“But why can’t I try? It can’t hurt to try. Right?”
“I suppose not. Well, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I’ll see you in the morning, Mabel. It’s a good thing I have some cinnamon buns in the freezer.”
We said our good-byes and hung up. Flori rarely is the first to say she has to go but at least I had heard one decent laugh from my friend. I sure did miss my old Flori.
Next, I called Nathan Horne. Ever since I purchased my laptop, Nathan has become my friend. At first, he was the only one who knew about my computer. That was mostly because he works at the Post Office and I doubt he would have allowed me to leave with my package if I hadn’t told him the contents. Also, because I had no idea how to even ‘boot up,’ I was really under his authority. Not that I didn’t appreciate it. He was extremely patient with me and I must admit he was a big help in solving a murder. I was amazed at the information he seemed to unearth from that small intimidating machine.
“I was just sitting here waiting for your call, Mabel,” he said.
“You were waiting for my call?”
“Of course. You have a murder to solve and you need my expertise, right?”
“Don’t start thinking you’re irreplaceable, young Nathan Horne. You know very well that one of these days I’ll conquer that laptop and I won’t have to call you anymore.”
His laugh outshone Flori’s by quite a bit.
“And you don’t have to laugh either. I still believe in miracles. And, we’re going to have to believe in them to keep Jake Junior out of death row.”
There was a moment of silence.
“You really think he's innocent?” he asked. “Everyone in town is saying there’s no way anyone else could’ve killed that guy.”
“Everyone in town is talking about it? How do you know?”
“Mabel, I work at the Post Office. People come in for the mail every day. From behind the counter, I hear everything. In fact, that’s all people are talking about. I know Junior is your best friend’s son but he has a rep, you know. That dude has a mean temper.”
“Oh for goodness’ sake, Nathan, how would you know that he’s got a mean temper?”
“Are you kidding? I put his parcel card in another box by mistake the other day and I thought he was going to punch me. If it hadn’t been for John Smith, I might be in the hospital now.”
“John Smith? Who’s that?”
“You didn’t hear? He’s the new manager over at the lumberyard.”
“Really? Well, Flori is usually the one who keeps me informed and she’s been hibernating in her house. Besides, with the big storm, I guess no one thought to let me know.”
Nathan chuckled. “Don’t worry; he’s a single guy so I doubt he’d find anything in your store that would interest him.”
“He’s single? How old is he anyway?”
“Too young for you, Mabel.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, I was only curious because of his name, that’s all.”
“Why? What’s his name got to do with how old he is?”
Sometimes these young fellows can be quite clueless.
“Nathan, stop and think: how many young men are named John Smith?”
After a moment of silence, he said, “You’re right. I’d say he’s only about forty at the most. If he were named Jonathan Smith, we wouldn’t even question it. So, you figure that’s not his real name? You think maybe he’s running from the Law and hiding out here in Parson’s Cove?”
It’s not hard for Nathan to get on a roll.
“Well, let’s not get carried away. I’m sure he’s legit. Make sure you don’t go spreading your thoughts around or you could get into hot water, young man.”
“Ha, thanks a lot, Mabel. You’re the one who puts those thoughts in my head to begin with. So, what’s happening? What do you need me to do?”
“I was thinking that maybe you could do some research for me. See what you can find out about Victor Fleming.”
“Way ahead of you. As soon as I heard about the murder, I started digging. As I said, Mabel, I've been waiting for your call. I’ll be over in five minutes.”
He hung up. I wasn’t sure if I was pleased or not. Sometimes, I guess I like being the one in control. However, Nathan is a special young man. His father died several years ago and instead up traipsing off to the city like most of the other young people from Parson’s Cove, he decided to stay to look after his mother.
He did have one love interest, which seemed to peter out and saddened his mother and me. Shayla, it seems, has become interested in Sheriff Jim and if I'm not mistaken, Nathan is quite relieved.
I have learned from experience with Nathan that he has a voracious appetite, so before the five minutes were up, I pulled out a dozen muffins from the freezer. The strawberry, I keep for Reg and the blueberry for Nathan. Flori loves all of them so I don’t have to worry about keeping special ones for her.
The phone rang at the same time Nathan knocked so I yelled at him to come in while picking up the phone. It was Reg.
“Mabel,” he said. “It seemed to me you asked who the witness was who saw Junior out at the fishing shack but something distracted us and I never did tell you.”
“I know and I can’t believe that I keep forgetting to ask. Who was the person who could put Junior away for life anyway?”
Chapter Seven
“I guess I never thought to tell you either because it’s someone we really don’t know at all.”
“Someone we don’t know? Don’t we know everyone in Parson’s Cove?”
“It was the new guy at the lumber yard.”
“John Smith?”
“Yeah. You know him? When did you meet him? I didn’t think anyone did except the men who go to the yard. It sounds like he keeps pretty much to himself. Somebody at the coffee shop said he got divorced not long ago and is trying to build a new life for himself. I don’t think anyone knows for sure. How did you get to know him?”
“I don’t know him. Nathan told me about him, that’s all. What was he doing out there? Fishing?”
