Lilliput Bar Mystery

by Curry, Edna

  I felt my face heat, and I almost choked on the coffee. “Uh, why do you want to know that?”

  She grinned and rose. “Never mind. Your face just told me he has. Good luck with him. I have to get back to work.” She waved and hurried off to the kitchen.

  I stared after her, then finished my coffee. I never could keep much from her.

  ***

  Chance sat at his computer, searching for info on Cal Downs in Minneapolis. That was the name Ardis had dug up for him from the credit card charge at the Cozy Corner. He found several prior arrests for possession of drugs and one for assault, along with three DUIs.

  He called Louis, a buddy at the department down there, and told him he suspected drug dealing in this case. They got a search warrant and together they checked out Cal’s address. It turned out to be an older apartment house on a side street. The manager let them in and wrinkled up his nose at the messy state of the rooms.

  Their search turned up mail and IDs in several different names, all sporting the same picture. The address on some was the rental house in Wisconsin where Cal had been shot. The others carried the Minneapolis address.

  Apparently Cal had used them all fairly recently as far as they could tell. Searching further, they found a good sized cache of drugs and cash that they turned over to the Minneapolis drug division, since it was in their jurisdiction.

  Chance sighed. His guess of a drug deal gone wrong might well be correct here as the reason for Cal’s murder. So had it only been a coincidence that he’d been behind the Lilliput when Mildred was killed? Or was there a connection?

  A phone message on Cal’s answering machine was from his sister, Eileen. So, now Chance had a family member to notify of Cal’s death. He got the number from caller ID and returned her call. She lived only a few miles away, so he asked if he could drop by.

  Leaving Louis and the Minneapolis PD to deal with the drugs and cash, Chance went to see Eileen. Her apartment, slightly nicer than Cal’s, was neat and clean.

  Eileen was slim and tall, like her brother, but her hair was a brilliant red and stood up in spikes. She said she didn’t have much time, as she was in a hurry to get to work downtown. She was a waitress and her boss hated having employees come in late.

  “I’m sorry to bring bad news,” Chance said, and explained about her brother’s murder in a Wisconsin house.

  She sat silent through his story, twisting the necklace at her throat. “I didn’t even know he had a house in Wisconsin.”

  “He was only renting it. Was Cal his real name? We found several IDs.”

  “Yes, Cal Downs was his real name,” she said, her voice shaky. “I didn’t know he used any other names. But we haven’t been close in years, not since Mama died. The two of us are the only ones left in our family except for some cousins in California.”

  “So you’d be the one to deal with closing out your brother’s affairs?”

  She rubbed her face, wiping away a tear. “I suppose, if they don’t find a will saying otherwise.”

  She reluctantly agreed to contact Sheriff Ben about claiming his body. “I don’t have a lot of money, so I guess he’ll have to be cremated,” she said. “I hear that’s the cheapest. I doubt Cal had much money either.”

  “We found drugs and some cash in his apartment. I’m not sure whether the police will retain the money as evidence or whether you’ll get it back. They’ll let you know later.”

  Her mouth gaped. “Cal was into illegal drugs? Oh, my God. I had no idea.”

  “I don’t know whether he used them, but we have evidence he was dealing them. That may have contributed to his death. Can you tell me a bit about him? You know, like where he grew up, went to school, what kind of jobs he’s had, that sort of thing.”

  She shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. We grew up on the west side of Chicago. We lived in a half-dozen or more rental houses and apartments there, went to the public school in whatever district we lived at the time. Cal went to a junior college for a year or so, then quit and has worked in various jobs, mainly auto mechanics or something like that. He never told me much about what he did.”

  “Any special girl friends or buddies?”

  “Not that I know of. Look, I really have to get to work now or I’ll be late. My boss is a stickler about punctuality.”

  Chance gaped at her. “You couldn’t take a day off work for your brother’s death?”

  She bit her lip and shook her head. “I wish I could, but no, I’d probably be fired. Don’t worry, I’ll be all right at work. Cal and I haven’t been close for years.”

