A Body on Fitzgerald's Bluff

by Anna Celeste Burke

  “I doubt it. Hank Miller likes us. I can tell.” As she said that, she looked sideways at me. I was on the verge of blushing again and decided to move the conversation in a more worthwhile direction.

  “How did you find out about Howard’s summer place?” I asked.

  “Charly called us,” Carl replied.

  “Why?” Neely asked.

  “She said all her other operatives were on assignment.” As Carl said that, he adopted the blank expression he often wore which I now recognized as a cover for his troublemaking.

  “Yeah, of course, she did.” Carl cracked a smile in response to my sarcasm.

  “It was worth a try.”

  “No fooling around right now, please. Tell us what really happened,” Neely insisted.

  “Charly called us and said she needed us to go see if Howard Humphrey was at work in the pro shop. If he was there, we were supposed to chat him up—ask him if he’d seen Diana Durand on the beach near where he’s renting that cottage—alone or with someone else. Of course, we weren’t going to do that without finding out why she wanted us to do it. That’s when she told us you all were poking your noses into this whodunit business elsewhere.”

  “She didn’t say that either.”

  “Not exactly,” Joe admitted. “Something close to it though which is why Carl and I agreed to help you ladies.”

  “Will you stop with the ‘ladies’ bit, please?” I asked. “Are you taking social skills lessons from Deputy Devers?” Both men stared impassively at me now. Maybe they were playing with me again or simply clueless about the concept of social skills. Either way, I let it drop. “Oh, never mind.”

  “Why weren’t you speaking with Howard when we arrived at the shop if you were on assignment for Charly?” Neely asked.

  “Howard said he’d be right with us. He was finishing up an inventory or something like that and stepped into the stock room. While we waited, we were looking at the new drivers they carry in the shop—too pricey for most of the golfers that play on the Dunes Course but some fine equipment.” Joe swung an imaginary golf club. “Then you two walked in and our plan fell apart.”

  “I think it was game over before that, don’t you? There’s no way you two could have questioned Howard Humphrey once Detective Miller walked into the store.”

  “Good point, Neely,” Carl said.

  “It all happened so fast,” Joe added. “Just like when Howard bugged out of there…” Carl interrupted him.

  “Como alma que lleva el diablo, right, Joe?” Carl spoke to us before Joe could reply. “That means ‘like a soul fleeing the devil.’ Joe’s teaching me important Spanish phrases.”

  “That’s pretty good, Carl. In this case, el diablo was Hank Miller. Howard got all agitated when you addressed him as detective,” Neely pointed out.

  “I noticed.”

  “Well, if you need us to do anything else, don’t hesitate to call. We don’t mind being Charly’s angels, do we, Joe?”

  “Charly’s angels. That’s a good one, amigo.” We stopped at Neely’s car as the two men continued to wherever they had parked. By the time Neely was behind the wheel, they were back toot-tooting the horn on the golf cart they’d used to make the trip from Seaview Cottages to the Blue Haven Resort.

  It suddenly hit me that the Seaview Cottages community is close enough to the resort that Dave Winnick and his development team might find it irresistible. With a few upgrades, it would be a quick way to expand the resort’s holdings. Just when I’d settled on the notion that Diana’s death was tied to the way she treated men or the petty scams she was running, I was drawn back to the prospect that there was a bigger game afoot. I shared that possibility with Neely as we settled into her car.

  “If the HOA meeting minutes are correct, the community leadership already ran ‘Big Blue’ off once. What if Mark’s got it right about Dave Winick’s ambitions? He could be skulking around our property because he’s figured out some way to get his grasping hands on Seaview Cottages and expand the empire he plans to rule one day.” Neely backed out of the parking place and headed to the parking lot exit before she responded to my comment.

  “If he’s back after the HOA Board members flat out rejected Blue Haven Resort’s recent offer, I wouldn’t be shocked if his next attempt was an underhanded one. That’s assuming he’s not a wanton strangler looking for another neck to wring, right?” I shuddered at Neely’s words.

