Exercise Is Murder

by Carolyn Arnold

  She smirked, knowing better than to poke at his claim, and got out of the car.

  They took the garage elevator to the lobby and loaded onto another one after the front desk cleared them as expected guests of Levi’s.

  She faced Sean on the way up to the tenth floor. “Just keep in mind that this guy could be a murderer.” Her sober caution caused her husband’s face to take on concentrated lines and shadows, and she felt a little bad for being responsible for causing them. “It doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, but—”

  “I know.” He took her hand. “I’ll keep my logical mind.”

  “I know you can do that.”

  The elevator pinged, and the doors opened.

  Levi opened his door after their first knock, then stepped back and let them inside without saying a word. The condo was open concept and saturated in sunlight from floor-to-ceiling windows on the two exterior walls.

  After closing them inside, Levi said, “Please make yourself at home.” He led them toward a sitting area with a large, white sectional.

  “Can I get either of you anything?”

  “I’d love a coffee.” Sara glanced at Sean, who was just staring at Levi. “He’ll have a glass of water.”

  “Absolutely. Take a seat if you’d like. I’ll be right back.” Levi set off toward the kitchen that was to the left of the living room.

  Sean watched after the baseball player, and Sara smiled and softly shook her head.

  “Do you want milk or cream? Sugar?” Levi called out.

  “Just a single sugar would be great.”

  “You and your coffee addiction,” Sean teased.

  “Oh, you do have a voice,” she whispered to him.

  “Here you go.” Levi extended coffee to her and water to Sean.

  Sara expressed her gratitude, and Sean took a noisy slurp of his water.

  “Should we…” Levi signaled to the couch, and all three of them sat down.

  Levi crossed his legs and stretched an arm along the back of the couch. “Your secretary said you were investigating Katie’s death.”

  Sara gave Sean a few seconds to respond, but when he didn’t, she said, “We are, and we’re sorry for your loss.”

  Levi pinched his eyes shut for a second or two. “Thank you. I really appreciate you looking into this.” His gaze drifted briefly to Sean and bounced back to her. “This really isn’t the time to bring this up, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt.” He shifted his position and sat taller. “I’m a big fan of both of you. You’re inspiring.”

  Sean got this goofy grin on his face.

  “How kind of you to say.” Sara nudged Sean’s arm. “Turns out my husband’s quite a fan of yours.”

  “Well, I’m flattered, really, honored.” Levi’s cheeks flushed, and he grinned. “I’ve been in the world of baseball for a few years now, and I’m still coming to grips with having fans. It seems like such an odd thing to hear people tell you.” He paused and chuckled. “Yet, here I go and say I’m one of yours. But it’s the truth. I mean it’s just strange, though, isn’t it? You do what you love, and people become your fans? It’s like…I’m just me, nothing special. Ever feel guilty about how easy life comes for you?”

  Sara could resonate with what Levi had said about having fans. From the moment Sean inherited Quinn’s billions, their life had been an absolute whirlwind of blessings. They got married, they bought a house, they solved murder their way—and their story had hit national news. They got themselves fans without even trying. All they’d done was go about living their lives with passion—what everyone should do. Guess people found their example refreshing and inspiring. If fans were the reward for that, then Sara welcomed all of them.

  But Levi’s question about feeling guilt in reference to an easy life struck her odd. He’d just lost his girlfriend two weeks ago, so his life hadn’t been exactly easy as of late. That was to say if he hadn’t wanted her gone for some reason. He just might not have thought through the full implication of his phrasing.

  “You said you appreciate our looking into Katie’s death. You think the police made a mistake?” Or one lazy cop in particular?

  “In a lot of ways, I hope not. It pains me to think of someone hating Katie enough to kill her.”

  Sara glanced at Sean, wondering if he was going to get involved any time soon, but he was staring at Levi, his lips slightly parted. “We understand Katie ran the same trail every day at the same time.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Who knew of her routine?” Adam had mentioned that Katie posted about her jogs from time to time, but had she provided when and where? Even if she had, Sara thought it was more likely someone who was close to Katie rather than a random person online who had killed her. She was hoping Levi would be able to provide names.

  “Probably a handful, or less. It sounds like you think someone purposely put that knowledge to use.”

  “If someone killed her, they’d have to have known when to wait for her and where to meet up with—”

  “Some—” Levi gulped. “Someone close did this to her?”

  “We are leaning that way,” Sara replied, feeling for him. “Who knew?”

  Levi took a deep breath. “Me.” Tears filled his eyes, and he sniffled. “But I assure you that I didn’t kill her. I loved her. I was actually going to propose to her. Katie was like a shining diamond.” He smiled. “You couldn’t be in a room with her and not be happy.”

  His sentiment seemed genuine, but Sara reminded herself of the caution she’d given Sean. Just like him, she couldn’t let her feelings cloud her objectivity. After all, there were still some answers they needed from him. Why he had Katie’s phone, for one, and— “Where were you two weeks ago between six and seven in the morning?”

