“So that was why you called off for the morning?” Hal questioned.
“No. I took the morning off to just take the morning off.”
“I . . . I don’t understand.”
“I didn’t feel like working.”
As if he heard the most offensive news, Hal gasped. “What?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“You didn’t feel like working, so you took the day off?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t take days off.”
“Captain, usually I don’t either, but . . . I wanted to take a day off. I didn’t feel like dealing with much.”
Hal moved to the couch. “Sgt. Owens said you didn’t look well. Did you look bad this morning?”
“No, I told him to say that.”
Perturbed, Hal shook his head. “You know, I saw this coming when you left Beginnings last night. Your whole demeanor had changed because you failed to get Ellen to have lunch with you. Oh, you acted the part well, but it was an act.”
Elliott stood up. “That’s ridiculous. It has no bearing whatsoever on why I didn’t go to work.”
“Like hell it doesn’t. Don’t let this get to you, Elliott. Don’t,” Hal instructed firmly.
“I’m not. I’m sick.”
“You’re pathetic.” Hal marched to the door and stopped. “Calling off work, sleeping extra long, failing to comb your hair and using your illness as an excuse for your weak mental state. Get over it.” He flung open the door. “Or I’m kicking your ass.” Hal stormed out.
Elliott stood there speechless. Just as he was about to sit down again, the door reopened.
Hal poked his head in. “Elliott, get dressed. Now. In uniform. You have fifteen minutes to be back on duty or Owens becomes my official right hand man.” The door closed.
Elliott shook his head at Hal’s attempts to strong arm him. “The Captain wouldn’t replace me.” Lowering down to the couch, Elliott stopped. “Then again . . .” Grabbing his coffee and not taking a chance that Hal wasn’t joking, Elliott went to get dressed.
^^^^
Beginnings, Montana
“Christ.” Joe shook his head staring at the two pieces of paper before him. “Could they have been any more obvious that they copied?”
“What did I tell you?” Frank said. “They’re the same.” He pointed at the papers. “Word for word.”
“They didn’t even make an attempt.” Joe read the simple statements of the wayward married couple. Both were short compared to everyone else’s and both said the exact same thing except for when they mentioned each other.
--‘The night was pretty uneventful. After the meeting at Danny’s, I went home. The kids were in bed. Dean/Ellen and I fought for fifteen minutes. We went to the bedroom, cleaned up Henry’s mess, fought again briefly then went to sleep in the same bed together.’—
“Do you even think Ellen will say anything different than Dean did this morning?” Joe asked.
Frank shrugged. “Hard to say. You can rattle her pretty good.”
“Yeah.” Joe smiled. “I can. Go on, let her in.”
Frank walked to the door and opened it. “El.”
“It’s about time. It’s cold out there. Making me wait.” She closed the door. “Hey, where’s Grace?”
“She’s not here yet,” Frank answered.
“Oh.” Ellen turned to leave.
“Hold it,” Joe called out. “Sit. She wasn’t here for Dean’s and she won’t be here for yours.”
“But, Joe, Grace is supposed to ensure these interrogations are fair.”
“True,” Joe said. “But it’s more for the suspects than the community. After reading your and Dean’s statement of what you did that night, she doesn’t need to be here.”
“All right.” Ellen sat down. “That makes sense.”
“Besides . . .” Joe continued. “I don’t give a rat’s ass if you and Dean think I’m fair. Now . . .”
“Joe.”
“Quiet.” Joe ordered then looked up to Frank who snickered. “Ellen. What did you do the night Bev was killed?”
“The whole night?”
“No, just from the meeting on.”
“I wrote that down for you,” Ellen said.
“Well, I want you to tell me.”
“O.K.” Ellen smiled. “The night was pretty uneventful. After the meeting at Danny’s, I went home. The kids were in bed. Dean and I fought for fifteen minutes. We went to the bedroom, cleaned up Henry’s mess, fought again briefly then went to sleep in the same bed together.”
Joe looked down to the statement. He grumbled. “What? Did you memorize this?”
