by Donna Doyle
Leonel Pike may have been a lovely baby when he was first born, but much of his original beauty had faded because of his life on the street. The slender fellow with his greasy hair and deep-seated hardened eyes was not a man I would want to meet on a lonely highway on a Saturday after midnight.
But after Dora had introduced herself and had assured him she was not connected to the police, he seemed eager to talk.
"What makes you think we were at the Crystal Grill?" he asked after Dora had posed the question to him.
"We saw three fellows with clubs there," Dora answered. "But then they ran. We thought you may have been one of them."
"What if I was?"
"Were you?" Dora asked. "You did not break the law, so there's no harm in telling us if you were."
He let out a sneer. "Somebody beat us to it."
"Excuse me?"
"Somebody already did the job for us."
"What job?" Dora asked.
"We wanted to give him a warning. But we didn’t need to anymore."
"Warning? I am not sure if I follow you." Dora's eyes widened.
Another sneer. "Sometimes we work for Giovanni. He needs guys to settle scores. Always in exchange for a few Benjamins, of course."
"Benjamins?"
He scowled, as if he could not understand our ignorance. "Money. Dollars. Bacon. We are the score settlers, although we do nothing serious, like harming people. Nothing illegal."
"Who is Giovanni?"
"Giovanni Toscanini. He runs the Casino in Boulder Valley. A lot of folks try to cheat him, and that fellow who just died was no exception. Giovanni told us to send him a message."
"You mean… Albert Gravel?" Dora frowned.
Pike grinned. "Yeah, him. He owed Giovanni money, but he didn't want to pay. But we had nothing to do with his death. We were just going to remodel that fellow's car, but we were too late. Somebody had already done that." He grinned as he thought back on that day. "Whoever messed up that Pontiac, did a better job than we could have ever done. They even doused that car in weird, purple paint."
Dora shook her head and readjusted her glasses. Then she turned to Digby. "We need to add Giovanni Toscanini to the list of suspects."
Pike overheard her and laughed out loud. "Nah… Giovanni is not a killer," he snorted. "This Gravel fellow was a regular customer to the casino, and he owed Giovanni some serious cash. Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs is never a great idea."
"So, that's it?" Dora asked. "Anything else, Mr. Pike?"
"Nope," Pike said. "What else do you want me to say, little lady…? I mean," he snorted, "I wouldn't mind having a beer with you. Fancy a date?"
Dora gave him a weak smile. "No. thank you Mr. Pike. And… if I may say so, there are other career paths available for you. Ever considered getting a real job?"
Pike burst out into a cackling laugh. "You sound just like my mother, baby. You are just as naive as you are pretty—"
"—That's enough," Digby interrupted, and he banged on the bars with his club. "Respect from the likes of you couldn't do any harm, Pike."
Leonel scowled at Digby. His look made me shudder as I could almost feel the crook's anger and I was happy we could leave the station.
The next morning, just as I was buttering my toast at the breakfast table, my mobile phone rang. I looked at the screen. Dora Brightside.
"Hello Dora, Virgil here. What's up?"
"Can you come over, Virgil? Miss Molly Gertrude thinks we have a breakthrough."
A flash of excitement rushed through my veins, but how could I not to go to my work at the Sentinel. "I would love to come, Dora… but I've got a lot of work at the office…"
It was silent for a moment, but then Dora piped up, "With what, Virgil? Cleaning toilets and serving out donuts?" I could hear her sigh. "But, it's fine with me," she continued. "It's just that Miss Molly Gertrude thought you would be interested for the sake of your article."
"I am," I howled, while my mind slipped into fast gear. If I could just come up with a great article, Jack Stapleton wouldn't mind it if I skipped pouring bleach in the toilets for one day, and donuts weren't good anyway for the oversized office personnel.
"I am coming, Dora," I said at last. "Go nowhere without me."
Half an hour later I was sitting again on the backseat of the loaner, wondering where we would be going. "We'll explain it all to you on the way," Dora had said. "Just hop in."
"On the way where?"
