Figure Skating Mystery Series: 5 Books in 1

by Alina Adams

  Bex approached in what she hoped would be perceived as a nonchalant manner. Jasper looked up, recognized her, apparently bought the nonchalance facade, and smiled. He did have such a nice smile. Bex quickly told herself to think murderous thoughts to keep it at bay.

  She sat down next to him, following Jasper's gaze in time to catch Erin getting ready to practice her "bonus" number. The one she would do at the end of the show, after even the gold medalists had skated. A few feet away from her, Xenia glared with more ire than Khrushchev once reserved for his poor shoe and the United Nations table it was hammering. The reason for such rancor could be the break in exhibition protocol. Or it could be because Erin had chosen to skate to the gag-inducing "Thanks for the Memories." By Bob Hope, yet.

  Jasper asked, "How's life in the research biz, Bex?"

  He'd given her an opening. Bex hadn't planned to go that way, but didn't they say the great ones improvised? (Or was it that the great ones always had a meticulous plan? Either way, Bex figured she was about to find out.)

  She said, "Actually, I could use a bit of your help with that."

  "Shoot." He was talking to Bex, but he hadn't taken his eyes off Erin. Bex couldn't blame him. A teen who looked like a fifth grader attempting to glide gracefully to the off-tune warble of a geriatric was a sight to see.

  "I'm putting together my final report on the medal controversy. Do you have the latest for me? How's the petition coming?"

  "Fabulous. We presented it to the ISU this morning. Rupert will be announcing their decision right before the conclusion of the exhibition tomorrow."

  "They've already come to a decision? Without a hearing?"

  "Well, this event is over in twenty-four hours. And no one wants it to drag on. The public needs closure. So we can all move on."

  "Right, a fair hearing with a chance for both the persecution and defense to prepare their case would be such a drag." Bex tried to swallow her bitterness, but almost ended up gagging on it. Why did it seem like, in the end, she was the only one who cared that an actual person, not just a judge, was dead, here?

  "Look, Bex." Jasper managed to tear his eyes away from Erin and Bob long enough to bat those baby blues in Bex's direction. Was she supposed to melt or swoon? "I know how this looks and sounds, but the fact is, Rupert is in a really tough spot. With Silvana dead, it's pretty obvious no one will ever know the whole story about what happened. However, once the specter of impropriety has been raised, the ISU needs to deal with it in some way."

  "So what's the decision?"

  "Erin will be awarded a gold medal. They'll do a ceremony at the end of the exhibition, as soon as she finishes her bonus number."

  "And they'll strip Xenia of her title?" Bex gasped and involuntarily looked at the Russian girl on the ice. She looked mad now. Bex could only shudder at how angry she was capable of really getting.

  "No. In addition to. A second gold medal will be awarded, and they'll go into the record books as co-champions."

  "Because the ISU doesn't know what really happened?"

  "Because they'll never know. The whole truth died with Silvana. This seemed like the fairest way to settle things."

  "Wow," Bex said. "This is pretty precedent-setting. Thanks for the heads up, Jasper, I'll let Gil know so we can be ready with a camera crew to film the festivities." Gil would honestly be ecstatic. It was a hell of a way to end a show.

  "No problem. You're my favorite researcher, you know."

  Yeah, yeah, yeah ... she already fell for this once. Good thing Bex was so much older and wiser now. And that Jasper's eyes didn't look nearly as blue without an ocean crashing on the other side of the window.

  "But what if there was some evidence?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "What if the ISU could find some definitive evidence of cheating on Silvana's part?"

  "Oh. Well. Then I suppose they could nullify the initial result and give the clear win to Erin. Silvana was the only judge keeping her from the gold, after all."

  "Jasper," Bex lowered her voice. "I want to show you something."

  "What's up, Bex?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her seriousness. The gesture reminded Bex of Erin's on-ice Happiness persona.

  She slipped one hand into her jacket pocket. "This is top secret, now. You've got to promise to keep it quiet. If I don't give Gil an exclusive, he'll kill me. And then he'll fire me."

  "Scout's honor. You have my word."

  Bex pulled out the E-mail. She said, "This was found on Silvana's body."

  She watched Jasper closely as he opened and absorbed the E-mail. And, she had to admit; the surprise on his face might have been interpreted as true shock at seeing the document for the first time, rather than as the unexpected recognition.