  “I’m sorry,” Chance said. “Here’s my card if you think of anything else. Thanks for your help.”

  ***

  Later that afternoon, Chance spent more time on the computer, searching various databases looking for some connection between Mildred and Cal Downs. Nothing turned up at all.

  He decided to go back to the Wisconsin house where Cal had been shot and do a more thorough search of Cal’s messy desk and the drawers full of papers and odds and ends in his bedroom. They hadn’t had time to read through any of the stuff. Maybe something would jump out at him.

  Chance worked for hours, going through drawer after drawer of junk. He couldn’t believe a man who’d only rented the house a few months ago had accumulated so much stuff. Apparently, he’d moved a lot of it from his apartment in Minneapolis to this house.

  When Chance found an agreement stating Cal could buy the house and apply the rent he was paying now to the purchase price, it began to make sense. He’d meant to gradually move everything to the house in Wisconsin and give up his apartment in the city.

  And his method seemed to be, dump everything in boxes, move it to the new place and worry about sorting it all out later. What a jerk.

  In one box, Chance found a lot of college memorabilia. Yearbooks, a letter sweater, ticket stubs and paid bills to an apartment in Chicago. Also, pictures, lots of pictures. A couple were of Cal and his sister, one of the two of them at Christmas with an older couple Chance assumed were their parents, and many more of Cal and various college friends. He’d have to have more time to go through all of the pictures. Most likely, he wouldn’t find anything of value, but you never knew.

  In a closet stuffed with more boxes of Cal’s past, Chance found a gun. Carefully, he used a handkerchief to bag it and take it in for evidence. Was it the gun used to killed Mildred? Had Cal killed her? If so, why? And why had he hidden the gun in the closet instead of getting rid of it?

  ***

  My next job was to open a file cabinet in the dietician’s office in the basement of the hospital in Canton. I discovered the lock was broken, so ended up replacing it.

  The roast chicken they were serving in the cafeteria nearby smelled delicious and it was almost suppertime, so after I finished working, I decided to eat there instead of going home and scrounging something from my still almost empty refrigerator.

  Remembering Darcy had the three to eleven shift today, I gave her a call, in case she had a chance to eat with me. As luck would have it, she did and came down to join me in just a few minutes.

  She went through the line to get her food and joined me at my corner table. She had a hot beef sandwich smothered in barbeque sauce and a salad, just as I did, which started us laughing. We’re so much alike, it’s hilarious sometimes.

  “I really needed a break,” Darcy said, biting into her sandwich.

  “Hard day?” I asked.

  “More emotional than hard work,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “A young mother came in beaten up.”

  I froze and stared at her.

  Darcy shook her head in disgust and continued, “She has broken ribs, black eyes and a broken nose.”

  It couldn’t be, could it? I swallowed and managed to get out, “May I ask her name?”

  “Sure. We’re required to report suspected abuse cases to the police, so it’s public record. We have to take pictures and fill out a report. She filed charges this t
ime, so it’ll be on the police report and published in the paper. Martha Johnson.”

  “Oh, no!” I gasped, “Is her little girl okay?”

  Darcy’s brows dipped and she eyed me. “Martha said her sister has her daughter. You know her?”

  I nodded and told her about the incident when I’d changed Martha’s locks for her and then the lawyer said Frank’s name was on the house, too, so she couldn’t lock him out.

  “That’s awful,” Darcy said. “If you could see what he did to her…there ought to be a law!”

  “There is,” I said grimly. “But she has to press charges against him before the cops can do anything. I hope she doesn’t change her mind. I’m afraid he’ll kill her or Sally. She said he’d come after her or her family if she pressed charges.”

  “I’ll certainly encourage her to stick to her guns on it,” Darcy said. “But I’ve seen it before where the man intimidates the wife or girlfriend.”

  “Yes. The day I was there, Martha said he promised not to hit her again. You see how much that promise was worth.”

  “I’d like to beat the guy up myself,” Darcy said, sipping her coffee.