"We are going to Messerschmitt, to pick up my Kia Rio—"
"—And," Miss Molly Gertrude butted in, "—solve the case." She turned to Dora and asked, "You did call JJ Barnes and Digby, did you?"
Dora nodded. "Just as you asked, Miss Molly. They expect us there in half an hour. Barnes was a bit miffed you were nosing in on his case again though, Miss Molly." Molly just chuckled.
As Dora steered the car out of Molly Gertrude's street, the old woman filled me in on what Dora had called a breakthrough.
"Virgil," she began, "I think we solved the mystery."
"You mean," I said with hesitation, "you know who killed Albert Gravel?"
She nodded. "I think I do." Then she told me what she had discovered. "After you went home yesterday, Dora, and I drove to the place of Albert Gravel's ex-wife."
"She was home?"
"She sure was," Dora answered without taking her eyes off the road.
"And do you know what we found out?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "No... what?"
"Albert Gravel's ex-wife is the same woman that crashed into our car yesterday." Molly Gertrude said.
I felt a shiver up my spine. The angry woman that kicked the bumper off Dora's car was Albert Gravel's ex-wife. Would she have killed him?"
9
All The Ducks In A Row
At that instant the MTC came into sight. The place looked dreary and dark, as if someone had thrown a blanket of horror over the place, and I wasn't sure anymore if I wanted to come along.
Molly Gertrude noticed my hesitation. "Come on, Virgil… A journalist dares to go where angels fear to tread."
I swallowed hard and followed.
Messerschmitt was at his usual station by the desk and was reading the newspaper.
"Ah," he said with his sales-smile, "… there's the mystery crew. If you'd all be men, I'd call you the Hardy boys." He laughed heartily about his own joke and stepped away from his desk. "The Kia Rio is all yours," he grinned. "I think my workers are just checking the air in the tires."
"We are not only here for the car." Molly Gertrude said. "There's another pressing matter."
"There is?" he frowned. "What may that be?"
“The customer you were so concerned about, the lady who smashed my car. She’s been taken into custody for the murder of her husband, and she’s asking you to come. She insists she didn’t do it, and that you can vouch for her whereabouts at the time of the murder.”
Marlow looked shaken, but quickly gathered himself.
“How long will this take, old lady? I’m a busy man.”
“Not long, dear, but Sheriff Barnes insists you come, and I would vouch if you refuse it may look a lot like you are obstructing justice. We believe it was someone else, but it’s important that you and Mrs. Gravel clear your names so we can finally wrap this nasty mystery up, don’t you think?”
Marlow Messerschmitt grinned a sly smile, and nodded, pulling on his jacket.
“Maybe you can take this car, and we will jump in my Kia?” said Dora, “We will meet you at the station.”
Soon they were back on the road and heading to a meeting with JJ Barnes, and more than a few suspects. Among them, the killer!
In the station Barnes growled as the fur walked in. He was not happy to have some rookie reporter sticking his nose in police matters, and even less so that Molly and Dora were sleuthing their way into is business. He did have to admit that the old girl had compelling evidence, and if for nothing other than curiosity he wanted as muc
h as anyone else to see how the Gravel case would unravel.
Alex Pierce sat cuffed. Beside him, Leonel Pike, also cuffed and scowling. A somewhat disheveled Mathilda sat on then opposite wall, gripping her handbag tightly. Marlow glanced across at her and began to make his way across to take the seat beside her, but Deputy Digby ushered him into a seat beside the other two suspects.
I could see Molly Gertrude eye each person carefully as she took the center of the room. In between the men and Mrs. Gravel, Barnes stood with his arms crossed, daring anyone to make a wrong move. I took a seat beside Mrs. Gravel, praying the steely eye of Branes would not land upon me.
“Alex,” Molly began, “You had every motive and perfect opportunity to finish off your nemesis with that meal you gave him!” Alex sat up startled that Mrs. Grey, his churchgoing friend, would hurl such an accusation. Alex began to protest his innocence, and Barnes sharply reprimanded him, reminding him that anything he said not only could, but certainly would be used in evidence against him if he did not shut up.
