Sleuthing Women

by Lois Winston

  “Nina, it’s okay,” I said softly, putting my arm around her. “Take deep breaths, you’re going to be fine.” She was shaking with sobs and buried her face in my shoulder. I was still reeling from shock and trying to unscramble my thoughts. So it had been Travis Carter all along? Mom had been suspicious of him that day we’d met up with him at Sanjay, Inc., but I’d never come up with a motive. What did he have to gain from Sanjay’s death?

  “Let her go, Travis,” I said coldly. “It’s obvious I’m the one you’re after. She doesn’t know anything.”

  “Really? Then what’s this?” He spied the fortune cookie on the counter and waved it in my face. “I saw you out at the dumpster, Maggie. Snooping around, sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. And I followed you to the Golden Palace last night. You just don’t learn, do you? Funny, I thought that’s what psychology was all about. Helping people learn from experience. But then, you’re not much of a psychologist, are you? More of a talk show jock. What are your ratings like? I bet they can’t be very good.” He gave a wild, maniacal laugh. “I knew it wouldn’t take long before you connected the dots.”

  I bit my lip, trying to slow my racing pulse. I was supposed to be a professional, calm and in control, but my heart was slamming against my rib cage like a battering ram. I started to edge slowly toward the door but Travis was too quick for me.

  “Sit down,” he ordered. “Both of you, on the sofa.” He looked around the room and then backed up slowly and closed the sliding glass door. He never took his eyes off us.

  I glanced at my cell phone, which was tucked away in my purse hanging over the back of the chair. Was there any way I could reach it? Did I dare risk it?

  “Travis, don’t make a bad situation worse. We can talk about this, straighten it out.”

  Travis gave a short bark of laughter. “Straighten it out? Don’t try your psychobabble on me, Maggie. I’m not some yahoo caller on your radio show. So don’t think you can try any shrink games on me. It’s too late for that. I wouldn’t do well in prison, not well at all.” He gave another crazy laugh. “And orange really isn’t my color.”

  Nina was whimpering beside me and Travis shot her an annoyed look. “It’s too bad about the girl, but collateral damage, you know. Innocent people get hurt, that’s all part of the game.”

  “Why hurt her? Why hurt either one of us?”

  “You really don’t know? You must be more stupid than I thought.” He paced a little, crossing to the glass door and peering out. There was a faint scratching noise coming from the bedroom, I was glad that Pugsley was closed safely out of sight. Travis was so absorbed in his own shattered mind, he didn’t seem to hear it.

  “Because somehow you figured out what really happened that night. You brought all this on yourself. Ironic, isn’t it?”

  “You killed Sanjay.” I made it a statement not a question.

  “Score one for the shrink.” He pulled over a kitchen chair, turned it around and straddled it, facing us. He rested his elbows on the top of the chair and steadied the gun. It was still pointed directly at us. He waved it back and forth slightly from side to side as if he was drawing a bead, hoping to win a teddy bear in a carnival game.

  “Why?”

  “Because he was a thief. He robbed me. Didn’t you know that? I thought you would have figured that out by now.”

  I was puzzled. “He was a thief? What did he steal from you?”

  A harsh, grating laugh. “A book deal. My ticket out of his stinking organization. Money, fame, everything I’ve spent my whole life working for. He took it all away. You know what they say, once a con man, always a con man. I knew what he was when I started working for him, but I didn’t think he’d ever turn on me. There’s loyalty among thieves, you know.” His face twisted in a sneer. “Or at least there’s supposed to be. I guess I underestimated him.”

  “You had a book deal and Sanjay took it away from you?” So Ray Hicks had been telling the truth after all. I figured the longer I could keep him talking, the better. I had no idea what he was planning for us, but it couldn’t be good.

  “I would have had a book deal. A big deal. I stupidly showed Sanjay a book I’ve been working on for years, he loved it and said he’d give it to my agent. Then he made some suggestions, a few things that should be added here and there to pump it up, he said. I figured he knew more than I did about marketing and the book business so I went along with it.”

  “I understand.” I was beginning to see where this was headed.