  “I wonder what set him off this time?”

  Darcy shrugged. “Does it ever matter what starts it? They always have some excuse. Martha said he was mad about an inheritance he was going to be cheated out of. Whatever that means. Neither of them look like they come from rich families, but you never know.”

  “Frank is Mildred Week’s son, so the Lilliput Bar and her house is probably what he’s supposed to inherit, or at least share in inheriting,” I said. “The grapevine says Mildred’s will divides the money equally between him and his brother.”

  Darcy frowned. “Oh. I heard some talk about that last night. Her son Bob is telling everyone he’s going to sue to break the will and cut Frank out. I suppose that’s what Frank is worried about.”

  “Most likely,” I agreed. “If it wasn’t for Martha and Sally, I’d almost root for mean old Frank to lose out.”

  Darcy went back to work. I refilled my coffee cup and considered going upstairs to visit Martha. But I hardly knew her after all. She might see my visit as my saying ‘I told you so’ and resent it. That might have the opposite effect from what I wanted, which was for her to leave him to keep her and Sally safe. So I reluctantly went home instead.

  ***

  After I got home, I took a shower and thought of Chance again. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, even though I knew he’d been told to avoid me until this case was cleared up. I’d relived his kisses so many times and even caught myself dreaming about him more than once. Now I had the excuse to ask him if he knew about Frank beating up Martha. So, I phoned him.

  “Hi, Cassie. What’s up?” he said.

  “Did you hear about Frank Johnson beating up Martha?”

  “Yes, Ben went to see her at the hospital and she filed charges this time. Ben arrested him, so he’ll be in jail for a bit.”

  “What do you mean, a bit? He put her in the hospital, for God’s sake!”

  Chance’s sigh came over the air to me. “I know, Cassie. And I sympathize with Martha and understand how you feel about it, too. But it’s not up to me or the sheriff. If a judge grants him bail and he puts up the money, he gets out.”

  “That sucks.”

  “Yeah. It sure does. Hey, I’m following a suspect who I think is heading to the Turtle Lake Casino. Deputy Tom will relieve me there in about an hour. Want to join me?”

  Yes! Maybe we could steal more kisses. “I’d love to,” I said. “Where shall we meet?”

  “How about the cafe area under the stairs? Have you eaten yet?”

  “Yeah, I ate at the hospital with Darcy. Have you eaten at the casino cafe before?

  “No. Just the buffet, the last time we were there.”

  “Try the café’s Prime rib sandwich. It’s really good.”

  “Sounds good. So, I’ll go ahead and eat and see you when you get there, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  I hung up and was about to leave when my phone rang again. Ardis wanted me to rescue a friend of hers who was locked out of her house. With a sigh, I agreed. I called Chance again and told him I’d be late.

  An hour later, I’d succeeded in getting the friend into her house and headed to Turtle Lake. By now, it was dark and the casino parking lot was jammed with cars. “People complain about the economy, but always seem to have money to gamble,” I muttered to myself. I wove through the crowd, looking for Chance. He wasn’t at the sandwich shop or at any of the slots nearby. I turned to head back into the main floor when I saw the buxom blonde we’d seen the last time we were here. Chance had said she was Jack’s girlfriend and Mildred’s lawyer’s daughter, Jody Wilkens. I remembered seeing her come into the bar to fight with Jack.

  Only this time she was hanging on the arm of Mildred’s son, Bob, grinning up at him. He leaned down and kissed her.

  I ducked my head and quickly turned back to an available quarter slot machine and dug in my pocket for a dollar. I fed it into the machine and pressed the button to spin the wheel, repeating it when it came up empty.

  After a few minutes, I dared a glance toward where they’d been. They were gone. I moved around the machine and looked all around, but didn’t see them. I tried calling Chance, but his phone went to voice mail. Did that mean he was still working? Was Bob the one they’d been watching? I had no idea.

  I strolled through the main floor, but didn’t see him or either of the deputies, but it was so crowded tonight, I could easily have missed them. Chewing my lip, I decided to play the slots for a little while, hoping Chance would contact me when he could.

