The Queen of Hearts (Mountain Springs Mysteries, #1)

by J. E. Mann

  “No, the first guy is Steve Calloway and the second is Sarah Timmons.” I chimed in.

  Alonzo laced his hands and cracked his knuckles, the sound was disgusting.

  “Do you have their social security numbers and date of birth?” I handed him both after digging through my work satchel.

  Alonzo stood looking around the room, “Where’s a computer?” he asked already prepared to start working.

  After seeing Alonzo’s enthusiasm I wondered why Jake wasn’t always so eager to work. I pointed to the corner of the next room and he was off.

  “I bet it takes him fifteen minutes to find a connection if there is one Rach.” Jake was whispering close to me like a child.

  “Ok, I‘ll play your silly little game, I say eight.” Jake had started smiling at me, “If I win you have to watch a month of wrestling with me on Mondays and Fridays plus the pay-per-view, but if you win I’ll go to one of your fancy black tie parties, any one of them you want.” He had really gotten in to this silly bet.

  We shook on it, I was confident that by handicapping the numbers I could come to the most logical conclusion. As Jake started to let go of my hand, we both heard Alonzo in the background. “Done,” with a few last smacks on the keyboard.

  “Looks like you’ll need to dig out those silver cufflinks I got you two Christmases ago, you’ve never worn those!” I teased at Jake. I would be lucky to ever get him to make good on his agreement.

  We quickly went to Alonzo to see what he had found for us. Alonzo had his arm propped up on the desk reading the screen from the side view. “Ok, there were only two things that connected them together. First they both banked at Vista Peaks Bank. Both made larger withdrawals in the last three months than 12 months previous. Both donated to the Democratic party three times...”

  “Of course,’ Jake said, “The Republicans did it!”

  “And finally, both were members of a social dating website, a local one.”

  I looked at Jake with a frown on my face. “Why would two married people be on a dating website?” Jake looked at Alonzo.

  “What kind of site is this, a Tricia Melody type?”

  “Who?” I asked.

  “It’s a name of a website that helps married people have affairs.”

  I was horrified at this. “What kind of sick person would create something like that?”

  Jake looked at me. “A guy who wasn’t getting the response he wanted from Googling himself. Alonzo, what’s the address?”

  He punched a few more keys and my printer came to life. Deep inside, I was secretly thrilled with this information. It was finally something that didn’t lead back to James. Jake picked up the paper and looked at it.

  “CO Singles, let’s drop by there on Thursday and find out how they like somebody using their clients list as a mail order for body parts.”

  We were silently for a moment. Then Alonzo cleared his throat. “So, you guys have dinner yet?”

  Police Urge Calm As Body Discovered in Alleyway.

  By Sam Ortiz

  (Mountain Springs) A body was found in an alleyway near downtown which has police and residents on high alert. The victim, Sarah Timmons, had been shot and lit on fire. Police are not commenting, but multiply sources have speculated that this crime is linked to the murder of Steve Calloway. Calloway was found shot to death in the Genghis K restaurant a few weeks ago. His body was burned on the restaurant’s stove. Claims that a body part was taken have not been confirmed.

  “Sarah Timmons was a wonderful woman and a wonderful wife, “a spokesman for her husband, Randy, said in a statement, “This is a senseless tragedy.”

  Sarah was last seen by one of her coworkers heading out to lunch. When she didn’t return after an hour, her office called her cell phone multiple times. The police arrived two hours later, after informing her husband of the crime. Even though the crime took place in broad daylight, no witnesses have come forth with any information.

  “The only thing I saw was the smoke,” one business owner said. “The smell was horrible.”

  “We are asking the public for help,” Detective Ben Rodriguez said, “Anyone who might have seen or heard something is advised to call the police department.”

  The unusual and savage nature of this crime has put the city on edge. At last night’s city council meeting, some concerned citizens asked about the possibility of hiring more police officers. The council took the suggestion under advisement and also considered the possibility of activating the cameras stationed all around downtown. The cameras have not been activated since a court case was brought against the city last May.

  “Our main concern is keeping our city and its people safe, “Councilman Albert Moss said after the meeting, “We will do everything in power to achieve that goal.”

  At the crime scene, Rachel Paige, former child prodigy and celebrated amateur detective, was seen with an unidentified man. Calls to the police commissioner to confirm if Ms. Paige was helping the police were not returned. (story continued on A7)

  JAKE

  I stared at the dull green paint. It was the color of grass when it started to die. What made things even worse were the pictures. On my left was two dogs kissing. On my right two cats snuggled under a blanket. Directly behind me was a giraffe kissing its baby on the top of its head. And in front of me two brown bears appeared to be hugging or dancing.

  “My God,” I said taking this all in, “It’s hell’s waiting room.”

  Rach was studying the picture of the ballroom bears. “I agree they seem to be overcompensating.” She squinted. “I think those bears are actually fighting.”

  “Two hours stuck in here and I’d be ready to take somebody’s head off too.”