  "I..." Jasper sputtered. "Where did you ... How did you ... Where did this come from?"

  "The police. They gave me a copy."

  "This is Silvana's vote list. From Xenia all the way down to the girl in twenty-fourth place. This is it exactly, no deviations."

  Wow, Bex thought sarcastically, you must be a heck of a skating fan, Jasper, if you can recognize every judge's ranking, down to the very last place. Either that, or you dummied up the list yourself based on the protocol, so you know it's accurate.

  "Do you think this would be enough to make Rupert's case for him?"

  "Are you kidding? This is incredible! Bex, how can I ever thank you?"

  "Well..." She took back the E-mail, folding it neatly and slipping it back into her pocket. "I suppose you could start by explaining how this E-mail ended up in Silvana's purse."

  He cocked his head. "What do you mean, Bex? How would I know that? I assume she printed it out and kept it as a reference ..."

  "No. She didn't. At least, not before the competition. See, Jasper, I've talked to Francis and Diana. And I know them pretty well. I know when they're lying. And I know when they're telling the truth."

  This, by the way, was untrue. Bex was lucky if she could guess when they'd had enough of each other seconds before fists started flying so she could get between them and play referee.

  But Jasper seemed to buy the lie. And the implication.

  Still, he put up a noble fight. "Francis and Diana? Howarth? What do they have to do with any of this?"

  Bex said, "I showed them the E-mail."

  "Oh." Jasper's pinkie began to twitch. Probably an old Silicon Valley/backspace injury: "What did they... what did they have to say?"

  "Well, Diana said they were both pretty much computer illiterate."

  "Oh, well, I'm not surprised." For a moment, Jasper thought he was back in his element, talking about those silly non-Web savvy people. "At their age, I wouldn't expect—"

  "Which is why they couldn't have possibly printed this E-mail off the Internet."

  "Why should they have?"

  "Because the 24/7 printer says they did."

  "Were they ... were they friends with Silvana?"

  "Barely knew the woman."

  "I'm afraid you've lost me then, Bex."

  "I don't think so." She stared right into his eyes. Then remembered that, in the animal kingdom, that sort of thing was interpreted as a threat and led to clawing and biting and all sorts of other unpleasant bloodletting, and maybe it wasn't such a good idea to engage in said behavior with a man who'd already proven himself capable of premeditated murder. So, instead of his eyes, Bex stared right into the top button of Jasper's shirt. Yeah. That would show him.

  Not to mention make it difficult to see his face. Which was why Bex had no idea what it looked like when he told her, "I really don't understand what you're getting at."

  "I think you do."

  "No, I don't."

  "I really think that you do."

  "No. No, I really don't."

  God, but it never went on for this long on “Murder, She Wrote.” Did all murderers need an impending commercial to speed up their confessions?

  "I know that you dummied up this E-mail and gave it to Fran
cis and Diana to print out," Bex finally blurted, mostly to cut her own tension. She had no idea how Jasper was handling his.

  Now, Bex looked at his face.

  He'd paled a bit. And that look of confidence had been replaced by one of uncertainty. It wasn't a confession, exactly, but it sure did boost Bex's self-esteem.

  "Would you care to reply to what I just said?" she inquired politely. Now that it looked like she was back in control, Bex felt more inclined to let her arguably delightful sense of humor come flowing out.

  "I don't know what to say.” Jasper exhaled.

  "Just for the heck of it, how about starting by confirming what I just revealed. You did dummy up this E-mail and give it to the Howarths, yes?"

  Bex wouldn't have thought the man had more to exhale, but, apparently, he did. The air came whistling out his nose, sucking his shoulders toward the gum and spilled soda sticky flora', curving his spine, and plopping both hands impotently in his lap.

  "Yes…" It was mumbled, it was quiet, but it was definitely confirmation. He looked over his shoulder, too, like yeah, right, that might distract Bex from the task at hand. She hadn't fallen for that Look! Over there! trick in weeks!

  "But, why get the Howarths involved? The more people that know ..."

  "I didn't bring a printer with me. I never need one. Everything I do for Erin is on-line. And I didn't want to use the one in the hotel. They keep records, you know."

  Yes, Bex knew. Boy, did she know.

  She pressed on, "So then you took the E-mail from them and planted it on Silvana's body after you killed her?"

