Exercise Is Murder

by Carolyn Arnold

  The team was gathered around the table in the conference room, and Sean couldn’t help but think what a team they made. His wife and former detective partner, his former sergeant, and some tech genius they’d picked up along the way. Every one of them contributed a unique perspective to each case they took on, and if they were going to figure out exactly what had happened to Katie, they needed to put their heads together.

  “We have to brainstorm.” Sean stood and paced the table. “Who had the most motive to kill Katie?”

  “And opportunity,” Jimmy chimed in.

  “And means,” Adam said as if to mock Jimmy. After all, everyone in this room knew the three key ingredients in solving a murder.

  “Well, we can eliminate Chandra as a suspect,” Sara said. “I called her parents, and they vouched for her. She was at their place until eight thirty the morning Katie was murdered.”

  “Did you ever talk to that teacher—what was his name?” Jimmy looked around the room.

  “David Lawson. Is your memory failing you?” Adam said with a smirk.

  “Very droll.” Jimmy didn’t sound like he’d found it funny in the least. “Well?”

  “We never did, but with the evidence suggesting a woman,” Sean said, “I’m not sure if we need to.”

  “Small hands, anyhow,” Jimmy countered. “I still think we need more than some pink material and small palm prints before we jump to any conclusions about the gender of Katie’s killer.”

  “Well, it’s not David Lawson, the teacher.” Adam looked up from Katie’s laptop. “I’ve been working through Katie’s emails today—of which there are thousands. She never archived. Anyway, there’s one here from David sent three weeks ago. He was going to visit his mom during the time Katie was killed. He’d told Katie because he wanted her to know she might have some extra hours coming her way.”

  Sean’s mind shot right back to Lucy and how she’d fingered David Lawson as a possible suspect, and shared as much with the team.

  “That is curious,” Sara said. “And she was with the body.”

  Jimmy leaned his elbows on the table. “If we’re going to focus on women in Katie’s life, who else do we have as possible suspects? Nicki? Maybe she killed Katie because she wanted Mitch to herself?”

  “Nicki’s and Mitch’s alibis clear each other out,” Sean said.

  “Alibis aren’t always as solid as they might appear,” Jimmy countered. “And what about people from Elite? We saw with the Devin case that sometimes the killer will hire us to get the attention away from them,” Jimmy said. “No one says criminals are smart.”

  Sara jumped in, “Excuse me, Jimmy, but by people, surely you’re not suggesting that Mirela killed Katie?”

  “Why not?”

  She shook her head. “No way.”

  Jimmy held up his hands in surrender. “We should look at what she might have to gain. All I’m saying.”

  Sean bobbed his head toward Adam. “Anything else of use on Katie’s laptop or phone?”

  “There are lots of emails between Katie and members of the school board. From the looks of it, Levi was good friends with an influencing member. He put a word in for Katie. She stood to be promoted to full-time teacher.”

  Sara held out her hands, clearly feeling vindicated that the focus was off Mirela. “That could be motive for someone. Was anyone going to be let go?”

  “Not that I can see from the emails,” Adam replied.

  Sean leaned back into his chair. “We still have our little experiment to run.”

  “Oh, to see if Katie could have made it to the Hudson without further help?” Jimmy asked.

  “That’s the one.”

  Sara’s eyes lit up. “We’re looking at someone fit and strong, regardless. They’d have to have enough strength to push Katie and hold her under. Even assuming Katie was severely injured from her fall, she’d have fought for her life. If she had been unconscious, she would have been dead weight.”

  “Strong and a woman, right? I mean that was the direction we were headed in.” Jimmy’s skepticism couldn’t be hidden. “Maybe it’s just a guy with small hands.”

  “Or a strong, fit woman,” Sara stood firm.

  “That brings us to Nicki and Mirela,” Sean said.

  “And one other person.” Sara peered into his eyes. “Are you forgetting…?”

  Sean snapped his fingers. “Lucy Fletcher.”