  “At her time of death?” Levi paled. “I was here.”

  “Can anyone vouch for you?”

  “No.” He shook his head.

  “Who else knew?” Sean’s voice cut through the room.

  He could talk!

  “Ah, let me think.” Levi pinched the tip of his nose and sniffled, dropped his hand. “Her best friend, Nicki, for one.”

  “Last name Player?” Sara asked.

  “Yeah, that’s right.” A spark flashed in his eyes that told Sara he wondered how she knew the name, but he didn’t come out and ask. “Really, anyone who was friends with Katie on social media probably could have pieced her routine together.”

  “She was in the habit of posting when and where she’d run?” Sara countered.

  “Actually, I don’t think she got that detailed, come to think of it.” His expression soured. “Guess that means someone close to her might have…” He swallowed roughly and left the rest unsaid.

  “Do you know of anyone who had reason to hate Katie?” Sara asked.

  “Like I told you, Katie had a way about her. It probably rubbed some people the wrong way.”

  “Any names come to mind?” she pressed.

  “No, like I told Detective Langstaff when he asked.”

  Impressive he’d asked.

  “Okay,” Sara said softly. “We understand that Katie lost a lot of weight.”

  “Fifty pounds, something like that, but that didn’t matter to me. I loved her for who she was, not for how she looked.”

  Sara took a leisurely sip of the coffee he’d brought her and licked her lips. She wished she’d gotten to it sooner, as it had cooled significantly. “How long were you a couple?”

  “Just over a year.”

  “How did the two of you meet?”

  “At a bar after a game, believe it or not. One that I played in the Bronx. We just hit it off.”

  “Sometimes that just happens,” Sean said, reaching for Sara’s hand.

  “It did
for us.” Levi smiled.

  “There’s nothing online about the two of you being involved,” she said, pulling from what Adam had told them.

  “With my celebrity status, it’s best I keep as much of my personal life as private as possible. Katie understood that and she kept us out of her social media, too. I suppose it’s not really anyone’s business who I’m dating.”

  “And it doesn’t hurt to let the ladies think you’re available.” Sean smiled.

  “It doesn’t hurt the image, no, but like I said, I was going to propose to Katie. She had my heart, regardless of what I shared, or didn’t share, in the media.”

  “Sounds like you were really meant to be,” Sara said.

  “I like to think so.”

  Sara glanced over what she could see of the condo with an eye for any touches that might indicate a woman spent a lot of her time there, but she didn’t see any. Katie might have another address listed as her residence, but she could have been in the transition of giving up her apartment and moving here. That might at least explain why Levi had her phone. “Were the two of you living together?”

  “No, but I wanted her to move in.”

  Sara took another sip of her coffee, but it was hardly palatable now.

  “I’d asked her to move in, but it was early on in our relationship. I see how I’d jumped the gun with that. It had only been three months after we’d started dating—but in my defense, we really hit it off. I thought for sure she’d say yes.” He licked his lips, and his eyes glazed over.

  “What are you thinking about, Levi?” she asked gently, sensing he’d been swept into a memory.

  He let out a deep breath. “Sometimes I wasn’t sure if she was as into me as I was her.”

  “That would have hurt.” She could empathize, but his last statement contradicted with his other one about them really hitting it off. “Do you think it was because Katie was seeing someone else?” She put it out there as delicately as possible, but if he loved Katie as he claimed, it would hurt. It could be motive.

  “You mean was she cheating on me?”

  Sara nodded.

  “I don’t think so, but if she was, Nicki might know.”

  Levi talked about the topic as if it was a business matter, not one of the heart. Was he just secure in how he saw their relationship, or was he lying? Had he taken care of his—potentially— philandering girlfriend?

  “Okay, we’ll ask Nicki,” Sara said. “One more question. We understand that you have Katie’s phone. How did you come to be in possession of it?”

  Levi’s brows pinched together and drew downward. “I never really ‘came into possession of it,’ as you put it. She left from here the morning she died, and she never took her phone on runs. I’d have reached out to her family, but she’s estranged from all of them. I probably should have handed it over to someone, but I like listening to her voicemail greeting sometimes. You know, just to hear her again. For those few seconds, it’s like she’s still here.”

  Which meant he had her passwords for unlocking her phone and accessing her messages. Had he found something that triggered him to kill Katie?

  Sara crossed her legs. “You said Katie left from here the morning she died. Did she sleep over the night before?”

  Levi nodded. “She did sometimes, but not a lot.”

  Sara considered her next question carefully. “You said she left her phone here, what about anything else? A laptop maybe?”

  “No, but she had one. You’d probably find that in her apartment.”

  “Do you have a key?”

  “No. I gave her mine, but she didn’t give me hers. She really wanted some personal space.”

  Yet he was going to propose…

  Sara nodded. “Katie was found wearing earbuds…” One, anyway. “Did she not use her phone to play music?” With the detour about the laptop, hopefully he wouldn’t detect any suspicion on her part.

