A Killer Column mbtn-2

by Casey Mayes

  “Yes, I suppose you could call me that. I created puzzles for your husband,” I said. “He will truly be missed.” Maybe not by me, but surely by someone. I hated stretching the elastic of the truth to the breaking point, but I didn’t want to get Benjamin in trouble any more than I wanted to give Cary Duncan a chance to add to her possible suspicion of me.

  “That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here,” she said.

  I was at a loss for an explanation when Jenny spoke up. “We were looking for you.”

  “I find that hard to believe,” Cary said.

  I did myself, if the truth were told. Had she heard that I’d found her husband’s body, and that I was one of the police’s prime suspects? No, she couldn’t have. If she had, I had a feeling she wouldn’t be as cordial as she was being at the moment. Still, I didn’t know what to say in defense of our presence there.

  Jenny offered her a reassuring smile. “It’s true. We wanted to offer our services to you in this difficult time.”

  “And you are?”

  Jenny offered a hand and introduced herself, adding, “I’m one of Savannah’s dearest and oldest friends.” She didn’t mention that she was a lawyer as well, and I certainly wasn’t about to bring it up.

  “Go on,” Cary said.

  “Savannah, having the big heart that she does, thought this might be too painful for you to deal with, so we came by to offer to take care of this suite for you and return your husband’s clothes and such without putting you through the arduous process of packing them away.”

  “It has been a shock to my system,” Cary said. She pretended to dab an imaginary tear, and then said, “Savannah, I never thought you two were that close.”

  “We worked together a long time,” I said. “He got me my first deal.” And tried to screw me in the process, I considered adding, but knew better.

  “That’s true,” she said as she surveyed the living room. “My husband was too important to bother with simple things like housekeeping. It was a sign of his genius, you know.”

  Then he must have been another Einstein, I thought as I glanced around.

  She sniffed a few times, and then said, “I’m sorry, I can’t deal with this. I’d appreciate your help.”

  “We’re glad to do it,” I said. “Where should we bring the bags when we’re finished? Are you staying at the Crest Hotel?”

  “No, I’m at the Brunswick,” she said. “I couldn’t bear to stay here, not after what happened.”

  “Did you just get into town?” I asked.

  She nodded. “An hour ago. The police are going to tell me exactly what happened. So far, all I know is that he was found murdered in one of the conference rooms downstairs. Someone used a knife on him.” She shuddered at the thought. At least that confirmed that she hadn’t heard my name mentioned in connection with his murder, but I doubted it would take Detective Murphy long to bring it up. We had a limited window of opportunity, and Jenny and I had to take full advantage of it. “Why don’t you go back to your hotel, and we’ll be there soon. You really should rest.”

  She looked around once more, and then nodded. “That sounds good. Thank you.”

  When she was gone, I dead-bolted the door behind her and smiled at Jenny. “Wow, that was close. Way to think fast.”

  “It gives us the perfect excuse to finish our snooping, doesn’t it?”

  I nodded. “I thought she might have heard that I was the one who found Derrick’s body.”

  Jenny shook her head. “I was pretty sure we were in the clear when she didn’t attack you the second she found out who you were.”

  “Yes, that was a pretty big clue. I’ve got another one for you.”

  “What? Did you find something in the bedroom?”

  “Come with me,” I said as I led her into the other room.

  She looked around, and then said, “It’s at least as messy as the living room.”

  “True, but that’s not why we’re here. Look in the closet.”

  She did as I asked, glanced in, and then asked, “Does this mean Cary was lying to us? Had she been staying here all along?”

  “Pull out one of the dresses and look at it.”

  Jenny did, and an instant later after examining a cute little black dress, she said, “There’s no way Cary Duncan could have squeezed into this, not on her best day.”

  I nodded. “Someone else was staying here with Duncan, and if I had to bet, I’d say it was Mindi Mills.”

