Mistaken Identity Crisis: Death On The Cable Car (Braxton Campus Mysteries Book 4)

by James J Cudney

  That wasn't going to help me. If I knew who was inside the Great Hall, I might confirm who cut a bunch of flowers to leave near Quint's body after killing him. “Can you put together a list of people who had access between the time Millard tended the flowers last Sunday and Tuesday morning? Visitors, employees, anyone in the family, please. It's important.”

  Jennifer looked to her aunt and brother, then shook her head. “Isn't that when you found Quint Crawford's body?”

  I nodded.

  “Sure, I'll talk to everyone in the house and come up with a list,” Eustacia firmly announced, then leaned on her cane to prop herself off the chair. “Come, Jennifer, we have work to accomplish and a new criminal to catch.”

  * * *

  On the drive home, I convinced myself to disclose to Connor the news of the calla lilies being cut down at the Paddington estate. By informing him, I risked him intervening with Eustacia and insisting she turn over the list to him and not me. I'd address that if and when it happened.

  Emma and I spent the rest of the afternoon together. While she read a few chapters from her favorite author, I prepared for my upcoming classes. We would have our first pop quiz that week, and I needed to design the questions to cover a wide variety of topics. By dinnertime, Emma had a craving for Chinese food. Confident that delivery would take too long, I ordered a few different options and drove to the restaurant to pick it up. Our order wasn't ready when I arrived, and the hostess let us wait in a corner booth with a bucket of free fortune cookies. A gold-painted, ceramic kitty—a traditional Chinese sign of luck—continually waved to us from a nearby shelf. Emma connected her earbuds and played a game on one of her devices. I scrolled through my phone to catch up on any work emails I'd missed since Friday. I had just opened the summary of Myriam's staff meeting when my name was called.

  It wasn't from the hostess about my food. “Fancy seeing you're here, Dr. Ayrwick,” Krissy Stanton said as she sidled up to the booth. “This must be your lovely daughter.”

  “Yes, that's Emma.” I poked my daughter's elbow and introduced them. Emma told me she was about to enter the next level, so I let her keep playing. “Are you coming or going?” I asked Krissy.

  “Coming. I'm having dinner with my father tonight. He hasn't yet arrived,” she said, sitting across from me. “Do you mind?”

  “Not at all. I wanted to talk to you anyway.” Luck was on my side this evening. I'd have to thank the Chinese kitty before I left. I couldn't have planned this impromptu meeting any better if I tried. “How's Marcus doing in his last two days before his position as town councilman ends?”

  “Don't gloat too much. My father doesn't accept defeat easily. He's probably planning some sort of coup, so you should tell your nana to be on the lookout,” Krissy warned. Her tone was mostly friendly, so I didn't take it as a threat. “To be honest, I'm getting tired of Dad's games and planning to tell him at dinner tonight.”

  “Relationships with our parents are often quite painful, I hear you.” Had I just found my way to bring up Quint's death to Krissy? “I'll be sure to caution Nana D. She spoke with him yesterday, at least he called her. By the way, I heard a strange rumor. I wonder if you'd know anything about it.”

  “What's that?” she asked, playing with a set of unwrapped chopsticks and tapping her foot against the side of the booth. When I asked her about the work Quint had done at her father's house, Krissy huffed. “It's not a rumor. Quint was my friend, and he did amazing work. I was home the entire time watching him rewire several rooms.”

  “Your dad's known to be a… piece of work. No offense intended to you, of course. Do you think he did anything to hurt him after Quint told people your father wouldn't pay up?”

  Krissy's eyebrows arched high, and her mouth opened wide. “I… I… never thought about it. Dad's been angry ever since he lost the election. I haven't seen much of him. He can be vengeful, but Quint never mentioned anything.” Her entire demeanor had changed in front of me once I suggested it.

  “Well, I wouldn't worry too much then,” I said, uncertain myself how far Marcus might go to stop someone from hurting his reputation. When the hostess told me that the food would be ready in five minutes, I leaned toward Krissy and quietly said, “Do you mind if I ask you another question that might be uncomfortable to answer?”