“No, not at all. The night was pretty . . .”
“Uneventful,” Joe finished her sentence. “Yes, I know you have that written down. Ellen? Why did you and Dean sleep in the same bed?”
“We’re married.”
“But you weren’t getting along.”
“Yes. True.” Ellen held up a finger. “But everything was solved that night.”
“And the next day you went back to it not being solved.”
Ellen looked at him, confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Ellen, when I saw you the next day, after Bev’s murder, I asked you how it was going with you and Dean since the truth was out. You told me he was back home but you two had a long way to go.”
“True.”
“But you slept with him.”
“Slept,” Ellen corrected. “We didn’t have sex. We can sleep in the same bed without sex. We’re allowed.”
“Yes, you are,” Joe told her. “My error. So . . . you never left the house after that.”
“Nope.” Ellen shook her head.
“What would you say if I told you one of Frank’s guards spoke to you that night and said you were looking for Frank?” Joe questioned.
“I’d say he was lying.”
“Frank’s guard was lying?”
“Yep.” Ellen nodded.
“Why would he lie?” Joe questioned.
“To start trouble. They get like that when they’re bored.”
“Ellen,” Joe said, perturbed. “Frank, feel free to jump in any time you’d like.”
“Nah.” Frank smiled. “I’m enjoying this too much.”
Ellen giggled. “You’re cute, Frank. Don’t forget our date tomorrow.”
“Enough,” Joe grumbled. “Now, getting back to the guard.”
“What guard?” Ellen asked.
“The one that was lying,” Joe answered.
“See. I knew it. You admit it.”
“Christ.” Joe rubbed his eyes. “Ellen.” He slammed his hand on the desk. “The guard said he saw you looking for Frank and he’s not lying to start trouble.”
“Well, he was mistaken,” Ellen said nonchalantly. “I was home in bed with my husband all night. In the same bed, mind you.”
“How could the guard mistake seeing you?”
“Maybe it was dark.” Ellen tossed her hands up in the air and stood. “I really have to go if I want to catch the Dan-Tram to get to New Bowman. May I leave?”
After a huff, Joe flicked his hand out in a wave. “Go.”
“Thanks.” She walked to the door.
“Ellen,” Joe called out, “one more time. You never left your home that night? You or Dean?”
“Nope.” She smiled and shook her head. “Honestly Joe, why would I lie?”
“Um, I don’t know . . .” Joe bobbed his head from side to side. “Maybe to cover up the fact that you killed her.”
Ellen snickered. “Don’t be silly. Why would I kill Bev? Even though I had every right to put a gun to her head and shoot her.” She reached for the door.
“Hold it,” Joe scolded as he slowly stood up.
“What?” Ellen turned around.
“Why did you say that?”
“Say what?”
“That you had every right to put a gun to her head and shoot her.”
“Because I did,” Ellen argued. “She caused me a lot of grief and . . .”
“No.” Joe walked to her. “Why did you use that form of murder?”
Ellen giggled. “Not much of an investigator, are you? That was how she died.”
“Really?” Joe folded his arms as he stood before Ellen. “And how do you know this?”
“Everyone does.” She saw Joe shaking her head. “No, they don’t?”
“We didn’t let that get out.”
“Well then you’d better tell Dean to keep his mouth shut. He was the one that told me.”
“Dean? How does he know?”
“Are you tired, Joe?” Ellen asked. “Dean. Me. Where’s Bev? In our morgue. Dean and I run that. No one else wants to. She’s there.”
Frank stepped forward. “El, we gave strict instructions for no one to go near her or for that body to be touched.”
“Dean didn’t touch her. He said he was curious so . . .” She shrugged. “He peeked. No biggie. I have to run. See ya.” Her escape was quick and Ellen was gone before anymore could be said.
Frank closed the door that Ellen left open. “Dean peeked.”
Joe was sarcastic as he made his way back to his desk. “Oh, yeah, you heard her. No biggie. It’s a goddamn murder investigation. No biggie.” He grunted as he sat down. “Christ.”
