Murder At The Bed & Breakfast

by Dianne Harman

  After the call had been placed, and Lester had read his lines to perfection, the reverend said, “It's probably better if you leave now. Since I’m sure my opponent will be withdrawing from the race, I'm pretty much a shoe-in. See you at the election night party, and I’m having a special little party after that for some of my people. You’re invited. Some of my friends from San Francisco are coming up for it and will provide a little entertainment, if you know what I mean. They do mean things with their tassels. Think you’ll enjoy it. Thanks for bringing me the winning ticket.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Not a day goes by that I don't miss Don, Nancy thought. He was everything to me. We were soulmates, just like you read about in the supermarket tabloids. I know he was married to Camille for a few years and had two children by her, but once we met there was never anyone else for either of us. He was the most wonderful man in the world. He was my hero, a man who knew what was right and what was wrong with the United States, and now he’s gone.

  Don had two daughters, Laura and Renee, and she remembered when Renee told him she was going to marry Bob Salazar. Don had become almost apoplectic at the mere thought that a daughter of his would marry a Mexican. He was a firm believer that all Mexicans should be sent back to where they came from. He still resented President Bush for not sealing the borders and thereby allowing them to flood into the United States, taking jobs that belonged to red, white, and blue Americans.

  Nancy knew how hurt he’d been when Renee had told him about the forthcoming marriage. She remembered him saying, “It was bad enough when Laura married a good-for-nothing drug addict, but I had higher hopes for Renee. She could have had her pick of men, including that wealthy rancher, Mitch Warren, who she was engaged to.” What had added insult to injury in Don's eyes was that Bob Salazar was twenty years older than Renee, fifty years to her thirty, and only a few years younger than Don. The days following Renee's announcement had not been easy ones for either Don or Nancy. He had vacillated between being furious and being severely depressed. She’d finally insisted he make an appointment with his doctor and get some medication to help him through his ordeal.

  It was as if something died in Don from the moment Renee had told him about it. He lost interest in everything having to do with the government, and whenever a Mexican or a Hispanic was on television he turned it off, even if it was one of the players on his favorite baseball team, the San Francisco Giants. Food no longer interested him, and he spent hours in bed, often not getting up until late in the afternoon, if at all. Although Don didn't do anything as obvious as hold a gun to his head or swallow poison, it became apparent to Nancy he'd made his mind up that he wanted to die.

  Renee asked Don to give her away at the wedding, but he refused to even attend and never spoke to her again. When he found out she was pregnant and that he was going to be the grandfather of a half-Mexican grandchild, he vowed to die and so he did. Laura was the one who had told him about Renee's pregnancy, and she'd also told him she was going to be the baby's nanny and live with Bob and Renee. Nancy was certain Laura was responsible for Don’s death. It had been several months now since Don’s death, and she hated Laura with every fiber in her being, blaming her for killing Don.

  Nancy didn't know how she was going to get back at Laura, only that she had to do something to avenge Don's death. She couldn't bring herself to kill his grandchild, and he'd always told her that privately, Renee was his favorite, so she couldn't bring herself to kill Renee either, but in her mind Laura's death could be justified. After all, wasn't she the one who ultimately was responsible for Don's death? Although she knew it could never be proven in a court of law, she felt she alone knew the truth - that Laura was responsible for Don’s death. And shouldn't she also die for what she had done? In Nancy’s twisted mind, the answer was a resounding absolutely, positively yes!

  CHAPTER 6

  It was early evening when the guests began to leave, the last ones being Bob and Renee. It was a rare event when they were alone without their newborn daughter, Celia. The politicians and attorneys that seemed to always need to talk to Bob. They'd thoroughly enjoyed the wedding and reception. Liz had spent quite a little time with Renee and considered her to be a new friend. She’d told Renee she'd very much like her to be a guest at the spa before they went home the next day, and Renee had eagerly accepted her invitation.

