This has got to be Kaitlin’s mother. No wonder her father doesn’t care for her mother. She’s not someone I’d ever care to see again. I’m going to be hard pressed to be civil to her for the next hour.
“Are you here by yourself or with someone else?”
“I’m by myself. My daughter is graduating from high school, and she’s very involved with the last few days of high school,” she said. “You know how young people are at that age. They’d rather spend time with their friends than their parents.”
“I have a daughter, and I well remember some of those years. Is she going to college?”
“Yes, we’re quite proud of her. She’s been accepted to Stanford University. Of course I’m sure my husband had something to do with that given his position with the alumni association. We were a little concerned about her grades, but she really pulled through this last semester and was able to get a 3.0 average, and with my husband’s connections, that’s all she needed. I don’t know what my husband would have done if she didn’t have the grades to get accepted. He was pretty frantic about it this last semester. He takes his Stanford alumni status pretty seriously, so I’m glad it’s over.”
“Well, congratulations. That’s quite an achievement. I wish your daughter the best.”
“Thank you. She’s quite beautiful and with a Stanford education, she’ll be able to write her own ticket and do whatever she wants. Although I think all she wants to do is get married to the star football player from Red Cedar High. It’s really too bad, because he comes from a family of illiterates. None of them have ever been to college. She deserves someone from a much better family, but they’ve been going together forever, so unfortunately I guess it’s meant to be. As a matter of fact, that’s why she chose Stanford. He’s getting a football scholarship, and they’ll be together.”
“Again, congratulations. If you’ll excuse me, I need to clear the table and bring in dessert.” She stood up from the table and began to clear the dishes, thinking that the mother seemed just as insufferable as Emily had indicated the daughter was. Yeah, her father would have probably done whatever it took to get his daughter into Stanford.
Liz served the Butterfinger pie Mark had made on Sunday for dessert. She finished serving it to the guests and was just getting ready to take her first bite when the woman next to her said, “I’m sorry, Liz. I know you haven’t even had a bite of your pie, but that’s one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Who would think to pair a chocolate crust with peanut butter and butterfingers? Is this your own recipe?”
“Actually, I got it from my daughter. She’s a huge fan of peanut butter and is always looking for some way to fix it that isn’t too fattening. This calls for a lot of low calories things, such as fat free milk and fat free vanilla frozen yogurt, so she feels she can justify the butterfingers and peanut butter. I’ve always thought it’s a perfect spa dessert.”
“Do you ever share your recipes? This is one I’d love to make for my family?”
“I’d be more than happy to give it to you. I’ll run a copy off and leave it at the spa reception desk tomorrow. I overheard you say you were going to have a couple more treatments before you returned to San Francisco, so it will be there waiting for you after your last treatment.”
“Thanks. I can justify my spa trip by telling the family I was researching recipes for them,” she said laughing.
“Glad you found something you like. Thanks.”
CHAPTER 18
An hour later after the last guest had left, Liz called Roger. “Hi, do you have a few minutes to talk? I’ve got a lot to tell you.”
“For you, lovely lady, absolutely. I’m just putting the final touches on my closing argument. Think my client’s going to walk, but as I’ve told you before, you never know. Bet that’s the last time he thinks about fondling a woman in public.”
“Fondling a woman in public? Roger, you never told me about this case.”
“Probably because it’s so over the top I’ve had to use every power of persuasion I have to make it believable to the jury.”
“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”
“Well, I’ll give you the short version. Seems like my client was in a dental office waiting to get his teeth cleaned. There was a woman in the reception area sitting with him. She made a painful groaning sound, and he asked her if she was okay. She said she was having severe pains in her back. He told her he had a chiropractor who had given him some exercises for his back, and he’d be happy to show her, which he evidently did. It involved him standing behind her and giving her a bear hug while lifting her off the ground at the same time. According to my client this maneuver is supposed to stretch your back and relieve your pain.
