time with the dashing detective.

  The motel parking lot was quiet in the early morning hours. The one light cast a faint glow across the lot, but kept much of the entrance in the shadows. A second light pole with a burned out bulb stood near the front of the motel. Marlee fumbled in her purse for her motel key card. She chastised herself for not locating the key card before she left the light of the detective’s room. It was impossible to find just by touch next to all the business cards, coupons, and assorted detritus that collected in her purse over the
course of a week.

  “McCabe! I need to talk to you!” barked a familiar voice.

  Marlee whirled around to see Ira Green standing behind her. She jumped with fear, dropped her purse, and put her hands up near her face in a defensive pose. “What the hell?” she shrieked.

  “Put your hands down, McCabe! What the fuck do you think? That I’m here to hurt you?” Green growled.

  “Why are you here? I know you’ve been going to the same towns our class has been visiting,” Marlee said, wanting the former dean to answer the question yet not sure if she was ready to hear his reasoning.

  “It’s because of Roxie.” Green looked down and Marlee was unable to get a read on his body language.

  “Did you kill her? I heard you arguing with her on Monday night at the motel in Chamberlain and I saw you drive out of the parking lot,” Marlee said, knowing she was placing herself in danger right now by revealing what she had seen and heard.

  “No! I didn’t kill her. I would never hurt Roxie! I just wanted to talk to her,” Green said, now looking up.

  “What did you want to talk to her about?”

  “It was about the sexual harassment charge she filed against me at MSU. I thought if I could just talk to her and get her to understand that she was wrecking my career that maybe she’d retract her statement. Then I could get my job back at MSU,” he said.

  “From what I heard, it wasn’t Roxie’s accusation that got you fired but the fact that you lied about your past work history. Why didn’t you tell us that you’d been the president of Keystone University for a few years? Why have you been going by a different name since you came to South Dakota?” Questions were spilling out of Marlee’s mouth faster than she was able to process. Finally she paused to let him provide some answers.

  Ira Green took a deep breath and began. “South Dakota was supposed to be a fresh start for me. I’d gotten into some hot water in Pennsylvania and didn’t want that hanging over my head when I applied for the dean position at MSU. So I used my middle name. That way it would be harder for anyone on the search committee to track me. Look, I was set up by those women at Keystone University. I had a relationship with a couple of them, but it wasn’t sexual harassment by any means. Those bitches just wanted my money and to destroy my career.”

  “You have some pending law suits from your time at Keystone, don’t you?” Marlee asked.

  Green nodded. “My lawyers are still working on them. One I finally had to pay out and another one was dismissed. Two are pending.”

  “So why are you here tonight? Why are you lurking around our motel?”

  “I wanted to talk to you, but someone else is always around. The police want to talk to me about Roxie and I’m afraid they’ll try to pin her murder on me,” Green said.

  “Why do you want to talk to me?” Marlee was confused. When Green was the dean at MSU he used threats to keep her from becoming involved in police investigations on the campus. On more than one occasion, he tried to have her fired.

  “Because you seem to have a way of finding out things. As much as I hate to admit it, I need you to do some sleuthing for me,” Green said.

  “And why would I do anything for you? You tried to get me fired! You’ve been a jackass to me since you came to MSU,” Marlee said.

  “I know. I know,” Green said. Marlee knew he was not one to apologize and he would not be starting now. “You’re a snoop. And you’re good at it. And I also know that you don’t want innocent people to be punished for something they didn’t do. Plus, you want to find out what really happened to Roxie.” That was as close to an apology as she was going to get from the former dean.

  All of Ira Green’s comments about her were spot on. Still, she felt like making him grovel a bit. Marlee McCabe was a lot of things, but she was no saint. “Maybe I really don’t care if you did it or not, but I’m willing to let you take the fall for it.”

  “I really doubt that,” Green barked, staring her straight in the eyes through the dim light.

  “And why’s that? You don’t have any control over me anymore.”

  “Do you really want your students to know where you spent the night?” Once again, Ira Green had the upper hand. “I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for you to come back to your room. Then I saw you and some guy go into his room and now I see you walking to your own room at 4:00 in the morning and you’re carrying your sandals. I may not be a detective, but I can put two and two together.”

  “For your information, that guy is the detective investigating Roxie’s death and he wants to talk to you. How about if I knock on his door right now and introduce the two of you?” Marlee had no intention of doing that. Not until Green answered some more of her questions.

