Your Eight O'clock is Dead

  “Joe confided in me that he loved Anna and wanted her back,” I decided to answer.

  Another sharp intake.

  “He had no right…”

  Dr. Dick leaned forward and kept Marcy from coming any closer to me. “Easy, Marcy. You’ve done all you can. Leave the matter to the authorities.”

  What the heck did he mean by that? Ohmygosh!

  It suddenly became obvious. My employers suspected that Joe Rizzo was responsible for Anna’s death. But how, why?

  What did they know that I didn’t?

  Did they have any concrete evidence?

  I started to ask, but Dr. Dick turned Marcy around and ushered her toward her sporty little red coupe.

  “You should go home now,” he informed his partner. “You’re overwrought.” He spared me one final glance over his shoulder. A glance that said: Go home. Or maybe it said, shut the hell up. Both expressions looked pretty much the same to me.

  I headed toward my car, my brain buzzing with this latest information. Had Joe been arrested? Was that the reason he wasn’t here? And what about Max? How were he and Anna connected? Sure he’d admitted to knowing her, but to pay thousands of dollars for a funeral and burial site went beyond generosity and probably meant there was more to the story than I currently knew. I had to find out.

  Ryder seemed my best connection to the police. I drove to the office and scanned the lot for his SUV. Bingo. I hopped out of the Honda and hurried toward his suite.

  I pulled on the door and met resistance. Locked.

  But his car was in the lot. He had to be here. “Hey, Ryder!” I yelled as I tugged on the door. Maybe he was napping. “Ryder! You in there?”

  The receptionist for Temp$ 4 Hire peeked out into the hall and I waved sheepishly at her. “Sorry. Have you seen Ryder?”

  She shook her head and ducked back into the Temp$ office space. And shut the door. I half expected to hear her lock it, too. Well, I guess I could check them off my list of future employers should D & P go under.

  Undeterred, I rattled Ryder’s doorknob and rapped hard on the door with my fist.

  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re more than a little annoying?” Ryder stood blocking the small opening in the door.

  Impossible to see past him.

  “I need your help,” I said, ignoring his question.

  “I think we’ve had this conversation, Bec.”

  Bec? Since when did he call me Bec? What was that all about? “Ryder, I need to know…”

  “Now is not a good time.”

  He started to shut the door on me.

  “It’s not a good time for me, either.” I stuck my black pump in the open crack. Ryder pulled up just short of slamming the door on it.

  “What the hell? Are you trying to get hurt? Do you know I could have broken every bone in your foot?” He threw open the door all the way.

  I could see into the suite and straight into his private office where a buxom blonde sat, one shapely leg slung over the other. Well.

  So he was hiding a blonde. And not just any old blonde. A very attractive one. No sunglasses or floppy hat on this woman. But when she saw me staring at her, she averted her face, which led me to wonder what it was with Ryder and mysterious women.

  “Look I didn’t mean to disturb your meeting,” I said as I nodded my head in the direction of Ryder’s private office.

  Ryder glanced over his shoulder and realized that I had seen the blonde. He pushed me out into the hall and joined me there before pulling the door closed behind him.

  “I guess you aren’t going to go away until you get what you want. What is it?” he asked reluctantly. I sensed he wasn’t mad, anymore. Not quite amused. More exasperated. But, hey, I’d take what I could get.

  “I need you to check with your police buddies and find out for me if there have been any arrests in the Anna Blake murder investigation. Especially someone named Joe Rizzo.

  His humor faded in the face of his dawning anger. “You interrupted me for that? I told you to leave the investigation to the authorities.” He ran his hand over his shaved head in exasperation.

  “I am leaving it to the police. That’s why I’m asking you to find out for me if they’ve arrested someone. I just came from Anna’s funeral. There were only a handful of people there, Ryder. It was so sad. The docs, the minister, me, and oh yeah, Max.” Ryder looked down at me and those baby blues turned as hard as steel. He put his hand on my left shoulder and propelled me toward the building’s exit.