  “Yeah, dumb on my part, I know. Big mistake. He made more and more suggestions and then suddenly the book was taking off in a different direction. Sanjay’s ideas were okay, but it wasn’t the book I envisioned. And by now there was loads of evidence that Sanjay’s philosophy was all over it. If the case went to a jury, I knew they’d side with Sanjay. He has a huge following, people trust him.”

  Travis voice was flat, “blunted affect” as the shrinks say. He was telling the story in a dull monotone, without any strong emotion and his face was expressionless, nearly blank.

  “What happened then?” I figured the longer I kept him talking, the better chance I had of coming up with a plan. But what?

  “Sanjay was a genius. I have to hand it to him. He can be very persuasive, you know.”

  “I know.” I thought of Lenore Cooper. She’d helped him jumpstart his career, and as soon as it was going full throttle, he’d dumped her. His star had risen and hers had fallen.

  “Sanjay took his book to his agent and told him this was something he’d been working on for the past few months. He told him he hadn’t shown it to him before, because he wasn’t really sure he could pull it off. He wanted his agent to have the finished product. Not just a partial manuscript.”

  “What was he going to do about you? He must have known you’d object.”

  “Yeah, but who’d believe me? He was going to fire me and then paint me as some disgruntled employee. Someone bitter about his success who was just out to make money on a frivolous lawsuit.” He paused, looking idly at the barrel of the gun. “You know what they say, if a lawyer says you have a case, you have a case.”

  I raised my eyebrows. I could see that Sanjay might have had a good chance of getting away with this. If Travis hadn’t shown the manuscript to anyone, and Sanjay had made loads of notes and kept a record of them, who could say who the book really belonged to?

  I glanced at Nina, who looked almost catatonic. Her eyes were dull and she was staring fixedly at the carpet. Only the rapid beating of her heart beneath the thin cotton uniform gave away the terror she must have felt.

  “What happens now?” I said softly. “To us.”

  Travis grinned, an ugly rictus spreading across his face. “Oh, didn’t you know? You’re going to have some new carpet delivered today.” He glanced down at the Danish throw rugs on the polished wood floors. “These are getting sort of thread-bare, don’t you think?” He glanced at his watch. “So in less than five minutes, a delivery guy is going to show up with a big van. He’s going to carry the new rugs inside...and take the old ones out.” He paused. “Do you get the picture, Maggie?”

  I swallowed hard. “I think I do.” I stole another quick look at Nina but she seemed to be in a world of her own, I don’t think she even heard our conversation. “This delivery guy is a friend of yours.”

  “Of course.”

  “And he’s going to be carrying the same rolled up rugs in and out of the condo.”

  “Very good. And what do you think will be different about the rugs when he takes them back out to the van?”

  I shook my head. I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. Not in front of Nina.

  “Think, Maggie. What will be different?” He cupped his chin in his hand like that statue of The Thinker. Then he snapped his fingers. “Oh, I know. They’ll be heavier.” A burst of harsh laughter that made Nina look up in alarm. “And why will they be heavier? Because you and Nina will be wrapped up in them.”


  “You’re sick, you need help,” I told him.

  Travis laughed, pleased with his performance. “You’ll be cozy as two bugs in a rug, get it?” His laughter rang through the condo. “I hope you’re not claustrophobic, it will be pretty cramped in there. Except oh wait, I forgot. You won’t mind at all, because you’ll be dead.”

  “People will hear the gunshots,” I said quickly. “These walls are thin.”

  “That’s why I’ll use a pillow. One of those nice sofa pillows with the Pug on it. It looks like someone embroidered a picture of your dog. How touching.”

  “Yes, that’s Pugsley,” I said.

  And then two things happened at once.

  The front door opened and Mom and Lark walked in, loaded with shopping bags.

  “Dear, what is that van doing parked outside? I asked the young man if he needed directions and he seemed very edgy.” She suddenly spied Travis and said, “Good heavens, is that a gun? Please tell me it’s a fake.” She gave a nervous laugh, her eyes bulging a little as though she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. I’m not even sure she recognized Travis. I think all she saw was the gun.

