Red, White, and Blue Murder

by Kathleen Suzette

  He grinned as I handed him my keys and he picked up the clipboard and headed outside to my car. I watched him go and wondered if Julie finally had had enough of Anita putting her down and did something about it. But then, perhaps Jack got tired of her putting his wife down and he did something about it.

  Chapter Thirteen

  There’s something about taking care of a chore that you’ve been putting off that makes you feel almost invincible. Getting the oil changed in my car was one of those chores. Even though it wasn’t difficult to do, it was something I always put off until well past the three thousand mile point. As a teen, my father had lectured me over and over about staying on top of it, otherwise, I’d run the car out of oil and burn up the engine. But in all my years of driving, I rarely got it done on time.

  To celebrate, I stopped off at the Cup and Bean to get an enormous iced coffee. During the summer I just couldn’t get enough of the frosty brew. As a bonus, they had an inexpensive thirty-two ounce cup that I loved to indulge in.

  I got in line hoping the young man that I’d spoken to a few days earlier would be there, but it was a teenage girl and an older woman behind the counter. I stepped forward when it was my turn and glanced up at the order board above them. “What’s good today, ladies?”

  “We’ve got a cherry bomb latte that is, well, the bomb,” the older woman said and chuckled. “We’ve also got blueberry scones to go with it.”

  I glanced at the baked goods case, and while the scones did look tempting, I wasn’t at all hungry. I just needed something to drink. “Can that cherry bomb latte be made iced?” I asked.

  She nodded. “You bet it can. What size can I get for you?”

  “The biggest you’ve got,” I said and chuckled while the younger girl rang me up and I paid for my drink.

  I picked up the cup and glanced around. It was early afternoon and there were only a few customers in the shop enjoying their coffee. I spotted Julie Sommers sitting at a corner table staring at her phone, and I headed over to her.

  “Is this seat taken?” I asked, indicating the chair across from her.

  She glanced up from her phone, looking confused for a moment, and then she smiled. “Hello, Allie,” she said. “No, that chair isn’t taken. Go ahead and have a seat.”

  I pulled the chair out from the table and sat down. “How are you doing today, Julie?”

  She looked at me from behind the thick lenses in her glasses and smiled sadly. “I’m doing all right. I’m still trying to figure out how my cousin could have been murdered on that beach while everybody sat around and no one noticed.” She shook her head. “I still don’t get it. I don’t understand why we didn’t hear a thing.”

  I opened my mouth to answer and then I remembered that Julie was wearing a black bathing suit at the beach that day. We had been using the flashlight apps on our phones, but it wasn’t like looking at things in bright daylight. Would we have been able to tell if there was blood on the front of Julie’s bathing suit in that lighting?

  “I can’t get over it either,” I said carefully. What her husband said came back to me. She was envious of her cousin. And her cousin had been unkind to her. Some might even say cruel. “I wish we knew what happened.”

  She nodded and picked up her cup of iced tea and took a sip. “The more I think about things,” she said and glanced around the room, then turned back to me. “The more I think that her son may have killed her.” She whispered the last.

  Although I had my suspicions about Mike, I was surprised to hear her say it. “What do you mean? Why would you think that?”

  She was quiet a moment, her eyes on a spot on the table between us. Then she looked at me again. “That boy has changed. He’s not the same kid he once was. He’s bitter and hateful. His mother couldn’t hold a normal conversation with him without him getting angry and storming off. I hate to say it. He’s a kid, after all. But if I were being honest, I would say chances were very good that it was him.”

  I sat back and tried to think about what the boy had been wearing that night. As I recalled, it was simply a bathing suit without a shirt. Had he been able to stab his mother and then go out into the ocean and wash off the blood? Hadn’t he come up to us after his mother’s body had been found? From the direction of the ocean? I thought it was possible he had killed her, but the thought sickened me. What kind of person did something like that?

  “Do you think he’s capable of it? We’re talking about a seventeen-year-old boy. Could he kill his mother in cold blood? Especially with all those people sitting around?”

  She took another sip of her iced tea and set the cup down. “Yes. This past school year Mike was in trouble all the time. He was suspended three times, and if the last time hadn’t been so close to the end of the school year, the principal said they would have expelled him and not allowed him to come back. Ever. He suggested that Anita get some therapy for him, and told her he could have one more chance, but if he continued behaving the way he had this past year, they wouldn’t allow him back. He’ll be a senior next year.”

  “What was he getting in trouble for?”

  “Fighting. Mike has so much anger in him, it took almost no provocation from other kids at school, and he would just completely lose control and beat on them. Honestly, I’m shocked that the other parents didn’t bring charges against him.”

  “It was that bad?” I sat back in my chair and took a sip of my coffee. The chocolate and cherry flavors mixed perfectly with the iced coffee. I took a long drink from my straw.

  “Yes, it was that bad. The last kid he got into a fight with ended up at the hospital.”

  I looked at her wide-eyed. “At the hospital? That had to be scary. I’m surprised the school didn’t kick him out.”

