by Elaine Macko
“You don’t look too happy,” Sam said, while she munched on an apple.
I finished printing up a report the client had requested, and then turned to my sister.
“John didn’t seem very excited with our theory, which probably means he and Gerard have other ideas. And you know what? That’s fine because I’m all out of suspects to talk with, and I don’t think I’m going to get anything new from the people we’ve already interrogated.”
“It doesn’t matter who finds the killer first as long as that person is brought to justice.” My sister had the nerve to smile.
“Really? Of course it matters. Annie really wanted to solve this crime before the guys. And considering I haven’t done any typical touristy stuff with her, it would be nice if she could have this one little thing.”
“Annie? You’re doing it all for Annie?”
This time I had to smile. “Okay, fine. I like to win. And I’m positive our deductions are correct. It really does all fit together nicely. I don’t know what John’s problem is.”
Millie buzzed me to say my appointment had arrived. Sam left just as Steve Winslow came into my office.
Steve Winslow was our newest client. I had met him at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon a few months ago. He was the owner of an energy research company in Stamford and I liked him a lot. His company had recently been awarded several contracts necessitating the temporary need for a call center, which he wanted Always Prepared to help him staff. Millie and I had been working on this project for a few weeks and we finally had everyone in place and initial training completed. The call center was scheduled to be operational on Monday and I wanted to go over a few things with Steve beforehand.
I worked with Steve for over an hour fine-tuning a few things he wanted to change and talking about another upcoming contract he was hoping to get.
“I think that about does it, Alex,” Steve said. “Once the ink is dry on that other contract, we’ll probably need to put together something similar. Thanks for coming in when I know you’re on vacation. You’ve put my mind at ease and I’ll be able to sleep better tonight. And now with the murder solved, we’ll all be able to sleep better.”
“Wait. What? The murder is solved?”
“Yeah, the guy whose body they found at the beach. It looks like the police arrested someone. I heard it on the news driving over here. They didn’t have any details, though.”
I showed Steve out and returned to my office with a smile on my face. It seemed John and Gerard had taken my and Annie’s account of the facts to heart after all. Now Annie would be able to return to Belgium knowing she had helped solve a murder.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
My grandmother had a pile of coins in front of her to rival someone who had just hit the jackpot at a slot machine.
“I take it she’s winning,” I said to the group of dejected women seated around the kitchen table.
“Cheating is more like it.” This was a common refrain from my mother, though this time it was said with a smile. “How was your meeting, dear?”
“Good. It went well and it looks like more work will be coming our way. And to think I almost cancelled that Chamber lunch.”
“Just goes to show you, kiddo, you never know where a chance encounter will take you. Gin. Pay up, everybody.” Meme cackled and raked in her winnings. “How about we play Five Crowns.”
Sounded good to me. I got myself a drink and took a seat at the table. Annie shuffled the cards like a dealer in Vegas and passed them out.
“I am having such a wonderful time, and in a few days we will return home.” Annie sighed.
“Annie, you’re welcome to come back whenever you want. We’re your family now and anytime you and Gerard feel like coming across the pond, just let us know,” Meme said. “And if Alex and John are busy working, you can just hang out with us and go to bingo and play cards.”
“It is true. I do feel like you are all my family. And of course, you must come to Belgium.”
“I would love to see Belgium. Maybe when Sam and Alex take me back to Italy we can stop off.”
“Meme, are you going to Italy soon?” Annie asked.
“Annie, we’ve been talking about it for years,” I said. “It would be lovely to take Meme back to her roots.”
“You better hurry up and make some plans, kiddo, I’m not getting any younger.”
I looked at my grandmother and I could feel my eyes starting to tear up. The thought of Meme not around anymore was one that I did not entertain for long. My mother picked up on my unease. She knows how close Meme and I are, and the truth is she’s pretty attached to my grandmother as well. Bless her heart, she quickly changed the subject.
“Alex, what about the murder? Will it be solved before Annie leaves?” My mom looked over at me and gave me a wink.
I picked a card off the deck and then discarded a four. “Well, I have some news on that front.” The entire table went quiet. “Steve Winslow, the guy I just had the meeting with, told me he heard on the radio that an arrest has been made. He said there were no other details, but it looks like John and Gerard just may have taken our advice last night.”
“What advice?” Theresa asked.
I told everyone how Annie and I came up with the idea that it must have been the Shalts.”
“But which one? There’s the girl and her parents, right?” Frances asked.
“And the nurse,” Meme added.
“I’m out,” my mother said, having won the first round of the game.
“My money’s on Jennifer Shalt,” I said.
Annie counted up her points and then turned to me. “Really? I would have thought the father. Why do you think it was Jennifer?”
“Because I don’t believe her story about the business. No matter how many classes they offer, there is no way the Shalt Nursery can compete with all the garden centers in town. I know it and she does too. I think she’s already preparing for the doors to close soon on the family business, and she wants to make sure she gets her piece of the pie when all that land sells. I think she’s been playing us all along.”
“But then this means that she believes she is the daughter of the Spiegels,” my mother said. “Is that how she feels?”
