Toni L.P. Kelner - Laura Fleming 02 - Dead Ringer

by Toni L. P. Kelner

  I smiled at her anyway. “We’d like to see Mr. Walters for a moment and return these.” I held up the packet.

  She stretched out a hand. “I’ll see that he gets them.”

  “I’d rather put them in his hand personally.” For one, I thought that Walters would prefer that no one else have a chance to see what he had loaned us, because that would only cause speculation as to why. For another, I just didn’t like that secretary.

  “I don’t know when he’ll be free,” she said. “There are others waiting to see him.” Sure enough, three men were lined up on a couch, briefcases perched on their knees.

  “Just tell him that Laura and Richard Fleming are here. I expect he’ll find a few minutes.”

  I’d say she frowned, except that she was already frowning, but certainly her frown deepened as she picked up her phone and murmured something. Then the frown became a straight line, which was probably as close to a smile as she ever got. “He says come right in.” She even opened the door for us.

  I suppose that I should have felt guilty about throwing our weight around that way, but I didn’t. I simply said, “Thank you,” and swept in.

  I couldn’t help but look down at the place where I had found Leonard Cooper’s, or rather Small Bill Walters’s, body. There were no stains because the carpet had been replaced. I didn’t blame Walters for that—I’d have done the same thing.

  Burt stood to shake Richard’s and my hands as we came in. He moved like he was more sure of himself than he had been the night before, much more like his old self. Both he and we remained standing.

  “We dropped by to return these,” I said, and handed him the packet of letters.

  “Did you find anything useful in them?” he asked.

  “Not really. If your brother knew anything about the problem we’re investigating, he didn’t say so in those letters.”

  “There was one thing,” Richard said. “In the letter describing John Ward Marston’s death, your brother referred to a gift and a final letter he was to deliver to Daphine Marston. Do you know anything about them?”

  Mr. Walters shook his head. “I was there when my father and mother examined my late brother’s effects, and there was nothing like that among them. I assumed that my brother sent them along to Daphine at some point.”

  “No, she never received them,” Richard said.

  “A pity.” Walters glanced at his watch. “I don’t like to rush you, but I have an appointment waiting.”

  “I did want to ask if I could borrow Joleen Dodd for a few minutes,” I said.

  “Certainly, if she’s still on the grounds. Miss Dodd has given her notice, and I told her that she could leave right away if she wished to.”

  “Joleen’s leaving?” I said.

  He held up his hands in an air of dismissal. “It was her idea, I assure you. A letter of resignation was waiting when I arrived this morning. As far as I’m concerned, she has nothing to worry about because of what happened last night.”

  Or what didn’t happen, I thought to myself. “We’ll see if we can catch her. Thank you again.”

  “Certainly. And as I said before, please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you with your investigation.”

  We shook hands again, and he called for his secretary to send in his next appointment. While we were in the elevator, I asked Richard, “Are you still hoping to find that present for Aunt Daphine?”

  “Partially,” he said, “but as you were returning Burt’s letters, it also occurred to me that if that note still existed, it might somehow indicate that your aunt and uncle weren’t married.”

  “You’re right!” I said. “That makes all kinds of sense. I can’t believe that I missed that.”

  He looked smug. “I would think that a reward would be appropriate.”

  I kissed him quickly. “Here’s the down payment,” I said as the door opened. “I’ll pay the balance after we talk to Joleen.”

  Our timing was perfect. Joleen was walking toward the front door carrying a box.

  “Here, let me get that for you,” Richard said, and took the box from her.

  “Thanks,” she said. She turned and waved half–heartedly at a couple of other women, and then we went out the door.

  “Mr. Walters told us you resigned,” I said once we were outside. “It wasn’t because of what I asked you to do, was it?”

  Joleen shook her head. “No, it’s just that talking to you yesterday kind of reminded me that I don’t much like this job, and that I don’t much like Byerly either. So I figured, to hell with it. I’m packing up and moving on.”

