by Cindy Bell
“They’re related.” Samantha nodded. “That still puts him in the hot seat.”
“So, you’re saying after all of this work we’re still not any closer to finding out who the murderer is?” Walt shook his head.
“Well, we can visit our friend Cory again to see if he has anything to say about his father being on the train.” Eddy finished his food.
“I think that’s a good idea. But this time, can I go with you?” Jo looked at Eddy. “I want to see Cory for myself. I’m very good at telling if someone is lying.”
“All right.” Eddy nodded. “It would be good to go and speak to him with someone else. Throw him off a bit. Give me a few minutes I want to talk to Walt about something.” He wanted to tell Walt to keep a lookout for Peter.
“Sure.” Jo glanced over at Samantha. “Are you going to join us?”
“No, I don’t think so.” Samantha tapped at the screen on her phone. “I want to do a little more checking into Pete. I think that this idea about Mick is a stretch.”
“All right. Hopefully when we get the copy of the suicide note, something will stand out.”
“I forgot all about that phone number on the brochure Jo found. We should give it a ring out of curiosity.” She rummaged in her purse until she found the brochure.
“Good idea.” Jo glanced over at the brochure which was splashed with images of the flower show. A shadow passed across her features as she looked away. Samantha frowned and pulled out her cell phone.
“I’m sorry that we’re missing some of the show. I promise that we won’t miss all of it.”
“It’s okay. You know this is more important to me than flowers. There will be other shows.”
Samantha dialed the number on the brochure. She listened to two rings before someone picked up.
“Wilks.”
Samantha’s hand trembled as she held the phone. Of all the people she expected might answer, Peter Wilks was not one of them. She hung up quickly.
“Samantha? Who was it? What’s wrong?”
Samantha put her phone down on the table. She bit into her bottom lip. When she released it she met Jo’s eyes. “Peter Wilks answered.”
Before Jo could respond the phone started to ring. Samantha stared down at the phone number on the caller ID display, it was the same number that she had just dialed. “It’s him.”
“Don’t answer it.” Jo shook her head.
“But maybe I should?” Samantha picked it up before she could convince herself not to. “Hello?”
“Samantha?” Peter sounded surprised. “I didn’t know that you had this number. Why did you hang up?”
“I didn’t have this number. Ryan did. Written on a flower show brochure that we found in his room. Care to explain how he got it?” She braced herself. The last thing that she expected was for Peter to tell the truth.
“I gave it to him.”
The revelation made Samantha’s breath catch in her throat. She didn’t really want to believe that Peter could have killed Ryan, even if all the evidence pointed at him, and her own instincts screamed that he was possibly responsible.
“Why?”
“To try and befriend him so I could find out as much as I could about him. I wanted to see if there was anything I could use to put him back in jail. When Sandra hired me, she said she didn’t want him walking free. I assured her that a criminal like that would likely have more than one skeleton in his closet. So, I waited for the opportunity to speak to him and once I had it, I gave him the impression that I could help him clear his name. I wanted him to trust me and confide in me any other crimes he may have committed.”
“And did he?”
“No. He was squeaky clean as far as I could tell. He just kept repeating the same stuff about how much he loved his girlfriend and how he was going to spend the rest of his life with her. I realized I was getting nowhere, so I jotted down my number and asked him to call me if he wanted to work on clearing his name. I hoped that he would maybe get a little drunk and decide to confess something to me. It was a last ditch effort to help Sandra. Obviously that didn’t work out.”
“Pete, you two are cousins aren’t you?”
“Samantha, I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right. I would do just about anything for family. But not this. Never this.”
“Are you sure? Maybe you just got upset with him, maybe you were just trying to teach him a lesson of some kind. You didn’t mean to hurt him, but he wasn’t listening.”
“No, that’s not true at all.” Peter’s voice rumbled with anger. “If that’s what you think of me, then there is nothing left to say.” He hung up the phone. Samantha held the phone to her ear a moment longer as if she wasn’t ready to put it down. She wondered if she had pushed him too far. Maybe he was innocent, in which case she definitely didn’t want to antagonize or upset him.
“You okay?” Jo looked at her.
“I think so.”
“Ready?” Eddy looked at Jo as he and Walt walked back over.
“Samantha and I will look into Mick from here.” Walt sat back down across from Samantha. “But only after she finishes her meatball sub.”
Samantha tried to smile, but her heart fluttered with an unnamed fear. If Peter really was a killer had she just given him a reason to target them all?
Chapter Twelve
The silence in the cab as Eddy and Jo rode to Cory’s house was thick.
“So, have you seen any groundbreaking flowers?”
Jo looked over at him. “I’ve seen some beautiful ones.”
“Groundbreaking, you get it, because flowers grow out of the ground.” Eddy gave a short, awkward laugh.
“Oh, clever.” Jo spared a small smile. “I get it.”
“I’m sorry this is interfering with your vacation.”
“It’s all right, it wouldn’t feel like my day was complete without investigating someone or something.” Jo looked out the window at the passing trees. “It’s a good thing that you’re here or it would just be me and Samantha looking into the murder. That could have been messy.”
“What’s going on with her? She seems distracted.”
