Do you have to be hit over the head to get the message? I guess some people do. Literally.
Chapter 24
Darkness. Piercing light. Screams. Someone touching her shoulders. Marlee’s senses were dulled and she didn’t know what was going on. “Stop touching me,” she mumbled, not sure if anyone was even near her.
“Marlee, it’s me. It’s Hector. Are you okay?” asked familiar deep voice in a serious tone. The hands that were touching her gently pulled her into a sitting position.
She became more fully aware of her surroundings as she sat upright. She was on her front step and Hector stood over her with a flashlight. His expression was worried but calm. The only thing Marlee could comprehend was that her head hurt like hell. “My head hurts so much,” she said, her tongue tripping over the words as if she were intoxicated.
“Hang on. The ambulance is on the way. Somebody hit you in the back of the head and knocked you out. You might have a concussion,” Hector explained as he rubbed Marlee’s arm to soothe her.
“Who hit me? Why?” It was incomprehensible to Marlee that someone would be mad enough at her to knock her out.
“I don’t know. I just got back here and saw you on unconscious on the step. Your head’s bleeding and it looks serious.” The drone of the ambulance could be heard in the background. Within seconds it rounded the corner and screeched to a halt in front of Marlee’s little Spanish style home. Two police cars, lights flashing and sirens blaring, followed the ambulance and parked behind it.
As Marlee was loaded into the ambulance, a young male officer asked her questions about her attack. The questioning was brief when he realized she recalled nothing of the attack or her assailant. She was then taken to the hospital emergency room. Hector talked with the police officers for a few moments before leaving for the hospital. An examination revealed that Marlee had a severe concussion resulting from a blow to the back of the head. A CT scan didn’t show any neurological problems or skull fractures. She was released when Hector volunteered to stay with her until she could be reexamined by her own physician on Monday.
“Sonofabitch! My head really hurts!” Marlee whined on the drive back to her house. “They didn’t give me any pain meds. I shoulda asked for morphine.” She gingerly touched the back of her head where she’d been hit by a blunt object.
“I don’t think they give morphine for concussions.” Hector parked his car in front of Marlee’s house and helped her inside. “The doctor said you need bed rest, plenty of fluids, and Tylenol for the pain.”
“Do I have to stay awake?” Marlee recalled that on television a concussed patient could not fall asleep for fear they would never awaken.
“No, I asked about that specifically. You can sleep. I just have to wake you up every few hours. If you’re really hard to wake up or you’re incoherent, then I have to take you back to the ER. Otherwise, you should be okay.”
“Good, because I’m really tired. I’ll take some Tylenol and go to bed.”
“Before you do, I just need to ask what you remember about the attack.” Hector had his notebook and pen at the ready.
“Nothing. I remember getting out of your car and walking toward my door. That’s it,” Marlee recalled. “I really wish I knew who did this and why.”
“Me too. I think it’s related to the Roxie Harper investigation. Somebody is trying to scare you away from asking questions.”
“I don’t know who it would be. Unless… maybe the Stones are here in town and one of them did it.” Marlee was feeling a little better since discussing the Harper case took her mind off her pain and injuries.
“Maybe. But it could also be Ira Green. We know he’s here in Elmwood,” Hector replied.
“It doesn’t seem like a very well thought-out plan. How is knocking me out supposed to discourage me from helping investigate this case? If anything, it makes me want to dig deeper. I think whoever hit me did it as a reaction to something specific,” Marlee said.
“Is anyone mad at you? A student? Someone in your department?” Hector inquired.
“No! Actually, I can’t think of anyone who’s mad at me at all. Some students might get upset about their final grades, but not mad enough to do this,” Marlee said pointing at her head. “It has to be someone related to this case.”
“Go rest. I’ll sleep here on the couch and wake you up a couple times in the night to make sure you’re okay,” Hector ordered. “On Monday I’ll take you to your regular doctor for a check-up.”
Marlee nodded, too tired to argue about being bossed around. She kicked off her shoes and tumbled into bed fully clothed and pulled the sheet and quilt up to her chin. Hector woke her twice during the night by calling her name. Satisfied that she wasn’t unusually groggy, he let her sleep and returned to the bed he fashioned for himself on the living room couch.
The morning sun was shining on the foot of her bed when Marlee awoke the next morning. Her head was tender where she’d been struck and a mild headache had settled in around the base of her skull. She got up to take a couple Tylenol and planned to return to bed for another hour or two of rest. Her head wound, which the ER doctor thought was the result of being struck with a blunt object, was slightly oozing, but not enough to warrant a bandage.
After chasing two pain relievers with a glass of tap water, Marlee was on her way back to her bedroom when she heard a commotion in the kitchen. Peeking around the corner she was dismayed to see most of her cookware on the counters or in the sink. Egg shells, coffee grounds, and bits of other unidentifiable objects were strewn throughout the kitchen. Hector stood, leaning over the counter. His eyes were focused on a small card and he didn’t hear Marlee enter the room.
“Hey, whatcha doing?” Marlee stood behind the detective, looking over his shoulder.