“No. Somebody ordered some flooring for a cabin and John was delivering it. As he drove past the fish shacks, he saw Junior and his truck.”
“And he saw him poking around the fish shack or was Junior in his truck?”
“Said he saw him running from the shack to the truck.”
“Did Jakie follow Mr. Smith back into town?”
“No, he said he didn’t notice anyone driving behind him.”
“Was there any other vehicle by the shack?”
“Said he didn’t see anyone else.”
“That doesn’t make sense. If there was only one vehicle, how did Victor get out there? There is no way he would have walked all the way from town in this weather. He would have frozen to death. Could someone else have driven him out there?”
Reg shook his head. “Anything is possible I guess, but the obvious person to drive him there would be Jake Junior, Mabel.”
“And Junior won’t say.”
“Nope. He’s as stubborn as a mule. Just like his dad.”
I glanced over at Nathan who was making himself at home. His head was bent over my computer and his fingers were racing across the keyboard. Ginger had made herself at home on his lap and I could hear the purr from across the room. Those poor things were desperate for affection. I’m sure being pent up inside for days drives cats insane. Of course, when the weather is good, they still insist on sleeping all day in the house anyway.
“Well, I’d better go. Nathan is here and is busy doing all sorts of things to my computer. I’d better go before it blows up.”
“All right. If he is trying to look up information about Victor, he might come up empty handed. I have pretty much everything there is on the guy. He was in jail a couple of times but not for any violent crimes. Seems he thought of himself as quite a villain but he was more irritating to the cops than anything.”
“Flori mentioned a few things to me too.�
� I looked over at Nathan and decided I’d better stop talking to Reg and pay more attention to my company. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Reg. If we find anything, I’ll let you know.”
Whenever I see a glow on Nathan’s face, I know he’s on to something. This kid would eat computer chips for breakfast if he could.
“Mabel,” he said. “You won’t believe this.” He looked up at me over his dark-rimmed glasses, his blue eyes twinkling. “Did you know Victor had a second name?”
“Like you mean an alias?”
“Well, no - I just mean he had a second name.”
“No, I can’t say I knew that but it seems natural that he would. I mean, most of us do. Why?”
“Because it appears that he went by his second name more than his first. At least, for the past few years. See.” He turned the computer towards me so I could see. “I couldn’t find too much when I searched for Victor Fleming. Just the usual petty crimes. In jail for two months for embezzling money from some old people. That kind of thing.” He glanced at me with a shocked look, “I’m sorry, Mabel. When I said old people, I didn’t mean that old people aren’t important.”
“It’s all right. I wasn’t offended at all. Us old folks are easy targets sometimes.”
“Oh, no, Mabel, that’s exactly how I didn’t want you to feel. You are like the smartest old person I know.”
“Nathan, I was kidding. Tell me what you found.”
Looking very relieved, he said, “All right, look what I found for Andrew Fleming.”
“How do you know it’s the same man? There could be hundreds of Andrew Flemings, you know.”
He tapped something. “Do they all look like this?”
Suddenly, a mug shot filled the screen. A man with a thin face, long straggly black hair, and a scar running along the side of one cheek stared back at me. His dark eyes were glaring into the camera with more anger than I’ve seen at Macy’s grocery store when the seniors start fighting over the day-old bread. And, trust me; that can be a very volatile situation.
“That is one ugly dude, Nathan, but how do you know it’s Victor Fleming? I haven’t seen him in years. I know he had dark hair and eyes but I couldn’t say that this was the same man.”
Nathan looked so disappointed that I looked again, trying to bring back some memories. It had been years since I had seen Victor and his family and even then, I really didn’t pay much attention. In fact, I left Flori’s house as fast as I could. Most of her family scared me half to death and they didn’t look nearly as nasty as this man did.
“I know,” I said. “I can call Flori. She would know if Victor went by the name of Andrew. We shouldn’t take the picture over to show her though. It might be upsetting. I’ll just phone.”
I had breathed some life into Nathan’s face. Hope is a wonderful thing even when it is picking out a villain.
Once again, Jake picked up. This was not good. Jake never answered the phone. He could be sitting right next to it and he would make Flori come all the way across the house to get it.
“Jake,” I said. “Could I speak to Flori for a minute?”
There was a sigh. “Sorry, Mabel, but she’s gone to bed. Were you planning on coming over? Do you want me to wake her up?”
I glanced up at my clock. It wasn’t even nine yet. “No, that’s okay. Maybe you could answer my question.”
“I doubt it. Does it have anything to do with baking muffins?”
I don’t know if Jake said it as a joke but for some reason, it struck my funny bone and I had to take a few minutes to collect myself together.
“No, nothing to do with baking. I was wondering if you knew if Victor Fleming went by any other name.”
“Like what? Jerk?”
“Well, I was thinking more along the lines of a real name. You know, did he ever use two different names?”
There was a slight pause.
“Yeah, come to think of it, he did. His middle name was Andrew and for some reason, about ten years ago or so, he started to use that. I have no idea why but I’m sure it had something to do with confusing the people he owed money to. Flori and I always called him Victor though. Why?”
“Oh, no particular reason. We were just wondering.”
