Never Murder a Birder

by Edie Claire

  Leigh’s mind raced, but she still didn’t get it. “So what does Eva have to do with the Finneys?”

  “It’s just an idea,” Warren said. “But if we assume that we’re right about the Finneys trying to pull off a giant stock fraud, they’re bound to have realized by now that they’ve been colossal idiots and that very soon it’s all going to come crashing down around them. In which case, it’s quite likely they’ve also decided that their best chance of staying out of prison would be to skip the country while they still can.”

  “But they haven’t,” Leigh noted.

  “No, they haven’t,” Warren agreed. “The disadvantage to fleeing the law is that their assets could be frozen at any moment, robbing them of nearly all their ill-gotten gains. Unless…”

  Leigh began to get it. “Unless they could get their money and run?”

  Warren nodded. “Bank transfers can be traced. Cash is bulky. But diamonds are small and easy to slip through airport security. If the Finneys decided to bail, that’s exactly how they could do it… cash out as quietly as possible, front the money to a trader, collect the diamonds, and disappear.”

  “But…” Leigh murmured, not sure where her protest was going. She understood what he was saying, but she was still no less confused. “But where do I come in?”

  She remembered again all the bizarre comments the sibs had made. She had something they wanted. They expected her to contact them. To set up a meeting…

  “Oh, my God!” she cried. “They think I’m the diamond trader!”

  “It would make sense,” Warren agreed soberly. “But what possible reason could they have to believe that?”

  “Allison has to be wrong about the picture!” Leigh insisted. Remembering the promised email, she picked up her phone and clicked into her inbox. “Here it is,” she reported. She opened the email and held out her phone for Warren to see.

  The picture was a glamour shot of a woman about Leigh’s age, with brown hair and dark brown eyes. She wore a suit jacket that was stylish, elegant, and sexy, her hair was in a flawless updo, and she was heavily accessorized with expensive-looking jewelry.

  She looked absolutely nothing like Leigh. With or without the fancy getup.

  “There’s no way,” Warren exclaimed. “No way in a million years anyone could mistake the two of you. There must be something else going on.”

  Leigh’s eyes remained glued to the picture. She agreed with her husband wholly. The woman’s face was a different shape, her skin tone was olive; one might say she looked vaguely European. But there was something else intriguing about her. Something that rang a bell in a distant cobwebby corner of Leigh’s brain.

  Eva Menlin looked familiar.

  Chapter 20

  “Don’t you feel better now?” Warren asked, rubbing a hand along Leigh’s back as they leaned against the counter at the Laundro-Center.

  “Not especially,” Leigh replied, wishing the king-size comforter would finish drying already so they could get back to the motorhome and she could take a shower. Being interviewed by detectives always had that effect on her. “But I’m glad we got it over with tonight, anyway.”

  “You did the right thing,” Warren reiterated.

  Leigh grumbled. She knew he was right. It could conceivably be helpful to the Rangers to know that the Finney sibs had been chasing the wrong woman all over town. Even if it weren’t, Leigh had legitimate cause to fear for her own safety at this point, so working with the authorities was her only sensible course of action.

  She still hated it. Somehow, no matter what the circumstances, she always came out of such encounters feeling like a criminal.

  So, why didn’t you report your concerns to the local police? Why didn’t you tell the investigator earlier today that you had been at both recovery scenes?

  The truth was just so… messy.

  We notice here that you were once arrested for homicide yourself, Ms. Harmon. That’s a pretty unusual thing to notice on a background check for an advertising copywriter…

  Is it any wonder she put off the pain?

  “It might have been the right thing,” Leigh agreed reluctantly. “But that doesn’t mean it did any good. When you were offering your theories about the diamond trading, I got the feeling he already knew all about that.”

  “So did I,” Warren replied. “But that’s good news, isn’t it? It means the law is onto the Finneys. They’re probably under surveillance even as we speak; maybe they have been all along. Most importantly, the Rangers will be keeping an eye on you too, now, so we can rest easy tonight.”

