by K. J. Emrick
Chapter 6
“So that’s it? The mystery is solved just like that and Stephanie Collette is our killer?”
I’m not sure I believe my own words. I’ve had plenty of experience with murder over the years, with Kevin or by myself. It’s not that I go looking for trouble. It just naturally finds me. Like the ghosts do. I figure it’s all the same and I’m just some sort of magnet for trouble. Either way, things don’t usually end up this neat and tidy.
There’s always a catch.
Sitting in his chair in the cramped Senior Sergeant’s office, Kevin leans back and puts his feet up on his desk. Then he shrugs. “Could be her. Could be Thornton. Flip a coin.”
I can feel my jaw drop as I sink into the chair on this side of his desk. “Are you telling me that you arrested her and you’re not even sure she did it?”
“That’s about it, yeah.”
“Kevin, why on Earth would you do that?”
“Because I’m playing for time, that’s why. Now that I’ve got her charged, by law I’ve got to get her before the Magistrate’s Court soon as possible, but it’s Sunday. We both know Magistrate McFarlane isn’t going to come out tonight, not when the Essendon Bombers are playing St. Kilda. Won’t be able to get Stephanie to court until tomorrow morning at the earliest. Probably tomorrow afternoon if McFarlane’s had his usual number of pints. If I was holding her without charging her, law says eight hours and I have to let her go. This way…”
Now I get it. My son is really smart. “This way, you’ve got all this time to investigate her claims against Thornton and see what shakes out.”
“Exactly. This is a different sort of case for me. No witnesses. Two suspects who both had the same sort of opportunity to get at the victim before anyone noticed. It’s that small twenty-minute window when the murder happened that’s gonna make all the difference. So. I sent Thornton off to take care of his business up at the Hobart Regatta. He wants to keep things business-as-usual while us small town coppers keep a lid on the whole thing. That works out fine for me, so I decided to play along for now.”
“Keeps this from becoming a national media circus, you mean?”
“Sure. That, and it keeps my Mom’s Inn out of the news, too. I’m sure ya must’ve noticed where that knife in Jackson’s back came from.”
I can’t help my frown. That knife, straight from my dining room. Not only did the Parliamentary Secretary die in my Inn, but I practically handed the killer the murder weapon. If we don’t solve this murder and show who and why and how it was done, the Pine Lake Inn might be done. Kaput. That kind of press can wreck even the most successful of businesses. Mine included.
With one finger, I stroke the lines of the unicorn necklace. No way am I going to let that happen. I would do my best to solve this murder in any event, but I truly feel that my life’s dream is at stake this time.
“We have to solve this mystery.” I didn’t realize I was going to say that out loud until the words were out of my mouth.
Kevin obviously agrees with me. “Too right. So for now, Stephanie Collette is my arrest. If I find out that she was telling the truth, and it was really Thornton who killed Jackson, then I’ll know where to find him.”
“But you’ll have kept an innocent woman locked up for no reason.”
He shrugs again. “If she didn’t do it, then I unarrest her and send her a fruit basket as an apology.”
“Kevin…”
“Okay, okay. No fruit baskets. Guess that would be a bit much. So let’s get to this before I start getting pressure from the government to make someone a scapegoat, right or wrong. I want someone to pay for this murder, but I want it to be the right someone. Let’s look at Thornton Dunfosse. Question becomes, how do we find out if he’s been taking money that doesn’t belong to him?”
Good question. “Don’t suppose you can just ring up the banks…?”
He’s already shaking his head. “Yeah… no. There’s so many privacy issues with banks to begin with, then add in the fact that the guy I’m gonna ask about is politically connected, and I’d have a better chance of asking to see the Queen’s knickers.”
“Kevin!” I know I raised him better than that.
