by Kathi Daley
I refilled the iced tea glasses while Tara began slowly and methodically looking through the notebook. Most of the pages held information that seemed to have little if any value. We had the page with the three columns and Rachael had confirmed that the first column was account numbers, although she wouldn’t tell us who they belonged to or why Paula might have them. The second column contained dollar amounts that at this point I assumed related to the bank accounts. And the third column were customer numbers associated with the law firm.
We’d also found the phone number associated with the call Paula had made just before she died, though so far Finn hadn’t had any luck tracking what it belonged to.
Most of the pages in the notebook did contain items like appointment reminders and shopping lists. There was one appointment that stood out because it was circled and highlighted: Colin—Tuesday 10/24. October twenty-fourth was the day Paula had died, so I wondered if this Colin was either involved in her death or at least had an idea of what had been on her mind. Of course, a first name wasn’t much to go on, although it wouldn’t hurt to ask Jane, Barbara, Joy, and even Henry if the name meant anything to them.
Toward the back of the notebook, Tara found the most interesting thing of all: a small key taped to an otherwise blank page. I had no idea what it opened, but it looked like the kind that would open a locker or safety deposit box, so I removed it from the page and safely secured it on a chain I put around my neck. I figured I wouldn’t lose it that way, and if I happened to figure out what it opened I’d have it with me and wouldn’t have to come back home to get it.
“Even if we do find out what the key goes to, and we discover what Paula was doing with the bank account and client numbers, there are still only a finite number of people who had the opportunity to kill Paula,” Tara pointed out. “We’ve narrowed it down to Rachael or Giselle. Both seem to potentially have motive. It seems to me the only way for us to prove either of them did it is to find physical evidence putting them in the storage room.”
“Do you specifically remember seeing either woman after the lights went out?”
“I saw them both as they left.”
“Were they wearing jackets?”
Tara looked at me. “You’re back to the blood spatter anomaly.”
“I think it has to be considered. If you’re standing close enough to a person to stick a knife into their heart you’re going to get blood on you. There’s no way around it.”
“I guess that’s a weak spot in our theory that one of the women from book club killed Paula,” Tara admitted. “I do remember seeing Rachael and Giselle as they were leaving and they did have their coats on. I suppose the coat the killer was wearing was hiding the blood, but it still seems likely they’d have it on their skin. Sure, they could have washed up, but it still seems something would have alerted us that something was going on.”
“The lights were out and it was dark. We could ask some of the others if they specifically remembered seeing Rachael and Giselle after the electricity failed, but I agree we’re going to need something concrete if we want to solve this case.”
Chapter 12
Friday, October 27
Finn called me the next morning with the news that the bookstore would be released from restrictions by noon. I told him we’d decided to clean up but not reopen until Tuesday. Cody was coming home later this afternoon and I also wanted to clean the cabin and wash my hair.
I asked Finn about the warrant for the bank and law client account numbers. He informed me that the judge hadn’t felt they had a good enough reason to fulfill such a request. I wasn’t certain the information on the notepaper was relevant to the case and decided it might not hurt to speak to both Stephanie and Rachael one more time.
I called Tara and we made plans to meet at Coffee Cat Books at noon. In the meantime, I went to the closet for the cleaning supplies I would need to turn my messy cabin into a romantic getaway. I was just about to head into the kitchen to give it a good scrub when Frank ran to the door and began scratching to get out.
I paused and looked at him. “You have a cat box,” I reminded him.
He continued to scratch, so I opened the door. Frank trotted directly out to my car and began to scratch at that door as well.
“You want to go somewhere?”
“Meow.”
“Now really isn’t a good time. I need to clean up the place, shower, and meet Tara at noon.”
“Meow,” Frank insisted.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. If you’re sure it’s important. Let me get my keys. Do you have a way of letting me know where you want me to go?”
Frank just looked at me.
“Okay, how about this: I’ll ask you questions and if the answer is yes, you meow. If the answer is no, you stay quiet. Will that work?”
“Meow.”
“Fantastic. Does our destination have to do with Paula’s murder?”
Frank remained quiet.
“Okay, then does the destination have to do with Paula in any way?”
“Meow.”
“So you want to show me something that relates to Paula but doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with her murder?”
“Meow.”
“Do you want me to drive to her house?”
Silence.
“Is it related to the account numbers we found?”
“Meow.”
“Do you want me to go to the bank?”
Silence.
“The law office where she temped?”
Silence.
“Okay; I can figure this out. You want to show me something relating to the account numbers, but you don’t want me to go to her house, the bank, or the law office. How about whatever it is the key opens?”
Silence.
“Her car?”
“Meow.”
“Okay, great. You want me to take you to her car. Now I just need to figure out where her car ended up.”
I went inside to call Finn again. He told me the car was at the impound lot for the time being. I asked if Frank and I could look at it and he said he’d meet us there. I begged him to give me twenty minutes, then ran in, took a quick shower, slipped into clean clothes, and headed to the lot.