“It is suspicious, Alex, that you would invite Albert Gravel, only days after threatening one another, to come and eat at your establishment. The very establishment he was threatening to raze to the ground!”
All eyes were on the squirming restaurant owner. I couldn’t help but see the guilt crawling all over him. Molly had this chap bang to rights. I knew the killer was hiding behind a cloak of piety and now it was clear.
“But you didn’t do it,” Molly said matter of factly, “not a trace of the poison was found in the food or drink that you served.”
I felt somewhat disappointed, but the train of accusation didn’t stop there. Once she was on a roll, Miss. Molly didn’t miss a beat.
“Not so for you Mr. Pike! You told us that you had no job, is that right? Except of course your work for Giovanni Toscanini? But a little bird told us you do some handy man work on the side?”
“There’s no law against a man earning an honest crust!” Pike protested. “Anyways, what’s that got to do with Gravel?” Pike’s shifty eyes darted from Molly to Barnes to Mrs. Gravel and back again.
Then, in a sudden shift of attention, Molly spun around on her rickety legs and pointed straight at the owner of MCT. “Marlow, were you with Gravel's ex-wife, Mathilda, at the time of the murder?”
“Yes, yes, I was,” he nodded furiously. “Can we go now, I’ve got work to do?”
"Sir, you are as wicked as you are cunning!” said Molly Gertrude, “I disliked you from the moment we walked into your garage.” Marlow simply stared back. What did he care what a foolish old woman thought of him.
"Marlow Messerschmitt, I believe you killed Albert Gravel," she stated, without blinking an eye.
For a moment it looked as if the world stopped.
There was absolute silence for just a second and Messerschmitt's hand, which was just lifted in the air, stayed there motionless as if frozen. Then he dropped both of his hands and stared at her with big round eyes that slowly seemed to turn black.
"You've got no proof," he hissed.
"Still you did it," Molly Gertrude said undeterred. "Gravel was about to win a court case against you. It would have ruined you. Your relationship with Mathilda was more than a working one, and you knew all the ins and outs of Albert Gravel. Little did she know the information she shared with you could ruin your life, and you figured it was time to act."
"How dare you!” Messerschmitt scowled. “My private life is nothing to do with you, and that court case would have been overturned. Anyways, I wasn’t even there when that scoundrel died.” Marlow pointed to Alex, “he’s the one that poisoned the food! I never set foot in that deadly restaurant.”
“That is one thing that you have said that’s true, Mr. Messerschmitt, “But you have been
to Albert Gravel’s car," Molly Gertrude continued, "You sold him the car, and knowing his gambling addiction from Mathilda, I vouch that you kept a spare key just in case Gravel missed his payments and you wanted to retrieve the vehicle. I believe you injected poison into his nicotine chewing gum that he kept in the glove compartment of the car. You used Devil's Helmet, a poison that is hard to detect, and thus you made it look like a heart attack. But it was cold blooded murder."
"You are crazy," Messerschmitt fumed. "You've got no proof I was even near his car."
"Yes, I do," Molly Gertrude answered. "The other day when I went to your bathroom, I noticed your locker. There are several lockers, but this one had your name on it, and since you had failed to lock it I took the liberty to look inside."
"That's illegal." Messerschmitt clenched his fists and looked like a tiger ready to pounce on his prey. "I will sue you so bad, old woman, that they will have to carry you out to the poor house when I am done with you."
"No, you won't," Molly Gertrude answered. "It is you that will be carried out, only you won't be going to the poor house, but to the Federal Prison. In your locker I found your coveralls, the ones you wear when you are working on cars. They were all stained with purple paint, the paint that Mathilda had dumped over the car. You must have rubbed your sleeves over it when you entered the vehicle."
"That's ridiculous," Messerschmitt roared. "I wore those coveralls when I was painting Mathilda's fence together with her."
