Killer Party

by Lynn Cahoon

  Greg dug his keys out of his pocket and leaned inside the passenger door. “I’ll see you at home.”

  He didn’t even wait for a reply. I wondered what he thought might be on that laptop. Whatever it was, the anticipation of finding out had put him in a bad mood for days. I waited for him to start the truck and ease it out of the parking lot. Old blue, as he called the truck, had been having starting issues for a few months. I told him he should get a new vehicle, but he said that was like throwing away a clock that just needed new batteries. Although I noticed he hadn’t gotten the truck into the shop yet either.

  We didn’t talk a lot about finances, but I knew that his last marriage had left him pretty strapped, mostly because he took on the debt that Sherry had charged on various credit cards. I figured he must be getting closer to paying it all off, but who knew? I guess one day we were going to have to have that discussion. I was debt free, including my newish Jeep. I’d wrote a check for the transaction a few years ago out of what I called the Miss Emily Fund. The money had been left to me by a friend who had been murdered. Although the woman had been old, her death still carved a hole in my chest and I’d missed her every day. The good news is she also left me her house and I’d hung her paintings all through the place as I redecorated to make it mine.

  Well, mine and Greg’s now. I hoped he considered the place home. He used the word often enough and he’d always called the dump he’d lived in before, the apartment. Not I’m going home, just I’m going to the apartment to sleep.

  I was still pondering these unanswerable questions about our relationship and what it all meant when we arrived back home. Emma barked through the glass when she saw Greg’s truck pull in next to us. And just a few seconds after Greg parked, Toby pulled his truck in next to Greg’s.

  I waited for all the engines to shut off, then let Emma out. She ran to the front of the vehicles where Greg and Toby were leaning on the truck hoods and talking.

  “Hey, how was your shift?” I took in his rumpled uniform and bloodshot eyes. He was tired to the bone.

  “Busy. Three guys are cooling their jets in the drunk tank this a.m.. I suspect one of them at least has a high-price lawyer that will be calling in Judge Harrison from the golf course about midday. I finished up all the reports so if you do get the call, you’re ready.” He nodded to Greg. “Sorry to ruin your weekend.”

  “You didn’t drive drunk, they did. And if they do call me in, I might just take some time getting there. Being locked in a jail cell has a way of making people think about their actions and consequences, even if they have good attorneys.” He slapped Toby on the back. “You just keep doing your job.”

  “I’m hoping that tonight will be a little calmer. Last night, I’d just get back on patrol and another idiot would take off from the winery. I wish Darla had an attached motel where her inebriated guests could go sleep it off.” He pulled at his rumpled shirt. “Any chance I could use your washer and dryer this afternoon, once I get some sleep? This is my last clean uniform. I guess I didn’t plan well this week.”

  “Just drop your laundry off before you go to sleep. I’m doing ours today, I can get yours done too.” I thought about my taxi service to pick up Greg last night. So many people started drinking without thinking about the exit strategy. I bet if I hadn’t been here, Brenda would have bundled Greg into one of the guest rooms at The Castle. We were family in South Cove.

  He shook his head. “Not part of the deal. I can do my own laundry.”

  “I know. Let’s just say I’m feeling generous today. Bring it over and I’ll get it done.” I folded my arms. “Discussion over.”

  “You better listen to her, dude.” Greg chuckled. “I’ve seen that look before. Besides, you don’t want her to grumble all day about this and make me miserable, do you? Give a guy a break, will you?”

  I playfully slapped him on the arm. “Just for that, you’re helping with the laundry. Or better yet, you’re on bathroom duty today.”

  “Evil. She’s just evil.” Greg put his arm around me as we left the driveway. Toby went to his apartment to grab his laundry and drop it off on the back porch. Greg and I went to the kitchen to open the laptop and see what was really going on in a dead man’s world.