Hector jumped, sloshing coffee from the mug he held onto the counter. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!” He squinted his eyes and his lips were pursed until he realized it was Marlee. “You’re lucky I didn’t have my gun on me or I would’ve shot you.”
“Oh, please. You and I both know you’re not going to shoot someone just because they scared you.” Marlee wasn’t falling for his macho-cop bullshit. “So, are you making something or just seeing how much you can dirty up my kitchen?”
Hector smiled, now relaxed. “I was attempting to cook this breakfast casserole recipe I found in one of your magazines on the coffee table. I’m a good cook, just not so good at following new recipes.”
“What do you have done so far?” Marlee looked at the complex recipe and realized she didn’t have half the ingredients needed.
“I cracked the eggs. And I made a pot of coffee.” Hector reached for a mug and poured Marlee a cup of steaming brew.
“Are you set on making this recipe or would you be satisfied with scrambled eggs?” Marlee was hoping for a quick resolution to Hector’s cooking debacle.
“Yeah, that would be okay with me. I just thought I’d try to make something nice for you since you were beaten up last night.” The relief was visible in Hector’s face and posture. His intentions were good, but he was out of his comfort zone in making anything involving more than two ingredients. As a bachelor for the past ten years, he lived on meat he could grill, frozen dinners, and fast food.
“I wasn’t beaten up! I was attacked. There’s a huge difference. Beaten up implies that I participated in the fight and lost. Attacked means I didn’t see it coming.” After two sips of coffee, Marlee was already feeling like her old self.
During breakfast, Marlee and Hector again turned to her assault the previous night. “You know, I didn’t see who hit me, but there was something familiar about them.”
“Familiar how?” Hector finished the last of the eggs and pushed his plate away from him.
“That’s the weird part. I don’t know how they seemed familiar. I just have the sense that I know the person who hit me.” Marlee knew she wasn’t making much sense. She hadn’t seen her attacker and couldn’t remember him sa
ying any words. Still, she felt she was familiar with the person who assaulted her.
“I hope you’re not telling me you have ESP or some sort of psychic powers.” Hector looked at Marlee with skepticism.
“No, it’s not that. There was something familiar. I just need to think on it for a while.” Marlee finished off her first cup of coffee and poured another. While she showered, she put Hector to work cleaning up the mess he made in her kitchen. By the time she was showered and dressed, he was washing the last of the dishes.
“Now I remember why I don’t cook very often.” Hector pulled the plug on the dirty dishwater and dried his hands.
It was mid-morning and Marlee and Hector planned the rest of their day over another cup of coffee. “I think we should put together a crime chart,” suggested Marlee, recalling how helpful that had been last year when a janitor was murdered on campus. It had been the idea of her cousin, Bridget McCabe, who became involved in the investigation when she visited Marlee.
Within minutes, Marlee assembled all the tools necessary to construct the crime chart. A large poster board took up the majority of the table and several markers of different colors were spread out atop it. Marlee picked up the black marker and wrote Roxie’s name in the center in large capital letters.
“Now, we write down the other people involved in the case and their connections to Roxie and to each other,” Marlee explained.
“Yes, I’m familiar with this process. I watch TV too. Plus, I’ve actually done this. You know, since I’m a detective.” Hector smiled, grabbing a red marker. He wrote down the name of Reuben Ira Green and also Violet Stone and drew direct lines between the two of them and Roxie.
Marlee wrote in the names of Connie and Burt Stone and after considering it for a second, she also scrawled Paula Stone’s name on the chart. “I don’t think Paula killed Roxie, but she has a connection to the case.” Hector nodded in agreement.
“I think we need to include everyone in the class, including you.” Hector looked down at the table, not daring to look Marlee in the eye.
“Well, you’ve just solved the case. I did it!” Marlee threw her hands in the air as if surrendering.
“Very funny. I know you didn’t kill her, but we need to include everyone who has a link to Roxie even if we know they didn’t do it. It might help us make some connections we hadn’t realized.”
“Yeah, I know.” Marlee wrote her name along the bottom of the chart plus that of her student assistant and the other nine students in Criminal Justice To Go. Hector took the red marker and drew a small heart around her name.
“Knock it off, Hector! We need to concentrate.” Marlee’s attempt at dismay was futile, as she realized she was smiling. Hector smiled too and put his hand on hers.
“Maybe we need a break from the chart.”
“We’ve only been working on it for ten minutes. I don’t think a break is needed just yet. We don’t want to lose our momentum,” Marlee chastised.
Marlee’s cell phone rang just as she and Hector turned their attention back to the crime chart. It was Bethanny Hayes, the student who Donnie Stacks thought might have been harassed by Ira Green. During the short conversation, Bethanny said Green never sexually harassed her, but she thought he was really creepy and had told several people so. “I’ve never heard of him trying anything with any of the students, but he always made me feel creeped out, you know?” Bethanny asked.
After relaying the conversation to Hector, they again turned their attention to the crime chart. They both sat with markers poised to write down names of other suspects or people connected to the case but weren’t able to think of any more. Marlee drew a large question mark and under it wrote Unknown.
“Hey, what about Pete?” Hector shouted. “You know, the guy she mentioned in her diary?” The detective jotted down the new name and nodded with satisfaction.
