Obsessions Can Be Murder
The Tenth Charlie Parker Mystery
By Connie Shelton
Copyright © 2006 Connie Shelton
Prologue
Late afternoon sun blared through the west-facing windows, filling the bedroom with adequate light for the search. He cautiously tilted the edge of the Gorman original, breath bated, teeth clenched against the possibility of an alarm. Nothing happened. He scanned the back of the valuable painting, saw nothing but ordinary wire and nail. No wall safe either.
Pity, he thought. He couldn’t take the painting with him, but by this time tomorrow there would be nothing remaining but charred fragments of the canvas and expensive frame. He let go of the edge and let it tap back into place against the wall with the trendy faux-finish paint job. He gave the opulent room one more glance. There was potentially only one other room in which to find what he wanted and he went there now.
The third-floor study commanded some of the best views in the house, having the advantage of height over the billiard room one floor down and the huge, windowed and bedecked great-room on the first floor. He paused for a moment to admire the way the lake spread out below, cool and blue on this late-spring afternoon, unobstructed by the pines that covered most of the twenty-acre property. Beyond, New Mexico’s highest peaks rose in rugged splendor, still capped in white. The phrase ‘purple mountain’s majesty’ ran through his head and he shook it away. Sentimental stupidity. There was work to do.
He systematically searched the study, finding a small safe which had been carelessly left unlocked. Most of the items were of no interest—passports and a few mementos like their marriage license. He flipped quickly through the contents and smiled. The disks—he dared not leave them behind. He stuffed two into his pocket, and left the documents.
The sun had begun to disappear behind the hills, casting a deep gloom into the corners of the house. He made his way down two flights of stairs, through the impressive great-room and into the kitchen. There, he paused to turn the knobs on the gas range, making sure the pilot light was off. Through a small door and down a flight of steps, he allowed himself the use of a flashlight as he made a few adjustments to the central heating system. Finally, in the garage he opened the valves on two small propane tanks, of a type that fit a gas grill. The pungent-sweet smell reached him as he listened to the satisfying hiss for a few moments.
Quickly now, he went back upstairs, out the front door and down the few flagstone steps to his car. This was the dangerous part, getting away without being seen, for in this town everyone knew everyone and he could not risk someone’s random memory of his leaving this place on this day. This day, which could easily be remembered as the day the Simmons place blew sky high.
Chapter 1
Full sunlight filled the room as I rolled over for the second time this morning and reached for Drake’s side of the bed. My hand encountered an empty space and I opened my eyes. The shape of him indented the sheets, but the sound of him came from the bathroom, a happily whistled rendition of “And I Love Her.” I smiled and stretched under the covers, warm in the memory of our early-dawn lovemaking.
From the floor somewhere nearby I heard a canine moan as if Rusty were also in some kind of post-coital languor, and the thought made me giggle. As soon as I did, paws scrabbled on the carpeted floor and a red-brown face with perked ears and chocolate eyes appeared at the edge of the bed. This meant just one thing: outside.
I tried closing my eyes and pretending I hadn’t seen him, but Rusty’s no sucker and when I peeked out through my lashes, he was still sitting there, eyes intent on me.
“Okay, okay,” I mumbled, dragging myself from the luxury of the warm bedcovers. I slipped into my jeans and sweater from the previous day and grabbed Drake’s jacket from the back of a chair. By the time I’d located Rusty’s leash, he was doing a little dance by the room’s only door, unaccustomed at home to all these preparations.
We stepped out into a May morning where frost coated the thick grass and blanketed the cars. The Horseshoe Motel was one of those straight out of the 1940s, with individual cabins set in a semi-oval around a park-like common ground. An office building of the same rough-hewn logs guarded the entrance and a sign proclaiming “Jo’s Café” stood another fifty yards up the road. Jo’s had been closed when we arrived at eight o’clock last night.