“We? Who’s ‘we’?”
“Nathan and me. We thought if we were going to prove Junior innocent, we should check out Victor. By the way, did he happen to have a scar on his cheek?”
“I don’t know. I’ll ask Flori in the morning and let you know.”
“No, that’s okay. We can ask Reg. Don’t bother Flori with any questions, Jake. She has enough on her plate to deal with.”
His voice cracked as he said, “I hope you find out something, Mabel, or my son is going to be put away for a long time.” He didn’t say anything more; just hung up. I didn’t blame him.
“Well?” Nathan looked like puppy waiting for a bone. I was glad to throw him one.
“Jake says that Victor started calling himself Andrew about ten years ago. So, looks like he’s our guy.” I looked at the picture again. “I suppose we could sneak into the morgue tonight and see for sure.”
Nathan jumped off the chair. “We could? Holy Hanna, Mabel, that would be so cool.”
I started laughing. “No, Nathan, we are not sneaking into the morgue. My morgue-sneaking days are over. Now, tell me what you know about this ugly looking fellow and we’ll run it by Reg tomorrow. He’ll know for sure if it’s Victor Fleming.”
His disappointment changed to excitement as he started to share his newfound information with me. I watched his fingers dance across the keys and wondered if I’d ever reach such cyberspace heights.
“Well,” he said. “I found out that he lived in a few different places. He shared a jail cell with several people too. You know, I was thinking, Mabel, what if one of his former partners in crime had something against him and now they came to even the score. They could be framing Jake Junior for the murder.”
“That’s a wonderful theory, Nathan, but that doesn’t explain why Junior was at the murder scene or won’t talk, does it?”
“Maybe this person has threatened to hurt Flori if he says anything.”
I patted him on the arm. “What else do you have? I think we’ll keep your theory on the back burner for the time being.”
“All right, but I think that something like that makes sense, Mabel.” He brought up a page from a newspaper article. “Have a look at this.”
Once again, I was looking at Victor Andrew Fleming’s face. This was a younger version without the scar.
“What’s the date on this one?” I asked.
He scrolled to the top of the page. “This is from twelve years ago.”
“Does he call himself Andrew or Victor?”
“Actually, this just uses Victor.”
“Just out of curiosity, I’d love to know when he got the scar and who gave it to him.”
Nathan beamed. “See, Mabel, I’ll bet you anything the man who gave him the scar is the man who murdered him.”
“Oh, Nathan, if it were only that easy. What stranger have you seen lurking around who might have given Victor the scar?”
A look of great wisdom and smugness crossed his face. “John Smith, that’s who.”
“John Smith? We don’t know anything about him. You can’t start accusing innocent people of murder without evidence, my young friend.”
“But it fits, Mabel. He’s new here. No one knows him. As you said yourself, we all know that John Smith is not his real name. We obviously can’t find any information on him. Plus, he was at the murder scene. He admitted that. Maybe Junior did take Victor out there and dropped him off to teach him a lesson but John Smith gave him a beating and put the padlock on the door so Victor couldn’t get out.”
“It would be wonderful if murders could be solved so easily but don’t forget you have to prove all of that. For instance, we would have to find out if this John Smith ever knew Victor, which might be hard to do considering we d
on't know John Smith's real name. Then, we’d have to prove that he beat him up and locked him in the shack. If this John Smith is about forty, there’s an age difference too. We’d also have to find out why Junior isn’t speaking to anyone. If he just dropped Victor off and drove away, why doesn’t he say so?”
Nathan let out a sigh. “You make it sound so complicated, Mabel. I don’t know if we’ll ever solve this. Maybe Junior is the killer.”
“You are giving up already? That’s not like you, Nathan.”
He managed a smile. “I need to learn patience from you, Mabel.”
“Yes, well, I’m not always the perfect example of patience either. But I thought you had more to show me about this Fleming fellow. Let’s look at everything you’ve got.”
That seemed to perk him up as he went back to the computer with a little more zest.
“Here’s another newspaper report, Mabel. This is a newer one. It’s from five years ago.”
“Hey, that’s great. What does it say?”
He turned the computer screen closer to me. I read it aloud. (Under my kitchen light, I can see to read anything. Flori is always after me to buy reading glasses but I told her there is no need. Shine a light on the paper and I can read the small print on my cereal box.)
“Andrew Fleming was arrested this morning at 98 Swindon Drive in Garden City. He was transported to Stony Heights Remand Center to await trial for the kidnapping of Reginald Blackwood. Blackwood was released unharmed and no money was ever exchanged. In an interview, Mr. Blackwood said he felt as if he were dealing with someone from the Apple Dumpling Gang. Even with his wrists tied with rope, he was able to dial 911 from his cell phone and alert the police while Fleming was ‘taking a bathroom break.’ It is still unknown who Fleming’s accomplices were and he is not cooperating. Blackwood said he heard Fleming talking to someone in another room several times but he could not say if it was one person or more. A police statement said that Fleming was uncooperative and would not reveal any names.
This appears to be Mr. Fleming’s first attempt at kidnapping although he has had several encounters with the Law, many for botched break and enters.
Frozen Identity Page 5