Cedar Bay Cozy Mysteries #3

by Dianne Harman

  “I'll remember that. Thank you.”

  He's very handsome, and he's very smooth. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he knows a lot more than what he's telling me. He was passionate about his men and if their jobs are in danger, for some men of principle, that could be reason enough to commit murder. I hate to think it, but it seems he could qualify as a suspect.

  CHAPTER 13

  Kelly walked into the small Internet office at the hotel and purchased an Internet access card from the woman behind the desk who was wearing the standard uniform of the hotel, a white blouse and a black skirt. The only difference between the uniform of the male employees and the female employees was that the male employees wore black pants. The one thing Kelly didn’t understand is why the women were required to wear hose when the humidity was so high that as soon as you left an air conditioned room your clothing and your body were instantly wet from perspiration.

  Following the instructions the young woman gave her she accessed the Internet. She decided to start with a Facebook search for Philip Montgomery because Carola clearly didn't like him, and Kelly was only one step behind her. She hoped he’d put his photograph on Facebook, so she could make sure she had the right person before she got very far into her search. She felt it was very strange that he wanted to become a fishing guide, and yet he’d come to Cuba by himself and was fishing alone each day, at least before he took over Dudley's group.

  When she typed in the name Philip Montgomery she discovered she had the right name. The photograph on the Facebook page was clearly the same as the man she’d been with in Havana and who was now here at the resort. She quickly read what he’d written on his timeline, the last entry being the day before she’d met him in Havana. It was about how he was going fishing in Cuba and probably wouldn't be able to post for a couple of weeks. Under relationship status he had written that he was separated from Miriam Montgomery. He said he missed his son, but when he and his wife had come back to the United States from Australia they realized they really had nothing in common, and they mutually agreed to file for divorce.

  Kelly jotted down the name of his wife, intent on finding out what she could about her when she finished researching Philip. She continued to read Philip's page. He’d written that he’d loved to fish all his life, and now that he and his wife were going to get divorced, there was nothing to hold him back from realizing his dream. Cuba seemed like the perfect place for him to make his dream come true, particularly since the embargo on Cuba would probably soon be lifted.

  He’d written that he hoped to become the exclusive representative for fly fishermen from the United States who wanted to fish in Cuba, and that was the purpose of his trip to Cuba. He said he knew there were several other people who also had the same idea, but since he’d always gotten whatever he wanted, he had no doubt he would be successful and obtain the exclusive rights to guide American fly fisherman on the island of Cayo Largo in Cuba. Kelly thought it was rather ominous that he went on to write he planned on doing whatever was necessary to insure he would be the one selected to receive the exclusive contract with Bartolo. There were a number of photographs of him with game fish he had caught from different places all around the world. He listed his present residence as the Florida Keys.

  After Kelly read everything she could find on his Facebook page, she pulled up the twitter name he had on his Facebook timeline. @PhilipDMontgomery had 20,235 friends on twitter. Kelly wondered how many of them were associated with fishing, and if that's where he intended to get some of his future clientele from.

  She returned to Facebook and entered the name of Miriam Montgomery. Nothing came up. Next she put Miriam's name into the google search engine and discovered that Philip’s soon-to-be-ex-wife was from an extremely wealthy family who lived in Connecticut. Evidently she’d married Philip and moved to Australia with him, so Philip could work in the family business owned by his parents, the boutique hotel industry. They had a young son, and she had recently separated from Philip and moved to Connecticut to be with her family.

  Although she had a law degree from Yale, she had never practiced law. Recently she’d told a reporter who had asked her if she intended to work when she was divorced that she’d already been hired by a top law firm in the area. She’d gone on to say when the final arrangements were made she would make a statement to that effect. Kelly thought it was interesting something like that would show up on a google search. It certainly reiterated that the family was not only very wealthy, but also newsworthy. She wondered if it was Miriam's money that allowed Philip to travel throughout the world while seemingly being unemployed.

  He doesn't look like someone who would be into selling drugs, although I've read there are a number of places in the Florida Keys where that type of activity is fairly common. Better check some more on him. She entered his name into the google search engine and discovered that he, too, came from a wealthy family who had lived in Connecticut before they had bought several boutique hotels in Australia. They catered to groups that were interested in fishing in the rivers and the waters surrounding Australia. Philip's Fishing Excursions was listed prominently on all of the family hotel sites. Evidently he had run that part of the business when he was there. There was a note that he had left the family business to open up a fishing guide business in the United States.

  Kelly couldn't put her finger on it, but something bothered her about the whole thing. If a marriage was breaking up, why would someone leave his family and return to the United States, settle where he probably didn't know anyone, and attempt to start a new business, a business which had some stiff competition from well-known guides in the form of Jack from the United States and Dudley from England.