Rusty, nose to the ground, dragged me behind him as he circled our one-room cabin and headed for open spaces beyond. Fresh elk tracks were undoubtedly the source of his interest, although I had no doubt that a fair number of rabbits, skunks, and other small creatures had also deposited scent trails for his amusement. Reminding him of deposits, I coaxed him to complete the job he’d come outside for, although I had to admit that simply standing here in the fresh air with sunshine warm on my face and this unbelievably clear mountain air to breathe wasn’t a bad way to spend a few minutes.
Watson’s Lake, which shared its name with the small town, lay serenely in the still morning air, less than a quarter mile away. On its far side, pine forest rose from the shoreline up a series of hills, ending at timberline a thousand feet or so below the crest of Watson’s Peak, where legend says Watson Davis arrived in 1843 and discovered copper, silver and gold. The discovery had built the fortunes of Watson and of the town.
We’d chosen the location for our four-day weekend getaway on the recommendation of my brother, Ron, who says that the best fishing in the state is to be found at Watson’s Lake. Drake intended to test that assertion, while I intended nothing more strenuous than opening a book and occasionally turning the pages.
Rusty eventually circled the cabin and I enticed him back inside with the promise of breakfast, which consisted of a cup of doggie nuggets in his familiar bowl. Drake had finished his shower, as evidenced by the steam floating from the bathroom, and he stood naked at the sink, shaving. I peeled off my clothes and stepped into the shower, surprised to have him join me a minute later. Well, it wasn’t a quick shower. When we finally emerged from the cabin we were more than ready for some breakfast at Jo’s.
Midmorning sun had quickly melted the frost and the grass now stood dewy and green in the small motel common. We walked up the road, enjoying the view and noticing that half the town must be at the café, judging by the dozen or so cars in the dirt lot near its front door. I looped Rusty’s leash around one of the log posts on Jo’s front deck and he settled reluctantly to wait.
Drake pulled open a creaking wooden door and flashed me his gorgeous smile as I walked by him. We stepped into the 1950s—chrome tables with Formica tops, chairs of chromed tubing with seats padded in red leatherette. The place went quiet as all eyes turned our way, including those of the middle-aged woman behind the counter—presumably, Jo. Drake smiled toward the room at large and raised fingertips to the bill of his ball cap in a tiny salute. A few nods came our way, eating resumed, and the awkward moment passed.
“Sit anyplace you like,” said Jo. She wore her frothy red hair up, pinned high with a pink clip shaped like a butterfly. Her voice came out with the deep richness of a smoker, a deepness that would probably turn to a frog-like croak by the time she hit sixty, if she didn’t quit the habit soon.
We found an empty table near the long counter, which began near the front door and ran halfway down the length of the room.
“Coffee this morning?” Jo asked, carafe already in hand.
We both held our heavy white mugs toward her. She poured expertly and left us to browse the laminated one-sheet menus which stood at the end of our table, wedged between a catsup bottle and an all purpose hold
er that contained packets of sweeteners and tiny sealed tubs of jelly. I ordered an omelet and whole wheat toast and Drake asked for scrambled eggs and sausage. When Jo had walked away again I noticed that someone had left a newspaper on the seat of the chair beside me.
“Shall we see what the big local news is?” I said, picking it up.
“See if there’s a fishing report,” Drake said. “Tomorrow morning I’m getting up early again, but with a different purpose in mind.”
I wiggled my eyebrows at him because he’d had the same plan this morning, but allowed lust to take over.
“Wow, dramatic photo,” I commented, spreading the front page out for him to see. “ ‘Fourth Anniversary of Major Fire, Mystery Still Unsolved,’” I read aloud. The photograph showed a large house completely engulfed in flame. Silhouetted fire fighters aimed hoses at it but the effort, even in print, looked futile.
“Simmons place,” Jo said, arriving with our plates. “Burned clear to the ground. Everybody here’s pretty sure David Simmons did it himself.” She gave me a second to push the paper aside and she set our breakfasts in place. She topped our coffee mugs and turned to do the same for her other customers.