“All right, all right. I’m sorry, Mom.” There was sudden strain showing on his face, a tension that he’d been trying to stifle for my sake. “I wasn’t joking about being pressured by government types. So far today I’ve fielded phone calls from the Governor-General’s office, the Prime Minister of the whole bloody country and—I kid you not—the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. For something we’re trying to keep quiet, news sure has gotten round. Just glad the news people haven’t gotten wind of it yet. One more reason to be glad your ex James isn’t here. He’s a first-rate journalist, and no doubt he’d be working up the story as we speak. Plus I’m still mad at the guy for leaving my Mom like he did.”
I might agree with him, but then my heart still gives a flutter at the mention of James’s name. He might be done with me, but maybe I’ve still got a feeling or two for him. Kevin’s not wrong though. James was an amazing reporter. No matter how hard we tried to keep this one quiet, he’d have sniffed it out. He would’ve kept a lid on it if we’d asked him, but for only just so long. He had a job to do. In fact, more than anything else it was his job that kept getting between us. That and the fact that he kept disappearing on me. Like now.
Well, what’s happening with James is not my concern, I guess. What’s happening right now, in my town, that’s my concern.
“By the way,” I ask him, changing the subject, “how’d you get Jackson’s body out of the Inn? If we’re keeping this quiet, wouldn’t a dead man in a body bag kind of tip the world off that something bad happened?”
He looks a little sheepish at that. “Er, we might’ve cut the carpet out of the room and rolled him up in it. I told them to be real respectful about it, though.”
There goes my jaw, dropping again. “Your guys took my carpet?”
“Well, sure. Had two of my guys go over in plain clothes and each of them took an end and carried him straight out the front door, easy as you please.”
“Kevin!”
“Mom, we were gonna have to take it for analysis anyway. Check for hair fibers, DNA, that sorta thing. Have to collect all his belongings for evidence too, like his wallet, that ring, his clothes, all of it. This way it was all inside that rug, and all anybody knows is that you keep your Inn nice and tidy and clean the rugs regularly. Nobody knows a thing except for my guys and us, and I trust everybody in that circle.”
“Yeah…” I guess it makes sense. I’m not thrilled about it but under the circumstances maybe that really was the best way. It got him and all of his belongings out. Which reminds me. “Hey, did that ring on his finger seem a little childish for a politician to be wearing?”
He gives another little shrug. “Sure, but I’m going to focus on grown up clues first.”
“Like where Thornton was getting his money?”
“Exactly.”
I make my smile mirror his. “That’s good, because I think I have an idea about how to look into his financials.”
He drops his feet off the corner of his desk to sit up straight as he throws a serious expression my way. “How exactly are ya gonna manage that? Never mind the privacy issues, it’s Sunday afternoon. Not a bank in the world’s open on a Sunday afternoon.”
My smile is genuinely sweet now. I like it when I can still surprise my son. “Maybe it’s better if you don’t know.”
“Think you’re probably right on that one,” he says with a snort. “Alrighty. How’s about I forget we said anything about that and get back to basic police work. Which in this case—”
The phone on his desk rings loudly, angrily demanding his attention.
“In this case, it means answering phone calls from every corner of the government. Gonna have to excuse me, Mom.” He reaches for the phone’s receiver, then pauses as it rings again. “Thanks for your h
elp, by the way. Don’t know what I’d do without ya, sometimes.”
“I think you’d manage. Your father would’ve been proud of the son we raised.”
The look in his eyes is worth a thousand words, and each of us knows what it would mean for my deceased husband Richard to be here now. Life would be different, that’s for sure. Better, in almost every way that counts.
I lean across the desk to give him a kiss on his forehead. Can’t say the way things are now isn’t grand, because it is.
“Love you, Kevin.”
He gives me a wink and picks the phone up as I leave his office.
Out in the front room at one of the desks I find Carly sitting and talking to Ben Isling, both of them leaning in close and practically whispering. My daughter’s eyes are showing a lot of interest in whatever Ben’s saying. She giggles at something, actually giggles, and reaches out her hand to put her pale fingers on Ben’s dark wrist. For a moment, I stand there unnoticed by either of them and just watch.
