“What makes you think we’re letting you go anywhere?” asked Barker. “Blackmail is a crime and I’m still not convinced you’re not the murderer.”
“Why did you come back in time to blackmail everyone?” asked Josie. “Twenty-five thousand dollars isn’t that much in our day. Plus, it’s not like you could go back and spend these bills in 2018. They don’t even look like legal tender.”
“Think about it for a minute,” said Sue. “I can’t spend money from 1929 in 2018. And I can’t spend 2018 money in 1929. But I’m about to put this money to very good use.”
Josie suddenly realized what was going on. “Agent Barker, what did Madame Racine say again?”
He got out his notebook. “It says ‘She is from the future. She will fall into a great depression. She must pay.’”
“It’s not ‘a’ great depression,” said Josie. “It’s ‘the’ Great Depression. Sue here is going to profit off the stock market crash.”
“What stock market crash?” asked David.
Josie wasn’t sure how much to reveal. “Two months from now the stock market will crash, starting a worldwide depression. It’s one of the greatest financial disasters in history.”
“Impossible,” said David. “There are too many safeguards in place.”
“Trust me. It’s going to happen. And I think Sue wanted to get as much cash as possible so that after the crash, she could buy stock at the lowest rate so by the time she returned to 2018, she’d be a billionaire.”
“What’s a billionaire?” asked Barker.
“Am I right?” Josie asked Sue.
“Close enough. Did you know David has IBM stock?”
“Yes,” said Josie.
Sue raised a brow. “I guess you two have been getting to know each other.”
“Why did you murder Madame Racine?” asked Josie. “Was she in on it with you? Is that how she knew about the Great Depression?”
“Once again, I didn’t murder anyone. I was just as surprised as you were when she went off in that trance. I thought it was all an act until that point. I have no idea how she knew about the Great Depression, other than maybe this creepy house is haunted. I don’t know who killed her and I don’t care. This is all extremely tiresome and now I want to take my money back to modern day, then come back to reinvest when the time is right.”
Agent Barker was losing patience. “And, once again, I’m not going to let you do that.”
“But you will and I’ll tell you why. I know how to return to 2018 and Josie Matthews here doesn’t.”
“What makes you think I don’t know?” asked Josie.
“I did a tour of this house when it first went on the market, a few months before you bought it. I found some fascinating journals in those old trunks in the attic. Henry Wells actually figured out a way to travel through time. I tried it out, went back home and came up with my plan.”
“I also travelled through time,” said Josie. “So you have no leverage with me.”
“But judging from your shocked expression when you got here, you did it by accident. And I’ll bet all the money I have that you can’t tell me how to get home. You can’t do it without knowing what’s in the journals. I put the most important ones in a safe deposit box in 2018.”
Josie didn’t know what to say.
“Will you tell Josie how to get home if we let you go?” asked David.
“We can’t let her go!” said Barker.
David shook his head. “I can reimburse everyone for what she stole. But I want Josie to be able to get back to her own time.”
Sue smiled. “I knew you’d see reason. If you let me go, I’ll leave instructions for how to get home.”
“She’s lying,” said Josie. “She’ll just disappear and leave me here. She can’t get away with this.”
“Actually,” said Sue. “I can and I will.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
David couldn’t believe what was happening. A woman he’d been seeing for months, and had even considered marrying, had just blackmailed him for $25,000. If she didn’t commit the murders – and he had to admit he didn’t think she did – the killer was still on the loose. And now there was a chance the mysterious and very likable Josie Matthews would be staying in 1929. For her sake, he wanted her to be able to go home. But for his, he wouldn’t mind having her stick around.
Grant, Josie and he were huddled in the corner of the library while Constance – or Sue – was lounging on the couch, looking like she didn’t have a care in the world.
“You can’t let this dame get away with it!” said Barker.
“But if we don’t, Josie might never get home,” said David. “Besides, if we throw her in prison, she’s likely to tell everyone’s secrets just out of spite.”
“You’re right about that!” said Sue, who apparently had very good hearing.
David lowered his voice. “Think of all the people who’d be ruined. I’ll pay everyone back. And, in the end, we still have to catch the killer.”
“You don’t think she did it?” asked Grant.
David shook his head.
Grant sighed. “Neither do I. What about you, Miss Matthews? You’ve got the most at stake here. Do we throw her in prison or set her free?”
Josie bit her lower lip, deep in thought. David hoped she might give some indication that she wished to stay in 1929 with him. He knew it’d be a sacrifice, but he hoped she’d at least consider it. Finally, she spoke.
“I agree that she’d tell everything she knew if you put her in prison. And I don’t think she killed anyone. I guess we could let her go, but I don’t think she’s going to tell me how to get home.”
“Why don’t we hold her here for a while until she gives Josie the information she needs?” asked David. “Make her think we haven’t quite made up our minds? She deserves to squirm for at least a bit.”
