“Musgrove .We’ve met. How long has he been around?”
“About a month. He came in with Randy last week. He’s very nice.”
“You know more than I do, apparently.”
“You’ve been busy with that editing job for the history professor. How is that going?”
“It’s a good thing I love history, or I would be seriously bored,” I said, taking another bite of my muffin. “What did Mother say?”
“She said that she got a call Friday afternoon from a woman, who told her that Mr. Ingram would not be attending the performance, but Joey and his son Reed would. She asked if switching the names would be acceptable. Your mother assured her that was just fine. That’s the extent of the conversation.”
“Did she happen to mention if the woman told her who she was or anything like that?”
“I believe it was Pam.”
“Pamela Dimwitty,” I said.
“You know her?”
“I don’t know if it’s the same person, but I’ll be sure to ask. I got a call from Ms. Dimwitty this morning, asking me to meet her at the pie shop. She’s the secretary for Ingram Construction.”
“That new place by the interstate?”
I nodded.
“I’ve heard they’re pretty good. Maybe I should try them out.”
“She told me to come alone, Dad. She was very specific about that. I asked if I could bring Randy, and she said come alone or she wouldn’t meet with me at all.”
“Well, at least you’re meeting in a very public place.”
“I’m planning to let Mike know where I’ll be, just in case.”
“Good idea.”
“You said last night that you knew Clinton Ingram.”
“From church and a few social events. What do you want to know?”
“Anything you can tell me,” I said.
“A very quiet man. He socialized with people, but at the same time, I got the feeling he was holding back, like he was trying to protect himself.”
I finished off the last bite of muffin and took a drink. “He had very good reason to be wary of people, Dad. His wife was murdered fifty years ago. They never caught her killer. He raised Joey, who was just a toddler at the time, by himself.”
“He was a good Christian. When I was the minister here, he came to church every Sunday, served on the Pastor/Parish relations committee, the Council on Ministries, and other committees. He always came to the office near the end of the fiscal year to make sure we could meet our apportionments. If we were short, he made up the difference. He donated to local charities, even played Santa Claus once in a while for the community Christmas party. His company has been building housing for low-income families for years.”
“So, all-around good guy. No reason for him to have been stabbed in the back in the middle of his living room.”
“Not on the surface, no. But you know as well as I do that people can harbor deep, dark secrets underneath the façade.”
“I know, Dad, I know.” I checked the time. “I guess I better get going. I still need to get in touch with Mike before I go to Red Oak.”
“If I don’t hear from you by noon, I’ll give him a call.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I said, standing up. I gave him a hug and a kiss. “Love you.”
“Love you, too. Be careful.”
“Always.”
It was only a five to ten minute drive to the pie shop, so I decided to stop at the police station before I left. Mike’s truck was sitting in its usual spot. Sally Miller was sitting at the front desk when I walked in.
“Hi, Cam,” Sally said. “Here to see Mike?”
“Just for a minute, if he’s available.”
“I think he is, but let me double check.” She picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Chief? A certain redhead is here to see you, and wants to know if you’re available. Yes, sir, I’ll tell her.” She hung up. “He said to go on back.”
“Thanks, Sally.”
I walked down the hall and found Mike sitting at his desk. “Hey, what are you doing here?” he said as I sat down in a chair. “I thought you were going to see Alma?”
“Just thought I would stop by for a minute. I wanted to let you know that I’m on my way to a meeting at the pie shop in Red Oak.”
“And you’re telling me this because…?”
“It’s with Pamela Dimwitty.”
“The secretary for Ingram Construction?”
I nodded.
“When did this happen?”
“She called me about seven this morning, said she wanted to talk. When I asked if I could bring someone with me, she said I had to come alone or no meeting at all.”
“Did she say what she wanted to talk about?”
“Joey Ingram.”
“Do you think she knows where he’s at?”
“I don’t know. But I wanted you to know what was going on, just in case. My dad knows as well. He said if he doesn’t hear from me by noon, he’ll give you a call.”
“Give me just a minute,” Mike said, getting up and leaving the office.
A few minutes later, he came back with two small boxes, which he put on his desk. Opening the first one, he took out a small electronic device. “This is a tracking device,” he said, taking my messenger bag from me. “I’m going to put this in your bag.”
“It won’t make any noise or anything like that, will it?”
“Oh no, not on your end,” he said, handing me back the bag.
“So you’ll know where I’m at all the time?”
“Exactly.” He opened the second box and took out a pen. “This is a recording device.”
“Like James Bond?”
He laughed. “Maybe old school James Bond, the Sean Connery era.”
“My favorite Bond movies.”
“Turn this on before you get out of the car. It will last a couple of hours or so. I’m not exactly sure on the length of time.”
I checked the time. “I need to go,” I said, standing up.
He walked me out to my car. “Be careful.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Contact me as soon as you leave.”
“I will.”
