But however he seemed to me, Leonard was certainly putting some fear into Stan, who continued to back away, eyes wide. Although the more distance he put between them, the more brave Stan became, flipping him the bird and daring Leonard to do something about it.
“Knock it off, right now, the two of you, and answer my questions,” I said.
After thirty years on the force, I could make myself heard over any racket, so was pleased when they both took a step back and turned to look at me.
Which is when the screaming started upstairs.
Chapter Five
I beat Leonard and Stan to the top of the stairs and was able to see the two detectives crowded near the stained-glass door, looking on helplessly at a scene playing out on the balcony.
Through the glass wall I could see Sue standing over Jimmy, screaming and crying her head off.
“Why?” she screamed. “Who did this to my Jimmy?”
Before I could grab him, Stan charged out onto the balcony and wrapped his arms around his sister.
Leonard stood in the lobby and stared helplessly as doors up and down both hallways opened and inquisitive guests stuck their heads out to see what was happening.
“It’s all right, everyone. Everything is under control. Just go back to your rooms now,” Leonard said, trying to make himself heard over the noise.
As soon as a few heads started to retreat, Sue screamed again, “Who murdered my Jimmy?” Her voice echoed up and down the hallways.
With that, even more heads appeared and started conversations amongst themselves.
“Did she say murder?”
“I think so.”
“What is going on in this hotel?”
“I have no idea.”
I ground my teeth and tried to remain calm. I’d seen cases go sideways before but this was one of the more spectacular examples.
Leonard charged off to calm the guests in one direction while Cora and Arnold conferred on how best to handle the developing situation. I just stared at Sue. Here was a woman, standing over the dead body of a man she supposedly loved. So why did she have such a murderous look on her face? Actions speak louder than words, and although she was saying everything a distraught girlfriend would say, her actions were saying something else.
Her fists clenched tightly at her sides, she glared at Jimmy like he was the scum of the earth. And when she moved in as if to grasp him in one final embrace, it looked like she was trying to search his pockets instead.
“Hey!” I pointed at Sue, not taking my eyes off of her, while waving Cora and Arnold to follow me. “Sue, let me see your hands. Did you take something from his pocket?”
“No,” Sue said with an astonished snort, but the look on her face read pure guilt.
“Take her away,” I said to Cora and Arnold. “And interview her.”
“You can’t do that,” Sue said, cringing back into the corner of the balcony, evading their grasp.
“Watch us,” Arnold said, heading in, with arms spread wide, ready to nab her, whichever direction she went.
“I don’t have to answer your questions. You don’t have anything on me. I’m not under arrest.” Sue inched her way along the balcony wall.
“We just have a few questions,” Cora said, firmly blocking the only exit.
“We’ll see about that,” Sue said, suddenly putting on a burst of speed and pushing Cora flat onto her back on the lobby floor.
Springing into action, Arnold tackled Sue with a flying leap. As he was getting out his handcuffs, he said, “Now we CAN arrest you. Thanks for that.”
Cora got back to her feet and rushed to help restrain the struggling Sue, who threatened to wrestle her way out of Arnold’s grasp. I was surprised to see how strong she was. Even though Arnold was at least a foot taller and had training on how to subdue a suspect, Sue was still almost throwing him off.
This was definitely not her first brush with the law. For crying out loud, she looked like she knew how to handle herself with a gang of bikers, let alone two rookie detectives. Muscles like that did not come from operating a vacuum for a living.
But I figured two of them could handle Sue just fine which left the brother for me. Guaranteed he knew more than he was letting on and I was going to get it out of him if it was the last thing I did that morning.
Stan made to follow closely behind his sister, as she was being led away, but I stepped in front of him and said, “Oh no. You’re coming with me. We’re having a little chat.”
“What? Why? I don’t know anything.”
“We’ll just see about that.”
I wasn’t worried he was going to try anything similar to his sister since she’d apparently gotten all the muscles in the family. He was shorter than me and had a smaller physique, so he could probably run but I wasn’t worried about that. I could chase a perp down better than most, especially with my ten-click jog every day.
Pointing over his shoulder, I directed Stan back down the stairs and into the corner office behind the front desk.
“What?” He flopped down in the nearest chair before I’d even closed the door.
“Jimmy Butzen. Who lets him know when a good mark checks in to the hotel? You or your sister?”
“Neither one of us. It’s that Leonard asshole.”
“Right. So your sister is going out with Jimmy Butzen and she never lets it slip what’s going on in this hotel?”
“They weren’t going out.”
“Bullshit. She was up there crying her eyes out.”
“She wasn’t that upset. They broke up.”
“When?”
Stan shrugged.
“Listen, Stan, I’m trying to help you. If you don’t smarten up, your sister, and possibly you, are going to be stitched up for burglary and murder.”
“We didn’t do anything wrong. Leonard phones Jimmy and Jimmy arrives with his own crew.”
“But you see them come past the front desk, right? You’re well aware of what’s going on in this hotel, aren’t you?”