  “Hon,” Gertie said, walking over to Liz with a large tray of appetizers as she was getting ready to leave. “Ya' gotta try these pizza twirls I came up with ‘em jes' fer yer' weddin'. Everybody's tellin' me they're the best thing since sliced bread. Probably gonna have to put 'em on the menu at the diner. Also bet yer’ gonna want the recipe, so you can fix ‘em for yer’ spa guests at the nightly dinners ya’ give ‘em. Bet ya' can't eat jes' one!”

  Liz knew once Gertie wanted you to try something, there was no way to get out of it. She took one of the appetizers from the tray and popped it in her mouth. “You weren’t kidding, Gertie. These are fabulous. Yes, I definitely want the recipe. Thank you so much.”

  “My pleasure, darlin’. Yer’ worth it,” Gertie said..

  Liz and Roger thanked Gertie and her staff. When they were gone, their four children once again told them how happy they were for Liz and Roger. As they walked to their cottages they made their way past Brandy Boy, who was in his customary place on the porch, waiting for the little ding-ding-ding of the bell from one of the cottages. His sole purpose in life was to deliver a wee bit of brandy to the guest who was staying there and then be rewarded with a dog treat.

  “Brandy Boy, give me a minute, and I promise I'll ring the bell for you. I've only read about you, but I definitely want to see you in action,” Jake said laughing. “Dad's told me all about your deliveries, and I can't come to the lodge without seeing the dog that’s been all over television and in all the papers do his shtick!” Brandy Boy never acknowledged him or moved.

  Roger closed the door behind him and walked over to Liz, hugging her. “Well, it's just you and me now, Mrs. Langley. Better get used to it. I've never been happier.”

  “Nor have I, but I think you're forgetting something,” she said, looking down at the big dog who had a paw up, almost in defeat. “I don't think it's just you and me. With Winston, I think it's more like we three. Hope you don't mind.”

  Roger pulled away and reached down, petting the big boxer. “Don't worry, boy, you're part of the family, but I would like to kiss the bride, if you don't mind.”

  He had just put his arms around Liz, enveloping her in a hug, when his cell phone, which he’d left on the kitchen counter, rang.

  “Roger, whoever it is, it can wait. We're entitled to our time together. After all, this is our day.”

  “Everyone knows today's the wedding, but I want to check and make sure it's not an emergency. Hmm,” he said, looking at the monitor. “It's Bob Salazar. I better see what he wants. I'll just be a minute, and then we can resume where we left off.” He picked up the phone. “Hi, Bob, what's so important that it can't wait until tomorrow. I assume you do know this is my wedding day considering you left here only a few minutes ago.”

  Roger listened for a moment and then said, “Don't do anything. We're on our way.” He ended the call and turned to Liz, “Someone killed Renee's sister. We have to go to Cindy's Bed & Breakfast right now.” He ran downstairs to get his gun from the top drawer of his bureau.

  Liz opened the door and asked Roger what had happened as they ran to his car. “All I know is that he was pretty emotional. Evidently Cindy heard their baby, Celia, crying far longer than was normal for her. Laura usually picked her up, and she would stop crying after a couple of minutes. Cindy was concerned something had happened and knocked on the door of the room where Celia and Laura were staying. There was no answer, so she went in and discovered that Laura had been shot and was obviously dead. She grabbed the baby and was trying to calm her down when Bob and Renee got there a few moments later. That's all I know.”

  “Why d
idn’t Cindy hear a gun shot and report it?”

  “I had the same thought. The killer must have used a silencer.”

  “Poor Renee. She told me she was so happy that she and Laura were becoming close again. Evidently they had been estranged for a while, something about Renee not approving of Laura's ex-husband. Laura recently divorced him and since she was a nurse out of a job, it seemed like a perfect solution to have her take care of Celia while Renee tried to balance her psychology practice while helping with Bob’s election campaign."