  “Go home, Bec. If I get a moment, I’ll check into it. And stay away from Chernov.” I started to object, but Ryder’s hardened gaze silenced me.

  I waved meekly and started off down the hall. After a few feet, I turned back to see if Ryder had retreated into his office. No, he still stood there making sure I left the building. I waved again and took off. There was nothing left for me to do except hope Ryder would come through for me.

  And that his interest in the blonde was business-only.

  Two hunky men who didn’t want anything to do with me. Feast or famine. And I was starving.

  Chapter 23

  I decided to go home.

  Not because everyone had told me to.

  I simply couldn’t figure out where else to go, what else to do. Plus, my high heels were killing my feet and the longer I stayed in my basic black dress the more depressed I got. As soon as I had some spare money, I’d treat myself to a new outfit and throw this thing out. Too many bad memories associated with it.

  Granddad had left me a note to help myself to the food in the freezer, which translated to pop a frozen dinner into the microwave. He had a hot bingo game at the church hall and planned to have dinner there. Since I was starving and too lazy to do more than kick off my killer heels, I decided to eat first and change later. I secretly hoped I’d drip something disastrous on my dress and be forced to throw it out, though I’m not sure that anything short of toxic waste would do the trick. This dress had a history of concealing many a food and drink mishap.

  After my gourmet meal in a plastic tray, I surfed the local channels and settled on Jeopardy. I did pretty well, even getting the final Jeopardy question right. But the only one there to acknowledge my success was Higgins, and he stared at me accusingly like the show must have been a rerun for me to get so many answers correct.

  I was about to nuke some popcorn when the phone rang. I got it on the first ring. “Hello.”

  “Becca? Is that you?”

  Ryder. “Yeah, it’s me.” I moved over to the mirror and found myself patting my hair down and checking my reflection like he could see me. “What’s up?”

  “I checked with my sources.

  They aren’t holding Joe Rizzo.”

  “Thanks, Ryder. I appreciate it.”

  I couldn’t hear what else he said because Granddad burst through the back door. “Becca, you won’t believe it. You just won’t. It’s awful.”

  “Hold on, Granddad. I’m on the phone. Ryder, are you still there? My granddad just came home, and he’s upset. I need to find out what’s going on.” Ryder shouted into the phone for me not to hang up. Sheesh. I turned to my granddad and held the phone away from my ear a bit.

  “They’ve arrested Edna O’Malley,” granddad informed me, clearly furious. “Again.”

  I did a double-take. And put the phone back to my ear to hear Ryder saying basically the same thing.

  “That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Ryder explained. “My source said they had a warrant out for Ms. O’Malley.”

  “But they’ve already let her go once.” I was very confused.

  “For her husband’s murder, yes. This is for the murder of Anna Blake.” Ryder spoke in a slow and measured tone.

  “She’s been arrested for that other woman’s death,” Granddad said on the heels of Ryder. He was getting way too agitated. I needed to get off the phone and calm him down or I’d be taking him to the hospital.

  “Got to go, Ryder. Thanks for
calling.” Without waiting for him to say anything else, I hung up and turned all of my attention to my granddad. “Easy. Come sit down. I’ll get you a glass of water and your heart pill.”

  “I don’t need a heart pill. Someone needs to set the police straight. This is twice they’ve gotten it wrong. Becca, they arrested her at Bingo. In front of all of her friends. And her mother. It was horrible. They cuffed her and put her in a squad car.” Granddad sank down into his easy chair.

  I patted his shoulder feeling more than a little useless. I didn’t believe Edna capable of murdering Anna Blake, but obviously, the police did.

  And they had to have some sort of evidence to justify the arrest. Especially after her last arrest. Oh, this was bad, very bad. I continued to pat granddad’s shoulder.

  “I just can’t believe this.”

  “Neither can I. Neither can her poor mother. You should have seen Louisa Mae. Pitiful. A fine Southern woman like her having to witness the arrest of her child.

  Pitiful, that’s what it is.”

  Gee, he’d sure come a far cry from considering Mrs. Smith a pain in the butt. I guess they were getting on better since the mop incident.

