Chameleons and a Corpse

by Ruby Loren

  “So, that’s not why you killed Timmy?” Now I was completely lost.

  Ethan’s eyes glittered. “Of course not. Not that I did kill him.” The tiny smile on his lips made me believe he realised he was being recorded. I should have expected that level of paranoia from a man who'd made his money in technology.

  “Why did you do it?” I pressed, hoping he’d at least give me an idea, even if it wasn’t an incriminating one. “Was he damaging your business? Did you fall out over the loud music?” I was really reaching here.

  Ethan shook his head, looking amused. “Hypothetically, Timmy got what was coming to him. You know what he was like. He should never have been on the list for The Lords of the Downs - and certainly not ahead of me.”

  I couldn’t believe it. All along, it had been about the stupid club! “And when he died, that meant you were next in line,” I said, remembering what Harry had said, loudly and inappropriately right after Timmy had died. “Why do you care so much?”

  “Don’t you see? Timmy was offered a place because his family has old money that they passed down through generations. He hadn’t done anything remotely impressive with his life, but he was still invited to join the club, just because. By comparison, I came from nothing to gain more wealth and success than most of those so-called successful members earn in a lifetime. But still, I was bumped along and moved down the list until they just couldn’t overlook me anymore. With Timmy gone, I’ll accept my place in the club and finally get some recognition around here.” He shook his head. “Hypothetically, of course,” he added.

  Even though I assumed that none of this would count as evidence, I hoped that Officer Kelly was getting it all. At least they’d know who they had to try to pin it on and they could let the innocent-ish couple go.

  “This all goes back to your school days, doesn’t it? You were at the state school and they were at the private one. There was rivalry between the two schools and your peers, but you’ve taken it to a whole new level.”

  “There’s always been this prejudice against me. Even when I became what I am now! It’s ridiculous.” Ethan looked furious for the first time. I’d hit a nerve all right.

  “You were clever about it, too. You knew there had to be evidence, and what better than a handy hot tub with its chlorine-treated water to get rid of the blood you’d got on you?” I said, looking across at the heated jacuzzi. “What happened to the knife? Hypothetically of course.” I couldn’t resist adding the sarcastic comment.

  To my surprise, Ethan walked over to the patch of calla lilies growing in the marshy soil around the jacuzzi and rummaged around. I followed him out of curiosity and stood by the tub. A second later, he picked up a nasty looking kitchen knife. “It might have had too much blood on it for the tub, but a bucket of soapy water mixed with bleach took care of that. When you have as much land as this, who’s going to notice you pour a little water away?” He looked contemplatively from the knife to me.

  “Don’t,” I said, knowing what he was thinking. Ethan assumed I’d come alone to hand over the dog, and had then foolishly decided to come across and accuse him of murder. He might suspect that I was recording the conversation, but I doubted he suspected the presence of anyone else. After all, the police were interviewing the Marsdens, and I knew how well gossip spread in this town. There was no way Ethan would have expected there to be a police officer in his next door neighbour’s house - having let herself in with a key she shouldn’t have possessed. That was why he now thought he might be able to get away with murder… twice.

  “Maybe you're right. You’re like me. You were a nobody, and now you’re not. If anything were to happen to either of us you can guarantee there’d be a lot of interest.” He flipped the knife around, looking worryingly at ease with it. I wondered if, as well as a strict gym regime, Ethan had taken some kind of knife handling class. If there was such a thing, I was willing to bet Ethan had heard of it.

  He looked back at me. “But then again… you seem to be the only one who’s strung it all together. No one else is looking my way, and I’d like it to stay that way.”

  “You’d be making a mistake,” I said, still clinging to the barrier I hoped my fame had erected around me.

  He shrugged. “I wouldn’t have got where I am today without making a gamble or two.”

  That was when I knew he’d made up his mind and the coin had fallen on the wrong side for me.

  I backed away, but Ethan was no slouch. He flipped the knife back into his hand and darted forwards. In a loud burst of barking, Rameses lunged to meet him. In my shock, I let go of his lead and could then only watch as the dog jumped to meet the man with the knife.

  “No!” I shouted, running forwards myself, in an effort to see the dog unharmed. He’d done nothing to deserve any of this.

  But luck favoured Rameses and he missed the blade. Ethan turned at the last moment and the dog merely scraped his arm with his teeth, before overshooting. I was not going to be afforded as lucky an escape. Running towards a man wielding a terrifying knife when you had nothing to defend yourself with was hardly a recipe for success.

  “Officer Kelly!” I shouted, as I tried to put the brakes on but felt myself slide on the mud that surrounded the jacuzzi. Instinct made me grasp for Ethan as I slipped, and for one hopeful moment, I held his right wrist and managed to wrangle it away from my face. The next second we were falling sideways over the side of the tub. My elbow hit the bumpy interior with a nasty bang. The pain made me open my mouth and for a second water rushed in. I disentangled myself from Ethan and pushed upwards, my drive for oxygen overpowering any last remaining logic that told me to hang fast to that knife-wielding hand.

