A Canary in the Canal Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #8 (Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery Series)

by Anna Celeste Burke

  “Greg and Melody were both members of the Bayou Balladeers before their supervisor, Cicely Gregoire, kicked Melody out of the group. I’ll tell you more about that in a minute. According to Rebecca, the thrill was gone as soon as Melody had made another conquest. She ended her brief affair with Greg in less than a week.”

  “Some sister, huh?” Jack asked.

  “Melody and Greg deserved each other. I don’t know why Rebecca puts up with him. If he was asked about his relationship with Melody, he would probably have denied being her boyfriend.” I sipped my wine before picking up the conversation again since Jack’s mouth was full of cake.

  “Aren’t you curious about how Greg and Rebecca got mixed up with Duke and why he was smacking them around, or do you know about the stolen money?” I explained what I meant by that and what I’d learned about why he was slapping them around today.

  “No one has said anything to me about missing money. That’s not chump change. As far as I know, they’ve been tailing Duke because of his ties to Melody as her legal representative and her manager. They heard the interaction between Duke and Greg because they were outside when the car tailing Duke was nearby. They don’t have on his phone and haven’t planted a bug on him or his car, although he probably sweeps his home, office, and car every night.”

  “I can’t believe there’s no evidence that Duke murdered Melody,” I said. “A million dollars has to be a motive for murder, especially since the person who stole it was someone he’d bailed out in the past—literally.”

  “Why kill her before got his hands on the million dollars that she stole from him?” Jack asked. “Although from what you said today, he’s not the most patient man, is he?”

  Until he made a personal appearance today and roughed up Rebecca and Greg, I wouldn’t have considered him to be a man who did his own dirty work.”

  “He has an alibi for Friday night. In fact, he’s one of the few people with one that, on face value, seems airtight. Duke’s a hardworking guy. Accommodating too since he provided us with security video showing him going into his office at seven and not leaving until almost ten.”

  “Please! Like there aren’t backdoors that he could use to come and go or holes he could slither out of. Since he has a security system, you’d think he’d have a video of Melody walking out with a box or briefcase full of money and would have reported her for theft,” I groused.

  “I doubt the money Melody stole is from a source you’d report to the police or want the IRS to know about. That must be why he’s handling the matter himself,” Jack said.

  “Mishandling the matter, if you ask me.”

  “I won’t disagree with you, although as you said, this must be personal to him. He could hire a henchman to apply the kind of pressure he put on Rebecca and Greg. What’s more interesting is why those two silly kids didn’t call and report the incident to the police.”

  “They were scared, Jack, which I totally understand. You’re the one who told me not to challenge Duke. Calling the police and reporting him for assault is about as in your face as you can get.”

  “I don’t believe that’s the reason they didn’t call the police,” Jack commented.

  “You’re probably right. Even though she says Duke threatened to hurt them if they called the police, they’re up to something. Rebecca claims they have no idea where Melody hid the money. She figures it must be in Melody’s apartment and Duke’s pressuring them to get inside and search. They can’t do that because you and your colleagues have a guard stationed there.”

  “That’s true. The crime lab has been going through everything in there, hoping to find a diary or letters that might give us a clue about who hated her enough to kill her. If Greg and Rebecca knew where to find Duke’s money, do you believe they’d be letting him slap them around?”

  “No, I also have doubts that Rebecca would simply hand it over to him. In fact, she almost said as much. I told her taking the money and running away was a bad idea because Duke’s a man who holds a grudge,” I said. “They’re in over their heads.”

  “That they are,” Jack said as he scraped the crumbs on his plate into a tiny pile.

  “Did I hear you say that Greg Bustos has an apartment in the same complex as Rebecca?”

  “Yes, does that matter?”

  “He’s not a gangster like Duke is, but Greg was angry and out of control. Too many beers, maybe. When Rebecca kicked him out of her apartment, I didn’t realize he hadn’t gone far. I’m glad I insisted she stay someplace else for a few days.”