  “I’ll look into things, Granddad. It’ll be okay.”

  “You’ll do no such thing! You stay out of it, Becca. I appreciate you wanting to help, but you’re not qualified. Murder is not for amateurs.”

  Didn’t anyone believe in my abilities? Chernov, Ryder, and granddad – all telling me to mind my own business. Like that was going to happen. Still, no need to worry my grandfather. I remained silent.

  “Becca, don’t think you’re fooling me by not answering. That silent routine of yours did not work when you were six, and it’s not going to work now. Let Edna’s attorney handle her case.”

  I couldn’t stand him glaring at me and moved out of his line of vision. So he’d caught onto my silence strategy. And here I’d thought it had served me well all of these years. Just proved that you couldn’t pull the wool over grandparents’ eyes as easily as you thought you could.

  Snatching up my purse and car keys I said, “I have to run an errand.”

  “Rebecca Sharon!”

  “Really. An errand. I’ll be back in a bit.” I shoved my feet into the only shoes available—the death-to-toes torture heels—and raced out the door before granddad could get wound up and summon another lecture from the archives. I drove straight to the office. I circled the lot and didn’t see either of Ryder’s vehicles. The image of him and the attractive blonde flashed in my mind, and I had to beat down the green-eyed monster. Who Ryder saw was no concern of mine. Yeah, right. No concern.

  Still….

  I whipped the Honda back onto Parham Road and headed toward Broad Street unsure of where I went, or who I wanted to see. I could barely contain my restlessness, my mind buzzing like a hornet’s nest. And then it came to me. I knew where I was going. I did a U-turn and hit the interstate for the ritzy section of town leading to Dr. Dick’s residence. In short order, I pulled up in front of his condo. The lights were on. I took it as a sign. A good sign.

  I knocked on his door and listened for sounds from inside, but all remained quiet. Maybe he wasn’t home after all. I rapped harder on the wooden door.

  He pulled the door open as far as the wimpy safety chain would allow. When he saw me, he closed the door. Great. And then I heard him working the chain, and he opened the door all the way. “Miss Reynolds, do you have any idea of the time?”

  He checked his watch to emphasize the lateness of the hour. Two hours past Jeopardy must be late by Dr. Dick’s standards. From his demeanor, I guessed he didn’t know about Edna’s arrest.

  “I know it’s late,” I lied since it really wasn’t, “but I need to tell you something. May I come in?” Not waiting for a proper response, I pushed past him and met no resistance.

  “This is highly unusual. I don’t think we should be meeting outside of the office. People might talk.”

  What century was this guy from?

  I put my purse down on the nearest table and turned to face him. “The police arrested Edna O’Malley tonight at bingo.” Okay, maybe not the most delicate way to break bad news, but then he hadn’t exactly welcomed me with open arms. Besides, like ripping a band-aid off, sometimes it just worked better to blurt out the bad stuff and get it over with. I watched the color drain from his face and he sank into a straight back chair.

  “How? Why?” He seemed unable to form a coherent statement past one-word questions.

  “She’s been arrested for the murder of Anna Blake. The police handcuffed her at church and took her away in a squad car,” I stated matter-of-factly.

  He put his head in his hands. “This is horrible. My poor Edna.”

  If I had any doubts about Dr. Daley’s feelings for Edna O’Malley, I didn’t now.

  He jumped up. “I have to see her.”

  “I don’t think the police will let you. Not tonight. This happened just a short while ago. I’m sure they’re processing her through the system. The person she needs to talk to is her lawyer.”

  “Yes, yes you’re right. Of course. But I feel so impotent.”

  I didn’t want to know anything about Dr. Dick’s sex life or lack thereof, but then I realized he referred to Edna’s situation with the police.

  “Well, we all feel impotent.” Just saying the word kind of grossed me out. But it seemed to cheer my boss up a little.

  “Yes, you’re right, Becca. We have to trust the justice system.

