I dropped my hand into my lap, letting the letter fall. “Why didn’t she tell me or anyone about these letters? This guy was crazy, Alex. He threatens to take her life right there in that last line.”
“We need to find out who this Michael is who wrote this and talk to him. Is there anyone who would know his last name?”
“Maybe Erika. I can ask her.”
Standing from the couch, he pulled me up to join him. “I’m coming this time because I want to get to Baltimore today, so we’ll stop on the way out of town.”
I leveled my gaze on him and said, “You just want to meet that horrible shrew, don’t you?”
He slid his coat over his shoulders and grinned. “Well, by the way you described her, I wouldn’t mind finding out she’s the one who’ll be spending the rest of her life in jail for this crime, but I’m in a bigger hurry to get to Baltimore to find this Michael. Samantha whatever her name is might be a shrew, but my guess is Michael is our far likelier suspect.”
As we walked out the door, I turned to look at him and said, “I guess, but I’d much rather it be her. Something tells me she wouldn’t be so nasty if she had to spend the rest of her life behind bars.”
I wasn’t kidding about that either. A jilted lover killing Bethany didn’t satisfy my need for justice anywhere as much as finding out that the harpy who’d jumped into her office and claimed her job was actually the one who’d taken her from this world. Seeing that snarky bitch in handcuffs and being led away to prison for the rest of her days would be real justice.
Chapter Sixteen
By the time Alex and I arrived at The Eagle, the excitement of earlier had calmed down since most of the office workers had left for the day. I hoped we weren’t too late and had missed Erika because I didn’t know who else might know who this Michael person was.
I hurried Alex into my office and quickly shut the door behind us. Sunset Ridge was a small town, and no doubt word had already gotten around that he was the main suspect in Bethany’s murder. I didn’t need my editor spying him there and demanding I get an interview with the man who would be her killer, and I definitely didn’t need to deal with the gossip that would spread faster than wildfire right back to Derek if Alex was found questioning people about the case.
“Stay here and I’ll be right back. I don’t want anyone to see you here, so keep quiet.”
He screwed his face into a frown and sat down at my desk. He didn’t appreciate me being the one calling the shots. “Anything else? Maybe I can get you a coffee, boss?”
“Do you want Derek to find out you’re investigating this case with me because if you do, feel free to walk up and down the hallway announcing your interest in talking to anyone who might know who Michael from Baltimore is. If you’d rather not alert our friend to what we’re up to, stay here and I’ll be right back.”
Alex sighed and nodded, accepting if not entirely agreeing with my point. Hopefully, he’d see I was just trying to protect him from what I knew would be certain gossip if he was seen trying to figure out who Bethany’s killer was.
I headed up the hallway to Erika’s office and saw a light shining under the door. Happy she hadn’t left yet, I knocked and waited to hear her call me in, but she said nothing. I knocked a second time, and when she didn’t answer, I threw open the door and saw her sitting at her desk with her head in her hands.
“Erika, are you okay? I knocked, but when I didn’t get an answer…”
She turned around and I saw the evidence that she’d been crying all over her tear-stained face. Wiping her cheeks, she said, “I didn’t hear you, Poppy. I’m sorry. It’s been a rough day.”
“I know. Every time I think about her, I feel like crying.” I closed the door behind me and took a seat next to Erika as she cleaned herself up. “Is there anything I can do?”
She shook her head and sniffled. “It’s not Bethany I’m crying about now. You must think I’m a total mess. Two times you’ve seen me today, and both times I’ve been like this. I’m usually much stronger, but that woman—that woman makes me so angry I can’t help it. When I get furious, I always cry. I’m such a girl.”
“What woman?” I asked, even as I suspected I knew the one who had brought her to tears this second time.
“Samantha Cooper,” Erika answered, her words coming out in a hiss. “I swear to God I need this job, Poppy, but that woman is going to drive me from this place. She’s a shrew.”
“Ah, yes. I met the lovely and gracious Miss Cooper the first time I was here this afternoon. Shrew is the nicest word I can think of for her.”
Erika smiled at my characterization of her nemesis and blew her nose before telling me about her own run-in with Samantha Cooper. “She comes back after being away for months and even though she’s no more my superior than Bethany was, she began barking out orders like I was some stupid underling who knew nothing.”
She stopped for a moment as her face grew redder and redder by the moment and then continued. “I’m not usually one for confrontation, but I guess I was channeling Bethany’s spirit today because I stood right up to her and told her what was what. And you know what she did? She ran to our boss, who then called me into his office and scolded me for not being able to get along with my co-workers! He actually gave me that whole team player speech, as if I haven’t been a team player since the day I started working here.”
I patted her arm to calm her, and even though I truly wanted to be there for her to commiserate about how rotten her new co-worker was, Alex and I needed to get to Baltimore so my time for being nice was limited.
“She’s awful. You just have to be strong and stand your ground, Erika. I came back to see you because I have a question, though. I’m trying to find out who someone named Michael was in Bethany’s life. He lives in Baltimore. Do you know who that could be?”