Ten minutes later, I parked in front of the pie shop. I reached into my bag and turned on the recording device. Taking a deep breath, I got out and started for the door. I didn’t get very far, though. A man stopped me, saying, “Cam Shaw?”
“Yes?”
“I’m Joseph Ingram.”
Chapter 27
“I need you to come with me,” Joseph said, reaching for my arm.
“I don’t think so,” I said, starting to back away from him. I bumped into something big and hard. I turned to see a very large chest, and when I looked up, there was a bald man staring down at me. “On the other hand,” I said, turning back around, “I suppose we could have a little chat for a few minutes. Why don’t we go inside?”
“Not here,” he said, grabbing my arm and leading me toward a white stretch limo.
“I let people know I was coming here,” I told him as he shoved me inside.
“Don’t worry, nothing’s going to happen to you.”
I sat on one of the benches, while he sat across from me on the other one. “What is it you want, Mr. Ingram?”
“Call me Joey. Dad is Mr. Ingram.”
“Fine. What do you want, Joey?”
“I want to find out what you know about my wife’s murder.”
“Nothing. You could have asked me that in the parking lot, and saved us both a lot of time.”
“Do you expect me to believe that the girlfriend of the chief of police doesn’t know what’s going on in his investigation?”
“Being his girlfriend doesn’t give me access to everything in an investigation,” I snapped. “There are rules he has to follow, you know. And part of those rules are not talking about open cases with significant others.”
“Crap!” he said.
“Since we’re sitting here,
in such close quarters, let me ask you something.”
“What?”
“Did you kill Susan?”
“As much as I hated the woman, I could never kill her. She’s the mother of my children. And murder is not only against the laws of man, but the laws of God, too.”
“Not the answer I was expecting, to tell you the truth.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“If you didn’t kill your wife, then who did?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Have you talked to your father lately?
“Not since the afternoon of the dinner. He called and asked me to come by. When I got there, he was working in his office. He said that something had come up, and he wouldn’t be able to attend the dinner, and told me that I needed to go in his place to represent the family and the company.”
“I saw you there that night,” I told him. “You were talking to Stephen Showalter.”
“Yes, I was. So?”
“I’m curious what you two were talking about. You were trying to convince him of something awful hard.”
“It was personal.”
“I was given the impression that you wanted him to produce a show in Dallas, so that Susan wouldn’t leave you.”
“Who told you that? Showalter? Did Showalter tell you that?”
“I cannot reveal my sources.”
“You’re not a reporter. You don’t have ‘sources’.”
“Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that it was Showalter. Is it true?”
“Let’s just say, hypothetically, it was.”
“If you hated her so much, then why did you want to keep her close?”
“Because she would have taken half of everything I owned. And I can’t afford to lose anything at this critical juncture.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing I can discuss with you. It’s business.”
“Look, Joey, you’re the one who got me to come to the pie shop under false pretenses, kidnapped me in broad daylight, and demanded that I spill my guts to you. If you don’t want me to press charges against you once I get home, you’re going to tell me what I want to know.”
“Fine, what does it matter? Until Susan’s murderer is brought to justice, I can’t go through with my original plan. I’ve been working with some new partners to take over my father’s company.”
“A hostile takeover? After everything that your father gave up for that company? You’d do that to him?”
“He’s driving the business into the ground. Building houses for poor people. He’s paid more attention to his charity work than he has the business. Something needs to be done to save it.”
I shook my head as I slid forward and banged on the glass. “Back to the parking lot, now!”
The window rolled down. “Mr. Ingram?” his bodyguard said.
“Do it.”
I didn’t say another word until we were back at the pie shop. Joey opened the door, got out, and helped me out. I started to walk away, but turned around and went back. “There’s one thing I think you should know,” I said. “Your father was found dead in his living room thirty-six hours after your wife was murdered.”
“What?” Joey said, grabbing my arms and shaking me. “You’re lying. Why are you lying to me?”
I heard the click of a gun. “Let her go,” Mike said quietly, “right now, Ingram.”
Joey dropped his hands. Reynolds came up behind him, pulled Joey’s arms back, and put some handcuffs on him. “What the hell is this?” Joey said, glaring at us.
“You’re under arrest for the murder of Susan Ingram and Clinton Ingram,” Mike told him as he holstered his weapon. “Read him his rights, Reynolds, and take him back to the station. Take the bodyguard, too.”
“You can’t arrest me here,” Joey sneered. “You’re out of your jurisdiction.”
“He’s absolutely right, you know,” Mike said. “Uncuff him, Reynolds.”
Reynolds nodded, and removed the cuffs.
“I’ll see you in court, Penhall.”
A man wearing a Red Oak police uniform stepped in front of Joey. “Joseph Ingram, I’m placing you under arrest for unlawful detention,” he said, turning Joey around and placing a new pair of handcuffs on him.
“What? That’s crazy! Who did I detain? Her? She came voluntarily, didn’t you, Ms. Shaw?”
