Killer Tied

by Lesley A. Diehl

  “Can you remember anything other than bills?” I asked.

  Betsy thought for a moment. “There was a statement from the bank.”

  “I think whoever was in here was looking for a number of things, including a clue about the Montroses’ present location. A credit card bill and a bank statement might provide that, but those items were in plain sight. From the extent of the search, the intruder or intruders wanted something else. I think we can be sure they now know where the Montroses went. Now we have to wonder if the intruder or intruders followed the Montroses to Sabal Bay, and did they find what else they were looking for?” said Nappi.

  “Could they have been responsible for Mr. Montrose’s death? And why?” I asked.

  “The police couldn’t have done this, could they?” asked Betsy. “When we heard Mr. Montrose had been killed, I notified the police that he had asked me to look after the house.”

  “This is not the way police conduct a search,” Nappi said.

  “Maybe our hit-and-run driver also has a penchant for breaking and entering,” I suggested.

  “Hit-and-run?” asked Betsy.

  Nappi told her about my close call earlier in the day.

  “Well, I guess we’d better call the police,” I said.

  “If you don’t mind, Betsy, would you call them? I think they’ve had enough of Eve and me for one day.”

  Betsy, being the smart lady she was, nodded. “I’ll say I was checking on the house. I won’t mention you.”

  As Nappi and I drove out of the neighborhood, I examined the houses to see if anyone was at home. When the police responded to Betsy’s call, they’d be certain to talk with the Montroses’ neighbors, who might report another car besides Betsy’s at the house. Chief Raleigh would probably enjoy bringing Nappi and me in for questioning about the Montrose break-in.

  “We’re all still on for dinner tonight. We can pool our information then. I’m curious what Chief Raleigh will think of this turn of events.” Nappi chuckled.

  “What do you find so funny? He’ll blame us,” I suggested.

  “He might like to, but he’s too smart for that. He’ll call Frida for sure, since it’s certain he learned about Montrose’s murder through the Sabal Bay Police Department.”

  “Wouldn’t it be nice if she recommended he work part of the case through his end, like bringing us into it once he takes a look at the house,” I said.

  “Not likely,” Nappi replied.

  Dinner at the Dancing Bear Restaurant that night was everything we’d been told it would be: great ambience provided by a view of a stream cascading over boulders lit by outdoor lights, excellent service, and an extensive menu of steak, chicken, and seafood items. My stomach was back to its normal state of growling for large portions of protein and the desire to cap it all off with something chocolate.

  We chatted through our before-dinner drinks and appetizers and were awaiting our salads when Mrs. Falco tapped me on the shoulder,

  “I could use a visit to the facilities. How about you, Eve?” She signaled me by moving her eyes toward the restroom that she wanted a private word. Neither Nappi or Betsy gave much notice as we left.

  In the restroom, Mrs. Falco removed a file folder from the large purse she was carrying. “That hit-and-run worried me. It felt like someone didn’t want you to look too closely at the Montroses, so here you go. Can you read it tonight and get it back to me in the morning so I can return it to the office first thing?”

  “Of course.” I took the folder and tucked it under the sweater I wore.

  “I feed the ducks in the morning before school. Same park,” she said.

  I nodded and took her arm as we left.

  Nappi and Betsy looked up at us as we returned to the table.

  “Girl talk,” I said.

  Nappi winked at me.

  As we left the restaurant, Nappi told me to buckle up and hold on.

  “What’s going on?” I asked as he slid around a corner and accelerated, then stomped on the brakes and steered into an alleyway, turning off his lights as he did so. In the rearview mirror, we saw an SUV similar to Nappi’s drive past. We waited a few more minutes, then backed out of the alley. The SUV was gone. Nappi continued toward the motel.

  “I thought I spotted someone tailing us to the restaurant. Smart of you and Mrs. Falco to have your girlie pass-off alone in the ladies room instead of at the table.”

  “How did you know?” I asked.

