Murder Among Crows

by B. T. Lord

  “You have no proof of that.”

  She tilted her head. “Fair enough, Mr. Newman.” She started to turn away when she paused. “However, I should warn you that during our investigation, it came to light that Mr. Gardiner stole the idea of Magic Calico from someone else. He’s been meeting this person for six years in order for her to plot the Calico books for him. The sad part of all this is that not only has he not given this person any credit, he’s neglected to pay her for what is, in essence, her intellectual property.”

  “We will sue your department if you don’t stop these false rumors,” he threatened.

  “I thought you’d say that.” She opened up her jacket and took out an envelope that had a copy of the contract. “I think you’ll find that interesting reading. When you’re done, you might want to think twice about representing such a reprehensible little shit.”

  This time she turned and calmly made her way down the walkway. She got into her vehicle and pulled away, never once looking back at what she assumed was Mr. Newman’s surprised face.

  She was halfway back to HQ when she got a call from Emmy.

  “I’ve got Mr. Gardiner’s lawyer on the other line. They’re willing to come in and see you at eleven am this morning.”

  “Tell them I’ll be there.”

  She hung up and grinned.

  “That contract is a crock,” Aubrey bluffed as he sat across from Cammie and Rick in the interrogation room. Newman sat next to his client. “Meredith is a bitter, lonely woman who thought she could extort money from me. I told her to take a hike. Now she’s forging this crap.”

  “You were seen going in and out of her house several times a month for six years.”

  “She tell you that?”

  “No. A reliable witness told us that.”

  Cammie was impressed that Aubrey wasn’t even breaking a sweat, even though he still looked a little green around the edges.

  “Look, the truth is, I took pity on her. Okay? She was constantly badgering me about helping her write a children’s book. She saw my success with Magic Calico and she thought she could do the same. I told her I’d help her out.”

  “Are you trying to tell me you took six years out of your busy writing and touring schedule to help someone you pitied?” Both Cammie and Rick chuckled.

  “I had to be nice to her! She was part of my bird watching group.”

  “You make it sound as though you could never leave the group.”

  “I liked the group! For some odd reason, I’d always got inspired when I went out with them.”

  “If your Tuesday and Thursday meetings with Meredith were so innocent, why didn’t you tell your wife about them? Why did you pick the two nights she’d be out to rendezvous with Meredith?”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “You leave Veronica out of this. She’s never involved herself in my writing.”

  It struck Cammie as interesting that Veronica apparently hadn’t told Aubrey that she now knew about his assignations with Meredith, or about the meeting with Poppie and Meredith at her home.

  “So Meredith had nothing to do with creating the Magic Calico character or helping you plot the books?” She continued.

  “No, she did not.”

  “Do you own a gun, Mr. Gardiner?”

  He clicked his tongue. “I’m a writer, sheriff. I know absolutely nothing about guns and don’t own any.”

  Cammie opened the folder in front of her and took out the recorder. She’d had just enough time before Aubrey and Newman showed up to queue the tape to the spot that was the most damaging.

  “I’d like you to take a listen to this.”

  “What the hell is that?”

  She didn’t respond. Instead, she pressed the play button and the room filled with the unmistakable voices of Meredith, Poppie and Aubrey discussing his taking of the Calico character, and his agreement to pay Meredith 30% of the royalties.

  “That was recorded without my client’s consent,” Newman said. “It’s inadmissible.”

  “Actually, it was recorded by the murder victim, which does make it admissible.” She turned to a white faced Aubrey. “Would you like to hear more? It gets better.”

  He shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

  She put the recorder back in her folder. “You killed Poppie because she threatened to tell the world that you’re a fake. Why, you still can’t finish a Calico book without Meredith’s help. Isn’t that why you’ve been constantly phoning her, causing a scene at the Shakespeare in the Woods Inn when the proprietor wouldn’t tell you her room number?”

  “No, that’s not true.”

