Black and White and Dead All Over: A Midlife Crisis Mystery (Midlife Crisis Mysteries)

by Marlo Hollinger

  My stomach was suddenly filled with knots. Getting out of my car, I joined the people standing off to one side. “What’s going on?” I asked a young woman dressed in jogging clothes.

  “I don’t know. I was doing my morning run when suddenly all these cop cars came screeching in here. The police ran into the newspaper building like they were chasing down a serial killer.”

  “When did that happen?”

  The woman shrugged. “Maybe five minutes ago.”

  “Do you think it was an accident?”

  “How should I know? I don’t work at the paper. Ask one of the cops.”

  “It wasn’t an accident.” A tall man wearing a raincoat joined us. “Someone’s dead in there.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked.

  “I was listening to my police scanner.” He pointed to an ear bud going in one of his ears. “I always listen to my scanner during my morning walk just in case there’s a neighborhood I should avoid. Also, it’s kind of fun listening in on the domestic calls. You’d be amazed how many people get into screaming arguments over their eggs and bacon.”

  “Who’s dead?” I asked.

  “Don’t know. The police use codes and they used the code that basically means: dead body on premises.”

  “Oh, my gosh!” My hand flew up and covered my mouth. Someone in the newspaper building had died. Who could it be? I tried to picture my co-workers but knew that I had to be forgetting a good portion of them. I was too new to know everyone in the building. Maybe it was someone in the printing area. I had spied one man who was seriously obese. Perhaps he’d had a heart attack. “Can I go in there?”

  The woman jogger stared at me. “Why would you want to go in there?”

  “That’s where I work.”

  “They haven’t put up any yellow Do Not Cross tape,” the man in the raincoat said. “Go ahead and see what happens. Worse thing they can do is tell you to get out.”

  He had a point. I took a few steps and then stopped. “You didn’t hear anything on your scanner about there being a crazed shooter in the newspaper building, did you?”

  The man shook his head. “Just a dead body. If there was a shooter in the area, we’d all be told to take off by now.”

  Walking up to the front door of the Kemper Times, I felt both afraid and anxious. I didn’t want anyone to die but since someone I worked with obviously already had, I hoped that it was someone I hadn’t met yet and that whoever it was had died from natural causes. The first person I saw once I was inside the building was Natalie. “Oh, DeeDee! Did you hear? Isn’t it terrible?”

  “I heard that someone died but I didn’t hear who it was.” Natalie was alone in the small downstairs area that housed her desk and a run-down reception area. “Who was it, Natalie?” I waited breathlessly for her to reply, fear gripping my insides.

  Delicately dabbing her eyes with a tissue, Natalie sniffed. “It was Kate.”

  My limbs turned to ice. “Kate? Kate Weston is dead?”

  Natalie nodded. “Yes, she is. She was found in the storage room.”

  “But I was just talking to her a little over an hour ago and she was fine! What happened? Did she have a heart attack or a stroke or something like that?”

  Natalie shook her head sharply. “No, it wasn’t anything like that. She was murdered.”

  “What?”

  “She was killed. Bob Meredith went into Kate’s office to ask her a question but she wasn’t there. Then he went into the break room but she wasn’t there either. He figured she was in the bathroom so he went into the storage room to get some printer paper and that’s when he found her.” Natalie shuddered. “Dead.”

  “But how does he know that she was murdered? Was she shot or stabbed or what?”

  Natalie looked at me with frightened eyes. “He found her with a plumber’s helper duct taped across her mouth but it looks like she was strangled.”

  I immediately thought of Ren and how he’d been dispatched by Kate to unplug the toilet in the bathroom. He must have used a plumber’s helper to do that. Was it possible that in some kind of rage he had marched into Kate’s office, dragged her into the storage room and used the plumber’s helper on her after choking her to death? No, no way. Ren was too quiet, too gentle to do anything like that. Besides, it was the middle of the morning. Surely someone in the newsroom would have seen something like that happen. Then again, the newsroom was usually pretty empty at that time of day. Maybe Ren could have gotten away with dragging Kate into the storage room and killing her. “How horrible,” I said, hugging my arms to my sides. It was a pleasant day outside and the air conditioning at the newspaper wasn’t set very low, but I still felt chilled to my bones. A woman I’d been talking to not very long ago was lying upstairs dead, never to speak to anyone again. How could such a terrible thing have happened?