  “Ummm… sure, is this about the incident with Imogene in class?” she asked, swallowing deeply.

  “No, it's not.” I clasped my hands together and cracked my knuckles. “I know what happened eight years ago when you were pledging the Alpha Iota Omega sorority. I was hoping you might fill in a few blanks for me.”

  Krissy recoiled quickly and looked in the lobby to see if her father had arrived. “I don't want to talk about that, and I should probably move to my own table.”

  “Krissy, wait,” I said, holding up my hand. “I just want to know what occurred at the Paddington Play House the night Gwendolyn lost her brooch. The rest of her family swears she had it at the estate the following day, but you and the other girls had stolen it the previous night.” I explained what I knew about the prank and how the brooch had disappeared from the safe, then suggested Quint might've been involved.

  “If I tell you what I know, will you agree to drop it? This happened a long time ago, and I'd rather forget the whole thing,” she begged. When I nodded, she continued. “I stole the brooch out of the safe at the sorority house and gave it to Quint to return to the Paddington estate. I felt guilty about what we'd done.”

  I'd suspected something like that had happened, but I wasn't sure which girl had been the Good Samaritan. “Does anyone else know?”

  “No, just Quint. He helped me steal it in the first place. Quint spent a lot of time at the Paddington estate, and he'd seen the brooch a few times. He'd stopped by to visit his mother while she was working the day of the show and took it for me. I never told the other girls about that part.”

  “That's how you were able to tell everyone you saw it on the floor in the lobby of the theater?” Part of the story was beginning to make sense.

  “Yes. Quint swiped it for me, so we could fulfill the sisterhood's request before we were permitted to become members of Alpha Iota Omega. He'd dropped it in Gwendolyn's purse right before she left for the show, then I grabbed it while no one was looking in the restroom and told the other girls I'd found it on the floor. Later that night, the sorority president put it in the safe. I saw the combination and retrieved it the next morning. I gave it to Quint, who snuck it back in when he went to visit his mother for her birthday. I'd felt too guilty about the whole thing and didn't want to go through with it.”

  “Do you know what happened afterward?”

  “No, it really went missing because the Paddingtons reported it stolen afterward. I saw Quint put it back in her room. Eustacia Paddington wasn't lying. She must've noticed it the next morning after he'd returned it. I was there with him to say happy birthday to his mother.”

  If Quint and Krissy had returned it, then how did it disappear again? When I asked Krissy if she had any suggestions, she looked humiliated over her role in the past. “Are you sure no one else knew what you and Quint had done? Is there a chance my brother was aware?” I needed to discover whether Gabriel or Quint had acted alone or if someone else had been involved.

  “I don't know. That was a really bad month for everyone. Imogene and Quint had been dating, then she abandoned him for Paul Dodd. Your brother started distancing himself from us, but now I know it was because he didn't know how to tell us about being gay,” Krissy said, indicating her father was walking through the front door. “I recall Gabriel had been acting suspiciously the day he disappeared.”

  “Were you aware of the other jewelry thefts at the time?” I asked, unsure who had been told what back then, especially considering the sheriff was Quint's uncle and had hidden facts from people.

  “Minor details until it hit the papers days after the last one, and by then, your brother and Quint had left town. The
group fell apart.” Krissy tapped Emma's arm and waved goodbye when my daughter looked up from her game. “I need to go. I'm sure you'd rather not run into my father.”

  Marcus scoffed at me as his daughter joined him in the lobby, and they strolled to their table on the other side of the room. When the hostess brought over my food, I paid the check and walked to the parking lot with Emma.

  At least I now understood the confusion about the brooch appearing at the theater, but why had Quint double-crossed Krissy by only pretending to return it to the Paddington estate? I called Nana D and asked her to arrange a get-together with Bertha Crawford, curious whether she'd been hiding any information about the jewelry thefts. Could she know more than she'd confessed about her son?

