Brash Endeavor, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 3

by William Manchee

Chapter 33

  MONICA SANDS

  Tuesday

  My adrenalin was pumping in anticipation of Wednesday's escapade. I went over the details of the plan in my mind. If it were going to work, there couldn't be any last minute glitches. There wasn't time for a postponement; Wednesday was it. After a while I realized I had been staring out the window for some time. Looking at my watch I saw it was ten-fifteen. I gazed at the pile of work stacked up on my credenza but I had no motivation to work on it. Suddenly the phone rang jerking me from my trance. It was Ken.

  "I'm meeting Melissa Madigan's friend, Monica Sands, at the Golden Eagle restaurant in Richardson. Wanna come?"

  "Absolutely, what time?"

  "Eleven-thirty. I thought we'd beat the crowd."

  "Good, I'll be there."

  My thoughts shifted from Bird to Melissa. In my heart I didn't think Melissa was the murderer. She was so sweet and was concerned about Rebekah, but she did say she knew Rebekah wasn't a murderer. How would she know that? I wondered. At eleven o'clock I grabbed my coat and took off for the meeting. No one was there yet, so I got a booth and waited. At eleven twenty-five a young red head walked in and looked around nervously. I surmised it must be Monica Sands. Ken walked in right after her and they exchanged greetings. I got up and waved to Ken and he escorted Monica over to where I had been sitting.

  "Thanks a lot for meeting with us Ms. Sands. I know you're probably pretty busy, but this is important."

  "Yes, Melissa told me that you might call."

  "That's good. We won't take much of your time; I just have a few questions. We can eat first if you want."

  "No, I'm a little nervous so let's get the questions over with first."

  "Fine, I understand you went to the comin-in party for Parker #3?"

  "Right, Melissa asked me to come with her. It sounded exciting so I agreed."

  "Did you meet Sheila and Bird Logan?"

  "Just a quick introduction, I really didn't get to talk to them. It was pretty crowded and they were busy entertaining all the investors."

  "Did you witness the confrontation between Sheila Logan and Rebekah Turner?"

  Miss Sands put her hand over her mouth to hide her expression. "Oh yes," I thought it funny at the time, but obviously it’s not so funny now." Miss Sands looked at me and said, "I'm sorry Mr. Turner about your wife. I hope she didn't do it."

  "Thank you, she didn't," I said emphatically.

  "You know Mr. Logan probably set you up, don't you?" Monica said evenly.

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "He wanted Sheila to have a boyfriend just in case he got caught with Melissa."

  "Now, how would you know that, honey?" Ken asked.

  "Well, Melissa told me one time that Bird was hoping Sheila would have an affair so he would have a little insurance."

  "So you think Bird encouraged Stan and Sheila to have an affair," Ken asked.

  "You should have seen the hostesses pumping both of them with champagne all night. It wouldn't have surprised me if Bird hadn't instructed them to do that."

  "Why were you watching Stan and Sheila?"

  "Well, Melissa asked me to. You know, she was very interested in both of them."

  "I see. Did you see anything else unusual?"

  "Mr. Logan had a conversation with both Stan and Sheila just before they met at the bunk house."

  "Oh really?"

  "Could you hear what they said?"

  "No, it was too noisy to even think let alone hear someone talking twenty yards away."

  "Did you see Stan and Sheila go into the bunk house?"

  "Yes, I sure did. I was following Stan, Mr. Turner, and when they were both inside I went and told Melissa what was going on."

  "What did she do then?"

  "She hightailed it over to the bunk house to see for herself."

  "Okay, the next day when you went home did you see anything unusual?"

  "No, nothing other than Sheila and Bird arguing. Oh, and of course, the wreck."

  "The wreck?" Ken said."

  "Yeah, you know, when Bird stopped for the dog."

  "You and Melissa saw the wreck?"

  "Sure, we didn't stop because the police and ambulance were already there and Melissa saw Bird climb into the ambulance so she knew he was okay."

  "What did you do after that?"

  "Melissa dropped me off at my place and I crashed on the sofa and watched TV."

  "Did you go out at all Sunday?"

  "No, my boyfriend came over and we just messed around and then went out to dinner."

  "Well, honey, thank you for the information. How about some lunch now?"

  "That's all?"

  "That's it, you've been a great help."

  After lunch Miss Sands left and Ken and I had another cup of coffee while we analyzed the information Miss Sands had provided us.

  "That was certainly an enlightening interview," I said.

  "That it was, son. This case is getting more intriguing every day. Unfortunately, I'm not sure we're any closer to determining the killer's identity than we were an hour ago."

  "True, I guess there's no doubt now that Bird was setting me up to be Sheila's lover, but we don't know for sure if he was also setting Rebekah up to take the fall for Sheila's murder."

  "Exactly, and now we know that Melissa was aware that Sheila was in the hospital. I'd lay you odds she went to the hospital to see what was going on."

  "I think you're right."

  "Well, this afternoon I'm going to the hospital and pass Melissa picture around to see if anyone saw her."

  "Where did you get a picture of her?"

  "I had someone catch her coming out of work yesterday."

  "Huh. Well let me know what you find out."

  "I will."

  We got up and left the restaurant. I decided not to go back to the office and opted to go home and check on Rebekah and the kids. As I drove home I began to ponder what life would be like without Rebekah. How would I bring up four children under age ten without her? I began to feel angry that this was happening to us. After all, what had we done to deserve this? We had worked so hard to get where we were in life, and now, for no good reason, our life was about to be shattered. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair.

  Rebekah and the kids were happy to see me. It seemed like the right moment to talk to the kids about what was happening and begin to prepare them for the worst. Rebekah was sitting on the sofa and the kids were sitting around me on the floor.

  "Do you kids understand what's going to happen next week?"

  "Yeah, Mom's going on trial for murder," Reggie said. "But she'll be found innocent, won't she?"

  "Probably, but you know sometimes innocent people are convicted."

  "That won't happen will it, Daddy?" Mark said as he began to cry.

  "It might, so you kids are going to have to be strong. If Mom is convicted, we'll appeal it. We'll do everything we can to keep her out of jail."

  "Mark, why are you crying?" Peter said.

  "Mom's going to jail, they're going to take her away from us."

  "Mommie, they won't take you away, will they?" Peter asked as his eyes began to swell up.

  "No, I hope not, but just in case they do you need to be prepared." Peter crawled over to Rebekah and latched on to her leg. Rebekah gently stroked his hair and then pulled him up into her lap.

  "We knew you kids would hear about what was going on, so we wanted to discuss it together to be sure you understood what was happening," I said. "If you have any questions just come to me or mom and we'll talk about it, okay?"

  "I love you, mommie, I won't let them take you away," Mark said.

  "I know, honey . . . I know."