“He must have gone home after he handed those papers over to the police,” Lydia said. “And I don’t really blame him.”
She looked at the gate where renters would normally scan their cards to enter. Crime scene tape had been placed over the gate, and a sign had been put up explaining that the facility was temporarily locked down. The card scanner also appeared to be deactivated.
“Well, we’re not getting inside,” Daniel said. “What do we do now?”
“Wait a moment,” Lydia said, realizing that someone was nearby.
She glanced to the side and saw that a man with a duffle bag was leaning against a tree. His attention had also seemed fixed on the storage locker facility. However, when he saw Lydia and Daniel nearby, he picked up his bag and began walking away.
“I think there’s some writing on the duffle bag strap,” Lydia said. “Can you read it?”
Daniel squinted and then replied, “Porter.”
“Tony Porter!” Lydia cried. “That’s the other man we’ve been looking for.”
Upon hearing his name, the other man picked up his pace. However, even without being weighed down by his bag, Tony was no match for outrunning the fit Daniel.
Lydia allowed him to catch up with Tony first and detain him so that she wouldn’t be red in the face and out of breath when she questioned him.
“You are Tony Porter, aren’t you?” Daniel demanded.
“And who are you two?” Tony replied.
“I’m Lydia, and this is Daniel. We have a vested interest in discovering who Blaine Thompkins’s killer is. And my brother is Detective Doherty. Why were you staking out the storage locker facility?”
“I was just waiting for it to reopen,” Tony said.
“So, you can clean up evidence of your crime?” asked Daniel.
“I didn’t kill anybody.”
“I bet Detective Doherty would love to hear about how you’ve been waiting outside the crime scene,” said Lydia.
“Look,” Tony said, holding up his hands. “It’s not what it looks like. I do want to get back inside. And the minute it opens. But it has nothing to do with Blaine Thompkins.”
“Then, what is it?” Daniel demanded.
Tony sighed. He sat down on the curb and looked away. “It’s because… well, I’ve been living in a locker.”
“Living there?” asked Lydia. “Aren’t there rules against that?”
“Yes. But I needed a place to stay, and the lockers are temperature controlled,” Tony said. “I didn’t want to get in trouble. And it’s embarrassing to admit. But I’m no killer. I just hit some hard times. Do you need to report this to the police?”
“If you really had nothing to do with the death, then no,” said Lydia. “But you’ll have to answer our questions, so we know that you did have nothing to do with it.”
“Fine.”
“You were here last night,” Daniel said. “Your keycard scanned you in. And if you were living here, then I guess you stayed all night.”
“That’s right,” said Tony miserably.
“Did you hear anything strange?” Lydia asked.
Tony considered it. “I always hear some noises after I enter my locker. And I know people were at the facility last night. I heard cars and people moving. I think it’s possible I heard someone cry out too. But I try to keep hidden. I don’t want people to know I’m there. So I didn’t look into anything. And it wasn’t obvious that someone was hurt. I might have come out if I knew for sure. I couldn’t call for help for someone else to check because of the bad cell reception inside the lockers. And I didn’t know someone needed help. Not for sure.”
“All right. I can understand that,” Lydia said, trying to put him at ease. “We know that the victim was killed when his head was hit against a wall. That might not have been a loud crime. There was no gunshot or anything like that. If there was no shouting before the attack, it might not have been overheard. But did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”
“I don’t think I did. I wouldn’t have known anything happened if it wasn’t for the police arriving here this morning. I needed to slip out quickly as they approached. I was afraid that they were coming for me. But then I overheard something about Blaine.”
“Did you know him well?” asked Lydia.
“I have seen him a lot because of how frequently I am here. I was saddened to hear that he was dead.”
“If you were here every day, then you might be able to shed some light on a theory we heard,” said Daniel. “Was Blaine Thompkins robbing the lockers?”
“Blaine?” Tony asked, aghast. “I’ve never seen such a straight arrow. There’s no way that he could be a thief.”
“But he might have been out late stalking around the lockers?” asked Lydia.
“If anything, he was trying to make sure that no one else was up to no good,” said Tony. “If there was a thief, he might have been trying to determine who it was. That seems more likely to me.”
“And another possible motive,” said Lydia. “What if he caught the thief in the act of the robbery? The killer might have killed him to silence him.”
“The person who would have the easiest chance to rob the lockers would be the person who was living in them,” Daniel said pointedly.
“No,” Tony protested. “I was doing my best not to draw attention to the fact that I was living here. I would never have stolen anything. And I would never have killed anyone. Even if I was caught living here, I wouldn’t do that. I liked Blaine even if I was afraid that he was getting wise to what I was on to.”