  After dinner and a game of checkers, Emma went to sleep. I contacted Connor to schedule our next workout. As I climbed into bed, he responded that we could meet Tuesday at the Grey Sports Complex before work. Then I saw several dots on the message appear and disappear. Connor had more to discuss but kept changing his mind.

  Me: Dude, you're gonna give me a seizure. Something else you need to say?

  Connor: Was gonna call earlier but got wrapped up in something. Are you free tomorrow?

  Me: I have a meeting, interview, and class, otherwise available. What's up?

  Connor: Gabriel returned my call. I'm questioning him at four o'clock. April wants me to chat with you beforehand. She thinks you know more than you've said.

  Me: Sure. The Big Beanery at 8:15, okay?

  Connor: Deal. BTW, is something going on between you two? You once teased me…

  I began several replies only to erase each of them and try again. I gave up after six attempts, removed my glasses, and pulled the covers over my head. It was Connor's turn to see several dots on the message appear and disappear. I pretended not to recognize the irony of the situation, keenly aware he ultimately responded to me and I was abandoning him without an explanation.

  There was always tomorrow when the promise of a better answer could arrive. I began to doze off, recognizing that if the thief had stuck to his or her pattern, tomorrow was nine days since the burglary at Lara's house when Imogene had been attacked. If a final robbery targeting the Stantons was going to occur, exactly where and when would it take place?

  Chapter 13

  Once Emma was safely on the bus the next morning, I drove to South Campus and met Connor at The Big Beanery. I checked my watch to confirm I'd made it on time, as punctuality had been instilled in me by Nana D ever since I was old enough to read a clock. She wouldn't let me use anything digital until I knew the difference between the big and little hands, just as I couldn't get Velcro shoes until I could properly tie my own laces. That woman never gave up until she got her way!

  Other than a few people in line and my boss and her wife sitting in a corner booth, the place was empty. I waved at Myriam and Ursula, then got in the queue. Only one waved back, of course. By the time I was next to order, Connor joined me and added in his items. “Make that two more black coffees, skip the bear claws he idiotically ordered, and give us three fruit bowls, please.”

  I cast a disapproving look. “Desserts motivate me. If you want me to talk, then put them back on the list.” I stared back and forth between the cashier and Connor, wondering who would win our standoff before the full weight of what he'd said hit me. In that temporary confusion, he inserted his credit card into the chip-and-pin device to pay for the order, minus the bear claws. “Why three?”

  “For me,” April said, as she idled over to the other side of the counter where the barista placed our breakfast. “I realized three heads are better than two when it comes to piecing together this doozy of a conundrum.”

  Once the fruit bowls were placed on a tray, April directed me to collect napkins and forks and located a table. I followed her and Connor, then slumped into the empty chair across from them. “I'm more jumbled than my mother trying to find her way around the kitchen. First, you tell me to stay out of your investigations. Then, you tell me to work with Connor but leave you alone. Now, you're joining us before I've had enough coffee to process the tomfoolery happening around me.”

  “Is he always this chipper in the morning?” Yanking a fork and napkin from my hands, April ignored the frustration building on my face.

  “You should see him try to lift his first set of weights. I stand pretty close by in case he falls and knocks himself unconscious,” Connor replied as he handed out fruit bowls.

  “Do I need to be here? I might have better luck not getting sideswiped if I stood in the middle of commuter traffic on the highway,” I grunted as they sipped coffee.

  “You are right, Kellan. I've been giving you mixed signals,” April said, offering one of the rare concessions I'd usually witness only during full moons in a leap year once a millennium. “Connor and I had a lengthy conversation yesterday about your involvement in our jobs.”

  I briefly slid my gaze to Connor's stoic face, unable to read him. Was my name being called upon strictly for professional reasons or had a smattering of personal interests popped up? April began by explaining that it'd be better to share information, highlighting my familiarity with many of the people involved in the jewelry thefts and Quint's murder. She reiterated the inability for me to speak to anyone else about the case, stressing her reticence to reveal key details to a private citizen. “You're not an official deputy, and you haven't gained any special privileges, so don't let this go to your head.”

