Murder at the Truck Stop: A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series Book 16)

by Dianne Harman

  “Thanks for everything, Roxie, and have fun tonight.”

  Using her Bluetooth from her car she called Josh to see if he’d found out anything about Susie and Little Paul or anyone else.

  “Hi Kelly, I was just about to call you and see how your meetings went with Jet and Snacks. Find out anything?”

  “Yes. I found out they both have very good alibis, actually pretty airtight. Here’s what they told me.” She spent the next few minutes giving him an abbreviated version of her meetings with both of the men. When she’d finished, she said, “And you, what did you find out about Susie and Little Paul.”

  “Their last name is Glenn. Susie was married when she was quite young. When she was married to her former husband, she was arrested for being a party to a domestic dispute situation. From what I read, and keep in mind this took place twenty-five years ago, she and her then husband had a violent argument that was heard by several of the other people in the apartment building where they were living.

  “Seems like they both had guns and they both used their guns to accentuate the argument they were having, but that’s all they did – shoot off their guns. No charges were brought by either one of them, so no arrests were made. The officers who answered the call said it was a classic domestic dispute.

  “Which means she has a history with guns and if she had one twenty-five years ago, I’d bet living in a big rig on the road, she’d have one now,” Kelly said.

  “That’s probably a good bet, but unproven. Anyway, back to what I found out. Little Paul is perfectly clean and so is Susie, other than that one incident. I got the report back on fingerprints at the crime scene. Because it’s a public restroom, there were hundreds of fingerprints, almost all of them smeared on top of another one, so it’s of no help at all, which doesn’t surprise me. It was more a matter of doing due diligence than expecting to find out anything.”

  “Josh, a thought just occurred to me. I know you took a statement yesterday from Mac Ambrose, the owner of the truck stop. Any thoughts about him? I mean, he obviously was there at the time of the murder. Did he see anything that might be relevant?”

  “No, and it’s funny you’d bring up his name. I almost had the feeling he just wanted the whole thing to go away as quickly as possible. He didn’t seem as upset about Kimberly’s death as one would assume her employer would be. Maybe he knew about the bookmaking and thought it was good riddance, because he could lose the truck stop over something like that.”

  “I think I need to talk to him and to Susie and Little Paul tomorrow,” Kelly said. “The truck stop is only an hour from here, and from what Jesse said, mornings are the busiest times. Maybe there’s someone else there who saw something. Mike’s still sick and he’ll be out tomorrow, so I can go while he’s sleeping and be back by lunchtime.”

  “Makes me a little nervous, Kelly. You know one of them could be the murderer. I’m not sure Mike would be very supportive of this. I’d go with you or go by myself, but we are really at bare bones down here, and I can’t leave.”

  “I understand, and since all Mike wants to do right now is sleep, I don’t think he’d care one way or another. Hopefully, this will all be over before he feels well enough to get nervous about what I’m doing.”

  “Would you do me a favor and call me after you talk to them. My comfort zone will be in a better place once I know you’re safe and sound.”

  “Will do. It would probably be around 11:00 or so in the morning.”

  “Good. I’ll be waiting. By the way, I had a thought earlier today. There are several other truck stops on that highway. I called the closest ones to where the murder occurred to talk to the owners or managers. Unfortunately, I had no luck connecting with them, but I left messages for them to call me. My thinking is that maybe one of the truckers or someone who knows something will mention it at one of the other truck stops.”

  “That’s a brilliant thought. I’ll be anxious to hear what they have to say. From what I’ve seen, these truckers love to talk since they spend so much time alone, and hopefully we’ll get a new lead that will pan out. Nice job.”

  “Jury’s out, Kelly. The idea might have been good, but that may be it, sum and total. Simply a good idea. Talk to you tomorrow.”

  Kelly looked at the clock on the dashboard of her car and saw that she had enough time to call Jesse before she got home.

  “Hi, Kelly. I can’t stop thinking about Kimberly’s murder. Find out anything today?”