  “Like I said, she always left her phone behind, hated being tethered to the thing—especially on her runs. She had an MP3 player she took for music. No chance of phone calls, texts, or emails popping up and disturbing her that way.”

  Being unplugged and with nature sounds glorious.

  Levi ran a hand through his hair and suddenly appeared ten years older, the stress of grief weighing down his features. “The police never recovered her MP3 player, as far as I know. What happened out there, to Katie, is a mystery to me. I just know it wasn’t an accident.”

  “It might aid the investigation if we could take her phone. You know, just to check her social media activity, etcetera. Maybe something will stand out to us.”

  Levi considered that for a few seconds. “Makes sense.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a phone.

  Sara’s heart broke a bit as he handed it over to her. “Thanks.”

  “You’ll need the passcodes.” Levi went on to tell her what they were and added, “Let me know if you need anything else. I know your secretary has my number.”

  “Will do.” Sara stood, and Sean joined her. “Again, we’re sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you.” Levi saw them out.

  As they headed down to the lobby, Sara thought about their brief meeting with Levi, the things he’d said. He was convinced Katie’s death wasn’t an accident. Was he simply in denial and shock, trying to make sense of his girlfriend’s death? Or did he know from firsthand knowledge that her death had been a murder?

  SEAN WAS BEHIND THE WHEEL of the Mercedes chastising himself for being such a fool. He’d just kept thinking, I’m in Levi Bradley’s home, like some fanboy.

  “You were pretty quiet in there.” Sara looked over at him.

  He was hoping for a pass, and that she wouldn’t point it out. “Fine, I admit I was a little starstruck.” He hadn’t even brought himself to pull out of the parking spot in the building’s garage yet.

  “He could be the murderer.”

  “You can’t really think that. You saw the guy. He was upset by her death and is happy we’re looking into what happened.”

  “Yes,” she said slowly, “as he repeatedly said ‘it wasn’t an accident.’ He sounds pretty sure for someone who has no knowledge.”

  He tucked in his chin and looked at his wife. “It could just mean he feels it in his gut. That’s something you should be very familiar with.”

  “Okay, you have me there, but at least we have this now.” Sara held up Katie’s phone.

  “And her laptop to go.”

  “Sean, I understand you don’t want to think of your idol being a killer.”

  “He’s not my idol.” Something about hearing that terminology coming from Sara’s mouth made him feel foolish and defensive. He called Helen on speaker as if he had something to prove—the truth was, trying to remain objective regarding Levi was tearing him apart. “Helen, we need you to pull the background on Levi Bradley.”

  “I’ll do it right away.”

  “Thank you.” With that, Sean said goodbye and ended the call.

  “For what it’s worth, Sean, I think Levi loved Katie, but you and I both know that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s innocent, either. Not that he’s guilty,” she added the last bit quickly.

  Sean took her hand. “You were right before. We need to be objective—no matter our personal feelings.”

  Her face softened, and she smiled. “Something you’re usually telling me.”

  “I know, but I’ve got my head back in the game now.” He paused, giving some thought to what had transpired in the condo. “Levi told us he loved Katie, that he was going to propose…but who knows? You see the ring? I never saw the ring.”

  She chuckled.

  It felt good to have his logic back even if it was somewhat on the blink. It still didn’t mean he like
d to consider Levi Bradley a killer. “We’ll call Adam, let him know we have Katie’s phone and find out when he can get here.”

  Less than two minutes later, they had their answer. Adam confirmed he could be in Albany by the dinner hour.

  “Guess we’ll have to feed him,” Sean said.

  “Something I’m sure we can afford,” Sara replied with a smile.

  “Indeed.” He put his focus on the road—or at least he tried to. His mind swam with thoughts about Levi Bradley, Katie Carpenter, and the mystery surrounding her death. He sure hoped he and Sara could untangle this one.

  -

  Chapter 15

  GETTING INTO SHAPE

  Sara was happy her logical, objective husband was back, but she hated seeing him in a frump like he was. Obviously, he didn’t want to think of Levi as being behind Katie’s murder, but that was hardly enough reason to relieve the baseball player of suspicion.

  They decided their next step would be to talk to Mirela and Nicki. The fitness club might be a good place to find both of them. They entered Elite and a series of “hellos” greeted them: one from Mary Reitsma, who manned the front desk, one from Nicki, and another from Alisha. She and Sean didn’t come in often, but whenever they did, they always felt welcome.

  The space was divided into four workout pods with a fifth in the far back. Clients paid by the hour to be pushed by some of the best trainers in the area. Mirela was particular about who she allowed into the fold, but that had only served her business well. What Sara loved the most was that the trainers were dedicated to their clients’ goals as if they were their own.

  “Hello, Mary,” Sara said.

  “Good day, you two.” Mary smiled, and the expression lit the room.

  “We’re looking to speak with Mirela. Is she in?” Sara asked.

  “She is. I’ll tell her you’re here.” Instead of picking up the phone on her desk, Mary got up and walked to Mirela’s office, which was windowed and wedged between pods two and three.