“They wanted to be the biggest dental practice west of the Mississippi.” Stephanie snorted again. “Greedy idiots. Brian told me all about it. They were pressuring him to join.”
“They wanted Doctor Larson to buy a franchise?”
“They wanted Brian to organize all his offices under their corporation. They... Terrance and Scott were furious that Brian dared to turn them down.” She finally lowered her purse to her lap.
Summer sat back. “So Terrance and Scott were rich then.” She considered that. “I mean, more than just doctor rich.”
“Oh yeah.” Stephanie nodded. “But it was never enough for those two. They wanted more and more practices. Brian just...” Tears ran down her face.
Summer put her hand on Stephanie’s back. “So Brian...” She coaxed.
“Brian was going to leave his wife for me. Finally.”
“I see.” Summer looked at Maxine for help.
“And Scott got in the way?”
Summer started to cry again. “Scott told Brian that if he didn’t join them, he would tell his wife about us.” She put her hands over her face. “So... so...so” She sobbed.
“So Brian told them off?”
“No! He broke it off between us!”
“But you said everything was fine between you two. That it was a misunderstanding.” Maxine said.
Stephanie wheeled around in her seat to face her. “What was I supposed to say? That I meant less to him than his practice? That he was only using me?” She screamed. “What?!”
“Well, I...” Maxine started.
“I’m glad he’s dead. Dead! Stabbing was too good for the likes of him!” She clutched her purse tightly.
“What’s in your purse, Stephanie?” Summer asked.
“None of your business is what’s in my purse!” Stephanie stood. “That’s what’s in my purse!” She was practically screaming.
“I’m sorry.” Maxine now stood as well. “Okay then.” She looked down at Summer. “Maybe we need to talk to Bill again.”
“Bill?” Stephanie said. “Not Bill Volker. You need to stay away from that idiot.”
“What?” Summer said. “Why?”
“He’s insane. If you show him any sort of attention, he decides you are his perfect woman and won’t leave you alone.”
“Really?”
“It’s happened before. In fact, he was following me around here every time Brian wasn’t around,” She laughed. “Brian confronted him about it. He told Bill to stay away from me and Bill punched him in the eye.”
“So Bill punched Brian.” Summer said.
“Yeah; isn’t that a joke. He fights for me and dumps me in the same day!” She slung her purse over her shoulder. “Huh!”
Maxine gestured toward the door with her head. “I just remembered we need to meet with our editor, remember Summer? We need to get going, Stephanie.”
Summer stood as well. “I’m sorry, Stephanie. I really am,” she lied.
The two women walked off leaving Stephanie in the room.
“That woman is N-U-T-S nuts,” Maxine said when they left the room. “She’s a filbert with walnut dusting.”
Summer stuck out her tongue. “Ewww; filberts are gross. Walnuts aren’t bad though.”
“She’s both of them, I think.”
“Nuts but not murderer nuts.” Summer said.
“Did you hear what she said? Bill attacked Brian. I still think Bill’s the killer, if you ask me.”
“Yeah? Not Miss hiding stuff in her oversized purse who was also jilted because of our recently murdered dentist?”
“When you put it that way,” Maxine said. “She makes the list as well. But Bill...he’s...”
“But why would Bill kill Scott?” Summer interrupted. “I can understand maybe attacking Brian after they fought and killing him accidentally, but Scott?” Summer shook her head. “I don’t know. Brian is moving up on my list. The old ‘blackmailed for having an affair’ motive seems pretty strong to me. Better than Bill gets puppy-dog eyes for girls that pay attention to him.”
“But she said Brian broke it off with her.” Maxine said.
“Right. But that doesn’t mean that Scott and Terrance weren’t still leaning on him to join their business.” She snapped her fingers. “And if they had any real incriminating evidence on him about his decades long affair, that would be even more reason for Brian to try and get rid of them! We need to find out who called Scott before he went into the bathroom.”
“Inspector Thorndyke isn’t going to give us anything.”
