“No, that’s not it, but I need to ask them something real quick. Excuse me.”
I moved through the crowd over to Piper and Ida then took a seat at their table. “What mischief are you two making?”
“What do you think?” Ida never looked up from her screen.
Piper eyed my hair and said, “I like the ribbon. The white goes good with your red hair.”
I turned to Ida, “Well, anything new?”
Ida finally looked up and took a sip of her drink. “Nope, been doing a little more digging, but looks like we found most of Amber’s life story. Strange a pretty girl like her never got married.”
Piper rubbed her ear like it was blocked. “Ginger, what was with the lights, and that noise?”
“Just a fuse blowing out.” I wasn’t going to tell them the truth out in the dining room where someone else might hear.
“It was real strange.” Piper scrunched up her face. “I never heard anything like that and I have no idea what it was.”
“Don’t worry about it. It was a fuse blowing. Focus, I want to talk about Elias.”
“What?” Ida had drifted back to the laptop screen, but looked up at hearing his name.
“He stands to inherit money. And they always say to follow the money. But I heard him say it’s complicated, and he wasn’t sure what would happen.”
“So.” Ida waved off my comment.
I paused for a moment, then blurted it out. “So, what if he lost his inheritance when Donna remarried. Then he would have a motive to kill her before she married Robert.”
Piper gasped. “Whoa! That’s unbelievable. But how did we not think of this till now?”
I nodded. “I know. But maybe we should do a background check on him too?”
Ida began typing. “I can do that. Let me see.”
“No! Not here. In the office, like before with Amber. I don’t want anyone to see what we’re doing.”
“OK. Worry wart!” Ida had a drink and burger and apparently did not want to leave them. She picked both up and balanced it all along with her laptop.
“Thanks. I’ll meet you there in a second.” I cleaned a few tables and grabbed some plates from the order window to deliver to customers. It was the least I could do. I was gone most of the day and Dixie and Bones were being asked to do a lot. Finally, things seemed to be caught up and I went back to the office. On entering, Piper was sitting on the corner of my old desk watching Ida, who was seated behind the desk working her laptop.
“You little hypocrite.” Piper was smiling at me.
I shot back, “What? Don’t call me a hypocrite, unless you are swearing me in to be a doctor!”
“Miss smarty pants. You couldn’t resist. We saw your list on the new whiteboard.”
“I didn’t write that. Guardrail and Dog did.”
Piper smiled, “Sure they did.”
“They did! So what did you find?”
Ida kept typing but interrupted, “This is going to be tougher than it was for Amber. Elias is obviously more computer savvy than her and I need to dig a little.”
“Nothing illegal. Nothing!”
“Do you want to know or not?”
“I want to know what we can find out about Elias legally. And if you do anything illegal, I don’t want to know about it but I will ban you from the pub.”
Ida snorted. “Oh come on, you would never ban me.”
“Yes I would. Don’t do anything illegal while on my network.”
Ida chuckled at my insistence. “OK, but you’re taking all the fun out this.”
Piper went into journalist mode. “Why have you moved on to Elias anyway?”
“His comments at the bar were interesting, if not strange. But Edith also told me that she saw Robert and Donna looking at software to write wills. If Donna did change her will, his comments along with the possible loss of big piles of money make him a pretty good suspect.”
Ida scratched her head. “If they wrote a will, they would have to appoint an executor. I might be able to find that out.”
Piper added, “And maybe they sought out legal help at some point?”
Ida nodded in agreement. “We should be able to find something, yeah.” She plucked a few more keys, then, “You gotta love email. I searched Robert’s inbox for ‘executor’ and bingo! An executor was named, they asked Robert’s lawyer in Atlanta to handle it.”
I was unimpressed. “So what? Does that mean anything?”
Ida typed some more. “I don’t know, yet. Hang on.”
Piper asked, “Ginger, what did you see in the room? How was she killed?”
“With a headset cord.”
“Where did the headset come from?”
I paused and finally said, “Good question. Maybe from the gaming system.”
“From a game system?”
“Could be. I saw a game remote on a bean bag chair. And a video game was paused on the TV.”
Piper exhaled, then said, “And Elias was known to be an avid gamer.”
I slowly nodded yes. “Yeah, he talked about it at the bar often.”
Piper asked, “What game was it?”
“I don’t know. Why”
Ida jumped in. “Those games have live recording and all kinds of chat rooms. I might be able to find some dirt on Elias through the game.”
Piper added, “Ask Dog. Elias talked to Dog a lot about a war game he played.”
“And it was a war game I saw paused. Keep working, I need to go chat with Dog for a minute.”
I left the office and made my way to the bar. It was crowded, so it was easier for me to go behind the bar and approach Dog Breath seated at his usual bar stool, head hanging over his half filled beer mug.
Dixie stopped me. “Well, look who has reappeared from play time in her office. I’m still worried ya know, we need to talk!”
“I know, but not now, I need to do something.” I was now directly across from Dog. “Dog, I need to know what video game Elias talked to you about, the one he played all the time.”
Dog looked up from his beer. “Why do you want to know that?”
“I just do. Tell me.”