  Leigh glanced around the laundromat. It had been empty when the detective had interviewed them, but another woman had just come in and was starting a load in the far corner. It was an odd location for an official interview, but given the current serial-killer mania, Leigh hadn’t wanted to spark panic by having an official vehicle parked outside either the Silver King or the Grande. The newcomer smiled at them as she dumped in her detergent, and upon closer inspection, Leigh could just make out the black loop of a binocular strap disappearing beneath the collar of her bulky windbreaker.

  “I do feel well watched-over,” Leigh said, returning the smile.

  “I just wish you could remember where you’ve seen Eva,” Warren commented.

  The reminder of her epic failure made Leigh frown again. “So do I. It’s been recently, I’m sure of that. I wish the museum were open — I’m thinking maybe I saw a picture of her there.”

  “Why would her picture be in the Port Mesten museum?” Warren argued. “She was a New Yorker. Coming here was supposed to be a one-time business trip.”

  Leigh sighed with frustration. “I don’t know. I just don’t think I saw her on the beach, that’s all. I’m envisioning her all dressed up, like she was in the picture.”

  “Could you have seen her the day you drove with me into Corpus Christi, then?” he suggested.

  Two men walked into the laundromat in a rush, the bells on the door jingling loudly as they entered. Leigh and Warren both jumped, but the men’s pastel-colored golf shirts and white Bermuda shorts soon put them at ease. “Heads up!” one of the men said, looking directly at Leigh as he tossed his head in the direction of the street. Then the two of them walked to a row of plastic chairs and sat down.

  They carried no laundry. Leigh and Warren exchanged a look of concern, but before either could get a word out, a woman approached the door alone. She peered through the glass, saw Leigh inside, wrenched the door open, and entered. Then, without offering a single sideways glance to see who else might be in the room, she strode directly toward Leigh.

  “Hello again,” Janelle snapped.

  Leigh straightened to her full height, as did Warren, but the gesture felt like overkill. The mousy Janelle had stopped several feet away, she was wearing casual slacks and a thin cotton shirt, and she carried nothing in her hands. The tiny purse slung over her shoulder could have a weapon in it, but unless she was the fastest draw in Texas, it posed little danger to anyone.

  “Hello,” Leigh returned, deciding to go with civility. If Janelle Finney — who was simultaneously under suspicion by the FBI for securities fraud and by the Texas Rangers for triple homicide — could waltz around Port Mesten acting like she’d done nothing wrong and had nothing to fear, why the hell should Leigh act nervous?

  I am not involved.

  “What do you want?” Leigh added. She sounded a little flippant. Good.

  Janelle’s impassive face was set like stone. “Let’s get something straight,” she began in a monotone. “I have no beef with you personally, whoever you are. But I believe you have something in your possession that legally belongs to me. And I would like to have it back now.”

  Leigh’s heart pounded against her sternum. But she reminded herself that she couldn’t leap to any conclusions simply because Janelle had hired a diamond broker. Whether one or all of the Finney sibs had dispatched with Eva Menlin themselves, Bruce’s ties to Del would ensure t
hat they all had access to at least as much information about the murder investigations as Leigh did. Furthermore, as logical as it might seem that the sibs were working together, Leigh reminded herself that she couldn’t assume that, either. Hap insisted that the four were barely on speaking terms, and Bev had claimed as recently as an hour ago that they were still tailing each other in aimless loops around the town.

  If the siblings didn’t trust each other, they were bound to worry that one of the others might try to abscond with more than his or her fair share of the diamonds. And quite probably with just cause — had Russell and Bruce not both offered to “help” Leigh in exchange for some sort of personal favor?

  Leigh felt a sudden shockwave of sympathy for Eva Menlin. Whether this particular business transaction was technically legal or not, it was a risky gig from the get-go. Who in their right mind would want to deliver a large amount of precious gems and bear the responsibility for splitting them equitably among four unethical people who hated each other?

