by Mary Maxwell
While we waited to see what Rex would do next, two more cruisers rushed to a stop at the end of the driveway. I kept my eyes on him, studying the way his gaze shifted slightly from side to side until it finally came to rest on Theo’s right hand. I hadn’t noticed the black velvet pouch during the chaos, but my eyes fixed on the flowery script that was embroidered in white thread against the dark fabric: Diamond Galleria, Philadelphia, PA.
CHAPTER 44
The table in the main conference room at the Crescent Creek Police Department Headquarters was covered with stacks of file folders, bowls filled with paper clips and a small arsenal of staplers. It was two days after the chaotic scene in Mildred Nelson’s garage, and I’d been called in by Trent and Dina to provide my final statement about the case.
“Dina will be here in five,” Trent said, bounding into the room. “You want anything to drink?”
“No, thanks,” I replied. “I had something before I left home.”
“How was it today?” He settled into a chair across from me and put the case file in his hand on the table. “Busy as usual?”
I nodded. “Breakfast was pretty routine, but lunch was nonstop.”
“That’s good,” Trent said. “I was talking to Colin Drake yesterday. Things have been nuts over there since the review hit the paper.”
“Pulled pork,” I said. “I heard all about it, but haven’t tried it yet.”
Trent recoiled with surprise. “Are you kidding me? What’s the holdup, Katie? That pulled pork is the best thing that I’ve had in—”
“Sorry, sorry!” Dina blurted, coming through the door. “Did you get my text?”
Trent looked at his phone. “Let me check,” he said. “I’ve been talking to—”
“It doesn’t matter now,” she interrupted, pulling out a chair beside me. “I was just letting you know that I was running a few minutes behind schedule. The coroner had a few more details about the Westbridge case.”
Trent nodded silently as Dina flipped through the pages of her notepad. I waited while they both reviewed their respective files. Then I asked how Mildred Nelson was doing behind bars.
“Not a happy camper,” Trent said. “She complained about the thread count of the sheets.”
“What didn’t she complain about?” Dina scoffed.
“Good point!” Trent smiled faintly. “Luckily, she won’t be with us forever. We’re expecting a warrant for extradition to Pennsylvania on the Diamond Galleria robbery and murder charges. Since Theo and Rex both survived, Mildred will be charged here in Colorado with attempted murder along with a slew of other felonies before she’s returned to face murder charges in Philadelphia.”
“Did she confess to a role in the diamond heist?”
Trent smiled. “Confess?” he said sarcastically. “She was like a tone-deaf canary, singing a tune that had almost as many lies as flat notes.”
“What about Bethany Curlew?” I asked. “What are you charging her with?”
“Most gullible human on the planet?” Trent said, barely smiling. “Or maybe lack of common sense?”
Dina cleared her throat. “Trent? Some decorum, please?” She flared her eyes angrily before turning slightly in her chair. “I think what Deputy Chief Walsh intended to say was that we’re charging Bethany with felonious assault for her role in the attack on Rex Greer.”
“As well as lack of common sense,” Trent said again. “Up until the moment that her mother shot Theo, Bethany had believed every word out of Mildred’s mouth for the past six years. The story about inheriting millions from a distant relative? Check! Bethany believed it. The lies about why Theo was in Crescent Creek? Check again! Bethany completely accepted her mother’s explanation that he was trying to steal some of Mildred’s inheritance.”
“Are you saying that Bethany had no knowledge of the Diamond Galleria heist?” I asked.
Trent shook his head. “Not at all,” he said. “I mean, she knew about it at the time because her mother worked there. But Bethany claimed that she was clueless about Mildred’s role in the actual heist. It’s the same old song and dance; she believed what she wanted and ignored the rest.”
“Sounds like plenty of folks that I know,” I said.
Trent scowled. “None of which are in this room, right?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “Present company excluded.”
“Good,” he said. “I’d hate to think that you’d lump me and Dina in the same category as Bethany Curlew.”