“Elias would often ask me questions about what real war was like, in ‘Nam. You know. He was trying to beat that darn game.”
“Dog, I know you fought in Vietnam, but I asked a simple question. I need to know what game it was.”
Dog seemed to go into a trance, “I told him all about the real deal. How you really survive in the jungle.”
I was fidgeting. “Dog, please focus, what game did Elias play all the time.”
Guardrail came to my rescue. “Dog, flashback time is over. The pretty lady asked you a question. Can you answer it?”
“Sure. Elias played Call of Duty.”
I touched his hand. “Thanks Dog.” Then I headed back to the office with the new information.
I entered and re-closed the door. I blurted out, “Call of Duty. He played Call of Duty.”
Ida responded, “Got it. We should have guessed, that’s pretty popular. Let me see what I can find.” Ida tapped on the keyboard for about five minutes while we waited in silence.
Piper finally asked, “Ida, anything?”
Ida glared at Piper. “Patience, a master is working.” Ida went back to her keyboard, then added. “Well, well, well! Look at this. Elias did play online live with a group and they chatted often. In one those chats, he said, and I quote, he hated Donna and would kill her before she remarried anyone else.”
I actually gasped. “Elias is looking more like a strong suspect.”
Piper added, “And get this, we found a little more when you were gone.”
Ida continued, “Yeah, seems Robert was a little more careless than Elias with his computer habits and attached a draft of the will to an email. Robert got Donna’s money if she died, and vice versa. That seems pretty standard with spouses. But look at this, the money was to be split between Elias and Amber if both Robert and Donna died.”
<
br /> Piper sarcastically added, “So get this, Elias doubled his money if Donna died before she remarried. By the way Ida, how much money are we talking?”
Ida tilted her head. “Let me see if I can find something.”
I asked, “So Amber gets no money if Donna dies before she remarried?”
Ida said, “Well, yeah, I assume so.”
Piper added, “Wow. So Amber would have waited until after the marriage with her father to murder Donna, if she did it for the money. But it seems Elias wouldn’t just get more money if Donna died before the wedding, but he gets a bonus by keeping Amber, who he didn’t like, from getting anything in the process. We all know they don’t like each other, so it makes sense Elias might want Donna dead before remarrying for a couple of reasons. And he said in a chat room he would kill her.”
Ida gasped. “Holy dollar signs. Seems Donna is worth millions. The lawyer didn’t say exactly how much, but did tell Robert to make sure everything was perfect with the will because we’re talking millions. With an S.”
The tapping on the door was so soft I almost missed it. I raised my voice. “Come in.” But instead of Dixie or Bones as expected, Edith and Lily were standing there.
“Can we talk to you?” Lily was scanning the room as she asked.
“Does everyone here think they’re an employee who can just waltz right into my kitchen and office?”
“Oh hush! We know what you're doing. We might be of help.” Edith smiled to let us know she wanted to be part of the group.
“And what do you think we're doing?”
Edith pointed at the laptop. “Ida takes her computer into your office. Sweetie, everyone in the house knows you are collecting info about the murder.”
“Maybe, so what?”
“So, we know things that the silly computer doesn’t.”
“Alright. I’ll give you that. Spill then.”
Edith continued. “Your comments on Elias got Lily and me talking, and we remembered something. Elias was trying to start a company to build some sort of robots or something. He may have even borrowed money to start the venture.”
I stared at her to make sure she knew this was important. “Edith, do you know, for sure, that he borrowed money?”
Lily replied, “Not for sure. But I saw him talking to a strange man in the general store, and overheard them talking about it. The man Elias met with was crude and even threatened him if he didn’t pay back the money.”
Piper interrupted, “Ginger, if Elias had large debts from a loan shark, he might’ve really, really needed money. Combine that with the timing of Donna’s death before her marriage to Robert, and the will, there seems to be a lot of things pointing to Elias. Maybe your Aunt Mae should be told.”
“You’re right.” I had to agree, but didn’t want to revisit the police station. Aunt Mae made it clear to stay out of it, but this was a pretty juicy revelation.
“I’ll go alone, it’s best that way. Y'all stay here.”
I wanted to get it over quick, so I briskly walked out of the pub and for a second time made my way to the police station. On entering, I could see Eunice had gone home, so I just went to Mae’s desk. But before I got there, Sheriff Morrison stopped me.
“Hello Ginger. What are you doing here so late in the day? Don’t you have guests to take care of at the pub?”
“I thought Mae might be working late and that she may want some dinner. I thought, maybe, we could send her something from the pub.”
“I know you’re poking around into the death of Donna Holland. But don’t! You need to keep out of it. Understand?”
“I am. Just trying to help with some hot food from the pub. You know, keep the late night workers well fed so our police can solve the crime. By the way, you want something to eat, too?”
“No. And Ginger, read my lips – no poking around in my investigation. Got it?”
I stared at him for a second. “Ten-four Sheriff.”
“By the way, Mae is not here. She is working on something out of the office.”
“Thanks for the heads up. See ya around. Sure you don’t want something to eat?”
“Ginger, I’m good. And please, you and your friends need to stay out of this business. It’s dangerous and we can’t have you interfering with our work.”