  "What?" Having lost all that air, his cry came out more like a gasp, but this time, Bex heard it loud and clear. "No! No, of course not! I didn't kill Silvana."

  "So ... someone else killed her, and you just planted the E-mail?"

  "I didn't plant any E-mail."

  This was not going the way Bex had intended. She decided to go back to what she knew for a fact. "But you did create it. Probably on some kind of desktop publishing system. I've got to admit, you did a great job. You had me thinking it was the real thing for the longest time."

  "Yes, yes. I created it. But I have no idea how Silvana got her hands on it."

  "Well, personally, I don't think Silvana ever had her hands on it. I think it was slipped into her purse after she was already dead, so that someone like me could find it and turn it over to Rupert at the ISU and, ipso presto, Erin has her proof and her gold medal."

  "Ipso presto?" Jasper asked.

  "You know what I mean. Don't change the subject."

  "I'm not. I'm just trying to make you understand that I had nothing to do with Silvana's death. I honestly don't know how she got that E-mail in her purse. I'm just the middleman, here; you have to believe me. Yes, I created it, and yes, I went to Francis and Diana about printing it. I thought they'd be a safe bet, because they wanted Erin to be the gold medalist as much as we all did. And yes, I met them later, and I got the printout."

  "Were you the one who thought to cut off the 24/7 logo on top?"

  "Actually, no. Francis did that. He's odd, Bex, but he's not an idiot."

  "Right. Sorry. Go on."

  "Yeah, so, anyway. I got the printout from them. And I gave it to..." he lowered his voice now, despite the music blaring through the arena. "Patty."

  "Patty?" Now it was Bex's turn to inhale down to her ankles. "Patty was in on this?"

  "Are you kidding? It was her idea! As soon as Francis and Diana said what they did on the air about Erin deserving to win ... she decided to do it, right away. Honestly, I think she'd probably been planning this for a long time. She was just waiting for the opportunity, and I think she knew it would never be better than this. Right away, she said to me, 'Can you do this?' And I said, 'Sure.' It wasn't that complicated technically. I just took the shell of another E-mail on the same system, changed the header and text, added—"

  "Yes, yes, I already told you, you did a great job. What do you want, a cookie?"

  "I want you to believe me."

  "That Patty was involved?"

  "That this was Patty's baby from the get-go. After I got the printout from Francis and Diana, I gave it to Patty, and that was the last time I saw it. I swear."

  Bex nodded. And then she said only two words. "Prove it."

  "I can."

  "I'm listening."

  "The disk. The original disk I created the E-mail on. I gave it to the Howarths, they gave it back to me, and I gave it to Patty along with the E-mail. She probably still has it. All we have to do is find the disk, and I can prove to you that Patty is the one you're looking for here, not me."

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Who you calling 'we,' Computer Boy?"

  "Well," Jasper said, "Naturally, when I say 'we,' I mean ... you."

  "I see." Bex nodded her head thoughtfully. "What I don't see, however, is how my going to Patty and asking for the disk with the original E-mail on it lets you off the hook."

  "Technically, I suppose it doesn't. I guess Patty and I could have been in it together."

  "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you just confess to being in it together?"

  "I confessed to making the E-mail for her, not to killing Silvana. If you think that the person who gave her the E-mail is also the one who killed her, then I know that wasn't me.

  "You think it was Patty?"

  "No. I can't imagine Patty..." Jasper trailed off and looked for a moment at mother and daughter. Erin was standing at the barrier. Patty had leaned over to whisper something in her ear. Their two heads were so close together, it was impossible to tell where one set of blonde bangs ended and another began. Jasper said, "She wouldn't do that to Erin. That kind of tabloid notoriety would kill Erin's career. Heck, she wouldn't do it to herself."

  "So if you don't think Patty did it, why are you so eager to incriminate her?"

  "I am eager to prove to you that I wasn't alone in the E-mail scheme. If you go to Patty, she can show you the disk, and then she can tell you what she did with the E-mail I gave her. I bet what happened is, Patty gave Silvana the E-mail, Silvana put it in her purse, and she just happened to have it with her when she was killed."

  "By whom, a random, lurking, ice skating serial killer?" Bex wondered how long it would be before Jasper suggested that skating's equivalent of a butler, the referee, did it. "And anyway, why would Patty give Silvana the E-mail? I thought the plan was to leak it to the press. What good would Silvana having it do? Was she supposed to look at it and go, 'Oh, I guess I was influenced in my vote after all; I think I'll go turn myself in'?"

