Halloween Is Murder

by Carolyn Arnold

  Sean couldn’t let Tom see that he was getting to him. There was no solid evidence against the man when they’d walked in here, but Sean would work with what they had. He shrugged as if he wasn’t affected by Tom’s question. “All right, maybe you didn’t kill her because she got Lois’s job. Maybe you killed her because she called you a hack and someone who couldn’t be taken seriously.”

  “She what?” he spat, his eyes sparking with fire. “This is my first time hearing about that.”

  “She had a blog, and about a month ago, she wrote an article mentioning you,” Sara chimed in and nudged Sean’s arm.

  He looked at her and quickly figured out what she wanted. He took the printout of the article from a coat pocket and gave it to Tom. “It’s the highlighted section.”

  “Hmm.” Tom took his eyes from the page and regarded Sean curiously. “I honestly didn’t know about this. When was she killed? I’m sure I have an alibi. I only met her the one time, when Austin introduced us back when he offered her the job.” His eyes were wet now, and Sean sensed it was more from panic that there was more ammunition to use against him than from actual upset about Chloe.

  Sara lowered her coffee cup from her lips. “She died on Monday afternoon.”

  “Two days ago…” Tom cupped his chin in a thoughtful pose, and a few seconds later, he snapped his fingers. “I was with Austin talking about an idea I had for a morning show from noon until two. You can ask him. He’ll confirm. After that, I had a hair appointment and met up with friends for drinks at four.”

  Sean looked at Sara and wondered if she was coming to the same conclusion he was: Tom wasn’t feeling right as the killer. “We will. But let’s assume for a moment that you didn’t send the e-mail. Do you know of anyone who might have disliked you enough to set you up?”

  “I’m in the public eye,” Tom replied. “That attracts a lot of haters.”

  “But no one in particular comes to mind?” Sean asked.

  “Not that I can think of.”

  Sean drained the rest of his drink, got up, and held out his hand for Sara to take. “Thank you for your time.”

  “That’s it?” Tom folded his arms on the table, leaning forward. “You still think I killed her?”

  It didn’t matter how quickly Sean was moving in the exact opposite direction, he couldn’t give anything away to Tom, not until he was cleared. “We’ll call Austin.”

  “You do that, and you’ll see I had nothing to do with her death,” Tom stated calmly.

  Sean nodded and guided Sara out of the coffee shop.

  “I don’t think we even need to verify his alibi,” Sara said when they hit the sidewalk. “I don’t think Tom killed Chloe.”

  Sean looked over at her and shook his head. “Me neither. So most likely, whoever sent us that e-mail gave us his name to throw us off.”

  “Which means they might feel threatened.” Sara’s eyes widened. “They think we’re getting close, just like Adam said this morning.”

  Sean’s phone rang, and he consulted the caller ID.

  Speak of the devil…

  He answered on speaker. “What have you got for us, Adam?”

  “I tracked the IP address on the e-mail you received, and you’re not going to believe who it ties back to.”

  Adam’s words seemed suspended in time. “Who?” Sara asked.

  “Okay, I guess I should have said where, not who. I—”

  “Just spit it out, Adam,” Sara rushed out.

  Sean smiled at her impatience. It wasn’t a trait she showed often, but he tended to find it amusing when she did. Adam, however, seemed shocked into silence.

  “Sorry,” Sara grumbled. “I’m just a little on edge.”

  “I’d be too,” Adam said. “Because the e-mail came from someone at Your Source.”

  -

  Chapter 21

  AND THE WIND HOWLS

  SO THE E-MAIL HAD BEEN meant as a detour. It was a dumb move on the killer’s part in several ways, though. It essentially confirmed that Chloe had been murdered, first of all, and now, with Adam’s discovery, it confirmed that it was someone who had access to Your Source computers. If Sara and Sean went at it from who they interacted with there, they had fewer than a handful of suspects—Kurt, his assistant, the person from the front desk, and Jackson.