“Speaking of which,” I said. “Did she give you anything?”
Dina turned in her chair again. “Does indigestion count?”
Trent laughed. “You bet it does! Bethany Curlew will be a good witness for the state, despite the fact that she’s one of the least likable people I’ve ever met in my life.”
I laughed. “Worse than Bobby Turkington?”
Trent’s face lit up. “Oh! I haven’t thought about Turkey Turkington for a million years! What’s he up to these days?”
Dina said something that was too soft to hear. When Trent asked her to repeat it, she told us that Bobby Turkington was living the high life in La Jolla after selling his tech start-up to Google for more than one hundred million.
“Oh, yeah?” Trent’s smile melted. “Maybe I should’ve been nicer to him back in school.”
“Maybe,” Dina agreed. “Now, Kate? I have a couple of questions for you.”
I smiled and waited.
“Do you know how Rex found Bethany and Mildred?”
“Didn’t he tell you?”
“He fell asleep at some point during the interrogation,” she said. “When he woke up a few hours later, he had a high fever and a badly infected incision. He’s back in the hospital, and the doctor told us that it would be another day or two before we can interview him again.”
“I still think that’s extreme,” Trent griped. “I mean, the guy’s a witness to a crime. Can’t they dose him with antibiotics, stick an IV in his arm and give him a Jell-O cup? We need to move this along, detective.”
Dina fixed her eyes on Trent, glaring silently for a moment or two. Then she looked back in my direction.
“Please ignore the man behind the curtain,” she said. “Deputy Chief Walsh has obviously been switched for a bad imitation of Oscar the Grouch.”
Instead of defending his honor, Trent smiled and opened a case file that was on the table.
“How far did you get with Rex?” I asked.
Dina checked her notes. “We made pretty good progress,” she said. “He retraced his steps after leaving Philadelphia. Apparently, once he learned that Theo had located Arlene or Mildred or whatever you want to call her, Rex decided to follow. He used geotag data from a series of pictures that Theo posted online.”
“Did you know that whenever you take a picture with your smartphone,” I asked, “it puts a bunch of hidden information in the picture?”
“Uh…” Dina frowned faintly. “What’s that, Katie?”
“Never mind,” I said. “I wanted to demonstrate some of my newfound tech knowledge.”
She smiled at the remark and went back to her interview notes.
“Okay, so Rex used geotag data to track Theo to the motel in Frisco,” she continued. “They went to a bar down there, had a few drinks and then ended up in a nasty brawl because Rex insisted that he accompany Theo to Crescent Creek for the confrontation with Mildred.”
“And Theo had different plans?”
“Always,” she said with a laugh. “He’s the big brother. He didn’t want Rex anywhere near Mildred and Bethany for the exact reason that we’re dealing with now.”
“Shootout?”
“Something like that,” Dina said. “Theo knows her fairly well. Or, to be more accurate, he knew Mildred back in the day. He was aware that she’d do absolutely anything to protect her property.”
“Isn’t that ironic?” Trent interjected. “She shot those two brothers after she gave up some of the diamonds.”
&n
bsp; “Thin skin,” Dina said. “Huge ego. When Theo proved that he had her on tape confessing to the heist and two murders, he gave her the recording in exchange for a small quantity of diamonds. And Mildred actually believed that was his only copy of the tape.”
“Ah, the old bait-and-switch trick?” I smiled. “He double crossed her and then couldn’t resist telling her off as he was leaving?”
Dina shrugged. “But it wasn’t worth the modicum of glee he must’ve felt for almost tricking Mildred. The guy took two fairly devastating hits, one to his upper chest and one to his midsection.”
“What’s the prognosis?”
She answered with another shrug. “Touch and go, based on what Dr. Lansing had to tell us.”
“I hope he pulls through,” I said.
“We all do,” Trent agreed from the far side of the table. “Trying to blackmail Mildred was a fool’s errand, but he didn’t deserve what he got.”