^^^^
John Matoose was a little jealous as he watched Dean move about the clinic lab at a fast pace. He guessed even if his legs were back to normal, he probably wouldn’t be as wiry as Dean. Even though Dean looked busy, he was alone and John had to talk to him. “Dean.”
With a squeak of his high top tennis shoes, Dean stopped and turned around. “Hey, John. What’s up?”
“I need to talk to you. It’s important.”
“Sure.”
Stepping in further, John lowered his voice. “It’s about a baby’s paternity.”
“I told you don’t worry about that.”
“No, not mine . . .” John’s eyes shifted when he saw Johnny come from the back room. “Never mind.”
Dean shrugged. “O.K.” he returned to work.
After a glance at Johnny, John walked from the lab. He’d have to find another way, get another chance. He was reaching the point where pretty soon he was going to have to not even beat around the bush. He would have to come right out with it.
“John,” Johnny called him.
Outside the clinic, John Matoose stopped. He turned around. “I don’t have time.”
“You should make time for me.”
“For what? What is it you want me to do, Johnny?” John stepped to him. “I’m really not in the mood. I think you’re just playing games because you’re running idle waiting to hear from your Society people.”
“Things are gonna need done.” Johnny didn’t rattle.
“Do them yourself.”
“Why are you even testing me?”
“Because I’m starting to wonder what the hell can you do? Jenny dies and someone is gonna know something is up. Blame it on me? Go on. If she’s gone, what do I care? And you know what else I think . . .” John raised his eyebrows. “I think you’re really nothing right now, nothing but you alone in Beginnings. You’re a scared little boy with no one on your side and you just need a friend. Go away, Johnny. I’m not gonna be that friend. You can’t scare me.” He turned and started to walk.
Snide, Johnny grinned. “Caroline.”
John Matoose stopped. He peered over his shoulder. “What?”
“Caroline.”
Graveling, John stormed to hm. “How dare you even mention my dead daughter.”
“You’re dead daughter?” Johnny laughed. “Really?”
John spoke deep and emotional. His head dropped with the lowering of the freezer case in the cryo-lab. “Oh my God.”
“Watch out. I have to lock this back up.” Johnny replaced the padlock then pulled the sheet that covered the case. “For the longest time I thought this case held those missing embryos. Hell, what a fool I was going after them too. But . . . good thing my father trusts me. I busted him talking to the case. And then he explained.” Johnny moved close to John. “It was a group effort. They went through the time machine and saved Brian and Caroline. Only thing now is, they have to remain in stasis for six months to a year until they can safely bring them out and cure them completely. I guess . . .” He exhaled. “. . .they have to be strong. But . . .they have to make it through stasis. One pull of the plug . . .” Johnny laughed as he laid a hard smack to John’s arched back. “Bye-bye. You got her back, John. Wouldn’t it be terrible to lose her again? And . . . the best part is, no one in the community is supposed to know they’re still alive, so no one will miss them if they don’t survive.”
John couldn’t say anything. He couldn’t move. Protecting Jenny was one thing, but protecting his daughter brought an entirely different motivation. When he failed Beginnings before, his very own flesh and blood paid the price for his sins, or at least that was how he felt. John failed Caroline once. He would not fail her again.
^^^^
The length of indulgent time for that cup of coffee was the span of a slurp, a gasp, and a burp. Josephine, snickered, swayed, and reached to set her cup on Joe’s desk.
Frank took it from her hand and put it down.
“Thank you, Frank,” Josephine spoke in her thin way. “Sometimes you ain’t such an asshole.”
“Thanks,” Frank grumbled.
“Josephine.” Joe folded his hands. “We’d like to . . .”
“Who’s the broad?” Josephine pointed back to Grace.
“She’s here to make sure things run fairly,” Joe answered.
With a ‘hmpf’ Josephine nodded. “I can understand that. You are Slagels, but who is she?”
“Grace Hawthorn,” Joe explained. “In the old world she used to be a judge. Now she’s a judge in New Bowman.”