“He was?” Lydia prompted.
“Well, I didn’t think that he was looking for a thief when I saw him spending extra time examining the lockers. I thought that he was looking for evidence that I was staying there. I know that he was doing some investigating. He took notes in a little notebook. But they didn’t make sense. One page fell out the other day, and I picked it up. It was nonsensical.”
“Do you have that page?” Lydia asked.
Tony nodded. He opened his duffle bag and shuffled the supplies inside around. He eventually pulled out a sheet of paper with some handwritten notes on it. It read: Spud, 4321, 0630, egbdf, 419.
“Does it make sense to you?” asked Tony.
“Well, I think they might be locker combinations,” said Lydia. “There are locks that are for both numbers and letters nowadays. But there’s no indication who the locks belong to. Or why Blaine Thompkins thought they were important.”
“If we could figure that out, we might be able to figure out what Blaine was doing during his shift that night and if it has any bearing on his murder,” said Daniel.
Tony pointed at the paper. “My lock combo isn’t here. If it was about discovering who was living in the lockers, he wasn’t onto me yet.”
Lydia stared at the paper, wondering what the importance of these locks could be. Did it relate to thefts? Was it about who was squatting in the lockers? Or was it something else?
“That’s really all I know,” Tony said. “You mind if I go? I need to figure out where I’m staying tonight. Somewhere cheap.”
Daniel gave Tony some advice about some inexpensive places to stay. Lydia thought that the paper the victim dropped could be a very important clue, and as thanks for handing it over, she and Daniel offered to drive him to one of the motels. He gratefully accepted.
As they headed to the place that Tony selected, Lydia’s mind alternated between two thoughts. One was that if she didn’t find a new house to move into soon, she might end up in the same boat as Tony and living in a storage locker. The other was that she would have to determine who the locker combinations belonged to if she was going to solve the case.
13
Combination Clues
“Are you jealous?”
“Why would I be jealous?” Lydia asked.
Trina shrugged. “I know it’s supposed to be harmless, but he is meeting another woman at her hotel room.”
“He’
s comforting the wife of his best friend who might also be accused of murder. There’s nothing romantic about it,” Lydia replied. “And I really do trust Daniel. If I didn’t, then I shouldn’t be with him.”
“I didn’t say that I thought he was doing anything wrong. I just wanted to check on how my best friend was doing and make sure that you weren’t jealous.”
“I’m tired, confused, and frustrated about the case. Maybe there’s also a small part of me that is also still worried about impressing the Pierces. But I don’t think I have any more room for jealousy.”
Sunny barked. Lydia and Trina were sitting on Lydia’s couch after a long day for both of them. Lydia had been running around trying to find answers and Trina (after recovering from the party) had started coming up with new marketing campaigns for her salon to celebrate her becoming an official co-owner. They had enjoyed some takeout because neither had been eager to cook, but they did want to get together to catch up. Sunny had been sitting between them.
“I think Sunny is saying that she still has room for more takeout food,” Lydia joked.
Sunny wagged her tiny tail quickly as if this was what she had intended to say. Lydia thought her canine friend already had enough human food for the day and decided to pet her fur to show her affection rather than giving her more treats.
“Well, tonight I told you all about my plans to attract more tourists to the salon. You did tell me the highlights of your sleuthing, but you haven’t said much else. Does that mean that you’re stuck?”
Lydia let out a sigh but continued to stroke Sunny. “I’m afraid so. I have some suspects besides Gavin that were at the storage facility that night, but so far there’s nothing to indicate which one of them might have done it. I don’t have a motive for the murder.”
“This case is a tough macadamia nut to crack,” Trina joked, reaching for one of the taffies in a candy bowl on the coffee table.
Lydia laughed. “That’s a good way of putting it.”
“You don’t think there’s any chance that Gavin really could have done it, do you?” Trina asked. “I liked him a lot at the party, but driving a dead body to the police does seem suspicious.”
“I believed what he told me when I visited him in the holding cell. And I trust Daniel’s judgment. I don’t think he’s the killer.”
“What about Gwen?”
“Gwen?” asked Lydia, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, if Gavin didn’t do it, then someone tried to frame him. What if Gwen followed Gavin to the storage facility and killed someone and put the body in the car’s trunk to frame her husband? What if she wanted him to go to jail?”
“Well, the plan is backfiring now because Leo suspects that she might have been at the storage locker facility too and was an accomplice,” said Lydia. “I wish I knew what Blaine had been up to and why he had the certain lock combinations that he had written down.”
“Can I see them?”
