by Elaine Macko
“Bingo,” I said softly.
Shirley looked up, and when she saw my smile she came around the desk.
“Take a look at this,” I said. “Look like anybody we know?”
“Holy cow!”
Chapter 72
“You need to call John right now.” Shirley’s voice was full of concern.
I used Shirley’s phone to call my husband. It went straight to voice mail, but I left a rather detailed message and then hung up.
“We did it,” I said.
“No, you did it. Great job. Now let’s hope the police can make an arrest before Gary Hachmeister gets attacked again. Or worse.”
I didn’t want to think about that, so instead I asked Shirley what she thought about my confronting Michael.
“You might as well. This has gone on long enough. You can even tell him that someone saw him with Kate Cavanaugh. Tell him you’re concerned about him and your sister. See what he says. If nothing else it will get him thinking and maybe he’ll finally realize that whatever he’s up to, innocent or not, is upsetting Sam.”
“Maybe I’ll stop by his office on my way home. I might be able to catch him alone. Thanks for all your help with this.”
“I hope it’s not going to take another murder for all of us to get together,” Shirley said.
“It’s not. Plan on coming to my house on Saturday for a barbecue. I’ll invite the entire family. Meme can give you the thumbs-up on Tom.”
“What about Sam and Michael?”
“Don’t worry about them. By Saturday everything will be back to normal.”
I said good-bye and headed for home. It was after six and there was a good chance Michael would still be at the office. I was on the turnpike coming up on Fairfield. I checked the lane next to me and moved over to the right. I made a snap decision and exited. With any luck, John had already listened to my message and was at this very moment warning Gary Hachmeister that his life was in danger. Maybe the police would even put him in protective custody.
A few minutes later I pulled into the parking lot for Connecticut Custom Homes. There were only a handful of cars in the lot and none of them looked like my husband’s. I parked my car close to the front entrance and walked up to the door and gave it a pull. It was locked. Darn. Suzette had said that the automatic doors locked at six. Through the glass I saw someone coming. I quickly thought of what I was going to tell them to get them to let me in, when the woman came through and held the door open for me.
“Have a nice evening,” she called out.
“You, too.”
It was that easy. Maybe the killer didn’t need Victor’s key card to get in after all, but after seeing the picture on my iPad I knew I was right.
I made my way up the staircase and down the hall. The doors to Connecticut Custom Homes were closed, so I banged a couple of times and called out Gary’s name. A minute later I heard footsteps coming.
“Hang on a minute,” Gary said from the other side of the door.
He finally unlocked it and I stepped in.
“Oh, good. I’m glad I caught you.”
“I’m on the phone. Come on back.”
I followed Gary to his office and took a seat while he concluded his call, which sounded like business.
“We’re doing a final walk-through tomorrow. I think the couple is going to be thrilled. So, what brings you here at this time of the evening?”
“I’m here to warn you. I figured out who the killer is and you’re in danger. You and Victor were both meant to die. The attack on you the other night was the killer coming after you.”
“Alex, you seem like a nice person. Really. But isn’t it time for you to stop playing detective and let the police handle it? The attack on me was just some crazy person, probably looking for drugs because of the doctor’s office.” He gave my breasts a once-over and then sat down. Maybe I should just let him get knocked off after all.
“Gary, listen to me. I’ve contacted the police and I’m surprised they haven’t called you by now.”
“The phone’s been ringing and my cell phone, too, but I was putting the final touches on the paperwork for tomorrow and talking with my client.”
“Check your messages. I’m sure there’ll be one from my husband.”
“Look, I’m touched that you think so highly of me that you stopped by, but my head is throbbing and I was just about to go home.”
“Don’t do anything until you call the police. Please.”
Gary looked at me over his clasped hands and I could tell he was mulling it over.
“Okay, if you don’t believe me, I’ll prove it to you. The first blow hit you in the back, correct? Not the head.”
“Right. So?”
“That’s because you’re a very tall man and the killer is short. That first blow was meant to bring you to your knees so the killer could finish you off with a couple of whacks to the head. Trust me. Your life is in danger. The killer is coming back for you.”
Gary reached across the desk and picked up his cell phone. He started to scroll through his messages, and I could see his eyes grow full of concern. John must have texted him.
“Put the phone back on the desk and don’t make a move.”
At the sound of a woman’s voice, both Gary and I turned to look at the doorway.
“Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?” Gary asked.
“Hello, Mr. Miller. I’ve been waiting to meet you for a very long time.”
Gary got to his feet. He was about twice the size of our guest and I had no doubt he could pick her up and toss her through the window with no problem except for one teeny tiny thing.
Elizabeth Applegate held a gun in her small hand.
Chapter 73
Elizabeth came into the room and moved closer to the desk. She waved the gun.
“Both of you, go sit on the sofa and don’t try anything funny.”