I scanned the article while I made my way through the omelet, which had turned out nice and light, with just the right amount of cheese. The paper described the fire in a way that led me to believe that they’d covered the story in so much depth at the time, this year’s rehash was merely to fill space rather than to pass along any new information. The locals had undoubtedly heard the whole thing many times, so the piece was written as a quick recap. Gas leak, arson suspected, house a total loss. A woman, Bettina Davis, had died at the scene, I noted with interest. Davis . . . related in some way to Watson Davis? State fire investigators surmised that she had arrived at the Simmons home and switched on a light, then boom! The paper actually said that—boom. Davis was the housekeeper and it was logical that she would have let herself in with her own key. The home’s owners were apparently away, Earleen Simmons in Santa Fe at the time, her husband David last seen driving away the afternoon before the explosion. Insurance investigators called the blaze ‘suspicious’ and a settlement was pending.
I felt my interest perk up and glanced over at Drake. He’d found his fishing report on another sheet of the paper and was giving that his full attention at the moment. It had been six months since the last case of any interest had come through the door at RJP. Ron, my brother and partner in our small private investigation firm, had secured a lucrative and safe contract doing background checks for a new manufacturing company that moved to the state during the winter. Since they were involved in government work, producing some kind of communications equipment for military bases worldwide, every potential new employee had to pass a screening that was nearly as strict as a top secret clearance. The money was good but the excitement factor just about nil. I looked again at the picture of the house on fire and felt my pulse quicken.
Stop it, Charlie. Just forget it. This is a long weekend for rest and relaxation. A boat on the lake, a good action novel, late breakfasts and walks in the forest. I folded the newspaper and pushed it aside. My omelet was delicious and I shoved all other thoughts aside to simply savor it.
“So, you folks staying over for the fishing derby?” Jo made conversation while she filled our mugs once more.
“I saw that in the paper,” Drake said. “Next weekend. Guess we’ll just miss it.” His tone was so wistful that I piped up.
“I could stay,” I said. “If you want to. Ron’s got things pretty well covered in our office.”
“Ought to think about it,” Jo said. “There’s cash prizes.” She picked up our empty plates. “Where y’all from?”
“Albuquerque.” Drake said. “I run a helicopter service and Charlie’s got a private investigation firm. Much as I’d love to stay and fish, though, it’s getting into fire season and I’m on call. Just took this weekend off while my mechanic puts the ship through its annual inspection and gets it ready to go to work.”
I noticed that conversations had paused at several of the other tables. Drake has that effect on people. Men, in particular, are always enthralled with his adventures. A guy at the next table turned to him now, and he fell into his routine of answering the customary dozen questions that always crop up. Although I’m also licensed to fly, and have done so on occasion for his business, I have nowhere near the experience necessary to work forest fires. Maneuvering a water bucket on a long-line gets very tricky and takes lots of practice. I limit myself to simple transport—point A to point B kind of stuff.
I watched my husband, in his element now, and realized how much he loved his career. Even on a vacation weekend, he couldn’t resist the lure of the exciting adventures he got to perform as routine. After awhile, though, the conversation turned to fishing and he soon had the local men telling him about the best spots on the lake. One of them volunteered his services as guide and offered to take Drake out in his boat near dusk.
Back at the cabin, I pulled out the thriller I’d brought with me and settled into one of the chairs on our miniscule porch, which caught the best of the late morning sun. Rusty flopped near my feet, while Drake began a campaign to clean and organize his pickup truck. While he bunched up bits of trash and doused the instrument panel with spray cleaner, I lost myself in the inner depths of the President’s secret underground command center.
“Hon?” Drake’s voice snapped me away from a shootout with the FBI. “I’m going down to the little bait shop we saw last night. Get some stuff for this afternoon. I’m supposed to meet Woody at five.”
