by Cam Larson
"Nevertheless," I said. "I really think Michael Simms had something to do with John Andrews’ death. The report says there were bruises on him. I think John made Michael mad and they got into a fight."
Daniel leaned back and scrutinized my face. "What could they have been fighting about? From all reports they were good friends. Good friends usually work things out verbally, not with fists."
"There’s more," I said. "I found a photo of Michael, John and James on the ground next to Roasted Love’s trash bin. On the back were their names and under that the word ‘redemption.’"
"That’s interesting. I mean that the trash had belonged to Michael and was there on the ground next to Roasted Love’s trash bin."
"I thought so, too. What do you think the bruises on John meant?" I asked.
I knew I jumped from one thought to the next but wasting time wasn’t in the cards. We could discuss the trash later.
"The report states most likely due as a result of some roughhousing before his death."
"He was twenty years old. That sounds like someone looked at him as a kid. What kind of roughhousing would have been going on in the office? I thought he was alone when he died."
"It is all quite a mystery. John had only been working for James for a few months. It was James’ second campaign. He was older by a couple of years, you know."
"I wonder if Marianne had it out for Michael," I said, ignoring his latest comment. "Maybe she found belladonna someplace, met him at Sunrise and put the poison in his coffee the night after he went to see her."
Daniel leaned back again and gave a low whistle. Humor flooded his eyes. "You sure know how to draw conclusions."
"It is possible," I said.
"Anything is possible. We just don’t know. From what you have told me, Michael still held John’s mother in high regard. He did leave his business to her to say nothing of the hefty check. Besides, the autopsy report doesn’t say anything about anyone causing the asthma attack, so where do you get murder out of it?"
O.k. so I was grasping at loose straws. I dug into the cheddar cheese grit cake. Gathering a small spicy shrimp on top, I popped the bite into my mouth.
After allowing for time to think while I savored the sautéed shrimp, I said, "Why else did Michael think he needed to write ‘redemption’ on the back of that picture? That could mean he felt guilty about something."
"From what I understood of Michael’s personality changes, he probably had reasons to be guilty about a lot of things," said Daniel.
It hadn’t taken long for me to realize Daniel’s methods consisted of playing the devil’s advocate. It did add interest to the process of solving the mystery.
"How about some dessert?" he asked me.
I held up my hands in the negative. "I couldn’t eat another bite, but help yourself if you can do it."
He declined the server’s card displaying a variety of sweets. While Daniel paid the tab I thought of more reasoning behind Marianne committing the murder of Michael Simms. Her motive sounded more likely than an unknown argument between two good buddies.
I thanked Daniel for the dinner. We rode in silence for a few blocks.
"What are your real thoughts regarding John Andrews’ death?" I asked him.
"I’ve always felt there may be something more to his death than what is on paper. I just don’t know." He navigated the traffic well. Of course, he was a paramedic and knew how to do that easily. "I want you to be careful in meeting with people you don’t know. We still don’t know who murdered Michael Simms."
Coming from him, I paid more attention to his words than I had when Jacob warned me. When we arrived at my bungalow, I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Whoa, what was that for?"
"Mainly, it’s for showing me the autopsy report, and for a delicious meal."
We grinned at each other. "If I had known that was all it would take to get a kiss from you I would have come up with that sooner," he said. "What else can I do for you?"
"For right now, the report and the dinner will do it," I said.
I slid to the car door and opened it. He waited until I got inside and I waved goodbye.
Thor bounded forward when I came in. I looked out the window as Daniel pulled away. Clearing my mind of him, I had more important things to think about at the moment.
For starters, I had to think about another visit with Marianne Andrews and how to accomplish that. Daniel’s words of caution briefly went in and out of my mind. I sat at the computer and brought up the obituary on John Andrews. I read it twice. According to the notice, the campaign manager was found in the parking lot of his apartment complex. He was on the ground next to his car parked in his assigned space in the carport space outside his apartment door.
It was determined he died of an extreme asthma attack. Nothing about who was there or who found him was in the obituary. This was in stark contrast to the autopsy report that I was sure said he died at the campaign office.
I quickly dialed Daniel on his cell phone.
"I just read the obituary on John Andrews online. It states he died in the parking lot outside his apartment. I thought it was a known fact he was found in the campaign office of James Simms. We both read that in the autopsy report, too."
"I should have told you. The obit was written that way but I have it from reliable sources he was found in the campaign office. That is why I have always felt there was more to his death than what the family wanted the public to know."
"Well, what do you know? This is a mystery, for sure. This tells me that his death was not a natural one."
The familiar chuckle came through the cell. "I agree with you on this one. And it all may or may not have something to do with Michael’s death. But I have to say, there is no way John’s death was anything but suspicious. I concluded that when I first read the notice of his death."
"It would have been nice if you had said all of that when I saw you."
The chuckle floated over again. I wondered what else he kept from me. It was hard to sleep that night. I set my phone alarm for plenty of time to get caffeine in my system before heading in early to Roasted Love.