“On the contrary, she is highly focused.”
“Huh?” Eddy frowned. “She’s barely said a word about Mick.”
“That’s because she doesn’t think Mick is the killer. She’s focused on Peter, she thinks he’s involved.”
“Oh.” The cab lurched to a stop outside of Leila’s house. “I can understand why she would think that. Once we rule out Mick, I’m likely to agree with her on that opinion,” Eddy said thoughtfully.
“You think he’s guilty, too?”
“I think he may not be guilty of murder, but I think he’s guilty of something. He must have been on the train to do something, it’s just too much of a coincidence. There’s Cory.” Eddy looked down the driveway.
Cory’s large frame made its way towards the end of the driveway weighted down by a large trash bag. “Thanks for the lift.” Eddy slipped the driver payment, then he nodded to Jo. Eddy grabbed the handle of the door and eased it open. Jo did the same on the passenger side. With muffled footsteps they approached Cory, who dropped the large bag of trash into the trashcan. Jo moved behind him and Eddy blocked his path back to the house.
“Hi there, Cory. Remember me?” Eddy smiled.
“What do you want?” Cory glanced over his shoulder at Jo. His gaze lingered on her for a moment, then he turned back to Eddy. “What’s this about?”
“It’s about the fact that you were on a train yesterday with your fiancée’s ex. Did she know that you threw him off? Did she ask you to do it?” Eddy narrowed his eyes.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“There’s no point in lying, Cory, we know that you were on that train. We have an eyewitness that can place you there, not to mention that you bought a ticket in your own name. Not a great idea if you’re planning to commit murder. But you thought that everyone would assume it was
a suicide. You’d be free and clear. I guess you weren’t counting on this,” Eddy said. Cory glared at him. He pursed his lips and then shook his head.
“All right, I was on the train, but that doesn’t prove anything. I didn’t even speak to Ryan. I spent most of the trip in my room trying to get the nerve up to confront him. I wanted to protect Leila, but to be honest with you I didn’t want to get into a fight. I was going to confront him, but I kept delaying it and then before I could he was dead.” He grimaced. “Now you’ve got Leila thinking I had something to do with his murder. But I didn’t. No matter what anyone says you can’t prove that I did, because I didn’t.” He glared into Eddy’s eyes. “You can believe whatever it is you need to, but it won’t change the facts. I was on that train to talk to Ryan, to get him to leave Leila alone, that was it. I didn’t even do that.”
“Why not? Don’t you care about Leila?” Eddy stepped around the trashcan towards him. “You’re going to marry her, but you can’t come to her defense?”
“Look.” Cory frowned and leaned one hand against the trashcan lid. “Because of my size everybody thinks I’m tough. But the truth is, I don’t like confronting people.” He sighed. “I didn’t want to look like I was too weak to protect her so I offered to go get on the train and prevent him from coming here. I would have, too, but obviously, I didn’t have to. He was dead before the train arrived.”
“Or maybe you did and this is the best cover story that you could come up with. Hmm?” Eddy crossed his arms. “I’m not buying it. I bet you confronted him and things went from bad to worse. Maybe it was a fight that just got out of hand, maybe it wasn’t your fault.” Eddy pressed, trying to sympathize with him so he would confess.
“Look, it wasn’t me. I didn’t even talk to him. I did overhear someone else talking about him though.” He nodded his head. “And that lady was angry.”
“What lady?” Eddy narrowed his eyes with interest.
“I don’t know her name. She was pretty drunk. I heard her arguing with this guy in the corridor. He kept saying that she had to let it go, he hadn’t found anything they could use. She told him that Ryan was worthless and that he had to pay for what he did. She said, if he couldn’t find a way to make him pay, then she would have to.” He shook his head. “I just figured she was another person he had crossed. From the way they were talking though, it seemed like Ryan had done a lot more harm than just stalking. I figured if they were already gunning for him I didn’t really need to jump in. I guess I was right.”
“I don’t know what makes you think that you can get away with trying to pin this on some woman.” Eddy laughed. “Ryan was far larger than her.”
“Then you know who I’m talking about?” Cory raised an eyebrow. “You know who the woman is?”
Eddy grimaced. He had let too much slip. He tried to use it to his advantage. “Sure, I’ve already ruled her out as the killer. Anyone else you want to try to frame?”
“Look, I’m not framing anybody. If you cleared her then I guess she didn’t do it, but I can tell you, I wouldn’t want her to be my enemy. She was fierce and drunk. Have you ever tried to fight with a drunk woman? Even if she’s small, I bet she can pack a punch. Look, I’ve got to get back inside before Leila notices that I’m gone. She’s pretty upset about all of this. It took a lot to convince her that I had nothing to do with his death. If she sees me talking to you, she might not believe me anymore.”
“I’m not sure that I believe you.” Eddy lifted the brim of his fedora and wiped away some sweat that had gathered there. “I can tell you that we will be in touch.”
“Whatever.” Cory shook his head. “I had nothing to do with it, so you’re not going to find anything on me.”
As he turned and walked back inside, Jo faced Eddy. “What do you think? Is he lying?”