  “The two possibilities aren’t mutually exclusive, are they?” I paused. “In fact, if Diana got wind that a big deal is in the works, there’d be lots more money at stake than the thousands she was stealing from Edgar or the Blue Moon Boutique.” Neely nodded as she turned onto the roadway leading back to Seaview Cottages.

  “I’m sure Diana would have found that kind of money irresistible,” Neely suggested.

  “I agree. It’s also the kind of money that could have gotten a troublesome woman like Diana killed,” I added.

  “By spilling the beans to Edgar and making a tidy sum for herself on the side, you mean?” Neely asked.

  “Yes, although it was a dumb move if she hoped to get a share of the really big money. If Edgar had taken her up on the offer, a leak like that could have killed the deal. Or worse, if Dave Winick’s no longer playing by the rules. Of course, if the information she wanted to sell to Edgar exposed unethical or even criminal behavior on Winick’s part, that would have given him a motive for murder.”

  “I hear you, Miriam. Dave Winick put up with a surprising amount of trouble from Diana, but I can’t imagine he’d let her get him sent to prison. Let’s say he’s back circling us like a shark because he smells blood in the water given our community’s money problems. Do you think he’s courting Greta Bishop to entice her into voting his way?”

  “Yes, although it would take more than Greta’s support and her vote to get his hands on our community at this point. Seaview Cottages has money problems, but we’re not in default on loans or behind in the payment of back taxes or anything that would force us into receivership.”

  “Who has access to the accounts you’ve been reviewing? Could a member of the Executive Committee, like Greta, allow Winick to get his hands on the Seaview Cottages accounts if she’s become lovesick or greedy enough to do his bidding? Has anyone monkeyed around with the books?”

  “I haven’t done an audit, but we could ask for one if we want to verify that there are receipts for the money that’s been spent since the last official audit was done.” I paused wondering if I was going off the deep end because, in hindsight, I now wish I’d been more vigilant about my personal financial affairs. “When I went back over expenditures for the past few years, nothing jumped out at me as unusual this year. Greta’s one of the people who can sign checks or move money from reserves into a checking account on behalf of the HOA. There must be a rule on the books about how large a sum she can spend or reallocate without authorization from the Finance Committee or other members of the Executive Committee. These are great questions. I’ll go over the rules and see what I can find out.”

  “Maybe we also need to go back to Edgar and quiz him again about the information Diana wanted to sell him. He may know something he doesn’t realize he knows—that’s often how our minds work. You can bet Charly’s working on the big swindle angle already, though. Let’s finish our work for the day, and then have a debriefing session this evening.” I nodded enthusiastically at Neely’s idea.

  “My house, okay? Believe it or not, I still have scones left. I kind of got carried away.”

  “Let’s do it. We’ll order takeout from Chef Tony, and no one will have to cook a thing.” Neely said. “Why don’t we park in the beach lot rather than going all the way home? It’ll be quicker than walking back to the old Sinclair Cottage and other beachside homes. We’ve got plenty of walking to do once we start making the rounds. There’s a cluster of older places that used to be part of the original Writers’ Circle. They’re not far from the beach lot. After that, we’ll
have a bit of a hike to visit those that are more far flung.”

  “That makes sense. We should probably walk the entire route from the cottages to Fitzgerald’s Bluff. I imagine the police investigators have done that already, but maybe they missed something that might explain what happened the morning Diana was strangled.” I looked down at my feet and sighed. “It’s a good thing our undercover disguises include sensible shoes.”

  “I don’t own any other kind, do you? I never was a fan of stilettos even before I gave up on high heels altogether years ago. We’ll get our exercise in for the day if we walk all the way to Fitzgerald’s Bluff. We don’t want to miss a clue if there is one, do we?” Then, Neely whacked the steering wheel excitedly. “You know what? You should write about this mystery, Miriam. It doesn’t have to be ‘true crime’ if you don’t want to detail all the criminal procedures and gross tidbits from the autopsy report or crime lab. If you take up the pen, you’d be our first contemporary writer in residence.”

