“That would be great. I appreciate all the background you can give me.”
“The Fire Marshal’s name is Greg Barnes. He is testifying in court tomorrow and Thursday so he won’t be available until Friday. If you can’t get away until Thursday, that will be okay since I’m sure that he’ll be your first contact. If you flew out early Thursday, say at 8:00 am, you’d get to Orlando around 4 p.m. There isn’t a non-stop flight available but there is one that stops at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. You stay on the same plane, there is just an hour layover. The plane is a 767 so the flight won’t be so cramped. I can get you either a window seat or an aisle seat.”
“I think 8:00 would be great and I’d like a window seat toward the front of the plane. I hate it when I’m seated over the wing and can’t see anything.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about it since Mr. Stewart specified a first class seat.”
“Wow, that’s great. I normally fly tourist. I’m really looking forward to the trip now. Where would you recommend I stay while I’m in Florida?”
“Miss Campbell wants you to stay with her. In fact, she is looking forward to your coming. I think that will make things easier for you. You’ll be right on the spot and can see the people involved in a normal, if that is right word for this family, situation.”
Suzette raised her eyebrows. “All right, I think that would work out well.”
“I’ll reserve a rental car for you. What kind of car do you want?”
“I’d like a full size car. It looks better than a compact when dealing with government officials.”
“Okay–maybe a Camry or a Maxima?”
“Sounds good.” Suzette paused, then asked, “Do you have time for me to pick your brain?”
“I’ve got a brief to type right now that has to be filed by 3:30. How would it work if I filed the brief at the courthouse, then drove over to your office? I can’t give you a definite time but say sometime between three and four?”
“That would work great. I have a 2:30 appointment. Once that’s done my schedule will be clear, other than the ever-eternal paper work.”
“Great, see you then. I’ll bring the tickets and everything else I have that you might be able to use.”
“Okay. Bye.” Suzette smiled. It was great when other people did a lot of work for her.
Promptly at 3:00 the phone rang. “Suzette, this is John Marshall. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“No. I just finished with my last client of the day.”
“Wow, I wish I worked your hours.”
“Yea, right. You know that my hours and your hours aren’t much different. I said I finished with my last client. I didn’t say I was finished with work.”
“I didn’t find out much on Grey. He did some jail time for insurance fraud in Tennessee but he got out early for good behavior, if you can believe it. He hasn’t reported in to his parole officer so no one knows where he is.”
“Great. How could I be so lucky? Well, it’s Randy’s problem since he’s taking over one of the claims I’ve been working on. It was on a policy that James sold to a corporation.”
“Then what are you working on. I know you don’t hand over cases just because your ex is involved.”
“I’ve got an arson-murder case in Florida–big retainer and all expenses paid.” Suzette laughed, “Can you believe it, Florida in February and all expenses paid. I can’t wait to get on the Internet to find out what the temperature is. The weather here has been pretty horrible. Snow, sleet, below average temperatures.”
“You should take a vacation and come to Vegas. It’s been in the mid-sixties here. I’d take a few days off. We could do some sight-seeing.”
“I’ll think about it when this case is over. I may need a vacation by then.”
“Oh, before I forget, congratulations on clearing up the Stalker case. It took a lot of courage to set yourself up as a prospective victim.”
“Thanks. It really didn’t take much courage since I didn’t plan it. I was too dumb to realize what I was getting into but once I got his attention, I couldn’t back out. I had to expose him or become a corpse and I’m really allergic to morgues, especially when it’s my body on the slab.”
“Well, you did a good job. What’s this case that you’re working on now?”
Briefly, Suzette filled him in.”
“Suzette, I know you’re damn good on these kind of cases but remember, if it is a murder, then someone cared enough to take a life. If you get too close, you could be the next in line for a body bag. So be careful, okay?”
Suzette started to retort when he said, “Hold on for a sec, okay?”
Suzette could hear him talking to someone in the background.
“Suz, are you still there?”
“Yes.”
“I got to go. Some idiot marched into a convenience store with a semi-automatic weapon. He’s holding six hostages and I’m elected to deal with the mess.”
“Wear your Kevlar vest–okay?”
“Always do. Talk to you later.”
Suzette hung up the phone, then clicked the print button on her computer. After collating the pages, she handed the reports to Marie to mail, then tapped on Randy’s door.
“Come in,” he called.
“It’s me. I came to tell you that I finished the report for Myron Canfield. Marie has it. I just talked to John Marshall. He said that James did jail time for fraud in Tennessee, got out early for good behavior, then he jumped parole, and has dropped from sight. I’d recommend you be really careful when you work on the Hunter case.”
“I’m not afraid of James. If he does surface, all I’ll have to do is turn him in to the cops. I don’t think he’ll pose any problems.” He continued, seriously, “You’re the one who’d better watch out for him. After all, he feels threatened by you, not me.”
“I’m not worrying about him this trip. Tennessee is a long way from Florida and he doesn’t know I’m going. Price-Hartley isn’t the insurance company that’s involved with the Stewart case so there isn’t any way he can find out especially if you and Maria don’t tell anyone where I am.
