by Karen Singer
“And you think that’s out of character for her?”
“Detective, this whole damn trip is out of character for her. I mean, she won’t spend any of that money, except on herself. And now she goes and rents an entire damn island? And detective, most of the rooms are empty!”
“I see,” Pierce replied. “Answer me honestly Sally. Since everyone hates Jenni so much, and they even stuck her as the only one on the other side of the island away from everyone else. Do you think that could be enough to make Jenni mad enough to commit murder? Honestly?”
Sally could only stare dully at him. Then she shook her head. “I could never believe that Jenni could do something like that. Never. She’s too sweet.”
“Pardon me for saying this, but she didn’t seem that sweet when I talked to her earlier.”
“No. And that’s Jenni’s problem. She’s usually the sweetest thing on earth…unless you don’t treat her like a woman. Then…well…I’m afraid she has a temper.”
“So the bottom line is, she could have done it.”
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
Andy Finch jumped when someone knocked loudly on his door. His wife, Cassie, groaned.
“Who’s that?” Cassie asked, her head not leaving her pillow.
Andy’s head was killing him. Too much to drink last night, and that was before all the bad stuff had happened. He only vaguely remembered waking his sister up last night to tell her off. How could she have not known that their father had been murdered? Stupid woman!
The knock came again, louder and more insistent. “Yeah, yeah. Wait a minute,” he called weakly as he forced himself to his feet. He had a moment of dizziness and his head pounded worse, but he forced himself to walk out of the bedroom toward the hotel room door. The knocking came again. “I said I’m coming!” he yelled as he reached the door. He opened it. “Who the hell are you?” he said to the man standing there.
Detective Pierce held up his badge. “Detective Pierce. Miami police.”
“What the hell are you disturbing us for?” Andy asked.
“Are you Andy Finch?” Pierce asked. “According to the information I was given, this should be the right room.”
“Yeah, I’m Andy, what of it? We’re trying to sleep for God’s sake! Do you know what time it is?”
Pierce realized that the guy still seemed to be drunk, or possibly just very hung-over. “Mr. Finch, are you aware that your father was murdered last night?”
“Hell yeah, I’m aware. Of course I’m aware. We all know it, and we all know who did it. And I’m sorry as hell to say it was my own damn son. Kyle!”
“Kyle?”
“Yes. Kyle! And if you talk to him, don’t be confused by the way he looks or by whatever name he claims is his. His name is Kyle, and he’s not a damn girl! At least, the last I heard he was still a boy. Although we’re pretty sure now that my mother paid for him to have a bunch of plastic surgery and all to make him a woman. Damn him to hell!”
“Mr. Finch. Why are you so sure that your son Kyle murdered your father?”
“Because he said he was going to do it. He yelled and threatened it to everyone last night. And now look. Dad is dead, and he’s…. Did you arrest him yet?”
“Uh…no. Not yet. We still need proof. What did you mean when he told everyone he was going to do it?”
“Last night, at dinner. He got into an argument with my father and right off he yelled to the entire damn room that he was going to kill him. And now look what he’s done.”
“You say he announced to everyone that he was going to murder your father?”
“Hell yeah he did. Ask anyone.”
“And what happened to cause him to say that?”
“Hell if I know. But he’s got a bad temper. He’s always spouting off about something or another. He said he was going to kill him. We all were there. We all heard him say it.”
“And what happened after he said he was going to kill him?”
“What happened? Uh…Kyle left. He was pretty damn mad and he walked out.”
“That’s the last I saw of him until last night while I was at the bar.”
“Did Kyle go down to the bar too?”
“No, and I’m glad he didn’t. I’d probably have punched his stupid sissy lights out if he did. I only saw him back on the path leading to the lobby.”
“The one where the bird cage is?”
“Yeah. That’s the one.”
“And you saw him before anyone told you your father had been murdered?”
“Sure. Of course. I guess. Go talk to Kyle. Go arrest his ass. It’ll be about time. Put him away and give him the death penalty. It’s only what he deserves anyway.”
Pierce wasn’t sure he wanted to talk with Andy Finch any longer. The guy wasn’t in his right head, that was for sure! “Mr. Finch, I’ve ordered that no one may leave this island until this business is concluded.”
“Well hell. That should take you all of about fifteen minutes. Kyle is…hell, I don’t know where his room is. But for sure it’s somewhere on this stupid island. And the place isn’t that big!”
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
“Jimmy Finch?” Detective Pierce asked as the next door was answered for him. The man who answered it was wearing nothing but a bathing suit.
“Yes?”
Pierce held up his badge. “Detective Pierce. Miami police. May I ask you a few questions?”
“Sure. Come in. Let me just close the bedroom door so we don’t disturb my wife.”
“Don’t bother,” Madison Finch told him as she strolled out through the bedroom doorway fastening her robe.
“Honey, this is the police detective,” Jimmy told her.
“Detective Pierce,” Pierce supplied.