  “Ha! Of Murder, Men, and Motives—an epic tale by Miriam Webster. If I take up the pen, it’ll require more guts than I’ve exhibited so far.” That comment wasn’t only about my untested talent as a writer or the fact that the mystery of Diana’s death remained unsolved. I was worrying about the mysteries in my own life that I haven’t had the courage to tackle openly either.

  Neely glanced at me as she drove, perhaps wondering what I meant by my lack of guts or my sudden silence. She didn’t prod. In fact, she had another suggestion altogether.

  “While I’m driving, why don’t you give Judi Stephenson a call and find out what she wants to tell you.”

  “Okay, I ought to be able to reach her in Duneville Downs since we’re still on the road and not down in among the dunes.”

  “This close to the resort, you’ll have plenty of bars on your phone. Blue Haven Resort doesn’t want to inconvenience its guests.”

  Neely was right, of course. My phone call went through instantly and Judi Stephenson picked up on the first ring. When I told her who was calling, I used the name Tara, at first, and then quickly added that my real name was Miriam Webster. Before I could explain further, she interrupted me.

  “Andi told me all about it,” she said in a terse, irritated tone. “I should hang up on you, but I won’t because I hope you’ll get to the bottom of the sleazy business Diana Durand was involved in. That includes the thefts that got me fired. I don’t want that stupid job back, but I’d like to have my name cleared and a letter of apology from Blue Haven Resort management in case the matter comes up again.”

  “Believe me, I’m as eager as you are to find out what happened. One question I have for you is what merchandise the security team found in your drawer. We’re trying to understand how big a scam Diana was running.”

  “That’s easy—it’s burned into my memory by the horror and humiliation I felt. They found an entire box of those hand painted silk scarves—each one individually wrapped as they are before we put them out on display at a couple hundred dollars each. The box was shoved inside one of those large, ridiculously overpriced designer totes as if I planned to walk out of there with the thing in my hand. There were half a dozen pieces of costume jewelry wrapped in tissue paper and stuffed inside the bag, too. I’d say the haul that day would have been close to three thousand dollars retail.”

  “Wow!” I exclaimed. “Not bad for a day’s work. I wonder how she planned to get it out of there.”

  “Well, she might have been able to walk out of there. No one would have thought it was odd for her to carry such an expensive bag. Or she could have planned to pass it off to one of her men friends who stopped by. I don’t like accusing anyone after what I’ve been through, but that big guy, Boo, often carried a backpack that was large enough to stash the merchandise I’m describing to you. I’m even more hesitant to accuse a coworker, which is why I wanted to speak to you rather than relay information through Andi. Diana had a parade of men come through the shop who worked at the resort, including her golf instructor and his boss. Both men visited her several times while I was in the shop. Maybe one of them was her partner in crime that day. I don’t know. It still makes me sick to think about it. She ruined my life. I won’t say that I’m happy she’s dead, but I’m not all that sad, either.”

  The bitterness in her voice was understandable, but still set off an alarm in my head. Judi went back on the list along with Dave Winick as a person who could have wanted revenge against Diana. Of Murder, Men, and Motives was going to be a long work of fiction if we didn’t start cutting down on the number of suspects soon. The men she’d mentioned were on it, too.

  “Okay, so the mysterious man with scars and tattoos you’re calling Boo, Mark Hudson, and Howard Humphrey are the men you’re talking about, right?”

  “Yes. If you already know the men I’m referring to, you’ve been doing your homework. Please don’t let it get back to Boo that I sicced you on him. He’s scary. Not just the way he looks, but he’s eerily quiet. Sometimes, I didn’t hear him come in or leave—but I knew he’d been through the store because I’d catch a whiff of his cologne in the air.” I sat up straighter. A little shiver passed through me. I hadn’t seen Boo, but from his description, the idea that he could have been the person lurking nearby when Domino and I discovered Diana’s body was creepier than spotting Dave Winick spying on us.