  Sara’s stomach sank. “Oh no… Jimmy!” she blurted out.

  Sean looked at her, and his pupils widened. “He’s meeting up with Jackson to get Chloe’s key… Hold on, Adam.” Sean put him on hold and made another call.

  Every ring drilled into her head, fracturing her heart piece by piece. “Oh, please pick up.”

  “Hello.” Jimmy’s greeting came out more like hey-lo, which meant he was in a good mood.

  “Are you all right?” Sean asked.

  “Yeah,” Jimmy began, sounding leery. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Have you met with Jackson yet?”

  “I just left his place. I have Chloe’s key.” Jimmy paused. “What’s going on?”

  “The e-mail we got came from someone at Your Source,” Sean said. “Adam traced the IP address and found out the station owns it.”

  “Oy, so you thought it might have been Jackson?”

  “He’s got a lot pointing at him,” Sara said, her heart rate finally starting to slow down.

  “I won’t deny that,” Jimmy said, “but I wouldn’t stake anything on him being the one behind Chloe’s murder.”

  He would only make that claim if he were absolutely certain. Sara angled her head. “Why’s that?”

  “The guy’s devastated.”

  “He could be riddled with guilt,” Sean countered.

  “No, it’s not like that,” Jimmy said. “Trust me.”

  Sean held eye contact with Sara, and she saw a flicker in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything.

  “We trust you,” Sara spoke up. “You’re good at reading people.”

  Sean nodded but remained silent. It was clear to Sara he was deep in thought.

  “So what’s going on? Are you still meeting me at Chloe’s?” Jimmy asked.

  “No. Go to the firm, and we’ll meet you there in a bit.” Sean ended the call and got Adam back on the line. “You still there?”

  “I’m here,” he said. “Is the old man all right?”

  “He’s fine.” Sara let out a breath.

  “Good. I’d have no one to harass if something happened to him.” Adam chuckled. It lightened the conversation, but not for long.

  Sara was thinking about people at Your Source who would know about them having been there and who would have a motive; the same people kept cycling through her mind. But she and Sean could be assuming they’d come into direct contact with the killer, when it could just be that the killer had heard Sean and Sara were asking around. Given Chloe’s fast-track in the media world, she’d have her share of enemies.

  Speaking of, her latest achievement of getting an anchor position with Albany One would’ve made a lot of people jealous. The thought brought them full circle. “I’d say it was someone at Your Source who knew about Chloe’s job offer at Albany One.”

  “Well, Kurt claimed not to know about it—” Sean’s voice lost its conviction partway through “—but as we’ve said before, he easily could have been lying…”

  She bobbed her head. She preferred to give people the benefit of the doubt, but sometimes it backfired. “It’s clear he cared for her, though. She was a good employee, too. Maybe he just didn’t want to lose her.” Something hovered on the edge of her mind, and then it came into focus. “The guilty tend to lie by omission.”

  Sean looked at her. “How did he do that?”

  “Kurt’s response to my asking if he knew if Chloe had a job offer was, ‘She…she… Where?’”

  Sean was staring at her blankly while she was cursing herself internally for not putting it together until now. But without the e-mail, and its origin, why would she look any more at him? Austin from Albany One said t
he official announcement hadn’t even been made yet, but Chloe’s contract likely stipulated that she’d have to give notice.

  “Sounds like you have someone to speak to,” Adam said. “Do you need me for anything else?”

  “Yes,” Sean replied. “Dig up what you can on Kurt Bishop. And stay by your phone in case we need you.”

  “Adam, please also look into anyone at Your Source who also applied for the anchor job at Albany One.” Sara hitched her shoulders when Sean turned to her. They might be looking at Kurt now, but it didn’t hurt to be thorough, just in case it proved useful. And they had thought about this tactic before, but they never got as far as asking Adam to take care of it.

  “Will do.” With that, Adam ended the call.

  Now came the fun part: bagging the killer.