“They both agree that’s what happened. What they don’t agree on is his hands wandering a little bit and touching her suggestively. She says yes. He says no. There were no witnesses, so it’s kind of a ‘he said, she said’ thing. Anyway that’s the fun of being a criminal defense lawyer. And you, how was your day?”
She told him about her visit to Nate’s, Emily’s call, and the guest she talked to at dinner. “Roger, I’d like your input. It seems to me several people had a motive to kill Mark. I’d like to know what you think.”
“I agree. Certainly three of the four young people had motives. That would be Brent, Kaitlin, and Nerdy. Two of them needed their grade average raised. If it was discovered that they really hadn’t raised their grades through test scores but instead had illegally entered the school, hacked the school computer, and changed their grades, I’d say that’s a strong motive because their grade average would drop and more than likely, they’d be expelled. From what you said, it looks like Nerdy also had a couple of motives, both fear of his mother and fear of Manny.”
“Yes, and don’t forget about the fathers of both Brent and Kaitlin.”
“I’m not. Each of the fathers had motives for making sure their children’s crime wasn’t discovered. Plus, Nate Ackler had the bonus of having Clamhammer available to help him if needed. Clamhammer is too smart to do anything himself. If he’s involved I’d be willing to be that he’d have one of his henchmen do it.”
“So I have three young people, the two fathers, and Clamhammer,” Liz said. “That’s six people who could have done it. Poor Mark. I’m sure that’s what was troubling him that afternoon when we were working together in the kitchen at the lodge. He must have been agonizing over whether or not to report the break-in to the principal. From what we know it looks like he was going to do just that the next day, but he was killed before he could do it.”
“I agree. Now you need to start thinking about how to narrow down the number of suspects you have. I think I’d start a list with the top suspects and go from there. By the way, you haven’t mentioned someone else who might have a motive.”
“Who?”
“Nerdy’s mother. She sounds like she’s a pretty strong woman, and if it looked like her son was going to be the fall guy for the computer hack, she might have done it to protect him.”
“Roger, she’s a seamstress. She may be odd, old-fashioned, and a man hater, but I would have a very hard time thinking of her as a suspect.”
“I’m not asking you to make her the number one suspect. I’m just saying she would have a motive – to keep her darling little sonny boy safe. History is loaded with mothers who did things to protect their children. She might be one.”
“Roger, who do you think should be at the top of the list?”
“I think we need to decide who has the most to lose. If that’s our criteria then I would go with Brent, his father, and Kaitlin’s father. My instinct says to follow that trail.”
“I wonder if it would be worthwhile for me to go to the high school and speak with the principal. Then again, maybe not. Now that I think about it, she could be another suspect. She certainly had a motive to keep the computer hack secret. In fact, that seems to be what she was saying in the conversation I overheard at the c
hurch during the funeral service for Mark. If it’s made public, she’s going to have to lower their grade averages and that means no Stanford and no glory for her as the principal.”
“Let’s look at another approach as we try to figure out who did it. Ask yourself this question. Who would know Mark was working for you at the lodge that day?”
“I don’t know. It might be common knowledge that he’s always here on Sunday afternoons.”
“I think I’d play around with that a little more. Who knew the kind of car he drove, and who could get to his car?”
“Well, the high school group would know for sure. The principal would probably know, because I told her Mark was going to intern for me. It’s such a small high school she probably knows what kind of a car he drives, and it wouldn’t be much of a stretch for her to find out what days he interned for me. Towards the bottom of the list would be either Nate or Kaitlin’s father. They could find out, but asking their children what kind of a car Mark drove and when he worked for me…I have trouble with that. They’ve just gone down to the bottom of my list.”
“Yes, I agree, but they also have more life experiences than the high school group, and I’m sure Clamhammer could find out easily enough. Kaitlin’s father? From what you’ve told me, he’s rich, and rich people have resources. I wouldn’t count either one of them out. Now, what about Nerdy’s mother?”