Finn was waiting when we arrived. I opened the door so Frank could hop out and he trotted directly to the car and pawed at the door. Finn opened it and Frank jumped in onto the backseat and began pawing at something under the driver’s seat. Finn reached in and pulled out a small diary. Inside was handwriting I assumed was Paula’s. On the first page was the name Andy Wong. After that name was a number I’d learned was associated with one of the Brown and Bidwell customer numbers. Beside that was one of the bank account numbers and next to it was a note that said, involuntary manslaughter, 2013.
On the following page was the name Cindy Gardner. After it was a customer number, followed by a bank account number and the words, embezzlement, 2015.
I looked up at Finn. “What if Paula was snooping around and came across client information connecting to people she knew lived in this area? Maybe the information she found was sensitive, so she used it in some sort of blackmail scheme? That would explain the bank account numbers and the dollar amounts.”
“So you think she was killed by someone she was blackmailing?”
I looked through the rest of the diary. There were six names in all, none of them related to anyone in book club. “I’m not sure. None of the names are of anyone in the book club. The only way one of these people could have killed Paula is if they were, as Sarah suggested, already hiding in the building when the book club members arrived or they were working with someone in the club who let them in the side door. Both are possible, but neither seems likely. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to speak to these people to see if anything pops.”
“I’ll take care of that this morning and let you know what I find.”
“Great. In the meantime, I need to head over to Coffee Cat Books to help Tara with the c
leanup. I’ll have my cell with me, so call me as soon as you know something.”
I decided to take Frank to the bookstore with me. There was no reason to drive all the way home just to drop him off. I figured we’d only be at the store for two or three hours and I could take him home when we were finished there.
“Wow,” Tara said after I’d filled her in. “You really think Paula was blackmailing people?”
“It looks that way, but right now all we have are random pieces of data that seem to fit but may not. I know Cindy Gardner and I don’t remember her ever being arrested or going to jail. The note said embezzlement, 2015. That was just two years ago, so if something like that played out in the courts I would have remembered. My guess is, if she was guilty of embezzlement her attorney might have worked something out that would keep her out of jail and her name out of the news. If Paula came across it and threatened to expose what she’d done to her friends and neighbors, I could see how she might be persuaded to pay her off to protect her secret.”
“Okay, say that’s true; why would Paula do it?”
I shrugged. “Maybe she needed the money.”
Tara looked less than convinced.
“Rachael and Joy both said she’d hired a PI. Maybe she needed the money to pay him.”
“I guess that’s as good an explanation as any. It’ll be interesting to see what Finn finds out. In the meantime, I think we should tackle the storeroom first. Finn sent someone over to clean up the blood and remove the yellow flags and chalk marks, but the boxes are still shoved back against the wall. I think we should reorganize so we can find the merchandise we need when we reopen on Tuesday.”
“Okay. I’m glad Finn took care of the blood.”
“Me too. I was kind of freaked out by the idea of having to deal with it.”
Tara and I worked side by side for over an hour while Frank watched from the sidelines. The boxes were heavy and moving them back to where they’d originally been stored was a dirty and exhausting chore. I was about to move a box from the last stack needing to be relocated when Frank darted across the room and pounced on something that had been under the last box on the pile.
“What did you find?” I asked Frank, who was batting at the object.
I bent over and picked it up. I held it up so Tara could see it. “It’s an earring,” I said. “Do you remember if anyone from book club was missing an earring?”
“I didn’t notice, but we can ask around. If it belongs to one of the book club women it places her at the crime scene. This could turn out to be an important clue. The crime scene guys must have stacked the boxes on top of it without even seeing it.”
“I’ll take a photo of it and send it to Finn. If we can match the earring to the owner we really might have something.”
Tara and I finished up in the storage room, then headed to the main part of the building, where the coffee bar and bookstore were. It didn’t take us long to dispose of the trash that had been left from Tuesday’s refreshments. Once the room was tidied, I vacuumed and dusted everything while Tara restocked both the coffee bar and the bookshelves. We were just finishing up when Finn called.
“Well?” I asked after answering my cell.
“You were right. Paula was blackmailing all six people named in the diary. Each of the victims had done something illegal and, in most cases, embarrassing and career ending. In all six instances one of the attorneys at Brown and Bidwell had worked out a plea deal that kept them out of jail and out of the news. Paula must have found the files while she temped there. That part isn’t totally clear.”
“How long had this been going on?” I asked.
“Just a couple of months. She asked each of her blackmail victims for a single payment. I was able to obtain a warrant to look at Paula’s bank records. It appears all the money was put into one account and the only withdrawals from it were made in the name of Walton Smith. I’m trying to track him down.”
“That’s great. Maybe he has the rest of the puzzle. Did you get the photo of the earring?”
“I did. It matches the one that was found on Paula’s left lobe when she was brought into the morgue. I’m assuming she dropped the other earring at some point.”
Well, that was a bummer. An earring belonging to the killer would have been a lot more useful.