  “Seems like the police haven't been called yet. I don't see any red and blue flashing lights or that buffoon police chief's car. We should know more in a few minutes.” Lights spilled out of every window. As Roger pulled into the circular driveway of Cindy’s Bed & Breakfast, he said, “Even if the police haven't been called, it looks like all the guests know what has happened. Great way to start a honeymoon, Mrs. Langley, sorry.” They threw the car doors open and ran up the steps to where Bob was waiting for them on the porch.

  CHAPTER 7

  After Bob had ended his call to Roger he paused for a few moments thinking about the events of the last few weeks. Renee hadn't understood why he'd withdrawn from the campaign for county supervisor after spending the last year actively pursuing it. She'd asked him several times why he'd changed his mind, and each time he told her the same thing - he'd decided now that they had a child he wanted to spend more time with Renee and Celia. Renee suspected there was more to it than that, but Bob had been adamant that spending time with his family, rather than taking care of county business, was far more important to him.

  He'd pulled out of the race late in the afternoon after he'd received the anonymous call threatening to expose his parents as illegal immigrants. Bob's parents had come to the United States illegally and had eventually made their way to California’s Central Valley. They were very frugal and even though they had six children, they were able to save and buy land to grow the produce that grew so easily in that area of the state. Within several years, they’d managed to buy hundreds of acres and hired friends and family to work the land. Bob's parents had impressed upon him from an early age that he was the smart one in the family, and that he had to get a college education. They didn't want to see their son, who seemed to be so intelligent, working on the land. It was all right for their other children, but not for Bob, or Roberto, his legal name.

  Their faith in him had been well-placed. He excelled in high school and received a scholarship to the University of California. He graduated with honors and then attended law school at the University of California, Berkeley. The fact that he was a Latino hadn't hurt when he'd applied and also probably helped him qualify for the full scholarship he received from the law school scholarship fund. He didn’t know if it was his ethnicity or his academic record that had been responsible for the full scholarship, but he gladly accepted the financial benefits it provided.

  When Bob was in college, he became aware that as illegal immigrants his parents were in a tenuous situation, and the Border Patrol could deport them to Mexico. Since all of their children had been born in the United States, they were legal U.S. citizens, but his parents’ status was always only one knock away on the door in the middle of the night from being sent back to Mexico. When he first brought up the subject of becoming U.S. citizens to them, his parents gave him all of their reasons why they didn’t want to become U.S. citizens.

  As the years went on, the subject was met with deaf ears and silence. He finally realized they felt they were in a Catch-22 situation. If they told anyone they were illegal immigrants, they were certain their land would be taken from them. Although it wasn’t true, someone had once told them that, and no amount of explaining on Bob’s part could get them to change their mind on the subject. After numerous attempts at trying to persuade them otherwise, he'd given up and just hoped no one ever found out his parents were in the United States illegally.

  When the phone call had come several weeks ago telling Bob that if he didn't drop out of the race his parents would be exposed as illegal immigrants, he'd spent several hours anguishing over what he should do. He knew Renee would urge him to stay in the race and let the chips fall where they may. He also knew he couldn't allow his parents to be exposed as illegal immigrants. The stakes were just too high for him to do that. If it hadn't been for their support and encouragement, he'd be just another Mexican working in the fields and living from paycheck to paycheck rather than a wealthy attorney in a private practice with a wife he adored and an infant daughter. Late that afternoon he'd called a press conference and dropped out of the race, citing as his reason that he wanted to spend more time with his young growing family.

  Neither he nor the reverend he was running against nor anyone else could have foreseen the strange outcome of the election. It had been too late to remove his name from the ballot since it had already been printed, and he had won the race by an overwhelming majority. The talking heads wagged about it for days and Bob, being the honorable man he was, decided that if the public felt that strongly about his being elected as a Dillon County Supervisor he had no choice but to accept the position.

  He didn't know how or why, but he was sure his sister-in-law, Laura, had been murdered because he'd made the wrong decision and decided to accept the job of county supervisor after winning the election by a landslide.