“It’s hard to tell. But I do think it’s time we had a conversation with this woman that he defrauded. It sounds like she had a very big score to settle. She’s so small though.” He began to walk back towards the car. Jo let him get a few steps ahead of her. Then with a burst of speed she ran up to him from behind. She had his arm twisted behind his back and his body thrust forward before he could even think to struggle.
“Bam, you’re off the train, Eddy. Her size wouldn’t have stopped her if she took him by surprise.”
Eddy cleared his throat and started to resist her grasp. She only tightened her grip. “Jo, let me go.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought we were still acting out the idea.” She released him and took a step back in case he decided to retaliate. “But do you think she could do it now?”
“Absolutely, but you’re a lot stronger than she is and it just seems very unlikely.” Eddy shot her a sullen look as he ran his hand along the reddened skin of his wrist. “Or at the very least I know not to get on anymore trains with you.”
“As long as you’re good to me, you have nothing to worry about.” She cast him a quick wink.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
As the two walked back towards the street Eddy cast a glance over his shoulder. He caught sight of Leila peering out through the curtains of the front window. When she saw him turn, the curtains fell shut. Eddy called a cab which arrived within a minute. Once they were back in the cab Jo looked over at Eddy.
“Why didn’t you mention Mick?”
“I wasn’t ready to. Not yet. I don’t want Cory to know what we know until we learn a little bit more about Mick. If we tip them off then they will do their best to get their stories straight. I want to know that I can get a confession out of him before I move forward with any accusations.”
“Your mind amazes me sometimes.” Jo smiled at him.
“Why?” Eddy rubbed his forehead. “Lately it seems to be failing me more and more.” Jo was surprised that Eddy was so open with her.
“You don’t just see what’s right in front of you, you see the whole story. You think about past, present, future, and all the ways a person has created connections throughout their lives. I guess that’s what made you a great detective.”
“Did you just say great and detective in the same sentence?” Eddy arched a brow as he looked over at her.
“It’s a compliment, old man, just enjoy it.”
“Fine, I think I will.” Eddy looked over at the window, but Jo still caught sight of the slight curl of his lips into a smile.
Chapter Thirteen
Jo and Eddy returned to the café where Walt and Samantha were waiting for them.
“It took me a little time to sort through all of the Mick Smith’s, but I think I have it narrowed down to the same man that purchased a ticket on the train. I have confirmed that he is Cory’s father. It has just been the two of them since Cory’s mother died in a car accident ten years ago. There are no records of remarriage. From what I can tell Mick’s not rich, but he’s comfortable.” Walt frowned. “He is a businessman and there’s nothing to indicate that he would take such a large risk as to kill someone.”
“Maybe not as a businessman, but as a father.” Samantha flipped through the photographs on her phone. “I found some old articles in the local paper about Cory winning some wrestling competitions, his father is by his side in every picture. It seems like the two are very close. Maybe Mick is protective of him.”
“Maybe. Or maybe he got on that train with Cory to try to stop him from taking Ryan’s life. He just didn’t get the chance.” Walt frowned. “With Cory’s experience in wrestling I’m sure that he would have no trouble getting Ryan off the train.”
“Good point.” Samantha nodded. Her expression darkened as her mind returned to Peter. He sounded so offended when she last spoke to him. Still, she couldn’t shake the idea that he was involved. It made sense for him to be the murderer even though she hoped he wasn’t. Yet, Cory was also a very likely candidate. She shook her head as her mind raced in many different directions.
“Well, we found out that Cory claims that he wanted to talk to Ryan to stop him bu
t he never got the chance.” Eddy and Jo walked up to the table.
“Oh?” Samantha looked up at him. “Did you ask him about Mick?”
“No I didn’t. I wanted to wait to see what you found out first. Anything?”
“Only that Mick is a very stable man with good business sense and a deep affection for his son.” Walt canted his head to the side. “Does that sound like a murderer to you?”
Eddy pulled off his fedora and ran his hand back through his thin, brown hair. “No. But people are not always what they seem. In fact they are rarely what they seem on the surface. Right Samantha?” He cast a glance in her direction.
“Right.” She looked back at him without hesitation. She knew that he was trying to bait her into discussing Peter, but she was not ready to.
“So, what’s our next step?” Jo did her best to break through the tension between the two. “Are we going to hunt down Mick and talk things over with him?”
“I don’t want to tip him off. I think we need to talk to the police. Going to the local police station that attended the scene is not a possibility because it’s too far from here. But I asked Chris, and he found out that the station that would investigate the crime if it was a suspected murder is a bit of a drive from here, but it’s not too far. I don’t know how much they’ll know because it’s being treated as a suicide, but it’s worth taking a shot and seeing if they know anything. If we can get an idea of whether they found anything the slightest bit suspicious on the body then we might be able to gain some actual proof that we could use to try and get a confession out of whoever might have done this.” He looked over at Samantha again.
“Okay, let’s do it.” Jo pulled out her phone. “I think we’re making the cab service around here rich.”
“No, wait a minute, there’s no reason for all of us to go.” Samantha stood up. “Eddy’s the one with police connections and Walt has the eye for detail. You and I can finish out what’s left of the flower show.”