“Who the hell are you?” Gary shouted. “You can’t just come in here with a gun and tell me what to do. I demand that you get the hell out of my office or I’ll call the police. As a matter of fact, that sounds like a good idea.” Gary reached for his phone but he wasn’t quick enough. Elizabeth grabbed it and threw it across the room.
“I’m only going to say it one more time. Both of you go sit on the sofa.”
I could tell Gary was about to say something which more than likely would not endear him to Elizabeth Applegate. I stood up quickly and gave him a stern look.
“Let’s just do what she says.”
Gary must have seen the fear in my eyes and heard it in my tone, because he came around the desk and took my arm and we moved over to a small blue sofa and sat down very close together.
“Okay, look,” Gary said. “I have no idea who you are or what you want, but it obviously has something to do with me, so why don’t we just let Ms. Harris leave and you and I can sort this all out.”
What was it Gail Hachmeister had said? She told me that at his heart, Gary was a good man, and here he was trying to save my life while risking his own. She was right and if I made it out of all this, I was going to let her know that perhaps she shouldn’t be too hasty in her decision to divorce the man.
“No one’s going anywhere. Sorry, Alex, but I can’t let you go. You shouldn’t have put your nose into it.”
“Elizabeth, the police have been called. You won’t get away with this. I told them everything about your parents and why you killed Victor.”
“No, it’s him who won’t get away with what he did to my parents. And please. The police? Right, that’s what they all say. You watch too many cop shows.”
“She’s right. You can check my cell phone. There’s a text. The police know everything. She called her husband right before she showed up.”
Elizabeth pushed her hair out of her eyes. She really rocked that pixie cut.
“Well, then, I guess we better get this over with quickly,” Elizabeth said to Gary and then turned her cool gaze on me.
“So how did you figure it out? What gave me away?”
Right this moment I was again seriously contemplating divorcing my husband. Where the heck hell was he? I needed to stall Elizabeth and maybe this was my chance. She wanted to know how I figured it all out and I intended to tell her my story. The long version. Except that I didn’t have a long version. I kind of put everything together today. All the little clues just came together in one rush.
I could feel Gary squeeze my hand and I turned to look at him. He had an anxious look in his eyes like he was trying to tell me to get on with it and make it good and make it long.
I took a deep breath and tried to steady my nerves. Believe me, when a gun is pointing at you, your nerves don’t want to be steady.
“The truth is I didn’t suspect you at first. Not at all. I’ll admit I entertained the thought that you may have wanted Victor killed because he was cheating on you with Mary M—” I stopped myself. Did I really want to give Elizabeth the name of someone she might want to go after when she was done with Gary and me?
“You’re making that up. Victor was besotted with me. Don’t you love that word? So veddy veddy British,” Elizabeth said in a mocking British accent. “And there was no one else. I had the man wrapped around my little finger. I told him I was a virgin and we were going to have to wait until the right moment. I had him panting like the dirty dog he was. So what else? What else gave me away?”
“And then there was the drinking. You said you met Victor when you were waitressing at a cocktail party he attended, and he took a drink off your tray. Several, in fact.”
“So?”
“So, Victor didn’t drink. A couple of people mentioned that to me, and the truth is I never thought of it until today.”
“She’s right. Victor didn’t drink. Never. Hated the stuff. Tried to get me to give it up all the time,” Gary tossed in. Good. Anything to drag this out long enough for the police to show up. That is, if they were planning on coming at all. Maybe John thought a text warning was good enough.
“That’s not a lot. Something else must have given me away. What was it?” Elizabeth turned the gun on me.
“Once I saw the blanket and started to put it all together I remembered about the drinking. I don’t think you met him like you said. I think you found him and created a situation where the two of you would meet. Then you maybe flirted with him, lured him in. Is that how it happened?”
Elizabeth pursed her lips together in an angry line. She wasn’t as clever as she thought.
“I waited for him to come out of his office and then told him my car battery was dead. He gave me a jump and I offered to buy him a coffee to thank him. It was that easy.” She jutted her chin out at me in a so there look.
“And I’ll bet there were no nude pictures to find. You were in his house to make sure there was nothing there that could connect you to him. And once I figured out about the blanket I started to think about the attack on Gary and how the first blow landed pretty low on his body. The killer didn’t miss his mark in the dark. The killer was short. Very short.”
Gary let go of my hand, and turned to look at me. “What blanket? What the hell are you talking about some blanket for, and who the hell is this person? Will one of you tell me what the hell is going on?”
Chapter 74
Poor Gary. He still hadn’t put two and two together.
“Elizabeth is the daughter of the couple who was killed when that building collapsed in Rhode Island.”
Gary put his head in his hands and shook it back and forth. He looked up and turned to Elizabeth. “That’s what this is all about? That happened so long ago. It was an accident.”
“It doesn’t seem so long ago to me, you bastard! I got up and went to school like any other day, and the next thing I know my aunt is coming to pick me up because my parents are dead.”