Lydia nodded and got up from the couch to fetch the paper from her purse. She started reading them out as she walked back.
“Spud, 4321, 0630, E-G-B-D-F, 419. I’m not sure what the numbers mean. They could be someone’s lucky numbers or a house address. It would be hard to determine who chose those numbers and why without having more information.”
“Like which locker units correspond with the codes?” Trina suggested.
“Exactly. Maybe that’s on another paper. Or this made sense to Blaine. Maybe we can figure out the significance of the word combinations.”
“Somebody likes potatoes if they made it their password.”
Lydia approached the couch to sit down again, but Sunny had spread out in her absence. The pup smiled up at her as if questioning if she really had to move when she was so comfortable.
“You silly little pup,” Lydia said. Then, her eyes widened. “No. You genius! You just made me remember something.”
“What is it?” asked Trina.
“One of the people who was at the storage place the night of the murder had a dog named Spud. She kept calling him a potato-brained dog.”
“So, she’s the killer?” Trina asked excitedly.
Lydia shrugged. “Well, I’m not sure what this list means. I think it’s important. But maybe Blaine was just writing down combinations for people who forgot them a lot. It doesn’t automatically point to someone’s guilt. I need to know why Blaine had these numbers.”
“Maybe if we can figure out another one, we can discover the connection. 419 could be an area code.”
“There’s also something familiar about the letter E-G-B-D-F,” said Lydia. “I’ve heard it before somewhere.”
“Is it an anagram? Is there a word in there? Begfd? Gedbf? No. I give up. Can I see the other list?”
Trina reached for the list of names for people who had rental lockers that Lydia had printed out and skimmed through it. Lydia had seen Daniel’s name on the list, and there were some other locals whose names she recognized. However, she didn’t see anything that had been very helpful there after she tracked down the people who were there the night of the murder.
However, Trina kept perusing the names. She started humming to herself. Lydia listened for a while and then snapped triumphantly.
“Music!”
“What?”
“Your humming made me think of it,” Lydia explained. “It’s why E-G-B-D-F looks familiar. They are the notes on a music scale.”
“You’re right. I remember how music teachers in school taught a mnemonic to remember it: every good boy deserves fudge. But that always made me hungry and less inclined to want to practice an instrument instead of wanting fudge.”
Lydia laughed and then pushed Sunny over so she could sit with her two friends. “You two really are the best helpers. We cracked two combos together.”
“Well, we know that the other combo is a music scale. We don’t know who it belongs to.”
“Can I see the list of people who rented lockers again?” Lydia asked.
Trina handed it over, and Lydia searched it again. She landed on a certain name.
“Michael Bridge is opening up a music school. That’s why he hired Suzanne to decorate. But I bet a music teacher would think of a music scale as a great combination.”
“So, he could be the killer? I bet Leo might actually like that as the answer better than Gavin.”
“But his key card wasn’t used to get into the storage facility. That’s what we were told was the only way to enter it,” said Lydia. “But I bet he still would be useful to talk to. If we find out what’s in his locker, then we can compare it to what’s in Lisa Warren’s.”
“But she’s probably a better suspect. If she was there that night.”
“And she’s the one who started the rumor that Blaine was a thief, which doesn’t seem to be true. I think I’ll have to pay both of them a visit tomorrow.”
“Promise me you’ll be careful,” said Trina. “I don’t have anyone else who cares for me enough to make scissor-shaped taffy candies to celebrate a promotion.”
Lydia hugged her friend. “I promise I’ll be careful.”
She hoped that she would be able to keep that promise. It sounded like the killer had acted in a moment of anger and killed Blaine without a real weapon. She would need to make sure that she didn’t give the killer a chance to do the same thing with her.
14
A Dog Walk
“Ready, Sunny?” Lydia asked the next morning.
Annette and Kelsey assured her that they could open the taffy shop on their own, so Lydia was planning on taking Sunny on a walk where she would hopefully run into Lisa Warren and Spud. Sunny was already sporting her harness and leash and happily plodded to the door, ready to begin their trip.
However, as soon as they took a step outside, they were stopped by the arrival of a police car in the driveway. Leo got out of it, looking annoyed.
“Official business? I don’t think you’d come here in that car to help me pack or find my new place.
”
“Nope. I’m not here to help my sister move. Even though that’s what she should be focusing on. I’m here to follow up on an inquiry about whether a woman matching your description and a man matching Daniel’s are really insurance investigators.”
“Oh.” Lydia looked down at her dog instead of meeting his eyes.
“I thought I told you not to investigate, and now I find out that you are and you’re lying about being insurance investigators.”
Macadamia and Mayhem Page 6