Murder in the Museum_Edmund DeCleryk Mysteries

by Karen Shughart

  Michael and Luke agreed that if they did find the copper box with anything in it, they would find a way to explain its discovery so whatever was in it could be returned to England. At first Luke argued that if there were some small items that didn’t seem valuable, maybe they could keep them as mementos, souvenirs for their efforts. Michael strongly objected, and Luke backed off but promised to continue working with Michael to find the treasure.

  Michael told Ed that Charles had once volunteered that he, Annie and someone named Suzanne were the only ones with keys to the museum. He knew Charles color-coded his keys and kept them on a ring that he placed, when not in use, in a dish on the small credenza just inside his front door. One night while they were having dinner, Michael expressed curiosity about the keys on Charles’ key ring, and what the colors meant. Charles told him about each key and pointed out the one to the museum, which was coded with a blue dot.

  Several days later, he visited Charles to watch a ballgame with him, and before the game started they decided to order a pizza. Michael, a long-distance cyclist, had ridden his bike to Charles’ house, so Charles gave him his set of keys and told him to use his car to pick up the pizza. Seizing what he saw was a perfect opportunity, he stopped at the hardware store on his way to the pizza parlor and had a copy of the museum key made.

  Luke lived in a rented beach cottage within walking distance to the museum. About 5:00 the morning of the murder, Michael drove to his cottage, parked his car, and carrying a small trowel and spade, walked with him to the museum. The pair had chosen the early hour because it was still dark and would also give them enough time to explore without Michael being late for work. Luke had worked late the night before so wasn’t expected at the police station until mid-morning.

  Using the key, they entered the museum, went downstairs and with a low-watt flashlight shining on the spot they started digging, keeping their gloves on because the basement was so cold. When they heard a noise upstairs they thought it might be an intruder, so they quickly grabbed two boxes from the shelves, put them over the hole and placed the map between them for safe keeping, planning to go back downstairs to continue their digging after they found out what the noise was.

  Whispering for Michael to stay behind, Luke grabbed a coal scuttle that was lying next to the old coal furnace and crept up the steps. Emily saw him as he surfaced from the basement but didn’t recognize him and started screaming. He tried to quiet her, telling her he could explain why he was there, but she panicked and started to run out of her office to the front door. In Michael’s words, his friend “freaked out,” and started screaming at Emily to shut up or he would make her shut up.

  By now, Michael had crept upstairs to see what was going on, and that’s when he saw Luke hit Emily with the scuttle. She went down, and Michael thought he’d killed her, but she wasn’t dead. He wanted to call 911. Luke told him that wasn’t going to happen. If they ever wanted to get out of this, Emily couldn’t live because she could identify them, and he wasn’t going to lose his job because of her. Michael said Luke was completely out of control.

  Ignoring Michael’s protests, Luke picked up Emily’s unconscious body, carried it across the lawn and threw her over the bluff. Michael tried stopping him on his way out the door and said that’s probably when his scarf fell. When he got to school that morning, he realized it was missing but hoped it had fallen off in the school parking lot until his dad called. He’d spent the first few months after Emily’s death paralyzed with fear and anxiety but somehow managed to go about his daily routine and continue teaching. The entire incident eventually became surreal for him and receded from being ever present.

  “That’s quite a story, Michael, but what if Emily hadn’t been there and you actually did find the box with the treasure? How would you have explained finding it without implicating yourselves in the break-in?”

  “That’s easy. We would have filled the hole, put the boxes back and then a few days later, we would have said we’d found it on the beach when the water had receded.”

  “I understand why your father confessed. He wanted to protect you. But if you’d called 911, Emily would still be alive, her fall would have been deemed an accident, and you wouldn’t be facing a murder charge. You would have been arrested for breaking and entering, and since it probably was a first offense you may have gotten off with probation or a fine and suspended sentence since nothing was stolen.”

  Michael wiped his nose and sniffed. “Luke’s career would have been ruined, and probably mine as well. I’m a teacher, and there’s no way I would have been able to keep my job. I told you. I wanted to call 911. I even got my cell phone out to make that call. That’s when Luke threatened me. I knew what he did for a living, and he used that as leverage against me. He was acting crazy and not at all like the man whom I’d met for coffee to talk about shipwrecks. I was terrified.”

  “How did he threaten you, Michael?”

  “He said he knew how to plant evidence that would convincingly make it seem like I had broken into the museum and killed Emily, and that if I reached for my phone, he would call 911 and tell the dispatcher that during an early morning run he’d seen lights on in the museum and then someone carrying a body and throwing it over the bluff. He’d say he’d called out to the perpetrator, meaning me, to stop, but that I’d started to flee, and because he always carried a gun for protection when he jogged before daylight, he’d shot a warning shot into the air. When I continued to run he’d say he shot again, but I dodged and turned around and the bullet hit an artery in my neck, killing me. He told me he’d appear very remorseful. There would be an investigation, of course, but he knew his story would hold up because of who he was. Everyone would believe that I’d broken into the museum and killed Emily. He warned me if I said anything about the truth of what happened, ever, he’d not only find a way to kill me, but also go after my dad.”