"No you didn't. Mathilda told me that Mr. Pike here had kindly offered to repaint the fence any color of her choosing, courtesy of Toscanini, for all of the business Albert Gravel brought to the casino. But there's more. How do you explain that little vial of poison I found in your locker too? Or did you plan to use that to remove spilled paint on Mathilda's nails or something?"
"All lies," he hissed. "I will sue you. You've got no proof."
But Molly Gertrude continued undeterred. "You somehow knew he was dining in the Crystal Grill, and he would likely eat one of his gums after the meal, so you told your mechanic there was a broken Toyota at the parking lot of the Crystal Grill, just so he could check for you if your evil little plan had worked."
"Stop it… Everybody back!"
Suddenly Mathilda leapt from her chair. I cringed, as I knew that voice. It had the same angry tone I had heard the day before after the car crash. Everyone turned around and stared in the contorted, angry face of Gravel's ex-wife, Mathilda. Her hands trembled... she was holding a gun that she had whipped from her handbag.
"Albert almost ruined my life," she yelled, "but he's gone. Now, leave me and Marlow alone, so we can still make something out of our lives." I could see it wasn't only her hand that trembled, but her lip was too. "I will not let you take Marlow away from me… Not over my dead body," she continued.
"Lower the gun, Mathilda." Molly Gertrude's voice was calm, almost kind. "Do not make matters worse. At this moment you have done nothing wrong… not yet."
I marveled. Where did that old lady got her strength from? I was shaking in my boots.
"You have no real proof," Mathilda howled. "I know Marlow. He would never do such a thing." She turned to Messerschmitt. "Right honey-bird, tell them you are no killer."
But honey-bird didn't answer her. He just stood there with a defiant, stony face.
It made Mathilda even more nervous as she looked with wide, fearful eyes at Molly Gertrude again. "If you promise to drop the whole matter, and forget everything you found, you can walk out of here... alive."
Molly Gertrude shook her head. "It doesn't work that way," she answered in a low voice."
"Y-You are bluffing," Mathilda mumbled, but I could see she was just about to lose it. By now, I was about as nervous as Mathilda. Tears began to roll down her face and shaking like a leaf in the wind she dropped the gun to the floor.
Thank God. It was over.
Messerschmitt knew it too.
This was his last chance. He let out a guttural roar and in one amazing jump that would have made any athlete competing for the Olympic gold medal jealous, he leapt from the room, smashing the door closed behind him. Without hesitation, JJ Barnes set off in hot pursuit,
lumbering after the desperate killer.
Alarm, confusion and pain were fighting for dominance on Mathilda's face as she stared at the door that Messerschmitt had slammed shut, back to us, and then back to the door again. At last, she let out an agonizing cry and burst out in tears.
"Now, now, dear," Molly Gertrude coaxed her. She walked over the woman, picked up the gun from the floor, placed it carefully in Deputy Digby’s hands and took Mathilda in her arms, pressing the weeping woman to her chest.
I sat there stunned. I was certain Sheriff Barnes would catch Marlow Messerschmitt, but was not going to hang around to find out.
That day, I did not go back to Molly Gertrude's house for Raspberry tea. I had a job to do, and I locked myself in my room and wrote my first real article for the Calmhaven Sentinel. I called it: "The day Albert Gravel died," I smiled when I was done, exhausted, but satisfied.
7000 Words. I wondered if maybe I had overdone it.
Epilogue
As I expected, they soon caught Messerschmitt. They finally arrested him on Boulder Valley International Airport the following day, and he gave a full confession. He had to. Just as Molly Gertrude had said, they found tiny injection marks on the chewing gums in Gravel's car and he was ultimately sentenced to twenty years in the Federal Prison. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
JJ Barnes released Alex Pierce that evening, and the next week, right on schedule, he and Linda Lane got married in the Crystal Grill.
I was there as the official journalist for the Calmhaven Sentinel. Jack Stapleton had heard about my help in the investigation and told me he was impressed. "Maybe we've got a better position for you," he beamed. True to his word, I no longer had to clean toilets or do other such menial jobs. He promoted me to write stories about the Bingo evening in the local old-folks home, and I was even allowed to report about stolen bicycles.