  She continued to read and after about twenty minutes, found a reference to a twenty-three year old newspaper article. She clicked on the link and read it. She sat back in her chair and tried to take in the enormity of what she’d just read. It was an article with the headline "Wealthy College Student Accused of Murder." The article went on to say Philip Montgomery had been arrested for the murder of Patrick Murphy, a college student from Ireland. The article stated that Patrick had died after an altercation with Philip during a poker game. Several of the college students who had been playing poker had left to go to a nearby bar. From what the article said, one of the students heard Patrick accuse Philip of cheating. He hadn't thought much about it and had joined the others at the bar.

  An hour later Patrick's body was found and based on what the college student told the police, Philip was arrested for murder. His bail was quickly posted by his wealthy parents. That was the end of the newspaper article. Kelly continued searching for more information, fruitlessly. She’d jotted down the name of the newspaper and the date of the article, and entered those in the google search engine. She found a second article about the arrest of Philip Montgomery. The article said the case had been dropped due to lack of evidence. There was simply no firm evidence to link the murder of Patrick Murphy to Philip Montgomery. The article ended with a reference to the fact that Philip Montgomery had been expelled from Dartmouth for cheating. Although nothing overt had been written, Kelly felt that was a snide implication that if someone was expelled from a top university for cheating, they could also be capable of murder.

  The blinking light on the clock on the bottom right of the computer screen indicated that her time on the computer had expired. She stood up and stretched, wondering how Carola's meeting with Guido had gone. She walked out of the computer room and almost bumped into Carola, who had just gotten out of a taxi. “Kelly, I need to talk to you. See that couch over there?” she said, pointing at one of the many couches scattered around the large open-air lobby. “Let me pay the driver, and I'll meet you there in two minutes.”

  They spent the next hour sharing with each other what they’d found out. “Carola, I think what Guido told you is certainly of interest, but while you were at the marina talking to him I was thinking that one of the actual fishing guides would have more o
f a motive to kill Dudley than Guido. After all, from what Guido said, his job was not going to be jeopardized if Dudley got the Bartolo contract, but his guides' jobs might be. I wonder how many guides work for him. It seems a far stretch, but I suppose any of them could be desperate enough about his job that he might kill Dudley.”

  “Guido had to take a phone call while I was there and when he was on the phone I walked around the room. There were photographs of ten guides. I suppose any of them would have reason to do it, or let me really go far out here, maybe it was a joint effort by more than one of them.”

  “Wow! I hadn’t thought of anything like that. Maybe they all wanted Dudley dead and they drew straws or something like that to decide who would do it. If that's true, I don't have a clue how we could get that kind of information from them.”

  “Something just occurred to me,” Carola said. “If Mike is going to be helping the constable, he's not going to be able to fish until this is solved. Maybe I could take his place on the boat and start a conversation with the fishing guide. He's Cuban, so he obviously speaks Spanish. Jack's Spanish is pretty elementary, and if I spoke fast and so did the guide, I don't think Jack would be able to follow along. I could tell them I just wanted to see what fishing in the saltwater flats was like, and I only wanted to fish for half a day. Actually, I think that would be fine with Jack. He'll have the afternoon to fish exclusively with the guide, and since he's always worried he's abandoning me on these trips, it would make him feel better if he did something for me. I never want to take any of his time away from paying clients, but I think this would work well.”

  “I agree. It's an excellent way to find out more about the guides. Maybe you'll get the name of one of the guides who feels particularly angry about the possibility of losing his job. Yes, let’s see what you can find out tomorrow morning when you go fishing,” Kelly said.

  “I also need to see if I can get the room number for Dudley's wife, and then I’ll pay her a visit. I'll give you a call after I talk to her. What's your room number?”

  “We're in 3822, but give me about an hour. I still have a couple of other people I want to check out on the Internet.”

  “Will do. Good luck and wish me good luck as well,” Carola said.

  Cayo had followed Kelly from the Internet room and had jumped up on her lap when she sat down. She scratched the cute calico cat behind the ears, and it purred with a sound of deep satisfaction. Kelly stroked Cayo several more times and then stood up, putting him down on the floor. He walked next to her as they returned to the computer room.

  CHAPTER 14

  “I'm hoping you can help me,” Carola said in Spanish to the handsome young man at the reception desk. She smiled and opened her eyes wide, so he could clearly see her long lashes and dark brown eyes, while at the same time leaning towards him, and giving him a clear view of her ample cleavage. “I understand that Dudley Samms was killed last night. My husband is a fellow fishing guide, and since I've met his wife numerous times, I would like to visit her and give her my condolences. Would you be kind enough to give me her room number? She gave it to me earlier, but I can't seem to find it.”

  “We're not supposed to give out room numbers, but in this case I could probably make an exception.” He turned his attention away from Carola's chest and looked at his computer. “She's in room 2943. It’s a ground floor unit with an ocean view.”

  “Thank you so much,” she said smiling broadly. “I really appreciate your sharing that with me.”

  “De nada, it is nothing," the clerk said, trying unsuccessfully to keep his eyes from straying once again to her chest. She left the reception area and walked towards the rooms located in an outlying building. She paused for a moment and looked at the site map the bellman had given her when they arrived. Patricia's room was the last room in the last unit. When she approached room 2943 she thought she heard voices and looked around. She was the only one in sight.

