“Oh, I have no intentions of going in there and accusing the man of anything. I just thought I could nose around a little. Besides, I wouldn’t be alone.”
“You wouldn’t?” he asked.
“Of course not. Sophie would be with me.”
“Oh, what a relief,” he responded, trying not to sound too sarcastic.
Fortunately, at that moment the doorbell rang.
* * *
“Alright folks. I’m going to break this barrier of silence and ask the twenty-four thousand dollar question,” Andy announced just as Bernice returned from carrying the last plate to the kitchen and Sarah had served the coffee and strudel. “What’s the big mystery? You folks seem to all know something I don’t know and I’m just too nosy a guy to be left out. What’s going on?”
Everyone sat silently for a moment, but all eyes turned to Bernice. “Okay,” Bernice began. “I was going to talk to Andy about Darius when we got home, but perhaps this is the better place. Who wants to start?”
“It’s your story, Bernice,” Sarah responded. “Don’t you want to tell it?”
“Actually, no. I’m tired of talking about it, and I’d actually like to hear Charles’ take on it. Would you mind, Charles?” she asked, turning to the man she was beginning to appreciate being in her life.
Charles sighed and nodded his agreement, but instead of speaking, he left the table for a minute, returning with a newspaper apparently folded to a particular story. He handed the paper to Andy and said, “Are you familiar with this story?”
Andy scanned the page and responded that he had read it but hadn’t heard anything lately. “Did they find the guy that did it?” he asked, but before anyone could answer, he added, “and what does this have to do with you folks?”
Not waiting for Charles to respond, Bernice spoke up saying, “That was my car she was found in.”
“WHAT?” Andy exclaimed. “Okay, details please. Charles?”
Charles proceeded to tell the story of what had occurred over the past month and summarized the police involvement. “They are searching for Darius as a person of interest,” Charles continued.
“So who is this Darius anyway?” Andy asked.
Charles turned to Bernice and said, “Do you want to take this question?”
“Yes,” she responded, turning to Andy. “It’s time to tell you about Darius.” She proceeded to give some background about fostering the young boy, glossed over his run-ins with the police, and finally shared the part about borrowing her car, cleaning out her checking account, and finally the credit card fiasco.
“And now a body was found in that car,” Andy responded. “Doesn’t that mean he’s the primary suspect?”
“I’m afraid so…” Charles responded, giving Bernice a sympathetic nod.
“But we’re hoping the real killer will be found first. That would clear Darius,” Sophie interjected.
“Good grief, Bernice. You’ve been through all this since you moved here? I’m sorry I didn’t know. I could have been helping.” Turning to Charles, he asked, “Are you folks looking for him?”
“We’re not exactly looking for Darius,” Sophie responded. “We’re doing our own investigation into who actually killed the girl…”
“Wait a minute, Sophie,” Charles interjected. “That’s what the police are doing and what they’ve told us NOT to do.”
“But Charles,” Sophie responded, “you said yourself that they don’t seem to be working in that direction. They’re just looking for Darius, and you know they’re going to charge him with the murder. His prints are all over the car, he stole the car…”
“Just a minute,” Bernice cut in protectively, “I loaned him the car.”
“To drive to Tennessee?” Sophie asked rhetorically.
“No,” she said lowering her eyes and tentatively adding, “I guess he stole the car.”
“Well,” Andy said and sat quietly for a moment, apparently digesting what he had been told. “Well,” he repeated, and Bernice looked at him, wondering if this was too much for him to take in. She was becoming very fond of this soft-spoken, kind man, and she hoped this complication wasn’t going to cause him to back away from their friendship.
“Well,” he said for the third time but with conviction this time. “I guess this means we’ll become a six-person investigative team and get to the bottom of this.”
Charles struck his own forehead with the heel of his hand and said, “I give up. Lt. Stokely is going to have us all arrested for interfering with a police investigation, but let’s do it.”
Everyone at the table cheered and Charles reached for the wine bottle and began filling their glasses. “Let’s drink to our last days of freedom.”
Chapter 13
“So, where do we start?” Andy was asking a few days later as the six friends gathered around the table in the Parker’s dining room. Charles had objected to having their meetings at their house since he’d promised his old lieutenant that he’d stay out of the investigation, but it turned out to be the most space available to them.
Sophie had brought a fresh supply of 3x5 cards and was ready to start making a card file with all the clues they came up with, a technique she learned from one of her favorite mystery writers. “I think we should start by identifying all the possible suspects,” she announced.
“I think we should start by selecting our leader,” Andy announced, “and I nominate Detective Charles Parker.” Everyone clapped and nodded their heads.
“And I refuse to accept the nomination,” Charles announced.
“Charles! You’re the obvious choice since you’re an experienced detective,” Sophie responded. “I second the nomination,” she announced.
“Sophie, no,” Charles responded. “I’ve promised Lt. Stokely that I’d stay out of the investigation and I can’t go back on that. I’m just here as a sort of consultant. And to keep this group of renegades out of trouble if I can.
“Okay, Charles. I guess we can accept that as long as you are with us. How about Sarah?”