I sorted the cards in my hand that Frances had just dealt and then drew one from the deck. “Every single woman that Mr. Spiegel talked to has to believe, even just a teeny tiny bit, that he might be their father. It’s only natural to think, hey, what if this guy is right. I think anyone would be curious.”
Everyone around the table nodded.
“So Jennifer thinks okay, what if. She can sit back and wait for him to find out the truth, hoping it’s not her, or she can take matters into her own hands. Ordinarily, she would just forget about him. She has a life, a family. But here come a couple of hot-shots with money to spend and they want her land. And she knows the terms. It may turn out that she has absolutely nothing at all to do with the Spiegel family, but she can’t take that chance. Not with all that money sitting on the table. Plus, her mother and aunt had the best motive for switching the babies. We figured that out so maybe she did, too, or maybe her parents broke down and told her, ‘hey, guess what we did?’ so now she knows for sure.”
“And if the stories are true about her selling marijuana,” Annie began, “she cannot return to that lucrative line of work at this time, not with the police investigating a murder. They might catch on to what she is really selling.”
I thought about this and the fact that Mr. Spiegel may have somehow heard the rumors about the nursery. Perhaps that was just another reason to kill the man.
We continued the game through all the hands. Annie won the pot and then we broke to get some lunch. I layered the crusty end of the bread with tons of spicy mustard and then piled the liverwurst high.
“We can eat in the living room and I’ll turn on the news. I want to see who John arrested,” Meme said.
My grandmother sat on her comfy chair while my mother, The
resa and Frances sat on the sofa. Annie and I sat on the floor using cushions from the kitchen chairs. I took a bite of my sandwich and reached over to the end table for the remote. I scrolled through the menu until I found a station carrying the local news at this time of day.
We sat there in silence eating our lunch, watching the weatherperson tell us what a beautiful weekend was ahead. They cut to a commercial for some miracle drug that would solve one problem and create about a hundred more deadly ones. Then they returned to the news broadcast.
“And in Indian Cove this morning, police arrested a suspect in the murder of Sheldon Spiegel, an engineer from North Carolina who was in town claiming that the hospital in which his daughter was born almost thirty years ago had switched his baby with another. Tiffany, what can you tell us?”
They switched to some young curvaceous woman in a tight dress with tons of cleavage standing outside the Indian Cove police station.
“Mike, the police brought a man into the station this morning for questioning.”
“Mon Dieu, it must be Mr. Shalt,” Annie said.
“No name has been released as of yet, and no arrest has been made,” Tiffany continued.
In a small box above Tiffany’s head was a view of what had transpired earlier in the day. I watched as my husband, his partner Jim Maroni, and Gerard walked behind a man into the police station. Just as they got to the door, the suspect turned his head just for a split second and looked at the camera. I put my sandwich down and got up on my knees.
“Wait a minute. That’s not Cyrus Shalt. What the heck hell, John,” I said to the screen. “You arrested the wrong guy!”
CHAPTER FIFTY
“I believe that is Jeff Jamison, no?” Annie said.
“Yes it is. What is going on? John never said a thing, not one thing last night while we were pouring out our theory about how it had to be one of the Shalts.”
“Kiddo, I hate to tell you, but you don’t work for the police.”
I dropped back down onto my cushion and tore off a large chunk of sandwich with my teeth.
“It is not all John’s fault. Gerard did not confide in me either when we went to bed. I do not like not having the outside road to all the police information.”
Theresa and Frances looked at Annie.
“Inside track,” I said. “And I agree, Annie. It’s the pits.”
“Why do you think the police went after this other man?” my mother asked.
“Probably because that was my original theory. Mr. Spiegel stopped by the Jamison home on the night he was killed. Both Mrs. and Mr. Jamison left their house, separately, after the visit. I told all of this to John the other night because I really thought one of them might have gone after Sheldon Spiegel. And they have a gun. But then after Annie and I talked with Shirley yesterday and she told us about the financial problems the Shalt Nursery was having and the rumors about them cultivating more than orchids in their hothouses, I felt pretty sure I was on to something.”
“Last night while waiting for Meme, we came to the conclusion that the Shalts and the sister, the nurse, had the best motive for wanting to get another child. We told all of this to John and Gerard last night,” Annie said. “I feel betrayed. While we shared everything we had, those two had other ideas and did not once confide in us. Gerard will find himself on another airplane going home.”
“Don’t be too hard on him, Annie. He’s only following the orders of John Van der Burg. The last couple of murders that hit Indian Cove, I solved, so I guess it’s only fair that the police win one once in a while.” I tried to be light and cavalier about the whole thing, but I was disappointed. And something else. No matter what that husband of mine thought, I was pretty sure he was wrong.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
I couldn’t believe that Annie and Gerard would be gone in two days. Having them stay with us was such a pleasure. It was like Meme said. They were family. But all good things have to come to an end, and I guess I needed to get back to my business and earn my keep.
“Ah, it looks like Belgium outside,” Annie said. “It must be God’s way of preparing me for my return to Brussels.” She stood by the kitchen sink looking out the window at a sheet of water cascading down from the heavens. Maybe she was right.