  “She didn’t leave town, did she?” Jack asked.

  “No, and you’ll be happy to know I took extra precautions relocating her. I brought her back to my office, where Cicely Gregoire met her. They rode under the tunnels together to the employee lot and drove to Cicely’s place from there. I also have Rebecca’s promise not to take or make calls to either of them until she hears from me.”

  “Your conversation with Cicely Gregoire must have made quite an impression for her to take Melody’s sister in.”

  “Cicely and Rebecca weren’t strangers, although Cicely wasn’t aware that they were sisters before I told her this afternoon. Cicely was distressed by Melody’s murder and she has a high opinion of Rebecca. She was also privy to an interaction between Melody and Duke, so she was on board right away with the idea of keeping Rebecca safe from him. Besides, Cicely struck me as a woman who would enjoy having a guest. I told her to call me once she and Rebecca were home safely, which she did. She seemed to enjoy the intrigue too.”

  “In other words, you worked another one of your magic tricks. That baby cake was delicious. I hope there’s a momma or papa cake around somewhere,” Jack said, scooting his chair from the table and scanning the kitchen.

  “Yes, there is, but it’s too pretty to cut until our guests arrive. Don’t go yet. I wrote you a memo. I want to go over the key talking points before Carol gets here. She has written notes to give you when she gets here. She also has information she downloaded from Melody’s HR file, including the formal reprimand from Cicely.”

  “A memo! How did you have time to do that?” Jack asked.

  “I had to do it, so I wouldn’t lose track of what we found out today. Duke hadn’t let her out of her contract yet. If she was insured, Melody could have been worth more to him dead than alive. Rebecca said Melody and Duke were at odds about the fact she wanted to sign with someone else, and Melody was scared of him. He’s not the only man in her life with a reason to be happy she’s dead.” Jack’s eyes widened. “Wait until you hear who Rebecca claims was footing the bill for Melody’s swanky apartment.”

  “Wife, you continue to amaze me. Go on and tell me the rest of the culprits and clues you unearthed.” Jack fiddled with the fork on his empty plate as I went over the key points outlined in the memo I’d written when I got back to my office. When I got to the point about the typewriter, I handed the sheet of paper I’d stuffed into my purse to him.

  “We’ll have half an hour to go through everything in more detail once Carol and Brett get here,” I said when I’d gone over each point. “I wanted to run it all by you first to make sure we’re clear that we can discuss everything in front of Ann when she joins us later.”

  “I’d like to have Ann start and tell me about the mystery woman she saw standing near where the body was found. I don’t want Ann to be influenced by anything you or Carol heard about a sister or from her sister. Once I hear what she has to say about the woman she saw, it might be worthwhile to see if she’s met Rebecca Hardesty or heard anyone else mention that Melody had a sister.” With that, Jack stood up.

  “If you’re done wowing me, I’m going to call Doug and repeat the key points you just made. Someone should bring Bill Yeats in for another round of questioning tonight. We also need to get a team to go over every inch of Melody Monroe’s apartment to search for a briefcase-sized amount of money. An officer should also pick up that typewriter tonight.”

  “Here,” I sai
d. “This is Rebecca’s key, so if they can’t get security to let them in, please ask Doug to send someone to pick it up rather than break Rebecca’s door down. Do you have to question Rebecca tonight? I still can’t make up my mind about her. I hope if she has a little time, without Greg or Duke breathing down her neck, she’ll get her head on straight. She needs to come clean about the trouble she’s in.”

  “I’ll see what Doug says, but I think tomorrow will be soon enough to have a chat with Rebecca and Greg about what went on Friday night. I’ll bet with a little shuttle diplomacy, Greg or Rebecca might decide to tell us more about Friday night.”

  “By ‘shuttle diplomacy,’ you mean take them both to the police station, put them in separate rooms, and see if you can get them to contradict or turn on each other by shuttling back and forth between them, right?”

  “Something like that,” Jack said. “Now that we know there’s lots of Duke’s money involved, he isn’t going to get off without another round of questioning either.”