  “And she’d be strong…” Sara’s voice trailed off, and she had this glazed look to her eyes.

  “Darling?” Sean prompted.

  “What if we had the right motive—jealousy—from the beginning—” Sara sat up straighter “—but for the wrong reason.”

  Sean looked at Jimmy, then Adam, and back to Sara. “Fill us in on what you’re thinking.”

  “Nicki told us Katie was entering the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon coming up in a couple of weeks. And Adam told us before that Katie had participated in several and had done well.” She settled her focus on Adam. What is to be gained from winning the marathon?”

  “Hang tight.” Adam clicked away on his laptop. “It looks like a small cash award. Nothing much.”

  “How much?” Sean inquired.

  “Fifteen hundred for first place.”

  “Huh.” Sean sighed. He’d been hoping for more, but people had been motivated to kill for less.

  Adam went on. “It looks like Katie holds the marathon course record, obtained last year. That could mean something.”

  “I don’t know the running world, but I’m guessing top finishers would be up for sponsorships. Maybe more money was flung in Katie’s direction.”

  Adam furiously worked the keyboard again. “Katie definitely had a good record with marathons, as I told you before, but I just found something.” His eyes were fixed on his screen.

  “Adam, you’re killing me,” Sara pleaded.

  “Sorry, Mrs. McKinley, I just want to make sure I’m reading something correctly. Ah, yes, Own-It Athletics hired her as their spokeswoman for marathon events held in the States.” He switched to Katie’s laptop. A few minutes later, he whistled. “Told you she had a lot of emails, so I searched ‘contract’ and found one from Own-It. Twenty events a year in exchange for a quarter-million for two years.”

  “Sweet mercy,” Jimmy exclaimed.

  “Not too surprising if you think about it. Own-It is a global, billion-dollar fitness company dedicated primarily to their branded athletic wear, including a line for plus-size people.”

  Sean met his wife’s eyes. “Katie comes along, gets herself in shape, slays marathons, and claims the spotlight. Nicki might not have been too happy for her friend. That puts her back on the suspect list.”

  “If she’s lying about being with Mitch at the time of Katie’s death.” Sara pointed to Adam’s laptop. “What more can you tell us about Lucy Fletcher?”

  Adam pecked away. “She enters marathons, too, including the upcoming one we’ve mentioned, but there’s something I failed to see before.” He looked up, and his face was pale.

  “What is it?” Sean’s patience was slipping away.

  “Lucy also went to high school with Katie. I didn’t see it before because she hadn’t listed her education on her social-media profile. I’m doing a deep dive now. But both Lucy and Katie were up for a full athletic scholarship. It was awarded to Katie.”

  “I thought that Katie wasn’t as…” How can I put this nicely? “Wasn’t as athletic for a period of time.” The words were out, and then Sean remembered. “But she was by her senior year.”

  “Right,” Adam said. “Katie struggled with her weight. She’d shed it by senior year, was given the scholarship, but she ended up gaining it back again and losing the scholarship, as it turns out.”

  “Can you imagin
e if Lucy found out Katie blew the scholarship?” Sara looked at Sean.

  “They worked at the same school; we could assume she knows,” Sean said. “It might have come up in conversation. Ah, and add salt to a wound: Katie turns back up in Lucy’s life all fit with a pro-athlete boyfriend.”

  “Nope. Lucy didn’t know about Levi—assuming that wasn’t a lie. She thought Mitch was Katie’s boyfriend,” Sara corrected. “But if she found out Katie was signed by Own-It, sweeping in and collecting a big payday again, it might have pushed her over the edge. Not to mention, Levi had a contact on the school board. Maybe Lucy thought she was going to be squeezed out of her job by Katie, too.”

  “I’m seeing plenty of motive for Lucy, some possibility for Nicki. That’s assuming she wanted Mitch for herself or was jealous of Katie’s successes.” Jimmy glanced softly at Sara. “I hate to bring it up again, but—”

  She nodded. “Mirela.” She addressed Adam. “Do you see any interest in marathons and the like for her? Anything smacking of motive there?”