Sarah looked at Charles and saw that he was frowning. “Perhaps I should pass for the same reason since I’m his wife…”
Sophie sighed. “Andy, you know the criminal system from the inside. How about you?”
Bernice looked at Andy with concern, wondering what Sophie’s comment meant and Andy dropped his eyes looking embarrassed. “Well, I suppose you’re right…” Andy had spent time in prison a few years back when he accidentally caused the death of his twin brother. Unfortunately, he had chosen to leave town instead of face up to his involvement and received a short sentence in a minimum security facility. He hadn’t shared this part of his life with Bernice and could understand her concern. “I think I’ll need to talk with Bernice before I make any commitment.”
“Sophie?” Bernice said. “How about you?”
“I can’t do all this paperwork and lead the group as well,” she huffed.
“Well, I guess that leaves me,” Norman responded. “I’d be happy to be a facilitator, but I think we all should be involved in every step since the police would say that we’re interfering in an investigation and we need to share responsibility equally.”
“Okay, it’s decided,” Sophie announced. “Norman, the floor is yours.”
Norman cleared his throat and sat up straighter in his chair. “Well, As Andy said, I think we should start by identifying all the possible suspects.”
“Councilman Capello with the help of his mob connections,” Sarah called out.
“A boyfriend we don’t know about yet,” Sophie suggested.
“How about some random person they met on the road?” Andy suggested.
“Are we going to consider the possibility that Darius did it?” Charles asked, and everyone frowned at him.
“We’re here to prove someone else did it,” Bernice reminded him. “The police are already working on the theory that Darius did it.”
“Sorry,” Charles responded. He didn’
t want to admit it to this group, but he suspected that the police had it right.
“Anyone else?” Norman asked, looking at Sophie who was writing down the potential suspects.
“There could be lots of other people, but we don’t know who they might be. Bernice mentioned the other day that perhaps we could find a way to talk with the young girl’s friends,” Sarah said.
“My daughter, Caitlyn, said she knows at least one of Courtney’s friends,” Andy offered.
“We should talk to that friend, and we might get the names of some others from her,” Bernice responded.
“I’d be happy to do that,” Andy offered, “Caitlyn could even help me get to these other kids.”
“Maybe you can find out about boyfriends at the same time,” Bernice added.
“Hold it,” Sophie called out. “I need to start a file on suspects and another one on who’s doing what.”
“I’ll freshen our coffee cups while you catch up,” Sarah said, standing and heading for the kitchen.
When she returned with the coffee pot a few minutes later, Charles was saying, “Although I’m not an official part of this investigation, I’m the only one with access to the law enforcement computers. How about I do a search for similar crimes in the area. That might follow-up on Andy’s ‘random person’ theory.” Darn. Didn’t I just say I was keeping out of this?
“Great idea,” Norman responded.
“One other thing I’ve been thinking about,” Sarah began thoughtfully. “How did this girl end up in Bernice’s car? Where did she meet Darius? How can we find out about that?”
The group was quiet as they mulled over her question. Finally, Andy spoke up saying, “Maybe that answer will come from one of her friends. I’ll try to find out where she might have wanted Darius to take her, or if she was in the habit of taking off with strangers.”
“You might even learn that there were places she liked to hang out,” Bernice suggested. “She could have met him at a bar. I know she was too young to drink, but from that picture in the paper, she looked older than she was.”
“Good point,” Andy said, smiling at her. He was pleased when she smiled back reassuringly. He hoped she would understand about his past when he talked to her later. They had a dinner date, and he hoped she wasn’t going to cancel it now that she knew about his prison record.
“Well,” Norman began. “It looks like we have a few assignments. Andy will be pursuing the friend angle, Charles will do some computer searches. Bernice, would you think about anything Darius has said to you that could lead to where he might have been going? Why was the car found in Tennessee? And, let’s see…”
“I’ll get these cards filed in order and type up notes about today’s meeting,” Sophie offered. Sarah smiled, realizing that her friend was taking this recording responsibility way too far, but, as Charles said, it keeps her out of trouble.
“Sarah, what would you like to do?”
“I’ve had an idea, but Charles is giving me grief about it. I’ll talk to him again and tell you the next time we meet.” Sarah felt that she could get a feel for any possible connection Joe Capello might have with the murder if she could get into campaign headquarters as a trusted volunteer, but Charles vehemently objected.
“By the way, when will we get together again?”
“How about this weekend, perhaps Saturday night?” Norman suggested, “and I’d like for you to come to my new place in town. In fact,” he added, “I’ll even provide dinner.”
* * *
Sophie, Sarah, and Bernice were sitting in Sarah’s sewing room. Charles had gone to the gym, and the rest of the group had left. “I think we got off to a good start,” Bernice was saying. Sarah looked at Sophie and raised an eyebrow. Sophie knew she was asking if now was the time to confront their new friend. They had discussed it at length on the phone that morning and decided it had to be done. Sarah had suggested that they wait until after the meeting in case Bernice was planning to let everyone know while they were all together. But she hadn’t.
“Bernice,” Sarah began. “Sophie and I have a question we need to ask you.”