  She nodded. “The only reason they let him stay is that he was on the football team. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for that, I think they would have kicked them out after the first fight at the beginning of the year. But he’s the star player on the team. The golden boy who can do no wrong.”

  I hated to hear that kind of thing. Athletics were important, but if he couldn’t control himself, he was a danger to the other students. The principal should have taken measures to either make sure that the problem was corrected, or by expelling him.

  “He is a big kid,” I said thinking about this. Although he wasn’t extremely muscular, he was tall like his mother.

  She nodded. “Yes, he’s a big kid and you can imagine if he was picking on smaller kids, how awful that would be. Anita was beside herself. She had hoped that a trip here to the beach would give him some space to think about what he had done. She was going to make an appointment with a therapist to help him with his anger issues as soon as they got home.”

  It was concerning that Bill was looking into marriage therapy, and Anita was looking into therapy for Mike. What was going on in that household that made everybody need therapy?

  “Hopefully Mike will get the therapy he needs,” I said and took another sip of my coffee. “I almost forgot, I just stopped by the garage and talked to your husband. He changed the oil in my car. I hate doing it, I always put it off until the last minute.”

  She smiled and nodded. “Me too. Even with my husband being a mechanic, it seems like I never get around to getting that oil changed when my car needs it.”

  I nodded. “Julie, were you close to your cousin?” I asked carefully. I didn’t want to insinuate anything, but after all I’d heard, I had my doubts.

  She stared at me blankly for a moment. “Of course we were. We grew up together, and we were both crushed when she moved away. Why wouldn’t we be close?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, sometimes family relationships can be touchy.”

  “Well I assure you that we got along just fine.” She fidgeted and took another sip of her iced tea, looking away.

  I wasn’t buying it. “Are you sure? Because somebody may have mentioned that you didn’t get along with her. In fact, she might have been unkind to y
ou. It’s okay. You can admit that maybe things weren’t as good as you would have wanted them to be. Things happen.”

  Her eyes got big. “I don’t know who has been telling you these things. It’s a lie. There was nothing wrong with our relationship. We got along just fine. I can’t begin to tell you how devastated I am that she was murdered.”

  I nodded. “Well, I’m glad to hear you were close. But sometimes we don’t like to admit certain things in our relationships. Sometimes there are things that we don’t like to admit, not even to ourselves, and it can build up over time. Maybe we might do something we later regret.” I studied her and watched as her cheeks turned pink.

  “What are you trying to say?” She slammed her plastic cup down on the table. “Exactly what are you trying to say?”

  I was shocked at how fast her attitude changed. “I’m wondering if you did something to hurt your cousin.” I said it quietly and tried not to sound accusatory, but that was hard to do when you were asking someone if they had committed murder.

  She gasped and pushed her glasses back up on her nose. “Allie, you’re out of your mind. I would never do something like kill my cousin. Are you seriously asking me this?”

  I shrugged. “Don’t get upset,” I said mildly. “I mean, if you had a great relationship with your cousin, then you had a great relationship with your cousin.”

  She blew air out through her mouth and her cheeks went from pink to red. “Allie McSwain, you’re out of your mind. I would never do such a thing. I’m going to call Alec and talk to him about this. Does he know that you’re running around accusing people of murder?”

  “Now Julie,” I said slowly. She had gone from sad to mad fast. “I didn’t say anything of the sort. And Alec would agree with me, so I’m not saying anything I shouldn’t. I’m glad you had a good relationship with your cousin.”

  Her mouth dropped open again. “Look, sometimes we argued. So what? Who doesn’t argue? It was just her personality to be cantankerous. That’s why she and her son had so many issues. Honestly, ask anyone that knows them well and they’ll tell you the same thing.”

  I nodded. I could feel the eyes of other patrons in the coffee shop on us. “I don’t doubt it for a minute.” Only I did. I doubted it for more than a minute.

  She suddenly jumped to her feet and picked up her cup and her phone. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to be going. I’ve got all sorts of things to do around the house.”

  Before I could say anything, she stormed out of the coffee shop. I watched her go, wondering at the huge anger such a little person could hold.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Why are you going so fast?” I panted. It was just after six o’clock in the morning and Alec and I were running out on the trail. My legs were whining and complaining about every step I took.

  He glanced at me over his shoulder, eyebrows arched. “What do you mean why am I going so fast? I’m not even warmed up yet.”

  I groaned. “Why does it feel like we’ve been running for hours?”

  He slowed down until I drew up alongside him. Then he looked at me and smirked. “It’s been ten minutes.”

  “Are you sure? I think you’re making that up,” I said and glanced at the athletic watch I had on my wrist. I groaned again. He was right. It had only been ten minutes.

  He chuckled. “This is what happens when you slack off on your runs. I don’t know what you were thinking. The weather’s beautiful, and it’s the perfect time of year for running.”

  I eyed him. “The humidity has been awful.”

  “It’s not that bad this time of the morning,” he pointed out, swinging his water bottle in his hand. How did he have so much energy this early in the morning?

  I breathed out. “I know, I know. I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but I’ve skipped a few runs.”