  But we also have to make sure her attorney has been alerted.” He pulled out the thick black book he carried with him everywhere and flipped pages until he found the number he wanted.

  “Miscarriage of justice is more like it.” I stood in silence while he dialed. “This is Dr. Daley. Edna O’Malley has been arrested. You’ll want to go down to the courthouse or the jail, or wherever it is they’ve taken her. Yes, thank you.” He hung up and leaned back in the hardback chair seeming more relaxed than before.

  “So you were able to contact her attorney?” I asked the obvious hoping it would be a conversation starter.

  “Yes, Jack is a friend of the firm. He’ll know what to do.”

  I swallowed hard. “Jack?” No, Dr. Daley couldn’t have phoned my worthless, scum-sucking ex-husband.

  “Jack Davis, her corporate attorney. He’ll know who to call. That’s all we can do for tonight.”

  I closed my eyes. Crap. Edna’s fate rested with Jack. This was bad. Very bad.

  “You’re sure you don’t remember the name of her criminal defense attorney? I think we should call him.” I twisted the ends of my shirt into knots.

  “No, I don’t recall right now. Jack will handle everything. I trust him to take care of Edna.”

  If he truly believed this, then he had far more faith in Jack than I did.

  Dr. Dick opened his eyes with a sigh. “I should call Marcy.” He checked his watch. “No, she’s already upset enough from the funeral today and that man who was there.

  No need to disturb her when she can’t do anything. Thank you, Becca. Thank you for caring enough about Edna that you came by in person to let me know.”

  He got up, and I grabbed my purse on the way to the door.

  “Dr. D., about Jack?”

  “Don’t worry, Miss Reynolds. I hear he’s well-connected.”

  That was up for debate as far as I was concerned. But I didn’t need to add to Dr. Dick’s angst with my sour grapes opinion of my ex. As far as I knew, he had no idea I’d once been married to Jack. It was fine if he continued not to know. My work here was done. I’d accomplished what I’d set out to and now I should go. “Goodnight, Dr. Daley.”

  “Goodnight, Miss Reynolds. And thank you, again.” He shut the door, and I heard the chain slide back into place.

  Someone should tell him that that piece of hardware was totally useless. A crook could break through the door and that little piece of metal wouldn’t even slow him down. But then,
I thought Dr. Dick had enough to worry about for one night.

  Chapter 24

  The next morning I slumped at the breakfast table and drank my juice while I read the Times-Dispatch and listened to the local morning news anchor on Channel 8 describe the events leading up to Edna’s latest arrest. I glanced at the screen long enough to see a shackled Edna being led from the police cruiser into the jail. My heart broke. I heard Granddad coming down the hall and clicked off the television. No sense in getting him all riled up before he had his breakfast.

  “Damn fools. Anyone in their right mind could see that woman couldn’t harm a fly.” He grabbed his favorite mug and poured decaf coffee into it.

  He reached for the television remote, but I scooted it out of his way. “Becca, it’s on the radio.” He pointed to the paper I tried unsuccessfully to hide under my plate. “It’s in the paper. I know it’s on the TV. Let me hear what they’re saying.” He snatched the remote from me and clicked it on.

  “It’s unclear whether additional charges for the murder of Mrs. O’Malley’s husband will be added to the current charges. Sources close to the investigation say there is clear evidence that links Mrs. O’Malley to the death of her husband’s mistress, Anna Maria Blake. A crime of passion or a well-thought-out plot for revenge? It’s unclear at this moment. Live at the courthouse this is—”

  He shut the television off.

  “Damn fools.”

  “It’ll be all right, Granddad. We both know she’s innocent.”

  “She’s still humiliated. It wasn’t good enough that the jackass she married degraded her in front of all of her friends with his womanizing and gambling, but now her good name has to be dragged through the mud for supposedly killing him and his mistress.”

  “She’s only arrested for Anna’s murder,” I offered.

  Granddad glared at me.

  “You know what I mean. She had a great attorney who got her released the last time the police arrested her. I’m sure he’ll do the same this time.” I hesitated to tell him about Jack’s involvement in the case.