Madison nodded, then took a seat on the sofa. Jimmy joined her and Pierce took one of the seats across from them. “I’m sure you know that your father was murdered last night,” Pierce started.
“Yes, we know,” Jimmy replied. “It’s…distressing.”
“Do you have any idea what happened?”
“Not really. All I know is we were down at the bar last night, and all of a sudden, we heard that someone had killed dad, and then there was some screaming in the distance. We all ran up the path and found my mother in hysterics over it.”
“Did everyone hear your mother yelling?”
“Uh…I think so. Actually, with the music being so loud, it took some time for it to register, you know?”
“So how did you find out?”
“Um…I think someone might have checked it out then came back and told everyone.”
“Do you remember who that was?” Pierce asked.
“Uh…I think it was…uh…”
“It was Ashley,” Madison supplied. “Greg’s daughter.”
Pierce wrote that down in his notebook. “Did Ashley scream or anything? Or did she just tell someone and then the word got passed around?”
“I don’t remember hearing anyone scream,” Jimmy replied.
“Ash was pretty upset when she came to us,” Madison told him. “She said it pretty loudly. I guess she had to so she could be heard over the music.”
“And what happened then?”
“Um…I’m pretty sure she had to yell it a few times in order to get everyone’s attention.”
“And what then?”
“I only remember heading up with everyone else to take a look,” Madison replied. “But the hotel manager wouldn’t let any of us get even close. I do remember seeing Jenni…”
“Kyle!” Jimmy insisted.
“Kyle…Jenni, it’s the same person. She was there by the bird cage. But they weren’t letting anyone else get close.”
“I see,” Pierce replied. “So neither of you know exactly what happened to him?”
“You mean who did it?” Jimmy asked. He shook his head. “I think we all know exactly who did it. The only one of us they were keeping near my father’s body so he couldn’t get away. Kyle
!”
“Do you have any other reason for thinking that Kyle did it, and that he didn’t just find the body and report it?”
“Huh! Oh yeah!”
“Kyle…well, Jenni,” Madison said, “got into an argument with Dad in the restaurant last night just before dinner. I’m afraid we all heard Jenni say she would kill him. Although I’m not sure that’s exactly how she put it.”
“Close enough!” Jimmy said. “We all heard him say it.”
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
There was only one other room in building B that was occupied. This time a woman opened the door when he knocked. “Mrs. Finch?”
“Yes?”
“Mrs. Gregory Finch? Lili?”
“Yes. That’s me.”
Pierce held up his badge. “Detective Pierce. Miami police.”
“Oh. Please come in.”
“Is your husband here?” Pierce asked as he came into the room.
“Yes. He’s in the bathroom. We were just getting ready to go get some breakfast. Give me a minute.” She left and went to the bedroom door and called. “Greg! The police are here.”
“Just a second!” Gregory’s voice called back. A minute later he walked out, shaved and decently dressed. “What can I do for you?” he asked the detective.
Pierce held up his badge again. “Detective Pierce. Miami police.”
“What can we do for you?”
“I have no doubt that you’re aware that your father was murdered last night.”
Greg shook his head. “How could we not know? It had to be one of the more horrible things I think I’ve ever had to live through.”
“Ghastly!” Lili agreed.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“Before or after he was murdered?” Greg asked.
His question surprised Pierce. “Both!”
“Well, earlier, we had all gone down to dinner. My mother arranged for all of us to come here on this trip, and she put together this little schedule of things for all of us to do. And one of them is dinner at seven o’clock every night.”
“The dining room here is wonderful!” Lili added.
“I’m sure it is,” Pierce replied.
“Anyway, Mom and Dad came into the restaurant last, after everyone else,” Greg continued.
“I noticed she did that the first night too,” Lili added. “I think she did it purposely.”
“I see,” Pierce said, waiting for them to continue.
“Anyway,” Greg continued. “Like she did before. Mom stopped at each table when she came in and said a pleasant word to everyone. But when she got to Kyle…” He shook his head. “All hell seemed to break loose. Kyle and my dad got into some kind of argument, and a minute later, Kyle went stomping out.”
“I see,” Pierce replied. “Do you know what the argument was about?”
“I think it had something to do with Mom calling Jenni, Kyle again. And the two of them were spouting things back and forth for a moment, and then Dad got into the mix.”
“So Jenni…or Kyle…got angry just because your mother referred to her as Kyle?”
“Actually, I think there was more to it than that,” Lili replied. “Mom was…upsetting. Actually, she can be that way a lot, but her entire tone of voice seemed to be pretty nasty towards Jenni. I think she actually called her a freak at one point.”
“So you think that Jenni had a good reason to be angry?”
Lili shrugged. “Maybe. Although the whole thing seems strange to me, now that we know that Mom paid for all of Jenni’s medical expenses to become a woman.”
“She did?”
Lili shrugged again.
“That’s what we heard,” Greg replied.
“Your mother paid for Kyle to become a woman, and yet she still calls him Kyle. In fact, I’ve noticed that everyone else does too.”
