A Killer Halloween: A Mt. Abrams Mystery (The Mt. Abrams Mysteries Book 3)

by Dee Ernst

  She settled her shoulders indignantly. “It did not come from my toolbox, I’ll tell you that. First of all, when I am done with a project, I put everything away. And I know for a fact my hammer is where it should be, because I used it last night.” She leaned forward. “I can’t believe you would think something like that of my tools.”

  Obviously, her tools had minds of their own.

  “Sorry, Emma,” I said. “We were just trying to tie up a loose end.”

  She sat back and sniffed. “Of course. If you ask me, it was probably his own hammer that killed him.”

  Shelly and I glanced at each other.

  “Todd had a hammer?” I repeated slowly.

  “Yes. He had one in his duffle bag. His brother was helping him set up, and one of the table legs was stuck, and he went into the duffle bag and pulled out a hammer to bang the table open.”

  “Yes,” I said. “When Sam and I were taking it down, Sam had to kick it closed.”

  “So, Todd had a hammer with him,” Shelly said to me.

  “I wonder if Sam knows it,” I said back to her. “I wonder if he found it in the duffle bag, or if it’s missing.”

  “You have to ask,” Shelly said.

  I nodded. “I know.”

  Emma cleared her throat. “Ladies, I’m still here. Is there anything else you want to ask me?”

  “No, Emma.” I smiled at her gratefully. “That little bit of information was very helpful. Thank you.”

  “He wasn’t evil, you know,” Emma said as we stood up.

  “What?” I stopped to look at her.

  She was staring into the fire. One of her cats jumped up on her lap, and she stroked it absently. “He wasn’t evil, although he did an evil thing. He felt like there was no way out.”

  “Do you mean Todd?”

  She shook her head slightly. “They were both very sad. Too sad. Brothers are supposed to bring comfort to one another.”

  Shelly looked at me with her eyebrows raised.

  I sat back down slowly. Emma called herself a witch, and at times like these, I almost believed her. “Emma, do you know who killed Todd?”

  She closed her eyes. The cat shifted slightly on her lap, and I could hear it purr. “So sad. And angry. It’s hard to hide that kind of anger for so long.”

  “Emma, do you know who killed Todd?”

  She opened her eyes. They were filled with tears. “No. But his brother does.”

  Caitlyn was not impressed. “She’s a crazy cat lady, Mom. She should stick to her peppermint oils and homemade cough syrup.”

  “Sometimes she’s said some very uncanny things,” I reminded her. “Remember when she told you in high school to buy a dress for the prom a week before Jack Humphries asked you?”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “And she knew where you lost Grandma’s watch. And that Walt Malleck had been killed by his lover. And—”

  “Yeah, well, she’s wrong this time. Doug has been telling Kyle about Eve. She’s practically psychotic.”

  I sighed. “No, she’s not. I don’t even think she’s pregnant. I talked to her today. She seemed very normal and was working all Halloween night.”

  Cait looked impressed. “You tracked her down? Really? Way to go, Mom.”

  I tried to appear modest. “Yes, well. The police have talked to her already. I’m sure she’s not a suspect.”

  Cait pushed her dinner plate away. Tessa had run upstairs to do her homework, and Cait and I had waited for her footsteps to fade before we started talking. The kitchen was totally quiet. Years ago, we had a wall clock that ticked loudly, and I’d always been somehow comforted by the sound. Now, the LED clock on the oven offered nothing but silence.

  “Does Doug have a day job?” I asked her.

  “Yes. He works for that big music store in Rockaway. He knows a lot about guitars. I think he gives lessons there.”

  “What about Todd?”

  She stood and started clearing the table. “Todd’s day job was getting high and hanging out in some dive bar in Newark.”

  We cleaned up the kitchen together. She seemed distracted, but I knew better than to push. Finally, she folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the refrigerator.