  “A few?” he asked, raising those eyebrows of his again.

  “Okay, I skipped most of them. I don’t know why I’m doing it, but ever since we ran that marathon, I can’t get in the groove of things again.”

  “You’re just using that as an excuse.”

  I groaned. “Fine, I’m using it as an excuse. And I don’t know why. I’ve been running for years and I love it, but all of a sudden I’m just not running as often as I normally do.”

  “It’s called discipline. You just need to get on a regular schedule again,” he said breezily.

  I sighed. Alec hadn’t slacked off a bit since the marathon. Once he’d rested and recovered, he was back at it as if we’d never run that marathon. But as for me? I was eating cupcakes and sleeping in. He was right, I was making excuses. Every morning when my alarm rang, I shut it off, promising myself I was going to get out of bed, and then I just lay there until I fell asleep again. I didn’t like it. And I didn’t like that my legs were complaining now because I had lost some of my conditioning. I also didn’t like the extra five pounds I had gained since the marathon.

  “All right, I’m making a new commitment to getting my running done. I expect you to hold me to it,” I told him as we started jogging again. I kept expecting my legs to get into the groove of running, but they felt stiff.

  “I will hold you to it,” he promised. “Isn’t it a beautiful day?”

  I nodded. “It is. What’s going on with the case?”

  He chuckled. “You’re so predictable.”

  “I may be predictable but, oh wait a minute, I am unpredictable and you know it. I’m not going to try to make an excuse for it, either.”

  I filled him in on everything I had learned about the case as we ran slowly. I wasn’t sure about Julie. I just didn’t know what to think. Never would I have thought of her as a killer, but I’d been surprised before. After I filled him in on everything, I turned and looked at him as we ran.

  He suddenly slowed to a stop and looked at me, barely breathing hard at all. “Wait, you accused Julie of murder?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say I accused her of murder,” I said as I took deep breaths to slow my breathing.

  “Haven’t we had this discussion before? Haven’t I asked you not to accuse people of murder? You know it’s just going to get you into trouble.”

  I shrugged, breathing much harder than he was. “I wouldn’t exactly call it accusing her of anything. Yes, I did bring up certain facts, and to be perfectly honest with you, I was shocked at what her husband told me about her relationship with Anita. Why was Julie putting up with the way she treated her? It doesn’t make sense to me, and I could see where she might get tired of the whole thing and kill her.”

  He snorted and shook his head. “There is no accounting for some people. Some people put up with far more than they should, and others dish out far more than they should. But you have to be careful about what you say to people. You know that.”

  “I know. But what have you found out?”

  “I found out who the blond guy was that Anita was talking to that day.”

  “Dave Jones?”

  He glanced at me. “Dave Jones.”

  “I told you that.” I went to a bench along the walking trail and began stretching my legs now that they were warm. Maybe that would help me run faster. Fat chance. But my muscles were stiff, and I needed the kinks worked out of them.

  “Yes, you told me that,” he said. “But what you didn’t tell me is that the two of them had a relationship before either of them were married.”

  I stopped stretching and looked at him. “What do you mean they had a relationship before they were married? You mean with each other?”

  “Yes, together. They were high school sweethearts.” He chuckled. “Of course I meant with one another.”

  I stood up and looked at him. “Really?”

  He nodded and began stretching his hamstrings. “Really.”

  “Wait, where did they live? Here? Or in Omaha?”

  “They lived here. Anita’s family lived here when she was a kid and moved away during her senior year of high school. Apparently, the two of t
hem dated through most of high school until the time when her family moved away.”

  “Wow,” I said, taking this in. “Wait a minute, how do you know this? Who told you?”

  “I have my ways.”

  “Why didn’t Julie tell me?” I asked and began stretching my other leg.

  “That’s a good question,” he said. “Because rumor has it that Julie also had a thing for him.”

  My mouth dropped open. “Wait a minute, they were both in love with the same guy? And Julie ended up marrying his cousin?”

  “No one said they were in love,” he pointed out. “But they certainly had eyes for one another.”

  “Did Julie ever date him?” This was getting stranger by the minute.

  “It appears that she didn’t, but it was well known around the high school that she had eyes for him. He apparently flirted with her while dating Anita.”

  “How on earth did she end up marrying his cousin?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s a good question. Maybe her husband didn’t mind that she had eyes for his cousin when they were younger.”

  “I wonder if she just settled for him since she couldn’t have Dave?” The thought was sad, and certainly, there wasn’t any proof of that at this point, but it was something to look into.

  He chuckled while he stretched. “That mind of yours sure does jump to conclusions, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, it does. That’s how I find things out.”

  “By jumping to conclusions?”

  “By having brilliant ideas about things that are going on and then by looking into those brilliant ideas.” I straightened up. “It’s a good thing you have me around to help you out.”

  He chuckled again, and we stretched for a few more minutes, then we took off running again. The stretching helped a little, but I was afraid the only way I was going to get back into the condition that I’d been in when I was training for the marathon was to discipline myself to run regularly again. Unfortunately, Alec was correct. Not that I needed to admit that to him.