“Aw, gee,” Gary got up and cautiously approached Elizabeth. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know there was a kid. The company went through a lawsuit, they went bankrupt. I didn’t know any of this.”
“Nothing happened to you and Victor. Nothing! My parents died and nothing happened except that my aunt got some money to take care of me. My parents worked so hard to save up money to start their own business. My mom was so proud. We were in the paper. Did you know that? They did an article on her, how she came from nothing and she and my dad were making a go of it. There was a picture of us in the paper together. I was sitting on her lap and I was so happy, and you took that all away from me. You did that and then went on with your life like nothing ever happened.”
Elizabeth was sobbing now. She dropped to her knees and covered her face with her hands. I jumped up and kicked the gun away from her. Gary got down on the floor and gently put his hand on her back. He looked up at me and his eyes were wet.
Through Gary’s open office door, I saw a shadow and a moment later my husband and Jim Maroni walked in. They handcuffed Elizabeth, and Jim escorted her through the office as another team of police from the Fairfield police department came across the room to take statements from Gary and me.
“Are you okay?” John asked as he wrapped his arms around me.
“We’re fine. I wasn’t sure whether you were going to get here in time or not.” I was still shaking.
John conferred with the local police and then he left to take Elizabeth back to Indian Cove.
Gary and I left the tech guys to do their thing and went out in the reception area. I waited for a couple of officers to pass through and then I touched Gary’s arm and looked up at him with a warm smile. “Thanks for trying to save my life. I appreciate it.”
He shook his head and then winced from the pain. “No, thank you. If you hadn’t shown up to warn me, I’d be dead now. I never knew about Elizabeth. That company was a mess. Victor and I talked to our boss on more than one occasion about the crap they were using to build that building. I know, I’m making excuses. I should have reported them or just walked away, but we were idiots and just did our jobs and this kid lost her parents. What’s going to happen to her?”
“She killed Victor. She’s probably going to prison for a very long time.”
“That doesn’t seem right somehow. What we did, or didn’t do, put all of this into motion,” Gary said.
I picked up my purse and headed for the door. “She’s a grown up. She made her choice. She could have just talked to you, maybe sued you. I don’t know. But not murder.”
“Hey, what was all that about a blanket? Were you just making it up to stall her?”
“No. Elizabeth’s car is a mess. She keeps a lot of junk in there and when I was talking to her, I saw a blue blanket. It was hand-crocheted. I crochet a lot myself and could tell it was good quality. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. My husband told me that they found blue alpaca fibers on the floor of the site where Victor was killed.”
“Alpaca? Like the animal?”
“Exactly. They make high-end yarn from alpaca and Elizabeth teaches a craft class and does a lot of needle work. I never put two and two together until I was at Maddi Wickersham’s house this afternoon and her husband was carrying out some blue blankets to take with them to Block Island. Then everything else fell into place. I’ll bet Elizabeth lured Victor to the site with the prospect of a romantic evening under the stars. She must have used the blanket for something for them to sit on.”
“Poor Victor.”
“Yeah, well don’t feel too sorry for him. I’m pretty sure he killed his wife.”
“I guess. Well, thanks again. You really did save my life,” Gary said to my breasts.
“Hey, Gary! Eyes up here!”
Chapter 75
The last couple of days had been pretty hectic. Everyone wanted to hear about how Gary and I almost bought the farm. It seemed like I told the story a hundred times. As it turned out, I was right on the mark when I thought Elizabeth had lured Victor to the house site. She promised him a picnic and a night of passion under the moon and the stars. S
he had brought along the blanket I saw on the back seat of her car and then she nailed him but good.
I was disappointed to find out that I wasn’t the only one who was on to Elizabeth. After I had told John about meeting her, he and Jim interviewed her and followed up on her alibi about the restaurant. She had been there just like she told me, but only much later in the evening after she had already killed Victor. That got the police interested in her and they found out that she was using her aunt and uncle’s last name and her own middle name as her first, which explained why the names I found on the Internet didn’t fit. After her parents died her aunt took her in, albeit reluctantly, and she moved to Europe where her uncle was stationed with the military. John told me that while they were never abusive to her, children had never factored into their plans, and she was made to feel like an intrusion.
I finished up the potato salad I was making for tonight’s barbeque, and covered it and placed it in the refrigerator. The whole family plus Meme’s friends and Shirley and Tom and Mary Beth and Jeff would be arriving at six, which gave me a few hours to run an errand. I called out to John, who was mowing the back lawn, and told him I would be back in a while. Ten minutes later I pulled up in front of Maddi Wickersham’s house.
“Come on in. How are you? I read in the paper what happened. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. I didn’t think I was going to walk out of there, but someone was watching over me.” Meme told me it was probably Saint Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes. I wasn’t sure how to take that.
“Well, thank goodness for that. Come on into the kitchen. Hal ran to the store to pick up some steaks for dinner. With the girls gone we’re planning on a quiet evening with just the two of us. I can’t wait! He’s even doing the cooking.”