Erika’s eyes lit up, but she didn’t answer my question. Instead, she asked one of her own. “Are you investigating Bethany’s death, Poppy? I heard your partner was the only suspect in her case.”
“Well, you heard wrong. Don’t listen to the gossip about this. Trust me. It’s totally wrong,” I said, instantly launching into my defense of Alex.
Nodding, she smiled. “I thought it was nonsense myself. I saw Bethany and him out one night and he seemed like a really nice guy. And I know you two have worked together on police stuff for a while now, so if anyone knows he couldn’t do that to her, it’s you.”
“Exactly. Now if I could just get Derek Hampton to see that,” I said, thinking out loud more than continuing the conversation.
“I wish I could help with that, but I’m a married woman,” Erika said with a wicked smile as she wiggled the fingers on her left hand to show me her wedding rings. “If I wasn’t, though, I’d be all over that police chief of ours. I’d give him something better to think about than accusing one of his own cops of murder.”
My surprise at her interest in Derek must have been written all over my face because she quickly added, “Not that I’d ever cheat on my husband. I don’t want you to think that. I just know a good looking man when I see one.”
As much as I liked seeing Erika happy again and wished we could dish about Derek more, I needed to guide her back to my question. “This Michael person was someone Bethany was seeing. He lives in Baltimore and probably works there. Do you remember her ever mentioning anyone who would fit that description?”
She shook her head sadly. “No, I don’t know who that could be.”
I hadn’t wanted to give away Bethany’s secret that the man she’d been seeing was married, but at least I hoped it wouldn’t be for naught. “Erika, this Michael was a married man Bethany was dating. Do you remember her saying anything about him?”
Shaking her head again, she lowered her voice and said, “No, but I’d heard rumors that she was seeing some married guy from that firm the paper used as freelancers. I don’t know if his name was Michael, but I do know the name of the firm he worked for.”
&n
bsp; Erika turned in her chair to grab her cell phone and opened up her contacts. Excited, I grabbed a pen and piece of paper from her desk and waited for her to say the name. At least if we had that, we might be able to find out who Michael was, although it was a very common name. At least it was something to go on, though.
“Asher and Mitchell Advertising,” she read off her phone. “I think I might have their card somewhere in my drawer. Hang on.”
I scribbled down the name as she looked, thinking if we drove fast enough we might be able to reach their office building before the end of the workday. While the newspaper routinely let us out before four, I knew bigger city businesses kept their workers often much later. With any luck, Asher and Mitchell Advertising was one of them.
She spun around in her chair holding a tiny white card in her hand. “Here it is! I hope this helps.”
I took it from her hold and read the address. 15 St. Paul Street, Baltimore. I had no idea where that was, but Alex would. Thrilled to finally have a direction to follow in our search for this Michael person who had threatened Bethany just months before, I stood from my chair and thanked Erika for her help.
“Don’t let that harpy chase you out of here, okay?” I said in the hope that she’d learn quickly enough to be strong in the face of Samantha Cooper’s nastiness.
She smiled up at me and nodded. “I’m going to try to be like Bethany with her. With any luck, I’ll chase her away like she did.”
“Good. Thanks again, Erika.”
As I opened the door to leave her office, she said, “Find out who did this to her, please. I know most people in town would look down on her for dating a married man, but whatever she did, she didn’t deserve the end she got.”
I knew how Erika felt. I wanted to find the bastard who had taken the life of our friend more than she could ever know.
“I will. I promise.”
I just hoped I would be able to fulfill that pledge when the time came.
Hurrying back to my office, I found Alex rummaging through my desk drawers like I was a suspect he wanted to know more about. He didn’t even have the decency to look guilty when I caught him either.
“Finding anything interesting, Officer Montero? Do you have a search warrant to be looking through my personal things?” I asked in mock anger, folding my arms across my chest.
He slowly closed the top drawer of my desk and stood up, his smile telling me he probably saw something he shouldn’t have in there. “Miss McGuire, I find out something new about you every day, and thanks to my checking out your desk, I now know even more. Did you get anything we can use?”
I triumphantly held up the business card. “How does an address where our Michael very well may work sound?”
His smile grew broader, and he snatched the card from my grip. “It sounds like you succeeded. I think it’s time for us to leave. With any luck and me driving, we might get there before they all go home.”
I turned on my heels and headed out into the hallway. “You driving? Are you saying I can’t get us there on time?”
Alex followed me, saying beneath his breath, “If on time is tomorrow.”
Looking behind me, I saw him grin when he realized I’d heard what he said. “Well, Mr. Speed Demon, how about you just get us there in one piece, okay? That means we don’t have to go Mach two.”
Jingling the keys, he chuckled as he passed me out the front door of The Eagle building. “I’m a man, Poppy. Our goal is always to go as fast as possible.”
Strangely enough, I hadn’t found that always the case with him, but maybe he was only referring to driving.
Chapter Seventeen
We walked down the carpeted main hallway of Asher and Mitchell Advertising Agency past the multitude of awards that lined the walls and portraits of the firm’s chiseled-jawed partners to the receptionist desk where a young woman with plain brown hair and black rimmed glasses that made her look like an old-fashioned librarian sat waiting to greet us.