  Adam clicked away again and shook his head. “And from what I see, Elite does a good business.”

  “If money was our killer’s motive, that rules out Mirela.” Sara let out a deep breath. “What now?” She looked around the table.

  Sean’s mind was whirling and eventually kicked back an idea. It was a little shady—all right, illegal—but it might be able to answer some of their questions. And how he loved a good undercover operation. “Lucy will probably be at the charity fund-raiser tonight.”

  “I would think so,” Sara said.

  “Probably Nicki, too, seeing as Levi had arranged it because the school was important to Katie.”

  “What are you suggesting?”

  Under Sara’s gaze, he wilted a little, but he squared his shoulders. “While the two women are at the event, why don’t we drop by their homes and see what we can find?”

  “You mean break and enter?” Jimmy spat. “As in break the law? You must be kidding.”

  Sean looked with all seriousness at Jimmy and shook his head. “I’m not.”

  “Let’s say you don’t get caught, and you find something to prove one of them killed Katie, it won’t be admissible in a court of law,” Jimmy pointed out.

  “Of that, I’m aware, but it could get us closer to knowing the truth.” And the part Sean wasn’t going to say out loud was that it would be fun slinking around in the dark.

  “Actually I have a better idea.” Sara beamed. “And it won’t potentially put us behind bars.”

  “I’m listening,” he said, though a little disheartened. Sometimes risk was exhilarating.

  “Why don’t we go undercover and pose as people with that fitness company that Adam mentioned. Own-It Athletics. We can show up to offer the recently vacated spokeswoman position to Nicki and Lucy—separately, of course. One of them might make a move on the other, and we could be there to stop it and catch a killer!”

  Sean smiled. “You’re brilliant, lady.”

  “Shucks.” She waved a hand. “And we can do it at the fund-raiser tonight. Own-it Athletics takes an interest in the education of today’s youth.”

  Jimmy was grinning. “Seems like she’s thought of everything. Never underestimate a woman.”

  “Never underestimate Sara.” Sean smiled at her, then clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “All right, it sounds like we have a plan.”

  “And to pass the time until tonight?” Jimmy prompted.

  “That’s easy. We throw a dummy down a hill.”

  “Oh, such fun.” Jimmy rubbed his hands together to mock Sean.

  -

  Chapter 29

  RUNNING WITH A SUSPICION

  Sara could have thought of other ways to spend the afternoon besides pushing a dummy of Katie’s weight and size down the hill. But nothing else could have been as telling. No matter the force they put behind it, the dummy never came anywhere close to landing in the river. Katie had certainly been helped along in several ways to meet her death.

  The sun was setting in the evening sky, and Sara and Sean were putting the final touches on getting ready for the night’s event. They’d already purchased their seats under the names of Iva Robinson and Gary Black of Own-It Athletics. To pull tonight off, they’d have to drastically change their appearances so that no one would recognize them.

  Sara, a.k.a. Iva, was a blond who hailed from Texas but had moved up to New York when Own-It Athletics made her an employment offer she couldn’t refuse. She was a single child and driven to succeed no matter the cost. Her blue eyes were like the sky on a clear summer’s day, and her hair was styled in a shoulder-length bob. She was wearing a department store knee-length red dress with sensible heels and bright red lipstick. A far cry from Sara’s regular look—long, dark wavy hair that went past her shoulders, brown eyes, subdued makeup, and designer clothes that fit the curves of her body flawlessly paired with the perfect complimentary stilettos.

  Sean, a.k.a. Gary, was a blend of California surfer and street punk. He wore black jeans and a sports jacket over a collared shirt bearing the company’s logo. He completed the ensemble with black runners. He wore a wig that transformed him from brunette to bleach blond with frosted tips. He wore blue contact lenses to cover his otherwise brown eyes. He refused to devise a background story because he didn’t think they’d have a need for it. Sara thought it added depth to the character she’d be playing.