“Where?” Josephine asked.
“New Bowman!” Joe repeated louder.
“I’m not deaf!” Josephine yelled back. “What the hell is New Bowman?”
“It’s the town we acquired,” Joe explained. “The UWA soldiers, the men that dress . . .”
Frank completed that sentiment. “Like pansy Civil War soldiers. You remember, weren’t you born then.”
Josephine rolled her eyes. “I seen them men run around here. They don’t live here?”
“No,” Joe told her. “There’s five hundred of them. They live in that town. In fact, it’s pretty built up courtesy of Danny Hoi. There’s a theater, restaurant . . .”
“Any bars?”
“Well, yeah,” Joe nodded. “And my son, Hal, is the leader.”
“Christ Almighty, you have another son?” Josephine whistled. “They’re just popping out of the woodwork, aren’t they? Forget the next plague, it’s a Slagel epidemic.”
Grace covered her mouth to hide the giggle of amusement she found in Josephine.
“Now, Josephine,” Joe tried to continue.
“You keeping this place a secret?” Josephine asked.
“New Bowman?” Joe shook his head. “No, not at all.”
“How come I don’t know about it.”
Frank fluttered his lips. “Well, if you’d leave your fuckin bar stool at the Hall.”
“Frank,” Joe cringed.
“Aren’t you just one to talk?” Josephine snapped back. “In the old days, Dean Martin would have called you a lush.”
“How would you know what I do or don’t do?” Frank argued. “You can’t lift your head off the bar past nine o’clock.”
“Here, Frank, I’ll lift something.” Josephine flipped him off.
“Dad.”
“Frank.” Joe slammed his hand. “She’s ninety years old for crying out loud. Don’t argue with her.”
“That’s right.” Josephine straightened her dress. “Treat me with some respect.”
Joe just wanted to proceed. “Josephine, the reason you’re here is w
e need to ask you some questions.”
“No need.” Josephine shook her head. “No questions, in fact . . .” She hiccupped. “Stop the investigation. I’m confessing.”
Frank rolled his eyes. “To?”
“Aren’t you just proving you’re as big and dumb as they say you are?” Josephine snapped. “To Bev’s murder, idiot. I did it. I killed her.”
“Josephine . . .” Joe tried to talk. “Look, you . . .”
“No, Joey. I did it. I insist you let me confess. No need letting it go on. I killed her. I hated her. That bitch.”
Rubbing his eyes, Joe barely looked up. “Why did you kill her?”
“She’s a Hadley. But that wasn’t it. I got into a fight with her. She called me a slut. She said I was stepping on her territory. I told her, ain’t she just one to call the kettle black. She was nothing but a fungus growing little tart.”
Joe cringed. “O.K., I think we heard enough.”
“No. I’m not done confessing.” Josephine softened her voice. “So I said, say one more word, Bev Hadley and you’re dead. She did. She called me a slut again. So . . .” Josephine leaned back in her chair. “I waited till she was asleep, then I snuck into her room with the biggest knife I could find. I lunged on the bed like a jackrabbit and I stabbed her, Joey. Stabbed her maybe fifty, sixty times. Blood shot out. She screamed. And I stabbed, over and over and over and over and . . .”
“Enough.” Joe halted her.
“O.K.” Josephine folded her hands. “I’m done. But I killed her. So . . . do what you have to do with me. But end this cops and robbers game you have going. You got your man.”
“Thank you.” Joe nodded and stood up. “Frank, can I see you outside?” He waved his hand for Frank to follow. “Grace, we’ll be right back.” As soon as Joe stepped out, he lit up a cigarette and held one out for Frank to grab when he emerged.
“Man.” Frank took the smoke. “Josephine killed Bev.”
“Frank, you asshole.”
Frank laughed.
“But you have to admit.” Joe dropped his voice to a whisper. “It’s not a bad thought.”
“What?”
“Letting her confess. I mean, she’s ninety and the community could care less about the murder. They aren’t gonna want anything done with Josephine. Her cakes are too good.”
The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20 Page 164