  “Listen,” Leigh said plainly. “I will tell you exactly what I told both your brothers. I am a tourist. I don’t know Eva Menlin. I don’t have anything of yours, or theirs, and I never did. I have no idea why you think I have anything to do with any of this, but it’s been your mistake from the beginning. All I’ve ever wanted is to be left alone.”

  Janelle’s pale eyes stared back into hers, their dim depths unreadable. Leigh considered herself a fair judge of character, but Janelle was an enigma. She seemed intelligent in some way, but there was certain density to her gaze that signaled an incomplete understanding of the world. The petite figure stood like a statue, staring at Leigh with no expression whatsoever, for a very long time. Then, finally, she issued a question.

  “If you’re so innocent, then why did you drive all the way into the city to hunt me down at the Finney offices?”

  Uh-oh.

  Leigh began to sweat a little. The truth was so blasted convoluted that even a lie would be more believable, assuming she could tell it well enough. “Tourists go to the city, too,” she said with an attempt at sarcasm. “They also eat lunch, and my husband happened to be doing consulting work in the same building.”

  Janelle continued her hard stare. “You intentionally dropped your tray on the table to get my attention.”

  Crap.

  “You obviously know who I am, and you know my brothers as well,” Janelle continued. “How you got involved with Eva I don’t know, and I don’t care. I don’t care about anything except getting what belongs to me. Legally. Do we understand each other?”

  Leigh was screwing this up royally. And for next steps, she was at a loss. She wasn’t afraid of the tiny woman standing in front of her — at least not at the moment. An additional three people had entered the laundromat since Janelle came in, none of whom, mysteriously enough, carried any laundry. One of them looked like he could be a plainclothes Ranger; the other two were old enough to be his parents. Leigh found the collective presence of the onlookers exceptionally comforting, but Janelle’s laser-focus seemed to have screened out her audience entirely, despite the jingling bells that announced the newcomers. Leigh wondered if Janelle or any of the Finneys even realized they were under surveillance. Were they too stupid to notice? Or too desperate to care?

  Leigh decided she’d had enough of the pussyfooting. “Clearly we do not understand each other,” she said firmly. “Because you’re not listening to me. I don’t have whatever it is you’re talking about. I never did. But because your family insists on threatening me about it, I have just had a nice, long talk with the Texas Rangers. Now they know everything I know. So please be advised that if anything happens to me, or anybody connected to me, the Rangers will know exactly who’s behind it. So will you just go away now and leave me alone, please?”

  For the first time, Janelle’s facade of calm broke. Her cheeks suffused with a ruddy color and her pale eyes burned with malice. She whirled around, startled a second upon noticing the additional people in the room, then stomped toward the door. She was halfway out of it when she shot back over her shoulder, “Just remember, Ms. Leigh Koslow Harmon. I’m not the one who was convicted of murder!”

  Leigh’s face burned. “I… No… Arrested!” she stammered. “Falsely arrested!”

  The door swung shut.

  Leigh took a step, but Warren stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Let her go. It doesn’t matter.”

  Janelle got into her car and backed out. Leigh looked around the room, mortified. She cleared her throat. “Um… The charges were dropped, by the way.”

  The man that Leigh suspected was a Ranger threw her a smirk. He tipped his fishing cap, then started out the door after Janelle.

  ***

  Leigh thought for sure that, if nothing else, the day’s events should destroy her appetite. But when Bev brought out the grilled shrimp kabobs, lo and behold, there it was. The four of them ate heartily at their belated dinner, which Bev served outside in one of the cozy picnic shelters at the county beach park. It was dark, which made the location seem strange for a picnic, but the milieu was enjoyable nevertheless. The sky was clear, it was a warm, moonlit night, and Bev had surrounded them with citronella candles. Several RVs were camped nearby, but the beach was otherwise deserted, except for whatever Texas Ranger sat in the SUV that was parked prominently beside Hap’s own car.

  Leigh did feel safe enough. The shrimp kabobs were amazing, the churning sound of the waves was heavenly, and the wind was unusually calm. Hap and Bev were delightful company, and their wealth of funny family stories had succeeded in keeping Leigh’s mind off the rest of her day for the better part of an hour.