  “The most reprehensible part of all this is that you actually had an affair with her to make sure she stayed loyal to you and did whatever you wanted, including coming up with the ideas for these books. I’ve met a lot of horrible people in my career, but what you did to Meredith was inexcusable. And killing Poppie the way you did fits your personality perfectly. You shot her in the back like the coward that you are.”

  He slammed his fist down on the table. “I did not kill Poppie!”

  “Then why did you say that they all deserved to die?”

  He looked at her in confusion. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “When I picked you up at Zee’s and took you home, you began to rant. You said the bitch couldn’t leave well enough alone and that they deserved to die. You were talking about Poppie, weren’t you? She couldn’t ignore the fact that you screwed Meredith over. She was going to make you pay. So she deserved to die. And you made sure she got what she deserved, isn’t that right, Aubrey?”

  He was wild eyed as he stared at her in disbelief. “For God’s sakes, I was drunk! I don’t remember saying any of that!”

  “If you continue to badger my client, Sheriff Farnsworth, I will end this interrogation.”

  “That’s alright, Mr. Newman. I’m quite done here.”

  She stood up, grabbed the folder and swept out of the interrogation room.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Cammie entered her office and was just sitting down at her desk when Rick entered.

  “They’ve left.” He sat down opposite her. “What do you think?”

  “There has to be something that pins the murder on that little creep.”

  “We might be able to get him on what we’ve gathered so far,” he replied.

  “It’s all circumstantial. I want something concrete that places him at the murder scene. When I nail his ass to the wall, I want it to remain nailed.” She sat down, picked up the phone and dialed. A few moments later, Colin answered.

  “Hey Colin, it’s Cam. I’ve got Rick here and I have you on speaker phone. I’m calling to see if you’ve come up with anything since we last spoke.”

  “Hey Cam, you must be psychic. I was planning on calling you later today.”

  “Please tell me you and your team found something.”

  He laughed. “I’ve never heard you sound so desperate before.”

  “I’m not desperate. I’m just – okay, I’m desperate,” she chuckled. “We’ve got a suspect that oozes guilt, but I can’t arrest him without your help.”

  “You’ll be happy to know that we found a hair on the victim’s sweater. We’re still waiting for a match. I’m hoping to have an answer to you by tomorrow afternoon. We recovered the bullet from a tree opposite to where the victim was shot. It’s from a .38 semi-automatic.”

  “But you didn’t find the weapon?”

  “Afraid not. We turned those woods inside out, but came up empty. Unfortunately, there were too many dead leaves and no wet ground to leave any shoe marks.”

  “I’ll be waiting for your call.” She hung up and looked at Rick. “I hope to God that hair belongs to Aubrey.”

  “Not to pop your balloon, but if it is, his attorney will probably say Poppie picked up the hair at his farm the night before.”

  “I’m one step ahead of you.” She picked up the phone again and dialed. “Could you
connect me to Meredith Quigley’s room? Yes, thank you.” There was a pause, then she said, “Meredith, it’s Sheriff Farnsworth. Do you remember what Poppie was wearing when you went to Aubrey’s farm the night before she died?” Cammie nodded as she listened. “Great. Thanks.”

  Hanging up, she turned to her computer and pulled up the crime scene photos. Rick came over and stood over her as she scrolled through them until she found one with a perfect angle of Poppie’s body.

  “Bingo,” she said. “Meredith says Poppie wore a tangerine sweater over a pair of black slacks to Aubrey’s. As you can see here, she’s wearing a cream colored sweater under her vest.” She closed her eyes and pressed her hands together. “Please let the hair belong to Aubrey. I want nothing more than to throw him in jail.”

  “You really don’t like him, do you?”

  “I know Meredith is responsible for saying yes to him, but I still loathe what he did to her. And I loathe him for taking Poppie’s life because she had the balls to stand up to him.”

  “What a difference from the way Poppie used to be, eh? The old Poppie probably would have told Meredith what an idiot she was.”