“No, but there are a couple of officers that might.” Summer took her recorder out of her pocket and turned it off. After she put it in her satchel, she pulled up on her collar, straightening her shirt, exposing even more cleavage. “We should see what we can get out of those two officers.”
“Burgers and beer.” Maxine said. “And probably some high school-style groping in the back of their squad car.” She scrunched up her face. “I’m sticking with Stephan, thanks.”
Summer nodded. “Tell you what, I’ll go see what I can get out of those two if you go talk to Brian.”
“Talk to Brian? About what?” Maxine smirked. “Don’t you believe Stephanie?”
“Are you kidding me? Not on your life. Go see if his story matches hers and we’ll meet back here...” Summer looked at her watch. “At six. That gives us an hour to compare notes before your date.”
“Compare notes and freshen up, you mean.”
“You look gorgeous no matter what,” Summer assured her friend.
“Thanks. But what if Shirtless-Brian doesn’t want to talk to me?”
“Who wouldn’t want to talk to you?” Summer smiled wide.
“Brian, for starters.” Maxine said.
“Just give it a try. See if you can get him to talk about his dealings with Scott and Terrance. And Stephanie.” Summer smiled. “And Bill too.”
“Anything else?”
“That’s probably it. Meet you back here at six, okay?”
“All right.” Maxine said. “I just hope he’s got a shirt on by the time I get to his hotel. Dad-bod just doesn’t do it for me.”
Summer laughed. “I’ll get Stephan to take his shirt off to counter-act Brian’s dad-bod. One look and I’m sure you’ll forget all about that dentist.”
Maxine sighed. “I’ll bet.” She closed her eyes. “When I ran my hands up his belly to his chest, it was like a steel washboard. Oh man.”
“Focus!” Summer shoved her friend. “Now get going! Meet you back here!”
“Fine, fine. First the soft dentist, then rugged security guard.” With that she walked toward the entrance of the convention center, heading toward Brian’s hotel.
TWENTY
Summer watched her friend leave, then walked toward the men’s room. The two officers were still standing there, guarding the entrance. As she approached she saw Officer Simmons nudge the other -Officer Mattis- and point her way. Mattis fought to keep a smile off his face as she approached.
“Change your mind?” He asked.
“I’m still on the fence Officer Mattis,” Summer said.
“Call me Jerry.”
“I’m still on the fence, Jerry,” Summer smiled. “Figured I’d come back over and see if there have been any developments.”
Jerry nodded. “Actually yeah, things have developed, now that you mention it.”
“Oh? Did my suggestion of checking the phone give the detective a lead?”
Officer Simmons shook his head. “Haven’t seen the detective yet to ask him.”
“Oh. Oh! So whoever it was that took the knife out of him forgot the phone!”
“How did you know the knife wasn’t in him?” Simmons narrowed his eyes.
“Yeah, how did you know that?” Jerry repeated. “You been in there?” He jerked a thumb at the bathroom. “It’s still a crime scene, you know.”
Summer shuddered. “The body is still in there?”
Jerry
shook his head. “No, the coroner took him away, but it’s still a crime scene.”
“Until the murder is solved.” His partner pointed out. “Until then, they don’t know if they need to go back in there to look at something.”
“And the knife from the hallway has been picked up too.” Summer said.
“Hallways?” Jerry asked. “It sure seems to me like you’ve been in there. Oliver?” He turned to his partner.
“Yeah, seems that way to me too. Maybe you should talk to Detective Thorndyke.”
“Yeah,” Summer crossed her arms because it pushed her breasts up even more. “Because that went so well last time. I’m full up on insults for the day, thanks.”
Jerry tried to keep eye contact with Summer but failed miserably.
Oliver didn’t do much better.
“I’m just trying to do my job is all. I mean, doesn’t freedom of the press mean anything anymore?”
“Huh?” Jerry said as he looked up.
Summer moved to her toes and peeked over his shoulder. “Is... Detective Thorndyke still in there?”