  By now we were at her car, and she unlocked the trunk for Richard to put in her box.

  “How did things go with Mr. Walters last night?” Joleen asked. “Did you get what you were after?”

  “I think so,” I said. “Have you got a minute for us to ask you a few questions?”

  “Go ahead.”

  I knew I’d have to word my questions pretty carefully or it would sound like I was bad–mouthing Dorinda. “We think that the reason your mother was killed was because she knew something about the murder of that man at the mill.”

  Joleen nodded.

  I continued, “We’re guessing that she saw Leonard Cooper when he was in town, probably that Saturday or Sunday. Maybe she even saw the killer with Cooper, not realizing it at the time, of course. The murderer knew she could place him with Cooper, and shot your mother to protect himself.”

  There were a lot of holes in what I was saying, like why Dorinda hadn’t gone to the police and how the murderer had found out that Dorinda knew, but I couldn’t very well accuse Joleen’s dead mother of attempted blackmail. Still, something in the way Joleen cocked her head while she was listening made me think that she knew just what my story implied.

  “Anyway,” I said, “we want to find out where your mother was on that Saturday and Sunday.”

  Joleen said, “Well, she would have been at work on Saturday, but I think she left early because it wasn’t her turn to lock up.” Then she shook her head. “No, she meant to leave early but she forgot her coat and had to run back and get it. Saturday night she went out with me and a couple of friends of ours.” She paused significantly. “Men friends. I’d just as soon not kiss and tell, if you don’t mind.”

  Meaning that the men were probably married, I concluded, but I just said, “Then if she had seen anything, you’d have seen it, too.”

  Joleen nodded. “I’m fairly sure that we didn’t see that Cooper fellow anywhere, because he would have stuck out like a sore thumb in the places we went.”

  “How about Sunday?”

  “Well, we stayed out pretty late on Saturday night, so I just barely got up in time for Thaddeous to pick me up for the reunion. Mama was still snoring when I left, and I don’t think she left the house all day. She didn’t mention it to me if she did.”

  I asked, “What about the last few days before she was killed? Did she talk about the murder to you?”

  Again she gave me that look, the one that said she knew exactly what I was getting at. “We talked about it some, because of my finding the body.”

  “She didn’t say anything about maybe seeing Cooper? I was there at the beauty parlor when she looked at the Byerly Gazette on Thursday, and it seemed to me that she was awfully interested in his picture.”

  “I didn’t see Mama for very long Thursday night. I went out straight from work, and you were there when I got back. She was pretty full of herself that night and had one beer too many after y’all left. She always got ornery when she drank, and she started picking on me for something or another, so we didn’t talk a whole lot that night.”

  It seemed a shame that Joleen’s last conversation with her mother had been an argument, but she seemed to be taking it in stride. I asked, “What about Friday?”

  “Me and the fellow from Thursday night tried again.” She winked at me. “This time his wife was out of town, so we made hay while the sun wa
s shining. We spent the night over at his place, and I was with him all day Saturday. I just barely got home in time to get ready to go to that party with Thaddeous, and Mama wasn’t home. The next thing I knew, Junior Norton had sent her deputy to come tell me that Mama was dead.”

  I looked at Richard and he shrugged. “I guess that’s all we wanted to know. Thanks, Joleen.”

  “No problem.”

  “So where are you moving to?” I asked.

  “I haven’t decided yet. Maybe Raleigh, or Charlotte. There’s a lot going on around Charlotte, not like this hick town.”

  I felt kind of awkward, because I thought I was probably the closest thing she had to a friend in Byerly. “Do you need any help packing or anything?”

  “That’s all right. I’m only taking my clothes and stuff. The furniture is all junk, and the landlord’s welcome to it.”

  I hesitated a moment, but I had to ask the next question. “I know you two weren’t going steady or anything, but did you tell Thaddeous?”

  “I’ll call him tonight. Don’t worry. I’ll let him down easy.”

  “I’d appreciate it if you did.”