More shrugging.
“Who did he have working with him this time?”
With that question, Stan perked up and sat up straighter in his chair.
“Yeah, he’s the guy you should be looking for. He’s the one that did it. He’s a guy named Phil. Phil Harris. He lives in a small town outside of Victoria. Landsend.”
“How the hell do you know all this?”
“My sister used to date Jimmy. I know a few things about what went on,” Stan said with irritation.
“Yeah right. You know all this from your sister’s boyfriend? Bullshit. I bet she met Jimmy because these guys used to be your buddies first, right? Were you part of the crew? Did you run jobs with them?”
A look of hatred sparked in his eyes but he remained silent on the subject.
“Don’t think silence is going to save you. You’re in this up to your eyeballs, aren’t you? So let’s start with a question you can answer. What does this Phil Harris guy look like?”
“Stupid hair,” Stan blurted out then sighed before explaining further. “Long, curly hair. Down to his shoulders. Bright red. Just stupid looking.”
Well that certainly described the guy I saw running away from the hotel earlier. Great, I sighed, just what I needed. Another suspect. They were getting thick on the ground here in idyllic little Victoria.
“Write down his address,” I said with a new level of irritation.
My retirement was not going to be starting any time soon. Was it too much to ask for some peace and quiet? And being around pleasant, warm-hearted individuals? I didn’t think it was possible in Toronto, but Victoria? The town and the people seemed so nice every time I visited on holidays over the years.
I’m positive it actually was that way most of the time in Victoria. I just had to find it. And the sooner I got done with this crime solving, the sooner my search for a new life could begin.
I snatched
the piece of paper out of Stan’s hand then searched in my pocket for the room key. I was going to need my purse in order to set out on a road trip.
Which is when the screaming started upstairs.
Chapter Six
I beat Stan to the top of the stairs to find Leonard still in the lobby trying to corral the ever-growing assembly of worried guests. However, by the time I got there, the whole crowd was silenced by someone at the end of the east hallway, standing outside his hotel room, yelling his head off.
“I’ve been robbed!” the man bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Several cries of alarm were heard from the assembled crowd and many people peeled away to scurry back to their rooms.
“Calm down, everyone. There’s nothing to be alarmed about,” Leonard tried to yell over the increasing chatter.
“I’ve been robbed too,” a woman yelled in the west hallway.
I sighed and was about to go collect my purse when I was stopped by the sight of the two senior detectives, Liam and Henry, making their way back up the stairs. The chaos that greeted them on the second floor made their weary expressions even more pronounced.
“Don’t even say ‘I told you so,’” Liam said, after one look on my face.
I raised my hands, making it clear I had no intention of rubbing their noses in it, but couldn’t help adding, “I think you’re going to need uniforms too.”
“Baloney,” he started to say but when more guests exited their rooms screaming about theft, he sighed and pulled out his phone.
I figured now was as good a time as any to make my exit. So after a quick detour to collect my purse, I left the three-ring circus in the hotel behind.
Chapter Seven
It was so nice to stand in the sunshine and breathe in the warm, soft breezes again. They felt like they were coming straight over from Hawaii. So wonderful. It seemed like such a long time ago, I was having the exact same thought, out on the balcony first thing in the morning. It was hard to believe it was still the same day. So much had happened since then.
Unlocking the car, I got in and started searching for the map I knew was in there. The first thing I did upon arriving at the Victoria airport was to get the most detailed map I could find of Vancouver Island. My plan was to visit every nook and cranny until I found the perfect place to retire. I’d had a hard working life and I was going to have a relaxing retirement, if it was the last thing I ever did.
The town of Landsend looked to be a tiny dot on the map south of Victoria, along the coast, west of Sooke. I programmed the GPS and set off.
But I didn’t get three blocks before I screeched to a stop again. The familiar sign of a dollar store caught my eye and I needed something very badly. I looked around for the parking lot entrance.
Once inside the store, I knew what I was looking for but, as always happens when you get inside one of these places, a million things catch your eye and you have to spend lots of time making decisions.
Like aspirin, for example. Was my headache permanent or would it go away now that I was away from the madhouse at the hotel? I grabbed a bottle just in case.
The next thing that caught my eye was tensor bandages. Did my wrist need them? No. But they might come in handy when pinning two wrists together, in lieu of handcuffs, say if I located a thief or two. I added the fabric bandages to my shopping basket.
Finally I got where I was headed, the stationary department. I scanned the aisle for the black notebooks that must surely be there. But I was wrong. The only notebooks that greeted my eye were bright pink ones or bluish-purple ones. All of them were bedazzled with inspirational quotes on the covers. The pinks ones read “Get it Done” while the purple ones sported the saying “Make Today Ridiculously Amazing”.
Fuck! What was I going to do? I couldn’t show up at a crime scene with either of those. The other detectives would never let me live it down. Even if I never saw these Victoria detectives again, I knew word would make its way back to my Toronto division. If I got one of those notebooks, I’d never be comfortable around a camera phone again.