  “Which brings me back to Greg once more. He’s not only angry but desperate, so maybe he killed Melody by mistake when he was supposed to get her to tell him where she hid the money. Or, what if Melody told Greg where she hid the money and he murdered her as payback for dumping him? Maybe the only reason he’s still here is that he can’t get into Melody’s apartment to collect his prize. I don’t have any problem if you pick him up and grill him with tough questions tonight,” I added along with a harrumph.

  “Remind me not to get on your bad side. You’re a one-woman crime-buster as well as a master baker.” Jack gave me a kiss and carried his plate to the sink. “After losing our burglar with his so-called bird’s-eye view of what happened to Melody, your new information is going to put Doug in a much better mood.”

  “Does that mean you weren’t able to locate Burton?”

  “Oh, we located him all right. When I said we lost him, I meant permanently—as in dead.”

  “As in murdered?” My mood didn’t get any better as I asked the question. “Silly question. What crook gets bailed out and suddenly drops dead?”

  “Whoever killed him made a half-hearted effort to stage it as an accident. One of his compadres in the burglary ring was probably in a hurry to make sure Burton didn’t say another word to anyone. The longer he was in custody, the greater the risk that he’d give up some clue to the burglary ring’s operations. It’s too bad we didn’t get to hear what he had to say about what he saw Friday night.”

  “How can you be so certain Burton wasn’t killed because he saw what happened to Melody?”

  “There weren’t many people who even knew there was any connection between the two cases. Other than the police involved, Burton’s lawyer, and the lead prosecutor dealing with the murder case are it. That leads me to believe this was the members of the burglary ring tying up loose ends.”

  “Did he have a public defender or a private lawyer?” I asked, pushing the matter.

  “Burton’s attorney was appointed by the court. I suppose if his pals got word that he was trying to make a deal, they could have figured it was better to get him out on bail than set him up as the patsy for other burglaries.”

  “How convenient for him to die so soon. I get it, though. There are so many suspects in Melody’s murder case; all you need is to have to interview a bunch of burglars too.”

  “True, especially since we have yet to determine who they are. Let me call Doug, then I’ll set the table for you here or in the dining room.”

  “In here, it’s closer to the kitchen. I’d better check that everything’s ready to pop into the oven as soon as Carol and Brett get here. Then it’ll be finished cooking when Ann joins us.” By the time I got to the last sentence, I was talking to myself—out loud.

  18 Sisters’ Act

  “Doug says thank you, and I’m lucky that I saw you first, even though you were a murder suspect.”

  “You didn’t tell him that, did you?” I asked.

  “No, I told him you’re a super-sleuth. He does feel like we’ve made progress despite a couple of serious setbacks today.”

  “A couple?” I asked. “Does that mean someone else is dead?”

  “We don’t have a second body, but possibly a second crime scene.”

  “How can that be?”

  “The call just came in about an hour ago. Neighbors two houses down from the party claim they found blood on the edge of their rowboat that’s tied up along the canal. There’s more blood on an oar lying in the bottom of the boat, and what looks like matted hair.”

  “No more details, please. It’s obvious you’ve been talking to Doug. I’m lucky I found you before he did while you still had some self-censoring ability left.”

  “I do, and I did censor myself. He was much more graphic. If we’d kept going a little farther on Sunday, we might have found the rowboat. Another day or two in the sun made it harder to ignore, I doubt you would have missed it.”

  “Ick,” I said. “What’s happening with the investigation of the first crime scene in the basement? Could there be two if Melody was injured in one place and murdered elsewhere?”

  “This may be a case involving the murder of a singer, but a duo of crime scenes is unlikely.”

  “A duo? Please don’t start with the bad puns,” I moaned.

  “Duet didn’t seem to fit,” Jack quipped. In response, I shook my head and moved on.

  “If two crime scenes aren’t likely, then why spend time checking out the rowboat? That’s right next to the house that was burglarized. What if Burton, the doomed burglar ran over some other hapless bystander before slamming into me?”