  “I promise I'll be worth it,” I said in an unexpectedly confident and amorous voice, then winked at April. What was happening to my self-control around this woman? “I mean, you can completely trust me. Right, so….”

  Connor must have noticed my startling tone because a crafty grin formed on his lips. “Did you want me to stick around, or would you rather talk to April alone, Kellan?”

  “Let's just get on with our discussion,” I replied and kicked him under the table. He and I would have an incredibly painful tête-à-tête the next time I was spotting him while he bench-pressed too much weight. “Shall we start with the jewelry heists or the electrocution-slash-strangulation death?”

  “I assume they're connected, but let's start with the murder.” Connor's revelation about Quint's death surprised me, especially when he clarified the order of the events. “The coroner worked with Dr. Betscha to confirm exactly what happened in the cable car. Quint was electrocuted before he was strangled to death.” Based on the burn marks and the residual effects in Quint's system, he was electrocuted around midnight. He hadn't suffered a cardiac arrest, which meant the electric cables weren't what killed him. Quint must've grabbed a wire while installing a panel, thinking the power supply had been turned off, then passed out from his injuries. “It may or may not have been accidental. The autopsy showed little alcohol in his system.”

  April interjected, “What's odd is that the power was turned off when Connor checked it that morning. Someone, possibly the person who'd strangled him, tried to confuse us.”

  “Tell me what you know about the time of death.” We'd seen the finger impressions on his neck. If Quint had been injured and weakened from the electrical surge, he wouldn't have been able to stop his attacker from choking him. Anyone involved could've killed him, pending the size of their hands.

  “Between twelve thirty and one that morning, about seven hours before you found him,” Connor replied, sharing the key details from his report. “There was major bruising on his larynx and windpipe, but it wouldn't have taken much force based on his condition from being electrocuted.”

  “Do you think the same person who tried to electrocute him stuck around and finished the job?” My stomach began to grind with disgust upon thinking about the cruelty Quint had suffered. What kind of person could do such a thing? Although he'd been a thief, his murder wasn't justified.

  “It's definitely a possibility, but we can't be certain. We're checking alibis for everyone he'd been seen talking with the last few wee
ks,” April said, finishing her coffee and signaling the waitress for a refill. “Which brings us to the jewelry thefts and the reason we want to speak with Gabriel.”

  “Before you say anything else, there's something I should've told you sooner. I only got confirmation this weekend, and it might change your approach.” I hoped they weren't angry that I'd kept the details about the Alpha Iota Omega sorority's prank from them. I finished explaining everything I knew, including what my father had shared about the previous sheriff's blackmail and what Krissy had revealed about returning the brooch with Quint at the Paddington house.

  Eyeing me intently, April snarled, “This changes everything!”

  Connor said, “I'll contact Eustacia Paddington to directly submit to me the list of people with access to the flowers at the estate. I'll also have someone check for any fingerprints, but it's unlikely we'll find any at this point.”

  After we finished organizing the case, we devised a plan where Connor would interview all the girls who'd pledged the sorority, applying enough pressure to force someone to crack and share additional information. He'd also obtain their alibis covering the hours preceding and including Quint's death. April would follow up with Siobhan Walsh and Marcus Stanton to determine if either had been involved in the murder. I was tasked with convincing Gabriel to reveal everything he knew when they met later that afternoon. I let both Connor and April know that I planned to visit Bertha after my class, to see if she could remember anything else as well as inquire about the keys to the Paddington estate.

  I tossed my glasses on the table to give my eyes a break from focusing on their livid expressions. “Look, I get that I screwed up by not contacting either of you immediately. I just talked to Krissy last night about that final part. I wanted to find out what Gabriel knew before I updated the Wharton County Sheriff's Office.” I genuinely never intended to keep the information from them, but saving my brother was important to me. April grabbed the tray containing the remains of our breakfast from me when I attempted to pick it up. After a brief game of tug of war, I let it go, hoping something would accidentally fall onto her. Unfortunately, she was too careful and stepped away before anything spilled on her lap.