“Welcome to Asher and Mitchell. Can I help you?”
I hadn’t seen Alex turn on the policeman charm thing for a while since most people in Sunset Ridge had gotten used to him and simply answered questions without being cajoled. I wasn’t sure why, but for whatever reason, he clearly believed he needed to turn it on for this woman, though.
Leaning forward on her desk, he smiled and said, “Hi, I’m Officer Alex Montero from the Sunset Ridge police. I need to speak to someone about one of your employees.”
Her response was even warmer than her initial hello. “Of course. Let me get someone who can do that for you, Officer Montero. Please just wait here.”
She trotted off on her search for someone to do as Alex had asked. I tapped him on his shoulder as he stood up from draping himself over her desk and shot him a glare of disapproval.
“Exactly what was that about? We aren’t in our small town, so what’s with the smarmy thing you had going on there?”
“I went with my gut. It looks like it worked,” he answered smugly.
I rolled my eyes at his charm offensive and the all-too-confident look he wore. “Let’s hope you get a female partner to help you because if not, I don’t know how you’re going to charm your way out of the fact that you can say you’re a cop from Sunset Ridge all you want, but you don’t have your badge to flash in front of them to prove it. Did you forget that?”
The smugness faded from his expression as he felt near his belt where his badge usually sat. “Yeah, I forgot about that. No worry, though. If all else fails, we could always tell the truth.”
“That you’re the main suspect in the murder of my friend and we’re here to try to find someone else we’re convinced may have done it?” I asked, framing the issue succinctly.
Alex smirked at my need to be that truthful. “That we’re here to find someone who cared about their contact at The Eagle, who I’d bet money was loved by all here.”
“Oh, that truth,” I said as the receptionist rounded the corner and approached us again. “Thanks for clearing that up for me.”
Whispering out the side of his mouth as he smiled for the girl with the thick black glasses, he said, “My pleasure. Now let me do the talking so your version of the truth doesn’t come flying out of your mouth and we get thrown out of here.”
“Please follow me,” she said with a smile as she waved us over to where she stood. “Mr. Asher will see you now.”
I had no idea what Mr. Asher would be like—old or young—but I had a feeling Alex’s charm wasn’t going to be of much help from this point on. He knew it too by the disappointed look he wore. Perhaps some version of the truth would have to do what that Alex charm couldn’t.
Hopefully, something would work so we could at least find out how to locate Michael before Derek swooped in and hauled Alex off to jail.
She escorted us into his office where Mr. Asher stood behind an enormous cherry wood desk in a three-piece suit wearing a smile that didn’t look genuine. Nothing but one of those executive toys with silver spheres that swung back and forth mesmerizing onlookers and a desk calendar I immediately noticed had nothing written on it sat on top of his very expensive looking desk.
A quick glance at how his blue eyes sparkled when he looked at his receptionist and then at his ring finger with a wedding band around it told me Mr. Asher was very likely guilty of infidelity, and I had a feeling his partner in crime was none other than the mousey looking girl with dark glasses who winked at him as she closed the door behind her as she left us with him. Whatever was going on between them, Mr. Asher’s expression changed to one of mild irritation once she was gone.
He extended his hand to shake Alex’s and then mine and offered us each a seat. “I’m Daniel Asher, one of the firm’s junior partners. My receptionist tells me that you’re here about one of my employees. You’re a little out of your jurisdiction, aren’t you, Officer Montero?”
“I just have a few questions, so we won’t take up but a few minutes of your time, Mr. A
sher. Do you have someone named Michael working for you who would have had a connection to your firm’s work with The Sunset Ridge Eagle?”
“I’m not sure you have the right firm. The only Michael we’ve had working for us in the past few years was Michael Thompson.”
Alex wrote down the name and asked, “Did he work with The Eagle?”
“I believe he did.”
“Can you tell us where we can find him?”
I’d waited for Asher to balk at our questions, and that one did it. Standing from his chair, he straightened his tie and curtly said, “I don’t think I have anything more to say about this because you don’t have any right to be questioning me. Please see yourselves out.”
Before Alex could explain his version of the truth, I jumped up to try to make Daniel Asher understand how important it was to find this person. “One of the people your firm worked with at The Sunset Ridge Eagle newspaper was murdered Sunday night. Bethany Lewis? We’re here about a man named Michael who knew her because we have these letters which show how much in love he was with her. We need to find him to tell him and give him something she’d kept for him, hoping they would get back together. She was my best friend and I’d hate to not be able to do this one thing for her.”
Daniel Asher’s sharp intake of breath told me the news of Bethany’s death stunned him. Knitting his brows, he frowned and said, “I’m sorry to hear that. Bethany was a delight to work with. She’ll be missed.”
My pleading tone hung in the air as I waited to see some softening in Asher’s stance. Finally, he nodded and called his receptionist. “Get Michael Thompson’s address for Officer Montero.”
He looked over at me and frowned. “I’m very sorry about your friend, but I can’t guarantee Michael will still be at the address we have for him. We let him go three months ago.”
The Darkest Hour Page 15