  “The thing is, I don’t think Doug is so innocent either. He’s…nervous. Kyle knows him a lot better than I do and insists that Doug is fine, but I think Doug is hiding something.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well for one thing, he told the police that the whole time Todd was at Emma’s, he was sitting up by the lake. But I never saw him there, and Kyle and I were both hanging out on the porch waiting for trick-or-treaters.”

  “Have you asked him about it? Doug, I mean.”

  She looked uncomfortable. “Kyle thinks I’m being ridiculous, and that Doug could have easily been on the other side of the lake where we couldn’t see him.”

  “Well, that’s true.”

  “Sure. It makes so much more sense to traipse through weeds and stuff to sit on a wet log instead of walking up the drive to the clubhouse and sit on a nice, comfortable bench.”

  “Honey, you can’t let your loyalty to Kyle get in the way here. Have you talked to Sam about this?”

  She shook her head.

  “Do you want to?”

  She took a deep breath. “Yes. I think it might mean something. Where else was he? And why did he lie?”

  I walked over and hugged her. “Maybe he didn’t, baby. But we’ll talk to Sam, okay?”

  She nodded.

  But the both of us kind of forgot about it, because the next day, Steve Wyzinski was arrested and charged with the murder of his stepson, Todd Richter.

  I was upstairs working, on the phone with one of my favorite authors. Usually, all communication between me and the authors I work with is via e-mail, but there are a few that I’ve known for so long, I can just pick up the phone, and we can talk about what we’re working on.

  Content editing is hard. The words an author puts to page are like their children and telling somebody that their child is screwed up and doesn’t make sense requires a certain amount of tact. I may blunder through my personal life, but as an editor, I treat authors with firm but velvet-covered hands.

  But I cut the conversation short as soon as the pounding on my door began, and Mary Rose’s voice filtered upstairs. I ran down to find Boot barking hysterically, and Mary Rose standing in my living room, tears streaming down her face, screaming my name.

  I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, hard. “What happened?”

  She clamped her hands over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut. I could see her pulling herself together as the wrinkled forehead relaxed, the eyes opened slowly, and her hands dropped to her side.

  “They arrested Steve,” she whispered. “This morning. They found the murder weapon in his garage.”

  I did not see that coming.

  I guided her to the couch and pushed her down gently. “The hammer? It was in his garage?”

  She nodded.

  “How did they know to look for it there?”

  Her eyes widened. “I have no idea.”

  “Does he have a lawyer?”

  She nodded. “Kim is getting one.”

  “Okay. That’s good.” I took a breath. “Did Sam…was he there?”

  “I think so. That’s why I came to you. You have to tell Sam he’s made a mistake. Steve wouldn’t kill anyone. Not even Todd.”

  I let a few seconds pass. “What do you mean, Mary Rose? Not even Todd.”

  Her jaw tightened. “That boy was wicked. He was ruining them. He was dragging them all down.”

  I thought about what Emma had said. “He wasn’t evil. He just did an evil thing.” She had been right after all. But…

  “Where’s Doug?”

  She frowned. “What does that matter? They took Steve. In handcuffs, Kim said. Just like a criminal.”

  I glanced at my watch. “Okay, Mary Rose. Tessa will be home soon, so
I can’t go with you right now. Cait gets home from work around four. As soon as she walks through the door, I will drive down to the police station. Why don’t I meet you there? Or you can wait for me. That might be a better idea. I’ll pick you up, and we’ll drive there together.”

  She smoothed her gray hair with both hands. “Joe can drive me. I need to get there right away.

  “Right.” I kept forgetting she had a husband. “Then I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”

  She stood up and fixed her eyes on me. “This is a terrible mistake, Ellie.”

  “I’m sure it is.”

  “I’m counting on you to make it right.”

  I shook my head. “Mary Rose, don’t do that. I can’t be responsible for what happens now.”

  She lifted her chin and walked quickly out of the house.

  I slumped back into the couch. Steve? How on earth…

  Cait was stunned. “They arrested him? But…how?”