Dina flipped through her notepad, running one finger down each new page as she quickly scanned the lines of text.
“Here’s something,” she said, looking up and smiling. “Did you suspect that Bitsy was involved in assaulting Rex?”
I nodded. “Not at first,” I said. “But when she lied about knowing Rex and Theo Greer, I started to have doubts about her.”
“When did you first suspect that she wasn’t being truthful?”
“It was the picnic photo,” I answered. “The one that I downloaded from the Diamond Galleria website.”
Dina shrugged silently, but the quizzical look on my face got the message across.
“I sent it to you guys,” I added. “It showed ten or twelve people standing beside a picnic table loaded with food. Bethany was in the front row since she’s on the short side, and the Greer brothers were in the back on the right.”
“I don’t know if I saw that or not,” Dina said. “But I’ll take your word for it.”
Trent tapped his knuckles on the table. Dina and I both turned to find him grinning like an ill-behaved schoolboy.
“I have a question,” he said.
“What’s that?” asked Dina.
“Did you two know that Mildred Nelson owns three houses on Edgewood Road?”
Dina glanced at me and smiled. “Yes,” she said. “Does this mean you read the case file, Deputy Chief Walsh?”
He glowered. “No, it means that I ran into Eugene Crisp at a poker game last night.”
Dina dropped her pen, folded her arms on the table and put her head down.
“Tired, detective?” Trent asked.
Dina mumbled something. Then she lifted her head and said, “Katie uncovered that information by talking to Eugene’s assistant. And her initial statement is in the case file, but I guess you’ve been too busy playing cards and smoking cigars to make time for a little light reading.”
Trent’s face was a furrowed collage of annoyance, shock and indignation.
“I didn’t get to finish my thought,” he said. “What I was going to say was, I ran into Eugene and he confirmed what was in your case file.”
Dina pressed her lips into a tight, flat line. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m running out of steam.” Her eyes darted to the clock at the far end of the room. “Maybe we should wrap this up. I can always call you, Katie, if we need more.”
I nodded. “Whatever’s helpful.”
“Another Ooey Gooey Butter Cake would be incredibly helpful,” Trent suggested.
Dina didn’t even bother to acknowledge his quip. Instead, she asked me if I knew why Bethany Curlew visited Rex Greer in the hospital when he was first admitted.
“From what Rex told me in Mildred’s garage,” I said, “it was to let him know about Theo. He drove over from Palisade, went to Bethany’s house and told her the truth about the robbery back in Philadelphia. Then he went across the street to confront Mildred about attacking Rex. I guess that’s when Bethany raced over to the hospital.”
“Are you kidding me?” Dina asked.
I shrugged, both palms toward the ceiling. “I’m just repeating what I was told. I didn’t make up any of this.”
Trent pushed his chair away from the table. “What about the other one?” he said.
“Which other one?” I asked.
His eyes narrowed. “The other woman from Edgewood Road.”
Dina sighed. “Do you mean Polly Ladd?”
“Yeah!” Trent said brightly. “That’s the one. What’s up with her? Was she involved in any of this?”
“No,” Dina said firmly. “She was out of town when Rex was attacked. Despite the best attempts by Mildred and her daughter to somehow implicate their neighbor, Polly is completely innocent. Although we’re pretty certain that Mildred drove Polly’s car the night that she took Rex back downtown after he turned up on Bethany’s doorstep looking for her mother.”
“Aren’t they all old friends?” Trent asked. “From back east?”
“I don’t know if friends would be the first word out of their mouths,” Dina said with a dark smile. “But you’re right; they met when Theo and Mildred worked together at the jewelry store.”
“What about the phone calls?” I asked. “Do you know how Rex got Mildred and Bethany’s numbers?”
Dina raised one eyebrow. “Hacked his brother’s phone,” she said. “On one hand, the guy seems as bright as a dark room. On the other, his skills with technology seem to be top-notch. According to Mr. Headley—that’s his parole officer in Philadelphia—Rex completed all of the computer and IT classes available during his years in prison. Headley arranged an apprenticeship for Rex at a computer repair company. If, that is, he can keep his act together.”