“Geeze. Auntie said almost the same thing, verbatim.”
“It’s because it’s what we need you to do, for your own safety.”
Chapter Nine
I returned to the Grumpy Chicken with a lot on my mind. It had been a long day, but my walk home provided some time to think and clear my head, just a little. It was now 7:30 and the sun had set. I enjoyed the darkness and quiet on my stroll home. Before I knew it, the main pub entrance was in front of me and on entering I could feel the air inside was thick, full of gossip and energy.
On my way over to the bar to get an update from Dixie, I felt someone grab my elbow and pull me aside. It was Beth Givens, the town gossip from the community center.
Beth smiled and said, “Ginger, I hear you've been busy today. And as I said to you earlier I would love to know more about what you saw when you found the body. Now I am hearing you have been investigating a little and you may have learned even more. We should chat?” She forced a smile, but I could tell she was slightly annoyed I wasn’t telling her what I knew.
“Beth, excuse me, I’m so sorry. I have so much to do today and the pub is packed. I need to take care of my customers. We can talk later, okay?”
She took my hand in hers, and patted it gently “I will hold you to that, dear, and soon I hope!” She again forced a small smile.
Edith started to flag me down once she spotted me. “Ginger, that was quick.” Lily was seated next to her, waving hello to me.
I excused myself from Beth and approached Edith and Lily sheepishly. “Mae wasn’t there. But Sheriff Morrison stopped me before I could tell him anything. And he made it clear, we shouldn’t get involved. So, I didn’t tell him.”
Lily then set her hands gently on the table, palms down. “Well, if they don’t want our help, we have to do it on our own.”
I sensed I was losing control of the situation. “No. The Sheriff is right, we need to leave it to the police.”
Edith looked at me with a wry smile. “Deary, we know you saw a cord from a gaming system around Donna’s neck.”
I wanted to swear but managed to hold my tongue – not in the dining room. “I think Piper and Ida need to learn to be a little more discrete.”
“Well, after hearing that we were thinking. What else might be in that old den that could tell us who murdered Donna?”
“No. I don’t like where this is going.”
Lily blinked at me a few times. “But, sweetie, we’re already there. You must go back and reinspect that room for clues.”
I turned red and pinched my lips. “My office, now! I’m sorry, please?”
Lily and Edith looked at me little surprised. But they rose and we went back to the office to find Piper and Ida still talking and working the laptop for information.
Piper asked as soon as I entered. “What did she say?”
“Mae wasn’t there, but the Sheriff scolded me and told me to stay out of it. So I didn’t tell him.”
Edith piped up. “Ginger needs to go back to the crime scene and find more clues.”
Piper’s jaw fell open. “When did you decide this.”
I glared at Edith. “I didn’t. Seems Edith and Lily decided for me. After they had a chance to ponder the headset cord I saw around Donna’s neck.”
Ida looked up from her screen. “Whoops. Maybe we shouldn’t have mentioned that to Edith and Lily? Sorry.”
I squinted at her. “No you shouldn’t have.”
Ida changed the subject. “Well, in the mean time I haven’t found much new while you were gone. So it actually might not be a bad idea to go back and see what you can find.”
“Are you crazy? That’s a crime scene and the police will arre
st us for sneaking back in there.”
Lily added. “Ginger, sweetie, this is a small town. Things are done in a more relaxed way here. Elias is even still allowed to stay at the house. It’s a big place and the police let him stay in his room if he uses the rear entrance. Just say you are going to talk to him if anyone asks?”
I stared at her, “And how would you know all that Lily?”
Lily smiled back. “Oh, dear, you know everyone out there is talking. It’s harder for us not to know.”
Piper jumped in. “You can’t go alone. It’s too dangerous. Ida and I will go with you.”
“Piper, bad enough I was ‘volunteered’ by others to go, but now you’re volunteering yourself?”
Ida added, “Well, not to be technical, but I didn’t speak for myself. Piper did. I really would rather stay and do online research here.”
I sighed. “Two is better than three. We not only have to avoid the police, but all those darn cats.”
Piper pointed at me in an accusatory manner. “Ah ha! So you do want to go!” She recalled the pointing finger and put the hand on her chin. “And the cats, I forgot about that. Well, maybe they cleared them out to protect the crime scene?”
“One can only hope.”
There was knock on the door and I groaned. “Why can’t I go five minutes in my office without someone knocking on my door? That better be Bones or Dixie. If you’re not an employee, go away!”
The door opened and Dog, Guardrail, and Digger were standing there.
I gasped in frustration. “What part of what I said meant come in to you?”
Guardrail shrugged, “Well, we know ya. We knew you meant come in.”
Dog couldn’t keep quiet. “We know you’re doing something that has to do with the murder. Asking me more about Elias and his game. We want in.”
“I know Amber did it and we need to just get some evidence to show that she did it.” Digger seemed to be arguing with himself.
Edith blurted out. “Well, we agree Digger. More clues are needed. That’s precisely what we were talking about. Piper and Ginger are going to the crime scene to see what they can find.”
I glared at the two sisters. “Edith, hush!”
A Frosty Mug of Murder Page 6