by Kathi Daley
“No. She temped for Brian Walton. He has a one-man office. The firm Henry works for has three accountants and a bookkeeper.”
“Okay. Go on. You were saying you know Henry from his work with this firm.”
“Yes. We’ve met to discuss client issues on several occasions and we took a class together in Portland last summer. And no, we aren’t now nor have we ever been involved in a sexual relationship. In fact, Henry seemed to be totally loyal to Paula. We had a drink when we were in Portland last summer and he said he wanted to get home early because Paula was having a hard time. He told me she’d had a tragic past and had hired a PI to look into something for her, but the PI wasn’t coming through the way she’d hoped and it was causing her a lot of stress.”
“Do you know who the PI was or what he was looking for?” I asked.
Rachael shook her head. “Henry never said. I’m not even sure he knew, but I suppose you can ask him.”
“Yeah. I will. Does the name Amber mean anything to you?”
“In relation to Paula, no. I know a young woman named Amber who lives on the island, but I don’t have any reason to believe she and Paula were acquainted. Still, if you want to follow up with her, her last name is Fox and she lives in Harthaven. She works for the little general store down by the marina. She just moved to the island last summer after graduating high school, so it’s doubtful she knew Paula, but I guess it couldn’t hurt to ask.”
“Yeah, I will. Is there anything else you can tell me?”
Rachael paused and then continued. “There is something, although I have no idea if it means anything. Henry mentioned that the reason he and Paula moved to Madrona Island three years ago was because she’d been sick and he hoped a change of scenery would help her recover. Now, he never specified what it was she was sick with, but I kind of got the idea based on his tone of voice and the way he chose his words that he was referring to a mental ailment rather than a physical one. I might be way off, but if you’re really trying to learn everything you can about her, you might want to check with Henry.”
“I will,” I repeated.
“You also might want to speak to Jane Warton. She was closer to Paula than the others at book club. If Paula was having a problem of some sort she might have confided in Jane.”
“We’ve already talked to Jane, but that was a good suggestion. During her time working as a temp at the bank did Paula have the ability to withdraw funds or move money?” I suddenly asked.
“You’re thinking the dollar amounts next to the account numbers represent money Paula may have stolen? The answer is no. Paula was able to receive deposits and cash checks written for an amount not to exceed two hundred dollars, but she wasn’t in a position to withdraw or move the kind of money on the paper you have. I’m not sure why she wanted the information she did, but it was completely inappropriate and my gut tells me that while she couldn’t withdraw the funds, she was interested in something specific.”
“Would she have been able to pull up account balances?”
“Yes, she could have watched accounts even if she couldn’t withdraw money from them.”
“Okay, that’s helpful. I know you’re busy, so thank you for taking the time to speak to us.”
Tara and I returned to her car. I could see a storm brewing on the horizon and hoped we would be able to complete our interviews before it hit. Tara turned on the heater while we sat in her car discussing what to do. We both thought it was a good idea to have Finn ask about the names on the accounts Paula was accused of accessing, so I called him while Tara tried to reach Stephanie once more. It was important to speak with her as soon as possible. It seemed the fifth time was a charm because Stephanie not only answered her cell but she told us she was off that day and we were welcome to swing by her house. She lived in Harthaven near the marina, so we decided to see if Amber Fox was at work and then head on over to Stephanie’s.
Chapter 11
Amber was a tall, thin eighteen-year-old with thick blond hair she allowed to curl down her back. She had dark brown eyes, fair skin, and a smattering of freckles across her nose. When she smiled her entire face lit up, seeming to welcome you to come in to the store and sit a spell.
“Hi, y’all. How can I help you?”
“Are you Amber?” I asked.
“Yes, ma’am, I am.”
“I’m Cait and this is my friend, Tara. We’re talking to people about our friend Paula today and wondered if you knew her.”
“The lady with the heart necklace?”
“Heart necklace?”
Amber pulled a necklace out from under her blouse. “I met a woman a few months ago named Paula. She told me she had a necklace just like mine and wondered where I’d gotten it. I told her my mama gave it to me and we got to talking. She seemed nice and I’m new to the island, so I don’t really know anyone and was happy for the company. A few days later she came in and asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with her. I was surprised she asked because I’m a lot younger than her, but, like I said, I was lonely and she was nice, so I agreed to go.”
“And how’d it go?” Tara asked.
“Fine at first. But then, toward the end of the meal, she asked me if I’d been adopted. I told her I wasn’t. She asked if I was sure, which I thought was kind of a strange question to ask, but I went ahead and told her I popped out of mama’s belly at the Piggly Wiggly in front of a whole lotta witnesses, so I was pretty sure. After that she changed the subject.”
Amber took a deep breath before she went on. “Then, maybe a few weeks later, she came in again and asked where I grew up. I told her Georgia. She asked when my birthday was and I asked her why she wanted to know. She said she was just curious and didn’t mean to be inappropriate. She told me she knew someone who looked a lot like me who was born on April 12, 1999. I remembered that she’d asked about my being adopted and almost didn’t answer, but she seemed harmless and really sad, so I told her I was born in February. I figured if she had it in her head that I was somehow this person she knew, my being born in a different month should prove she had the wrong person. She thanked me and left.”