  “Hideous,” Natalie agreed. “And to think that it happened while we were all at work. Any one of us might have killed her.” Glancing up at the camera in the corner of the room, Natalie sighed. “Well, one good thing has come of this. At least I won’t have to worry about Kate watching me anymore.” She clapped her hand over her mouth immediately. “Oh, I’m so sorry I said that! Of course I never wished any ill on the woman. I didn’t like her or the way she was always spying on me but I’d never wish any harm on the woman.”

  I believed Natalie. There was no way a woman like Natalie could ever attack another human being. How do you know that? You don’t really know anything about Natalie or anyone else who works at the newspaper. I brushed the thought away impatiently. Maybe I hadn’t known Natalie for too long but I’m fairly good at reading people and I knew instinctively that Natalie had a heart of pure gold. “I guess I’d better go upstairs,” I said a little reluctantly. I didn’t want to but I had to see if there was anything that I could do.

  “Oh, DeeDee,” Natalie said sadly, “when I woke up this morning I never dreamed that something like this was going to happen.”

  “Man, oh, man. Of all the ways to go.” Bob Meredith shook his salt and pepper head, his hands crossed over his chest as he tilted back in his chair.

  Needless to say, there wasn’t much writing getting done in the newsroom for the rest of that day. I stayed while the police questioned everyone—since I wasn’t in the building when Kate was killed they barely talked to me—and then the paper was put together by rote. It seemed rather cold to me to keep on working when someone had been murdered in my midst, but Ren explained that the newspaper had to be put out on time. “We can’t miss putting out an edition. It’s tradition that no matter what, the paper goes out and on time.”

  “Like ‘The show must go on’?” I asked.

  Ren smiled a little sadly. “Something like that.”

  Once all of the stories were completed, everyone sat at his or her cubicle. Jeff had told us that we could go home once we were through but the entire reporting staff, myself included, seemed reluctant to leave. I’m not sure why that was other than maybe feeling like there was a little safety in numbers.

  “Look at it this way; she didn’t suffer too much,” Caroline offered.

  “How would you know that, Caroline?” Ren asked. “Have you ever had a plumber’s helper taped across your nose and your mouth?”

  “No, but the police said it looked like she’d been knocked out so with any luck at all she died before she knew what was going on.”

  No one in the entire room was what I would have called broken up over Kate’s demise but out of all of the reporters, Caroline was definitely the most blasé. She was filing her nails as she spoke and looked as unperturbed and unbothered as if she was discussing where to plant her petunias next spring.

  “Kate lived for this place,” Ren said. “Slept, ate and breathed the newspaper. It was really all she ever seemed to care about.”

  “I suppose if she loved it so much then she was one of the lucky ones,” I said, tossing my two cents into the conversation for what they were worth. “Isn’t tha
t the goal? To find something you love to do and then figure out a way to get paid for it?”

  “Sure, that’s the goal but how many people ever reach it?” Bob asked. “I love what I do most of the time and I get paid for it but not very much.”

  “Kate reached it,” I said softly. I really felt sick to my stomach. True, I didn’t like Kate but maybe I would have grown to like her if I’d gotten to know her better. I wrinkled my nose. Then again, maybe not. I didn’t want to speak ill of the dead but I was pretty sure that even if I had worked with Kate for fifty years we never would have gotten to be best friends or even casual friends. She really had been unlikeable. “I wonder who killed her. I wonder why someone killed her.”

