“Right, right.” Addams nodded in recollection. “Look, could you and... are the Gettys back yet?”
Peabody looked back out at the open room. “No, they’re still out doing the searches on Townsend’s office and apartment.”
“Could you do the interview with her? I need to get my head around some of this earlier stuff. I don’t think that she has probably anything new to add, but we do need to get everything in place.”
“Yeah, I can handle that.”
Peabody grabbed a new tape for his recorder and walked back to the Skinners. “Thanks for coming in. We do really appreciate it. We just want to ask Tracy a few questions about last night, just to make sure we have all the information.”
Cecil Skinner looked at his daughter, but she didn’t seem to be displaying any signs of being worried about talking with the police. “Okay, that’s fine. That’s why we’re here,” he said. “But I want to be with her, to make sure she’s okay.”
“Sure, no problem. We would want that. We’ll meet in Conference Room A right over here.” They followed the officer down the hall and into the room.
After they sat down, Peabody remembered he was actually addressing a child and should probably start the interview a little differently. “Tracy, would you like something to drink, a pop or anything?”
Tracy folded her hands on the table. “No, thank you. Dad said we would go out for ice cream after this and I shouldn’t have anything else before supper. Mom doesn’t want me to have too many sweets.”
Peabody tried not to think of the doughnuts that he had eaten so far that day. “Good idea. She’s smart, your mom.” He took out his notebook, which was filling up. He realized he was going to have to soon get a new one, for the first time in months. He also put a finger over the record button on the tape player and, getting a nod from Tracy’s father, pushed it. “First, for the record, I’m going to just ask you some general questions about you, then we’re going to go into what you saw last night.” Tracy nodded. “Okay, could you tell me your name – your whole name?”
“Tracy Elizabeth Skinner. My middle name is for my great-grandmother. Who I never met.”
“Great. I guess I’m named after George Washington, our first president. And how old you are?”
“I’m eleven. But almost twelve. Next month. Dad says I can no longer order off the kid’s menu at Mac’s Café then, so we better take advantage now.”
“And what grade are you in?”
“Sixth grade. I’m in junior high this year.”
“Junior high, really? Are you on any of the sports teams? I think that’s when they start, isn’t it?”
“Well, not the school team. That’s seventh grade. But we have a sixth-grade basketball league that plays at the YMCA. I do that, but Jody Spencer hogs the ball and does all the shooting. I don’t get to make many baskets. But I have been playing soccer for a couple of years. I’m not very good at it, but I’m getting better.”
Peabody laughed. “I think that’s really the point at this age – to get better, right?”
Tracy shrugged. “That’s what the coach says. And my mom and dad.” Like most sixth graders, she probably wanted to be good now, not later.
“Great, you’ll get there.” Peabody smiled at Cecil Skinner. “Those were the easy questions. Now we’re going to get into last night. I understand you were at the village green then, when everything was happening. Can you tell me what you saw?”
“Yes, I was there, but not when the policewoman was hurt. On Wednesdays, I come over to walk Dad home when he gets off work. We sometimes stop for ice cream then too. I like the chocolate pecan, but I’ll maybe get peppermint chip if they have it, but they don’t always have it. I guess more around Christmastime. But we didn’t get any last night because of...you know. That’s why we’re going this afternoon.”
Peabody stifled a chuckle. “Okay. What made you come over to where everybody else was?”
“I heard a loud yell, sort of like ‘What?’” Tracy yelled it out. “So I looked over and saw people walking fast toward that little building...”
“The bandstand?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s what it’s called. So I went over to see what was going on. I was a little early at the grocery store, and Dad wasn’t out yet. That lady, Mrs. McMahon, I think her name is, and her dog, Fifi, were also going over. I sometimes get to pet Fifi, so I went over to them.”
“Did you see anything?”
“Well, I don’t know what you mean by anything.”
Peabody nodded in recognition of the vagueness of the question. “I guess I should have just said, what did you see?”
“I saw a lot of people, but it was getting dark out, and I didn’t really see anything on the green park area except somebody lying on the ground and a couple of policemen next to them. I guess that was the policewoman.” She shrugged. “So I watched the people that were watching, you know what I mean? That’s all I could really see. I did see Mr. Peters and that lady from the bank sort of hold hands, but then let go, as if they didn’t want anybody to notice that. But I saw them.” She giggled. “I know Mr. Peters because he usually has a comic book for me to read when I go into his store with Dad.”
“Did you see anybody walk or run away?”
She shook her head. “No. I did see that older man coming from the other side of the park to cross the street, but he was going to where the people that were watching were. He came over and talked with the younger guy, I don’t know his name either, coming out of the office right there next to the bank. Well, he’s not really young, just not as old.”
“Older man? Not Mr. Peters?”
“No, he’s taller...and skinnier. Not that Mr. Peters is fat,” she looked at her father, but he just raised his eyebrows and didn’t say anything. “Just this guy is skinnier. I don’t know his name, but I see him downtown sometimes.”
“Mr. Johnson? Or Mayor Plummer?”