Chapter Eighteen
My cell rang the next day in the early afternoon. It was Marianne. She wanted to see me. My dilemma solved, I told her I would be over that evening around seven. It was a problem concentrating on work. Ideas flooded my mind and I continually turned over events of the last week. I took Thor home after work and we went through usual routines but I think Thor felt neglected. My attention was miles away from him. His accusing face told me he knew I shortened his running time.
"You get more attention from me than Michael gave you, Thor. You know you do."
I left him and headed over to Marrianne Andrews' house. Once again, the petite woman ushered me into her living room. We sat in the exact same spots as before and I waited for her to speak. Tapered fingers reached for one of the albums still on the coffee table. I told her I had some questions for her first if she didn’t mind that.
She agreed with a smile. "Of course, ask away," she said.
"This is a really strange question...but I feel like it could lead to solving something about John and Michael's deaths. Do you know exactly where John was when he passed away?"
"He was on the floor of James Simms’ office as I said before."
"The obituary states he was on the ground next to his car at his apartment."
She shuffled a few books on the table next to her. "I know that and I have no idea why that was in the obituary. I didn’t write it. I left it to Michael to write it up. Thomas, my other son, was too young to put it together and I was in no state to do so. My husband passed away when both the boys were very young."
"Did you ask Michael why he wrote the wrong location?"
"Yes, I did. He said because of publicity, they felt it would be better to make it look like it happened where he lived. He explained it would shield his brother who was in the middle of a camp
aign. I didn’t like the idea, but John was gone and never coming back. Michael was very sympathetic about the situation. I knew the truth and that was what mattered at the time."
None of this made sense to me. The Simms family sure had clout to cover something up. What were the brothers trying to hide? So what if John collapsed in the campaign office? That’s where he worked and if the cause was from an asthma attack, that would be understandable.
On the other hand, maybe Marianne Andrews and Michael Simms both had reasons of their own to state the untruth. I placed my face directly in front of hers.
"I want you to know that I can see how a mother would want to avenge her son’s death. If Michael caused John’s asthma attack, I can see how you may have met him that night in his coffee house and put poison in his coffee."
The stunned look on the woman’s face said maybe I had been too blunt. I couldn’t tell if it was one that told me she was found out, or one that told me the thought hadn't even crossed her mind.
She looked me in the eye and regained her composure. "I would never have poisoned Michael. I recognized his goodness. The night he was here with the check, he was still deeply saddened. The anger most saw in him was replaced with despondency." We sat in silence. "Besides, that is why I wanted to talk to you again. Michael, nor James, was with John when he died. His girlfriend was there."
It was my turn to stare. "You told me it was confusing who was there," I reminded her.
"I hadn’t thought of the specifics for quite a while until you brought that up. Later, I remembered it was John’s girlfriend who was there when he died. I don’t know her name. John had dated her for a short time at that point and I never met her. I have a picture of her, though."
I leaned forward, excited to see another piece of the puzzle. When I looked at the picture I held back a gasp. The girl in the photo with John was tall, slender and had hair the color of sun-bleached sand on a beach. Without a doubt, the woman was Sarah Simms. True, she was younger in the picture, but her face was unmistakable. The girlfriend was the wife of James Simms.
"I only heard her first name and think it was Susan or Sarah, perhaps," said Marianne. "John didn’t tell me everything about his private life. I found that picture in his wallet after he died and on the back he wrote the words ‘my girl’ on it but no name. Michael once told me he knew her, but he didn’t say who she was. I was so devastated I didn’t ask at the time. Do you know her?"
"I thought at first she looked familiar but I’m not really sure."
Now was not the time to tell Marianne Andrews that her son was having an affair with the wife of Senator James Simms. I stood and told Marianne that it was getting late and I had an early morning.
"I hope I’ve been of some help to you. I want to emphasize there was no way I would ever have harmed Michael Simms, ever."
I wanted to say she had only added to my confusion. At this point, I had no idea what was real and what was not. Several people had gone to great lengths to cover up things about John Andrews’ death. I wanted to know why.
Chapter Nineteen
In the early afternoon the next day, I took my break away from Roasted Love and headed for the jail. Jacob looked like he had aged a lifetime.
"Hello, Laila. You know you don’t have to keep coming to see me."
"I come because I want to. I’ve found out some stuff that I want you to know about."
A glimmer of hope lit his eyes and he sat up a little straighter.
"I think John Andrews’ death a while back is somehow connected to the murder of Michael," I began. "I’ve been to see John’s mother, Marianne on two occasions. I keep getting mixed information from her. I’ve learned that her son died in James Simms’ campaign office, not on his apartment parking lot. The obit states that he was found near his car. The autopsy tells it different."
Jacob didn’t look surprised. "What does all of this have to do with anything?"
I told him about Michael visiting Marianne the night before his death and his offer of a huge check amount. "I think he may have been paying her off for something. Like maybe he had something to do with John’s death."