  Rach smiled and moved to inspect the sleeping cats. I moved toward receptionist’s desk. Seated behind it was an extremely good looking woman. Her dark skin seemed to glow in the fluorescent light. She had short black curly hair. At the moment she was glancing at her computer screen. She looked up and smiled as I approached.

  “Welcome to CO Singles I’m Nina how may I help you?”

  “Hello Nina. My name is Jake and the animal lover there...” I pointed at Rach who had moved to the dogs,” Is Rachel. We have an appointment with Mr. Donald Ellis.”

  She checked her notebook. As she did I glanced at her desk. A picture of her smiling with an older guy who I hoped was a brother, a calendar with some sort of funny saying each day and another picture of her in a high school letterman’s jacket. Three gold pins were on her high school letter. A music note, a scroll, and a woman with her arms raised. Band, honor roll, and cheerleading, not bad.

  “Mr. Ellis is just finishing up a conference call and will be right with you,” Nina said.

  “Thanks. Do you mind if I stand here and talk to you? I really don’t want to go back to that petting zoo.”

  She laughed. She had a nice laugh.

  “It’s strange, we usually don’t get couples in here.”

  I had to be careful here. Rach and I had agreed that we wanted to spring the real reason we were here on Ellis. See what his reaction was.

  “Well, we aren’t looking for dates. At least she’s not. She met a real wonderful guy lately. How did you get involved with making matches?”

  She shrugged. “Answered an ad. It’s not a calling if that’s what you’re asking. Pays good money and it makes you feel good when people come together.”

  “You have a high success rate?”

  “Pretty good. The average in a business like this is about 42 percent. We have about a 48 percent rating of people who get in to a relationship through our business.”

  “You offer any kind of guarantee?”

  “No, it’s kind of useless in this type of business. Some people who walk through that door are completely hopeless.”

  “It sounds interesting, maybe I should sign up.”

  She looked at me, smiling again. “You are having trouble finding dates? I find that hard to believe.”
/>   “Me too, but there it is.”

  “Are you secretly a serial killer?”

  I smiled. “Only on the weekends.”

  She laughed. She was cute. On one corner of the desk, I spotted a rather large book. With the words S.T. NURSING printed on it. I pointed at it.

  “Making matches not as good as saving lives though.”

  She looked at it and then back to me. “What do you mean?”

  “I know the bottom word is nursing. What’s the top one.”

  “STD,” she said after a moment of hesitation. Was she nervous? I thought I could detect a little tension between us.

  “Probably good to keep that away from the customers.”

  She started to respond, but the phone on the desk began to ring. She picked it up, said nothing, and then replaced it.

  “Mr. Ellis will see you now, last door on the left.”

  “Thank you Nina. Good luck on nursing.”

  She smiled. I held the door open for Rach and we walked back into a small hallway.

  “Glad to see you hadn’t forgotten me,” Rach said.

  “Never, I was just doing what you were doing.”

  She looked at me as we stood in front of a door with a plaque that had D.Ellis stamped on it.

  “I was studying wildlife.”

  I knocked on the door. “So was I.”

  A voice on the other side bellowed for us to come in. Rach entered first and I followed close behind. Sitting behind a massive desk was a middle aged man. His hair was receding and his stomach was getting bigger. He had a huge fake grin on his face.

  “Rachel and Jake, hello. My name is Donald Ellis.” As if the door, the plague with his name that sat on the desk, and the fact we had made the appointment hadn’t tipped us off. I decided that I didn’t like Mr. Ellis.

  “Mr. Ellis, thank you for seeing us, “Rach said always the polite one. Mr. Ellis waived his hand.

  “Any time any time, I must confess that the urgency in your voice was mysterious. I assume you two are from a newspaper or magazine?” His eyes gleamed as he said this. He must have been up all night practicing his answers.

  “You assume wrong,” I said. His face fell.

  “Mr. Ellis, did you hear about the body that was discovered in the restaurant a few weeks ago?”

  “I know about it. Must have seen it on the news.”

  “Did you know about the woman who was found downtown yesterday?”

  “I may have heard about it…”

  I cut him off. “Would it surprise you to know that the only thing those two people had in common was your website?”

  Ellis rocked back in his chair. “It would.” He seemed generally surprised. It could have been an act of course.

  “Mr. Ellis, we are here with authorization from the police,” Rach said, “We need some information about you and this website. What is the process on signing up new members?”

  “Our members go through an extensive screening process. Verification is a top priority. We feel that people who are looking for long lasting relationships are very committed and need all the care…”

  He was getting his interview in after all. I tuned out as he kept praising his own virtues. When he leaned forward, I checked back in.

  “We get an address and then the people have to fill out a twenty page questionnaire. It is very detailed and--”

  “Do you check if the person has a criminal record?” Rach said. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who was bored.

  “Well no. This is a voluntary website, not an offer for employment.”

  “Has anyone been upset with your service lately? Called or came in?”

  Ellis actually looked offended by the question. “Never, satisfaction is a top priority.”

  I thought verification was your top priority, but I kept my mouth shut.

  “We are going to need a list of your clients. About nine months back.”