  The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that Laura’s murder was a vendetta against him for becoming the new Dillon County Supervisor. Having his sister-in-law murdered because of him was the worst experience of his life, and if Renee ever found out that Laura had probably been murdered because of him, he knew she'd leave him and his life wouldn't be worth living. Falling in love with Renee and marrying her had been the most wonderful experience of his life, and he didn’t want to lose her.

  CHAPTER 8

  “Bob, I am so sorry. This is absolutely shocking and beyond belief. How's Renee doing? Is Celia all right?” Roger asked, after he sprinted up the steps of the bed and breakfast to where Bob sat in a porch chair, his arms crossed, seemingly in shock.

  “Roger, I can't believe this,” Bob said, looking up at Roger.” Who would want to kill Laura? She was one of the sweetest, most loving people I've ever known. As far as Renee - she's devastated. She and Cindy are taking turns comforting Celia and trying to calm her down. Fortunately she's too young to know what happened, but I wonder if she'll be traumatized by it at some level. She was really attached to Laura, and I’m sure she’ll miss her. She’s just too young to verbalize it. What should I do now? You're the expert in criminal law.”

  “First of all you need to call Seth Williams. He's the police chief in Red Cedar. He's a bumbling idiot, but he is the chief, plus he's indebted to Liz and me. Since I know him, it would probably be best if I called him.” He took his phone out of his pocket and pressed in the police chief's phone number.

  “Seth, it's Roger Langley. Yeah, I enjoyed the reception too. Unfortunately, this is a business call. The sister-in-law of a good friend of mine has been murdered. We're at Cindy's B & B. I need you to come right away.”

  He ended the call and turned to Bob. "He'll be here momentarily. First of all, I need to know who would want Laura dead. Naturally, the place to begin is with Laura. I’m thinking relationships, people who might not like her, that type of thing. What about Laura’s ex-husband? Liz mentioned him on the way over. Secondly, would anyone want to hurt you or Renee? Is someone trying to get at you through your sister-in-law? You're a Dillon County Supervisor now. Any problems there?

  “I've never asked you before, but have you previously been married? Are there any disgruntled employees or clients, either in your current law practice or when you were with the firm in San Francisco who might want to retaliate against you? Is there anything you can think of at all? And like I always tell my clients - who has the most to gain from Laura's death?”

  Bob put his head in his hands. After several minutes, he looked up at Ro
ger and said with a vacant look in his eyes, “I honestly can't think of anyone who would profit from Laura being dead or would want to see her dead.”

  “I don't know anything about Renee's past. How did you meet her? Was she involved with someone else. Has she previously been married? In other words, if someone wanted to get at Renee through Laura, who would it be?”

  “From the moment I found out that Laura had been murdered, I've been asking myself the same question, and I just can't come up with anyone."

  “Tell me more about Renee. I really like her, but I sure don't know much about her.”

  CHAPTER 9

  In a hesitant and emotional tone of voice, Bob started to speak. “I met Renee at a Republican political event. As you know, when I left the firm where you and I worked together in San Francisco, I opened up a law office in Dillon, which is pretty much in the middle of the county. I’d thought for a long time that we need more Latinos in politics and had pretty much made a decision to get into county politics. I attended several county Republican political party meetings, and a man at one of the meetings befriended me. He urged me to become involved and told me he would introduce me to the movers and shakers in the county.

  “Renee comes from a wealthy family in the area. Her father and stepmother lived in Red Cedar, and he was once the mayor. He had a large ranch and sold it to a developer, then he made a ton of money playing the stock market. Even though Renee was originally from here, she moved to Dillon when the opportunity came to take over a retiring psychologist’s practice. We happened to see each other a number of times at various different Dillon events, and one night I was seated next to her at a political event. The rest is history. She’d been engaged for some time to a rancher, although they hadn't set a date. Renee broke her engagement to him, and from that moment on we were together.