  Jenny looked stricken. “She’s going to know what her husband was up to. How awful.”

  “I’d say when she starts unpacking and sees these clothes, she’s going to have a pretty good idea that they belong to someone else, and unless Derrick was a cross-dresser who could squeeze himself into something this small, there was a pretty good chance her husband was seeing someone on the side.”

  “We can’t tell her,” Jenny said. “It’s just not right.”

  “We offered to clean the place up and deliver the clothes to her at the Brunswick,” I reminded her.

  “Yes, Derrick’s things. We didn’t say a word about his mistress’s clothes.”

  I looked at Jenny a second before I spoke. “Jen, how on earth are you so sensitive about this type of stuff and still working as a lawyer?”

  “They made a special exception for me, and remember, we don’t do domestic cases,” she said as she started collecting the smaller clothes.

  “What are you going to do with them?”

  “I can’t just throw them away,” she said.

  I took a plastic bag from the top shelf, one reserved for dry-cleaning, and began folding the dresses so they’d fit.

  “They’ll wrinkle that way,” Jenny said.

  “Do you have any better ideas? We could always do what I suggested and mix them in with Derrick’s clothes.”

  “No, that’s fine,” she said. We added shoes and some things from the drawers that clearly belonged to the mystery woman.

  “Jenny, we don’t know for a fact that these belong to Mindi,” I said.

  “Do you honestly think that he had TWO mistresses on the side?”

  “I would guess that it was highly unlikely, but I suppose it’s a possibility. There’s one good way to find out, though.”

  “How do you propose we do that?”

  “It’s simple,” I said as I tied a knot in the top of the bag to secure it. “We ask Mindi ourselves.”

  “I’m not about to disagree with your logic,” she said, “but I can’t wait to hear how you’re going to bring it up.”

  “I’ll think of something,” I said. “In the meantime, let’s get the two suitcases down from the top shelf and start packing up Derrick’s things.”

  “It should make it easier to search the place that way,” she agreed.

  As I pulled the suitcases down, I instantly realized that they were heavier than I’d expected them to be.

  There was something inside each one of them, but I didn’t have a clue what it could be.

  “These things weigh a ton,” I said as I threw them onto the bed. “What did he keep in them, rocks?”

  “Maybe they’re stuffed with bars of gold,” Jenny said.

  “Derrick wasn’t a pirate. Well, not the kind you mean, anyway.”

  Nothing could have surprised me more when I opened the first one and saw what was really hidden inside.

  “WHAT IS IT?” JENNY ASKED AS SHE TRIED TO LOOK past me into the opened suitcase.

  I pulled out a telephone book, and then another, and another, and another still. “It’s full of phone books.”

  She opened the other suitcase and found the same thing. “There are more phone books in here.”

  “Where are they from? Are they all for Raleigh?” I asked as I looked at the books in front of me. Mine were all from the Triangle of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.

  “All from this area,” she said as she lifted one telephone book up and fanned the pages. Nothing fluttered out, though I
’d been hoping it might have been jammed with hundred dollar bills, or clues, or something other than what we got.

  I checked a couple of the ones from the suitcase I had, but there wasn’t anything there, either. “How odd. Why would he do something like that? It’s got to mean something, unless he’s just into stealing telephone directories wherever he stays.”

  Jenny frowned, and then said, “I’ve got an idea, but it’s kind of far-fetched.”

  “If it helps explain this, I’m willing to listen.”

  “What if there was something in these bags, something pretty heavy. If someone took what was stored there, they might want to leave behind something of similar weight to fool Derrick into thinking all was right with the world.”

  I shrugged. “I suppose it’s possible, but if he was checking his luggage anyway, why wouldn’t he just open the suitcase up to see for himself?”

  “You’ve got a point. I just don’t get it.”

  “Neither do I, but there might be something here that we’re missing. Let’s find a box or something stout to put these in, and we’ll put Derrick’s clothes back into his suitcases after we search them.”