“Yeah. That’s the only person we don’t know much about. We have at least some information on everyone else on the chart. Did you print off the diary from Roxie’s computer?” Marlee asked.
“I did and it’s in my vehicle,” Hector said as he sprang out of his chair to retrieve the documents. “I should’ve thought of that before.”
When he returned with the pages of Roxie’s diary, Marlee read each page, passing it on to Hector when she was finished. In the diary, Roxie detailed several meetings with Pete at restaurants and cafes in Elmwood. Roxie’s writing consisted of only short phrases, not complete sentences. Reading her diary became tedious, as she bounced from one thought to another. Piecing together Roxie’s writing was difficult, but Marlee was able to discern that each of the meetings took place within the three weeks before her death. Prior to that time, there was no mention of Pete.
“There’s not much in here about Pete. He came into the picture less than a month before Roxie was poisoned and she was seeing him a few times a week. I can’t believe we haven’t been able to locate this guy.” Marlee jotted down some notes from Roxie’s diary and then crumpled up the page and threw it away. “We’re missing something and I think it’s important.”
“Okay, let’s brainstorm. We know Pete just came into her life and they were meeting frequently. It could have been a new boyfriend. Maybe somebody she already knew from work or classes?”
“What if it was somebody who knew she was trying to re-establish contact with Violet? What if Pete was trying to help her or even trying to prevent it?” Marlee asked.
“Possible, but how would Pete know about Violet unless Roxie told him? It seems kind of far- fetched that she would just meet someone and confide everything. From what we know about Roxie, I don’t think she was very trusting of others. And for good reason,” Hector said.
“Maybe Pete was a counselor or a doctor.” Marlee said then shook her head. “A doctor isn’t going to meet someone at a restaurant a few times a week. They would meet in the doctor’s office. A therapist, maybe, but I think that would be in an office setting too.”
“What about a sponsor? Like for Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous? There were a lot of empty alcohol bottles in Roxie’s motel room when she died,” Hector recalled.
“Hey, I think you may be on to something!” Marlee thumbed through the pages printed from Roxie’s online diary. “It was always in the evenings when she met with Pete. It could’ve been after an AA meeting. Or maybe Pete was her sponsor and that’s the only time he could meet with her.”
“Do you know anyone in Elmwood who goes to AA?” Hector asked.
“No, but I know several who should,” Marlee said. “Even if I did, it’s anonymous. They aren’t supposed to reveal the identity of any of the participants or anything said there. Even if we went to all the AA meetings in town, I doubt we’d be able to get any information.”
“Here’s another angle,” Hector said excitedly. “Roxie and Pete were at various restaurants around town so let’s go show Roxie’s picture around and see if the wait staff remembers her.”
“Yes! And then they can give us a description of this Pete guy!”
Hector searched his files for a picture of Roxie and found one. The detective and the professor rushed to his car and set off for Apollo’s, one of the eateries mentioned in Roxie’s diary.
When in doubt, head North.
Chapter 25
Apollo’s was the fanciest restaurant in Elmwood and generally saved for special occasions like anniversaries or graduations. The dark interior consisted of forest green, burgundy, and brown. Since it was lunch time, Marlee suggested they eat at Apollo’s as a way of covering their investigation. Hector readily agreed. They had already stopped at two other restaurants and staff at both places couldn’t recall seeing Roxie.
The hostess led them to the back room and Marlee asked if they could sit in the area secluded from most other diners. Their server was a college-aged male dressed in black pants, a black shirt, and a patterned necktie. His blond hair was short in the back and long in the front. “Hey, my name’s Derek and I
’ll be serving you today.”
Marlee ordered unsweetened ice tea and Hector followed suit. While waiting for their drinks, Hector surveyed the atmosphere. “This is a swanky place. How would Roxie have the money to come here regularly?”
“I was thinking the same thing. It’s not really a place to come and just have coffee. If she was drinking again by then, there are cheaper places to go get drunk. Maybe Pete was well off.”
When Derek delivered the glasses of ice tea, Hector placed the picture of Roxie on the table and pointed to it. “I’m investigating this lady’s death. Do you remember seeing her in here?”
“Um, yeah. A few times. Usually at night,” Derek stammered. “She’s the student who died during the class, isn’t she?”
Hector nodded. “Was she with someone when she came in?”
Derek nodded. “I never saw her by herself.”
“Who was the other person? What did he look like?” Marlee interjected.
“I don’t know who it was, but it wasn’t a guy. She was with a lady, a little older than she was,” Derek stated.
“Did you ever see her with a man?”
“No. Always the same lady.” Derek looked confused as he took their orders and left the table.
“She must have been meeting more than one person at various restaurants,” Hector said. “This complicates things even more.”
Hector and Marlee enjoyed their gourmet soup and artisan sandwiches and were agonizing over whether or not to order dessert when Hector’s phone rang. He excused himself and went outside to take the call. Moments later he jogged back to their table. “Come on! Burt and Connie Stone and the two girls were apprehended this morning and they’ll be at the Elmwood Police Department in a few minutes.” Marlee grabbed her purse, throwing cash on the table to cover the meal and the tip.
Murder to Go Page 21