by J A Whiting
Courtney gave the Senator a smile. “If you have a few minutes, it would be very helpful if we could chat about a few things.”
Senator Winston stayed in his seat. “Chat? About what?”
Courtney said, “About the events of the past days.”
Bethany narrowed her eyes. “What is there to talk over?”
Jenna’s eyebrows went up. “A murder, for one thing.”
Bethany modified her previous statement. “I meant, what hasn’t already been said?”
“We have some questions regarding the crime.” Courtney straightened in her seat.
“Why would that be something we would discuss with you?” The Senator gave a small shake of his head.
Angie spoke up. “Because, we work with the Sweet Cove police department.”
Senator Winston stared at Angie. “In what capacity?”
Courtney responded to the question with what was becoming a routine reply. “We’re criminal justice consultants.”
The Senator was about to question further when Ellie said cryptically, “We have the necessary experience.” She folded her hands in her lap. “We’re not allowed to say more.”
As she turned to the Senator, Angie bit her lip to keep from smiling at Ellie’s handling of the situation. “So if you don’t mind, we’d like to ask some questions, but if you’d feel more comfortable, before we begin, I can get Chief Martin on the phone and he can reassure you about our authorization.”
Senator Winston waved his hand dismissively. “Go ahead with your questions.”
Angie explained. “We’re just gathering information about the night that Nelson was killed. We’re trying to put pieces together. Who was where? What did people see or hear? The smallest thing can often help lead to the killer, so we’d just like to gather your impressions.”
The Senator seemed to relax a little.
Angie started by addressing the first question to the Senator. “Could you tell us what you were doing on the night that Nelson Rider was killed?”
“Of course. Nelson and Bethany and I had dinner together at the resort restaurant. We finished up with our meals around nine. After we ate, Bethany went to her suite. She had some work to do on a case she’d been busy with. Nelson and I went into the bar for a drink. Nelson was still jet-lagged, so he decided to retire early and he went back to his bungalow to rest.”
“After Nelson left, what did you do?” Jenna asked.
“I had another drink and then headed back to my suite. I had some paperwork to do.”
“Once you returned to your room, did you see or speak to anyone else?” Ellie questioned.
Winston’s forehead creased. “No one.”
“Did you see or speak to Nelson again that night?” Jenna asked.
The Senator shook his head.
“Who informed you about what happened to Nelson?” Angie watched the man’s face.
“A police detective knocked on my door. Around eleven, I believe. That’s how I got the news.”
“You and Nelson were close?” Courtney asked.
A pained look passed over Senator Winston’s face. “He was like a son to me.”
Courtney shifted her attention to Bethany. “How did you find out about your fiancé’s passing?”
Bethany narrowed her eyes. “I went to my bungalow after dinner. I worked for a while, and then I got restless so I went for a drive.” She gave Courtney a pointed look. Bethany did not want her father to know about her late evening visit to the Roselands on the night of the murder. “When I returned to the resort, I saw the police there, the crowd gathered. The police notified me.”
Jenna posed the next question. “Do either of you know how to shoot a gun?”
Bethany looked like she’d been slapped.
The Senator replied. “We both know how to shoot. We’ve spent time on the firing range. We’ve hunted.” He cleared his throat. “When a person is in a certain position, well, you understand, it is imperative to know how to defend oneself. I made sure that my daughter was comfortable around guns.”
“Can you think of anyone who would want to harm Nelson?” Angie questioned.
“Nelson was a fine young man.” The Senator squared his shoulders. “I have no idea who would want to kill him.”
Angie looked at Bethany. The young woman shifted her eyes away, gave a shrug of her shoulder, and shook her head.
Senator Winston stood up, and Bethany followed his lead. “That’s all we know. I wish we were more help, I really do.” He gave Mr. Finch a nod. “Remember my offer for a getaway to ease your recovery. Think it over. Let me know if you change your mind.” He took his daughter by the elbow and they walked briskly through the foyer. Courtney followed behind and opened the door for them. She wished the Winstons a good night.