I spoke with Finn for a few more minutes before hanging up, then filled Tara in as we finished up and prepared to leave for the day.
“Are you going home after this?” I asked as heavy rain began to fall. It looked like we might be in for another hard storm.
“I’m having dinner with Sister Mary. We’ve been trying to get together once a week just to talk.”
I knew how badly Sister Mary wanted Tara to be comfortable with everything she’d learned so recently but decided not to mention the conversation I’d had with her on Wednesday. “That’s nice. Are you enjoying your time together?”
Tara nodded. “It’s really helping me to get to know her as a person. I’ve always liked and admired her, but now I’m finding I’m beginning to have feelings for her beyond that of a respected role model. She’s been really great about helping me work though the fact that she’s my mother.” Tara was quiet for a moment and then said, “Actually, accepting and embracing the idea that Sister Mary is my mother is less strange for me than the idea that Jane and Jim Farmington were my parents. It’s hard dealing with the trauma my mother must have endured at the hands of my father, who was a very cruel man.”
“It is a tragic story,” I agreed. “But it seems as if Sister Mary is in a good place. She’s happy with the life she ended up with.”
“She is. I asked her once if she ever thought about all that money she left behind when she ceased to be Maryellen Thornton, and she said she wouldn’t trade the life she has now for all the money in the world. She’s been through so much and she seems to have found a way to find peace with her situation. I know it’s up to me to do the same.”
I hugged Tara. “You’re an amazing woman. You know I’m always here for you.”
“I know. And that means a lot. I’m glad I have you to talk to about this. I don’t think I’d be able to handle it if I were in it alone. I do, however, find it difficult to keep such a big secret from everyone other than the very small handful of people who know. I can’t even tell Parker, which feels wrong to me. I hate to lie to him, but on nights like tonight, when he asks me out on the same night I have plans with Sister Mary, I have to lie and say I have a headache or prefer to stay in.”
“Why lie? Sister Mary is a nun you’ve known and been close to for most of your life. It wouldn’t be weird at all for you to have made dinner plans with her even if she wasn’t your mother.”
Tara sighed. “I’m overthinking this, aren’t I? I do that sometimes. I make things a lot more complicated than they have to be.”
“I think you have a very good reason to be a bit off-balance, but yeah, I think you are overthinking things. The next time you plan to meet Sister Mary just be honest with Parker. If he thinks it’s odd—and I don’t think he will—just remind him that you’ve attended St. Patrick’s your whole life and have developed a relationship with her. And eventually, if things progress with Parker, I’m sure Sister Mary will support you if you decide you want to tell him the truth.”
Tara smiled a tired little smile. “I know you’re right. Have a wonderful reunion with Cody tonight.”
I grinned. “Don’t worry; I plan to.”
Chapter 13
By the time Cody got home the rain had begun to clear. He wanted to check in with Mr. Parsons and then suggested we grab a bite in town before coming back to my place for the night. I knew Cody worried about Mr. Parsons when he was away, but I’d checked in with him often, as had his good friends Francine Rivers and Banjo and Summer Reynolds.
When we arrived at Mr. Parsons’s house he was watching an old movie with Francine so we didn’t stay long, but Cody did notice the supplies in the refrigerator were getting low,
so we decided to stop by the grocery while we were out and bring back the items we purchased before heading back to my cabin.
“So, tell me about the murder you’ve been working on,” Cody said after we’d ordered pizza and beer at the new pub in Pelican Bay.
“We started out with nine suspects because we knew early on that the killer had to have been one of the women at the book club meeting. We’ve eliminated all but two of them: Giselle Bowman and Rachael Steinway. To be honest, even though we haven’t verified alibis for them, my gut tells me that they didn’t do it. The problem is, if we do eliminate Giselle and Rachael we’re down to zero suspects.”
“And you’re sure the other seven women are all in the clear?” Cody asked after taking a sip of his beer.
“Pretty sure. We asked the women about their movements between the time we took a break and the time the lights went out and we all gathered in the cat lounge. Those seven women all reported either speaking to someone or seeing others speaking to others during that time. Tara and I created a timeline, and it looks like these women were all accounted for. Giselle said she went outside to smoke. Unfortunately, no one other than Stephanie saw her leave and no one saw her come back in at all. She was around later, but she had time to go out, smoke a cigarette, sneak back in, kill Paula, and then rejoin the group.”
“How easy would it have been for her to come in and make her way to the storeroom without being seen?”
“It would have been nearly impossible for most of the evening, but once the lights went out and the storm intensified, anyone could have snuck in and killed Paula. The women were all gathered in the cat lounge by that point and the thunder was so intense that even if Paula had called out we most likely wouldn’t have heard her.”
“Did Giselle have a motive for killing Paula?”
“It seems she might have. According to several of the women, Paula told them Giselle was sleeping with her husband. Giselle denied it, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t true. On the other hand, all the women who knew Paula told us she’d been acting oddly and, over the course of the past few weeks, changed her story about Henry’s affair.”