“We didn’t know about the operations until yesterday,” Greg replied. “In fact, it came as quite a shock to all of us.”
“I see. Why is that?”
“Because Mom is…kind of cheap! She’s gone out of her way to not help anyone out with all that money she has. And now we all hear she paid a fortune for the medical bills for Kyle? It just isn’t fair!”
“No, it’s not!” Lili added. “When Kaitlyn was born, that’s our son’s youngest daughter, she had a heart problem. The doctors had no choice but to go in and fix it right away. We all went to Mom to ask her to help with the expenses, but Mom flat out refused to give even a nickel! It was cruel! Positively cruel! Greg and I have been bending over backwards ever since to help Chris and Emily out with the bills, but we were just barely getting by ourselves before that. Now things are simply worse.”
“And now we hear that she’s paid for Kyle’s bills to turn himself into a woman,” Greg added. “It just isn’t right!”
“If she paid all that money for his medical expenses,” Pierce asked, “why would Kyle be so angry with her? I would think he would be nothing but eternally grateful.”
Greg and Lili both shook their heads. “No telling with Kyle. But he was always strange to begin with. All his life!”
“I see,” Pierce said again. “Mr. and Mrs. Finch, how did you find out that your father had been murdered?”
“Ashley told us,” Lili replied. “We were at the bar, and suddenly Ashley was there and yelling to get our attention. And she told us he was dead.”
“Ashley wasn’t at the bar before?”
“Ashley is only eighteen?” Lili answered. “Yes, she was at the bar earlier, and yes, we allowed her to have a few drinks, but I didn’t allow her to get drunk like everyone else. I sent her back to her room after a while.”
“But she didn’t stay there?”
“Um…evidently not.”
“I see,” Pierce said yet again. “I’m afraid that I’m keeping everyone on this island for now. Nobody leaves until this business is finished and I say you can go.”
“What about at the end of the week when we all have to go home?” Lili asked.
“Hopefully, this will all be sorted out long before that!”
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
Detective Pierced braced himself. Meeting the widows of the victims was always the most difficult thing to do. He had purposely put this interview off for a while, trying to give her both time to sleep and time to recover. They never recovered enough. He knew that before he got there.
According to the printout that the hotel manager had given him, Judith Finch was the only person staying in building A. Why? But he had already seen that she had spread her family out in all the buildings of the hotel, including only one person in the cheap rooms – building D. Since she had rented the entire hotel, was she trying to make a point about spreading everyone out to at least somewhat occupy the entire place? Somehow, he doubted that.
He was surprised to see a uniformed policeman from the nearby town of Islamorada walking around in front of the building. Other than to make sure that nobody left the island, he didn’t need the police here at all. He was sure that by now, even the crime lab boys who had shown up half an hour after he got here this morning, would be done and gone. And this was nowhere near where the crime had taken place.
He walked up to the policeman and pulled his badge out. “Detective Pierce, Miami police,” he introduced himself. “Is there a reason you’re back here?”
“The widow,” the policeman replied. “She’s convinced that since someone murdered her husband, that she could be next. She wanted the protection.”
“She thinks someone is going to murder her next? Why?”
“I don’t know. But the woman is loaded. And loony!”
Pierce nodded. “Thanks. I’ll talk to her about it.”
“I’d appreciate it. We’re short staffed enough as it is.”
Pierce headed for her room and knocked, more politely than he had knocked on any door so far. He had to knock a second time before she finally answered. He was surprised to see that she
was fully dressed. He would have thought she would be grieving too much to be as put together as she was…for an old lady. “Good morning,” he said as he held up his badge. “I’m Detective Pierce with the Miami police. Mrs. Finch?”
“It’s about time you got here!” Judith Finch replied.
Pierce was surprised by not only what she said, but the rude tone of her voice as she said it. “I was trying to give you time to recover, Ma’am.”
“Recover, my ass! Did you arrest him yet?”
“Who?”
“That disgusting rude pervert that murdered my husband.”
“What disgusting rude pervert?”
“Kyle of course. Who else?”
“Kyle?”
“Didn’t the police tell you? I told them already that he had done it. In fact, when they came and told me what happened last night, I saw him sneaking around down there by where my poor husband’s body still was. The police already knew he had done it. And I confirmed it last night.”
Pierce shook his head. “Ma’am, we have no evidence to support an arrest at this time.”
“Well isn’t the fact that he flat out said he was going to kill him enough? The damn pervert told him he was going to kill him, and now look, just a few hours later, and I’m without my husband. We were married for fifty-six years!”
“I’m sorry for your loss Ma’am, but I still have to have enough evidence first.”
“Well just talk to him. That’s all you need to do. Oh, but when you do, don’t be fooled by the way he looks – just like a woman. He even goes around insisting his name is Jenni now – which it’s not! That should be all the evidence you need!”
“I’m sorry Ma’am but that’s not the kind of evidence we need. And I’ve already talked to him.”