  -

  Chapter 22

  CARVING OUT THE ANSWERS

  GOING TO CHLOE’S APARTMENT WAS on hold, but Jimmy wasn’t one for sitting around doing nothing. Waiting on Needham the other day had filled up his lifetime quota for time spent twiddling his thumbs. Surely there was some type of online research he could do at the firm while waiting for Sean and Sara. He wasn’t a pro like the New York youngin, but he wasn’t completely obtuse when it came to twenty-first-century technology.

  He was sitting behind his desk in his office, a modest space decorated according to his taste. In other words, it was simple and basic. He’d never been a fussy person.

  He clicked his pen over and over again, his mind on Chloe Parsons and heart failure. There could only be so many things that caused that, of which Needham had mentioned a few. But he was curious to probe into the matter for himself, and this was his first real opportunity to do so since yesterday.

  He logged onto the Internet and searched, What causes heart failure in young adults?

  He scanned the results, picking an article at random and skimming the contents. It seemed that heart failure for Chloe’s age group was normally the result of abnormalities in the heart. These would be present well beforehand, and there would likely be a family history of sudden cardiac death. Unexplained fainting could also be attributed to a heart condition.

  According to Chloe’s sister, none of these things fit Chloe, though.

  He skimmed some more articles and then searched, What can strain the heart? Some triggers were high blood pressure, strenuous exercise, and stress.

  Jimmy paused on the last one. She was switching jobs and, with that, advancing her career. That would be stressful. Then the breakup with Jackson, whether it was her idea or not, could definitely have caused additional stress. But was that enough to induce heart failure in an otherwise healthy twentysomething? Unlikely.

  Chloe had consumed alcohol not long before dying, though. He keyed in, alcohol and the heart and clicked on the first article, which encouraged moderation with the recommendation that women have no more than one drink a day. Chloe was young, and it was doubtful she adhered to that guideline. Of course, he was making a sweeping generalization for her age group. If overindulgence in alcohol had been an issue for Chloe, it would have shown in her organs. Now, Needham had started to say something about them…

  While he hadn’t elaborated, there was a stitch in Jimmy’s side that told him the ME had a good idea what had caused the heart failure. He had claimed to be withholding the information because he didn’t want to voice his opinion until he had abundant forensic proof to support his conclusion. Even if that had been a lie, Jimmy knew he wasn’t going to get any more out of Needham. That’s why he hadn’t circled back to the man yet. The ME only budged if he wanted to—and that wasn’t very often—and he had Jimmy’s card. So where else could he turn for more information on the case? It’s not like he could corner Roland without stirring up Chandra’s rage and a mess along with it. But they needed some sort of forensic proof to work with.

  Jimmy sat back in his chair, tapping his fingers on his desk. Then it struck. There was one more person he could try…

  He pulled out his cell phone and was pleased to see he’d kept the contact he was after.

  She answered the phone on the fifth ring, just as Jimmy was preparing to meet with voice mail. “Forensics Lab.”

  “Dee Dee, is that you?” Jimmy asked.

  “It is. What can I do for you?” The woman’s tone was gruff, and she obviously didn’t recognize his voice.

  “This is Jimmy Voigt,” he said.

  “Oh, hey, Jimmy!” Her voice softened now. “How are you? And Sean and Sara?”

  “Everyone’s good, thanks. Look, I’m hoping you can help us with something.” The one thing with the lab was that its employees didn’t report to Commander Chandra Delarosa.

  “This official business as a PI?” Dee Dee asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “And you’re fully licensed?” she teased.

  “That’s right.”

  “You’re still a man of few words, aren’t you?” Dee Dee laughed. “Go ahead. Hit me, and I’ll do what I can.”

  Jimmy fist-bumped the air. This could be the break they needed. “We’re investigating the Chloe Parsons murder case.”

  Dee Dee’s end of the line went silent.