  I had changed from my usual work clothes—yoga pants and a fleece pullover—to jeans and a cashmere sweater. I even had lipstick on, and not just because I was going to see Sam, although I always tried to step up my game a little bit when he was around. Mary Rose would be dressed in her best intimidation outfit, which would probably include pearls, kitten heels, and pantyhose. Solidarity comes in many forms.

  I pulled on a Ralph Lauren blazer I had rescued from Goodwill. “I have no idea how long I’ll be down there. There’s a meatloaf ready to go in the oven. I’ll be home when I can.”

  “Mom, listen.”

  I turned.

  Cait chewed on her lower lip. “Kyle texted me.”

  I waited.

  “Doug…Doug told him that he thought, Doug, I mean…” She finished in a rush. “Doug told Kyle that maybe his stepfather did it.”

  “When was this?”

  “Last night.”

  Okay. So far, Doug had gone from a drug dealer to Eve and now… “He keeps pointing his finger at different people, Cait. And every time he does, it’s a false lead. Why would he do that?”

  She shrugged.

  “It’s like he’s trying to send the police after one suspect after another.”

  “Well, it looks like he was right this time,” Cait said.

  I shook my head. “I don’t think so, Cait. And you don’t either.”

  “It’s just that Kyle is so sure about Doug being innocent.”

  “And you’re not? Can you tell me why?”

  She ran her fingers through her long red hair. “I don’t know Doug very well, but he’s said some things. I don’t think he liked his brother very much. In fact, it sounds like they kinda hated each other.”

  I gave her a quick hug. “I’ve got to go. Talk to Kyle about this. He has to understand that even good people can do bad things, and he can’t blindly defend Doug. Don’t get emotional about it. Stay calm and logical,okay?”

  I grabbed my purse and headed out.

  Mary Rose and her husband Joe were with Kim Wyzinski in a small conference room. An officer showed me in and closed the door behind me, and Mary Rose jumped up and grabbed my hand.

  “Thank you, Ellie. Thank you for coming. I feel so much better now that you’re here.”

  Kim looked exhausted and very frail. I edged my way around the table and sat next to her.

  “You found a lawyer for Steve?” I asked.

  She nodded. She was picking at the skin around her thumb, and I could see the cuticle was raw and bleeding. I put my hand over hers and squeezed gently. “What happened?”

  She stared at our hands. “They came with a warrant for the house and the garage. The hammer was in the garage. Sitting right on the tool bench. Steve says he doesn’t know how it got there, and I believe him. It belonged to Todd. Todd marked all his tools with some kind of symbol, like, he burned it or stamped it or something. He did it to keep people from walking off with his stuff.” She looked up, her eyes full. “Steve didn’t do this.”

  I patted her hand. “What did Steve say?”

  She shook her head. “That he didn’t know anything about it. He hadn’t been in the garage for a couple of days. There’s no room for the cars, it’s just for storage, you know? Anybody could have put it there.”

  “Is there a regular door to get in, or do you need to open the garage doors?”

  She sniffed. There’s a regular door.“

  “Is the door locked?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Okay. That’s good.”

  The door opened again, and Sam came in. He stopped short when he saw me, but his expression did not change. Behind him was his partner, John Monroe. The room was getting crowded.

  John sat down across from me, glanced up, and then did a double take. “Ellie?”

  I waggled my fingers at him. “Hey, John. How’s the family?”

  He nodded. “Good. And the girls?”

  Sam cleared his throat. “Ellie? Are you related to this somehow?”

  I smiled brightly. “Just a friend, Sam. Is that okay?”

  He exhaled slowly. “We’d like to speak to Ms. Wyzinski alone, if that’s all right with you?”

  I stood up. “Of course. We’ll be just outside.”

  I pushed Mary Rose and Joe out of the room, and we sat on stiff metal chairs in the hallway.

  “What’s he asking her?” Mary Rose whispered.

  “Probably going over the timeline for Halloween night. You told me that Steve left you, and went up to see if Todd needed help.”

  She clenched her jaw, but didn’t say anything.

  “Mary Rose,” I said, “you need to tell me.”