When Courtney returned to her seat in the living room, she blew out a long breath and eyed her family group. “Someone around us knows more than they’re telling. I can feel it.”
Chapter 16
“Good morning.” Jenna placed a platter of banana bread on the dining room buffet table.
Kimberley sat at the dining table scowling at her phone while holding her coffee mug. She looked up when Jenna came in and gave her a half smile. She glanced at the floor for her purse and realized she’d left it in her room. “I’m going upstairs to get my bag. I’ll be right back. Don’t clear my plate.” She got up from the table and hurried away to her room.
Jenna moved to where Kim was sitting to replace the creamer with a fresh pot. Reaching to the middle of the dining table, she noticed Kim’s phone was next to her plate and she saw that the screen was displaying the woman’s bank account information. Jenna’s mouth dropped open when she saw the total in Kim’s savings account.
The screen darkened as the phone was about to go to sleep. Pretending to be checking the sugar bowl, Jenna took a quick look over her shoulder, and then touched her index finger to the phone screen bringing the data back into view. She eyed the list of most recent transactions and her heart pounded when she noticed a very large deposit credited to Kim’s account three days after Nelson Rider was killed. Hearing footsteps on the stairs, Jenna stepped to the other side of the table, removed some used plates, and headed down the hall to the kitchen.
“Guess what.” Jenna, breathless, burst into the room so quickly that Ellie jumped.
Courtney had gone to work at the candy store and Mr. Finch was still asleep. Angie was busy mixing cookie dough. She looked up, alarmed by her sister’s sudden appearance.
Tom sat at the center island eating breakfast and he swiveled his stool towards Jenna. “What’s up?”
Jenna put the dirty dishes she was carrying onto the counter, hurried over to Tom, and slipped her arm around him. She told Tom and her sisters that she’d seen Kimberley’s bank account on her phone and reported to them how much was in it.
Angie almost dropped the tray of cookies she was about to put in the oven. “Over a quarter of a million dollars?”
Ellie’s blue eyes were like saucers. She stood frozen in the middle of the room. “Is it accurate? Could you have been looking at something other than her bank account information?”
“I’m sure it was her savings account. All but ten thousand dollars of it came in one lump sum, just days ago. How can she explain that?”
Angie thought. “Well, what about an inheritance?”
“It’s quite a coincidence that a lot of money went into her account right after Nelson Rider got killed.” With his left hand, Tom lifted a forkful of waffle into his mouth. His right hand rubbed Jenna’s shoulders and she leaned into him.
“It’s very suspicious.” Ellie dried her hands on a dish towel.
Angie said, “I’ll tell Chief Martin. Maybe he can look into the origin of the money. Find out who it was transferred from.”
“I’ll bet you that the money will be basically untraceable.” Tom took a swallow from his coffee mug. “Big wigs, corporations, drug money can get passed around throu
gh so many channels that it becomes impossible to determine the origin. If this young woman received a bundle of cash recently, I doubt anyone will be able to tell you where it came from. Not without a ton of research, and that costs time and money.”
“That can’t be legal.” Ellie scowled.
“Probably not,” Tom said. “But it works.”
Angie put her tray of cookies into the oven and set the timer. She went to the kitchen island, crossed her arms, and leaned on it. “So, let’s assume that Kimberley got paid off for something. It had to be something important since she got a boat-load of money for whatever it was she did. So what are some ideas of what she might have done?”
“Killed Nelson,” Jenna said.
Tom offered, “Sold drugs.”
“Inheritance?” Angie shrugged.
Ellie rolled her eyes at the suggestion. “That isn’t valid,” she insisted. “We’re coming up with things someone could get paid off for.”
Jenna thought of something else. “Kidnapping.”
Ellie shook her head. “Let’s keep it to things relevant to this particular case.”