“No; he left to do his detective thing.”
“What if you escorted me in there, Jerry?” Summer asked. She dropped back down on her heels. “Just so I can get enough for a story.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Oliver said. “If Thorndyke found out we were cooperating with you...”
Summer winked at him. “That’s why we have these things called anonymous sources. No one will ever know.” She looked over her shoulder. “ You keep an eye out and we’ll just run in there real quick like.”
Oliver looked at his partner. “I don’t know.”
Summer smiled sweetly at Jerry. “Come on, Jerry. What do you say?”
Jerry looked from Summer to his partner and back again. “Okay, but just for a sec.”
“Did you say just for sex?’ Summer teased.
“What?” Jerry gave her a double-take. “What? No! I said sec. Right Oliver?”
Oliver looked at Jerry wide-eyed. “What did you say?”
“I heard sex.” Summer said.
“I said sec! As in second!” Now he wasn’t sure what he had said. “Oh man.”
Summer poked the man. “Okay, okay. Just for a sec.” She emphasized the last word.
Jerry nodded at his partner. “We’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
“Thanks, Oliver.” Summer said. “I’ll let Maxie know how cool you were about this.”
“Yeah?”
Summer nodded solemnly. “Oh yeah. She can’t resist a man in uniform.”
Oliver beamed.
“After you, sir,” Summer gestured at the door. She casually looked around to make sure no one was watching.
Jerry opened the door and slipped in. “Follow me.”
Summer followed close behind him.
When the door closed, Jerry turned to face Summer. “Now that we’re alone...”
Inwardly Summer cringed, expecting a full-on pass from the man. “Yeah?”
His eyebrows went up. “What’s your name?”
“Summer.”
“Summer, that’s nice.” Jerry started again. “Listen Summer, I want to make a career in law enforcement. I think I’m good at it, but Thorndyke doesn’t care.” He jerked a thumb toward the stall where the body was. “I asked if I could side-seat with him on this investigation, get some experience, and he just shot me down.”
“Oh,” Summer said, relieved.
He took a step forward, closing the distance between them. “And so I was thinking...”
“Oh?” Summer said again, back to expecting a pass.
“If we work together, maybe we can figure out who the murderer is and Thorndyke will give me a chance. Right now he just thinks I’m just a stupid Trooper. But I can test for Sergeant in three months and I know I can make it.” He smiled. “Honest, that’s all I’m asking for. I’ve got a girlfriend. It’s pretty serious.”
“Oh.” Summer said, relieved.
“You’ve got to give me more than ‘oh’.” Jerry said. “Well? I know it’s not your job but if you’re trying to write a story about the murderer, knowing who did it would really help, right?”
Summer put her finger to her lip. “So you’re saying I help you out and you’ll give me an exclusive?”
Jerry nodded. “Yeah.” He narrowed his eyes. “I know you’ve been poking around talking to people so maybe by accident you found something out that might help with the investigation. If we work together, and I can solve it, then yeah, you get the exclusive. That would be good for your career too, right?”
“It wouldn’t hurt,” Summer said. “So what do you have so far?”
Jerry put his hands on his hips. “We are sharing information both ways, right?”
“Right.” Summer said. She started around the wall to the left. “We share what we know. You solve the murder and I get the exclusive. What could be better?”
Jerry put his hand on her elbow since she was still walking away from him. “Summer.” He pulled her around. “I’m being serious here. Thorndyke acts like he does towards the press because they have completely let him down one time too many. He’ll never let it happen again. If you want someone on your side on this, then you need to be honest with me. Otherwise...”
Summer put out her hand. “You have a deal, Officer Jerry Mattis. Let’s solve this murder and give both our careers a boost.”
Jerry shook her hand. “Okay then.” He let go of her hand and pointed. “To the stall.”
The pair walked around the privacy wall to the open area and toward the stall.
“It’s got to be weird being in a guy’s bathroom,” Jerry said. “First time?”