  “The death of Hannah’s friend, and its terrible aftermath, changed her, Rick. It’s as if this situation with Meredith was her opportunity to make up for what she drove Willow to do. It’s not easy to change. You really need to want to turn your life around. Although the circumstances that made Poppie wake up to who and what she was were horrible, she seemed to take responsibility for it. A lot of people wouldn’t do that. They’d continue in their awful behavior, blaming everyone for the choices they themselves made. At least she had the courage to face up to what a terrible human being she’d been. Her standing up for Meredith is proof of that. Aubrey, on the other hand, is incapable of any self-analysis. He will remain a crummy human being until the day he dies.” Suddenly her face lit up as a wide smile crossed her face. Rick noticed it immediately.

  “You’re scaring me,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “Because you’ve got that ‘I’m going to help karma’ look on your face.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes you do. You’re going to make sure that no matter what happens in this investigation, the part about Aubrey not creating Magic Calico is going to leak out.” Her smile got wider. “You know, you’re going to break the hearts of millions of kids.”

  “Or give them a valuable lesson that dishonesty never wins. Besides, this doesn’t mean the Magic Calico franchise will die. Maybe Meredith can step up to the plate and write the books herself.”

  “You don’t even know if she can write.”

  “I’ll pay for writing lessons.”

  “Okie dokie,” he muttered as he stood up and left her office.

  He was heading towards his desk when Emmy suddenly stood up and blocked his path.

  “I was about to go get some sandwiches for lunch,” she said.

  “Great! Can you get me a turkey club with extra tomatoes and--”

  “I was hoping you’d come with me. I need to walk Augie and I could use your help carrying back the sandwiches. I’m not sure I could hold both the leash and the bag.”

  “Um, sure. I’ll go ask Cam what she wants.”

  “She’s having lunch with Jace later.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  While Rick went over to the coat rack to grab his jacket, Emmy put a gold colored jacket on Augie. The temperatures were starting to get colder, and the little toy poodle shook like a leaf if Emmy didn’t dress him in his warm jacket. She threw on a grey cardigan that she’d knitted herself and the three left the station.

  As they walked down Main Street, Rick filled her in on both the interrogation and the phone call with Colin.

  “No wonder Mr. Gardiner looked upset. I can’t believe he didn’t write the Magic Calico books.”

  “He wrote them, but it seems the ideas weren’t his. They were all Meredith’s.”

  “She must be so devastated over everything.”

  “She is.”

  “I hope I’m never that stupid when it comes to love.”

  Rick glanced at her. “What do you mean?”

  They paused while Augie took a tinkle against one of the lamp posts that lined Main Street. “Well, I’m not desperate, and I’m not going to wait for you forever. I just hope that I’m smart enough to recognize true love, as opposed to someone using me like Mr. Gardiner did to Ms. Quigley.”

  “Come on, who would use you?” he tried to scoff at the same time his heart started to beat a little faster.

  “You’d be surprised how many guys want to date me because I work at the Sheriff’s Department. I guess they think I’d give them some kind of insider information. As if I’d ever do that.”

  “Somebody wants to date you?” he asked, unable to disguise the edge to his voice.

  She stopped in front of Zee’s and looked at him. “Yes, Rick, there actually is somebody in particular who wants to date me. Until I figure out if he wants to date me for me and not because of where I work, I’m not saying yes yet.”

  She bent down, swooped Augie into her arms and entered Zee’s, leaving a disconcerted Rick out on the sidewalk.

  He was shocked at his reaction to the possibility of Emmy dating someone else. A powerful burst of jealousy surged through him. Damn it, his instincts were right. All those cozy phone calls he’d witnessed Emmy having were with another guy. He wanted nothing more than hunt the bastard down, tear him apart and hang his limbs up in the nearest tree.

  Whoa! What the hell?