“Did you see her again after that?” I asked.
“No, ma’am. My boss told me she came in last week looking for me, but I was off and he wouldn’t tell her where I lived.”
“Okay, well, thank you for your time. It’s been nice talking to you.”
“Are you related to Danny Hart?” the girl asked as I turned to leave. “You have the same eyes.”
“Danny’s my brother.”
The girl lowered her gaze. “Do you know if he has a girl?”
“I think maybe he does.”
I wasn’t sure whether Danny was currently in a relationship or not, but if Amber was looking at his eyes she was interested in more than just a simple friendship with a guy who I knew would chew her up and spit her out.
“I wonder if the tragedy in Paula’s life had to do with someone named Amber,” Tara mused. “The birthdate Paula gave Amber was the first one on the paper.”
“I realized that as soon as she mentioned it. Joy mentioned the second date was right around the time Paula moved here.”
“Maybe something happened to Amber. Maybe she was kidnapped or something, and this Amber not only has the same necklace but she’s about the same age and maybe looks like her.”
We got into the car.
“I wonder if Henry knows who Amber is,” Tara said.
“I don’t suppose it would hurt to ask him. Let’s go see Stephanie and then regroup,” I suggested.
“Why don’t you call Finn first?” Tara suggested. “He should be able to get Paula’s medical records. Maybe Amber was Paula’s daughter. I know she never mentioned having children, but maybe she did have a daughter and something happened to her. Maybe seeing this Amber resulted in her depression cycle starting up again.”
“I’m not sure that’s how depression works, but I would be interested in finding out about the girl Paula spoke to
Amber about. I’ll call while you drive.”
I got hold of Finn, who shared that the crime scene team had already requested Paula’s medical records and confirmed she’d delivered a child, a daughter, on April 12, 1999, in Mobile, Alabama. Finn said he didn’t know what had become of the child, and when he’d asked Henry about it, he said he had no idea Paula had ever given birth. Henry told Finn he’d met Paula during the summer of 2002 in Colorado and she didn’t have a child with her at that time. Paula had never mentioned the name Amber to him. All I could do was assume Paula had given her baby up for adoption and, based on my assumption that Amber Fox would be about the same age as Paula’s baby, I further concluded that the baby Paula had given away had been named Amber as well.
******
Stephanie Abrams had been a legal secretary for Brown and Bidwell, a law firm that served not only Madrona but nearby islands as well, for two years and was working on getting licensed as a paralegal.
“Thank you for seeing us,” Tara said. “We know you’re busy, so we’ll try to be quick.”
“I appreciate that. I do have a busy day. How can I help you?”
I offered the usual explanation that we were attempting to map the movements of the book club members after the break that night, and asked Stephanie who she spoke to and who she remembered seeing.
“When the break was first called I headed to the ladies’ room. There were several people waiting, so I got in line behind Alice.”
“Alice told us Paula entered the office just as she was coming out of the ladies’ room. Do you remember Paula going into the office just as you were going in to the ladies’ room?”
“Yes, I do. She seemed to have something on her mind and I didn’t speak to her, but I did see her. When I came out of the bathroom I saw Rachael coming in my direction and I stopped to chat with her.”
“How long would you say you spoke to Rachael?” I asked.
“Maybe five minutes.”
“Did anyone else go into the ladies’ room while you were in the hallway?”
“Sarah. She showed up shortly after I began talking with Rachael.”
“And did you see Sarah come out of the ladies’ room?”
“Yes. She came out just as I was wrapping up my conversation with Rachael. She wanted to speak to Paula, but she was still on the phone in the office, so we walked back to the coffee bar together. I lost track of her when the lights went out.”
“Did Rachael stay behind after you left?”
“I think she may have ducked into the ladies’ room.”
“Do you remember seeing Giselle at all during that time?”
“I saw her going out first thing after the meeting broke up. I think she wanted to grab a smoke. I didn’t see her come back in, but she was there when we all huddled together in the cat lounge. I know that for a fact because I could smell the smoke.”
Tara made a few notes while I formulated my next question. After a moment I said, “We found a notebook Paula used to keep lists, phone numbers, appointments, that sort of thing. There was one page in particular that caught our eye.” I pulled the list with the three columns out of my pocket. “Rachael verified that the first column has account numbers for the bank she works for. She said the third column didn’t have anything to do with the numbering system at the bank. She also said you caught Paula going through confidential files when she worked for Brown and Bidwell. Is it possible the third column of numbers is for client numbers for this firm?”
Stephanie looked at it and frowned. “Yes. These are client numbers.”
“Would you be willing to share with us which clients the numbers are associated with?”
“Not without a warrant.”
“Rachael mentioned you planned to compare notes to see whether Paula was looking at the client and bank numbers of the same people. Did you ever do that?”
Stephanie shook her head. “Not yet, but given this new information, I think we should.”
“Do you have any idea why Paula wanted this information?” I asked.