  And the second thing? Pugsley, always excited by visitors, exploded from the bedroom and headed straight toward Travis, an idiotic doggy grin on his face. Whoever says dogs are good judges of character has never met Pugsley.

  “What the–” Travis began, throwing his hands up to shield himself from Pugsley’s slobbering kisses. He couldn’t decide if he should keep the gun trained on me, Nina, or the new arrivals. With Pugsley in his lap yelping with joy, Travis lost control of the situation.

  His arm jerked up in the arm and the gun went off, blasting a football-sized hole in the ceiling. All of us watched stunned, as flakes of plasterboard drift down on us like snowflakes. Lark was the only one who was smart enough and fast enough to seize the moment. While the rest of us were staring blankly at the ceiling, she picked up a giant copper meditation gong and walloped Travis over the head with it.

  The impact made a comical sound and for an insane moment, I expected a butler to appear and say, “Dinner is served, madam.”

  For a long moment, Travis sat frozen in his chair, staring at Lark with wide, Homer-Simpson eyes. And then the gun dropped out of his hand, his eyes rolled back in his head and he went down for the count.

  “Ohmigod, call 911!” I finally came to life and scrambled for my cell, but Lark was way ahead of me, already punching in numbers on the wall phone. “Hurry,” I pleaded. “He may suddenly come to.”

  “Not to worry,” Mom said, springing to life. She yanked the cord off the living room drapes and bent over Travis, locking his wrists together in an intricate set of knots. Then she tied his feet together.

  “You were a Girl Scout?” Lark asked. She had already given the dispatch operator our address.

  “No, these are nautical knots,” Mom said proudly. “A reef knot and a round turn with two half hitches. Tight enough to withstand a forty mile an hour wind.” She glanced down at Travis. “He’s moored here, believe me. This guy’s not going anywhere.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “You’re full of surprises.”

  “I learned how to tie knots for my part in Romance on the High Seas. That was a few years ago, dear, but once a sailor, always a sailor.” She stood up and smoothed her skirt, her face flushed.

  THIRTY-ONE

  The Cypress Grove PD, headed by Rafe and Opie were the first on the scene. Rafe and Opie came in crashing in with guns drawn, shouting for everyone to stay still. Not a problem, as no one was moving and Travis was still trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Opie checked out the rest of the apartment, yelled “Clear!” just like they do on CSI, and returned to the living room.

  “Is everyone all right?” Rafe meant all of us, but his eyes were focused on me. A few more of Cypress Grove’s finest crowded into the room. I wanted to throw myself into Rafe’s arms, but realized that would be ridiculously unprofessional. Tempting, but unprofessional.

  “We’re fine.” I glanced down at Nina, who was still clinging to me. “Maybe I can get her some water, though. She’s pretty shaken up.”

  “Sergeant Ramirez will get it,” Rafe said. He nodded to a pretty Hispanic officer who smiled at Nina and went into the kitchen.

  “Do you know this guy?”

  “Travis Carter,” I told him. “Sanjay’s right hand man.”

  “How did he get in?”

  I pointed to the sliding glass door. “Through the balcony. He confessed to killing Sanjay. And he planned on killing us.” I felt myself shiver. “It’s a long story.”

  Rafe nodded, and resumed talking to his captain on his cell, while Opie replaced Mom’s nautical knots with handcuffs.

  “Get him out of here,” he said to Opie, who was pulling Travis to his feet and reading him his Miranda rights. Travis had come to, but looked bleary-eyed and dazed as he was led out to a waiting squad car.

  “What happens now?” I ventured.

  “I need to get back to the station to get a statement from Carter, and the other officers will take statements from all of you. Are you sure you’re okay? Does anyone need any medical attention?” He moved closer, his eyes dark and intent, and touched me lightly on the upper arm.

  “All of us are okay,” Mom piped up.

  “Are you sure?” Rafe asked me, his voice serious. “You look a little pale.”

  “I’m fine. I really am.” I managed a grin. “I’m glad to be alive.”

  He leaned close and brushed the back of his hand lightly against my cheek. “I’m glad you’re alive, too.”

