by Nan Sampson
"Hey, where are you going?"
"To sit on a park bench and watch the sun come up."
His brow furrowed. "Seriously?"
"I’m always serious." She passed him on the way to the back door, patted his head like she would have Erik the Red's. "See you later."
Chapter 22
Rob Lawson looked like a good corporate soldier. Perfect teeth, perfect hair, he was immaculately groomed, even on a Sunday. He met Ellie at a chain coffee shop in the Loop, not far from the office building where he worked. The office attire must be business casual, as he had eschewed a suit for chinos and Eddie Bauer crew neck, looking crisp and comfortable at the same time.
He was probably in his mid-forties, but either colored his hair, or hadn't started to go gray yet. There were laugh lines at the corner of his eyes, more pronounced because of his golf tan. He was a man used to smiling – and having things to smile about. Today, his demeanor was appropriately somber as he waved her over to the table he'd snagged by the little gas fireplace – the attempt by the coffee shop chain to imply an outdoorsy feel to an urban setting.
He stood as she approached, the fringe from his red cashmere scarf tickling her arm as they shook hands. "Ms. Gooden. So good to see you again, although I surely wish the circumstances were different."
Possibly. But probably just a line of bullshit. He set a new high on her 'big fat phony' meter. "Thanks.”
“Please, sit." He gestured magnanimously.
She hung her coat and purse on the back of her chair and took the chair opposite him.
"Would you like some coffee? My treat."
She shook her head. "I've just come from breakfast at a friend's, but thanks. Look, I don't want to take you away from work for too long. But as we're in the middle of planning the memorial service, I thought if I could just take a few minutes of your time..."
"Certainly. Not a problem. Anything at all that I can do, please don't hesitate."
She looked down at her clasped hands. "It's all been such a shock. As I'm sure it's been for you all. Were you there that night? I mean, what was she doing at that place?"
He shook his head sadly. Why didn't she believe he was the least bit sad? "I can't quite believe it. I was there, we all were – Cary, Muriel and I. We were out to dinner with one of our vendors. The Horsefield Group. We'd had such a lovely evening." He sipped at his mocha. The side of the cup bore the usual markings – skim, decaf, no whip.
"Do you know how she wound up in that alley?"
He shook his head. "It's odd. She left early – she always did. Not much of a late night socializer, was our Lacey."
"What time did she go?"
His gaze flicked up abruptly flash of warning in his eyes. She took a breath, tried to look more pathetic. She'd have to tread carefully here, she didn't want to come off like an interrogator.
His answer was cool, nonchalant. "About nine thirty. At least I think so. I wasn't really watching the time." He looked around. "Have you made arrangements at a local funeral home?"
"Kate is working on that this morning." She stopped, swallowed, tried to play up the dread she really was feeling about that whole thing. "I didn't really know too many people that Lacey worked with. I mean, other than yourself, and of course, Muriel, she really didn't talk about too many people." She hoped that sounded right - in truth she’d heard of none of them. "Do you think you could provide me with a list of names and contact numbers of the people that would want to be there for Lacey?"
"Absolutely. I gave it some thought after you called this morning." He reached into the pocket of his North Face jacket, where it hung on the back of his chair and took out a sheet of paper, folded into a neat square. "I pulled this off the address book on my phone. These are people's work numbers, so you should have no trouble reaching them during the day. Do you think the service will be soon?"
"Thursday, most likely. I don't think we really want to wait too much longer than that."
She took the list, scanned it. "Thank you so much. This will really be helpful." She watched some patrons at the counter order their mint cappuccinos. The girl behind the counter couldn't have cared less about her customers, and the customers didn't seem to mind. That kind of thing wouldn't fly at all in Horizon. Damn but she missed being at The Sacred Caff. How was Marg faring, she wondered? She wasn’t used to manning the front of the shop. Was she getting the regulars’ drinks right? What would she do if there was an unexpected flux of tourist busses?