  “What? No mustache?” she teased him when they met up to leave. In previous undercover operations, he’d favored Magnum, P.I.’s mustache. But he did have a bad experience when he went to peel it off and skin was removed along with it.

  “Doesn’t fit the image I’m going for.”

  Sara giggled, not about to tell him that image was a little confusing. The most important thing was that they looked nothing like themselves. And they didn’t.

  They had rented a four-door sedan for the evening, figuring that while Own-It Athletics might be worth a fortune, it didn’t mean their public-relation reps would be set up in a luxury Mercedes.

  Sean opened her door, and she slipped inside the car.

  “We’ll branch out on our own,” Sara summarized. “You’ll take Nicki, and I’ll take Lucy.”

  “Works for me.”

  “Remember the deadline we established. That’s the most important part.”

  “Well, one of the most important parts.” Sean smiled at her like the devil, and she wished she was as relaxed as he was, but undercover ops made her nervous. She mostly went along with—and sometimes suggested—them for Sean’s benefit.

  They saw themselves into the school gymnasium that had been set up to host two hundred benefactors. Dinner was being catered by a local company, and the place sparkled, worthy of Albany’s elite.

  Sara saw a man standing across the room who looked familiar, though she couldn’t be entirely sure. The last time she’d seen him, his face had been obscured by a cat, but she’d wager it was David Lawson, even though there were no felines in sight.

  David was standing next to the bar, sipping on a pink drink with an umbrella. He was obviously comfortable with who he was. Sara made her way over, excusing herself as she passed him on the way to the bar. She noticed fur on his black jacket as she breezed by. Maybe he’d brought his cat with him, after all.

  “I’ll take a sparkling wine,” Sara requested from the bartender.

  Sean came up behind her and said, “Drinking on the job?”

  “Why not?” she replied over a shoulder. It would make everything that much more believable if she approached Lucy with a drink in hand. She collected her wine and dropped a twenty in a tip jar on the counter. “Good luck, Gary.”

  “Good luck to you, Iva.”

  She took a small sip and looked around the room. There
had to be at least a hundred people packed in already, but she didn’t see Lucy. If she didn’t come, it wasn’t the end of their ploy, but it would extend it.

  She was starting to feel a little defeated, when Lucy finally entered the room, holding a clutch purse and wearing a black cocktail dress. She stopped to study the seating chart.

  Sara moved up beside her. “Looks like it’s quite a success.”

  “Yeah.” Lucy smiled kindly at Sara.

  Sara did a double take. “You’re Lucy Fletcher.” She did her best to sound shocked and put a hand to her chest. “I need to talk to you.”

  “You do?” Lucy’s brows pinched.

  “Oh, where are my manners?” Sara held out her free hand. “I’m Iva Robinson. Pleasure to meet ya.” She put a little Texan twang in her voice. She figured since she’d concocted a background story, she might as well have fun with it.

  Lucy gave Sara this look that seemed to say How do you know me? then she returned her attention to the chart.

  “I work for Own-it Athletics,” Sara said, undeterred. “You might have heard of us.”

  “Oh, yes, I’ve heard of you.” Lucy seemed to forget all about the chart and turned to face Sara.

  “I actually came here tonight in hopes of catching up with you.” Sara noticed that Nicki had walked in the door and was headed their way. Mitch was a few steps behind her. Sara gestured to Lucy’s empty hands. “Why don’t we get you a drink? There’s an opportunity I need to talk to you about.” Sara guided Lucy to the bar. On the way, they walked past Levi, and she had to remind herself that tonight she was Iva, not Sara, and to not greet him like she knew him. There was no sign of Chandra, and Sara felt a stab of heartbreak. Hopefully, the two of them would be able to mend their friendship.

  Sean was across the room, talking and laughing loudly with David Lawson, who had moved on from being a wallflower. Sean held up a hand and excused himself. Sara didn’t turn to follow where he was going but assumed it was for Nicki.

  Lucy ordered a white wine, and Sara picked up the tab.