  “I found a heavy box in the other room we can use,” Jenny said.

  “Then grab it and let’s get busy.”

  BY THE TIME WE HAD DERRICK’S CLOTHES PACKED INTO his suitcases, the suite was actually beginning to look fairly decent, though the trash cans were all full. In all the time we’d been working, we’d found the keys, the telephone books, and a stack of papers that on first glance didn’t make a great deal of sense.

  What we didn’t find was Derrick’s planner.

  That was the oddest thing of all. I knew from personal experience that he never went anywhere without it. Could it be holding the key to what had happened to him?

  We wouldn’t know until we found it.

  A thought occurred to me as we made a final sweep around the rooms before releasing the suite back to Benjamin.

  Could the police have Derrick’s planner themselves?

  I wanted to call Zach so he could check for me, but we were having communication problems at the moment. I couldn’t call Detective Murphy either, but for very different reasons. I had a feeling that if he knew what Jenny and I were up to, he wouldn’t approve.

  It was just one more question I was going to have to file away.

  For now, there wasn’t much I could do about it.

  DID YOU FIND ANYTHING ELSE?” I ASKED JENNY AS I walked out of the bedroom with the suitcases. She’d taken the clothes we presumed belonged to Mindi Mills, and I deposited the suitcases beside the bag near the door.

  “Nothing,” she said. “I’m afraid I’m not much of a detective.”

  “I think you’re doing a great job. You found the keys, didn’t you? That’s more than I can say.”

  “I’m sure you would have found them if you’d looked at Derrick’s shoes first instead of me,” she said, but I could tell she looked a little pleased by my praise.

  “Don’t bet on it. I just wish I knew what they unlocked.”

  “We could always ask Cary,” she said.

  “Maybe if we get desperate, but for right now, let’s just keep it between the two of us.”

  Jenny looked at me with a slight bit of concern in her eyes. “Do you mean we should keep the fact that we found them from Zach, too?”

  “Of course not. If I talk to him again, I’ll be sure to mention it.”

  Jenny shook her head. “If you talk to him? Savannah, you two will work this out.”

  “I know, but that man can be so stubborn sometimes.”

  At that comment, Jenny started laughing. I looked at her for a second, and then asked, “What’s so funny?”

  “If anybody knows what stubborn looks like, it would be you.”

  I chuckled softly myself. “I’d like to dispute that, but we both know that I can’t.”

  My phone started quacking, and I couldn’t help but smile. “That would be my husband,” I said.

  “Would you like some privacy?” Jenny asked as she stepped away. “I’ll go in the bedroom and wait.”

  “You’re fine,” I told her, and then answered, “Stone Investigations,” in my best, most professional voice.

  “Sometimes I wonder if you’re not the better detective in the family at that. What have you and Jenny been up to?”

  “More than I can say over the phone,” I answered.

  “Then why don’t we get together and discuss it,” he said.

  “Have you made up your mind about what you’re going to do?” I asked, trying to remember to breathe as I did.

  “Savannah, there won’t be any decisions made until we both discuss this and come to an agreement.”

  “And what if we can’t?” I asked, my voice suddenly growing softer.

  “Then I turn them down without discussion. You’re more important to me than any job. You know that, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do,” I said. “But it’s still good to hear every now and then.”

  “I’ll try to do better,” he said. “Are you two still at Jenny’s?”

  “No, sir,” I said, my mood suddenly lightened. “We’ve been busy since you left. At the moment, we’re in Derrick’s suite at the Crest Hotel. We just finished searching the place for clues, and we found a few things that are pretty interesting.”

  “Savannah, have you lost your mind? You can’t interfere with an active police investigation like that.”

  I took a deep breath, and then asked, “Are you through scolding me?”

  “For now,” he said grudgingly.

  “The police released his room hours ago, and we got Cary Duncan’s blessing to search the suite.”

  He whistled. “How’d you manage that?”