  “You made crinkling sounds when you got back. I guessed you might have something up your sleeve. Or somewhere on you.” He smiled.

  “Very funny. I stowed it there so it wouldn’t get béarnaise sauce on it.”

  “Thank you for your culinary sensitivity.” He checked the rearview mirror once more. “All clear.”

  Back in my room, I took a quick look at the files Mrs. Falco had passed me, but I was too stuffed with food and too exhausted to examine them closely. I brushed my teeth and fell into bed. The next thing I knew it was morning. I turned on the in-room coffee maker and jumped into the shower.

  I dressed and was about to leave to meet Mrs. Falco in the park when the phone in my room rang.

  “This is Chief Raleigh. We’re at Mrs. Falco’s house. Her neighbor called us about an hour ago saying he had heard loud noises coming from her place. We responded and found her tied up in her bedroom. The house has been ransacked.”

  “Is she okay?” I asked.

  Before he could reply, my cell rang. “Hold a minute, would you?”

  I looked at the cell and recognized the number as Jerry’s. That couldn’t be good. I answered. “This is a bad time, Jerry. I’ll call you back.”

  “I can’t find Eleanor. She’s run away.”

  Chapter 10

  “Run away? You were supposed to keep an eye on her,” I yelled at Jerry.

  “I know. I know.”

  “How long has she been gone?”

  There was silence from Jerry.

  “Well?”

  “A few days after you left for New York, she told me she needed some space.”

  “So, days then? And you are just now letting me know?” I was about to ask him if he’d called Nappi to tell him Eleanor has skipped, but realized Jerry wouldn’t have wanted to deal with Nappi’s displeasure at not doing his job. Jerry thought he could get around me.

  “Where have you looked for her?” I asked. From the receiver to the room’s landline, I heard Chief Raleigh’s voice.

  “Hold on. I’ve got another emergency. Meantime, Jerry, go look for her. Get Sammy or Max to help.”

  “I don’t know where to look,” Jerry whined.

  “Well, figure it out. You’ve been with her. You did talk to each other, didn’t you? Think. I’ll get back to you when I can.” I disconnected and turned my attention to Chief Raleigh.

  “I can’t spend the day on the phone with you, Ms. Appel. I wanted to let you know about Mrs. Falco because she admitted she was doing some snooping for you. It looks to me as if agreeing to help you got her in trouble with someone. Maybe you’d like to tell me all about it at the station. Now.” The line went dead.

  I called Mrs. Falco’s house. She answered on the first ring.

  “Chief Raleigh just called me. Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. A bit shook up, but unharmed. I’m certain they were after information about Eleanor. I think they connected the two of us. I heard them mention your name and Eleanor’s as they were searching my house. The thieves tried to make it look like a simple robbery by taking a few pieces of antique jewelry.”

  “They’re not fooling anyone. The chief wants me down at the station, and I’m heading there now. Did you tell him about the school records?”

  “No, dear. I thought that should remain between the two of us. I think they may try to look for information on Eleanor by visiting you. This has got to be related to the hit-and-run. You’re in danger, Eve.”

  I was thankful the thieves had not tried to force Mrs
. Falco to tell them what she knew about Eleanor. Grabbing the folder with the records in it, I called Nappi to meet me in the motel lobby, and the two of us headed for the police station. Although Mrs. Falco had withheld information about the records from Chief Raleigh, he was a smart cop, smart enough to know that it was no coincidence that a hit-and-run had been quickly followed by break-ins at the Montrose house and Mrs. Falco’s. And they didn’t add up to a vendetta against Nappi.

  In the car, I told Nappi what had happened with Mrs. Falco but decided to put off telling him about Jerry’s call. One thing at a time. I did have to call Jerry back, but I’d do that later.

  “I don’t want to jeopardize Mrs. Falco’s position at the school, so I didn’t tell the chief about the papers she ‘borrowed’ on my behalf. Chief Raleigh knows something is up and that it has to do with Eleanor.”