Oh what a disaster, I thought. What am I going to do? Maybe I don’t need a notebook. How hard can it be to remember the pertinent details of one small case?
I stood in aisle nine and searched my mind for the name of the guy I was searching for in Landry. Bill. Bill something. Yeah that was it. See, easy. I didn’t need a notebook.
Grimacing, I reached in my pocket for the piece of paper Stan had written on. Phil Harris. In Landsend.
“Shit,” I muttered and grabbed a notebook at random, angrily throwing it into the basket.
Grumbling, I turned and headed for the till.
Once in the car, I dug out the bottle of aspirin. As it turned out, I needed two of them. Right away. Then I turned my attention to the notebook and, sneering all the while, wrote out the pertinent details that I could remember about the case so far.
Firing up the car, I listened to the frustrated GPS boss me around the parking lot. It only calmed down again when I was out on the open road, away from downtown Victoria, winging my way southward.
Chapter Eight
The GPS didn’t get agitated again until I’d cleared Sooke and was getting close to my final destination.
“Turn right here,” it said, so I did what I was told and turned down the very narrow country lane that made its way past a field of cows on the left and forested area on the right.
More than one cow seemed surprised to see a car driving along that road. But I continued on and twenty minutes later, reached my destination.
The outskirts of Landsend were reached at the highest elevation for the town. As a result the full beauty of the place was laid out before you on a gentle hillside that stretched down to a bay on the Pacific. Sparkling blue waters extended as far as the horizon, with many sailboats zipping back and forth.
Luscious greenery blanketed the hillside, from wild undergrowth everywhere I looked, to the manicured gardens that surrounded every house. And what houses they were. Stately Victorian homes, with enough gingerbread to choke Santa Claus, lined every street, completely covering the hillside. It looked lovely in the bright sunshine with their amazing flower gardens and each colourful house in a different pastel shade. Clearly a town where everyone took pride in their community.
From the viewpoint at the top of the hill, there looked to be a grid of about twenty streets radiating up from the bay with about thirty avenues snaking their way at ninety degrees to the streets. A nice sized town. Not big but not too small either.
I turned off the engine and got out of the car, walking over to a white picket fence that marked the edge of a lookout. From there I could see farmland that stretched for a while till it met the edge of town off in the distance. The green of the land met the blue of the sea, dotted all over with lovely homes and gardens, all dappled by beautiful sunlight, made it look like a perfect place. Utopia.
Just then I noticed a small plaque attached to the fence a few metres from where I stood. Walking over I read,
“Welcome to the town of Landsend. Founded in 1867 by mutinous sailors from aboard the HMS Brigande, led by the dread pirate Red Harris.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“I wonder,” I started to say when suddenly my phone rang. That’s the phone I’d only just bought when I arrived in Victoria, less than 24 hours ago. The phone for which I hadn’t yet told anyone my phone number. Slapping my hand to my forehead. Well except for Cora back at the hotel.
“Hello?” I said.
“Detective Spencer?” a male voice asked.
“Who is this?”
“Detective Liam Perkins. Homicide.”
“Thank you, Cora,” I muttered unhappily then said more sharply. “Yes, Liam, what is it?”
“You wouldn’t be investigating this case, would you?”
“What? Why?”
“I have it on good authority that you’re chasing down a lead. Is that tru
e? Are you, in fact, looking for someone named Phil Harris in some town called Landsend?”
“Well, perhaps.”
“We don’t need your help, you know? We are perfectly capable of solving this crime ourselves.”
“I know that. It’s just you looked a little overwhelmed.”
“We are not overwhelmed,” Liam said, but a loud scream close to the phone cut him off, and derailed his thoughts, because he proceeded to yell at someone, holding the phone away from his face.
“Put that down! I’m warning you. If you don’t, I’m going to arrest you for taking the law into your own hands.”
More screams followed before Liam came back on the line and said, “Gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“I hope not,” I said, but realized I was talking to a dead line.
Breathing in the warm salty air, it was wonderful to be standing in the sun looking out over that lovely spot. And not in the hotel from hell.
Looking down at that lovely setting, I was struck by another thought. I couldn’t help but wonder if this might not be the place. The perfect town to retire.
I mean, after all, if the local thief had to leave town in order to find work, it might be the perfect place for someone who wanted peace and quiet. I headed back to the car to resume my journey.
Chapter Nine
First things first, I needed to find the local cop shop. But it was so hard to focus what with all the beautiful scenery. I didn’t know if it was city planning, or just a general consensus by the citizens, but most of the houses were complementary shades of ice-cream pastels. It was as if the entire town decided to make the place as pretty as humanly possible.
And the gardens. Wow. I was drooling over roses the size of dinner plates and rhododendrons that would never grow in the rest of the country. Everything so green and lush and it was still only April. It was hard to concentrate on my purpose for being there.
Victim in Victoria Page 3