  But they could not avoid the unpleasantness forever. Although Leigh had heard nothing from the authorities since Janelle’s visit, it was clear from the way the Rangers were following her around that they had reason to believe she was in danger. Amazingly, Hap and Bev, rather than being annoyed by the trouble their cousin had brought down upon their heads, seemed more embarrassed that their hometown was not showing the couple a better time.

  “Have some more roasted pineapple,” Bev suggested when the group fell quiet suddenly. Her kind eyes were filled with angst. “I would have brought the ice cream, but I was afraid it would melt. We’ll have it when we get back home.”

  “Bev, please,” Leigh pleaded, even as she accepted more pineapple. “You have no idea what a culinary fantasy you have made this vacation for me already!” She looked her host and hostess in the eyes. “I do wish you would stop looking like you feel guilty. None of this is your fault. Other than all that stuff, I’ve really had a fabulous time.”

  Bev and Hap exchanged a look. “Well if that’s the case, darlin’, you sure as hell need to get out more,” Hap teased. “But since you brought up the subject, let’s talk. What happened with Janelle earlier?”

  Leigh summarized the encounter in between bites of pineapple. “The sibs obviously know exactly who I am, now. They must have looked me up, just like Allison looked them up, as soon as Bruce wheedled my name out of Del. But what really blows my mind is that knowing the truth doesn’t even matter anymore. They still think I’m involved… and that I have been all along!”

  “Of course they do,” Warren reasoned. “Look at the evidence from their eyes. You were present when two of the three bodies were discovered, you followed Janelle to Finney Enterprises, and you have what looks like a fishy criminal record.”

  Leigh flushed again. “I—”

  Warren cut her off with a side hug. “I know. But think about it. If they’re looking at media stories online, with all the things that have happened in Pittsburgh over the years… Plus, there’s no telling how much of your police record Del might have leaked. You know perfectly well that if you were a Finney, you would suspect yourself right now.”

  Leigh groaned. “I wish the sibs could get along. If they’d all acted together, then they would know I was innocent, wouldn’t they? But no. One of them — or who knows, maybe
two of them? — must have killed Eva and Stanley and taken all the diamonds for themselves. But the others don’t know that. So the innocent ones suspect me of still having the mother lode. Right?”

  Bev dropped her hands on the wooden table with a clunk. “Well, that would point right to Sharonna then, wouldn’t it? She’s the only one who hasn’t approached you to beg for her share!”

  “That’s true,” Warren said thoughtfully. “But if Sharonna has all the diamonds, why is she still here? She should be on the first plane out. Or train. Or bus. She should swim if she has to, but if she doesn’t leave soon, it will all be for nothing. The Rangers are clearly closing in.”

  Hap shook his head. “Sharonna’s a loose cannon. I can see her doing something dumb. What I can’t see her doing is killing a woman and disposing of her body in a swamp, then chasing Stanley around and strangling him to death.”

  “Oh, no,” Bev said quickly. “I can’t see that either. Even if she were strong enough, Sharonna’s way too high and mighty to go tromping around in a marsh. She would have to have help.”

  “Have you seen anyone with her?” Warren asked.

  Hap shook his head. “Rosina said Sharonna paid a guy to help her question the maids, but I know him; he’s just a local kid.”

  “Maybe the other sibs are faking it,” Bev suggested. “Maybe one of them already has the diamonds, but they’re trying to convince the others they don’t, and that includes approaching you — just to be thorough.”

  “I don’t think they’re that smart,” Hap remarked, shaking his head.

  “Janelle did seem awfully confident when she came in the laundromat,” Leigh mentioned. “Like she didn’t care whether she was being watched or not. Like she had nothing to be ashamed of. She only lost her cool when she found out I’d already talked to the Rangers.”

  “Maybe that’s the moment she first started to doubt herself,” Warren suggested. “To wonder if you really didn’t have the diamonds. Which, again, would make her seem innocent.”