  We putted around the laptop-shaped elephant in the room until after we’d started laundry, cleaned the kitchen and made out a list of chores for the day. One of which would be to run to Bakerstown for groceries. If Toby was right, and Greg was going to be called into the station, that task would fall to me. But I wanted to make sure I got his thoughts on what we needed before I left. Shopping in another town made the list more important. We couldn’t just stop in the local grocery for an item or two we forgot from the last shopping event.

  Finally, everything was planned and we sat at the table, staring at the laptop.

  “So what is the password?” I asked as he lifted the lid.

  He smiled and cut his eyes toward me. “Little star. That was his nickname for Jessica. And apparently, he used it on all his passwords since they’d met.” He typed out the word little, the star symbol and the numbers in the year. The screen bloomed to life with a picture of Jessica and Levi at some charity event. They looked happy. “She’s broken.”

  I felt the tears well behind my eyes. “I would be too.”

  We sat for a moment, lost in our own thoughts about what was and what could have been and for me, how happy I wasn’t in Jessica’s spot right now. With Greg being in law enforcement, the idea that something tragic could happen was always in the back of my head. Police officers were shot all the time. Sometimes for stupid reasons. I hoped I’d never have to deal with the situation.

  “She really loved him. I wish you could have known the Levi before he became the jerk you met. He would give someone the shirt off his back. But ever since he passed the seven figure mark in annual salary, he started to change. I guess money does that to people.” Greg cleared his throat and clicked open the flashing email icon. Email hadn’t stopped coming in since Levi’s death. Either these people didn’t know about the murder, or they thought the account was being monitored. So many were condolence letters. Today’s equivalent of a sympathy card, I guessed.

  Greg scanned through a few and then went into sent mail. He scrolled until he found one addressed to Allison. He looked at me and asked, “Mikey’s Allison?”

  I shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”

  “Honestly, I didn’t want to know.” He held his finger over the mouse. “Pandora’s box is now opening. Regrets need to be boxed up and taken out later.”

  “Are you sure?” I knew he was joking around, trying to make light of how he was feeling. There was a reason the investigation had been taken out of his jurisdiction. Sometimes during an investigation, you found out things that friends and family didn’t want or need to know. “You can just turn this over to Terrance.”

  “I’d rather know what I’m turning over.” He rolled his shoulders. “Levi was my responsibility. Even though he was my friend, he died in my town. On my watch.”

  He opened the email. All of my hopes that it was just friendly chatter about the upcoming bachelor party ended with the greeting Levi had used, My Lovely. The email just went downhill from there.

  “Listen to this,” Greg pointed to the screen, then read the section aloud: “Don’t worry about Jessica and Mikey. I’m sure we can find a place in that huge castle to be alone for at least a few minutes. No one will ever find out. One time, and I’ll leave you alone, if that’s what you want. But baby, I want you so bad my teeth hurt.”

  I didn’t say anything. Obviously, Levi had been seducing Allison, whether or not she’d taken him up on his offer. Mikey must have found out based on his outburst at the diner.

  “What a jerk.” Greg shook his head. “He always wanted what someone else had. Sherry told me he’d tried to woo her at one of these reunions. It was one of the reasons we didn’t attend more than one as a couple.”

  “Sorry, Greg. I know
you liked the guy.”

  He shook his head. “I loved my friend. I didn’t know this guy. Maybe it was partially our fault. Once the guys at school started picking on Levi, we were always excusing him for everything. He didn’t know better. He was socially awkward. He grabbed my prom date’s butt during dinner when I was in the restroom. I told him to knock it off, but I could see he was proud of getting away with it. I guess with more money and power, he kept getting away with it.”

  I didn’t know what to say. So I focused Greg away from his trip down memory lane to the present. “You don’t think Mikey killed him, do you?”

  “No. I mean, I don’t think so. I talked to Mikey yesterday about the fight at the diner. He’s convinced Allison is seeing someone now. Apparently, Levi put it in Mikey’s head that since she wouldn’t sleep with him, she must be sleeping with someone else. Nice guy, right?” He thrummed his fingers on the table. “Maybe we should go talk to both of them. I don’t see how it will kill their relationship any more than this already has. And we can get Mikey and Allison off your suspect list.”