Trent’s phone vibrated on the table. He checked the screen, flashed a grim look at Dina and announced that they both had another meeting starting in five minutes.
“Is it too late to call in sick?” she said, gathering her notes.
Trent stood, stretched his arms overhead and picked up the file that he’d been reading.
“Katie?” he said. “On behalf of the Crescent Creek Police Department, the State of Colorado and the people of our fair town, I’d like to thank you for lending a hand with this case.”
I nearly fell out of my chair. Compliments from Deputy Chief Walsh were as infrequent and ephemeral as Halley’s comet.
“Thanks, Trent,” I said, feeling my face grow warm. “I’m happy to help you and everyone at the CCPD. I know that it may seem like—”
“This isn’t the Oscars, Katie,” Trent muttered as he headed for the hallway. “You don’t need to make an acceptance speech.”
After he was gone, Dina stood and came over to give me a hug.
“You’re the best,” she said. “Don’t let Captain Grumpypants fool you. He’s genuinely grateful, as are we all, that you’re willing to lend a hand.”
“Thanks, detective,” I said, following her out of the room. “It’s nice to keep my skills sharp with the occasional foray back into investigative work.”
When we reached the elevator, Dina pushed the button for me.
“Heck,” she said. “Maybe I should retire early and you can take my spot here.”
Her expression was so steely and indecipherable that I didn’t know if she was joking or being serious. A few seconds later, when the corners of her mouth quivered and a smile appeared, I knew the answer.
“Whew!” I said, wiping imaginary sweat from my forehead. “That was a close one!”
“Yeah,” Dina replied as the elevator doors opened. “I’m not going anywhere, and you’re doing great at Sky High Pies. We’re both exactly where we should be.”
CHAPTER 45
At nine o’clock that evening, Zack was in his kitchen, filling two bowls with vanilla bean ice cream from Scoops of Joy. Since I didn’t finish with Trent and Dina until six-fifteen, I’d offered to buy sandwiches from Colin Drake’s deli and something for dessert so we could eat as soon as I made it to his place.
“Hot fudge?” he asked.
<
br /> I was horizontal on the sofa in the living room, idly flipping through the channels.
“Just the ice cream, please,” I called. “I don’t want to overindulge.”
His laughter was affectionate and animated, heightened by the fact that his day had included a salary bump at the newspaper and high praise from Karen in Human Resources. She’d been so touched by Zack’s willingness to exchange the scary clown sculpture for knitting needles and yarn that she’d already handcrafted a pair of mittens for him.
“Here we go,” he said, coming through the door. “Something sweet for someone sweeter!”
He sat down and handed me a bowl. We enjoyed the first few bites of the delicious, creamy treat in silence before Zack asked about the meeting at CCPD Headquarters.
“Did they give you more details about what happened?” he said.
“A few,” I answered, reflecting on the meeting in the conference room. “They answered as many of my questions as they could without jeopardizing the case.”
“Do you know who attacked Rex Greer in front of the post office?”
I spooned some ice cream into my mouth. Once it melted, I explained that Mildred and Bethany had both confessed to attacking Rex, although their motives were entirely different.
“What do you mean?” Zack said. “Are you telling me that they jumped the guy, hit him with several jolts from a Taser and then argued afterward about why they did it?”
I shook my head. “No, not at all. At that point, Bethany was still under the impression that her mother was telling the truth. You see, six years ago, after the Diamond Galleria robbery, Mildred was still known as Arlene Kozlowski. And Bethany hadn’t yet married Sid Curlew, the guy that she divorced about a minute later. When Mildred quit the jewelry store, she bounced around for the next three years in various office temp jobs. She was essentially biding her time, holding the stolen gemstones in a safety deposit box and slowly making contacts in the diamond district in New York.”
Zack frowned. “Why’d she do that? Was she thinking about going back into the business?”