  “Yes and no. Here’s what I did find out,” she said as she related to him a summary of her meetings with Snacks and Jet and her recent conversation with Josh.”

  “So it looks like Snacks and Jet are off the suspect list, right?”

  “Unless they contracted out the murder, and although I’m not in law enforcement, I’d have to say yes.”

  “I’m glad to hear it, because I like both of them and I would hate for one of Pete’s drivers to have been the murderer. Pete’s really a good guy, and I’m sure he’d take it personally. That’s good news.”

  “Two things, Jesse. I understand you’re a fan of the chocolate lasagna at the coffee shop, and the reason I called is Roxie told me you had asked me to give you a call.”

  “Right on both. The lasagna is addictive, enough said. Here’s why I wanted to talk to you. This may be absolutely nothing. I kind of have a soft spot in my heart for Lizzie and sometimes when I’m at the truck stop, she’ll come in for a cup of coffee. She makes no pretenses about what she does for a living, but even so, she’s a very well read and interesting person. You know how I love to read, so we often share books and what we think of certain ones.”

  “Kind of a hooker with a heart of gold?” Kelly asked.

  Jesse laughed. “I don’t know if I’d go that far. Anyway, one time we were talking about a book where the protagonist was illegitimate and had spent her whole life trying to find out who her father was. She was on her deathbed when she got an anonymous letter telling her who he was. She died with it in her hands.”

  “Seriously? You read a book that cheesy?”

  “No, I listened to it on tape. And yes, I continued to the end because I didn’t have any other books to listen to. It was one of the worst books ever.”

  “Okay, but I fail to see what that has to do with Lizzie.”

  “Lizzie commented to me when we talked about the book that it was one of the worst books she’d ever read, but she wanted to see if the woman found out who her father was. And here’s what I think is relevant. Lizzie said if she ever found out who her father was, she’d probably kill him or anyone else who was responsible for him abandoning her. She said it was no surprise she’d ended up working the truck stop. What chance did a kid with no father have?”

  “Hmmm. I’ll have to think about that. My immediate reaction is that she sounds like she’s making an excuse for the way her life turned out. I’ve read about hundreds of people whose fathers abandoned them and they went on to do great things or at least make something of their lives.”

  “That was my immediate thought, too, but just then Kimberly brought my bill, and I was running late, so I paid it and left. I never had a chance to follow up with Lizzie and get more details about what she meant.”

  “The part about killing. Well, I suppose she could be another suspect,” Kelly said. “Maybe if she thought Kimberly was encroaching on her business with truck drivers, it would be a motive. Let me see if I hear anything new and interesting tomorrow. I’m going back to the truck stop in the morning. I want to talk to a couple of people there.”

  “Make it around 8:00 and I’ll meet you there,” Jesse said.

  “Done deal. See you then.”

  CHAPTER 21

  Kelly walked into the house and was immediately met by three tails wagging attached to dogs who were clearly excited to see her. “Hi guys, let me check on Mike and then I’ll feed you. I know it’s about that time.”

  She walked down the hall with the three dogs eagerly following behind
her, knowing that since she’d said the word “feed,” it was probably imminent. When she got to the bedroom, she stopped at the door, not wanting to wake Mike if he was asleep.

  Kelly heard the dogs’ toenails clicking on the wooden floor and made a mental note to call the groomer, remembering that all three of them were overdue to have their nails clipped. She didn’t want to enter the room, knowing the sound of their nails would probably wake Mike who, she could see from the doorway, was asleep. She thought he looked like he was running a fever again, but she decided if his body thought he should sleep, it probably knew more than she did.

  She turned around and headed back to the kitchen to check on her Bratwursts which had been slowly simmering in beer since she’d left the house several hours earlier. Satisfied they were doing fine she prepared the dogs’ food and fed them. Kelly knew a lot of dog owners had to separate their dogs when they fed them, but fortunately, she’d never had a problem with Rebel, Lady, and Skyy trying to raid the other one’s food dish.

  “Kelly, are you home?” she heard Mike call out in a weak voice.

  She hurried back to the bedroom and walked over to the bed. “How are you feeling?” she asked as she put her palm on his forehead.