“She lives across the street from the Scott family and remember, Emily told me Nerdy helped Mark fix up his car, so she definitely would know what he drove. She very well might have known his work schedule as well, but I just can’t see her doing it.”
“Maybe you can’t, but I wouldn’t rule her out just because you have trouble with it.”
“Roger, I think it might be a good idea for me to talk to the assistant principal and tell him what I know. He seemed pretty reasonable based on the conversation I overheard at the church. I have a hunch he’s the one who anonymously called the police chief, Seth.”
“That’s a good idea. If the principal knows about the hack, and chooses to do nothing, I think she could be charged with obstructing justice. Not sure, just thinking off the top of my head. If that’s true, it would certainly be in the best interests of the assistant principal to help you, because he’d probably be made principal of the high school or at least the interim principal.”
“Okay. That does it for me. I’ve decided I’m going to the high school to see him in the morning. He may know something.”
“Sweetheart, I’m going to have to sign off. Don’t want to have to tell my client that the reason the closing argument went so poorly was because I was helping a lady figure out who killed someone. Think he’d tell me to stay in my own backyard and earn the fee he’s paid me and he may be right. Night.”
“Night, Roger and thanks.”
CHAPTER 19
At 8:05 the following morning Liz called the Red Cedar High School.
“How may I direct your call?” the young woman asked.
“May I speak to Rick Jones? I believe he’s the assistant principal.”
“Please hold.”
In a few moments a deep male voice said, “This is Rick Jones. May I help you?”
“Yes. My name is Liz Lucas. I own the Red Cedar Spa, and I’d like to talk to you about a break-in at the high school and a computer hack.”
The man was quiet for several seconds. “How do you know about either of those events?” he asked.
“I’d rather tell you what I know in person, and I would prefer to speak with only you, if that’s possible.”
“Yes. That can be arranged. I have time this morning. Could you come about 10:00?”
“Perfect. Where is your office?”
“Go in through the main doors of the high school. My office is the second one on the left. My name is on the door. I’ll see you then.”
Liz wasn’t sure how long the meeting would last and she wanted to have everything ready for Emily who was coming for her first time as an intern after her classes ended at noon. She’d decided to return to school rather than take the rest of the week off. Liz thought that was a healthy sign. She pulled several recipes for appetizers and desserts out of the large scrapbook she kept them in and took the ingredients for them out of the pantry.
These will be good for her to start on, and I can freeze all of them. It’s a little harder to freeze the main courses unless I do casseroles. I’ll have her prepare a couple of those when she comes Sunday.
While she was taking things out of the pantry she realized Winston and Brandy Boy were almost out of dog food and decided to stop by the pet store on the way to the high school. Since it was located next to Gertie’s Diner, she thought she’d go there first and get a cup of coffee and maybe pick up the latest rumor that might be circulating around town. The classic old diner was so popular people came all the way from San Francisco just for the malted milks and burgers, but the people of Red Cedar knew it was the place to go to find out what was happening in their small town.
“Hey, darlin’, haven’t seen you in a coon’s age. Hear you’ve been busy what with that murder and all. What looks good to ya’ today?” the woman in the bottle blond beehive hairdo said as she popped a big pink bubble with her ever present wad of bubble gum.
“I’m kind of tight on time, Gertie. Why don’t you bring me a cup of coffee? I’d love to have a malted milk, but I have a meeting at the high school in a few minutes.”
“Seth was in here the other day jawin’ ‘bout how he had to pick up a computer from there cuz it got hacked. Said there was talk some grades were changed so a couple of kids from Red Cedar could get into Stanford.”
“That man can’t keep his mouth shut, can he?”
“Nope, but fortunately not many people heard him. Slow day. You know how it goes. If he’d asked I would have told him where to start lookin’, but he didn’t ask.”
“Well, since he didn’t ask, I will. How about telling me?”