  I didn’t want to tell him the truth, but I didn’t see that I had much choice. “She caught us searching the place, so Jenny convinced her that we were there to help her take care of Derrick’s belongings so she wouldn’t have to deal with everything herself. Soon enough, she’s going to know that I’m the one who found him, and honestly, how much of a leap is it for her to figure out that I’m a suspect in his murder?”

  “I don’t like Cary knowing that you’re involved so deeply in this,” Zach said.

  “I’m not thrilled about it either, but she is going to find out sooner or later. I had to take a calculated risk. Besides, if I get into any real trouble, Jenny can bail me out.”

  Zach laughed at that, a sound I never grew tired of. “If I’m ever in a jam, I think I want Jenny representing me. You’re in good hands, Savannah.”

  “I couldn’t agree with you more,” I said. “We’re about to deliver Derrick’s things to his widow. Would you care to join us?”

  “Try and stop me. Where is she staying?”

  “She’s at the Brunswick,” I said. “Would you like us to wait for you in the lobby?”

  “I’ll be there before you will,” he said. As he was about to hang up, he added, “I really do love you. You know that, don’t you?”

  “Right back at you,” I said.

  After I hung up, I called out to Jenny, “It’s safe to come out now.”

  She walked out, and without waiting for me to say a word, Jenny said, “Good, you two made up.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “There’s a smile you don’t bring out enough, one that lights up your eyes. You’re displaying it right now.”

  “You always were great at reading me. We’re going to return these things to Cary at the Brunswick Hotel. Zach’s going to meet us in the lobby.”

  “Sounds good,” she said.

  As I opened the door to the suite, a young woman with platinum blonde hair and a figure nearly as artificial was hovering just outside.

  “My key doesn’t work anymore,” she said. “Who are you?”

  “We’re friends of Derrick,” I said, truly stretching the truth beyond its breaking point. “And you are?”

  She didn
’t answer, instead pointing at the bags near the door. “Those belong to Derrick. Are you trying to tell me that he’s okay with you waltzing in here and taking his things?”

  “He doesn’t have much to say about it anymore,” I said.

  “Why not? What’s going on here?”

  “You haven’t heard?” I asked.

  “Heard what?” The suspicion was even stronger in her voice and eyes now. “If he thinks he’s dumping me for one of you, he’s sadly mistaken.”

  “You’re Mindi, aren’t you?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I am. I’m still waiting to hear who you are.”

  “That’s not important,” I said. “When’s the last time you saw Derrick?”

  “Three days ago,” she said. “I had to leave town, but he knew I was coming back. I’m getting tired of this. Tell me who you are and what you’re doing here, or I’m going to call the police.”

  “Mindi, I don’t know how to tell you this,” I said, “but I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you. Derrick’s dead.”

  She looked as though she’d been hit between the eyes with a sledgehammer. One second she was standing there talking to us, and the next, she was plummeting to the floor in a dead faint.

  As Jenny and I rushed to her, my old roommate said, “Man, you’ve got a lot to learn about giving someone bad news.”

  “What should I have said?”

  “I’m not sure, but I’m guessing there was a better way of handling it than just blurting it out like that.”

  “I’ll get some water,” I said.

  Jenny nodded as she knelt down. “She’s out cold. It should wake her up.”

  “I’m not getting it for her. I’m thirsty.”

  “Not funny, Savannah. She took it really hard, didn’t she?”

  “It appeared that way, didn’t it?” I got water from the sink in one of the hotel glasses and flicked some onto Mindi’s face. It took more than a few sprinkles to wake her, and when she finally came around, she asked, “Is it true? Is he gone?”

  “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid he is,” Jenny said as we helped Mindi up.

  We walked her to the couch, and as she sat down, I handed her the rest of the water. “Drink this. It will help.”

  She gulped the water down, and then said, “Thank you.” After taking a deep breath, she asked, “How did he die?”