  “Well, I better get going. It was nice knowing you, Laurie Anne. I’ll be leaving my address with Chief Norton, so you be sure and call if you find out anything about what happened to Mama.”

  “I will,” I said. Then I gave her a quick hug. “Take care of yourself, Joleen. Look us up if you ever get to Boston.”

  She looked surprised at the hug, but said, “I just might do that. Bye.” She climbed into her car and drove away.

  “Poor Joleen,” I said as we went back to our own car. “I hate to see her leaving alone like that.”

  “She’s not quite alone,” Richard said.

  “Oh?”

  “That box I was carrying was filled with socks, towels, a stapler, yellow–sticky pads, and I don’t know what else. She’s taking a little bit of Byerly with her.”

  I probably should have been indignant that she was pilfering from the mill, but I wasn’t. Joleen was going to take care of herself just fine.

  Chapter 34

  “So?” Richard asked as we drove away. “What next?”

  “Why do you keep asking me that?” I said with some irritation. “Why don’t you come up with a plan for a change?”

  “Maybe you’re right,” he said, accepting the reproof with a lot more good humor than it deserved. “Let me see what I can come up with.” He assumed his hard–thinking academic expression. “As I see it, our lines of investigation should begin to converge about now.”

  “How so?”

  “I didn’t say that they did converge—I said that they should converge.”

  “Ah.”

  He thought some more. “There’s still that last letter that Uncle John Ward wrote to Aunt Daphine.”

  “Yes?” I said hopefully. “Do you have an idea of where we could find it?”

  “No, I just thought it should be noted.”

  “You’re a big help.”

  “Aren’t we getting snappy?”

  The conversation degenerated after that. By the time we got back to Aunt Maggie’s house, we were both as ill as hornets. As soon as we got inside, Richard picked up his book and stomped out to the back porch, and I took my computer to the den and pounded on the keys. Aunt Maggie returned in the early afternoon, figured out that we were fighting, and went right back out the door. I didn’t blame her. Richard and I don’t fight often, but when we do, nobody wants to be around us.

  It didn’t last, of course. By mid–afternoon, we nodded civilly when we encountered one another getting drinks in the kitchen. About half an hour later, Richard came inside to read in the den, saying that it was getting chilly outside. A while after that, I offered to get him another drink since I was going upstairs anyway. From there we progressed to mutual apologies, and then hugs and kisses as we made up.

  It had been a silly fight anyway, and we both knew it. The combination of pressure and frustration we had been putting up with for the past week just wasn’t designed to make people happy.

  We both decided that it was time to get away from it all, and called Carlelle, Odelle, and Ideile to find out a good place for listening and dancing to rock–and–roll. After arguing over which club was the best in Hickory, they decided to come along with us.

  The five of us had a wonderful time, even if the ladies outnumbered the available gentleman. Richard ran himself ragged trying to make sure that we all got to dance before we gave up and danced in a group. After our feet gave out, we went to an all–night drive–in for hamburgers and milk shakes. By the time we finally dropped the triplets off at their apartment, it was almost two o’clock and I had a feeling that the three of them were going to be calling in sick at the mill the next morning. Or rather, later that morning. Richard and I slept until nearly noon ourselves.

  I guess I was hoping that we would wake up ready and raring to go after the blackmailer, that our unconscious minds would have been working overtime and would have come up with the solution. It just didn’t work out that way. We were just as stuck as we had been the day before. In fact, we stayed stuck for the next three days.

  It wasn’t for lack of trying, that’s for sure. We spent hours going over everything we knew, trying to come up with motives, means, or opportunity for just about everybody in Byerly. I spoke to Aunt Daphine half a dozen times, trying to get confirmation for crazier and crazier ideas, but getting shot down every time. Richard went back to the V.F.W. and he and Vivian went back over her computer files, trying to find out some connection between Uncle John Ward and anybody. Nothing. We ate over at Aunt Nora’s again, and afterwards quizzed her for any gossip I might have missed before. Still nothing.