  ~*~

  The rest of the day was a blur. After giving a statement to Opie, who looked properly somber, I decided to go into WYME, even though Cyrus had told me take the day off. I knew he would be secretly pleased if I showed up for work, because the ratings for my show would be off the roof. Naturally, I wouldn’t say anything about the case, because it was an ongoing investigation. But I could say that I’d been held at gunpoint by an intruder and that would be enough to give me fifteen minutes of fame.

  The news about Travis had already hit the media when I arrived at the station. Big Jim Wilcox had already prepared a promo to air every fifteen minutes, “WYME shrink cheats death from crazed killer. Don’t miss an exclusive interview with Jim Wilcox exclusive at six this evening!” He recorded it himself and picked a particularly cheesy piece of music to be played under it.

  Vera Mae rolled her eyes, but Jim was adamant that the promo should run exactly as he’d written it. I shrugged. If Big Jim was determined to get some publicity out of the Travis Carter arrest, so be it. I still was puzzling over how Travis had managed to kill Sanjay with the poisoned take-out, but just then Nick called to give me some breaking news.

  He called me just when I was getting ready to go on the air. “Here’s a newsflash, Maggie. They identified the poison that killed Sanjay.”

  “They did? Rafe didn’t say anything about it.” I felt a warm little glow inside remembering how Rafe had touched my cheek, his eyes dark with worry. “Of course a lot was going on at the time. So, what was the poison?”

  “Tetrodotoxin. It’s found in the puffer fish. It has a pretty distinctive taste so it must have been disguised in something that would mask it. Otherwise Sanjay never would have eaten it.”

  “The sushi. That’s got to be it.”

  “The sushi?” I’d forgotten. Nick didn’t know anything about my trip to the Golden Palace. “Someone brought Sanjay a sushi dinner from a Chinese restaurant the night he died. It had to be Travis. He confessed to killing Sanjay, you know.”

  “You’re very lucky, Maggie,” Nick said softly. “He would have killed you too.”

  The two hour show flew by, all the callers wanted to wish me well and find out how I’d “cheated death” but I told them they had to wait until Big Jim’s six o’clock exclusive. It was a call-in show that day, no guest, so I tried to steer the conversation to other topics, relationships, fa
mily disputes and parenting issues. The board was lit up the entire time, everyone wanted to chat with Maggie Walsh, Cypress Grove’s latest It Girl.

  I went to the police department late that afternoon. Rafe was talking to the desk sergeant when I walked in, and he looked tired and happy to see me.

  “Hi,” he said softly, walking up to me. “So you managed to do the show?”

  I nodded. “I kept it on safe topics. You know, just psychological mumbo-jumbo. And don’t worry about the Jim Wilcox piece. I’ve already taped it. It’s just a teaser, I don’t say anything at all. It’s just a little promo to boost ratings.”

  We walked back to his office and sat down. Rafe reached for the coffee pot, looked at the thin layer of brown sludge inside and frowned.

  “Don’t worry,” I said quickly. “I’ve had enough of an adrenaline rush for one day.”

  “Me too.” He played with some papers on his desk.

  “Well–,” we both said at the same time and laughed. “You go first,” he told me.

  “I was just going to say that I gave my report to Opie, I mean Officer Brown. Have you had a chance to look it over?”

  Rafe smiled. “Yes, I have. I’ve been trying to read between the lines. You’ve been a busy girl haven’t you?”

  “If you mean did I do some investigating, even after you told me not to, then guilty as charged.” I grinned to show there were no hard feelings. After all, I had cracked the case, hadn’t I?

  “You know we identified the poison?”

  “Tetrodotoxin. A little bird told me.”

  “Were you surprised?”

  “Yes and no. Travis and Sanjay used to go deep sea fishing together.”

  Rafe reached for a yellow legal pad and started making notes. “How did you know that?”

  I sighed. “It’s a long story.”

  “We’ve got all night.”

  “Okay, here goes.” I told him about visiting Sanjay Inc., and Mom noticing the photo of Travis and Sanjay on a fishing boat. It was funny, because she knew there was something significant about that photo, but I hadn’t picked up on it. Her Miss Marple musings had been right on target.