  She distinctly heard a man speaking, and the voice seemed to be coming from the room the clerk had told her was Patricia Samms’. “Patricia, Dudley's dead, and it's about time. Surely you must know how I've felt about you for many years, and although you’ve never said anything, I think you feel the same way about me. The only reason I ever went on any of Dudley’s fishing trips was to be near you. Why else would I put up with him belittling me every chance he got? I fished this morning, but I came back early to see you. Finally, it's our time.”

  Carola walked to the side of the unit. Since it was the last one on the hotel grounds, there was nothing but brush and the Caribbean Sea beyond it. When she’d walked past the room, she’d noticed the door to Patricia’s room was slightly ajar. She flattened herself against the outside wall, listening intently.

  “Stewart, I've dreamed of this moment for a long, long time. Since I was married to Dudley, I could never tell you how I felt about you, but yes, I agree, it's our time. Thank you for waiting for me. I suppose it was too bad he had to die, but I feel like I’ve finally been set free. I hated that man every day of my life, from the day I married him until yesterday, when he finally got what was coming to him.”

  “I’m just as happy about his death as you are, my dear. It's too soon to celebrate the way I've dreamed of, but come here. Kissing you is something I've wanted to do for so many years, and now I finally can. I have no regrets about what happed to Dudley. He deserved to die.”

  It was very quiet for a long time and Carola assumed that Stewart was kissing Patricia. Kelly won't believe this. Stewart and Patricia are an item, and both of them now have good reasons for wanting to see Dudley dead. I wonder if either of them could be the killer. It's too early to call Kelly on her cell phone, but I think I'll go back to my room and make a few notes, so I can tell her exactly what I heard them say.

  *****

  “What do you think, Cayo? Who should be next?” Kelly asked the cat after purchasing another one hour Internet access card. Cayo turned his head and looked up at her. She had an uncanny feeling the cat was reading her mind and could swear when he purred it sounded like he’d said the word “Stewart.” “Okay, Cayo. Stewart it is.”

  She typed in the username and the password printed on the Internet access card and began searching for Stewart Bond. Mike had mentioned his name when he was telling her about the van ride and how Dudley had humiliated him. Since Facebook had been such a bonanza for providing information to her about Philip, she decided to start there. The photograph on Stewart Bond's page clearly showed that the man she had seen with Dudley at the rooftop restaurant in Havana was the same man whose picture she was looking at on his Facebook page.

  In the information Stewart had provided on his page it said that he was the head of the private wealth division for a large international bank, an avid outdoorsman, and a bachelor. There were a number of photos of him with big game in Africa, a huge king salmon from British Columbia, and bonefish from Belize. He’d graduated with honors from Eton and had gone to law school at Harvard in the United States. When he returned to London he began working for the bank he was still with. He didn't have very many friends on Facebook, just a few hundred, which made Kelly think this was more of a personal page than a business page.

  There had been no mention of a twitter account, but even so, she tried putting in several different ways he might have used to enter his name, but she couldn’t come up with a match. She typed his name into the google search engine and spent the next half hour reading about him. Almost everything was related to his business or his being an outdoorsman. Evidently he raised Brittany hunting dogs and maintained a large kennel for them several miles outside of London. One of the articles said that his hunting dogs were considered to be some of the best in the world, consistently taking top honors in field trials.

  Although there was no lack of information about his vocation and avocation, there was very little information of a personal nature. Kelly found one reference to him having attended the Queen's Ball with Lady Jane Simpson and another one r
egarding him attending a polo match with Dame Susan Lester. That was it, and both of those references were over ten years old. It seemed that Stewart Bond was either very discreet or had no personal life. Kelly looked at his Facebook picture again, refreshing her memory of him.

  I remember thinking he was attractive when I saw him in Havana. He reminded me a bit of Mike, big and burly. He was greying at the temples and was quite tan, probably from all of this outdoor hunting and fishing which seems to be his passion. Looking at his picture again, I still think he's very attractive, and I find it very hard to believe he wouldn't have romantic interests. Wish I knew how I could find out about that. While Facebook is very good about letting people know what the individual being looked up wants people to know, it sure doesn't help with information they may not want to share. I'm sure Mike will have someone look into his background. Maybe he can get the type of information I can't seem to get.

  Kelly’s attention was drawn to the clock on the bottom of the screen that had begun to flash indicating she had only a few more minutes left before her allotted time expired. She logged off, looked at Cayo and said, “Okay, little guy. Time to go to the room and wait for Carola's call, but I don't feel this last hour was very productive. Let's go.” She moved her chair away from the computer, and she and Cayo walked out of the computer room and headed for her room.

  CHAPTER 15

  Kelly started to put her key card into the lock when she noticed that the door wasn’t completely shut, and the lock hadn't engaged. She felt her heart race as she called out, “Hello? Is anyone there? Mike, are you there?” No one answered. She stood to the side and pushed the door open with her foot. Cayo walked into the room and looked back at her as if to say, “Come on, scaredy cat. There's no one here but you and me. All's safe.”