I nodded absently, my pulse on pause until I could get back to the book’s action.
“You’ve been out in the sun for two hours, you know,” he said. “Better get inside or find some sunscreen.”
I pressed a finger to my forearm. He was right. I sent him off with a kiss and retired to the interior shade of the cabin. Settling into an overstuffed chair in the corner of the small room, I was back in DC until a tentative knock sounded at our door.
Assuming that Drake had forgotten to take a key, I was surprised to open the door to a stranger.
“Are you the private investigator?” The woman was probably in her late twenties or early thirties, with caramel colored hair to her shoulders, the sides pulled back into a clip. She wore a denim skirt and pastel T-shirt with tiny blue flowers on it. Her blue eyes, rimmed by thick, dark lashes were her most outstanding feature. She smiled hesitantly, revealing teeth that had obviously known good orthodonture from an early age.
“How did you know?” I asked.
“It’s a small town,” she said, letting the smile grow a little wider.
“And I can assume you found our motel room the same way?”
She nodded. “Could I come in? There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Okay.”
She must have sensed my hesitation. “Or we could just sit out here on the porch.”
By this time Rusty had approached and given her shoes a thorough sniffing. She, in turn, gave him access to her hand and then rubbed his ears briskly. He gave his seal of approval by nudging her hand for more attention.
“Either place is fine,” I said.
She stepped forward and I held the door open for her.
“My name is Amanda Zellinger,” she said. “And I know your first name is Charlie.”
“Parker. Charlie Parker.” My, word does spread fast in a small town. She probably also knew what each of us had eaten for breakfast and the license plate number of our truck.
“Jo says you’re a private investigator from Albuquerque.” At my nod she continued. “I never knew an investigator before, and I wasn’t sure where to turn. Now I know. You can help me.”
“I’m not sure I . . .”
“It’s a missing person case,” she said, twirling a strand of her long hair with nimble fingers. “And I can pay you. Uh, if it’s not too much. How much would it cost, anyway?�
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“We have a daily rate and an hourly one. Hard to say how long it would take. Maybe you can just tell me a little about the missing person. No charge unless we officially accept the case.” I indicated that she could take her choice of the overstuffed chair I’d just vacated or the straight-backed one at the small desk in the corner. She opted for the soft one and I sat at the desk.
“My father is the missing person,” she said. “It’s been four years and no one else, the police or the insurance company, has been able to find him.”
“Four years?” Some faint memory niggled at me.
“Yes, it’s the same David Simmons who disappeared after the big fire.”
So immersed I’d been in my fictional adventure that I’d nearly forgotten the newspaper I’d seen this morning.
“Refresh my memory,” I said. “I saw something about this being the fourth anniversary of the fire, but I don’t know any details.”
“Well, the paper has it right. It was exactly four years ago this week. No one knows for sure what happened. The house simply exploded. Bettina—she was cleaning houses back then and she’d been going to Dad’s twice a week—she must have gotten there early that morning. She was killed by the blast. The insurance investigators said it was a gas leak. Probably gas built up in the house all night, they said, then she must have switched on a light or something. By the time the fire department could get there, the whole place was up in flames.”
“You didn’t live there with your father, I take it?”
“Oh, no. I’m married. My husband, Jake, and I live at the west end of town, up the mountainside where the forest starts to really get thick. Dad married Earleen about five years ago—no, five years before he disappeared.” She shook her head. “Sorry, time seems to have stopped since that awful day. They’ve been married about nine years now, I guess. Anyway, he built that house for her. The biggest, fanciest house in town. Out there by the lake, it’s a beautiful location. I mean, the views alone are worth a fortune. Earleen had a professional decorator from Dallas come up and choose all the furnishings and art. She bragged that Henri—that’s the decorator—was going to get Architectural Digest out here to photograph the place. It was that nice.”
Obsessions Can Be Murder: The Tenth Charlie Parker Mystery Page 1