“She does,” agreed Grant. “Can we handcuff her in your room, Miss Matthews? I’d rather not tell the other guests what’s going on for now.”
“Sure. Let’s just hope she breaks soon.”
“And in the meantime,” said David. “We still have to find the killer.”
* * *
“You’ve got to be kidding,” said Sue, once she’d been told of her situation and taken to Josie’s room. “I’m not going to let you handcuff me to the bed.”
“We’re not going to let you roam the house and I’m too tired to stay up babysitting you,” said Josie, who held the handcuffs.
“What if there’s a fire?”
“I’ve got the keys. I’ll get you out.”
“What if the killer comes in here in the middle of the night?”
“I’m still not convinced you’re not the killer. At any rate, I know I can’t trust you not to time travel back to the Twenty-First Century without giving me what I need.”
Sue sat back and studied her. “What if I made you a deal? I’ll give you 10% of the money, then we invest and go back to the Twenty-First Century together.”
Josie shook her head. “Not after what you did to all these people.”
“These people are all dead in our timeline. What does it matter what I did?’
“It’s the principle of the thing,” said Josie.
“You’re an idiot.”
They sat in silence for several minutes, each woman trying to figure out the other’s weakness. Josie didn’t enjoy talking to the woman, but there was something she’d been wondering about. “Why do you think we changed the timeline? Why are Mikey Corrigan and Kurt Franklin alive, while Madame Racine and Senator Farnsworth are dead?”
Sue shrugged. “How should I know? Look at it this way...two people who were supposed to die are still alive. Farnsworth was a complete jerk, so no one will miss him. Whatever we did might have been a good thing.”
“What about Madame Racine? She wasn’t even supposed to be here.”
“Look, you know as well as I do that she wasn’t clairvoyant. She was obviously pulling some s
cam and it probably got her killed.”
“And you don’t worry that there’s a murderer on the loose?”
“Why should I? Didn’t you just say you’d protect me if he storms the room?”
“Are you ever going to tell me how to get home?”
Constance smiled and leaned back against the headboard. “I already told you I would. All you have to do is let me go.”
“I can’t do that. Was this your whole plan, then? To use time travel to get rich?”
“Yes. It was a great plan. It still is.”
“But what about going back in time to help people? Like preventing World War II?”
“And how would you do that, exactly? Warning President Roosevelt about Pearl Harbor would probably get you locked up. Besides, people listened to women back then even less than they do in our day.”
Josie had to admit that was true.
“Just out of curiosity, what’s your theory on how you got here?” asked Sue.
“Why?”
“I’m bored. There’s nothing to do and I want to see how close you are to the truth. How do you think you got here?”
It was obvious that Sue was toying with her, but Josie thought it was her best chance to possibly learn something. “I think it’s tied to the earthquakes somehow. Professor Crowfeather agrees.”
“Interesting. That was one of the theories in Wells’s notebooks.”
“Where exactly are those notebooks?”
Sue smiled. “Safely back in the Twenty-First Century. What are your other theories about time travel?” When Josie didn’t answer, Sue grinned. “Can I have my phone back?”
“Why?”
“It’s a very good phone and I’ll need it when I get home.”
“What makes you think you’re going home?”
“Because you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in this era any more than I do. Eventually, you’ll have to let me go so I can take us both back. Or do you really think a random earthquake will do the trick? Because it won’t.”
Unfortunately, Josie was beginning to think she was right.
Sue yawned. “I’m tired of this conversation and want to go to bed. Handcuff me so I can go to sleep.” She put her left hand up to the wrought iron headboard to make it easier.
Josie walked toward the bed, keeping an eye on the other woman the entire time. She got on the bed, then put a cuff around Constance’s wrist.
“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” Sue asked her.
Josie fumbled with the key. “With whom?”
“David Remington. You certainly seem well-read on the case. I think you have a crush on the Tycoon Murderer. I mean, he’s the ultimate bad boy – a misunderstood, millionaire murderer.”
There was more truth to Sue’s assertion than Josie wanted to admit. She hated being that easy to read. “I don’t think he’s the murderer.”
“Then you don’t know him the way I do,” said Sue. “I have evidence that he really killed both of them.”
Josie turned to her in surprise only to have Sue smash the water pitcher on her head.
Once again, Josie felt herself go unconscious.
The next thing she was aware of was having an enormous headache – again – and being shaken gently awake.
“Josie, Josie,” said David as he probed her head.
Josie tried to clear her thoughts as she opened her eyes in the dark room. She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious. But she could feel shards of the pitcher around her and from what little she could see of David in the dim light, he looked worried.
Then Josie remembered Sue. She looked around, only to be hit with a sharp headache. “Did she get away?”
“Josie,” said David as took her hand. “Sue’s dead. She was shot in the woods.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Once again, it was close to dawn, the guests were assembled in the drawing room and Deputy Irwin was about to address them. But this time he was shaking with fury. “In all my years keeping the peace as a sheriff’s deputy I have never come across a group of people so lost to morality that folks keep dropping dead in their midst. This so-called party has, all on its lonesome, increased the county’s annual murder rate by 3000% percent!”