  “Let’s see what he knows. Let him talk before you say anything.”

  Chief Raleigh proved to be an even smarter cop than I figured. He showed Nappi and me into a small room with a one-way mirror on the wall, gestured to two uncomfortable chairs behind a rickety table, and sat down across from us. He crossed his arms and said nothing. Judging from his stony expression, he was prepared to wait us out for hours.

  Nappi gave me a knowing look and nodded toward my handbag on the floor at my feet. Damn.

  Reaching down, I pulled the folder out of my purse and slapped it on the table.

  “I don’t want to get Mrs. Falco in trouble with the school. These are ‘borrowed’ from the files, and she intended to put them back today.”

  The chief’s expression never wavered. He didn’t look down at the folder or reach for it.

  “In trouble with the school? You could have gotten her killed,” he said. “Someone is interested enough in Eleanor or her family and in your being here to try to run you down and break into two houses searching for something. What’s going on? I suggest you tell me what you know and how you’re involved.”

  I acknowledged the truth about the danger to Mrs. Falco, an unintended consequence. She’d seemed so eager to help and so concerned about Eleanor. I should have thought through her involvement. I had enough information with the hit-and-run, the house break-in, and especially Mr. Montrose already lying dead on a slab at the Sabal Bay Mortuary to know someone wasn’t opposed to using deadly force in this case.

  “We’ve been honest with you. Don’t blame Nappi. I’m the one responsible. I asked Mrs. Falco to get those records for me. There’s nothing more to tell you because we’re just as in the dark as you are.” That was the truth, just not all of it. I didn’t think it was necessary to tell him the police in Sabal Bay had a suspect on the run and that I was working for the suspect’s family. And there was the matter of how I might or might not be related to the Montroses—information irrelevant to the Tillahook police, I told myself. Nappi said nothing to contradict me.

  “Have you looked at these?” asked Chief Raleigh. He pulled the folder across the table and opened it.

  “Briefly. I thought finding out where the Montrose family lived before they moved here might provide information about Eleanor’s mother. I heard she was once in a mental hospital.”

  “You thought you could track her down there?” Chief Raleigh raised a skeptical eyebrow. “As if the hospital would open their records to a private investigator? Not a chance.”

  This PI’s license was proving to be less useful than I had thought. It wasn’t the entrée I’d hoped for.

  “How about this? You help me with the hospital administrators, and I’ll track down the perpetrators of the break-ins here and my hit-and-run.”

  Chief Raleigh tilted his head to one side as if looking at Nappi and me from another angle would provide some insight into what we were up to.

  The chief leaned back in his chair, and his body visibly relaxed. “I talked at length on the phone this morning with your friend, Detective Martinez. She assured me that you are a real pain in the you-know-what, but that you’ve been right on a number of cases you’ve interfer— uh, involved yourself in. You’re, according to her, ‘tenacious, smart, and haven’t a shred of humility’ in you when it comes to solving cases. She seems to like and respect you. She also told me that your companion here,” the chief nodded toward Nappi, ‘is an okay guy.’ I find that hard to believe, but I’ll go along for now.”

  I started to thank him, but he held up his hand to stop me. “I’ll go along for now because I don’t have the staff to track down these thieves who may also be involved in an attempted vehicular homicide—yours, Ms. Appel. So, since the crimes in Tillahook seem to be related to your detective work, it’s only right you should finish up on the case here.”

  I interpreted “finish up on our case here” to mean “get out of town as soon as possible.”

  “To do that,” I said, “I need more information, and that means I have to go to the town where the Montroses lived and find out more about them, especially Eleanor’s mother. So you can see I need your help.” I tried to sound humble, but since Frida had already convinced the chief I was anything but, I was unsure if I’d succeeded.

  “My ‘help.’ What does that mean?” He sounded unconvinced he could help in any way other than directing Nappi and me to the main road out of town.