A few moments passed, and then Angie came up with an idea. “Kim helped someone eliminate Nelson. Maybe she didn’t kill him, but she assisted in the planning, or the execution of the plan.”
“Execution?” Jenna’s expression was serious. “Again, Angie comes up with a poor choice of word.”
“But the idea has merit.” Tom rubbed the back of Jenna’s neck to help remove the tension in her muscles.
“Can I be next for a neck rub?” Angie kidded.
“Get your own man.” Jenna chided her sister.
“Neck rubs are over. It’s time for me to get to work if you’re ever going to open that bake shop of yours.” Tom smiled at Angie as he reached for his tool belt, and then looked around the kitchen. “Where are the cats?” Euclid and Circe rarely missed the opportunity to supervise Tom’s renovation work in the new café.
Ellie piled waffles on a platter to carry to the dining room. “The cats are in Mr. Finch’s room watching over him. I’m sure once he gets up, those two taskmasters will be down to keep an eye on you.”
Tom headed off to work. “I’m going to be lonely without them,” he half-joked.
***
Ellie promised to watch the jewelry shop while Angie and Jenna met with Chief Martin at the police station. The girls and the chief talked in one of the conference rooms away from listening ears.
The chief drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “This is an interesting development. Someone paid Ms. Kimberley Hutchins handsomely. For something, and probably not something good. As Tom told you, it will likely be difficult to figure out where the money came from. But Ms. Hutchins and I will have a chat.” The chief nodded to Jenna. “Good work.”
“Any leads on what happened to Mr. Finch at the memorial service?” Angie asked.
“Nothing yet on who might have attacked him, but the preliminary ballistics report suggests the gun found in the closet of the Winston’s rental house is the murder weapon.”
Jenna said, “Now we need to figure out who put it there.”
Angie gave a sigh. “Easier said than done, but I feel like we’re getting closer.”
“There’s something else I want to share with you.” Chief Martin pushed a folder on the table with his finger. “The “tox” report indicates that Nelson Rider had drugs in his system when he was murdered.”
“What kind?” A skitter of unease ran over Angie’s skin.
“Opioids. Pain killers. It’s one more thing that needs looking into.”
“How do you mean?” Jenna’s head tilted slightly in a questioning position.
“The report shows a high amount of the pain killers present in his body. It opens up another avenue of investigation. Was Nelson using the drugs for legitimate pain relief or was he abusing drugs? If he was using, maybe it was a drug-buy gone wrong that got him killed.”
Angie considered this news. “I don’t think the Winstons or Nelson’s siblings will be very forthcoming about whether or not Nelson was using drugs. It’s not something they would want known.”
“That would sully the family’s reputation.” Jenna observed. “It would also cast a shadow on the family firm. Clients might not be thrilled with the idea of trusting their money to someone whose judgment could be clouded by drugs.”
“I wanted you to know about this before you go back to the bungalow. It might help when you … well, when you investigate the premises again.” The chief never knew how to verbalize what the Roseland sisters could do.
“Josh Williams still doesn’t know about our skills.” Angie didn’t want anything about their “abilities” to slip out when they returned to check out the crime scene at the resort. When the time was right, she would have that difficult discussion with Josh and she hoped he would be accepting. Just thinking about bringing the subject up with Josh made Angie break into a sweat. “I’ll tell him one day.”
The chief’s expression was serious. “I’m always careful not to say anything when we’re in public. I would never mention your family’s skills in front of others.”
Angie gave a nod. “We’ll share the information about the drugs with Courtney, Ellie, and Mr. Finch. We’ll keep it in mind when we go to the bungalow to investigate.”
Jenna brought up the subject of alibis. “Is there anyone who doesn’t have a valid alibi for the night of the murder?”