For the first time in the visit, Jacob perked up with more life in him. He asked me to go on. I was only too happy to.
"I’ve enlisted the help of Daniel Jenkins in my investigations."
"Daniel?" he asked.
"The paramedic," I said. "You met him. He was the one who helped take Michael's body out of Sunrise."
"Right," he said, nodding, though I wasn't sure if he was agreeing because he remembered Daniel or because he simply wanted the conversation to continue.
"Daniel knew the Simms’ brothers but not all that well. He does know more about their lives than I do at any rate," I said. "Marianne told me about the differences in the personalities of Michael and James. Seems James has quite a temper at times and is very controlling. Before Michael changed he was the one who gave to the poor and did good deeds right and left."
"I didn’t know that," said Jacob. "I knew James had a way of winning political positions most of the time. Why did Michael give Marianne a check?"
I told him that she was as baffled as anyone and he wouldn’t explain it to her.
"Twenty-four hours later Michael was dead. It could be that whatever went on at her house that night made her resent him. Maybe she blamed Michael for her son’s death. She could have met him at Sunrise that night and slipped poison into his coffee."
Jacob rubbed his forehead. "I just don’t know, Laila. I just don’t know. At the very least, she may know a lot more than she is willing to say. Do you have any proof she could have done it? Remember also that someone had to have planted evidence against me at Roasted Love."
I shook my head no. "Let’s think about who could have put that evidence in your office. How well do you know the servers?"
"I did a background check on Janie and Lily both. I had references and both of them had good ones. I don’t know much about Lily’s son, Eddie, but he seems like a good kid. After all, he is her son. I don’t think she would have brought him on board, even part-time, if she had any doubts to his honesty."
"There’s more," I said. I lowered my voice though only one other inmate had a visitor. They sat at the other end of the room. The guard was making eyes at a female guard on the other side of the glass window. "James Simms has been coming into Roasted Love on occasion. He was there the other day and I heard him tell someone that Sunrise had been left to Marianne Andrews by Michael. She wanted him to get a realtor in to sell it. A realtor showed it the day James was in the coffee house."
"I don’t think I’ve ever seen James Simms on the Piazza in all the time Michael had Sunrise."
I brushed over his comment. I told Jacob about finding stuff that belonged to Michael in a sack on the ground. "It was by our trash bin, not Sunrise’s." I told him about the photo and the envelopes. "I plan to ask Daniel to find someone to test the envelopes for any evidence."
"What kind of evidence?"
"I don’t know but something may be on them that will help."
I glanced at my watch. I had only about ten minutes left before Jacob would be taken back to his cell. I told him about showing the photo to James and his reaction. I spilled the information about his short and angry conversation with Janie on his way out of Roasted Love.
My time was up and the guard reluctantly left his view to escort Jacob back to his cell. Before he did so, I told Jacob these were all things I wanted him to think about. As he walked away, I remembered to ask him quickly about hiring another employee. He nodded yes and waved to me over his shoulder.
I hurried back to work. Thor managed a reproachful whine. I decided a quick walk up and down the alley a couple of times would make him happy again. Then I got back to work.
Several customers were there sipping cappuccinos and frappes. Janie wiped a table and went to the register to gather her receipts. She handed them to me without a word. Lily was busy taking an order. I tried to
make small talk with Janie. She answered but didn’t elaborate on anything as she usually did. She seemed in a hurry to get to the time clock.
"I checked with Jacob. He said it was o.k. that we put the notice up asking for extra help," I told Lily.
When I told Lily to do that, she seemed excited to say the least. Relief evident, I felt I had at least made one server happy. We chatted like we used to do before the murder of the owner of Sunrise. It gave me a good feeling to relax for a few minutes once again.
Later, we closed together and walked outside. The air felt crisp and Thor pulled at the leash. I unhooked him and let him run free for a few minutes.
"I can’t get over how you’ve taken to that dog, Laila," said Lily.
"I know. It’s hard to believe he almost tore me apart not so long ago."
As Thor and I walked home, several of my neighbors were parking their cars as they arrived home from work. We greeted with waves. Without warning, Thor growled in the now familiar threatening way. My eyes skirted the street and lawns looking for his target. No one was in sight that I could see. I hurried to the door. Thor held back and turned for a last menacing growl.
"What’s wrong, boy?"
My legs were turning to jello. My dog was more astute than I was. He could sense someone he didn’t trust a mile away. The maples and elms were still leaf-laden and dipped low to the ground in some spots. I wanted whoever stalked me to just show himself and get it over with.
With a tug, Thor finally came inside with me. I quickly double-bolted the door and leaned against it. My breath, uneven, became hard to control. Thor knew I was afraid. He sidled closer as if to say ‘don’t worry, Laila Rook, I’ll take care of him for you.’
I decided that was the last day I would walk home after work for a while. The days were getting shorter. Getting home after dark never bothered me before. Now I saw phantom stalkers everywhere. Even the jail where Jacob was being held was close enough to work that I could easily walk it, but I think I'll forego that, too, for now.