  “I wanted to confess and promised I wouldn’t mention he was with me, but Luke said neither of us could be implicated in the crime and he knew I’d cave under questioning. Look at what’s happening now.”

  Ed asked, “Michael, was Luke wearing a pendant with an anchor?”

  “He was. Before he hit Emily, he grabbed her, and when she tried to pull away, she grabbed at his shirt. The chain broke, but I don’t think he realized it. He was in such a hurry to get her body out to the bluff that I think he forgot about it. He told me to trash the building and make it look like a burglary, and when he came back he said we needed to get out of there, so we ran. By then it was snowing heavily and was just starting to get light. I was almost late for work.

  “I don’t care so much about myself, my life is probably over anyway. But I would not have been able to live with my guilt if Luke went after my dad. He’s had enough to deal with, with his failing health. I know he isn’t going to live much longer, but I couldn’t have his murder on my conscience.”

  “I promise you, Michael, Luke will soon be in custody for Emily’s murder. He’s not going to hurt your dad.”

  “There’s more I haven’t told you. Once my dad confessed, Luke phoned me. He said he knew I’d be tempted to come forward and tell the truth to get my dad out of jail, but that there was one other person he’d go after if I did that.”

  “And who was that?”

  Michael hesitated before responding, then said quietly, “Annie. Your wife. He said she’d been nice to him and he liked her, but if I said anything ever, to anyone, he’d make sure she had a tragic accident, perhaps a fall down the cellar steps at the museum since the two of them spent time alone there. I never met her, but I saw her once, at Emily’s funeral. She has kind eyes. I couldn’t let there be another murder at the museum.”

  “He threatened to kill Annie? My wife? Ed was horrified. “She befriended him, for God’s sake!”

  Chapter 56

  Ed picked up his phone and called Carrie. He told her he was arresting Michael Warren as an accessory to Emily’s murder. He’d confessed that Luke h
ad been with him and was the one who had killed her. “Have you seen him today?”

  “Oh darn, he was just in. He arrested the man I told you about in the double homicide. I gave him an update on the case and told him you’d gone to talk with Charles and were then going to find Michael to question him. I said that we pretty much figured out that Michael had probably killed Emily. He looked surprised and then concerned and left my office in a big hurry. I was a bit perplexed about his reaction, but after I thought more about it I assumed that maybe what I told him triggered something about this other murder case.”

  “How long ago was that?”

  “Just a few minutes ago.”

  “Carrie, I need you to do something for me. Quickly. I’ll give you the full details later, but Luke’s threatened to kill Annie.” Carrie gasped, and Ed looked at his watch.

  “Annie takes a late afternoon yoga class on Thursdays. She should be at Suzanne’s studio right now. Luke probably doesn’t know that, so she’s likely still safe. Please ask Brad to go to the studio and keep her and the other students there under guard until we capture Luke. Tell Brad to not let anyone leave. And find Luke and arrest him for murder. He may be on his way to our house.”

  Carrie spoke with Brad who hurried out of the police station and rushed across the street to Suzanne’s studio, explaining to the class that someone in addition to Charles Merrill had surfaced as a suspect in Emily Bradford’s murder and was on the loose, and he couldn’t let them out of the building until he was apprehended. Suzanne and the students were bewildered and frightened, but Brad had been advised to not give much detail.

  In the meantime, Carrie ran to her squad car, and sirens blazing, headed for the DeCleryk’s house where she found Luke walking up their driveway.

  “Stay very still, Luke, and turn around.”

  Luke feigned surprise. “What’s this about, Chief? I was just coming to see Annie,” he said innocently.

  “Game’s up. I only know the sketchy details, but I know you murdered Emily Bradford and that you threatened to kill Michael Warren, Charles Merrill and Annie. You’re going to go away for a very long time.” Luke looked straight at Carrie and pulled out his gun.

  “Put the gun down, Luke. Shooting me won’t accomplish anything. You can’t get away with this.”

  Before she could retrieve it from him, he placed his gun against his temple and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

  “Luke, move your gun away from your head and put it on the ground. I don’t believe you really want to die. You don’t have to hurt yourself or anyone else. Please, do as I say.”

  “None of this should have happened,” Luke said, distraught. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. When Emily started screaming, all I wanted was for her to stop. She looked like a woman I killed when I was in Afghanistan and when she screamed, I started remembering it all over again. When the newscasters announced her name as the victim of the murder a couple days later, I couldn’t believe I really had killed her. I lost control, but I didn’t mean to. I can’t take it anymore, I can’t seem to stop remembering what happened in Afghanistan.”

  “Luke, listen to me. We can sort this out. Don’t do this to your family or those of us here in Lighthouse Cove who care about you. We can get you help. It’s over.”

  His eyes looking wild and unfocused, Luke laid his gun on the ground, walked toward Carrie and put his hands in the air.

  Carrie handcuffed Luke, guided him into the squad car, locked the door and then retrieved his gun, emptying the bullets into her pocket.

  When she returned, she said, “You’re under arrest for the murder of Emily Bradford and for threats against Charles Merrill, Michael Warren and Annie DeCleryk.” She read him his rights. By now, he was surprisingly compliant and docile.