Biting her lip and taking a deep breath to stop an incipient panic attack, she focused on Lawson. "Have the police told you anything? They've been very unhelpful with us. They don't seem to have a suspect, don't even seem to be looking for one."
"Oh, I'm sure the police are doing everything they can. I imagine these random types of crimes can be difficult to solve."
She wanted to press him, but knew that would raise his already healthy level of suspicion. The question in her mind was, was he just naturally suspicious, because he was always guilty of something, or was he suspicious because he was involved in this?
Was he the man Kate suspected Lacey of being involved with? Hadn’t someone at the bar that night mentioned something about that? Something about Lawson being a serial adulterer? And who else in the office had he been hooking up with? "Would you have Muriel's cell phone? I know Lacey would have wanted her to say a few words, and I want to give her as much time as I can to prepare."
"Oh. Uh, let me look..."
Now that was a 'cat swallowing a canary' look. He reached into his coat pocket again, pulled out his uber-smart smart phone and tapped at it. "Sure. Yeah, here it is."
She took out her own cell and was surprised at the level of gadget-shame she felt as he eyed her three-year old device with a piteous look. "Okay, shoot."
He read off the phone number, one with a city area code, then put his techno-penis away. "Well, if that's all you need..."
"This has been so helpful." She blathered on a bit, trying to stall him, trying to think of a way to keep him there for just a few more questions. She tried to force tears, but couldn't manage it. "This has just been so awful. The whole office must just be in shock." She made her voice rough, looked down, and sniffed loudly, blotting at imaginary tears with a napkin she grabbed off the table.
He relaxed again, falling into the comforting role neatly. He patted her hand in a patronizing way. "Yes, it's been pretty upsetting. Lacey was an integral part of our team. She's been with us so long. The office just won't be the same without her."
"Had she worked for you for a long time?"
"About five years now."
Ellie nodded. "That's quite a stretch these days, especially in marketing."
"You're familiar with our business?"
The walls were going up again. Ellie shook her head. "No, no, just what Lacey told me. She said it was very competitive, and that there was always a lot of movement."
"And what line of business are you in?"
"Me? Oh, heavens, I'm not in any line of business. I own a little coffee shop. Up in Wisconsin."
She could almost feel him breathing in relief. The condescension returned. "Ah. Good for you."
She fixed a smile in place. "Of course, it's nothing like this place, I can tell you that."
He completely mistook her meaning. "Well, naturally, the population here is quite a bit higher, I dare say, as well as a bit more, shall we say, sophisticated. I'm sure the operating budgets reflect that. I'm sure your little shop is quite attractive, if not perhaps as modern."
It took every ounce of self-control she had not to smack him. Instead she just smiled sadly at him. "Did you get a chance to meet Lacey's new beau?"
"Beau?"
"Kate thought that Lacey was seeing someone new."
He looked startled. Or was it frightened? "Not that I was really privy to her private life, but if she was seeing someone, she wasn't talking about it, or I'm sure I would have heard. Besides which, Lacey worked a great many ho
urs. I can't imagine she'd have the time for that kind of relationship – at least not lately."
"Really? Oh. Well, Kate must have been wrong. But that's so sad, really. We were always hoping she'd find someone, you know, someone to make her happy."
Lawson had a funny look on his face. "I'm not really sure..." And then he shook his head. "Well, if--"
Ellie kept pushing. "Did she seem happy that day? I keep thinking about her last hours. We were supposed to have lunch the next day, you know. I keep thinking that if I'd only come to town a day earlier, maybe we could have prevented this. Or at least, I'd have gotten to see her one last time. What... what was she like, that last day?"
"Fine, I guess. As I mentioned, we had a lovely dinner."
"Oh, that's good. Was she in good spirits?"
"Well, she ought to have been. I'd just given her the news that day about her promotion." Why did that make Lawson's jaw clench?