  “Steve left about six-thirty,” Joe said. “Walked up the hill. Came back around seven and said that Todd had already gone.”

  That was the longest sentence I had ever heard come out of Joe Reed’s mouth. Ever. He was a tall man, lean and muscular from all his walking, with an average face and thinning gray hair. Because Mary Rose was such a forceful presence, most people forgot that Joe was even around.

  Mary Rose looked at her husband with narrowed eyes. “He wasn’t gone that long,” she snapped.

  Joe nodded calmly. “Yes, Mary Rose, he was. And you even commented on how long he’d been gone.”

  Mary Rose folded her arms under her breast and hugged herself. “I don’t remember,” she muttered.

  “Well, I do.” He leaned forward to look at me around his wife. “About half an hour. Said he’d met somebody and was talking about the Halloween decorations.”

  “That’s good, Joe. See, Mary Rose, we need to find out who he spoke to. That will help with his alibi.”

  She stood up abruptly, gave her husband a cold look, and walked off down the hall.

  “Where’s she going?” I asked Joe.

  He shrugged. “Who knows? She’ll find someplace to sit by herself and stew.”

  It was almost an hour before the conference room door opened, and Kim shuffled out. She looked, if possible, even more defeated. She was tall and thin, and her clothes hung off her body like rags. Joe stood up immediately and hugged her. Sam looked down at me.

  “Still here?”

  I nodded.

  He held the door opened and motioned with his head for me to go in. “John, can I have the room? Find Mrs. Reed. We need to talk to her as well.”

  John shot out of there, closing the door behind him.

  “I thought you said you weren’t involved in this,” Sam said. I could tell he was trying very hard to keep his temper in check.

  “I’m not. But Mary Rose—”

  “I don’t care about Mary Rose,” he snapped. “You promised me, and your daughters, that you would not put yourself at risk any more.”

  “I know Sam, but Steve Wyzinski does not make sense for this. There’s more to this case, and I think—”

  “It doesn’t matter what you think. We have motive, opportunity, and the weapon was found on his property with his fingerprints on the handle.”
/>   “How did you even know where to look?”

  He put his hands in the pockets of his trousers. “Anonymous tip.”

  “What? Are you kidding? Oh, Sam, come on now. If that doesn’t—”

  “Ellie, I’m only going to say this once. Stay away from this. You have no stake in this. Stop interfering. I mean it.”

  We stared at each other.

  There was a part of me that was so angry with him I could have smacked him over the head for being so stubborn and totally unreasonable. But he was right. I had told him I wouldn’t meddle around in murder, and here I was, breaking my word. There was another part of me that recognized that there was more at stake that just finding Todd’s killer, and that he and I had yet to weather any storm. What loomed ahead could be treacherous for us both.

  I turned and walked out, slamming the door behind me.

  Chapter 7

  Shelly and Viv got to the house after nine, both looking grim and determined. Cait and Kyle were there as well. We needed to get organized fast. The longer Steve sat in jail, the harder it was going to be to prove his innocence.

  “How do we know he didn’t do it?” Kyle asked.

  “We don’t,” I told him. “But remember what you said about Doug? Same applies here. If he didn’t do it, we can’t let him go to prison. We need a plan. Any ideas?”

  Viv, the perfect guest, had brought her own cocktail shaker, the extra-large one, filled with vodka, ice, and a drop or two of vermouth. She offered it to us all, and found a taker in Cait, who iced the glasses and found the olives with her usual efficiency.

  Viv sipped thoughtfully. “You’re the idea person. We’re the faithful troops, remember?”

  “We have to find whoever Steve said he was talking to,” Cait said.

  I shook my head. “Already asked Mary Rose. Steve didn’t know his name. Whoever it was was a tall man, gray hair, with grandkids.”

  “What were the kids dressed as? Maybe we can find out who he was that way,” Shelly said.

  I looked at her. “Very good, grasshopper. Okay, we find out what they were dressed as, and that will be your mission. Find those kids. I think somebody from the Historical Society taped the entire costume contest. That will help.”