She shrugged again. “I don’t know. Could be, but I don’t know which is which. He was somebody I see sometimes, but not so I would know him to talk to. He never says anything to me, except ‘Hello, little girl’.”
Peabody paused for a moment. “Did you see anybody throw anything away? On the ground, or in the trash can?”
“Yeah, I mean, yes. That lady from the bank, and the one man that came out of the office, and that other guy – the ones I don’t know. Right after the second guy crossed the street. They all put something in that trashcan. Oh, and Fifi’s owner. She dropped in something that she was carrying.” Tracy lowered her voice. “I think it was something Fifi had done. I don’t think I’m supposed to say what.” She turned to her dad again, but he just smiled and looked the other way.
“You didn’t see what any of the rest of them put in there, particularly the men?’
“No, it was all too small. Just something in one hand.”
Peabody smiled. “Well, that’s more than anyone else could tell me. Thank you. Is there anything else?”
“No, that’s when the ambulance came, and then I saw Dad come out of his work, so I said goodbye to Fifi and left.”
Peabody stood and leaned over to shake her hand. “I think that’s all I need right now, Tracy. Thank you very much. You’ve been very helpful. We’ll let you know if we need anything else.” He also shook Mr. Skinner’s hand, and the father and daughter left, with Tracy wondering out loud which ice cream she should have on a Thursday.
After they left the building, Peabody went back into the room to sort through the contents of the trashcan again. It didn’t take him very long to find what Mrs. McMahon had deposited, and not much more time to discover what Charlene Matthews had probably thrown
away.
CHAPTER 28
Addams entered the conference room just as Peabody was unfolding a piece of paper from the trash. He was followed by both Gettys and Wannamaker, as they had finally returned from their searches.
“You found something?” he asked Peabody.
“Yeah, not really relevant to the attack, but I was following up on what the Skinner girl saw. She said she saw Charlene Matthews throw something into the trash.” He held up the paper. “I imagine it was this. It’s a note from Hank Peters to her suggesting they meet later that evening. I don’t think it’s anything we need to pursue.” He showed the paper to Addams, who acknowledged it was exactly that, then took it back and put it in his shirt pocket. “But it does seem to confirm their relationship.”
Addams raised an eyebrow at his keeping the paper.
“Well, Susan has been wondering about it, as well as half the town. It gives her something that she knows and others don’t yet.”
Addams rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything. He did go back to the door and call out, “Marie, come in here for a few minutes. We’ll leave the door open if the phone rings.”
She came in and closed the door behind her. “I will know if it rings.”
Peabody chuckled. “She always knows. I don’t know how, but she always does.”
Everybody sat except Addams. Since she didn’t expect to be using the board, even Hazlett sat down. He frowned and looked down at the table, then took his seat at the head, in Jeff Pierson’s usual seat.
“We need to look at where we are. A lot of things have been happening. Jeff has confessed to Mrs. Mathison’s death and is currently in a cell waiting on bail. Harry Townsend has confessed to the thefts of the objects in the hidden closet and is also in a cell. He shouldn’t have any trouble making bail for that, but District Attorney Alvarez wants to hold him until we figure out whether we have enough to charge him with the assault on Stephanie. And he steadily denies that assault.”
“He is our strongest suspect and the only one with a motive so far, so it is going to be up to us to collect evidence...either to support his guilt or not. What do we have? Sam and Seth, anything from his office or home?”
One of them shook his head, but the other one said, “Well, nothing to tie him in with Officer Reasoner. Nothing that goes with that engraving on the knife, nothing with blood on it. However...”
The first Getty pulled out a list from his notebook. “In his house, we did find three things that matched the reported stolen items. An expensive watch in a drawer, a portable television in his bedroom, and an electric can opener in the kitchen. The television set matched the reported serial numbers, and the watch had engraved initials on the back. Not ‘JJ’, but ‘KC’, matching the watch stolen from the Creagers. The can opener had no specific identifying marks, but there was one on the list that was not in the closet, so we’re guessing on that one.” He folded the paper back up. “That seems to confirm his responsibility for the thefts.”
“Anything else?” Addams asked.
This time they both shook their heads.
Wannamaker spoke up. “I found nothing in either of Mayor Plummer’s offices or in his home. We drove out there together. I have to tell you, I didn’t go into his closets or drawers or anything like that at his home, but I’d rather not unless we have something more to go on. He does have a couple of personal things with ‘JJ’ on them, like a towel set that has both ‘JJ’ and ‘PJ’ for his wife Paula Jean, just things for the bathroom, but there was more with the ‘JP’ and ‘PP’ as he had reported. Those were things like personalized stationary or wine glasses or coasters, and it was all something that has both sets of initials, and nothing that looked like that etching on the knife.”
Peabody drummed his fingers. “Well, I think we all thought that was a real long shot, didn’t we?”
Addams turned to Hazlett. “Marie, you’ve been on the phone a lot this afternoon. Anything new with you?”
Hazlett didn’t need any paper to refer to. “There’s no change in Stephanie’s condition. I know we wanted to hear that first.