“It’s going to be very strange waking up on Monday without you here.”
Annie came and sat next to me at the kitchen table.
“Gerard and I feel the same. My husband has so enjoyed going to work every day with John. You wouldn’t think he had any vacation at all, but he has loved every minute of it. We are in love with very odd men, no?”
I nodded. “Yes, we are. I never thought I would date a cop much less marry one, but I wouldn’t trade John for anything.”
“Even though he arrested the wrong man?”
“Annie, don’t ask me to explain it, but I think he’s wrong.”
“John has not arrested Mr. Jamison, so perhaps he is not completely certain of the man’s guilt either, and Gerard has let a few things slip.”
I put my mug down on the table, sloshing some tea onto my place mat. “He did? Like what?”
Annie shook her head quickly. “Do not get too excited. It wasn’t anything—what is the word, specific. Yes, that is it. It wasn’t anything specific, but I think they are looking into someone else. Gerard said that if they could confirm a few more pieces of the puzzle it will all click into place.”
“Well, that’s because they’re waiting for the ballistics report on Mr. Jamison’s gun.”
“No. I think bringing Mr. Jamison in was simply to eliminate him. I do not think he was a true suspect. They were doing their due diligence. That is what Gerard said.”
“So maybe we were right. I bet John’s going to bring in someone from the Shalt family next.” I got up and went to the refrigerator for some cold water. “Annie, this weather is pretty crazy today and I think it best to wait and hear from John, so what do you say we do some laundry. I don’t want you going home with a suitcase full of dirty clothes.”
“Thank you, Alex. That will be a big help.”
Annie went upstairs to gather all of her dirty things along with Gerard’s. I got the hand towels out of the powder room downstairs and took them into the laundry room off the kitchen. Since my guests had arrived I’d been tossing the morning newspaper onto the washing machine and there had to be over a week’s worth sitting there. I picked them all up and dumped them on the kitchen table.
“I think this is everything,” Annie said, holding a laundry bag overflowing with clothes. “We never had a chance to do a wash up in Boston, so I have a lot. Will it all fit?”
“It should. If not, we’ll just do two loads.” I got everything into the machine, added the soap and white vinegar, which I use in place of fabric softener, and pressed the start button.
I filled my new electric tea kettle with more water while Annie made another pot of coffee. I put several slices of coffee cake on a plate and brought it over to the kitchen table. While I waited for the water to boil I called my sister and told her to meet us tomorrow night at a seafood restaurant on the beach, Gerard’s treat. Next, I called my mother and she said they would pick up Meme and Frances and Theresa. Then I called the restaurant and made a reservation for tomorrow evening. Gerard had insisted on including the entire family and I was looking forward to the evening.
Annie and I took our warm drinks to the table and I picked up a piece of the coffee cake and took a bite. Starting next week, I planned on getting back into my routine of no desserts and plenty of exercise.
“If we have time this afternoon, Alex, I would like to stop at the market. My daughter has a fondness for brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tarts and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.”
“She does?” I laughed.
“Oh, yes. Chloe loves all things American. During the summers when we would go to Boston to stay with Ken and his family, my daughter developed a love of these Pop Tarts. We can get them at the American store in Antwerp, but th
ey cost a lot of money. Of all the things I could bring her, this is what she asked for. Crazy, no.”
“I can understand completely. With all the delicious food your country has to offer, when we were there last year, I kept missing M&M’s. But I made up for it with croissants and some heavenly pastries.”
While we chitchatted, I started to sort through all the newspapers. I hated to toss them without reading them, but there was no way I could catch up with this stack when another one arrived on my doorstep each day.
Annie took a couple and sat there with her coffee while she turned the pages.
“Your newspapers are very large.”
“That’s nothing. You should see the Sunday edition. There should be one here.” I looked over the stack on the table and then returned to the laundry room. “Here it is,” I said placing it next to Annie. “It was on the floor by the dryer. It’s got tons of ads, and Sunday supplements. It can take all morning to read, but on a snowy morning, there’s nothing better than a cup of tea, some snacks, and the Sunday paper. John and I actually fight over certain sections—Annie, are you okay?”
All the color had drained out of Annie’s face. She folded the page she had been reading over and then handed it to me. There were several articles and I looked at the headlines of all of them, and then my body went ridged and I felt a chill slowly crawling up my back.
“You see it, don’t you?” Annie asked. “You understand the significance. It is what we both knew but forgot.”
I nodded slowly. “Uh-huh. Damn! How could I let this get by me!”
“I did not pick up on it either. We had so many people to speak with and every one of them had a motive.”
I shook my head slowly and then a smile formed and I looked at Annie. “We did it. We solved the crime. And this time we’re right. I know it.” I went over to a drawer where I keep junk. Everyone has one and mine is no different, though perhaps a bit more organized than most. I had to rummage around before I found a pad of paper and a pen that still worked. I brought them back to the table and started to list all the reasons why I thought we were right. All the reasons that had been in front of us this entire time. When I was done, I turned the pad around so Annie could see it. “What do you think?”