  “Not very good. I’m pretty sure I’m running a fever again. Would you get me some aspirin and fresh water? Why don’t you put that oregano oil you told me you bought in my water? Maybe that will help.”

  “I’ll be right back with both of them. Do you feel like eating anything? Want some of the chicken noodle soup?”

  “No. I just want to go back to sleep. How did your day go?”

  “Fine, everything’s under control. Let me get that water for you. Just rest until I get back. Would you like me to turn on the television for you?”

  “No, I just don’t have the energy to watch or absorb whatever the talking head on TV would be saying. I’ll just lie here until you get back.”

  She returned a few moments later, gave him water with oregano oil in it, aspirin, and told him she wanted to change his pajama top. Evidently his fever had broken at some point in the afternoon, and she could feel the dampness in his pajama top.

  The last thing this poor guy needs is to get the chills, she thought as she took his pajama top from him and helped him on with the fresh one.

  “Mike, I’m going to change clothes now, because I’m going to sleep in the guest bedroom again. I don’t want to wake you up by changing my clothes later. You go back to sleep. I’ve put a little bell next on your nightstand. If you need me, just ring the bell, but I’ll be checking on you throughout the night. Okay?”

  “Yeah. Sorry I’m being such a wuss, but man, this is a mean case of the flu. Hopefully I’ll be back to normal by tomorrow.”

  “Sleep well, my love. Remember to jingle the bell if you need me.”

  Kelly changed clothes and by the time she’d finished, Mike was fast asleep. She went back to the kitchen and turned on the television, planning on watching the news while she ate her Brats cooked in beer.

  Wow, this is really good. Think the secret is the slow cooking and this spicy mustard is a real compliment. Definitely one for the coffee shop. Charlie could start it when he gets there in the morning, and it would be perfect for the lunch crowd. I’ll list it on the menu as “Brats ‘N Beer.”

  A few minutes later her reverie was broken by the sound of her cell phone ringing. She stood up from the table and walked over to the counter. She saw Josh’s name on the screen.

  “Good evening, Josh. I take it you’ve found out something.”

  “I have, but I don’t know if it means anything. I just got a call from the trucking company where Mac Ambrose worked for a number of years. I had called them earlier doing, as we said earlier, due diligence.”

  “Smart. What did they have to say?”

  “I don’t know quite how to interpret it or if it needs to be interpreted at all, but I thought you should know everything possible before you meet with him tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, Josh, I appreciate that.”

  “The man who owns the trucking company, Jeff Logan, said Mac was a very driven man. He’d told Jeff shortly after he started working for him that he would not be with Jeff forever. He said he wanted to own his own trucking company or a truck stop, so he could make some real money.”

  “How long did he work for Jeff?”

  “Five years. Evidently he had an uncle who died and left his estate to Mac. That’s partially how he was able to afford to buy the truck stop, but Jeff says although truck stops are profitable, he had the impression that Mac wanted to make a lot more than that kind of money.

  “What are you suggesting? Fill in the blanks for me because I’m not seeing any nexus here.”

  “Okay, and Kelly, this is so hypothetical that even I’m embarrassed to voice it. Let’s say that Mac found out about the bookmaking operation and told Kimberly he’d fire her unless he got a piece of the action. She tells Snacks that business is down, but in reality, she’s giving Mac a large cut of it.”

  “I think that’s very feasible, but that still doesn’t answer the question of why she was murdered.”

  “What if Mac decided he didn’t need her, that he could run the bookmaking operation on his own. That would certainly give him a motive, farfetched as it is.”

  “Yes, that would be a motive and money is always a huge motive. I have an idea. I think it should be relatively easy to find out whether or not a bookmaking operation is still going on at the truck stop. I’m meeting Jesse there tomorrow morning. I’ll give him a call now and ask him to see if he can find out. I’m sure no one would tell me.”

  “Good idea. To change the subject, how is Mike doing?”