  Ellis began to rub his hands. The question had unnerved him. “Well, I don’t know how comfortable with that request. Our clients come to us in good faith. Secrecy is…”

  I was done with this little man. “Look, you can give us the list right now. Secret, and nobody has to know. Not even Nina out there. You don’t give it to us now, we turn our info over to the police and they get a court order. I will personally make sure two cop cars are parked out front, lights flashing. I will also call the news channels and make sure they are aware of the juicy little story developing. After that, your top priority is going to be filing for bankruptcy.”

  Silence, then Ellis stood. “I’ll get the list personally. We are committed to helping the police.”

  He went out the door we had entered. Rach looked at me as I leaned against a wall.

  “Direct weren’t you?”

  “It’s a top priority.” I walked over to the desk. Ellis had a brochure with his smiling face. Nina had been fortunate to make the cut as well. I put it in my pocket. The door opened and Ellis came back in with a stack of papers.

  “These are our records with the past ten months. I hope that you will be as discreet as possible.” He handed them to me and I took a quick glance. Alphabetical order, by last name. Rach stood and shook his hand.

  “Thank you Mr. Ellis and discretion is a top priority.”

  We walked out, Rach leading the way and I trying not to laugh. As we passed by Nina’s desk, she held out a card.

  “Our business card, if you ever want to try out our services.”

  I took the card and flipped it over. Written in red were another number and the initial N by it. I smiled.

  “I might just do that.”

  Out on the sidewalk, Rach glanced down both ends of the street. “It would be pretty easy to watch someone as they entered or left. Could trail them if they wanted.”

  I was looking at the piles of papers. “Could be an unhappy client or someone who found out their screening process didn’t include the question are you currently in a relationship?”

  “Could still be Gloria. Maybe she found both Steve and Sarah in a compromising situation and decided to end both of them.”

  I didn’t answer. All my attention was focused on the sixteenth name on the list. This could be bad.

  “Jake?” Rach asked stepping closer, “What’s wrong?”

  I turned the page so she could see it. With my right finger I pointed at the name.

  Buckstone, James.

  RACHEL

  We drove in silence for a good ten miles; the best part was that Jake let me drive on the way to the restaurant. I had to go back there; I had the nagging feeling that my reaction to the original crime scene was wrong. I didn’t even get close enough to examine the location the first time. James couldn’t be a part of this. I didn’t want him to be a part of this.

  When we arrived I stepped out of the car, the restaurant still had open access which saved us a lot of time making phone calls. I was frantic; the line between business and personal relationships had been crossed. Rationally, in the back of my mind, I assumed eventually I had to choose one or the other when it came to James.

  “Care to share why we ended up in this dump again?” Jake inquired after miles of silence. He was already out of the car smoking again as he paced.

  “Sorry Jake but we have to look around again; we need to be extremely thorough in our search for this killer.” My emotions must have escaped my intellect because Jake turned on me.

  “This wouldn’t have anything to do with James’ name being on the list again would it?” He was more sincere then I wanted to admit. Jake had a way of digging straight down to the core of people’s emotions sometimes. The bad part was I didn’t want to admit that he was right. If I did then I was no longer doing my job as the lead detective on the case.

  “No Jake, it doesn’t. Maybe I’m just tired of running in circles while people keep dying.” My voice was almost screaming and Jake’s eyes had widened. He only looked at me that way when he knew I was caught in an emotional trap, and lyi
ng about it to save my state of well being.

  “Calm down Rach, I don’t like this shit either, we will get everything figured out eventually.” He knew the real reason behind my explosiveness but I was glad that he didn’t push it.

  I entered in to the restaurant bypassing the caution tape that adorned the front entrance. The smell was still of charcoal and flesh but it was nowhere near what it had been. I combed the scene from corner to corner, even looking in places that seemed irrelevant like the stock room. Nothing was becoming any clearer to me; eventually I gave up the search. Maybe I really did need to calm down and let my veil of red subside.

  Jake decided to drive after letting me detail the restaurant; we drove in silence all the way back to my townhouse. I just needed sleep and a reason to say James was not actually connected to the murders. My splitting tension headache wasn’t helping my mood either. Sadly, Jake was right, James was one of the only people to have access to the place and a motive and I just didn’t want to believe it.

  “Sorry you didn’t find anything Rach, I’m sure we’ve covered everything.” Jake pushed a conversation, usually the only way to rid me of a bad mental state.

  “I know Jake, I was just sure we would find something, anything, anything at all that would lead us to something new.”

  “Did you take a look at the grill finally?” He obviously believed our killer’s stay centered right around the victim’s body and not see the situation from the outside.

  Centered, the word rattled around in my brain like spray pellets from a gun.

  “Jake, turn around!” The urgency in my voice made him jump.

  “What? Why?” Jake hovered over the wheel like a protective mother.

  “Just go back! We have to go back, we missed a spot! Don’t make me take that wheel Jake!”

  Thankfully we weren’t too far from the restaurant when we turned around. I jumped out of the car and made my way in quickly walking straight for the grill. I was right.

  The grill was circular; a circular grill has a grease trap in the middle for disposing food and other liquids. We never even thought to check that.