Dora raised her hand. “Are you sure your math is right? While three murders at one party would be a lot by even New York standards, I fail to see how they could account for more than a 300% increase.”
Deputy Irwin was dumbfounded. Josie – whose head still throbbed – realized this was probably a common state for the man.
He cleared his throat and ignored Dora. “Does anyone here have any information about the murder of Constance Andrews?”
The guests looked at each other. There were some speculative glances. Tanner was looking at Mikey Corrigan in a pointed way and Lucy was staring at Josie rather intently, but no one said anything.
Deputy Irwin continued. “I have sent a telegram begging the sheriff to return from his vacation because some or maybe all of you need to be thrown in jail. He should be arriving in the next day or so and until he does, there will be no more murders! Do I make myself clear?”
From the looks of it, everyone was quite clear about the general “no more murders” declaration. Whether that would be the case was something else altogether.
When Deputy Irwin finally departed – with a case of Canadian Club – Mikey Corrigan motioned for Barker and David to join him outside. Then he begrudgingly said to Josie, “You might as well come, too.”
The four of them stepped out to the back lawn far from where they could be overheard.
“What is it, Mikey?” asked David.
“I found this in my room,” said Corrigan, as he held up a piece of paper. There was one typewritten word on it: Lassiter.
“What does it mean?” asked Josie.
“It’s the name of that woman with the kids David told you about,” said Barker. “Unless there’s another one.”
“No,” said Corrigan, frowning. “That’s the only one I know.”
“That was so many years ago,” said David. “Have you heard from her in the meantime?”
Corrigan shook his head. “I never heard from her after she left Chicago. I always hoped she went someplace and met a good man, but I don’t know what happened to her.”
“You were so good to her,” said David. “This can’t have anything to do with her.”
Corrigan ran his hand through his hair. “She got in trouble a third time. I don’t know who the dad was, no more than I knew the fathers of the two kids she already had – a boy and a girl. She was desperate. She couldn’t afford the kids she had, even with the help I gave her. She...I think she wanted me to marry her. She was a nice lady, about ten years older than us and I liked the kids well enough. Maybe in another world I could have, but I was barely nineteen and had my head filled with dreams of becoming a crime boss. You remember me back then.”
“But what’s that have to do with the note?” asked Barker.
“Maybe it’s from one of the children,” said Josie. “You said she had a boy and a girl. How old would they be now?”
“I dunno. Mid-twenties, maybe? But I don’t know why they’d hold a grudge against me after all these years. I helped her. I just couldn’t marry her.”
“Maybe Mrs. Lassiter didn’t meet a nice man after she left Chicago,” said David. “Maybe this person has harbored a great deal of anger about whatever happened to her and is blaming you.”
Barker looked back at the house, where they could see the guests gathered at the bar in the ballroom. “From what I can see, there are four people who are about the right age. Franklin, Tanner, Dora Barnes and, as much I hate to say it, Lucy. We need to find the killer before Mikey’s next.”
“I think this all comes back to Madame Racine or Delores Spencer or whatever we should call her,” said Josie. “I believe she’s the one who shot Mr. Corrigan to take suspicion away from the murderer. Perhaps, if we can learn where she was the
night before she arrived here, we could find a connection between her and the murderer.”
“I agree,” said David. “Josie and I can visit the local hotels and boarding houses to see if anyone remembers her. Grant, you stay with Mikey to keep him safe.”
“I don’t need Barker to keep me safe,” growled Corrigan.
“We’re not taking any chances. I just hope the two of you don’t kill each other. Josie and I will be back later and you’d both better be alive.”
“I may throw you in prison one day,” Barker said to Corrigan. “But I’ll be damned if I let anyone kill you.”
David turned to Josie. “I don’t suppose you’d like to go to a few hotels with me,” he asked with a slow smile.
Boy, would she ever. “I thought you’d never ask.”
* * *
It was just after two when Josie and David left the last boarding house in McConnell. They’d gone to all three hotels in town, then visited six boarding houses without any luck in finding someone who had seen Delores Spencer.
“Well, it was a good idea,” said David after they’d received their last ‘no.’ “I hope Mikey and Grant are faring better.”
“Are you sure that was the last boarding house?” asked Josie as she looked at a street filled with old Victorians which had been torn down to build modern condos in her day.
“As far as I know.”
“At least we don’t have to wade through a bunch of Airbnbs.”
“A bunch of whats?” asked David as they got in the car.
“Never mind. But it does remind me of another inn up the road which I looked at when I was considering whether to buy Remington Mansion.”
“It’s still odd to hear you say you own my house,” said David as he started the car.
“Remember, it’s our house. Do we have time to go check out this place? I think it’s about ten miles up the road.”
“Why not? The only things waiting for us are a house full of guests and a murderer.”
The Tycoon Murderer Page 20