“Off the top of my head I’d say she was either blackmailing someone or had plans to do so. I can’t tell you who the account numbers belong to any more than Rachael could share who the bank account numbers refer to, but if I were you and I wanted to know what Paula was up to, I’d have your brother-in-law get a warrant for information relating to the numbers from both the bank and this firm.”
“I’ll do that.”
We spoke to Stephanie for a while longer and then thanked her for her time and left. I looked up at the dark clouds that had intensified while we were inside the firm. It looked like the rain would find its way onshore any minute. I hoped the storm wouldn’t be as intense as Tuesday’s storm, but after the long hot summer we’d had rain would be welcome.
“So now that we’ve talked to everyone, do you have a feel for who our main suspect is?” Tara asked after we’d returned to her car and were heading to my cabin.
“Not really. Let’s go through the notebook again. We only skimmed the first quarter of it. Maybe there’s a clue hidden in the rest of it somewhere.”
“We should follow up with Finn on the accounts.”
“Yeah, we should. I’ll call him when we get to the cabin. He should know by now when the crime scene guys are going to release the bookstore as well. If they let it go today do we even want to open tomorrow? I feel like we need time to clean up a bit.”
“Yeah, I thought of that too. Let’s plan to reopen on Tuesday either way. Maybe we’ll have the murder solved by then. I think I’ll feel better about being in the building if we can find justice for Paula and put the matter to rest.”
******
At the cabin, I called Finn, who informed me that he was working on a warrant; then I poured glasses of iced tea for Tara and me and we settled around my small kitchen table with the notebook and a pen and paper for taking notes. I wanted to get things straight in my mind. It seemed like we didn’t have any suspects, but I knew we had to be missing something, so we decided to go over the statements of all the women again. I got out the white board we’d begun to refer to as a murder board and began to record the details of our conversations.
“Okay,” Tara began, “Jane told us that after we called for the break she went directly to the ladies’ room. When she came out Barbara, Alice, and Stephanie were in line. That’s been confirmed by all of them, so as far as I’m concerned all four have alibis for the beginning of the break.”
“We know, based on what both Alice and Stephanie have said, that Paula went into the office to make her call as Alice was coming out of the ladies’ room and Stephanie was going in,” I added. “That means it’s the placement of the women after that point that’s the most important because so far no one has admitted to seeing Paula after she was in the office. You know what’s odd…” I stopped to really think things through. “Alice said she saw Paula enter the office as she was coming out of the ladies’ room. Stephanie, who was just going in, confirmed it. Not one person has reported seeing Paula before she entered the office, but we know at least several minutes passed between the time we called for the break and Paula asked to use the phone. I wonder where she was during that time.”
“Good question, although I don’t suppose it really matters. We know Paula was alive when she went into the office just as Alice was coming out of the ladies’ room and Stephanie was going in. We know Jane was speaking to Gwen and Martha was speaking to Barbara. We also know Alice joined them at that point, so let’s cross Martha, Jane, Gwen, Barbara, and Alice off our suspect list and focus more closely on Giselle, Sarah, Stephanie, and Rachael.”
Tara glanced at the notes she’d been taking. “Giselle said she was outside smoking when all of this was going on. No one actually saw her during that time, though Stephanie did say she saw her leave the building and she smelled like smoke when she came back. Still, there’s no way to know if Giselle could have snuck back in after having a cigarette and killed Paula before we got
back together in the cat lounge, so I think we have to assume Giselle doesn’t have an alibi and leave her on the suspect list.”
“Agreed. What about Sarah?” I asked. “We know she was speaking to Gwen early in the break, although Gwen told us that when Sarah saw Paula head for the office she followed her. Sarah said that when she was outside the office she heard Paula on the phone and decided to use the ladies’ room, which was empty. When she came out Paula was still on the phone, so she went to the coffee bar with Stephanie, who had been speaking to Rachael. Stephanie said much the same thing.”
“So it sounds like Sarah and Stephanie have alibis as well,” Tara said. “According to Stephanie, Rachael stayed behind when she and Sarah went to the coffee bar. Rachael said she popped into the ladies’ room and when she came out she was about to rejoin the others, but the lights went out. It seems the only two we don’t have firm alibis for at the time we estimate Paula must have died are Giselle and Rachael.”
“Okay; let’s take a closer look at them. Jane and Barbara both told us Paula believed Henry was having an affair with Giselle. Giselle denies that, as does Henry, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t lying or that Giselle didn’t kill Paula. She could easily have had time to have a cigarette, which would account for the smoky smell Stephanie mentioned, snuck back in, killed Paula, and eventually gone back to the group.”
“I think we need to dig into Giselle and the rumor of her affair with Henry. It does seem like she might have motive for wanting Paula out of the way. As for Rachael, we know she and Paula had an altercation when Paula was temping at the bank. Rachael said Paula was looking through files she wasn’t allowed to look at, and Paula did have a list in her notebook that appears to be related to bank accounts. I think we need to try to figure out what Paula was up to and how it might involve Rachael as well.”
“Okay; where should we start?” I asked.
“We really didn’t go through the notebook all that carefully. Let’s look at it page by page to see if anything else pops up.”