  Rick took a step back and shook his head. Where was all this coming from? He wasn’t the jealous kind. He was the level headed guy who never let testosterone driven emotions rule his life. No woman was worth that loss of control. Yet here he was, dreaming up ways to disembowel Emmy’s would-be suitor.

  A sickening thought occurred to him that made him want to back away from Zee’s and run as far away from Emmy as possible. It couldn’t be true. It was impossible.

  Shit, am I falling in love with her?

  It was too absurd. He wasn’t the falling in love type. All that sappy stuff existed only in the movies and in romance novels. Love was an illusion created to sell expensive gifts and cheesy greeting cards. And if love did exist, it never stuck around. It ebbed and flowed like the ocean tides. Who in heaven’s name wanted that crazy roller coaster in their lives? Look at Cammie. Sure, she and Jace were fine now, but their relationship had blown up in their faces last year. He wouldn’t be surprised if even now, in the back of their minds, they were secretly waiting for the other shoe to fall. No way did he want to live his life like that.

  Don’t forget what happened with Wendy. You drove all the way over there only to turn around and go home. You didn’t even ring her doorbell. Shit bro, you didn’t even get out of your car. Why? Because you couldn’t do that to Emmy. You’re already acting like you’re a couple. You never would have done that six months ago.

  Rick savagely tore those thoughts out of his head as he opened the door and entered Zee’s. It was obvious what was going on here. He was getting caught up in Cammie’s hatred of Aubrey. She’d have no problem stringing up his limbs from a tree branch. Yeah, that was it. Her negativity, not only about Aubrey, but about this entire case was rubbing off on him. Tonight he’d go to Gran’s and get her to do a cleansing on him. Sprinkle her sweetie goodness into his energy field and bring him back to normal.

  He saw Emmy standing at the bar with little Augie nestled against her chest. She turned, saw him and smiled a smile so deep and so full of light that he felt his heart skip a beat. And deepened his desire to wipe the guy who wanted to date her off the face of the earth.

  Man, he really needed Gran to do a major cleansing on him tonight.

  “I have an errand to run so I’m knocking off a little early,” Cammie announced at 3:30 in the afternoon. “I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

  After saying good-nigh
t, she left HQ and drove to a nursery just outside of town where she bought a pot of bright yellow chrysanthemums. Yellow had always been her mother’s favorite color, and at this time of year, mums were about the only flowers available that she could purchase for her mother’s gravesite.

  The shadows were growing longer as she pulled up to the cemetery. The rain from the other night had knocked down many of the leaves from the surrounding trees. The ones that remained rustled like brittle paper in the cold breeze that blew up from Waban Pond.

  Cammie slowly made her way past the older gravestones, her arm encircling the pot of mums. She’d picked this time of day to come, knowing there was a good chance she’d be alone. Her emotions were still raw regarding her mother and if she should cry, she could do it in private, without anyone gawking at her.

  She was therefore surprised to see a figure standing over her mother’s gravestone. She noticed a bouquet of half wilted roses laid across the grave and knew immediately who it was.

  “Evening Harry,” she said as she came up and put the pot down next to his roses.

  “Cammie,” Dancing Harry responded.

  They remained silent as they stood side by side, lost in their own thoughts about the woman they’d both loved. The temperature grew even colder as the sun dipped down below the horizon. Although Cammie had made the decision to wait until the case was over to speak to Harry, she realized that her finding him at the gravesite probably wasn’t by accident. As Paul Langevin was fond of telling her, there were no coincidences in life. Everything that happened was meant to happen. Including this.

  “We need to talk,” Cammie finally said.

  “I know.”

  “We should leave here before it gets dark.”

  “We can go to my place.”

  She nodded and followed Harry through the darkening gloom to where his bicycle was parked against an old oak. She hadn’t noticed the bike when she’d arrived.

  “You still don’t have your truck back?” she asked.

  “Nope. Jace says it’ll be ready tomorrow.”

  “We can throw your bike in the back. It’s too dark and cold for you to bicycle home.”