  I inhaled and then coughed before rolling back over the side of the jacuzzi and landing on the grass with a wet squelch. I did some more spluttering and crawled away from the tub, hoping to put some distance between myself and my attacker before he inevitably struck again. Officer Kelly rushed up the garden towards me, and I felt a flash of relief. She had her truncheon out. It wasn’t a knife, but at least it might give her a fighting chance.

  “What happened?” Officer Kelly asked, looking at me in alarm. Rameses rushed over and began washing my face.

  I managed to push myself upright, using the arm that hadn’t made contact with the tub, and turned around.

  Ethan was nowhere to be seen.

  “He must have hit his head and gone under!” I said, realising that my attacker hadn’t resurfaced.

  Officer Kelly stood by my side and looked at the tub. She didn’t make a move, and for a second I saw a dark thought flash across her face.

  “You’ve got to pull him out,” I told her. “He needs to face justice. But be careful, he was holding a knife,” I added, just in case. But I didn’t believe Ethan had kept hold of it. He may even have inflicted some damage to himself. The whirling jets of water made it hard to tell, but the water still appeared the same blue of the tub’s lining.

  After turning off the jets so she could see, Officer Kelly reached into the tub and managed to haul Ethan’s upper body out of the water. Then, between us, we got him onto the grass and into recovery position. I patted his back, hoping it would be enough. I wasn’t sure if I was willing to perform mouth to mouth on a man who’d just tried to kill me. I did my best to be a good citizen, but surely that was pushing it.

  A second later, he coughed, and up came all of the water he’d swallowed. It was enough for Officer Kelly, who snapped a pair of handcuffs on him.

  “Ethan Pleasant, you are under arrest for the murder of Timothy Marsden. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.” Officer Kelly looked up at me when she’d finished giving him his rights. “I alerted the station as soon as I heard things go south across the hedge. They’ll be here any moment now,” she told me.

  I nodded and experimented moving my arm. Nothing seem
ed to be broken but I was willing to bet there’d be a big bruise to go with the story I’d have to tell. Rameses fawned around my legs and looked up at me with big puppy-dog eyes.

  “Believe me, you’ll be getting a treat when this is all over,” I promised him.

  I was certain that Rameses’ leap at Ethan had saved my life, whilst endangering his own. The logical part of my animal-tuned brain said that the dog hadn’t been trying to attack Ethan, he’d merely thought we were all playing a game - but I was grateful all the same. The thought of having unwittingly put an animal at risk horrified me, but I also thought it might just be bringing me round to the arguments dog people had spouted for so long. They really were man and woman’s best friend.

  “If Scarlett really does want to get rid of you, there’ll always be a home for you with me,” I promised the dog. “And heck, if she wants paying, I’ve got plenty to spare.”

  11

  A Dangerous Game

  Auryn came to find me at the police station. One of the police officers had offered to look at my elbow, but beyond a scrape I hadn’t realised the fall had caused, they’d deemed it merely badly bruised. The same could apparently be said for Ethan Pleasant. He’d been taken to hospital as a precaution, but right after I’d finished answering questions I’d seen him being led into the station.

  “What happened?” My fiancé asked when he blazed through the door. I explained in as few words as possible how I’d finally pieced everything together, and how it had seemed like a totally safe and sensible idea to try to get a confession out of Ethan whilst covertly recording it. I’d thought we were being clever but recent events had shown the opposite was true.

  “I wish you weren’t so gung-ho,” Auryn bemoaned.

  “I wish I wasn’t either,” I agreed wholeheartedly.

  “Well done Rameses for saving your life,” Auryn said, giving the dog a good scratch behind the ears. I hadn’t let go of him since I’d picked up his lead right after Ethan had come to.

  “I think we should adopt him. You want a dog and… well, he deserves it. Any pet that is brave enough to save its owner’s life deserves a good home.”

  “What about Lucky?”

  “Lucky’s not scared or stressed by him. I know they fight, but what siblings don’t? I don’t see why, with a bit of work, they can’t get on.” I knew I didn’t need to say anymore. Hope had ignited in Auryn’s eyes as soon as I’d mentioned adopting the dog.

  “I thought Scarlett was keeping him?” he asked.

  “It might not be true, but Ethan seemed to think she wasn’t going to. He thought she might want to sell him because he’s supposed to be worth something.”

  “I’ll call her right now,” Auryn announced and then shot me a worried look. “That is, if you’re okay to be on your own for a bit?”

  “Who’s on their own? I’ve got Rameses,” I told him with a wan smile. “Anyway, I’ve been through worse than this little scrape.”

  “I know you have,” Auryn said, sounding more tired than I felt. And I felt pretty darn tired.

  “I’m just looking forward to lunch,” I muttered to myself. Auryn looked back at me and rolled his eyes to show he'd heard. He finished it with a grin, and then Scarlett must have answered the phone because he turned and walked away to find someplace quieter.

  In his absence, Detective Alex Gregory walked out into the foyer where I was sitting, waiting to be released.

  He made a beeline for me. “I believe that I have you to thank for realising that Ethan Pleasant was our man, although, I still can’t say I’m sure on the motive behind it all,” the detective began.