  “Doubtful. He wouldn’t have been running as fast as he was when he reached you if he’d already run someone down. One reason we’re interested in what happened at the new site is that the crime lab’s visit to the basement didn’t find much evidence of a crime. The fingernail most likely belongs to Melody; the nail polish is the same color. Several nails were broken on her hands. The blood type from droplets found in the room matches Melody’s. They’re running DNA tests, but it’ll take a few days to get results. The biggest problem is if that’s where she was killed, there should have been more evidence left behind, even with the attempt to cleaning it up.”

  “What about the idea that the killer wrapped her in plastic?”

  “They’re sending the snippet of plastic for further analysis, but it doesn’t seem to have come from anything heavy enough to have been used to wrap a body.”

  “Then why… Jack, could Frederick have lied to us?”

  “I’ve been wondering the same thing. You thought something about him was ‘off,’ and you were right. I was right about him too, though. He has a background in a private security force. He got caught on the wrong side of the political intrigue in Ukraine, and someone in the U.S. got him out. Parts of the report Doug received about Frederick, if that’s even his real name, were blacked out.”

  “By someone in the U.S. Intelligence community like the CIA?”

  “Or the military. If the crime lab ties any of the evidence in the rowboat to Melody Monroe, he could be open to charges of obstructing justice. Something may have happened to Melody in that room, but it’s not where she was beaten or killed.”

  “Maybe she got away and ran for it… but, then why not scream for help? Never mind. What a mess. I say no matter what they find in the rowboat, Frederick has some explaining to do.”

  “You’re right about that. Let’s give the crime lab guys time to do their job and then I’ll bring him to the station and go a second round with him.” The doorbell rang as if round two had already begun.

  When Carol and Brett arrived, I slid dinner into the oven and set the timer. I had trouble focusing on the discussion as Jack, Carol, with a little input from Brett, went through it all again. I kept myself busy playing hostess, pouring drinks, and setting out a tray of crudités.

  Fortunately, Carol came prepared. I’d already filled her in on
my encounter with Duke, and what I’d learned from the “cute” Greg Bustos and Rebecca Hardesty. I really didn’t need to be there, which was good because my phone rang.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said as I slipped away to take the call.

  “Georgie, it’s Kay. I hope I’m not disturbing you at dinnertime.”

  “No. Dinner’s still in the oven,” I responded. “How are you?”

  “Much better now that I’m at home. No more notes, which is good news.”

  “I was going to call you tomorrow about the note issue.” I paused, wondering if I should have asked Jack if it was okay to tell Kay about the typewriter and my hunch that the notes had been another of Melody’s pranks. Jack had told me that Kay was no longer a suspect in Melody’s murder. “This hasn’t been confirmed yet, so I may be speaking out of turn. I believe Melody was your latest note writer. I don’t expect you’ll be getting more of them.”

  “I hope you’re right. I’ll allow myself to feel more relieved anyway. Until you’re sure, I won’t share the information or quit using the extra security steps that Max has insisted I put into place.”

  “That’s good since we still haven’t identified Melody’s killer,” I added. “I heard you had a visitor who came to claim the lighter you found.”

  “Visitors,” Kay responded. “That’s why I called.”

  “I knew Greg Bustos paid you a visit. Who else?” I asked going on alert.

  “Rebecca Hardesty was with him. At first glance, I thought she was Melody. It wasn’t until Greg said why they were there that I realized she was Melody’s sister. Did you know Melody had a sister?” Kay asked.

  “Not until today,” I replied wondering if I’d misunderstood what Rebecca told me about how she got the lighter back. “You have a good eye to have figured that out so quickly.”

  “That’s because you never saw Melody the way I did with a scrubbed face without a bit of makeup. With the blond hair or freckles, though, so I realized my mistake as soon as she said she was her sister. It’s too bad Rebecca couldn’t sing, or they could have had a sisters’ act.”