Summer shook her head. “Not even close.”
Jerry laughed. “You sneak in to men’s rooms a lot?”
“Sneak? No. I covered a cheerleading competition at the arena. Nationals. And because it was pretty much all girls, they had tuned all but a couple of the men’s into women’s bathrooms.” She thought back. “They put tarps over the urinals and changed the signs.”
“Then they brought in the couches and the bars?”
“What?”
“Since we’re being honest, you can tell me,” Jerry said. “I know that’s why women all go to the bathroom at the same time and take forever; the couches and free bars.”
“I’m not allowed to say,” Summer said. “Rules of the Sisterhood.” She pulled the stall door open. “So Scott was found here with a knife in him then.”
“Summer.” Jerry said. “If we’re going to have any sort of relationship with this case, you need to stop lying to me.”
“What?”
“You found the body, didn’t you.” Jerry said flatly. “Right?”
Summer exhaled. “Fine yes. I found the body.” She leaned on the side of the stall. “We... Maxine and I were following Scott because we thought the story here was a scandalous affair between two dentists. We wanted to talk to him about it and while we were catching up to him, he came in here.” She looked into the stall. There was blood on the floor in front of the toilet. “And he never came out.”
“I see.” Jerry pulled the door open completely so they could both look in. “The deceased was fully clothed,” he said, taking an official tone, “which means he was not actually using the toilet when he was killed. In fact,” He pointed at the floor. “The initial blood drops are a little farther out from the toilet so he was probably standing in the doorway when he was stabbed.” He turned and faced out from the stall, still holding onto the door. “Like this. Standing in the doorway, facing his attacker.” He looked at Summer. “Stab me in the chest.” He pantomimed stabbing himself in the chest. “Like this.”
Summer started to stab him with her right hand then switched to her left. “Like this?”
“You don’t know what hand to use?”
“The stab came from the left to the right, so whoever did it was left handed.” Summer said.
Jerry smiled at her. “Oh yeah, I think this is going to work out nicely for both of us. Okay.” Jerry grabbed her fist, holding it to his chest. “And he gets stabbed and pushed back by the force.” He staggered back and sat on the toilet, pulling her with him.
Summer shifted her feet to keep her balance as she leaned over him, her face very close to his.
“The stab killed him almost instantly; it penetrated his heart, I heard the coroner say.”
Summer pulled her hand out of Jerry’s. “Then they let go but left the knife.”
As Summer pulled her hand out of his grasp, Jerry leaned forward. “Pulling him forward.”
“No; instead of falling forward off the seat, he was leaned back.” Dutifully Summer pushed him backward against the wall. “Like this.”
Jerry stayed leaning back “Because when they pulled the knife out, it pulled him forward. They pushed him back because whoever stabbed him...” He opened his eyes wide. “Wanted to look him in the face!”
“No, that’s not it.”
Jerry looked around the stall. “It has to be. The knife was found in the hallway. The attacker stabbed him, pulled it out, and pushed him back.”
Summer grimaced. “No. When I first saw Scott, the knife was sticking out of his chest still and he was slumped forward.”
“Really? But why...”
“I’ll tell you if you’ll stop sitting on the toilet while we talk.” Summer interrupted him. “It’s creeping me out.”
Jerry stood, making sure he didn’t step in the blood. “Yeah, I guess so.” He walked out of the tall to the sinks, turned and leaned against them. “You moved the murder weapon?”
“No. When I first saw him, it was when I followed him in here to confront him. That’s when I found him with the knife sticking out of his chest. He had only been dead a few minutes at that point. Less than ten. Then I freaked out and left. A few minutes after that, when I came back in with the security guy, that’s when the knife was missing. And that’s when we discovered the access hallways and found the knife.”
“So whoever stabbed him left the knife, then came back for it.”
“Why would they do that? I mean, that’s pretty risky coming back to the scene of the crime, right?”
Pulling the Trooth Page 11