  We spent time checking out suspects we had already eliminated, like the Honeywells and Larry Parker. It turned out that Sid Honeywell spent every Sunday afternoon at the Byerly Nursing Home visiting his father, so he was in the clear for Cooper’s murder. His son, although just as nasty as Aunt Nora had said, spent the Saturday that Dorinda was killed in jail in Dudley Shoals for being drunk and disorderly the night before. As for Larry, if we had been thinking straight, we wouldn’t have even bothered speaking to him again. He was at Vasti’s party taking pictures of people when Dorinda was shot.

  We saw Junior and her deputy around a lot more than coincidence would explain. I wanted to ask her if she was having any better luck than we were, but I couldn’t. If she was hoping to find out anything from where Richard and I were going, she was certainly wasting her time.

  In between our useless attempts at investigation, we spent a fair amount of time with various family members. I went shopping with the triplets after they called in sick on Thursday, and Richard and I went to an auction with Aunt Maggie on Thursday night, and I babysat for Linwood on Friday afternoon so he could go to the dentist. On Friday night, all of the cousins who were old enough went over to The Mustang Club with Aunt Ruby Lee to watch Roger perform, and Roger let Clifford come up on stage with him and play.

  We had to drag Thaddeous along with us that night because he was still moping about Joleen, but Clifford and Richard made a determined effort to get him drunk enough that he would talk it out. By the time they were finished with him, he was ready to dance with every woman in the place, one at a time or all at once.

  At one point, I did ask him about the Burnette tradition of marrying the person you take to the reunion, but he told me that he hadn’t asked her, she had asked him. As far as he was concerned, that didn’t count. He said that if breaking the tradition bothered anybody, somebody else could marry her. After that, he pulled me out onto the dance floor.

  I should have been having myself a wonderful time, and I probably would have been if I could have stopped worrying about Aunt Daphine. She kept telling me that she knew I had done my best and that I shouldn’t worry, but how could I not worry? The closer it got to Sunday, when she was going to have to either pay the blackmailer or take the conseque
nces, the worse I felt. She had trusted me, and I was letting her down.

  Chapter 35

  Finally it was Saturday afternoon, and Richard and I still didn’t have a clue as to who was blackmailing Aunt Daphine, or who had killed Small Bill and Dorinda. I wanted to put off telling that to Aunt Daphine, but I knew it wouldn’t be fair to her. Richard and I met her at the beauty parlor at closing time. As soon as she let everybody else out, she turned to us and said, “Have you had any luck?”

  I had to shake my head. “I’m sorry, Aunt Daphine, but Richard and I just haven’t been able to find out anything. We’ve tried, but …”

  Aunt Daphine nodded sadly. “That’s all right, Laurie Anne. I know you and Richard have done the best you can.

  I’d have almost rather she yelled at us. That way I could have got mad right back at her, instead of feeling so low.

  Aunt Daphine said, “I never did come up with any more money, so I guess we’ll just see what happens tomorrow.”

  As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. We looked up to see Aunt Nora peering at us through the window and waving.

  Aunt Daphine went to unlock the door. “Hey there, Nora. What are you doing out in this neck of the woods?”

  “Hey there yourself. I’m glad I caught you,” Aunt Nora said. “I wanted to drop this off for you.” She handed Aunt Daphine a thick white envelope.

  Aunt Daphine said, “What’s this?” as she looked inside. Then she looked back at Aunt Nora. “Nora, where did this money come from?”

  “From all of us. From Aunt Maggie, and Ruby Lee and Roger, and Edna, and Nellie and Ruben, and me and Buddy. We want you to have it.” She put her hands firmly at her sides, as if to emphasize that she wasn’t taking it back. “We know that you’re in trouble, and we know you need money. Now if that’s not enough, you just say so.”

  “Nora, I can’t take this.”

  “Yes, you can. If you don’t, Aunt Maggie said she was going to come make you.”