“Well, all we did was talk,” I admitted reluctantly.
“Officer Munoz, I do have a warrant from Waxahachie on murder charges for Mr. Ingram. Would you be willing to drop your charges and transfer custody over to me?”
Munoz looked at me. “Ms. Shaw? Do you want to press charges?”
I looked at Mike, who shook his head at me. “No, I don’t think so,” I told him.
“Then he’s all yours, Chief Penhall,” Munoz replied, handing him over to Reynolds, who handed Munoz his handcuffs before leading Joey to his patrol car.
Mike shook hands with Munoz. “Appreciate the help.”
“Anytime. See you next week at the basketball game?”
“You know it,” Mike said. “Hope you guys are ready to lose.”
“Dream on, Penhall,” he laughed as he walked away.
“What just happened here?” I asked Mike.
“Pamela Dimwitty called about ten minutes after you left my office. She told me that Joey had forced her to place the call to you. She said all he wanted was to talk to you for a little while, and that he would bring you back to the parking lot eventually. We decided to wait for him to come back.”
“You used me as bait?”
“No, I wasn’t using you as bait. That would mean I had prior knowledge, which I didn’t. I just took advantage of the opportunity and arrested him.”
I slugged him in the arm. “How did you know he wouldn’t hurt me?”
“I didn’t. Look, I don’t blame you for being upset, but I knew where you were the entire time, okay? If that limo had stayed in one place longer than two minutes, I would have been all over it.”
I reached into the bag, pulled out the pen, and handed it to him. “You’ll want this, and take that tracking device out of my bag.”
“Did he confess to killing his wife and father?” Mike asked as he dug around in my bag until he found it.
“No, and from what he said, he didn’t know that his father was dead. You saw how he reacted. I don’t think he did it.”
Chapter 28
Mike and I went inside, where we each ordered a piece of pie and a drink. After we sat down, he said, “Why do you think he’s innocent?”
“You’ll hear it on the recording,” I replied, “but he seemed totally surprised to hear about his father’s death.”
“He could be a very good actor.”
“I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head.
“What did he say about his wife?”
“He couldn’t afford to divorce her.”
“What does that mean? Did his wife control the money?”
“No, I’m pretty sure he handles that,” I said, before taking a bite of apple pie. “He said he was involved in a serious business deal right now, and because of that, he couldn’t afford to divorce his wife.”
“So he was thinking about it?”
“No, he’s a firm believer in ‘til death do us part. Even if he was able to divorce her, he wouldn’t do it.”
“Did he give you an idea of what type of business deal he was involved in?”
“Oh yes, he told me, and I couldn’t believe it,” I replied, reaching over to take a bite of his cherry pie.
“Eat your own pie,” he said.
I shoved my plate toward him. “Fair is fair. You can have a bite of mine.”
Mike took me up on my offer, taking a generous bite from my pie. “What was the business deal?” he asked me.
“A hostile takeover of his father’s construction company.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No. He said his father wa
s driving the business into the ground because of all the low-income housing the company has been building.”
“That gives him a very good motive for killing Clinton,” Mike pointed out.
I had to admit it did, but I still didn’t think he did it. “This whole thing is one giant mess.”
“No arguments from me,” he said.
“Backstabbing, lies, and too many secrets. Just when we think we’ve figured one thing out, three more pop up to complicate things even more.”
Mike leaned over the table. “Maybe you need to talk to Clinton again.”
I looked at him, shocked. “Are you asking me to question a ghost to help with your investigation?”
“Not officially,” Mike said, sitting back in his chair. “It’s not like I can put anything that I learn from any of your ‘friends’ in my official reports. They’d laugh me out of office.”
“I still want to talk to my grandmother. I’m sure Walt, Pete, and a few others can tell me about the good old days.”
“Grandpa will be able to fill in some of the police activity, if there were any problems with the Ingrams back then.”
“See, there are plenty of sources that we can use that you can put in the official reports.”
“I want you to promise me one thing, though,” Mike said, placing his hand over mine. “I don’t want you talking to anyone who might be pertinent to my current investigation, including Joey Ingram. Stay away from him. He’s going to be plenty mad because of his arrest, and he might blame you.”
“Me?” I said. “Why? I had nothing to do with it.”
“But he might not see it that way, Cam. He might see the whole thing as a set up.”
“I don’t see how. Neither one of us had any idea that he was involved until after the meeting was arranged.”
“I doubt he’s going to be very happy when he finds out that Ms. Dimwitty called me.”
“Good point. But if you’ve arrested him for murder, then surely he won’t make bail?”
“I don’t know,” Mike said, shaking his head. “The Ingrams have connections all over the place. If he stays in jail until morning, I will be surprised.”
Not what I had expected to hear. I looked at the time on my phone. “Let’s get out of here. I need to check in with Dad, and let him know I’m all right.”
Who Invited the Ghost to Dinner: A Ghost Writer Mystery Page 21