“Okay,” Bernice responded with a relaxed smile. “Anything. What’s up?”
“We hope you won’t be upset with us for asking, but we’ve been confused by the sudden change in your demeanor about Darius and the body found in your car.”
“What do you mean?” Bernice asked with a confused frown.
“The day the detective told you about the body we were all together. You were absolutely devastated, and rightly so, but that same evening you were all bright and cheerful. Did you speak with Darius?”
“What? Why would you think that? If I had talked to him, wouldn’t I have told you,” she responded somewhat indignantly as she stood and walked toward the door.
She didn’t really answer the question, Sarah realized, and she wondered if Sophie noticed it too.
Sarah didn’t have to wonder for long. “Bernice, answer the question,” Sophie demanded. “Have you spoken with Darius since he disappeared with your car?”
Bernice was silent.
“Okay,” she finally said, returning to the futon where she had been sitting with Sophie. Resting her elbows on her knees, she dropped in head into her hands and sighed.
“Bernice?”
“I should have told you both about this, but he said not to tell anyone.”
“You’ve talked to him, then?” Sophie asked, sounding impatient.
“No, not actually, but the same day that the officer told me about the body, Darius left a message on my machine. He said he wanted me to know that he had nothing to do with the girl’s death, but that he needed to stay out of sight until the police found the real killer. He said that with his record, they would charge him without looking for anyone else. He was scared, and he just wanted me to know that he was okay.” Bernice began to sob. “I should have told you, but…”
“We understand,” Sarah said reassuringly.
“Speak for yourself,” Sophie said. “This changes everything.”
“What does it change?” Bernice asked, wiping her eyes.
“Well, now we know he didn’t kill the girl.”
“No, we don’t know that, Sophie,” Bernice replied much to Sarah’s surprise. “All we know is that he’s alive. I’ve come to grips with the reality that Darius lies to me, but I also know that he is a caring person. He cared enough to know how worried I’d be and he let me know he’s okay. And if he did this terrible thing, then he’ll have to pay the price. I’m just relieved to know he’s alive. I was afraid that whoever killed the girl might have killed him too.”
“You know, Bernice, we need to tell this to the group. And I will have to tell Charles.”
“I know. I almost told everyone at our meeting, and I’m sorry I didn’t.”
Sophie and Bernice were climbing into Sophie’s car when they saw Charles jogging toward the house. Charles noticed that Bernice was avoiding eye contact and was looking worried when he walked over to say hello.
“What’s with Bernice?” he asked a few minutes later as he came through the kitchen door.
“There’s been a development,” his wife answered as she handed him a bottle of spring water.
Chapter 14
“Good Morning,” Sarah said as she sat down to talk with Andy who had just called. After a few minutes of friendly chatting, she asked, “Are you looking for Charles?”
“Actually, I’m looking for you this time.”
“Oh?”
“I want to ask you a big favor. I talked with Caitlyn last night about Courtney. Unfortunately, she didn’t know the girl personally. She said they were at the same party a couple of times, but she never had an opportunity to talk to her, but she told me a few interesting things.”
“Tell me,” Sarah prompted.
“For one thing, this Courtney girl was very tight with an older boy. His name is Douglas, and he’s in his second year at the University. She said
they were always together at least at these parties, and she left with him both times.”
“Did you get his last name?”
“Caitlyn didn’t know any more about him, but she told me about this girl, Amber Nash, who was Courtney’s best friend.”
“Excellent. How can I help?”
“I don’t think Amber’s mother would be especially happy to get a call from a strange man asking permission to meet with her daughter.”
“Hmm. You’re probably right. Do you want me to call her?”
“More than that,” Andy replied hesitantly. “I was hoping you’d go with me to interview the girl. If you could set it up, we could meet with Amber and her mother.”
“Amber might be more forthcoming without her mother present, but I’ll see what I can do. When do you want to do this?”
“Whatever you can arrange will work for me.”
As Andy was giving Sarah the Nash’s phone number, Charles strolled into the kitchen, and Sarah mouthed that Andy was on the phone. She lifted an eyebrow questioningly and pointed toward the phone nonverbally asking if he wanted to talk to him. She knew he’d been wanted to meet Andy for a game of racquetball. Charles nodded, and Sarah signed off saying, “I’ll let you know what I find out. Charles wants to speak to you,” and she handed the phone to her husband.
After they had breakfast, Sarah placed a call to Amber’s mother and explained the situation. Mrs. Nash was reluctant at first but ultimately agreed to allow her daughter to meet with them as long as she could be present. They arranged to get together the same afternoon. Sarah sighed as she hung up, hoping the daughter would be entirely truthful with her mother there.
As it turned out, she had nothing to worry about. Amber was eager to do anything she could to find out what had happened to her friend. She was, however, very protective of her friend’s reputation and primarily helped by giving Andy and Sarah the names and phone numbers of some friends who she said would have more information. Sarah noticed that Amber chose her words very carefully when asked questions about Courtney’s behavior at these parties. She doesn’t want to talk in front of her mother, Sarah realized. She wondered if they might be able to get into one of these parties to question the kids alone.
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