  “Are you—”

  “Yes, I’m here,” Dee Dee said. “Does Albany PD know that you’re talking to me? I get the feeling—”

  “No, they don’t,” he interrupted. He paused, his admission hanging there in the heavy silence. “I really need your help.”

  A deep breath coursed over the line. Then, “What about her case?”

  “What evidence was collected? I already know that she might have been drinking wine before her death.” He rushed right into it before she changed her mind about helping.

  “Huh. So you’ve been talking to someone?”

  “Needham.” Hopefully, the more open he was with her, the more open she’d be with him.

  “Impressive,” she said. “I’m surprised he spoke with you, seeing as he’s not much for outsiders.”

  “Yeah, he’s not a fan of mine, regardless,” he admitted.

  “What did you want to know?” Dee Dee asked, focusing the conversation on the task at hand. “I get the feeling there’s something specific.”

  Jimmy could hear a faint clicking in the background.

  “Not necessarily specific, per se…” He wasn’t going to come out and ask directly about the cause of the heart failure just yet. “Can you tell me what evidence was collected?” he asked.

  “I have to be careful of the information I give you, Jimmy, but you mentioned you already knew about the wine.”

  “I did.”

  “We collected the bottle and two glasses from the scene. We also brought back her trash.” Dee Dee paused. “You know how she died, I take it?”

  Two glasses?

  “Jimmy?” Dee Dee prompted.

  “How she died? Yeah. Heart failure.” No sense denying that knowledge.

  “Were you told what caused it?”

  He tightened his grip on the phone. Needham apparently hadn’t bothered to update him, but then again, why should Jimmy be surprised? “Not yet,” he said, teeth clenched though trying not to project his temper on Dee Dee.

  As she told him the results, Jimmy kept moving forward in his chair. He didn’t stop until he was perched on the edge of the seat. “That can cause heart failure?”

  “Uh-huh, especially given the quantity we’re looking at.”

  “You said you collected two glasses? She had company?”

  “There was an empty wineglass in the sink. It had been rinsed, but we swabbed it for prints and got lucky. In fact, we got prints from both glasses and the bottle. Chloe’s glass had hers, of course, but it also had prints that matched ones pulled from the other glass and the bottle.”

  “Someone added it to her drink,” Jimmy concluded.

  “According to the forensic evidence, yes.”

  “And the prints? Did they tie back to—”

  “Aren’t in the syste
m,” Dee Dee interrupted.

  “So the department is looking at this as a murder, then?”

  “Absolutely.”

  They’d obviously jumped to a hasty conclusion with Chloe’s apartment being released so quickly.

  Dee Dee went on. “Your timing is impeccable, by the way. I sent Needham and the lead detective my findings about an hour ago.”

  Jimmy’s hold on the phone was starting to cause his hand to ache. He willed his grip to loosen, but his fingers were stiff.

  “I’ve already heard from Needham,” Dee Dee began, “and he wasn’t surprised by my findings. He mentioned seeing indicators in Chloe’s organs but wanted the lab results before he finalized his conclusion.”

  Jimmy had just been able to unfurl a few fingers, but they curled back around the receiver. “Do you know if Roland has a suspect in mind?” He could have palm-slapped his forehead when Roland’s name came out.

  “You know who the lead is?” Dee Dee’s smile was detectable over the line.

  “I might have talked to Commander Delarosa.” He was being upfront about mostly everything, so why stop now? But this answer had him cringing. Dee Dee would be within her right if she was angry with him.

  “And that didn’t go well or you wouldn’t be talking to me,” she tossed out with indifference.

  He let out the breath he’d been holding. “You got it.”

  “Well, as far as I know, Roland doesn’t have any leads, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t. And if he did, I wouldn’t tell you that much. I have to draw the line somewhere.” It was clear by her tone that she meant what she said, but she presented it in a friendly manner.

  Jimmy grinned. Dee Dee had buried the truth within her words. One just had to know Roland, and thankfully, Jimmy did. Roland had a way of shooting off at the mouth, and if he had a suspect in mind, everyone within earshot would know.