The chief rubbed the side of his face. “Senator Winston claims to have been in his bungalow, but he was alone, so who knows if he was there or not. Bethany Winston reported that she was in her suite and then went out for a drive. We know she went to your house to talk to you that night, but we don’t know for sure if she was in her bungalow when Mr. Rider was murdered.”
They discussed the time line and determined that Bethany was unaccounted for during the time of Nelson’s attack. “We considered the possibility that Bethany showing up at our door might have been a way for her to have an alibi.”
The chief agreed. “Is there anything else you’ve discovered that I might not know about?”
The girls thought for a moment and shook their heads.
“I’ve requested that the interested parties remain in town for a few more days, and if they need to leave Sweet Cove, that they keep me informed of their whereabouts.”
Angie said, “We’ll keep investigating. We’ll see if we can find out anything about Nelson and the drugs and we’ll try to find out more about Kimberley and the hefty deposit to her account.”
“I’ll see you in a couple of days when we meet at the bungalow.” They stood up and left the conference room.
On the walk back to the Victorian, Angie experienced such a moment of dread about returning to Nelson’s bungalow that she felt light-headed. She didn’t understand her deep sense of unease. She tried to shake off the frightening feelings by thinking about Josh and their upcoming bike ride, but she knew the sensation of anxiety would surge up again and she would have to face it.
Chapter 17
Angie sat at the dining room table going over her plans to re-open the bake shop. Jenna was working in her jewelry room and Ellie had gone out for lunch with Attorney Jack Ford. Courtney was at the candy shop and Mr. Finch had slept late, ate breakfast at the Victorian while Ellie questioned him about the injury to his head, and read the news on the porch with the cats watching over him. Tiring easily, he was now upstairs resting in his room.
The girls didn’t want him alone the first day after getting knocked on the head so he was spending the day at their house. Later he would head to his new home behind the Victorian, to meet his girlfriend, Betty Hayes, to tell her about his adventures of the previous evening.
Angie was making a list of tasks she needed to complete. Fixtures had to be ordered, boxes had to be unpacked, appliances moved in, and food orders needed to be placed.
She was punching numbers into a calculator when Kimberley Hutchins burst t
hrough the front door of the Victorian and rushed toward the stairs. Her eyes looked wild. When she spotted Angie, she hurried to the dining room and stood there beside the table. Beads of sweat covered the young woman’s forehead and she was out of breath.
Angie put down her pencil, alarmed by Kim’s distress. “What’s wrong?”
“I….” A tear escaped from the corner of her eye and she brushed it away. She put her purse on the table and used both hands to push her hair back from her face. Kim took a quick, nervous glance at the front door.
Angie’s inner alarm bells were sounding. “The front door locks when it closes. No one can get in without the code or without having the door opened for them.” She gestured to the chair next to her. “Why don’t you sit? Tell me what’s wrong.”
Kim slid into the seat. Her face was pale. Angie wondered if, and how much, she was going to share about what was bothering her. The young woman’s distress hit Angie like waves on the shore and caused the thrumming to start in her veins. Whenever there was danger, Angie could feel the pulsing beat in her blood that warned her to be on guard.
“I was supposed to meet with the human resource manager of Rider Financial today. He attended the memorial service and he’s staying at the Winston’s rental house for a few days, so we made an appointment to meet there to have my exit interview. You know, since I gave my notice.”
“What’s worrying you about the meeting?”
Kim’s eyes flicked about the room. “I’m uncomfortable about leaving the firm. I’d prefer to just do the meeting by phone, but the manager said that I need to sign some forms for things like my 401k, and that the exit interview is always done in person.”
“Tell him you’re leaving town. Have him send you the forms. You don’t have to meet with him.” Angie knew there was more to Kim’s worry than just being nervous about facing former colleagues.
“I do have to. They insist.”
“Or what?” Angie narrowed her eyes. The young woman didn’t say anything. “They can’t make you go there. You’re done working for them. You quit. They can’t fire you or anything. You no longer have to follow the firms’ rules and regulations.”