“The second most important piece of news is that I had Emil Hansfelder and Amos Spencer from Spencer’s Antiques go out to Grace Mathison’s house to look at the contents of the closet while Phil Culbertson was still there. I wondered about the real value of what was still in the house. Particularly, they looked at the artwork – both paintings and small sculptures, books, and jewelry. Interestingly, some of these are very valuable, real collector’s items. In fact, one of the books is a first edition Samuel Clemens. You know, Mark Twain. A first edition Huckleberry Finn, if you can believe it.”
“From garage sales?” Peabody interrupted.
Hazlett nodded. “From garage sales. Some of them are listed as stolen, but with no indication that the owners were aware of their worth as anything more than personal possessions.”
“You said some of them are listed as stolen?” Addams asked. “So some of them are not?”
“About half of them are on the lists Phil Culbertson had. I plan on looking further back in our records to see if there’s anything reported from earlier thefts, maybe even from years before.”
“So...” Addams mused, “…and I’m just wondering out loud, is this something that Harry Townsend would have been aware of? That there was a real value to these things? The impression I get is that his crimes were more ones of opportunity than through the expectation of making serious money.”
Peabody stirred. “He’s already confessed to the thefts.”
“I know, I know. I just find it curious. It now magnifies the seriousness of his crimes, which will increase the likelihood of his imprisonment, when he may have thought that he was just looking at probation before. Therefore the confession. But now there’s a more vital motive for keeping it secret. And for keeping Stephanie silent.”
They all paused for a moment, each in their own thoughts, then Peabody, who hated silences, spoke. “Tracy Skinner turned out to be more observant than all the rest combined. She saw Hank Peters and Charlene Matthews hold hands briefly. No one else in town has ever seen that. She saw three, well, four, people throw something into the trashcan. Mrs. McMahon threw dog poop – it’s over there in a baggie, Mrs. Matthews’ note.” He held it up. “The ‘younger guy’, who I assume is Harry Townsend, and an ‘older man’. But she doesn’t know whether that was Mel Johnson or JJ. She doesn’t really know them.”
“We do have something we know Townsend threw away,” Addams said. Wannamaker and the Gettys looked surprised. Hazlett never seemed surprised by anything. “He said he had a card with Steph’s phone number. We found it.”
“Was he stalking her?” One of the Gettys asked.
Peabody shook his head. “No, he wasn’t, it wasn’t anything like that. But don’t ask.”
The other Getty looked as if he wanted to ask anyway.
Peabody threw his hands up. “He was going to ask her out on a date, okay? It’s not a big deal, but I just don’t want to think about it.”
“That doesn’t sound like he was planning on stabbing her,” Wannamaker commented.
“No, it doesn’t.” Peabody didn’t appear happy with that conclusion. “But maybe he changed his mind.”
Addams continued, getting back to the point he was trying to make, “But we don’t know what the ‘older man’ threw away. There’s nothing specific to either JJ or Mel. I looked, but it could have been anything, a tissue, gum, anything.”
“Where did the ‘older man’ come from? And Townsend?” Wannamaker asked.
Peabody pulled out his notebook. “She said she saw Townsend come out of the office, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t come out earlier and th
en go back into the office before she got there. The ‘older man’ came from across the green.” He closed the book. “But again that could have been either JJ or Mel. They were both seen coming from that direction.”
Addams cocked his head. He looked around the room, but nobody seemed to have anything further to say.
“We have solved two of the three crimes – Mrs. Mathison’s death and the yard sale thefts, and we have a suspect already incarcerated for the third – Stephanie’s attack. We have direct evidence in the knife and the handkerchief, but have not been able to link them to our suspect. I do have some additional questions now that we know just how valuable some of these stolen objects are, and we are dealing with Townsend’s denial of being involved in the attack. His denial made more sense when we thought we were addressing worthless junk, because he didn’t have much of a motive, but it also makes sense looking at the fact he had Steph’s phone number and apparently hoped to use it. At some point.”
He stood up.
“I’ve got some ideas, but first I need to call District Attorney Alvarez and share with her where we are. Anyone have anything to add?”
There was no response, and he opened the door to leave the room. The others continued to sit, apparently not sure where they would go.
CHAPTER 29
Martin Addams entered Mac’s Café and stopped, his eyes passing over the room. He finally found who he was looking for and walked over to the booth, sliding in on the far side of the table.
“Evening, Mel. Mind if I join you?”
“Bud!” Mel Johnson nodded in surprise. “Go right ahead. Or should I call you ‘Chief’?”
“Bud is fine. That’s how people know me, and I’d like it to stay that way.” Marge MacIntyre placed a glass of water with lemon, and a menu in front of him, but he didn’t pick it up. “Give me a couple of minutes, Marge. Don’t know how long I’m staying.”
Johnson waved at the table. “You’re welcome to join me in a meal. I seem to be running out of people to dine with.” He sighed. “Grace is dead, Jeff is in jail, I assume Harry is also still in jail.” He glanced around the restaurant without really seeing anything, “It’s getting lonely.”
The Body on the Roof Page 18