  “You continue to work the robberies and hit-and-run from here because you can get more from sources in the town than we can. We go to …” I pulled the file toward me to read the name of the school Eleanor had attended before Tillahook, “Monroe, Connecticut.” The name of the town hadn’t registered when I scanned the files before, but I recognized it now. Monroe was a small town a few miles from Madison where my family spent the summers sailing on the sound. For a moment I felt lightheaded. Nappi reached for my hand under the table and squeezed it. He knew what I was feeling. So close to home for me, too close. I could almost smell the salt air blowing off the water and feel the sand between my toes as I walked down to the city docks where our boat was docked.

  I pushed back my memories. “What about the files?” I asked, pointing toward the folder.

  “I’ll return them to Mrs. Falco, and she can replace them when she has the, uh, the opportunity,” Chief Raleigh said.

  “Mrs. Falco was the source who told us Mrs. Montrose spoke of being committed to a mental hospital. I don’t know if I’ll be able to track down the facility where she stayed, but if I do, I’ll let you know if there’s something you can do to help us access information.”

  “That will be tricky and require a court order, which might be difficult to obtain. Detective Martinez and I will help as much as seems reasonable.” The chief showed us out of his office and added, “Try to keep your detecting within the law, will you?” He gave Nappi a hard look.

  “She’s the PI,” said Nappi. “I’m just along for company and to see she doesn’t get into any trouble.”

  “Good luck with that,” said Chief Raleigh with a twinkle in his eye.

  We thanked the chief, agreeing we’d be in touch by phone to update each other on developments.

  “That was unnecessary,” I said as I slid into the passenger seat. “When am I ever any trouble?”

  Nappi laughed and started the engine.

  “I’m good at finding trouble, but I rarely cause it.”

  “You’re serious?” Nappi headed toward the motel.

  “All of you friends and family see me so differently from the way I am.”

  Nappi turned his head, and his mouth dropped open in a look of disbelief.

  “Keep your eyes on the road.” I crossed my arms over my chest and thought back to our conversation with Chief Raleigh. “I’m a little offended by Frida’s comment that I’m not humble. Do you think that’s true?”

  “How would I know? As you just pointed out, none of us see you the way you are.”

  I saw a twitch at the corner of his mouth.

  “Never mind about me. There’s a car that’s been following us ever since we pulled away from the stat
ion.”

  “I saw it. We’re going to have to lose them or we’ll have these guys on our tail all the way to the Connecticut shore.”

  “This town is too small to lose them in. What do you have in mind?”

  “As the chief said, he needs help here, and he doesn’t have the personnel to pursue the case. We’ll lead them out of town tomorrow morning. That should take their attention off this town if they think they can simply follow us where they need to go. Unless ….”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Unless they were just trying to confirm what they already knew from the earlier house break-in. It’s clear they’ve been on our tail for some time.”

  “You mean they got the information they needed when they tossed the Montrose house? Why enter Mrs. Falco’s place then?”

  Nappi shrugged. “Maybe to be certain they were on the right track and to determine where we were heading. That’s just a hunch. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. We have plans for tonight.”

  “We do?”

  “I’m cooking. You like my cooking, don’t you?”

  Yes, I did, but I was finding it difficult to see Nappi cooking up some Sicilian delicacy on a hot plate in his motel room. I mean, the man was a whiz in the kitchen, but a hot plate is a hot plate, not a five-burner range.

  As it turned out, he had managed to finagle an invite from Betsy Morelli to invade her kitchen and do his culinary magic. Mrs. Falco joined the three of us, and Chief Raleigh even stopped in for coffee and dessert. According to Mrs. Falco, Eleanor’s folder had found its way back into the school file cabinet.

  No one mentioned the Montrose family or talked about the hit-and-run or the robberies. The talk was light, the dessert dreamy, and everyone seemed to have a pleasant time, even Chief Raleigh. Still, when he left at the end of the evening, he stopped in the doorway and gave me a stern look. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you, Ms. Appel,” he said.