  Bob snorted. “Are you kidding me?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Kate must have had a list at least a page long single-spaced of people who wanted to see her dead. She wasn’t exactly well loved around the newsroom or around town for that matter. She had the personality of road kill. Sorry to be so blunt but there’s no use sugar coating facts. The woman was a witch.”

  Thinking what a suck up to Kate’s face Bob had been, I said, “Maybe someone should have been honest with her about her shortcomings. If that had happened perhaps she wouldn’t have been killed.”

  Bob snorted again. “Yeah, right. Tell your boss why everyone hates her and you’d be out on your ass so fast your head would spin. There was no telling Kate anything. I bet half the staff here wished she was dead at one point or another.”

  “There’s a pretty big difference between wishing someone was dead and actually killing them,” I remarked. It was time to go home. Hanging around the newsroom was only going to make me feel more depressed. Rummaging in the bottom drawer of my desk, I found my purse and slung the strap over my shoulder. “I guess I’ll head off now,” I said to no one in particular.

  Ren looked up. “See you tomorrow, DeeDee.” No one else glanced in my direction as I left the newsroom.

  On my way downstairs I had to walk directly past Jeff’s office. Jeff was seated at his desk, his head bent over a stack of papers, his hands firmly gripping the tufts of hair on his forehead. He glanced up sharply and caught me gawking at him from the hallway. “What is it, DeeDee?” he asked. His voice sounded terrible. Shocked and low and quite miserable.

  “Nothing, really,” I said. “I’m on my way home.”

  “Now?” Jeff glanced at the large clock hanging on his wall. “It’s only one-thirty.”

  “I work until twelve and then I’m done for the day.”

  “Oh, right. You’re part-time. I forgot.” Wearily, Jeff rubbed the bridge of his nose. “This hasn’t been a good day.” He laughed. “That has to be the understatement of the decade.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said sincerely. “I was truly shocked to hear what happened to Kate. I’m sure it must be a lot worse for you since I barely knew her and you’ve worked with her for so long.”

  “Fourteen years,” Jeff replied. He threw the pencil he was holding down on the top of his desk. “I won’t lie and act like working with Kate was always a walk in the park. She could be quite irritating but no one should die the way she died.”

  He didn’t sound like someone who had just committed murder. Then again, if he was a sociopath, he’d be good at hiding his true feelings. “Violent deaths are the hardest to hear about, especially when they happen so close,” I agreed. “Does Kate have any family?”

  “A husband,” Jeff said. “No kids. She always said that the newspaper was her baby and that was more than enough for her.”

  “Do you know when her service will be?”

  Jeff shook his head. “No clue. I suppose in a few days. Man, this is some week. I never dreamed that at the end of it I’d be heading for Kate’s funeral.”

  “We’re all in shock. Please let me know if there’s anything that I can do,” I said.

  “Do?” Jeff repeated. “What do you mean?”

  “I imagine everyone’s going to be especially busy around the newspaper with Kate…gone. If there’s anything extra that I can do to help out, please tell me.”

  “For a second there I thought you were talking about helping with the funeral. Wow, work. I haven’t really thought about that too much yet but you’re right. We’re going to be understaffed with Kate gone. She didn’t do any reporting but I’ll have to take over her editing duties for the time being. Maybe you can help out, DeeDee. What story were you working on?”

  “I just interviewed a graffiti artist and I started a diary about weight loss. Kate said she’d run it in Friday’s paper. I’m going to start a blog too and a Twitter account.” Whatever the hell that was.

  “It would be a help if you’d do some extra filler stories. You know—stuff we can run at any time.”

  I perked up a little bit. It was a terrible way to get a new assignment but then again, as a newspaper woman, I was positive that Kate would have understood. Like Ren and I said, the show must go on and all that. “Of course I’ll help.”

  “Thanks. I’ll have your assignments tomorrow.”

  “Who is going to cover Kate’s murder for the paper?”

  “Bob will have to do it. Or Caroline. They do the crime stories, not that we have too many of those in Kemper, thank God. Ren has his hands full with his section and Frank can barely get the sports section done by himself.” Jeff looked worried. “We might have to hire another reporter.”