  “I’ll talk to Allison and you talk to Mikey?” I liked the divide and conquer technique.

  “Sounds like a plan.” Greg went to close the laptop but I put my hand out to stop him. “What?”

  “Is there anything directed to Lois? About the board appointment?” I scanned the email addresses, trying to find one that looked like hers.

  Greg scanned the list too. “Looks like it goes back two weeks, then it’s automatically dumped. I suspect if she’s on the website already, the deal was done way before two weeks. They still haven’t taken Levi off and he’s been dead a week now.”

  The words echoed in the kitchen.

  He shook his head. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to saying that word. Where are you in the laundry? Do you have time to take a quick run over to The Castle?”

  I glanced at the clock. It was nine. “Do you think anyone’s awake?”

  He shrugged. “If they’re not, they will be.”

  I changed over Toby’s first load of laundry to the dryer and put his whites into wash. I’d have his basket ready and sitting on his porch way before he even woke up. I liked doing laundry. It calmed me in some weird way. Take something dirty and stained and make that all go away. Too bad life wasn’t like that.

  We took my car back to The Castle. This was my the third visit to the place in less than twenty-four hours. It was a personal record. And of course, there was the one visit where I’d accused Craig of trying to block the council’s blessing on the Mission Wall project. If I’d known how long it was going to take to get the decision through the California Historical Society, I might have let that one alone.

  I’d brought my notebook and as Greg drove, I made a few new notes on the Mikey-Allison suspect page. Greg glanced down. “Does that really help you when you’re thinking about the investigation?”

  “Sure. You have case files and the murder board to play with. I write everything down, including things that are totally outlandish and then I prove them wrong. As I whittle out all the things that couldn’t be true, the one thing that could be true starts to stand out. And, it makes me focus on what hasn’t been eliminated.” I thought about my first investigation. Miss Emily’s death had been devastating to me and when I thought Greg and the police department were going to rule it a natural death, I’d been incensed. My notebook from that was more of a journal of all the things I thought were strange and that the police, well, Greg, were ignoring. The more I looked into Miss Emily’s life, the more suspects I had in her death. And more motives.

  “It looks messy.” Greg turned the car into The Castle parking lot. “I don’t know how you keep track of everything.”

  “You should have seen my first notebook for Miss Emily. Now that was confusing.” I closed the spiral notebook and shoved it into my tote. I knew exactly what I wanted to ask Allison. And if I could get some time with Lois, it would be a twofer trip. “Let’s go investigate.”

  “Honey?” Greg put his hand on my arm. “You realize that we have no authority to even be looking into Levi’s death. So you need to go slow with any accusations.”

  I turned and gave him my million-watt smile. “Honey? I never have any authority. You’re the one who has to get used to my world.”

  Mikey and Allison were having breakfast, alone, out on the patio. When they invited us to join them, I pulled up a chair and Greg frowned as I sat down.

  “We’ve already eaten but I’d love some coffee.” I glanced around at the empty pool area. “Greg, why don’t you and Mikey go find us a waiter?”

  “I need to talk to you anyway.” Greg nodded at Mikey. “Do you mind?”

  We watched the men walk away and then Allison handed over her cup and the full carafe of coffee on the table. “You can have mine. I don’t drink coffee.” Her lips curved into a smile. “At least not anymore. I hear it’s bad for the baby.”

  My eyes widened. “You’re pregnant?” Now that just made the whole thing touchier. Before I thought about it, I blurted, “Who’s the father?”

  Allison frowned and sat down the coffee after filling my cup. She blew out a sigh. “I thought that was you in the diner. You must have heard our fight. I didn’t tell Mikey I was going to the doctor and he thought I was sneaking around.”