  I found an empty machine whose workings I half-understood and fed in five bucks. It paid me enough credits to keep playing for a half hour or so. Then it ate them all and I was back to zero. As I turned away in disgust, I saw Chance leaning against the wall opposite me. He was chatting with the buxom blonde.

  A rush of jealousy sped through me and I wanted to go over and yank her long bleached hair out by its black roots. Then she tossed him an angry look, said something I couldn’t hear and strode off. Chance frowned and watched her go, but made no attempt to stop her. And I realized he’d only been questioning her about something, not flirting with her.

  He saw me, waved in my direction and smiled. Pulling out his phone, he turned it on, then made a call, then flipped it shut and hurried over to me.

  “Sorry to have been held up,” he said, squeezing my hand in greeting. “I’m glad you waited.”

  “I tried calling you, but only got your voicemail.” Why didn’t you call me? I wanted to ask, but resisted the urge.

  “I had to turn it off when we had to split up. Deputy Tom followed Bob and I stayed to keep an eye on Jody.”

  “I saw them together when I first came in almost an hour ago,” I said. “I thought she was Jack’s girlfriend. What was she doing with Bob?”

  “Who knows?” Chance said with a shrug. “She says they just happened to see each other out here and started talking.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think that’s likely? I mean they probably never saw each other before Mildred’s funeral. Most people would just nod or say hi if they met an acquaintance. I thought they acted more friendly than that.”

  Chance nodded. “I’d bet Bob was trying to bribe her to get information, from either Jack or her father about the will or the possibility of breaking it.”

  “That sounds likely to me, too. Didn’t Bob bring his girlfriend with him from Las Vegas?”

  “Yeah. Another blonde. Sue Muller. I wonder where she is tonight?”

  I shrugged. “I have no idea. I saw Bob kiss Jody. Maybe he doesn’t stick to just one girl at a time?”

  “Maybe not,” Chance said with a laugh. “It sounds like a good way to get in trouble with the other girlfriend to me.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I didn’t get a chance to eat yet. Want to come with me whil
e I grab a sandwich?”

  “Sure,” I said. “In fact, it’s been hours since I ate at the hospital cafeteria. I think I’ll have a sandwich, too.”

  We spent a couple hours chatting over the casino’s humungous prime rib sandwiches.

  “Did you talk to Martha?” I asked. “Is she okay?”

  “She’s improving. Frank’s still in jail.”

  I wondered whether to reveal what she’d said, then did. “When I was rekeying her house, she told me she thought it was all Mildred’s fault that Frank was so angry. She thinks he takes his anger out on her because he’s so frustrated with his mother.”

  “That doesn’t make much sense, does it?” Chance asked, frowning.

  “Maybe not. But Mildred said Frank moved them here because he wanted his mother to acknowledge him as her son, so he’d have a real family.”

  “But she wouldn’t, Frank told me,” Chance said.

  “Yeah. But he told Martha Mildred promised him some inheritance someday, anyway.”

  “Emotions don’t always make sense. Martha is awfully bitter at Mildred, too. She didn’t want to move here. Do you think either of them could have been involved in Mildred’s murder?”

  “I wish I knew. I’m trying to whittle down the list of suspects, but it keeps getting longer, instead,” Chance said, finishing off his sandwich. “Are you ready to go?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.” We reluctantly headed back to our cars.

  Beside my car, he gave me a hot goodnight kiss that turned into a half dozen kisses. “I’d like to continue this, but I have to work in the morning,” he said reluctantly.

  “Me, too,” I said. I got in and started the car. “Goodnight.”

  “I’ll call you,” he said, waving as I drove off.

  At my house, I parked and got out to go inside, feeling uneasy without knowing why. My street seemed extra dark tonight, and I glanced up at the streetlight. It was broken. My heart pounded in consternation. Darn neighborhood kids must have been out with their BB guns.

  I started toward my back door. Someone grabbed me and yanked my arms behind my back.