  “I’ll do all I can to help,” I promised.

  “Good. See you tomorrow, DeeDee.”

  “See you tomorrow, Jeff.” Somberly, I continued my walk out of the newsroom, my mind still trying to grasp the fact that Kate was dead, gone forever. I hadn’t like the woman but I certainly hadn’t wished any harm on her.

  Who could have hated Kate enough to kill her?

  Shuddering, I looked around my shoulder but no one was behind me. It had to be someone from the outside, someone who came into the building to use the bathroom or perhaps to steal something. Maybe an escaped mental patient or convict. But how could someone from the outside have gotten past Natalie? Unless Natalie had been in the bathroom or taking a break. The front door to the newspaper building wasn’t locked during business hours. Anyone could have walked in. Thank goodness for the camera system. If it was an outsider, they would have been filmed when they came in and the police would be able to find them almost immediately.

  But in my heart of hearts I knew that an outsider coming in and killing Kate as some kind of crime of opportunity wasn’t very likely. Kate had been a very unpleasant person who seemed to make enemies everywhere she went. Whoever killed her more than likely had meant to kill her. It hadn’t been a crime of opportunity or a robbery gone badly. I was almost positive that whoever killed Kate had wanted her gone.

  Permanently.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I can’t believe this,” Steve said as we walked down the street together on an evening stroll. The humidity level had been building all day long and now the air was heavy and I couldn’t wait for our walk to be over so I could get back to the comfort of air conditioning at home. “You do realize that this is the second job that you’ve had where someone has gotten murdered?”

  “Technically speaking, I didn’t work for Eden Academy,” I pointed out. “I simply catered a luncheon for them.”

  “Still, someone was killed the day of your luncheon,” Steve said, as if I needed reminding. “It makes me nervous, honey.”

  “I know but it’s just one of those weird coincidences,” I reassured him. “I had nothing to do with Frank Ubermann’s murder and I don’t have anything to do with Kate’s either.”

  Steve walked silently but I could practically hear his thought process. When you’ve been married for as long as Steve and I have, it’s pretty easy to know what the other person is thinking. “Maybe you should quit. I think working at that newspaper might be dangerous.”

  I put a calming hand over his. “Honey, I don’t want to quit. I p
romise you that I’m totally safe.” I didn’t want to quit, not now when I was going to get more assignments and more responsibilities. I also didn’t want to quit until I knew who had killed Kate. My mother always told me that I was too curious for my own good and she was probably right but there was no way that I could leave the newspaper before learning who had murdered my boss. It would be like walking out of a mystery movie before the ending.

  “Do you promise me that you won’t try to investigate Kate’s murder on your own?”

  “I’m not a professional investigator.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question and you know it.”

  “I won’t put myself in danger,” I promised.

  “DeeDee,” Steve began but I interrupted.

  “You know I’ll be careful, honey. Aren’t I always careful? Besides, I’m not going to interrogate anyone. I just plan on keeping my eyes and my ears open at all times. I think it must have been an inside job. My money is on Caroline or Bob. Possibly Ren. They all hated Kate.”

  “Now that’s just what I’m talking about! You can’t keep on working there if you think your co-workers are capable of murdering someone.”

  “Oh, Steve, I don’t really think one of them did it,” I said soothingly. “It probably was some freaky case of manslaughter. Maybe someone came in to use the bathroom and Kate caught them. Believe me, she wouldn’t have been shy about telling an outsider to get lost. Maybe the person snapped and strangled here.”

  “Leave it to the police,” Steve instructed. “I don’t want you putting yourself in harm’s way. You’ve done that before and it scared the hell out of me, DeeDee.”

  Since I really wasn’t in the mood to listen to Steve list the times when I’d acted first and thought later, I steered the conversation away from murder in general and Kate’s murder in particular. “Did I tell you that Jane called? She’s in Las Vegas for a convention. Doesn’t that sound exciting?”