Ellie felt herself clenching as well. "A promotion? Really? That's wonderful." And then she let her face fall. "Oh, but that's awful! Now she'll never..."
"As I said, she was a hard worker."
"And you were there, and no one heard anything?"
"Well, I suppose we must have been. She left about nine thirty and the rest of us stayed until well after eleven. The police are saying she likely died just minutes after leaving, so we all must have still been there."
And how had he known that? Were the police telling him things they weren't telling her? Or did he have some other way of knowing? "I can't imagine no one heard her scream."
Lawson shrugged. "She must have been caught by surprise. It must have happened quickly. I suppose that's a blessing, really."
"Do you have any idea what she was doing in the alley?"
He was starting to look nervous again. Guilt or just a natural reaction to being questioned too closely about anything? "No idea. Perhaps she saw a stray or something, tried to rescue it."
That didn't sound like the Lacey Ellie knew. Nor did she think Lawson bought his own reason either. "I just can't imagine how she ended up there. Did anyone see her leave?"
"Muriel did." That came out really fast. "I saw her waving at her from the front door."
Ellie made a point of sniffing. "So Muriel was really the last of us to see her alive. How awful for her."
"Yes, I suppose so."
She changed tack a little. "I don't know how you'll manage to replace her. I suppose Muriel will be taking over her stuff now."
He made a derisive noise in the back of his throat. "Muriel? I doubt that. No, with the workload that Lacey leaves behind, we'll need to hire someone. I imagine we'll go outside for this one."
"You don't think Muriel would want the job? Or – oh, of course, Muriel must already be at that level. Silly me." She met his eyes, which gave away nothing. "Oh and I understand congratulations are in order. I heard that you're running for state representative."
He flashed her a politician's smile. "Thank you. I'd like to persuade you to vote for me, but you live a bit outside my purview." He looked pointedly at his chunky gold Rolex. "Well. It's been a pleasure, Ms. Gooden, but I have a meeting at 1:00. You'll let me know which Funeral Home will be handling it - the company will want to send an arrangement."
She let him stand first. "Certainly. And thank you so much for taking time out of your day. You were a good friend to Lacey." If by good friend you meant someone you had to watch your back around.
"My pleasure." He shook her hand perfunctorily then knotted his red scarf around his neck and slipped on his jacket. "I'll see you soon."
She watched him go, waited until he'd disappeared down the block before carefully wiping the hand he'd shaken on the stack of paper napkins still on the table. Good Goddess, with friends like that, they wouldn't have to look far for enemies.
Chapter 23
Charlie was grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat as they convened over hot Chai Ellie had made for them and some scones Kate had somehow managed to find time to bake that morning before running her errand in the city. Like everything Kate did, they were Martha Stewart-worthy. If Marg ever decided to marry again and move away to some far off place, Ellie knew there was at least one woman who could take her place at the shop.
The laptop was out, as was Charlie's notebook. "Okay, Kate, you first. Tell us, word for word if you can, and in as much detail as you can remember, what happened."
Kate settled into her chair at the kitchen table, looking pleased with herself. She held out her clenched hand and opened it slowly, palm up. "I got the key!!"
"Oh, Katie! You rock!! I knew you could do it."
Ellie high-fived her friend. "Just turn on that old Tyler charm, works every time." Tyler was Kate's maiden name.
Kate giggled. "There's one I haven't heard in a while. Anyway, it was so easy. I'm sure there's got to be some law against giving perfect strangers the keys to someone's apartment, but the fellow was ever so nice. I sat with him for about fifteen minutes, while Kirby behaved just adorably, and we talked about Lacey and how Ellie and I were the only family Lacey had. Of course, I sort of made it sound like we were much closer than we really were."
"Did she get a lot of visitors?"
"No, not at all. He actually remembered me from the one time I went there. I had even forgotten it myself – it was last year, and I went to drop off some stuff for the reunion committee. I was in the city doing some shopping on a Saturday and she suggested I stop by in the afternoon." She stopped as she found them both staring at her. "Oh. Sorry. I forgot."