  “Which you were.” I sipped my coffee. “But for a different reason.”

  Allison shrugged. “I didn’t want to tell him until I was sure.”

  I decided to put my cards on the table. “You said Levi had wandering hands recently.”

  “He did.” She focused on the fruit on her plate, not looking at me. “You can ask any of the women.”

  “We found his emails to you. Were you having an affair?” I watched her face.

  “No! He wanted to. After Mikey and I got married and he introduced us to the group, I started getting emails from Levi. At first, they were just friendly. Then he asked if I wanted to have coffee with him.” She leaned back in her chair, remembering. “Mikey was out of town and I told him that.”

  “But he still wanted to have coffee,” I guessed.

  She laughed, a short sound that didn’t have any humor. “He said he knew. And he wanted more than coffee. I’ve been avoiding him ever since.”

  “Did you tell Mikey?” I knew the answer but I needed her to confirm.

  “What, that his oldest friend was trying to bed me?” She shook her head. “Levi threatened to tell him, and I said to go ahead. My hands were clean in this. The worst thing I did was respond to his friendly emails. Before he started hitting on me. I told Mikey everything after Levi died. After the fight. I told him I didn’t do anything.”

  I believed her. As dedicated as she had been to swimming, she seemed just as committed to making her marriage work. Even if it had problems like a friend trying to break them up. But Levi hadn’t really wanted Allison, not for long term. He had Jessica. No, he just didn’t want Mikey to have something he hadn’t.

  I decided to change the subject. I’d compare notes with Greg later. “So when’s the baby due?”

  “April. If it’s a girl, I want to name her after Mikey’s mother. We haven’t decided on a boy’s name yet.”

  From the look on her face, it was clear that Mikey had suggested the one name Allison would never call her child. Levi. Oh, the fun of being a couple. She finished her fruit, then put her napkin on her plate. “Sorry, I need to go lay down. This being knocked up has made me crave naps.”

  “Congratulations and I’ll be rooting for you.”

  She looked at me sadly and I realized she thought I was talking about the marriage, not the pregnancy but it was too late to explain as she scurried away. I poured myself more coffee and waited for Greg to return.

  “Hey, what are you doing out here all alone?” Lois plopped down in the chair that Allison had just vacated. She waved down the waiter who had finally arrived and handed him the dirty plate. “Bring us more coffee and mimosas.” />
  I held up a hand. “Just coffee for me.”

  “You really need to lighten up.” Lois waited for the man to leave. “So what’s up? Why are you here today? Upset that your boy went out drinking with the rest of the guys last night? They needed the break.”

  “Actually, I wanted to talk to you.”

  The mimosa and coffee had arrived and the guy handed us a small menu. Lois waved it away. “Bring me the biscuits and gravy plate.”

  The guy looked at me. “Really, coffee’s fine.”

  She laughed as he left. “You eat like Allison. I swear that girl only eats fruits and seeds.”

  I wondered if that was all she could keep down, but Allison’s condition wasn’t my story to tell. “Greg made omelets this morning.”

  “Being the good boyfriend to make up? That sounds like our Greg.” She sat the drink glass down, already half gone. “So what did you want to talk about?”

  I set my coffee cup down and decided to be direct. “Why did Levi put you on the board for his company?”

  CHAPTER 18

  Lois finished off the rest of the mimosa and waved the waiter down for another one before she answered. “How did you find out?”

  “The website. You’re listed as one of the board members.” I sipped my coffee and watched her. “The picture is great by the way.”

  “It’s not what you think.” She grabbed the glass from the waiter and chugged it. Then she handed it back. “Another one. Please.”

  I focused on the coffee, letting her settle and decide what she wanted to tell me.

  “Look, Levi owed us. He owed Butch. That whole thing during high school. He had Butch go tell the kid what he’d found. And threaten him. Butch said he was scared, but I think even then, Levi liked having people do things for him. Everyone thought he was so sensitive, but he played the victim role with grace.”