  "Maybe Patty thought showing Silvana the E-mail would keep her quiet? Maybe she made Silvana a deal: If Silvana kept quiet, Patty wouldn't show the E-mail to the press. After all, if no one spoke, nothing could ever be proven. People would continue to think what they wanted to think, but there would be no official censure. Maybe Patty only threatened to show the E-mail if Silvana actually gave testimony. Sure, Silvana could say she didn't cheat, but the E-mail would cast doubt on her word. The ISU might even decide to believe it, and Silvana would risk losing her position. Patty's way, no one gets hurt."

  It was a very reasonable proposition. Bex could see why Jasper must have gotten all that start-up capital for his dot.com. He was an excellent speaker, very persuasive. The way he laid everything out, so calm and so confidently convinced of his own position, he made it very hard to disagree without feeling like a candidate for the funny farm.

  However, Bex worked in television. Where not only did they spin reality any way they felt like, they also sometimes created it out of utterly thin air. With the solid ground perennially shifting under her feet, Bex felt like a candidate for the funny farm all the time. So, be gone you Wicked Witch of the West, you have no power here.

  She told Jasper, "No. That's not who Silvana was. She didn't jump in to defend herself right away, even before there was an E-mail to be blackmailed with, because she had principles. She even fought with
Sergei Alemazov about it, because she wouldn't lower herself to answering such ridiculous charges to the press. This isn't someone who'd just take a blackmail note, slip it in her purse, and go off on her merry way to the refrigeration room."

  "Sergei Alemazov fought with her? So maybe he—"

  "He has an alibi."

  "Well, so does Patty! She was right here at the practice rink with Erin that morning. I came by to pick them up at the end of the session, and they were both right here."

  "Not the whole time. Both Patty and Erin got off the ice for a bit during the practice." Bex realized, "But you didn't know that. Because you weren't here watching. You only came to pick them up. Jasper, where were you the morning Silvana was killed?"

  He answered instantly, "In my hotel room. Sleeping. I'm a big fan, but come on, if I kept skaters' hours, I'd be dead before the end of the competition."

  "So you don't have an alibi, either."

  "Ask Patty," he insisted stubbornly. "She'll tell you I gave her the disk and the only copy of the E-mail, and then she'll tell you what she did with it and how it ended up in Silvana's purse. Ask Patty. She'll clear this whole thing up, I promise."

  Patty said, "Jasper Clarke is a liar."

  Oh, yes, that cleared everything up perfectly.

  Bex caught skating's most famous mother alone in her hotel room. She'd asked Jasper to keep Erin occupied for a bit so the girl wouldn't have to hear what her mother and Web master had been up to, and Jasper gratefully rose to the task, inviting Erin to step into his hotel room to look at some new pictures he was considering putting up on the site. Patty promised she'd join them in a minute, as soon as she checked her phone messages, and Bex took advantage of the once-in-a-blue-moon separation to corner her. She told her what Jasper had said and asked to see the disk.

  That's when the liar part came up.

  "You mean you don't have the disk?"

  "What disk?" Patty threw her hands up in the air, fingers wiggling as if playing an upside down piano. "I don't know what that Jasper is talking about. You know, I was warned about him. When he first came around, everyone said, 'Don't let him get so close. After all, you don't know anything about him. He could be some weirdo, some sicko.' But he seemed all right. And he really has been so helpful. No one realizes that skating is about so much more than just the skater. I mean, yes, in the end, the skater is the one on the ice who needs to deliver. But, leading up to that, there's the coach, the choreographer, the costume designer, someone to do the music, the dance coach, the media training ... And all those people are just the hired hands. What about the person who has to drive Erin to the rink every morning and to dance lessons every afternoon and to the costume fittings and the skate sharpening? What about the one who watches her diet and sees that she gets enough sleep and keeps track of her schedule and all of the interviews and personal appearances, and then there's the fan mail and the official Website… Growing up, I didn't realize how fortunate I was, having a mother and a father and two older brothers and even a grandmother who renewed her driver's license so she could help out. I didn't have that kind of support system for Erin. My mother was so disappointed with how my career ended, she just didn't have the heart to go through it again; I was on my own. And I won't lie to you, it was hard. That's why, when Jasper showed up and offered to help…"