"You maybe need to find some time to sit and think about all the times in the last year you've talked to Lacey. Maybe write some notes about what you talked about, anything you can remember from the conversations. There could be information that she let slip that you didn't think was important, but that really might be."
"I'll try, I promise, Charlie."
"But go on. So the building manager remembered you."
"Yes. He didn't even know Lacey had been killed! The police haven't been there yet!"
"Good Goddess!"
Charlie leaned back, blew out a breath. "I told you they weren't doing much." He looked pointedly at Ellie, then back again at Kate. "And he didn't have a problem letting you in after that? Not worried about contaminating a crime scene?"
"Well, no, I mean, she wasn't killed there, was she?" She gave a little shudder. "I don't think I could have gone in if she had been. I mean, it was creepy enough as it was."
"So what did you tell him?" Ellie asked. "Why did you say you wanted to go in?"
"I said I needed to get some legal papers related to her final wishes, and that I needed to find her address book so I could make sure I contacted everyone for the memorial service. I even made sure I got the manager’s name and address since he expressed an interest."
Ellie leaned over and squeezed Kate's hand. "You are so good at this."
"Well, I wasn't being phony. I mean, he really was a nice man. He really seemed to care about Lacey."
"Which is more than I can say for her boss. What a jerk."
"But we digress. Katie, get back to the apartment. Did he leave you alone while you looked around?"
"Oh yes. He just gave me the key, said I could keep it as long as I wanted as long as I promised to arrange to dispose of Lacey's stuff. I guess the property is pretty hot, and he knows the building's owner's association will want the unit sold quickly."
"So she owned it."
"Oh, yes."
Ellie frowned. "Do you suppose she had a will?"
Charlie nodded. "We'll need to see if we can find any attorneys who might have represented her."
Kate was shaking her head. "Got it covered. She had a copy of it. Good lord, you would not believe how organized that woman was. All her files were neatly labeled, everything in clean, new file folders, all sorted by type of transaction then alphabetized. It was really kind of scary."
"Any address books?"
"Well, I
think there might be one on her computer, but it was password protected and I couldn't get in."
"So what else did you find?" Charlie was working hard to keep the discussion on track – Ellie could see the frustration in the way he gripped his pen, although his face never showed it.
"The place was pathologically clean. If she wasn't OCD, I'll eat my hat. There wasn't a speck of dust anywhere, and lord knows, there were enough empty glass surfaces for it. No smudge marks or fingerprints on all that glass either. Very few knick-knacks, just a couple of photographs." She glanced at Ellie. "The two of you from college. And then one of the three of us, by that old oak tree."
"Any pictures of anyone else?"
"There was one in the bedroom of her and her dad. Other than that, anyone in the world could have lived there for all the personality it had."
Ellie leaned forward. "What was in the fridge?"
"A lot of take-out containers. Mostly Chinese type food. All vegetarian. And absolutely no junk food."
"Anything else that seemed important?"
"Not that I could find. I, uh... I did do one thing that might be illegal."
Charlie's face grew dark. "What's that?"
"I sort of borrowed her computer."
"What?"
"Well, it was a laptop. It was just sitting there on the desk, next to its carrying case. There were a couple of memory sticks in the desk drawer, so I packed it all up and brought it along. I mean," and she looked disingenuous now, "I didn't want anyone to steal it. Other than the TV, which I couldn't have carried, it was the most valuable thing there. I would hate for it to be stolen because someone finds out the place is vacant and breaks in."
Charlie chuckled. "Well, no one can fault that logic, sis. Not even Ellie's favorite Detective What's-his-name." He rubbed his hands together. "Hand it over."
"Why, whatever for, dear brother-in-law?"
"For safekeeping. I'll lock it in my special laptop safe. In the basement."
Ellie laughed. "That would be right next to the wine cellar, would it?"