“Well, I certainly won’t. I’ll tell Maria not to give out the information either. I don’t think she would but it’s good to make sure.”
Just then, Maria tapped on the door, opening it she said, “Amy Park is here to see you.”
Quickly, Randy told Maria she wasn’t to tell anyone where Suzette was, even if they claimed to be a person who wanted to become a client.
“Of course not,” she replied indignantly.
Back in her office, Suzette invited Ms. Park to sit down. “I appreciate all you are doing to expedite matters, Ms. Park.”
“Please call me Amy. I’m the one who should be thanking you. My boss has the nervous heeby-jeeby’s over his mother’s death and how it will affect his aunt. I’m afraid it’s actually affecting his performance on the job so I’m glad that you are taking some of the pressure off.
“I’m the one you’ll be talking to when you report in since Mr. Stewart isn’t in the office much. He has always had a heavy workload but lately he has been totally buried, and all with high profile, high budget cases. He desperately wants to be in Florida taking care of Cordelia, like she took care of him, but he’s too conscientious to let his clients down.”
She paused, thought for a moment then added, “Please don’t feel threatened if he calls you several times a week. I think it will be mostly for reassurance because there really isn’t anything he could do, even if he was there.”
“I won’t.” Suzette smiled. “I’m used to very nervous clients.”
Amy looked thoughtful. “I think it would be good if you didn’t seem to be what you are–an investigator. The family might band together against you and Cordelia, especially if they get the idea that you were hired by her. I’d better think about this–we don’t want to make the guilty party nervous–especially if he or she happens to have killed Mrs. Stewart.”
She reached in her purse. “Here are the electronic tickets, the rental car reservations, the map and my notes on the case. I’ve also included a packet of articles from the Florida papers on the murder. They might help you.”
“Great, thanks.” Suzette glanced at the tickets and the reservation, then she read over the notes. “The house was empty when the fire started in the gazebo?”
“Yes. Dorothea had insisted that Cordelia accompany her to a séance. They got back very late. Evidently, she has been visiting a medium regularly, trying to get messages from her fiancé.
“But he’s been dead for years.” Suzette looked puzzled.
“I don’t think a spirit has a set life span.” Amy laughed.
“I guess not, but Mr. Stewart made it sound like Dorothea was the sensible one.”
“Far from it. Cordelia is much more down to earth. She does some strange things but she generally has a very good reason for what she does. You’ll find that she will be very helpful.” She laughed. “They both have enthusiasms, but Dorothea–when she gets involved, she really gets involved but the enthusiasm, for whatever it is, doesn’t last long. The other thing to remember about Dorothea is that she has an absolutely brilliant mind especially with any topic that deals with numbers.”
“Good.” Suzette looked at the notes again. “Who is this Derek? I remember Mr. Stewart mentioned him briefly, but I can’t remember in what connection.”
“He is Dorothea’s son. He’s something of a con artist–small time crook. Dorothea let him move in on Cordelia when she was visiting some friends. Cordelia hasn’t been able to get rid of him since. Mr. Stewart has been considering paying all of them a visit for the express purpose of throwing him out.”
“It would probably be a good idea to wait until the case is solved. It’s kind of nice to have everyone involved on the spot rather than having to track them down every time you need to talk to them.”
“I probably shouldn’t say this,” Amy said, “but I’ve wondered if Derek wasn’t responsible for the fire. He’s been after Cordelia to sell the house to him for years.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“He only wants to pay about two percent of what it’s worth. He thinks it should be his mother’s home rather than Cordelia’s. He doesn’t feel that Cordelia does credit to the house.”
“He sounds like a real sweetheart,” Suzette said sarcastically. “There always seems to be at least one jerk on my cases.”
“Speaking of jerks, Derek has a younger brother named Doug. From what Cornelia tells me, he’s just like his dad–in looks and in personality. His dad was a crook–not big time, but getting there.”
Suzette shook her head. I hope I can keep all these people straight. She looked at the notes. “Now, this says that all the servants were at the movies. I didn’t know that people still had servants.”
“You and I don’t. The very wealthy do. Cordelia’s have been with her for years. The butler, housekeeper, and her maid all worked for her father. When he died, they transferred their allegiance to her. She has some other servants, a couple of maids and a cook and I think a chauffeur, all legal aliens, from Cuba. She pays them the earth, treats them great, and pays benefits so they stay a long time. According to Cordelia, they are given several evenings off a week. There was a church dance that night that all of them wanted to go to, so Cordelia just had a cold supper put on the buffet.”
Amy added, “Before I forget, I made an appointment for you with Greg Barnes on Friday, at nine. I hope that isn’t too early but that was the only time I could get it.”
“That’s great. You’re doing a lot of my leg work. I appreciate it,” Suzette said as she put the date in her pocket computer.”
Amy looked at Suzette. “Just so you’ll know, Greg Barnes refused to see you until I told him you were a licensed insurance investigator that Mr. Stewart had hired. He isn’t very happy about you ‘butting’ into his business.”
Suzette shrugged. “He doesn’t know me, although he could get a list of my cases if he wanted to. Most investigators that work for the government are very suspicious of private insurance investigators especially if this case turns out to be complicated and I really don’t see how it could be anything else.”