  “Cologne? What cologne?” I asked, anxiously. Neely wavered a little on the road and I instinctively reached for the steering wheel. She slapped my hand lightly, steadied the car, and drove on while I picked up the conversation with Judi.

  “I don’t know. Some cologne Diana said she bought for him. Stole is probably more like it. If not out and out theft like she was doing at the boutique, then a dirty trick like the one she pulled on Howard Humphrey’s uncle Edgar. I couldn’t believe it when I found out she’d traded in the newer model for a much older one until she started droning on and on about Edgar’s money. From the way she talked, Edgar Humphrey was her personal ATM.”

  “How did Howard take being tossed aside for his rich uncle?”

  “I’m not sure since he’s almost as quiet as Boo. Andi must have told you Howard kept creeping around even after she dumped him. And even after his uncle dumped her, which I found weird. That’s one reason I wonder now if he was more than a simpering idiot mooning over her and was helping Diana rip off the boutique.”

  “I understand. How about the other men involved with Diana? Not just Howard, but Boo or Mark Hudson. Did you ever see any of them object to being kicked to the curb as she moved from one guy to another?”

  “Diana came storming into the store one day griping about Mark Hudson telling her off for sneaking around behind Edgar’s back. She was the one who was angry, not Mark. He might have been the first guy who really called it quits with Diana. Even Dave Winnick kept crawling back.”

  “He did?” I asked. “Does that mean Dave and Diana were still involved romantically after she started seeing Edgar?” The car weaved again, ever so slightly, as Neely shifted in her seat when she heard me ask that question.

  “Truthfully, I don’t know what they were doing. I almost bumped into them on my way to the parking lot. They were standing just outside the exit from the mall area only a few inches apart, speaking intently about something. I assumed it was romantic, but I can’t say that for sure. It was an awkward moment when they realized I’d spotted them. Diana sort of glared at me. Maybe that’s how I became the lucky winner of the get Diana out of jail card, and she picked me as the coworker to set up.”

  “Hmm. That’s not a bad idea, Judi. Especially, if she thought you were eavesdropping and overheard them discussing something you weren’t supposed to hear.”

  “I wish I had heard something. A little leverage might have given me a chance to bargain my way out of losing my job. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to see them together that way. As shrewd as Diana was, don’t you think she would have been afraid to target me if she thought I had information I c
ould use?”

  “As in blackmail, you mean?” Neely’s grip on the wheel didn’t wobble this time, but she glanced at me, taking her eyes off the road for a split second. Maybe I should have waited until we were safely parked in the beach lot before calling Judi Stephenson.

  “Exactly. That’s what Diana would have done if she’d come up with even a scrap of information to use to manipulate someone. Am I right?”

  “Yes,” I said as the wheels in my head went around and around, adding another motive for murder to the list. Maybe Diana had tried to get the owner to buy back the information she’d attempted to peddle to Edgar. Presuming that was Dave Winnick, he might not have responded well to a blackmail attempt from Diana. “This conversation has been very interesting. Useful, too. I appreciate your willingness to talk to me.”

  “No problem,” she sighed. “You probably won’t be surprised to hear that the police have contacted me.”

  “Hey, they’ve had a couple of conversations with me already.”

  “Lucky you. Andi told me you found Diana’s body on Fitzgerald’s Bluff. That had to be uncomfortable, to say the least. Have the police made any progress in finding her killer?”

  “I found it more than uncomfortable, Judi. As far as the progress they’re making, the lead investigator has made it quite clear that he doesn’t see me as a person with whom to discuss the case or share information.”

  I’m not sure why, but the conversation had started to make me feel more than a little uncomfortable. As a wave of paranoia swept over me, I wondered if she was asking for information about the police investigation to find out what they had on her. I took a deep breath. Nothing in her question had suggested that’s what she had in mind, although there was an apprehensive tone in her voice. Before I spoke again, I considered the circumstances in which the police would be interviewing Judi.

  “This all has to be very hard for you. Just share the same information with them that you’ve given me. It’s quite enlightening. They’ll have an even better idea than I do about how to use it.”