  Chapter 57

  Later that afternoon, after Luke and Michael were in custody, Ed, Carrie, and Annie met for a drink at The Brewery. Annie, shaken and very sad, nursed a white wine, Ed drank scotch, neat, and Carrie drank a ginger ale.

  “When did you guess it was Luke, Ed?” asked Carrie.

  “I suspected he was involved when I had lunch with my Navy buddies. All along, the anchor bothered me. I knew I’d seen one like it before but couldn’t remember where. Then, when I saw it on my friend Jeff, it hit me. The initials didn’t stand for Lighthouse Cove, they stood for Luke Callen. The pendant was a piece of Navy jewelry. I’ve never been into that stuff, but Jeff’s worn his pendant for years. It wasn’t, as Annie thought, something from the museum gift shop.”

  “I was completely fooled,” stated Annie, tears welling up in her eyes. “I thought he was so sweet, and he seemed to like me. I can’t help feeling a bit guilty. If I hadn’t given him a copy of the brochure I wrote on the history of Lighthouse Cove none of this would have happened. He only became interested in the lost treasure when he read about it.”

  “Annie, you can’t beat yourself up over this,” Ed responded. “Someone who is emotionally healthy would never have read your brochure and then spiraled out of control just to find the treasure. You had no way of knowing what he would do.”

  She shook her head and wiped tears from her eyes.

  “Luke does like you, Annie,” Carrie said. “When I got him to the station, he said that he only used your name to scare Michael into keeping quiet. He said you’d always been kind to him, and he never would have hurt you. He cried.”

  “Then why did he come to our house?”

  “He said he was coming to see you, but not to hurt you. He told me he knew after I told him that Ed had met with Charles and was meeting with Michael that Michael would cave under pressure and tell Ed what happened, and he’d probably be arrested. He wanted to tell you in person and apologize to you. Then he was going to kill himself.”

  “Do you believe him?” Annie asked.

  “I do. And I believe the rest of what he told me, too.”

  She continued, “He said the entire situation got miserably out of control. He admitted to blackmailing Michael but insisted Emily’s death was an accident. He told me a terrible story about something that happened when he was in Afghanistan. He said he was part of a covert operation to eliminate a terror cell in a remote village there. His squad had been given the information of their location by a confidential informant, indicating that to his knowledge there were no civilians in the area.”

  “Have you verified his story?” Ed asked.

  “Yes. He gave me the name and contact info of his CO who at first didn’t want to speak with me, but after I told him what had happened he hung up, got clearance and called me back and admitted that what Luke told me about his time in Afghanistan actually occurred.”

  “I can only imagine what happened next,” remarked Annie, still sniffling.

  “It’s truly horrible, Annie. It was dusk, and when they got there, weapons unconcealed and poised to strike, there was a woman walking past the doorway of the building where they suspected the terrorists were hiding. When she saw them she froze, started screaming and reached behind her back to grab something. She was wearing a black hijab, and a black long-sleeved blouse and long black skirt, and she had what they thought was a backpack strapped to her back. They could see the wide straps over her arms. They thought she either had a grenade in it or was a suicide bomber getting ready to set it off. To stop her, Luke shot her right between the eyes. She fell backward, dead. The insurgents came out of the building and there was a gunfight, and the SEALs killed everyone.”

  Ed said, “What a harrowing story. It’s mind-boggling what our military personnel have to deal with over there.”

  “There’s more,” continued Carrie. “After the SEALs were sure everyone was dead, they started looking at the bodies, just to make sure there were no explosives on them, and to see if they had any sort of identification. Luke, who also had some training with a bomb squad, went to the dead woman and turned her over, planning to disable the bomb or grenade if he found one. What he found instead was a baby-pack with a dead baby, pr
obably not more than a few months old. When his mother fell on her back after being shot, she smothered him.”

  Tears welled up in Carrie’s eyes, and Annie started crying again. Annie said, “How devastating. That poor woman and her family. Poor baby. And poor Luke. How would he have known that, and how could he have ever recovered from what he’d done? His guilt must be overwhelming.”

  “He couldn’t,” continued Carrie, after taking a deep breath and wiping her eyes. “The informant gave the SEALs incorrect information about there being no civilians in the area. An investigation indicated that the woman had merely been at the wrong place at the wrong time. She lived in a nearby compound and was walking past the building on her way to her sister’s house when she saw the SEALs approaching. She must have been scared witless, screamed, and put her hand behind her to instinctively protect her child. Luke was cleared of any wrong doing, but what he had done weighed heavily on him.”

  “And he, of course, felt huge remorse and was diagnosed with PTSD as the result of the incident,” remarked Ed.

  “Yes. But it wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t function. The doctor he saw recommended he be honorably discharged, believing that after serving several tours of duty in the Gulf one more incident probably would drive him over the edge, so he left the service.

  “He went back to Connecticut and lived with his parents, got counseling and then after getting clearance from the psychiatrist he was working with, decided to go into law enforcement and got a masters’ degree in criminal justice from the University of New Haven. No one he talked with thought he’d be a risk or have a relapse.”

  “Then why did he react the way he did to Emily?” Annie asked.