My daughter looks happy. For the first time in a while, she looks really happy. If there hadn’t been a murder at my Inn that will most certainly affect our business in a very bad way for years to come, this would be perfect. It still is, in a way.
Ben notices me first and looks my way, sitting back from Carly, as if he’d been caught sneaking her home after curfew. Carly frowns at him, and then turns that frown on me. I almost feel like I should apologize for something. Just not sure what for.
“Are you done already?” Carly asks me. “You, er, sure that you and Kev don’t have more to talk about?’
Standing up, Ben clears his throat, and hooks his hands into his leather duty belt at his slim waist. The muscles in his forearms flex, and Carly’s eyes can’t see anything else. More than just a simple crush, this is. My daughter has got it bad.
“S’alright,” Ben says to her, making her eyes snap back up to his smiling face. “Tell ya what. I’ve got a day off come Tuesday. How ‘bout I pop round the Inn about seven and we can go down to the Thirsty Roo for a drink. That’ll give us a chance to talk more. How’s that sound?”
Carly’s lips twitch as she tries to hide her smile. “I don’t think I’m doing anything Tuesday. Might be nice to get out of the Inn for a bit. Sure. Why not.”
My daughter is definitely trying too hard not to sound interested in a date with Ben. I’m glad she said yes, though. A night out at the Thirsty Roo would be good for her…
Oh. That reminds me.
“Er, Carly, I actually do need to ask your brother one more thing. Maybe Ben can keep you company for just another minute. That okay with you, Ben?”
He didn’t even need to think about it. “Sure thing, Dell. Me and Carly were just swapping stories. She was telling me about the time when she was twelve and you took her to Wineglass Bay. Sounds like a good time.”
“It was,” I agree. I’d forgotten about that trip, but obviously my daughter hadn’t. Maybe I haven’t done such a bad job as her mom after all.
I knock on Kevin’s door before I go back in, and sure enough he’s just finishing up another of his long list of phone calls. I have a feeling most of his evening is going to be taken up right here at his desk if we don’t find those answers we were talking about. The murder of Jackson Fillmore is his top priority at the moment, but it’s not the only problem he was looking into today.
“Yes sir, Commissioner sir.” If it was possible for Kevin to be standing at attention while sitting down, that’s what he was doing right now. “I understand, sir. Yes, sir. I’ll let ya know soon as I do. Yes, sir.”
When he hangs up, he scrubs a hand over his face before taking a deep, deep breath. “Sorry, Mom. That was Deputy Commissioner Hargrave. He’s something like the number four guy in the whole of the Tasmanian Police.”
“Impressive,” I tell him. “What’d he want?”
“Oh, he was just calling to let me know all of their resources are at our disposal, he says. Have to work together on the big ones, he says. Translating that pile of dung from politician-speak into English, what he’s really saying is that he’s ready to take over the whole grand investigation himself. More like insisting on it as politely as possible, actually.”
I pull a face, because I know what kind of pressure the big muckety-mucks in the Tassie Cops have put on Kevin’s little operation out here before. “You’re not going to let them take this one from you, are you?”
“Buckley’s chance of it, I can tell ya that. I’ll accept their help, sure enough, because only a fool thinks he can move every boulder up every hill by himself. Take their help, sure. Let them take over? Nope.”
“Good for you. Nobody in the whole country can catch a bad guy like my Kevin. So I almost forgot to ask. What happened with Alfonse’s waitress today? Suzanna Martin. You went down to check on her, right?”
He stares at me a little incredulously. “The Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development got stabbed to death in your Inn today, and you’re worried about Suzanna Martin?”
“Sure I am. That’s what you do in a community like ours, right? You watch out for each other.”
After a moment he chuckles softly. “It is when you’re Dell Powers. You’re one of a kind, Mom. Don’t ever change.”
“Love you, too, Kevin. So what about Suzanna?