“The other thing I was supposed to tell you was that Cordelia wants you to bring a swimsuit. She says the temperature and the surf are great. She wants someone to body surf with her.” Amy laughed. “I hope you’re up to her. She ran me ragged the last time I was down with Stewart for a visit.”
Suzette grinned. “I’m in pretty good shape. I’m sure I can keep up with her but I do hope she realizes that I’m not there as a guest. I’m being paid good money to find out who or what caused her fire.”
“Oh, she knows that. She doesn’t want you to tell anyone why you are there, at least, to begin with. She thinks it might keep everyone off guard. She said she just wants you to pretend that you are there to visit her as the daughter of an old friend.”
Suzette shook her head. “It would be nice if people would let me do my own planning and thinking. If she’s not careful, Cordelia will be trying to help me solve the case. If I don’t let her then she’ll try to solve it on her own.”
“I think she is already trying to do that. You see, she’s convinced that the fire was set. She’s the one that told Jeremy that the fire marshal is being cagy. Even though Stewart hired you, she thinks it was her idea.”
“So who am I actually working for? In my book, the man who pays the bills, calls the shots.”
”You are definitely working for Stewart and his aunt knows that but, she likes to run things. I think her having to have Derek around constantly is getting to her. He is the kind of leech that moves in, then takes over.” She bit her lip. “Could I use your phone? I just had an idea that I’d like to run past Stewart before I run it past you.”
Suzette pointed to her phone. “Dial 9 to get out. I’ll just run and ask Randy a question.”
Suzette walked into Randy’s office.
“What’s up?” He asked.
“This case is going to be another squirrelly one. Stewart is paying my bill but his aunt thinks that this is her idea.”
Randy groaned, “You’ve sure had a bunch of those lately.”
“I know. Amy is calling her boss about an idea she had–I’m just giving her some privacy. Do you think you could take me to the airport? I really hate to leave my car in the long term lot. I don’t think it’s as safe as my own locked and monitored garage.”
“Sure. What time do you have to be there?”
“About six. The plane leaves at eight in the morning. I like to be there early. Saves wear and tear on the nerves.”
“Okay. I’ll pick you up at 5:30. That way I can be to the office early. I’ll get a lot done and avoid all the traffic problems.”
“Thanks.”
Back in her office, Amy put down the phone. “Stewart likes my idea, so I’ll run it past you. I think you should pose as Stewart’s fiancée. I’ll run across the street to Merrill jewelers and rent an engagement ring. That way, you can spend time with Cordelia and pursue your investigations without being hampered by suspicious minds like Derek’s. It will also give you a lot more leverage because everyone knows that Stewart and his aunt are really close. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. Give me a minute to think about it and I’d like to run it past my boss. Randy is good at seeing angles I miss.” She left the room.
A few minutes later, Suzette walked back into the room. “He’s totally against it, which means I’m against it.”
“But why? You went undercover when you went after the Stalker.”
“True. The big difference is that I was working undercover on a racial violence/sexual harassment case where no insurance crime had been committed and where the university’s security was involved. The stalker part just happened while I was there. I was totally on my own until it was safe to break cover. Here I’ll be working with a numbe
r of bureaucrats. In this situation being engaged to Stewart would ruin my credibility. I think the good the ring would accomplish with the family would be destroyed by my inability to work with the Fire Marshall and the Chief of Police.”
Amy was silent for a few minutes. “Okay, I can see your point. You’re the professional. If I hired a lawyer, I wouldn’t tell him how to run the case so I shouldn’t tell you.”
“Thanks,” Suzette said gratefully.
**********
Early the next morning, Suzette said good-bye to Randy and his wife, Marcia. “Hey, Randy, thanks for giving me a ride.” She gently touched Marcia’s protruding abdomen. “Marcia, take good care of the third member of our firm.”
Randy got out of the car to unload her luggage. “Suzette, take care of yourself. I have a bad feeling about this case.”
“As bad as the last one?” Suzette asked, referring to the Stalker case.
“Different, but not good. Call me if you need anything–anything at all.”
“I’ll be okay. After all, I survived being stalked by a murderous lunatic, I’m sure this won’t be as bad,” she said light-heartedly.
Seriously, Randy said, “Suzette, don’t get too cocky. Remember you won’t be in your own town or working with cops you know. So, please, watch your back. And watch that old lady, too.”
As he drove off, she turned to check her bags. Suddenly she shivered. Rubbing her arms, she said to herself, “I really wish he hadn’t said that. Now, I’m getting nervous.”
Chapter 6
Suzette looked up at the flight attendant. “Are we allowed to leave the plane during the layover? An hour is a long time to just sit.”
She smiled. “There’s no problem with leaving. Just take your boarding pass with you. It’s a good idea to leave the reserved card on your seat so everyone knows the seat is taken.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Suzette headed across the concourse. Pausing in front of Burger King, she debated a Whopper, decided that she would probably survive the airplane fare and walked on.
Sun, Sand and Murder: A Suzette Bishop Mystery (Suzette Bishop Mysteries Book 3) Page 3