  “Touché, McCabe,” Ira Green grumbled. “Look, I wasn’t going to say anything to the students. I don’t even want to see or talk to anybody who knows me from MSU except you.”

  “Right. We both know you’d use any dirty trick in the book to get what you wanted.”

  “Just listen! I didn’t hurt Roxie. I would never do anything to hurt her. When I saw her at MSU I almost didn’t recognize her at first. But then when I did, I started going over to the library and talking to her. Then I tried to take things to a different level,” Green recounted.

  “What? You already knew Roxie? How?”

  “Look, it’s a long story. Do you think we could sit somewhere and talk?”

  “You’re not coming in my room and I’m sure as hell not getting in your car. There’s a Denny’s a block down,” Marlee said pointing toward the west. “Meet me there in twenty minutes.”

  Marlee entered her room, debating what she should do. On one hand, she wanted to meet with the elusive Ira Green on her own and find out what he had to say. Even if it was all bullshit, it was bound to be creative and entertaining. On the other hand, she knew she should walk back down to Hector’s door and alert the detective that she knew the whereabouts of the former dean. After brief consideration of all positions on the matter, Marlee decided to meet Green on her own. Of course she would report everything she knew to Hector, but she wanted a bit of time on her own to get information. Besides, Green might clam up if the police became involved right now. He seemed more than ready to talk to her since he sought her out.

  Grabbing her cell phone from atop her bed and giving her teeth a quick swish with the toothbrush, Marlee left the room and walked the block to the all-night diner. Denny’s was a bit busier than she expected it to be. There was a mixture of early risers, people getting off the late shift, and drunks who found a place to drink after the bars closed at two o’clock and were now famished. The hostess approached Marlee and she asked for a booth in a quiet spot. The sleepy looking hostess seated Marlee in a nearly empty part of the restaurant. A booth on the other side of the wall was filled with four tired looking men in dirty work clothes. They were forking up pancakes, eggs, and bacon in record speed, no doubt hungry from a night of manual labor. One table in the middle was occupied by an older couple who were mainly occupied with the morning newspaper and the never ending cups of coffee. It was the perfect location; quiet but with a few people around in case Ira Green tried to hurt her.

  Speak of the devil, Marlee thought as Green stomped in and sat across from her. In the harsh overheard lighting he looked awful. His face was sallow and there were huge bags beneath his eyes. It looks as if he’d been wearing the same clothes for a few days, as he was a rumpled mess.

  “Where’s your wife?” Marlee asked, hoping she was not outside waiting in his car, although she would not be entirely surprised if that had been the case.

  “She left. Went to Florida to stay with her sister. Said we’re done, but she’ll come back. She always does,” the former dean said with conviction.

  The waitress swung by their table and offered them coffee. Marlee and Green both passed on breakfast. She was so anxious to find out what Ira Green had to say that she had no appetite. “So how do you know Roxie? You said you recogniz
ed her at MSU which means you knew her before you came to South Dakota.”

  Ira Green nodded, taking a noisy slurp from his coffee. “I knew her back when she was a student at Keystone University. She took one of my classes when I was teaching. We became involved for a short while then I broke it off when she was being too clingy.”

  “How long ago was this?” Marlee asked.

  “About twenty years ago, maybe a little less.”

  “So why did you approach her on campus at MSU if you were the one to end it twenty years ago? Were you trying to get back together with Roxie?” Marlee asked.

  “Hell, no! I was just surprised to see her and thought it would be nice to talk to an old friend.”

  “Did she consider you a friend?” asked Marlee.

  “Well, not really at first, but then she could see I was different from when we were together before. We started meeting and talking and I sort fell for her all over again. That’s when Roxie misinterpreted everything and reported me for sexual harassment.” The former dean was oblivious to his pattern in dealing with women.

  “Doesn’t sound to me like you changed much,” Marlee shot at him.

  “It’s not like that. I’ll admit that I was a hound dog when I was younger. But now things are different. I really wanted to get something going again with Roxie. Something serious.”

  “And how does your wife fit in to all of this,” Marlee asked.

  “It’s complicated, McCabe. Don’t start judging my personal life. Besides, you have a boyfriend back home. I met him, right? How does your cop friend fit into that?”