“She’s having ex-boyfriend troubles. Seems the guy was outta her life for over a year but now he’s in town. Won’t leave her alone. Unwanted e-mails after she told him to stop. She’s seen him walking by her place more’n once. That sort of thing. Kicker is, Suzanna’s moved on. Got some new boyfriend. She just wants her ex told to leave her be and stay away. I say arrest the drongo and make him face reality, but she won’t hear of it. Just the warning, she says. I think it’s maybe for the best, considering I’ve got everyone tied up on this murder.”
I knew Suzanna, a little. She wasn’t born here but she’d been working at the Thirsty Roo long enough that we’d talked. Nice girl. I didn’t realize she was dating someone, though. “Who’s the new boyfriend? Someone in town?”
“Dunno. She didn’t want to drag him into this so she wouldn’t give me his name.” He tosses a hand in the air. “Doesn’t really matter who the new guy is. Doesn’t change what she’s asking us to do. I figure I’ll have Ben or one of the others call the ex and tell him what’s what as soon as we’ve got a handle on Jackson Fillmore’s death.”
“Okay. Well, I’m glad it’s not anything more serious. I’m guessing the ex-boyfriend isn’t from Lakeshore?”
“Nah. Some bloke from Queensland by the name of Harry Kewell. Like the soccer player? But, no relation. Never heard of him before this. So we’ll take a minute or two and play spook, scare the guy off, make Suzanna’s life easier. Just not right now. Right now, we’re a might busy.”
I couldn’t agree more. That was the way it was sometimes, even in small towns like this one. Nothing could happen for days at a time, and then whamo, everyone needed something from the police on the same day. My Kevin could handle it, but every man had their limits. Even great ones like him.
I’m a little biased, but sue me. I’m proud of him.
Proud of my daughter, too, but in a different way. She’s still out there flirting with Ben. She’s starting to live her life again. Maybe she’s not a Senior Sergeant like her brother is, but once she finds her feet again, no telling what she might become. If these two are my legacy, then you better believe I’ll be happy with that.
And right now, I’m going back to the Inn, to help Kevin solve this mystery.
Danni was still at the registration desk when I got back even though her shift was over. Janus was here to relieve her, but she was hanging out to talk to him. Janus is a friendly sort with an unfortunate hatchet face and three moles under his left eye that form a perfect triangle. One of the reasons I think he likes to work nights is because there’s less people to stare at that geometric pattern on his cheek. I couldn’t care less, myself, because he’s got a dry sense of
humor that always makes me laugh. Some people do, I suppose.
If he’d notice how close Danni’s standing, and how she’s hanging on every word, he’d probably notice that she’s one of those that see past his looks. Her eyes never leave his the whole time. Personality is what a girl wants in a guy more than anything else. Well. That, and a nice tight bottom.
When she sees me and Carly coming in through the open front door, Danni tells Janus goodbye and comes straight over. She’s already got on her cute pink half-sweater with the long sleeves, ready to go. “On my way,” she announces, like she usually does. “Got all the rooms booked in, and Rosie’s just getting the dinner crowd settled in before she heads home to her twins. Apparently her husband rang her up and he’s at his wits’ end.”
I laugh at the way she says it, especially since I’m sure those were probably Josh Ryan’s exact words. He’s a good man, and he’s been great at the whole stay-at-home-dad thing, except he lets those kids walk all over him. When it comes to their family, Rosie definitely wears the pants, as well as the chef’s apron.
“Thanks for all of your help today,” I tell Danni, meaning every word. “Been busy as sin. Couldn’t’ve done it without you.”
“Mm-hmm.” She nods, trying to be sly about it. She knows I depend on her in the best of times and a full house with government officials in the mix is far and away not the best of times. Then she leans in conspiratorially, and whispers, “Gonna tell me about what really happened upstairs?”
I sigh, because I should’ve known Danni noticed more than she was letting on. She’s a smart one, and I’m not surprised that she figured out something’s afoot. She knows the guys and gals on the police force, same as I do. No way she would’ve been fooled by two of them carrying an impossibly heavy carpet roll down the stairs and out the door, even if they weren’t in uniform.