Gertie looked around to see if anyone was listening. “Kinda strikes me as convenient that Darcy Martinez, you know the principal of Red Cedar High, has been getting’ it on with Mike Mosley. And ain’t it just a real coincidence that his daughter’s grade average conveniently went up enough to get her into Stanford, if ya’ know what I mean,” she said wiggling her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
“Mike Mosley and Darcy Martinez are getting it on? You’re kidding!”
“Nope, I never kid ‘bout things like that. They’re tryin’ to keep it a secret, but his secretary comes in here every day. She and I’ve gotten to be pretty tight over the years. Accordin’ to her, Darcy’s callin’ him all the time and he sure ain’t refusin’ those calls. Guess Darcy got over Dave Nelson leavin’ her and found a little solace and a lot more money in rich Mr. Mosley. Course everyone knows what a cold fish his wife is. Can’t really say I blame the man.”
“Wow! How long have they been seeing each other?”
“Been awhile. She’s getting’ pretty desperate to get married, so if anyone took part in something like Seth was talkin’ ‘bout, I’d put my money on Darcy. Let me get that cup of coffee for ya’. You ever want to know anything, you better come to Gertie’s. Bet we find out here before anyone else does,” she said as she tottered off in her stilettos to get Liz’s coffee.
Darcy and Kaitlin’s dad. Wow! Think Darcy just climbed onto the suspect list. In fact, she just might be at the top of the list. She’s desperate, she’s got the ability to cover the whole thing up, and she has a motive. Never saw that one coming.
She finished her coffee, went next door to get the dog food, and returned to her van. As she opened the driver’s side of the van she heard a low growl coming from Winston. “Easy boy, what’s wrong. You never growl. What is it?” Winston put his paws up on the dashboard as if telling her to look at the car’s windshield. She noticed a piece of paper had been placed under the windshield wiper. She got out of the van and retrieved the paper. Liz looked at the words someone ha
d written on the paper and immediately felt a cold jolt of fear run through her body.
No wonder Winston was growling. He was protecting the car and trying to protect me. Obviously when someone writes a note to you that says, “If you don’t stop now, you’ll be next,” you probably need protection. Swell.
She got back in her van and hugged Winston. “Thanks, boy. I know you were trying to tell me something. I just wish you could tell me who put it there.”
As she and Winston drove out to the high school, which was located on the outskirts of town, her mind was whirling with possible suspects and motives.
Let’s see, I started with six suspects, the three teenagers, the two fathers, plus Clamhammer. Roger added Nerdy’s mother, and now I have to add Darcy to the list. That brings the number of suspects to eight. How am I ever going to whittle that number down and catch the killer? I feel like I’m getting further away from identifying who the killer is rather than closer. This is really frustrating.
CHAPTER 20
Liz opened the door of Rick Jones’ office and thought it was perfect for an assistant principal. His office had a plain metal desk, several small bookcases, and two chairs directly across the desk from where the young sandy-haired assistant principal was sitting. He was casually dressed in chinos and a knit golf shirt. He didn’t look much older than the students who attended the high school.
“You must be Liz Lucas,” the young man said as he stood up and offered his outstretched hand to her. “I’m Rick Jones.”
“Yes, you’re the man who was sitting next to Darcy Martinez in the pew in front of me at Mark Scott’s funeral. Actually, that’s part of the reason why I’m here.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Perhaps you should start at the beginning.”
“As I said, I was sitting behind you and Darcy and couldn’t help but overhear a conversation you two were having regarding a break-in here at the school and a computer hack. Evidently some grade averages were changed on the school computer. I was the last person to see Mark Scott alive. He was my intern and had been working at my lodge. While he was working there the brake line on his car was cut, and he died shortly thereafter when his brakes failed. I found this out from the Highway Patrol who told me it was a clear case of murder. I called the police chief because solving the murder would be in his jurisdiction, and I thought it might be better if I broke the news about Mark’s murder to his parents, rather than Seth having to do it.” She continued to tell him everything she had found out during the last few days.
Murder and Brandy Boy: A Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery Series Book 2 Page 8