  “Not all that great. Fever spiked again, and he’s sound asleep. Figure that’s his body talking to him, but I’m hoping he’ll be better tomorrow. From what I’ve heard, this type of flu usually lasts about three days.”

  “Tell him everyone at the station, no, make that the few people left at the station, are sending healing thoughts to him. Talk to you tomorrow.”

  As soon as the call was ended, Kelly called Jesse.

  “Two phone calls in the space of a few hours, Kelly? To what do I owe this good fortune to?” Jesse asked as he answered the phone.

  “I just had a call from Josh, and here’s what he told me,” Kelly said, recapping her recent conversation.

  “Wow, that’s a new wrinkle. I certainly hadn’t even considered that possibility.”

  “Jesse, keep in mind that it’s strictly conjecture at this point. However, I do have a favor to ask of you.”

  “Sure, but I have no idea what I could do to help you with your investigation.”

  “I’m thinking if Josh’s hypothesis is correct, and Mac is involved in some way in Kimberly’s murder, and if money is his motive, then he wouldn’t want there to be any down time on the bookmaking, because I understand it brings in a lot of money. Hate to ask this, but did you ever place a bet with Kimberly?”

  “Yeah, not real proud of it, but I put a little down on a couple of horses. The outcome just reinforced why I don’t even buy lottery tickets. I’m lousy at betting.”

  “Maybe it’s a good thing you are. When you’re at the truck stop tomorrow would you discretely inquire as to whether anyone else is handling the bookmaking now? Think there’s an old idiom that says something like ‘nature abhors a vacuum,’ which in this case would mean to me that if Mac’s not involved in the bookmaking, some other enterprising soul might be.

  “Depending on what you find out, we can cross Mac off the suspect list or move him up closer to the top if not to the top. Don’t place a bet. Josh hasn’t said anything to indicate this, but being a law enforcement person, and knowing that there has been a bookmaking operation being conducted at the truck stop, he might feel he has to tell the agency that deals with those things, and they might start investigating the truck stop. I wouldn’t want you to be doing me a favor and inadvertently get caught up in
it.”

  “Thanks for the heads up, but I won’t. I don’t know if anyone would have it together enough to start another one this soon after Kimberly’s death, but I’ll see what I can find out.”

  “Thanks, Jesse. See you in the morning.”

  Kelly finished up in the kitchen, let the dogs out for the last time, and locked up. Then she quietly walked down the hall to the bedroom to see if Mike needed anything. The gentle snore coming from his bed told her all she needed to know.

  CHAPTER 22

  Kelly arrived at the truck stop exactly at 8:00 the next morning and saw Jesse’s truck in the lot. It seemed busier to her than it had been when she’d been there two days earlier. When she walked inside the truck stop, she looked down the hall and noticed that the crime scene tape and the orange cones had been removed from in front of the ladies restroom.

  She turned, went into the restaurant section, and spotted Jesse seated at a booth talking to a man and a woman who were quite large. From their age and their girth, she assumed it was Susie and Little Paul. Jesse looked up and she waved to him as she made her way over to the group.

  “Hi Ms. K,” Jesse said as he moved over to make room for her. “I want you to meet a couple of friends of mine, Susie and Little Paul. Sometimes they work for Pete, but they also do long hauls, so I don’t see them all that often.”

  He continued, “Ms. K is my best friend’s mother. I practically grew up at her house eating all the good stuff she made. Since she’s the owner of Kelly’s Koffee Shop in Cedar Bay, the food was great.”

  “I’ve seen that place,” Susie said, “but never had a chance to go there. I’ll put it on my list of places to eat the next time we’re in Cedar Bay. What brings you out this way? Rather doubt it’s the food.”

  “Thanks, please do come to the coffee shop. I’ll be looking for you. No, it’s not the food that brings me here. Unfortunately, I was the one who discovered the body of the young woman who was murdered here the day before yesterday, Kimberly Laughlin. My husband is the sheriff of Beaver County, and the truck stop is located in his jurisdiction. But he’s got a bad case of the flu, as do most of the people at the station, so he asked me if I’d come here and see if I could find out anything.”