  “You and me both.”

  “I’m glad you worked it out, however, it is my duty to advise you that these things are best left to the police. You risked a lot when you decided to confront him over it. Officer Kelly Lane has been informed that she should never have let you proceed with your plan.” He eyeballed me. “I’m not actually quite clear on why she was there in the first place…”

  I deliberately looked away. If Officer Kelly wanted to tell him the truth she could. If she’d made up a story, then I thought she should be responsible for that, too.

  “Anyway, all’s well that ends well,” he finished, surprising me into turning back. When I looked at him he smiled, and I thought I could see why Tiff had started to fall for the police detective.

  “You haven’t given up on her, have you?” Up until now, my conversation with Detective Gregory had been strictly about the murder with me giving an exact account of what had happened between Ethan Pleasant and me, but now I felt the need to help him out on a more personal level.

  “I haven’t… I don’t know,” the detective confessed, sitting down next to me with a frown on his face. “That other guy seemed so sure of himself. Maybe he’s right and he is the better man for Tiff. I feel like an idiot for fighting with him.”

  I snorted, causing him to turn and stare at me. “Pierce works in marketing, although, between you and me, he’s more of a salesman. Of course he’s going to give you the impression that he’s exactly what Tiff needs. Selling things and creating the right impression is what he does for a living! Believe me, I’ve been on the receiving end of it.”

  I hadn’t forgotten the way that Pierce had managed to net himself the job. I didn’t have any qualms now he’d amply demonstrated that he was up to the job, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t aware of the way all things Pierce worked. And from what I’d seen this past week, Detective Gregory was the horse I wanted to back in the race for Tiff’s heart.

  Pierce might be a perfectly nice man, but he smacked of the same self-confident men Tiff had come unstuck with before. It was often only this type of man who was brave enough to approach a woman as stunning as my best friend, which in turn was why she ended up with so many terrible men. I didn’t sense any of that overinflated self-importance in the detective. I knew it was very early days yet, but I thought he might be a man with mileage. I didn’t want him to drop at the first hurdle.

  “I’d better do something about it, hadn’t I? Rather than moping around like a fool.”

  “You have my approval,” I joked, lightening the mood.

  “In that case, I’ll go and find her right away.” The detective stood up and then hesitated. “After this murder case is tied up that is. I got a bit carried away for a moment there.”

  “Good luck, Detective.”

  “I think I’ll need it in all aspects of my life. We may have a murder weapon, a motive, and an idea as to how it was all done, but the knife looks to be completely clean, and a motive as stupid as the one you say Ethan gave you sounds rather implausible,” the detective confided in a hushed tone.

  “But what about the recording Officer Kelly made on her phone?”

  The detective sighed. “Yes, about that… when she reached over to pull Ethan out of the jacuzzi, it fell out of her pocket. We collected it and gave it to our resident tech expert, but she doesn’t think she can do anything at all with it. Technology has its downfalls doesn’t it?”

  “It certainly does,” I agreed, thinking of the man currently sat in a holding cell, waiting to be interrogated for murder. Unfortunately, I was inclined to agree with Detective Gregory that it was going to be a hard slog getting Ethan Pleasant convicted for murder. Even though we now all knew for certain he’d done it, convincing a jury would be another matter. Not only did the police have to fight against the flaws that Detective Gregory had just listed, they would also be going up against the best legal help Ethan Pleasant’s money could buy, and I knew he could buy a lot.

  I sighed out loud when I was once more sitting alone in the foyer. I would be called up to testify. It wasn’t something I enjoyed doing. I also knew that this time would probably be the worst yet, as the media were sure to get wind of it. When you added Ethan’s fairly well-known name into the mix, it made it that much worse.

  It was funny how in my head I did everything I could to stay out of the limelight, but in r
eality, everything I did seemed to constitute another press opportunity. Perhaps I should just accept it and let them make this ridiculous film about me! I thought to myself, wondering if I chose to embrace the fame, it would go away. People spent their entire lives chasing it. “And here I am trying to beat it off with a stick. Maybe that’s where I’m going wrong,” I said to myself.

  One week later, life seemed to have settled back to its normal pace. My biggest worry was discussing a menu for the restaurant with my brand new chef, Connie Breeze, and figuring out wedding plans. As the restaurant was now officially able to serve food, and had been certified to do so, with the help of Connie, Auryn and I had finally decided on a date for the big day. We were going to be married on October 15th. It was a date that was just far enough from Halloween that, although the autumn colours would be around, our zoo Halloween events wouldn’t be in full swing, and it was long enough after summer that the school holiday rush would be well over. There should be nothing at all to worry about apart from the wedding itself.

  I was busy writing names on wedding invitations when there was a knock on the front door. Rameses got to his feet and padded out to see who it was. I watched him go for a moment before following. It somehow amused me to see how laid back he was when it came to who was at the door. He wasn’t a dog who barked a lot. It made me all the more certain that when he’d jumped at Ethan, it hadn’t been out of malice. It might be nice to believe he’d recognised his master’s killer and had risen to my defence, but I was happy with Rameses just being a normal dog - not some canine superhero.